Cinnabar

By Nicholas W Bochenek

Living in Greenwich of England, William Marshall enjoyed exploring abandoned buildings, admiring the forgotten architecture from previous eras. He discovered a mysterious device in a fortress that had the capability of answering any question, if the answer could be determined, giving him what seemed like unlimited potential. He quickly discovered hidden societies known as "Divisions," and he worked hard to gain acceptance into them.

William became most interested in a Division named "Dmesdre," being very gothic and witch-like, although he still felt disconnected from it for a reason he did not know. He investigated what Divisions really were, where they came from and what could be done about his feeling of incompleteness, developing his independence all the while.

William felt that he was unnoticed by anyone and blended in without suspicion, until a man from a controversial tribe saw William as a powerful threat to traditional ideology . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Apr 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9780228877363

Book preview

Tortured Statues

The cold winter bite lingered around the mansion before William’s eyes. With synthetic confidence, he approached the black, wrought-iron gate that blocked his path, rarely glancing behind himself nervously. On either side of it were stone faces of old men with long beards and moustaches. The faces appeared to be screaming, but the eyes were blank. Each gate door had sophisticated curled metal, divided into sections by vertical metal rods with spikes on top, and the gate was under a metal archway of equal complexity. William procured his stolen key and opened the gate, with the rust attempting to hold him back. Most of the distant tree silhouettes in the shapes of black lighting strikes could barely be made out as the sun had long gone. The sky was grey and turbulent, illuminated by stars, a crescent moon, and distant streetlights. William walked down a pathway of uneven stones, with dying trees on either side in poorly-kept gardens. A nearby tree rustled, and a few small branches broke as a bird pushed off and flew into the night. William double-checked his pockets’ contents before continuing, knowing that he’d have to discretely return the key later to the antique shop he worked at.

Once he was halfway down the stone pathway, a small shadow ran across and climbed up a dead tree. It ascended a few metres into the air, its bushy tail streamlining behind, then perched itself upright and turned its head towards William. The animal began to stare with remarkably wide eyes. William realised that this animal must be a native of the local region, so he continued walking down the path, being surveyed non-stop.

After walking down the length of the path, he came to the dual portal entrance of a gothic fortress, proudly standing amidst the shadowy night. The architecture was riddled with pointed archways and spikes, some of which looked like spear heads. The two portal doors were overwhelmingly large, and their designs were divided up into panels, each panel containing metal statues of what looked like body parts swirled together into a vortex of gore. Above the doorway was a rusted copper goat’s head larger than William himself, and the head had wings, each a few metres long. It also had an aggressive expression, as if it were to ward away intruders. Below was a plaque that read Origin Statue Theatre. William turned sideways to look into the vague distance, both nervous and excited, then took a second stolen key from his pocket and opened the portal door on the left. The mechanism was clunky but satisfying when it opened.

The foyer had a polished floor that shone from the vague skylight through the doorway. It also appeared to be a museum of many bronze statues: dragon heads on stone platforms, people tortured and ripped apart, distorted faces, a human body nailed to a wall of gold, a screaming horse wrapped in barbed wire, a vulture eating a person in a large bird cage, a decapitated dog with an axe next to its body, and many other horrific sculptures of bronze. Walking through this maze of metal, William came to another door that led to an open hallway. He decided to come back here later and went rightwards to a staircase instead. The steps were made of blackwood, creaky from age, had worn varnish, and were no longer aligned due to the sagging building structure. The handrail was brass but appeared to be of better quality than the stairs themselves. William paused to cough quietly and then continued walking. He entered a room of unclear purpose, with a bookshelf and a few desks but no chairs. He looked at the books quickly to see if anything appeared valuable. They were all old, and the only ones with legible spine prints were titled Human Fossilisation, volumes from I to IX.

William’s phone rang loudly. Wow, damn… William exclaimed in a compressed whisper. He looked at his phone, and it previewed his girlfriend Sabrina’s face, with her black ponytail resting on her right shoulder. It was good to see her face illuminating such a gloomy place, although that feeling swiftly changed.

William heard loud and rapid footsteps from a distant staircase. He froze in position, muted his phone with a single button click, and stared at the open doorway to the room he was in. The footsteps only lasted about five seconds, and then silence continued thereafter. William waited a whole minute in dead silence. Another night, he finally whispered, deciding to leave. He saw an interesting, smooth block on a table with three metal pins sticking out of it, so he put it in his bag and left the room.

