The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere

Inner Sanctum Exterior | 3:22 PM | Third Day

She didn't just shoot it once, either. She fired again and again, the intense bang of the magnetic rifle cacophonous enough that I instinctively covered my ears. I was pretty sure I heard Linos shout something like 'Kamrusepa, stop!' in the midst of it, but only caught fragmented syllables. If Kam heard too, she obviously couldn't care less, as her gaze was unflinchingly focused overhead.

However reinforced the underground was from structural damage, the building itself was clearly a bit more conventional. Chunks of stone, plaster and wood soon began to descend from overhead as she literally punched a small hole in the ceiling. Finally, after about eight or nine shots, she stopped, cracking open the side of the rifle and, with practiced elegance, slid fresh bullets into the chamber.

"Go on!" She called out threateningly. "Make that sound again!"

A moment of silence passed, the only sound a final few fragments of the ceiling 'trickling' down in the wake of her onslaught. Ran and I shared a perturbed look, while Ophelia held a frightened hand to her mouth.

"Divine beast, my arse," Kamrusepa spoke as she finally lowered the gun. "Trying to spook us back downstairs, are you?!" She spat at the floor. "I've had it with these smoke-and-mirrors parlor tricks!"

"That was dangerous, Kam," Linos chided her, though in the kind of reserved tone you'd expect to accompany 'chiding' someone in possession of a lethal weapon and who has just demonstrated a willingness to use it. "You might've hit someone."

"I should bloody well hope I did!" she declared. "Hard to contrive a scenario where someone was doing that without at best dutifully playing a part for the conspiracy." She shook her head. "First expecting us to believe a goddess is standing on the ocean floor, then a giant bull is strolling down the halls-- It's a circus."

"That thing didn't sound like a person," I said skeptically, stepping towards the hall and eying the hole she'd created. I could see all the way to the other side, but the lack of light made it difficult to make anything out other than the vague impression of a ceiling.

Kam scoffed. "You're a chronic theatergoer, Su. Have some belief in the ingenuity of humans when it comes to making loud noises."

"I guess," I said, still uncertain.

"If you hit something, or at least anything major, I don't think it'd be this quiet," Ran deduced. "And we'd see something collapsed up here. The fact that we don't means they got away."

"They could have fallen back after being wounded," Kam replied. "But you're right-- Now they'll know where we are. We need to leave now, and be on our guard for an ambush."

"Are we still going to head for the other tower...?" Ophelia asked, hesitant.

Kam nodded authoritatively. "Even if that was the same culprit, we still need to confirm the bell tower is vacant before we can make our escape, and that's probably the only spot to get a good view of it." She turned. "Let's go."

There was no room for argument. Linos especially didn't look happy about what she'd just done, but still, down the hall we went.

We returned to the stairs, and - at Kam's suggestion - raised our rifles in preparation for an attack, despite the risk of starting a fire. Despite the apparent impulsivity or what had happened a moment ago, it felt like she was still broadly logical. If that had been the culprit (and, looking at it rationally, that seemed more likely than not) then there was a very good chance they'd be up ahead. This could all reach a climax at a moment's notice.

Arriving at the third floor, however, there was no sign of anyone. We turned the corner towards the hall above where Kamrusepa had fired, and sure enough, the hole was there - a broad but spotty tear in a green carpet, beneath which the stonework had been ripped through. The ultimate impact-point of the bullets could even be seen in the ceiling above.

What there was no indication of, though, was them having struck any sort of target. No blood, no pieces of machinery... Nothing.

"Yeah," Ran said. "Looks like you missed."

Kam frowned deeply. "Let's be even more cautious, then. They might be waiting for us there."

We continued to make our way around the square hallway that looped the floor, soon coming to our destination - the mysterious, heavy door at the northwestern corner, the prominent arcane lock still apparently disengaged. Linos looked hesitant as we approached.

Now that I'd seen what felt like most of the sanctuary (well, except for the research tower), it felt, considering the placement of his body, like a fairly obvious conclusion that Samium had been staying within. It was a secure location, a little too out of the way for visitors to become curious of, but still convenient to access. More importantly, the tower would possess a view and space befitting a privileged guest. And finally, Neferuaten had fairly bluntly stated it was off-limits during the tour and wouldn't even give a hint as to what was inside.

Yep, that seemed pretty clear.

