Muse 9 (ONC 2020)

Chapter 11

I took the book over to a ladder and climbed up into one of the dark recesses in the conical space above the main floor. Crawling onto the soft covering spread over the stone slab, I felt around for a lightplate chain until my hand touched the cool links. A gentle tug on the chain prompted soft light to fill the space, giving it a cozy feel.

The reading nook was simply arranged, with a small circular table positioned under the lightplate, low enough for me to sit on a cushion beside it and still comfortably reach whatever I set on the surface. I settled down and placed the texts on the old but smooth wooden surface, hesitating before opening the book.

My mother had come looking for this very document. Why, I didn't know. I may never know. But it still made me hesitate.

She'd want you to open it. At least for Luktor's sake.

Fine. For Luktor, then.

I wrapped my fingers around the cover and opened it. As I did so, a small slip of paper fluttered into my lap. Reaching down, I picked up the old, worn sheet of paper and peered at it.

Sable,

I know you'll read this one day, if worst comes to worst. I have a feeling you will.

I'm sorry things went south. It's the risk you take when you live my kind of life. Your father's, too. There are no good hunters, only living ones.

You and your brother are the dearest things in our lives, Sable. Your father and I would do anything to protect you two. I know that, right now, you're just as strong and courageous as I always knew you would be.

Eurykhan would have taught you well. I know you'll make it here. And I know you will do what I could never do. You'll build this rifle, and you'll own it, Sable. Don't ever let it go. This thing will change the future, I've read the texts. Don't ever be on the other end of this.

Your father and I established a safe place for you and Luktor, down here in the Drain. A place you two can be safe from the threats of the surface. Once you get this rifle, you won't be safe anywhere, Sable. They'll have your name, your location. The only option is for you to run, to run to a place they can never follow you.

So do it. Read these texts, find the pieces, and build the Muse 9 rifle. Embrace the new era of Mnemosyne. And save yourself.

I love you now, and I'll still love you when I'm gone.

Mom.

I blinked. My mother had written this?

Right before she died, too.

Carefully folding the note, I tucked it into the inside pocket of my tunic, right over my heart. Then I focused on the texts, feeling determination rush through my veins, mixed with trepidation. My mother told me not to give up the rifle, but I would have to, in order to save Luktor.

[----]

The texts contained detailed diagrams and instructions for how the Muse 9 was to be constructed. The properties of the rifle were listed quite extensively, putting all previous versions of the Muse rifle to shame. Even my shiny new 8 model couldn't hold a candle to the legend.

And then there was the origin of the rifle.

In times long past, Mnemosyne manipulated memories. Her thoughts took shape and carried out her will, appearing to victims as people cut from cloth like night or the ever shining sun.

As Mnemosyne faded, her power was condensed and placed into the Orphoid and Insprix, split between the two. Both were given a guard of her thoughts, Shadows for the Orphoid and Sparks for the Insprix. One in the dark and another in the light.

I sat back, rubbing my eyes to verify I was, indeed, awake. Mnemosyne? She's just a myth. How can this – you know what? Never mind. I turned back to the texts.

The Orphoid is hidden in the heart of the Drain, the Spark in the heart of Kycene. The Sparks and Shadows must be combined, together with the two powers, into the body of a rifle in order to operate at the Muse 9 level, the level of power Mnemosyne wielded.

It will produce memories that do not fade, faster and at further distances. It can erase memories and control as well as copy them.

A note was scrawled in the margin, the sloppy hand barely decipherable. Mnemosyne might not be real, but everything described here is. People spun legends out of what they couldn't understand. But the Shadows, Sparks, or her thoughts – whatever you want to call them – they're also real.

Lifting my wrist, I tapped at my tracker and brought up the data from the shot I had fired at the shadows earlier. There was only one memory, and I swiped it up.

The image was pure darkness. There was nothing there. Then I heard the whispers again, the ones that had called out to me before. Sable Huntris, Sable Huntris, Sable Huntris.

My name on repeat.

Turning the tracker off, I sat in silence for several long minutes. Then I closed the texts and tucked them into my pack beside Eurykhan's book.

I had a rifle to build.