he elevator doors of the Tower of Legai opened, and Darek and the others stepped inside. After the doors closed behind them, Darek took a deep breath to relieve the built up tension.
The disguises they wore were decent at best, and walking through the guard-infested lobby was a nerve-wrecking nightmare. Though the guards didn’t find them suspicious, every glance aimed his way still made him want to find a corner and hide.
They removed their goggles because it was practically impossible to see with them on.
Sorren pushed the button for the first floor. “They are looking for someone else.”
“How’d you come up with that idea?” asked Darek.
Sorren replied, “Because they didn’t bother to inspect us. My guess is they’ve only discovered one or two intruders and they know what the intruders look like. This leads me to believe that there must be a centralized way to get detailed information. It’s speculation, but if true, we’ll be safer if we move as a group of three.”
“The tower is huge though,” Darek whined. “It’ll take forever to explore if we stick together.”
“You’re exactly right.”
Darek raised a brow. “I am?”
“Which is why we’re splitting up.”
“W-we are? B-but I thought you just said we should stick together!” Darek stammered.
“No,” said Sorren. “I merely said it would be safer. Besides, look at the number of floors.” Sorren pointed to the sequentially numbered buttons. “Even though the tower itself is quite large, there are only thirty floors. Its size is only because they need to reach the core. Most of the tower is probably empty space. We’ll divide it up. Each person gets ten floors. We must do it fast to avoid getting caught up in the intruder situation.”
Darek said, “Are you crazy? You’re asking me to go alone in a tower full of hostile immortals! That’s like suicide! Besides, our disguises aren’t even that good. Look at me! My sleeves are way too long and my armor looks big enough to slip off any time! Azura’s even worse off. Her voice doesn’t match his face and her body doesn’t match—”
The doors opened up at the first floor.
Sorren said to Azura, “Go to the top floor when you’re done. We’ll meet there.”
Azura nodded and left the elevator.
Darek stretched out his hand, reaching out for Azura to come back.
“See you at the top!” Azura, thinking he was waving goodbye, waved back at him as the doors shut.
“Wait! Don’t go!” Darek cried out to her, but the doors were already closed and the elevator resumed its course upward.
“Darek,” said Sorren, pulling him away from the closed door. “I saw how well you handled those guards at the entrance. You have surpassed my expectations and my teachings.”
Darek backed away in shock at Sorren’s words. “You mean that?”
“Of course,” said Sorren, beaming. “You might be so powerful now that I wonder if you may have already become an immortal yourself. You might even be the most reliable person we have on the team right now. You might just be able to handle yourself in this place.”
“Really?” Darek’s mood swung all the way up. “Why didn’t you say so before?”
“I didn’t want you to become too full of yourself. But now is the time for you to understand that you might be able to do this.”
“You really think so?”
The elevator stopped at the eleventh floor and Sorren urgently left. “That’s all. Good luck—have fun.” The doors quickly closed again and Darek hesitantly put his thumb on the button marked for the twenty-first floor.
Wow, thought Darek. His heart sunk after Sorren left. I have this nagging feeling that I was just duped. Shouldn’t I be able to tell if I’ve become immortal? Come to think of it, he kept using the words ‘might’ and ‘may.’
Thud. Something fell on the floor. Darek glanced down. He gasped. Ios was on the ground, wheezing and feeling faint. Darek stooped and gently lifted Ios up with his hands.
“Hey, are you alright? Hang in there.” Darek used his little pinky to tap Ios on the shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Sorry,” breathed Ios. “I should’ve…realized. I spent…too much energy…illusions. Strength gone…thought I could handle…without light from core…”
“Wait…don’t tell me you’re going to die!” exclaimed Darek. “Hang on for a while longer! I’ll try to find some light from the core!”
The elevator eased to a stop at the twenty-first floor and the doors slid open, revealing the corridor before him. Several armed guards just so happened to be standing there, and they watched as the elevator opened up. Darek snuck Ios into his bag and slid the bag behind his back, out of view. Darek froze, not knowing what to do or how to react.
