Chapter 8

Mikael

He was hovering in a space of pure light, unaware of the passing time. No, it could be said that the concept of time itself had no meaning here, not yet. At some point, he realized that the light density wasn’t uniform. Like in a fog, some places were richer in light, some poorer. He finally thought. He thought of turning his head and, in the luminous void, something was floating behind him. A big sphere of solid light, surrounded by two rings crossing at right angles. Blocks were detaching themself from those rings all the time to delve into the white sphere and, in an opposite motion, blocks were emerging from the dazzling sphere to fill the holes in the rings. The whole thing appeared smooth and natural, as if it was governed by unknown and mysterious rules, yet to be discovered.

Where Am i ? Thought Mikael while frowning.

The Sanctuary. One of the few truly extraordinary artefacts the Architect ever created. A marvel of spatio-temporal engineering and non-euclidean geometry, a whole world contained in an unexpected fold of the omniverse, an experiment were the concept of Body was removed, a world of pure Spirit and Soul. One of the prototype, by the way, of the Labyrinth, clearly not meant to be put in human hands. A barren world, for the time being, awaiting nothing but to flourish between the hands of a skilled gardener. The question now is to know if you’ve what it takes to carry this gift, Mikael, Guardian of the Sanctuary. It could be a good idea to welcome your first inhabitant…

Then said a voice he had already heard, three weeks ago.

“Who are you ?” Tried to ask Mikael, in vain.

His eyes then came across a tiny blue light that sliced on the white landscape. He floated toward it, surprised to see his motion so swift. He could quickly distinguish the outlines of the blue light, humans, until he recognized it.

“Lauryne !” He exclaimed, rushing through the last few meters like an arrow.

He gently took her in his arms but the little one had her eyes closed, seemingly lost in a deep slumber, not waking up at the touch of the young man. Not willing to disturb her, he let her go in the void, a little bit worried at first, an emotion quickly disappearing when she started hovering peacefully in front of him. He then took the time to check her more thoroughly. Her face didn’t change, nor did her body as a whole. She was radiating cold blue rays with two exceptions : Her right hand was engulfed by a red murderous light, with a long and also red thread weaved between her palm and her heart. Just by watching it, Mikael could feel a terrifying wrath filling him, a colossal murderous will and a bloodlust more fitting of an hardened killer than a little girl. By looking closely, the outlines of a spectral knife could even be guessed on her right palm. Mikael turned his eyes away, unable to keep the emotions engulfing him on check any longer.

The second aberration was a large amount of dark shreds of shadows clinging here and there to the body of Lauryne. they were located, Mikael noticed it, on areas where she had been previously injured by her brother, her throat, her back, her arms, her head, her legs, her lower abdomen…

He touched one of those oily piece of darkness and was assaulted by a creepy mass of pain, sorrow and agony, making him took back his hand by reflex, like someone who just burned himself by putting one of his arm in fire.

Tiny advice. Don’t mess with the people who got here. You’re interacting directly with their Spirit and Soul, with the whole power that is given to you by the core of this world. You risk hurting them by doing so or, worst, changing their spirit and soul down to their basic level. There is a very damn good reason that I think it’s madness to give this artefact to a human...

“You see every goddamn think I do, is not it ?” Asked angrily Mikael, tired of this enigmatic voice.

“Answer me !” He shouted when the voice didn’t express herself again.

Got to be kidding me ! She see clearly what I do, she could at least tell me ab…

...Why ?

She interrupted him in his train of thought.

Why can I silence every other ones but not the lot of you ? You keep buzzing in my ears, your voices resonating even if I cancel them. Why ? And for fuck’s sake, when will she tell her name ? I’ve other things to do than staying awake waiting she deign speaking. What an idea to put her in a body like that !

“Heu… Sorry ?”

Ah, fuck, I was still online isn’t it ?”

“Yes.”

Sorry, bye !

