A Peacekeeper's Oath pt. 6
The depths reveal their secrets...
If you need to get caught up, here’s all previous parts:
And now, let’s continue…
Halenite. Of course it’s Halenite. Celie thought to herself from her seat on the city rail. It was only earlier that day that Mr. Bertrum had given her the information about Jona Carson’s work schedule in the days leading up to the murder of his wife, Erosa. Now she was on her way to his last place of work: A maintenance tunnel in the Halenite district. She couldn’t believe that all this seemed to have started there. Yet there she was making her way back to Halenite on the rail.
According to the crew’s notes and reports, there was a water line blocking construction of the new geothermal system. That should’ve been an easy fix, but the reports go on to say that they found no water lines, no city maintenance corridors, and in fact nothing but empty hallways. All the notes from Carson’s crew were sparse and frustrating to figure out. Carson’s were especially vague and unclear. The notes became worse after they traveled through the underground. Carson’s notes mention some sort of structure. Something ‘hiding’ underground. That would be run of the mill in Paradia, but to Celie’s knowledge there were no temples of interest in Halenite. Given current events, this didn’t entirely surprise her, but clearly even if there were locations of interest, the Peacekeepers were blocking access anyways. Celie inevitably gave up on the notes and decided to just follow the map that Bertrum had sent her along with the crew’s notes. She exited the rail and made it to the surface.
Celie followed the map on her ring until she found herself on a tight city street bustling with people. Nearby she saw a diner. Further down the street was a butchery - one of those lab grown meat ones where they didn’t have to worry about the gore. It seemed like a typical Paradian street with bright lights and dense crowds.
The only strange thing was a single door with a wheel lock. According to the map, that was where she was off to. Celie walked up to the door and used all her strength to force it open. With a hiss, the door breathed a sigh as it opened, exposing the damp corridor in front of her to the late afternoon light. Celie checked to see if her pistol was there before stepping into the corridor and pulling the door shut behind her as onlookers gave quick glances of curiosity.
She could feel a disruption in the flow of Astra. Something was here, but what was it? The walls and floors were made of old brick and the ground had soft mossy patches interspersed across it. Water dripped from cracks in the roof. Droplets fell on her head, making Celie twitch slightly. But the features weren’t just visible to her. They were spiritual too. Power coursed through the corridor, wrapping around her and investigating her. It was still far away, but she knew what she felt. If she wanted to know more, she’d have to push on.
The hall went on for much longer than she felt it should’ve with no diverging paths. It continued forward, never winding or changing. Finally, she found the end. A door much like the one she had entered before was left cracked open. On the other end there was a dim light that dripped into the long corridor.
She crept to the open door and peeked around its thick metal frame. Her eyes darted around the dark room beyond her, but there wasn’t quite enough light. The only thing she could see for sure was a single swaying light fixture in the center of the room, but everything around the light was dark and shapeless. She decided to wait for her eyes to adjust before moving forward. As she waited, she decided to switch tactics. With a relaxed mind, she reached out to the room beyond. The strange change in the air she felt as she entered the corridor was still there, but it didn’t feel like this was the source. In fact, it didn’t feel like she was close to the source at all. She recognized exactly what the pulsing power that thrummed these corridors was, but she wanted to find the source to be sure.
With certainty in her mind, Celie entered the room. It was a large open square space with 4 pillars making a smaller square in the center. Within the pillars was the single light that swayed from side to side giving off a faint light. She checked the notes the crew had made. According to the construction crew, this room was cleared for demolition specifically because it was deemed without purpose or use. As far as she could tell, the room was old. Probably left over from whatever was here before Paradia. With a shrug of confusion, Celie continued investigating the room until she found a flimsy old door made of wood on the other side of the room.
Deeper into the darkness. As strange as it was, something about the thought made her feel more comfortable.
She walked through the old flimsy door and continued to walk down a new corridor. This one was different. The walls were lined with ancient shelving and old vases. They were caked in dust, whatever used to be upon them had been lost to time. The tunnels weren’t brick; they appeared to be ancient stone that had been carved out long before the idea of Celie’s bloodline was even a possibility. She could hear faint echoes off the wall as her boots padded against the ground. She checked the map.
“‘Water line’ my ass.” She grumbled. According to the map, the water line should continue down through here. The same map claimed that the room behind her didn’t exist and there should be multiple maintenance corridors crisscrossing everywhere she’s gone. None of that was true. She pressed on anyways. As she went deeper into the corridor, she noticed a slight decline was sending her deeper into the bowels of the city. Just as she was beginning to wonder just how deep this new passage went, her ring let off a shrill buzz that startled her.
Error: Signal lost. Please reconnect to an Astral network.
Celie had never seen that message before. She’d gone deep enough under the city to lose her signal. Or maybe it was something about this place. The strange energy did feel stronger here. She was getting closer. Echoes began to grow louder. They climbed past her, racing beyond Celie and dissipating somewhere behind her. The echoes sounded almost like voices, but they also sounded like rocks falling. Maybe it was a mixture of both. Maybe it was an ancient language from the depths of Paradia that she couldn’t understand. Maybe it was a monster of the depths. It wouldn’t be the first time she met a monster in the darkness. But then the darkness gave way.
