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Chapter 16: Angel Wings

Khaba was waking up again as his body had recovered from the sudden shock he suffered from earlier. It was replaced right away by another shock as he saw himself strapped to some sort of sterile surface and starring at some alien light source hanging atop of him.

"Ah, you are awake," the voice of the scientist leading the lab said as he stepped closer to the table and looked at the fruit bat. "Good, the next part of the tests requires you to be awake. I want to decode the ability that Gregor Silberbrach once discovered. The essence of so called magic. It has always been a mystery to me how he and later his grandson were so great in analyzing the particles and their purposes, which most common minds would define as arcane."

"Unbind me, or I swear I will let you feel all my magic at once!" the fruit bat screamed out as he tried to free himself from the constraints that left him defenseless on the table.

The menni could only chuckle about his prisoner and took a syringe from a sterile plate next to the laboratory table. It was filled with a weird substance, which was transparent and colorless.

Khaba flinched as it was injected into his leg, and a moment later his muscles felt weaker. He was no longer able to move, or even react as a device was attached to his head and the scientist started a machine.

"I am going to check your brain waves. Try to evoke magic as much as you want. That is what I need you to do," the menni scientist said and turned to the machine to read the frequencies. "Also, calm down. It is easier for me that way."

A few kilometers to the west, Lucille and Seraph took the sewer systems of Adamas to travel around hidden from sight. They both were covering their noses with some cloth, and wearing heavy boots as they passed through.

"Okay Seraph," Lucille now glanced over to the husky and tried to ignore the fact that they were going to the dirtiest place of the city, even though it was thankfully not as bad as it could have been when the city still was inhabited by millions. "I hope to get a bath after this, with a lot of whatever you have to get myself clean. This is the most horrible place I have ever been to."

The husky arched an eyebrow. "Well, good thing you are taking care of yourself. Thankfully everything in this city was installed to be autonomous, so I can offer you something later on."

With a nod the otter was walking a bit further ahead, and scouted around to make sure no other people were down. "So, you called your weapon a gun. What exactly does it do?"

"Point at a person, and hurt them. Which is probably the easiest description I can give," the husky said as he pulled out his gun and aimed for a piece of garbage in the water. He pulled the trigger, and a projectile pierced through the object within the fraction of a second. "See what I mean?"

Being impressed by that display, Lucille gave Seraph a nod and then looked further ahead. "Darkness magic should be useful then. If we stay hidden from sight, they can't aim at us."

"Unless they use aimbots," the husky joked and then slapped his forehead. "Um, we do have some way to pass time with old games we play on machines. And aimbots are things that aim for you in those games."

Lucille nodded and was imagining giant machinery fighting each other with massive weaponry. "Yeah, I think I get the gist of it." A moment later she stopped and looked at massive turbine ahead. "Well, anyway, I cast a shadow cloak on us and we just walk through the streets above. I have not done it so often, but I think it should work out." She now folded her hands and took a deep breath. A moment later a cold aura descended upon her and Seraph, making them both shiver a little.

"I am going to be honest, magic is scary. Scientifically explainable things are at least something I understand," the dog gave back as he and Lucille took a ladder to the streets above. "Well, technically it is understandable, but I have no idea about it."

The otter just waved her tail around as she climbed up fast to the streets and found herself in yet another lifeless part of the city. "Are things always so vacant in this city?"

"Consider that a lucky situation for us. We got a few spot that are safe, but here you got raiders and cannibals," Seraph now shuddered and pulled out his weapon Cherub. "The Strayers do protect some parts of the city, but even they fall victim to the feral beasts that live here."

With a quick movement, Lucille pulled out her chakram and let it engulf in a blue fire. "I cut and burn through all of my opponents. Don't worry, I got everything I need to survive."

The husky nodded. "Okay, I take it you are a force of nature, so to speak. Well, then I am at least relieved that you have a hand on things."

"Anyway," the otter now grabbed the dog's hand and dragged on it rather violently. "We got stuff to do, so hurry up!"

Khaba wanted to scream, but his mouth kept shut as his entire body was refusing to move and disobeyed him completely. Electric charges were send through his body at a constant rate, causing immense pain to him that he tried to blend out as best as he could.

