Chapter 34: Shards

End of the World Palace

Shards room

Crack

Crack

Crack

The sound of cracking echoed through the darkened great room. The room was drowned in darkness, with only the faint blue flames providing any light. Around the lights, one could discern the outlines of the room's furnishings obscured by shadow and the occasional glint of brass.

CRACK

There was a final crack, and the sound of stone fragments raining down. One of the shadows, resembling a cupboard, suddenly moved and began to stretch. Two thick arms emerged from the sides, and thin tendrils ending in something round floated around.

"Bubble bubble..." The creature made a sound in a strangely high and hollow voice. It moved to the side, heavy footsteps accompanying its movement along with a faint mechanical sound.

Click

The sound of a switch being pressed brightened the room. Blue and yellow lights flared on the walls and ceiling, the heavy curtains moved of their own accord, revealing windows that let in natural light. Various sounds came to life: the flow of power could be heard, the mechanical sounds of automatic machines moving, the hum of what sounded like a running air purifier, the quiet static of whistling.

The light revealed a large room that, despite its size, still looked crowded. There were large brass machines standing, humming and running everywhere, looking complicated. If a machine wasn't standing somewhere, there were oblong tables everywhere on which copper parts were systematically stacked, and all around the room were glass spheres lying or hanging in which a blue flame flickered.

But one thing dominated the whole room.

There was a machine at the back of the compartment that was so large it extended into the tree. Its appearance resembled a tree or a mushroom.

The column was about one meter wide. The whole column was made of blunt brass tubes joined together, and there was a spiral staircase around the entire column extending up to the ceiling. The end of the column was surrounded by a glass circle, and the top of the column was adorned with a large number of small and medium-sized brass plates.

As soon as the energy began to flow again, anyone approaching the machine would feel their hair start to fly as the machine discharged static electricity into the surrounding area. Occasional blue flashes appeared on the column, and after a while, a blue mist began to appear in the glass part of the machine. It gradually thickened until the top of the machine was no longer visible.

The creature that had brought the entire lab to life then turned and took short strides toward the door.

*****

Caila felt her leg release, sensing the stone skin crumble as she began to feel her knee, calf, ankle, and toes. It was strange to suddenly be completely aware of someone's knee and toes, almost an otherworldly sensation.

However, Caila pretended that nothing was wrong, when in reality she would have loved to throw her free leg in the air with excitement, like a cabaret dancer.

Only one more leg to go, and she would finally be able to get up, run, jump, go outside, and finally see things for herself. Just the thought made her feel exhilarated.

But now just wasn't the time. There were things to deal with and too many witnesses. Caila forced herself to calm down.

Caila looked at Jason, who had approached her, and grinned inwardly. Now she needed to deal with him. She was still planning on killing him by sheer accident during the transformation; Jason was too treacherous to actually take among her people. All she had to do was a little more convincing and trap him.

However, something rang in Caila's ear, and she turned her head in that direction. She thought she heard something but couldn't see where it was coming from. She scanned the room with her eyes, but when she couldn't find the source, she looked again at Jason, who had stopped in front of her.

"Jason..." She started to speak but closed her mouth again when she heard the sound again.

She turned her head again, but this time she noticed where the sound came from. The door above which the sign said "Shards" was slightly ajar. Caila focused her full attention on the door and squinted her eyes. The door opened very slowly, occasionally letting out a soft sound of creaking hinges.

As the gap widened further, she saw a large three-fingered gloved hand with a long arm adorned with metal rings connected by brass knuckles.

Everyone had also already noticed the door opening and were watching it silently.

Caila was the first to see something large and round, looking like a dilapidated bone with embedded bolts and rivets. The round thing pushed through the door before the body followed and straightened up.

Caila could smell the faint odor of formaldehyde and machine oil as she watched the creature come out of the door called "Shards." The creature was nearly three meters tall, making it the tallest creature Caila had seen here so far. Hellcage was also very tall, but this thing still towered over him.

The creature had a disturbing appearance that made Caila slightly shudder. Its head was round with large round eyes made up of alloy plates that moved on their own, so you could tell where the creature was looking or when its mechanical pupils were widened or shrunk. Around its neck was a scarf-like tangle of dark cables from which stretched thin cables, at the ends of which moved round objects with one eye.

