Chapter Eleven
The facility in which Reunification was headquartered was even larger than I thought it was. I discovered that when a couple of floating robots came to my room and transported me out on a flat, floating metal board, which they pushed along through the hallways of Reunification's facility toward the room where the doctors would work on me.
'Twas a well-kept facility, with spotless walls, ceiling, and floor. It was clearly Xeeonite in design, for only the Xeeonites designed buildings with such sleek interiors. We passed many doors on the way down, but I could not see through the windows on the doors because we went too fast and most of the windows were covered with white curtains that were too thick to see through.
We did not go down very far, only about two floors or so, at which point I was taken into a room on the right side of the hallway. Kiriah, who had been following us, told me she would wait outside until I was fixed, which did not please me, as Kiriah was the only person I knew in this place.
Nonetheless, when I entered the medical room, I was soon distracted by all of the elaborate Xeeonite medical instruments that I had never in my wildest imagination would have thought of on my own, such as a flat table with strange mechanical arms sticking out of it and a dazzling variety of screens that showed images I did not understand in the slightest.
Oddly, I did not see any actual doctors of any sort. Indeed, it seemed to me as if I was the only living, breathing organic creature in the room, as I saw no hint of anyone else. Then I realized that I hadn't seen any other people on our way down here, either, though perhaps all of the Reunification members were busy working elsewhere at the moment.
The two robots that had transported me to that room immediately (though gently) placed me on the flat table and strapped me down securely using the straps on the table. Before I could even ask what they were going to do to me, one of the mechanical arms rising out of the table jabbed a needle in my arm. 'Twas like being stung by a bee, but as soon as I felt that needle pierce my skin, I lost all consciousness.
It was perhaps a moment later that I awoke. At least, it felt like that, though I knew how quickly time passed when ye were unconscious.
When my senses came back to me, I realized that I was sitting in a room, at a comfortable temperature that was neither too hot nor too cold, a room which 'twas very similar to the room I had found myself in earlier. The only main differences being that there was no bed and none of the walls were glass or indeed had any windows for me to look out of at all.
Additionally, I found myself sitting in a reclining chair that was quite soft, though I did not recognize the material that it was made out of (probably some synthetic Xeeonite substance, as the Xeeonites detested anything crafted by nature). A blanket had been spread over my body, a rather heavy one, but it was a comfortable weight that made me want to lie down and sleep forever.
Then I noticed that my legs no longer hurt even half as badly as they used to. There was no pain in them at all, though they did feel slightly stiffer than normal; nonetheless, I preferred the stiffness to the pain.
And then I realized that I was not actually alone in here. Kiriah stood in the doorway at the other end of the room, seemingly unaware that I was watching her, arguing with someone I could not see. All I saw of her conversation partner was a flickering blue light, though that was not much of a clue to his identity.
“No, I understand,” said Kiriah, her frustrated tone quite familiar to me, even though it had been years since I last heard her use it. “But just because Rii just got here doesn't mean he can't be trusted. If I show him the Secret, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help us.”
Then Kiriah went silent, as if her partner was talking. But I did not hear any voice speaking from the blue flickering light. That made me wonder if the speaker was silent or perhaps Kiriah was somehow communicating with him in ways I could not tell.
In any case, I listened hard without making a sound, for I did not wish for Kiriah or her partner to know that I was awake yet. I thought that, by eavesdropping on their conversation, I might learn more about this 'Secret' mine sister spoke of, whatever it was. For it did not seem likely that they would explain it to me later, if Kiriah's argument was any indication of her conversation partner's feelings on the subject.
Then Kiriah raised her fist, but lowered it, as if she thought better of hitting her partner. “I guess you're right. But I can still initiate Rii into the organization, can't I?”
More flickering of that strange blue light. I thought I heard a low buzzing noise from outside the doorway, in the hallway, but I could not even begin to guess what might have been making that noise. There were likely many Xeeonite machines that could make such a sound, but what this one was, I did not know.
Once again, Kiriah spoke, saying, “All right. Just tell the other Elders what we talked about. Also, make sure to keep that damn robot in your sights. He's a tricky one and we can't afford to have anyone stopping us, not when we're so close to success.”
