Delilah and Alice, hand-in-hand, entered the Luminous Globe.
“Way freaking cool…” Alice said, staring.
Delilah had to agree. They stood in a circular chamber with a stone floor and glass walls and ceiling, so they could see all that lay above and around them. What Delilah noticed first was light: swirling, moving, rippling all around them. Stairs and pathways that left this chamber climbed higher, with stone floors but otherwise glass walls and ceilings like where they stood now. There was little furniture to be seen, but what could be seen was made of crystalline material that refracted the light in numerous directions, giving it an odd, psychedelic look.
All of this was contained in the center of a massive globe of light. The light was like liquid, and the more Delilah stared at it, the more she realized it was liquid. The entire globe was luminescent liquid, its colors a mix of gold, white, and silver, with hints of pale green.
“It’s so pretty!” Isabelle cried out, adjusting her backpack straps as she gazed in awe at the globe all around her.
“It’s like you can see everything all at once,” Delilah said. “It looks like we’re alone.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Marcus said, the last to arrive in the Luminous Globe alongside Maribelle. “The luminescence obscures our view, and what looks like clear sight of all is simply seeing in part.”
“So we should be careful,” Isabelle said. She seemed to be speaking this not to the rest of the group, but to her teddy bear, gently petting his head as she gave him her serious warning.
“Looks like only one way to go at first,” Alice said, starting towards the stairs leading up from the glass room.
“Rabanastre has yet to recover,” Marcus said. “Someone else should probably lead the way.”
Alice smirked. “I’m not totally helpless alone,” she said. She flicked her wrist, and was suddenly holding a small pair of wickedly sharp scissors with a black and white handle. None of the luminescence around her reflected in her black, amused eyes. “And don’t forget, I’m pretty hard to kill.”
Delilah’s mind instantly returned to the scene beneath Grimoire, when Kaohlad had stabbed the girl through the chest, his vicious sickle protruding out her back.
And all she did was laugh.
Delilah followed after Alice, who confidently led the way, while Marcus followed them, and then Isabelle, with Maribelle taking up the rear. They could only take the steps single-file, despite how open everything seemed. The glass walls provided a strong illusion of space that was shattered by the claustrophobic tightness of the stairs themselves.
Several times during the climb, Delilah opened her mouth to speak, but bit back each question.
How can you shrug off such horrific injuries?
How come your body heals itself like that?
Why did Rabanastre’s pain cause you so much anguish, when your own physical wounds don’t faze you at all?
Why do you have those scissors if you’re kind of invincible? And why scissors as a choice of weapon at all?
All of those questions were held back, perhaps for a silly reason.
I feel like I should ask her in private.
She’d felt that way for a while now, and though she was encouraged to be alongside Marcus, Isabelle, and Maribelle, she was also, at times, frustrated by the larger group.
I have so many things I want to talk about with Alice. We were starting to get closer, but ever since we left the Moon…
It’s like a distance has grown between us.
I’m probably imagining it. She acts like we’re as close as ever.
I just…
Feel so far away.
It had, while they were on the Moon, felt like just yesterday that Delilah, on the back of the suffering Lunos, had promised Alice that they could be sisters.
Now, it felt like a lifetime ago.
I meant it, too. I really did.
And I felt it. Felt like we were sisters, like we were so close.
So why is it different now? What changed?
Am I just imagining things? Am I overthinking it all?
“Ooh, this is nice,” Alice said, whistling in admiration as she exited the stairs into a large, domed chamber. The oddly gleaming furniture consisted of four chairs around a round table. Alice took a seat in one and let out a surprisingly childish giggle. “They’re soft! What the heck is this?”
Delilah sat across from her, and found herself laughing. They looked hard as diamonds, but sitting in one, she felt like she was about to sink into the softest, fluffiest cushion she’d ever sat on. “That’s so weird,” she said.
“I love it!” Isabelle said, bouncing up and down in the third chair, grinning. “Mari, do you think we could get some of these made for home?”
“I’m not sure anyone still knows the secret of their manufacture,” Maribelle said, smiling. “But how about we look into it once we’ve rescued Mother?” Isabelle nodded happily in reply.