It didn't have a nose; instead, there was just an empty space, and the mouth revealed skeletal teeth. The mechanical parts seemed to be attached to a strangely sized skeleton. Yet the rest of the body was hidden beneath a thick-looking, coarse cloth that was more massive than would be normal for an ordinary skeleton. The front of its abdomen bulged forward, making it look fat rather than skinny, and it had very short legs.

The creature looked around the room and remained silent. So did everyone in the room. Caila tried to remember what it was. Eventually, it came out of one of the closed rooms of the palace, so it was probably her subject. But as she looked at it, she couldn't remember the name.

Then the creature spoke.

"Bubble bubble..." Though Caila couldn't quite consider it talking. It sounded more like an actual bubbling sound.

As soon as Caila heard it, the name came to her. She leaned to the side towards the creature and smiled in the dark space of her hood.

"Welcome back, Bubble," she greeted the creature.

"Bubble bubble..." The creature named Bubble nodded his head a little. Caila remembered the name, but she had a feeling that something else was missing. Her gaze automatically fell on Bubble's bulging belly.

Perhaps as if sensing this, Bubble raised his hands and grabbed his belly, which he then pulled up. In the end, it wasn't an actual belly, but rather a wide pocket covered by a soft roll of cloth, which Bubble now pulled up. This revealed the sight of a green-haired girl, somewhere between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, sitting there in the pocket like some kind of kangaroo cub, sleeping with her mouth open.

The girl was very pale, and her hair was a light green color, cut short, with several copper wires sticking out of it. She was wearing a brown leather outfit, but the style wasn't very noticeable because she was all curled up.

"Chrrr... chrr..." She snored softly.

Bubble lifted his hand and placed a finger on her face. Given the size of his finger, it was the only one covering both her nose and mouth. The girl frowned at first, then moved a little, and slowly her face began to redden from lack of air. When she couldn't take it anymore, she opened her eyes sharply and pushed Bubble's finger away.

"Gasp! Bubble!" She hissed, taking a deep breath. When she calmed down she rubbed her eyes, which were bright green and looked like emeralds. And they didn't just look like them. They really were pure emeralds. Caila didn't know if she had been born that way or if her eyes had been replaced, but instead of regular eyes, they were large emeralds.

Caila also remembered the girl's name. "Sandra." She addressed her.

Sandra looked at Caila before closing her emerald eyes again and rolling onto her side in her pocket.

"Wake me up tomorrow," she announced and went to pull the pocket closed again, but Bubble prevented her from doing so.

She pulled the first one lightly, but then frowned and started pulling harder before hanging onto the blind. "Hhhmmm!" she strained.

"Bubble..." Bubble bubbled.

"Agrrr! Okay! Fine!" the girl fumed, sitting back down in her pocket and folding her arms poutingly.

"What!" she snapped at Caila, who was watching in amusement.

This time Caila closed her eyes and inwardly gasped. All of her followers were truly unique, not only in appearance but also in character. She already had one teenage girl in her vase! Now she got another one? Caila thought wistfully of Hellcage. She had a feeling he was the only sane creature.

Caila stopped inwardly groaning and tried to remember something about these two. To her delight, it was not in vain. The girl's increasing memories of Supernova seemed to be preparing her more for situations like this.

Bubble and Sandra were an inseparable pair of one. Sandra was brilliant and scientific, unfortunately also very lazy. Fortunately, Bubble, despite being a creature of flesh and machine and unable to speak in a normal manner, could still make her work. Caila was also surprised to learn that Bubble and Sandra were one of Captain Supernova's.

She glanced at the two and took a look at them. Caila was very interested in what it meant to be a Captain. Was it for their power? Or some unique ability?

However, Caila took what little information she could glean from her shattered memory and spoke. "Don't you think you've been asleep long enough?"

"Never!" Sandra exclaimed. "I almost worked my ass off on your last project!" she complained.

Caila frowned. "Language, young lady."

Sandra shot Caila a surprised look. "Huh? Since when does it bother you the way I talk?"

"Since now." Caila could be hypocritical, but she didn't like it when kids swore. Children are supposed to be innocent and sweet things. Like Monte! Or Leo and Dali... although those two were a little spooky. Their prayers were not very frequent, and they did not speak much either. It always made Caila feel like they were standing somewhere in the dark shadows, just staring at her like she was a fascinating little critter.