"Disappointing," the menni scientist said as he looked at the screen with the readings of the fruit bat's brain waves. "It seems manual activation of those parts has no effect. Okay then, let us change this up a little." He now typed over a keyboard and another rush of pain went through Khaba's body. "No, I only activate pain receptors this way. We need to try something else."

Due to the paralysis, Khaba was fully unable to do anything. Only tears were streaming from his eyes, as the pain became more and more unbearable to him. His mind already became a crumbling mess half the way, leaving him unable to further concentrate. It was not possible for him to make out anything close to him anymore, but the lack of further shocks made it apparent to him that the researcher left the laboratory.

"This filthy beast has not proven to be worth the time I have put into it," the scientist complained as he stepped into a room at the side, in which a female menni was sitting and looking through some papers. "Have you decoded the Silberbrach Protocols, yet?"

The woman shook her head. "Dr. Cervantes, I am not fluent in German. Not to mention, this man used a non-decimal system for his mathematics. Probably to prevent them from being used to find out what magic actually is."

"This will only work so far," Cervantes replied and took the papers from his assistant. "After all, we have come a long way since that time."

"In any case, we lost several of our slaves because of that bat. Not to mention a slave master," the assistant replied and got up from her chair. "This leaves much more extra work for us."

With a shrug the scientist turned to look out of a window into the laboratory where Khaba was lying. "If we may be able to crack the code of the abilities, we will become capable to reshape the world so that we can rise again. It is of little importance how much work we have to do; it has to be done."

A nod of the assistant followed. "It was concluded by Silberbrach that the genetics of the Aos Sidhe were altered by Aether to become capable to control magic. Our ancestors have unfortunately given those beasts part of that special genetic sequence, and due to E.P.O.S. we lost the data to inject ourselves with it."

Cervantes was looking at her, his mouth forming a smile as he opened the door. "It is a setback, but soon we will have the information we need. It is time to prepare the next phase of our research."

Khaba was watching as the man returned from the other room, and stepped closer to the side of the machinery that his body was linked to. His breathing became heavier, but his body still remained motionless. A tip of a button later, he was feeling how another electric shook went through his body, this time however the pain lasted only a second before he lost consciousness again.

"What in the?" Cervantes smashed on the control panel as he angrily looked at the fruit bat. "Are you kidding me? Of course he now has to fall asleep when I need his brain to be fully functional."

"Just call it a sign for a break," the assistant now said as she stepped outside. "I know you are not in need for it, but it is not like we can do much with him at this state. Our current situation hardly gives much options."

Cervantes crossed his arms and then stepped away from the console. "Our goal is to return to the surface. Due to E.P.O.S. our technology can't function there anymore, thus we require an alternative."

The assistant nodded. "As always, you are just worrying for all of our sake, Cervantes. Good, I will go to my apartment then. I need some sleep after all."

"Do that," the scientist gave back and then turned back to Khaba. "Maybe it is not too bad that he passed out. That could make things perhaps easier."

"Ugh, I am so glad that we are out of this mess," Seraph voiced as he and Lucille were walking along one of the many deserted streets. "I am not sure how it is with you, but for me the sewers are Hell."

Lucille shrugged. "Hel is not too bad, if I recall Kärmavian mythology correctly. But the stench really was unbearable."

"Well, you refer to a different thing than I do," the husky told the otter as he glanced around with his ears and nose at full attention. "Not that it really matters, we should reach the Central shortly."

Before the otter could comment on that, she decided to just go with it and walk further. "Anyway, what is the deal with Adamas in the end? If I conclude correctly, your kind was created after the events with the Gray Star, since I never saw a dog before."

A weak smile came over Seraph's muzzle. "In a way, this is correct. Adamas utilizes a lot of ancient technology, which dates back further than my knowledge about history does reach," he explained and stroke over his chin. "The Gray Star is probably what we call the Earth Protection and Observation Satellite. Or E.P.O.S. for short. And its origin is also unknown to us. But, after it laid waste to the city, the survivors dove deep into the ocean."

"So much is what I can combine from our own legend. The Gray Star destroyed the Old Ones, or menni, and the city sank down into the ocean, or rather, it dove," Lucille concluded before they turned to the right to get closer towards the skyscrapers in the city center.

Seraph was now holding his gun firmly, and the frequency of him turning around doubled. "One of the humans once defined insanity as repeating the same action and expecting a different result. Once their initial slaves left, the menni created us to replace them. In the belief that they only had to take the genetics of dogs. But, that is all I know about."

