Chapter 219 – The Seed Vault

Lilyth - Day 4 - 117 Days Remain

What was it with me and stumbling into forbidden mysteries?

And the oddity of my Bunny’s wording. “For the sake of everyone that loves me”. Not everyone I love. Everyone who loves me.

Suddenly the horrifying truth occurred to me.

It is not the knowledge. It is its cost. Pursuing that line of inquiry would require me to do vivisections on… Aki… Caei… Ren… hell… even Veenaya and Chirpy, wouldn't it? Or Phoebe. How else would I measure the effects of emotions on a soul during death?

‘Surprised you figured it out that quickly,’ my Bunny let out a sigh of relief. ‘Then again that is why I love you.’

I suppose it is due to the angle from which I'm approaching this. I want to know how Vengeful Spirits work first and foremost. I imagine others want to research… different things.

‘Yes. Research into souls invariably leads down the route of experimentation. After all, there is only so much you can glean from observation.’

And since I can't imagine a soul surviving such experiments, I assume every single person who tried that ended up in Super Max?

‘That happens during advanced stages of “research”, but once someone gets there… that's not something that is forgivable.’

Good. Just… ceasing to be because of some asshat is beyond the pale.

‘You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. Now, focus on making it through there alive.’

Will do, my Queen. Hug Phoebe for me.

‘Happily.’

Ereshkigal - Day 4 - 117 Days Remain

She hated herself for not being entirely truthful with Lilyth, but the alternatives were far, far worse. What her Vixen had guessed was one of the more obvious routes, but it was one with a dead end, as no useful information could be gained by dissecting souls.

To the best of her knowledge, only one mortal ever figured out the correct route. A few others had come close, but by then they were either driven mad by their attempts, or simply gave up out of despair.

The cost also proved to be too much to bear for that one researcher and he ended up taking his own life. The problem was that he didn't destroy all of his research and what was left later served as the theoretical basis to create Ascension Thrones, leading to the deaths of millions.

As weird as it is to think it, I just hope you don't grow up as smart as your dad, she hugged Phoebe tightly. Or at least have more sense than she does.

Savri - Day 4 - 117 Days Remain

Why would they cut the elevator cables? I thought, looking down the empty elevator shaft.

At least that was what it looked like.

Or maybe the cable just broke.

It was hard to tell after centuries of entropy doing its thing.

No matter the cause, however, the sad remnants of the elevator now lay on the bottom of the shaft, having shattered on impact and then rusted over time.

Rest in peace, brave soldier.

I had no idea why I was eulogising an old elevator. Maybe our group insanity was embedding itself deeper inside of me.

I decided not to dwell too much on it. Like, I was eighty per cent certain it was somehow Lilyth's fault, but as she hadn't been part of my life too much lately, there could have been other factors at play.

There was a collapsed barricade made out of now-rotting furniture blocking the stairs leading to the level below. Parts of it appeared to have been manually removed and placed aside from our side.

‘Looks like our missing man wasn't deterred by all the dead,’ Lilyth muttered.

‘I don't like that,’ Deirdee added.

I had to agree. Even I found this place unnerving, and believe me… between my service in the Fourth and the parade of horrors we’ve encountered during our adventures here, I’ve seen some shit.

Savri - 14/01/2736

Gunshots echoed in the metal corridors of the asylum station. We rushed to their source, but saw that it was just our drone operator Mark van Djisktra unloading his pistol into the PA system speakers.

‘Specialist van Djisktra!’ Paul barked at him. ‘Cease fire! Right the fuck now!’

‘I had to silence it,’ the drone operator said.

‘Silence what?’ I asked, genuinely confused.

If anything, the station has been eerily quiet and, and so far, we have found no trace of either the staff nor the patients. Their belongings were still there along with half-eaten meals and whatnot, but the people were gone.

‘The giggling,’ Mark replied. ‘That infernal giggling. It just doesn't stop.’

We looked at each other.

‘Mark,’ Serge said, doing his best to remain calm. ‘We can't hear any giggling.’

That only freaked the man more, not that I blamed him, so Paul ended up ordering Anika to take him back to the Myrmidon.

The three of us continued our search for the missing people and, as we walked, I also started hearing things. Pitter patter of bare feet. Unintelligible whispers. Laughter of a young girl.

Is this what Mark was talking about?

‘You got anything that can help with all that noise, Adzhenair?’ Paul asked.

‘You can now hear it too?’ I wanted to confirm.

‘Yes.’