Sandra rolled her eyes and her lips quivered as if she was about to let out another curse word, but Caila glared at her warningly, and if there was anything distinctive about Caila's face, it was her burning blue eyes. So Sandra swallowed her curse and turned her head away.

"Ahem." Jason clears his throat to draw attention to himself. Everyone turns to him, and Caila sighs inwardly. Right. Him.

"Don't interrupt, old man. Can't you see I'm talking to Liege?" Sandra scolds Jason sternly, unaware of what is happening.

"Sandra, Bubble." Caila decides that this needs to end before any uncomfortable situation arises. "Yes, Liege?" Sandra looks sleepy but answers dutifully nonetheless. Caila is relieved. Even though she is another rebellious teenager, she isn't as stubborn as Opera. She has some respect for Caila. Opera has none at all.

"Go prepare a report on the last three projects you did," Caila tells her, really wanting to know about the project she is working on. What did Supernova have her working on? She is curious.

Sandra makes an unhappy face. "Do I have to? Can't I just tell you now? Writing a report is so tiring! I always fall asleep after the first sentence."

Caila glances briefly at Jason, and it's probably okay, so she nods.

Sandra rolls over onto her side as if she is going to sleep again but starts talking instead.

"So the last three projects. Project number 21. The Jumbo1 Stratospheric Satellite. Launched and successfully launched. Utilizing advanced technology and divine energy, we were able to launch the Jumbo1 satellite and then the Jumbo2 booster satellite. Project number 22, Broadcasting Station. We began receiving signals from the Jumbo Satellite and were able to receive coarse signals. We are currently trying to improve the way we capture messages from both the ground and space. Project 23 Anchor Shards. Currently still in a state of testing and experimentation. We are currently able to stably anchor one Dimensional Shard, but it is not possible to open more. If we want to open another Dimension we need to close the stable one." Sandra finishes speaking and yawns.

"Good. I'm going to sleep. Bubble!" Bubble glances at Caila before giving a small bow and heading back to the door he came through.

Caila hasn't let them go yet, but it's probably okay. The report isn't very extensive, but it's enough for now. Supernova is trying to modernize the society? She understands the satellites and the broadcasting station. It's still a far cry from what Supernova knows, but it isn't a bad move. But what about the Shard Anchor? The Dimensional Shard?

"Liege?" Jason speaks impatiently, and Caila mentally scolds him. Couldn't he let her think for a moment?

Jason was getting rather impatient, constantly being interrupted. If he could understand what they were talking about, he might not have minded, but to him, it was like they were speaking in an alien language.

What were the satellites? Broadcasting stations? Dimension might know what they were, but what were Dimensional shards and their anchors? It didn't make sense to him, and it irritated him when everyone present seemed to know what they were talking about.

That wasn't entirely true. Archie didn't understand either, and besides Lambert, Zenobe, and two others didn't understand what Sandra was talking about either. They were just ordinary citizens who then enjoyed the benefits after things were set up and working.

"Yes. Sorry for the delay. There are a lot of things going on right now," Caila replied calmly, though she was mentally annoyed at his impatience.

"Who was that?" nodded Jason, trying to get some more information. There were enough strange creatures here already, and it seemed that more could appear at any time. This thing looked strong. Not the girl, but the skeletal thing that carried her. He felt a great danger from the thing, even Liege didn't feel as much tension as he did from the thing.

"Sandra and the Bubble. They're in charge of the research department. They're one of my Captains," Caila had no problem revealing that, because that was all she was going to say. She didn't know more herself anyway.

"Captain? How many of them do you have?" Jason asked, but Caila answered him with silence, just staring at him.

Jason realized that she was probably pushing too hard, so he didn't ask further.

Honestly, Caila didn't know herself. She usually didn't remember things until she saw something related to it. She supposed she had as many captains as she had doors in the throne room? Hellcage walked out of a door with a Hell sign on it. Sandra and Bubble came out of the door that says Shards. She could only assume that was the rough number.

"Let's get back to the point. Do you want to come over to my side?" Caila asks. She has already made up her mind; she isn't going to accept Jason into her people. He is obnoxious, annoying, and treacherous. If she were sure she could tame him, she might consider it more, but at the moment, she doesn't even have the strength to manipulate his DNA.

Archie has completely exhausted her, and she feels she wouldn't be able to do such a thing again for a while.

Jason has already thought it through and knows this is an opportunity for him. All he has to do is look at Archie, who is just a stupid boy. How much would this strengthen him, who is already a Primas? "Yes," he replies.