As now the skyscrapers came closer and closer, Lucille was taking a deep breath, and cringed as she noticed something. "Blood. There is a dead body nearby." She now snuck into cover with the husky, and slowly advanced as they followed their path. It soon got clear what the source of the smell was.

A tall dog, a mix of all sorts of different breeds, was feasting on a bloody mess on the ground. While a lot of the body was already devoured, the skull shape indicated that it also was a canine.

"Holy Father," Seraph was glancing with disgust at the scene before him. Without hesitation he aimed for the other dog's head and pulled the trigger.

The bullet went right through, and the cannibal was dropping dead on the spot, his eyes void of life.

Lucille now looked at the husky and then back at the two dead dogs. "This was quite a good demonstration of how efficient your weapon is."

"I am sorry, but he would have killed and eaten more, if I didn't put an end to him," the husky tried to justify himself as he averted his eyes from the scene.

The otter however just laughed. "You should ask how many souls I send to the otherworld. If I judge you for killing a murderer, I would be a hypocrite."

Seraph shook his head. "How much can he be at fault, if it was starvation that led him to do this? There is hardly any actual food here."

"I also killed a few innocents as collateral damage, if that helps," Lucille replied bluntly as she dragged the husky behind her to not waste any time reaching for the Central.

"Not many people are so open about their killing habits. You could probably frighten others, if you told that to them," the dog commented on Lucille's confession. "Of course, if that is what you aim for, then it is certainly effective."

Lucille rolled her eyes. "As if I care. If I have to, I kill. There is not much to it, so I don't regret anything. But, I guess not everyone shares this view. And that is fine. My older brother is the polar opposite."

With a mix of disbelief and shock Seraph had to digest the general nature of his companion. "You people from above are so strange. But I guess that is to be expected in this sort of culture clash."

"Yeah, whatever. Just let us get to the Central and get this over with." Dragging even more now, Lucille was now running. The towers got ever closer now.

"To put it into the words of Archimedes, Heureka!" Cervantes exclaimed as he watched over his computer screen in awe. "Sorry boy, it seems the torture was not necessary after all." He now broke out in laughter and looked over to the body of the fruit bat. "But now you are useless to me."

Khaba was twitching a little. He was still not conscious about his situation and sleeping, but his face looked scared and in pain.

Showing no mercy for his test subject, the scientist took a syringe from a sterile table and looked at the liquid within. "You look so peaceful when you sleep. It would be a shame, if it ended." A wicked smile came over his face as he got closer to Khaba, and placed the tip of the syringe right into the knee of the fruit bat's leg.

Eyes shot wide, Khaba woke up as he felt his skin being pierced by the needle, and as the liquid entered his veins he started to spasm wildly. A fast heartbeat and heavy breathing were the initial reaction, before he slowly began to get calmer. Soon he was almost entirely motionless.

"Good night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing the to thy," Cervantes now stopped as he noticed that the eyes of the fruit bat were still moving and glaring at him. "What a pestering youth. Fine, if you won't go to sleep, I have to put you to your eternal slumber by force!" He now pulled out a gun and held it point blank against Khaba's head. Before he could pull the trigger however he was pushed backwards against several of his machineries, and then began to float in the air.

The shackles of his prisoner shattered, and a darkness began to engulf Khaba. Soon it solidified into a solid shape. "An angel shall sing to thy rest, mortal," a dark and sinister voice now whispered into Cervantes' mind and then chuckled.

Cervantes tried to grab his gun again, but was grabbed at his throat be the massive shape that surrounded Khaba. In panic and fear he looked at the draconic face of the shell that protected the fruit bat. It was the last that he saw before the creature tore of his head.

"W-hat?" the shape was now shaking its head and then looked over itself in confusion and wonder. "By Horus, what is the meaning of this?" Moving his new fingers carefully, Khaba was now glancing at the shadowy body that he found himself in. "I need to get out of here!" At first Khaba tried to lift off with his wings, but noticed that he was flapping around his new arms instead. A bit later he was trying the same with the actual wings of that new body, but unable to lift his own weight. "Okay, now I am more annoyed than weirded out."

Seraph dropped to the ground as he and Lucille reached the area around the entrance to the complex of the central. His breathing was irregular, and his tongue was hanging out of his muzzle. "Let us take a break and think about our approach to get inside, okay?"