“Did they abandon this Bastion for the same reasons as the Ruby Balcony?” Delilah asked, looking around. “It’s so beautiful, it seems strange that anyone would just leave it behind.”
“The Luminescent Globe was one of the first Bastions to be abandoned,” Marcus said. “Light Catchers weren’t the first invention for our defense against the darkness. Before them, there was a different system in place, one used here at the Luminescent Globe. Factors about the Globe’s structure caused interference for Light Catchers, so they couldn’t implement them here. Lost in the past, there was no one willing to take over after the last caretakers died.”
“So they abandoned it out of laziness,” Alice said, twirling her scissors between her fingers.
“But if the Luminescent Globe’s structure caused the interference, why didn’t they redesign the Bastion itself?” Delilah asked.
“Because the Globe was here before the Bastion,” Marcus said. “All of the Bastions are like this. The Library of Solitude was not always a Bastion. The Luminescent Globe and Ruby Balcony were just beautiful, strange places, tucked away in the hidden corners of the Enchanted Dominion. When the construction of Daylight Bastions began, Locations were chosen based on the value of their position in defending the universe from darkness. The original defensive system didn’t cover as much ground, so before the Light Catchers, the Globe and the Balcony didn’t overlap with any other Bastions. They were key defensive positions against the darkness.”
“The older system was much more complex,” Maribelle said, a thoughtful gleam in her eyes. “But perhaps… it was wrong to abandon it after all.”
“What do you mean?” Marcus asked.
“The Light Catchers are failing us,” Maribelle said. “But that may have been inevitable. We traded out a complex, challenging system for one that was simple, easy to use. And it’s served us well, but maybe we failed to see its flaws because we didn’t want to see them. If we’re to upgrade our defenses, then our older systems may be the key. Though their range was smaller, an argument could be made that they were both more powerful and more likely to last than the Light Catchers.”
“I see,” Marcus said, his eyes lighting up. “Then we should show the others how the older system works.”
“I’m game,” Alice said, bouncing off of her chair and onto her feet. “I’ll make up for the lazy bums of the past.”
“What are the older defensive measures called?” Delilah asked. This time, Marcus led the way. There were two staircases leading up and out from this chamber, and he chose the one on the left from where they’d come.
“The Daybreak Engine,” Marcus said. “A truly fascinating device. I hope I still remember all the ins and outs of how they work. The Moon’s Bastion is one of the youngest, and started with a Light Catcher, so while I’m well-versed in the theory, I’ve never actually dealt with a Daybreak Engine.”
“I can handle it,” Maribelle said, a sense of pride in her voice.
They ascended two flights of stairs, passing through circular rooms smaller than the one with the four chairs around the table, and only one of them had any other furniture, just a couch facing out towards the edge of the Luminescent Globe. One more flight of stairs brought them to a room that Delilah didn’t even see until she entered it due to a surprising trick of the light and how it bounced and reflected off of the glass and crystal surfaces.
This room contained something that seemed almost out of place in the rest of the Bastion. While all else was constructed of stone, or glass, or crystal, the device in the center of this room was decidedly metal and mechanical. About four feet high and the same in width, it was made up of silver and white tubes, panels, pipes, levers, valves, gears, pistons, and more, intricately woven together to create a shockingly complex web of machinery. Despite the fact that it must be millennia old, it showed only the slightest hints of wear and use, with a few vague scuffs here, a spot of dust there, and so forth. There were no signs of rust, cracks, or other damage.
“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Maribelle said, crossing to the Daybreak Engine and kneeling in front of it, wiping away dust from a display screen surrounded by switches and levers. “I haven’t seen one in so long.”
“It doesn’t seem like it’s on,” Alice said, tapping a panel with her scissors. It rang out with a light, metallic tone.
“They require regular attention,” Maribelle said, checking gauges and radial displays she worked at the switches and levels with a practiced hand. “The whole idea was that Bastions needed to be defended by people, not just devices, so we could use a complex, powerful system to provide the best defenses possible.” She smiled, light gleaming in her eyes. “Oh, I’ve missed this.”
“You seem like you’re really good with machines,” Alice said, watching Maribelle work with white eyes.
