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Chapter 4
Ashorea pushed at an inconspicuous button hidden along the underside of a dust covered desk towards the back of an office which had long been left derelict and without purpose. The wall behind her slender Elezen frame shifted, before sliding backwards and then to the left revealing a dimly illuminated stairwell. "How cliche." Char chided as his lips pulled into an amused smirk. "I rather think so too, but I should think the secret the former president Lohengrin wished hidden warranted it." She replied, leading the way down into the depths.
Ceruleum lights pulsed along the walls as they descended, a stagnant scent of decay filled their noses and the air grew heavy with humidity. "Seven hells... They think to build a secret room, but neglect air filtration of any sort. Let's just cut every corner we can." Char stuffed his hands into his pockets and voiced his frustrations cynically as they emerged from the spiral of stairs into a small enclosure housing a single cylindrical containment unit filled with remnants of concentrated aether lingering visibly within. Circling it were all manner of scientific impliments the like of which Char had never seen before. Ashorea, anticipating his question, began to speak as he circled the apparatus.Â
"As far as I can tell, this device was designed to forcibly 'bath' individuals in raw and unprocessed aether. You might say it's akin to force-feeding a child that refuses to eat... only in this instance, there is the very real potential of death if the appropriate levels of exposure are not maintained... While scarce, the documentation we have regarding early tests of the device indicate that it hasn't met with a high success rate. Only one in ten survive and of those only one in every five demonstrated the potential the former President had laid out his criteria for... However..."
Char reached out and tapped at the glass, the flows of aether reflected in his mismatched eyes. "However?" He turned his head to gaze up at her expectantly. "...Those that met the criteria had either fallen into dementia or later suffered from a spontaneous and complete failure of their vital organs." Ashorea moved to examine a clipboard that had been collecting dust in the corner of the room. "With some time to familiarize myself with the technology, and your permission, I might be able to improve upon those results." The Miqo'te laughed in an amused fashion, regarding her with a wry grin. "You're getting much to far ahead of yourself. I'm only here because this piques my curiosity - I have yet to express any interest in furthering his work."
She moved to the back of the room, opening a door leading down a narrow hallway in which two security personnel had been assigned earlier yesterday. "You may change your mind when you see our friend." She replied softly, as she maneuvered around the two and into the room - Char sauntering idly behind her into a holding area afforded only the barest amount of light. This was where the foul odor originated, and he suddenly wished he was wearing a mask of some sort as the stench of fecal matter and death battled against his keen nostrils. Ashorea showed little signs of care about it as she stood beside the last set of iron bars on the left, motioning for him to look inside.
Within the enclosed space was a single Au Ra male clamped in irons about his wrists with both arms spread aloft as if suspended in place. He rested on his knees, breathing softly with locks of blue hair falling along his face which was angled downward. Despite looking remarkable given the amount of time Ashorea had said he went without food or sustenance, something about him seemed sickly all the same. Above him a thin ray of moonlight shined down upon him from a shaft reaching some several fifty or sixty feet above him, also cast in iron bars at the top like a drainage system. Drops of water announced themselves as they fell from above and plopped along the floor.Â
Char studied the young man from outside of the cell for the longest time, before the silence was broken by the Au Ra''s surprisingly soft voice. "...What have you need of..? More questions in pursuit of broken answers?" He turned his head slowly upright, revealing a ragged cloth wrapped over his eyes. "...Or come you now to continue my pain? It's absence is noticed and raises questions on my part as surely as my very presence has on yours..." The Miqo'te rested his arms along the bars and leaned forward, as if getting closer to a zoo animal that captivated a child's imagination. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with you yet, if that's what you mean to ask. Until just recently I hadn't any inkling of your existence... or anything down here for that matter."Â
"It is of little consequence. The woman has explained that my fate is in your hands, as it seems you have inherited all that my jailers would have claimed for themselves... Carry you the lusts and greeds they did as they destroyed the others that have occupied the now silent rooms beyond this one?" The Au Ra tilted his head to the side, indicating that he was awaiting an answer. "I will admit that I do find their studies to be fascinating, Au Ra." He looked to Ashorea, and then moved from the bars. "Open it." She blinked in sudden confusion. "What?" His eyebrows furrowed. "Open. The. Cell." He reiterated as if insulting her intelligence. She stared at him in disbelief before moving to press several buttons along a keypad beside the cell - the iron bars slowly pulled to the right and allowed for entry.
