Chapter 25 – The Eye of the Raven

            The party of four approached the door, each stepping up as softly as possible to try and avoid making any noise. Upon arriving at the door, Levitas crouched down and placed his hands against its wooden surface, moving them up and down as if to feel through it. After a brief moment of caressing the door, Levitas cocked his head up to Alos.

            “Somethin’s not right about this door.” Levitas spoke in a whisper. “I think it might be metal on the other side.”

            “What’s that mean?” Alos asked crouching down beside Levitas so he wouldn’t have to speak any louder than necessary.

            “It means I can’t see what’s on the other side.” Levitas responded, placing his hands on the door a second time in an attempt to confirm his claim. “Kid, see if you can find any cameras or sensors in the next room. If you do, disable them.”

            “Sure thing.” Alos said, as he reached into his pocket and snagged his Orb. He pulled down his goggles, and booted his Orb up to the home screen, where he saw an icon blinking indicating he had several new messages. Ignoring this, Alos pulled up his search application, which displayed an empty black window with a blinking cursor, waiting for input.

            “Search local Omninet host points”, Alos input into the search window. Immediately below the entered text inside the black window, multitudes of small circles populated around one central large circle. The central circle was his Orb, and he could identify Wander's and Levitas' but as for the rest Alos had no idea where to begin.

            “There has to be over a hundred different host points around here, most of which are probably cameras or security of some sort.” Alos murmured, trying to stay quiet. “There is no way I could disable them all fast enough.”

            “We’re just gonna have to go one at a time then.” Levitas said, nodding to Alos. “Can you do that?”

            Alos zoomed in on the host points directly in front of the central circle expanding the images until each was clearly defined. Directly in front of the central circle were two host points each on opposing corners of what Alos made out to be the next room over. If he disabled the camera in the far corner, they could probably sneak past hugging the wall directly under the closer camera.

            “Yeah it looks like there are two cameras in the next room. I’ll disable the far one and we should be able to sneak by the one directly above and to the right of the door.” Alos said to Levitas, pointing up just above the door way at where he thought the camera was.

            “When we get through to the next room, I’ll jump over to the next camera and disable it.” Alos continued placing his pointer finger out in front of him and making a motion of leaping over it with his right pointer finger.

            “Sounds like a bitchin’ game of leap frog.” Wander joked, whispering along with the others.

            “If that’s what needs to be done; do it.” Levitas’ replied in his hard, stern voice.

            Alos selected the host point in the opposite corner of the next room, which then displayed the message, “HSptSC24”. He exited out of the message then reselecting the blinking cursor and input, “Inject 0rnj HSptSC24”. After a confirmation message displayed, Alos minimized the search application and launched the Omninet. An array of graphical images fluttered through his goggles until it stopped at the animation of the boy stacking the papers. The stacking completed and the boy climbed up through the hole and looked up into the sky, the camera rapidly zooming in around him until it passed through giving perception of the fully loaded Omninet.

            Once inside the camera, Alos was met with a very classic version of data stacking, in the shape of a pyramid of stacking balls. The design was no different than that of the previous data pyramids he had blocked. This time however, he had no need for accessing the data that was already there nor the time to sit around shifting all the balls into cubes. Instead, Alos had to figure out a way to block the incoming data to freeze frame the camera, and he needed to do it quick. Then with a snap of his fingers, he had an insight. He would simply shove 0rnj in the way of the new incoming data, blocking the data flow until they had passed through. Once through he would remove 0rnj and the data balls would fumble down into place until the regular flow was returned.

            Alos moved 0rnj over to the pyramid, where he then had him climb up to the top. Once 0rnj was at the top, Alos cracked his own neck, stretched out his arms, and took a deep breath in. Clenching the muscles all over his body, Alos’ face contorted into a combination of grimaces and disturbing smiles, his torso and arms spastically moving around him. In accordance with these movements, 0rnj’s body shifted, his feet and legs holding their shape while the entire upper half of his body, torso, arms and head, melted down changing into the shape of a giant cup. After the shape shifting was complete, a ball of data fell, and was caught by the new cup shaped 0rnj, and Alos smiled at his success.

            “Is it done?” Levitas asked, placing his hand onto the shoulder of the now panting Alos.

            “Yeah, let’s go.” Alos nodded, dropping his Orb into his pocket and pushing his goggles up, being sure not to disconnect or accidentally make 0rnj move.