“Are you getting out or not?” asked the guard, staring at Darek’s dumbfounded expression.
“Oh, sorry,” apologized Darek. Walking out, he calmly said, “Did you want to use it?”
“Where are the rest of the reinforcements?” said the guard, his brow furrowing. “Why are you alone?”
Darek’s hands got all sweaty and he rubbed his palms on his pants. Now was the time for a little improvisation. “We got a little tied up with something. The others will be here shortly.”
“What could be more important than dealing with the intruders?” The guard demanded.
“Oh,” Darek tried to think of something more and blurted out, “we caught sight of the intruders! Yes, that’s why everyone was hung up. They sent me ahead to tell you this.”
“Is this true?” said another guard, stunned.
“Yes?” Awkwardly enough, Darek’s statement ended up coming out as a question.
“How could this have happened?” said the guard. “That means there are more intruders!”
“No!” Darek said, “They’re the same ones as before!”
“But we have those intruders trapped on this floor! We’ve been watching this elevator and no one has gone through here. We haven’t received reports from the stairwell either.”
“The intruders are on this floor?” Darek realized the grave error of his mistake. “Oh…then there must be more intruders. I’m sorry, I thought you already knew about the…um…other intruders…”
Sorren is so going to kill me , thought Darek, panicking. Now we’ve lost our advantage.
“There was no announcement on these new intruders. I better go alert the others,” said the guard. He asked Darek, “Can you give a description of the other intruders?”
Ah, this is my chance to redeem myself!
“Yes, I can,” said Darek. “There is only one other intruder that I saw. He’s very short; I suppose about four feet tall. He’s also very…fat. He’s not wearing any disguise of any sort, not dressed up as a guard at all. Um…that’s all I can think of.”
“Right…” The guard pulled out a handheld device from his pocket and entered in the information that Darek gave him. “The others should now be informed…” The guard’s voice trailed off as he uncomfortably gazed upon Darek’s face. “Are you okay?”
“Excuse me?”
“Your nose…” said the guard, staring at Darek’s face. “It looks like it’s falling off.”
Darek swung around and saw his reflection on the elevator door. He’s right! My face is getting all messed up. Could this be due to Ios’ weak state? I have to get out of here before they find out who I really am!
Darek said to the guard, “I have to go to the bathroom really quick. Sometimes my nose just starts to run.” He laughed weakly but no one else was amused by his poor joke.
“Looks like something serious,” grunted the guard, his suspicion awakened. “We better get you to the infirmary as soon as possible.”
Darek backed away, trapped between the armed guards and the elevator door. There was no way for him to explain his way out of this. His cover was blown. He inched his hand across the door and pressed the up button of the elevator.
The tension between Darek and the armed guards was cut by shouts and cries from deep within the hall. Soldiers were screaming.
“They’re coming!”
“Stop them at all costs! Don’t let them get away!”
Two figures blazed through the hall. As they zipped by, their sporadic movement ripped gaping holes in the walls and cracked the cold hard floor beneath their feet. The guards drew forth their swords, but before they could react, the intruders slipped past them.
One of the guards writhed about, screaming, “My arm’s on fire! Someone help me!”
“What are these monsters? They can’t be stopped!”
Utter chaos broke out. The guards slashed and slashed but their blades only managed to cut each other. Several men, fearing for their lives, hid inside rooms. The braver ones still could not lay a finger on their mysterious opponents no matter how hard they tried.
Darek stood with his back against the elevator door, praying that whatever was out there would not notice him. After what seemed an eternity, the elevator door finally cracked open and Darek fell backwards into the lift. The two intruders pushed all the guards out of the way and squeezed into the elevator just in time for the doors to shut.
Covering his face with his hands, Darek crouched in the corner of the floor, afraid to make eye contact with whoever or whatever else was with him inside the elevator. He could hear the sound of the button being pressed. The lift began cranking its way up the shaft.
