Chapter 37: Yoru

An ear piercing squeak sounded in Yoru’s head as Thalorian opened the door to the citadel. The buzzing in his ears quickly faded, and he gazed at the entrance hall.

The floor was made of a luscious platinum engraved with symbols of the Aternum. The beautifully engraved sigils were all scratched out, with various shades of blood. What happened here? There were spots of rust on the unbloodied platinum tiles.

Unfazed by the seeming battle scene Thalorian spoke, “Lets head out, we’ll split into groups,” he began, “Yoru, Josh, Elben, take the left staircase, me, Limiria, and Haverian will take the right staircase.”

“Got it,” said Elben, “with me, child warriors.”

Child warriors? I don’t think I like that…

“Yeah! To adventure,” said Josh, vivaciously. How’s he so peppy?

As Thalorian called the three of them, Group A, headed upward the left staircase.

Lining the walls around the staircase were the symbols from the tiles on the first floor, but with words above them.

“Favorin, Hakshon’boon, Ririn’rok, Harrelriw, Mak’sha’sha, Ruhsh’inka, Shikorinn, Hollieniria, Debelan, Ankhrarian, and… Haveniririon,” muttered Yoru, running his hand along the wall. Even above those names there were more scrawlings, over certain names there were, ‘Child of Life’ or ‘Child of Death’, as well as ‘Child of Creation’ and ‘Child of Destruction’. At the end, where Haveniririon, Ankhrarian were, it said ‘Mother of Creation and Destruction’ and ‘Father of Life and Death’.

Noticing that Yoru was interested in the symbols Ablbren leaned over and spoke, “Ah yes, the sigils of the twenty-two Aternum, the forever changing pantheon, interested?”

“Uh yeah, I guess they’re cool,” replied Yoru, shrugging off the question.

“I worked under Ruhsh’inka for a time, he was my commander in the Heavenly Army,” replied Elben, excited to start talking about the Aternum.

“I, uh, I think we should focus on getting to Jiyoda,” said Yoru, giving Elben the cold shoulder. He didn’t mean to be rude, but he was. Yoru just wasn’t all that interested in the Aternum, sure they were gods, but what had they done for him?

As they made their way to the top of the stairs they gazed longingly at the empty room.

“I thought it would be more, you know, epic,” said Josh, shrugging and going to investigate.

The chamber was golden with several hallways leading out. The golden walls were lined with brass patterns, spirals and symbols. All around there were images of majestic figures handing items to slovenly looking people.

“What…” Yoru cringed, “what are these?” he asked.

“Tales. Tales the Aternum tell the young about their power and might, how they cure poverty and illness,” answered Elben, his expression grim.

Josh looked back at the two of them, “Is something wrong dude?” he asked.

“The tales of power are false. They’ve never done anything good in their life. They’re all a bunch of cowards, who believe themselves omnipotent.”

“Aren’t they omnipotent-” Josh started, before getting a harsh look from Ablbren, “I just mean… they are… well… gods.”

“My family was poor, we didn’t have very many Ceno, and we lived on the streets. My father was an alcoholic who beat my mother. Me and my brother,” Elben winced, “tried our hardest to supply our family with food and drink. One day I came home and the Aternum’s personal guard, the Bladesworn Poets, were arresting my parents. We tried to stop them, we didn’t know what we were doing. We were arrested with them and put into jail. Our parents died within the first few weeks, my mother died of sickness and my father was beaten to death by another prisoner. We were alone. After two more years in that hell hole, we had the option to join AMPA or stay for life. We both chose AMPA…”

Yoru didn’t know what to say. He looked over to Josh, it seemed as for the first time in his life Josh didn’t have anything to say.

Ablbren looked at the two boys he was with, “Sorry about that, sometimes my emotions just take hold.”

“It's all right, Ablbren, we all have our moments,” comforted Yoru, “let’s just get to Jiyoda,” Yoru's mouth turned into a smile as he spoke, “we don’t want to be late for the grand finale, now do we?”

Yoru started to walk into one of the hallways, when Josh grabbed his collar, “That’s where we came from, smartass.”

“Uh… yeah,” replied Yoru, turning around, “but which one do we take?”

Josh looked at Yoru with a questioning look, then gestured to Ablbren. “This guy probably knows this place inside and out! He’ll definitely know which way to go,” confidently said Josh.

“I don’t know who you're pointing at, because I have no clue where we are,” replied Elben.

“I thought you were part of AMPA?” questioned Josh, tilting his head slightly, after losing a bit of confidence.

“I was, but AMPA stays in Celestrial City, where the other angels and creatures from the Great Above stay.”

“Oh… well then,” said Josh, deflated. Then he noticed something, “There are three hallways!”

“So?” interjected Yoru.

“Then we’ll each take one!” continued Josh, his ego reinflating.

Yoru wasn’t convinced. Splitting up was always the worst thing to do in situations like this, he thought. “Fine,” he said, “Josh, you take left, Ablbren you take right, I’ll take centre.”

“Got it, captain!” replied Josh, heading into the left hallway.

Ablbren gave him a curt nod and headed into the right hallway.

This is it, we’ve got this! I hope…