The Mantis Variant - Book One - 12. Chapter 12 - Mystic

Most of the citizens of Teshon City lived in ignorance of the old munitions depot that still sat in one of the deep vaults beneath the city. Those underground chambers were cut from the very bedrock and were some of the first Oselian constructions on the peninsula. During the base's brief heyday, multiple access points allowed military personnel entry to the different storage facilities below. However, after the fall and over the following two centuries, many of the shafts collapsed and the deep chambers were mostly forgotten.

Not only were the people of Teshon City unaware of the old explosives stored in the underground, but also, most folks on the surface did not even know that there was an entire community thriving below the streets. In humanity's family tree, the limb of Shifts contains a separate evolved branch. Specific Shifts, whose powers manifested in physical changes, found safety and a place to call home down in the darkness. Those anomalous and more conspicuous individuals dwelt in the underground.

The deep vaults, wherein the decrepit weaponry slowly rusted, were cordoned off from those inhabitants who lived beneath the city. Being around the old ammunition was all part of life down below, and most folks avoided those lower chambers, but they were not inaccessible.

The blast created a massive cave-in of one section in the underground, and the collapse resulted in a sinkhole on the surface that swallowed several ramshackle dwellings and the people who lived in them. No one in the city above knew what caused the explosion, and it resulted in many deaths.

*

"What the fuck was that?" Dozi exclaimed. She and Agrell were both sitting upright in the darkness.

Ilya moaned and pushed herself up as well. "What happened?" she managed.

Dozi fumbled with her candles and got a few of them lit.

The room around them was still, but the air was full of dust from the brief quake. Several items were knocked over and the contents of a few baskets had spilled onto the floor, but overall, everything within Dozi's home was undamaged.

She jumped up, headed up the stairs to the door, and slipped out of the secret entrance.

"How are you feeling?" Agrell asked Ilya.

"My head," she mumbled, "it feels all wobbly inside. Still feeling the potion." She squinted her eyes shut, winced at a fresh wave of pain, and brought her hands to her side. Ilya doubled over and sucked air through her teeth.

Then Dozi reappeared.

"There's no sign of what caused that noise," she stated, "and a bunch of people are out in the street just walking around aimlessly. Doesn't seem like anyone knows what happened. Everyone's just dazed. It's still dark out there," she added, "not even sunrise yet. Let's all try and get some more sleep before the dawn."

She tucked Ilya down, blew out the extra candles, and climbed under the cloak with Agrell.

The remaining hours of the night were uneventful, but the three young women spent them in fitful sleep. They dozed in and out of consciousness until a grey glow began to illuminate Dozi's home. Light seeped down from the hidden doorway above, but she still lit several candles to combat the darkness of her basement chamber.

Dozi rose, headed into her kitchen area, and returned with three cold meat pies. She handed one to Agrell and another to Ilya.

"Let's have a look at your bandages," Dozi said as she took a bite of her breakfast.

Ilya lifted the shirt Dozi gave her with a wince. "I never thanked you," she managed between harsh breaths, "both of you," and she looked at Agrell.

"We only wanted to help," Agrell replied in her mousy voice.

Blood seeped through Ilya's gauze in the night, and she needed fresh treatment.

"Okay," Dozi commented, "we have to head back to the mystic, and I'd like to do that first thing this morning." She took another bite of food. "Also," she continued, "we need to come up with a story about your injury that doesn't mention you're a Shift. I find it's always helpful with something close to the truth. What about?" Dozi pondered a moment. "You were out foraging and some hunter mistook movement for an animal. When they realized what they did, they left you for dead, and then we found you trying to get back to the city."

Both Ilya and Agrell nodded with their mouths full.

Soon the food was gone, and the three slowly headed up the stairs and out into the streets.

The sky was grey.

With Ilya leaning on the crutch and Agrell supporting her other side, they followed Dozi through the Spritehood back towards the mystic's apothecary. After only a few blocks, they came upon a significant amount of commotion.

"What's going on?" Dozi asked a man who tried to run past them towards whatever was happening. She snatched his arm.

He turned on her but not in anger; his expression was that of deep concern. There were dark smears on his cheeks and forehead and hands.

"Didn't you hear it last night?" and his voice cracked as he spoke. "That explosion? The ground collapsed at Three Corners," he declared, "right under some people's houses. All morning we've been trying to find survivors." He noticed the state of Ilya. "Did she get hurt in the explosion?"

