It's night in the Millet Field Cultivatist Village. The adults and spirits are tearing down after that day’s story telling as the kids head back to their houses. A young teen runs up to one of these adults in the midst of putting away an old tapestry.
“Maru! Where are The Founders?”
The youngster had just gotten his copy of the Ones That Passed and was quickly progressing through his rituals. Unfortunately at the cost of him asking so… many… questions.
Maru sets the tapestry aside hoping to quickly finish this conversation but knowing she won't, “Come again?”
“The Founders from tonight's story. The ones who made the book should be somewhere in the middle but the ones who made the first rituals should be among the first entries right? But look-” the teen snaps his fingers and a small charm he had on a bracelet changes to a large, dark book that he almost drops due to its cumbersome size. He turns to one of the first pages which was covered in strange symbols, “these pages don't have text.”
“Well… whoever made the first rituals are very old so if they're even in there anymore the language is lost. You should know this?” Maru says with concern. How could he forget something so basic.
“You’re not listening to me. This isn't text. Where are the pages?” When she returns a lost look he continues “And why can't I pull the ones who made the book?”
“Oh Val” she says, seeming to now understand what went wrong, “You can't pull up someone you don't personally know. You have to search for them like a normal book. I'm sorry we didn't explain that well enough.”
“Yes you can.”
“I'm sorry?”
“Look.” The young Val opens the book like he already knows what page he's looking for. “From the week before here's Ikimonti” absent-mindedly leaving out his “Soul Breaker” Title. When he looks to Maru she had an expression he couldn't quite decipher so he continues, flipping to another page, “Or take this page of Ma-”
Maru suddenly rips the book out of Val’s hands and holds it away from him like she's protecting him from a wild animal, or maybe the reverse. “Go to bed.”
He stands there a moment. Did he miss something? “But it's still early?”
Maru’s expression hardens. “Go. to. bed.”
Did he do something wrong? “Could I get my book back?”
“BED!”
Startled by having a Cultivatist spirit suddenly scream at him, Val… listens. He nods and sprints back to his own home, never asking about that night again.
CLICK
Suddenly the lights snap back on. Moss, Lyra, Simon and I were still trying to head back to the Lobby. I refuse to be a babysitter and I'm sure I'm not the only one with questions for the surprise TITAN employee. I stand there momentarily blinded by their brightness before unfortunately I feel the ground give below me. I watch as Moss, Lyra, and Simon are ripped from view and I’m surrounded by freezing darkness.
I hear the voice of The Entity.
“In light of new developments, I’ve determined that some of your skills are better suited elsewhere…”
And in another second my feet hit the ground and I’m in light again.
The room was loud with a hum and various other mechanical sounds. Each or the wall was covered in switches and meters and labels I couldn’t make any sense of. Also around me were… some of the others from the lobby?
Could this be where the rest went? Who would've guessed that the spirit was bluffing.
“It’s about time,” I hear a new voice as someone approaches. Manifesting before us stood a large man in work clothes and that same cyan hue. “The power being on changes things. You better be ready to work, or these lights won’t last long.”
As if on cue the lights start to flicker. He starts leading each of us away toward tasks to somehow assist with the problem. When he’s distracted with someone else I take my leave to try and find my way out of this place. I don’t know where those three are or what exactly is going on with these spirits but I definitely can’t help it if I'm stuck here trying to fix century old lighting.
“And where are you off to?” I barely take two steps before the spirit had already reappeared in front of me.
“I'm sorry. I would love to help but… I'm not good with machines. I would just slow you all down.” Not sure how the others would be any help either. Aren't they exorcists? Maybe they are like Moss and Lyra and here to attempt to give other kinds of help? But then why would I be sent down here to help with power? I actually know what I'm doing.
“I don't need you to be. Walk with me.” He starts walking and I reluctantly start to follow. He mindlessly avoids the clutter along the ground, cables, boxes, discarded tools and the like. I can't help but stumble every few feet.
“But I have business elsewhere.” Was I sent here because the book stopped working? Surely if it came to it I could still… guide-
Not again.
“That you wouldn't be able to do if the- are you alright?” Somehow the spirit noticed.
“I'm fine.” Of course you can't guide these spirits. They aren't exiles. It's whatever the enchantment is. That's normal. That's fine. Maybe if you find any exiles here then you'll be able to do it. You just have to keep walking.
We stop in front of what looks to be a giant jet engine embedded in the wall. A massive turbine in the center with deactivated lights surrounding it.
“What do you know of Bond Magic?” He asks.
“Nothing.” I answer. A magic just for attaching things together? Glue magic?