“Well, well, well…if it isn’t our old master. It’s nice to see you again, Darek.”
Darek looked up and saw Reza and Drey. “You guys! But— you’re dead—” Darek gasped in fright, “Real gh-gh-ghosts!”
“Hey, calm down,” said Reza. “We’re not exactly ghosts. See? We’re not transparent, and look at this…” She grabbed Darek by the wrist and with a firm grip, helped him to his feet. “We can touch. That’s not something a ghost can do, right?”
“Really?” Darek’s expression changed into excitement, but there was still some uncertainty tucked in the back of his mind. He never really knew what ghosts looked like or what their limitations and abilities were, so everything she was telling him didn’t really strike a chord. But there was a distinct sincerity sewed within her voice that was hard for him to ignore.
“Don’t worry,” replied Reza. “It’s not like we came back from the dead to haunt you.”
Darek wiped the sweat off his brow and said, “So if you aren’t dead, then you really must have been—”
“What?” Reza stared at him, wondering what he wanted to say.
Darek continued, “For you to leave the worm’s body, could you have been pooped—”
Blushing profusely, Reza clawed her fingers at Darek’s open jaw and clamped his mouth shut to prevent him from finishing the sentence. “I know what you’re going to say. You were going to say that we were pooped, right? Yes. We were very tired.” Darek nodded, his eyes goggling at her ferocity.
“If I’m correct,” said Drey, interrupting, “I’m pretty sure he’s saying that we were—”
“I TOLD YOU, I KNOW WHAT HE’S TRYING TO SAY,” snapped Reza. “I will not go into details, but I will say that our escape from the worm is nothing you could imagine.”
“Really? Because I can imagine quite a bit,” said Darek.
Reza scowled.
The lift abruptly paused, the cables outside screeching. Everyone nearly tumbled over from the sudden stop. They glanced around. The blue and red lights within the lift flickered and a smug voice came from the speaker.
“Did you intruders really think you could escape that easily?”
Without warning, the elevator rocketed upward to the top floor; the rapid acceleration flattened everyone to the ground. Once it reached the top of the tower, the lift was shot back down, hurtling everyone up to the ceiling. Again and again, the operator of the elevator was bent on torturing Darek and his friends by firing them straight up and down the extent of the tower, over and over, at roaring, breakneck speeds as if he were violently jolting a soda bottle.
“Hopping—in—here—was—the—worst—idea—ever,” gasped Darek in short intervals.
This outrageous outburst went on for several minutes until the gears and mechanisms came grinding to an unexpected halt. The power was cut off and all the lights fizzed out.
“Oh shoot,” said the voice on the speaker, grumbling. “It’s broken. Can’t get the darn thing moving anymore.”
“Looks like we’re saved by stupidity.” Drey pried open the elevator doors.
“What floor is this?” said Reza.
Darek wobbled out of the shaft, stumbling over his own foot. He had suffered a number of bruises and small injuries.
Drey directed Reza’s attention to the sign on the wall. “Thirtieth floor.”
They heard voices in the distance say, “The intruders have landed on this level! This time, don’t let them get away!”
“They’re coming! What should we do?” asked Darek, still attempting to recover from the violent elevator ride.
“Darek, can we count on you?” said Reza.
Darek shrugged. “I don’t know, depends on—”
“It’s settled then,” said Reza in a hurry. “We’ll let you handle this.”
“Huh?”
Drey suddenly combusted into a hovering flame that dawdled for a bit before zipping into an air vent in the ceiling. Reza’s skin became ice blue and she staggered every step toward a locked door. Her body liquefied into a puddle of water that splashed about as it hit the floor. The lively puddle of water slithered across the tiles of the ground as one adhesive mass and trickled underneath the bottom of the locked door, disappearing from the hall.
Standing alone, Darek grumbled, “Duped again…”
Seeing that he only had a few minutes left before the guards came storming down the hall, Darek fearfully jostled each doorknob, hoping to find a suitable place to hide. It just so happened that one of the doors was unlocked. Darek stepped inside and closed the door.
