A Circuit of Time: Book Two of Spark (A MPHFPC Fanfiction)

Chapter Twelve

The loop entrance was somewhere in the outskirt of the city.

They drove through the streets, most buildings seemed normal and functional. But every single temple, church and mosque was in the process of being torn down.

"What happened to those?" John asked.

"You mean the temples?" Li Hao-Dong replied from the driver's seat, "They're being destroyed. It started in Beijing five years ago, then spread across entire Asia. The wights are trying to erase anything religious. The only legal faith now is the worship of Caul and his minions."

"Why are they doing this?" Blanche asked.

"The idea of people fighting together for something out of their control frightens them." Zack Chang said. "Religions have the power to bring people together for a common goal. If you only give your allegiance to, for example, the Christian God, you will have a perfectly good reason to rebel against Caul when he's doing things against the Bible's teaching. That's why all dictators want religions under their control."

"Caul's religion has been growing these years." Another man Bodhi sent to accompany them said, "He's painting himself as a god, and the wights, his angels. They used this narrative to give themselves divine authorities whenever they are committing unspeakable deeds."

"So we not only have to kill a powerful, ambitious madman, but have to kill the idea of him as a god too." John said.

"Not just him, but the rest of his kind as well. We need to tear down their shrine, set ablaze their altar. Show the world this god can bleed, too." Zack said.

*

The landscape had changed drastically since the days that map was drawn, but one of the escorts Bodhi sent with them was a diviner specialized in finding loops. So he soon located the entrance to the ancient permanent loop under a huge rock.

Ethan moved it. They entered the loop, leaving four of their escorts including their driver Li Hao-Dong outside to guard the entrance.

The other side of the entrance was at the bottom of a deep, long gorge, a visible disturbance of time and space hidden in the thick foliage. The valley seemed devoid of animal life, except for the bird calls that never seemed to end.

"I can feel it." Miss Bittern said, "The Mother of Birds is here somewhere."

"All I feel is the creep you get when standing too close to bottled peculiar souls." Emma mumbled. "What did the map say about this place?"

Miss Bittern took out the photos Sophie took at the Solnhofen loop, "It said the Nest of the Mother resides above the clouds, guarded by feathered tyrants beneath it."

"The nest is in the sky?" Zack asked.

"It's more likely a metaphor." Miss Bittern replied, "The Suul is likely located somewhere on those cliffs." She gestured the steep cliffs around them, the height of which reached above the clouds.

"Can you pinpoint the location?" Olive asked, "I can float up there and drop a rope for the rest of us to climb up."

"The feeling is too vague to be specific right now. But I would guess it's up there." Miss Bittern pointed up to a side of the cliff. "If this place is built by the same people who built Abaton, there may be a way up there. We need to look for any manmade structure."

"The map also said this place is guarded by feathered tyrants?" John said, "What could that mean?"

"Some kind of animals most likely, consider what they did with the last loop." Olive said.