"Seems like a good idea. As that gate will be in our way," the otter replied as she peeked over to the massive construct surrounding the buildings. "Unless I just blast it away with a fire spell, but that will alarm them and cost me too much energy."

The husky now snickered. "Never figured you to be a hot-head. But, you are right, they would dispatch security around the place, if we just came in with that much force. Instead we need to find a weakness in their system."

Lucille nodded and then looked around the area. "If we could get high enough without getting seen, the wall wouldn't be a problem. Seraph, I may go inside by myself, okay?"

With his jaws dropped, Seraph was shaking his head. "Are you mad?! This place is full of turret guns, murderous drones, and dogs that were made into heart- and mindless killing machines!"

Uncaring about the warning, Lucille just pulled out her chakram and grinned as she came closer to the husky. "Sounds like a lot of fun. Can I borrow you weapon, please?"

"Oh no, misses, you are not going," he was quickly cut off as the otter just began running anyway, and he sighed in disbelief. "Unbelievable. This girl is getting herself killed." He now was sitting down behind cover and shaking his head further, before he noticed something. He touched around his holster and realized that his gun was missing. "That little devil."

Smiling wildly, Lucille was now running towards the wall with her shadow cloak spell active, just to realize that she was pretty much only there to ponder about solving a problem. "Did I really run ahead without a plan right now? Am I that reckless?"

"Certainly," Seraph now barked out as he run to the young otter, completely out of breath all of the sudden. "I want Cherub back, young lady."

Lucille shrugged and handed the husky his own weapon back. "Well, I guess we do face the issue of entering after all. It could be easier, if we had more than just my fire, water, and darkness spells."

Heavily Seraph now walked to the gate and checked for the security panel at the side. "Can't say I am much of a help here." Wildly the husky now ripped open the panel and looked over the numerous cables.

"Ain't that cute?" Both Seraph and Lucille turned around as they heard a rough voice call out to them. A Shepherd was now getting closer with his weapon pointed at them. "Another surface dweller and a traitor. Seraph, the so called Godsend. And, whoever that girl is supposed to be."

Unimpressed about the threat, Lucille just tilted her head and crossed her arms. Her eyes focused on the gun and within moments it was set ablaze, causing Henry to drop it. "Maybe I should introduce myself? Lucille, the girl that is going to hang your head into her own trophy room."

Angry about this audacity, Henry pulled out a gun from under his vest and aimed for the otter's head, just to be met by a violent pain as a rock hit him right at the side of his head.

"Thanks for bringing us here, Henry," the calm voice of Aldric now said as he appeared seemingly from thin air as his shadow cloak was dispelled. "But, if you dare to harm them, I will kill you. Understood?"

"What the? Did you follow me here?" the shepherd asked with his jaw dropped. "Oh, you dirty stripefuck!" Henry pointed with his gun at Aldric, just to be blasted away by a strong gust of wind.

Evil thoughts passed the badger's mind, but he shook them off and just decided to kick away the gun of Henry before he sat down on the shepherd's back. "Anyway, I was not expecting you to be here, Lucille. But I guess since we split up to find the gems, it is not too surprising that we found each other in Adamas."

Now Lucille got closer, and smacked the shepherd in the face before turning to Aldric. "Kind of. We were transported here by accident, and I am looking for Crawford and Khaba right now."

"I see, so you assume they are here at the Central?" the shaman asked as he was rubbing his chin and getting up again. "Coincidentally, we are here to check their research facility. And getting inside should be easy. Aren't I right, Fionn?"

Now the albino badger came from behind a bit of ruble, smiling as he was called for help. "A simple task." With a snap of his fingers he caused a small portal at the closed gate to appear.

"That helps. Thanks," Lucille told Fionnbharr as she walked through the portal with her chakram already prepared for battle. She noticed that the inside of the area was rather cleanly, yet also void of any life.

As Seraph, Aldric, and Fionnbharr went through the gateway, the albino now walked besides the otter and looked up at the tower. "Anyway, I am Fionnbharr. A friend of Aldric and basically here to help out with things."

"Helping out, huh?" Lucille crossed her arms. "Quite a humble thing to do for a prince. I am Lucille, and I am basically just a sibling of a friend of Aldric."

