Magical Girl Rending Nightmare - Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty

Crystal remained behind to watch over Vasilisa. Their magical shielding around her was wearing out rapidly, even when they put a little more power into it.

They could secure it better, but then... Alice was wary of all the magic in this space.

Above, the storm roiled. Its centre was a twisting, writing mess of dark clouds that twitched and moved against the very wind that created them. She could sense the magic pouring out of this place like a haze, slowly filtering into the growing storm.

Soon, the zone would be washed out in another magical storm, though... perhaps not for another day or so. 

She brought her focus back down. Fractured Time was right there. It would, under ordinary circumstances, be easy for her to rip the container holding her apart, but Alice was worried, and... if she was freed, wouldn’t they be pulled through to the next world along the chain with her? 

This was--even if it meant letting a friend suffer for a minute or two longer--a great opportunity to learn about the people who might be their enemies. 

Alice moved over to the computers and the large device holding Megan in place. It was... strange, technologically speaking. The machine was mostly steel. Thick, curved, covered in heavy-duty bolts. She imagined it was shiny, once. 

She tapped a knuckle against the side and frowned. Stainless steel, maybe? The machine looked... old? She couldn’t quite date it, but the computers nearby used tapes and punch cards. That wasn’t a sign of any great tech. 

Or maybe it was? She supposed that having computers at all was signs that they were fighting against a sophisticated enemy.

Alice moved over to the laptop and turned it over. No stickers, no sign on the back of the screen. A bit of dust, and when she inspected the keys, she found that some had their letters worn off. The layout wasn’t one she was familiar with. It wasn’t the usual QWERTY but something else. The letters were English, however. 

Alice tapped the on button but it did nothing. She was tempted to break it open to discover more. This was... what, fifty years ahead of the tape-and-reel computers? How long had humanity taken to go from vacuum-tubes to LCD monitors?

Things here weren’t matching up, and she suspected that it was more than just Fractured Time’s impact that was causing the discrepancy.

Usually Meagan’s magic, if left untamed, would age or turn back the time of things around her. It didn’t turn one item into another. And the letters were Roman. They were in a region with a Cyrillic alphabet. It didn’t fit.

“Crystal, you used a laptop before. Do you know when... laptops started?”

Crystal blinked at Alice. “Before I was born?”

“Right,” Alice said. “Stupid question. Nevermind.” She set the laptop down, then had its own shadow swallow it. If she didn’t forget about it, it could be a good direction to investigate later. The drive might be retrievable, or something.

She... didn’t know how technology worked very well. It was a deficiency that only got worse when she never really had to personally rely on anything but her own magic and abilities.

Alice continued to search. There was a large console right next to the machine Megan was in. In fact, the console was part of that machine. There was a CRT monitor in its middle, covered in a fine sheet of dust that she wiped away to reveal green text on a black background.

Alice squinted at the text. It was all meaningless gibberish. A cypher, then? Or a language she didn't know? Her magic had always acted as a sort of universal translator. It was actually one of the more powerful, if subtle, abilities that all magical girls had. But it didn’t automatically solve puzzles and figure out cyphers for them.

The very last line was in plain English, however. Bold, with an underscore for emphasis, and a blinking Y/N next to it.

OPEN CASKET? - WARNING: REQUIRES LIVING HANDPRINT OF LEVEL FIVE COMMAND

Alice glanced next to the console’s keyboard. There was a handprint-shaped indentation there, a scanner of sorts.

She placed her hand on it, and the console beeped, a small red light flashing.

She flushed a moment later. That was... foolish of her. A glance over her shoulder revealed that Crystal hadn’t noticed. She was too busy looking over Vasilisa who seemed... out of sorts.

Alice sighed, then looked down. 

The older Vasilisa on the ground, in a sort of lab coat.

She looked at the palm-reader.

“Hey, Crystal, bring Vasilisa over,” Alice said.

“She’s not looking so great,” Crystal said. 

