Chapter 2: Tenebris

The next phase of Kronos' experiments begins.

Chapter 2: 3rd March, 3E 1004

 

I woke up just as the sun was beginning to show over the trees. Spring was almost here as the birds sang their songs and the last of the snow was melting. Ferrah stood in the doorway, her long flaming hair cascading over her shoulders. She was already dressed in what she felt was 'casual'. Though casual for her usually meant 'ready for battle at any moment'.

"Come on, we have to go." She said.

"Already? It's barely morning."

"Kronos wants an early start. The sooner we finish this aptitude test of his the sooner we can move onto the next phase."

"Has he said what that is yet?"

She took a long pause and looked at the floor. "No."

"You still haven't heard from the others yet?"

"Nothing. It's like they dropped off the face of the earth." She came to sit beside me on the bed.

About two months ago I had graduated, passing all my basic classes, then Kronos had said that we were all ready for whatever he had planned. What we knew right now was that we would have the power to stop a war if needed. He didn’t like to go into too many details out of fear of scaring people away.

That should have been red flag number one.

Since then he has been taking people to his keep in small groups to start the experiments meant to give us this power. Very slowly there were less and less people coming back and those that did were not allowed to speak of what they saw. Some of the higher ups had said that the participants could not handle the requirements and went home. But some of them had been good friends and had not reached out since.

"I had a weird dream last night. I was when Nyx and I were still robbing houses."

"More memories?" Ferrah crossed her arms.

"Yeah. Cadmean has been really anxious lately. Right before they started. He swears everything is fine but I know him. And as always he won’t talk about it."

"Maybe he doesn't want to add to your stress."

"I don't know. Either way, let's get going."

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Alios, Sideon, Talas, Desah, Demitris, Ferrah, and I waited in the anteroom while eyes watched our every move. Everyone around us had their hands on their swords, eyes flicking between us. Every movement we made was met with someone tightening their grip or taking a step back. Finally, a young man probably in his early 20's, came through the door. By his uniform he was in his first year as a squire.

"Thank you for meeting here so early. I'm sure you're all waiting anxiously for your turn."

Desah stood taking a few steps forward. "So are you going to tell us what comes next or are we just supposed to follow?"

"Sit down, Desah." Alios peered at his from behind laced fingers, watching him until he sat. "Who are you?"

The boy shifted from one foot to the other. "Yes. I will explain as much as I an right now. My name id Jonus. I'm charged with guiding you through your transformation. You will move to the next you one at a time. Kronos will explain the process as you go. Be aware that once the process starts it cannot be stopped. His magic and ritual will increase your power, building the force we need to maintain the peace, the reason we are all here. So who will be first?"

Desah moved briskly across the room, shoving his way through the door. "Let's just get it over with. I'm tired of waiting."

Jonus nodded. "I will come back for you shortly." He followed Desah, closing the door behind him.

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A few hours had passed as Jonus came for us one by one. Sideon and I sat alone in the anteroom while he hummed to himself and shuffled his playing cards. He pulled an apple out of one and held out another card to me.

"Hungry?"

I eyed it for a moment. "Is it real?"

"For a bit." He shook it, "C'mon take it."

I caught the apple as it fell feeling it's weight. I bit into it tasting the apple but feeling like I just shoved a wad of paper in my mouth. I pulled it out. "That's mean." I threw it at him.

He laughed. "Maybe I'll be able to make real things instead of illusions when this is done."

"Do you think it will be worth it?"

Yes

Cadmean. He was still listening.

"It better be if they're gonna keep this shut up about it."

"But where are the others? Other than our group I haven't heard from anyone. And Talas and them have been gone a long time."

He glanced to the door and then at his cards. "I'm sure they're alright. We've waited for the unknown before. And we weren't afraid of dying then."

Jonas entered the room with a couple guards following him. "Next."

"Ladies first." Sideon said.

I followed Jonus down the long hallway with the guards trailing close behind. The next room was a large octagon with thick stone walls reaching towards a ceiling that seemed a mile high. Small fires heated potions and elixirs running through tubes next to contraptions that crackled with lightning. A table sat in the middle of the room, tilted up. The surface looked like it had been burned.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

Kronos came from behind a desk. He had exchanged his court robes for a long white coat over casual garb. "They are in the recovery room. It takes a lot out of you to go through this kind of transformation. "

"What kind of transformation?"

"I will be binding the very essence of the elements to your soul, giving you the control over them that those before you only dreamed of.  No more contracts, no more guessing. Absolute control."

I shook my head. "They are living creatures. Not mindless spirits. They have a free will, no one should overtake that."

"I'm sorry Nerius but you're already here. I'm afraid you've already made your choice."

The guards dragged me over to the table and secured my arms and legs in iron cuffs.

 "As I warned you there is no going back."

I was secured until I couldn’t move. I watched Kronos make his way in front of me. "First I will have to escribe the runes onto your arm. It will make the binding process easier."

The pain was no worse than a tattoo. Once he was finished the real ritual began. Hid hands were glowing with a menacing green light. Runes etched in a circle on the floor began to glow blue in response. Lightning raced along the floor as Kronos stepped forward.

One hand on my temple, the other over my heart, I felt my insides being burned. Images of runes blended with Kronos chanting till I couldn't differentiate anything.

"Let the darkness in. Become one with it."

A black cloud of fog rose from the ground. The Djinn imbedded in the runes disintegrated and reformed becoming one. My eyes and lungs became clouded and clogged. I felt all of them, then one, then all of them again.

In the brief moment I tried to plead. To make them understand that I didn't want this. In their own way, they told me it was ok. They understood.

This is how it is meant to happen