There was nothing but darkness in front of Vincent. The only light came from the broken sewer grate above them. However, it only allowed a few rays of light to peer in. The spaces that were lit up showed that beneath his feet was a few inches of murky water, cupped by a brown-green stone tunnel. Beyond the immediate vicinity, there was an infinite void of black.

And then there was light.

A sudden burst of bright light caused Vincent to wince and jump in surprise. When he reimagined his composure, he looked in the light’s direction. When he did, he saw something that interested him more than scared him. Floating next to Siegella was a specter-like creature. It had a vaguely humanoid shape with no lower body, absurdly wide shoulders, and an upside-down head that was constantly frowning. Its whitely translucent body shifted like a flag in the wind, even when there was no gust currently blowing, causing it to look even more incorporeal. The most oddly human thing about the creature was the ripped shirt that it wore. The bottom was frayed and ripped in a way that looked like it was torn by someone pulling on it. Upon looking at the creature, Vincent instantly thought of a ghost of a sailor.

“Do not be afraid,” Siegella said, “this is my Apparition. I am a Resonator.”

“Oh,” Vincent said, “what does he do?”

Siegella turned towards the Apparition and snapped her fingers. “Haunlich,” she called out to it.

Haunlich then turned towards the expansive tunnel ahead of them and stuck its pointer finger out. As it did, a bright and directional light emerged from it, almost exactly like a flashlight. It gave everyone in the group clearer visibility. That being said, the cone of the light wasn’t very wide, so it could only light up a portion of the tunnel.

The group traveled this path, led by Siegella, with Haunlich illuminating the path. They all walked in a tense, aftershocked silence. Each step they took echoed off of the cave-like walls of the sewer, replaying the sound of splashing water. Occasionally, the sound of dripping moisture also filled the space, but it was more of a subtle sound than anything else. The smell, on the other hand, was atrocious. It reeked of sludge and fecal matter. Mixed into there was a slight stench of something that was similar to a rotting corpse. Needless to say, it was horrid.

After a few minutes of walking, The tunnel shook a bit and bits of dust fell from the ceiling. Everyone stopped moving.

“What is going on?” Zander asked out loud..

Siegella sighed and signaled for Haunlich to turn around. The light emitting from its finger backlit her, shadowing her frontside. Her face was obscured, giving it an ominous feeling. That, combined with the fact that her face seemed slightly more pale than before, made it seem like she was a bit spooked.

“Silo,” she replied.

“Silo?” Zander repeated. “What is that?”

“Isn’t that the place where corn is stored?” Vincent asked, jumping into the conversation.

“Oh, yeah, it is,” Eliot added.

“No,” Siegella said, “I mean, yes, that’s right, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” She then moved her head around as the tunnel started to calm down. “Silo is a person.”

“Ohhhhh,” Vincent and Eliot both said.

“Silo,” she continued, “is the leader of Aries, and the reason that we haven’t been able to take down Aries.”

Vincent pointed up at the ceiling. “Is it because he controls the uhhh terro…”

“Terragong,” Siegella corrected, “and yes. Silo Custo is a Resonator—more specifically, he is an Apparator. He uses the Terragong to push us back whenever we try to get too close to them. It’s a powerful creature.”

“Looks like it,” Vincent agreed. “But I bet I could take it. After all, I’ve beaten the kraken before.”

Siegella turned towards him and looked at him with confusion and disbelief.. “Good one.” She then turned back around and continued walking straight.

Vincent ran up to her and said, “It’s true. It attacked the boat we were taking.” He flexed his biceps. “I’m pretty strong, you know.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” she sarcastically replied, not losing her stride. “I’m sure you beat up a giant kraken.”

“Well, technically I beat the guy who was controlling it,” Vincent conceded. He then perked back up. “Did you know that you don’t have to beat the Apparition? You only gotta knock out the Resonator.”

“Of course I know that,” Siegella replied, stopping at a two-way junction. She stood still for a few moments before heading to the left. “I’m fully aware of what Resonators can do and how to fight them. Doesn’t change anything when it comes to Silo.”

Vincent then felt a hand on his shoulder and watched Zander push by him. “I was actually going to ask you about that,” Zander chimed in. “How do you know about Resonators and what specific types there are?”

“The obelisk, just like everyone else in the world,” Siegella casually responded.

“Obelisk?” Zander questioned. “Is that what the one that’s here says?”

“The one here?” she repeated. “No, no one knows what it says—it hasn’t been translated yet. Plus, Aries is guarding it. I’m talking about the one in the States.”

“Wait,” Zander said, “other people managed to crack the code? How did you hear that? I didn’t know that.”