‘Me too,’ Serge added.

‘Disembodied voices aren't my speciality,’ I sighed. ‘But maybe I can try [Ward]?’

It didn't help. If anything, it made the whole thing worse as the whispers now sounded angry and there was malice to the laughter.

‘Well, I guess we now know we are not imagining shit,’ Paul said cautiously. ‘I would suggest we get our move on before the creepy disembodied voices decide to manifest.’

The bloody streaks all over the walls and floor told us we were on the right track.

Usually, this is a message to turn back, but they are not paying me to be a bloody massacre interpreter. I wonder if you could actually communicate through those. Three disembowelled bodies mean yes and one intact one means no? Yeah. That could be work.

Another indicator of us getting closer was the increasing intensity of the angry messages in our heads. None of us had any idea what the voices were actually saying, but they did sound somewhat livid.

Our destination turned out to be one of the cargo holds. Inside, we found most of the staff, hanging off the walls having been nailed to them through their hands and feet in a manner resembling a crucifixion. Their ribcages and stomachs have been cut open and spread apart, causing their entrails to spill out.

The worst thing, aside from everything else, was the blood-covered girl dressed only in a hospital gown merrily skipping around, almost as if dancing, without a care in the world.

Giggling.

Savri- Day 4 - 117 Days Remain

‘Where are all the bodies?’ Aki asked upon seeing that the second level had been completely abandoned.

‘That is a great question,’ Caei agreed.

‘The level below?’ Persephone suggested. ‘I assume that would be the one with the hydroponics, so if the plant monsters wanted to feed, they would likely make that place their larder.’

I wasn't so certain. The whole “plant monster” thing didn't add up. Why the mass suicide if that was really the case?

An even weirder thing was the fact, that despite the floor containing several laboratories and offices not a single shred of paper remained.

‘Isn’t paper plant matter?’ Lilyth suggest. ‘Maybe the monsters assumed all the books were their great aunt Marge or something.’

The fact that I can't dismiss that possibility fills me with worry.

Phosi - Day 4 - 117 Days Remain

Led by an impulse and my not-memories I went down one of the corridors and found myself standing in front of a damaged metal door still locked by a magitek keypad. The weird thing was that the damage seemed to have been all done by blunt objects. Crowbars maybe. Or chairs.

Ignoring that mystery, I reached for the keypad and almost instinctively I entered the four-digit code and was rewarded by the loud click of the mechanism releasing.

Briefly wondering whether I really should be doing it on my own, I pulled the door open.

Inside, I found a large room filled with shelving units covered by remnants of boxes

The seed vault.

There was a pile of bones under the wall opposite the door. I walked up to it and saw that it was a mix of adults and newborn bones.

Doctor Halsey, I recognised her. At her post to the very end. What was her son called, again? Aren?

I then noticed an empty glass vial next to the pile of bones. Cyanide potassium, I realised. She heard the monsters coming and decided to give her son a peaceful death and then followed him into the Dread Queen’s embrace.

I shook my head and left the seed vault. There was nothing for me there, so I wouldn't disturb Reph’s final resting place anymore.

Savri - Day 4 - 117 Days Remain

I had no idea why Phosi returned looking so… troubled, but I wouldn't pry. My attention was more focused on Lilyth who was busy scouting out the third and final level of the bunker.

‘What the fuck…’ she suddenly muttered and projected an image to the piece of metal we were using as a viewing screen.

What appeared on a display fully warranted the reaction, as none of us expected to see a massive wilted bush surrounded by a mound of bones. We looked at Persephone for answers and saw that she seemed scared.

‘It’s probably some sort of a harvester plant,’ she explained. ‘Even among my coven those were only spoken in hushed whispers. Harvester plants are semi-sentient and carnivorous, sustaining themselves by hunting for prey. There is no specific unified classification system for them, as each strain is, for the lack of a better term, “unique”, forming whenever a plant growing in a magically contaminated area is mutated by it.’

‘Let me guess… those are considered “burn on sight”?’ Ren asked.

‘Yes. Then salt the ground for good measure.’

‘I think then that the Red Masks just elevated themselves to the top of our problems to solve list,’ the furball suddenly said.

‘Yeah,’ I had to agree. ‘This is not the first bioweapon we know of that the Red Masks have taken interest in. Even assuming our missing friend isn't one of them. Sorry, Phos, but your revenge against Strickland will have to wait.’

‘It’s okay,’ the Sconryoll agreed. ‘We have scores to settle with those bastards too.’