“Mari’s good at all sorts of stuff,” Isabelle said proudly. “She’s always traveling, so she learns way more than just what books can teach you!”
“I think it was helping Mother maintain the Library’s Engine as a child that fostered my love of getting my hands dirty in learning and understand things,” Maribelle said. “Machines, farming, sailing, writing, music, architecture, combat… it helped that I lived surrounded by books on every subject imaginable, but to be able to travel and foster those skills myself…” Her smile slowly faded. “Though it was my wanderlust that failed my mother and sisters.”
“You didn’t fail anyone!” Isabelle said. “You were always with us when we needed you the most, and you always noticed when something was wrong and tried to fix it. Besides, all your travels helped you learn important things that helped Mommy and the rest of us.”
Maribelle chuckled. “Thank you for that, Belle-Belle,” she said softly.
“So, are you gonna explain how this all works?” Alice asked. She’d come over with Delilah to watch Maribelle more closely. Dials were moving, gauges were filling and emptying, and display screens were showing ever-changing numbers and symbols. There was a metallic click, and then a soft hum began to emit from the Engine. Maribelle grinned.
“There we go,” she said, stopping with her work for a moment. She stood, dusting off her hands on her dress. “Okay, I’ll walk you through the different aspects of it. If I’m right about the future for the Bastions, every Paladin and Sub-Paladin will at least need surface-level knowledge of the Daybreak Engine. And while this one may not continue running long after today, that simply means we’ll need a new Paladin assigned to the Globe as soon as possible.”
“Why won’t it keep running?” Delilah asked. “Is there something wrong with it?”
“No,” Maribelle said with a smile. “It’s operating exactly as intended. But it needs regular maintenance by mortal hands. It stops running if left idle for too long.”
“So it’s like a wind-up toy,” Alice said, eliciting a giggle from Isabelle.
“That’s not a bad analogy, actually,” Maribelle said. She knelt once more, gesturing to the complex front of the Engine with its dozens of switches, gauges, and so on. “It looks very complicated and intimidating, but it’s nothing to be frightened of.” She indicated the largest display, a rectangular screen about eight inches corner-to-corner. “This is the Engine’s primary display. There are numerous symbols that you’ll see here, which you probably don’t recognize – it takes quite a bit of study to learn them all, they’re specific to Daylight Bastions and, more specifically, Daybreak Engines. There are plenty of Paladins, some older and more experienced than Marcus, who wouldn’t recognize half of these symbols.”
“That’s telling you the temperature,” Alice said, indicating a symbol that looked like a swirling fire wrapped around a chess-like rook. “Says it’s cold, but on its way to optimal levels.” She pointed to a symbol that appeared on the opposite side, an umbrella-like cap over a blazing sun. “And that’s saying the shield is up and running.”
Maribelle, Isabelle, Marcus, and Delilah all stared at Alice. When she noticed, she stepped back from the Engine, looking at each as her eyes constantly flickered between white and black. “What?” she asked. “I’m just saying, you know?”
“But how do you know what they mean?” Maribelle asked.
“I just… know,” Alice said, shrugging. She twirled her scissors a few times. “What’s the big deal?”
“It takes a great deal of intensive study to understand the intricacies of each symbol,” Maribelle said. She pointed to a new one that had taken the fire-rook’s place, and it looked similar – fire bursting out from the center of a rook. “What’s that mean?”
“Temp’s at proper levels,” Alice said.
“And this?” Maribelle asked, pointing to a new symbol.
“Backup systems are offline,” Alice said. “But that’s because you haven’t used the —” She stopped, taking a step back. Her eyes widened a bit. “Okay, wait, hold on. Hold on a sec. Wait, like… that’s… whoa.” She shook her head, then shivered from head to toe. “Why do I know?”
“That’s what Mari was just asking,” Isabelle said, pursing her lips in thought.
“It’s okay,” Delilah said, reaching out for Alice. When she laid her hand on Alice’s arm, Alice stared at her, and her frantically flickering eyes settled on pure white.
“I don’t know why I know,” she said softly. “I just… know.”
“A mystery we can solve in time,” Marcus said with a gentle smile. “For now, it may prove fortuitous. What little you may not know, you’ll learn quickly, I’m sure.”
