Inner Sanctum, Hidden Chamber | 11:41 AM | Second Day
We examined the shelves further, but at first, didn't find anything more than assorted tools and supplies. Bronze sheets and pipes, glue, binding coil, and several boxes of small chanisms that looked like sothing you'd see in a golem or logic engine. Tiny little rivets and gears...
Where the barrier split, Kam turned and nudged her head to the right, to which I offered no objection. We turned the corner, and were t with a similar hall, also lined with shelves.
This ti, though, they were stacked with sothing far more conspicuous.
"Good heavens," Kam exclaid. "Are these guns?"
They were, and in no small number. I could see at least fifteen rifles and ten pistols, and they weren't antiques. They looked like refractor weapons, the bronze still carrying the vivid sheen of recent production. Noticing the ammunition on the bottom shelf - rows of silver rectangles, accompanied by small spheres - confird it.
Refractor firearms had been developed at the end of the Great Interplanar War. They functioned on a similar principle to eris storage for modern scepters, using an artificed, reflective container to hold energy in the form of pure light. Except instead of being consud directly as fuel for the Power, it was employed to excite clusters of particles to imnse speeds, and then propel them through a series of lenses to produce a range of effects.
That versatility was what had made the invention revolutionary. Depending on which lenses were down, they fired anything from harmless beams of light, to bursts of electromagnetic charge that would usually stun a target rather than kill them (assuming they got proper treatnt for radiation poisoning), to bolts that would carve clean through armor and flesh, to superheated blasts that could set fire to entire buildings or reduce foot-thick stone walls to lava in seconds.
Combined with the lack of any recoil, they turned any moron with working hands and eyes into the equivalent of a passable battlemagi. The ones produced by the military even had shield-conjuring artifices built in, though they needed to be maintained by an arcanist regularly to stay operational.
It was said that the prospect of a proper war with this sort of equipnt as the standard had been one of the primary reasons the Grand Alliance had remained so stable over the centuries. And why so many had died in the revolution, despite its relatively small scale and short length.
"Sure looks like it," I said, staring wide-eyed at the display. "Suppose that about rules this being an archive out."
"With this many guns, I should think this could only be called an armory," she said, kneeling down as she inspected the rear of the area. "There's enough here to equip an entire cohort. Look-- They even have explosives!"
I peeked down. I wasn't truly qualified to say for certain, but there were several small, hooked cannisters that certainly looked like grenades, and well as so segnted boxes that seed to be attached to tirs... Or at least, circular ters of so kind. They could've been for sothing less destructive, like smoke, but I wasn't going to pick at the point. This was obviously serious combat equipnt.
"Maybe this is here in case the Sanctuary cos under attack," I speculated. "We already know a lot of it was designed with that in mind. And then, since it stopped being as much of a danger, they abandoned the room and covered it up so guests like us didn't stumble in."
"Not an unfair conclusion," she said, with a nod. "Though, I'm not sure what they'd need a bunch of tools for the uninitiated for. Almost everyone in the order are arcanists with centuries of experience. Even if they're not trained for battle, they could certainly do a lot better than blasting these things about."
Uninitiated, if it's not self-evident, was a term for non-arcanists.
"I've heard of so people who like to use both," I said. "And there so non-arcanists, and maybe so of them don't know any combat techniques at all."
"Hmm... I suppose so," she said, nodding. "That said, you're wrong about at least one thing."
I frowned. "What do you an?"
"This place having been abandoned," she said. "Take a closer look at the shelves."
I turned back, and looked again, holding the lamp closer.
It took an embarrassing amount of ti to understand what she ant: There was no dust. Not even so much as a visible speck. This room had been thoroughly cleaned, and very recently at that - now that I was thinking about it, I could even faintly sll the odour of bleach in the air.
There was another scent, too, though very faint, to the point it didn't even feel like it was coming from this room. Sothing rotten, rancid...
