Secret War: Upon Blood Sands, BAD Agar, Adrassil [children's ebooks online .txt] 📗

grey ruins of Kelitia were hollowed out, crumbling apart. Attelus had seen first hand the destruction wrought by bombardment. His home city, Varander, had been flattened from orbit when he was a teenager. Flattened to such an extent that only a few walls still stood.

Not just that, but Kelitia was drowned in blood sands; Attelus calculated the lower five stories were utterly engulfed, just like in Faleaseen's vision.

"This is going to be hell," said Adelana, as the vox came to life, causing Attelus to flinch. "What in the Emperor's name happened here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Attelus, trying to sound optimistic. "And that's one of the reasons we're here, to find out."

"I think I would rather stay ignorant," said Delathasi. "Adelana is correct. This place is hell."

Attelus frowned and started on. "No, it's not; hell is the warp. The sea of souls, we're still on the material plane. Now, we've gotta move! We can't waste any more time! We've still got to scout out a safe place to make our base. Move it!"

The others hesitantly followed, and Hayden said, "we're in the material plane, as far as you know."

Attelus clenched his jaw. "Shut it, Hayden. You're starting to sound like Darrance."

"Just saying what we're all thinking," said Hayden with a shrug.

"Speak for yourself!" said Adelana. "Never for a second did I think we're in the warp!"

"Thank you, Adelana," said Attelus.

"No," she said. "I think we are somewhere even worse."

 

 

Night was falling as they approached the ruined city, and more than she could ever care to admit, Adelana was relieved. Relieved that there was still a day and night cycle on this Emperor forsaken planet. That at least some of the laws of the physical universe still applied here.

But when they found the sand that had taken over Sarkeath sloped up almost fifty-five degrees, Attelus' curses echoed over the vox link. Their All-Terrain Vehicle couldn't ascend such a steep incline even with the hook shot on its nose, especially because the sand here was softer.

So they started north in the hope to find a lighter incline. Hayden had suggested they split up him and Delathasi, south Attelus and Adelana north. But Attelus shot him down, saying they'd be safer if they stuck together, that they didn't know what they might encounter.

Adelana would usually dismiss this as Attelus' atypical paranoia. But here, here, it was wisdom. As they walked, Adelana's attention was fixated on the city, so much so she'd almost tripped a few times. For some reason, the east-facing side of every building was devoid of exterior walls. Allowing Adelana a good view into the cracked and hollowed out rooms and corridors, almost like a hololithic schemata. Inside them were scattered remains of tables, chairs, beds in varying states of decay and disrepair. And shadows which revealed nothing no matter how hard or long Adelana looked into them, even with her low light contacts activated, but something in her was dead sure there was something in them. Watching them through the still night.

Still, everything was so still. Like it'd been locked in time.

The thought sent a shiver up Adelana's spine, and she wondered if the others had noticed this.

Adelana hoped they hadn't, and she swore she would never mention it.

Although, knowing Attelus, he already noticed.

After half an hour of walking, they found an incline shallow enough for the ATV to ascend. Attelus voxed this back to the others, and hesitantly they climbed. At the top was an old hab block, sixteen stories high, one of the tallest around.

Attelus looked at Hayden, who nodded.

"Secure it!" Attelus said as he vaulted onto the fire escape as quick as a cat, never making a sound despite it being metal.

"Split up?" said Delathasi.

Attelus turned to her, his expression hidden behind his re-breather but his hesitation obvious.

"Okay," he said as he drew his power sword. "Adelana with me! Hayden, Delathasi search the north side! Search from the top floor!"

Delathasi and Hayden nodded and started off.

Adelana climbed onto the deck as Attelus cut through the lock.

"Are you sure we should split?" she said. "You were adamant not to before."

"I don't want to, Adelana," he said, drawing his silenced auto pistol, and carefully he opened the door. "But we can't waste time."

He slipped inside, and Adelana, just after, bolter raised. She covered the left, Attelus covered the right.

They came into a thin corridor, and Adelana saw the corridor carried through to the destroyed eastern wall and onto the blood dunes below. It turned right at the epicentre leading to Adelana, where guessed the doors to the hab unit doors were.

"Right's clear," whispered Attelus. "Corridor goes nowhere."

Adelana nodded, and in silence, they moved Adelana, taking point. It took a few seconds to reach the T junction, and Adelana slipped out. The corridor was long, a dozen doors on each side, cramped close together. Reminded Adelana of her old hab block back on Omnartus. It stunk of rot, and every inch was cracked and damaged. It ended in another T junction. There were three elevators there, but Adelana couldn't see any further left or right, but she suspected there would be the stairs. The building seemed as if they'd been cut in half, the elevators and stairs in the centre. Adelana sighed. This was going to take a while.

"Come on," said Attelus. "Let's get this over and damn well done with."

Methodically, they checked the building, room by room. Each unit was single-roomed about three by four metres, containing wrecked furniture and very basic bathrooms and kitchens.

Three of them looked like they had housed families of at least four. Toys laid, scattered and shattered across the floor. It was a painful sight. Why had these people abandoned their homes? And when? In contrast to the decaying buildings, everything else seemed new, only a few months of rot and disrepair if that.