When he walked down the stairs, he had a change of heart and decided to go into the foyer despite the danger of another person being present. He walked through the revealing door and entered the open space that arched over him. The ceiling was a complex web of interconnecting archways that sat on pillars made of dark blue stone. To the left was a large pipe organ with hundreds or thousands of gold-coloured pipes of all sizes. On the floor resided the remains of a carpet turning to dust from old age, and in the exact centre was an empty archway, possibly with the same patterns as the archway above the outside gate. William walked around it, looking ahead. Stone steps led up towards a stone throne, and on it sat a stone statue of a cloaked person, eerily tall. The stone cloak had holes punched out of it, and the hood concealed the face of the entity. Despite being made of stone, William somehow felt that it had a presence. He approached it and felt the breath of an air grill on the floor just before the statue, blowing prehistoric air from underground up towards him. As William studied this statue, the air seemed to breathe very slowly, with long gaps between exhales. William took a while to notice an engraved metal plate at the statue’s base, which read Second Pharaoh Dm. E.P., in corroded letters. William walked around the statue, noticing empty bench seats all facing the second pharaoh, like an idol of eternity. William remembered the presence of another person that was running around, so he decided to leave and come back another time. He walked swiftly away, gazing back at the statue frequently as he went. He locked the door behind him and went along the stone steps, looking for the animal he had seen before, still perched on the same tree. It was a short walk from the gate along an overgrown path of ivy back to where his car was parked under a streetlight. It was a small blue hatchback, and he drove it back home. He couldn’t help but feel that the people who used to live in such a place would have all experienced such a gloomy yet inspiring lifestyle and that he had missed out by being born in the wrong era.

William slept in the following morning. When he awoke, he suddenly remembered the curious device he found in the mansion. He placed it on the bathroom bench as he began to shave his brown beard. His hair was also in need of a trim, as it was dangling over his eyes somewhat. While shaving, William noticed that the three pins on the device had dirty blobs of metal on them, possibly solder. The case for the device was similar to a long box but had rounded corners and edges. He wasn’t sure what it could be, but he knew just the person to ask. But before he did that, he needed to ring Sabrina back to see what her call was about last night.

Hello? Sabrina answered.

Hey, Sabrina, William responded.

Where were you?

I was out looking around again. Our house is still being renovated, so it—

Oh, yeah, well, I was just going to say that I finally finished making that jewellery at work, using those old gemstones from where you work.

Ah, right, should be awesome. I’ll see them soon when I see you.

Yeah, when do you think that will be? Sabrina croaked, half asleep.

Damn, you sound tired, haha. Where’s that Sabrina energy?

Uh, it got lost in the wood, I think.

Probably the same woods I went to yesterday.

What about later today, Will?

Yeah, I’ll just come over after lunch. Have a coffee for me, please?

Will do. Currently making one.

See you, love you.

Same, same.

William and Sabrina hung up simultaneously. He wanted to first ask one of his friends for advice about the device he discovered in the Origin Statue Theatre so that he could surprise Sabrina with a bit of knowledge about it.

William’s phone rang again, with Sabrina on the other end. Ahh, parents are making me go to that thing. I forgot it was today. I’ll be gone for a few days, probably no reception.

Damn, although that might be better than it sounds, William told her. I hope you have a good time with it. Same, same?

Same, same. Sabrina hung up.

William texted his friend Aaron, known on his phone as onionboy. William wrote, Hey, do you want to come over?

Aaron responded, Sorry, busy today.

I found a weird electronic device that I can’t even tell where it’s made from?

Be there in 20

lol

Aaron arrived by motorbike, something which both he and William liked. He wore clothes that resembled the colour scheme of an onion, along with old sandals. He had lighter brown hair than William but was equally lean.

Do you know what I like? Aaron asked.

William began making a list on his fingers. Rollercoasters, bungee jumping, anything vertigo, things that make me motion sick…

Yeah, very true. But also electronics that you think are weird but turn out to be just some cheap piece of garbage.

I’ll just show you. It has three pins with solder, so it must have had something removed from it.

A girl named Daphne walked by, giving Aaron a quick double-glance, then walked away quietly into another room.

Your sister? asked Aaron.

Nah, she just chills here, William answered, half smirking. She’s a neighbour, but she pretty much lives here. Alright, here is the device.

Okay, definitely old solder joints. I’ll just whack on some things and do some tests.

