“So?” Delilah asked, looking up at Marcus as she walked alongside him. “You said you’d tell us your story.”
“And the story of your people,” Alice said, copying Delilah’s look from the other side of Marcus. “Get talkin’, gramps.”
“You should be more respectful to your elders!” Isabelle said, glaring at Alice. She looked back at Maribelle. “Tell her, Mari!”
But Maribelle just laughed. “Her attitude’s a part of her charm, don’t you think?” she asked.
“Mari!” Isabelle sighed, then looked over her shoulder at Teddy, poking out of her backpack. She patted his head. “I know you get it.”
Marcus cleared his throat, smiling. “Well, then,” he said. “Where should I begin…? That’s always been the hardest part.”
“Were you born in this city?” Delilah asked.
“Don’t tell me you want to know his entire life story!” Alice said.
Marcus laughed. “I’m not going to bore you with unnecessary details, don’t worry. But yes, I was born in this city, and spent my whole life here, until… well. My people were, in a way, the precursors to the Paladins.”
“They go back farther than Paladins?” Maribelle asked.
“Yes. They helped the first Paladins establish Daylight Bastions, build the first Daybreak Engines, and coordinate their Locations for the best defense against the Darkness. Because that is what my people have always been — bearers of the Light, enemies to the Darkness. Our home, and our duty, has always been on Earth. They have always been the Paladins of the Moon, in fact, specifically for the purpose of watching over the Earth more ably.”
“But then… what happened to them?” Delilah asked. “You said you were the last.”
“And so I am,” Marcus said. “The story begins with the founding of this city. My people formed this city here, and built it strong and steady, because of a great and horrible power that sleeps here.” He stopped at the top of the steps that led back to the hall of models of the city, and pointed to the walls, floor, and ceiling of the entrance here. “See the crude, jagged edges? This space, right here, was once the position of a powerful seal that held back the Darkness.”
“Darkness was under Grimoire even that far back?” Delilah asked.
“It was always here,” Marcus said. “Deep, deep down. Far deeper than it is now. The seal that was here was, in its first form, not a permanent, impassible wall like it was when the Lunar Architects arrived. When I was a child, there were some who could pass through the seal. They were the Lightbearers — once precursors to the Paladins, they continued to uphold their sacred duty in spreading light and forcing back the Darkness. I was inducted into their order, and along with me, a dear friend. His name was Joryn, and we were thick as thieves. We played together, studied together, and talked together every single day.” Marcus stepped through where the seal had once been, into an intersection of three tunnels. The tunnel behind was the stair down to where they’d come from. To the right was the path to the expanding expeditionary team of Hunters and Investigators, and beyond that, Grimoire’s public library. And to the left was dark, unexplored territory. “Something changed when we were first allowed through the seal. We both went with our teacher deep, deep down, to see the nexus of Darkness for ourselves and understand our role. But when we came up out of there… Joryn began to change. He started to speak of the Darkness often, but not as this wicked, evil thing that must be rejected and resisted. In his words: ‘It is merely power. Power is not good or evil, but its goodness or wickedness rests in who wields it, and to what end.’ He thought we should be using the Darkness, not sealing it and ensuring it didn’t spread.”
Marcus turned left, starting down the dark, unexplored tunnel. An orb of white light floated above him, and a second floated ahead, piercing the gloom. “We debated constantly,” he continued, “staying up late into the night, talking back and forth about the nature of Light and Darkness, of good and evil, of power and its origins and purpose. The Darkness is a power, but he was wrong. It is a power that can only be wielded at the cost of the goodness in one’s soul. All of our hearts, our souls, are in a constant struggle. War is waged inside of us every single day, Light and Dark vying for supremacy over every mortal. To embrace and wield the power of the living Darkness is to tip the scales towards Darkness within oneself. To bury or chase out the Light, the one thing we should be embracing above all else. Joryn disagreed with all of this. He saw the struggle between good and evil, but he thought the Light and the Darkness separate from it. Neutral powers, in his mind, that should be wielded together, not forced apart. ‘Light begets Darkness,’ he was fond of saying. But the ‘darkness’ begotten by light is shadow. And shadows are very different from true darkness. To equate the two is to make a common, but fundamental, error in understanding the eternal struggle of this universe.”
They paused at a new intersection. One tunnel sloped upwards out of sight, while the other led to steeply descending stairs.
“Joryn…” Alice said softly, then looked up, black eyes gleaming in the magical light. “He became Jormungand, didn’t he?”
Marcus nodded. “Indeed he did. As time wore on, Joryn slowly stopped debating me. He’d often concede, and I thought that meant he was coming back to the truth. I was wrong. He had taken to subterfuge, to finding like-minded individuals and turning them to his cause. And his cause was a horrific one. He sought to break the twin seals over the dark nexus and set the Darkness free.”
