Lambda - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - The Divide

Location: Duskrise

Tania Dimagi was awakened by a loud explosion. When she came to her senses she was already sitting on her bed and breathing heavily. She pressed a switch on the side of the bed and, when the room was alight, she immediately checked that her son Biros was unharmed. A sigh of relief could be heard in her otherwise silent room when she found him sleeping peacefully in his crib.

Tania then neared the window, passing under the ceiling lamp which was made out of molten lava inside a magically enhanced transparent glass. These lamps had enormous lifespans, and were used commonly throughout all of the Duskrise - in the town of Stundale in particular.

The window was made with the same material than the lamp, but it had different magical properties. At first, the glass was completely black and only when Tania pressed her hand on its surface it became possible for her to see through.

With the outside gradually revealing, Tania's face became the grimace of horror. Through all the fog that was exiting the city vents, almost like it were a living breathing organism, Tania could see the fiery show of her life. And it was happening in the sky in the direction of the Stundale Magma tower. Her thoughts were completely shaken by fear:"Is this it? Is this the end of our existence?"

Her ominous thoughts were shaken by the image of a bird flying towards her window. When it was near enough, it simply flew through as if there were no obstacles in its way. This made ripples extend around the window, the same effect a stone would have when thrown into a still lake.

Tania looked at what could be seen as a creature from the distance but was, in fact, a mechanical construct. It puffed smoke out, under its wings and tail, and it made almost screeching noises when moving. The bird was of a dark-greyish color that could be easily missed in the evening fog, and its eyes were dark at first, transforming into piercing red ones when it spoke:"Tania Dimagi, you are invited to immediately join the emergency meeting of the Stundale council of 9 in response to the catastrophe of the magma tower."

With that said, the mechanical bird flew out in the same fashion it came to Tania's place.

Tania stood still for a few seconds, deciding between following orders and taking Biros some place safe:"Was this a natural disaster? Or did someone deliberately attack the tower?" There was too little information in order for her to make a proper decision. She stood silent a few minutes, pondering on what to do next. When she was completely sure that Biros would be sleeping for some time still, she kissed him lightly on the forehead and then went straight to her wooden closet, putting on the first formal wear she found.

Before dressing up, she looked almost like a spectral apparition, fragile in her night robe and messy purple hair. In her formal vest, her looks were those of a menacing authority. The perfect darkness of the dress was broken by lines of a similar color than her hair. These lines started at the collar and extended towards the arms and legs. Two on the front, two on back and two to finish off on her arms.

Tania was quite methodical and so she grabbed a quick snack, washed her face and was already on her way to the council chambers. She went up the stairs from her third floor apartment in a building whose insides had majestic ornaments all around. Houses like this one were once inhabited by the aristocracy. Due to all the smoke that was especially dense in the middle of the city, these houses were left to rot or be used as apartments by poorer people.

Upon exiting on the roof, she was immediately greeted by a hot puff of smoke making her think:"Good, at least the ventilation system is still working. The damage might not be that grave."

From the outside, the building she inhabited was falling to pieces. It has been several centuries since the center of the town was built and no adequate effort was put to protect the outsides from the constant hot streams of air that gradually destroyed the facade. In the evening light, prevailed by the exhaust fumes, it was almost impossible to distinguish the details unless you became an expert in recognizing the different shades of dark. And yet on this very night, as Tania looked towards the magma tower, she could clearly see the chaos happening in the distance: streams of lava burst high into the night and explosions from the tower itself illuminated the sky. She saw flying rectangular-like objects buzzing near the tower and even if she couldn't hear them above the explosions, reassuring thoughts flooded her head:"Those are zappers! This means our emergency team is already at the site. Nice work."

Tania then neared her own zapper, a vehicle that had wings similar to those of mosquito-like insects. It was smaller than those the emergency team used in trying to control the wild lava. Hers was simply big enough to hold two people and the engine. Like most of their technology, the zappers relied on captured sources of lava inside of a magically enhanced bubble. When the magic was inactive, the lava heated up the stored water and the pressurized vapors then exited at the wings, making them flutter wildly. The water in the tank  was supplied by condensing and recycling the exhaust fumes from the buildings, giving the zappers a potentially unlimited flight time in the city.

As Tania seated herself and closed the door, she started hearing the all-too familiar buzzing sound of the zapper. And soon she took off into the night, towards the glowing tower. She knew that halfway there lay the council's tower, which was only slightly less visible than the magma one.

A few minutes of flight later she approached the council's tower perimeters. On the ground there was an electric fence set-up all around for unwanted visitors. Even though most of the time the people who were electrocuted to death were simply lost and extended their hand a bit too far into the fog. As she flew above the fence, she could hear a metallic voice welcoming her. Truth be told, she never felt welcome hearing it.