Celie gasped.
The long tunnel ended and laid out in front of her was a massive cavern that easily could’ve been multiple city blocks. In the center was a smooth pyramid that was only a few feet shy of touching the ceiling of the cavern. In front of her lay a set of stairs that went down into a stone temple covered in faded paint. All around her the room was alight with an algal green glow. Except for the ceiling. The ceiling was strange… wrong. It looked like an open sky, stars clearly twinkling in the night. The only thing that let her know for sure this wasn’t the night sky of Astra was the Fates were nowhere to be seen. This sky was dark and barren. This wasn’t the sky. Not really.
The energy that coursed through the underground cavern felt overwhelming. This wasn’t just a temple. This was a place of power. She had only felt a place of power once before in her life, and it wasn’t as strong as this. Places of power were sometimes important religious sites, significant natural phenomena, or both. Which was this? The power was in fact Astral in nature, so it wasn’t a site to a god or an extra dimensional being. This was by Astra’s loosest terms, a natural place of power. In that way, Celie was more alien than this place was. She was less welcome here than the energy that called it home.
But she journeyed forward anyway. As she made her way down the steps, she looked around the dimly lit corners of the cavern, but as far as she could tell, there was nothing else here except for her. She passed through a barren courtyard at the bottom of the stairs. From the temple archway, Celie could see into the inside of the temple. It was a single room barren of anything. She imagined it may have been vibrant and beautifully colored once. Maybe it had important ceremonial markings or decorations once, but it must’ve been lost to time. She found collections of ancient bones piled up around the decayed room. They appeared undamaged and unmarked. She assumed from a cursory glance that they died from natural causes.
Before she could investigate any further, from deeper into the temple the strange echoes she heard from the tunnel returned. It seemed like it may be coming from where the temple transitioned into the pyramid. The echoes were more clear now. More obvious. It was a shrill cackle that echoed off the walls. The voice from which it came was foreign. Yet she knew it so well. Uncomfortably well.
She rushed towards the pyramid, but as she came close a new voice rang out, making her falter. Celie slowed down, allowing herself to quiet her steps. She reached her hand into her jacket and wrapped her fingers around her pistol. She was afraid it wouldn’t matter if she had a gun in her hands, but in that moment it at least made her feel safer. As she steadied her breath at the doorway to the pyramid, a voice became clear in the darkness of the room beyond,
“You have crossed the line for the last time. Should you trespass beyond these walls again, I’ll -”
“It’s too late,” The cackling voice sang. “I have tasted flesh, I have smelled the air, I have seen the sun. I am free.”
“No! You will not disrupt the order. My order. The surface is mine. Paradia is mine. You will stay here and rot.”
“You’re nothing without me.” The voice hissed. “Your order is a lie. I am the truth. The only truth is hunger.”
“That man -”
“Is no more. I am he. He is me.”
“You had no right!”
“As long as we exist, I have every right. Just as you have every right. I will spread, I will devour, and you will ‘control.’ You will try.”
“How dare you speak to me like this?” A now enraged voice growled. Celie knew that rage all too well. A light began to glow in the hands of Providence Monroe revealing that she was alone in the room. There was no one there but the furious leader of the Peacekeepers. As she illuminated the room, Celie saw paintings on the wall. She couldn’t make out everything on them for sure, but there was one thing of interest that she could make out. A painting of a woman with jade green eyes. The painting was clearly ancient. Older than anything Celie had ever seen with her own eyes before.
“You will wain. You will be forgotten. I will grow. I hunger, but you are satiated. Be ready for the day when I spread to the surface and you are forgotten in the depths.” The voice was coming from everywhere within the pyramid. Celie shuddered. Who was this spectral being who spoke to Providence Monroe like this?
“I won’t hear anymore of this.” Monroe said. Her voice returned to a stern baseline. “Stay inside the sacred tomb. You are lucky I’ve let you leave the depths at all. You will stay here. You will not come for another soul. We’re finished here, Ri.” Ri? This was Ri? That voice. That thing? A cackle erupted through the room,
“You don’t control me. No more than I control you -” Before the voice could continue, a flash of bright white light exploded from where Monroe once stood. It startled Celie, a gasp seeped from her mouth and she fell onto her back. When she recovered from the flash, Monroe was gone and the pyramid was as silent as a grave. Celie sat unmoving, waiting to hear if anything else happened. Without Monroe’s presence, the room had become inert.
Celie continued waiting just a little longer, sweat began to fall down her face and into her eyes. She needed to wait. She needed to make sure she was safe to move. It could’ve been minutes, it could’ve been hours. She wasn’t sure how much time passed, but as a heavy breath escaped her, she felt millions of eyes upon her. There was an intense energy that exploded around her, focusing entirely on her. The air coursed with power and her body began to shake. There was something inspecting her, learning her, wanting her.
