Lost Memories
Chapter 2:
Footfalls echoed around us as we swept from building to building. The silence of the city maddened me. There should have been sound. The sunstorm above us swirled like an angry ocher maelstrom. The light was blinding.
The others ran behind me, trying to keep up. It was all I could do to keep my pace from becoming a sprint. The taste of salt ran through my mouth.
“Which way did they go?” Yuri gasped.
I couldn’t answer. I kept moving forward.
I slipped and caught myself against a nearby supporting pillar. I peered ahead of me, trying to gauge my position relative to our encampment. A cavernous avenue yawned to our left and right. We were almost there. We had to be close behind him. I took a step forward and immediately felt dizzy as my stomach grumbled. I breathed out, trying to regain my stamina.
“What is going on?” Tian’ Xi demanded, her patience wearing thin. “Who do you think you saw?”
“It might be Yensir.” I breathed.
Tian’ Xi walked up to my side, her eyes looking for answers in my face. “Are you sure?”
“No, and that’s why we’re following them.” I growled.
“What did they look like?”, Tian’ Xi asked, her voice filled with doubt.
“Just, a figure. Their face was covered. They had a gun in their hand.”
“Great.” Tian’ Xi spat, leveling one of the group’s rifles and scanning the avenue ahead for any interlopers. “That could be anyone.”
“I think it was a derringer.” I pushed myself onto my feet from the wall. “I only know of one person on this expedition who has a derringer, and that’s Yensir.”
“Well I hope this run wasn’t for nothing.” Tian’ Xi said, scanning the left fork of the avenue as she took the lead.
I scanned the right fork. Nothing. Tian’ Xi didn’t know how much I agreed with her. After dozens of rhythms spent fruitlessly searching for the man, I don’t know if I could handle another mirage. He’d left virtually no trace of his escape from the Destiny. I still didn’t know how or when he’d made the slip. I was almost certain he could give the White Hats the slip.
Of course, that was more true now than ever since we’d killed them all.
We crossed the avenue in silence. After passing by the next building, I stopped and lowered my gun. I stared at the ground in front of the building. Tian’ Xi followed my gaze.
Bloody footprints.
It wasn’t a lot of blood. It was just enough to outline the left sole of a right boot. If it weren’t for my attention to detail while tracking, it could almost have passed unnoticed. It might have by the owner of the boot.
Dr. Ininsir pointed and whispered excitedly, “They went in that building!”
The tracks led to the door of the building to our left. The doors were heavy, at least twelve feet tall and carved with geometric patterns. I walked up to them and put my hand on the cold surface. How had our quarry managed to open these doors and close them behind themselves? I tried pulled at the seam of the twin slabs of stone. They didn’t budge.
Tian’ Xi and Yuri walked up beside me and joined in my efforts, but it was no use. Yuri stepped back, wiping his brow and scratching his head. “Something’s strange here.”
Without warning a loud crunching reverberated through the deserted city street as the doors slowly scraped open. I stepped back, bewildered.
“That’s the first powered thing I’ve seen in this city. Curious...” Dr. Ininsir contemplated.
I shot a glance over at her. Her foot was hovering near a stone engraving in the bottom of the building’s wall marked with an unrecognizable angular glyph. A spattering of blood decorated its otherwise pristine surface.
I took a mental note of the glyph. It likely meant entry for anywhere else that seemed blocked off.
The interior of the building’s first floor yawned before me. It was a single chamber. The empty space between myself and the opposite wall gave me chills. The only cover were two perfect lines of promethean stone benches down the center of the room. Only a few triangular portholes looked out onto the sun-lit streets of the city across the… was it a lobby? I couldn’t tell. There were inexplicable divots in front of each bench, along with more strange geometric hieroglyphs on the walls in front of them. The bloody bootprints faded out after reaching the nearest bench. After a quick sweep behind each of the benches to establish that we were alone, I scanned each of the inscriptions, trying to see if any of them seemed familiar.