Soon, she landed the zapper on the top of the circular platform above the tower. It had air vents on top and enough space for exactly nine zappers and all were already there. Tania exited her zapper and was soon greeted by two metallic constructs, resembling humans with an expressionless face. The two constructs wore black and red guard uniforms and their skin was of a silver color. Tania always found them too impersonal, yet she still replied a simple:"Hello."

She went to the door at the roof, which was held open by one of the two constructs and down the stairs, a floor lower, to the main chambers of the council. Before she entered the room, she was greeted by another two automatons, who then closed the heavy wooden doors after her. Arriving at the circular chamber, all of the remaining 8 councilors were already seated. She quickly nodded and greeted back, making her way to her usual place. While doing so, she realized that each of her fellow councilors with longer hair looked like a mess, leaving her perfectly in tone with them.

As soon as she got seated, Doras, a serious-looking man sitting at the opposite side of the table spoke:"With all of us present, the meeting can commence."

When he spoke, he addressed all the present and looked at each one separately:"Tania, Lars, Seraph, Kevin, Morena, Leia, Terry,  and Gilian, the magma tower of Stundale exploded." and almost instantly all heads with exception of Doras looked through the windows, towards the tower, which was still sprouting lava out uncontrollably.

Doras continued:"That's not all. I've received a message from Keo, the engineer who was in shift this night at the magma tower." Almost in unison, the 8 other members of the council started gasping and whispering to each other. Doras coughed and put a hand in the air, holding a piece of paper that did not look at all serious or official. It was as if Keo quickly wrote some notes on a page of his diary and strapped it out, sending it to the council with a bird-messenger.

The leader of the council then proceeded to read:"It all started innocently enough. I felt some tremors in the ground and proceeded with the established checks for the security and stability of the tower. I tested the intensity of the magical field from samples I extracted. Extrapolating what I've found on a larger scale, I can conclude that in 25 years the magical properties of our materials will vanish completely."

Everyone in the room now started talking loudly, some of them panicking and even screaming.

To this Doras raised his clenched fist, which was the symbol their leader could use to signal matters of uttermost importance. It had precedence over any other aspects of the session. Soon enough, the people calmed and Doras could continue:"It gets worse. I've sampled different variants of our materials and it seems that the magical properties started fluctuating wildly. So even before the time runs out and magic vanishes completely, we have no guarantee that it will work for us the way it did up until now. Dear members of the council, I have no idea what's happening, but I'm sure not sticking around to find out. Signed, Keo."

The first to comment was Lars, a scary mess with his brown curly hair all around his head. And when he spoke it was almost as if watching a scarecrow addressing the public:"What bullshit is this? It's a joke right? Or has Keo gone insane?"

"Lars, thank you for your insightful commentary, helpful as ever," the cynical response belonged to Seraph, who was a woman with neatly short cut green hair. She was usually the quiet type, speaking only on two occasions: either she had something important to say, or she wanted to point out how stupid someone else was.

Doras raised his fist again before the session turned into a dispute between the members. After he got the other's attention, Doras spoke with a deep and troubled voice:"I have no reason to believe that Keo is playing mind games on us. If he were, this would mean he sabotaged the tower and this doesn't make any sense. I don't think anyone in Stundale would profit from destroying our main source of energy. And I think we can eliminate the possibility of someone attacking us. We've been at peace for well over a century now and our spies didn't notify us of any impending gathering of forces." He paused briefly, to look at each of the members in the eyes before continuing:"I think we can assume what Keo said to be true. The question is: where do we go from here?"

Tania spoke next:"It makes sense from an architectural point of view. The tower seems to be still standing and therefore, only parts of it were destroyed. If our magically enhanced items are indeed receiving some sort of turbulence, then it's quite logical that parts of our most sophisticated building would be affected first."

Lars jumped in, trying to make a better impression this time round:"All right, for the sake of the argument, I'll believe what was just said. But if that's the case, it means that we can't trust our zappers anymore, we can't rely on our lava lamps, our ventilation systems, anything! We should start thinking of alternatives fast!"

This time Kevin spoke. He appeared deadly serious with his trimmed black beard and similarly short hair. But the tone of his voice was delicate and high, that it could almost belong to a woman:"Alternatives? We abandoned them about three hundred years ago. When our ancestors decided that it's immoral and dangerous to eat the Duskers and we should instead use the dust they dissolve to when dead. All of our technology has relied on that magical dust ever since! Are you suggesting we take s step back in our evolution?"

Lars stuttered in response:"I didn't mean tha-"

Doras quickly took the lead again:"Perhaps that's exactly what we have to do. It seems to me that relying on Duskers's dust wasn't such a great idea in the first place."

