Dara, Page, and the Secrets of the Multiverse

▷ 6.4

They spent the next two days traveling out of the forest. By the time they cleared the influence of the canopies, Page's real work began. They would only travel at night, with her tracking the stars and lining it with their map. By day, she caught up on sleep, using Dara's bag as a pillow. She had long shed her space suit, tucking it into the makeshift satchel Dara made her. She'd need it when she flew back out of the planet with her ship, but not in this temperate climate and fair weather.

Her breath-filter joined the bunch. After Dara informed her that Guahiri's atmosphere was the same as most of the planets in this habitable cluster, she tested the theory. With her still alive now, it seemed as if he told the truth.

In the cloak of night, they rode in short-haired beasts with long necks and cleaved hooves. Dara got them from a shepherd they passed by for a price. He talked to them in another dialect, and the conversation was too fast for Page to catch.

Now, after three more days of traveling, they were in the final leg of their journey. The map pointed them west of Proxem Naditi. A few feet from there, and the Athepaliah should be in sight. While she bobbed up and down on the back of their beastly ride, she fingered the chain where the Callagheen's portable controls were stored. It was also a homing device so the ship could come to her should she need it. Her uncle told her she wasn't supposed to lose it or the ship. Could she even keep that promise?

What awaited them in Athepaliah?

She chased the thoughts away before it ate her completely. She glanced at Dara who slouched on his seat. Was he that unworried about falling off and slapping the ground face-first? The night air was cold, blowing across the grassland in weak bursts.

A few hours later, the hill sloped towards another splotch of forest. Wasn't that the same one they left? She got her answer when Dara's awed expression never left even as he disembarked the beast and strode deeper into the haze of trunks and foliage. Page scrambled after him, catching up only when their ride was safely secured at the lip of the forest and she stopped being afraid of what might come from the shadows.

Streams of sunlight started oozing from the gaps in the canopies, lighting their way towards the heart of the forest. Dara purged ahead while Page tucked the map into her satchel. Half an hour in, and Page felt the floor edge downward, as if she was being sucked into a whirlpool. The horizon thinned into a semi-circle of tree roots and...were those stone ledges?

The big picture burst into her mind then. This was a ruin, with what was supposed to be the floor caving in long ago. Instead of trashing the place, the Guardians repurposed the catacombs beneath to build the Athepaliah. Hence, it was known as the Library of Days, because it signified that even the greatest Day would eventually be overshadowed by the greatest Night. Even Athepaliah wasn't spared by its principle, and Page didn't know if she was supposed to be amazed or terrified by that.

Leaves rustled and wood snapped, catching Page's attention. Dara was already at the end of the funnel, tearing roots and overgrown bushes away to reveal a dark hole leading nowhere. Before Page could stop him, he slipped past the void, leaving Page to scramble after him. She peered at the darkness before a flash of light sparked from the depths.

"It's safe," Dara said. "You can come down."

Page followed, glancing at the canopies and offering a silent prayer to the gods even though she was the last person to believe in them. Her boots slapped compact soil after being weightless for a moment. Dara waved the torch around the space, illuminating dusty niches carved straight into stone, each one filled to the brim with stacks upon stacks of files. All in parchment.

Page spied a darker corridor peeling from the current cavern. Were there more caverns past that? "Let's search this one first," Page said aloud, her voice echoing towards the hollow ceiling. The sound of parchment ruffling behind her told her Dara was already on the job. She did her part as well, sticking close to the light of the torch and pulling folders off the niches.

The air smelled musty and stale, as if someone left moldy bread in here for too long. The dust was so atrocious Page thought the blizzard found them here and started wreaking havoc. She coughed, pressing her nose to the crook of her arm whenever she removed and examined a fresh folder from the niches.

When another file turned out to not be the one they needed, Page yanked another off her current shelf in defeat. It must have been bursting and slotted inside without care because unbound sheets exploded from the folder's hold, fluttering in a storm to the ground. One wrong flight, and they would catch the edges of the torch's fire. Dara was quick, moving it out of the way and waiting for the blizzard to settle down.

She crouched and gathered the sheets on her hands before straightening and holding it up to the light. The diagrams were things she recognized, and she understood the script the details were written in. This was...

"It's Nuvian tech," Page breathed, making the flames flicker away from her. "I've seen this core used in many of the army's machinery. Why..."

"That's because they used those to ransack neighboring planets, even those beyond the cluster," Dara said, venom lacing around his tone upon realizing something. "They attacked Guahiri as well, leaving us with nothing but the Blight."

Page knitted her eyebrows, certain details not clicking. "Wait, so if my planet attacked yours..." She whirled to him. "Why did you help me? Even against the Blight? You know I'm a Nuvian. I even confirmed it for you."

"Unlike you power-hungry freaks, I do not wish for more people to get hurt," Dara replied. "I just want to end the Blight and let my people move forward, Nuvian or no Nuvian."

"I'm...sorry," Page muttered. She didn't even know why. Was it because of her planet's actions, ones made by their governments where her consent wasn't needed, much less asked.

Dara huffed. "You being here means they haven't leashed it as well as they were supposed to," he said. He jerked his chin at the parchment. "If it's Nuvian tech, you should be able to understand how to reverse its effects."

Page flipped to the next page and the next. The cave in her gut grew deeper. "I don't understand," she said after full minutes of shuffling and scanning. "There's nothing here."

The flames danced as Dara leaned closer. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Did you look at the back pages?"

She could have rolled her eyes at him if they were in broad daylight. "I'm an idiot, Dara," she deadpanned. "If the cure was here, I'd have found it."

Dara opened his mouth to say something, but a deep growl came out of it. They both turned, and the shadows beyond the cavern moved. The fire came a little too late, showing Page nothing but whiskers and claws before the growl turned into a deafening roar.