Chapter 4：Memory Labyrinth
1488words
"The seventh attempt has likewise failed." Norton's voice, yet terrifyingly altered—each syllable crisp and brittle like colliding ice crystals. "The human brain proves incapable of sustaining complete memory transference."
Eileen forced her heavy eyelids open. She lay in the center of a hemispherical chamber, with crystal formations hanging from the ceiling like frozen blue flames. Norton stood with his back to her at a stone platform, hunched over a book that emitted its own light.
Most disturbing was his silhouette—the once-frail scholar now stood enveloped in a semi-transparent blue energy field, with luminous patterns flowing beneath the skin at the nape of his neck.
"Norton?" Eileen attempted to sit up, only to discover gossamer threads binding her wrists to the rock wall. Mary lay unconscious nearby, her crystal ball bearing an ominous crack across its surface.
Norton—or whatever entity now inhabited Norton's body—turned slowly. His spectacles were gone, his eyes transformed into featureless blue orbs. Pulsing light pathways extended beneath his skin, forming alien patterns across his face. "Ah, the apothecary awakens," his voice echoed unnaturally. "Your professional expertise would prove useful."
Eileen's medicine pouch had been emptied onto the stone platform, its contents meticulously categorized. The thing wearing Norton's form lifted a small vial of stardust powder. "This component fascinates me—capable of temporarily stabilizing rejection reactions between crystal source and biological tissue." It paused, studying her. "Where did you acquire knowledge of crystal spirit alchemy?"
"That's merely common calming powder," Eileen replied, carefully flexing her fingers to feel for the emergency blade concealed in her sleeve. "Release us. Your quarrel is with the shadow lizards, not fellow travelers."
The thing wearing Norton's face erupted in laughter—a sound interwoven with the tinkling of shattered crystal. "Shadow lizards? Those mere sentinels?" It snapped its fingers, and from the chamber's depths came the scraping of chains as three shadow lizards emerged, crawling forward with the docility of trained hounds. "They consume only the memories of traitors."
Mary groaned softly, drawing the attention of the Norton-thing. Eileen seized the moment to saw at her bindings with the concealed blade while surveying the chamber. This was clearly an artificial laboratory, with crystal containers suspended along the walls, each housing differently colored tissues resembling brains.
"You humans perpetually investigate matters beyond your comprehension," the entity said, drifting toward Mary. Its fingers traced the crack in her crystal ball. "Memory mages particularly—presuming to manipulate domains sacred even to the Creator." The crystal ball emitted a distressed hum at its touch.
Eileen edged toward the stone platform, fingers skimming over her scattered potions. To counter Crystal Folk, she needed copper powder combined with sunlight orchid extract—her mother's notes had mentioned this specific combination. Her fingers closed around a small metal box—yes! The copper powder.
"Seeking this, perhaps?" The Norton-thing materialized before her, dangling dried sunlight orchid between crystalline fingers. "Clever, but insufficient." Its other hand clamped around Eileen's throat, sending burning pain radiating from the contact point. "Let us examine what secrets this alchemist harbors…"
Pain lanced through her skull like lightning. Fragmented images cascaded through her consciousness: her mother's laboratory engulfed in flames, a luminous blue liquid pulsing with strange light, a younger Gordon—recognizable by his metal eyepatch—carrying her child-self from the inferno…
"Fascinating." The entity released her, allowing Eileen to crumple to the floor. "So you are the traitor's offspring."
The chamber suddenly convulsed, crystal formations shattering overhead. The shadow lizards emitted warning hisses and rushed toward the passage entrance. Distant explosions echoed through the stone, followed by a familiar drawling voice: "Special delivery! Anyone home?"
It's Leo.
The Norton-thing's expression contorted. "Impossible! The canyon should—" More explosions, closer now, cut off its words. It snarled something in an alien language and lunged toward a crystalline device, slamming its palm against a glowing button. The entire chamber lurched, beginning a controlled descent like some ancient elevator.
Eileen seized the moment of chaos to dive for her scattered components, hastily mixing copper powder with sunlight orchid. Lacking a proper medium, she bit her finger hard and let blood drip into the mixture. "Mary!" She shook the memory mage frantically. "Wake up! I need your crystal ball!"
Mary's eyelids fluttered, her fingers instinctively seeking the damaged crystal ball. When her blood contacted the crack, it flared with crimson light. Eileen flung her improvised mixture toward the glow, creating an explosive cloud of copper-colored smoke.
