Chapter 9 - haste is the key

Addis-Abeba - Wednesday, 22 of May - 14h30

“C6 compromised! I repeat, C6 compromised, Shield-dome down!” Yelled the Angel in his helmet, firing lightballs everywhere as his suit helped him deal with the Wild Demons. In first line, he was confronted to their full power and madness. A comrade fell beside him, screaming when acid tendrils perfored her visor, before going silent. Fuck, where is Hol… But his thought was interrupted by multiple powerful pillars of light fallinf from the sky, wiping out the first and second waves of enraged ennemies. The Holy Spirits flew over him with their unnatural quietness, going toward another position requiring their support. The church, the sixth one of this city, lay in ruin around him but, more seriously, both its Spire and Generator had been destroyed by the rampaging beasts. A sonic bomm ressounded, quickly followed by the shockwaves annoucing a new drop. Several new drops in fact. Cherubs. Oh bloody hell and that’s Saraqael Herself! Amongs the strangely shaped Cherubs, the Archangel with her nearly four meters stood out explosively. “You’re the one in charge of this position?” She asked him, her deep voice full of concern. “Yes Archangel!” “You did well seeing how you took a big part of the first way. Protect us while we make this church worl again.” “YES MA’AM!”

***

It’s a disaster, but not complet one yet. Alielle was tired. Aliel, Alielle… They had begun this operation three hours ago and, if he had fought for way longer in the past, this was clearly on of the hottest battle he had ever endured. Well, not counting Sunday Fall… They had already deployed a tad more soldiers than the Grey Convention authorized them to but it was still not enough. Fuck Lucifer and her fucking pride! “C6 as been put back online, Archangel!” “Already? She really doesn’t fall far from doing miracles, does she?” “That’s for sure, Archangel.” Answered the communication officer. Suddenly, all the control panels of the Commander Room turned red, and a ominous metalic voice rang. “Death… Prepare…” Thanks you, Luca. Another second, and everything was back to normal.

“Saraqael, prepare Orichalcum!” “Copy!” Answered the other Archangel. Death, prepare. The code for a wild demon duke. Now that’s a true fucking disaster. “Aliel to Heaven, asking for class three EMP on Africa!”

***

Lastreau

2:15 am? It was even quicker than I thought! She had done the trip to the city hall and had just finished her sandwich. Well, now let’s wait like a dumbass, eh? At least it’s bettern than being late. She hate being late. Always so much trouble or, at least, embarassment. Five minutes, ten, fifteen, minutes passed quickly for her since she had something to read. I really love the Circle of Time… She smiled. “Hello. Are you here for the… special event, in the parking?” Someone asked her, startling her. She raised her gaze and saw a woman, maybe mid-twenty? Well, she was young, but not as young as Lysandre for sure. “Uh? I don’t know, I got here because someone messaged me.” Answered Lysandre, cautious. Demonist are supposed to be a secret, let’s not make a mistake on your second day will you, Lysandre? The woman looked at her and showed her own phone. “Like that?” The Chaos app... “Yes, like that.” “You’re quite young to be attending, no?” “Yeah, I hear that a lot. I’m Lysandre.” What am I doing? She gave her hand to the woman who took it, surprised. “Nice to meet you? I’m Ella. Just so you know, I came to you because I was surprised to see someone waiting in the open. Didn’t you have instruction to be a bit... inconspicuous... while waiting?” Lysandre looked at Ella with bewildered eyes. “No, absolutely not.” Ella was going to speak again but was interrupted by the garage door opening. Quickly, two or three cars went into it. “Go into it, girl, I’ve my own car to take care of. We’ll talk once we’re in.” She seems friendly… I like her? She didn’t wait to see what Ella was doing and rushed in the garage, taking the pedestrian way. She arrived just in time to see Sylas exit the elevator. Four people were aligned before him, and she quickly took place beside Ella, at the right end. “Welcome, young Claimants. I am Sylas, the Guardian of this Cell, and I will be your guide through the acceptance ritual. Please come in the elevator, we will continue this talk in the cell itself.” And he gestured toward it, waiting for them to be inside to come and press a button. Like the last time, Lysandre didn’t feel any movement but soon enough the door behind them opened over the lounge she saw last time. “Please, take a seat.” Sylas followed his own advice the first. As they sitted, Lysandre took a look at each of them. The first one was a woman, Mid-thirty she would have said, white skin with black hair and green eyes. She kept figeting a thing she had in her pocket. The second was man, maybe fifty years old? he was bald and seemed old, so Lysandre assumed so. He was quite fat but seemed to have some muscle under it. The third was man with skin in a very dark tone of black, with big lips and nose, bald too, although her seemed much younger. She didn’t know why, but he seemed to have a reassuring aura somehow, like a warm father. The last was, of course, Ella, with her hispanic-typed body and her black eyes and hair. Fuck, everyone is watching me! She had been so focused at looking at them that she had forget to sit herself. She hurriedly went in place and Sylas proceeded.

