The minecart rattled steadily along the rails, carrying them deeper into the earth. For a while, no one spoke.
Raine found herself stealing glances at Adeline. The Myrren had sighed twice already. She sat with her head lowered, staring silently at her own hands as though they no longer belonged to her. "...You alright?"
Adeline looked up briefly. "...Yeah." The answer came automatically as another sigh escaped her.
Raine frowned. "...What's wrong, Addy?"
Adeline remained quiet for a moment before answering. "...I don't know." She looked back down at her hands. "...Sad, I guess."
Raine studied her for a few seconds. "...Is this about what happened back there?"
Adeline nodded faintly. "I weep for the entirety of the human race, Raine."
Raine stared ahead at the tunnel stretching endlessly before them. "...Weep later." Her voice wasn't cold. Just firm. "We've got priorities."
Silence settled over the minecart once again.
Adeline bowed her head without another word.
The rhythmic clatter of the rails filled the space between them.
Several long seconds passed before guilt quietly crept into Raine's chest. She let out a small breath. "...Alright." She glanced sideways. "What are you weeping for?"
Adeline didn't answer immediately.
Finally, she whispered, "Everything they were." A pause. "...And everything they could've been."
Raine blinked. "That's..." She searched for the right word. "Big." A faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she gently nudged Adeline's shoulder.
Adeline barely reacted. "He's still here, Raine."
Raine didn't interrupt her, she simply waited.
"All that he is..." Adeline continued quietly. "...and all the man he used to be." As she spoke, the mark hidden beneath the collar of her clothing pulsed once, emitting the faintest glow before fading again.
"...That bad, huh?" Raine asked softly.
Adeline slowly shook her head. "For the first part..." she murmured. "no." Her gaze drifted somewhere far beyond the tunnel walls. "He suffered."
A small pause.
"But suffering isn't what broke him." She swallowed. "Losing his family did."
Another silence.
"When they died..." She closed her eyes. "he simply gave up." Her voice grew quieter. "He's a dead man walking, Raine." She finally looked back at her. "An empty shell wearing the body of the man he used to be."
For a brief instant, her eyes drifted toward the guard seated several carts behind them.
"Everything that made him human," She exhaled slowly. "is simply gone."
Raine followed her gaze.
The guard sat exactly where he'd been since boarding the minecart. His posture was perfect, his breathing steady. But his expression was completely empty. There was nothing behind his eyes.
Raine looked away. "Then maybe..." she said quietly, "...it was a good thing you scrambled his memories."
Adeline turned toward her.
Raine's voice softened. "A mercy." A pause. "For whatever remained of his soul."
Adeline looked back toward the darkness rushing past the minecart. "...Perhaps." Another weary sigh escaped her as the minecart continued its descent, carrying them farther into the depths below.
After several minutes of nothing but darkness and the steady mechanical rhythm of the tracks, Raine finally broke the silence.
"...Geez." She leaned over the edge of the cart, peering into the seemingly endless tunnel ahead. "How deep does this thing go?"
No one answered.
Adeline turned toward the guards riding behind them. "How much farther?"
One of the entranced guards lifted his head. "A few more minutes."
That was all.
Raine let out an exaggerated sigh before resting both elbows on the edge of the cart. "The girl we're looking for..." she said after a moment. "...is she even down here?"
Another guard answered in the same flat, emotionless tone. "We don't know." His hollow eyes remained fixed straight ahead. "Many supplies pass through here every two weeks."He paused. "We do not remember every face."
Raine stared at him. Then a disbelieving laugh escaped her. "Supplies?" She shook her head. "Is that what you call your own race?"
The guard didn't react. "In this world." His voice remained disturbingly empty. "You are either the supply…" A brief pause. "...or the one making the demands."
The words lingered in the stale underground air.
Raine felt an involuntary chill crawl across her spine. She slowly turned away, muttering beneath her breath, "I can't believe we share a planet with these creatures."
Adeline remained silent for a moment, her thoughts still lingering inside the fragmented memories she'd witnessed.
Finally, she spoke. "I never saw the girl."
Raine looked at her. "Not once?"
Adeline slowly shook her head. "I witnessed all memories inside those men." Her expression grew thoughtful. "Either she was never brought through these tunnels," She looked toward the darkness ahead. "or they simply never encountered her."