I heard a clunking sound to the side, and saw that Kam had picked up one of the rifles, examining it closer. As she ran a finger across it, I could see so moisture was present - they'd all been washed, too, not just dusted.
"Uh, should you really be doing that...?" I asked hesitantly. "You're going to leave fingerprints.
She scoffed. "Don't be neurotic, Su. Assuming we don't get caught anyway, I doubt they're going to spontaneously decide to do a clinical investigation in this room." She set it back down, and reached into her handbag. "But if if makes you feel better, I'll wipe them off with my handkerchief and put on so gloves."
I furrowed my brow. "You carry gloves around with you."
"Mm? Oh, yes," she said, as she slipped them on. They were silk, maroon-colored.
"Why?" I asked.
She simply tapped her nose as she wiped the rifle down, along with a small smirk.
This girl.
"Let's hurry along, then," she said, heading back the way we ca. "Probably already pushing our luck."
We turned and made for the final third of the room. The shelves were near-identical to what we'd seen a mont ago, down to similar equipnt - firearms to the side, explosives at the back. The only exception was that the stock seed to be even more abundant, suggesting this side of the room had been filled up first.
But there were two far more notable differences that imdiately caught my eye. The first was the was a large trap door at the back of the hall, left open, the hatch thrown all the way back. The second was the scorch mark against the wall behind it, concerning close to the explosives.
There was no mistaking the origin of it. It had to have been produced by one of the refraction weapons, probably at least a moderate setting. So of the stone looked to have lted and shifted, if only slightly.
"Good heavens," Kam said, peering. "This place certainly is full of surprises..."
"I've been thinking it since we ca out of the floor on our way out of the basent," I said. "That there might be secret passages all over the building."
"For its defense, you an?" Kam asked.
"Yes," I said, but then hesitated. "Well... Maybe not just defense. I feel like there's sothing I'm missing, with all of this."
I sniffed the air. That sour sll was a little stronger, now, and I was starting to feel a faint sense of dread. That, even though there was nothing yet to fully substantiate it, I knew what was coming next.
It didn't look like Kamrusepa shared my apprehension. Her deanour was almost cheerful, like she was on a fun little adventure.
"Well... After you," I said.
"Afraid I'm going to push you in?" She giggled to herself. "Well, don't worry. I trust you."
She stepped forward, and knelt down at the trap door. I followed, and stuck the lamp in to try and illuminate the interior. It was more awkward than I'd expected to actually get a decent look - relying on the Power whenever it was dark had spoiled .
A mont later, though, I wished I hadn't.
I adjusted my glasses and peered downwards. Unlike the hatch we'd co through earlier, this one didn't lead to a set of steps. Instead, it was a straight drop,with only a ladder nailed to the side as a ans of traversal. It was hard to tell how deep the drop was, but it was at least down to the ground floor, if not to the under-chambers outright.
Kam craned her neck. "Well, if we don't see a whole lot of bookshelves down there, I think we can safely write that letter off as, if naught else, misinford--"
And at the bottom, at the hard stone base of the chamber.. Far enough away that it muted the impact of the sight, but not to the point that I didn't inhale sharply, was a body.
"O-oh," Kamrusepa said, her voice cracking as her previous train of thought died. "That's... Rather not what I expected."
It looked like a woman, though I based that only on the clothing. She wore a vivid floral dress in Saoic style, pink and purple and white, but with boots that looked much more practical, creating a look that was almost at odds with itself.
There was blood from the fall, but that clearly hadn't been what had killed her, because close to half of her head was missing. It was difficult to make out, but her left cheek and eye seed to have been entirely annihilated, with burns covering a lot of the remainder. Her black hair, long, was scorched in turn.
I'd seen dead bodies plenty of tis before - that ca part and parcel with being a Thanatomancer. But still, the sight, combined with the now much more distinct sll of decomposing flesh, made feel sick. I suddenly felt vertigo, and had to look away from the hole to avoid throwing up.
"There's--" I gasped for breath, trying to compose myself. "There's a corpse in that hole."
