The Dark Veil: The Rose Vol. 3
Part One Chapters 10, 11 & 12
Previously On The Dark Veil: The Rose Vol 3:
Aries struggles with the indigo children’s captivity, contemplating their slim chances of escape and questioning if anyone is coming to rescue them. Meanwhile, Phil confronts Artemis in a tense, mind-bending encounter, while Sandy, now transformed, seeks answers about her new abilities and the fate of the rebellion.
10
Phil’s frustration mounted. He didn’t understand the inquiry.
What do you believe?
That was the question Artemis asked. Phil answered truthfully.
I believe in right and wrong. I believe in loyalty and compassion. In the heart of love, and fighting for what is right.
Although it seemed his answers were not what Artemis was looking for. His milky yellow eyes gleamed with disappointment. His gaze roamed over Phil. He could feel his stare in his mind, burrowing into his heart.
“How do you know what is right?”
The question was jarring. Jarring because it seemed too basic.
“Because I feel it. There’s a difference between what is right and what is wrong. Like a gut instinct.”
Artemis flapped in the water; the waves barreled against the window. His voice boomed inside the room. “No, you only know what you’ve been told.”
Phil felt the reverberation of that voice in his bones. “I-I don’t understand. Do we not have instincts? Is there not a fundamental universal understanding of what is right and wrong?”
“Of course. Unless belief is buried in layers of distortion. Then the recipient of circumstance reacts to the effect of the cause and not the cause directly. What they believe then drives the reaction.” He flapped violently in the water, the sound thunderous and jarring. “Be the cause, not the effect.”
Phil bowed his head, thinking. He understood what Artemis was referring to. “This is about Esta and Cathryn.” He nodded, raising his head to meet Artemis’ stare. “You’re all concerned that I’ll falter because of it. That I’ll put my own needs in front of the cause.” He shook his head. “But that’s not who I am.”
Artemis drifted closer. His eyes were so close to the window his stare was all-consuming. “All you know. All you believe in is the fight.”
When will the fighting stop?
Esta’s voice whispered into Phil’s ear. Hearing his wife’s voice so clearly brought a twitch to his heart. Gritting his teeth, Phil clenched his fists. He despised the question posed.
“It drives your actions. It is a dire effect to the cause of your suffering. Conscious belief is simply surface level. What exists in the subconscious is born from experience. The battle is all you know. Those who live by the sword die by the sword until the soldier becomes the oppressor. All in the name of the cause. How can the future be born through hate? What kind of future would we have then?”
When will the fighting stop?
“The question stands,” Artemis howled. “I desire an answer.”
Phil tightened his fists and closed his eyes. He could never answer Esta’s question when she posed it. He couldn’t answer because he never knew the answer. The battle was all Phil had ever known, but seeing beyond the fight to a peaceful future was a foreign concept. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself in a peaceful society. His purpose was to fight. What purpose would he have in a peaceful future? So, he said what he believed was the truth. “When there is no longer a need to fight.”
Phil opened his eyes, watching Artemis swim away, leaving Phil with his parting words,
“Do you not already have that need?” Phil’s eyes narrowed. “Your revenge will be the death of the universe.”
11
Sanos stood on the ledge on the top of Drac Tower, gazing at the colored lights of red, green and blue raging high above the structure.
From where he was standing, the roof went on for over a hundred yards and fifty yards across. Thick steel towers stood on the four corners of the roof. A hundred feet long, they conjoined over the middle of the roof to a fifth tower that reached another hundred feet high. The colors were coming from this fifth tower, cascading across Drac City. Connecting each of the four towers were transparent walls roughly ten feet thick, that started ten feet above the top of the roof and stopped ten feet below the top of each tower.
Electricity snaked across the transparent walls, slithering and coiling around the towers, and electrifying the colors above that looked like clouds to Sanos.
The Dark Veil.
One of the many antennae across the planet. Sanos understood the controls were in a secret location housed within the confines of Drac City. Not even Moth could touch it. The Draconians maintained the frequency alone.
Sanos’ gazed drifted down to the roof. The bell-shaped pod was in the center. A lone structure. The rest of the roof was barren. The roof was flat, with access points in each of the four corners.
This is where he will come, said Sephtis. Robyn Winter. He will use it to send the Atlantean through time.
Sanos jumped off the ledge to the roof.
That is my moment of triumph.
Sanos approached the pod. It carried a thick energy he could feel growing stronger the closer he came. The structure was tall, thick, and wide and made from all bronze.
“How does it work?” asked Sanos. In all his years, he’d seen nothing like it. “Another secret hidden by our overlords. Another means to manipulate?”
The portal results from the time dimension. Its purpose is to hold all time across space and dimensions. The structure is from the ancients, before time existed. It is electrical, as is all in the universe. For the poor soul who lays within its confines, the time capsule alters their DNA. Essentially becoming time themselves, and trapped within its endless loop.
Sanos gazed over the structure. From what he could see, there were no controls or compartments. No latches or means to open it. He was looking at a solid structure. “Why is it here?”
Your overlords wished to catch Robyn Winter along the space of time. They had been using it to achieve their victory.
“Had?” Electricity consumed the structure, raging like a snake across it.
Sephtis’ ragged breathing thundered across the roof. Until Robyn Winter dismantled its purpose. He holds the key to reversing the course of the bell. He will use it here, and that is my time to strike.
