Clock and Circuit II

  NIKA

  “So, I get the concept of escaping, but I want out of here as well. Or better yet, let’s leave this entire realm,” Blu groaned.

  “Get us out then, since you know everything,” Fadabiea taunted.

  “Get us out your mom,” Aushen said absentmindedly, rubbing the scuffs on his trainers.

  Tuning out the others’ banter, I let my surroundings come into focus. I had made the escape hatch with only one thought in mind: escape. I did not, however, plan outside of that because I’m not the Echo of Forethought and Petty Worries. It’s not my fault the tunnel didn’t lead to the exit of the entire complex just because I’m the one who designed it.

  We were in a small room with one metal bar door for an exit. We stood in a long corridor, with huge pipes running the length of the walls, some of which leaked profusely. Various puddles of an unknown substance riddled the concrete floor and a metronome of dripping sounds reverberated through the hall alongside the hum of machinery.

  “Someone did a really shitty steampunk in 'ere,” I observed.

  “The décor does not fuck,” Fadabiea agreed.

  Aushen smiled mischievously. “Your m- “

  “No.” I stopped him.

  Wordlessly, we started forward, and the stench of rust and mold flooded my nose. Various analogue readouts, dials, and valves connected to the pipes and were placed in a sporadic manner. The air was muggy and hot, like a sauna that was left on too long. I began to feel mildly claustrophobic; I couldn’t stretch both of my arms to their full length without leaning to one side. If was AID down here, we were close to screwed.

  I thought back to when I was younger, and my parents would send me to do laundry sometimes and it terrified me. The dark on top of the exposed pipes and multicoloured lights just gave off a creepy vibe. I was glad the sounds coming from the mechanisms covered up my heart beginning to race. Aushen’s voice snapped me out of my spiraling thoughts.

  “I wonder what this stuff is,” he touched his finger to whatever was leaking from the pipe.

  “I hope it’s acid, now that you’ve touched it,” Blu looked back to get context on Aushen’s foolishness.

  Aushen then did something so dumb that didn’t surprise me because of the person he was. He licked the drop of miscellaneous liquid off his finger.

  “Tastes like…” He lifted his eyes to the ceiling in thought. “You guys ever had Honeymilk? It tastes like that.”

  “Man is a literal genius,” Blu smacked his face and closed his eyes in disappointment. “You have stage seventeen tuberculosis now.”

  Aerix just looked at him with something between curiosity and bewilderment.

  “Well, we had to find out somehow,” Fadabiea’s eyes lingered on Aushen with something I couldn’t quite place.

  “No, we didn’t,” Blu countered.

  I shoved Aushen’s shoulder, “Right, man, move it will you?”

  We started again down the hall with no interruptions, except for Fadabiea chastising Blu for playing drums along the pipes because she claimed it was “distracting them from getting out quicker.”

  He returned his drumsticks to the marks on the sleeves of his hoodie. “Your logic is astounding.”

  I was beginning to wonder if the entirety of Index Three was just a winding hallway of pipes filled with mystery goo and buzzing instruments when we reached a split in the path.

  “I’m going with Aushen,” Fadabiea said a little too quickly.

  “Who said we were splitting up?” Blu asked incredulously.

  “I did. Right now,” Fadabiea crossed her arms and lifted her head decidedly.

  “Alright I’ll go left with the Lanky Bastard, I guess.”

  Aushen looked mildly confused at Fadabiea’s enthusiasm, so I decided to go with them to alleviate his apparent discomfort. I watched Blu drag Aerix down the left corridor. “Put away that glowing rock,” he hissed. “You’re giving me a headache.”

  “Whatever loser,” Aerix tapped the stone they were holding, and the light extinguished, the sounds of bickering faded as they drew away.

  Fadabiea held out her hand, “shall we go?”

  Aushen made no move to take it, so she snatched his up and made her way down the hall without bothering to see if I’d followed. Weirdo, I thought as I moved to catch up to them.

  We walked in silence for some time, and still, Aushen made no move to disentangle his hand from Fadabiea’s. I figured I’d text Blu for an update.

  Nika [Bluey, status update.]

  He replied almost immediately.

  Sablune [Dos being closer to killing Aeirx count?]

  Nika [“Aeirx”]

  Sablune [stfu]

  Nika [So, have you gotten anything?]

  Sablune [pretty much, just more pipes and whatnot]

  Nika [Smh, touch base in 10, k?]

