#80

At long last, You wakes up.

There is a surge of pain through Your body as You struggles to stand up, for what You feels is the second time in a long while. You doesn't remember the first time, though. The pain of this round is too much for You to remember much of anything.

The great pane of glass that stood before the fuel-core that the Emperor showed You is shattered. Within, the core remains, but with great difference—the blinding light from before is replaced with the low ember of angry red flames. Huge chunks of metal peel back like sunburned skin, exposing melted circuits; the floor is cracked open, which would presumably expose the bulb full of fuel. However, You can't see any fuel within the bulb. It might have burned up when the maser beam blew up the core. If so, You's lucky to be alive.

You sticks Your head out of the broken glass into the core chamber. The shaft of the chamber leads up, and as far as You can see, the place is in ruins. Burning chunks of rubble rain down and the faint sounds of disaster alerts can be heard. You decides not to enter the chamber, instead inspecting the room that You's in.

You sees then the fallen figures of Your mom, Susie, and Klaus. They're still unconscious, but they're breathing. You inspects all of them swiftly, and they all are relatively wound-free. That's when You looks at Klaus' voodoo doll; aside from the small burn You gave it back in Zorro City, it seems to be okay. So Klaus may have deflected a lot of the damage, at no cost to himself. At no external cost, anyway.

That's when You sees that the eight-sided stone is okay as well. It must be the lighting, but You swears it's glowing now, with a pale yellowness. You slips it in Your pocket with the intent on asking Susie about it later. The rest of whatever's left of Your inventory is scattered around the room, and You quickly goes about collecting it.

The Emperor's computer is broken, melted by the intense heat, but the flash drive You stole from the Brotherhood of Kletus is intact. You knows what it does now; it'll still be valuable, so You takes it also.

Slowly, the others begin to stir. You lets them; You realizes that this place might be falling apart, and that soldiers and Guards may be on the way, but You feels that they've earned a chance to be slow. Things have been mighty miserable lately, to say the least.

“Was ist...?” You hears Klaus say as he gets up. He seems stunned for once, but he's rising quickly. When he gets up, he almost flawlessly fades into his normal grumpy self. He looks at You, not with fondness, but with acknowledgment.

Susie stands next; she also is silent for a bit. But she sees that You's still alive, she grins. She's too weak to talk for now.

Your mom is the last to rise; but she's not doing too well. She's had a bit of trouble moving in recent days, so her rise is stiff. But she, too, is glad that see that You's alive.

“You...” Susie begins. But she cuts herself off. She doesn't seem to know what to say.

“Is everyone alright?” You asks. You pays special attention to Susie while saying this; she's been Your drive this whole time, so she has to be okay, after all this. She nods, soothing Your mind.

“I'm fine,” Your mom says, with a hint of concern. Klaus says nothing, but You knows he's okay.

“I'm okay too,” You replies. “We have to go after Dad.”

“You, no,” Your mom says simply. “This is out of our hands. I can feel that this is big...and it's only going to get bigger. Let's go home. You doesn't have to do anything else now. And he...he may be dead, after all this.”

“No. If we made it, he did too.”

“You's probably right,” Susie chimes in. “We can't let this get any bigger. I'm sorry, but the Emperor is insane—and he'll torture and kill more people before he gives all of this up. Whether it's turning people into those things, or wiping out people who stand in his way with his army.”

“No!” Your mother's voice is stronger now. “I'm not losing the two of you. There has to be someone else who can stop him. Somewhere in this world.”

“The Empire has had years to take down all of its barriers,” You says. “They've outlawed magic. They've turned the land into wilderness, possibly via massive deportation or genocide. We're flukes here, but we can use the chance we have...”

There's a pause as You sighs. Your mom's face is full of sadness.

“What was he after, anyway?” she asks. “Not that flash drive. He said it wasn't that.”

“It's that thing from the cave,” Susie says. “I found it awhile back, but I didn't know it was important until my father told me so. It's a cosmic artifact of some kind. It's a...” She trails off. “Well, you all heard how he ordered Your friend to give him the die, right?”

“I thought he was ordering Klaus to die,” You replies.

“No. He was referring to the eight-sided stone. It's...it's a die, You. When you roll it, it generates effects that can change the universe.”

There is a pause. “What?”

“At least, that's what Dad told me. Each side represents a different effect. But the thing is, Dad doesn't know what the different effects are. He tried rolling it, but nothing happened. Maybe the effects just can't be observed yet...”

“Or maybe the ability of the effects to appear hadn't opened up yet.” You holds out the die. “It's glowing now. Maybe it absorbed some of the radiant energy from the fuel explosion.”

“It could be. But don't roll it yet, at least on a hard surface! We don't know what it does yet. It could explode, or curse us, or something...”

You doesn't want to think about that. Apparently, slipping it in Your pocket “doesn't count” as a roll, so You puts it in there. You can find the effects out later, if You wishes.

“We have to get out of here,” You says again.

“And find my dad!” Susie then interjects.

“Yeah. Last time we saw him, he was in the Emperor's office. Let's go up, and see if he's...” You doesn't want to complete the sentence, even though You was just going to say “okay”.

You walks over the elevator shaft. There's a button to summon it, and on a whim, You tries pressing it. You begins to hear the sound of something descending overhead—and indeed, sticking Your head into the exposed shaft, You can see the car coming down. It's a miracle that it even still works, but You wouldn't trust it with Your life.

You looks back; the others are approaching You, but only Susie shares Your pleased surprise. You stands close to her as all of you get in; then, You presses the button for “E.”'s office, and up you go.

The shaft reveals that the state of the core chamber is mirrored throughout the rest of this place. More flaming rubble falls down, and smoking wires can be seen emerging from the wall. Must have been a shock wave. In the distance, among the klaxons, You hears the sounds of things collapsing; which hopefully, You prays, doesn't include your way out.

The car reaches the office, and You runs inside, with Susie breaking past You. The office has been ripped to shreds, but thankfully there are none of those Ultramarine Guards or whatever they're called. Or soldiers, for that matter. They might be trying to evacuate—or they could be in the company of the Emperor.

Speaking of the Emperor, his computer is still here, but it is logged in. Perhaps...

You looks over his desktop; there's a small file called “Security”. You doesn't know about the different types of programs, but You clicks it anyway. What comes up is perfect: a series of screens showing the different security points all around this place. There's a title at the top, reading “White Tower”. Hm. So that must be the name of this place. Good to know.

You decides to plug in the flash drive while running this executable. There's a brief flicker of black across the screen, but sure enough, in all of the visible screens, You can see doors opening, bars sliding away, and even strange twinkling energy barriers shut down. The entire Tower is now opened up. And there's another tab too, just reading “Central”.

Sure enough, there's an even larger selection screens on this tab. Once You clicks on it, the drive's program gets to work as all security devices in and around the city—those still functional, that is—shut down. Anything in the city designed to stop people from leaving will no longer be an issue. You ejects the flash drive, and is pleased to see that Your changes have remained in effect.

Susie comes out, leading a worse-for-wear but alive Earl. “He's okay!” she says, though he quietly insists he could have said that himself.

“We have to move quickly,” he says. “But the internal defenses will make sure that...”

“I've taken care of the internal defenses,” You says. You waves the flash drive, and Earl sits to take a look at the screen.

“My God. You's right. Wow.” He glances at the flash drive. “Do hang onto that.”

You just grins. And with that, all of you walk back to the elevator. There's only one way to head now, and that's up.