Chapter 16 - Divinity

“Eternity.” The irony of these words on a tattered poster wasn’t lost on him. “What do you think it’s talking about?”

“It could be a religion. Or a cult. The kind of thing that keeps people living for the impossible.”

“Blind faith…”

Tetsuo could understand the fear of discovering flaws in your dream. Even so, the current state of the town was proof of the downfall caused by willful ignorance. Tetsuo carefully folded the poster and slid it into his back pocket.

A thunderous bell rang out, shaking the dust from the cracks in the wall. Tetsuo pulled Pia away from the wall to a pile of leftover carts. He peeked over the cart and could see hordes of workers fleeing from the tunnels, abandoning their armaments and running to the center of the encampment. 

A small child fell to the ground, struggling to get up as the rest stampeded over him racing to the center. Tetsuo grabbed a ragged tarp hanging from the cart and donned it to hide his face before running to the child. He shielded the child and lifted them off the ground. The moment the child was upright he pushed away from Tetsuo and began running with the rest of the crowd to the center. Tetsuo sat dumbfounded, before being kicked back to reality by another careless worker. He forced himself off the ground and through the crowd, moving towards a building's wall. Pia descended from the roof and joined him at the wall.

“Look.”

He followed where Pia was pointing and could see the source of the ringing. A golden platform began to rise from the center of the town carrying a gaudy metal fixture that resembled a bell. Two hooded figures struck the bell, a deep guttural ring pulsing throughout the encampment. An old weathered man drabbed in shining golden robes chanted to the crowd in a foreign hymn. The white smoke in the air seemed to part with each strike of the bell, revealing a beam of moonlight that reflected off his robes. The crowd below the platform moved with fervor, crowding around the pillar supporting the platform.

Pia grimaced as she watched the crowd walk over each other like locusts swarming a field. “Disgusting…”

“It’s inhuman.”

The platform slowed to a stop, remaining suspended hundreds of meters in the air. The ringing ceased, and the crowd froze. The trembling of the bell and the thunderous pounding of thousands of steps was now replaced by the silence of dust settling back onto buildings. The horde at the center remained motionless. The old man raised a device and pressed it against his mouth. The device began to glow blue.

“Miere, Remes viera!” His voice travelled through the ground, as if he was everywhere, surrounding everything. “Viera al scerva! Viera vol itura! Viera al vivicium! Careva al serfice, miren viera vivicium!”

Tetsuo quickly pulled the poster out of his pocket and spread it opened. He compared the foreign text on the top to the Alvanian text on the bottom.

“I think they’re talking about eternity…”

“But what are they saying about it? I can’t understand it… ”

“I don’t know either…”

Despite some singular words that didn’t exist in Alvania, Tetsuo knew Earthens naturally understood the language when arriving as part of the phenomenon. While he wasn’t fond of it, it meant to an extent he never really felt truly like an outsider. For the first time he felt just how much of a cosmic error the Earthen existence within Alvania truly is.

“Vivicium al Alva, erres vol itura! Vol Iterna! Alme miere fer thesaurus! Vivicium vol adietum, viera al vivicium!”

The crowd stomped in sync while joining in with the chant. Their voices echoed out through the crater, bouncing off the walls, and creating an echo chamber of chanting.

“VIERA AL VIVICIUM! VIERA AL VIVICIUM! VIERA AL VIVICIUM!”

The words rang out clearly, as if they all existed as one. While they had been stepping over each other for a chance to be closer, they now seemed to be entrapped in this hypnotic hymn.

“I think we should leave…” Pia was trembling, covering her ears with her hands. Her face had turned pale and she had her eyes tightly shut.

“Are you okay?! What’s wrong?!” Tetsuo felt unsettled but fine. It was bizarre, and she was just a kid, but even this seemed like an overreaction, unless… “Is it controlling you?”

Tears began to streak down Pia’s face. She hunched her head down and bit her lip. “I’m not... I-I just… Please.” She moved over to Tetsuo and pressed her face into his chest, sniffling. “Please. I-I want to g-go home…”

“VIERA AL VIVICIUM! VIERA AL VIVICIUM! VIERA AL VIVICIUM!”

She buried her face deeper into his chest. Unsure of what to do, Tetsuo attempted to pat her head. “Alright. Don’t worry. Let's go home.” Tetsuo turned around and crouched down, so as to carry her on his back. She carefully placed herself against his back and leaned into his arms. Tetsuo ensured that he had a strong grip on her legs, hoisted her up, and began making way from where they had arrived. The streets were now barren with everyone having gathered towards the center, meaning he could afford to forgo stealth and make straight for where they wanted to be. Pia kept her face tucked into the back of his collar, wetting it with tears. Swiftly, he ran through the streets, the chanting following him through the ground.

When they returned to the edge of the town the chanting had ended, and the dawn began to rise from the edges of the crater. Pia had calmed down now, and was back to walking on her own. Her usual eagerness had disappeared and been replaced by an eerie solemnity. She trailed behind him, dragging her feet, leaving lines across the sand.

Tetsuo decided that the safest option to return on the carriage was to intercept it on its way out while hiding out in the trenches they had seen earlier. The two of them quickly scaled the narrow path back to the top of the crater. Tetsuo glanced back at Remes one last time to see that the workers had returned to their caverns and collapsed homes. He waited for Pia and they began to descend out of the crater. With the sun peering up, the barren field had been illuminated revealing endless rows of trenches perpendicular to the path.

Tetsuo carefully descended down towards the trenches with Pia and they moved into the first one near them. He hadn’t noticed since it had been dark, but all the trenches were lined with large wooden stakes suspending a metal sheet with writing.

Pia’s shriek tore the silence, startling Tetsuo. He swiveled back to her to see what had happened. She had fallen backwards and was attempting to regain her footing, petrified by what was on the ground in front of her. Tetsuo ran over and pulled her up. She got out of the trench and squatted at the edge, facing away from it. She buried her face into her arms and began to silently sob.

Tetsuo moved to where she had screamed, and saw what had disturbed her. A human skull. It was buried in the mud face up, with cracks appearing around the bridge between the eyes. The skull was a short distance away from one of the stakes. He carefully stepped towards the stake, fervently watching his step. He looked at the metal sheet, wiping the dust with his sleeve.

Viera al Vivicium

The words were printed on the sheet, carved into the metal. His intestines began to churn. He walked over to the next stake over.

Viera al Vivicium

The next stake had what seemed to be a buried femur poking out from behind.

Viera al Vivicium

Tetsuo shuddered, as he shut his eyes and took shallow rapid breaths. He held his stomach and attempted to swallow the feeling rising up through his throat. He looked out to the trail they had taken here. The trenches followed the trail, disappearing with it beyond the horizon.