“No, wait ! What is going on here ?” Tried to ask Mikael without succes, the voice seemingly already gone.

Fuck. What do I do now ? He asked himself while putting his gaze back on Lauryne.

“A world of Spirit and Soul…” He said to himself while contemplating her.

So she is really dead. He thought while rubbing his forefront, remembering how she died, her screams of pain. Her ashes.

But now she is here. Only her body died, not her spirit and soul. It is… kind of reassuring. I have her, I will not let her be harmed again. He kept thinking while slowly stroking her hair, avoiding to touch the darkness she was covered by or her right murderous hand.

***

Now, how can I exit this place ? He asked himself while sweeping a gaze over the world, his world.

“I want to go back on the real world.” He said aloud, trying the most basic thing. And it worked.

Fuck ! He just had the time to thought before he got engulfed by darkness.

***

He opened his eyes, his breathing becoming deeper and faster, his heart speeding up, his body like an engine igniting for the first time since long ago. He stretched in his bed, making each of his muscular fiber work, sensing his weakness and his exhaustion. In an effort of will, he got up on his bed while pushing back the blanket. He was dazzled by the light coming from the window, to powerful for his tired eyes. He covered them to help them adjust themself to the luminosity, what took them several minutes. Their acclimatation finished, he swept the room with a gaze. A wooden floor, stone walls, a tiny window reinforced by steel rods. A chair and a table, two towels placed together next to a empty basin and a bath mitt.

[Spirit and Soul reintegration concluded. Warning, body synchronization low, you will be weak against mental and psychological attack.]

[Warning ! Body under-running. Acclimation time needed to regain its full power.]

[Warning ! Conflict between proce”é(§#a{^!!! OVERRIDE.]

Multiple windows had appeared successively before him, lightly hovering in the air.

O-k ? Is this a part of the system Helianthine talked about ? He thought while carefully reading what they were telling him before closing them.

He then put his feet on the ground, relying on the bed to stand up, his legs shaking under the effort they needed to do. He took a step and then a second before needing to catch the table to avoid falling, gritting his teeth against the sprouting pain in his muscle.

“Clang !” Made a bowl falling on the ground, its content of chicken broth spilling all over the wood.

Mikael turned his head, surprised by this sudden noise, making eye contact with a young woman clad in white, who opened her eyes even wider when she understood that he was standing up. She took a second to pull herself together.

“What are you doing ? Go back in the bed, you will hurt yourself !” She then exclaimed while coming toward him, determined.

“How long ?” He asked her.

“What ?”

“Tss, how long have I slept ?” Asked Mikael again, clicking his tongue of annoyance.

“Eh, I don’t know, two month, maybe three ?” She answered while supporting the young man, helping him going back in his bed, where he only sitted, much to the displeasure of the young woman.

“Where am I ?”

“At the Wholesacre hospital, in Kalastol.” She answered while forcing him to lie down.

“But now you need to rest. I will notify your relatives that you woke up. Please don’t try to stand up again, I need to call a priest to auscultate you and determine what therapy you need to get.”

“...Understood.”

“Good. I’ll come back with another chicken broth and what I need to clean this mess.” She said while exiting the room, looking at the tray she dropped of surprise.

Mikael closed his eyes one second and was jolted awake by light slaps on the wrists.

“Oh, don’t go back in dreamland, not so fast.” Said the nurse with an new bowl of broth in her hands.

“I fell asleep ?”

“Indeed, and it’s not that surprising. Trying to stand up after a two month coma, it’s nearly of a suicidal scale you know ?”

“Bah, if I can stand, it is that everything is fine.” Said the stubborn young man.

The nurse rolled her eyes while taking the chair.

“Okay, show me a bit of this fighting spirit, stand up and sit. It’s really easier to make patient eat when they’re awake and more or less autonomous .” She asked him, letting her exhaustion dawn.

Mikael complied, going as far as taking the bowl to eat all by himself despite his shaking hands, to the surprise of the nurse.

