Broken World: Law Breakers

POV - ARES MANGAL-GRAH

Kirin's song faded into silence, leaving behind an echo that seemed to vibrate through the very walls. Ares waited, his own breath held in anticipation for more, but she stopped, the melody cut off as if by a knife. They looked at each other, the pause stretching into awkwardness, a moment where neither knew what to say or do next.

Then, Kirin turned her head away sharply, a flush of embarrassment coloring her cheeks. "That's all I remember," she muttered, almost as if she were speaking to the shadows rather than to him.

Ares thought to himself, Huhhh?

"Why is that all you remember?" he pressed, but Kirin remained silent, her gaze fixed on some distant point, her lips pressed into a thin line.

Ares let out a sigh. "Well, is there anything else you remember about the song?"

Kirin's voice was low when she finally spoke, "She told me it was a three-part song titled 'Requiem of the Threefold Ruin. The part I sang was the last line of the first part of the song. She only taught me the first part though."

She paused, her eyes briefly meeting his before she looked away again. "But apparently, the song tells the story of the two apocalypses that have already ravaged Earth, and the third part of the song is a sort of prophecy of the last one that'll wipe out the planet itself."

Ares's mind whirled, thoughts tumbling over each other like stones in a landslide. Were the World Enders somehow tied to this prophecy of doom? The connection seemed too potent to ignore, yet he sensed the futility in asking. Pressing her for more would be like trying to catch smoke with bare hands. Kirin, with her guarded demeanor, likely didn't hold the answers he sought, or at least not ones she was willing to share 

He decided to let it go, at least for now. Then, with calculated calm, he shifted topics, aiming to pry open another door. Instead, he shifted gears, aiming to pry open another door. "What is the black stone you mentioned earlier?"

Kirin shrugged. "I don't know much about that either," she said, her tone suggesting resignation to ignorance or perhaps an unwillingness to answer his question.

Ares watched her, skepticism coloring his thoughts.

Does she even know anything? he wondered.

She continued, her voice now carrying a trace of intrigue, "The black stone is one of the last few remnants of the first men. Research has been going on for decades by the brightest minds on Earth, but it's been painstakingly slow, obviously due to the dangers surrounding the stone. Nothing much has been discovered though, only that the first men wielded advanced technology of such unfathomable heights that Earth, as it is now, has no hope of replicating."

Kirin continued, her voice threading through the air with an almost reverent hush, "The black stone, it's a teleportation device."

She described it, her words painting a vivid picture in Ares's mind. "It's obsidian black, so dark it seems to absorb light rather than reflect it, shaped like a pillar. It stood tall, perhaps three meters high, its surface smooth yet jagged, like the very essence of night given form. There's an aura about it, an invisible pulse of energy that you can feel in your bones."

Kirin's voice wove through the heavy air, each word adding layers to the enigma of the black stone. "It's connected to another fixed black stone in another location," she explained, her tone laced with the thrill of the arcane. "But there are a few unstable black stones out there," she warned, her gaze darkening as if she could see them in her mind's eye, "where their location isn't fixed, you can be transported anywhere or nowhere. It's best to stay away from those." 

She continued. "Some of the teleportation locations are known, but others..." Her voice trailed off, leaving a chasm of uncertainty. "Others are not. We haven't explored all of them yet."

Kirin's voice was a hushed murmur, barely escaping her lips as she delved into the nature of the black stones' power. "There's some sort of ancient energy that powers it," she revealed, her words chilling the air around them. "It has this ominous, low hum to it," she added, her voice trembling slightly, "a sound so chilling, it's as if the very air is resonating with the lamentations of the damned, a dirge from the depths of oblivion."

She shivered, her body reacting to the mere mention of it, as if the sound itself could reach through time to haunt her. "The energy attracts all sorts of creatures to the black stone." 

She explained further, her tone laced with caution, "Black stones with lower teleportation ranges have lesser energy, compared to those with higher ranges. Some can teleport you across continents, while others might only send you to a short distance."

But then her warning cut through, sharp and dire, "Even the black stone with the shortest range still attracts things that will kill you before you can blink."

"And for the black stones that can teleport you across continents? Well..." She didn't elaborate, but her silence spoke volumes. Ares caught her meaning; those stones were likely surrounded by such peril, such unfathomable threats, that to approach them was to court an end beyond comprehension.

"I think it goes without saying," she murmured, "that to use the black stone, you just had to come into contact with it. Any part of your body would do, but it needed to connect with your skin for it to work.

"Often times, unless there was absolutely a dire need for quick transport, you were better off traveling without the use of the black stone." Her voice was like a cold wind through the room, echoing the dangers of the world outside. "Although normal traveling had its own perils, there were ways to mitigate them somewhat."

She paused, letting the gravity of her next statement sink in, "Using the black stone was rarely worth it. Even if you managed to come into contact with one and teleport to another location, you were still faced with the same amount of danger as where you came from, or worse. So, unless you were really strong or with a strong group, the black stone was nothing but a gateway to death itself."

Ares, feeling the chill of her words, asked, "Why are you using it then?"

Kirin's reply was a whisper that seemed to stir the darkness itself, "Because of the blood rain."

The room felt like it was holding its breath, the shadows stretching and contracting as if alive.

Ares, his mind racing through the labyrinth of revelations, broke the heavy silence with a question that felt like it might unlock another layer of this dark world's secrets. "That leads to my next question, what is the blood rain?"