"Um, sowhat stating the obvious, Su," Kam said, sounding a little shaken herself.
"There's a corpse in that hole," I repeated, as if the universe might understand my objection and abort the whole scenario if I made myself clear enough about it.
My brain processed more information about the sight even as my eyes were averted from it. Based on the sll and the state of the body, whover was down there, their death had been recent. As in, within the past 1-or-2 days recent, if not sooner.
"A fresh corpse," I appended.
"I should have to take your word for it," Kam said, taking the lantern from my hands, now that I was no longer in a state to position it. "I'm not too experienced with autopsies." She bit her lip. "Though, the skin does seem to be still intact... She looks eastern, probably Viraaki."
Viraaki...
"The chef," I said.
Kam turned to , blinking. "Pardon?"
"The chef," I repeated. "Vijana. Neferuaten and Yantho ntioned her yesterday. She went missing yesterday morning. No one had any idea what happened."
"Gods..." She shook her head, seeming at a loss for words. "It looks as though she took a shot through the head."
I nodded, and for a mont felt a pulse of irrational fear. I glanced around us, looking back the way we ca. Straining my ears for any sound that might suggest another presence, that we might be ambushed...
Calm down, I told myself. There's only two ways in. You're right next to one of the them, and you can't get the other open without making a a racket. And besides, all of this must've happened over a day ago.
That was the rational way to look at it, but it didn't feel like much of a comfort.
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While trying my best to look at at anything but the sight down below, I noticed sothing I hadn't earlier. A sheet of parchnt lying on the shelf to the side of us, the words 'TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN' scrawled in large, attention-grabbing print. I reached out, flipping it up.
Kam glanced over at the sound of the rustling. "What's that?"
"Uh, was on the shelf," I said, huddling a little closer to Kam. "Look."
We shifted a little backwards, and Kam held the lantern up so we could make out the smaller text below. In full, it read:
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Let this stand as my both my confession and last will and testant. For too long, I have been complicit in a cri of the most abominable nature. Not only have I sinned gravely against my fellow human beings, but worse, against both civilization and the natural order itself. I have stood idly by as innocents have been subject to unimaginable cruelty in the na of profane ambition, and at tis, even facilitated said cruelties myself.
I have done all of this, not out of selfless motive, but solely for my own gain. I told myself that I sought to free mankind from this accursed fate to which it has been condemned, but in truth, I knew from the beginning this was futile. Instead, I have allowed myself to be ruled by spite and selfish love, and in the process have invited a far more sorrowful end for those I should have cared for most of all.
It is too late to undo the damage I have done, and what little power I possessed that might have allowed for a gesture of open defiance I surrendered long ago. And I know better than to trust any commitnt I might make to the pursuit of atonent. Thus, the only thing I can do is to remove myself before a reckoning cos, in the small hope this might frustrate progress enough for soone else to co to their senses, or at least that so asure of further suffering might be averted.
If you are reading this and are one of my colleagues or superiors, then I beg you: Put a stop to this insanity. It is not too late. It is my last hope that seeing what has beco of will move you might see the folly in repeating that mistake, even if I know that is probably a vain hope.
On the other hand, if by so fluke this is discovered instead by one those whom I have sinned against, then I will not indulge myself by asking for forgiveness. I will only say that I was wrong, utterly, that everything I did was wrong, and that I am truly sorry. Please, forget everything that you have heard from and leave this place, so that you might be at least spared the wrath of the forces arrayed against us.
When I was young, I believed there was an essential justice within the world, beyond the reach of mankind's will. That no matter what, everything would eventually give way to a golden kindness. But as I grew older, I dismissed that as the aspirational thinking of a child. But now I see that I was right all along. This is justice. And this is kindness. Regardless of if its shape offends us.
nto Mori,
V.A
For so reason, it was written in Inner Saoic rather than Ysaran, or even Viraaki, though I knew Kam could read it too, thankfully. I didn't recognize the handwriting, but it was rougher than you'd expect for the eloquence of the prose, more like sothing you'd see from a teenage boy than the woman lying in the pit below.