But then, that did raise a question. Back when we'd been last up here, Zeno had taken a brief look inside, silently communicating something to Anna and Linos. What could that have meant?

"Eyes sharp," Kam said, as she slowly opened the door.

She gripped the handle and pushed it back, the light slowly filling the area beyond. Rather than the steps you might expect, it instead led into an upward ramp, itself coming to a stop at a tall set of ornate double-doors, presently wide ajar-- Though it was too dark to make anything out with our weak little light.

Cautiously, we began to make our way upwards, with Ran shutting the door behind us so we'd know if someone followed. We headed up the ramp, which was a surprising mercy and meant we'd made this whole journey without having to push Linos up a set of stairs - though this, too, was probably a hint as to the room's purpose. After all, ease of access for wheelchairs and stretchers would be important for an area designed for critical VIP care.

All remaining doubts disappeared once we were inside. The room was wide - circular - and had an accommodating atmosphere, with large windows, a bookshelf and a fluffy carpet, all with warm and inviting colors... But there was no mistaking its purpose as obviously medical. Two tall logic engines and a combination dialysis machine/ventricular assistor stood on either side of a luxurious king-sized bed, with a large cabinet filled with medicines and more machines - intravenous drips, organ monitors, further organ substitutes - by the side of the door.

Though, I should qualify that by saying the average person might not have recognized these for what they are; almost everything was dressed up in such a way that it was obviously trying to avoid the atmosphere of a hospital room. Wood was used instead of metal, everything was tastefully painted, and all of it was so state-of-the-art that it would probably be unrecognizable to someone who wasn't an expert. The dialysis machine incorporated several components that were obviously the product of Biomancy, with visibly organic sacs flowing into one another at the lower levels of the machine, connected by green, vine-like veins. Oh, and the entire area was surrounded by flora - potted plants and flowers.

But again, nothing in the world can completely disguise a room meant for people at the end of their lives. The human nose zones in on death like birds on a worm; you can just ­tell. Their sweat, their traces of piss, even the hair fallen from their head reeks of the swan song of the human body, and it hit me as soon as I took a single step through those doors.

"This is where Samium was staying, wasn't it?" I asked. No point in dancing around it.

Linos sighed. "...that's right," he admitted.

No one looked particularly surprised save for Ophelia, who had missed when we'd discovered the body, so it must have been a pretty obvious deduction to make.

There was one other detail. Though it wasn't instantly obvious, the rear set of windows - behind the bed - were open, if only slightly. They hung still in the windless, perpetual night.

"Sir," I asked him. "Why did Zeno check in here, when we passed by earlier?"

He sighed, but uncharacteristically, showed no hesitation before explaining. "Back after we'd just visited the core, Anna, Zeno and I... We speculated a little on the culprit's actions. What they might do, or have already done." He crossed his arms. "Among other things, we concluded that there was a good chance that Samium was already dead along with Neferuaten. He was defenseless, of course, and isolated, which would make him an early target. Something to knock off the board before the rest of us knew what was going on."

"Why didn't you bring this up?" Kam asked pointedly.

"We didn't think there was any point in the rest of you hearing about someone you hadn't even known was here probably having been killed. It would just make people anxious for no reason." He glanced over his shoulder. "When we passed by, though, we saw that the lock had been broken, so Zeno went in to... Confirm our suspicions. Sadly, they turned out to be accurate."

"You didn't say anything when we found the body, either," Ran pointed out flatly.

"Well, no," Linos said, a little defensive. "There wouldn't have been much point at that stage."

"So you think he was killed last night?" I asked. "When all this started?"

He nodded. "Considering when the lock was found broken, that's the only real explanation."

Taking a slightly closer look at the bed, I could see that there was a little bit of a mess - it would be a stretch to call it signs of a 'struggle', but the sheets had clearly been thrown off sharply, and there were tubes running from the machines lying unhooked on the mattress, a large dark stain having formed in the center where some were still dripping their fluids. There was a little bit of fluid on the floor, too.

It wasn't hard to paint a mental picture. The culprit probably came in here, hoisted Samium, and simply dumped him out the window. With a physical condition like that, if the fall didn't kill him - and there was almost no chance it wouldn't kill him - then being cut off from his life support would, and probably within minutes.

Still, it did seem a little odd. Wouldn't it be more discreet to have just suffocated him?