            Levitas grabbed the indented handle on the door and twisted it, forcing it to turn with a loud rusty creak. Inside the room were giant slime tanks being used as generators. Slime would float up through several mechanisms turning the machinery for a charge, until it reached the top where it would then slowly work its way across to the other side of the tank until it was blasted with a burst of compressed air and shot down through a second set of gear winding, power producing mechanisms. The generator was encased within transparent glass and all the inner workings could be seen.

            At the end of the room was a reinforced door with a push to open handle. Beside the reinforced door was a small closet with a sign hanging above which read, “Custodial Supplies”. Levitas pointed at the closet, and then darted over to the room, pressing his back against the right wall, under the camera, until he was close enough to duck into the closet. Zephay and Wander followed suit, doing the same, with Alos bringing up the rear. Just before Alos stepped into the tiny closet, he caught a sign which sat above the door they just came from which read, “FIRE ESCAPE EMERGENCY ONLY.”

            The closet was tiny and they were all huddled against each other just trying to fit inside. Mops, brooms, and dozens of bottles of cleaning solution littered the tiny room, all of which confirmed to Alos that it was indeed a custodial closet.

            “Now we wait.” Levitas whispered as he stretched out his arms, holding the other three still.

            “Wait for what? This is a claustrophobic nightmare in here.” Wander complained, in a muted volume as he fidgeted around.

            From outside the closet, the four could hear the reinforced door open with a loud slam.

The next thing Alos heard was the sound of whistling, and in a particular tune that he recognized. The whistling grew louder, and as it drew nearer he could hear the sound of something rolling along the floor and water sloshing around in it.

            Suddenly the handle within the closet turned and the door was pulled open. Outside the closet a middle aged man in janitorial wear was bent over his roller bucket ringing out the mop that stuck out from within. Completely oblivious to the group within the closet, the man finished ringing out his mop, and then shoved the bucket off to the side, turning to place the mop inside the closet.

            As the man turned, Levitas hand shot out with such lightning fast speed, that Alos merely saw his hand disappear and then reappear around the throat of the unlucky janitor. His fingers wrapped around the man’s throat, squeezing off any ability to breathe let alone make any attempts at shouting for help. With a jerk of his arm, Levitas pulled him into the closet.

            “WHERE ARE THE HOLDING CELLS!?” Levitas shouted under his breath. “TELL ME NOW OR I’LL CRUSH YOUR THROAT!”

            Levitas grip softened, releasing the man’s throat enough to send him gulping for air. Without hesitation though, Levitas rolled his hand around the man’s neck, reasserting his grip on the back of his neck.

            Aggressively panting with exaggerated heavy breaths, the man looked up at Levitas, wide eyed with confusion.

            “What,” he said then gasped for air, “what holding cells are you talking about!?”

            “The Royal Lab, where Zeith is being held!” Levitas grunted, trying to keep his voice down. The man’s wide eyes were unsure of where to look on Levitas face since his eyes were covered by his visor, so the janitor kept shooting his vision over to the other three.

            “G-g-g-g-o right outside the door.” The janitor hesitated trying to find the words in an ocean of fear. “Follow the h-h-hallway down and it will… be at the end.”

            “Are there any guards?” Levitas aggressively shook the man’s body as he growled the question.

            “There’re two or three patrols I think! I’m not sure! Please don’t kill me!” The janitor pleaded, practically screaming at Levitas.

            Levitas reached down and opened one of the pouches on his belt, pulling a small pod from it. It was shaped like an egg with a green rubber grip and what appeared to be a nozzle on the end. He placed up to the janitor’s nose and then squeezed the grip, releasing a small aerosol spray from the nozzle. Within moments, the janitor’s body collapsed to the ground unconscious.

            “C’mon let’s hurry.” Levitas said, turning to the others, shoving the janitor’s comatose body into the corner of the closet.

            Levitas led them out of the closet, Alos closing it behind them once they were all out, and then they went out the reinforced door. They were in a brightly lit white corridor which led straight from where they stood and split into an immediate right turn. There was a camera at the end of the straight path angled enough to where they weren’t in its sight, and no others noticeable.

            After peeking his head around the corner, Levitas pulled his head back and then motioned for the group to place their backs against the wall and follow. They followed Levitas around the corner and at the end of the hall was a rotating camera. Levitas scurried along the wall, the others keeping directly behind, as the camera rotated away from the group, until they were underneath the camera. The hall turned left, several doors lining it and at the end another camera, this one however did not appear to rotate.

            “Disable it Alos.” Levitas said, as he held his position.