Fionnbharr chuckled. "Leofwine you mean? He and Vidar are currently exploring the city together, so I am curious. Is he usually that emotional?"

"Yes," was the otter's simple reply as they walked further towards the giant skyscraper. "Apart from joy, I think every of his emotions tends to extremes."

And again Fionnbharr replied laughing, "Leofwine seemed quite happy since he and Vidar started to, well, share each other's love. If I saw correctly, Leofwine is now the fiancé of Vidar."

Lucille stopped in her tracks as she heard those words. "Wait, you say my brother is engaged with that royal moron? I mean, I read a letter about them having a bit of something with each other, but that is a step ahead of what I expected."

Aldric cleared his throat now. "They also have a young boy to raise now. Meaning, you are now an aunt, Lucille."

"Ugh, sounds like you had the weirder journey of us two. We only got to meet Khaba's grandfather and father, Septimus ceased to exist due to some goddess and was replaced by a guy named Tychon, and," Lucille paused as they reached the entrance of the skyscraper. "It turns out that Seleukos wasn't all that evil of a person to begin with."

Curiously the shaman glanced at Lucille and nodded. "Yeah, we got a warlord and got warned about a monster that might awaken, if the gems came together. We are here to find a way to stop this creature, now that we failed with the gems."

"Okay, I guess that should bring us up to the same point," Lucille gave back and now blasted the door open with a fire spell. "Although, Khaba and I are now a couple, if that interests anyone."

Aldric scratched and ear as he evaluated that fact. "How peculiar. Well, you seemed to be good friends at Topaz Lake, so this is probably a natural evolution of that friendship."

Seraph now cleared his throat. "So, her brother is in love with a girl named Vidar and she herself is in love with that Khaba guy?" His expression was becoming a bit curious now as he glanced at the badgers and the otter.

"Almost, Vidar is a man," Fionnbharr said as he crossed his arms and grinned as his eyes were fixed on the husky.

With a dropped jaw Seraph now looked at Fionnbharr, then at Aldric, then at Lucille. "W-wait, you mean your brother is," he paused as he was not quite sure how to put it.

"In love with a man? Yeah, he is," the female otter gave back and crossed her arms. "And he is my brother, so watch your tongue."

Seraph shuddered. "Ugh, don't tell me they," he was now averting everyone's eyes and rubbing his forehead.

Aldric however just nonchalantly walked by him and snickered. "They had sex, if you meant that. Not that there is much to it."

The husky was not sure how to reply to that and instead shook his head. "Let's drop this topic for now, we got something inside of this building to deal with."

Fionnbharr had to laugh as he went inside and looked at the confused face of a woman that was sitting behind a desk. "Feasgair mhath![1] We are looking for a few friends of ours, so could you help us?"

Instead of helping the group, the woman began screaming and pressed a button below her desk before she fled into a small security chamber at the side.

"Apparently not." The albino now focused his magic and caused the alarms in the room to shut down as the cables were distorted. "Time to use my special talent." He now stepped out of his shoes and placed his feet on the floor as he focused his magic through the building. "Huh? Something is downstairs. A laboratory, and, a fruit bat?"

Now Lucille perked up. "So Khaba is here? Then we should get down quickly and get him out of here!"

The prince shook his head. "Oh, that won't be necessary. He is already on his way upstairs. Be prepared for a huge surprise."

Just a few moments after that has been said, the doors leading to the basement were destroyed by a wave of energy. As they fell apart, a massive entity was stepping into the room, completely black and with a strange aura surrounding its body.

"Khaba?" Lucille now got closer to the creature, and laid down her chakram as she was reaching out her hand to the draconic head. "Is that you?"

The creature lowered his head to let the hand of the otter touch his muzzle. "Maybe. I am not entirely sure, if I am myself anymore. Somehow, I turned into a dragon or something."

Now Seraph pulled out his gun and aimed at the head of Khaba. "No, you are a demon! A foul harbinger of the underworld!"

"Huh? I am not sure what you mean by that," Aldric now said as he went in between the husky and the young couple. "Daemons are spirits under the service of Danica, and tend towards ambivalence most of the time."

In disgust the husky now turned to the shaman and aimed with Cherub at his chest. "No, they are the servants of Lucifer, you fool!"

