Chapter 6B: A Glance into the Underworld

I could tell that there was no arguing with Aeliana, not that I particularly had any problems with her demand in the first place. This seemed to be a trend for the incarnations of my eternal love – an indominable tenacity that burns brightest in passionate love. I could see vestiges of Alyssa just in the way she carried herself as a crossroads between herself and her past lives. But just as we were twin flames in an infinite spiral, it was impossible to tell the bottom from the top; we could therefore not distinguish between the future and the past. She could’ve just as easily been Alyssa’s predecessor and not her successor.

Regardless, the three of us quickly made our way through the snow-struck city which shimmered from stars and streetlights. When we finally reached Bellaina’s home and knocked upon the door, she made us stand in silence and wonder what she had in store. She opened the door to her home beside the watershed, but she paused with a look of concern as she said, “It’s time at last that you learn the true reason for the dead. I want you to see the treacherous tragic truth that pervades the shadows of this savage city. I see you have elected to harbor another outsider, despite that it was one of them that delivered you into darkness to begin with. Make no mistake, Asivario. I do not care about your judgments or the capricious crimes you commit. You serve me well, so I pay you handsomely. But in the event that you encounter some force which aims to detain you, I need you to defend yourself so that you can continue catering to my underworld. If city security dares to detain you, let it happen. Their captain is caught in a crisscross of corruption; he and his friends have waded knee-deep in the same darkness that you bury beneath the sand. Even if you are caught harboring an outsider, he will give you your freedom when he learns that you know the truth.”

I glanced up at the towering woman and nodded, afraid at first to say anything that could cost me her favor. However, I could feel by the way Aeliana held her hand onto my back that she did not trust Bellaina. She practically pinched at my skin just by gazing at the queen of the dark. Donovan nudged me slightly, compelling me to reply.

“I appreciate your help, but the truth itself seems dim. What is lurking in the shadows that now stain him?”

Bellaina laughed to herself and answered after a pause, “I can’t wait for you to see the display our darkness draws. True power in this city is not defined by position or aristocracy; it has nothing to do with lineage or heroism. Those are lucid lies lavished onto the complacent, but even Hayatama himself is just another client to the dark. We give to him the true power that lets him sever his mortal ties and shroud himself in shadow. He pays me generously, and then you bury the bodies beneath the beach. It’s a beautiful cycle that plays and plagues daydreams, and now it’s your turn to see the face of this power for yourself.”

Aeliana grabbed my arm and held it tightly, but she did not restrain me in any way. She walked up to my side, almost as if she were willing to lead me forward to see a dark truth that she somehow already understood. Bellaina swerved to guide me deeper into the house, so I turned briefly to glance at Donovan. I tried to catch his gaze, but he instead stared straight ahead like a statue. I took this to mean that he already knew the secret that defined the darkness, but he could not bear to see it for himself. Instead of following us down a staircase in Bellaina’s house, he instead turned and left the building altogether. It was the first time that I had seen the shadows smother his softhearted spirit. It reminded me of a dying ember locked in a sandstorm forced to create the only heat it had left, or a swimmer in the ocean depths denying that there was any water at all.

When we dared to descend into the dungeon, after passing through a pair of doors she unlocked with a special key, we saw a pair of people chained to the far end of the dusty space. Blood stained the brick walls of the barren basement, and even the concrete floor bore the scars and scratches of countless tortured lives. Though I had countless concerns and conjectures as I gazed upon this space, I noticed the same inscription I had seen when I met Bellaina for the very first time; I had seen her cohorts inscribe this same symbol onto blades. It was stained into two swords held by her henchman in the far corner of the dungeon. I felt Aeliana grip my wrist with so much pressure that her jagged fingernails lightly pierced my skin. The queen of the dark noticed Aeliana’s discomfort, so she faced her with a sinister smile.

“The unfortunate truth of this world is that most people amount to nothing. They toil tirelessly and flounder foolishly all their lives, but they never create anything worthwhile for themselves. They never become worth anything more than the fragile bones in their frail bodies at the end of their pointless lives. Like they wasted all their energy just running in circles. The only value they ever have is one they never even knew. The life force intrinsic to their soul is a valuable fuel which burns for a power that easily eclipses everything they ever had in life. It’s such a shame that their only taste of power comes when they burn for someone else. It may be true that my clients and I take this terrible power from other living people, but reality requires this sacrifice. Reality rewards this sacrifice, and my power is my proof. So they may be victims of the dark, but look at them. This is an act of mercy. It could even be said that this murder is a pact,” Bellaina explained as if to justify her act.

Aeliana said as she stepped by the door, “This is nothing I have not seen before. How could there be any mercy in murder?”

But Bellaina blinked and then said with a sneer, “Because they spent their lives in squalor and fear. Like many lost livestock locked in a lurid land, they lament their lackluster lives and accept the cold truth that their misery can end only with their death. Look into their eyes. Whether they came from this city or the outside world, their lives followed a tear-stained trail of tragedy to this dark dungeon. Each day has been one disaster after another. It’s true that they will die as nothing more than an ingredient in my design, but most people already drain their lives wasting away for someone else. The only real difference here is one of speed.”

The two captives exchanged a final look of horror, but then Bellaina stepped closer and lifted her left hand. She narrowed her eyes, and then her palm illuminated with a faint glow which barely pierced the dim light of this underground dungeon. In that moment, she manifested a series of luminous blades right before her in the dusty darkness. They did not appear physically solid, but these energy blades sent shimmers which pierced the shadows dancing on the wall.

I stammered the words with a wide-eyed gaze, “Can you somehow control these blades?”

But Bellaina did not bother to respond. Instead, the queen of the dark pressed her left hand forward, and then her energy blades stormed toward her two captives in the corner of the dreary dungeon. Her blades battered their bodies and pierced them in countless places. Splashes of blood burst from their new wounds and shimmered in the dying light of the ephemeral blades. When the storm of energy blades finally subsided, her victims both fell to their knees; they had shattered their chains at some point in their agonized flailing. Aeliana clenched my arm so tightly with her right hand that her overgrown fingernails pierced my skin. I could feel her heart pound. I could feel her body tremble. We watched with wide eyes as the victims screamed and writhed on the dungeon floor.

(There is still one more part to this chapter)