Siegella turned around and looked at the group with a look of disbelief and confusion. “From the internet. A lot of information spreads fast there. Have you all lived underground for the last month?”

“Kinda,” Vincent replied.

Siegella rolled her eyes and continued to move forward, but kept talking. “So yes, we know about Resonators, Dominators, Apparators, The One, and all that stuff. In fact,” she said, looking around her, “since Libra has been on the front line against those villains, we even know a few tricks and secrets about Resonators that the obelisk doesn’t say.”

“Like what?” Vincent asked.

“Just like you mentioned, if you make an Apparator unconscious, then their Apparition disappears,” she replied. “But I’m not telling you anything else. After all, you might tell that information to Aries.”

“Why would we join an evil group?” Vincent replied.

“I never said anything about joining them,” Siegella responded. “Torture is still a thing too.”

“Oh…yeah,” was all Vincent said.

From that point onwards, there was little conversation. The aftershocks of both the Terragong encounter and from the revelation of Resonators being widely known were making their way around each of the friends. Surprisingly, Vincent even felt those waves course through him. It wasn’t like him to feel such uncertainty and discomfort in his own emotions, but something was bothering him.

If they know about Resonators an’ shit, then why don’t they fight? Vincent thought to himself.

It didn’t make sense to him that they should be afraid of something like the Terragong. Sure, it was horrifying to look at and it seems powerful, but he’s taken on much worse things. He figured that if Siegella was a Resonator, then surely more people in Libra were too. After all, there’s no way they could’ve beaten up all those other gangs that they were talking about without those abilities and powers. There’s no way someone who isn’t a Resonator could ever beat one. Sure, guns exist, and against certain people, they would be effective, but they aren’t on the same level as super powers. Dozens of gunshots could be heard when the Terragong came out of the building, and even then, that beast probably won the fight. It’s just like Archard said: power is freedom. And if they had as much power as they claimed, then why didn’t they fight? It just didn’t make sense to him. But thinking was never his strong suit, so he put those doubts and thoughts aside for the time being.

After about 30 minutes of walking through the disgusting sewer, Siegella suddenly stopped. Her head slightly shifted upwards. Following her eyes up, a small trickle of light barely made its way through a small slit in the rocks. Looking at it longer brought it out of the dark and gave it form. It wasn’t part of the rock, rather, it was it’s own thing—it was a metal sewer gate that was closed off from the outside.

She motioned for Haunlich to turn off its light and go towards the gate. It did and it floated over to where those tiny specks of light were. As it did, it phased right through the gate, much like a ghost would. After a few moments of waiting in the darkened silence, it eventually returned.

“So, did you see anything?” Siegella asked Haunlich.

Haunlich replied in a way that didn’t sound like any language Vincent had ever heard. The noise that it made sounded more like a ship's horn if it was sped up, quieter, but still as low, and cut off after about a second. What made it even stranger was that it made that sound every time it opened its upside-down mouth, meaning that it was how its voice sounded.

“I see,” Siegella responded. She then faced the rest of the group. “It seems like the coast is clear.”

“How can you tell?” Zander asked.

“Haunlich told me,” she answered.

Eliot then meagerly made his way into the conversation. “You can talk to your Apparition? Can everyone?” There was a mix of hope and dread in his voice and on his face.

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Siegella replied, “but I have a deeper connection with mine.” She looked straight at Haunlich and sighed. “I understand it and it understands me. It reminds me of myself and someone I know, and once I accepted that, it was a lot easier for me to understand Haunlich. Anyway,” she said, shaking herself from the semi-lulled state she found herself in. She then dismissed the Apparition, causing the light to go with it.

Everyone stood still in the darkness for a few seconds, before the sound of scraping stone and bending metal filled the space. In mere moments, more light began to filter into the tunnels. The shadowy figure of Siegella stood in the middle of the light, looking back at the rest of the group.

“Come on,” she said, holding what looked like a metal bar, “it’s open now.”

One by one, the group crawled their way out of the shit-lined caverns and back into the sunlit, civilized society. Looking around, the bright sun was partially obscured by the backs of the building that lined both sides of the alleyway that they found themselves in. The alley extended both to their right and left, with another section taking a 90 degree turn 10 or so yards into the left path.

Once everyone managed to make their way out of the sewer, Siegella motioned them to follow her, quietly. About 15 minutes into the walk, she suddenly stopped and stood completely still. Nothing but the wind could be heard as it blew through the few wind chimes that hung off of some of the balconies.

“What’s wr—” Vincent started to say.

“Shush,” Siegella said, cutting him off.

