Book 3, Chapter 110 - Layers Within Layers (2/2)

Arcturus and the others were lead into a section that had just recently been reopened. The scene that greeted them caused everyone’s face to stiffen.

Row after row.

Hundreds of cocoon-like incubators.

Every one of them contained a nuked humanoid body, steeped in thick black energy. This crop seemed less developed than the ones that had awakened during the fight, not yet functional protofiends.

“Governor… what is this?”

“These are the dark beasts Cloudhawk said were being grown here.”

The other city leaders exchanged silent glances, but the look on their faces all said the same thing; they couldn’t believe this was true. How could this exist underneath their fair city?

Arcturus approached one of the incubators. “This structure in and of itself does not contain any energy. Instead, it steals and refines the energy of our holy lands for its nefarious purpose. As the heart of our domain, Skycloud city is also the richest in holy energy. With such surplus, it would be virtually impossible to notice if something was draining a small portion.

Everyone knew that Skycloud domain owed its prosperity to the miraculous tools of the gods, limitless in energy and capability. Things like their airships, their street lamps, even things they used for their daily home life. None of it ever ran out of power, no matter how long or often they were used.

No one knew why. They didn’t need to, for it was a gift from the gods to their faithful. It was the foundation of what made their land strong, all that was required of them was that they remained thankful and reverent.

Now, however, someone had unlocked the essence of this energy. What’s more, they had changed it to serve their own ends, converting it into some evil power to fuel these dark soldiers. It was a fact that was both sensational and nauseating.

One of the group members burst out in anger, “We should grind those Dark Atom heathens to dust!”

“You are mistaken.” The governor never took his eyes from the incubator. “No one from the Dark Atom, no Elysian, not even the men of the ancient civilization could do this. No man is capable of such power, for it goes far beyond the ken of us simple creatures. This is the domain of gods and demons.”

“You mean to say…”

“These dark creatures are similar in form to our Seraphs, though different in important ways and far simpler. This vile hatchery is not the product of any wasteland organization. It comes from something much darker and more powerful.”

Demons.

The answer was clear. All of this was the work of those evil monstrosities.

The defeat of the demonkin had happened a thousand years ago now, but they were creatures bred in murder and destruction. Demons were always lurking in the shadows, ready to take advantage of the slightest weakness, plotting their return to the lands of man.

Janus’s enigmatic voice whispered through the cavern. “Reports claim the Dark Atom works with a demon. It is not impossible they may be involved.”

“I am certain this is not Abaddon’s doing. There is no record of this in the ancient books, nor were they used in the great war, so I suspect these fiends must have been concocted within the last millennia. Obviously, these wicked souls have been very active since their defeat. Progress as we see here cannot be achieved overnight. It takes time, careful study – Abaddon does not meet these criteria.”

He paused for a moment, then added more.

“More importantly, whoever is behind this managed to do it all under our very noses. This can mean only one thing: They are deeply embedded within our city. To penetrate to this level would take a decade, perhaps longer. I suspect that by now its influence has reached into the power structure of Skycloud. Perhaps even the highest levels. If the Dark Atom had achieved such success this would not be the result we would see.”

The others with Arcturus were struck dumb. Sidelong glances were cast all around. Was someone here an agent of the demons? One of their own? If that were true, then the implications were too terrible to imagine.

“Be at ease. There are certainly spies, but not necessarily among you. It could be someone you have regular contact with. From this point forward we must all be more cautious in our dealings.”

“Yes, indeed!”

Arcturus listlessly motioned with his finger, and a stream of light flashed out like lightning. The bolt struck one of the incubators and raced through it in an instant, then another and another. In the blink of an eye the entire room was flickering with lightning. The cocoons – and their foul contents – were destroyed.

“Make sure that news of what we’ve discovered here does not spread. We must continue our investigation into the work of these demons in secret. Anyone who breathes a word of this will be dealt with. Harshly.”

A chill ran through the lords and officers. They weren’t sure whether it was from his electrical display of might, or the brief murderous threat in his voice.

His demands were reasonable. If the public were to learn of what happened here, who knows what sort of chaos would ensue.

Arcturus ordered his men to continue the search. So far, the primeval weapon Cloudhawk mentioned had not been found. The Elysian nobles were loathe to believe such a terrible thing could exist in their back yard, but after seeing the breeding grounds they realized all manner of dark things were possible. They could only rest once a thorough search was completed.

After several more hours, another collection of incubators was uncovered but no sign of the weapon turned up. No evidence was found to suggest it ever existed at all. Without it, Cloudhawk would be hard pressed to explain why he’d been forced to create such a scene.

There were still so many dubious parts to his story. Things were only going to get more difficult.

Previous ChapterNext Chapte