Riposte Chapter 4
Here it is.
Riposte//Chapter 4//Chase
CA 332, Inverelle Tunnels
It had taken Chase roughly half the day to make it thorough Inverelle. Always one to think ahead, he’d held up some punk just inside the entrance with all the force and assery typical of an Ereiban soldier and had gotten the predictable answer that if he just followed the main road he would eventually find the tunnels that spilled out into Marinette’s front gates. He’d also gotten spit at by his impromptu guide, but that was easily remedied by conking said young man in the head and making a break for it.
The city had been all he’d expected. Punks and human lowlifes at every turn, but he’d kept his half-useless gun in hand and rushed through, giving anyone who came close a glare intense enough to tear metal. Thus Chase made it through the ruins of the city with little incident but the tunnels were another story. There were no citizens of Inverelle, if they could be called that, underground. Instead it seemed this was the place where they buried their dead and threw the rotting corpses of anyone killed and maimed. The smell was indescribable. It was an aromatic combination of rot, filth, and the sour smell of animal droppings and things he didn’t want to think about. He certainly wasn’t going to stand around and catalogue all that he saw. He kept his head down to avoid that particular reality.
Despite his disgust, Chase could understand why they did it. Practically every individual on the west continent hated Erebians and passing through the tunnel of Inverelle was a sign of treason against humanity as far as most of them were concerned. The corpses were a warning that they were going to turn out like that if they had the courage to pass. Good thing for Chase he was just pretending. And that whoever owned his uniform kept a thick handkerchief in his pocket.
He was also certain he was quite alone unless there were dead men or ghosts roaming about. In which case he didn’t want to linger. In any case he didn’t want to linger, actually. He wouldn’t be able to keep down his breakfast much longer based on the scent alone. He held the handkerchief more tightly over his nose and mouth and hurried along into the tunnels. The uniform had a torch in the pocket as well, and he clipped it in the uniform’s breast pocket before heading further in, where there were no lights or any form of guidance. It was also a fairly straight forward path.
Chase wandered in darkness and silence for a short time when suddenly the sound of a gasp and a spell of dry coughing filled the tunnels and scared him out of his wits. He leaned against the closest wall and massaged his chest in an attempt to steady the massive thundering of his beating heart. He could just make out a pinprick of light in the distance. Chase heard the coughing again and despite his better judgment he moved on quietly to seek out whoever was in the tunnels with him.
He eventually came upon a girl with a flaming torch she’d secured in the holder above her head. She kneeled with her back to Chase and from the way she shook he guessed she was trying to get ahold of her breath. The sword strapped to her back was so large it was pretty much all he could see of her other than her short hair.
“Having trouble breathing?” he asked, breaking the silence. The woman positively shrieked and grabbed for the handle of her sword. He could sympathize with that reaction. His fake dialect was pretty scary. Sadly for the girl, Chase was already three steps ahead of her and he set his own blade against her neck though his insides recoiled at the thought of using it against her. He hated swords.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
She stopped mid-reach and instead lifted her hands over her head. Her body shook with a few coughs, but she kept them up and as still as she could.
“All the money I have is in my bag. You can take that if you want, but if you try and get my sword I’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth.” Her voice was strong. She was tense, but not necessarily afraid.
He smiled at that. “I’m not interested in your money or your sword. Your coughing just scared the hell out of me and I wanted to make sure you weren’t a ghost.”
She slowly lowered her arms as Chase pulled his blade back. The girl rolled away from him and jumped to her feet. Her hand flew her sword as she took in his appearance. She was probably Li’s age, 21 or so, with short, sandy-brown hair, inquisitive greyish eyes, and an athletic figure extenuating her fairly lean muscle. Her stance suggested she’d been trained with that large blade of hers since childhood.
“An Erebian soldier,” she breathed and then let her hand fall from the hilt of her sword harmlessly to her side. Odd, because Chase had expected her to do the exact opposite.
“And you are?”
“Good. You can show me the way. I’m looking for Marinette,” she explained.
“Why would you want to go there? Are you Erebian as well?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“No. But I would like to enlist in the militia.”
He wanted to frown and ask if she were mad, that they were the enemy, but that would be quite out of character. So instead he put his hands on his hips and looked her over like he was personally in charge of recruitment and just roamed corpse-filled tunnels for laughs.
“Why would you want to do a thing like that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I no longer wish to fight a losing battle.”
Such was the usual excuse of someone who defected. “Fair enough. I’m afraid I’m not too familiar on the route myself, but it’s been completely straightforward so far. Let’s be off.”
He passed her by without further comment, leaving the girl time to gape at his back, cough to herself again, and then grab the torch she’d left on the wall. He heard her strides quicken to catch up and then the girl fell into step beside him. She studied his face as they went, obviously suspicious of him.
“Why aren’t you familiar with it?”
“This isn’t exactly the most popular route to Marinette.”
She coughed again. “I guess you have a point. But it’s the only way for someone like me.”
“Are you sick, or is that just because of the tunnels?”
She shrugged. “I can’t breathe too well in here. I should have brought something to cover my mouth but I never thought those punks in Inverelle were telling the truth about leaving bodies in here.”
“Where are you from?” Chase asked.
The girl scoffed in reply. “Like you’d know or care.”
“Just making conversation.”
She clearly was having no part of that so Chase closed his mouth and kept walking. He wouldn’t have to speak in his awful western dialect that way. It was preferable, really since he could still smell the disgusting tunnel. He just didn’t like going so long without talking. The stench thankfully thinned the farther they traveled down the long passage and before too long he could see daylight out the other end and the girl’s frequent coughing fits subsided. The shaft slowly made its way upward and the pair soon found themselves walking out the mouth of the cave and into an empty field.
“My god,” he slipped a bit, but he hoped she wouldn’t notice since he’d said it quietly. He wasn’t sure what he expected upon leaving Inverelle’s tunnels, but this certainly wasn’t it. For they weren’t merely standing in a field, it was more of a graveyard. Not like the primal, grotesque show of corpses below ground. This was in firm contrast to that display. It was an endless field of clean white marble stakes in the ground. Each was in perfect alignment with every stake surrounding it and the lines stretched farther than he could rightfully see on either side. The girl had gasped as well, but seemed to think that this was supposed to be a test of her resolve and bit her lip to keep from commenting.