Tian’ Xi followed me in, an expression of agoraphobia spread across her face. She shivered, clearly disliking the lack of anywhere to hide in the room.
Yuri closed the door behind us as Dr. Ininsir walked through the entrance by stepping on another glyph immediately to the side of the door. He kept a watchful eye on the doors as they crunched shut.
Dr. Ininsir approached the bench where the bootprints led. She walked around the bench, examining it. “Whoever they were, they were here. They tried to catch their breath.”
“Tell me something I don’t know, doc.” I murmured out. None of the hieroglyphs on the wall were familiar to me.
“This place… I wish I knew what it was...” she whispered, her eyes flitting over to the writing.
“Does it look familiar?” I queried as she haltingly walked towards the wall into which the first glyph was carved.
“Bits and pieces. I think there are multiple symbols overlaid on top of each other. I don’t know how in what order they fit together, or what transformations to use on them.” She folded her arms and put her hand to her mouth as she studied the glyph.
Tian’ Xi’s hands flung outward in frustration as she turned to face me. “So where did they go?”
I scanned the floor. “There must be some clue as to what path they took when they left the building. Help me look for it.”
Five minutes later, I spotted something. A tiny blood drop and a piece of lint by one of the other benches. I looked up at the glyph on the wall. It wasn’t familiar in the slightest. I cursed; I hated myself when I let my hopes get up.
“What is it?” Tian’ Xi asked.
“It looks like he… they were at this bench as well. I don’t know what’s so special about it.”
Yuri jogged over to look at the bench. “Try the glyph on the wall?” He offered.
I shrugged. It was worth a try. Before Dr. Ininsir could get a word in edgewise, I’d crossed the distance and slapped the glyph.
It was just an engraving.
The doctor’s protests died on her lips. She scurried over to study the image. “This one has elements of the symbols for ‘space’, ‘to know’, and ‘movement’, and I think there’s a numeral in there. I’ve never seen glyphs in anything like this configuration before.”
“Any clue as to what it means, doc?” I asked in frustration, slapping the greasy sides of my trousers.
“I think it’s significant relative to our friend, whoever they are. They were certainly interested in this place for this information up here.” The doctor pushed her glasses further up on her nose.
“Why?” Tian’ Xi countered as she squatted down to look at the divot in front of the bench. “They could have just walked in here to get out of sight. They were clearly injured.”
“If they were looking to escape a pursuer, there were certainly better places to choose. There’s only one way in and out of here.” I said.
Yuri slipped out of his jacket, perspiration leaking down his face. “It’s possible they made an unwise choice in the heat of the moment.”
Dr. Ininsir shook her head. “This is the only place in the city that we’ve seen so far with any kind of mechanics working like that door. The information up on the wall is significant somehow. I just know it. I don’t know how, but our friend was interested in these symbols.”
I heard a clunk. “Haye, can you move to the side?” Tian’ Xi asked.
I obliged while looking over at her. She had pulled a pin up a little ways out of the floor, and was moving it around, tracing it to the glyph. After a while she shook her head. “That’s not it.”
Dr. Ininsir snapped her fingers. “Try the entrance glyph!” Her voice raised with excitement.
Tian’ Xi looked over at the glyph by the side of the door and a smile spread across her face. She traced the form of the entry glyph with the pin.
This time something happened. The divot in the ground closed in as Tian’ Xi removed her hand. A whole chuck of the floor in front of us slowly slid away to reveal a staircase with gigantic steps, trailing down into an unknown inky blackness.
We gathered at the entrance and peered down into the passageway. Beyond a certain depth, the paltry light from the portholes faded into nothingness. I felt another chill go up my spine. There was no way for us to continue on inside without some form of light.
“By the River, Haye...” Yuri breathed out. “Are we really going in there?”
My face set in grim determination. “Yes. But not without the rest of our provisions. We should gather our things from camp and set up in this room. We’ll need the wood for torches anyhow.”
Tian’ Xi stepped back. “I’m starting to think this is a bad idea.”