“Twin seals?” Delilah asked.
“The first seal, I showed you,” Marcus said. “But the second seal was far more potent, and was meant to last even if the first seal was broken: The Gate.”
“The Gate is a seal?” Delilah asked.
“It served multiple functions in the past,” Marcus said. “It was, quite truly, a ‘gate,’ and could be used to easily travel between this city and my people’s other city, far away and hidden from the wider world. It could also serve as easy travel between the two cities and the Enchanted Dominion, leading directly to Millennium Vista. But its greatest function was as the ultimate safeguard. If the nexus of Darkness were to be unleashed, The Gate would contain the Darkness within this city. The city would perish, any who failed to evacuate would be lost… but Darkness would remain contained.”
“And The Gate’s broken, so we know how that worked out,” Alice said.
“Indeed,” Marcus said. He started down the stairs, and the others followed. It was steep and narrow, forcing them to travel single-file. Maribelle took up the rear, with an orb of magical light following her, while Marcus led the way up front, Delilah and Alice close behind him. “Joryn actually did succeed at breaking the seals. But I, and many others, fought him and his followers. We won that fight, though at great cost, and Joryn lost all of his followers. He was forced to flee, and I and a few others were able to place the new seal that the Lunar Architects later found. Unable to fully repair the damage Joryn, now going by the name Jormungand, had done, we evacuated the city without a word to anyone else, hoping its secrecy would last and no one would disturb the seal.”
“Wait, but then what happened to your people?” Alice asked. “There were two cities, right? And you didn’t leave the city alone.”
“We… faded,” Marcus said. He’d been talking as he always did, sounding rather light-hearted even on serious subjects, but now his voice carried with it a weight of emotion. “Those of the other city evacuated as well, fearing that there might be a Joryn among them, or that Jormungand would come and corrupt their people. We all came together in our exile, all of us leaving for the Moon. There we watched over the Earth we loved, but… Jormungand’s great betrayal had left grievous scars. Grief — that is what did my people in. No longer did they form families, and no longer did they pass knowledge and wisdom and our history onto the next generation… because there ceased to be later generations. In time… they all died. All but me.”
“From what, old age?” Alice asked. “Then how come you’re still alive and kicking?”
“Humans,” Marcus said. “Enchanted. Many beings, like Revue, ancient and unique. And my people. There are many different peoples in this universe, and while Light gives life to all of us, we are not exactly the same. Humans age in a clear, linear fashion. For Enchanted, age is not something you measure with time, for it advances differently for all of them. There are those who have lived half the years of Maribelle and look twice as old as me. There are those who have lived double the years of Isabelle and look even younger than she. Among my people… emotions run deep. And grief… grief is a great, heavy burden to bear for anyone. But for my people… it was too much. Too many had been lost in Jormungand’s betrayal. I didn’t fully capture the weight of his assault in my recollection because… it is too painful to relive. But what once was a city full of people, was only a small handful when we left after placing the new seal. Two dozen of us made it to the Moon from my city, and while the other city’s people greatly bolstered our numbers… they had many family and friends who fell to Jormungand’s violence.”
“And you’re the only one who remained,” Delilah said.
Marcus nodded. “Not because I am any stronger than the others,” he said, “or because I don’t feel the grief as strongly as them. I simply turned around one day… and realized I was all that was left. For a time, I contemplated joining my people, joining my dear friends and family. But Jormungand still lived, and was out there somewhere in the universe plotting his next stroke of villainy. And I looked upon the Earth, and saw Humans discovering my city. Even if I was the last… there was still a purpose for me in the land of the living. I did my best to work with the Lunar Architects, to help stem their advances, but I trusted them too much. I gave them too much of the benefit of the doubt, and did not realize the wicked subterfuge that existed among half of them. But it was hard to see, at least for me. For they were refugees. Their old city of Grimoire had fallen to a calamity they never explained, but they had lost everything except each other. Their grief overpowered my suspicion. Before I knew it, they were doing horrific things, and I… spent more time on the Moon. I did what I could to curb the fallout of their actions, but I was alone. I could not repair the seal by myself. I could not defeat the Darkness alone. Their cruel imprisonment of Solla and Lunos were actions that, once done, could not be undone, not by my hand.” He paused at a landing, with many more stairs descending ever further. He looked back at Delilah and smiled.
“In truth, I know not what power brought you to me,” he said. “When I gave you that Key, I did not even know you. I couldn’t have, for as you have guessed, there was something happening there, something that should be impossible.”
“It was in the past,” Delilah said. “I… really traveled to the past?”
“You said it wasn’t time travel,” Alice said, eyeing Delilah.