"Will you serve me faithfully?" Caila asks next.

"Yes," Jason nods again.

"You will never betray me?"

"I won't," Jason nods again, and his mind is quiet.

"You will protect the End of the World and its denizens?" Caila stares at him without blinking.

"Yes."

"I don't trust you," Caila utters without changing the tone of her voice.

"Ye- what?!" Jason answers automatically before he realizes what Liege has said.

"Kill him," Caila continues, and the moment she says that, everyone in the room rushes forward. Not just the ones behind the throne, but Zenobe and Lambert as well. The only one left behind is Archie, who can't bring himself to attack his former leader.

Caila finally decided that she should conserve her strength a bit, and her people were very keen on killing, so why not give them a chance? She watched calmly as they all rampaged around her, but she wasn't as calm as she pretended.

Caila mostly saw everything from the perspective of her worshippers, so she couldn't see what they looked like when they were fighting. Now she was seeing it with her own eyes. The gremlin that Caila had found rather cute before now looked like a dangerous beast with red-blooded teeth, hair matted with ice-sharp spines growing on it, and teeth suitable for tearing flesh.

The skeleton below blazed with fire, and the flames formed its body in such a way that even she could see the features of its face. A flaming tongue flicked out of its mouth, and its expression resembled someone who had been starving for a long time and was just about to eat something good.

The old man's eyeballs burst, and strands of white wriggling worms flew out of them, and more worms pushed out of the pores of his skin until he was covered with them.

A cruel smile settled on Lambert's face, which disturbed Caila more than the man whose eyes were flying worms. At least Zenobe looked relatively normal.

'Good. Good. They're not just... unique. But they're totally bloodthirsty. How did Supernova raise them? I guess I'll have to get some therapists,' Caila commented internally, feeling slightly relieved. If she hadn't pretended to be their goddess, could it be that they would have rushed at her like this? They really were monsters.

Caila felt a little stressed by the thought and just hardened her resolve not to let anyone find out. And more importantly, she'd be sorry too because she was already quite fond of these monsters of hers.

*****

Although Jason was worried that things might go wrong, he really didn't sense the moment. He raised his hands, and a silver shield rose up around him, protecting him from the first attacks, but it wasn't as strong as it should have been.

Which was natural when he was in the domain of a goddess, when the powers of other gods were muted. Still, the moment of protection gave him time to pull out his talisman as a medium to make his powers more stable.

Jason flinched as the icicles stopped short of his face. He looked up to see the red eyes of an orc who had crashed into the defensive wall with his arm that the icicles were on and broke through his barrier.

At that moment, he suddenly extended his arm and bent down, only for Jason to see a grinning flaming skull charging towards him. The flaming skeleton held the skull on a flaming chain, and Jason realized that the skeleton had used its own head!

The skull crashed into the barrier, and tongues of flame that resembled the letter X flew all over the skull's surface. The skeleton jerked back the hand that held the flaming chains, and the skull began to return to him. A second later, the fiery X on the barrier suddenly exploded!

KABOOOM!

"Gah!" Jason's barrier shattered, and he was thrown backwards. He immediately rolled over, oblivious to the fact that his clothes were smoldering in a few places, and drew his pistols around which silver chains flashed and the pistols' voices began to glow silver. He began firing at his attackers while retreating blindly towards the exit. Jason knew he needed to get out of here to have any chance of surviving this!

Beneath Gremlin and Skeleton's feet, a wave of white worms rushed by, piling up in a flash and forming a wriggling wall in front of them that blocked the bullets that had been fired.

The worms flew into the air, and the bullets made holes in the wall, but still prevented them from landing on Gremlin and Skeleton.

Jason backed up another few steps and almost lost his balance when he felt something on his feet. He looked down for a moment, only to see two hands sticking out of the floor, taking his ankles. "Shit!" Jason shouted angrily, pointing one of his guns down at the enemy that had grabbed him.

But the roar of the fire made him look away, only to see that a single female-looking woman had stood on the shoulders of the firebrick and their flames had mingled so that they were now burning shades of blue, green, and orange and seemed much more powerful.

The woman facing Jason had her hand reaching out and holding the wrist of her other hand, and a long stream of fire shot from her palm like some kind of flamethrower.

At the last moment, Jason raised the barrier around him again, but it only buckled for a moment before it was shattered again, and the flames hit him.

