Chapter 18: The facility
The large doors opened slowly, revealing a dim and rather unwelcoming hallway. A bored-looking guard sat lazily to the right, half-slouched in his chair, tossing me only a cursory glance that spoke of complete disinterest in his task.
"Your name is Victor, right?" he asked, his tone flat and mechanical.
I gave a simple nod in response, unwilling to waste words. The man lifted his arm and pointed further down the hallway without much enthusiasm.
"Head straight. When you get to the door, keep going straight some more and you should see a metallic door. That’s what you’re looking for. Don’t linger around. Don’t make me get up."
"Thank you," I muttered.
The man merely waved me off with a flick of his wrist, already losing any remaining interest in me and going back to staring at nothing.
I walked further down the corridor, each of my steps echoing through its empty expanse, the sound bouncing back at me again and again like I was walking inside a hollow shell. I went past multiple closed doors, each one unmarked, plain, and eerily silent. I had no idea what lay beyond them, and I couldn’t lie, I was more than a bit curious about them, about what secrets or functions they might serve.
But I restrained myself. I reminded myself that there was probably a very good reason I had been told not to linger.
Soon enough the hallway came to an abrupt end, and I found myself before a modest wooden entrance that looked completely ordinary compared to the rest of the metallic corridor. The faint smell of vanilla incense emanated from beyond the doors, curling softly through the air, almost calming in its sweetness.
I knocked twice, waiting a brief moment before pushing the door open. The vanilla scent immediately grew more intense, flooding over me like a gentle wave.
The room before me appeared to be a rather simple Shinto shrine. Fake sunlight diffused through paper windows to the side, gently illuminating the tatami mats and wooden veneers of the room in a serene, almost holy glow.
There was only one altar in the room, though whatever it was dedicated to was hidden, completely covered by a dark veil. Before it stood a familiar figure, still dressed in her large, heavy cloak, with her silver-streaked hair spilling freely beyond the brim of her oversized wizard hat.
’Alice.’
She stood with her head bent low, her hands clasped tightly before the altar as four incense sticks burned slowly in a pot, thin trails of smoke rising and curling toward the veil.
’Is she praying to the Seer?’
I couldn’t help but squint my eyes at the sight. Alice was basically the Seer’s disciple, so it was less of a prayer and more like a direct message being passed along. I wasn’t too surprised at the fact that they were communicating this way either. It was one of the Seer’s powers.
Still, it was a strange, even unsettling thing to actually witness in person.
Alice made no visible reaction to my presence, not even the faintest glance, but there was no way she didn’t know I was here. Given her silence, I wisely shifted my attention elsewhere, letting her be. My eyes found two doors at the far end of the room.
One was a solid, heavy metal door that looked completely out of place in the cozy shrine, jarring and unnatural. The other was a simple shoji door located to the right, far more fitting with the traditional setting.
I wasted no time in heading toward the metal door, moving as quietly as possible so as not to draw unnecessary attention or annoy the paragon standing before the altar.
A thumbprint scanner beside the door made a sharp beep the moment I pressed it, and the door slid open smoothly to reveal a short metallic corridor. Strangely, the vanilla scent didn’t fade in the slightest but clung stubbornly to the air, following me in.
At the end of the corridor lay an opening. The moment I stepped through it, I found myself in a large, windowless room, its walls bare and cold. The only object present was a crystal ball set upon an altar not too dissimilar from the one I had just seen back in the shrine.
"Cadet Victor."
A voice came through a speaker on the wall, though I couldn’t quite tell if it was male or female.
"Yes?"
I scanned the room for cameras, searching the walls and ceiling, but I found nothing immediately visible.
"You’ve been through this before. Just place your hand on the crystal for a minute. That will be it."
I nodded at that. I was already familiar with the process from the novel.
I stopped before the ball, taking a deep breath before gingerly reaching out my hand.
The moment my fingers touched the cold, glassy surface, I felt a gaze land on me from a faraway place, paralyzing me on the spot. I couldn’t tell where it originated from, but I could feel it scanning, watching, analyzing every aspect of my being. A dull pressure built up in my skull.
All of a sudden, it stopped. Still staring, still present, but no longer actively scanning.
Then it doubled. Two gazes became four, four became eight, and it only grew from there in relentless waves. Soon enough I felt them from all directions, as if the walls themselves had grown eyes, as if the world itself was actively looking at me, digging and searching for any scrap of information I might possess.
I had never felt so naked, so utterly exposed, in my entire life.
The pressure grew exponentially until it was unbearable. Then there was darkness.
I found myself in a dark space. I could tell I was still standing upright, my legs rooted to the floor, and my fingers still pressed against the cold surface of the crystal.
A spotlight from God knows where illuminated both me and the altar, but beyond that there was only absolute, suffocating darkness. It smothered any sense of shape, distance, or physicality beyond the small circle of light.
"How... interesting."
A soft female voice broke the deafening silence. It came from all sides at once, impossible to pin down.
Suddenly I felt a gaze land on me again. This time it felt deeper, heavier, infinitely more oppressive than all the previous ones. More so, it came from a distinct point, not just the void.
I flinched, snapping my head toward its origin.
Floating in the endless void was a single enormous eye. Its black, gold-lined sclera encased a brilliantly golden iris, gleaming with alien radiance. Its deep, dark pupil stared directly down at me with curious intensity.
I couldn’t tell if it was close or impossibly far. The darkness obscured all except the undeniable knowledge that it was there, watching.
I was forced to lower my head eventually. The longer I looked into it, the more an unbearable pressure built within my skull, like my mind itself would rupture if I kept staring.
"Do you know who I am, child?"
The voice whispered right next to my ear now, close enough to make me shiver, knocking me out of my daze.
I scanned the surroundings once more, but there was only me and the crystal within the spotlight.
I turned back to face the eye, careful not to look at it directly as I answered.
"Are you the Seer?"
The eye gave a slight squint at that, the golden iris narrowing.
"Indeed, it is what you may know me as. It is a pleasure to meet you, Victor, or rather... Stranger."
My eyes constricted immediately at her words, cold sweat soaking my pits, my throat going dry.
The voice laughed softly, almost melodic, echoing through the void.
"What an interesting reaction you have, child. So my assumption was correct then."
I felt like slapping myself for giving such an obvious tell.
I already knew there was a very high chance of this happening. She was named the Veiled Seer for good reason. Her abilities were focused on fate, information, and concealment. It was inevitable she would notice something unusual regarding my identity.
I just didn’t think she’d find it that fast.
’Why the fuck did I underestimate a fucking Angel?’
I had to take back some control over this situation. Outright lying would be useless here, worse than useless.
"Is that so? I can’t remember anything before my second awakening, so it does make sense that you’d see me as a stranger."
I could almost hear a smile hidden within her reply.
"Hmm... Very intriguing. That didn’t seem to be the case with Cadet Song, though. Why is it so for you?"