Everyone continued to linger in that oppressive stillness. After another minute of absolutely nothing happening, Siegella finally spoke, although her words were soft and careful. “Something isn’t right,” she said. Her stance slowly shifted to a more defensive one.

“What do you mean?” Vincent asked. “I don’t see a damn thing.”

“That’s the problem,” Siegella commented. “Someone should be here. Someone is supposed to be here to greet us.”

“Well, perhaps they're just late,” Zander proposed.

“Or maybe they forgot,” Eliot added.

“No,” Siegella responded, “that’s not it.” She then slowly started to reach down to her side. “On the count of three, I need you all to back me up.” She then upholstered the carefully concealed handgun that was on her hips.

“Woah woah, wait,” Vincent stumbled.

“Yes, hold on for just a moment,” Zander said. “No need to jump to any conclusions.”

“One…” Siegella said.

“Oh no,” Eliot said.

“Oh boy, here we go,” said Vincent

“Two…” Siegella said.

Walking up behind her, Fang said, “You take right, I’ll take left.”

“Fang?” Vincent asked.

“Three!” Siegella yelled

And with that, she kicked down the door that she was next to and pulled out her gun. Her and Fang stormed the building, although Fang did not have a gun on them. That being said, even without being armed, they seemed to move in such a natural way, almost like they had broken into a building before. Vincent, unlike his other friends, went into the building too, although he hesitated a bit before doing so.

The inside of the building was fairly standard-looking. There were a few couches and pieces of furniture around the first room, with a stairway that led both upstairs and downstairs. To the right, there was another hallway that led to what looked like a bathroom. The one thing every room shared in common, upon first glance, was how none of the lights were turned on.

Quietly, the group, led by Siegella and Fang, followed by Vincent, made their way around every room. Nothing seemed out of place at first. The furniture seemed to be in their proper place, the paintings on the walls were undisturbed, and the walls themselves seemed completely fine…wait.

Both Vincent and Sieglella seemed to notice the same thing, and as they both made their way right next to the wall that followed the stairs, they both saw it. Riddled throughout the wallpaper itself was a couple of bullet holes. Immediately turning around, Vincent’s sight gazed through the kitchen which was now visible to him. The kitchen, upon first entering the house, was around the right-hand corner, obscured by a wall. It didn’t take long for Vincent to see what the source of those bullet holes was.

Drastically, almost like a movie scene, an obscene amount of blood was covering the kitchen walls. It looked as though someone had thrown an entire can of red paint against the wall and let it run down it. And as his eyes followed the blood splatter down, he found the body that it belonged to. Slumped up against the stove, was a dead person. It was hard to tell who they even were, especially since their head was nowhere to be seen.

Vincent, Siegella, and Fang all ran up to the body, most likely for differing reasons. Looking closely at the body, it honestly seemed relatively unharmed. With the exception of the non-existent head, nothing about the body was unusual or showed any sign of injury. There were no cuts, not bruises, and no bullet injuries. However, the one thing that Vincent did see was a small tattoo on the corpse’s neck. It was just below where the head once was, almost suspiciously so. While most of the tattoo was gone, what did remain were two straight lines that continued upwards, probably morphing into something more distinct.

It was at this time that a gasp and squirmish scream was heard from behind.

“Oh my god,” Eliot cried out.

Instantly, Siegella ran up to him and put her hand over his mouth, silencing him.

“Absolutely no noise,” she demanded, and Eliot was fearfully compliant.

The group then silently made their way upstairs and downstairs, where they found a total of 5 more bodies in the exact same condition. No head, blood splattered behind them like a massive spray.

After exploring the entirety of the abode, Siegella finally rested, sitting on one of the couches. She took a deep breath and looked down at the ground, burying her head in her hands. The place seemed safe enough for the time being.

“What in the hell is going on?” Vincent asked.

“I’m inclined to ask the same question,” Zander agreed.

“That explains why we didn’t get any updates,” Siegella said to herself. She took a moment and then looked up at the rest of the group. “These people were murdered, and they were murdered fast.”

“Did you know them?” Zander asked. “Were these the people we were supposed to meet with?”

“No,” Siegella shook her head, “I don’t know who most of these people are. In fact, only one person was supposed to know about this place, and I found his body downstairs next to what we came here for.”

“And what’s that?” Zander asked.

“It doesn’t matter, ‘cause it’s not here.”

There was a bit of silence before someone else spoke up.

“Who could do such a thing?” Eliot asked, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “This is pure evil.”

“It is,” Siegella agreed. “But I actually have a good idea of who actually did this, although I’m a bit worried if I’m right.”

“Who’s that?” Eliot asked.

“London’s new infamous serial killer…” Siegella ominously responded, “...the Slayer.”