Darek found himself in a control room that overlooked the core. The room was fairly small and was filled with computers, tables, chairs and, oddly enough, dirty, smelly dishes and clothes, as if someone had been living inside for a while. Because of all the clutter, there was just enough space for one or two people to move about. There was one large window on the end of the room. Looking out the window, he could see a huge platform, which had a massive marvel of engineering on top. This colossal machine was able to touch the core with its tip. The windows were heavily tinted with a dark color, blocking out most of the light from the core.
It took Darek a few seconds to notice that there was someone inside. A lonely-looking old man was sitting in front of a computer screen with bloodshot eyes. He was a grim old man with shaggy white hair and a pair of brown goggles around his neck.
After a brief silence, the elderly person faced Darek and said, “Who might you be?”
“I just was stopping by,” said Darek, startled by the sudden question.
The old man said quickly, “Oh? I’m intrigued. For you see, I don’t go to the surface very often. A visitor comes every now and then, usually to inform me of new happenings or messages from the other elders. Today there was supposed to be some sort of celebration going on. Most of the other scientists in the facility have already left. Ah, but I cannot leave this place. No, there is something of great importance to be done here. Everything must be perfect. Oh, by the way, where are my manners? Before I forget to introduce myself, I am the sixth elder, Liam.”
“I thought there were only five elders,” said Darek.
“Now there’s a cruel joke,” Liam hissed, “one I do not find amusing at all.”
“Ah, sorry. I sometimes go a little overboard with my jokes.” Darek thought things over. This old man, though odd, did not appear threatening. With the guards roaming about outside, this room could be a temporary safe haven. But would he be safe for long? The guards knew he was on this floor. There was no doubt in his mind that they would comb the entire floor, checking out each room and closet. After all, there wasn’t any real place for him to hide.
“So then, why are you here?” Liam said, “Excuse me if I come off a little rude. Do you have an important matter to discuss with me, or have you come here to waste my time?”
“Right,” Darek muttered, “I definitely didn’t want to waste your time, when you apparently seem to be doing nothing to begin with.”
“I didn’t quite catch that whisper of yours.” Liam cupped his hand by his ear. “What’d you say? You’ll have to speak louder than that.”
“Well, the thing is…” Darek suddenly remembered something. “Liam. You’re Liam?”
Liam nodded. “Yes, that is correct.”
The name seemed familiar, Darek thought. Why did it seem so familiar? Darek searched his pockets and pulled out a beaten up envelope. It had experienced quite a bit: it had been drenched, crushed, bitten, stabbed, clawed and smashed several times. But thankfully, due to good packaging, the envelope was still in fair shape. He checked the name on the envelope and indeed it was for Liam. “I don’t believe it…this package that I’ve been carrying all along is for you—an elder.”
Liam hopped out of his chair and snatched the package right out of Darek’s hands. “Oh? I rarely get anything nowadays from the surface.” He tore an opening and dumped the contents on the counter; his face lit up when he discovered a small bottle. “The necessary ingredient!”
“All right,” said Darek. “Now if you’ll just give me my pay, I’ll be on my way.” Darek froze. He was so used to asking for payment that he forgot he was speaking with an elder.
But before Darek could say anything to correct himself, Liam said, “Your pay? How about I reward you with the most spectacular thing you’ll ever see? We must begin at once!”
“But I really must be going,” insisted Darek. “You know what? Forget the payment. I’ll just head out now.”
Jumping up and down, the man joyfully screamed, “Yes, it’s time, it’s time! Time to begin the operation! Young man, you have no idea how much this means to me. Oh, how I have waited for this day. It seems like forever. Let’s get started. I’ll need your help.”
“You want my help?” Darek rolled his eyes.
Liam’s eyes narrowed. “Is there a problem?”
“Well, I’m in a hurry. I have other tasks to take care of.” Darek walked away.
“What?” The old man’s face became grave. Curling his lip, Liam snapped, “What could be more important than this? Do you dare defy me?”