It was pointless to ask who did it. He’d read in a few books that in the early years of the Current Age a number of armies belonging to prominent tribes, the Anima among them, had attempted to invade Marinette and try and push Erebus back from the border in an attempt to limit Veles’ lands. According to those same books they were all stopped in the field before the city. Details were unconfirmed, but he’d still never imagined that Erebus would erect such a bizarre monument. It made sense the more he thought about it though. It was shocking and intimidating to see how many lives had perished in the interest of taking down the corrupt empire that threatened the world. Erebus outwardly prided itself on being the civilized end of the world, so their pile of corpses to serve as a warning would be so finely displayed.
His shock probably should have raised suspicion, but he could only imagine that she was just as taken aback, and so his reaction seemed normal. He didn’t want to linger because she didn’t seem like an idiot and probably realize that he should be aware of a massive graveyard outside of Marinette. Chase pushed ahead and amended his earlier behavior by fixing a look on his face that suggested he saw this sort of thing every other day. Odd, to think people with his own powers, possibly his kin, had died where he was standing. That their bodies had long since decomposed in the earth under his feet. Chase pushed such thoughts away and cleared his throat to encourage the girl to follow as he weaved his way past the stakes and toward the entrance to Marinette.
Chase couldn’t see a city from where he was but the opening of the mountain housed two gigantic gates made of a glittering red rock that he couldn’t name on sight that looked impenetrable. Thinking about the city gave him something else to occupy his mind. The border between Erebus’ official lands and the rest of the western continent was divided partially by a large range of mountains. There was a river that kept the rest of it from being easily accessed, but the mountains were the true obstacle. Marinette was, as he’d heard, built quite literally into the mountain itself, and the city was said to stretch into the caverns below it before spilling out in to the rest of the continent behind it. Everything beyond the mountains of was fully under the control of the Erebians and no one in generations had seen what it was like in the country itself. No one who hadn’t turned traitor anyway. They owned half the continent and miraculously hadn’t attempted to expand their borders since before he was born.
There was a line of guards stationed in front of the gates clad in the violet and black that marked them as Erebian soldiers and citizens. Their weapons were down though they had clearly seen the pair approaching from afar.
“Halt and state your business in Marinette,” boomed the man at the end of the line when Chase was within hailing distance. He fixed his penetrating gaze on the girl first. She paused a few steps behind Chase, but then shook herself and moved in front of him with her head held high.
“My name is Regina Lyon and I’m here to enlist in the Erebian militia.” Her conviction was certainly impressive. The man nodded and beckoned her forward.
“We freely accept any from the west who have come to their senses and wish to assimilate into our esteemed country. We welcome you, but understand that as a non-citizen your road will be very difficult indeed.”
She set her jaw and nodded grimly. “I’m prepared to do what I must.”
“And you?” He now addressed Chase.
“I’m afraid you would find my name rather useless. But I am a citizen of Erebus.”
“You wear colors of the militia. State your name and we shall confirm your identity.”
Chase shrugged. “I said it would be useless, even if I told you. My name is Sigurd Roldan, but I assume you won’t find me listed on any registry you might have.” Or they might. Mr. Roldan had been idiotic enough to engrave his name on the blade of his sword, after all.
He moved closer as the soldier addressed one of his colleagues on the other side of the gate. His gaze snapped to the odd striping on his sleeve and he snapped to attention.
“Sir. I understand.” He looked almost ready to accept orders. Chase thought he may as well try and get some information.
“My regiment had trouble on the way back from our mission. All but me and another man were lost in the attack. My teammate ran first, but I followed as closely as I could behind. Was another man with my rank let past here earlier today?”
“Why yes. I’m certain the Overseer will be pleased to find that two of you survived the attack.”
“I am hopeful she will.”
He also thanked his lucky stars that Ione Moravek, Overseer of Marinette, had been established long enough to be infamous in the western lands.
“Open the gate,” the soldier shouted, and they all stepped back as a line of men from within pushed in tandem with the humming machinery of the gate. It didn’t necessarily need the human labor component, but the gate opened more quickly with their urging. The guard gestured inside.
“Have you lived in Marinette before, sir?”
Now Chase really hoped that they didn’t have records on Mr. Roldan and that he hadn’t lived in Marinette before because that would certainly be hard to pretend. “No. I’ve only passed through before.”
“You probably wish to check in at the northern base first. That’s where I directed your comrade. You can get directly to it on the G Trolley.”
Trolley? What was a trolley? Chase didn’t let a hint of confusion cross his face, but Regina appeared just as flummoxed as he felt.
“As for you, girl, you’ll be heading there as well but first we must search you. You’ll need to give up your sword and any other weapons you may have.”
That gave her pause. Regina stepped back and away from the gate, eyes wide. “I can’t. This is more important to me than my life.”
“No non-citizens are allowed to carry weapons of any kind in the city limits. You’ll have to be assessed to ensure you’re not gifted as well before we can let you roam free.”
That provided a problem. One of the guards was giving Chase an expectant look, clearly urging him to go through the gates and let them take care of the now rather incensed young recruit, but he had a sudden desire to help her along. The idea of turning traitor and actually joining Erebus was distasteful to Chase, but he couldn’t just leave the poor girl to be pushed around by these men even if it was her choice. She’d shown such spunk.
“You said she’s going to the northern base, right?” Chase interjected.
“Huh? Yes. After we’ve screened her,” the guard answered.
“If it’s all that much trouble I can take her as she is.”
There was a long moment when the guard stared at Chase as though he’d sprouted an additional head before he shook his own violently and clamped a hand down on Regina’s shoulder.
“No. That’s completely against the law. She needs to be screened before she can enter the city.”
“I recruited her,” he lied.
“Excuse me?”
Chase sighed. “I thought I’d pass through that slum they have the nerve to call a city to get back here quickly but I got a little lost. This young lady helped me find my way here and in return I said I’d put in a good word for her since she wanted to join up. So she’s really been my responsibility this whole time.”
“Bu…” Clearly, it wasn’t routine for anyone to try and lend a hand to a non-Erebian. The guard was struggling just to find some way to object or even understand why they were having such a conversation in the first place.
