M.R.L.N-7

Ch. 8 - The Sorrow Smith

Merlin and Sibyl returned to Eris at her lunar sanctuary to find her, and the Cryptoglyph, absent. In their place stood a dark portal with a deep green rim. He double checked around the field study area but there was certainly no sign of Eris, leaving the ominous portal as their last option.

With a caution step, he entered through the dimensional doorway to a dark square room. A bright bioluminescent growth grew from a mound of composted growth a few meters into the corridor ahead, more of which were scattered along the grey floor. It's Beneath his feet was a ten meter wide ornate black and red circle.

The red there matched the colour of the walls and four pillars that surrounded it. The slight slant in the angle of the walls in the corridor were joined through a connecting pointed ceiling. Deep claw marks gouged into the sides of the hallway as high as three meters in some cases.

Merlin made his way through winding corridor, passing under a couple of pillars hanged from the ceiling, holding a faint yellow light. The path ended at a large hub doorways, all of which were sealed shut. Brutal spikes protruded out from the base of these new walls. He continued down ramps that lead into a tunnel through the moonrock and turned left at the fork.

The tunnel inclined and opened up into a crevasse, the end and bottom of which were lost to the abyssal darkness. At the edge of it was a platform built of the same savage, red architecture as before. A ship of a pyramid shape with geometrical patterns forming between the outer plating hung still in the dark cave air, far out from the platform.

The Exo spotted the Ghost-less Hunter ruminating over artifacts left behind by her fireteam. Their memory loomed over her as garnet spectres, like an ever present nightmare. She addressed him without even acknowledging his approach up the sharp steps.

"Welcome," she said, "to the Scarlet Keep. Xivu Arath, and the Hive sect she commanded, built it to eventually serve as a stronghold from which to strike out at the Traveller. That time has not yet come to pass but, I cannot say for certain it will never come."

"You're not worried about Hive overrunning your... humble retreat?" Merlin questioned.

"I have placed warding runes deeper into the tunnels to keep them at bay. I have enough to worry about without insects crawling out of the cracks in the walls." She carefully moved the memorabilia to one side of the alter. It appeared to be made of shell or polished stone with a brown cloth draped over it. "Have you collected all that we require?"

"We have!" Merlin answered, gesturing for Sibyl materialised and make her way to the alter to transmat all the materials onto the cloth.

"A Braytech rifle, interesting. Ana Bray wields the perfected model; Polaris Lance." Eris stopped and pointed to the scrap cloth. "Is that, what I believe it to be?"

"Probably the last remains of Nokris, and a bit of his robe!" Sibyl said, confirming Eris's hope.

"Remarkable. The Rat tugs a pocket ascendent plane behind his ship, but you've collected a piece of cosmic history."

"Rat?" Merlin asked.

"Germaine; Wu Ming; Eli; The Drifter," Eris elaborated. "He has had many names. 'Rat' is mine for him."

"Sounds like a healthy relationship," the Warlock said under his breath quickly. "So how do we combine all this?"

"Hive magic. Unlike traditional gunsmithing, creating a Weapon of Sorrow requires their ritualistic witchcraft. Stand back." Eris walked around to the other side of the alter and pulled several talismans from a small box kept at the corner. She tipped the contents onto the cloth and slowly but deliberately placed them around the edge.