"Which is the title for the personified morning star in Urbulchem," the badger added casually as he tilted his head. "Perhaps not the same one as we talk about?"

Now Fionnbharr snapped his finder and the gun of Seraph disappeared and reappeared in his own hand. "You call an entity that supposedly fills the role of Danica, but we already know of her influence, so it can't exist."

"Although," Aldric now lifted up his staff, and focused. "I am going to ask a daemon about that. After all, they are the object of this discussion."

Seraph's jaw dropped. "You would summon demons to our world?" He was now desperately trying to find a way to stop the badger, just to realize that it was futile.

Aldric simply put his staff's tip to the ground and channeled his magic into it. Moments later a seal appeared on the floor and glowing in an intense light. "Oh Great Mother, hear our prayer! Send our message to the Empress of Darkness, and let her send us her aid!"

An intense light shone forth from the seal and suddenly a winged figure with a lion head, a hare tail, and goose feet appeared from it, looking at his summoner. "Aldric, you called forth the powers of Pandaemonia to aid you in your quest. By the glory of Danica, I, Ipos, shall serve you."

"Count Ipos, could you please explain the dog in our company about your kind? He has a few conceptions of his own, which we want to clear up," the shaman asked and bowed before the daemon.

Ipos crossed his arms and looked at the husky and then at Khaba. "A curious situation. In fact, neither of you is wrong. In ancient times we demons were under the comment of the fallen angel Helel. Those times have long since passed, as Helel and the other Kings of Hell are no longer existing. They were destroyed during the Battle of the End, and the Sovereigns made their souls subject to the machinery of Samsara."[2]

"Who are those Sovereigns anyway?" Seraph now asked angrily as he was looking at Ipos and Aldric. "And are you even telling the truth?"

"No reasons consist for me to deceive those, who don't claim themselves children of Yahweh," the demon replied as he went over to the dog. "After Armageddon, the reason for our hatred and anger disappeared. This planet was dead, and Yahweh left it behind."

Seraph shook his head. "That doesn't make sense, this planet is still inhabited by life, so why do you say it died?"

Ipos however only chuckled. "Now comes the part where I tell you about the Sovereigns. After the world died, they were those who restored it to its former glory, including a species called humans, which eventually evolved into the menni over time. But, then another cataclysm occurred, not by divine means, but by the overuse of finite resources by the menni. An issue humans had to deal with, too, and in either case the results were the same. The rest, lies in the legends of the Forbidden City of Adamas. I hope this answered your questions, husky."

"It more likely created a lot more," was the answer of Seraph as he averted the demon's gaze and leaned against a wall. "We are told you are deceivers, and I need more concrete prove to trust you."

"Doesn't the same apply for all faiths?" Aldric now asked as he dispelled the seal of Ipos and went closer to the canine. "In the end, it may not be possible to know the absolute truth. But with every revelation of ours we come out wiser, and may realize new things."

A sigh escaped the husky's muzzle. "If this even was a revelation." He now took his gun back from Fionnbharr and stashed it back into its holster. "Since you are now back together, I will return to my wife. Farewell"

Once the dog left the scene, Khaba now turned to Aldric and scratched the back of his head. "Not that I mind a bulkier form, but I would like to dispel it for now."

"Ah, yes," the shaman now snapped his fingers and the darkness surrounding Khaba vanished, revealing the true body of the fruit bat in a sleeping state.

Quickly Khaba gasped for air and then flattered onto the back of Lucille. "Thanks, I found this new form rather odd to be honest."

Lucille patted through Khaba's head fur and chuckled as she glanced around in the building. "So, have you found out what this is for a place?"

"The upper floors are used as places for the people to rest, while downstairs there is a sort of research facility? I was experimented on down there, but managed to free myself somehow," the fruit bat told everyone as he flew towards the staircase again and waited for everyone to follow.

Down in the basement, Fionnbharr was looking in amazement around the different machines, and proceeded touching them all to learn their functions. "Fascinating, all this technology to measure the principles of the universe itself. And to store information. But, also in danger to be used without any morality behind it."

"It did come back to him it seems," Lucille commented as she looked at the headless body of Cervantes. "Huh, no blood, a lot of strange metal parts. This is not a living being, is it?"

"Yes, it is actually another form of their technology, which is used to carry the mind of people even after their death. It does not act really like a second body for the soul, but rather as a copy of a person made from metal," Fionnbharr tried to explain and shook his head. "It is actually confusing to me as well."