“But what if she’s a spy and she attacks you? I can’t let her loose with our citizens at risk.”
“I won’t let anything happen to them or myself. I can take care of it. Do you even realize who you’re talking to, friend?” He mentally kicked himself for that. The guard looked a little confused, but Chase merely rushed on. “I am the member of an elite unit that not only managed to secure an artifact in the heart of our enemy’s lands, but made it back here through waves of the gifted and western soldiers without so much as a scratch on me. I think I can handle a little girl with a sword.”
He was quite certain that the men of the unit they’d taken out were formidable, or they would have been had him or Haddy given them the chance to showcase their skills. The guard appeared appeased, finally, by his little speech and he let his gauntleted hand fall from Regina’s shoulder. She wisely kept her mouth shut.
“You do know this is entirely on your head? You’re due to be commended for surviving the journey but should anything happen you could find yourself demoted or worse.”
“I know. It’s just we do things a little differently in my unit. Who cares about the means so long as the end is achieved? But you said the G Trolley, right?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Let’s go.”
He tossed his ponytail artfully over his shoulder as he turned and paraded through the gates and into Marinette with the arrogance he assumed was native in Erebian agents. Such was the secret to his infiltration, usually. He never kept much of a low profile because that always tended to get people even more suspicious. The girl followed him and they both let out a sigh of relief once the gates had closed behind them and the soldiers were no longer in sight. They were in a very dark corridor only lit by dim red lights set into the sides of the tall, wide cave.
“Thank you for that. I’m not even sure why you helped,” Regina said. She somehow looked more suspicious as she looked Chase over again with narrowed eyes. The way her shoulders shot up and her arms crossed over her chest told him all he needed to know. He waved a hand dismissively.
“Don’t flatter yourself, little missy. I wasn’t in it to get anything. I’ve always hated needless procedures and you don’t look like the type of person to go on a civilian killing spree even if they are Erebians.”
The tension in her body uncoiled slightly. “Of course not. I’ve just never been in the business of trusting strange men.”
She let the ‘especially Erebians’ go unsaid. “A fine policy to be sure. I’m not attempting to win your trust, but I do hope I can trust you enough not to give me trouble since I went out of my way.”
Regina nodded stiffly.
“But I’d prepare myself if I were you. When you get to the base it’s likely they’ll take your sword away all the same.”
“I know. I mean I guess they will. But I’ll do everything I can to get it back. It was my father’s.”
His guess exactly. It was always a father or a mother’s heirloom. Chase managed a smile and nodded as though he were familiar with the notion.
“I see. Well, just do your best and you’ll hopefully be rewarded. It’s such an old thing that I doubt anyone would steal it.”
“Hey. A legendary sword smith crafted it.”
Chase grinned and walked a little faster toward the end of the passage they were currently walking. “Whatever you say.”
He was glad he’d rushed ahead because the sight of the city that lay before them was truly remarkable and he hadn’t been able to curb his mystified reaction. It was indeed set in the mountain and below, but when he’d imagined it on the way he couldn’t properly think of what it would look like. He’d expected the city to go downward, but he didn’t expect there to be so many buildings. They dotted the inside of the mountain as far as the eye could see on different elevations that moved down and up lazily along with the hollowed-out cavern. Some appeared to reach down to the cave floor itself. Ridiculously large lights jutted out from the top and sides of the rocky wall. He thought they were salvaged lanterns but upon further inspection they were crystal formations. Illuminated crystals were exceedingly rare. The overall effect though was that the city was made of extreme darkness and light.
“Wow,” Regina said as she came to stand beside him. They had a perfectly good view of the city from their vantage point, and it seemed made for sightseeing judging by how the platform had rails for people to lean against to take it all in. Chase sighed to himself now that he was over his initial awe of its construction. It was well and good to look down on the dark towers but navigating the city in the midst of it would prove difficult.
“Welcome to Marinette, I guess.”
“Heh. Never thought anyone would say that to me…but that reminds me,” she pulled back from the railing. “What on earth is a trolley?”
Chase was hoping she wouldn’t ask that. He glanced around them and back at the city in hopes that he could just point something out when he heard a deafening metallic grinding and his eye caught something silver flying through the air away from them. He wondered briefly if the contraption literally was flying, but he saw sparks at the top of the monstrosity and his eyes just made out black cables that were carrying it along. He traced the black line back to the far left, where there was a gigantic port of the things all facing out toward different directions in the city.
“That’s the trolley. It’s a way to get around here. It’d be pretty damn inconvenient to just have to climb and walk everywhere, don’t you agree?”
He hoped to god that was the trolley as Regina visibly agreed. But it did make sense. He’d never seen anything so elaborate or curiously mechanical in any of the western cities he’d been to.
“Then we should get going,” Regina said.
They both glanced out at Marinette for another long moment before heading off toward the core of the silver trolleys. There was no crowd, but there were a number of guards stationed along the way toward the open shell of the station. The words “Marinette/Inverelle - A” were etched on a sign clearly posted above them as they entered the open area. A man in a black uniform marked with a single white star on the chest and on the hat he wore came to greet them with a smile and a demeanor that was far friendlier than the grim frowns of the men guarding the station.
“Welcome. I’ll be with you in just a moment.”
Chase could only nod. The reason for the holdup was obvious. There was a small contingent of guards taking some poor soul into custody further into the building. A teenage girl dressed in a shabby shirt and patched blue pants struggled as the men on either side of her tried to force her inside one of the frightening metal monstrosities. She kicked, clawed, and rocked back and forth to try and get them to release her, but the men seemed just as immovable as the stone under their feet.
“EREBIAN PIGS! LET ME GO OR I SWEAR I’LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND-”
The man to her left deliver a swift punch to the young girl’s stomach and she was cut off before she could hurl more insults at them. She fell silent and they pushed her into the boxy thing first before heading inside after her and shutting the door firmly behind them. The man in the hat returned to their side and tried another smile.
“Welcome back, honored soldier of Erebus. And are you a citizen, young miss?”
“She’s with me,” Chase said. “What was all that about?” He gestured toward the metal monster that immediately screeched to life and struggled down the line and into the city.
“A new project that the Overseer has undertaken in Lord Veles’ great name. Something about getting rid of troublesome elements, but I know nothing more than that. I just run this Trolley Station.”