            In a frantic sweep, Alos pulled his goggles down and reached into his pocket grabbing his Orb. He quickly disconnected 0rnj from the previous camera, searched for and then located the next camera, and then reuploaded 0rnj to the new camera. Once inside Alos quickly climbed to the top of the pyramid of data balls, and then shifted 0rnj into his cup shape once again.

            Sweat poured down from Alos face, a red outline of his goggles pressed into his skin, as he pushed his goggles up and pocketed his Orb.

            “We’re good.” Alos said nodding to Levitas.

            Levitas led them down the hall continuing to hold his back to the wall, when they reached a right hand turn. Levitas froze. Footsteps could be heard from around the corner walking towards them. Raising his left hand up in a fist, Levitas motioned for the group to stay put.

            As the walking drew nearer, the conversation of the guards could be heard.

            “…eah but why would they go through all that trouble of finding THAT freak?”

            “Captain Van said he’s important to the future of the Divimatian Empire, whatever that means.”

            “Pfh you would think the Sovereign would invest our time and money in better thi-…”

            As the guards stepped out from around the corner, Levitas leaped forward, rolling past them. Before they could react, he grappled one guard by the uniform and threw him into the other guard, like a bowling ball through pins, sending them both flying into the wall. A loud crunching of bones escaped the body of the guard behind as they crumbled over to the ground. Alos looked down at their heavily armored suits, and saw that the extra mass only made the concussive force of being thrown around that much worse. The guard Levitas threw though seemed to still be conscious, using the other guard’s body as a cushion to break his fall. Reaching down, Levitas picked up both of the fallen guns from the guards, and squeezed them between his hands until they gave, crushing inwards and rendering them useless.

            At the end of the hallway were two giant double doors reinforced with heavy metal lining, both of which were inside the frame of the building leading Alos to believe they were retractable. To the right of the door was a retinal scanning unit, and above the doors in both corners were diagonally aimed cameras. Without hesitation, Alos slid down his goggles and grabbed his Orb. He then disconnected 0rnj, searched and located the next camera, and then uploaded him to the upper left camera above the door. After climbing the pyramid of data balls, Alos shifted 0rnj into the cup shape and then pocketed his Orb and slid up his goggles. The retinal scanner was now unmonitored.

            Levitas reached over and picked up the still conscious guard and then while hugging the right wall, carried him over to the retinal scanner followed by the other three. The retinal scanner protruded slightly from the wall, having the optical lens above a small screen display. Levitas shoved the guard’s eye up to the scanner, and placed the guard’s hand on the display. After a brief moment, a small confirmation sound played followed by an audio message which announced, “Welcome Sergeant Argos Tollien”.

            “You’re gonna go in there, and make sure they stay too busy to notice us.” Levitas said to the guard as the massive doors began to slide open. “If at any moment you try alert them, you’re gonna find a bullet through the back of your head. Are we clear?”

            The guard’s face curled up into a sour grimace, before clearing his throat and spitting in Levitas face.

            “You will never get out of here alive! Captain Van will find you all and add you to the pile of corpses along with the rest of the filthy Lycanians and Simanians.” Argos, the guard, scoffed, spitting in the face of Levitas again.

            Reaching down, Levitas pulled out an 8 chamber .50 cal revolver, and shoved it into the throat of the man, wiping his face off with his shoulder.

            “If we get to where we want, everyone walks away happy. Don’t do anything you’ll regret.” Levitas said, pressing the barrel further into the soft skin on the guard’s throat.

            Through the doors, Alos could see the beginnings of the next room. A wide bridge with side rails stretched over the glow of green lighting and over to the other side of the room. Across the bridge was a room isolated away from the rest of the green lit room, its doors open but still giving Alos the impression of a holding cell. Levitas pointed at the room, nodded his head, and then touched one of the glowing Orb’s on his visor. Alos had no idea how they were going to get across, but they were about to try.

            As the doors fully opened, Levitas spun the guard around and booted him stumbling onto the bridge. Wander quickly reached back into his pack and pulled out his own revolver, figuring it was warranted given the new situation. Then as the guard walked over along the side railing of the bridge, Levitas squatted down and then began to slowly lead them across the bridge, holding his revolver steadily at the back of the guard.

            “…hen will it be finished? The Sovereign is impatient, and your lethargy is making him grow weary. You do not want to upset his grace.” A voice boomed from down below the bridge. Alos’ heart slammed in his chest like an erratic drummer; the voice sounded familiar.

