Chapter 52: Disruption
Katrina never imagined that this latest investigation would lead to such a plethora of photographic opportunities and artistic inspirations, and now she was on her final film she found herself wishing she’d packed more. Even forcing herself to ration her picture-taking would see her running dry in the next ten minutes: the underground maze threw up a new eldritch engraving or monstrous mosaic with every turn.
To think this had all started with the World’s End. Katrina had been anticipating their examination of the Raven stronghold, a bountiful opportunity to examine the environment that once drove Dante into a nervous breakdown, and she could have studied that mural for hours. The memory of that foreboding shadow still stuck daggers into her heart, even now as she walked the paths of giants. You could run and hide from monsters, but you couldn’t hide from the shadow that invaded your dreams and drove you insane.
To take her mind off bleak imaginations of the Great Cataclysm, Katrina busied herself thinking about how this castle came to be. John was convinced it was at least six hundred years old and, according to the monotone narration of Faye Delphinus, it had been purposely built underground by ‘transmutation’ – a magical power to shape and transform physical things – to act as a gateway between the human and demon worlds. A tall story, certainly, and one Katrina would never have bought a year or two ago, but her mind was opened to these things now. Even John and Theseus were content to accept Faye’s explanations, or at least to a degree.
“It’s quite possible this ‘Underworld’ is an alternative dimension,” John had suggested, “As early as the Twentieth Century scientists spoke of the possibilities of parallel universes and multiple timelines. A sufficiently advanced alien race – who would appear to the average person to be gods, or demons even – may be able to pierce that wall between universes. Perhaps, even, from the other side,”
Katrina bought the idea of cross-dimensional alien-invasion about as much as Theseus bought the idea of magical beings called faeries coming from a higher state of existence. Faye made no attempt to answer probing questions on the subject, or on the specifics of her own being. “When you are ready to see, you shall see,” she would tell them in reply to most inquiries. Even when asked for clarifications on their mission she was evasive, supplying them with only the bare minimum knowledge they might need and not elaborating whenever she updated them on the other, more experienced party’s situation. By the time they reached their destination they were still in the dark as to what they actually had to do there.
The tower rose towards the cavern roof, more an obelisk of smooth onyx than a turret. Hiding in the gritty crevice between its curved surface and the outer wall, the group waited in silence for further instructions from Faye. The short faerie girl stood chin-up in front of them like a strict primary school teacher looking down on her class of infantile misfits.
“There is one entrance to this tower,” she announced, “And it is guarded. Do you have the capacity to overcome this challenge?”
Katrina glanced at Phoenie and Andromeda, who both knew as well as she did that this wasn’t their area. This was the boys’ domain.
“How many?” asked Theseus.
“Six,” replied John, “Two up front by the entrance, the rest waiting inside,”
“That’s all? Shouldn’t be a problem,”
“Nope. One low yield sonic stunner should do it. It’ll be perfect in a closed space. Sound’ll reverberate a bit, get them disorientated and give you an opening to tranq them – just make sure you’ve got your plugs in! I’ll do some calcs and get you an action plan sorted,”
“A tall story, certainly, and one Katrina would never have brought a year or two ago,”
should be bought.
You’ll thank us in the long run for the minor edits