The Pillar of Enera

[Book II Chapter 72] SILVER: Frieden

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“There.” Sana said softly. “Frieden.”

In the middle of the inverted forest, four white buildings reflected the purple glow around them. There were no windows or visible exits, only enclosed corridors connecting the giant cubes. From their vantage point atop an adjacent hill, Silver counted two dozen bear-sized gemstone porcupines crawling over the exterior like ants. There were even special tracks for them to travel up and down.

“I came out near the big mushroom. There’s a hangar there, and the door was left opened. It’s closed now though… And there’s a lot more of those spiky creatures.” Sana added apologetically.

They’ve tightened security. “What do you know about the interior?” Silver asked. He’d grown accustomed to their guide’s simplistic speech pattern. The girl wasn’t stupid. While strange, he surmised she lacked experience talking to others.

“Not much.” Sana admitted. “I escaped after checking Margaret wasn’t around. I never went to the other buildings.”

Silver winced. “So the captives aren’t kept in one place. That makes this more complicated.”

Not knowing the layout or the opposition made him anxious. If this were Flux Planescape, he’d have aborted the mission faced with such uncertainty.

“I can claw through the walls, but it might take time depending on how tough they are.” Kate offered.

He nodded. “We might have no choice but to go for a frontal assault. The rest of us can deal with the porcupines while you work, and the jammer will prevent them from calling reinforcements.” Silver held up the metallic bar Nicholas had given them. The enchantments within brimmed with energy. Once active, it’d scramble all nearby communications for five hours.

“Of course,” He continued. “The problem is King Kyle, his ninja bodyguards, and Finley. Breaching the facility will already be challenging enough. If they are here, our efforts are doomed.”

“I don’t sense the presence of saints.” Filia chimed in. “But it’s hard to tell with all these summons.”

They contemplated alternatives quietly. “We could wait and peek into the hangar when the next airship arrives.” Kate said. “That’d be the safest approach…”

Sana grew restless. “Please, no. That might take days, and many people could be hurt in the meantime!”

Another long silence fell over them. Eventually, Filia relaxed and sat back. “I say we should just go for it. Odds are high the king isn’t around…” Frowning, she paused and reached behind her. Then her eyes went wide. “It’s gone!”

“What?” Silver asked, sensing something was wrong.

“The cards I got from Geordan Price. I kept the deck in my back pocket… which is now empty…“ Filia appeared in shock.

Although this made no sense to Silver, Kate reacted instantly. “When did you have them last?”

Filia thought back. “When we left the Raging Sands, I checked to make sure they were still there. After that, I don’t know…”

“What’s going on?” Sana fidgeted anxiously.

“I’ll explain…” Kate relayed the story of what had transpired in Rosaria while Filia held her head in her hands, staring off vacantly.

“I see…” Silver turned to Filia. “Sorry, but we can’t afford to look for them. We’ll check with Nicholas afterwards. Maybe someone brought them in.”

“You were the one who suggested this rescue mission.” He added.

“I was.” Filia agreed, shaking herself out of her daze. “Maybe it’s for the best. The Laughing Man can’t steal them anymore.”

“I’m sorry.” Sana offered meekly.

“At least it’s no longer my responsibility.” Filia said halfheartedly.

Silver was about to offer some encouragement when Kate interrupted him, “Look, someone came out of the buildings!”

A door slid shut as man in a white researcher outfit walked away. He passed the patrolling porcupines and headed in their direction.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but this is almost too good to be true.” Silver said. “We’ll ambush him when he enters the forest.”

As soon as the man was out of view, they dropped down around him. He froze at first, but relaxed when his eyes fell on Sana.

“You brought back help.” He whispered. “Good girl.”

“You’re the sad-looking man I noticed wandering around….” Sana frowned apprehensively. “You were often giving orders to others. You’re someone high up.”

“Professor Allan Gorge, at your service.” The man mocked bowed. “I was the former head of Frieden until King Kyle commandeered the facility. Now my staff is also held here against their will.”

“Who is in control of the facility?” Silver asked.

“The Righteous Sun, a group of fanatics which Finley brought in.” Allan grimaced. “They’re committed to erasing sin and see what they’re doing as Idia’s work. Some are strong, but none are saints. The summon generator is a bigger threat. It’s quite advanced, and this facility has large stockpiles of crystals. Once the alert goes out, they’ll crank it up to max power, and your number of foes will skyrocket.”

“Wait a second,” Filia broke in. “If what you say is true, it doesn’t make sense for you to be out here taking a stroll. Why is the Righteous Sun allowing you such freedom?”

“Because I’ve been cooperating with them,” Allan admitted, “earning me privileges such as my daily outings to the inverted forest.”

Sana growled, startling everyone. Eyes fixed on Allan, she asked, “Are you the one who is ‘treating’ the people in there?”

Allan hesitated, then closed his eyes, “I am.”

Their expressions turned serious, and Silver felt his temper rise for the first time since returning the Flux Planescape. However, it was Kate who spoke up first, “I heard that Frieden only took in voluntarily patients. How quick you were to throw that all away. How could you? Even if they had hostages, even if they threatened you… Do you understand——”

“I know.” Allan interrupted, holding up a hand. “If I’d refused, Finley would have been the one to do it. I was only just barely able to convince King Kyle as it was.”

“How is it any better doing it yourself?!” Kate cried out, tail twitching.

“Because I could cause surface level conversions.” Allan countered calmly. Kate’s fiery prosecution stumbled before the unfamiliar words, giving the man the opportunity to expand. “Altering someone’s desires is a delicate process. Sometimes an operation appears a success, but then the patient reverts six months to a year later. We call these failures surface level conversions.”

“You’ve been intentionally performing flawed procedures…” Silver translated.

Allan nodded, “In a way that won’t become apparent for some time. However, it’s a temporary fix. As long as the harnesser is online, this disaster will continue. I must ask that you destroy it.”

“We’re here to rescue those who were kidnapped.” Silver objected.

“I can help with that, but we can’t escape before sabotaging the lab. Otherwise, King Kyle will bring in more subjects and Finley, that butcher, will lobotomize them, if he doesn’t transform them into an abomination outright.”

“Also,” Allan glanced at his wristal, “my outings are always less than half an hour. Any longer than that and Jared, the Righteous Sun’s leader, becomes upset, which we don’t want. I propose we focus on taking Frieden and leave other discussion for later.”