I edged a little towards the window. Sure enough, I could see the rough shape of the body down below, as we'd seen it through the logic bridge.

That's the person you've been seeking out for the past eight years, a voice reminded me. He was here, right next to where you're standing, just a few hours ago. But now there he is. Dead.

The words prickled in my mind, a feeling of wanting to just give up and lie down running through my gut. But there was something I'd planned to do here. While I had this chance, I needed to search the room for records, notes - anything that could give an indication as to what happened yesterday.

While I was preoccupied with this, however, Kam was moving ahead with her plan.

"How exactly are we even going to check if there's anybody up there?" Ran asked her. "It's too dark to see shit. This dinky light isn't going to carry."

"The rest of you will fire your rifles at the light-only setting," Kam instructed. "It'll give us a burst of visibility with almost no heat-- And we're far enough from the gas now that there'd be little risk anyway." She narrowed her eyes. "But we'll only get one chance. If they are still up there, they'll know where we are the moment we fire."

"S-Should we take cover...?" Ophelia asked.

Kam nodded. "Yes, the rest of you ought to."

I started to search around the room. There was a desk off to the side, but there was no visible paperwork, and I wasn't even sure Samium could sit up or get out of bed. The bookshelf was stocked with a few tomes that seemed tangentially relevant to Egomancy - pneumenology, neurology, psychiatry, psychology - but nothing I could identify as exclusive, and certainly nothing like a journal or a tome of secret knowledge.

In desperation, I checked the very top of the shelves - maybe something had been put there discreetly, out of reach. It was then that I noticed. On the wall, up in the corner, was a circular prism of glass surrounded by a ring of bronze; an arcane lens.

Of course, I thought. They'd need to keep him monitored, wouldn't they? In case there was an emergency, or something they needed to review when trying to assess his physical condition...

In that case, maybe there were recordings on the logic engines. I skipped over, a desperate, anxious feeling in my chest.

"Alright, let's get into position," Kam said, raising her rifle. "Ran, Linos, I'll have you both fire your weapons on my cue-- Twice, if needs must."

"Are you really going to be fast enough with that thing to aim and shoot with a second of light?" Ran asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's been a while, but I'm confident in my skills. I used to be able to pick off birds in flight when I was young." She narrowed her eyes. "But to be safe, if I do end up firing, dive into cover in case they try and retaliate. It's going to get ugly if it comes to that." She glanced towards me, then frowned in confusion. "Su, what are you doing?"

"Um, don't mind me," I said. Ran furrowed her brow.

"You need to get into cover," she told me tersely. "They could spot us at any moment."

"R-Right," I said, and knelt down by the side of the logic bridge, behind the bed.

I wasn't about to be deterred. I touched the metal, the interface of the machine springing to life before me. It seemed like the vast majority of the scripting was devoted to monitoring Samium's condition (much of which was trying desperately to communicate to anyone attuned that something was terribly wrong, which felt sadly redundant) with only a few options that were unrelated - mostly entertainment based. Dramas, logic sea linkups, books. When someone was in a state this dire, sometimes they couldn't even lift up a paperback, and had to rely on a mental display to do so much as read a novel.

But just as I'd started to give up hope, I found it. Patient observation storage. Most of it was just records from the various machines, but there were also recordings of the room, going back up to an entire week!

My heart raced. This was it.

Kam was giving me a peculiar look, but seemed determined to press forward. "Alright, no time to waste. On three. One, two, three!"

There was a flash of bright light, but I wasn't paying attention to the result, my mind scanning through the recordings. It looked like the conspirators had taken out this lens, too-- There was a lengthy section of nothing but darkness after around one in the morning. I ventured back further than that, trying to find the last appearance of Samium, and was struck by what I saw.

The vague impression of the body I'd seen through the golem's eyes and a moment ago had been enough to give an impression of Samium's poor health, but this was on an entirely different level. He looked terrible. His body was a mess, covered in external substitute organs and criss-crossed with what must have been hundreds of tubes and wires. A metal ring engraved with runes encircled his chest like a giant shackle, and all over his body, sections of flesh had been visibly substituted for cloned replacements - not just skin, but what looked like most of his left leg.

And even still, it looked like it was doing no good. I could see tumors on the sides of his bare shoulders, areas where the flesh was literally dying... And he looked so emaciated I could all but see right through to his bones.