Dozi snapped a reply immediately, before either of the other two women could respond. "Yes! That's exactly it! She was hurt because of the explosion and we are taking her someplace safe," she lied.

"Good, take her as far away from the sinkhole as possible. There's no telling if more of the city is going to collapse." The man ran off towards the devastation.

Several blocks later, the three women arrived back at the apothecary. The jolly little round man was not alone, and a handsome younger fellow was with him. He was of average height and build, and his complexion was a rich dark brown. He smiled at them as Dozi opened the front door, and the man was quite becoming.

"Welcome!" he called out. "Is there something that I can help you find today?"

The mystic interrupted him.

"Welcome back, ladies." The little round man seemed serious. "Let's get you in the back and take a look." When the other fellow realized the mystic already helped the three women, he nodded and returned to whatever task was occupying his time before they arrived.

In the back room, Ilya leaned the crutch against the wall, and she sat down on the cushioned table again. She lifted her shirt, and Dozi handed the mystic the clothes he lent to Ilya.

"Fresh bandages," the man stated. He placed the clothes on a shelf and turned to Ilya. "Looks like there's a bit of seepage on the front, but quite a bit more from the back. Not to worry, that's to be expected from a wound this severe."

He was not smiling, but he was delicate as he worked. He removed the soiled cloths and applied fresh ointment to the gruesome wounds.

Ilya groaned at the pain and tears leaked from her eyes. The treatment for damage in her side was necessary, but it was excruciating. However, the little man was soon done, and Ilya began to catch her breath.

The mystic was quick and precise in his ministrations, but he seemed crestfallen. He asked in a gentle voice, "So my dear, do you remember what happened to you? Your friends seemed unsure yesterday."

Ilya looked at Dozi.

"Some hunters shot me," she told the mystic, and added, "accidentally."

"They left her for dead," Dozi interjected. "We found her bleeding and trying to make her way toward the city. I bandaged her up as best I could in the forest. Then we brought her to you. We never actually met her before yesterday," she added.

He did not seem to be paying much attention to Dozi or Ilya's words.

Then Agrell spoke up and asked him, "Is something wrong?"

The mystic looked up at her, and he suddenly threw his arms above his head and wailed, "My little moth! I have no way to check on her!"

All three of the women were caught off-guard, and Agrell replied to him with sympathy in her voice. "What happened? Can we help?"

The door to the back room opened and the other man barged into the room. He wrapped his arms around the mystic.

"Don't tell them anything, honey," he commanded.

The little round man replied to him, " Why not? I need to make sure my baby is okay, and I would accept anyone's assistance in locating her." He pleaded through his tears to the man, "Baby, I need to know that she's alright."

"I know, my love, I know, but we will figure it out ourselves. We don't need strangers to get involved," and the mystic's husband held him close as he blubbered into his chest.

"But the explosion," he said through his sobs, "the cave-in, what if she's injured? What if she's dead?" and he cried out in misery.

His man squeezed him tightly and reiterated, "We will figure it out."

Then Ilya spoke up in a quavering voice. "Is she a Bio-Shift?"

The two turned and looked at her with their mouths agape and eyes wide.

"How did you determine that?" the younger man asked.

The mystic replied at the same time. "Yes!" he bawled. "My baby is a Biological Shift, and I'm so worried about her! Part of the city sank, and that can only mean something terrible has happened in the underground," and tears streamed down his face.

"What's her name?" Ilya managed through her teeth.

The two men looked each other in the eye. The mystic nodded to his husband, and the handsome fellow replied.

"Lahari," he said. "She is a beautiful, sensitive child, and when it was revealed that she was a shift, her powers started to change her. The poor girl's entire body is scaled like a reptile, and little spikes stick out from her skin on the sides of her face and down her neck." He continued over the mystic's sobs. "All of the lovely red hair of her childhood fell out, and her skull changed shape. Even her bright brown eyes changed and lightened until they turned yellow.

"Theolan," the mystic said, staring into the eyes of the man he loved, "please, tell them more."

He nodded and continued. "Lahari is still a beautiful girl," Theolan declared, "but early on, she realized that she fit in better with other Biological Shifts in the underground, and we supported her decision to join them. Neither of us can handle going underground. Admittedly, I'm not made for adventures or danger, or even getting dirty, really," he added. "She comes up from time to time and visits with us at night, when it's less likely that someone will see her and be startled by her appearance. We both love her, and we're terribly worried about what's happened in the underground, but neither of us are heroes."