'Twas no response, as before, but the flickering blue light did vanish. As soon as it did, Kiriah turned around. Before she lay her eyes on me, I looked down at my chest to prevent her from seeing that I had been listening. For I was under the impression that mine sister had not wanted me to listen in on that conversation, which did not make me feel well about my current situation, to put it lightly.
“Rii?” said Kiriah. “Are you awake?”
Yawning falsely (for I had to continue to make Kiriah think I had just awoken), I looked up at her and said, in a tired voice, “Yes, sister, I am awake. I just awoke, in fact. How many hours have passed since my surgery?”
“One,” said Kiriah. “The doctors put your legs back together in about ten minutes. Isn't that amazing?”
“Indeed it is,” I said. I rubbed my legs, just to be certain they were in one piece, and they did indeed feel that way. “Whilst I've never been the biggest supporter of Xeeonite technology, if it is capable of feats such as this, then perhaps it is not as bad as I thought. Still, I consider Delanian magic to be better, as I know that a truly skilled wizard could have healed my legs even faster.”
“Perhaps, but what matters is that your legs are better and you should be able to walk on your own now,” said Kiriah. She clapped her hands together again. “That means that I can now initiate you into Reunification. After all, you're one of us now, so that means that you need to go through the same things that we did before anything else.”
Something about her words made me mightily uneasy. “What, exactly, must I do now that I am a member of Reunification?”
“If you are ready to walk, I can show you,” said Kiriah. “Do you need me to help you up?”
I shook my head. “Nay, sister. I believe I can walk of my own accord now.”
Thus, I took my blanket off my body and looked at my legs more closely. They looked as normal as ever, which did not surprise me too much because I had already suspected they would. Still, I bent my knees and moved them around anyway, just to be certain that they functioned as they ought to be.
Once I was certain that my legs would not give out on me, I looked up at Kiriah again and said, “Now, let me try to walk. If I need your help, then I will ask for it.”
Kiriah nodded as I put my hands on the arms of the chair and pushed myself up. 'Twas difficult as first, for despite my legs being whole again, I did not feel entirely normal. I figured that that my legs merely needed time to recover, however, so I did not worry much about it.
It was only when my feet touched the ground that I realized that I was wearing shoes. They were soft and comfortable and fit my feet perfectly. They weren't much to look at, but I was so glad to have shoes again for the first time in a long time that I did not complain about their plainness.
“I had the machines put shoes on your feet when you were sleeping,” Kiriah explained. “I noticed how hard and scratched your feet were, so I thought you would appreciate it.”
“Thank ye, Kiriah,” I
said, though I still held onto one of the chair's arms to help me stand. “I greatly appreciate the gesture. Ye know not what it was like to go without shoes for so long.”
“You're welcome, brother,” said Kiriah. “Now, can you walk on your own or do you need my help?”
I could stand just fine, but I did not know if I could walk. I was hesitant to try, but then I let go of the chair and took a step forward. When I did not fall flat on my face, I looked at Kiriah and said, “It appears that I can walk just fine, sister, though these shoes will take some getting used to, I think.”
“You'll get plenty of opportunity to practice walking in those shoes, brother,” said Kiriah. “Now, follow me. If you're going to be supporting Reunification, then you need to understand what we're doing better than you already do. And that means you have to participate in the Ceremony.”
“The Ceremony?” I repeated. “What might that be?”
“It's the initiation ceremony that all new members of Reunification must undertake when they join the organization,” said Kiriah. “We would have put you through the Ceremony right away had your legs not been broken.”
I noticed how carefully she worded that last sentence. 'Had your legs not been broken' … what a joke. After all, hadn't it been Kiriah who had ordered her men to break my legs? Of course it had. Did she think she could make me forget her involvement in my broken legs by refusing to take responsibility for it?
Nonetheless, I did not bring it up, because I was trying to stay on good terms with her. If Kiriah continued to believe that I had had a change of heart, if she believed I had forgiven her for breaking my legs (despite her not even asking for forgiveness from me in the first place), then taking down Reunification from the inside would be that much easier.
“Well, what are we waiting for, then?” I said. I stretched my arms and legs, for they were still quite stiff from me sitting in that chair for an hour. “Lead the way and I shall follow ye, as always, my sister.”
Kiriah smiled, like I had just said exactly what she wanted to hear. She then turned around and gestured for me to follow her, which I did, albeit slowly, as my legs, while rapidly returning to their original limber form, were still stiffer than they appeared.