Aldric now looked over the body and blew some air out of his muzzle. "Essentially, it is only a copy. Not even technology can trick death completely, thus the soul of the person has wandered to the otherworld a long time ago."

"Is that so?" Fionnbharr now touched the broken husk of Cervantes and closed his eyes. "That explains a lot of things."

Khaba and Lucille looked a bit perplexed at the two badgers. It was then Lucille, who began to speak up, "So, anything we can use?"

"We could try to decipher the papers, but I guess this is a bit more complicated," Aldric explained as he looked over to the hull of Cervantes. "And I am not sure if the menni will cooperate with us."

Khaba now tilted his head and then looked over to a console that he was previously linked to. "Maybe you try out those machines?"

"It could work," Fionnbharr said as he went closer and touched the machine with his left hand. As he closed his eyes more visions went through his mind and soon he had to hold his head as he lost his balance. "It is, very difficult to comprehend. But, this place also monitors another facility to the north of here. Hmm, but I really have no idea about the rest."

"So we need to get some information from the papers after all," Lucille concluded with her arms crossed. "Oh well, can't do much about it, let's drag a scholar over here and pressure them to help us."

Aldric nodded. "Yeah, I think that would be a good idea," he said and then looked up to the ceiling. "We just wait for one of them to get here. In the meantime, we just see, if they got something to eat or drink." He now sniffed around and followed a scent into the small room on the side, where he opened the fridge and looked at some of the items inside.

Lucille eventually stepped in with Khaba on her back and glanced at some of the stuff. "Hmm, I smell a lot of new things here. None of those things are native to our place."

"Good, because I like trying new things," Aldric said as he grabbed a can of cola and inspected it closely. "Seems like a liquid is inside." He now saw the can's pull tap and decided to move it a little, just to have the drink spill out all over his hand. He then drank from the open can and was immediately emptying it completely. "Wow, this is, just, so sweet, and prickling."

Now Fionnbharr stepped inside and then looked at Aldric with an arched eyebrow. He swiftly grabbed a bottle and closed his eyes. "This is probably not beneficial for your health, but it shouldn't kill you."

Lucille, sensing that things were consumable, now picked out a star fruit for Khaba and a tuna sandwich for herself. After she took a few bites, she was for once smiling like a child. "Amazing! I never have eaten something like that."

"Neither did I," Khaba said as he was eating from the star fruit. "Yum, how about we take some of this with us once we leave?"

"Sounds good," Aldric said as he grabbed another can and opened it right away. He then stepped out of the room and back into the laboratory and sat down on the cold, metallic floor.

It took in total half an hour and a few cans of soda as well as some premade sandwiches until the wait was finally rewarded. The assistance of Cervantes was coming down the stairs with several dogs, all bearing riffles as they surrounded the group. "So, you were the ones causing all the commotion? Seemingly we did miscalculate the danger you pose to us."

"Quite the interesting welcome," Aldric gave her back as he got up from the floor and looked into the crowd of armed soldiers. "Not that you were very willing to give us a warm welcome. But I think we can look past that and try to be more diplomatic with each other."

"Negative, you have killed one of our slave masters and caused a lot of property damage," the assistant said as she pulled out her own gun. "Hereby, I sentence you to death."

Fionnbharr now channeled all his magic and caused the time within the room to stand still for everyone but himself. Casually he picked everyone's weapons and put them into the room next door.

After the spell of the albino passed, the dog soldiers were looking confused as all their weaponry disappeared. The assistant however just laughed. "How interesting. The Aether has granted your kind tremendous powers, but it will not help you."

"Quite a strange reaction for someone, who was just frozen in time," Fionnbharr commented as he pulled over his hood, and tried to hide that he was getting tired.

The assistant now pulled out another weapon and aimed it at the young prince. "Yes, you have frozen time. But, using Aether requires a lot of energy, leaving you weaker than before."

And again Fionnbharr was channeling his own magic, but, just as his opponent stated, he was unable to stabilize the spell this time, leaving him fully vulnerable to her aim.

Before the woman could pull the trigger however, her arm was cut off as Lucille threw her chakram with full speed and then proceeded to jump-kick her in the face, causing her to be knocked out. "Don't think that little thing can replace true skill and talent."