There wasn’t much to say to that. Both Chase and Regina were visibly uncomfortable at the thought though. He pushed the residual echoes of her screaming from his mind and concentrated on the matter at hand. “We’re heading to the northern base, or that’s where the man at the gate told us to go. Something about a G Trolley?”
“Ah yes. I believe there was another soldier who went to the northern base earlier today. It’s near the Overseer’s mansion. I imagine you’ll want to see it if you haven’t ever been there.”
Chase knew he didn’t want to speak with the Overseer or get anywhere near her mansion, but the base sounded like a solid plan. Since this militia seemed to let covert units do whatever the hell they wanted he could probably get in to see the guy he needed to take down within the day if he was lucky. Of course, knocking him out, getting the weapon, and then running the hell out of town was another story so he’d have to tread lightly.
“Follow me,” the man said as he led them to the trolley at the far left. He slowly spun and then pulled on a large wheel attached to the hatch and in a matter of seconds they were inside an entirely unremarkable seating area with plain, hard benches and bars to keep ahold of while the thing was in motion.
“This doesn’t look particularly safe,” Regina said as she grabbed hold of one of the bars and kneeled on the bench to look out the window. That was probably the nicest thing about it. The sides each had long, square windows for viewing the city.
“These trolleys have been in use for years, young lady. They’re perfectly safe. Now thank you for your visit and safe travels, especially to you, young soldier.”
He closed the door and far too soon for Chase’s liking he heard the scream of the machinery before the trolley came to life and started to move. It shook and rattled all over as it got started and he immediately grabbed for one of the bars and eased himself down on the bench across from where Regina had wisely already sat down. She was facing toward the window as she was brave enough to look out as they moved along. Chase managed a glance behind him, but the wobbling and the height were making him slightly nervous so he turned back.
“So why precisely are you joining up?” He asked to not think about how ominous the scraping noise above their heads sounded. Her gaze went askance, toward him, and Regina took a breath before addressing him. She spoke with her body still turned toward the city and her eyes were on the sights passing below them.
“Like I said, I didn’t want to fight a losing battle anymore. I’ve seen it all my life. My father was in the Ergrove Coalition. He spent his entire life fighting this damned country just to die in a pointless skirmish outside of Calio when he was only 34 years old. I had to take care of my brothers and sisters along with my tired mother. She was drained dry by the war too. Then last year, both my brothers went off and died equally pointless deaths trying to carry out a covert mission. I heard it was here, but I doubt they got past those damn gates.”
The story wasn’t a new one. Chase had seen families torn apart by the bitter reality that was the war between Erebus and the rest of the world, or the world that was willing to fight it. It seemed what remained of the rest of the world was content to cower and hope Erebus wouldn’t turn its gaze to the other continents. The resistance was based and only subsisted in the west, and that’s what made it that much worse.
“I mean…” Regina continued. “I hate Erebians and I know all the terrible things I’ve heard and seen this country do…but when I look at it from here I just feel so angry that I’m even letting myself be impressed by it. This place is thriving, their numbers and technology improve every day, and I just can’t see any way to win against it. So I figure the best solution is to give in. And why not? Why waste our lives fighting a battle we’re never going to win?”
“I see your point,” He did, reasonably so, but he didn’t agree with it. Chase wouldn’t hold it against Regina since he was technically coming from a rather privileged position, all things considered. “I think all the families of soldiers who have lost their lives fighting this endless war want it to end, no matter what side they’re on.”
“Hmm…”
“What’s become of your family? Or what will now that you’ve left?” he asked, fully aware of the fact that he was essentially digging that knife in deeper if she felt the least bit bad about being away from whatever family she had left.
“My mother is taking care of my sisters. I’ve been on my own since I left to enlist three years ago. My regiment broke up after we lost our leader and so I found myself drifting till this brilliant idea came to me.”
So it seemed they’d been estranged. At least she didn’t have shivering children waiting for her to come home in some remote part of the continent. Chase didn’t comment on the rest of her story and instead risked looking outside again. He had adjusted to the lurch of the so-called-trolley and now he found the sights to be just as interesting even though they were when they were stationary. The lights of the city and the slight flow of movement he could see in the streets below was almost hypnotizing. There were so many lives below them. He’d never considered just how many people Erebus could fit into a city and they had so many others on their half of the continent. He bit his lip, unsure if his sudden surge of emotion was anger or disgust.
“Aren’t you bothered?” Regina asked suddenly.
“Bothered? To be sharing a trolley with a recruit?”
“No,” she said flatly. “You’re wearing those glasses and this place is already so dark. Aren’t you having trouble seeing?”
He’d almost forgotten. Though now that Chase turned his attention to them, the frames of the glasses were burning his ears since he was unused to wearing them. He pushed the frames up and back into their proper place and shook his head. Truthfully, it did seem unreasonably dark so she had a point, but it wasn’t as though he could just wander around without them.
“I hadn’t even noticed. I spend so much of my time outdoors and they really help in the daytime. But you have to admit they make me look mysterious,” he said, quirking an eyebrow toward her.
“You look like an idiot.”
She was probably right. Good thing he wasn’t in this to impress people. Haddy was so vain about his looks that he would have gone to drastic measures just to look presentable. Li was far more reasonable. As long as it got the job done he wasn’t nearly so picky.
The trolley lurched again and he heard the metallic noises that signaled it was entering another hub, or station, or whatever it was they called where these things lived. After a few voices talked back and forth, the door opened and two guards poked their heads in.
“Welcome back, sir.”
“Thank you,” Chase said. He got to his feet and exited right before Regina, who got a frown from the man as she was not wearing a uniform and was obviously armed.
“Who is this? A member of your unit who also made it back?”
Regina piped up before Chase could say a word. “We’re looking to go to the northern base.”
“I see. The northern base is just behind us, but you need to see the Overseer first.”
“I’d rather head to the base and get into contact with my teammate,” Chase replied.
The soldier smiled and gestured for his five fellows, who had slowly been walking in behind him, to surround the two of them.
“I’m afraid Overseer Moravek insists.”
He definitely got that as he felt the cold metal of a gun press firmly at the back of his neck. Regina lifted her arms for the second time that day as another soldier trained his gun on her and Chase regrettably did the same.
