December 22, 2111
James Stone
Our number was now at seven and we were but hours away from entering a place few corelinns have ever come back alive. Geariic, Valiic, and I were led by a soldier to the far side of the colony. Against the deepest edge of the back wall surrounding this place was an outpost reinforced with thick doors and defenses. It was coated in webbed nets, murky green in color, and had a three-riser staircase leading to the door.
"Your allies are inside," the soldier informed us.
"For what reason?" Valiic asked.
"Tunnels," Geariic stated.
"Tunnels?"
"Yes," the soldier said. "We dug deep tunnels leading to the Vault of the Seven… only a kilometer away from this colony."
"Made for going under the forest and avoiding the shjarrs above, I presume," Valiic said.
"Correct," the soldier confirmed.
As we approached, the outpost doors were opened by two guards. Up the three risers I went and was inside first. The room wasn't large by any definition, and it was filled with tables stacked with military crates, weapons, and ammunition. Everything was ready for our choosing, we need only grab it. At the back was the gateway portal to the tunnel, which dipped sharply downward.
My squad was gearing up. Frost noticed Geariic.
"Geariic, my uzzo! I thought I'd seen the last of you." Frost sped over to Geariic and pulled back his hand.
Geariic reciprocated, and together they high-fived into a shake. "I'm harder to kill than most." He laughed with his belly.
"Hah. Ain't that the damn truth? But what in the hell are you doing here of all places?"
"Kalvin sent us here."
"Before Waseem's unit went MIA," I added.
Frost looked from Geariic, to me, and back to Geariic. "Really?" His voice dropped a bit of enthusiasm.
"Sure did," Geariic reaffirmed. "My brother's injured and resting here in camp. But I'm here to smash the shivf out of the enemies in the vault."
"Having someone like you around to take the enemy focus away from me just warms my insides," Shadow-Walker jested.
Jeremiah joined Frost and stood before Geariic. He studied him with friendly awe. "Who's this little twig?" Geariic asked Frost. "I can just about use him as a toothpick."
Jeremiah extended his hand. "We haven't been introduced. I'm Jeremiah, your guide through these trials."
Geariic looked him over. "And why do we need a shrimp like you to guide us?"
"Because not having one worked out damn well for you last time," I joked.
"You went in already?" asked Jeremiah.
Geariic retorted, "How do you think my brother got injured?"
Jeremiah backed away. "I'm sorry."
I went over to the front of the entrance of the cave. I looked down to see stairs leading downward, carved from the stone of the cave floor. It was lit by lights hung on the cave ceiling and strung together by cords for power. With so much on the line, the time to wait was over, and the time for getting our asses in motion was now. "Listen up." I grabbed everyone's attention with some command in my voice. "We've got our mission. Lives depend on our success. So let's cut it with the howdy-dowdies for now and start chewing some dirt. As legionnaires, our motto is: To you, each is a weapon. And it's time we made good on those words for these people. Everyone clear?"
My words received acknowledgments back from everyone, and I started down the stairs into the cave. Everyone grabbed their gear and our supplies and followed my lead.
"Aren't we just a big bunch of circus freaks now?" Shadow joked.
"Don't call me a freak." Geariic's voice deepened at the remark. Shadow-Walker didn't seem to care much, keeping his jesting smile and attitude.
Jeremiah was right on my trail. "We are on God's quest now," he added, with cheerful glee in his words.
"Calm down with that do-goody-good horseshivf, good pastor," I teased him.
He laughed. "Remember James, those on the side of the lord are on the winning side. And who wouldn't want to be on the winning side?"
Geariic snorted, "And what makes it the winning side?"
"Because the victory was already secured. Against all of the darkness and evil in the galaxy, God already defeated it. For the devil is a defeated foe. And for it we've already won."
"Can't say he isn't a positive man," Shadow-Walker added, with a laugh. In spite of his humor, Jeremiah's words did kill off a few of those pesky butterflies in my stomach.
With so many of the corelinns relying on us, I felt the pressure like a weighted backpack on my shoulders. Being relied on wasn't what was new to me. I felt that weight every mission to the point where I no longer noticed it there. Instead, it was the do or die of it all. The dark shadow of doom lingered in my mind. Fail, and a whole civilization crumbles away into sand and ash.
⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕
Seven circular gates, gold and obsidian, were before us inside an expansive and domed cavern. This was it, the big moment, the beginning of the Vault. Written words and symbols unknown to me were carved above each gate. Not even my cyberwatch was able to recognize it. At the center of the domed cavern, with a ceiling high over our heads, was a pedestal-shaped device; gold and obsidian like the gates, with a round inclined control panel on top. Seven slots rounded a concentric circle that was centered around a central white orb glowing with white smoke.
Seven gates of the seven different trials centered around seven different weapons of sin. Seven, seven, seven; yet, the number didn't seem so lucky at the moment.
Jeremiah, now near the control panel, held the book in his hand and was our designated navigator. He turned to the first page. "The Vault of the Seven. A wound in time, a landmark to the Precursors. Seven weapons of sin for seven worthy sins of darkness," he read.
"Precursors? Never heard of 'em," said Frost.
Jeremiah flipped the page. "In the beginning, life stood two; light created what darkness destroyed until one gained the favor over the other--"
"Holy shivf! I've heard that before!" I shouted.
"Same!" Frost nearly jumped back at the words.
My head was damn-near sent spinning as well. Those words came flooding back into my mind as I remembered my vision in the tunnels below Garatopia. It was clear as day, playing like a movie in my head.
"That's well and good, you two. But what does it mean?" asked Shadow-Walker. He sat against the cave wall as we waited.
"Who gives a shivf?" Geariic grunted. Near Shadow-Walker, he held the handle of his warhammer as the head of it rest against the stone floor.
"I'm wit Hammerhead ova here." Brad, crouched with his shotgun at rest, pointed his thumb back to Geariic. Geariic grumbled inaudibly at the comment.
"In the beginning, life stood two," Jeremiah started. "Some who believe in-- What is the name of that ancient extinct species?"
"Devisors," Valiic informed.
"Ah, yes. Some who believe in the Devisors, believe them as the oldest known species in the galaxy. In my travels through the inner parts of the Enchanted System, I've heard another species with this same claim - the Precursors. What if both claims were true?"
"In the beginning, life stood two," I muttered to myself.
"The architecture of those gates and that pedestal don't carry the same characteristics as what I've seen from Devisors," Valiic, a believer in the mythological species, agreed. "Looks like the book answered your question."
Jeremiah turned another page. "The Seven Weapons of Sin: The Axe of Pride, Staff of Gluttony, Claws of Envy, Blood of Sloth, Spikeburst of Greed, Serpent of Lust, and the Blade of Wrath. Weapons enchanted and cursed with charms."
"And of these seven weapons, which have been claimed?" Geariic's voiced boomed with more curiosity on this topic.
Jeremiah looked in the pages for an answer and seemed to find one. "Hard to be sure. But it seems to me that the Staff of Gluttony and Blood of Sloth have champions that wield them. Or so that book seems to make it out that way." He adjusted his glasses.
Luckily, the Blade of Wrath is still without a champion, I thought.
"Does the book tell us why the Blade of Wrath will kill the foretold monster?" asked Valiic.
"If you believe your weapon can murder all in existence, then so it shall - thus is the Blade of Wrath," Jeremiah read.
Geariic grinned. "Sounds like my kind of weapon."
Jeremiah continued to flip through the pages. "And I think I've found how we enter. In the Vault of Seven, those seeking status of seven sins shall bequeath on the Pillar of Sin. Seven is the number." Jeremiah, who was standing next to the pedestal in the center, placed his hand in one of the seven slots. "I believe each of us must do this to enter."
Geariic grumbled as he dragged his warhammer over. "I could've told you that."
Everyone encircled the device and started placing their hands on the slots. I was the last to do so and felt the ice-cold panel against my palm. It didn't feel completely metallic or solid; it had a moist, gel-like sensation against my skin. Then there was a tiny prick of pain on the center of my hand. After this, we all extracted our hands from the device. The ball in the center activated, and the clouds within gave way to images of our faces. It ended by displaying some unknown symbols that led to the furthest gate on the right opening up. It was the only one of the seven to open.
"When Alabon and I did this, all the doors except the furthest left opened," Geariic told us, seeming to be puzzled by it.
"Which did you choose?" asked Valiic.
"The middle."
Jeremiah looked through the pages. "God is on our side. The gate that opened is the trial for the Blade of Wrath."
"That's good enough for me. Time to introduce some monsters to Big Daddy." Frost was the first to enter the gate.
Brad was damn near at his side. "Iceberg got da right idea. Waitin' iz ah bitch."
His actions of gallantry inspired us all to follow suit. We entered the trial to claim the Blade of Wrath, and the gate closed behind us. Our trial awaited.