Annulus, page 8
part #2 of Cyberratum Series
“The original was stolen from Earth by the High Deacon, and he still holds it in his quarters. This is just a copy produced for the masses. However, it's missing an important doctrine…one removed by the High Deacon,” Solari said, bending over Arthur and thumbing to a dog-eared page. “From the chapter that shows the founding principle of Neology—that the soul shall remain free and stateless.”
Arthur had heard of this before, a schismatic feud between different factions of the same religion. The fate of the soul and its future were heavily debated when Enconn was first devising plans for Annulus. Followers of the Old Testament believed the soul to be stateless, free to escape to heaven after the body died, while followers of the New Testament disagreed, favoring the prospect that they could let the soul live on in a physical place like the Wetwork.
If there was documentation to prove that the soul shall be stateless then entering into Annulus would considered blasphemous. There would be revolt.
“Anything in there about ‘Thou shall not eat your neighbor’?” Arthur joked.
“You are funny,” Solari said, with a slight smile. Her weathered face seemed to soften with the fond expression. “The High Deacon wants to be the first to enter this ‘Wetwork’, as you called it. We must stop him before he creates any more of those beasts in his attempts to get there.”
Arthur reflected on the hideous creature they had seen earlier—the result of cannibalism and stressors of the mind. This High Deacon did not seem to understand or care what kinds of terrors were possible if he continued on his path. But if there was a way for Arthur to stop this madness and help Solari as she had helped him. If there were a way…what would it be?
“Arthur saved me and my sisters from servitude on Earth,” Autumn told their new friend. “He is stronger than anyone I’ve ever met. He will help.”
“Thanks for that, Autumn,” Arthur coyly replied. He looked to Liz and then her missing limb. “How does everyone feel about helping to stop this?”
He could see Liz’s anger swell before she said, “I want to burn the bastards for taking my arm, and make sure this cannibalistic shit stops.”
“But what about Summer and Winter?” Autumn asked. “They are still missing.”
“I know the Umbral Zone better than most, but in all honesty, I assume the High Deacon already has your sisters ,” Solari replied confidently.
“Okay, so how do you propose we stop this High Deacon?” Liz asked.
“I saw you out there in the desert, building your clean water contraption. Clever.” Solari continued, “What would take vigorous cutting and sawing to fight the regenerative voxelizing process, you seemed to accomplish with ease.”
“Beginner’s luck,” Arthur said, trying to add a sense of levity. He felt the ore within his pocket, resting along his leg.
“Or was it an azoth you used?” Solari asked, thumbing more pages of the book Arthur was holding. “Neology uses a concept called the Law of Attraction. It’s rooted in ideas that come from various philosophical and religious traditions, particularly inspired by Hermeticism, Transcendentalism, Hinduism, and specific verses from the Bible.”
Hermeticism stuck into Arthur’s mind like a splinter, as this was the very ideology that led him on his adventure to Yucatan, where he ultimately gained the keys, unlocked the four elemental gates, and freed the mermaid sisters. And here, a prophecy of elemental mermaids was in the original doctrine all along.
Solari continued, “Hermeticism influenced the development of European thought in the Renaissance, its ideas transmitted partly through alchemy. In the eighteenth century, the works of alchemists such as Paracelsus and Jan Baptist van Helmont played an important part in science.”
Arthur remembered Liz telling him of Jan Baptist van Helmont, an alchemist and well-known scientist. He was the founding father of Neology, and believed that the sensitive soul was the husk or shell protecting the immortal mind.
“You must understand that this was all meant to be. You, Annulus, the elemental mermaids and their gates unlocking the stone,” Solari pressed. “Van Helmont described the Archeus as the conjoining of the vital air, as of the matter, with the seminal likeness. He prophesied the Elementals and how they could make the philosopher’s stone.” She continued, turning the page again to a dark object. “Or in this case, the transmutation to bring death. An antithesis of the nanite technology. The azoth you have.”
Everyone was quiet, absorbing the information.