Meanwhile, Dahlia, who is seated at the front minecart, suddenly gasped.
Raine looked up from the endless stretch of rails disappearing into darkness. "What is it?"
Dahlia narrowed her eyes. The mark beneath her hairline shimmered faintly as her Velaric gift awakened, extending her vision far beyond what any ordinary siren eye could perceive. She stared into the darkness for several seconds.
Then the color drained from her face. A heavy gasp escaped her, and her hands immediately flew over her ears.
"What?" Raine frowned. "Dahlia?"
Dahlia squeezed her eyes shut. "I can't..." she whispered, shaking her head. "I can't look..."
The others exchanged uneasy glances.
Moments later, they understood as the tunnel suddenly widened.
The minecart burst from the narrow passage into a cavern so enormous that the opposite wall disappeared into darkness. Layer upon layer of rusted catwalks clung to the rock face, disappearing upward until they were swallowed by shadow. Massive ventilation fans churned endlessly overhead, their deafening roar forcing air through the underground prison.
Then they saw the cages.
They covered the cavern walls from floor to ceiling like the cells of a grotesque hive.
Every cage held people.
Some sat motionless with vacant eyes. Others clawed at the rusted bars while others simply stared into the darkness, seemingly too exhausted to care whether they lived or died.
And then they noticed the minecart.
The cavern erupted.
Hundreds of voices crashed together into one unbearable wave. Some screamed for help, some begging to be killed. Others sobbed so violently they could barely form words.
Several prisoners pounded frantically against their cages.
"Help us!"
"Please!"
"Don't leave us!"
Others had already surrendered.
One man sat in the corner of his cage, laughing uncontrollably at nothing.
A woman rocked back and forth, whispering to a child that no longer existed. "He's asleep..." She smiled. "He'll wake up soon...shh, shh, my child."
Dahlia couldn't bear another second as she doubled over the edge of the cart and vomited onto the tracks below.
The others weren't faring much better.
August had gone completely pale. Alastair's jaw tightened so hard the muscles in his face trembled. Even Adeline stood frozen, unable to tear her eyes away. Raine felt something tighten painfully inside her chest.
As the minecart continued deeper into the cavern, the screaming gradually faded behind them, swallowed once more by the relentless thunder of the ventilation systems.
Adeline—ever the Myrren.
Sometimes, she wondered if it was a gift at all. To sift through a lifetime of memories in an instant. To reach into the minds of others and witness the things they had seen, felt, and buried deep within themselves.
Sometimes, it felt more like a curse.
Her gaze slowly shifted toward the guards sitting in the minecart behind them. "...Monsters." The word escaped her quietly as a tear slipped down her cheek.
Sirens and humans had lived apart for millennia. Their civilizations had grown separately, their histories barely touching one another. Yet humanity had never truly been a stranger to them.
They were still their neighbors.
And perhaps that was what made what Adeline had seen so difficult to accept.
Humanity had done terrible things to itself. Not because they were inherently monstrous, nor incapable of kindness.
But because some had decided that their own kind were no longer people.
Adeline lowered her gaze, wiping the tear from her cheek. And for the first time since entering the tunnels, she found herself wishing she could erase her own memories.
~~~
Meanwhile, above ground, deep within the dead forest, Fabia stood his ground.
His senses remained alert as he activated his gift, a shimmering barrier of protective energy forming around the unconscious sirens and the Pegacampi. He kept his bow lowered for the moment, listening to the forest around him.
Then he heard it.
Footsteps.
Fabia's grip tightened around his bow. He drew an arrow from the energy gathering between his fingers, its luminous shaft forming as he pulled the string back. His eyes narrowed, his expression turning predatory.
More sounds followed.
Muttering.
Then another voice.
And another.
Multiple people.
Fabia turned toward the dense bushes.
Several heavily armed men emerged from the undergrowth, their weapons already in hand. They stopped when they saw him.
For a moment, neither side moved.
Fabia raised his bow. "Back off."
The men stared at him.
Then one of them looked past Fabia toward the Pegacampi. A grin slowly spread across his face. "Am I dreaming..." he muttered. Then his eyes widened. "...or is that a fucking horse with wings?"
Fabia's expression didn't change. "Back. Off."
