Ding! "Ascendentary level," the robotic female voice announces once again.
Estrella shifts over to Milan, "This is really eerie, Milan, you are sure they aren't leading us to a trap?" she whispers into Milan's ear.
"Your sister also muttered for him to click on the button, I don't know why she would lead us to a trap when you are here," Milan mutters under his breath.
A soft chilling sound begins as the elevator door slowly opens.
"Holy mother of Meumeu," Malik slowly spouts out as they all look deep into a cave with awe.
Drip, Drip, Drip! The sizzling of acid hitting the dark cave floors sound. The cave is so dark, the slight shine of the elevators fluorescent light and the neon green smoke dispersed on the ground lights it up.
As Esmeralda steps out and looks at the frame of the elevator, she points to black nose masks with mesh hole ventilation within them.
"You all need to wear this," Esmeralda says to the group; who at this point are still inside the elevator. "Your bodies can't handle kushna like mine," she claims.
"What the hell is kushna?" Boz questions in a harsh tone.
At the very back of the elevator, Providence's head snaps up with quick pace, his eyes begin to turn milky white once again with his iris disappearing.
"Kushna, is the green smoke around this entire experimenting zone. This place is the definition of evil," Providence says with tears gliding down his face.
Milan immediately turns his gaze to the back of the elevator, "What are you seeing?" he asks whilst walking towards Providence.
"The trauma of young kids. Their innocence and childhood being ripped away from them so that they can become beasts of destruction-" Providence replies.
His head quickly twists left, then right. "The longer one stays here… they become more beast than human," he states whilst slowly going down and curling into a ball within the elevator.
"The lies and secrets of this place never get old," Milan mumbles. "Stay in here Providence, let us know if any activity goes on up there. The rest of you, let's hurry up and get out of this shithole," he says whilst aggressively grabbing one of the black nose masks.
The remainder of the group steps out of the elevator and quickly grabs a nose mask; a slight hissing sound going on as they lock it onto faces and inhale and exhale.
With every step they take deeper into the cave, the drip of sizzling acid gets constantly louder.
Getting deeper into the cave and looking left and right, they find cavities and pockets which hold two large white tanks. Around these tanks a tube connecting to an oxygen mask, is placed on the faces of two unconscious individuals lying on separate beds.
"There is another one here too," Boz says a few feet away from the group, his voice muffled due to the hissing sound of the nose mask.
As far as their eyes could see, these cavities and pockets filled the entire cave, with different unconscious individuals residing in each.
"Why are we down here, why would Truth be here?" Jonathan asks with a slight tone of desperation.
"Your friend is down here too - they brought him in when Brabat and some snake tongue guy came to wake us up before," Esmeralda asserts.
Jonathan looks down, "I don't even know what this damn place is, why would they bring him down here! Didn't that guy back there say they only bring in young kids?" he declares in a rage.
"He's right – but that means, your friend must have something," Esmeralda says as she turns away and keeps walking down the cave.
"Shut it," Nero cautions Jonathan with a whisper whilst cupping his mouth.
-
Cough! Cough! The cough of an individual echoing through the entire cave
"Hel…help" a voice groans out within one of the cave cavities. "Pl…please help me," the voice says with pain backing every single word.
"Silas!" Esmeralda yells out followed by a quick lunge.
The entire group begins to sprint after her as she enters one of the cavities of the cave.
"Silas – what have they done to you," Esmeralda bellows as she runs to the individual lying on one of the beds.
As the entire group turn into the cavity, there Esmeralda is, kneeling beside the bed whilst holding a scaly grey looking hand.
"That is creepy, damn," Malik says at the back of the group whilst gazing at the hand Esmeralda is holding onto.
Boz slowly steps towards the bed, "Silas, do you remember me?" he asks.
Cough, Cough! "Of course I do, how could I forget the friend who always stole bread for me back at the foster home," Silas replies.
With every second passing by, the scaly grey patches slowly spread out through his skin; and under it, soft vibrant green light pulsates periodically.
"Mi…Milan, look at me" Silas demands, his cough getting deeper and scratchier.
Milan slightly raises his gaze up, "Silas…" he mutters whilst squeezing his fist tightly.
Cough! Silas abruptly interjects "You don't have to say anything – you did what you had to do. Out of the ten young kids you tried to save from that train, three survived. You don't have to live with guilt because the others' deaths weren't in vain," he says. "For all you know, if you tried to save me after that ambush, Boz and Malik would be in the same position I'm currently in – I say everything worked out," Silas strains with a wheeze to get his last word out.
