Chapter 231 - Within The Aemos

All across the surface of Eclat, battles raged, from the greatest of cities to the smallest village, all were invaded by the seemingly endless number of Aemos. They flew over the cities in their ships, attacking those they registered as having a high amount of energy in their bodies, and capturing them with their pain causing devices.

In some places, there were enough powerful individuals to repel the invaders, but in many locations, the people were captured and dragged to the ships of the pale invaders.

The Aemos ships were loaded with the unconscious Eclat citizens, unconscious from the sheer pain they had been put through, and then they flew back to the enormous wedge shaped craft in the sky, the shadow that hung over Eclat.

As the battle raged on, near the bottom of the ship, a young man was running through a dim corridor, he wore a mask that was elaborately carved to form the face of a demon, and a set of plate armor, a pair of blades at his side, his mane of dark hair streaming around his face.

[Silane, this is going to take forever at this rate, we need to do this faster somehow. This ship is big enough that it'd take me long enough to cross from one side to another, let alone run along this endless corridor.] Kothar complained, for he had been running along the corridor for almost a quarter of an hour, with no change in sight, having only come across the single intersection. 

[Alright then, why don't you use your Plasma Blade and start sawing through the walls.] Silane's tone was a little curt, she knew what Kothar's response would be, but still wanted to make it obvious that he was only being foolishly impatient.

[And leave a trail behind for any of these invaders to follow me? Absolutely not.] Kothar shook his head, his mind focused elsewhere, not noticing Silane's sarcasm. [Besides, who knows what that'll do to this ship, remember, we don't want to send it dropping onto the land below us.] 

[Well, you can't portal without knowing where your destination is, but I can't map this place out with so little information.] Silane sighed, she wanted to be more helpful, but she could only do so much.

[Hold on. I can't believe I didn't think of this before.] Kothar exclaimed, and opened a portal in front of him, opening a destination portal as far as he possibly could, stepping through them and crossing the distance in a moment.

[Well, you only recently realized the potential of the Spatial Artifact.] Silane said, as Kothar opened portal after portal, covering far more distance than he had earlier.

Distorted sounds sounded out within the gloom of the corridor, one after another, as Kothar crossed kilometers in a few instants, passing by a few more intersections in the corridor, but not finding any that led toward the spatial fluctuations that he had been feeling for some time now. 

But even as he continued onward, Silane's voice interrupted him. [Hold on Kothar! Stop right here for a moment, I want you to try something.] Silane sounded slightly excited, and Kothar immediately closed the portal in front of him and stopped, a confused look on his face.

[There's nothing here Silane, it's just the same as the rest of this endless corridor.] Kothar couldn't even see one of the intersections nearby, there were only the odd inscriptions on the walls and the hollow glowing yellow tubes that lit the inside of the ship.

[Right there, Kothar. Place your hand on the wall and push.] Silane outlined a square for Kothar, overlaying his vision.

Kothar placed his hand on the gray material of the  ship, the black inscriptions under his hand, the surface of the wall felt oddly warm, like the back of some enormous beast.

Kothar pushed down, and there was a loud 'click', then with a soft hissing noise, the entire wall swung away.

[I knew it, there had to be some sort of maintenance doorways that allowed access tot he workings of the ship. I've been trying to decode the markings for a while now and I've figured out enough to notice that there were these hidden doors at regular intervals.] Silane sounded almost proud of herself as she gloated to Kothar.

[You never fail to surprise me.] Kothar gave a small smile, as he stepped through the square shaped opening, the door hissing as it shut behind him.

Kothar found himself in a far narrower walkway, all round him the walls were covered far more densely with inscriptions, there were also large pipes that ran the length of the walkway, at the bottom of the walls.

These pipes emanated enough heat that Kothar could feel it even while standing a distance away from them. Furthermore, the maintenance walkway was even more dimly lit than the passageway that Kothar had been in, only a thin tube of the yellow lighting running along the top of the wall.

Kothar looked around, the tunnel seemed to run alongside the previous one, and he sighed, it seemed this wouldn't be as helpful as he expected.

[Don't give up so quickly, Kothar. Look around here at least, I'm sure this won't be identical. ] Silane scolded Kothar, a little annoyed that he wouldn't dismiss her discovery so quickly.

Kothar decided to walk along the tunnel, deciding not to portal, so he could get a better grasp of the maintenance routes.

[Oh. Right. I'm sorry Silane.] Kothar exclaimed, he had only walked a few steps ahead and there had been a set of rungs set into the wall that led upwards. This would lead Kothar right towards the spatial fluctuations that he had felt since leaving the launch bay.

[No need to apologize.] Silane replied, a little smugly. She was basking in the glow of having been proved right. 

Kothar didn't say anything further, he reached up, and started to climb up the narrow maintenance tunnel that led up.

Further into the depths of the ship.