November 16, 2111
Castle
Rain poured down in pools and thunder cracked whips in the sky during this monumental thunderstorm. The ground was tough, rocky, and bleak in color. Heavy winds blew the rain in strange directions and into the face of Castle and his fellow knights.
Long ago, there was a collision of two small planets. That collision didn't end with a simple bang and chucks of rock flying off into the void of space; instead, the two planets combined to form one cohesive environment. From space, the pair of planets looked like a separated yin-yang symbol, with the tail ends being a trail of asteroid-sized terrains. The small amount of life that exists on this pair of planets lives near the floating lake of water in the space between the two of them. With two terrains combined into one, the space between the two had some of the strangest gravity in the galaxy.
This pair of planets goes by the name Thearend to those who know it. Most don't know of this aberration, and those who do may think this place barren of life and technology. But those individuals would be wrong. Within this virtually lifeless and barren place exists a home. Laced into one of the floating terrains around the middle of the pair of planets is a dark mansion, one that houses the warlords when all want to meet at the same place.
Castle waited back by their starship. Using technology gifted by the Devisors, this starship could go anywhere faster than any other ship in existence, while containing the capabilities of being completely undetectable. Outside the ship, Castle and the two other knights accompanying him had to wear atmospheric masks because of the lack of oxygen. Starlight, another knight, stood at the end of the terrain rock they'd landed on and was shooting stars down at the entrance of the mansion. She then started to connect the energy lines emitted from these specific stars to the rock. Soon, the knights would descend to the mansion using those energy lines.
"So, if all the big dogs leading the Wersillian Legion come here for meetings, who actually lives here?" Castle asked Ghost, who was leaning against the ship to the left of Castle.
"Whenever Airra had a mission for me in the past, she would summon me to this place. Here, I was always escorted to the same room in the mansion - a war room. And many times, within that room, I've often noticed an individual sitting on a throne. The home most likely belongs to that individual," Ghost speculated.
"What makes that chump special?"
"Don't know. I've always assumed whoever the individual is had some kind of leg in with the warlords. Either that or the individual is a warlord, too. Rationally, it would make sense. Although, I've never been able to get a peep out of the being. He or she always remained quiet in spite of my strategic language designed to invoke a response."
"I hate people who hide themselves in mystery and shadows. More often than not, they end up being cowards."
"In this case, I find that notion to be unlikely. Whenever I'm near the individual, I feel like a rabid animal trapped in a corner."
"I remember you telling me you felt something was off."
"And look where that feeling led us." Ghost smirked at his astonishing sense.
"You're right again." Castle rolled his eyes. "Now that I've told you what you wanted to hear, are you pleased with yourself?"
Ghost nodded. "One day, you'll take my senses more seriously."
"Yeah. The moment you stop taking everything else so damn seriously," Castle joked.
"Everything the brotherhood does must be given absolute focus. The technology we hunt and handle can derail the course of the entire galaxy."
"Doesn't mean we can't come to work with a big, fat smile on our faces and appetite for a bit of fun." Castle laughed.
"Gentlemen, I've prepared a descent." Starlight waved at them, grabbing their attention.
Castle chuckled. "Don't worry, Starlight, someday you'll develop an outdoor voice."
Starlight smiled. "And announce ourselves to the enemy?" Even without using a mocking tone, Castle could feel her mocking him with her gaze.
"Trust me, if I can barely hear you, then the enemy most definitely will not," Castle joked. Ghost jabbed Castle's shoulder and signaled for him to stop. "Jeez, when are you's two's gonna learn to take a few jokes?"
Starlight was the first to descend the energy lines. Castle and Ghost followed at the same time. As Castle zipped down the line, he could see the vastness of space between the terrain rocks floating between the two gravities. There was an aurora of green and purple lights streaking between many of the outer terrain rocks, casting a wonder and awe into the atmosphere. Inner terrain rocks were filled with lush growth. Small creatures flew from terrain to terrain.
Castle landed lightly on the surface of the rock just above the entrance to the mansion. The darkness hid them from view of the honor guards outside, while the thunder and downpour covered their sound.