“You’re the first one I see that is able to do those things after a sleep so long. How ?” She asked, curious.

“Willpower.’ He answered between two spoonful.

“...I must say, you are without doubt the easiest patient I ever had the responsibility of.” Then said the nurse who was watching the young man eating.

“Ha ?”

“Yes. Your cloths wash themself alone and deal with all the secretions your body produce. I just needed to wash you from time to time and made sure that you didn’t rot from anywhere, and even then your cloth was helping me. It must have cost you an estate to bought this magical item.” She commented while admiring the gown of Mikael with eyes full of stars.

The young man didn’t react, though, to focused on the food to really listen to her.

Rahato

Fascinating. She thought while drinking her hot chocolate with a straw, her mug empty since half an hour ago without her noticing at all, to focused on the data her monitor was returning her.

“Pshhh.”

No, more than that, it’s incredib… “Arhg !”

“BAM !”

She just had been grabbed by her throat, her assailants then smashing her against a wall. She now had a perfect view of the furious head of Captain Sirgan.

“What for fuck’s sake have you done with my soldier !” He shouted, holding the doctor with one hand while pointing the projections with the other.

“Aargh.” She responded in a breath while holding her throat, unable to answered because she was strangled.

“Boom.” Sirgan understood the hint and let the doctor go, making her fall on the ground.

“Fuck, I know you were Orb-op but you could control yourself a bit, no ?

“Answer the question or I throw you into space.”

“Ah ! As if you could afford it !” She said while massaging the purplish mark that started appearing on her throat.

“Answer. The. Question.” He responded with a twitch of the mouth.

She threw a sceptical look at him while going toward her consoles, where she took the projection of the experiment room and put it on the side while reducing it, making way to project other things.

“For now i’ve only superficial observation, I will need to make samples to do a deeper investigation, but it seems that the Revelation subject Syphony extracted took a liking to your soldier, or something like that. I don’t know how but she figured out that Syphony was sick and dying, and reacted by making the current situation happen.” She said while showing the room with the two girls still sleeping peacefully against each other.

“...She’s kissing her ?” Asked the Captain, doubtful and totally missing the point of their exchange.

“On the outside, yes, but what the subject really do is infecting Syphony with a very specific strain of RV-a1, a strain totally unknown until today an that seems to work symbiotically with the subject.”

“Wait, you let her infect Syphony ?!” He reacted, still lost.

“She was already infected, Captain, as I had already told.”

“What ?” Responded the Captain, finally understanding that his soldier was already sick.

“Her armor broke down when she was extracting this subject. You were busy doing something else and the medical section wasn’t willing to bother you.”

“Those fucker, I’ll show them ! But for now, why did the subject infect Syphony if she was already sick ? Oh god, she really is sick...”

“Look by yourself.” She answered while putting data on display.

“...She’s 100% infected…” He said while frowning.

“...But she’s still alive…?”

“Indeed. It seems that the subject conveyed her own microbiote into Syphony to make her able to absorb RV-a1.”

“Wait, does this mean that she saved her life ?” He exclaimed with googly eyes.

“Yes John. Your goddaughter will not die. Happy ?” She responded while putting an elbow in his ribs, a smirk on her face.

Overwhelmed by the situation, he looked at her dumbly before going back to what he was doing. He stopped at the doorstep.

“You’re always doing this, aren’t you ?”

“I’m a genius.” She answered while shrugging.

“Warn me next time, maybe I will not strangle you then.”

“Ah ! Where would be the fun ?”

“...The bottle you want. It’s yours. Come by my room to further explain this to me, we’ll drink it together.” He said to close their conversation, crossing the door and disappearing in the corridor.

As intense as always. Put I think I would do the same if it was my own goddaughter in there. Hell, I could already have killed him it the role were reversed.