Riposte//Chapter 4//Chase
CA 332, Inverelle Tunnels
It had taken Chase roughly half the day to make it thorough Inverelle. Always one to think ahead, he’d held up some punk just inside the entrance with all the force and assery typical of an Ereiban soldier and had gotten the predictable answer that if he just followed the main road he would eventually find the tunnels that spilled out into Marinette’s front gates. He’d also gotten spit at by his impromptu guide, but that was easily remedied by conking said young man in the head and making a break for it.
The city had been all he’d expected. Punks and human lowlifes at every turn, but he’d kept his half-useless gun in hand and rushed through, giving anyone who came close a glare intense enough to tear metal. Thus Chase made it through the ruins of the city with little incident but the tunnels were another story. There were no citizens of Inverelle, if they could be called that, underground. Instead it seemed this was the place where they buried their dead and threw the rotting corpses of anyone killed and maimed. The smell was indescribable. It was an aromatic combination of rot, filth, and the sour smell of animal droppings and things he didn’t want to think about. He certainly wasn’t going to stand around and catalogue all that he saw. He kept his head down to avoid that particular reality.
Despite his disgust, Chase could understand why they did it. Practically every individual on the west continent hated Erebians and passing through the tunnel of Inverelle was a sign of treason against humanity as far as most of them were concerned. The corpses were a warning that they were going to turn out like that if they had the courage to pass. Good thing for Chase he was just pretending. And that whoever owned his uniform kept a thick handkerchief in his pocket.
He was also certain he was quite alone unless there were dead men or ghosts roaming about. In which case he didn’t want to linger. In any case he didn’t want to linger, actually. He wouldn’t be able to keep down his breakfast much longer based on the scent alone. He held the handkerchief more tightly over his nose and mouth and hurried along into the tunnels. The uniform had a torch in the pocket as well, and he clipped it in the uniform’s breast pocket before heading further in, where there were no lights or any form of guidance. It was also a fairly straight forward path.
Chase wandered in darkness and silence for a short time when suddenly the sound of a gasp and a spell of dry coughing filled the tunnels and scared him out of his wits. He leaned against the closest wall and massaged his chest in an attempt to steady the massive thundering of his beating heart. He could just make out a pinprick of light in the distance. Chase heard the coughing again and despite his better judgment he moved on quietly to seek out whoever was in the tunnels with him.
He eventually came upon a girl with a flaming torch she’d secured in the holder above her head. She kneeled with her back to Chase and from the way she shook he guessed she was trying to get ahold of her breath. The sword strapped to her back was so large it was pretty much all he could see of her other than her short hair.
“Having trouble breathing?” he asked, breaking the silence. The woman positively shrieked and grabbed for the handle of her sword. He could sympathize with that reaction. His fake dialect was pretty scary. Sadly for the girl, Chase was already three steps ahead of her and he set his own blade against her neck though his insides recoiled at the thought of using it against her. He hated swords.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
She stopped mid-reach and instead lifted her hands over her head. Her body shook with a few coughs, but she kept them up and as still as she could.
“All the money I have is in my bag. You can take that if you want, but if you try and get my sword I’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth.” Her voice was strong. She was tense, but not necessarily afraid.
He smiled at that. “I’m not interested in your money or your sword. Your coughing just scared the hell out of me and I wanted to make sure you weren’t a ghost.”
She slowly lowered her arms as Chase pulled his blade back. The girl rolled away from him and jumped to her feet. Her hand flew her sword as she took in his appearance. She was probably Li’s age, 21 or so, with short, sandy-brown hair, inquisitive greyish eyes, and an athletic figure extenuating her fairly lean muscle. Her stance suggested she’d been trained with that large blade of hers since childhood.
“An Erebian soldier,” she breathed and then let her hand fall from the hilt of her sword harmlessly to her side. Odd, because Chase had expected her to do the exact opposite.
“And you are?”
“Good. You can show me the way. I’m looking for Marinette,” she explained.
“Why would you want to go there? Are you Erebian as well?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“No. But I would like to enlist in the militia.”
He wanted to frown and ask if she were mad, that they were the enemy, but that would be quite out of character. So instead he put his hands on his hips and looked her over like he was personally in charge of recruitment and just roamed corpse-filled tunnels for laughs.
“Why would you want to do a thing like that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I no longer wish to fight a losing battle.”
Such was the usual excuse of someone who defected. “Fair enough. I’m afraid I’m not too familiar on the route myself, but it’s been completely straightforward so far. Let’s be off.”
He passed her by without further comment, leaving the girl time to gape at his back, cough to herself again, and then grab the torch she’d left on the wall. He heard her strides quicken to catch up and then the girl fell into step beside him. She studied his face as they went, obviously suspicious of him.
“Why aren’t you familiar with it?”
“This isn’t exactly the most popular route to Marinette.”
She coughed again. “I guess you have a point. But it’s the only way for someone like me.”
“Are you sick, or is that just because of the tunnels?”
She shrugged. “I can’t breathe too well in here. I should have brought something to cover my mouth but I never thought those punks in Inverelle were telling the truth about leaving bodies in here.”
“Where are you from?” Chase asked.
The girl scoffed in reply. “Like you’d know or care.”
“Just making conversation.”
She clearly was having no part of that so Chase closed his mouth and kept walking. He wouldn’t have to speak in his awful western dialect that way. It was preferable, really since he could still smell the disgusting tunnel. He just didn’t like going so long without talking. The stench thankfully thinned the farther they traveled down the long passage and before too long he could see daylight out the other end and the girl’s frequent coughing fits subsided. The shaft slowly made its way upward and the pair soon found themselves walking out the mouth of the cave and into an empty field.
“My god,” he slipped a bit, but he hoped she wouldn’t notice since he’d said it quietly. He wasn’t sure what he expected upon leaving Inverelle’s tunnels, but this certainly wasn’t it. For they weren’t merely standing in a field, it was more of a graveyard. Not like the primal, grotesque show of corpses below ground. This was in firm contrast to that display. It was an endless field of clean white marble stakes in the ground. Each was in perfect alignment with every stake surrounding it and the lines stretched farther than he could rightfully see on either side. The girl had gasped as well, but seemed to think that this was supposed to be a test of her resolve and bit her lip to keep from commenting.