If it hadn't been for the beard, I wouldn't have recognized him as the same man I'd seen in my childhood. It was shocking. How could someone deteriorate to that extent in barely more than a decade?

"You didn't fire, miss Tuon," Linos stated, somewhere between curious and perturbed.

"Because no one was up there," she said, lowering the rifle slightly. "They must have gone inside, as we'd suspected."

"What do we do now?" Ran asked.

"Now?" Kam took a breath. "We're in a slightly awkward position. If we simply go back the way we came and head for the exit, we could make it out, or they could head right back on up and at best put us back where we started, and at worst put us in the ground." She glanced around the room. "We could try and wring together some sheets and climb down, but I doubt that would be much faster."

"That would, uh, put me in a bit of a difficult position, too," Linos said.

Kam snorted at this, though it was hard to tell if this was with open derision or just a sort of frustrated acceptance. "Regardless, it's not going to work. That leaves us only one option that I can see. We break for the eastern or northern exits, out of view of the bell tower, then set the gas aflame once we're outside. The heat and smoke will be too great for them to fire on us."

"We can't do that," Linos said, anxious. "Everyone else is still inside."

"We don't know that," Kam said. "They could have made a break for it by now. They might not even have known there was a sniper." She glanced downward. "And I'm sorry, mister Melanthos, but we have to put our own lives first."

Looking at the final moments of the footage, it was hard to tell what happened. Samium seemed to be awake, reading a book, when suddenly it cut out. There was no indication of anything having surprised him, which suggested it had indeed been done with the Power.

That was a little frustrating, but ultimately, I wasn't here to clear up the specifics of Samium's death. I flicked through time. An evening visit from Durvasa, checking his equipment and making some conversation I didn't have time to listen to. No, that's not far enough. Back further; a similar checkup from Neferuaten, refilling some of his machines and getting into a more extensive dialogue that seemed to leave him pensive, his eyes losing focus and gazing into the middle distance. Too far back; that's probably when she asked his permission.

I started to get frustrated. Had I even seen him? Was this all for nothing...? But then--

There it was. Me, with a chair pulled up to the side of his bed, at about half past eight.

I instinctively took a sharp intake of breath.

"This isn't the only way," Linos said. "We could try and meet up with the others. The culprit has to be acting openly by now. And as you said, all they have are smoke and mirrors. We have the numbers."

"This is not an action drama, grandmaster," Kam spoke sharply. "And this place is rapidly turning into a death trap. The culprit could beat us to igniting the gas right now, and we'd have no choice but to try and climb from the window, or be cooked alive."

"The others could try the same thing, too," Ran said.

"Exa-- Exactly, Ran," Kam said, seeming surprised by her backing her up. "There's no other way around it."

I was only half-absorbing this conversation. My hands shook as I tried to navigate to the starting point. 8:19 PM. That was when I'd stepped in the door. The recording was frozen in the moment, waiting for me to communicate for it to begin.

But I struggled to do so. It felt like I was having a panic attack, my heart racing violently in my chest. This was it. The final answer I'd get after all these years, the culmination of so much planning, so many nights lost in regretful, frustrating thoughts. In this one moment, anything was possible, but once I'd seen it, there would be no going back.

You don't have time to hesitate, I told myself. The others are going to want to leave soon. You have to watch it now. Now!

I began the recording.

I saw Samium lying down in the bed, eyes half-open, staring at the ceiling. Other than the fact that there was a book by the side that seemed to be gone now - fiction, probably, the cover depicting a ship - that felt a little confusing. So he could read a novel, after all? Or maybe someone had left it here?

I shook my head, bemused as to why I'd fixate on something so stupid at a time like this.

After a moment, there was a knock on the door, and his eyes opened fully, his head raising. He was still for a few moments, seeming to be thinking, but eventually spoke, his voice quiet and hoarse - and with a guttural quality it hadn't possessed all those years ago - but still audible.

"Come in," he said, his tone resigned.

After this, I saw myself enter, stepping slowly into the room with visibly nervous mannerisms. The recorded me glanced around, at one point looking directly at the camera, before turning to face him and stepping forward.

I'd seen myself like this just a little earlier back in the security center, but it was different up close, where I could distinctly recognize my own face. Seeing it... Seeing this body like that, not in a mirror but moving apparently independently, made my thoughts go to strange places. I felt the dissociative pulse, like 'I' was nowhere at all, that generally indicated I should take some of my medication. But I was too preoccupied.