“It’s the magic that mainly powers this place, fueled by the bonds, the relationships between people.” He steps away to dig through a workshop cart that, like the rest of this place, seems to have been left untouched by time, “I’ve made it so that the amount of visitors this place should have brought in would have been more than enough. But now it's just you all here.”
I take that moment to hurry away only to be choked by my coat when he grabs me by the hood. While failing to get out of his grip I respond, “Has anyone told you that you're very strong? Please let go of me.”
Why are these spirits so… physical?
“So I’m going to need whatever direct sources I can find.” He lets go, probably assuming he's won me over. It’s hard to tell by his face, especially what he means by “direct sources”. I assume the best but keep in mind where my warding charm is.
“I’m sorry but I’m not from here. I don’t think I can use your magic.”
He looks… amused? Uninterested? In my answer. “I don’t need you to. Take these.”
He holds out towards me metal gauntlets covered with markings I don’t recognize. “What am I supposed to do with these?”
“Wear them and focus. You’re here for a reason right? I would start with that.”
“Oh… Kay.” I take the stance I imagine a… friendship wizard would take and “focus”.
This is ridiculous.
“I am Val Halmore and I’m here in hopes to guide a spirit and return home not only as part of the Harvest but as a noteworthy guide.” The room is still as the overhead lights flicker again. “Oh look, nothing happened.” I finally fully drop the guide voice now.
“Try”
“Oh but I am!” We both stand there for who knows how long. He doesn't look like he's going to budge. “Okay fine!” I start again, “I’ve always-”
“You don't need to talk”
I've always been more drawn to the spirits. I would spend afternoons just picking a page and reading through the entries in the Ones That Passed. Fascinated by what people decided to include. Wondering what they didn't.
The turbine starts to turn slowly and the spirit disappears. It’s better if I waited a few minutes before leaving unless I immediately get stopped again. I have enough experience with overbearing spirits to know that.
I want to be a guide because of that. I know that the spirits we help don’t have to add themselves but I want to give them the choice to be remembered through it. And that I can make sure that at least someone else would write something for them. Make sure it's right. I don't know what else would get me close to that.
It’s turning in earnest now. The lights are beginning to turn on. I was here only a few minutes and am already mastering Bond Magic.
And I’ll get their story right. As right as I can get it. Not have some old paranoid spirits slowly change it over each telling till it’s basically a lie. Not scared off because it’s uncomfortable. Not-
The image of MY book flashes in my mind, the one stuffed with red from the years of names I keep finding. That I feel compelled to keep. At the same time the machine roars to life as it and the gauntlets fully light in… cyan. The cyan of The Entity, of the emergency lights, of the spirits. Bond Magic. All bond magic.
I scream and throw off the gauntlets, falling backwards after tripping over another cable.
Okay it's time to go.
I give one last look at the room as I try to stop shaking before getting up and heading out. I hurry through hallways trying to avoid any commotion that might drag me back.
Stupid Bond Magic. Some inefficient gimmick. Should’ve just used marks. Why would it even attach to that? It’s just a dumb problem I’m having with my book, exasperated by this place. Magic of relationships? More like magic of years of headaches. Shouldn’t have even come here. There isn’t even spirits to-
The spirits.
The sick feeling comes over me again. The color, the strange amount of tangibility, lack of a temperature drop.
“They’re not spirits. Great Veil they’re not spirits” I whisper to myself. I can't help but think back to the mangled body of that poor guard. I lay one of my hands against the hallway walls as I try not to gag.
That wasn't my fault. I didn't want that to happen. I'm not like them. I can’t be like them.
Keep moving.
I keep my hand along the walls to steady myself against the nausea as I move forward.
You have to find the main hallways again. There I can use the map and get back. And then I can try and help where I can there. They may not be spirits but they still are displaced in some way. Surely some of my teachings should still be relevant. Then I can get out of here and put this all behind me.
For the next few minutes I keep walking as I try to recover from the shock. Trying to stay focused on my current task. Not panicking over more meaningless “signs”. I was almost completely alright again when my hand crosses a particularly cold part of the wall. Stepping back I could much more clearly see that one segment was askew from the rest, like it was meant to be pushed in.
That's not the way back.
But why was it colder than the rest? It hasn't gotten much warmer since the power came back on so I doubt it’s that this section lacked it. And why would a doorway be built into the wall? Was it supposed to be hidden?
I already find myself trying to push it open, my curiosity already getting the better of me. And something else, like a subtler possession.
I tear my hand back.
What am I doing?
I keep walking past it deeper into the hall.