“With what I have seen from your earth friend’s power, it is far greater than anything I could hack. The prophecy is true—the elementals are here. Something has made the ore in your pocket… With the ability to voxelize whatever we want, we could obtain a clean source of food, end the cannibalism, and overthrow the High Deacon. We can show the people the truth of the soul’s embodiment and how Annulus is nothing more than sacrilegious.”
Arthur nodded, looking to Liz and Autumn and admiring the fight in their eyes. He said, “Sounds like a plan. We will find this missing chapter in exchange for help in seeking Autumn’s missing sisters.”
“Deal,” Solari said.
The power of the azoth reminded him of Oppenheimer and the quote he used after developing the atomic bomb. It was a line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, when Vishnu was trying to persuade the prince to do his duty and, to impress him, took on his multi-armed form.
He said, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
9
The ELFS Encampment
Solari woke them deep into the morning hours. As they walked toward the large encampment near where she had saved the trio, they saw the torches burning bright in reaction to the simulated oxygen in the air. The sun peeked across the Earth above in cool, milky violet as it streaked across partly iced-over land.
As he walked behind Solari, with Liz and Autumn following, Arthur did his best to work his new limb — a thankful addition. With each awkward limp-like step, his eyes wandered above to Earth, a place he’d once called home. He wondered if he would ever get to do that again.
He was sick to his stomach, thinking about all the troubles ahead of him. His job, provided by Enconn Corporation, would be eliminated, but even more upsetting than that was the thought of never speaking to his dear brother again. Having defied General Malick, he was facing excommunication. This involved the prohibition of any communication with his friends and family. This greatest fear was certain and he was sure the process had already begun.
He couldn’t tell if it was from the unpleasant situation he’d found himself in, or the fact that he had taken a hallucinogen not more than six hours ago, but his mind felt strained. His body felt hacked up.
What am I to do now?
He looked back to see Liz and Autumn holding each other to keep warm while they walked. If there was anything in his life now that meant something, it was these women.
As the group approached the encampment, Solari gestured for them to stay behind a fumarole while she met with her sister Elise. After a few moments had gone by, Arthur felt compelled to ask Autumn to use her element.
“Can you feel your sisters? I remember Summer saying she could feel Spring. Maybe there is a chance we can find them.”
“I am different,” Autumn said insecurely. “I think I am not as strong as my other sisters.”
“You must try,” Arthur insisted.
Autumn paused for a moment and closed her eyes. The fine dust on the ground distended beneath them. Arthur and Liz stepped away, making sure they weren’t disturbing the camp Solari had gone off to.
When they looked back, Autumn had tears in her eyes above a jubilant grin as she nodded her head. Her beaming smile showing her resplendent teeth. She was gorgeous as ever, even despite not showering for days, and running rampant in the desert.
“Where are they?” Liz asked softly, placing her hand on Autumn’s shoulder.
Before the maiden could answer, she fixed her eyes on something behind Arthur.
As he turned, two silhouetted figures could be seen just beyond the fire, making their way toward them. Arthur instantly recognized the petite frame of the silver-haired girl, and could only guess the other was her sister, Elise.
As they got closer, he could see that Elise’s face was as hardened as Solari’s. She also shared her petite figure, and they looked relatively close in age. Arthur speculated they could have been paternal twins, save for the deep reddish-brown cornrows Elise wore on the sides of her head. She looked like a scrapper, but Arthur could tell what she really was from her hard as nails stare — a survivor, like him.
The sisters stepped behind the large fumarole to greet them. Elise immediately went in for a hug from the women, while awkwardly going for a handshake from Arthur. He didn’t mind, though. What mattered was finding Winter and Summer… even if they didn’t want his help. They were his responsibility whether they liked it or not.
“You have come at a great time,” Elise said in a monotonous yet delightful tone. “The High Deacon starts his morning with an orgy, pleasuring his harem of women.”
Harem?