The man's grin disappeared. "Yeah, no." He raised his weapon. "Fire!"
The forest erupted with gunfire.
But the bullets never reached Fabia.
The first round struck the invisible barrier—and hung in the air, motionless. Another bullet slammed into the barrier and remained suspended beside it, followed by another and another, each projectile frozen in place as though time itself had stopped around them.
The men stared.
One lowered his weapon. "What the fuck...?"
Another took a cautious step backward.
Fabia didn't even blink. He slowly drew his bowstring farther. "My turn." Then he released.
The arrow of energy crossed the distance in an instant.
It struck the man who had given the order directly in the forehead.
The others recoiled.
Then they opened fire again.
Bullets hammered against the barrier, but Fabia remained completely still behind it. He simply drew another arrow.
One of the men scrambled backward, fumbling for the radio mounted against his vest. "Boss! Delta Team—"
Static crackled through the transmission.
"—crcckkk... crckkk..." He glanced toward the others. "There's more! There's—"
Fabia released the string.
The arrow tore through his chest, piercing straight through the radio mounted against him.
The men pushed farther into the barrier.
The moment they crossed its boundary, Fabia's posture changed. He lowered the bow, releasing the energy string. The weapon dissolved back into water seeping to the soil below.
Fabia stepped forward.
Scales along his neck flared outward as his claws extended from his fingers. His eyes narrowed, no longer those of a guardian watching for an approaching threat, but of a predator that had finally decided to hunt.
The nearest man raised his rifle.
Fabia moved first.
He crossed the distance in an instant, striking the man's weapon aside before driving a clawed hand into his chest. The man crumpled to the forest floor.
Another fired.
Fabia twisted away from the muzzle flash, seized the man's arm, and wrenched him off balance before sending him crashing against a tree.
More of them rushed through the barrier.
None made it very far.
The gunfire erupted through the dead forest, then ceased almost as quickly as it had begun.
Two minutes later, silence returned.
Fabia stood among the fallen men, his claws slowly retracting as the scales along his neck settled back against his skin.
Then he heard a weak, ragged cough behind him.
Fabia turned.
One of the men was still alive.
He dragged himself across the forest floor, leaving a thin trail of blood behind him as he desperately tried to put distance between himself and Fabia. His hand remained pressed against his side, blood pouring between his fingers from the deep wounds across his abdomen.
Fabia watched him for a moment before slowly approaching.
The man's eyes widened with fear as Fabia's claws extended once more.
Fabia stopped in front of him. "Please..." The man's voice trembled. "Don't kill me. I'm begging you."
Fabia stared down at him. "I warned you to back off."
The man coughed, blood staining his lips. "I know. I'm sorry..." He struggled to breathe. "Please... save me, man. I don't want to die."
Fabia said nothing. His gaze shifted toward the unconscious Sirens and the Pegacampi inside the barrier. Then he looked back at the man, whose eyes were filled with fear. Slowly, Fabia retracted his claws. "I'll save you."
The man's expression faltered.
Fabia's eyes remained cold. "But don't mistake my mercy for kindness."
The man could only nod.
Fabia bent down and lifted him into his arms. He carried the wounded man toward the Tidecraft, where Callista remained unconscious. When he pressed his hand against its side, the vessel hissed open.
The man's eyes widened when he saw Callista's tail inside. He stared at her for a moment, fear flickering across his face, but he was in no position to question anything. At this point, all he could do was hope Fabia intended to keep his word.
Fabia carefully placed him inside.
The moment the water enveloped him, his entire body tensed. He instinctively held his breath, fighting against every survival instinct screaming at him to escape.
Fabia leaned toward the opening. "Relax your muscles and breathe."
The man shook his head frantically.
"Let the water do its job."
Fabia didn't force him.
He simply watched as the man struggled against his instincts, waiting for him to make the choice himself.
Slowly, the man's body began to relax.
Fabia closed the Tidecraft.
He took several steps back before turning toward the remaining unconscious Sirens and the resting Pegacampi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note;
So, I updated this chapter because I felt like something was missing. It kept bugging me, so here you go.
From here on out, I promise I won't publish a chapter unless I feel it lives up to the standard I have for COTR. Even if that means it takes me weeks to upload.
Hope y'all understand. 🫡