Upon exiting the room, we found ourselves in the empty hallways of the facility. I still saw no one else in here but ourselves, although I did hear the sounds of workers and construction equipment outside, which brought to mind that crane I had seen before. Nor did the hallway have much of a smell to it; 'twas slightly sterile, as if the people who maintained this place had put an obsessive amount of work into keeping it clean. I did not understand why they would, but Xeeonites in general were far more obsessive about cleanliness than we Delanians were. Perhaps that was all there was to it.
In any case, I asked Kiriah, “Where are all of the Reunification members? Why is this place so deserted and empty? I thought your organization would have many more people in it.”
“The facility we're in is largely maintained by robots,” said Kiriah. She gestured at a camera hanging from the ceiling, which I had not even noticed had been watching us silently the entire time. “They're a lot more dependable and trustworthy than organic beings, for one. There are probably only a dozen or so organic, living beings here at any one time; we can't have more than that.”
“Why not?” I asked. “I thought Reunification was much larger than a dozen or so members.”
“The more people you let in on the Secret, the more likely it becomes that someone will spill that Secret out to the public,” Kiriah explained. “And we don't want the public—whether on Dela or Xeeo—to know about us, at least not until the Reunification process is complete and the two worlds are one again.”
“What is the exact number of members in your group, then?” said I, folding my arms over my chest.
“I can't tell you that, mostly because you're still not technically a member yet,” said Kiriah, shaking her head. “Also, because the less we know about each other, the less useful any of our captured members become to enemies who may kidnap them.”
“I see,” I said. “That is how ye control the flow of information in this group, then? By determining what your inferiors deserve to know?”
“What they need to know,” Kiriah corrected. She wagged a finger at me. “And don't make it sound like that. It's not like I know everything going on around here, either. I know more than most, but it's the Elders who know everything, and above the Elders is the Founder.”
“I thought ye said ye were the leader of Reunification,” I said, frowning. “Sounds to me as if ye are in fact just another subordinate in the chain of command.”
“But I am the Leader,” said Kiriah. “I just handle the day-to-day stuff that the Elders and the Founder don't have time for. That's all.”
She sounded more than a bit offended by what I had said, but I did not apologize, though I probably should have. Knowing the exact chain of command in this organization did not make me respect my sister anymore than I already did; indeed, I had less respect for her now than before, if only because it was now clear to me that, despite her protests, she was indeed just another subordinate, albeit one higher up in chain of command than most.
That would make taking down Reunification from within that much more problematic, as I could not simply defeat Kiriah. Nay, I would have to deal with these 'Elders,' too, whoever they were, and the enigmatic Founder, whoever he was.
That knowledge made this task of mine seem far more insurmountable than I thought, but I did not show my worry. I knew Kiriah well enough to know how to hide my true thoughts and feelings from her, and as I could not allow her to suspect my true intentions, it was imperative I keep them to myself.
“Well, whatever,” said Kiriah. “Come on. I have to take you down to the Ceremony Room.”
“Ye have a room devoted for the purposes of the Ceremony here in this place?” I asked. I looked around at the sleek Xeeonite interior architecture. “I did not think that Xeeonites cared much for ceremonies.”
“Reunification is neither Xeeonite nor Delanian,” said Kiriah, shaking her head again. “We're both, and neither, and more. We have Ceremony Rooms in all of our buildings and facilities for exactly this kind of situation. We need to be able to induct new members into the fold quickly, after all, no matter where they join.”
“What is the Ceremony like?” I asked. “Is it painful?”
“You'll see once we get there,” said Kiriah. “Follow me. The Ceremony Room is underneath the facility, so we will have to take you down there right away.”
Kiriah began walking down the hallway. I followed, listening to the sounds of construction equipment and workers outside, wondering still what they were working on. These noises were quite foreign to mine ears, but I paid them little attention, partly because Kiriah did not seem likely to answer any questions about them, partly because I was more distracted by the new shoes on my feet than anything.
How comfortable these shoes were! Granted, they were not the fanciest of shoes, nor even the best pair I had ever worn; however, after having gone so many long days without shoes, even this simple pair 'twas better than nothing. I felt as though I could wear these shoes for the rest of my life; indeed, I wondered if I could keep them or if Kiriah had only given them to me until I could buy a pair of mine own. I would have to ask at some point.