I glanced to the side. "Have you finished it?"
"Mm," Kam said, her expression dour. "Gods, this is grim."
I nodded gravely, my eyes falling to rest on the white space at the bottom of the parchnt.
"It's stating the obvious, but it looks like a suicide note." She went on, pursing her lips. "Last will and testant..."
"Yeah..." I said, feeling at a loss for appropriate words.
"Though, if that's the case," she said, "I'm not sure why she'd have shot herself right on top of the hatch. Seems a tad, well. Redundant."
I shook my head. "No, it makes sense. You'd want so kind of backup plan, for sothing like this, in case you flinched and missed the brain. Otherwise, you could end up immobile and in agony for hours."
Kamrusepa twisted her lip a bit. "You're a concerning person to talk to sotis, Su."
I shrugged weakly.
"As for the rest of the note, I'm not sure I know what to make of it," she said. "You said this woman was the chef? As in, she prepares the food."
"That's right, yeah," I said. "The initials seem to line up, too. Assuming whatever 'A' stands for is her birthplace na."
"But this all reads like a bunch of high-minded objections to the actual practices of the order, from soone who's been participated in it deeply themselves." She bit on the edge of a finger. "Well, so of it. The rest is either so vague it's practically incoherent, or sounds like the sort of luddite nonsense you hear from Covenant fundantalists. 'Sinned against the natural order', my goodness..."
"I don't know if this is about just researching life extension," I said. "It sounds like she thought they were doing sothing terrible-- Not in the abstract, but to other people. That she'd done sothing terrible. A 'sorrowful end'..." I scratched the side of my head. "I an, unless we're taking the whole thing out of context. It's hard to tell what's ant to be literal."
That wasn't all that bothered about it. Sothing about the way it was written felt off in a way that was hard to put into words. It didn't feel like a suicide note should've, sohow, even one motivated by regret rather than unfulfilled emotional need. Sothing about it felt almost performative.
"The 'nto mori' at the end seems rather on the nose," she said, looking over so of it again herself. "But I agree, it's difficult to parse what she's trying to say. The beginning makes it sound like she's talking about the research in abstract, but then she ntions 'unimaginable cruelties' to individuals... But doesn't go into any specifics whatsoever. She could be talking about anything from illegal experints to-- Well, so petty interpersonal drama. It's worthless."
"Whatever it is, it sounds as though it's ongoing," I said. "Or at least, that she thought of it that way. And that it was partly her fault."
Kamrusepa scoffed. "Again, that's the most confusing part. She's the ruddy cook, not soone who ought to have bore 'fault' in anything." She shook her head. "If this was all about her fretting about the 'sin' of bad cooking, well, it's certainly a tad lodramatic."
I frowned. "That's kind of inappropriate, Kam."
"Just using humor to bare with a rather unpleasant situation," she said, with an uneasy smile. "Would rather think you of all people would be understanding."
I removed my glasses for a mont, rubbing my eyes. "We don't know for sure if she was the chef. That's just a guess." I paused. "And even if she was, she might not have just been the chef."
She raised an eyebrow. "What are you getting at?"
"Based on what we heard about how the organization is built, it doesn't sound like they'd just let a random person into the sanctuary to cook their food," I explained. "She said that associate mbers weren't even allowed in until recently. So to be here, she'd have to have so broader role in the organization. Were you here when Sacnicte talked about her role? About being a 'steward of the sanctuary'."
She nodded. "That was when we ca in, if I'm not mistaken."
"Right," I said. "But while we're guests, she's playing the role of a servant. Maybe the situation was sothing like that. She acted as the chef, but actually had so... Other role." I frowned worriedly. "Not sothing pleasant, if we take what's written as literal. Like the order was doing sothing really bad."