  Sablune [works for me]

  I slide my phone into my pocket only to look up and discover that Aushen and Fadabiea were nowhere to be found. I hastened my stride, trying to prevent immediate panic from seizing my nerves. I was hoping they just went further ahead and out of sight, but after about five minutes with no results, I started running, my boots clomping along the ground.

  I turned the corner up ahead, still nothing, so I sped up my time and searched for another five minutes until eventually I gave up and messaged Sablune. My fingers begin tapping away in discordant harmony with my racing heartbeat as I fire off a text after returning my time to normal.

  Nika [blu I cant find aushen or fadabiea]

  My eyes remained glued to my phone as I walked, waiting for a response that I had a dreaded feeling I wasn’t going to get any time soon. I made another turn and spotted a man wearing a brown jacket and green cargo trousers. My voice caught just as he turned my way. Instead of calling for his attention, I dove back behind the corner, my chest heaving in response to my shock-endowed nerves.

  He had no face.

  That man had no face.

  I had to be imagining it, he has to breathe, doesn’t he? Can't do that without a face.

  "Let's find out! Let's lose the head and see if you stand then!" I slung my railgun off my shoulder and began giggling manically as the purple weapon glowed brighter.

  Can't live without a head. Can you? Can you, you freak?

  "Toodles, mate, better luck next time," I watched as a Violet beam trailed the slug that cut through his face—or lack thereof—and rocked me back from the thrust of the blast.

  There was a lot more recoil on standard mode, but so much more power, I thought giddily. I cranked up time and zoomed over to where the man's corpse lay before slowing back to idle time. I performed a small victory twirl upon verifying he wouldn’t move; and caught sight of Aushen and Fadabiea.

  They were tucked away in an opening between pipes, one head over the other like some sort of bizarre cartoon, staring at me in appalment. I waved at them casually and peeked in between the pipes.

  "Cheerio," Fadabiea greeted me.

  In response, I pointed my gun at her.

  "Cozy little spot you got here, mind telling me where in the bloody hell you lot have been," I demanded, sparing them little annoyance in my voice.

  "Oi, we weh' jus' strollin' on down this 'ere path-" Fadabiea's voice faltered as I raised my railgun once more.

  "Try again. Thanks, mate."

  "We were walking-slash-scouting ahead and ran into some faceless fools. Aushen's dumbass wanted to 'observe' them, so, now we're here.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  "Yeah, he does that sometimes, I think he's not all there," my voice took on a sympathetic tone.

  "Hey!" The fool in question protested.

  I clasped Fadabiea's hand and hauled her from the crevice in the pipes, Aushen scooted out afterward.

  "I saw more go this way," Aushen pointed opposite the direction I came from.

  “How do we feel about following?” Fadabiea turned to me.

  “Sounds like we’re all going to die probably, but whatever.”

  I slid my phone from the pocket of my skirt.

  Nika [I found them, along with some other unexpected creature]

  Still no response.

  We kept forward in the direction of the faceless people, and I put my phone away. Aushen moved to my side as we walked. “Why did you kill him?”

  I bit my lip in embarrassment. “Does it matter, Aushen? Not like it affected any of us.”

  “I don’t know about that; it looks like it affected you. So why?”

  I struggled to get the words out. “I was a little paranoid.”

  I turned away from him and stuck my hand between them and my face. It was such an irrational fear, the man hadn’t threatened me or shown any sign of hostility, yet I’d fired within a minute of seeing him. Just like what happened with HER, the man caught me off guard. How else can I protect against the unknown if I don’t pull the trigger first?

  Last time I let someone else pull it… it cost me dearly.

  I hadn’t left my safehouse in so long, I had forgotten what it was like to do without that consistent invulnerability. It felt unnatural to be wandering like this, with no idea what I would find around each corner. Fear has been such a small part of my life recently and feeling it rebound with such intensity has probably been more harmful to me than I’d realised. Especially left unidentified.

  The next time we saw some faceless people; they happened to be children. They didn’t notice us at first, they were playing with some sort of toy. It appeared that the three children were snatching some abstractly shaped plastic. While they pushed and shoved for the object, it flew out of their hands, in our direction. They noticed us then.

  Aushen kneeled down and held the toy out for one of the kids, a girl stepped forward. She had a black strip across her face that hid her features no matter which angle we looked at her from. It seemed her gaze was fixated on Aushen as if she were looking at him with something other than her eyes.