Syphony

She was freezing and burning at the same time, her body covered in cold sweat, her brain pedaling in hummus. She had a strange dream, she was getting the impression that she was looking at herself, feeling things in duplicate…

“Ah !” She woke up with a start, getting up an sitting on her bed in one go. The room was perfumed by the odor of sweat, a smell of human body permeating the place, heavy and strangely pleasant. She was still in the tiny white room, an area intended for quarantine.

Ah yes, indeed. She thought while rubbing her eyes. I’m infected…

“Hello sleepyhead, finally awake ?” She was startled by a gentle little voice asking her this question.

Syphony turned her head and saw a young woman lying down against her, smiling radiantly while admiring the soldier. No, not a young woman but the subject she extracted.

I didn’t even felt her being there ! She wondered while standing to move away from her.

“How do you feel ?” The subject then asked her.

Syphony frowned and touched her lips when she remembered the event of the previous day.

She kissed me… She thought while reliving the feelings this kiss had procured her.

“...Good. I’m feeling good, astonishingly... good… ?” She answered, surprised.

“Yes ! It worked !” Then exclaimed the young woman while triumphantly raising her fists.

“Worked ? What worked out ?”

“I was nearly certain that I could make you avoid being eaten alive by the thing assaulting you, and it worked !” She answered cheerfully.

“...What did you do to me ?”

“Ah ? I don’t really know, but at least it worked.” She responded with a smile before standing up and taking Syphony in her arms.

“And you smell awfully good.” She then exclaimed while inhaling deeply, filling her lung with Syphony’s scent, the soldier so stunned by the circumstances she didn't react in any way.

“Uh, I erm, what ?" She finally said to the young woman, a trifle incoherent.

“You don’t think that it smells good ?” She retorted.

And so Syphony stopped thinking like her training was telling her to, and took a breath to smell the young woman before her, effectively reaching the same conclusion. Her skin, her sweat, her hair, everything was seemingly exuding a heady fragrance, compelling to the point of heating her body. unknowingly, she leaned toward the young woman and started to kiss her. A normal kiss, this time, that lasted several minute nonetheless, her savior returning it frantically. Savior that started speaking when they finally separated their burning lips.

“Ah ! It seems to me that we’re on the same wavelength, no ?” She said proudly.

Syphony let her gaze drift before coming to herself.

“What’s going on with me ?” Then asked the soldier, scarred by the uncontrollable reactions of her own body.

“Is that really so important ? You will not die, that’s what matter the most.” Answered the young woman, nodding her head with contentment while going toward the bed to sit on it.

“And, by the way, my name’s Mellite.” She added.

“We’re linked now, the least is to know my name, no ?”

“Linke…”Tried to ask Syphony to Mellite, disrupted by a powerful voice resonating in her head.

Bloody hell finally ! Here, take your fragment, because you said your name and all now i’m going to sleep mind the pain bye !

Squawked someone in the head of Syphony before quieting down like someone angrily slamming a door. The soldier was then assaulted by a terrifying pain. The last thing she saw was Mellite frowning of pain and then of concern when she saw her woman collapse in front of her. Syphony felt herself being caught up by a hot and powerful grasp before totally losing consciousness.

Eleonor

She was twirling in all direction while giving her all to avoid the fangs, claws, legs, rays shot, crystalline missiles and fiery breath that were saturating the space. Directions had nearly lost their meaning, gravity struggling to give sense to this area because of the stunts Eleonor was doing, made so complex by the titanic battle she was involved in. The dragon made a looping to avoid a burst of rays that collided with the wall afar, sublimating the first few layers of stone and turning the deeper ones into lava. The flying lizard struck back with a breath of pure light that flowed around the blue transparent shield of its opponent.

