The Undercave [Incomplete]

Chapter 14 - Former Insight

Shock was the only emotion they could feel right now. Such strong shock that it left them and Nuntius standing in a triangle of silence.
"Sh- she didn't tell you?"
They shook their heads, as their eyes sunk down to the floor.
She took a breath. "Allow me to explain."
She held out one hand and motioned the other one around it in an anti-clockwise direction. Soon, a portal spiralled open. Through it was displayed the opening of a cave, unmistakably the Undercave, though the circumference was a lot less worn down. There were two figures seen standing in the mouth. They were both the same height, and they physically looked identical - both with mousy brown hair, down to their shoulders. The only difference was that one was male, and one was female.
"Cade and Perfuga," Nuntius continued, "They were the sentries who guarded the cave from humans, warding away anyone who dared to enter. They were made to look human, as to not reveal the secrets which were hidden inside, and they were both made from the same egg cell, proposing them as twins. This was in 2004, a year after their production." She motioned her hand around the other way, causing a vision of the hands of a clock to appear on the face of the portal which began to move clockwise. "Their sole purpose was to guard the front, and so they were not needed or wanted for any other role. I, as a messenger, had to check up on them. You see, like humans, we still need energy, so I had to give them all the required recourses. I gave them food, and water. I also sometimes served as a night shift so that they could sleep. I talked with them daily, I allowed them to watch the factory workers through portals, to give them insight on how the weapons were manufactured. But... they began to grow tired of the same routine: day by day, sitting around, never even having to do their job since no human even came close due to how deep it was into the woods. Although there used to be a road leading up to it, it was closed at the same time as the SLO Laboratory."
"The Slow Laboratory?" Cliff questioned.
"S-L-O: the Study of Life and Organisms. It was the lab located on the hill above the cave, though it's abandoned now. #60282 owned it. Anyway..." Her hand came to a halt, and the clock hands vanished. "This was in the year 2077. They told me about a plan of theirs: they were going to run away. They were the very first creations of Malum's, and yet, they were never appreciated. They felt neglected, and they wanted to be part of something more." She sighed, averting her eyes to the ground. "I wanted to join them, but I knew that I couldn't just run away; I wouldn't have been accepted as a human." She lifted one of her sleeves slightly. "I'm purple, and they both had a shade of human skin. So I let them leave, despite keeping my connections with them. I can teleport freely through the force field, so there was no obstacle between us. However, I was not the only one to witness their absence. Metallicus, a soldier whose role was to serve as backup near the mouth, reported their getaway to Malum, and they went... ballistic, to say the least." Her hands began to shake, and her eyes portrayed a worried look, as if she was thinking back to a scene. "You never want to be anywhere near them when they get angry. Their powers are brutal." Her flashbacks faintly displayed on the portal, where Lana and Cliff could see objects thrashing about, and a tall, broad figure flailing their arms about. She had to shake her head in order to escape the thoughts, and then the portal displayed the two sentries once again. "Up on land, they decided they wanted a change. There was no turning back for them, so they changed their names: Cade's to Aaron, and Perfuga's to Rachael, both with the official surname of Kian."
In both the twins' mind, they felt a feeling, much like two puzzle pieces fitting together. It made sense now.
"And so, they lived their lives as humans. Aaron met Maeve, and they had you two."
"So... what happened to Aaron?" Lana asked. "How did he... die?"
Nuntius flinched. "Well... um... they were known to us as Proditors, basically rebels, and there's a sentence for that in the Undercave: 'Those known to turn against us of the Elementums shall be punished by execution.' So Malum went out searching for Aaron and Rachael with an invisibility charm. They finally found them in 2103, when Maeve was about 7 months pregnant with you both." The portal showed an image of a street which looked exactly like theirs. In the picture, they could see a man trapped between two cars as another figure tried to pull him out. It was Aaron and Rachael. "Malum has telekinetic powers given to them by their suit. Upon finding Aaron, they became furious to see him living so happily amongst humans, and so they picked up two cars and... crushed... Aaron between them. I-it was awful. I was watching it all through a portal, and I felt so helpless. It was right there, but it was all out of my reach." A tear fell from her eye, rolling down her cheek as she tried her best to carry on with the story. "Aaron's accessory was a bangle which allowed him to shapeshift, and the only way for Rachael to escape was to use that. So she slid it onto her wrist and turned herself to glass so that Malum was no longer able to see her. It was a very risky move, for if she had been shattered, that would have been the end of her. But luckily, she managed to escape Malum, who eventually gave up on looking for her, and returned to the cave." Her hands clasped together, causing the portal to whirl shut.
"So... Rachael is over 100 years old?" Cliff tilted his head at the thought.
"Technically, yes. But biologically, she has the same body as that of a 36 year old human now in 2116, which I'm sure you know. Cuniculators don't age for the first 102 years of their life, and then they start to age just like humans, but they all have a biological starting age. Rachael and Aaron's was about 25. My starting age was 15, and I started ageing one year after they did."
"So you're..." Lana counted in her head. "You're 25 years old now in terms of human age?"
"Correct," she appointed, "The same as Rachael and Aaron when they were first made."
Though many questions had now been answered, one still lingered in Lana's head. "But... if our dad was a cuniculator, does that mean that... me and Cliff are-"
The sound of feet descending the stairs caused them to pause. They pondered whether they should move or not, but the tension held them still as stones. All they could do was just stand there; waiting. Before they knew it, the footsteps had reached the ground floor, and were making their way down the hallway, towards the opening which led into the lounge.
"Nuntius!" Rachael called as she burst through the open door to the living room, revealing the three stood in the centre.
She managed to squeak out a small response: "...Yes?"
Rachael could not say anything back, however. She was now stood similar to them, her mouth agape.
They stood there as so for a good amount of time, before Cliff broke the silence. "Well, we should get going." He grabbed Lana's arm and dragged her out into the hallway and out of the front door. "Bye!" He exclaimed, slamming the structure behind him, his and Lana's minds still cloudy from all that had just happened.