“Good. As you know, you’ve all been chosen because, one way or another, you drew our attention. Be it because someone saw your potential, because you discovered magic or because you killed a demon, you’ve shown some aptitudes to deal with the abnormal. Now, before we start for real, you’ve a choice. You can try and pass the tests we will throw at you, thus risking your life to prove you can be an interesting addition to this cell, binding you at us. Or you can walk away, take the elevator and never come back. Of course, if you do that, you’ll forget everything related to the Second World, that’s the name we give to talk about all of this, demons, magic and all. So, anyone want to leave?” No one moved, each of them looking at the others to see if someone would quit. After a minute of silence, Sylas started talking again. “Good, since you all want to stay, let’s start right away. First, you’ll have to open this door.” He pointed toward the carved door Pierre had blocked on last monday. “Quick now, go inspect it!” Everyone rushed toward the door, everyone but Lysandre who had been kept in place by invisible shackles. “And you… let them search a bit. It’s not a difficult test, but there is no point if you just come and do it in one go. They need to experience thing. Will yah?” “Of course, Sylas-Grifatshi. “Thanks lass. Now go with them and keep quiet.” He was smilling at her. I think he like me…?

And so she ended up looking at the four other Claimants as they tried to open the door. The first option, trying to push, didn’t work. Of course. It had been the old man that tried it. Once that was out of the way, they had started studying the inscription on the door.

“Look, I’m sure this is a code or a sentence that we need to translate!” Said the woman in her mid-thirty. “I’ve seen symbols like that before, I think it’s some kind of Demonic Writting.” “So we need to read this thing? I don’t even recognize the signs used.” Answered the fatherly figure, dispirited. “As far as we know, we’ve all our time. Let’s take it slow and steady. Those of us that don’t know anything about it can search on the internet while you…” Said the fat man peacefully, turning toward the mid-thirty woman. “...think about it and compare it to what you already know. All right? Let’s not give up right at the first test. I don’t know you, but I want to open this door.” Sensible, more than his body let think of. I really should be warry of judging people on their body. “First of all, if we’re going to work together, why don’t we exchange name? I’m Thomas, glad to meet you all.” The other took a second to process it and followed his exemple. “I’m Louisa, nice to meet you!” Said the mid-thirty woman. “I’m Ella.” Said, well, Ella. “ I’m Assane, delighted to make your acquaintance.” Lysandre was lost in her thought and took a moment to realize they were looking at her, waiting for her introduction. “Ah! Sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention, what’s going on?” “We’re exchanging names, miss…” “Oh yes, I’m called Lysandre!” She said in a rush to answer. “And yes I know, I’m quite young blablabla next subject please.” “Whoho, calm down, I didn’t say anything about your age.” Said Thomas with a cool voice. “Sorry, it’s just that people say it a lot and it’s becoming quite tiresome. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” “No offence… Lysandre that is? Can I ask you a question, before we go back to work?” “Sure?” “Well, isn’t Lysandre a boy’s name, not a girl’s one?” “Ah, yes. Tell that to my parents.” “Ok, thanks. Now, back to the test. Is there any chance you can help us open this?” He pointed at the door. “Aaaaah no I’m sorry I can’t help at all I’m useless sorry-sorry-sorry.” She ansswered anxiously. “You’re quite a stressed one aren’t you? Bah, don’t fret, we’re all trying to get past this.” “Thanks.” She smiled. So far they’re… astonishely sympathetic I would say? I hope it goes on. The next thirty minutes were spent analazing the strange writting.

Jorassum-O-Keuross--Trariremss-Osigaltr--Ywozuatr-Euvnacit-Etas(Yx)

They took pictures of it and searched on the internet while Louisa, I think it’s Louisa. I really should pay more attention, it’s already a miracle I can remember her name, while she tried to remember what she knew about the demonic language. Nothing really emerged from that, aside this one time Louisa exclaimed “I think that part means Energy or something!” Urgh, how long is this gonna take. It’s already past 3pm, I’m tired. She stepped aside from the working group and went to Sylas, sitting beside him. “How long will they need to decipher the inscription?” “A good question, lass. The record for the quickest opening is twelve seconds. The brat knew demonic perfectly and got it right on first time. Actually, it was Pierre, so you know. Very good, this brat, nearly a genius. Too bad he is so… moody. And, well, for the record of the slowest, it was forty-nine hours I think. On the the four we had taken two had departed before the last two finally understood the books there,” He pointed toward a shelves,” are demonic… dictionnary? Dangerous to have so much demonic in one place, hurt like hell to use, but you’ll all need them trough your formation, so better get started early, right? Well, you probably won’t ever need them, seeing how proficient your are in Demonic, but the other will. My bet? Maybe two more hours.” “What? How long will this initiation take?” “At this rate? Until midnight, maybe latter. I mean, y’all very nice, but you’re all quite new to this world. It’s rare to only have naturals in on batch, but it seems a lot of people discovered the Second World lately. We’re a tiny Cell, we redirected the more competent toward Brussels and took in the local newbies, even if it’s not the best for the Cell’s power. Our master is quite the bleeding heary, yah see? She maybe be cold, but she cares.”

“Fuck, so long? Won’t do, I need to be back at home before nine. They can break their teeth on Demonic later, I’ve something else to do.” And she wen’t straight to the door. “Sorry give me some space please.” She said bossily. They all looked at her., frowning their brows. “Well? Quickly now! It’s already three pm and I want to eat with my familly tonight!” “Calm down, lass, what’s going one?” Asked Thomas. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! Ahum! Knowledge is power, competition is evolution, cooperation is survival.” She said toward the door. They looked at her once more, Louisa’s hands on her hips. Lysandre though that, if the door hadn’t opened right after, she would have been scolded. Scolded! I hate being young! The door finished opening in a big “CLAC!”, revealing another room. “Perfect! Can we move on, please? I don’t have all day!”