I eyed her in frustration. “We have to go in after him.”
“You don’t know that he’s in there. And what if we get stuck down there?” Tian’ Xi lips drew taught.
“A little while ago you were looking for something to do to get us out of this situation. Well,” I gestured widely at the opening. “Here it is. We can either sit in place and slowly starve to death, or we can at least try to find Yensir.”
Tian’ Xi glanced briefly at the tunnel before sighing and nodding. I didn’t blame her trepidation. The last time we’d gone into a darkened tunnel, it had cost some of the crew their lives.
At the same time, we all knew how important it was to find Yensir. I’d long ago explained to the rest of them about the time I’d come across him conversing with the ancient one known as the Archivist like an old acquaintance. I’d told them about “The Five”, the secret organization he belonged to that I knew nothing about apart from its name. I’d told them about his cryptic references to “Integer” and “wetwork”. They already had known about his uncanny knowledge of the ships that pursued us on our arrival into the city. We’d discussed it at length. The expedition had been part of a much larger plot to visit the Sunward pole and retrieve something from this city. We didn’t know what it was, we didn’t know how he intended to do it, but we knew that if we could find him it would be one step closer to figuring our way out of this situation.
I walked over to the doors we’d entered earlier and pressed the glyph next to them. “We should finish our food as well.” I said. “We’re going to need our strength for this chase.”
***
As disgusting as our meal was, it was filling at least. While Yuri wiped his fingers off on his jacket, leaving grease stains, I mulled over the tin mug full of bodily fluids. It smelled fatty. A small amount of solids had settled in at the bottom.
I took another mug and strained out the solids with my fingers. Nobody watched me as I took a piece of wood and fastened scrap cloth from one of my torn shirts over the tip and soaked it in the animal fat.
Now for the moment of truth. I scraped out a spark from the flint and steel. The makeshift torch lit up and I sighed with relief. After making a couple more unlit torches, I turned towards the others. “It’s time.” I stated firmly.
The others arose from the positions they’d rested in and gathered what materials we could carry with us. I felt oppressively laden down with a heavy pack.
Once we’d gathered around the tunnel entrance, we paused and stared in again, our unease at the passage growing. The torch didn’t penetrate far into the darkness, only enough to see that the staircase before us continued down at least fifty meters. I broke the spell by holding my torch aloft and stepping, or rather climbing, down that first step. The others followed suit soon after.
We made slow going. The torch burned bright however, and the void immediately around us was banished for the most part.
The way behind us had narrowed down to a small spot of light by the time a wall had emerged out of the void ahead of us. It was another twelve-foot high wall with a door inset. I saw an entrance glyph to its side. When we’d made it to the landing, Dr. Ininsir moved forward and pressed the glyph, causing the doors to swing open like the entrance to the building behind us.
Beyond was a narrow tunnel. Like the stairs behind us, the torchlight couldn’t penetrate to its end. A strange indentation in the middle of the floor continued down the length of the corridor and traveled its entire length, or so I surmised. The walls were smooth, with elegant abstract patterns lining their surface. A peculiar ozone-laced smell blew out as soon as we opened the door.
Yuri cringed at the smell, letting out a disgusted and frightened grunt. It was magnified and echoed off the walls of the passage in front of us.
I drew back a step, snorted, and walked towards the door, pausing on the threshold. I turned back to the others. “Well?” I demanded.
We were forced to proceed single-file. I walked at the head of the group with my rifle, and passed the torch back to Tian’ Xi. She walked behind me with the torch raised over my shoulder. If whoever it was we were tracking decided to attack us, there was little room for maneuver. Relying on the element of surprise seemed a little foolish, what with our torch all but loudly announcing our presence.
I felt a distinct unease growing in me as we proceeded. It couldn’t have just been from the tactical considerations of our situation. My organs felt like they were vibrating somehow. Small waves of nausea coursed through me. I didn’t know if any of the others felt what I was experiencing. Was it just paranoia?