"And you think we are?" Dozi said in an incredulous tone.

"No, no," the mystic replied through his tears, "but we have no one to turn to! We lost our friends and family when it turned out Lahari was a Shift and we refused to shun her. I couldn't," he cried, "she's my little moth!"

His husband looked saddened at the mystic's words. "We have each other, my love," Theolan replied, "and we are all we need." He kissed the crying man's forehead.

"Obviously we can't help either," Dozi stated, waving at Ilya. "She can't make it into the underground."

"But I can," Agrell interrupted, and the four others looked at her. She grew sheepish under their gaze, and she repeated a little quieter, "I can." She added, "I want to help. Although, I don't know where it is."

"Thank you!" the mystic blubbered.

"No," Dozi declared, "you've been in Teshon for a single day, skinny girl, and now you're just gonna go traipsing through the bowels of the city for," Dozi paused before letting the word freak slip out of her mouth, and went with the common title, "a Bio-Shift?"

Agrell looked at the two men. "If you tell me where to go and how to find her, I will look through the underground." Then she turned to Dozi. "You keep calling me skinny girl, maybe I'm skinny just for this reason."

Dozi furrowed her brow. "I think what you're thinking of as destiny, is actually genetics, but I guess I can't stop you from being noble." She turned to the mystic and his husband. "Be specific," Dozi demanded. "Give her as much detail as you two can manage, and is there some trinket or token, or something important you can give Agrell that she can show your little girl when she finds her?"

"Oh, yes," the mystic's husband exclaimed, "she made me this." The man reached for his collar and pulled a thin chord from around his neck. He lifted it over his head and extended the necklace towards Agrell. Attached to the strip of leather was a purple gemstone in a setting of silver.

"Tell her that her daddies are so worried about her!" the mystic wailed.

His husband squeezed him and continued to explain. "Lahari is part of the underground community. Others down there will know who she is, even if they don't know us," and Theolan indicated himself and his husband. "Please, ask about her to anyone you come across."

"Is there anything else I should know about what she looks like?" Agrell asked.

"She's about your height," Theolan replied. "Her skin turned this sort of pale blue-grey hue when her powers kicked in, and then it began developing its scaly quality. The black spines that grew from her face and neck and her yellow eyes were the last physical changes. She's very unique, but among the other underworld dwellers, she fits right in."

"I'll do it," Agrell declared. "Show me where the entrance is and I will locate her."

"Help me find our lantern," the mystic said through his tears, and the two men left a little back room.

"This is a bad idea," Dozi stated.

Agrell did not reply.

Ilya added in a weak voice, "His kid is a Shift," and she looked at Dozi. "He gave up the people in his life to have some semblance of a relationship with her."

"I still don't fucking trust him," Dozi responded, and she crossed her arms.

Ilya turned to Agrell. "You can't possibly know what you'll encounter in the underground. The people below may not look much like the rest of us, but they are my kind, and they will not like it if they find out you're a Messiah."

"There are a bunch of weirdos who live down there," Dozi mumbled, and she shook her head.

Ilya scrunched up her face at the word. "They can't help it," she said, her brow furrowing. "No Shift asked to be born that way. Even me, I don't have any physical abnormalities, but I still would rather have been born human."

And I wish that I was something more, Dozi thought to herself.

Ilya winced at the pain in her side, and said through gritted teeth, "Also, it's their child, their own daughter who is the Bio-Shift, so watch what you say in front of them." She nodded to the door that the men just exited through, and it opened again as they returned with a small handheld lamp.

"This should help," said the mystic.

"Thank you for doing this," his husband added. "We're so worried about her!"

"Show me where to go," Agrell requested.

"It's not far," the mystic told her, and he and his husband led her out of the back room.

"I don't know," Dozi said to Ilya in a growl. "I just don't trust them."

"If you don't trust them, why did you bring us back here?"

"Because I don't have the means to handle your very fresh and very serious wounds. He's taking care of you."

Ilya looked towards the door. "Why don't you go after them and stay with her."

"Because I definitely don't trust that mystic with you. Besides, as a Messiah, they can't hurt her," Dozi added. "She's brand new to the city, and there's no telling what she'll encounter in the underground. I was barely aware that there even was an underground to Teshon."

Ilya squinted at another bolt of pain. She sucked air through her teeth and took a quavering breath before she spoke. "You seem to care about others," she observed. "I can tell you like to act tough, but you're worried about Agrell."✪