A Cold and Heartless Lullaby -Chapter 26-

When the clouds cleared, the true scale of the valley was revealed. Only a sliver of sky was visible between the towering mountains, their presence oppressive as the valley narrowed. Even after hours of walking, Leper hadn’t encountered any dangers. He sat on a rock with Kia next to him on the ground, resting her feet.

 Leper kept checking the road behind him, expecting to see reverants riding down the path toward him. He couldn’t possibly expect Roman to have followed him, but his anxiety grew. Somehow, the uncertainty was worse than confirmed danger.

He slipped his battery pack off his shoulders, careful not to get his limp arm tangled. The safety lock on the plug at the end of the charging cord was bent completely. Leper imagined the back of his head was even worse. Either way, he wasn’t going to be charging any time soon. If he had his tools, he might have been able to repair it, but that was not possible now. The only thing he could do was deal with his arm.

Although it was dented and slightly bent, the joint would still fit. Leper tossed his battery pack into the snow and, grabbing his dangling forearm, he braced himself. With a grunt, he slotted it back in, and sharp pain flashed up his arm. It felt like relocating a joint.

 One bolt was still missing, but the battery pack had plenty of screws that would work temporarily. If only he had a screwdriver. 

“Are you okay?” Kia asked, hugging her knees as she looked up at him.

“I’m fine,” Leper said. “It hurts, but I’m far more durable than it feels.”

The battery pack was useless to him; he didn’t need to preserve it, but it still felt wrong to salvage it for parts. It was easier not to think about it. He pinned his foot down on the pack, dug his fingers under the edge of its casing, and pulled. With a tremendous effort, the sheet of metal began to bend, pulling on its screws. It popped open, and the battery spiraled out from under him, flinging screws. Leper found one that wasn’t completely bent and inserted it into his elbow like a needle. Phantom tingles rippled across his arm. 

For a minute, his arm refused to respond. Then his thumb twitched. One by one, he got his fingers moving again, but his arm still felt numb. He tried to form a fist, but his fingers wouldn’t fully constrict. It felt like he was gripping an invisible apple. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than before. 

Leper glanced down at the ruined battery pack that lay in the snow by his feet. One of the clear liquid chambers was visible through the hole he had torn open. Leper would have to leave it behind. Carrying the weight of the useless pack would only make his own internal battery deplete faster. There was nothing he could do. For the first time in two hundred years, Leper faced his own mortality. Now, it was only a matter of time.

“Where are we going to go?” Kia asked. Leper stood, this time having an answer.

“We are going to find the Safe Haven, but it will be a dangerous journey.”

He could only hope that someone there could repair him. Otherwise, Leper was making a one-way trip.

“I’m tired,” Kia whined, “can you carry me?”

“No, Kia, I have to preserve my energy.”

“Oh.”

“Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover.” Leper helped her up with his good hand, and they continued down the alley. 

…

Time crawled. Each step echoed the last, and eventually, it felt like they were walking in place. Every passing rock looked the same. The longer Leper stared at the snow on the mountains, the stranger it seemed. There was a pattern to the lumps.

Kia lagged behind, stumbling as she walked. For a moment, Leper considered carrying her, but he wouldn’t be any good to her if he ran out of battery. I need to conserve energy. 

He glanced behind again, still finding nothing. The path behind looked identical to the path ahead. Even with his gyroscope, Leper had trouble knowing which way he was facing. He worried that they would get turned around without knowing it.   

Kia walked without a word, keeping close to Leper’s side. He could tell she wanted to complain; he could tell she wanted to say anything to fill the silence, but she did not speak. The silence stretched for hours, and the tension grew. Snow and gravel gave way to shale that cracked under Leper’s feet. Somehow, it made him nervous.

You’ve taken too many risks, a voice inside him said, how do you know this ‘Safe Haven’ is even real? Leper ignored it. The Safe Haven had to be real. There was no other option. 

“What happened to my father?”

Kia’s words shattered the silence, and Leper slowed, guilt eating at his soul.

“Why do you ask?” Leper replied.

“You never told me.”

“Kia…I…”

“He’s gone, isn’t he?” Kia muttered, “Like my mom.” 

“Kia… it’s been many years since he was alive.”

“Did you know him?”

“I knew him well. Graham requested my assembly so that I could wait for you. He wouldn’t have lived long enough for you to wake.”

“Oh.”

Something in her tone told Leper that she wasn’t satisfied with the answer. She had wanted more, but she was too afraid to ask. The real question hung invisibly in the air between them, and Leper almost wished she would ask it.

Without warning, a rumble traveled through the ground, shaking the valley. Leper stopped in place, an arm over Kia as he fought to keep balance. Rocks dislodged and slid down the valley walls, but the snow stayed in place. Dread took Leper’s soul as he gazed upwards. It wasn’t snow. 

Pebbles tumbled down, and the white walls shifted, breaking into even pieces. Elytra lifted, and wings fluttered, creating a discordant chorus as hundreds of white roaches detached themselves from the precipice. Kia screamed.