Nothing is calling me. That's not why I'm here. Focus.
A teen aged terranyth opens a bedroom door not expecting someone to already be there, “Aren’t you supposed to be at a haunt?!”
On the bed sat a human, around the same age, book open on his lap and with several packages of sticky notes around him, “I came back”
The other joins him on the bed, “Don’t tell me you also finished your Fulfilment early too. It’s not a race Val.”
“Yeah, no.” Val says distantly.
“Are you okay?”
“I couldn't do it. Something felt off, like I wasn’t supposed to be there. That I was making the wrong choice.”
The terranyth rests a hand on his shoulder, “Well maybe it’s because you're trying to do it at sixteen?” they joke, trying to be reassuring.
“Maybe.” It didn’t work.
“Well… what are you working on now?” they ask, trying to change the subject.
“This?” He focuses back on the book, “Last week I had some trouble finding Spirit Soninfe’s page so now I’m making tabs for all of the pages I know.”
“Trouble finding Spirit Soninfe’s page? Shouldn’t you tell someone about that?” The terranyth now says with concern, withdrawing.
“No, it's fine. I already have a solution.” Val answers, attention now fully in the present.
“You see Spirit Soninfe everyday and now you’re completely unable to do a Fulfilment? Don’t you think the Harvest and Spirits should know about that?”
“Because they’re just going to overreact again. Do you know they won’t teach me about markings anymore? Just because I was talking about curses too much. Very excited about how they would feel about the prodigy suddenly avoiding his final ritual while being unable to properly do something as simple as pulling up the right page.”
“Curses?” The other responds, confused.
Val sighs, “Yes. I disagree with the thought that a curse is any enchantment with a condition. It’s too wide for something that has such a negative connotation. There's no rule that it has to be something twisted like “once the king dies” or “every new moon a body sacrifice must be made” but apparently even well meaning conditions will get twisted eventually. I tried to write a curse that proved that wrong and now no more markings for Val.” There’s a pause in the conversation before Val continues “Adding a condition makes an enchantment more likely to cast and is the only way for an enchantment to end without someone physically breaking it. The Ancients gifted us markings. Why should we leave any part of them on the table?”
There’s another long pause before the terranyth speaks again, “what’s with all the colors?”
Val brightens, “Ah well if I’m going to be noting all these pages might as well add some color coding. Clever don’t you think?”
“What’s red?”
Val’s confused by the question but answer regardless “It’s for spirits I don’t want to interact with.”
“Like who?”
“Like…” Val pauses, trying to remember a story that would make… sense. He can't tell them that every time he tries to pull up a page someone else's comes up. Ones whose names he's learned not to bring up anymore, “I got in an argument with one and later found out I was very wrong and I still refuse to back down. Why do you ask?”
They look down as if to make sure what they saw was in fact correct before they speak again, “Because you’ve used a lot.”
It was true. About twice the amount of any of the other colors. Completely unnoticed till now.
“Why are you here Xitelkel?”
Xitelkel suddenly turns their eyes to the box Val keeps on his night stand. A stash of food he keeps for when he doesn’t want to go down to the kitchens. Before he realizes what’s happening Xitelkel has it and is all the way back down the hall.
“HEY!”
It's a maze down here. I keep getting turned around. Halls loop on themselves, there aren't direction signs anywhere, everything just looks like the same mechanical chaos. When I find myself back at the hidden passage I call it quits. I'm going to need someone to lead me out of here.
If I ask any of the people here. I would certainly be led back to the turbine. I'm not sitting through that.
I stare at the crack in the wall.
The same would happen if I just stay out here right? I just need to stop this nagging and I'll be right back out.
I end up having to push the doorway open by putting my full weight onto one of my shoulders. It opens to another hallway, this one completely in shadow. The walls of machinery and dials were replaced with rough stone. Not to say they were completely absent. The cables still lined the floor even if there was less now. Stepping further in the cold gets worse. I keep walking further in, led by that cold and bit of this strange instinct. After turning on my phone’s flashlight and adjusting to the dark again it appeared I was now in some kind of mix between a mine shaft and cave system. Narrow tunnels lined with wires and tools would lead down to wide caverns and then return to more tunnels.
What does any of this have to do with a portal hub?
Eventually once again I’m shivering from the cold and soon see ahead of me another light, weak against the dark. Against my every judgement I turn off my own and continue on. It feels automatic. I don't feel controlled. I can stop. But it's easier if I don't. And I don't want to.