I expected us to walk down a long series of stairs to the Ceremony Room, or perhaps take one of those infernal 'elevators' that the Xeeonites seemed to have installed in every building they had ever made.
But instead, Kiriah stopped in front of a door and pushed it open. Whilst I was no expert on Xeeonite technology, I thought that this door did not look anything like the door to an elevator or stairs. Wherefore, then, were we going?
I followed her in anyway, for I trusted that she knew where she was going. And what I saw was an odd sight that I had not expected to see in any Xeeonite building.
The room was almost completely em
pty of all furniture, save for a large stone platform in the center that had the symbol of the Old Gods carved into it. There was no mistaking that full moon symbol for anything else, though what 'twas doing here, of all places, I dared not say. A hint of ancient stone entered my nostrils, while my ears caught no sound aside from Kiriah's step against the tiled floor. Even the sounds of the construction equipment and workers outside seemed distant now, as if this room was inside another universe entirely.
“This is the main teleporter in this facility,” said Kiriah, gesturing at it as she walked up to it. “It will teleport us to the Ceremony Room.”
“Why does it have the symbol of the Old Gods engraved on it?” I asked, after my speaking abilities had returned to me, for I had been temporarily rendered mute by the sight of the symbol. “Does Reunification serve the Old Gods?”
Kiriah stopped, as if I had asked a question that she had not considered before. Then again, perhaps she was thinking of the best way to answer that question, although it seemed a simple one to I. After all, ye either served the Old Gods or ye did not; there was none of this 'gray area' that some liked to speak of when it came to whether they worshiped King Una or not.
Then Kiriah said, without looking at me, “Oh, well, that isn't just a symbol of the Old Gods. It's a symbol of reunification, too. That it resembles the symbol of the Old Gods is just a coincidence.”
“I dare say that it appears to be appropriation and even mockery of the Old Gods,” I said. I folded mine arms over my chest. “I thought this would offend ye, sister. After all, ye and I both grew up in the Old Religion together, did we not?”
Kiriah still did not turn to look at me, though that did not make me doubt myself, for I had said the whole truth. Our parents had indeed raised all three of us—Kiriah, Sura, and I—in the Old Religion, because they believed it was their duties as parents to do so. I could not be certain whether Sura still followed the Old Religion, as Kiriah's disappearance had shaken his faith and we had not spoken in years, but I thought that at least Kiriah would still show faith in the Old Gods.
Then Kiriah shrugged. “We can talk about this later. Right now, we need to get you through the Ceremony. After that, we can talk more about religion.”
Though her tone was light and casual, as if this was an incredibly trivial and inconsequential thing, I sensed more than a hint of danger in her voice. It was the danger I had sensed earlier, when we had spoken prior to my surgery, a danger that I had never heard in my sister's voice before. I suspected she must have picked it up from her fellow Reunification members, which gave me yet another reason to hate this group.
Kiriah stepped onto the teleporter and gestured for me to join her. I did not want to, as I wanted nothing to do with what I considered to be a mockery of the Old Gods. Nonetheless, I knew I had little choice in the matter, so I climbed up next to Kiriah.
“All right,” said Kiriah, looking up at me as she spoke, “I don't know if you have ever teleported before, but it will be a little disorienting at first.”
“Will it be painful?” I asked. “I have heard stories of teleporters turning people who used them inside out.”
“That's what the earliest teleporters did,” said Kiriah, waving off my concern as if it was childish, “because teleporters were so new and no one really understood them. Nowadays, they can teleport a whole group of a dozen or more people without any trouble.”
“Indeed?” I said, scratching my chin as I looked down on the teleporter under my feet, which felt sturdy and solid. “I have to admit, Xeeonite technology can be rather magnificent at times, though it is still no substitute for good old Delanian magic.”
“I know,” said Kiriah. “It's why I'm happy to be here. Xeeonite technology is simply amazing, sometimes even more so than our magic.”
I frowned. “Now, sister, that is a bit strong, wouldn't ye say? As good as Xeeonite technology can sometimes be, Delanian magic is still the preferred practice of the Old Gods. Don't ye remember what our parents used to teach us before we went to bed every night?”
Kiriah scratched the back of her head. “I don't really remember. It's been so long. Was it something about magic over tech or something?”
