<Great!> I replied, feeling as if a single ray of hope had appeared. <How do I activate the purge mechanism?>
<A purge can be activated by the express command of those ranked Supervisor or higher, including any members listed on a Containment Team,> the mental voice explained patiently.
<I’m the Containment Team Leader!> I told the Nafarrian machine, feeling a wave of frustration surge through me that I had to repeat myself. <Purge the Æther Matrix in this chamber immediately!>
<Command Received,> the device replied. <Checking authorization: Success. Executing Command. Standby.>
“Something is happening!” Drace announced, just as the light emanating from the Æther Crystal started to dim. “The energy around the Crystal is fading!”
“I activated some sort of purge mechanism!” I replied, noticing that the Nafarrian spirits before me seemed to be growing more and more indistinct with every second that passed. “It looks like it’s affecting the Shades too!”
“About time!” Lazarus exclaimed from somewhere behind me, his voice sounding completely exhausted beyond measure. “I don’t know how much I have left in me.”
“Just a little bit longer!” I affirmed, slicing Splinter through the rapidly fading form of a Shade as the chamber steadily grew darker, the mental voices from the spirits also beginning to diminish in volume.
In the seconds that followed, both the chamber and the Shades continued to darken before they both finally winked out as if snuffed by an invisible hand, sending the chamber into pitch black darkness and silence. Several more seconds passed before a few orbs of light flared into existence, conjured with the final dregs of Halcyon’s and Caius’s mana.
Letting Splinter’s edge drop down, I looked in the direction of the now dark Æther Crystal and saw that the tainted energy that once surrounded it had completely faded. Breathing a sigh of relief, I let my body relax, hearing the Nafarrian device voice filter into my head.
<Report: Æther purge complete. Spectral Infestation deemed neutralized.>
Chapter 37
“So, does anyone else think it’s weird that all of the Nafarrian ghosts and spirits we’ve come across think that we’re invading the place, but this…security system thing which Lyr is talking to wants us to kill them all anyway?” Constantine asked out loud as we all recovered from the fight and waited for our spellcasters to finish regenerating their mana - after they had each graciously allowed me to Mana Drain them to top my own reserves. “I mean, that just sounds kinda wrong to me. Shouldn’t the security system be on their side?”
“If they were still alive, it probably would be,” I replied with a shrug and continued scratching Amaranth’s head, the big cat having practically sat on my feet in demand for attention. “But based on what I’ve noticed so far from the security system, and from what happened when we unfroze all the spiders back at the other ruin, it seems that the Nafarr made sure to have protocols in place when an ‘Ætherial Anomaly’ occurs.”
“Clearly for a good reason,” Sierra stated. “Look at what happened when a handful of spiders managed to get to the Ley Line, if we weren’t here to stop the infestation before it got worse, this entire region would have been overrun.”
<It would have at least been enjoyable to hunt the Many-Legs,> Amaranth told me mentally, clearly paying attention to the conversation. <These…spirits…that we have faced recently give no satisfaction to the kill. They merely fade away into nothing.>
<Hopefully we won’t come across any other spirits,> I told my familiar, somewhat understanding where he was coming from. From his point of view, the ghosts that we had been fighting were completely outside his realm of experience and nothing like the typical prey that he hunted. <But I honestly don’t know what else to expect down here.>
“I guess,” Constantine said, his face shifting to a thoughtful expression then looking towards me. “Has it given you any more problems about your Ætherwarping since the first room Lyr?”
“No, nothing.” I replied, shaking my head at the rogue. “I have no idea how the Nafarr set up this system or if it has been damaged along with the ruin, but during an emergency the Containment Teams seem to be able to do or access anything. Even self-approve their own access, which seems like bad security design.”
“I’m not so sure about that Lyr.” Sierra stated. “Given how fast all this Æther stuff can get out of hand, I think reaction speed over security is more important.”
“That is a good point,” I agreed.
“It’s also likely that they didn’t just put anyone on a Containment Team,” Halcyon offered, joining the conversation. “I mean, what did you say this whole thing was, Lyr? A Spectral Infestation? They wouldn’t just send regular people after that. It’d likely be a specialized team of some sort.”
“Which leads me to believe that there are at least four other classifications to how badly this could have gone for us,” Lazarus said pessimistically.
“The system did ask me if the Crystal had grown arms,” I noted, agreeing with the half-giant’s statement.
“Wait, I thought you were joking when you said that,” Caius’s head whipped around to look at me with concern. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“Does this look like my joking face?” I asked the warlock while pointing to the serious expression I was wearing. “It asked if the arms were made out of flesh, or were spiritual in nature.”
There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed that mental picture, several heads turning towards the crystal.
“Well, just when you think you’ve run out of nightmare fuel, the game just finds a way to top you up again!” Halcyon exclaimed, his voice projecting a false, shaky confidence. “If that ever happens to us, I’m giving you all fair warning now, I’m just going to log off.”
“Not if you want any loot, you won’t,” Sierra said, looking pointedly at the mage.