"For so people, just trying to slip the noose of mortality is reason enough to to this sort of rhetoric," she said, in a dismissive tone. But then doubt crept back into her voice. "But, to do sothing this severe... Either she was of greatly disturbed mind, or this was about sothing far more personal that's going over our heads."
She was right. It was insane to imagine soone going this far because they disagreed over research. But I struggled to believe the order could really be doing sothing to warrant this level of rhetoric, of total disgust. I knew nearly half of the inner circle personally, and the press had been crawling all over the workings of the organization for the past two decades constantly. We were far from the first guests.
It just didn't make sense.
"M.. Maybe this isn't what it looks like," I suggested. "Soone could have murdered her and put this here on purpose to cover it up." Yeah, that makes sense. Run with it. "Maybe that's why it's so vague, since they wouldn't have known any of her actual personal details. Throw together a suicide note that impiles sothing personal, then just... Let people draw their own conclusions."
Kamrusepa frowned. "What about the handwriting? Even if we can't tell, if it was soone who knew her, they'd notice right away."
"Could've been forged," I said. "There are even Neuromancy incantations to help with that, if you're willing to go far enough."
"Look, though," Kam said, pointing. "She's still holding the pistol in her hand, down there."
I flinched, then uneasily took another look down into the pit. It was hard for to make out with my crappy eyesight even after taking off my glasses, but it was just as Kamrusepa said. In her right hand, held on her chest, was a glint of one of the pistols.
"I'm not sure that proves much," I said, all the sa. "The killer could have just walked right down and put it in her hand."
"But look at where the shot's landed," she said, this ti pointing to the ashen mark on the back wall. "It's not at standing level, but sitting-- And straight rather than angled." She bit the edge of her lip. "Well, I suppose it's possible that the killer might've caught her kneeling and gone to down to her level... But it just doesn't seem likely."
Damn. She was right. It didn't make the theory completely implausible, but every piece of evidence seed to suggest the opposite.
...well, or so it seed in the mont. I wouldn't realize it until it was too late, about 30 minutes later, but I was missing several fairly obvious alternative conclusions here.
But we'll co back to that later.
"Don't get wrong-- I think I'd almost feel less peculiar about this if it were a homicide," She said, snorting. "Honestly, I feel like sothing of a voyeur having found this. It's obvious it was intended for anyone but us."
Was that really true, though?
My mind was still spinning, trying to reckon with the situation. Was this the place the letter had intended for to find, or sothing unrelated? What kind of reckoning did she think was coming?
And who was the last part referring to - the 'people she had wronged'? If she'd done this so close to our arrival, wouldn't she have considered the idea of one of us finding it?
But then, if what were the case, the 'everything that you have heard from ' part made no sense whatsoever. I'd never t this woman in my life, and I was one of the most likely candidates to have had so contact with the order - most of our class had no connections at all.
Again, It didn't make sense. None of it made sense.
"We--" I hesitated. "We have to tell soone we've found this. Neferuaten, the others."
She gave an uneasy look. "Now... Su, let's not rush into anything," she said, sounding tense. "We're trespassing by being here to begin with, rember?"
"That doesn't matter. Not in the face of sothing like this," I said. "We can't just go back out and act like we haven't seen anything. We're not qualified to make a judgent about what's going on - we can't even use the Power to check if it's been used to interfere with anything. That could easily disguise what actually happened here."
Kam was silent for a mont, her eyes flicking away to the side as she breathed deeply, like she was trying to suppress panic. "If they find out we were snooping around in here, it could damage our reputation. We might never get invited to sothing private like this again."
"You're the one who wanted to snoop around to begin with!"
"Keep your voice down!" She said, in a terse whisper. She blinked a few tis, rubbing her eyes. "I know, alright? That was stupid of . It was stupid of to be curious."
"Soone's died, Kam," I said, in a severe tone. "An actual person is dead right in front of us. This isn't so faux pax to work around for the sake of your record."