My frown turned into a smile as I quoted what our parents used to tell us at bed time so many years ago, “'Always appreciate the magic of old, for it is a gift from the Old Gods that keeps ye safe and secure at all times.'”
“I'm surprised that you remember that,” said Kiriah, looking at me in surprise. “Then again, you are older than me, so that's not surprising.”
“Indeed,” I said. “Now, how does this teleporter work?”
Kiriah tapped her thin wrist. A holographic image of a keyboard rose from the spot she had tapped, a keyboard with Xeeonish letters I could not read. My sister's fingers danced across the keyboard as quickly and easily as if she did this every day, typing up what might have been a password of sorts as she did so.
I shuddered when I saw the hologram appear above my sister's wrist. I did so because it meant that Kiriah had indeed received implants just like every other Xeeonite. It disturbed me that my own sister had done that, which made me wonder again just how much she had changed since her disappearance so many years ago.
But I said nothing about it, because I doubted that Kiriah would listen to me. Xeeonites in general, I noticed, did not like anyone criticizing their implants, as if their implants were an integral part of their identity. I did not understand it, as these implants always seemed disgusting to me, but then, there was much I did not understand about this world and its people. Kiriah was not a native Xeeonite, but she certainly acted like one nowadays.
As soon as Kiriah finished typing on the holographic keyboard, everything around us began to shift like the water in the ocean. I looked around in panic, but then Kiriah grabbed my hand and held it tightly, like a reassuring grip, and said, “Stay still.”
Though she spoke, her words became slurred and hard to understand, as if whatever witchcraft that was making the world around us shift and churn was affecting her, too. Still, I listened to her anyway and tried to calm down even as the walls melted and the platform under us turned into mush.
Just as I began to think that our surroundings were going to envelop us like a slime ball, everything returned to normal immediately. The abrupt transition—if you could even call it that, for it had not been much of a transition to me—made my stomach churn and my head hurt as if I had been clubbed by an angry dwarf wielding a hammer. My vision, too, was blurry, which made me hesitate, for I was unsure just how much longer my vision would remain this way.
“Here we are,” said Kiriah, who I heard standing next to me. “The Ceremony Room. Can you see?”
Eager to see where we were, I rubbed my eyes in the hope that that would help clear them up more quickly. Rubbing my hands against my eyes did make them burn somewhat, but it must have worked, for when I lowered my hands, I could see them as clearly as anything else.
Then I looked up at the chamber we had teleported into and looked around to see where we were.
'Twas not a very large room, though it was bigger than any other room I had seen in this facility so far. Aside from its size, what struck me most about it was how it looked completely unlike any other Xeeonite room I had seen so far. There were no tiles on the floor, ceiling, or walls. Instead, there was stone, very old stone by the look of it, as if this room had been built ages ago by the Old Gods themselves.
And on the walls, floor, and ceiling were images I did not understand, especially due to the poor lighting from the florescent bulbs above. Two spheres were a common image I saw on much of the room, as well as a third, much larger sphere that was in between the worlds (for I soon realized that that was what they had to be). Ancient weapons—swords with serrated edges and axes with large, flat heads—were strung along the walls, but I did not know where any of those weapons might have been from, for I did not recognize their design at all.
In the center was some
kind of strange machine I had never seen before. Its metallic surface was at complete odds with the ancient stone appearance of this room, as if whoever had built this chamber had not considered how the machine would look against the rest of the room. The machine looked like a box of some sort, with several blinking green lights on its perimeter, which made me hesitant, as I did not trust those lights. There was also a keyboard—a physical one, not a holographic one like the one that Kiriah had used—just to the right of its door, but aside from that, the machine looked quite plain and unremarkable, noticeable only because of its sharp contrast with the rest of the room.
Indeed, if I had not known any better or seen that odd machine over there, I would have foolishly believed that I had teleported back to Dela. This room certainly did not look like something from Xeeo, which did not make me feel quite comfortable.
“Why does this place look so … ancient?” I asked, looking at Kiriah with a puzzled expression on my face. “It does not look like the sleek design of most Xeeonite rooms.”
“That's because it's not,” said Kiriah. She gestured at our surroundings. “This room is actually one of the last surviving ruins from before the splitting of Dela and Xeeo. We built the facility on top of it to keep it safe from prying eyes, though as you can tell, we've made more than a few adjustments to bring it up to modernity.”