Char took a breath as he crossed the threshold and approached the man at the back of the cell. "What would you do, were you me?" The Au Ra's cracked lips pulled into something of an amused smile. "I would do as the other's, for I know nothing else... I survive in this darkness, when all other's have lost their light and faded away... The rest have come, and their voices gone... I always remain." Char perked a brow. "You do not desire to be let free to roam the world?" The Au Ra shook it's head. "I know not what the word means beyond one's own navigation of a world I do not comprehend... Even if I admitted to such a desire, would you agree to set me loose upon this world?" The question sounded rhetorical and damning as the Au Ra craned his neck to further look up in Char's direction. "No. I would not. At best I would see you disposed of in as painless a manner as possible. I don't know what would come of letting you free of your bonds."
"The first to loose me from the irons was broken after time in the machine. I felt pain, and it held to me for a very long time. The scientist that shared with me his time, his words, and his companionship examined me... For all he gave me... I wanted to return; I shared with him my pain, and now he shan't hurt again." His tail began bobbing back and forth, skittering against the loose stones of the floor, his answer devoid of any humor or remorse - a neutral and unapologetic tone. "You killed him to share your pain?" Char repeated, lost in thought that someone like this was kneeling before him. "Yes. That is what friends do... They share their joys and burdens alike - he claimed to be my friend and so I wished proof of that fact... He was a very good friend."Â
Ashorea eyed the two warily from the hallway, wearing her concern for the president's safety openly. "It has been dark since then... since he looked into my eyes and saw me as I am for all their collective poking and prodding... Stared into the sea of the soul they had spent so much time molding... From then forth I have not seen as you do. I bid you now, if it please you, remove this veil that I might look upon you, within you as they within me... To know my intent as I would know yours."
Char reached out to pull the blindfold from the Au Ra, and what met him was a glowing set of eyes - eyes that pulled at him as he met their gaze. From the depths of his heart he felt a growing despair, the weight of a fear only just realized of some unknowable force pulling at his very being. He felt his body begin to tremble, and he dropped the blindfold to the floor. "What see you, fate-bearer? What see you within me?" The Miqo'te stumbled back, a lump catching in his throat which refused the passage of words. "What see you!?" The Au Ra demanded, standing upright, lurching forward to the extent his bonds would allow, staring him down. There was a silence that filled the air before Char answered upon shutting his eyes tightly. "Power unknowable... And the fear such power stirs." His breathing grew labored as he turned to leave the cell, looking now to his feet as the iron bars shut behind him.Â
"You will not go free. You will remain as you have; At my word, we will see this project upon it's feet once more in due course. You promote the need for study - of this experiment, and of the mind." Ashorea set a hand upon Char's shoulder, only to be brushed off. "Lock him in, and see that he's monitored with an especially mindful eye... then bring the lone researcher assigned to this project to me. We'll see just what they wanted with him, and what we might make of everything left to us... I want to proceed with this project." He strode off down the hallway at a brisk pace leaving the woman to gaze now upon the Auri looking in her direction. "And what do you see, woman?"
Her reply wasn't as delayed as the Au Ra seemed to expect. "I see nothing more than a broken plaything in want of reconstruction." The Elezen regarded him with a tilted chin. "...Something I will take delight in rebuilding." The Au Ra could only smile in reply as he turned his head to gaze up at the moon, seemingly content with her answer. "As I expected. Pain and darkness do not relent. The faces and voices change, but the dark shadows are ever present." She turned on her heels and set away from the man shackled to the walls, his voice following after her. "Carry me back to them as you will, woman. Carry me back to my shadows."