It was pointless to ask who did it. He’d read in a few books that in the early years of the Current Age a number of armies belonging to prominent tribes, the Anima among them, had attempted to invade Marinette and try and push Erebus back from the border in an attempt to limit Veles’ lands. According to those same books they were all stopped in the field before the city. Details were unconfirmed, but he’d still never imagined that Erebus would erect such a bizarre monument. It made sense the more he thought about it though. It was shocking and intimidating to see how many lives had perished in the interest of taking down the corrupt empire that threatened the world. Erebus outwardly prided itself on being the civilized end of the world, so their pile of corpses to serve as a warning would be so finely displayed.
His shock probably should have raised suspicion, but he could only imagine that she was just as taken aback, and so his reaction seemed normal. He didn’t want to linger because she didn’t seem like an idiot and probably realize that he should be aware of a massive graveyard outside of Marinette. Chase pushed ahead and amended his earlier behavior by fixing a look on his face that suggested he saw this sort of thing every other day. Odd, to think people with his own powers, possibly his kin, had died where he was standing. That their bodies had long since decomposed in the earth under his feet. Chase pushed such thoughts away and cleared his throat to encourage the girl to follow as he weaved his way past the stakes and toward the entrance to Marinette.
Chase couldn’t see a city from where he was but the opening of the mountain housed two gigantic gates made of a glittering red rock that he couldn’t name on sight that looked impenetrable. Thinking about the city gave him something else to occupy his mind. The border between Erebus’ official lands and the rest of the western continent was divided partially by a large range of mountains. There was a river that kept the rest of it from being easily accessed, but the mountains were the true obstacle. Marinette was, as he’d heard, built quite literally into the mountain itself, and the city was said to stretch into the caverns below it before spilling out in to the rest of the continent behind it. Everything beyond the mountains of was fully under the control of the Erebians and no one in generations had seen what it was like in the country itself. No one who hadn’t turned traitor anyway. They owned half the continent and miraculously hadn’t attempted to expand their borders since before he was born.
There was a line of guards stationed in front of the gates clad in the violet and black that marked them as Erebian soldiers and citizens. Their weapons were down though they had clearly seen the pair approaching from afar.
“Halt and state your business in Marinette,” boomed the man at the end of the line when Chase was within hailing distance. He fixed his penetrating gaze on the girl first. She paused a few steps behind Chase, but then shook herself and moved in front of him with her head held high.
“My name is Regina Lyon and I’m here to enlist in the Erebian militia.” Her conviction was certainly impressive. The man nodded and beckoned her forward.
“We freely accept any from the west who have come to their senses and wish to assimilate into our esteemed country. We welcome you, but understand that as a non-citizen your road will be very difficult indeed.”
She set her jaw and nodded grimly. “I’m prepared to do what I must.”
“And you?” He now addressed Chase.
“I’m afraid you would find my name rather useless. But I am a citizen of Erebus.”
“You wear colors of the militia. State your name and we shall confirm your identity.”
Chase shrugged. “I said it would be useless, even if I told you. My name is Sigurd Roldan, but I assume you won’t find me listed on any registry you might have.” Or they might. Mr. Roldan had been idiotic enough to engrave his name on the blade of his sword, after all.
He moved closer as the soldier addressed one of his colleagues on the other side of the gate. His gaze snapped to the odd striping on his sleeve and he snapped to attention.
“Sir. I understand.” He looked almost ready to accept orders. Chase thought he may as well try and get some information.
“My regiment had trouble on the way back from our mission. All but me and another man were lost in the attack. My teammate ran first, but I followed as closely as I could behind. Was another man with my rank let past here earlier today?”
“Why yes. I’m certain the Overseer will be pleased to find that two of you survived the attack.”
“I am hopeful she will.”
He also thanked his lucky stars that Ione Moravek, Overseer of Marinette, had been established long enough to be infamous in the western lands.
“Open the gate,” the soldier shouted, and they all stepped back as a line of men from within pushed in tandem with the humming machinery of the gate. It didn’t necessarily need the human labor component, but the gate opened more quickly with their urging. The guard gestured inside.
“Have you lived in Marinette before, sir?”
Now Chase really hoped that they didn’t have records on Mr. Roldan and that he hadn’t lived in Marinette before because that would certainly be hard to pretend. “No. I’ve only passed through before.”
“You probably wish to check in at the northern base first. That’s where I directed your comrade. You can get directly to it on the G Trolley.”
Trolley? What was a trolley? Chase didn’t let a hint of confusion cross his face, but Regina appeared just as flummoxed as he felt.
“As for you, girl, you’ll be heading there as well but first we must search you. You’ll need to give up your sword and any other weapons you may have.”
That gave her pause. Regina stepped back and away from the gate, eyes wide. “I can’t. This is more important to me than my life.”
“No non-citizens are allowed to carry weapons of any kind in the city limits. You’ll have to be assessed to ensure you’re not gifted as well before we can let you roam free.”
That provided a problem. One of the guards was giving Chase an expectant look, clearly urging him to go through the gates and let them take care of the now rather incensed young recruit, but he had a sudden desire to help her along. The idea of turning traitor and actually joining Erebus was distasteful to Chase, but he couldn’t just leave the poor girl to be pushed around by these men even if it was her choice. She’d shown such spunk.
“You said she’s going to the northern base, right?” Chase interjected.
“Huh? Yes. After we’ve screened her,” the guard answered.
“If it’s all that much trouble I can take her as she is.”
There was a long moment when the guard stared at Chase as though he’d sprouted an additional head before he shook his own violently and clamped a hand down on Regina’s shoulder.
“No. That’s completely against the law. She needs to be screened before she can enter the city.”
“I recruited her,” he lied.
“Excuse me?”
Chase sighed. “I thought I’d pass through that slum they have the nerve to call a city to get back here quickly but I got a little lost. This young lady helped me find my way here and in return I said I’d put in a good word for her since she wanted to join up. So she’s really been my responsibility this whole time.”
“Bu…” Clearly, it wasn’t routine for anyone to try and lend a hand to a non-Erebian. The guard was struggling just to find some way to object or even understand why they were having such a conversation in the first place.
“But what if she’s a spy and she attacks you? I can’t let her loose with our citizens at risk.”