"Aaaaggrr!" Jason screamed in pain, feeling his arms let go, but it was too late to move away. He didn't even have a chance in the first place. Each of the monsters was strong, but their cooperation was perfect without a single hesitation.

Maybe if they hadn't cooperated, he would have had a chance. Jason could only feel regret for getting carried away with his greed and not being more careful. But why had Liege accepted Archie and not him?

His blurred vision turned to face the throne, and maybe it was his shocked mind, but he saw something strange hovering over the goddess's head. His mind could no longer process it, and his eyes rolled back into his head as he fell backwards.

***** 

Caila watched the fight, which quickly became fierce and also very short. Her followers went in with everything they had and did not hold back. Caila didn't have to be a genius to see that even the strong Jason couldn't stand this.

When Jason fell backwards, the movement stopped. Caila noticed that Lambert had appeared at her side, carefully cleaning the burn marks on his sleeves, and the old man with the worms began walking around the room to gather all his escaped worms. The rest of them surrounded the fallen Jason and giggled at something.

Caila had a feeling that would be enough. She raised her hands and clapped loudly, drawing the attention back to herself. She noticed that the Gremlin looked relatively normal and cute again, and the flaming skeleton had become just an ordinary skeleton. Caila had learned her lesson. No matter how sweet or cute it looks, it's definitely still deadly dangerous.

"Well done, everyone. Bring him to me," she said and watched as the skeleton grabbed the body and carried it to Caila.

Caila looked at Jason and found that he couldn't be deader. The flamethrower that Zenobe had created combined with the flaming Skeleton had burned through him. Caila touched the body and used the blue flame, but to her regret she felt no Prana. It seemed that with death, he was simply gone. She sighed and waved her hand. "Alright. Throw the body into Hell."

Skeleton walked to the door of Hell and whistled through his teeth. "Whistling! Here you go Misha!" and tossed the body into the yard before dusting off his bony hands with a grunt.

"Huff! Huff!" Came the reply from the doorway, followed by heavy breathing.

Archie had been crouched in the corner until now, watching everything with his eyes bulging outwards, congratulating himself on having made the decision he had. He wouldn't have had a chance otherwise!

Caila nodded her head. "Now bring his companions," she ordered.

That snapped Archie out of his shock, and he quickly stood up and hurried forward. "Liege!" He called, drawing attention to himself.

"Yes?" Caila asked.

"What are you going to do about these people?" Archie asked nervously.

Caila had only given it a cursory thought, so she shared her thoughts aloud. "They're enemies. I can't trust them as much as I can trust you. I'll use them to feed my people, for experiments, or if they're too much trouble I'll just kill them." She answered honestly. Caila had no need to feel guilty towards someone who stood against her and the End of the World.

Archie, however, was different. They were still his former colleagues, and he didn't feel comfortable with these plans for their future. "Can't you accept them as your worshippers?" Archie asked.

"No." Caila immediately refused. "Don't get me wrong, Archie. I understand their situation, and while I'm not someone who enjoys killing, I'm also not someone who welcomes my enemies with open arms. The moment you decided to attack my home, you sealed your fate. You are the only exception, because one of my people chose you." Caila didn't say this out of threat or malice. She was just stating the facts and how she felt about it.

"Nothing else. If it weren't for that, you wouldn't have survived either, Archie." She stated.

Archie stiffened, feeling somewhat intimidated by the cold words. "What if I could convince them?" Archie asked, not wanting to give up the chance to spare his people.

Caila sighed inwardly and rested her head in the palm of her hand. She didn't really want her enemies roaming the territory; on the other hand, it seemed important to Archie and should she let her new worshipper down right away? If she refused, then his opinion of her would drop, and since Archie was the future god of the Moon and Night, she should keep him happy. At least as much as possible.

"Okay Archie. If you can convince some people, they can stay. But none of them will get my blessing and must have Baa's blessing removed. Then they are free to live here, but without the option of leaving. Those who refuse will die." Then she pointed her hand at Archie.

"And since it's something you're asking for, it's your responsibility. Anyone you don't convince you must personally execute. And don't think about not doing it. This is my territory, and I can see everything." Caila was quite happy with her decision.

Archie shuddered inwardly, then clenched his fists. He was going to have to convince everyone! Then his mind went blank for a moment.

But how the hell is he going to do it!?