I considered that. If Kiriah was telling the truth, then this was indeed quite an old room, far older than anything on Dela. It made me wonder how something like this could have survived for so many years, but then, the works of the ancients were said to have been even greater than the works of us modern folk, so perhaps its good condition was far more believable than I first thought.
In any case, I pointed at the strange machine in the center and said, “What is that machine right there? What does it do? I have never seen anything like it.”
“It's part of the Ceremony,” Kiriah explained. “You have to sit inside it. Then we'll hook up your brain to the machine and it will ensure that you are loyal to Reunification.”
When she said that, I was forced to hide my true feelings. Right now, Kiriah still seemed to think that I was on her side; still, I did not like what she said about that machine 'ensuring' that I was loyal to Reunification, whatever that meant.
So, in as casual a tone as I could muster, I said, “Say, sister, what do ye mean that the machine 'ensures' that I am loyal to Reunification?”
Kiriah smiled, which I took as a sign that she did not sense anything out of the ordinary from me. “The machine—which is a Brain Editor—was originally designed for use by Xeeonite neurosurgeons to detect damaged or ill parts of the brain in their patients. What we learned, however, was that, with a little modification, it could be used to rewrite someone's memory and personality at will.”
I had never before, in mine whole life, felt more threatened by the word 'rewrite' than I currently was. I looked at the machine again, which though silent no longer looked quite as benign as it once did.
“Basically, what happens is that we take you and hook your brain up to the Brain Editor, as I said,” said Kiriah. She gestured at the back of her head, perhaps to indicate where the wires were supposed to go in my head. “The Brain Editor then, well, reads your brain. It looks for any sign of deceit or doubt and rewrites it accordingly.”
I kept a casual demeanor, but it was hard to do because all I wished to do now was run for mine life. “Interesting. I am guessing ye have had trouble in the past with enemies attempting to infiltrate Reunification?”
Kiriah nodded. “It was before I joined. There was this guy … well, you don't need to know about him. He's long dead. The Elders bought and modified this Brain Editor to ensure that nothing like that would happen again.”
“Good riddance, I say,” I said. And even though I put on as good a show of genuineness as I could, in truth, I was disgusted at her short tale about the man, for I doubted that this infiltrator had been a truly bad man. “May I ask how permanent the rewrite is?”
“Completely,” said Kiriah. She patted the back of her head. “Once the Brain Editor rewrites someone's brain, there's no changing them back. Sometimes all it does is take away someone's memory of their traitorous plans so they don't remember their original schemes, but more often than not it completely alters someone's personality.”
“Did ye go through the Brain Editor when ye joined Reunification?” I asked.
Kiriah's smile never wavered as she said, “Yep. I still remember you, though, brother, and most of our past. The Elders told me I only needed subtle changes, so I don't think it really caused any lasting damage to my brain.”
Except make ye crueler and less empathetic towards others. 'Twas what I thought, anyway, but I did not say that aloud because I was now thinking that I would need to find a way out of here if I was going to avoid getting my personality 'rewritten' and my memories altered.
“Don't worry,” said Kiriah, resting one of her small hands on my arm. “I doubt it will do much to you. And if it does, it will be for the better; after all, the Brain Editor is supposed to make us more loyal to Reunification, which is always a good thing.”
She said that as if it were a self-evident truth. It did not help that she was looking at me with her green eyes as she said that, like she thought I would agree with her.
To keep up the ruse, I said, “Why, of course, sister. The Brain Editor is indeed a noble machine, if a machine can be called such.”
“Great,” said Kiriah. She took her hand off my arm and began walking toward the Brain Editor. “Now just come along here. I'll get the machine started, which shouldn't take long, because despite its age, it works really well.”
I hesitated for a split second, for I had two choices before me now. One was to go along with the ruse a little while longer, maybe even sit in the chair and allow the wicked machine to change who I was. It certainly would not arouse Kiriah's suspicions, but it began to seem to me that the cost of pretending to be a loyal member of Reunification was far outweighed by the cost of sitting in the Brain Editor.
So, rather than follow Kiriah, I turned and ran back to the teleporter. I heard Kiriah calling for me to stop and come back, but I did not listen to her. I simply jumped onto the teleporter, which activated as soon as the soles of my shoes landed on it, and then the Ceremony Room vanished and melted away, although I knew that even this escape did not mean that I was free just yet.
***