Alice frowned. She... didn’t have much when it came to healing abilities. For herself, certainly, but not for others. Crystal might have a few minor tricks up her sleeve, but nothing too strong. They’d always relied on Screaming Bioplague when civilians needed fixing.

“I think we need her hand,” Alice said. “To open the casket.”

“Casket, that’s... what’s the word for dark and gloomy-like?” Crystal asked as she supported Vasilisa with an arm around the back. They both started walking over.

“Macabre,” Alice said. “That’s what this thing said. I think...”

Alice licked her lips and glanced down at the body again, then the machines, then finally the entire room. The catwalks and such were fixed to the walls by large bolts, there were signs that this installation had been placed here before the room exploded. 

“This is going to be a lot of speculation,” Alice began. “But I think that someone captured Fractured Time and either brought her here, to this room, or she appeared here for whatever reason. Maybe they were experimenting with something, or there was a resonance. In any case, they built this setup and someone was monitoring her. The technology here it decades ahead of what we’ve seen outside of the Zone. So I think we’re dealing with part of those responsible for getting us stuck.”

“And old-Vasilisa is part of them?” Crystal asked.

“Maybe. I’d guess so, yes. I think... she tried to defect? Tried to free Fractured Time somehow. And then something went wrong. The storm started, and the Zone spawned. Megan’s magic went wild and created anomalies, copied this factory, the city, the people within maybe.”

Crystal nodded along. “And then it only got worse. The ash, the storm spreading across the world. I think Megan would have tried to free herself though.”

“Maybe subconsciously,” Alice agreed. “She tried to rely on the person that had tried to free her already.” Alice gestured to the woman on the ground. “So her magic panted seeds and waited for them to get closer to unlock this thing.”

It fit, in a crooked way. A puzzle piece with a few missing studs that nonetheless fit in its square.

Alice was pulled out of her moment of introspection was she watched Vasilisa pause before the console. “I... this is it,” she said.

“It?” Crystal asked.

Vasilisa blinked rapidly, then she reached up and pulled off her mask, tossing it to the side. She was pale, very pale, and her face was marred where her mask had pressed into her skin. 

“I remember this. I think. I... shouldn’t, I know I’ve never been here before, but I remember this place anyway. This machine. That girl.” Vasilisa touched her own cheek. She was crying. “We did horrible things.”

“What kind of things?” Crystal asked, her voice soft and low, as if she didn’t want to spook the girl.

“I can’t remember, but horrible.” Vasilisa let out a long, shuddering breath. “Yes. This is what I’m supposed to do. I... I think, once I do this, it’s over.”

“Over?” Alice asked.

“Everything. Me. The Zone. The Storm. The suffering. I think I... I had to do this, to stop it all.” She winced and pressed a hand to the side of her head. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Crystal said. She reached up and started to rub circles on Vasilisa’s back. “It’s okay.”

Vasilisa smiled then. “I think it’s okay too. I... if I do this, I think things will be better.”

Alice watched, feeling like a bystander, as Vasilisa removed her gloves with shaking hands, then let them drop. She took a deep breath, then pressed her hand over the palm-reader.

The machine beeped faintly. A green light lit up and flickered, then the CRT monitor clicked and whirled a few times before all of the text scrolled upwards. There were imprints left behind where the text had burned into the screen, but the new lines were still readable.

SUBJECT FIVE EMERGENCY RELEASE ACTIVATED. 

EVACUATE SITE.

CONTACT BASTION.

...

THE TIME WARD IS BROKEN.

There was a loud, sibilant hiss. 

The casket’s sides cracked open. The form of Fractured Time within slumped slightly as some of the restraints holding her in place loosened.

Fractured Time laid these, unmoving.

Alice felt her heart squeeze in her chest. No, it couldn’t be...

But then there came a breath.

The storm above churned, lightning racing through the clouds. The oppressive magic in the room shifted.

“Quick!” Crystal said. She reached out, grabbed Alice by one hand and touched Megan with her other.

“Goodbye,” Vasilisa said.

And then time snapped.

***