Silence grapples the entire cave, all that can be heard are the hisses of the white tanks.
Milan suddenly gets onto his knees crawls beside Esmeralda to hold Silas's arm. "I will always replay that night in my mind. Whatever you say, I will never forgive myself… because regardless of how things turned out, I failed all ten of you," Milan utters as his voice trembles and with his eyes closed.
Cough! Cough! Cough! Tiny droplets of blood spurt onto the white bed sheet.
"I know a few of you, but not everyone. Esmeralda trusting you is enough for me. Please take care of her, because we've been through a lot," Silas slowly says as he picks himself upright off the bed whilst glancing over at Estrella.
"Why are you talking like that Silas – you are the reason why we came back, we need to get you out of here!" Esmeralda cries out.
"You must be her sister, you must know she is a different type of stubborn as well," Silas states, his gaze still locked onto Estrella. "Truth is, you shouldn't have gone through the trouble to come back – I am dying. That purple-haired boy I saw back at your camp had something special that spoke to me, that's why I bowed, I didn't mean to, but it was just my instincts. Because of that I am getting punished."
Boz steps forward, "What did they do to you?" he asks with his arms folded.
"There is only a certain amount of that green smoke you see around here that a person can inhale and still stay human or sane – I am over that limit," Silas wheezes, the green pulsating light under his skin beginning to palpitate quicker.
"They overdosed you on kushna!" Esmeralda slowly sobs out, "They overdosed him on kushna big sis, there is something we can do right?" she asks.
Estrella without uttering a single word shifts her gaze downwards.
"Where do they put new people?" Jonathan blurts out.
In a fit of rage, Malik tightly grabs Jonathan by his bronze armband, "Pfft, this guy - are you stupid. Like country like citizen I guess," he roars out loud.
"Leave him alone Malik. Silas, do you know where his friend could be?" Milan asks while grabbing Silas off the bed.
"You must've walked past him, newbies are always at the front near the elevator. Now please put me back on the bed Milan," Silas says.
"You are coming back with us, and you have no opinion in the matter," Milan replies.
With a quick turn of his body, Jonathan lunges out of Silas's cave cavity with Nero following right behind him.
As Jonathan enters another cavity, he throws himself down to the side of a bed, "Truth! I am so sorry for not protecting you," he cries out as he places his arm on an unconscious Truth's stomach; which is covered by a white bed sheet.
"I told you I would help you find him," Nero whispers under his breath behind Jonathan whilst kissing his cross necklace.
-
"Milan! We need to leave now!" Providence yells out from the elevator
Beep! Beep! Beep! An alarming sound traverses from the elevator through to the cave.
With the alarm echoing through the cave, Jonathan, with the help of Nero, unplugs all tubes connected to the white tank and places Truth onto his back.
As the entire group run towards the elevator, Silas pans his gaze through out the cave as far as he can see. "What about the others laying in their beds, they just like Malik, Boz, and I," he asks, his voice nearly fading into the harsh sound of the alarm.
"They were not a part of the plan Silas, we also need to get something before heading back to the others," Milan asserts.
"Promise me that you will come back for them one day – they deserve freedom too," Silas slowly says.
In silence, Milan continues to run towards the elevator with Silas crippled in his arms.
Near the elevator, Jonathan with Truth on his back, and Nero behind him, sprint into the elevator, and Providence, with fright drawn on his face, urges Milan and the others to sprint faster.
As they enter the elevator and Jonathan is about to click on the button labeled level 1, Milan quickly places Silas on the elevator floor and presses be a clear diamond cut looking like button which has a similar prism texture to the emerald button. Out of all the buttons listed, these two felt different when clicked on.
"Why the hell would you click that button, only certain people are allowed up there!" Jonathan screams out.
With Esmeralda sobbing heavily, Jonathan shouting, and the alarm still going off, the elevator door with quick pace suddenly shuts.
"Going up, Upper Room," the robotic female voice softly announces.
An overwhelming silence suddenly swells up in the elevator, leaving the alarm alone to sound.
As the elevator begins to move, Providence's turns milky white, "They are on every floor waiting for us," he frantically blurts out.
Estrella then slowly gets out of her crouched stance; with her hand softly patting Esmeralda's back, and walks towards Jonathan and Nero, "Did you hear what Providence just said? If you did, then shut up and follow Milan's lead. This is not his first time in this place," she harshly asserts.