Alice was still staring at Delilah. When Delilah smiled at her, the last bits of tension seemed to finally leave her, and she smiled back. It was a faint smile, just one corner of her mouth, but it was real.
“It’s not necessary to learn everything today,” Maribelle said. “And what you see here will likely be different by the time you need to properly work with a Daybreak Engine. I have some thoughts for modifications, or even integrating them with the Light Catchers, if it’s possible… anyway. There are a few simple procedures I can walk you through, and you’ll get the general gist of how the Engine works.”
“Were they really only traded out because they were too complicated?” Delilah asked as Maribelle ran through a few procedures.
“It’s not quite that simple,” Marcus said. “The Light Catchers were devised so they could cover more space. They essentially allowed us to protect more of the universe with fewer Bastions, making it possible to consolidate our forces. But ease of use can’t be totally discounted. There’s an appeal to something that’s easy to understand, and it’s easier to train new Paladins and Sub-Paladins quickly. They also work autonomously, meaning that Paladins and Sub-Paladins are more free to leave their Bastion and assist others or to go on journeys for numerous reasons. Not to mention, Daybreak Engines don’t have Sight or Relay systems. Sight is the part of the Light Catcher that allows you to see all of the Bastion’s rooms from the Catcher itself, like an all-seeing surveillance camera. And you girls are quite familiar with how the Relays work.”
“So if we could combine the two, we’d have reliability and strength on top of a wider range, added internal security, and backup systems with the Relays,” Delilah said.
“That’s what I’m hoping,” Maribelle said. “We know now that the Light Catchers alone are too weak to hold back the Sons of Night.”
“Were the Sons of Night around when the Light Catchers were devised?” Delilah asked.
“Why wouldn’t they be?” Alice asked. “They’re the top leaders of the living darkness stuff, right?”
“The darkness existed before the Sons of Night,” Marcus said. “And it can operate without them.”
“The Lord of Night and Sons of Night were prophesied a long time ago,” Maribelle said, “in the Prophecy of the Endless Night, one of the oldest Prophecies in the Enchanted Dominion. But they didn’t come into being – or, at the very least, their actual existence wasn’t revealed – until quite some time after I was born.” She nodded to Isabelle. “Belle-Belle and Annabelle are the only Princesses of Solitude born after the first appearance of the Sons of Night.”
“So they have these big grandiose names,” Alice said, “but they’re not as big and powerful as they sound, right? If the darkness can get by without them, what makes them so special?”
“They harness the darkness,” Marcus said, “make it answer to their desires. The living darkness, on its own, was far less aggressive before the Lord of Night and Sons of Night arrived. Now they turn it into monsters, beckon people into shadow worlds, plant seeds that blossom into volatile, cancerous growths that swallow all in their path until they are forcibly pushed back. They are the ones who will bring on the Endless Night, unless we can stop them.”
“So this whole goose chase to the Drowned Palace might be about more than just Kodoka,” Alice said, earning a glare from Isabelle for not including “Lady” in the girl’s mother’s name.
“The show they’re putting on,” Delilah said. “It might be some sort of prelude to the actual Endless Night.”
“The Engine will handle itself for a good long while now,” Maribelle said, standing. “I’d like to do more, but you’re right. They have something horrific planned, and we should hurry after them.”
“Time to go to the Adamant Factory,” Alice said.
Marcus led the way, and the rest followed. Delilah took one last look at the Daybreak Engine, keeping in mind the little she’d learned today.
And then she looked forward, following Alice. She had already seemed such a mysterious girl, but now, Delilah was more curious than ever.
I thought I could just ask her questions and learn all there is to know about her. But she doesn’t even have all of the answers to the mysteries about her.
That’s the first time I’ve seen her really freaked out. And it’s about herself, not some strange thing happening around her.
What can I do for her?
“Hey,” Alice said, nudging Delilah with her elbow. “So, um, thanks for back there.”
“Yeah,” Delilah said, nodding.
I barely did anything. But just that small touch helped you so much.
“You okay?” Alice asked.
“Yeah,” Delilah said. “I just…”
I just want to help you. I just want you to know that… you don’t have to worry about the questions, about the mysteries.
Because you don’t have to chase the answers all alone.