Dwelling in Darkness: Prelude Opening

TSINGY CLOSED HIS EYES, SWALLOWING TO SUBMERGE THE PANIC welling up inside. He forced himself to take deep breaths of the stale underground air. What do I do? I don’t remember being trained for this. Think, Tsingy. What would a captured warrior do?

His fear pushed away any and all clever solutions that may have come, leaving him with nothing but dread.

Tsingy opened his eyes. There in front of him stood Kassador.

Kassador reminded Tsingy of a gorilla in both size and build, though like him, Kassador was a lemur. Tsingy felt puny next to the giant, tucked away in a corner of the monster’s overarching shadow.

Humming filled the air, drawing Tsingy’s eyes to the black boxes— the machines—situated all around Kassador. A series of wires led from each box, over the dirt floor, to dozens of needle points embedded in Kassador’s skin.

Tsingy shivered involuntarily. How can he stand having so many needles in him? I would be in pain. Which led to a follow-up thought: What if they intend to torture me? How long can I hold up under pressure?

Tsingy couldn’t imagine Kassador having ever been a friend to Indri, yet not all too long ago, Tsingy’s inventor teammate had trusted Kassador.

Indri trusted you, too, a voice inside said.

Tsingy silenced it. Hand firmly set in his coat pocket, he grasped the plans Indri had given him.

“They won’t expect me to have the plans,” Tsingy had encouraged the older lemur. “I can find a place to hide them before the enemy searches me. I promise.”

It’s good to have a bargaining tool, Tsingy tried telling himself. I needed to make Indri give me the plans. I had no choice.

“There’s a hard way we can do this.” Kassador’s voice sounded weary. Not the forceful bellow Tsingy had expected. Still, Tsingy’s heart thudded sharply. “Or there’s the simple way. These blueprints Indri has drawn up for the robot that will hypnotize us into surrendering…”

Not quite how Indri would have put it. The Peacemaker’s—the robot’s— song would uplift its allies while adjusting the mindset of the enemy, calming their violent desires and bringing them into a compliant mood.

I guess that’s pretty close to hypnotizing. Tsingy fought the instinct to tighten his grip on the plans in his pocket.

“Indri would never give me the blueprints,” Kassador said. “You, I believe, are more reasonable.” He eyed Tsingy’s coat pocket. “Hence why you’ve already done the grunt work of getting the plans for me. Now the question stands: will you hand them to me with or without a fight? If you fight, my underlings will kill you. Both of you.”

Five creatures materialized from a dark corner. Four were servants of Kassador, wispy and pale monsters… Angatra. The fifth, whose limp body they carried between them: Indri.

Indri’s chest rose as he breathed, though his eyes were closed. Tsingy’s heart caught in his throat at the sight of the big, grandfatherly lemur.

“If you don’t fight, you may both live,” Kassador said. “A simple choice, don’t you agree?”

Tsingy didn’t even hesitate. He pulled the plans from his pocket and stretched out his arm towards Kassador.

Sorry for getting us captured, Indri, Tsingy thought. And sorry for tricking you. But this will all be over soon. I promise.

Kassador took the blueprints in one enormous hand, and with the other he signalled his underlings. One of them drew a dagger and held it over Indri’s heart.

“B–but,” Tsingy stuttered, disbelieving, “you… you promised!”

A malignant grin darkened Kassador’s face. “As I understand it, you too made a promise you didn’t keep.”

The Angatra brought the dagger down into Indri’s chest.

Tsingy blacked out.