Out of the darkness, a wall at the end of the tunnel appeared. When we drew close, a fork in the passage grew clearer, forming a tight thirty degree angle. Another strange symbol had been engraved ahead of us at the junction. It was constructed from many geometric symbols overlaid on top of each other. To me, it induced pareidolic hallucinations.
I stopped at the fork, scanning the two offshoots. Which way had they gone?
My heart beat in my ears. I tapped my foot lightly to get rid of the incessant silence while I contemplated.
“Haye?” Tian’ Xi inquired.
Nothing on the ground caught my eye.
I scanned the walls for any sign of the hunted. Along the smooth slate of the right side was a minuscule red mark. I motioned for Tian’ Xi to hold the light up to it.
It was a tiny smear of dried blood, barely an eighth of the width of my index finger. They had rested here against the wall, before continuing down the right passage. I motioned in that direction, stilling myself and creeping forward.
We couldn’t be that far behind them.
The right passageway proceeded for a long time. I had a hard time measuring in my head the exact distance. Time appeared to be stretching and skewing. I kept blinking for some reason.
After a while, I fell to wondering where in the city we were traveling under. We must have descended at least a hundred meters underground. That further messed with my perception of location. I assumed we’d been traveling in the direction of the city center, but what if the tunnel had been veering slowly in one direction or another? My vision was swimming.
I rubbed my eyes. Something wasn’t right. I halted briefly.
“You feel it too?” Dr. Ininsir asked.
I looked back at the others. Anxious and unsettled looks were settled in on their faces. “Yeah. Doc, what is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Ininsir’s voice trembled.
“Is it a gas?” I growled. If Yensir had gone down here and somehow died in a subterranean pocket of poisonous vapors, we would never get any answers from him.
“No.”
“Well what is it then?” My voice raised in frustration.
“Haye, we should turn back.” Yuri stated.
“Yuri, let her speak.” I sharply pushed back. “What is this, doctor?”
“It could be lightrot. We’d be more nauseous though… I wish I could give you an answer, Haye.” She shivered.
I frowned. “We have to find him. If you want, I’ll go forward alone, and you can go back and wait for me.”
“No… It’s… fine.” She said.
We stood there in silence. It wasn’t fine. My ears rang. The walls vibrated. I breathed in air and the air ululated as it passed my vocal chords. Waves of pressure propagated through the space around us.
“Gears!” Yuri cursed.
I couldn’t see what he was cursing at over the file of people behind me. “What is it?”
“Did we make a wrong turn?” Came his incredulous answer.
“We didn’t turn, Yuri. We’ve been going straight this entire time.”
“I could have sworn we had turned… The way behind us forks. Do you remember how we get back?”
“The left path. The other way leads somewhere else. We saw a blood mark, remember?”
“I don’t know if we saw a blood mark, I just remember we turned. I don’t remember where. Are we lost?” Yuri was growing agitated.
Tian’ Xi answered calmly, “No we aren’t Yuri. We’ve only made one turn. It was to the… right?” She faltered.
I nodded. “Yes, we turned right.”
“Did we?” Her previous calm was giving way to confusion. “I’m not sure I remember that.”
Come to think of it, I wasn’t entirely sure of it myself. I thought we’d made one right turn, but my memory had fogged up. I couldn’t remember the last five minutes. We’d entered here looking for Yensir but… which way had we gone? How had we gotten to this point? I remembered a fork, but I didn’t remember which direction it had come from. I tried to repress my rapidly developing panic.
“There was a turn.” Dr. Ininsir offered.
“Was there?” Yuri whispered.
“Yes, I definitely think there was a turn…” The doctor answered. “And we went left.”
“No there was a fork, but it was a three-way fork, and I think it came from Haye’s direction.” Yuri murmured. “Or… It came from our side, and led to a two-way fork.”
“We should never have gone in here.” Tian’ Xi hissed, her calm completely evaporated.
“Oh can it.” I snapped at her. “How the hell was I supposed to know we’d lose our way in this maze?”