Arthur’s eyes narrowed while looking back at the encampment. He could hear the faintest sounds in the air that sounded like cats meowing. He looked back at Elise and saw she was dead serious about the events taking place.
“Solari has told me of your plans. If the prophecy is true, I will help you. The timing is just right and will allow us to overthrow the camp. But, that’s if you have the azoth,” Elise said.
The way she spoke sounded choppy and blunt for Arthur’s liking given the circumstances. Here she was, discussing a coup with people she had just met, and acting like it was yesterday’s news.
Something did not feel right to him, but as he looked at Solari’s sensitive eyes, she smiled and nodded. This relieved Arthur of any doubt, for she had saved them and he trusted her.
“Now, I will sneak you into the camp,” Elise said, kneeling down.
She began to draw in the sand. As the nanites voxelized it back into the grooves she had traced, she looked to Arthur for help.
He kneeled on his good leg, bending the prosthetic at the knee, and pulled out the azoth. Everyone eyed the rock that was blacker than black. He extended it to the ground and carved into the sand, decimating the lines Elise was outlining.
“Amazing,” she said in a precarious tone.
“The prophecy is true,” Solari validated. “The azoth is the philosopher’s stone.”
Elise opened her palm and gestured for Arthur to hand it to her. Arthur hesitated as he felt an urge in his stomach telling him not to. Solari nodded in encouragement, and he looked to Elise’s warm eyes. In a moment of faith toward these sisters, he dropped it into Elise’s hand.
For a moment, she inspected it closer, wonder in her eyes, and then she decimated the sand below to make a map.
“We are here,” she said, making an ‘X’. Then she drew the encampment, which looked like six smaller makeshift huts all connected.
Arthur registered what she was drawing and then looked at the structure in the distance. It seemed as if the whole cordoned off cantonment was sitting on a giant slab of cement. Since it disappeared from sight in a bowl and reappeared again on the other side, Arthur thought it safe to assume that the camp in the middle, out of sight, and was larger than expected.
“What is it built on?” he asked.
“It’s built on concrete sent from Axiom City,” Elise said. “They are slowly constructing the Umbral Zone through code in the nanites how they see fit. The city is coming.”
Heavy moans followed by incessant laughter pierced the air as the Earthshine brightened above and the festivities began.
It’s a goddamn cannibal orgy cult, he thought.
“It has begun,” Elise confirmed. “The High Deacon has summoned his forty maidens to consummate, trying to procreate in order to please the Allmother.”
“Procreate?” Liz asked, stepping up to Elise. “Women have not been able to procreate since the scrubbers were released.”
“Yes,” she said with a frustrated sigh. “He is holding his harem of women captive until one does.”
By Allmother, Arthur huffed to himself. The thought of someone being kept solely as a sex slave made him sick to his stomach. He felt his adrenaline surge just imagining taking this cult down. But first, they needed that missing doctrine. The world must know the truth.
“Now, if we sneak along this perimeter,” Elise directed, carving a line into the sand. “My people will be waiting to get you in past the fence.”
The moaning increased to include both male and female voices. It sounded like a horde of billy goats going at it.
Arthur cringed at the sensual sounds, steadily looking at Solari’s uneasiness. It was hard to keep your head straight when echoes of fucking sounded off in the air.
“The mass orgy has started, Elise confirmed. She stood up, swiveling her head around like a sharp-eyed doe, and trotted away toward the encampment. “Come on, we must hurry,” she whispered as loud as she could without alarming the people inside. “This will be our only chance to get that doctrine.”
The group shot to their feet and followed suit. The rusty shed they made their way past was made of a hodgepodge of various metals, some deteriorating further than others, showcasing their molecular properties.
Arthur could see the movement of people just beyond the rough-and-ready housing blocks. A woman lay on her back, while a man, large and deformed, spasmed on top of her. The sounds from both were like pig squeals to Arthur, and he cringed at the perturbing noise.
“Just around this corner,” Elise directed as Solari followed her.
