Guardian(Part IV): Revelation

Chapter 43: Madelyn

I was overjoyed to see the former members of Fireteam Pegasus again, but I was more overjoyed to see them reunited, all towards a common cause for the first time in a year. The UM Mastiff that Penny had accompanying her was a more-than-willing volunteer for the mission to hunt down Grimeus, as were Connor and Ruth. And of course, there was me. Together, the eight of us formed a team that was potentially unstoppable. Master Avanka gave us a dropship to travel to Central Logres in, but we didn't land too close to our objective. Instead, I went and scouted ahead, with my holographic clothing still set to the color of the sky. There were Lost absolutely everywhere, which we could easily fight our way through, but once I got to the plaza in the center of the city, I saw something of potential interest to us. Several mounds of soil surrounded the round plaza, which was now a wide, deep hole where snow covering it used to be. There were no Turned or other enemy contacts that would impede our investigation on the surface, but anything underground potentially could, if the underground ruins that Bones mentioned actually existed. The dropship landed in the streets next to the plaza after I did, and we took a closer look at it. There was a cargo lift for laborers and equipment going from the surface, and all the way to the bottom of the shaft, which was too dark even form me to see through. I ran a scan of the dug-out shaft, and found that it was several kilometers deep. Someone must have been very desperate to get the Necronomicon hidden here.

"What does it look like?" asked Morgan.

"Information," said Bones. "It is an excavation site that was started several months ago, but has recently been abandoned."

"Maybe they found what they were looking for," Connor guessed.

"That is a definite possibility," I agreed. "I can't see any further down, though."

"Then let's see for ourselves," said Morgan. We all stepped onto the lift, and Zephyr pulled the switch to lower it through the shaft. I began to sense an additional aura of darkness beside the one that was already hanging over Logres. This one was from underneath Logres. After the light from the sun became less bright, I began to notice a red light coming from below us. I scanned the space below us, finding that we still had half a kilometer before we reached the bottom. I began to hear Penny impatiently tapping her foot, and Zephyr beginning to hum a song, which began to echo off the walls of the shaft. Penny stomped on his foot to silence him.

"Ow!" Zephyr whispered. I heard Morgan and John give a soft chuckle.

"We are about to reach the bottom of the shaft," Bones informed. We stepped off as the platform as it touched the ground, and I recognized what we were in, now. The floor was made of the same black metal that Turned used for their weapons and armor, and dim, red lights on the walls were the only things that illuminated the bottom of the shaft.

"Wait, I've seen something like this before," said Zephyr. "On Arcadis. This is a Tuatha dwelling."

"The Tuatha built this place?" Ruth asked. "I never thought they built places."

"For what it's worth," said John. "A vampire noblewoman in Camnora asked me, a Guardian, to save her children from her husband because he was going to use their blood to fire a weapon that would wipe out every living thing in Western Euradon."

"Did you help the noblewoman?" Morgan wondered.

Immediately, I sensed a feeling of nervousness from John, that turned to dread as everyone else looked at him for the answer to Morgan's question.

"Uh..." he shuddered. "Well... I mean... What would you have...?"

"John," said Morgan. "You know us. Whatever you did, we won't hold anything against you."

"You won't?" asked John.

"No," Morgan promised. John became calmer, if only a little, knowing that his friends wouldn't judge him.

"Well," he answered. "Yes, I did help her. I found her kids, and I killed her husband. Who, by the way, was Kazimir."

"Information," said Bones. "The most powerful vampire in recorded history."

"I would have told you that," I grumbled.

"Wait a minute," Penny blurted. "You killed Kazimir."

"Yes," John answered.

"The Kazimir?"

"Yes. I turned him to ash."

"Guys, let's focus," Morgan reminded, pointing to a doorway in front of the lift. It led to a hallway with similar black walls to the shaft, and lit with the same dim, red lights.

"I suggest preparing for combat," I warned, forming both of my aura blades. Everyone else formed their aura blades before we went into the passage. It wasn't long before we arrived at another doorway, which opened into a round room with a pedestal in the center. It was the same kind of pedestal that held the Necronomicon in Cordinshire, but the Necronomicon wasn't sitting on it. Instead, there was a device that had a pyramid shape, with a red, glowing tip that was blinking.

"What's that?" asked Zephyr.

"It's a Tuatha holo device," I answered.

"Is it safe?" Morgan wondered.

"I'm detecting no explosive charge," I reported, lifting my finger to the device's glowing tip. A red hologram of a Tuatha warrior appeared above it. Facial recognition identified him as Grimeus, the Archdemon of Gluttony himself.

"Brave fool," he began. "You have come here searching for the Necronomicon, but have found this recording in its place. If you are, in fact, viewing this, then you are too late. I have the Necronomicon beneath Logres, and I am roughly three thousand miles away, by now. Even the dragons will shudder at my power, once I cause enough tension between them and mortals to where they inevitably erupt with conflict and bloodshed once again. You are too late."

The red hologram disappeared, and the aura of darkness hanging over the ruins faded.

"Was that... Grimeus?" asked Morgan.

"Yes," I answered. "Facial recognition is a complete match."

"What was he talking about?" John wondered. "About the dragons and mortals."

"That sounds like Aetherian," said Penny.

"Information," Bones blurted. "The Between Ocean is roughly three thousand and one hundred miles wide, from Chardan's western coast to Aetherian's eastern coast."

"Aetherian," Zephyr whispered.

"It's one of the few countries where dragons and mortals live in peace," I enlightened. "Which is the reason that it suffered minimal damage from the Dark One's army in the Third Great War. Although, the Sandlands are likely all but desolate by now, since the region had never seen snow before the Last Winter. It is the most likely location for Grimeus to be, judging by this recording."

"If he sparks a war between dragons and mortals in Aetherian..." Ruth warned. "Gods, how many people would die?"

"Too many," Morgan answered. "But Grimeus is in Aetherian, so that's where we have to go."

"When do we leave, then?" asked Connor.

"As soon as possible," said Morgan. "I'll ask Avanka for transport there, and let the Guardian Commander there know we're coming. Do you think they'll let us help if we tell them there's an Archdemon in their jurisdiction."

"If they're smart," Ruth answered. "Besides, if starting a war between dragons and mortals doesn't work, then Grimeus will only try something else."

"We don't have a lot of time, then," Morgan warned. "We have to get to Aetherian as soon as possible."