Chapter 43 - Ritual

The tunnel had become more narrow, now only allowing them to move in single file. They knew they were close.

Tetsuo paused upon reaching the end of the tunnel. A black streak dragged across the ground, leading to the single rotted wooden door in front of them. It didn’t even have a handle, it simply stood on hinges. He looked back at Bianca and Alon gauging their expressions. They both seemed rather nervous as to what they would find, but they had come too far to stop now. They both nodded, signalling him to continue. Quietly, Tetsuo pushed open the door and entered.

The chamber they had entered was as large as a baseball stadium, with a high chiseled dome. The walls were all made of dark blue crystals that reflected light and cast a luminous azure glow throughout the entire room. At the center sat a long wooden box, with a large Ficium bell behind it, similar to the one Tetsuo had seen back in Remes. While he thought it was painted white, upon a second glance he realized that the bell was covered in tiny incomprehensible sigils. In fact, as he looked around the room, he realized that the floor too was Ficium, and around the bell was more sigils, leading to different areas of the floor. Different weapons, such as axes, swords, and lances were all impaled into the ground at the locations the chalk led to. The entire contraption seemed to involve at least 40 different weapons all standing straight like gravestones.

Tetsuo searched around the room. Piles of weaponry, twisted melted metal, and crates filled with chalk all lined the walls. Some work tables were pressed against walls, littered with spare sheets of paper. At one of these desks sat Eleanor, working away at a weapon. Tetsuo motioned for the other two to remain quiet, and the three of them snuck to the side, hiding behind some crates.

The three of them watched as Eleanor loudly exhaled, before raising the sword she was working on into the air and examining it. Satisfied, she stood up from her seat, and walked to the bell. The three of them ducked back further to avoid being spotted. Eleanor slowly followed the lines from the bell walking among the weapons piercing the ground. She stood in a space where the chalk had ended and thrust the sword into the ground connecting it to the chalk. Slowly she walked back, gently stroking the top of the wooden box, as she went to sit on a stool behind the bell.

The three of them watched in anticipation as Eleanor lowered her goggles onto her face and carefully set her hand on the bell. The sigils on the bell began to glow, brightly illuminating it. The light traveled through the trails on the floor and into the different weapons as they began to radiate different colors. Secondary trails appeared from the weapons and the lights all raced back, circling around the box. The sigils glowing became more intense as the crystals on the wall began to reflect bright light, and before long the entire room was consumed by white. The three of them covered their eyes shielding themselves from the blinding radiance. Waiting for it to disappear.

“DAMNIT!”

The three of them opened their eyes to see, Eleanor striking the bell with her fists, metal clanging with each strike. The room had returned to its regular brightness, and some of the weapons seemed to have melted into the ground.

“AGH! WHY! WHY!” Eleanor kept hitting the bell, the sounds of her bones cracking could be heard with the consecutive strikes. She panted, leaning her head against the bell. “Please… Just work… I’m begging you…”

“Eleanor?” Tetsuo looked and saw Alon had stood up and called out to her. Her head snapped up and she walked around the bell to see him.

“You’re not supposed to be here.” She replied stiffly.

“Alon replied empathetically. “I know but…what’s going on?”

Eleanor began muttering to herself. “Maybe it’s not too late, we can still do something about this.” She looked back at Alon with unnaturally wide eyes, staring at him. She slid into a more casual relaxed look giving him a playful smile. “Alon, what’s going on here? Do you know?”

Alon took a step back, unsure how to react to her sudden change in tone. “Um, I was hoping you could tell me.”

She took another step forward, maintaining her composure. “I don’t know. What does it look like to you?”

Tetsuo stepped out from behind the crate, with Bianca doing the same. He called out to Eleanor. “It’s too late, we saw everything.”

The smile fell from her face as she stared at the two of them and then back to Alon. Silently, she began to walk back to the bell, behind it, and sat down at the desk she had been working at. She reached out underneath and pulled out a small covered basket. She began to reach inside, causing the three of them to draw their weapons in response. She looked at the three of them and chuckled to herself.

“Relax.” She pulled out what seemed to be a sandwich and started eating it. “It’s just lunch.” The three of them confusedly lowered their weapons.

Tetsuo began to walk forwards to her and asked what he had been wondering the entire time. “Is this where you're trying to create immortality again?”

Eleanor looked up at him, nonchalantly, before swallowing the bite she had taken. She cleared her throat and spoke. “Yes and no.” She then took another bite of her sandwich.

Bianca yelled at her. “EXPLAIN!”

Eleanor sighed and swallowed again. “Yes. This is where I was supposed to be creating immortality. Is that what I’m actually doing here? No, obviously not.”

Tetsuo looked around the room, to the floor, and to all the crates of supplies. “Is this where all the Ficium’s been going? All of it to this?”

“My apprentice is testing my patience. I think you could use context clues to find an answer. Go on.” She took another bite.

Tetsuo could feel anger begin to well inside him. They had gone through so much, just to arrive at this moment, and she wasn’t even taking them seriously.

Tetsuo began, “So everything in Remes, all the suffering of those people for hundreds of years. All of it was so you could sit in an underground room and play with Ficium?”

Eleanor replied coldly. “Is that what it seems like I’m doing? Playing?” She began to stand up from her seat and walked towards them angrily.

Good.

Tetsuo’s provocation seemed to be working.

“Come here.” Eleanor gestured for them to follow her. She walked up to the wooden box before turning back to them. “Sit.”

None of them obliged.

“Very well.” She turned around and furiously began hitting the box, striking and hitting it over and over as the three of them watched in shocked silence. She started panting, wiping the sweat from her face and turned back to face them, while sitting down on the box.

“Three hundred years ago– this idiot right here,” Eleanor said as she tapped the box. “He discovered immortality, and I’ve been paying the price ever since.”