Tania almost screamed in response:"Doras! How can you judge so quickly? We don't yet fully understand what's happening. What if there are some bigger forces at work and the magical dust is simply reacting to them? It could be that we are being warned about something!"

Gilian joined in:"That's right!" When Gilian spoke, he used one of his arms as support for his chin, which he was constantly stroking as if he had a beard. The fact that he couldn't grow a half-decent one only amplified his behavior. He continued:"I've been thinking about it ever since you red Keo's letter to us. What if the key to understanding all of this lies in the 25 years? Sure, Keo put the emphasis on how our magic will be failing us. But somehow that doesn't convince me. If it has worked for hundreds of years, why would it start behaving wildly now? What has changed so much? I'm thinking more and more of an external power, perhaps yet invisible to us."  

The next to join in was Leia:"Nonsense! What kind of power are you talking about? I've always said that we knew too little about the magical properties of the Duskers. Perhaps only now they show us their true face. Something that remained hidden under our noses for so long! Gilian and Tania, stop defending the magic just because of our past!"

Morena replied before Gilian had time to. They've been married for five years now and nobody was particularly surprised to hear Morena defending Gilian: "Do you even listen to what you're saying Leia? Are you acting stupid on purpose? Blaming magic might be the most idiotic thing we can do, since perhaps there's something else at work here! We can't decide our future in a single meeting! What if there truly is something beyond magic that's hidden from view? If that's the case, then we should prepare for what's coming in 25 years."

Lars:"From my point of view, 25 years is quite some time, while on the other hand the magma tower is failing us as we speak."

Seraph and Terry were twin brother and sister with the most bizarre dresses of all present in the room. Instead of drawn lines, their robes had red dots of different sizes splattered all over. The pair functioned almost as a single being, either speaking simultaneously or finishing each other's words. This time they both spoke:"Time is treacherous. 25 years might seem like a long time for a mortal, but it's only a blink of an eye for our planet, Duskrise. If we'll keep chasing demons and false ideas, you can be sure it will run out."

That sentence produced an uncontrollable arguing between the councilors. Each of them turned to his or her neighbor arguing about what should be done next. So much were they invested in their discussions that when Doras raised his fist for the third time nobody would notice it.

Suddenly a roaring scream was heard in the room, as darkness descended and all turned to Doras. To their horror and surprise they saw Doras standing, with a trembling left arm and only scorched meat where his right arm used to be. "My arm! How could this happen? No, I'm dreaming! This is not possible!" Doras was flailing his left arm around incredulously, while trying to move the other hand which was not there anymore. It all happened within seconds: the lamp on the ceiling dissolved and the lava fell down burning Doras's arm. Together with his arm, the light in the room retreated. The lava was slowly eating at the floor and didn't shed as much light as before when suspended to the ceiling.

He looked at the present with malicious intent, speaking really loudly:"Is this what we are waiting for?" he gestured at his scorched right shoulder:"Are we waiting for our technology to kill us off one by one? There has been enough chit chat already, we need to act. We must start experimenting on the Duskers again!"

Most were still in shock, each of them thinking that it could have been them who were left single-handed or worse. Tania tried to talk reason to Doras:"Let's call a medic to see to your wound, we can discu-"

"SHUT UP!" Doras was now screaming angrily. "Shut the fuck up, all of you! We're going to put it to a vote as we always do in such situations. All of you in favor of approving Duskers experimentation raise your hands now."

Lars nervously raised his hand seconds after Doras and was soon followed by Leia and lastly by a somehow reluctant Kevin.

Doras waited with anticipation, but received only concerned and dubious glances from the remaining five councilors  that kept their hands to themselves.

Terry and Seraph spoke again:"Now it's not the right time to make any discussions. We should start dispensing emergency teams throughout the city, warning civilians and assessing the conditions of our magical equipment. We need to make sure everyone's all right before planning our next actions. Including you Doras, you should get healed. And then we should take a rest before deciding on an issue as important as Duskers experimentation."

"Oh, so now you two are leading our council?" Doras was furious like Tania never saw him before. His eyes seemed to radiate hate all around, and it got worse by the second.

Gilian spoke next:"They are making a whole lot more of sense than you currently are Doras. Get some rest and a proper treatment and then we can-"

"Treatment? I can only get a miserable mechanical arm as a replacement! If we acted quickly and disbanded this session, the lava would have found only an empty room to fall to!" Doras was so mad now that he started spitting out as he spoke:"I'm giving you one last chance to raise up your hands in favor of Duskers experimentation. If you won't do it, then I'll have to assume you're against me and this city."

"Are you threatening us?" Terry and Seraph asked in unison, without so much as a blink of an eye. They remained calmly seated at their place.

"You're the one threatening the prosperity of Stundale and potentially even Duskrise!" Doras retorted.