Here you are in quite the bad situation, little bug, caught between an Ancient and a Xarel-T’horok. I’m surprised that this relic is still in working order despite all the time that passed since the Hetaxeark abandoned this place, even though they were winning against the Sauriot Swarm…

The young lady tried to seize an escape opportunity that appeared, but her way was cut by a long filiform leg, covered by something akin to gold, half-way between the machine and the work of art, and she could only stop herself in her momentum to avoid being targeted by the defense system of this mechanical monstrosity. She drove herself in a crack of the wall, using her tentacles to anchor her on the rock, hiding a handful of second to catch her breath while waiting for an opportunity that didn’t come, the battle between the two creatures taking too much space for her to get out of there.

HuUuum, tIny crEaTURe, I sEe YoU. A voice then ressounded in her head, strange, distorted, as if the one using it didn’t know how to use words.

Who are you ? Asked Eleonor, adrenaline excluding all the superfluous questions that she could avec asked.

ThE One BatTlING THis cREAtuRe Of BLUE and GOLD.

You’re the dragon ?

YOU caN REfer tO ME tHIs WaY, yEs.

What do you want ?

thIS CALAMITY Is a TRUE conCern. ThE PLace iS baD FoR ME. HeLp ME and i WILl GivE YOU SoMeThInG YOU wAnT.

Helping you ? How ? I would be pulverized the moment I try to battle this thing !

YOU’rE tINy, YOU CoULd sNEak In plAce WHere I can’T gO. tHIS PURIFIER iS DaMaGeD, IF YOU dO WhAt I tElL you to, We CoulD BOTH ComE oUt of tHIs unSCAttered.

...Ok, What do I do ?

I wIlL gIvE YOU SoMeThInG To sOw In oNe Of ThE TRanSMisSIon CrystaL oF tHe MaCHiNE, THaT WaY I CaN TemPORaRIlY InfecT It To mAkE It lose iS TarGEt : ME

...Understood, let’s go.

PERFeCT.

THe exchange lasted only a handful of second, the battle stalling a little. Eleonor then received some sort of mental sight, the trajectory of a pod the dragon was on the verge of launching from a hidden aperture under one of his scale, warning her about what she needed to do. Two second of wait, and the young woman threw herself out of the crack full speed ahead, catching the big thorn on the fly. She put the organic knife between her teeth, her hooks tying her arms up. With her right hand, she anchored tentacles on one of the legs of the mad machine, triggering the defense mechanism. Innumerable blue crystals started floating around the metallic structure while filling themself of light, every one of them facing the girl. But just before they could unleash their full power on her, a flood of screaming creature rained down on the robot, exiting the dragon by countless little holes, covering her. The crystals turned away from Eleonor, starting to take down the flying pest, making rain blood and corpses without stopping her in her progression. The dragon was transmitting her informations in real time directly in her mind, giving Eleonor the strange feeling that she was seeing from more than two eyes. She needed to cling firmly to the leg when the robot started to move again, relying on her tentacles to surround the structure, succeeding barely to join her two hooks around it with all the length of her tentacles. A wall was getting closer quickly and she slided a bit backward when the mechanical leg broke deeply into it. She quickly let go of her hold on the leg to start progressing again while the monstrosity was stationary, to focused on taking a kill on the dragon. The view her companion of misfortune was giving her was one of some sort of big golden mechanical spider anchored along a wall, a crown of humongous blue crystals firing waves after waves of rays of the same color toward the dragon. His companion was clearly showing her the target she needed to reach. The legs were spread evenly around a big ring that was surrounding an armoured sphere floating in the center of it, a large number of solid light strands connecting the two things. A number of breach could be seen on the sphere, one of them pretty deep, leading on one of the internal system of the robot. There, she needed to sow the thorn she was holding between her teeth, with so much strength her jaw was becoming painful. She continued her rowdy climb, stopping when the mechanical spider started moving again, climbing as she could when it was motionless. From time to time, when the dragon failed to dodge some shot, she could feel a sting of pain through the link they were sharing. The vast majority of his wound were healed in no time, but some were staying in place he was already struck too much time, piling up bit by bit, draining his strength...