“Bah, what loot?” Halcyon grunted, waving his hands dramatically around the empty chamber. “These Shades didn’t drop anything for us at all! To be honest, I feel a bit cheated.”
“Eh, we’ve already gotten a pretty big haul from this dungeon already,” I said, motioning towards the new gear that Constantine, Drace and Alistair had managed to get from the last fight. “Plus, if you look at it this way, we’ve also secured a completely intact and unpowered Æther Crystal.”
“Hrm,” Halcyon snorted dismissively. “With my luck, it’ll still be full of ghosts the moment that we power it up.”
“Maybe. But that also sounds like a problem for the future,” I replied, using what had to be my favorite phrase. “Anyway, how are you guys doing on mana? Should I tell the security system thing to open the next set of doors for us?”
“I’m ready,” Alistair announced, followed a heartbeat later by Caius saying the same.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Halcyon said with a sigh, waving a hand at the crystal-filled pillar. “Do your thing.”
Nodding at the group, Amaranth and I both turned to walk over towards the console with me mentally reaching out towards it the moment that I came into range.
<We’re ready to keep moving,> I told the security system. <Can you unlock the next door?>
<Affirmative.> It stated, a grinding noise filling the air as the door at the far end of the chamber began to slide open. <Warning: Detection apparatus beyond this chamber is non-operational. Cannot confirm presence of Ætherial Anomalies. Report: Based on last verifiable data, a Sentinel-class security unit was activated to safeguard the local Æther Matrixes. Contact with the security unit was lost: five hundred and fifty years, five months, two weeks, nine hours, eight minutes, twenty-two seconds ago. Recommendation: Proceed with caution.>
A security unit? I thought to myself in surpr
ise, once again doing the mental math and calculating that it had managed to survive for over five months down here before it too had lost contact. But did it lose contact because it broke? Or because something managed to overwhelm it?
<What can you tell me about the security unit?> I decided to ask the device, hoping it had a bit more information for me.
<Report: The unit was a standard Sentinel class model, designed for in close defense and assault. Its primary function was to protect any nearby Æther Matrixes, or serve as a back up to local Containment Teams.> The security system replied without any hesitation.
<Do you know what happened to cause the unit to lose contact?> I asked, starting to wonder just how often these ‘Ætherial Anomalies’ occurred if the Nafarr had security units on hand to deal with them.
<Unknown.> The system answered. <The last recorded contact with the unit was when it was pursuing a high threat class Ætherial Anomaly, as per its last standing orders. Contact with the unit was suddenly lost during the engagement that followed. It is theorized that the unit was either destroyed or suffered enough damage to no longer be able to communicate.>
<Hold on,> I told the system, my eyes widening as I considered the implications of what it had just said. <If the Sentinel unit is still active, will it perceive us as a threat?>
<Negative.> The voice replied. <The security unit has full mental imprints of all Facility and Containment Team members to avoid friendly fire incidents.>
<Even us, who were just added to the list?> I prompted the device, wondering if it would come to the same conclusion I had.
<Processing statement,> the mental voice intoned before falling silent for several seconds as it considered my question. <Warning: If Sentinel unit is still active, newly updated Containment Teams will have not been uploaded into its memory core. Probability of unit regarding you as hostile is to be considered one-hundred percent. Recommendation: Disable and dismantle Sentinel unit until memory core can be updated.>
“You better believe we’re going to dismantle it,” I muttered as I moved away from the crystal-filled pillar and turned to face the group, several of them already staring in my direction, clearly curious as to why I had been talking to the security system for so long.
“Everything okay, Lyr?” Sierra asked having raised an eyebrow after hearing my words. “What are we dismantling now?”
“Possibly a security unit. Whatever that exactly is,” I said with a sigh. “Assuming it’s still active…which I’ll bet any money that is it.”
“Uh, you’ve lost me here, Lyr,” the red-haired elf replied, her expression shifting to confusion. “What security unit? Is it the system that you’re talking to?”
“No, not that one,” I said with another, even deeper, sigh as I ran a hand through my hair, then began to repeat what I had learned from the security system. “So, based on all that. I’m thinking that we either have a damaged security unit of some sort ahead of us…”
“Or something that was strong enough to destroy it,” Lazarus finished, nodding along with my explanation. “Or maybe even both of those things…depending on how things shook out five-hundred years ago.”
“Damn, I didn’t think of that,” I said, definitely not wanting to fight two powerful creatures at once.
“Is anyone else finding it hard to think on that sort of timescale?” Constantine asked. “I mean it’s been so long, maybe this Sentinel thing managed to kill whatever it was chasing and just broke down afterward. It’s been over five centuries since this all happened after all.”
“I think that’s wishful thinking, Constantine. We haven’t found a single thing that’s broken down here,” Caius replied to the rogue while indicating the Æther Crystal. “The Nafarr built things to last.”
“I’m trying hard to be optimistic here, Caius,” Constantine said, putting both his hands behind the back of his head and taking a deep breath. “But you’re making that really difficult right now.”
