CARTER [P2C7] – The Ninth Circle

The Chronicles of Samuel Carter – Part II: Chapter Seven

This is Part Two of the Chronicles of Samuel Carter. If you haven’t read Part One, please follow the link below.

The Chronicles of Samuel Carter

And now for the continuation…

Part II – Chapter Seven: The Ninth Circle

On the seventh day, he lay on the stone table, skin etched with runes, waiting for sunrise. He could hear the sounds of the forest, the song of birds and the rustle and bustle of a world dipped in a layer of white satin, oblivious of what had happened, what would happen to him. In a moment of clarity, he saw. A flood of memories. The in-utero experiments, the daily doses of serum, his near-death experiences, pushing him to the threshold, breaking down the barriers between this life and the next, his struggle to come back from that precipice, his mother’s funeral, all his decisions, successes and failures, all led up to that one moment, that phone call, the expedition.

A single ray of light stole between the fluttering curtains and danced along the runes on his face; he turned his head toward the window and exhaled.

Footsteps drew near, the door opened with a yawn and in came the leader, his men dragging the professor between them, his face bandaged, his crown shimmering in the dawn. Nadine followed with a bound Bartleby, holding a sangi knife at his throat.

At the sight of Samuel’s body, the professor drew in a sharp breath. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know…” he gasped.

“Silence. Behold and bear witness.” The leader held up his carving knife.

A robed, slender woman brought a cup filled with red liquid.

“Blood of the Anointed. Blade of the Tormented. Blessed be thy instrument,” at each word, he dipped the knife in dark red ink and set it onto Samuel’s chest, cutting the skin while the acolytes chanted.

“We are the Circle. Where there were Seven, there shall be Nine.”

The leader smiled, a kind yet wicked smile, his grey eyes fixed on the prisoners. He nodded to the cupbearer, she held out the receptacle in front of the professor. Through his bandaged face, Thomas saw Bartleby blinking at him. Morse code? He blinked back, more to see better than in reply, but Nadine grabbed his hand, and the knife cut deep, his blood dripping into the cup. She squeezed his hand. Thomas winced.

“Enough.” The leader dipped the knife and continued his work.

Bartleby blinked again. The professor understood and nodded slightly in return. Nadine turned to Bartleby and grabbed his arm. “Hold still, or things will get messy, Spook!”

“I prefer not to,” uttered Bartleby into the momentary silence, exhaling, grinning and thrusting his head forward with all his force. She stumbled back, knocking over the incense and swinging at Bartley, who spat, dodging her blow. The room erupted with shouts and curses.

“Seize him!” cried the leader.

The professor ripped off one of his buttons and threw it at the leader, who raised his arm in defence, but the button clattered harmlessly to the ground.

“Enough of this foolery! The circle must be com—” The button exploded in a cloud of smoke. Choking, the leader collapsed, the knife slipped from his hand.

“I’m more of a triangle guy,” said the professor, crawling to Samuel, holding his breath, pressing his last button into the palm of Samuel’s hand. “Find Thorne,” he whispered, then took the knife, cut Samuel loose and passed out.

The gas had knocked out everyone except Samuel. He touched his chest, no longer feeling the pain, tracing the last circle, incomplete. The Ritual. He had to finish it. There was the knife on the ground, gleaming in the morning sun. He reached for it when a voice boomed from outside.

“We know you’re in there. We have you surrounded. No one needs to get hurt. Come out, hands over your head. Now,” shouted Göhrlichen through his megaphone.

Samuel froze. Light leaked from his chest. A strength flooded through him he knew was not his, a rage contained, held in check by what had been done to him. His cuts began to glow and heal, scarred lines of flesh, white energy seeping through the gap in the last rune, dripping, like a faucet leaking from his heart, drop after drop, and in that drop, he saw an ocean, a sea of vessels, pods, floating in darkness, tethered to some monolithic structure. The image faded. Connected to another place, he felt the smooth button in his hand. Find Thorne.

