The Order of Palami

The sober Adam was, the greater his upper right arm's throbbing became. The lack of BE in his system made the world around him getting more real, more painful. His memories became sharper, along with the emotional burden brought about by said memories. Ironically, his deductive skill became weaker, as all the facts, memories, and hypotheses jumbled about and fighting for his attention.

He entered alone to the main hall of the Mayor's building, which he couldn't place exactly the position relative to its five-sided pyramidal exterior. It was noticeably chiller than the series of rooms he walked in before, which were already chill because of the state-of-the-art temperature devices, but here, he felt like walking into a walk-in refrigerator. The coldness pierced his upper right arm, he cringed at the sudden pain.

His mind wandered back to the four marble statues he saw back at the main hall, as they reminded him of something, but the pain on his right arm kept him from concentrating. He walked briskly to a red velvet sofa placed in the middle of the wide room, sat on it, and tried to position his painful arm in hope that it would ease the pain. It didn't work. He groaned. He wished he could have his dosage of BE right now.

Speaking of red, the whole room was adorned with the color in mind. It was all red, albeit in different shades. The wallpaper was red, with a different shade of red to accentuated its swirly leaves and flowery motifs. The tapestries were also red, but with a hint of purple under certain lighting. The set of sofa cushions was red velvet, although the frames were golden-coated wood. So many woods, so many velvets, so many expensive old-world materials. The color kept making him remembering the antechamber in DomArt and the room where Marco died.

"Mr. Mayor?" he shouted, "I need to report on … something," he waited long enough. He felt like no matter how many rooms he entered deep into the building, he got further away from his goal. He realized just how empty the building was, for a public official to reside in. Apart from the annoying twin androids, he didn't notice anybody else. No receptionists, no guards.

"Mr. Mayor?" he shouted more loudly. He hoped that even if the Mayor still powdered his nose, his complaints might be recorded, "there are a series of murders in your city. Terrorists! And…" the pain on his arms shocked him. After it relatively resided, he continued, "We think this is more than APD can handle. I think this is bioterrorism, and the victims are multiplying as we speak!"

He concentrated on the coffee table placed in the middle of the sofa arrangements. It had a centerpiece: a white five-petaled flower. He couldn't decide whether or not it's a real flower or not.

"This…" he continued, "needed a bigger initiative from the city. A lockdown, special units. Please… where are you?" he begged.

"The Mayor isn't here," he heard an older female voice echoed. He couldn't pinpoint the source of the voice. He thought that the annoying android twins were back. He snapped his head back to where he came from. Nobody was there.

"We are extremely delighted that you come to us," another disembodied voice, now of an older male, "it was quite difficult to find you in these couple of days."

"What? Wh- why? Who are you!?" Adam yelled, "where is the Mayor?"

"We can assure you, that nothing happened to him," another voice, now of a younger female, "he is simply… resting."

"We're not sure yet what is happening to him. But he's alive," the first voice said.

"Are you one of them? Did you do this to Angkara?" Adam inquired. The taught that Callisto, or Amalgamada, or any other separatist group could infiltrate even the office of the Mayor made him nervous.

"No, no," another voice, now of a younger male. He wondered how many were they anyway, "we are the opposite of whatever created this chaos."

"We are on your side, Adam," another one. This time he couldn't tell its gender, "the chaos was already written. We are living it."

"Look," Adam stood up. He grabbed his hurting arm with the healthy one, "don't just talk to me from the speakers. If you're really on my side, at least show me your faces!"

He heard a cough, and then, "that will be a problem…"

"What?"

"You see…" the older male voice said, "… we don't have faces."

Adam fell back into the sofa. He wanted to understand what's happening, but the pain from his arm made him suddenly wanting to give up. Give everything up.

"Well," the older female said, "we do have some physical embodiment… although it might be hard for him to comprehend…"

Adam thought about the lady who took over Ms. Armstrong's body. The one who promised will 'dance' with him. But now she was gone. He was alone. People whom he cared about usually gone, leaving him alone. He always was, and no matter how many people came and went through his life, he would end up alone. Adam closed his eyes and felt the heat of his tears against his cold cheeks.

"Oh no… we have to do something!" the ungendered voice exclaimed, "we're losing him!"

Adam couldn't decide why he was crying. Was it because of the pain in his right arm, or the emptiness suddenly widened inside of him. Drowning him. Faces started to flash inside his closed eyelid. Hagar, Ms. Armstrong, Y-0, George, then other faces he didn't recognize. All of them were gloom.

"Open your eyes, Adam," the voice of the younger female, now felt closer, not echoed through the room like it was before.

In front of him were five glowing cubes, floating so like they were rotating on one of their corners, but suspended about one meter in from the floor. They were distanced at about a meter away from each other, circling him, as if they were all looking directly at him, rotating notwithstanding. Their glow was white and faintly pulsating.

"Wha-"

"We know this is too much for you to handle," A cube on his immediate left said, "I'm Aka," it was the one with the younger female voice. The cube representing her was vibrating every time she was talking, flashed brighter by each syllable.

"Sorry. We can only live in coldness," the one beside Aka vibrated. Now the voice was of the older male, "we still don't know why. Probably because of the Goddesses. I'm Fee by the way…"

"The… the Goddesses?" Adam asked, with no intention to understand what was even happening before his eyes. He thought he probably dead.

"Oh yes…" the cube beside Fee vibrated, "the coldness between them created us."

"Coldness… between… the Goddesses?"

"We believe so…" the one beside Fee vibrated, with the voice of an older female, "I'm Tri. And the two after me are Katar and Panka."

"You guys have stupid names," Adam said.

Katar, who had an ungendered voice, ignored the remark, "even the temperature of the gallery was too hot for us. But then the Mayor brought us here, even though he wasn't aware of it. Our distance with the Temple probably activated us and compelled him to do so."

"The gallery? Wha… wait… What are you?"

"We reside in the wooden blocks," Panka vibrated. He had a younger male voice. His voice matched Adam's voice.

"Blocks? Ogrario's blocks?" Adam whispered.

"That's what you called it?" vibrated Tri, "well, the blocks are where our being resides. We were kept away by the Domaney family for far too long. Now we finally back."

"Domaney?" Adam was confused, "what on earth is Domaney family had to do with all of this?"

"They forgot who they are, their function in Angkara." Tri said, "they are Angkara's priest. The Order of Palami."