Without a second thought, she scrambled onto her feet, and ran back the way she came. She stumbled through the temple, up the stairs, and back through the corridor. The energy that coursed through the place of power flowed around her, chasing her as she rushed away from whatever presence was there. Ri’s presence.
All the while, a distant voice laughed behind Celie, willing her legs to pump even harder for freedom. This was a dark place hiding beneath Paradia. This was the source of the death of Erosa Carson. And Providence Monroe was part of it.
.
.
.
Celie’s mind was still reeling as she shut the door to her apartment and sank to the floor. Her back pressed against the door. She gasped in and out and tried to make sense of everything she saw. She knew something was happening with Monroe and this case, but somehow Providence Monroe knew Ri. Jona Carson was an innocent man corrupted by… something. What was it? What was Ri?
She had no way of knowing, but she did know something: She was alone. As it all came down around her, Celie realized just how on her own she was. She couldn’t be controlled by the corruption, but Akashi - her closest friend - could. No one remembered the case, no one would listen to her if she told them what Monroe did. So what could she do? That’s when she felt the tears begin to fall. They were more of frustration than despair or pain, but they came all the same. She put her head between her knees and let out a sob as she pressed her hands against the back of her head. She was in too deep with no cover. All she had was herself.
Celie knew she had to do something. Something that might look terrible from the outside. After sitting on the floor for an unquantifiable amount of time, she forced herself up off the ground, wiped away her tears, and began to water her plants. She just needed to find her center again. She needed to calm down. Her skin felt hot to the touch and the stress was beginning to weigh on her. As she finished up, a message came across her ring.
“How’s vacation?” Akashi’s message projected in front of her.
“Fine. Thanks.” Celie replied in a grumble. She left her balcony door open and sat down on the couch. Something played on a projection on the wall across from her, but she didn’t register what it was. She faintly remembered the traveling fighting league was making their debut in the Paradia arena, but she didn’t really care much about it. If things were different, maybe she and Akashi could’ve gone to check that out together. Instead that may or may not be what was playing in front of her unperceiving eyes.
“Do anything fun today?” Akashi’s message popped up again.
“Nope. Just chillin’ at home.” She sighed, wishing the messages would stop coming. Instead they seemed to come faster.
“Funny. Cuz I was at your place earlier and you weren’t.”
“Weird.” Celie rolled over, pushing her face into a pillow on her couch. Through the muffled pillow she continued, “Must’ve just stepped out I guess.”
“What are you up to, Celie?”
“Sitting.”
“Come on, you know that’s not what I meant.”
“Yeah. Still sitting.”
“Fine. Can’t get anything out of you or Monroe today. She put a wall in front of my investigation this morning. Sorcerer circle case has gone dead even though it’s world altering stuff. Just wanted to talk to you about it. I’m feeling at a loss here. Could really use my partner right about now. World’s going to shit, and no one’s helping me stop it.”
Celie breathed in quickly then breathed out. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. She better say anything she wanted to now. She thought for a few minutes then began to speak, her ring transcribing everything for her,
“Listen… I want you to take the day off tomorrow. I think you need a break, and there’s some stuff going on and I don’t want you mixed up in it.”
“Okay, you know I’m not doing that.”
“Akashi. Please. This is important to me. One of us needs to make it out of this.”
“Celie. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t. Do something for me though: No matter what Monroe says, don’t trust a word out of her mouth. Not a single word. No matter what she says. It’s a lie. All of it.” There was a long pause before Akashi finally replied,
“How deep does it go?”
“I don’t know, but I need you to stay out of the way. I’m sorry, but you’re a liability. You’re at risk. You didn’t faint from work. She did that to you. I need you to trust me. I need you to stay safe.” There was another long pause, then,
“I trust you. In the tunnels, on the tower, in the streets, right now. I trust you. Please don’t get my sister killed.”
“I’ll do my best.” She deactivated the ring. Celie sighed. She felt a single tear glide down her cheek. She shook her head and took a deep breath in. She pushed her face deeper into the pillow.
“Fuck.”
Tomorrow was going to be a busy day. No matter what came next, she didn’t see it ending well for her. Instead of getting up and going to bed, Celie fell asleep on the couch curled up around the pillow. Her dreams were filled with all the ways she could die when she woke up.
Hey everyone, thank you as always for reading! We are nearing the end! I’m thinking the next part will be the last part, but we’ll see how things go!
I’m excited for the end, and I hope you’ve been enjoying this serial! For more stories in the world of Astra, here’s the Astra reading list (I need to update it to include this part of the serial) If like me you’re trying to get into the holiday spirit, check out the horror reading list (which will be getting an update at the end of this month so stay tuned for more scary stories!).
At the time of this serial’s release, I will be traveling so my replies might not be as immediate as usual, but worry not, I still appreciate and feel so much joy from all the kindness and feedback I get on my posts so thank you!
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Thank you so much for reading and I’ll catch you next week for part 7!
Oh, that search through the tunnels was so creepy!
Uu, that scene in the pyramid was so tense. Akashi still doesn't know anything. How could this be near the end already?
I gotta get caught up on all the other Astra stories though, so it's an opportunity for me at least. I want to know more about this world!