Darklight: Precipice

Part 19: Procession

"This discovery could change the world as we know it" Draz had said as he had begun to walk down the steps towards their destination - The domes building. The building that they all hoped contained answers.

Draz was leading the way trying his best not to run in his excitement. Ana was walking with Raine, both engrossed in the readings that were being processed by the tablet computer in Ana's hands. Draz walked with a severely subdued Natasha a few paces behind the others. She'd been silent for most of the walk so far, even with Soran's pathetic attempts at conversation.

"It's not right here" She whispered, looking down with a furrowed brow as she walked. Her arms were crossed as if she was cold even though the heat was equatorial. 

"What do you mean?" Soran asked quietly.

"Can't you feel it? No, no I don't think you can. Maybe your inhibitor is stopping it". Soran stayed silent. The Inhibitor was a taboo subject for him.

"It's the Crystalline Matrix. This planet has one. Whatever Rammachandra and Vittoria did to me means that I can sense it, feel it".

"You can feel the Matrix?" Soran asked, surprised. She had never mentioned this.

"I think so. I'd never really noticed it back home, but here... Where I'm away from it... I can tell. It's like where there was once a comforting resonance within me, now there is none".

"Is that a bad thing, though?" Soran asked her, not fully understanding. Even without his inhibition Soran had never come across what she was talking about. Natasha shook her head.

"No... Not in this situation. Because I can still feel the resonance. This planet has a Crystalline Matrix. But it's... Something about it seems wrong. It's like it's... dying? No." She corrected herself. 

"No it's not that. It's...lower, the frequency is lower" Soran looked at her with concern as she looked up towards the domed building.

"It's like something is interfering with it in some way". 

"In what way?" Soran asked her. If this planet had a Crystalline Matrix then at least there was hope of getting home - with the device on Saxosis being so close to a focal point he knew that the Matrix was key to getting back home.

"I don't know" Natasha said. "But it's got something to do with that building up ahead".

Up ahead Draz was taking note of what surrounded him. The layout of the street remind him of the old Highroad that lead to the main entrance of the Heat Of Utopia - the road that had been vaporised at Rammachandra's first demise. He deduced that, like the old Utopian Highroad, this stretch of road must have been processional. In its prime this place must have been a wonder to behold: a great architectural and cultural hub under a hot, white sun. But the drab grey had taken the place of that and now this place was one of melancholy and lost splendour. 

The group were coming up on a statue to the left of the road. It looked like there should have been another statue on the right hand side of the road but it appeared to be missing or destroyed. As they drew closer Draz could swear that he had seen it before, and moved towards the ornament.

"Alex? It's this way" Ana called after him.

"Give me a minute" Draz replied. Soran took his hand away from where it rested around Natasha's shoulders and followed Draz. He'd seen the familiarity too. 

As Soran walked up behind Draz he found him laughing a little to himself.

"What exactly did you do to her, Soran? You never told me". Soran's stomach dropped and he felt the prickle of anger seep from the depths of his memory.

Staring out into the distance, head high and prideful, was a face. The face was much more aged than Soran had last seen it and maybe a lot wiser... but it was the same, even the halter neck on the statue's dress. 

The face of Vittoria Leon.

"Oblivion even spat her out" Soran told Draz. He turned to look at Soran in confusion.

"Oblivion?"

"I sent her into The Abyss. Don't worry, you wouldn't understand" He said, cutting off Draz before he could ask another question.

"Time is apparently not without irony" Soran said as he turned away from the statue. "But at least she's dead".

"What makes you say that?" Draz asked from the spot in that he still stood.

"They don't make statues of the living" Soran replied, and they both continued back towards their destination, with more questions than answers.

***

They approached the steps of the Domed building, a flight of twenty stone steps lead to a great panelled door that was made of a faded green wooden material. There were great rusted brackets and hinges keeping the door together and they were closed tight.

"Don't open them" Raine ordered. "We don't know what we're facing here".

"She's right" Ana replied. "The energy signature is behind this door along with the life sign". She walked up to the closed door, holding the tablet computer towards them.

"They seem to be shielded, I can't get a clear reading".

"Well I know of one way to find out" Draz said with a smirk.

"Is that really wise, Draz?" Soran asked, his annoyance at Draz's boy-like fascination slipping into his tone.

"It's not right" Soran heard Ana whisper under her breath.

"Well I think it would be worth looking for a less obvious entrance, don't you think?" Soran snapped back.

"There's nothing else within the 100 mile scanning range, Soran" Raine told him, attempting to promote calm.

"And don't forget that there are five of us, and one life sign".

"My worry is that your computer says it's Skry, and that is clearly wrong. So it can be wrong about other details too. Even Vittoria couldn't survive in this place for long" Soran replied, restraining his attitude as much as possible.

"You seem to be forgetting" Ana interjected. "That we need to find some kind of computer or data terminal access. We know what signature these have and I have confirmation that this building contains a data point".

"Well then" Draz said, beaming at the group. "It looks like we're going in then".

Draz turned and placed his hands either side of the break between the two doors. He pushed with all his strength and with a groan and a crack of splintering wood that hadn't moved in an indeterminate number of decades, the doors parted. 

As the smell of stale air washed over them Soran heard Ana gasp, Draz looked up and stopped half way through his step into the space, Raine let out a sound that sounded somewhere between a gasp and a sob, Natasha squinted in disbelief and Soran held the Darklight Sword in front of his body, ready for a fight.

This evil will show you a known face.