“There’s a time for optimism and a time for realism, Constantine,” Sierra stated. “Right now, based on what we know, we need to prepare for the worst.”
“I’m sure we’ll be able to manage,” I said, meeting everyone’s gaze as I spoke. “It hasn’t been exactly easy, but we’ve made it this far. I’m sure we can take it the rest of the way.”
“We’ll see,” Drace replied wistfully, before motioning towards the crystal pillar with his chin. “I don’t suppose that box can tell you how Freya and the others are doing? I’d feel a hell of a lot more confident if we could join up with them again.”
“It should be able to,” I said, sending a thought towards the security system. <Where is the other Containment Team right now?>
<Report: The other Containment Team was last detected leaving the Æther Matrix opposite to this one approximately: Six minutes and twenty-two seconds ago. Detection apparatus beyond that point is non-operational.> The mental voice answered promptly.
“According to the system, they’re about six minutes ahead of us,” I replied to the warrior while mentally picturing a map of the magical energy sources we had seen through the Ætherscope. Based on our exploration so far, it seemed that each and every major source of energy that we had detected, corresponded with the rough location of an Æther Crystal, which meant that there was only one more set of Æther Crystals ahead of us.
Plus, whatever else that was lying in wait.
“Then we better get moving,” the half-giant stated, turning away from the group and waving for everyone to follow him as he headed towards the now open door at the far side of the chamber. “No telling what the damage is going to be like, and I’d rather not leave the other group hanging if they end up needing our help somehow.”
With those words, we all left the darkened chamber behind us and filed through the doorway, Drace setting a demanding pace in the hope of catching up with the other group. Much like the previous route we had taken between the two Æther Matrixes, there was plenty of damage evident in the passageway, with large cracks running through the walls, and countless fragments broken off from the ceiling above, now littering the ground. The further that we walked, the more confident I became that the entire hallway itself seemed to be somehow off-center as if it had not only sunken downwards from its original path, but had also twisted slightly, causing our balance to be shifted almost imperceptibly to one side.
<The musk is growing thicker here,> Amaranth told me as we continued down the passageway. <The air is heavier as well.>
<Is it?> I asked my familiar, taking a deep breath and noticing that the vague moldy scent that filled the air had indeed grown more noticeable while also increasing in humidity. <You’re right; I can smell it now too. I wonder what it’s coming from.>
<I am not certain,> Amaranth replied, his ear flicking as he spoke. <Perhaps there is stale water trapped down here?>
<Maybe,> I acknowledged, a little surprised at my familiar’s insight. There was much about the world that he simply didn’t have a frame of reference for, yet it was becoming clear to me that the cat was much smarter than I had originally given him credit for.
Something to consider going forward, I guess, I thought, making a mental note not to hold anything back from Amaranth. I didn’t want to inadvertently stunt the development of his personality by treating him as if he were less intelligent than he truly was.
“Hold up,” Drace suddenly announced, pulling me out of my thoughts as he came to an abrupt stop, squinting at something further along the passageway. “Something doesn’t look right up ahead.”
“Trouble?” I asked, reflexively gripping Splinter’s hilt tightly in my hand as I waited for an answer.
“I…don’t think so,” the half-giant replied, edging forward with careful steps, the orb of light that hovered around him gradually illuminating the pitch-black hallway as he advanced. “The passageway looks like just…ends ahead of us here.”
“What do you mean ends?” Constantine’s voice filtered up from behind me.
“It’s collapsed?”
“No,” Drace called back, turning back towards us and beckoning us forward, his voice having shifted to amazement. “Not collapsed, but opening up into…whatever this place is…was.”
Curious to what he had found, I moved to catch up to Drace, seeing what had caught his attention in the first place. As I moved forward, the floor of the passageway gradually became blackened rubble, cracked and loose beneath my feet, with the wall on my right side giving way into complete darkness.
“Whoa,” I gasped as I looked out into the pitch black that now surrounded me, then back towards Drace, seeing that the man had continued forward, stepping out onto what had to be a truly massive pile of stone as it continued downwards and out of sight.
“Whoa indeed,” Drace agreed, motioning me forward towards him as the rest of the party caught up and stared out into the abyss around us.
“It’s a…tunnel,” Caius was the first to announce, his Dark Elven ancestry allowing him to see as clearly as if it were day. “A really, really big tunnel.”
“But for what?” Constantine asked.
No one had an answer for the rogue as Caius and Halcyon wordlessly conjured several more orbs of light and began sending them out to illuminate the area, bits and pieces of the tunnel slowly becoming more and more visible. While the two mages ensured that those without enhanced vision could see, I decided to activate True Sight, the darkness around us vanishing as the magical enchantment took over.
Looking around the chamber, the first thing that my mind processed was the sheer size of the tunnel, which at my best guess measured at least fifty feet in each direction. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the amount of work that would have gone into excavating the space and once again was in awe of the technology the Nafarr must have possessed.
This place must have been ancient even before it was destroyed, I theorized as I scanned my surroundings, seeing that there was a large collapse in the tunnel leading backward the way that we came. This would have taken ages to plan and build.