Every bit of communication from here on out would be streamed in through the render chips within their ears.
"Starlight, knock the guards unconscious," Ghost instructed.
"Timescale?"
"A minute. That is more than enough time to sneak inside."
"Don't worry, I've said 'please' for you." She giggled.
Castle looked across the roof to Starlight, who extended her hand backwards and materialized the star she needed. Castle saw her lips move, probably mumbling something silly like she always did before a shot. She let the star fly and as soon as it made contact with the ground, a sharp frequency wave emitted from the star, knocking the guards unconscious.
"Let's move." Ghost leapt down to the entrance level.
Castle landed below and walked up behind his fellow knights. Ghost attached a chip to the security system of the place, and within seconds the door hissed open.
"Activate refractor fields."
Ghost pressed a button on his gauntlet. A field emitted from the weapon and turned him completely invisible. The knights, though, could still see each other due to their artificial implants.
The rest of the knights mirrored Ghost's actions. They entered the mansion through the atmospheric doors and were welcomed with oxygenated air. Readings showed it was breathable, so Castle removed his mask.
The colorless lounge was uninviting, dull, and grim. At the center of the lounge was a black-trunk tree, a tree supposedly extinct, with white leaves and puffballs that looked like soft snow. A light, white and dim, originated from the center of the tree, barely lighting the circular domed room. Under the tree's branches were a few gray seastone benches, and surrounding them was a pond with no life inside. Seastone paths lined the walls of the domed room and cut the pond into four slices, with each slice leading to the tree. Despite the dull and bleak nature of the room, it held a weight to it. Someone had decorated this room to their specific taste; that much was clear.
"Why is it villains always live in dark, dull places? Cliché, isn't it?" Castle joked under his breath.
"Nobody is a villain, and yet everyone is. Everyone has purposes and motivations behind their actions and, in their own eyes, believe in what they do," Ghost retorted.
"Change the perspective to anybody to simply paint them as a hero," added Starlight.
"Guards incoming," Ghost warned.
From the other side of the room, two double doors slid down, and a few dytirc honor guards marched toward the door the knights had entered. The knights stepped aside and held their breath as the guards passed. The guards opened the door and met one of the guards Starlight had previously knocked out.
"Took you assholes long enough," the previously knocked out guard told the others.
"Calm down. This mansion is big," another said with a laugh. "You know, this is your third false alarm this week. You're starting to sound like the little dytirc that cried ungie."
"No! I swear! This time, I woke up on the floor! I think I was knocked out!"
"Are you sure you didn't pass out?" one teased.
"I didn't, and he can confirm it, too!" The dytirc pointed to the other guard that had been previously knocked out.
"I woke up the same way, too, sir," he added.
They mumbled amongst themselves. "Fine, I'll alert the others to be wary." They left, passing the invisible knights, and reentered the door they came in from. The entrance doors closed.
The knights made their way to the far door. "Being on alert for those buffoons means they take an extra second before going back to playing with their cyberwatches," Castle jested.
"Nobody has ever broken into this place, making these guards easy to sneak by," Ghost informed. "Starlight, show us the way."
Inside the next room was a hallway with a series of doors; shades of gray, chiseled stone walls, white-wooden doors and doorways, all decorated as tightly as possible. Starlight shot another star to the opposite end of the hall. It was a sonic star, allowing her to map the building using advanced wavelengths.
"Nothing stays hidden from the stars," she mumbled to herself. Castle rolled his eyes.
Starlight gazed at the hologram over her wrist. "Nothing of interest yet," she told the other knights. "It'll take a timeline increase to readout this place."
"Right. You go and scout the place. We will wait in the lounge," Ghost instructed.
She nodded and crept down the tight halls and carpeted floors. Castle and Ghost, still invisible, walked back to the lounge and sat down on one of the benches under the tree.
"Don't you miss times like these, Ghost? Chilling with the most interesting guy in the galaxy." Castle squeezed his fists together in sarcastic excitement. "Feels just like our days in training."
