Gun of Ashes

”He’s... right here.”

Lorenzo murmured as he looked at the disc ahead. Without any hesitation, he walked quickly over to it.

It lay flat in the core, like a huge round table, with numerous cracks on its surface, from which a faint blue light emanated.

From the start, it had caught Lorenzo’s attention, but since this technology was far beyond his comprehension, he refrained from acting rashly. Now he clearly felt that the [Gap] was within it, and that there was a living person inside the disc.

”How does this thing open?”

Lorenzo’s hands fumbled over it, but he couldn’t find a way to open it.

”Should we just tear it apart?”

The Plague Doctor also came forward. He had little reverence for such mechanical things; a peculiar corpse intrigued him more.

Lorenzo ignored the Plague Doctor, and just then, a crackling electric sound arose.

The disc opened.

The cracks began to widen, the machinery turned laboriously, as if it hadn’t operated in ages. Such intricate machinery had become cumbersome, emitting a hoarse noise. Finally, it reluctantly popped open a corner, revealing what lay beneath.

A faint white mist spread, unveiling a scene of decay and ruin.

Lorenzo wasn’t sure if what lay before him could still be considered human, or if it was a twisted, deformed corpse. Either way, it was far more bizarre than the specimens he had seen at Black Mountain Hospital. It had no sharp teeth or claws, but its condition conveyed a maddening nightmare.

Pink brain tissue was quietly housed within a translucent container, connected by several electrodes that extended deep into the cultivation chamber below.

This was presumably his head, but apart from a few patches of skin, the majority had been replaced by complex machinery. Exposed pipes of various colors ran along a metal spine, directly connecting the head and chest. What beat within was no longer a heart but a circular mechanical pump, relentlessly compressing blood, circulating it after filtration by a separator.

Presumably to reduce bodily energy consumption, the useless limbs had long been severed, and even the torso was mostly gone. Most of the digestive system was removed, replaced by various life-sustaining systems. The lungs were no longer there, being too fragile; they had been substituted by equipment Lorenzo couldn’t identify.

”Truly perfect, he’s been dissected alive, discarding all useless organs, simply to... survive.”

The Plague Doctor couldn’t help but exclaim, grateful that he hadn’t opted for a violent disassembly of the machinery.

”Survive?”

Lorenzo found the scene before him chilling.

”Exactly, abandoning all energy-consuming organs. Rather than survival, it’s just to keep that brain alive.”

The Plague Doctor swallowed hard. This was medical technology beyond his understanding, reigniting his interest in the Truth, his heart filled with ecstatic joy.

”But is this odd thing the Secret Keeper?”

The Plague Doctor found it peculiar. Currently, this ”Secret Keeper” had abandoned everything for survival, preserving only a brain.

The Plague Doctor wasn’t sure if there was any self-awareness left. If there was, even the mere thought was terrifying; feeling neither hunger nor thirst, unable to hear or see, unable to sleep or truly awaken.

This was a torment potent enough to drive anyone insane, yet this Secret Keeper had endured in such a state for who knows how long.

If he truly still had self-awareness.

If he truly was the Secret Keeper.

”What about the others...”

Lorenzo looked at other parts of the disc. It now seemed like an Iron Coffin pieced together in a circle, holding similar brains in other sections, but there was no faint blue light on their surfaces, only a monotonous gray, as if all color had vanished.

They were all dead.

At this thought, Lorenzo shivered, glancing nervously at the elliptical entities on the well’s walls, looking at those dim red lights, a terrifying conjecture arising in his heart.

It was then that Froki, who had been silent, suddenly cried out, legs trembling as he gazed at everything before him, tears of hot emotion falling, piecing together barely comprehensible words.

”Heroic Spirit Hall!”

He flailed his limbs before quickly falling silent.

No feast, no fine wine or smoked meat, no gods or warriors, only absolute silence plagued with desolate dust.

Gazing into the deep darkness at the well’s bottom, Lorenzo wasn’t sure if what lay piled was dust and debris or one corpse after another. They had triumphed over despair and calamity, imprisoning the Inexpressible, yet ultimately were defeated by time, becoming meaningless soil.

”The last... Secret Keeper.”

Lorenzo murmured.

”They were trapped in this sanctuary, exhausting all resources and energy, dying one after another, yet to sustain themselves, they became like this.”

The Plague Doctor spoke, looking towards Lorenzo.

”You heard the Pioneer’s words. These Secret Keepers ensured the sanctuary’s safety by not only sealing themselves off, isolating it from the Inexpressible’s incursion. They refused Ascension’s immortality, choosing instead this path to sustain life.”

”Then if he truly is the Secret Keeper, why did he let us, tangled with Ascension, come in?”

The Plague Doctor didn’t understand.

”Because he can’t hold on much longer.”

Lorenzo responded, reaching out to gently press against the glass container, beneath which the brain tissue was immersed in liquid.

”The Secret Keepers chose to uphold the rules for the sake of continuity, not to survive for the rules.

Now the last Secret Keeper is dying, their continuity ending. What meaning then does the protected rule hold?”

They are recorders, witnesses, the only ones who know the truth.

They need to survive, by any means.

”So, this is why you let us in?”

Lorenzo gazed at the brain tissue, speaking softly, afraid to awaken its dream.

”But now he can’t speak, can’t give any response; in reality, he’s just a mass of decaying flesh.”

The Plague Doctor said, the brief joy giving way once more to disappointment at the realization that this grand structure ultimately protected just a hunk of flesh and blood, which seemed laughable to him.

Lorenzo shook his head, his voice full of reverence this time.

”You still don’t understand, Plague Doctor. It’s not whether he can speak that matters, nor are his actions meant for that.”

Lorenzo found it unimaginable what mindset had driven him to undergo all this, feeling each part of his flesh peeled away, losing all perception to fall into darkness, enduring the torment of time without choosing Ascension.

But all this was merely to eliminate all potential risks; for this sole reason, he chose this path.

”Did you foresee this day?”

So you severed yourself in this manner, simply to live as long as possible.

Lorenzo sighed.

”He did it to preserve his [Gap].”

His pupils swirled with a burning white storm, and in his vision, dim stars ignited brilliantly, blazing like daylight, the light tracks linked the stars, opening the path forward.