Aaron reached into his backpack, pulled out an electronic gadget with metal needles, and held them against the metal pins in different combinations. Nothing happened, and Aaron seemed like he needed to try something else. He had a look around the case for somewhere to pry it open, but it seemed too smooth and closed for any weak spots. How do I open you up? How do I turn you on? Hello?

Aaron’s multimeter gadget responded and showed a signal on the screen.

Oh! Something actually worked! Aaron exclaimed. Turn on?

The device didn’t respond.

Hello?

The device responded by giving a signal that his multimeter detected as current.

I bet you anything that this is voice commanded, Aaron explained. We’ll need to solder earpieces onto it then to see if there is audio coming out of it. I have to admit, this case is quite… well, I have no idea what material that is, but it feels dense or something. Or cold and hot at the same time. I don’t even know. Where, exactly?

Found it lying around in a forest, William lied.

Why isn’t it dirty?

I washed it.

Aaron gestured that he understood and realised it should have been obvious. He didn’t know that William had the tendency to trespass and steal from places or that he told small lies, so he continued on.

I need a chair, William told Aaron, as Aaron looked quite comfortable on the only chair in William’s room. While William grabbed another chair from another room, Aaron glanced around. William had a poster of stars, faded and pixelated with a purple tinge and retro style. Other than that, just a typical mess of clothes and various things decorated the room.

After a few minutes, Aaron soldered on some spare, low-quality earpieces with a hot iron and solder. He passed it to William to try it out. There you go.

Hey, mate, William said into the device.

Hello there, it responded.

What are you exactly?

I am a question answerer.

It says it’s a question answerer. Okay, what is fifty-three plus fifty-two?

One hundred and five.

William thought for a moment. Yeah, that’s right. Where do you get your answers from?

My answers come from the entire universe.

Oh, this thing sounds mysterious. This is what those other AIs should do; they should talk with some mysterious personality. Anyways, what is my name?

Your name is William Marshall.

William panicked slightly. How did it know that?

It got it right, William told Aaron. Can you find my missing cosy sock?

Aaron chuckled a bit.

It is under the left pillow on the couch in the lounge room, the device answered.

Have a play with this while I retrieve my sock, William mumbled sarcastically to Aaron.

After roughly thirty seconds, William walked back into the room, stretching his spare cosy sock between his hands nonchalantly and gazing into the distance. Aaron exclaimed with a mild gasp.

What did you ask it? William asked Aaron.

Nothing at all. This is too weird for me. I think it is spying on us somehow. You need to get rid of it, Aaron responded.

Well, you must have asked it something. You’re acting like you got an answer you didn’t like.

Aaron gave an unusual look of distaste. I’ll just keep my tools safe, Aaron told William, then packed his belongings and began walking out.

Come back any time to try this out. Hopefully, I will have figured it out by then. But for now… William was cut off by Aaron leaving. William knew something wasn’t right, but he was too excited by this device to worry about it just yet.

William began a conversation with the device on his own.

Do you have a name?

No, I don’t, but you can name me.

I’ll call you Baron. Like Aaron, but the first ‘A’ turned into a ‘B’. Okay, who made you?

I was built by a species of aliens living on an exoplanet orbiting an unnamed star in the Horologium Supercluster.

How come you speak in my accent, with language that I understand rather than being robotic?

I gather information from the observable universe which includes people’s brains, which involves a certain degree of mind-reading, though with uncertainties arising from phenomena like overlapping thoughts or contradictions, then decide what voice would make the most sense to the user.

William was sceptical but also curious. You know what, I think I’ll just go with it for now. I can do some more tests and questions later to check these claims. There are a bunch of things I’ve been wondering about lately, though. I’ve been noticing… people, a bit like there are these hidden networks of people. I just… I feel like there are these hidden networks or secret societies or something. It reminds me of old forgotten eras, how they always find their way back into our current culture, so they must have an underground network you don’t see until it grows to the surface. I feel like there are hidden societies of people like this, and that I’ve been left out of them. So, if you can read my mind to a certain degree, then can you tell me… are there secret societies that I would be very interested in joining? Based on my tastes?

The device swiftly responded, Yes, there are.

Kin

Raging heatwaves are coming. Time to get the mini-fridge out, William’s mum shouted while walking through the hallway. William looked at the device and asked it, What are those secret societies, and how can I join them?

The device responded, They are known as the Four Divisions: Dmesdre, Venhave, Prooms, and Vaithon. The easiest way for you to join them is by meeting a man named Kin at the OasisCare Medical Centre. Tell him directly that your mother recommended you, but use her full name, Natasha Marshall. Kin will have free time at 12:10 p.m. today. He will take it from there and give further instructions.