            “As soon as this growth cycle is complete, m’lord, it will be ready for use and distribution.” Another voice echoed through the room in response.

            “Good... I will report the success to the Sovereign himself.”

            Levitas was just over halfway across the bridge, with the other three trailing just behind.

            “Argos, what are you doing here? You just made your rounds.”

            “S-sir, I, uh, uh, came to see the headway that was made!” Argos replied, his shoulders twitching with the knowledge that he had two guns pointed at his back. The group continued to sneak slowly across, now reaching two thirds of the way over the bridge.

            Alos’ jaw clenched tight with every step he took, and his body screaming with heart racing anxiety.

            “That is not your place, fool. Begone from here at once!”

            “Right away sir,” the guard said, bowing his head, and then turning to walk away. He took several steps away from Alos who crouched in the rear of the group, constantly looking back over his shoulder.

            Then Argos suddenly sprinted over to the side of the railing.

            “INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS ON THE BRIDGE!!!”

            With a black powder explosion of force, Levitas and Wander fired their revolvers

            Wander’s shot echoed out of his revolver almost before the man even turned around, completely severing his head from his body and sending them both flying over the edge of the bridge in a storm of blood. Levitas shot up to his feet and sprinted towards the isolation cell, Alos, Zephay, and Wander darting across the bridge behind him.

            That’s when his eye caught theirs.

            Through the gunfire, through the chaos, through the hundreds of workers occupying the room and through the clusters of solid facial tumors, his cybernetic eye pierced their souls. It was the very man Alos saw speaking to his parents when all this began. The ridges on his face were like the horns on a hard scaled lizard, and it was unmistakable.

            An eternity opened within that eye contact and intention began to overflow onto Alos’ mind; the intent that this man was going to kill him. Not anger, not hate, not even suffering, no, it consisted of a darkness far greater than those can produce. It was pure evil ambition. 

            Zephay and Wander shared his horrified recognition of the man and as time stretched in the adrenaline fueled break for the isolation cell, the three realized who this man was.

            Captain Van. 

            Waves of force rippled through the air as the crew dove through the doorway and into the isolation cell. Alos and the others rolled up to their feet behind Levitas, managing to duck under the force blasts and scurry through the shutting doors of the isolation cell. As the doors came together Alos could see Captain Van leap onto the bridge thrusting his hands towards the door and right as the doors closed shut and locked into place, a blast ballooned the door inwards, nearly denting it off its hinge.

            Levitas wasted no time and immediately ran through the room until he reached the back of the cell, where he literally ripped a full metal door off its hinges and jumped inside. Zephay and Wander took cover behind walls of the closer cells, Wander pointing his gun at the doors while Zephay scrounged for a makeshift weapon. Alos ran back following Levitas into the cell, where he found him planting a three inch diameter precision bomb, along the roof of the cell just above... Zeith!

            Zeith’s head was attached to a metallic helmet, thick cordage extending from the top up into the ceiling. The helmet completely covered Zeith’s head and face, a respirator coming out from the helmet and covering his mouth. Over the eyes of Zeith was what looked like to be the back of a display, facing inwards into the helmet. His body hung from a body restrictor that wrapped his hands behind his back and covered his entire torso and attached to the ceiling.

            With the force of twenty Olympian men, Levitas grabbed hold of Zeith’s face encasing mask, and ripped it in half. Zeith’s hair covered face drooped down in a swaying pendulum of sedated stupor, his body hanging from his torso like a kid on a swing. With a second jerk of his hands, Levitas grabbed the body restrictor and ripped it in two, causing Zeith to collapse into his arms, unable to move.

            Levitas’ right hand shot down to his belt, unstrapped a thin tube, and brought it up to his mouth. He bit off the cap revealing a small syringe of cloudy yellow liquid, then violently shook it and slammed it into the neck of Zeith.

            Zeith’s eyes shot open, a sudden gasp of air filling his lungs with a second wind. The mad wizard pushed off of Levitas falling to the ground and catching himself with his fist, when he then looked up at Alos, lifting up off the ground and levitating into the air.

            Nerve pressing thickness permeated the air, a conscious pressure noticeably affecting the area around. It was as though every inch of Alos' mind had an influential exertion pressing inwards from every direction. It was a spatial, consciousness impacting vice, extending from the very thickness itself.

            Alos was stunned, the legends were true, the folklore real, his very own suspicions confirmed.

            Telekinesis existed.

