When it comes to the flooded districts, three hours via rail to the footpath, then another two on foot, with a pinch of hoverbike thievery here and there is all it takes. As they stepped off the destroyed causeway, the smell, a cocktail of iron, algae, and stagnant, hit terribly.
Serena continued on saying how "Aurel lives in the cathedral tower. Last structure still standing in Zone Six." while layla's gaze was fixed on the water, which was a blue within green, fuller than the sea water but not as blue as it used to be.
Dead men don't send signal pings from analog routers. that kept twigging in the back of peoples minds the whole time.
Boots chrome wet, grazed past broken billboards and carbonometric become skeletal immortalized vehicles, while creetures second to one, moving in silence beneath, without movement, came to existence. Filling layla's vision.
The flood came decades... No one remembered when and there was no blatant reason to do so either.
An iron fence like some mechanical fog restricted the view, Bodies drowned long before reason exploded, worlds heavy, broken sabers tangled human soil deep bones tearing free fracturing tristee sky as hands seek flame shine unable.
"Why would he choose this place?"
"Punishment," Serena spoke while not looking back. "He punishes himself for what your father became. For what you became."
"I didn't become anything," Layla retorted angrily.
Serena halted her steps. "Didn't you?"
Those words hit her like a slap. Standing still, Layla felt as if her heart was racing. Before she had a chance to respond, something bumpy changed the waters right next to them.
Both women took out their weapons simultaneously.
From beneath the sludge, something began emerging — a cadaver devoid of life, featuring a mouthless jaw that silently moved, and eyeless sockets that seemed eerily empty. This was akin to the state known as suspended animation.
"Corpse mirror," muttered Serena. "Reflections traumatized beyond recognition. They survive on remembrance."
"What's the solution?"
"For you there is none." She pulled the trigger.
That bullet hit the being in its temple, but it did not recoil. Instead, it shifted it's gaze to layla as if acknowledging her presence.
Like a swift kick to the knees, she sank down. Waves of horrific memories crashed into her mind—the summer she nearly drowned, bloodied hands on her bedside from twisting loose nightmares, wailing beneath the water begging for escape.
"Layla, stay with me!" Serena's voice cut through the thunderous abyss.
As the creature mirrored the wounds Layla inflicted, she went wild with her enfolding terror. The hologram imploded, echoing glass bursting in slow-motion as shards of the shattered memory frazzled the air.
Gasping, Layla fell to her knees.
"Henceforth, you will encounter them more frequently. Aurel's proximity increases the pull your subconscious exerts on them," her companion explained.
"Didn't think it would hurt this badly," she replied whilst catching her breath.
"What you feel isn't pain," Serena interjected in a whisper. "It is acknowledgment."
Tattooed in an unknown script, two rusty chains bound the cathedral's doors shut, and they reached the landmark by dusk.
"Open," she requests before knuckling the surface. Thankfully, no stabbing receptors were triggered, instead, the entrance creaked ajar.
Devoid of any semblance of humanity, the cathedral was hollow inside. No ruins. No altars. No prayer benches. Strung across ancient stone was more of data cables entwined like digital cobwebs, outside the splayed surface of reality. Monitors and even wires, tributaries devoid of earthly connections.
And in the center, suspended in a floating chair, was a man.
"Aurel," she addressed him in a hiss.
Staring vacantly, the long-bearded gray man seemed spectated by the stands tight-lipped respirator covering half his face. But the gleaming eyes even with age still illuminated his presence. Allowing them to behold the vigilance tracing them post entering.
"Serena," he said, voice breaking like terrible record. "You brought her."
Layla stepped in. "You knew my father."
"I created your father," he said. "And I buried his most frightful fear within you."
Layla swallowed. "Then help me unearth it."
Aurel studied her, one eye narrowing. "Are you prepared for what remembering everything will make you go through?"
She paused. Then nodded.
"I don't think you are," he stated. "But it doesn't matter. We begin at dawn."
The cathedral lights dimmed.
And somewhere underneath the flood, the past stirred.
[To be continued...]