"I remember those days, too. You would slack off while I did all the work and covered for you." Ghost smiled while trying to hide the fact that he was smiling.
"We made quite a pair."
"But I grew up. You didn't."
"Is that why you never want me to help you with missions anymore? Hell, I know the reason can't be my lack of skills; I've got them a-plenty."
"My undercover missions with the Wersillian Legion requires a focused mind. A simple slip of the tongue could cost our brotherhood dearly."
"I can hold my tongue," Castle said. Ghost gave him a stare that showed he didn't believe him. "Sometimes," Castle corrected himself.
"Right. You just answered your own question."
"Fine, fine, fine. I can be a bit… excitable sometimes. Doesn't mean I can't handle myself."
"Indeed," Ghost acknowledged. Castle began to chuckle, hinting rather obviously that he was chuckling at Ghost. "What did I say?"
"It wasn't something you said. It just reminded me of something. I recall rather recently, you failed to handle yourself."
Ghost grumbled, "This again?"
"I told you before, I will keep bugging you until you tell me what happened with the mysterious character."
"You can be so irritating."
"So, save yourself from it. Tell me… pleeaasssee," Castle begged.
"Fine! Despite my careful planning, something unexpected happened. An ally of James Stone came to his rescue before I could kill him. This, and only this, led to my failure. My plans were sound. My attempts to solve the unexpected issue failed."
"So, this ally of James beat you… YOU in a one-on-one fight."
"My retreat was strategic," Ghost reiterated.
"Bullshivf," Castle cracked up.
"All I need is time to understand him. Know him better than he does himself."
"Why? That never cost you a fight before."
"Whenever I have a target, I investigate their lives and past beforehand; enough to fill a biography. It has always been a precaution I took but would never need to kill my targets."
"Jeez. What's this punk's name anyway?"
"Damon Swift. That was his name."
"The Soulless Hitman? Thought that barbarian died years ago… and shivf, I was happy to hear a man surrounded by such stories was supposedly dead."
"Indeed the legend lives. Until I fought him, I never thought a human could be so efficient in combat. Humans are weak and slow compared to us. Not Damon. His power armor hid those human weaknesses, and his skills were on par with my own. Blow for blow, he and I were even, and our fight was a struggle for an upper-hand."
"Couldn't you just read what he was going to do next, like you can with everyone else?"
"Odd, isn't it, that I couldn't read him? That, though, is only half the story. Most wouldn't notice, but I'm not most. I sensed something different about him. That something pushed at me… into me. That something seemed to throw me off my full capabilities and took away some of my focus. It was almost like a drug, but I can't be certain. That is why I retreated. I couldn't take the chance of more going wrong than had already gone wrong."
"Maybe he was using a gas of some kind."
"You might be on to something. It seems you do have moments of brightness," Ghost joked, though with a much more deadpan tone than someone might expect.
Castle laughed. "I try."
The doors at the opposite end of the room opened. "Readout complete," Starlight practically whispered.
"Starlight, what did you find?" Ghost got up and headed in her direction. Castle followed.
"Readout revealed something rather notable." Starlight led them out of the dome room and down a series of shadowy, almost endless corridors. Each was lined with many doors, mud-painted, shades-of-gray pictures placed high on the walls, almost touching the stone ceiling. "A storage area occupies the west wing past one of the far doors."
"You found a storage closet? Interesting, haha," Castle jested.
"Below is a hatch that opens into our, er, I mean a room. The structure in the room matches divisor architecture." Starlight cleared her throat uncomfortably.
"Starlight, is something bothering you?" Ghost stared at her curiously.
"Oh… it's not a concern. I-I just… something from my… from my past," she prevaricated.
"You've never spoken about that?" Ghost persisted.
"Words wouldn't began to describe."
The knights neared the storage area.
"Careful, Ghost. You don't want her to have another episode, would yah?" Castle aimed his tease at Starlight
"Push off, Castle," she mumbled. "Anyway…we are here…guards are there." She pointed to the guards in the storage room. "So, if you want them unconscious…well, then I want an apology."
