Aurablade

06

Sweltering heat makes my skin prickle with sweat. The cloak around my shoulders doesn't help, so I peel it back from my arms and back, folding it and placing it in a compartment underneath my bike's seat. Then, I descend into the cavern's glowing, red-stone belly.

The underworld is full of twists and turns, rooms that appear and disappear. And whenever a person is knocked unconscious, their soul can appear anywhere within this labyrinth. That's why it took two years for me to be convinced that Stellae isn't here, that she never was here to begin with. Not a single person saw a soul resembling her in all the time she was supposedly down here.

Beads of sweat trickle down my forehead and mat the baby hairs on my neck down on my skin. I swipe them away with the back of my hand, then approach a few floating souls. Human forms flicker, semi-transparent so I get an inkling of their living appearance, but depicted in black and white, enabling me to see through them.

A woman lifts her gaze to mine, two black holes boring through me, as if I were translucent, too. "Greetings, traveler."

"I'm looking for someone."

"There isn't much else down here." A toothless grin stretches on her haggard face, the wrinkles making her appear even more withered than the ghostly hue to her.

"Does the name Raena Holos sound familiar?"

She shakes her head. "Better luck somewhere else."

The younger female beside her grips the older woman's wrist. "Wait, that's Argon's wife, right?"

"Yes."

Her two, almost non-existent eyebrows inch closer. "What's she doing down here? A hit job?"

I shrug. "That's what I want to know."

"So you don't know where she is?"

"Why do you want to know?"

She sighs in exasperation. "It's sometimes nice to keep at least a little in touch with the outside world, you know. Do you know how long I've been down here?" I shake my head. "Neither do I, nor do I know why I ended up here."

That's how it sometimes is. Sometimes, people remember an illness overtaking their bodies, sending them into prolonged slumber. For others, all they recall is "lights out," one moment in the waking world, the next here.

I step away from the two women, continuing through the maze of rocky formations. I ask every soul I pass about Raena. It's a mixed bag: some recognize her name, others do not. Not everyone in the underworld is from our cyber city, which makes this hunt a hundred times more difficult. Individuals typically appear in the underworld based on their geographic location, so I'm looking in the right section of the underworld's maze. But I still have to weed through all the people who are from neighboring cyber cities.

At the back of the cavern, the underworld splits into several off-shooting branches. I pick one to follow, running into a few souls crowding the front. No sign of Raena, and as I continue, no more souls flicker around the red stone. I trudge along for a while with still no one in sight.

A mist fogs the tunnel, clouding my path in a reddish haze. Smoke fills my lungs, and I raise my wrist to my nose, blocking it out. I'm about to turn around when I glimpse a silhouette leaning against the wall. It's a man, with a shaggy haircut that dips into his eyes, and has a tall, gangling frame. Yet he tosses a large rock into the air, catching it in his bony hand like it's a pebble.

The man's pointed chin turns to me, and he practically glares in my direction. "What do you want?"

"Ever heard of a Raena Holos?"

The man fumbles his catch, and the rock smashes onto the ground, the pieces fracturing around him. "What about her?"

"Was she down here?" I take another step.

The man grunts. "Was. She got out, though."

"When?"

He shrugs. "Time has no meaning down here."

I lunge forward, bringing my dagger to his neck. "When I came down here, I came for answers. And I expect you to provide them to me."

A deep laugh rumbles from the man's belly. "Like you can kill me." He stretches his arms out. "I'm in the underworld."

"But I can chip away at your soul one piece at a time," I respond. "I'll cut every memory, every piece of you away until you're no better than a droid."

"Do it," the man says. "That's all I'd be anyway if I ever make it out of here."

If he ever regains consciousness and rejoins society.

"What's your name?" I demand. The man crosses his arms. I don't give threats twice.

I drag my dagger across his flickering form. A memory ripples over his translucent form, a boy in the kitchen, setting the table while his mother cooks. I dig my blade onto the sides of it, carving around the memory. Fear flashes onto the man's features as I sever the memory from his soul.

"Stop!" he exclaims. He schools his features, then more calmly says, "stop. I'll talk."

I release pressure from the blade. The memory hangs over the soul's chest, and craggy, red rock appears in a gaping hole where the man's face once was. Slowly, the gap seals over, melding back into a face. The man swallows, his attitude gone.

"I was Raena Holos' personal security detail," the man says. "I went by the name 'Bolt.'"

"How did you both end up here?"

Bolt sighs. "The last I remember, someone broke into Raena's apartment and tried to abduct her. I tried to fight back, but we both ended up getting tranquilized. That's the last thing we both remember."

"Do you know who broke inside the apartment?" I ask.

Bolt shakes his head. "Tall, burly guy. He was wearing a silver mask over his face though, so I couldn't make out any details. He seemed bald, too, though he had a silver bandana tied around it so I can't be sure."

Chromeface. One of the most secretive yet most often hired Elyminai. It makes sense that he'd be a top pick for the job. The question is who hired him to get a hold of Raena and why? Is it a political stunt meant to weaken Argon?

"So you don't know how long it has been since Raena left the underworld?" I ask.

"My gut tells me it was fairly recent, but it's difficult to say for certain."

I nod. My teeth grit against each other while I try to figure where to go from here. The next step might be to find Chromeface and see who he works for. By following the source, I might be able to track Raena's location.

"Why are you trying to find Raena?" Bolt asks.

"A friend of hers."

Bolt's eyes narrow. "How can I be sure?"

"You can't. But there isn't much you can do about it."

Anger hardens Bolt's features. "If I ever get out of this—"

I turn, heading for the tunnel's exit. I have all the answers I need.

Once, Raena was trapped in the underworld. But now, there are only two possible fates she may have suffered. Either she is now conscious, back in the waking world, or she is dead.