The Morningstar Brigade

Chapter 44

XXXXIV

URIEL

Day Seven. Six Days Remain.

Asylum Chapel

"Welcome, boys and girls, to Asylum. The most miserable place in Eden," Daken spat as the fully armored team climbed out of the transport chamber and into the Asylum chapel.

Jonathan sighed as he looked around the decrepit room. "I don't even know how it's possible, but somehow this little room looks even more depressing than the last time I was here."

The Asylum chapel looked nothing like any Brigade outpost that Uriel had ever seen in Eden. The chapel in Sanctuary had been simple in design, but there was a craftsmanship to it that brought out beauty in even the most unassuming of its features. This building was a rotting mess, the skeleton of a structure long dead. There were two or three pews strewn about its only room, a few pathetically crooked portraits lining the walls, and little more than a cheap standing lamp in the corner to provide any light. The only door, the only hope of escape, lay at the front of the dingy cell, just beside a set of decaying stairs.

"This is, um..." Uriel froze in terror as he felt a floorboard begin to crumble under his weight, then exhaled with relief as the floor seemed to stabilize. He pressed a hand against the almost-collapsed board and attempted to draw upon any latent memories Eli might have left behind. But while Faust had promised the chapel contained answers, it seemed to hold no connection to his father whatsoever. "Hm."

"Awful. This is really, really, awful," Kat finished for him, looking down in disgust at the layer of film that coated the building's wood like a slimy second skin. "You find anything?" she asked, turning to Uriel. "Are you getting a... whatever it is when you're near powerful memories?"

Uriel scratched the back of his head. "Well, that wasn't exactly the word I was going to use, but it's certainly... Something," he said, glancing around and trying to find any speck of the interior worth complimenting. "But no. No totem here as far as I can tell."

"In that case, get used to the grime. When we flip the lights back on, this town is where we make our stand for the next twenty-four hours. And it doesn't get much cleaner," Daken grumbled, slinging his equipment pack back over his shoulder and walking over towards the stairwell.

"Where is the Fisher? How can they possibly live like this?" Kat asked, stepping around the holes in the floor as she followed behind Daken.

Jonathan chuckled nervously. "Well, that's the thing: Asylum doesn't really have a Fisher."

"No Fisher? Isn't every single one of the seven cities supposed to have at least one representative of the Brigade on-hand?" Uriel asked, frowning.

Daken rolled his eyes. "If you haven't noticed by now, what the Brigade is supposed to do and what the Brigade is actually doing are often two very different things, watchful eyes of Lady Vigilant be damned," he said, carefully beginning to climb the stairs. "Besides, it's hard to keep a Fisher around the town when the whole place is haunted," Daken added with a sinister laugh.

"Haunted? Please," Kat said, shaking her head. "If you're trying to scare us, you're going to have to do better than that."

"Hey, if you don't believe me, that's on you," he replied with a shrug. "But when things start going bump in the night, don't come crying to me."

Jonathan shoved Daken as they reached the top of the steps. "Daken, you said you'd play nice," he chastised his friend as they reached the equally depressing second floor of the chapel.