“I won’t let anything happen to them or myself. I can take care of it. Do you even realize who you’re talking to, friend?” He mentally kicked himself for that. The guard looked a little confused, but Chase merely rushed on. “I am the member of an elite unit that not only managed to secure an artifact in the heart of our enemy’s lands, but made it back here through waves of the gifted and western soldiers without so much as a scratch on me. I think I can handle a little girl with a sword.”
He was quite certain that the men of the unit they’d taken out were formidable, or they would have been had him or Haddy given them the chance to showcase their skills. The guard appeared appeased, finally, by his little speech and he let his gauntleted hand fall from Regina’s shoulder. She wisely kept her mouth shut.
“You do know this is entirely on your head? You’re due to be commended for surviving the journey but should anything happen you could find yourself demoted or worse.”
“I know. It’s just we do things a little differently in my unit. Who cares about the means so long as the end is achieved? But you said the G Trolley, right?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Let’s go.”
He tossed his ponytail artfully over his shoulder as he turned and paraded through the gates and into Marinette with the arrogance he assumed was native in Erebian agents. Such was the secret to his infiltration, usually. He never kept much of a low profile because that always tended to get people even more suspicious. The girl followed him and they both let out a sigh of relief once the gates had closed behind them and the soldiers were no longer in sight. They were in a very dark corridor only lit by dim red lights set into the sides of the tall, wide cave.
“Thank you for that. I’m not even sure why you helped,” Regina said. She somehow looked more suspicious as she looked Chase over again with narrowed eyes. The way her shoulders shot up and her arms crossed over her chest told him all he needed to know. He waved a hand dismissively.
“Don’t flatter yourself, little missy. I wasn’t in it to get anything. I’ve always hated needless procedures and you don’t look like the type of person to go on a civilian killing spree even if they are Erebians.”
The tension in her body uncoiled slightly. “Of course not. I’ve just never been in the business of trusting strange men.”
She let the ‘especially Erebians’ go unsaid. “A fine policy to be sure. I’m not attempting to win your trust, but I do hope I can trust you enough not to give me trouble since I went out of my way.”
Regina nodded stiffly.
“But I’d prepare myself if I were you. When you get to the base it’s likely they’ll take your sword away all the same.”
“I know. I mean I guess they will. But I’ll do everything I can to get it back. It was my father’s.”
His guess exactly. It was always a father or a mother’s heirloom. Chase managed a smile and nodded as though he were familiar with the notion.
“I see. Well, just do your best and you’ll hopefully be rewarded. It’s such an old thing that I doubt anyone would steal it.”
“Hey. A legendary sword smith crafted it.”
Chase grinned and walked a little faster toward the end of the passage they were currently walking. “Whatever you say.”
He was glad he’d rushed ahead because the sight of the city that lay before them was truly remarkable and he hadn’t been able to curb his mystified reaction. It was indeed set in the mountain and below, but when he’d imagined it on the way he couldn’t properly think of what it would look like. He’d expected the city to go downward, but he didn’t expect there to be so many buildings. They dotted the inside of the mountain as far as the eye could see on different elevations that moved down and up lazily along with the hollowed-out cavern. Some appeared to reach down to the cave floor itself. Ridiculously large lights jutted out from the top and sides of the rocky wall. He thought they were salvaged lanterns but upon further inspection they were crystal formations. Illuminated crystals were exceedingly rare. The overall effect though was that the city was made of extreme darkness and light.
“Wow,” Regina said as she came to stand beside him. They had a perfectly good view of the city from their vantage point, and it seemed made for sightseeing judging by how the platform had rails for people to lean against to take it all in. Chase sighed to himself now that he was over his initial awe of its construction. It was well and good to look down on the dark towers but navigating the city in the midst of it would prove difficult.
“Welcome to Marinette, I guess.”
“Heh. Never thought anyone would say that to me…but that reminds me,” she pulled back from the railing. “What on earth is a trolley?”
Chase was hoping she wouldn’t ask that. He glanced around them and back at the city in hopes that he could just point something out when he heard a deafening metallic grinding and his eye caught something silver flying through the air away from them. He wondered briefly if the contraption literally was flying, but he saw sparks at the top of the monstrosity and his eyes just made out black cables that were carrying it along. He traced the black line back to the far left, where there was a gigantic port of the things all facing out toward different directions in the city.
“That’s the trolley. It’s a way to get around here. It’d be pretty damn inconvenient to just have to climb and walk everywhere, don’t you agree?”
He hoped to god that was the trolley as Regina visibly agreed. But it did make sense. He’d never seen anything so elaborate or curiously mechanical in any of the western cities he’d been to.
“Then we should get going,” Regina said.
They both glanced out at Marinette for another long moment before heading off toward the core of the silver trolleys. There was no crowd, but there were a number of guards stationed along the way toward the open shell of the station. The words “Marinette/Inverelle - A” were etched on a sign clearly posted above them as they entered the open area. A man in a black uniform marked with a single white star on the chest and on the hat he wore came to greet them with a smile and a demeanor that was far friendlier than the grim frowns of the men guarding the station.
“Welcome. I’ll be with you in just a moment.”
Chase could only nod. The reason for the holdup was obvious. There was a small contingent of guards taking some poor soul into custody further into the building. A teenage girl dressed in a shabby shirt and patched blue pants struggled as the men on either side of her tried to force her inside one of the frightening metal monstrosities. She kicked, clawed, and rocked back and forth to try and get them to release her, but the men seemed just as immovable as the stone under their feet.
“EREBIAN PIGS! LET ME GO OR I SWEAR I’LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND-”
The man to her left deliver a swift punch to the young girl’s stomach and she was cut off before she could hurl more insults at them. She fell silent and they pushed her into the boxy thing first before heading inside after her and shutting the door firmly behind them. The man in the hat returned to their side and tried another smile.
“Welcome back, honored soldier of Erebus. And are you a citizen, young miss?”
“She’s with me,” Chase said. “What was all that about?” He gestured toward the metal monster that immediately screeched to life and struggled down the line and into the city.
“A new project that the Overseer has undertaken in Lord Veles’ great name. Something about getting rid of troublesome elements, but I know nothing more than that. I just run this Trolley Station.”