Liz was right behind the silver-haired woman, while Autumn was behind Arthur. He fisted his knuckles, ready for the fight that might ensue, and mustered up his courage. His mind was more at ease knowing he had the ultimate weapon — the azoth — able to ward off any voxelized weapon the ELFS might have, but that feeling fled his mind as he patted his pocket.
Arthur stopped in his tracks, checking both pockets. Autumn stopped with him to address his look of concern. He looked along the ground to see if he had dropped it on their way, but shortly remembered, Elise had the Azoth.
When he looked up at his party ahead, the fear of losing his most prized possession evaporated.
Instead, dread flooded his whole body to see Solari and Liz at bayonet-point, confronted by two brooding, beastly guards.
Behind them was Elise, holding the azoth with a keen smile and a wicked look in her eye.
“Elise, how could you?” Solari scornfully yelled at her sister while she walked ahead of the brooding guards.
The guardsmen tied Arthur, Liz, Solari, and Autumn together in a line like a strung-up quartet, walking haphazardly as each one tried to take their own step. The group wobbled and faltered with each stride. Solari was making it more difficult, as she led the way and squirmed more and more to see her sister’s face ahead.
“Elise, you can’t do this,” she pleaded. “He is hiding the missing doctrine.”
Elise eased up on her march, tilting her head slightly just as they passed a series of huts made of matted garbage, wilted paper, and plastic.
“I’m sorry, Sol,” Elise said. “But the azoth confirms the prophecy. It's the only way to stop Enconn once and for all.”
As the group scuttled along, a pattern emerged among the constructed huts they passed. It was as if someone had made bricks of trash, then stacked them together with some kind of slop-like grout.
In between the huts, dark, depressed spaces gave way to pinholes of light, revealing various jury-rigged vehicles. Of course Arthur recognized the front loader with the yellow scoop from when their camp was first attacked.
The stench was horrid, and reminded him of landfills from the early twenty-first century, before the scrubbers eliminated them. Momentarily, he thought of his childhood, and looked up at Earth above, his eyes absorbing what faint Earthshine they could to see if he could make out his once cherished home. His efforts almost made him forget the nudging and awkward pulling from his captors bridling him. That feeling only lasted until his attention was drawn to something stretching high into the sky.
When the guards brutally shoved the butts of their staffs into Solari’s stomach, the group stopped, and Arthur could get a clearer picture of the ground around the megalithic structure. At its base, it was no wider than a small condo building, standing tall over forty feet. Akin to a pyramid of trash, it was four-sided and seemed to have step-like grooves carved into its core that climbed to the top, where four torches burned steadily.
The silhouette of a man holding a staff rose from the top of the structure. He came down the stairs, his body clad in flaps of grisly leather, rusted ornamentals, and ashy, red paint — or at least, Arthur hoped it was paint, but given the already witnessed conditions, his mind concluded that the crimson colored soot was none other than dried blood.
Elise knelt on one knee. The guards followed suit, pulling on the rope binding Arthur, Solari, Autumn, and Liz. They fell the ground, and Arthur could hear the scurrying of feet from onlookers crinkling the surrounding sand.
The ELFS people decorated themselves in braided bands around their ankles that strung up to torn spandex on their thighs. They twined their matted hair in long dreads that fell over their lemon-colored eyes. They shook ceaselessly and chuckled like hyenas as they gathered.
Arthur couldn’t tell if what they wore around their bodies were made from a synthetic material or... dried human skin. It was skin. The swaths hung from hammered out hub caps on their shoulders. Charred femurs, ulnas, and radial bones swung loosely from their tangled hair. Their skin had large pores — tattered with blemishes.
Repulsive, Arthur thought.
Elise had risen. The guards pulled the bonded group up, and Arthur could now see the faces of the ELFS more clearly. Their leader approached gracefully, his torso and frame moving like a staunch bear that was gaining on his quarry. His mustard eyes had no fear in them, and what had looked like large pores or pockmarks from Arthur’s former vantage point, now revealed themselves to be scars bestowed across his face and body.
