There was a slight tug at the back of my clothes the moment we approached the front doors of the City Hall building.
"Mister…" A soft whimper left Sara's lips.
Sara's hand was shaking, the metal on her vestments chattering faintly. It wasn't long since we last visited this place, so it wasn't hard to imagine her fear. Several children her age were scattered in pieces down in the shafts. There was even a void spawn that behaved like them.
Mother…
That was what the creature said regarding Rinara. Just what did it mean by that?
The area around the building was sealed off. Numerous guards patrolled the area, stopping anyone from entering. Luckily for us, we had the great Mother Lilas at our side, which gave us access to the area. It was truly impressive how quickly they cleaned up the mess caused by the mass hysteria.
Though, from what the guards said, the maintenance shaft was still untouched due to being a biohazard, or so the church told them. Lilas made a strange expression the moment the guard said that, making me think there was more to this biohazard explanation.
"Ugh…" Rinne stared at the door with regretful eyes. "I wanna go back." She whined. "That stuff…it's still there, isn't it? I feel like I can smell it."
I looked around; something smelled off about the area. It felt familiar, but I couldn't figure out why.
I tried my best to forget about that and looked at Rinne with a grin. "You mean the fleshy mass that squirmed and pulsed?" Rinne's body shivered as the hand holding my clothes tightened. Sara looked up at me with tearful eyes. I rubbed her head a little, feeling a little guilty about describing it that way to tease Rinne. "I think it's still there." I turned to Lilas, who looked away immediately. "Isn't that right?"
"Well…" She pressed her fingers together awkwardly. "Father Muller was supposed to have his men clean this up…but he was suddenly deployed in the Lower Layer…and I might have gotten confused about how to tackle this issue."
"Confused? How?"
"We have protocols on how to dispose of corpses. But… this case is weird… like really weird. That fleshy mass, we don't know if it's human or void spawn." Lilas scratched her cheek with a shameful look on her face.
"Huh?" Rinne looked up at Lilas. "I thought that void spawns disappear after death?"
"They do…but well, you saw it…all that flesh and gunk that stretched the walls. Well, it's still there. That alone makes us think it's composed of human flesh. We want to try to figure out who it belongs to, but even that is a problem."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rinne looked at Lilas with disbelief. "Are you telling me all of that was human flesh—urk!" Rinne hunched over.
"Well, considering all the missing people's corpses that were once in the maintenance shaft when I busted the former mayor, I would not be surprised at that possibility," I said, doing very little to ease Rinne's thoughts.
What would surprise me, though, was how it was done. That mass was clearly alive and connected to that Class 4 void spawn.
Rinne stood back up, leaving the lunch she had eaten on the ground in front of her. "Urggg…I don't wanna clean up more human guts from my shoes…" she whined.
Lilas smiled, but it soon faded as we locked eyes. "Are you fine with entering? Father Muller's report stated that you nearly lost your life down there."
I reached over to Rinne and pulled her close.
"Stop…I reek of vomit…" she muttered.
Ignoring her protests, I wrapped my arm around her. "I was saved by this brave soul here. Besides, it wasn't the first time Death and I locked gazes, and it won't be the last time either."
"If you say so." Lilas threw her arms behind her head as she entered the building.
"You can let go now," Rinne said.
I did just that and reached out for Sara's hand. We followed Lilas, passing several armed guards and church members. Each of them gave Lilas a slight bow while staring cautiously at me. I can't say I'm not used to it, but I expected that only from the church members. What have I done to the city guards?
The door Muller punched open still lay on the floor, giving direct access to the ladder leading down to the maintenance shaft.
"We aren't gonna jump down again, are we?" Rinne asked. "I remember when falling in Muller's arms that some rungs were missing."
"Those were fixed," Lilas said, as she was the first to descend the ladder.
"No hesitation…wait, what is that smell?" Rinne pinched her nose as she looked around.
It was the smell of rot; that much I was sure of. Given where we were going, only one thing could have given off that pungent odor. My stomach churned at the thought of walking into a den of rotting flesh, but what other choice did we have?
Rinne was the second to descend the ladder, then I, with Sara on my back. Like last time, metal gave way to flesh, but this time it was still, gray. Maggots dug into the decaying flesh as flies buzzed around us. The smell grew stronger the lower we got, overpowering my senses.
Upon reaching the bottom, I found that both Lilas and Rinne had their weapons drawn toward two guards wearing half-faced gas masks. They wore needlessly bulky clothing with soulless eyes.
I let Sara off my back, and she immediately pulled out her launcher from behind her back. Lilas, holding a short sword rather than her massive blade, waved her weapon around. She saw no response from the guards; they simply dug into their bags and produced four gas masks.
"I guess this really is the place," Lilas growled. "But why here? It stinks." She took the gas mask and put it on. "Ahhh… much better."
"Here…" one of the guards said in a robotic tone. They handed the others out to us in a mechanical motion.
So Ritair finally used both of the artifacts. One to rewrite memories and the other to fully control their minds—Dagger and Sheath. It shouldn't have been a surprise that the artifact Kelly gave Ritair would be put to use, but I wished it was.
"Are they…okay?" Rinne asked.
Lilas put away her weapon and looked at the two guards with a pitying look. "Okay? No. And we don't know if they will ever be okay. It's just like before. Hmmm?"
Music started playing. A piano melody that I was very familiar with. It was the same song that was playing on loop at the Brass Light. The two guards turned around and began their soulless march down the shaft.
"This…" Rinne said in a shaky breath. She swallowed hard. "This was the same song that was playing when Kelly ran over to Ritair last time we were here."
This must be the trigger Kili hinted at. I can understand using it before he had both halves of the artifact, but now that he has both, why is he still using it to control them?
I looked at Lilas, then at Rinne. We nodded at each other before following the two guards. I took the rear while Lilas took the front. Rinne guided Sara through the mounds of dead bodies, as she covered her eyes. The mutilated bodies of the children killed by that mimicry void spawn were still here, rotting in the hell they were forced to work in.
If there were a way to give them a proper rest, I hope the church could give it to them.
We passed the place where we fought that void spawn, the scars of the battle still present. My blood was still staining the broken piping on the wall. I felt my eye, grateful it had only suffered burns. Kili said it should heal after some time, but for now I have to deal with this eye patch.
Rinne looked back, her eyes full of worry. I gave her a small smile to let her know that I was alright. She didn't look too convinced, but turned back around the moment we reached the end of the shaft.
The music was stronger here. The guards stopped and turned around. Their soulless gaze fell upon us without a single word.
"So," Lilas pulled out her weapon, as did I. "Let's get this over with."
We stepped into the room where the Class 4 was found dead. A man was sitting in the center with a small steam radio at his feet. He had golden hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in cult attire.
"So,"
"Grrr…."
As he spoke with an amused look on his face, a strange growl filled the room. The man grinned as the creature it belonged to entered the room. A void spawn…a Class 2. It stared at us with its long tongue scraping the ground.
"I have to admit something," he said, "I was never the one to play fair, nor did I actually think you'd show up." With a wave of his hand, the void spawn approached him. As it moved, something dangled around its neck. A locket hung around the creature's neck. One that Anya had taken from Celia.
My heart stopped as I failed to pull my gaze off the locket. The music being played grew louder.
"Let's see how far we can test human emotions, shall we?"