Morena:"Doras, stop it. It was an unfortunate accident we all wish didn't happen. But your right arm is not worth the undoing of the work of our ancestors. You're thinking too selfishly! Please, go get healed and the rest of us will disperse the news and try to contain the situation in our city."

To her surprise, Doras suddenly calmed down and continued with a reassuring voice:"An unfortunate accident you say? Yes, this is exactly what the people will think when you'll be gone missing." He slid two fingers across the side of one of the lines on his robe and the doors of the chamber burst open. Six automatons quickly entered and approached the table when Doras issued an order:"Dispose of Tania, Morena, Gilian, Terry and Seraph."

The eyes of the automatons started shining a red color and their hands retracted to give space to two half-meter long blades. In the dim light that was now in the room, they looked genuinely scary and Morena was the first to scream in panic.

As everyone in the room started realizing what was happening, Tania had only one thing, or rather, one person on her mind:"I must get to Biros and get him some place safe!"

Morena and Gilian were too slow and two of the automatons were already at their place, slashing their heads off. Clean cut and quick death. Tania was in luck to be seated more away from the exit so that she pushed herself off the table and when the chair fell backwards to the ground, she immediately put her hands behind her head and made a back roll away from the table. She was just in time, as the blades cut the air where she sat a moment ago.

Lars, Kevin and Leia had their eyes open in shock, unable or unwilling to say anything, knowing they'd share the same fate if they opposed Doras.

Terry and Seraph spoke in unison again:"We can't decide what is more pathetic: you or your actions." And then the automatons slashed them. To everyone's surprise, the pair of twins simply dissolved in air.

"Decoy detected" said one of the two automatons standing in their place.

"You don't say?? Well then, hurry, find them!" Doras was sounding hysterical again.

"Impossible. They could be meters away or kilometers. The range of this decoying illusions cannot be determined with precision and therefore we are unable to find them in such short numbers."

Meanwhile, Tania was on her feet, running to one of the windows. And right behind her, two automatons sprinted, catching up even in such a small space. Before she could think any longer, she brushed two fingers on her robe and jumped elbows first towards the surface of the window. As at her home, she simply went through, making ripples appear on the surface of the window. She felt a searing pain in her leg as a blade pierced her skin - and then it was over.

She was looking at the precipice below her, high from atop the council tower. Her vest inflated, making her able to glide through the air. All the while her mind was repeating:"Please magic, don't fail me now!" She was gliding through the night sky mixed with the dense fog, but could still see the fence below her as she passed on.

And then a terrifying thought crossed her mind:"Biros! Damn it, Doras will indubitably be sending henchmen to my home and taking him hostage in return for me, or worse, kill him straight away!" She felt a grim sensation in her mouth and gritted her teeth to forget about the pain in her leg or the fact that the automatons will reach her home way faster than she ever could. But she could try at least. She glided into a small narrow street and upon landing her leg immediately reminded her of the injury.

Tania closed her eyes and imagined the pain to go away.

"You did the right thing," she heard a familiar voice that still made her shudder. She opened her eyes and saw - Terry! And he was holding Biros in his hands. She started sobbing, both due to the injury and the fact that her son was besides her again:"What are you doing with him?"

"We've taken the liberty of removing him from your home, before Doras's minions could reach him," Terry looked down and then took a few steps towards Tania, handling the baby to her:"He's beautiful. Take good care of him."

"Thank you," she whispered, while trying to control her weeping and holding Biros to her body. Somehow he was still asleep, breathing peacefully as if nothing changed.

"There are troubling times ahead of us. Duskers experimentation seems all but imminent and besides me and Seraph you were the only one that opposed - and survived. We'll have to wait and see which cities join this crazy path and which refuse." Only now did Tania realize how weird it was to hear one of the twins alone. Still, she listened to what he had to tell:"Get away from here. Tend to your baby and then if you wish to set things right, return to Stundale. Though I cannot promise you it will be a walk in the park. The next time we see each other, it might well be in a full-blown war to recapture the council."

Tania wanted to open her mouth, but Terry silenced her:"Listen Tania, go now. Escape the city and to go your relatives or friends, lay low for a while. Rest. We'll keep in touch."

"How will you know where I'll be?"

"We have our ways," Terry winked in response and extended a hand to greet her. Tania instead pushed Biros on one side and with the free arm flung herself at Terry, hugging him:"Thank you. Thank you for saving my son. You don't know how much this means to me." Terry hugged her back and then slowly pushed her away:"Tania, now you really must go, the automatons might already be scouting for survivors."

Tania uttered another:"Thank you," before looking a last time at Terry who simply nodded and watched her leave. The pain in her leg would make for a painful journey, but she knew all the small passageways between the streets and tubes and even in her injured state, her determination lead her on, towards the outskirts of Stundale.