The Descent of Monsters (The Tensorate Series) Read online

  R: They came later. Mokoya sent them after me.

  Tensor N: Describe your journey. What happened? What did you see?

  R: It was mostly rocks and trees, very desolate and strange. It took me a day and a half to cross the plains. It was exhausting.

  Tensor N: Did you see anyone during that time? Any animals?

  R: It was all bones, some older than the others. No. There was one—I saw an animal from afar, but something killed it by the time I got closer to the institute. There were only pieces left.

  Tensor N: What was it?

  R: I do not know. Some kind of hybrid animal, half insect, half fawn. Your Tensorate should have better records than I do. I believe their beast killed it. ███ ████ █████ ███ █ █████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████ ███████████

  Tensor N: Keep talking. Tell me what happened next.

  R: I approached the institute as sunfall was approaching. In hindsight, not knowing what awaited me, I should have waited until next sunrise to enter the institute. But I was tired from traveling. I did not think rationally. I could only see the glistening end to my arduous journey. I could only think of the answers to all of my questions.

  Tensor N: ███ ███ ████ ██████ ███

  R: ██ ██████ ████████ █████ ███ █ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ███ █████

  Tensor N: ██ ██████ ██████████

  R: ████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ██████

  Tensor N: ███ ███ █████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███ █████

  R: ██ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ███

  Tensor N: Tell me what you saw when you broke in.

  R: I saw death. The institute was abandoned and the courtyard was full of bones and half-eaten bodies.

  Tensor N: What did you do then?

  R: I went into the dormitories first. I wanted to see if someone might have survived, by some miracle. But there was nothing except broken things and dead bodies.

  Tensor N: I want you to describe the scene in detail.

  R: I don’t remember it well. I wrote it down as I went, because I could not grasp the horror of what I was seeing. The kitchen was on the ground floor, as was the dining area. I looked there first. Everything had been knocked over, there was dirt all over the floor, broken utensils, raw vegetables that were rotting. There was blood too, old and dried. I didn’t find anything useful. Then—then I went upstairs.

  Tensor N: ███ ████ ███ ███ █████

  R: ███ ███████

  Tensor N: ██ ███

  R: ██ █████ █████ █ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ████ █ █████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ █ ███ ██ ████ ███ █████ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ██████

  Tensor N: █████ ████ █████

  R: ███ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ███ █████████ █ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ████ ███████

  Tensor N: ███ ███ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ █████████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████

  R: ████████████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███████

  Tensor N: ████ ██ ███ █████

  R: ████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ████ █████ ██████ █ █████ ████████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ █████ ████████ ███████ █████

  Tensor N: ███ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ██████████

  R: █ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ █ ████

  Tensor N: ██ ███ ████████████

  R: ███ █ █████████ █████████ █ ███ ██ ███ █████████████

  Tensor N: █████ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ██████

  R: ██████████████ ███████ █ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████████

  Tensor N: ████ ███ ███ █████

  R: ████████ █ ████ ████████ █ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ███████ ██████ █ ████ █ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ █████ █ █████ ████ █████ █████████ ███ █ ██████ ████ █████

  Tensor N: ███ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ ████

  R: █ ██ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███████████ █████ █████ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████████ █████████ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███

  Tensor N: ███ ██ ██████ ████

  R: ██ ███ ████

  Tensor N: █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███ ██████ █████
>
  R: █ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██ █ █ █████ ███ █ █████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████████

  Tensor N: ██████ ██████ █ █████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████

  R: ███ ███████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ████ █ ████ █ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████

  Tensor N: You’re wasting my time. Move on. What happened next?

  R: After the dormitories, I went to the laboratory building. I could hear something moving around the buildings, but I didn’t see anything. It made me more cautious. Something had broken the door in; it was a big metal door, the height of two floors. I thought the creature might be sleeping in there, but I went inside anyway. Thankfully, the laboratory was unoccupied. Just some tanks and empty cages. Maybe a few dead animals. Some Tensors had definitely died there, but the creature must have dragged the bodies outside. █ █████ █████ ████ ████████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██████ ███ █ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ████ ████████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ████

  Tensor N: ████ ██████ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ████

  R: ███ █████ █ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ███ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███ █████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ███████████

  Tensor N: ███ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██ ██████

  R: ███ █████

  Tensor N: ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ████

  R: ███ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████ █████ █ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████ ███ █ ████ █ ███ ███ ██████ █ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██████

  Tensor N: So, where did you go next?

  R: The mill where they’d kept the beast.

  Tensor N: The mill?

  R: The tall, round building. It was behind the laboratories.

  Tensor N: Tell me what you saw in there.