Darek considered making a quick escape but he knew he couldn’t properly leave without consent from the elder. This was an elder before him. Though his appearance would seem like a fragile little old man, he remembered from Merdon’s words that appearances are deceiving when it comes to dealing with immortals. He figured the best way to handle this would be to get on the good side of this elder and maybe an opportunity to escape would present itself in time.
“I could help,” Darek yielded.
Liam patted Darek on the shoulder. “That’s my boy! Now don’t worry if you don’t know what to do, I’ll lead you through the process. The two of us will be enough to get the engine started.” He situated Darek in his chair and turned on the computers. As the monitors flickered on, millions of intricate calculations began to roll along them.
Darek tried to excuse himself one last time. “I really know nothing about how to operate this stuff. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea for me to be here.”
“All you have to do is just push this red button right here when I tell you to.” Liam pointed to a large red button. “Simple, right?”
“I guess. But it’s still confusing for me. I thought red signified stop. Maybe I—”
“Don’t think about it!” Liam was tired of hearing excuses. “Just do as I say! I’ll tell you when to push the button.” Liam left through a small elevator shaft.
As soon as the strange scientist left the control room, Darek got up from his chair and tiptoed to the door and cracked it open. Peering outside, Darek saw his pursuers in the hall. Oddly enough, the guards seemed to have skipped over the room he was in. He wondered if it was because the room belonged to the elder. Maybe stepping inside this room was even more dangerous than staying out. But there was a possibility that this elder might be different from the rest. He certainly didn’t seem as dangerous as the others. By helping this elder, he may be granted a favor in return, Darek thought.
Darek sat back down and saw Liam tinkering around with several machines. Liam was standing on the elongated platform that extended itself out from the tower, far towards the core. The place was shielded from the radiation by something that looked like a glass bubble. The old man ran here and there, inspecting everything and ensuring that everything was in working order. He then took the bottle and emptied its contents within a small tube on the large machine. Liam spun around to face Darek and gave the thumbs up.
Darek hesitated. Darek didn’t know if he should go through with this or not. On one hand, helping the elder would allow him to escape, and on the other, he didn’t know what would happen if he pushed the button. Sorren had told him that messing with the core was a bad idea.
While Darek was thinking, he felt a tingling feeling on his shoulder. He looked at his left shoulder and there it was—a large spider. It had dropped down from a spider thread.
“Eek!” Darek shrieked. With excessive force, he brushed it off with the back of his hand.
Darek was able to get a good look at the bug, which was scampering away the moment it hit the floor. At first he thought it was a spider, but after looking at it, he couldn’t tell anymore. Its body was long and thin with spiky bristles protruding; its legs looked like crab legs, but hairier and plumper. Beady eyes were all over its back, giving it full vision of the room.
Darek snatched up some paper he found lying around. There were reports and charts and all of them were suitable for spider whacking. Distracted by the spider’s presence, Darek ignored everything around him and focused on the bug’s demise.
With this roll of paper, Darek chased after the spider all across the room; Darek was hot on its tail as it jumped up the table and ran circles around the controls. Then Darek had the greatest opportunity before his eyes. The spider stopped moving. Wham! Darek slammed down with all his might! But when he lifted the roll of paper, which was now smothered with spider entrails, he realized he had slammed down on the red button. Nervous about his mistake, Darek walked back up to the window to see what would happen.
The machine started to crank into gear. The top of the machine was long and thin, built like a massive syringe with a needle. Through a series of complicated, automated procedures, the needle was injected into the core. The outside of the machine had many transparent tubes; Darek watched with full attention as fluids were constantly pumped through these tubes into the interior of the core by powerful pistons. The core, which was originally orange, became a dark crimson red. Like an enraged ball of hot magma, the core expanded and shook feverishly in place.
Liam cackled and howled with laughter and shouts of joy. He paraded around his machine and exclaimed, “It is finished! It is finished!”
CHAPTER 23 The Elder