"Thanks Lucille," Fionnbharr now voiced to the otter as he walked closer to some of the dogs and looked at their collars. "How about we free them? They seem not eager to harm us anymore, so we might as well be so kind."

Now Khaba spread his wings and did the same as he did before to deactivate the collars, allowing him to shatter the machinery with a rather light burst of magic. "Easy."

The dogs, now free from their shackles, left the room and made on their way as a new chance for a free life was given to them. Soon, the only thing left was the menni.

Khaba applied a healing spell on her to stop the bleeding, while Aldric made sure she had nothing else on her body that could be used as a weapon. After several minutes the shaman applied his magic around her head and forced her to wake up. "It would be advisable to cooperate now. We need information on six colored gems, which according to our knowledge have once been part of Adamas' treasury. They correspond with the three base colors of light and their counterparts."

"If you are referring to the Six Hearts of Chaos, as the common people named it," the assistant now tried to get up from the ground, just to feel the pressure of Aldric's staff keeping her down, "then you are hunting some sort of myth. Those gems hold nothing of importance."

Aldric shook his head. "Unfortunately, I think they do in fact. You see, we are only here to stop an entity that is connected to those gems. And we got led to this place by a god called Yishai."

Now the assistant arched an eyebrow. "So, you are saying the Silberbrach Record is correct about their purpose? In that case, you may as well give up and die here to escape the tragic fate awaiting you."

"Tragic fate?" Lucille now questioned as she took her chakram and held it close to the woman's throat. "Evaluate this some more."

"If the records are true, then this being is far beyond your comprehension once it is restored. No mortal could best it," she replied and chuckled. "What would there be to stop a god but another god?"

Sighing at that remark Aldric took his staff back and shook his head. "In that case, we just get ourselves a divine power to destroy it. After all, there must be something here."

"How cute. The people that have destroyed this entity last time were powerful in wielding technology and magic to their full extend," the assistant explained and finally got off from the ground. "Nathanael Silberbrach, Darina Bryne, and Torbjorn Lund. Those were their names. I doubt you have anyone of their caliber to put up against Aleftav, so you may as well give up."

Aldric only smiled as he stepped away from her and went towards one of the terminals. "Give us all the information you have. How did those three menni destroy Aleftav the first time?"

In surprise at the demeanor of the badger, the woman was shaking her head. "Not menni. That happened so long ago, we could still call it the Golden Age of Humans. And, the only information we have is that they were simply powerful."

"I guess that means there has to be a powerful weapon somewhere in Adamas, if it was that simple," Aldric concluded and looked back at her. "Would there be one?"

The assistant was stepping closer to the terminal and activating it. After a while of her typing in with her left hand, it showcased a building and a map, which pin-pointed to the north of the city. "Try your luck at the abandoned research facility. If you survive the way there, you may find something."

"See? It all works better, if everyone is cooperating. Have a nice evening," Aldric voiced as he gestured the others that they should follow.

"Not so hasty," a male voice now called as suddenly the terminal's display showed the face of Cervantes, frowning at the scene. "I can't allow such damage to go unpaid for."

Lucille now held her hand towards the terminal and blasted it with a fire spell. "Not my problem. Let us just leave this place as fast as possible."

"In hope that we never meet again," the assistant now said as she was pressing another key on the terminal, causing a loud alarm to go off. The stair case was now shut by an iron door as the laboratory was filled with gas.

Fionnbharr was quick to use his magic to open a portal out of the place and pushed Aldric through it. However, he began to cough violently as Lucille jumped through with Khaba on her back. Before he was through the gateway completely, the albino was almost collapsing, coughing even more. "This was, rather stressful all of the sudden."

Khaba now flew onto the albino's back and channeled his healing magic through the pristine mustelid's body. "Don't strain yourself too much. You are not looking too well right now."

"That would be normal. I don't have the sturdiest of bodies, so I do tend to exhaust quickly," Fionnbharr answered to the kindness of the fruit bat with a smile on his muzzle. "Not that it is too important. We have a clue that leads us further north. We should return to our meeting spot and wait for the others to come back."

Aldric nodded as he looked towards the vast ruins and debris that stretched before them. "Hopefully they are well."

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[1] Irish for "Good Evening".

[2] In Hinduist Belief the term Samsara refers to the cycle of death and rebirth.