Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 59: Anomaly

It was as if once the door opened, the illusion dropped. The facade of modern buildings was only skin deep, melting away the moment you peeked under the surface.

"Nothing?!" Alandra cried, darting in and looking about. She crossed from one end of the room to the other, trying to see if there was some sort of hidden compartment. She cast her sentry spell, but it only pointed toward the portal outside. "Vritra's horns!" she cursed.

Jared's hand clenched around the hammer on his belt, his one eye tracking around the room. Once Alandra came back, her shoulders slumping from the possibility of a relic becoming slimmer, we went to check the other buildings.

Darrin himself did a circuit of the rooms, trying to see if there was some sort of hidden switch or alcove. There was nothing.

I was increasingly on edge, the hairs on my arms standing on end. It felt like we were being watched, but nothing jumped out at us. The insides of every single house were stark white boxy spaces, empty of any rooms or decorations. There were no relics, no accolades, and seemingly no purpose at all for these rooms to exist.

We stepped back into the street. There was no wind running through this zone. The leaves on the trees were deathly still, contributing to the overarching feeling of uneasiness coursing through this little slice of reality.

The Relictombs were reacting to Lady Dawn's djinn blood, I was certain. But this was beyond even my expectations. I was expecting stronger monsters, amped up beyond what our party could handle. Or maybe we'd be thrown into a place like the mirror room as Arthur was, except with me lacking an affinity for aether, we would all be eternally trapped.

But instead, I was faced with a corrupt rendition of a slice of my previous life. Arthur never experienced anything like this, so why was I?

At first, I thought frantically of how this might expose my secret, or maybe prove dangerous to the Unblooded party. But the longer I stayed in this zone, the more it forced me to think of bygone days on my computer, spending hours at a time working toward my degree. It brought to the fore my old road trips across the country with my family, whom I would never see again. This was a sideways reflection of Earth, painted through refracting mirrors a dozen times over.

But it was still a reflection of Earth. This place may have been empty to Darrin, Jared, and Alandra, but I saw ghosts everywhere, just as distorted as the houses.

Why is this happening? I asked the one person I could count on. Why is it showing me this?

"It is reacting to my presence," Lady Dawn said slowly. "But the mechanism is beyond me. It is taking things from your mind; crafting things from them," she said with anger. "I cannot stop it."

That's fine, I thought back tiredly. It really wasn't, but I was helpless to change it.

Our party stepped back into the sunlight, most looking visibly dejected by the lack of relics. I turned toward the exit portal.

"I want to leave this zone," I said quietly. Darrin turned around, looking at me. He must have seen something in my eyes.

I felt small.

"Well, as far as I can tell, this zone is empty of challenges," Darrin said, taking a step toward the portals. I thanked him internally, feeling too drained to do it aloud. "I think we should head back to celebrate your successful prelim, ey Toren?"

I nodded, an imitation of a smile stretching across my face. "Yeah," I said. "It'll be good to have completed this."

Darrin looked at me with a concerned expression, but I shook my head. This wasn't something he could help with. His piercing green eyes narrowed, then he turned toward the waiting portals. One would take a person further into the Relictombs. The other would allow them to exit these pocket dimensions, winding up back in the second layer.