-
Ding! The elevator in a quick halt stops in its tracks, causing everyone inside to tumble in different directions.
"What the hell is going on?" Boz yells out.
"Milan, press on the button you pressed on again, or else, we will stop on one of the levels the soldiers are waiting for us on," Providence claims.
Milan, in quick succession, rapidly presses the clear diamond prism looking button. With each press, the elevator relentlessly jerks up and down.
After a few seconds of this, the elevator begins to slowly seize.
-
Ding! "Upper room level – Upper echelon identification required before entry," the soft female voice announces within the elevator.
"Do you even know what you've done? It would've been better for us to die on the other levels than to come up here. We can't even get out of the elevator, none of us in here are even close to an Upper echelon family!" Jonathan tirelessly screams out.
Step. Step. Step. The sound of heavy-duty boots striking the metal flooring of the elevator reverberates.
Suddenly, on the side of the elevator where the buttons reside, a white laser shoots out of a glossy black cut out.
"Upper echelon identification, verified. Louis Milan Lonares III," the female elevator voice states.
Gradually, the elevator doors begin to open; making a chilling freezer like sound. As Milan steps out into a narrow hallway with glistening brown marble tiles layered with white streaks, everyone but Estrella, Boz, Malik and Providence stare at Milan's back, perplexed by what they've just seen.
"Lo…Lonares," Jonathan mumbles whilst stumbling backwards whilst carrying Truth.
"So, he's a big deal inside and outside of the Motherland," Nero states.
As Milan begins to gaze upwards at the high ceiling with murals spreading across the entire hallway and skirtings coated in limestone, Estrella, Boz, Malik, and Providence, step out of the elevator and walk in unison with Milan towards the end of a hallway into a room with an even higher ceiling and a window stretching towards the roof looking down at part of the Motherland.
Meanwhile, back at the elevator, Jonathan who is still in awe, places Truth down and stares straight ahead as Milan gets farther. Nero, with his eyes wide open, slightly steps out of the elevator and looks at the towering dark grey statues sculpted in the shape of different animals
"Is that an eagle with the horn of an oryx… what the hell is this place," Nero mutters.
Esmeralda, who continues to sob on the elevator floor, hugs a blood coughing Silas.
-
Crackle! Crackle!
The flashing of lightning illuminates the faces of Milan, Estrella, Boz, Malik, and Providence, as they walk through an arch into a room with a colossal brown wooden oval table in the center and 11 chairs surrounding it.
As Milan raises his arm, all chatter in the room begins to subside. He then begins to count the chairs
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Hmm, where is that useless father and those two brothers of mine. Are they hiding like they always have?!" Milan screams out with a slight giggle at the end of his sentence.
Nothing but silence engulfs all four corners of the room after he says this.
"The upper echelon is that what you call yourselves, everything is upper with you people. That means an upper cut is fitting for you all. Where are they dammit?!" Milan yells out, causing a vein to swell up on the sides of his face.
Slowly, a man with a bald head, rises up from one of the chairs, "You have the boy with the Emperors Meraki, don't you?" he asks whilst holding his glistening white robe with an icy blue stole around his neck like that of a priest. Within the icy blue stole, a white eagle with the horn of an oryx is stitched on.
The same went for the other male individuals sitting on eight out of eleven filled out chairs. All bald, with different colored robes and distinct stoles that have two different animals meshed together and stitched on it.
Milan begins to squeeze his fist and walk towards the man adorning the icy blue stole around his neck. "You don't seem to understand the situation," Milan says. Right as he is about to unleash a blow, a brown door begins to slowly open.
"You turned out exactly how I taught you would – a disappointment," a golden tan bald man with a white beard and black patches says. His amber gold eyes with an emerald-green ring around it, mesmerizing all in the room but Milan. As he walks towards a chair, he picks up his all-black robe and red stole that has two white geckoes stitched on each side of it.
Out of the same brown door, two other individuals walk out who possess the same exact look as this man, only without the beard.
"Father, big brothers," Milan softly says with a shaky voice.
END OF CHAPTER
THEORIES MERAKI – IT SEEMS OUR ALLIANCED GROUP ARE IN A CONUNDRUM, BOTH IN THE UPPER ROOM, AND THE LEVELS BELOW. ALSO IS THE REASON WHY MILAN HAS BROUGHT THE GROUP TO THE UPPER ROOM?
NEXT CHAPTER – TBD