Sanos surveyed the bell with its raging electrical current and bronze color.
“Okay,” he said. “What do you need me to do?”
12
Moth stood in his private chambers, his hands clamped behind his back while staring through his windows at his beloved city. Thinking he had to strategize, or rather, he had to account for new information. Namely, Sanos and his disappearance.
The past twenty-four hours have been a host of revelations, victories, defeats, and disappointments. Yes, Dr. Blum’s formula was perfected, and they can begin mass reconditioning. The human vampire hybrid has been isolated from his mother, dismantling the possibility of his future threat. The rebellion has been decimated, although he didn’t trust anyone completely, and dispatched a recon team to assess for survivors. The indigo threat has been isolated and after he has his way with the children, he will have successfully handed the future to his Draconian overlords.
Plus, the time portal was successfully brought to Drac City. Overall, every angle pointed to Moth’s monumental success, but even he understands the devils in the details. Something may appear one way to the untrained eye, but when looking closer, holding the situation up to a microscope, the narrative changes completely.
Sanos was missing, and he has the formula for new blood, representing the largest threat to his command. Zon is on the brink of mutiny, especially after Moth wrapped a symbiote around one of their own. And the greys may join him in time if Moth doesn’t have answers to their inquiries regarding the decimation of their mother ship and their leader, Nero. He was certain the new representative would arrive soon, a situation he was not looking forward to. He also suspected that something was wrong with the human vampire hybrid. He’ll need to contact Jayda momentarily.
And his beloved Kaal was dead. Moth couldn’t remove Kaal’s dire, heartbroken stare from behind his eyes. The vision sharpened his rage at the tip of his consciousness.
A vision flashed behind his eyes, and he snapped his eyes shut, his face pinched in confusion. The smoke in the cell and the eyes he thought he saw. The fog or smoke or whatever it was, held energy that was all too familiar and yet foreign.
Another threat he had to account for. Was Sanos playing with dark magic? The practice was forbidden among his people for millenniums. Moth wasn’t even certain that Sanos could discover the elements required to conjure such magic.
No, there must be something else at play.
He thought about Robyn Winter and the power he displayed on the rebel base. It was supernatural, or rather, unnatural, the same as the fog in the cell. The same essence, born from the ether of a new dimension with power that was as foreign to him as the human emotion of love.
Moth closed his eyes while gritting his fangs when the door opened behind him. His soldier, Vexar, stood in the door. Moth kept his back to him-he refused for his subordinates to see the pain in his stare-regarding his soldier from over his shoulder.
“Master Moth, I come with an update.” Moth felt uncertainty in Vexar’s voice, understanding he was about to inform Moth about Kaal’s death.
Moth gritted his teeth, returning his stare to Drac City. “Speak freely Vexar.”
“Yes, sir. Zon and Illam continue to look for Sanos.”
Moth clenched his hands as he nodded.
“We received a communication from the greys. They are sending a team to speak with you.”
Moth breathed deeply. “As expected. Have them dock in the gallows and inform me when they arrive.”
“Yes, sir,” he said and paused.
“Is there more, Vexar?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, sir there is.”
Moth lifted his chin. “Proceed.”
“We received a communication from the Draconians. They wish to speak with you.”
Now Moth clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth. He shook his head. “I’ll deal with it, thank you Vexar.”
“As you wish, sir. Also, our team on Xilos requests your guidance on the indigo threat.”
Now Moth turned to his subordinate, his hands still clamped behind his back. “I have a special brand of torture waiting for them. A festival of games to entertain our great people and honor our victory.” He ran his tongue across his fangs. “What better way to destroy our greatest threat than to watch the threat destroy themselves?”
Vexar bowed. “I honor your wisdom, my lord.”
“At dusk we shall open the games to our people, but before the games begin, I want each child assessed thoroughly. Have our people facilitate a barrage of tests. I wish to know more about the power of the indigo gene.”
“As you wish, my lord.” He paused, and Moth could sense the twitch in his spine.
“Is there more, Vexar?”
“Yes, sir.” His voice lowered an octave.
“Then proceed, soldier.”
“Yes, sir.” He paused again, clearing his throat. “We discovered Kaal, sir. In Sanos’ cell…” He looked down before training his stare on Moth. Moth stepped forward, closer to Vexar. “He has perished, sir. We suspect Sanos.”
Moth stepped forward another step, coming eye to eye with Vexar. “My beloved, Kaal,” he said, gazing over Vexar when he ground his jaw. “He must have fought with all his heart. Unfortunately, he was never a warrior.” He gazed into Vexar’s eyes. “We will honor his loyalty during our celebration.”
“Yes, sir.”
“It is as it is. Prepare his body for burial.” He gritted his teeth, narrowing his eyes, pretending under the veil of his facade. “This poses a new conundrum.” He looked down on Vexar. “Inform Zon and Illam of my command. They are to detain Sanos. I wish to question him personally.”
“I will implement all that you have said, my lord.”
Moth dismissed him from his quarters, then returned his gaze to Drac City. Satisfied with himself, at least for now.
Just wanted to say your serialized fiction Substack totally inspired me to start putting my own stories out there bit by bit. Seeing you do it made me realize how fun and freeing it could be!
So now I’m super excited to share that The Unnatural History is launching at the start of next month! It’s weird and spooky and very me, and I honestly can’t wait for people to start reading it. 😊 Thanks for the push—you made it feel possible!