It was spirits. Actual spirits. Workers softly glowing in a white monochrome. Many of them are deeply emaciated and carrying devastating injuries. Limbs crushed, hands cut to bits, some missing, some still hanging on by ribbons of flesh, arm bones pulled out of sockets and loose in the skin. Despite their conditions they still mime working with materials no longer there; in a trance. Moving heavy materials, using handsaws, fixing machines, other actions I couldn't decipher whether from my unfamiliarity with construction or this world’s magic. The ones that weren’t were instead rendered dwon to quietly moaning shades along the ground. Describing their uniforms would be redundant.
Who knows how long they’ve been down here. Their families must be long gone now and I doubt TITAN left even their names anywhere to be recognized. Shame I can’t lead them back to a haunt. Hopefully I can tell someone they are down here once this is all over. If our creator, judge, and jury allows me too.
I make my exit. I make it a few paces away back into the dark before-
Wait, those are exiles.
I force myself to turn back around and I… stand there. Unable to move forward. Completely exposed.
Come on. It’s perfect. Toughing it out in another world with no assistance, no spirits to help me, finally releasing these poor souls of their perceived debt to this shady corporation. That's it right? You just need to do the ritual to snap them out of their trance. You should be able to guide at least one. Why can’t I just push past this?
If I stay here one of them is going to notice me. They’re going to see that I’m alive. They're going to steal my body away from me.
I can’t do this. I need something more. Just start the ritual. I need to run.
One of the spirits turns their head towards my direction. Eyes darkened sockets.
Do SOMETHING. Start the ritual. Call one of your spirits. Move.
They open their mouth, bigger than their body should allow and bellows out a deafening wail.
Move.
The others see me too now. One lunges forward. Whatever was holding me breaks and I run into the dark. I try to remember the way back as best I can. I can hear them chasing me just a short ways back. I can’t let them touch me. I can’t let them trick me. I-
Trip.
And then I fall.
I roughly hit the stone floor. I try to scramble back up but-
“AGH”
I feel a sudden blow to my spine. I'm knocked back to the ground.
It's not real. Spirits can't kill you. Don't think that you are going to die here.
Something tears at my coat. Something cold holds down my legs. I can't move.
This is mine. They can't take it. This is a trick and I will not fall for it. We will both stay here.
Something pulls and grabs at one of my arms. I try to regain control of my breathing.
This will not work.
There's a loud snap and my arm is replaced with a shocking, agonizing pain.
“AHH!”
And then it's over. My arm is fine. My coat is still intact. My back is fine. The pain is still there but everything is undamaged. I can move again.
“What is going on over here!?” The cyan bond spirit is back, standing in the hidden doorway only a few feet away. The spirits must have hidden it from me.
“How many… people died here?” I'm still panting through the words.
“Nobody yet. I need you to get back.”
“Back when this place was being constructed… How many?” It’s hard to think.
“No one. Why are you asking this? What. Happened?”
“You’re a liar” I choke out. “I saw them. I saw them. I don’t want to do this. I saw them.”
The spirit sighs, “Kid. Val was it? When my team and I were putting this place together they knew I would've raised hell if anyone’s life was put in danger let alone ended. But TITAN did some work without us and I don’t recognize this place from any of my designs. After the power is up I can see if I can get an investigation started.”
“What is with you and the power?” The pain is starting to subside but I can’t bring myself to get up from the ground. I don’t want to go back. I don’t know what else I should do.
“Because I need you all to finish your mission here.”
What?
“Who are you?” I ask. One part stalling. One part still trying to figure out if I'm still hallucinating.
“You can call me Waller. Come on.”
With a sharp inhale I push myself up.
“Are you okay? Can you walk?” I can’t tell if he’s actually concerned or if he’s worried if I’m going to be any more of a hassle.
“Yes,” I hiss out. “Just lead me back to where it is.”
I follow him back to the turbine room trying to ignore the pit in my stomach.
Something is wrong with me, that much is clear now. It’s been clear. I knew back when I saw them back with Moss and Lyra. I knew when I first put in the tabs. I hope they got back safe.
I walk back toward the center of the room and repick up the gauntlets.
The strange dreams, the way I just do things, know things…The book.
I stand there for a moment, just looking at them.
Waller asks, “Is something wrong?”
I don’t look up. “You wouldn’t get it.”
Something keeps drawing me toward dangerous spirits, dangerous ideas. Now I'm trapped with them. Maybe I was never supposed to finish my Fulfilment.
I put them on and try again.
I’m supposed to be among the rejected and forgotten.
And again the machine in the wall spins to life and it and the gauntlets brighten. After a few moments cyan threads lead from my hand and into the blades. Must be the “source”
And I don’t know what I did to deserve it.