  “See? They aren’t dangerous,” was the last thing Aushen said before the child leaped at him ferociously.

  Her hands clasped around his neck and began to squeeze, Aushen fought against her, but it was clear the child had an abnormal amount of strength. Fadabiea kicked out at the faceless girl and sent her flying into a pipe, and drew her scythe, eyes gleaming with anger. The girl slid from the pipe, which had burst and was now spraying steam into the corridor, condensation began to gather along the walls and ceiling.

  “Fadabiea, put them in timeout,” Aushen ordered dramatically.

  Ever the jokester even after getting choked.

  The other children began to move closer and Fadabiea raised her scythe with little hesitation, but it was Aushen who reacted first. His foot flashed out and his skates clicked into place, the blade cutting a gash along the girl's arm. I braced myself as the other two kids pounced at us, I punched one of the demoryns, a boy with blondish hair, into the ground. His head cracked the concrete, yet he still dragged himself to his feet, unfazed.

  “Oh, you little shit. What’d you forget about pain or something?” I said breathily, reaching for my railgun.

  Fadabiea put a hand over my chest and pointed at another figure standing down the hall, near a door that resembled a prison cell. The children began to retreat, scuttling down the passageway, and the figure began waving its finger at the children as if it were reprimanding them for misbehaving.

  “My mom was not exaggerating when she said parenting is awful, because what even the hell was that?” Fadabiea said in utter disbelief.

  “I still haven’t gotten a response from Blu, which is a little bit unsettling. That boy always has something to say,” I informed Aushen and Fadabiea.

  “He’s up ahead,” Fadabiea said plainly.

  “How do you know, you been stalkin’ ‘im or something?”

  “No, I just know him better than anyone. I can almost sense his presence and I think something might be wrong with him.”

  A breathy laugh slipped out my lungs. “You also picked up on that?”

  Fadabiea ignored my shot at him and pushed forward with a determined air about her, an obligation to be there for him. I sensed this was always how they were, inseparable and reliable. “What about Aerix?” I reminded her. “Did you forget about them?” I meant it mostly as a joke.

  She turned to reveal a look of guilt across her face. “No, of course not.”

  With an air of irritable anger about her, she continued making her way down the hallway, Aushen in tow. He flashed an apologetic look my way, before turning to catch up with the ever-mysterious echo.

  Except you aren’t all that mysterious are you, Fadabiea? I’ve got you all figured out. The ranged heart rate monitor readout on my watch gave it all away.

  106 BPM. Liar.

  I followed my completely trustworthy companion through an eerie hallway to the prospect of danger and potential death, like the smart girl I was born and raised to be.

  ***

  We reached the gate and Fadabiea didn’t even stop, she plowed her foot into the cell door, and it swung open violently. The metal slammed into the wall, slightly denting the metal plating of the wall, I noticed the rest of the rooms we walked through were designed similarly. A single filament bulb lighting it up, iron walls, cell doors, and floors with various tables and chairs strewn about. All composed of some sort of metal. The rooms felt hollow.

  This was a new Index.

  Upon entering what was probably Index four, a faceless demoryn took notice of us, yet made no move to attack, this one was elderly and pretty docile. This by no means swayed Fadabiea’s next actions as she grabbed his face and slammed it into the wall. The woman didn’t let go either, she dragged his face across the rough surface of the crude plating, shearing off layers of skin, and kept her eyes locked ahead, indifferent, as his lifeless body dropped to the ground. His exposed flesh pooled blood, matching the smeared stain along the wall. Pieces of bloodied skin hung from the screws Fadabiea had dragged his face over.

  I grabbed Aushen’s hand. “Maybe, let’s wait a bit.”

  Knowing Aushen didn’t want to listen to an hour of murder, I slowed down his time so it would be over quickly for him. I peered into the room and watched with a mix of fascination and horror as Fadabiea ripped limps, decapitated women, stomped the skulls of children, and gutted the elderly. Anything without a face felt the wrath of the Echo of Death, nothing about her spoke “Verdancy” at the moment.

  Fadabiea only hesitated when more demoryns entered the room, evidently more able-bodied than the rest. Some of them looked into old wooden storage boxes and pulled out old pipes, wooden planks, and a multitude of weaponized objects. Fadabiea raised an eyebrow, almost questioningly. She was daring them to stand against her; she spun her scythe in a rather bored fashion.

