Page 99 of The Light Within

Julien’s concerned face, over a decade older than the youth Cinn watched fall apart, soon filled his vision. He pressed a hand either side of Cinn’s head. “Finally. I’ve been so worried. Are you alright?”

No,Cinn wanted to answer.I’m so far from okay after watching that, it’s not even funny.

Instead, he mumbled, “Sorry,” pulling himself upright on the pew. “Did I miss much?” he asked, but as he looked between Julien’s tense face and Father Gérard, it became clear that the conversation that had been held in his absence was very likely a rendition of what he’d just witnessed himself.

Observing Julien’s cold gaze pierce through the priest, it was impossible not to imagine that Julien harboured a deep-rooted resentment for him. Julien’s mother had perished that day, while Father Gérard escaped.

“So you’re telling me,” Julien said, “that AP has been around since way before my mother’s death?”

The priest nodded. “Out of the public eye for many years, but yes. We started as a small group of like-minded individuals with concerns about the wider impact motecraft was having, particularly motetech. You’ll know this, Julien, from both your father and your time with MEET”—Julien flinched—“but the late seventies, when AP was established, saw an explosion of motetech. The industry simply couldn’t keep up with demand.”

“Are we talking about that machine thing?” Cinn interjected. “I just, uhh… saw you talking to Isabelle. On the day she died. About it all.” He pointedly focussed on the priest.

“TheMachina Tenebrisproject.” Father Gérard nodded. “It existed only in the whispers of rumours. Until it did not. As far as my information serves, it is some sort of technology that enables extreme production of harnessed motepower. But at a price.”

“And this has been operating all this time?” snapped Julien. “Really?”

“How do you think we suddenly found the energy to power a network of portable Displacement Baths ten years ago using motecells, hmm?”

The fight visibly drained from Julien’s face.

The image of the umbraphages shouting at them, their voices filled with urgency, replayed itself in his mind. They’d wanted the machine destroyed. Desperately. “What price?” asked Cinn.

“The Arcane Purifiers believe the price is the end of the world.”

A heavy silence followed, the words hanging in the air like a dark cloud.

If the umbraphages’s red cities and prophetic warnings were anything to go by, the old priest was correct.

“So what exactly have AP been doing about this? Also, they may have started out however you say, but their actions last November have led most of the community to see them as a terrorist group. People died in the Cerulean Auditorium attack.”

Father Gérard nodded gravely, his fingers tracing the edge of his collar. “Yes, that was deeply unfortunate. You must understand, I am very much on the fringe of the Purifiers these days. But I understand that there was some…divisionbetween different sub-groups operating under the AP banner. If it’s any consolation, I assure you the people responsible for the violence are no longer with us—they’re under God’s judgement now. ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.’ They have met their end, as all must who stray from His path.”

Violence met with violence. Makes sense.

“As for what we’re doing? There is a taskforce attempting to verify the existence and location of the machine—”

“Existence?” Julien cried. “You just said itdefinitelyexists, and that my father built it. Does it exist, or not?”

“Your mother claimed so. She tried to stop it, stop him—”

Julien slammed his fist against the wooden pew, causing the entire church to echo with the force. His patience had evidently reached itslimit. Saying his name, Cinn reached out for Julien, but without another word, he stormed down the aisle.

“Wait!” shouted Father Gérard, lifting a withered hand. “There’s one more thing you should know. Someone who can help you far more than—”

The heavy oak doors slammed shut behind Julien with a reverberating crash.

Cinn sighed. This all clearly hadn’t done Julien’s mood any favours. “Sorry about him. It’s all been a bit of a time. I’ll go get him back.”

Expecting to see Julien by Maz, it was a surprise to find him leaning against the church’s wall, knee bent against the stone.

“Don’t,” Julien warned.

“Don’t what?”

“Lecture me for running off.”

“I wasn’t about to.”

---