524. Blood Angels and the Beginnings of Inflow Direct

524. Blood Angels and the Beginnings of Inflow Direct

“Hearts?” The Blood Angel shut her eyes for she was unfamiliar with the term. “Don’t be mistaken. You have a similar smell to us, and to them.”

“They are under my control.” The Missionary assured, jamming the Expositionist’s mouth with a finger again. “As you can see, they are my puppet. The ‘Head’ watches through them.”

“The Head. Another person that sought to claim the Nexus?”

“No. This person already has claimed it.”

The Blood Angel’s mouth curved into a smile as her wings disappeared into a red mist, causing more of the world to melt as a column of steel twisted directly beneath them. What they stood on was not a solid piece of ice, but in fact only the frozen surface of a subterranean sea.

“We really are in a new era. Book burnings of the past inspired many to rise to claim their own tale as the disease of pandemonium claimed countless. But flesh falters, and faith dwindles like candle flame. We understood the importance of the letters bestowed upon us from the great Library. The Fifty-Six. But they...” The Blood Angel escorted them forward as she gazed upon the mechanical hands. “... Understood the importance of forgoing the flesh. Contradictions bring birth to beautiful combinations. Before there were the liquid miracles, there were many that strove for the same thing.”

She took the role of the Expositionist as cracks broke through the ice like cracks of lightning. The Moons were infatuated with her to the point where they could not care less if the ground suddenly gave way beneath their feet. They trusted this being who was ignorant to the world, similarly to them.

The metal pipes underneath glowed suddenly as a surge of liquid ran through. The many colors were revealed by observation glasses that were installed along the colossal pipes. Soon, the snow from above became a steady trickle as a wave of heat washed over the world.

“There were many of us in our era of red mists and blackened skies. People of commonality were trampled in the path of those with strength. But there was one who took to the sides of the common, even though their methods were worse.”

They were powered by a Serum called Serum Q – Qoph, a puppeteering Serum that streamlined Golemancy. It was restricted ever since the War in Heaven, for there was no limit to how many could be created. They had no mind of their own and followed only a strict commandment that was in the form of bloodied charms that dangled from their pale-red robes.

Within the core of each machine was a red vial containing said Serum. It was the heart of the machines, but not the hands which were the servants of the Blood Angels.

The larger ones, however, belonged to something greater.

They passed through corridor after corridor, walking in one straight line until they reached a place where the light could not reach. It was a much smaller chamber, and a raised platform was illuminated by a single spotlight. Surrounding it within the darkness were many hands and more mechanical entities, each dressed in ritualistic robes similar to that of the Blood Angels.

Instruments and entrances to what appeared to be an armory of sorts surrounded this sacred place. An altar resided in the far back of the room where the floor was raised the highest. There, exactly four tubes containing the most powerful Serums of Inflow Direct resided, the rime melting away with each passing second.

Suddenly, the ceiling opened like the petals of a flower, and an entity emerged. The bust of a man attached to a spinal cord riddled with steel bracings and decorated with innumerable blood-written scrolls scanned the room with its pair of crimson eyes.

“The last ten Serums were created strictly by Inflow Direct. It was a combination of nearly three hundred different magics. Two used by machines and the sickly. Four were used by their elite soldiers. And the final four...”

The Expositionist’s eyes fell onto the black pipes, knowing precisely what was stored within.

“... Were used by their strongest – the Obitutors.”

Once the bust of the hooded, half-machine, half human entity finished scanning the chamber, he stared at the group before him as the hands within the darkness shed their icy skin.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com