 Leper grabbed Kia and broke into a sprint. Shale shook under his feet as the swarm surrounded him. Rocks thundered down the cliff walls. Everything was a flurry of white, and Leper brought Kia up to his chest, holding her close as the roaches swooped down at his back. A boulder crashed into the ground and disappeared. Before Leper knew what had happened, the shale ground broke beneath him, and he slipped into darkness. He spiraled through the air, holding Kia close. Suddenly, he hit a slant and rolled. 

When he had finally slowed to a stop, the sound of the roaches was noticeably absent. Leper’s eyes jolted open. Kia wasn’t there. His soul pulsed, and he scrambled to his feet, looking frantically in all directions. He was in a glowing, blue cavern. Kia was lying only strides away, and Leper hurried to her side.

“Kia!” he cried, “Are you okay?”

She coughed and rolled over.

“Ow…” she whined. Leper breathed a sigh of relief. She was okay, mostly. The hole they had fallen through was high up in the ceiling. At any other time, Leper could have climbed it, but with his faulty arm, he could have barely gotten himself out, let alone with Kia. He snatched the jerboa from the ground and handed it to her.

“How do you feel?” he asked. “Can you sit up? Is there anything broken?”

She propped herself up on her elbow. “My head hurts…” Leper took her chin in his hand and inspected her head. It seemed fine. She pushed him away. “Your fingers are cold!” she complained.

“Can you stand up, Kia?” She groaned and rolled over, sitting up on her knees. Leper gave her a hand to steady herself on as she stood shakily.

“I think so,” she said. Thank Sol, Leper thought. He put her blanket back around her shoulders and took a better reading of the room. The walls were made of translucent ice that glowed a soft cy an blue. They were thick and as smooth as ocean glass. Multiple corridors split off to navigate the caves, but there was no indication as to where they led.

“I can’t get us back up to the surface,” Leper explained, “We need to find a way through the caves. There should normally be several entrances to a cave, right?”

Whatever you do, you need to keep moving, the voice warned. You don’t have long. Leper continued to ignore it. 

…

The ground felt alive. Subtle tremors and vibrations were constant, and the wall’s light flickered slightly. Winding tunnels narrowed and expanded as they walked, and eventually, Leper had to tilt sideways to fit. For a moment, he worried he would get stuck, but the passage expanded again. It widened in all directions, yawning into a large open cavern. The ceiling stretched four times Leper’s height and dangled back down again in crystalline stalactites. The floor wriggled, a burning red. Thousands of luminous grubs the size of Leper’s thumb covered the floor like a carpet. Kia almost stepped on one before she realized what they were, and she let out a shrill scream, clinging to Leper’s leg. As far as he could tell, they were harmless. 

Cautious, Leper stepped out over them, watching them retreat from his metal foot, leaving a blank space on the floor. He took another step, and they made way for it as well.

Once the ripples set them into motion, the entire swarm migrated towards the walls. Kia stayed put, her back to the wall of the cave. Leper held his balance and took another wary step, trying to move as slowly as he could. There was a strip of blank floor in his wake. He turned around.

“Come on, Kia. It’s okay. They’re scared of us. You don’t even have to touch them.”

Kia shook her head, staying glued to the wall.

“Kia, there is no other way,” Leper said, “just take one step at a time.” He continued moving backward, trusting the grubs to get out of the way. Kia swallowed and took a step forward. 

“That’s it,” Leper encouraged. “Close your eyes if you have to.” She shut her eyes and continued forward, one step at a time, but she was moving too slowly. The grubs were starting to reform and migrate inwards.

“Don’t open your eyes, Kia,” Leper said. “Just keep moving.” Kia snuck a glance and saw the grubs heading towards her. She shrieked and froze in place, trying to make herself as small as possible. “Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!”

Leper was already on the other side of the room.

 “Just go, Kia!” he said. The tremors flared up in strength, causing the grubs to panic. 

It all happened so fast that Leper didn’t have time to react. An earthquake shook the cavern and rattled the stalactites. Kia fell backward, and a deep, soul-chilling crack resounded from the ceiling. 

For a moment, it felt like the room was falling upwards. Leper scrambled back as stalactites pierced the ground in a thunderous crash. He could hear caves collapsing all around him, and when the sparkling dust settled, the room was nothing but a pile of translucent rocks in front of him. He jumped to his feet.

“KIA!” He dashed to the pile. For a moment, there was no response.

“Leper?” a small voice called, muffled by the rocks. 

“Are you okay?” He tried to pick up one of the boulders, but it was impossibly heavy. What is this made of? Leper thought. 

“I think so,” Kia responded.

Leper pulled with all of his might, but his arm was about to break loose before the boulder even budged.

“I can’t get through this!” Leper said, “I’m going to have to find a way around! Whatever you do, don’t move!” 

Leper turned around, facing the exit to the cavern. It felt wrong to walk away from Kia, but it was the only path. The cavern they had fallen into had multiple tunnels, so there had to be a way back. Leper took a step. Before he could take another, the tremors subsided, and he was left alone in the vacant silence. Leper glanced over his shoulder and saw that the grubs had turned orange.