  I watched closely as one of the faceless people went over to a crate and knocked it over, spilling out an unconscious Love Echo along with an industrial floodlight. Fadabiea faltered a little at the sight of Sablune but did not back down.

  The scion of Geoxyr was revealed to have been tied up after being knocked unconscious, a large crack in their hardened skin emanating from their forehead.

  Fadabiea narrowed her eyes at the mob, watching… silent… waiting…

  This would be too much for her, even someone as formidable as Fadabiea. Whatever I had said early must have really pissed her off.

  I went to get Aushen and straighten out his flow of time.

  “Done?” He questioned me hopefully.

  “Not even close, pal.”

  I took his hand and led him to the other room where more of the faceless had gathered.

  Sablune had finally opened his eyes but was more or less still out of commission.

  “A three v fifty-something,” Aushen observed.

  “Your skills of perception never fail to amaze me.”

  Fadabiea hadn’t acknowledged either of us, instead, she was crouched at the ground, fingers spread across the minging metal plated floor. “Move, when it’s time,” she said, I was assuming, to us. “Hand me a second scythe, while you’re at it.”

  “Are they going to attack us?” Aushen drew his staff and began making a blade similarly shaped to Fadabiea’s.

  “Not before we do,” Fadabiea caught the second scythe and molded the branch-made handle of their weapon over the frost-made scythe, giving them a double-sided weapon. “I’ll give a subtle signal to let you know when.”

  Aushen jumped, tucking his knees to slide out his knives/skates from his feet. The two of us watched closely for the sign that Fadabiea spoke of.

  It was the most obvious assault I’d ever seen. Actually… Second most obvious. She’d need about sixty planes to top what I’d seen. But it was still unnerving.

  Bones erupted from the ground, the jagged edges of ivory piercing the vital organs of the faceless creatures and slicing them to jagged bits. Just like that, half of the enemy dropped to the ground within seconds, and Fadabiea still wasn’t finished.

  She rose and closed her left hand in a crushing gesture before calling out, “Offensive Concept: Tumultuous Torment of Shattered Essence.”

  Then the bodies that were starting to move again began to twist and snap in odd places, rendering the joints useless. Ragged anatomy turned into useless bags of flesh that lay helpless, punctured by their own bones, and absolved of their agency.

  “Subtle, she said,” Aushen mumbled to mostly himself, before rushing off to partake in the combat.

  Definitely has a knack for lying, she does.

  I followed him, and fought almost on autopilot, processing what Fadabiea had done. She snapped their bones, she killed them before they even got back up, I thought sickly. She became a whirlwind that defined the word “overkill.” Anger rolled off Fadabiea in waves, she killed each enemy five times over and then some, each strike on a standing target was followed by several more on the barely living creatures on the ground.

  I figured it would be over soon, there was nothing going to stop Fadabiea from trying to save Blu and Aerix. Only when the strike of a metal pipe slammed into her temple, did the Echo of Death and Verdancy fall. I moved to assist, only to find my arms locked by several more of the faceless demoryns restraining me as I attempted to reach for my discs.

  They had come from behind; it hadn’t even occurred to me that there may have been more behind us or even that there were more, which was stupid of me.

  Aushen, too, was being overwhelmed and with nothing but two daggers to fight with, the inevitable happened; and he was brought to his knees.

  Fadabiea looked at Sablune hazily, she was shaking her head no at him, as he began to slide the white ring he wore from his finger. He kissed it once, closed his eyes and whispered: “Break the horizon that divides sun and moon.”

  He then looked at us and sighed. “I should have lived with my mom.”

  Aushen didn’t get the joke right away. “Wait, isn’t your mom-”

  Sablune slammed the ring against the ground, and a star-coloured void tore open the floor. And an angel leaped from the depths of the blazing vortex, her heavenly fire shredding apart the faceless abominations.

  A polearm flashed into the hands of the blue-haired lady. With it, she spun and flipped.

  Sliced and stabbed.

  And burned and blackened her enemies.

  Blood splashed the ground like rain, watering the stone in crimson. Each strike was deadly and vicious, but also graceful and calculated, never missing a mark. The angel’s wings spread out and she spun, her feathers tearing through flesh and bone.

  The Angel was regal, gorgeous, and ruthless.

  She was a supernova.