"Channel it!" Eileen shouted, directing the smoke toward Mary's crystal ball. The memory mage responded instinctively, her hands weaving complex patterns that transformed the smoke into thousands of copper needles that streaked toward the Norton-thing like metallic rain.
It shrieked as it retreated, the copper needles penetrating its energy field with a caustic hissing. "You comprehend nothing!" its voice fractured into multiple tones. "The memory labyrinth was created to protect… Everdusk Island must not be—"
The descending platform jolted to a halt. A dark figure plummeted from the passage above, twin pistols blazing even before landing—copper-tipped bullets shredding through the entity's weakened energy field. Leo skidded to Eileen's side with an unnecessarily theatrical roll. "Miss me, darling?"
He looked terrible—half his coat sleeve torn away, fresh blood streaks painting his face—yet his roguish grin remained undimmed. Gordon and Kyle descended after him, Gordon wielding a staff crackling with blue energy, Kyle's dagger dripping with viscous purple fluid.
"Where's Norton?" Gordon demanded harshly.
"Possessed!" Eileen pointed toward the entity already reconstructing its shattered energy field. "We need to sever his connection to the crystal source!"
Without hesitation, Kyle lunged forward, his dagger weaving intricate patterns through the air. Each movement left lingering trails of silver light, gradually forming a complex binding sigil. The Norton-thing released an inhuman shriek as its body contorted unnaturally.
"NOW!" Gordon slammed his staff against the stone floor, sending ripples of blue energy outward. Eileen flung her remaining copper powder at the creature's feet while Mary hurled her crystal ball forward. Red and blue energies collided above Norton's head, creating a miniature maelstrom of conflicting power.
Norton's body convulsed like a puppet with tangled strings until a writhing blue shadow was forcibly expelled from his mouth, dissipating into the air with an otherworldly wail. The real Norton collapsed forward, caught by Kyle's swift intervention. His skin gradually regained human coloration, though a glowing Crystal Folk mark remained emblazoned on his nape.
"Star Tear Stones!" Gordon exclaimed. As the crystal entity vanished completely, a pillar rose from the chamber's center, three teardrop-shaped azure gems embedded in its crystalline surface.
Leo whistled appreciatively. "Not a wasted expedition after all." He deftly dodged falling crystal shards and smashed the pillar with his gun butt. The liberated Star Tear Stones flew toward Gordon's staff as if magnetically drawn, settling perfectly into pre-formed grooves.
"The Starchaser can move again," Gordon confirmed, studying arcane readings on his staff. "But we must depart immediately. The banished entity will summon others of its kind."
Mary gestured weakly toward Norton. "He requires specialized treatment… his memory structures have been severely compromised…"
Eileen had already opened her emergency kit. "I can stabilize him temporarily, but we need a secure location for proper treatment." She glanced toward Leo. "Where's Lydia?"
Leo's smile vanished. "Her Ladyship's 'family' arrived ahead of schedule." He exchanged a significant look with Gordon. "Curiously, they're wearing Royal Guard uniforms."
Gordon ignored the implication, instructing Kyle: "Carry Norton. The platform remains functional. Once we reach the surface, head directly to the carriage. Don't look back, regardless of what you hear."
When they finally emerged onto the surface, an enormous vortex of purple mist churned above the canyon. In the distance, around the Starchaser, armored figures in silver plate battled against translucent entities that seemed to flicker in and out of visibility.
Eileen squinted against the harsh light and spotted Lydia at the carriage entrance, wielding a longsword that appeared comically oversized for her slight frame.
"Seems our noble lady has hidden depths," Leo muttered.
Gordon halted abruptly. "Something's wrong." He raised his staff, the Star Tear Stones pulsing with urgent warning flashes. "Someone has activated the Starchaser's secondary systems…"
As if confirming his words, the three mast-like structures atop the carriage suddenly blazed with light, shooting brilliant beams skyward. The purple vortex shredded apart, revealing a breathtaking sight beyond—the silhouette of a massive floating island encircled by a seven-hued rainbow.
"Everdusk Island…" Norton whispered weakly from Kyle's back. "But its position is incorrect… it should be located—"
The ground beneath them suddenly gave way. Eileen experienced a moment of terrifying weightlessness before Leo's arm locked around her waist.
Before plunging into the newly-formed chasm, her final glimpse was of the Starchaser sealing all its hatches, its exterior armor reconfiguring to reveal ancient runes etched beneath—symbols identical to those on the final page of her mother's research journal.