OasisCare Medical Centre. Where is that?

In the shopping mall with the thrifty shop you visited on Thursday.

Okay, I have so many questions, but that will have to wait as I don’t have long until 12:10 p.m. I’ll carry you with me, though.

William was very eager to ask the device so many things, such as how it worked, why it felt like talking to someone with a personality, how it could respond naturally, and if there were other devices like it. He put the device into the large pocket of his camouflage pants, then put his arms into the pockets of his dark blue hooded jumper and walked out of the house. He also saw Daphne again, sitting under some shade and talking with his mum. Daphne had a brown ponytail but casual, uninteresting clothing and posture. William’s mum had severely sunburnt arms, face and neck, and blond hair also in a ponytail. As usual, she was sitting in direct sunlight, with her red sunglasses on, chatting with Daphne.

I’ll be back in an hour or so, William told his mum while holding his hand in a paused wave.

All right, William, she responded.

Buy me a house while you’re gone, Daphne added.

Hah, will do! William finished.

William got onto his multi-coloured, severely stickered motorbike, placed the device in a zippable storage pocket, put his helmet on and drove off, leaving behind the messy yard with rusty construction vehicles sinking into the dirt. The Greenwich traffic was moderate today as it was a Saturday morning.

William drove to the shop that the device mentioned and tied his bike up to a post nearby. He then entered the shopping mall the device had told him about. The intense heat from outside was quickly forgotten as he got blown by the indoor air conditioning. This certainly felt like an oasis, giving refuge in a hot desert-like climate. William wandered around until he found the OasisCare Medical Centre, but checked his phone and noticed there was still over half an hour left until 12:10 p.m. He also saw a message from Sabrina titled end me now and showed her at a dinner table in a log cabin, with her dark clothes contrasting against the clothes of everyone around her. She wore a mild smile, her hair was out, and she held a peace sign to the camera. She sent another message, saying, I’ll have wifi for another ten minutes then I’ll be gone again. William sat and chatted with her for those ten minutes, which turned into twenty-five, and then waited the other five before walking into the medical centre.

A lady at the reception desk greeted William. Hey, how may I help?

Hi, I’m looking for Kin today, William replied.

Yep, he just came back from his lunch break, so he’d be just down there on the left, first door on the right.

All right, thanks.

Any time, she smiled.

William walked down the corridor and saw the entrance to Kin’s office. Above the door was a rectangular plaque, divided into four sections with different patterns drawn on it. The top left was wispy like clouds, the top right was spiky like metal fence pickets, the bottom left had a moose skull, and the bottom right had a lily pad with water ripples around it. Inside the office, a Japanese man was eating at a desk. Around him was a mixture of overgrown pot plants, dead-looking bonsais, marble pedestals, and bronze statues of bat wings as decorations. It was both chaotic and harmonious in a way that William wasn’t yet sure of.

Hi, William spoke.

Yes? Kin swiftly replied.

Are you Kin?

Yes. Come in, take a seat. What’s your name?

William sat down on a regular office chair, then looked up and saw the entire ceiling made of glass, holding up water and goldfish. William Marshall, sir. My mother recommended me to come here. William was hesitant to trust the device too much, but Kin clearly seemed interested in hearing what her name was. Natasha Marshall.

Ah, just give me one second, Kin said, slowing down on the last word. He scrolled through a tablet, then typed her name in. Ah, retired Vaithon. Do you want to have an orientation tour, or do you have a clear picture in mind already?

Orientation sounds good. William was surprised that his mother had been in a secret society without him having the vaguest clue, although he was unsure how recently she retired, and he couldn’t ask Kin, as he was pretending to be well informed.

Ah, right. Well, my name is Kin. I am from Japan, as you probably can tell from my accent. There are four Divisions of society that we… host based on different personality traits. There is Dmesdre, Venhave, Prooms, and Vaithon. Each is separate but has similarities to others. To further explain what these are like, I can show you a short movie in our own movie cinema. The movie is quite good; I’ve seen it a few times myself. After that, if you fancy any of them, you are welcome to come and meet a representative, and they can further decide if you are eligible to join their Division. But you can always say ‘no’ to ones you don’t like. So, I’ll let you come to our mini cinema right away, no further time waste.

Too easy. Just like that?

Just like that. Free of charge too, as courtesy of Venhave, who are sponsoring and encouraging more people to join.

Before I go in, which one are you in?

"I’m in all four, which is why I work here and see the