But what disturbed Adelana the most was the dark shade of red seemed etched into everything: the walls, the carpet, every bit of scattered and shattered furniture. Even the rooms which weren't open to the outside.

Attelus once picked up a worn, cracked doll, and Adelana expected sand to fall off it, but it didn't; in fact, there was a disturbing lack of sand.

How the hell could the blood sands overtake the bottom five stories but not touch the upper levels?

The fear Attelus exuded seemed almost palpable. His pistol searched every nook and cranny and unnaturally dark shadow with overzealous abandon. After working with him for three years, Adelana could read him like a data slate. Ironically, it was his teaching that enabled her to. Attelus was always afraid, always paranoid, but now it was worse than ever. He could hide from the others under a visage of leadership and purpose. Adelana couldn't help admire that, but she couldn't help wonder, how close was he to snapping?

It didn't take them long to search the floor and move up the staircase to the next. They both almost leapt out of their skin when Hayden called to inform them that the top floor was clear and they were starting the next.

It took them a good half an hour to check every room on every floor. The tension killed Adelana; it was to such an extent she wished they'd find something, anything! A survivor or even a cultist waiting in hiding, but her wish went unanswered.

When they eventually met with Delathasi and Hayden, everyone was shaken.

"I do not understand what happened here," said Delathasi. "Why are the buildings in such a weathered state, but everything else is not?"

"We will have to forget such thoughts," said Hayden. "If we focus on that...our sanity..."

He let it hang.

"Hayden's right," said Attelus. "We need to stay focused, Hayden, Adelana get up to the top floor and keep a lookout. Delathasi and I will check outside for a good place to hide the ATV."

Adelana decided not to point out the hypocrisy of Attelus telling others they 'need to stay focused', and she and Hayden started up the stairs.

Hayden was characteristically silent up the first few flights, but Adelana tuned her link to his private channel. She couldn't stand the silence for much longer.

"W-what do you make of this?" she said when he finally accepted the call.

"That it's going to get worse," he said. "That I wish there was something, anything I can get in my crosshairs."

"Couldn't agree more," said Adelana. They were walking up the east side stairs, so the blood dunes below were easy to see. If she were afraid at all of heights, Adelana would be freaking out now.

"Hmf," said Hayden.

"What does 'hmf' mean?"

"I'm just surprised that you would wish for violence, Adelana. You do not seem the type."

"I don't. I just wish for this...this....to end."

"I am a sniper, Adelana. Waiting is something that comes with the job, so if I am impatient, it is understandable you are too, but..."

"But what?"

"Nothing, do not worry. I-"

Hayden stopped in his sentence as Adelana stopped in her tracks, staring east.

"Something wrong?" said Hayden.

"I...I thought I saw someone, something standing out there," said Adelana, pointing. "It's gone, now. Looked like someone in black."

"I saw something after we ambushed the cultists," said Hayden. "Someone's watching us."

"Who?" said Adelana as they began up the stairs again.

Hayden shrugged his broad shoulders; he was ahead of her, and Adelana wished he wasn't wearing a cameleoline cloak so she could look at his butt.

"This legendary, amazing Velrosian 1st, maybe? I am not making assumptions."

"Hayden? What were you saying before?" said Adelana.

Hayden sighed, "I was hoping you would let that slide."

Adelana snorted, "I'm a girl, Hayden. It also sounded important."

"I beg to differ, Adelana. You are a woman. A strong, independent young woman. You may be Attelus' 'apprentice' in title, but you are his equal in many regards-"

"Do not try to flatter me to try dodge the question. You may be a 'jack of all trades and a master of a few too.' But your social skills are lacking."

Hayden let out a rare laugh. "I tried, I guess. And there you are, just emphasising 'my flattery.' All right, I was saying that when you agreed with me about hoping to encounter enemies, you sounded a bit too eager for my liking. Like him."

"Like Attelus?"

"...Yes."

Adelana sighed. "He does have a bloodthirsty side, but I am not like him."

"Adelana, all that I am saying-"

"I am not like him! Now leave it!"

"Just please be careful, Adelana."

"Yes! Sure! Whatever! Now hurry it up! We've wasted enough time already!"

The second Attelus slipped off the balcony and back upon the blood sands, he knew something wasn't right.

"Delathasi!" he hissed as she landed a second after. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what, master Kaltos?"

Attelus didn't answer; he started forward, glancing around, sword raised.

Then the sand beneath his feet disappeared, and with a yell, he fell. It happened so fast he never heard Delathasi.

For what felt like an eternity, he rolled and bounced and tumbled and hurled down a sharp, rough slope.

He came to and groggily found himself lying on the flat and took in his surroundings.

Attelus gasped. He was at a lower level of the city; the buildings towered over him. Piercing the sky. He was near the centre, there the city descended into the earth, but the buildings rose higher and higher. He recalled the highest was over one hundred stories high. He must've fallen twenty kilometres westward, but that wasn't possible!

Attellus clambered to his feet, shaking away the dizziness and disorientation it; then he realised he no longer held his sword.

"What the hell?" he gasped.

"Hello," said a voice and Attelus turned.