"Good evening," Samium spoke in a neutral, weak tone, after I'd stood by his bedside for a few moments.

I awkwardly said nothing, breathing heavily.

He watched me for a few more moments, his expression still for a while, until he eventually smiled very slightly. "Are you quite alright?"

"Oh," I said. "S-Sorry, I, uh..."

"Would you like to sit down?" He gestured a hand towards a nearby chair.

I turned to look at the seat for a moment, like the concept of sitting befuddled me, but eventually nodded, stepping over and pulling it up to the side of the bed. I sat down, and from the angle I could see my face again, if only from the side. I looked, as one would expect, extremely anxious.

And Samium... Well, there was something about a person at that level of physical degeneration that made it hard to read their face at all. When every movement the body makes - even so much as twitches of muscle - is a physical struggle, the calculations for self-expression become different, and the unspoken signals people use to communicate distorted. He barely moved at all; even when he blinked it was a heavier, more deliberate motion.

The recording made it even worse. So I couldn't be sure of the expression on his face at all.

"It's been some time," Samium said.

I hesitated. "...yes."

"You've been quite successful in your studies, or so I hear," he said. He seemed to struggle a little with even a moderately longer sentence, and took a deep breath through his nose. "Fourth place at the Old Yru Academy... Very impressive."

I didn't say anything, lowering my head slightly, such that my hair fell to obscure my eyes.

"I was surprised when I heard about your visit here," he said, his smile fading somewhat. "And that you wanted to see me, especially."

"M-mm," I said, with a stiff nod.

The room was silent for a few moments, neither of us saying anything.

Eventually, he took another breath. "Have you... Been well?"

"We need to reach a decision," Kam spoke, back in the present. "We're not safe here. We could still be ambushed at a moment's notice."

"Miss Tuon," Linos spoke firmly. "I'm not going to go along with a plan that could endanger the life of my son. He could still be in here."

He was quiet for a few moments, clenching his fist. "...how about this, then," he said. "I'll stay here, keeping an eye on the bell tower, and will open fire if I see the culprit return. I'll keep firing out light with my rifle, both for visibility, and so you'll know I'm still up there." He glanced downwards. "The rest of you can make for the exit. Then I'll look for the others by myself.

Kam frowned, a little surprised. "You'd do that? You could be throwing away your own life."

"He's my son," Linos insisted. "I'd do anything for him."

"I... Um..." The me in the recording was shaking slightly, unable to fully sit still on the chair.

Samium glanced away. "...I'm sorry," he said. "Would you prefer if I... Didn't make small talk, then?"

I clenched my jaw, pushing my lips together tightly.

I was starting to feel frustrated with the me in the past. I tried to put myself in her shoes, to imagine the weight of the moment after all this time. The paralyzing anxiety that must have come with just being in the same room as him, let alone trying to have something resembling a normal conversation. What could I possibly say about my life, while ignoring the elephant in the room?

And why was he being so... Ordinary, to me?

But we had so little time. If I could just get to the point...

"...what happened to you?" I asked.

"Mm? Oh." He looked down over his body, then broke into a more bitter, tired sort of smile. "I suppose I let myself go a bit." His throat clenched and unclenched, making a strained noise; I could tell it was meant to be laughter, but it sounded nothing like it. "When you're my age, you know... It only really takes a straw to break the camel's back, I suppose, heh..."

"Is it--"

"Because of what happened?" he asked, anticipating my question, his brow raised slightly. "No. Not at all."

"...I suppose I have no objections," Kam said. "If it's truly what you think best. Ran?"

She shook her head. "I guess not. Rock and a hard place."

"Are you really alright with just being left here...?" Ophelia asked, her voice weak.

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm 'okay' with it," Linos stated. "In fact, I'm scared out of my mind. But I'm not being left with many options."

Ophelia looked to Kamrusepa. "I don't... Know about this, Kam. Leaving someone behind--"

"Ophelia, I haven't wished to be harsh with you," Kam spoke harshly, "but you haven't even been carrying your gun for most of this ordeal. You've been quite useless, and I don't want to hear any complaints."

The other girl's face flushed "...I--"

Suddenly, there was a crack as the door at the bottom of the stairs was thrown open.