The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Chapter 33: To Heaven, to Hell.

The Blood Forge, surface of Stonehaara One, August of 8096 AL.

Dusk was fast approaching as he slipped past the guards like a wraith; unseen, unheard, invisible. The ghost of a man walked right by them, leaving only footprints as he approached the wall of diamond blocks; the only obstacle between him and the Blood Forge.

Salem forced himself to slow down as he approached the wall; his heart was racing, the sight of the spire of stone towering over him sent shivers down his spine. This place felt evil, alien, as if the sins of its creators lingered here.

He wasn't sure who had made the Forge, no one was. Nothing was known about its origins, the only clue was the wall surrounding the chasm; it was made of the same diamond blocks as the castle on his homeworld, suggesting they were created by the same beings. The gates stood twenty feet tall, the walls twenty meters. Salem decided the gate was his best bet at entering silently.

Upon reaching the gate he noticed a particular problem; there was no way to open it from the outside without drawing attention. A massive metal knocker sat in the center of each door, otherwise there was no way to pull the doors open. He would have to knock.

Salem reached up to grab the knocker, the bottom of which hung just above his head. He took it in both hands and with a heave pulled it away from the door. He dropped it, letting it smack into the gate, and stepped back.

Nothing happened for a moment, then he heard footsteps and the left-hand door opened slowly. A Nephilim poked his head out, looking around for the source of the knock and finding nothing; Salem's active camouflage kept him well hidden, a slight shimmer in the air the only indication that he was there at all. The shimmer moved, and a sword blade pierced the guard's throat.

The ghost checked his minimap; no movement within fifty meters beyond the wall, he was clear to take out the guard. His sword sliced through the creature's neck easily, and he dragged its body into the brush. The Forge was surrounded by a small forest, with relatively short trees few and far between. Swathes of scrub brush covered the flat landscape, while dead evergreens dotted the plateau.

Salem stepped through the gap in the doors and pulled them shut, wedging a tree branch in between the doors; Salem was to sneak in and get Hyde patched into the system, at which point Augustus would lead the charge through the front gates and Wolverines would attack from the air. They would provide a distraction while Salem and Hyde prepared the bomb and killed the Titanus. He propped the door open a smidgen so that Augustus could open the gates easily when he started his assault.

Beyond the wall was a surprisingly short distance to the chasm; ten meters away was a sheer cliff with perfectly flat edges, as if carved out. The stone bridge was directly ahead of him, but that wasn't his objective.

He approached the ledge and looked down into the chasm. Fifty meters to his left and eighty meters below there was another bridge, spanning the pit from one of the silos to the spire. Salem drove a spike into the ground and clipped his rappel line onto the end. After checking that his anchor would hold, he descended into the pit above the bridge.

His feet touched the cold stone, and a moment later he disconnected his rappel line. It hung there, and he started towards the spire. Any noise his feet may have made was drowned out by the howling wind; a powerful updraft blew from the bottom of the chasm, leading him to wonder how far down the chasm went, and what exactly was at the bottom. He looked over the edge, but all he saw was the abyss; seemingly endless, an infinite void beneath the spire. A chill ran along his spine, he shook the cold from his bones and continued to the door.

After several minutes of jogging he found himself at the spire. A pair of double doors marked the entrance, he found they were unlocked, but creaked loudly as he opened them. He slipped inside, closing the door as quietly as he could.