She marched through the door with enraged steps, still too quiet for the guards to pick up, and climbed up to the top of a few story high wooden storage containers right next to the doorway leading into this storage room. The rest followed and gazed down at three guards chatting with each other, uninterested in patrolling; instead, they huddled around a few barrels, chatting, laughing, and having a good time, oblivious to the knights' presence. For a storage area, there was a surprising shortage of stuff. Hundreds of meters of empty space were in-between only a couple wooden containers, one of which the knights were atop, the other of which the guards hung out at.
"I'm so… so sincerely apologetic," Castle mocked sarcastically before laughing some more.
"Starlight, just take care of the guards," Ghost requested.
She frowned and reluctantly pulled out a star, firing it to the floor. "Go to sleep," she whispered to herself, and the guards passed out to her words. She pointed to a panel estranged from the rest of the patterned floor tiles. "The hatch lies there."
Without a word, Ghost hopped down and pulled off the hatch. Everyone piled into the darkness and landed inside a tight, clandestine room. Ghost lit a fire on his gauntlets, and the room was lit up with the flickering blaze. Emerald green and sharp silver faded material, signature to the divisors, outlined the tiny room. Each corner had an oval mirror filled not with glass, but smoke. It seemed as if one could walk right through the mirrors. Below each of the four mirrors was a pad large enough to stick any species' palm against. Next to those were lights, all blinking red.
"I've read words about these before." Starlight gazed from one mirror to the next. Her uncomfortable tone returned for a seamless moment before slipping away. "The Great Library named them soul panels." Starlight thought for a moment, holding her hand to her jaw. Castle looked at her funny. He knew that was the kind of thinking she did when she was deciding whether or not to say something, not when she was trying to recall information. Strange. "Four panels… four keys. A connection that reveals the face of the key's owner… its current holder. Red lights… equals the keys have vacated from their origin."
"Then each mirror tells us who holds each key," Ghost recapitulated. "One is with James Stone. One is with Airra. The third was taken by the Wersillian Legion months ago. And the fourth… is a mystery."
"Then let's unveil the mystery," Castle suggested.
He stomped over to one mirror, placed his palm on the pad, and the smoke revealed the face of James Stone; gruff, with an orange beard and fade-style hair. The moment was in real time, too, because Castle could see what James was doing that exact moment. Starlight did the same and saw the bark-faced Airra. Ghost's mirror was strange; nothing appeared.
"Mine shows nothing," Ghost stated.
"Meaning the key is without a current holder," Starlight responded.
Castle pressed his hand on the last pad. The smoke swirled, and Castle tilted his head in surprise. "Who is this dimple?" Castle stared at the image of a human male, brown hair and glasses, dressed in a priest's outfit. Castle gazed back to see Ghost shrug. Starlight immediately looked away when Castle's eyes locked onto hers.
What is going on in her strange head? Castle thought to himself. Why is she acting so abnormal? And not the version of abnormal unique to her, but the version of abnormal everyone else went by.
"Obviously, that is the person in possession of the fourth and final key, which means the third key must've been hidden somewhere by the Wersillian Legion," Ghost stated.
"We still don't know exactly what the keys open," Castle added.
Ghost gazed down at an empty mantel. "Dust pattern shows that a book used to be here. Someone doesn't want anyone else to find that out."
"Smart. So, what's next?"
"I think we've learned what we came here to learn about the Wersillian Legion. They want the keys and have a way to see who has it. Not where it is, leaving us with time."
"To?"
"Regroup at our home, the Sanctuary. I assume each of you knows the date today, correct?" Each of the knights gave a smile in acknowledgement. "Then you know Sunfire will be waking up soon. With her guidance, we can come up with a plan."
Sunfire, a name that sent shivers down Castle's spine, the good kind of shivers. Despite his past issues with her, there was some comfort in knowing the fifth knight of the Brotherhood of Relics would be awake once again. It had been too long.
The knights headed out, leaving the way they came in. Just as quietly and carefully as they'd arrived, they left. It was as if they'd never been to the mansion in the first place.