“In all the other visions that Solla gave me,” Delilah said, “I wasn’t able to interact with anything. I was just an observer. So I didn’t think it was actually traveling, but…”
“Oh, I think it’s something other than what it seems, as well,” Marcus said. “Solla… she is a being I do not fully understand. A Summon, certainly, just like Lunos, but… they are Summons that have existed since long before anyone I have ever met. My people hold no records of their origin. The Library of Solitude holds only vague hints, with no clear answers. They are old, mysterious, and their powers lie beyond our imaginings. Whatever Solla did… she did not do for any other.”
“Of course not,” Alice said, grinning as she leaned an elbow on Delilah’s shoulder. “She saw just how special you are. I thought I knew her, but you figured out how to connect with her completely.”
The more Delilah thought of it, the more strange things there were about Solla’s powers and the visions and other things she’d shown her. She fingered the Key hanging from her neck, thinking of the doors she’d opened while in flight on Solla.
“Will we be flying with her again soon?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m sure we will,” Marcus said with a smile. He started back down the stairs, and these stairs widened considerably, spiraling in a counterclockwise direction.
“Hey, hold up,” Alice asked. “I mean, don’t stop, just hold up in the story stuff. You found the Key, right? But the Key was how we rescued Solla and Lunos. So then, did the Lunar Architects…”
“I foolishly lent them the Key,” Marcus said. “I didn’t fully understand its purpose. And I trusted the Architects more than I should have. They misused its power, and just before I would have come to admonish them and wrest the Key back from them… they returned it willingly. They displayed such contrition, apologized so profusely for their abuse of its power, that I hadn’t the heart to punish them. I simply took back the Key and guarded it. There were things that I… could not do. I searched, and waited, for the right person to come. The one who could use the Key rightly. And then you appeared, right in front of me.” He looked back at Delilah, smiling.
“Well, behind you, actually,” Delilah said, remembering the strange vision, or whatever that had actually been.
“Yes,” Marcus said with a chuckle. “Nonetheless, I placed my hope in you. And it was not misplaced. You have done superbly, Delilah.”
“Did you know?” Delilah asked. “I mean… when I first met you, when you visited my parents when I was just six years old, and all of us siblings got introduced to you… did you know I was the same girl?”
“If I hoped to appear far wiser than I actually am, I would say yes,” Marcus said. “But no, I did not recognize you at all. You were not yet who you would become. And you grew so much, so quickly.”
“The baby of your family,” Alice said. “But now that I’ve met them all, you kinda seem like the most mature of all of your siblings, you know?”
Delilah ducked her head, considering pulling up her hood as her cheeks flushed. Her embarrassment only earned loud laughter from Alice.
“Hmm,” Marcus suddenly murmured, stopping as the stairs suddenly leveled out into a wide circular chamber. The center of the chamber was open, a pit about ten feet in diameter. From the ceiling, directly over the pit, hung a chandelier with numerous crescent-moon-shaped crystals. But the chandelier was dark, its crystals dirty and dusty. “This is interesting.”
“What is?” Delilah asked.
“Where’s the Darkness?” Isabelle asked.
“Right,” Maribelle said. “The Darkness attacked Lorelei and her team much higher up. And Hunters have seen it in the distance now and then as they carefully expanded their investigation. But we’ve descended hundreds of feet below anyone else. Yet we’ve seen no sign of it.”
“It was receding whenever the Hunters saw it,” Delilah said. “But… why?”
Marcus stepped to the edge of the pit, both of his orbs of light spinning slowly above it. He peered into it. “Ah. I see.”
“Ooh, what is it?” Alice asked, trotting up to the edge and looking over. “Oh. Huh. So that’s what it looks like.”
Delilah, Isabelle, and Maribelle joined them at the edge, to look down into the pit and see…
Delilah found herself fighting an involuntary flinch. Her instincts immediately made her recoil from the sight, and it took a force of will to remain at the edge, staring.
The living darkness.
There in the pit was a festering, bubbling pool of Darkness. Occasional tendrils reached up and out, clawed at the walls of the pit, and then receded into the morass.
This is…
“It’s darker,” Delilah said softly.
“Yeah,” Alice said, nodding.
Darker than the Library. Darker than on Lunos.
I thought both of those were pure black, as dark as dark could be. But this… it beats even my imagination. It’s so…
…unsettling.
“But it did look like this when we planted the Relay, didn’t it?” Alice asked. “It was darker there than on Lunos. Harder to realize back then, with all the excitement going on.”
“But why?” Delilah asked.
“The Light made all things,” Marcus said. “People, and the worlds they inhabit, and all else. But when life came into being, the Darkness, which hates and reviles the Light, reached out, and planted its seed in the heart of every living thing. Not just people, but the worlds which we inhabit.”
“Wait…” Alice started, eyes widening.
“You mean this is…” Delilah said, staring.
Marcus nodded. “What you see is the darkness that rests in the heart of the Earth.”