"She's dead already. It's not like the stakes are particularly high," she said, her eyes flickering to the side. She didn't even sound like she was convincing herself on that point.
"Don't be stupid." I chided her. "And anyway, this is an ergency. I really doubt they're going to punish us. Hell, we can say we slled it from outside and ca in to investigate, if you want!"
"That's--" She cut herself off, biting her tongue. "That's not the point."
"Then what is the point?"
"If we tell them about this," she said, her tone slow and deliberate, "then at bare minimum, they're going to end up cancelling this whole event. You realize that, don't you? Especially with what already happened to Ophelia."
"So what if they do? That's not..."
But then I stopped, the words dying in my throat.
Because it was important. If this caused a big fuss, and we all ended up being sent ho... Then Ran and I would never have a chance to speak with Samium. And based on what Autonoe had told in her letter and Neferuaten had basically confird, if we didn't speak to him today, there might never be another chance. And that was the optimistic version - where I was right instead of Kamrusepa, and they didn't never let us back in on account of being a security risk.
I gulped, my breathing growing heavier, an anxious knot forming in my gut.
"You're not as subtle as you think you are, Su," Kam said, her gaze focused. "I know there's sothing you need to do here, that you've been fretting about all week, especially in the last couple of days. Sothing important."
I didn't say anything, looking at the floor.
"Has it occurred to you," she went on, "that you might not be the only person that applies to?"
My eyes widened in surprise, and I turned back to regard her. Even though she was obviously still worked up, there was a strange determination in her eyes that hadn't been there a mont ago.
No, determination was the wrong word. This was an expression I should have recognized at once, because I'd seen it on myself so many tis in the past decade that I couldn't even begin to count.
Desperation.
What's she talking about...?
There was no ti to think about it. And even if it felt like a horrible, horrible idea, she was right. I couldn't destroy this chance.
Not for anything.
"...what could we even do?" I asked, after a mont had passed. All the conviction from a mont ago gone. "We've moved stuff around, left our fingerprints here. And now they probably will do a proper investigation." I twisted my brow in pained worry. "We can't just leave now and say nothing about it. They'll know. And on the off chance this is a murder, sohow..."
Kam closed her eyes for a mont, going very still. "Here's what we'll do," she said. "You go back outside. Tell Theo and the others I got impatient and went to find another set of facilities, and will be back in a mont. I'll stay for a few minutes and do a little cleaning up here."
"How?" I asked. "You won't be able to use the Power. Not without them knowing."
"I won't need to. We haven't touched much, thanks for your... Diligence, so it should be easy to wipe off the prints," she continued. "As for the note, I'll take that with . Then, when the main event is all wrapped up this evening and we've both finished what we need to do, I'll make so excuse to co back up here. Then I'll co back down and tell everyone I found it inserted half-way into the bookshelf. That way, this'll still be drawn to everyone's attention sooner rather than later."
"But they might suspect you," I said. "If there are no other witnesses..."
"That won't happen," she said, with what felt like inappropriate confidence. "Don't worry. I'll find a way to make it all work."
My heart was racing. This whole notion gave a sense of dread, like I was stepping out in front of a tram line. That there must have been a better, more rational thing to do. But we were already so short on ti. I didn't have ti to debate it, to co up with a laundry list of problems to pick away at until the solution felt refined enough, like I normally would. It was do or die.
"U-Uh," I said, my voice shaking. "Alright... I'll, uh. I'll go, then."
"Mm," she nodded firmly. "Don't worry. I'll be along quickly. Just try to stay composed when you're talking to everyone."
"Yeah," I said, breathless. "Can you-- Will you really be able to take care of this?"
"Yes, Su," she insisted. "It'll all be fine. Just go."
It didn't feel like it would all be fine, but nevertheless, I went. Back through the room, out through the bookcase, back to the lamplit hall. Trying desperately to calm myself down.
There's a dead body.
There's a dead body, and you're going to just ignore it. Because it might cause too much of a fuss.
This is such a bad idea!
Fuck!
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