Darkmoor

Before anyone could answer the Silver Kami, darkness snapped down.

Silence pressed around them.

Lily glared at where the kami had stood but she was powerless.

Yet the sudden night lifted just as quickly as it fell. She found herself standing at the edge of a gargantuan lake. The blue sky above was reflected across its surface, little scraps of white cloud broken up in the ripples.

She spun to confront the kami.

It stood before the ruins of Darkmoor, its bright eyes expectant.

The questions she’d planned to demand answers for now faltered, and beside her, it seemed Gabriel and Sasha were equally taken aback.

Darkmoor was a true ruin. While Zarima had been mostly abandoned, a place with crumbling buildings, empty shops and decaying leftovers – it was still a green place for the most part.

Darkmoor was a blackened gravesite.

All that remained seemed to be flecks of grey stone: the stumps of buildings. Dust swirled in the near distance. No leaves, no twigs, nothing but dust, dust, and more dust in the streets.

The rise of the land was clear. No walls or homes remained to obscure her view of blasted thoroughfares that led to a wide circle of paved limestone. It could have been a different material, considering the mysterious machine from the fields, but whatever waited there was pale and bright.

If this is Darkmoor, then Gabriel and I definitely did not detour it in the past, she thought. Unless something terrible happened recently.

[There’s nothing here,] Gabriel signed.

The Silver Kami gestured to the pure white circle. Not so. Descend from there and you will meet my master. Ask your questions of him.

“Who is your master?” Lily asked, signing as she did.

Come now. It must be obvious, surely?

The Silver Kami vanished.

Virren would be his master, of course… but what if it was all some ploy instead? A trick, played by the Silver Kami. The ‘why’ of such a trick was unclear, but there was no way to know its motives. And wasn’t there a chance that someone else was directing the kami?

Yet, anyone who could control a unique kami like the silver one would be no mere tamer.

No human at all.

[It seems foolish to say this aloud… but has the grave-robbing serpent really summoned us here?] Gabriel asked.

Lily was shaking her head. [I know. But it seems that’s what he did.]

“What’s happening?” Sasha asked from where she stood nearby, a frown on her face. Worry was clear in her gaze. “A moment ago your strange kami saved us and now it’s taken us to Darkmoor.”

Lily translated Sasha’s question and her own answer for Gabriel. “I have not tamed the Silver Kami. It’s been following us for some time now.”

Sasha glanced from face to face. “Then… why are we here?”

“We don’t know.”

[Where do you trade in this place? Maybe someone can help us explain what’s going on?] Gabriel asked Sasha.

The young woman pointed to the western edge of the city. “Once every two weeks the Westerners meet us there to barter. No-one has lived here for years.”

[So, what destroyed the city?]

“Supposedly a firestorm.”

[And you’ve never seen anything like the Silver Kami, or heard of a man named Virren?]

“No. Is that the ‘master’ the kami mentioned?”

[Most likely.]

Lily explained a little of their quest and how the god-spawn Virren could supposedly help them find the Silversong. “We have to convince him to help us.”

Sasha was quiet for a long moment. “I know the poison has been spreading in the south…”

“The kami have been warning us about the end of the world for a long time,” Lily said.

“Well… I don’t think I trust that silver one.”

[We don’t, either,] Gabriel said.

“So, what does this Virren want with me?” the young mutant asked.

For just a moment, the doubts that played across her golden face made her seem younger, smaller than she was. More vulnerable, and less like the capable young woman who’d searched the city of Zarima alone.

A realisation hit Lily then, one that should have been obvious far sooner. She’s like me, she thought. I left Haven to save everyone there. Sasha was trying to do the same thing when she stole Blue and Emerald.

Lily exchanged a glance with her brother before answering. “We obviously won’t force you to come with us, but if you want to ask Virren yourself, we’ll be by your side.”

“I just… I need to think.”

Lily nodded as Sasha moved to the water’s edge and folded her arms, staring toward a distant shore.

[Are we ready for this?] Gabriel asked after a moment.

She smiled. [I don’t know how we could be… but it’s what we’ve been striving for, right?]

[It is. I just wasn’t expecting to be invited.]

It was impossible to know what the invitation meant. If nothing else, there was the probability that the Silver Kami had been reporting to Virren all along…

Assuming a god-spawn needed such help.

If Virren really did exist, and if he was still watching over the world, couldn’t the god-spawn seek them out by himself?

She nodded. [Me either, Gabe. I want it to mean something good. But it’s easier to believe that Virren plans to use us for something, isn’t it?]

[The Silver Kami said we were needed.]

[But why? What’s special about you and I? And Sasha?]

[I don’t think we’ll know what he sees in us until we meet him.]

[If that’s who’s behind the Silver Kami.]

[If, yeah.]

[You’re right about wanting to be prepared, though. I wish we could do something other than blindly follow the Silver Kami’s advice.]

[Me too.]

[We can’t even ask Blue or Emerald.]

[Exactly.]

Finally, she shrugged. [Well, we didn’t come all this way to turn back, did we?]

[No way, Lil.]

Sasha rejoined them. “I think I’ve decided. I want know why I’ve been called here and I appreciate your offer to stand with me.”

“Of course,” Lily said with a smile. “Let’s find some answers. Together.”

She led the way across the blackened earth. Flagstones were covered in a film of soot that didn’t lift or stick to her boots. It didn’t even possess a scent. But it all looked so fresh. Which didn’t make sense. The stubs of decimated buildings told nothing of the city Darkmoor once was and not a single discarded item remained to give clues, either.

Not even when they reached the limestone.

At least twenty paces across, the circle was otherwise featureless. Unless I count the pristine surface, she thought. There’s not even a spec of grime.

[What now?] Gabriel asked.

He’d barely lowered his hands when the white stone began to descend. Thankfully, in moved in a steady drop that seemed entirely purposeful, rather than some wild free fall.

Lily rested a hand on the hilt of her knife and Gabriel unslung his rifle.

Soon enough, the light above was only a small circle.

Shadows grew around them.

The platform came to a halt. Darkness lingered. A faint hum soon reached her – but not the sound of a human voice. She described it to Gabriel, but he had no suggestions as to what it could be. Neither did Sasha, whose jaw was clenched.

Lily put a hand on her shoulder. “Ready?”

The young Olana woman nodded.

Lily called into the dark. “Virren! You brought us here but we were seeking you already. If you know our quest, will you hear us?”

Only her voice echoed.

But a soft blue light began to glow overhead.

It ran in jagged patterns through what seemed to be steel walls. They rose in a dome, suggesting a large chamber. The same glow answered from the floor. It wasn’t as strong, but the lights above had intensified enough that she could see something…

…. something waiting before the far wall.

A row of Silver Kami.

Watching them. Their eyes aglow where they stood, flanking a coffin of glass that had been mounted into the wall.