“There was a very likely possibility of this happening from the very beginning.” Tian’ Xi angrily exploded. “I didn’t want to say it before we entered here, but going into dark and pitch-black holes in the ground has netted us nothing but trouble in the past. Getting lost was one of the things I foresaw happening.”
“Oh so that’s how it is.” I snapped.
Tian’ Xi glared at me. “You are one of the most stubborn assholes I’ve met in my life. Once you get an idea in your head, there’s no turning you from your course. It’s just ‘Well! I guess we’re doing this now!’”
“You think I’m stupid!?” I shouted incoherently. “What the hell is wrong with you! This was the only option that could possibly have bettered our position. I’ve spent my life tracking, unlike you. Getting lost down here wasn’t even a remotely possible thing.”
“Haye…” Yuri started.
I continued, talking over Yuri.“I’m trying to do everything I possibly can to get us out of this place, or at least stay alive.”
“Haye.” Yuri said, louder this time.
I pointed an accusatory finger at Tian’ Xi. “If you can’t handle the situation, I suggest you not take it out on me. Pipe down and let me think.”
“Haye!” Yuri practically screamed.
“What!?” I snapped.
“Listen!” He whispered.
I listened. There was a faint tremor in the air. I hadn’t noticed that before. My ears were vibrating. It was so loud. How long had that sound been present? Instinct kicked in. There was a threat somewhere in here.
“We need to go back.” I commanded.
“Which way is back?” Dr. Ininsir quietly demanded.
“Towards Yuri.”
The party lurched back in Yuri’s direction, when he suddenly yelled out, “There’s a four-way intersection! Which way did we go!?”
I cursed inwardly. “Let me see if I can get through.” I tried to squeeze past Tian’ Xi, but despite our scuffles it was no use.
“Look, just stop!” Tian’ Xi shouted.
“I can’t lead us if I’m not at the front!”
“The front is that way!” She yelled in my face, gesticulating wildly to the space in front of me.
I heard Yuri slump down and curl into himself. “We’re not going to make it. We’re going to die down here.”
“We’re not gonna die here Yuri! What do you see at the intersection?”
“There’s an old torch. I don’t remember leaving it there.”
I halted and the color drained from my face. I clawed at my belt. The spare torches were gone. Had we used them already? How long had we been down here? What was happening to us? Where had I left my rifle?! Where was my rifle?!
Why did my hand hurt?
I looked down, blood stained my hand. I looked up at Tian’ Xi. Her nose was leaking blood.
Did… I do that? When did that happen?
She spat out blood. “What the hell?” Fear laced her voice. “When did that happen? I don’t remember that…”
The light from the torch was fading. In a panic I screamed out “Everyone start moving! I don’t care in which direction, just do it!”
Everything felt disjointed. Out of place. If only I could remember what was happening, why it was happening, everything would be fine. My mind turned against me. The thought started to repeat in my mind: We’re going to die down here. Alone. In the dark. Without remembering anything that happened.
Tian’ Xi slammed into me, the torch flying from her hand. When it hit the floor, the flame was extinguished, leaving us in total darkness.
Commentary:
The events in the later part of this chapter are inspired by a concussion that I suffered in January of 2019. The experience was fairly dreadful. I must have somehow managed to get on the bus to go to my regular place of work, but I have no memory of it. I started panicking on the bus as I realized I couldn’t remember where I left my goggles, or why I was on the bus at all. I couldn’t form any memories for about five minutes. Thankfully, there was a kind person on the bus who helped me to the emergency room, which was also fortunately on the bus route, where they took a look at my head and concluded that I didn’t have any lasting damage. To this day, it was one of the scariest experiences of my life.
Always wear your helmet while biking, friends.
P.S.
I’m switching to a bi-weekly model of chapter writing, since it is fairly difficult to write both the chapter and any detailed commentary or further Sunlock-related goodies in a weekly timeframe. Rest assured the next issue of this newsletter should include even more content.
I wish all of you the best in the new year, let’s hope 2021 isn’t as terrible as 2020 was.