Fall of the Spectrum

Chapter Sixteen

When Gwen finally awoke from the after-effects of the battle at Hikawa Shrine, chaos followed. As soon as she could remember, she told Forneus and Phenex—and then later the entire council—about the voice she sometimes heard whenever an artifact was found, and what it had said this time when she'd restored Kusanagi's seal.

Though no one told her, it seemed at least a few of them had an inkling about the voice's origins. Gwen didn't dwell on this, however, for once far more interested in what the council planned to do with the information she'd given them than in who or what the voice belonged to. It seemed a council meeting had been called while she slept, revealing some of what she'd already told them. How apparently, aside from getting their hands on Kusanagi, Apophis's forces had found a way to track down the other artifacts, and while little was known of just what or how, they'd gotten their hands on one other.

Osiris's Crown.

When Gwen revealed that they'd found a way to harness eight of the artifacts by infusing them with dark magic "when the time was right"—Forneus presuming this meant the next new moon—nervous speculation shifted into full-blown panic.

Whatever else the council might have disagreed on, the general consensus regarding what would happen should their enemies succeed was the same: If Reeves got his hands on the artifacts in the council's possession, he'd have the power to transform the Spectrum into a prison realm surpassing Nowhere, effectively trapping all of its residents within and leaving the other realms completely defenseless.

Debate broke out around the council chamber, and after twenty minutes or so of unit commanders and council members yelling across the strategy table at one another, Forneus requested that Astral return Gwen to her quarters, stating that he didn't wish to expose her to any more political dissention than what was necessary.

As Astral escorted her toward the chamber's entrance, Gwen hazarded one last glance behind her, noting Forneus's grim expression as he and Phenex returned to their places at the table. Then she was descending the stairs, those gathered on the dais disappearing from view.

Doing what she could to block out the heated arguments—futile though it was, given the room's acoustics—Gwen had the fleeting impression Forneus was sparing her from more than just politics. That perhaps in knowing she still hadn't come to grips with being the tenth seal, he didn't want to risk anyone tactlessly bringing it up and using it as a means to blame her for what was happening.

It didn't matter that she didn't have a hand in Apophis's plans, that all she'd done was send the message along as she'd heard it. It didn't even matter that Gwen knew herself to be blameless. There were those on the Regulations Force who didn't, or at least refused to acknowledge it, even with the evidence directly in front of them. They needed a scapegoat, someone to blame for their current misfortunes, and who better than the, "nobody, human girl" who had gotten dragged into this whole mess against her will?

If it weren't for Forneus, Phenex, Apollo, and the Fifth Unit, Gwen didn't know how she would have managed in the Spectrum for as long as she had. It seemed for every friend she'd found, there were at least three others who disliked her, if they didn't flat-out hate her. She didn't know what was worse; the handful that she knew by face and name, or the countless others she could only guess at based on their furtive looks and hushed whispers whenever she passed them in the corridors. Were they afraid of her? Or like Pantha, were they angry, viewing her as nothing but the tool to their salvation?

It had only been through incessant pleading that she'd gotten the truth out of Forneus as to why Pantha had scowled at her with such dislike back at Hikawa Shrine, and she still hadn't decided if she regretted pressing him on the matter, or not. Since learning the truth, she found herself constantly studying those around her, looking to see if they exhibited the same signs Pantha did, all with little to no success of finding out for sure.