            In a haze of adrenaline fueled hyper perception, Alos felt his realization be overwhelmed by the might of viscous mental impression. Zeith’s psychic abilities took hold of all existence within perceptive range, submitting their control to the power of his mental extension. Then like a pin dropping through silence and landing into a  nuclear explosion, hurricanes of force ripped through the barricaded doors, shattering it into a shotgun of metal fragments. The screams of groups of men echoed out from the room as they were crushed inwards, falling into balls of flesh, bone, and blood.

            As if the background of the room froze within the very core of time itself, Alos’ eyes slowly rotated until they met with Zeith’s.

            From goblin ear, to goblin ear, Zeith curled his face inwards, twisting his lips into the most devilish expression he had ever witnessed. His eyes rolled up until only the veiny reds of his eyes showed, his smile widening as they continued to roll higher. His lips rolled inwards with a flashing red of his cheeks, and veins began to bulge from the sides of his neck. Then he grimaced his face, pursed his lips outwards, and shot his eyes wide open, while simultaneously thrusting his hands outwards and shouting from the very depths of his belly.

            Electrical explosions erupted within the next room, shaking the very core of the concrete structure. The ground shook and what Alos saw next not even he could believe.

            The entire lower section of floor in the next room, exploded outwards like a balloon bursting from pressure, raining down into a hailing storm of electrical rubble, concrete, and blood.

            As the power capacitors within the rubble burst, Van leaped through the air and rode the pressure wave through the doorway and into the corridor in which they came from, his cloak absorbing and dissipating the energy.

            The precision bomb that Levitas had planted then went off, blowing out the direct ceiling above them, causing chunks of concrete to fumble down. Zeith’s head snapped over to the hole and then with an upwards chin jutting nod, blew out the hole into an entire column of empty space, the concrete falling into small mounds of powder.

            Alos was suddenly grabbed by a force around him and was pulled inwards to Zeith, as the same happened to Zephay, Wander, and Levitas. They all froze to a stop within arm’s reach of him, and were held stiff levitating in the air. Zeith looked up through the hole and then without second thought, lifted them up through it, buzzing through the air like an electrified bubble.

            In the distance, just beyond the doorway as it stretched out of sight, Alos could see Captain Van standing in the opening of the corridor, glaring at them. Such contempt and driven hated had never been seen by the likes of Alos. But Van knew he could not contest the godly mental powers of Zeith, not right now, and Alos could see it in every last wrinkled swell on his face.

            They accelerated up through the ceiling, and around them they found the sanctuary of a church. People fled as they rose up through the room, one of the members cursing at Zeith shook a Book of Menelich at him, and then threw it. The holy tome immediately froze in the air and then reversed direction with equal force, flying into the man’s face, sending him flying back over a pew. The stained glass that occupied the windows was that of Menelich above the triple stranded DNA, the bursts of color glowing in the illumination of the sun’s light.  In fact, it looked EXACTLY like the other stained glass. Then like fitting the final piece into a puzzle, Alos realized they were that church that was just across the tavern inn.

            The roof directly above Zeith blew outwards, creating a hole which they all rose up through. Beside the church in the lot outside between the church and tavern, were crowds of people who stood watching them all fly upwards into the air. They all stood in complete awestruck silence as they watched Zeith ascend through the sky.

            The name that Yacapo had spoken played through Alos’ mind with the revelation of understanding.

            Zeith, Supremus, The Ascended

            In the distance the massive turbines of Xri’s ship, the Remora, could be heard flying in. Zeith spun through the air, turning them all around and faced the oncoming ship. The lower platform was already extended out, ready for the crew as the ship came swooping in, tilting its body back and halting. Zipping up and around the bottom, Zeith flew upwards and then down onto the platform releasing the other four as it rose up into the ship. Xri stood at the platform controls, while Dardaños stood beside the rim and helped them all up into the ship. The thrusters of the ship then rumbled the core of its frame, accelerating up and away through the sky.

            Zeith collapsed to the ground panting and wheezing, unable to move his body or walk; barely able to stay conscious enough to breathe. He had nothing left, and he lay out on the ground motionless.

            Dardaños carefully picked him up, placing him onto his shoulder and carrying him down the hall to Bert’s room.

            Alos exchanged glances with everyone in the room.

            Each person stood staring back with wide eyes, unsure of what to make of what had just happened, when a small snicker rolled out from under Xri’s hat and everyone smiled, sharing their astonishment, as the ship flew off through the sky.