  R: It wasn’t pleasant.

  Tensor N: Tell me what you saw.

  R: ███ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ █████████, ████████████ █████ ████ ███ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ████████████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ███████ █ ████ ████ █ ████ ████ ██████████

  Tensor N: ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███████

  R: █ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███ █████ █████ █ ██████ ███ ███ ███ █████████████

  Tensor N: What did you do?

  R: I ran back outside.

  Tensor N: Into the courtyard with all the dead bodies?

  R: The air there was open.

  Tensor N: You didn’t enter the main institute building?

  R: I did, after visiting the animal pens. ██ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ █ ██████

  Tensor N: ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████████

  R: ██ █████████ ████ █ ████ ██████

  Chapter Nine

  FROM CHUWAN’S PERSONAL DIARY

  [1162.07.14]

  Are they joking? Why bother giving me a transcript that’s half blacked out? I can’t do anything with this rubbish. Save your time and my stomach bile and send nothing at all. Cheebye. I can’t deal with these people.

  I’m exhausted, to be honest. When the transcript was delivered to me today, I felt like throwing it across the room and going straight to bed. Pathetic, I know, but the obstacles before me feel less like a wall and more like a mountain range, cloud-topped and impassable. What’s the point of throwing myself against it, over and over? I will break against its side and the mountain will feel nothing. My bones will crumble into dust at its feet and it will remain. It’s injustice in its purest form, and I almost want to give up. Why should I waste my life and my happiness on this doomed endeavor? I should retire and become a farmer like my parents. (My real parents, not the guilty strangers who took me off the streets and pretended that their money made them good caretakers.)

  Nightmares haven’t abated. I get the one about the needle in my head, and then another one where this old Tensor forces me to take a strange test. There was a fishpond, and I had to make all the fish swim in a particular way, or I would be in trouble. Then there are the formless nightmares, a mix of things that happened in the past day melded with things I thought might have happened but didn’t. None of them make sense when I wake up. I always feel like I’ve been drowned, and I have to convince myself I’m still alive. When I close my eyes, I can still see fish dancing in little circles on the skin of my eyelids.

  I don’t understand. How can these watery, mundane dreams make me feel upset and unsafe the entire day? They’re not even about scary things. I mean, fish swimming and the disapproval of teachers? I’ve investigated murderers and sadists. The things that give other people nightmares don’t faze me. Is it exhaustion? Is someone poisoning me, turning my mind into boneless mush?

  It’s a funny thing, isn’t it? The last time my path crossed the female outlaw’s, it was because of illegal experiments conducted in the shadows, hidden in the dark pockets at the center of the Protectorate. Different people’s shit, same delightful stink. I’m not even upset anymore. How else will the Te
nsorate continue to disappoint me?

  * * *

  [1162.07.15]

  Fucking gravefuckers. I guess I have my answer.

  Chapter Ten

  CORRESPONDENCE SURROUNDING THE ESCAPE OF THE PRISONERS HELD UNDER THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCIDENT AT REWAR TENG

  I demand an explanation! What incompetence could allow two prisoners to escape from one of the most secure facilities in the Protectorate? Two prisoners involved in an active investigation, no less! My critical investigation hinged upon them, and you let them escape? What have you to say for yourself?

  Tensor Sariman

  * * *

  Tensor:

  We have no excuses, no explanation adequate for the depth of our failure! A thousand years would not be enough to exculpate us from our wrongs. We place our lives at the mercy of the Protector, from whom we can only beg the greatest of forgivenesses.

  The prisoners have escaped. The details of how still elude us, but it is clear they had outside help. Something was slipped into the guards’ wine in the kitchen, some sort of sleeping draft. As the night went on, more and more of them fell asleep, which is how the prisoners made their escape with the minimum of bloodshed. A pity! It would have been far preferable to die honorably stopping them!

  While we cannot conclusively name the collaborator, the fugitives made their getaway on a naga (which we assume belonged to the prisoner Rider), which can only mean the rescuer was one of her close associates.

  I am sorry to report the passing of Tensor Ngiau, who had been living in the facility for the duration of the investigation. She was found with her throat slit, and this note from Sanao Akeha was left in her room. I think the conclusions we can draw are painfully obvious.

  Overseer Tan

  Ministry of Justice

  * * *

  THE NOTE FOUND BESIDE NGIAU CHIMIN’S BODY

  You should thank the fortunes, or whatever deity you believe in, that my sister planned the rescue. If it had been me, I would have left a sea of bodies from wall to wall.