EQUINOX || The Catalysts Series, #3

XLIII

Lena only allows herself a tiny yelp as gravity pulls at her, refusing to make too much sound at the possibility of what she might find next and beyond. It isn't exactly a fall, thankfully; her bottom meets smooth panes a short millisecond later, and she is sliding through.

Whatever this entrance is, it's leading her underground, but as Lena slides through the darkness, she doubts this is the only way to get below ground. It feels unused and dusty, even if it is convenient.

Arcana Academy is a structure made of old and modern: a strange, ancient place built with the finest technology. The walls look old but are infused with nanotechnology that will rebuild the structure after damage; the wooden doors appear worn but are designed to lead students to the right halls or the right rooms with a porter system. Now, as Lena drops down the chute, it's as if this cursed, bewitched academy is revealing secrets on its own accord, guiding Lena to where her resolve is. She can only hope the structure will also help her when time comes, if she ever needs to face the Shadow Syndicate.

Lena comes to a stop in a tight space. Surprisingly, the space the chute leads to isn't dusty, and when Lena struggles in the cramped space, she begins to think the labyrinth is playing a prank on her. Her spitefulness at being forced into such an inconvenient position diminish as soon as she identifies a light source, and she is suddenly grateful for the academy's enchanted architecture.

She watches through a tiny grate as the two Shadow Syndicate members enter the room through a blink of darkness directly below her. Lena freezes and stops drawing breath on instinct, her body seized in the cramped space of its own accord. But they do not take notice of her; there is quite some distance between her and them—her being way above. Slowly, she releases the building tension in her body, telling herself to breathe, as she takes in the room below.

Her power thrums beneath her skin as she takes notice of the glass panes lining two walls, revealing darkened corridors outside the room below. They call to her, and she is thankful for the presence of glass. Her weapon will not be limited to the glass shards in her pouch and the daggers lining her waist and thighs. The room itself is a dim lit space smelling like a mixture of spilled chemicals and antiseptic, but contains nothing of the sort. It's empty save for the three people filling up the space.

Erebus and Belladonna waste no time stepping out of the portal, and Lucifer seems aghast by their sudden appearance. He'd been pacing the room before they arrived, but now the student stumbles back, eventually reaching a corner of the room.

"What do you want?" Lucifer rasps helplessly.

"A pitiful state you're in," Erebus notes. "But I hope you have not forgotten your bargain."

"I was done," Lucifer responds, but a quiver escapes his lips. "I don't want any part of this—"

"We gave you an opportunity," Belladonna interrupts unkindly, and Lena cannot sense any of the softness she thought she saw in the young woman's face when they had faced off in the previous timeline. "In exchange, you had one job."

Lucifer backs up even more, though he has no where to go. "I couldn't defeat him." Then, as if finding the fight in him, he asserts, "You knew I couldn't. Yet you sent me in on an impossible mission anyway."

"So you do realize it was impossible," Erebus drawls. "What naivety you had displayed back then. It was never about besting the ace—it was just to test out if our invention is enough to level a S-Class. Clearly not."

"But—"

"I wasn't done speaking," Erebus near growls, and Lucifer tenses. "Like Bella said, we gave you an opportunity. Or have you forgotten what you promised us in exchange for power you so desperately begged for?"