The door to the hut burst open, and Göhrlichen’s men swarmed into the room. He barely heard, vaguely saw the soldiers, as if looking through a milky sheet of glass. Their faces twisted, mouths formed words without sound, motions blurred. His focus shifted, air hummed, and with a blink, he was gone.

“Doctor Carter!” Mrs Saganaki exclaimed in surprise as Samuel tumbled out from behind a pile of clothes in the laundry room.

Disoriented, he squinted at the bright neon light, grabbed the red dress with seizure-inducing white polka dots Mrs Saganaki was holding, covered himself, squeezed past her out the door and found himself head-first inside the confines of a coffin, carried to its last destination, people chanted, it was the same chant. Clutching the dress with both hands, he blinked again and was surrounded by savages armed with spears, their eyes wide in terror as they fell to their knees, faces in the dust. A chant came from behind him, and as he turned, the scene changed, and he felt the sting of icy air on his skin. Chanting men in fur kneeled, an ox, nostrils flared, axe cleaved through the neck, an offering, bleeding out into the snow, and again all faded, and he was alone, grey stone walls, dim shafts of light falling in from above, the air smelled of clay. Voices could be heard outside. Without a place to hide, he hurriedly slipped into the dress, dropping the button onto the sand-covered floor. The voices faded. He stooped to the ground, sifting through the sand with his hand, when he heard a scraping from the corner.

“Is that you, sister?” came a feeble voice out of the darkness, chains rattling. “Have you come to rescue me at last?”

There. The button. In front of him.

A dirt-stained hand with broken nails reached out, picked it up and disappeared again.

“Curious. How did you come by this?”

He kept silent.

“You’re not my sister. What’s with the dress?”

Samuel edged closer to get a better look. The man threw the button in front of his feet, and he bent down to pick it up.

“Oh my, you look worse than me!” The prisoner stepped into the light.

Samuel stared into the weathered face of a man whose beauty was still discernible under the flea-ridden monstrosity of a beard, sunken eyes and haggard cheeks, his breath foul, and he reeked of urine.

“Your sister. What’s her name?”

“So she did get you on that expedition.”

“Adrian?”

“You have changed much since our last game.”

“You’re alive?”

“Where’s my dear sister?”

“She’s gone. In the catacombs, the pod, the light, she…”

“She did it. She used the staff. She’s alive.”

“How do you know?”

“Oh, I know. Where did you get the button?”

“The professor.”

“Professor von Traunstein? How’s the sly devil?”

“I don’t…he…the gas…they’re all dead.”

“Damn shame.” Adrian pointed at the scars. “Does it hurt?”

Samuel shook his head.

“Can you control it?”

“No, I…the Ritual, Göhrlichen, he came, I panicked, it took over, and I ended up here, wherever this is.”

“Egypt, not far from the excavation site. The owner of this dank establishment, well, he’s not my greatest fan,” Adrian smirked, holding up his chains. “Lucky me, you brought a laser button.”

“Your father, he did this to me.”

“Not only to you,” Adrian paused. “Not only to you.”

“You mean…. There are others?”

“There were. Of all the children, you were always the most promising. I know you have no reason to trust me…”

Samuel said nothing.

“But right now, we need each other, like it or not.”

“What did you do to me?”

“Me? Nothing. If anything, I’m trying to help. We need to get out of here.”

“Tell me!”

“You don’t know? After all that’s happened?” Adrian looked at Samuel and nodded. “You have alien DNA inside you. Genetic Engineering at inception. The key to unlocking and harnessing this incredible power. A human vessel compatible with the energy. For the longest time, we weren’t sure you’d be ready. The others weren’t, but time, in the end, is always in short supply, and my father was never a patient man.”

“Your father…”

“I know… but hear me out. You need me. In a moment, you’ll feel the full force of the spatial and temporal displacement you experienced getting here.”

“He destroyed my life!”

Adrian exhaled. “He destroyed all our lives. It’s what he does. Why do you think I’m in here? Let me help you. Help me save Jackie.”

“How?”

“Thorne. He has what we need.”

“The professor, he said to find Thorne.”

“And I know just where to look. One last expedition, Doctor Carter?”

Why not check what The Deal is with that Thorne guy?

The Deal

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