There wasn’t much to say to that. Both Chase and Regina were visibly uncomfortable at the thought though. He pushed the residual echoes of her screaming from his mind and concentrated on the matter at hand. “We’re heading to the northern base, or that’s where the man at the gate told us to go. Something about a G Trolley?”
“Ah yes. I believe there was another soldier who went to the northern base earlier today. It’s near the Overseer’s mansion. I imagine you’ll want to see it if you haven’t ever been there.”
Chase knew he didn’t want to speak with the Overseer or get anywhere near her mansion, but the base sounded like a solid plan. Since this militia seemed to let covert units do whatever the hell they wanted he could probably get in to see the guy he needed to take down within the day if he was lucky. Of course, knocking him out, getting the weapon, and then running the hell out of town was another story so he’d have to tread lightly.
“Follow me,” the man said as he led them to the trolley at the far left. He slowly spun and then pulled on a large wheel attached to the hatch and in a matter of seconds they were inside an entirely unremarkable seating area with plain, hard benches and bars to keep ahold of while the thing was in motion.
“This doesn’t look particularly safe,” Regina said as she grabbed hold of one of the bars and kneeled on the bench to look out the window. That was probably the nicest thing about it. The sides each had long, square windows for viewing the city.
“These trolleys have been in use for years, young lady. They’re perfectly safe. Now thank you for your visit and safe travels, especially to you, young soldier.”
He closed the door and far too soon for Chase’s liking he heard the scream of the machinery before the trolley came to life and started to move. It shook and rattled all over as it got started and he immediately grabbed for one of the bars and eased himself down on the bench across from where Regina had wisely already sat down. She was facing toward the window as she was brave enough to look out as they moved along. Chase managed a glance behind him, but the wobbling and the height were making him slightly nervous so he turned back.
“So why precisely are you joining up?” He asked to not think about how ominous the scraping noise above their heads sounded. Her gaze went askance, toward him, and Regina took a breath before addressing him. She spoke with her body still turned toward the city and her eyes were on the sights passing below them.
“Like I said, I didn’t want to fight a losing battle anymore. I’ve seen it all my life. My father was in the Ergrove Coalition. He spent his entire life fighting this damned country just to die in a pointless skirmish outside of Calio when he was only 34 years old. I had to take care of my brothers and sisters along with my tired mother. She was drained dry by the war too. Then last year, both my brothers went off and died equally pointless deaths trying to carry out a covert mission. I heard it was here, but I doubt they got past those damn gates.”
The story wasn’t a new one. Chase had seen families torn apart by the bitter reality that was the war between Erebus and the rest of the world, or the world that was willing to fight it. It seemed what remained of the rest of the world was content to cower and hope Erebus wouldn’t turn its gaze to the other continents. The resistance was based and only subsisted in the west, and that’s what made it that much worse.
“I mean…” Regina continued. “I hate Erebians and I know all the terrible things I’ve heard and seen this country do…but when I look at it from here I just feel so angry that I’m even letting myself be impressed by it. This place is thriving, their numbers and technology improve every day, and I just can’t see any way to win against it. So I figure the best solution is to give in. And why not? Why waste our lives fighting a battle we’re never going to win?”
“I see your point,” He did, reasonably so, but he didn’t agree with it. Chase wouldn’t hold it against Regina since he was technically coming from a rather privileged position, all things considered. “I think all the families of soldiers who have lost their lives fighting this endless war want it to end, no matter what side they’re on.”
“Hmm…”
“What’s become of your family? Or what will now that you’ve left?” he asked, fully aware of the fact that he was essentially digging that knife in deeper if she felt the least bit bad about being away from whatever family she had left.
“My mother is taking care of my sisters. I’ve been on my own since I left to enlist three years ago. My regiment broke up after we lost our leader and so I found myself drifting till this brilliant idea came to me.”
So it seemed they’d been estranged. At least she didn’t have shivering children waiting for her to come home in some remote part of the continent. Chase didn’t comment on the rest of her story and instead risked looking outside again. He had adjusted to the lurch of the so-called-trolley and now he found the sights to be just as interesting even though they were when they were stationary. The lights of the city and the slight flow of movement he could see in the streets below was almost hypnotizing. There were so many lives below them. He’d never considered just how many people Erebus could fit into a city and they had so many others on their half of the continent. He bit his lip, unsure if his sudden surge of emotion was anger or disgust.
“Aren’t you bothered?” Regina asked suddenly.
“Bothered? To be sharing a trolley with a recruit?”
“No,” she said flatly. “You’re wearing those glasses and this place is already so dark. Aren’t you having trouble seeing?”
He’d almost forgotten. Though now that Chase turned his attention to them, the frames of the glasses were burning his ears since he was unused to wearing them. He pushed the frames up and back into their proper place and shook his head. Truthfully, it did seem unreasonably dark so she had a point, but it wasn’t as though he could just wander around without them.
“I hadn’t even noticed. I spend so much of my time outdoors and they really help in the daytime. But you have to admit they make me look mysterious,” he said, quirking an eyebrow toward her.
“You look like an idiot.”
She was probably right. Good thing he wasn’t in this to impress people. Haddy was so vain about his looks that he would have gone to drastic measures just to look presentable. Li was far more reasonable. As long as it got the job done he wasn’t nearly so picky.
The trolley lurched again and he heard the metallic noises that signaled it was entering another hub, or station, or whatever it was they called where these things lived. After a few voices talked back and forth, the door opened and two guards poked their heads in.
“Welcome back, sir.”
“Thank you,” Chase said. He got to his feet and exited right before Regina, who got a frown from the man as she was not wearing a uniform and was obviously armed.
“Who is this? A member of your unit who also made it back?”
Regina piped up before Chase could say a word. “We’re looking to go to the northern base.”
“I see. The northern base is just behind us, but you need to see the Overseer first.”
“I’d rather head to the base and get into contact with my teammate,” Chase replied.
The soldier smiled and gestured for his five fellows, who had slowly been walking in behind him, to surround the two of them.
“I’m afraid Overseer Moravek insists.”
He definitely got that as he felt the cold metal of a gun press firmly at the back of his neck. Regina lifted her arms for the second time that day as another soldier trained his gun on her and Chase regrettably did the same.