Editing City Series:Volume6b Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

They descended the long, dark stairway.

Schweitzer could not see, but he did hear a door opening ahead of him and closing behind him a few times along the way.

They said nothing and time seemed to lose all meaning.

Until…

“?”

The feel of the air suddenly changed.

He looked up to find the ceiling was much further overhead. Even in the darkness, he could tell they had entered a large hall.

“Where are we?” he asked, noting the border between the hallway and hall ceiling. The hall had a diameter of around 20 yards and the edge of the ceiling was installed with a box containing giant metal shutters.

Someone had opened the door while keeping the hall dark.

And then…

“Good to see you again, my dear bigger brother,” said a soprano voice. “A year is much too long.”

And…

“––––!?”

The hall filled with light.

White marble walls reflected the ceiling lights to illuminate everything.

The floor contained an orderly arrangement of 2-yard holes filled with water and two people stood in the very center of the hall.

One was Heiliger Karlsruhe, an enormous man in a German Air Force uniform with prosthetic arms.

The other was a fair-skinned girl. Her skin, the gentle waves of her long hair, and her dress were all a bright white. The only other color was the blue of her smiling eyes.

Schweitzer gasped when he saw her.

His lips moved to form a name, but his voice never came.

Whether or not she noticed how he felt, she made a sound of her own.

She ran forward, albeit slowly. With the delicate gait and pace of a girl in her early teens, her feet lightly slapped the floor to rush past Bermark and reach Graham.

She did not stop.

He did not even crouch or bend over to catch her.

“I’ve been waiting for two hours, so I was just telling my big brother that I thought you weren’t coming!”

“Did you think we had reversed the usual arrangement, where I visit you and Heiliger remains at the HQ?”

“Yes, yes. I did. But…”

She glanced back toward Heiliger before looking up at Graham once more.

“I thought you might have gotten into another fight. I’m glad to see I was wrong. If only Alfred hadn’t said that last year.”

Schweitzer reacted to that with raised eyebrows and a question.

“Alfred?”

“Yes, he has visited me for the past three years. He is so skilled and my bigger brother favors him. Once I met him, I took a liking to him as well.”

She poked her head out around Graham to view Schweitzer as she spoke.

She made no attempt to hide the unease on her face.

“Who are you?”

Heiliger’s response boomed through the hall.

“He is Hellard Schweitzer, son of the Schweitzer who protected you here 20 years ago. He has inherited the Titel of Schallmauer Zerstörer.”

Her face lit up when she heard that.

“Oh,” she smiled. “You’re that child who never even cried at his funeral!”

“Hm?”

She stepped out from behind Graham and ran over to Schweitzer.

She crouched, grabbed the frilly hem of her dress, and curtsied.

“I am Rose Karlsruhe, eldest daughter of the Karlsruhe family.” She straightened up, widened her somewhat narrow eyes, and looked up at him with a smile. “Incredible! I doubt you remember since it was 20 years ago for you, but it was only a month ago for me. Hard to believe such a small child grew up to be so big!”

She took his biological hand in her left hand.

“Thank you so much! Your father saved us all!”

[[Image:City_v06b_139.jpg|thumb]]

She swept her right hand to the side and pointed at the white glowing wall before twirling.

“Can you see it? You can, can’t you, Schallmauer Zerstörer? When your father protected this place, Lady Naylor and I were in here, but…but that’s not all!”

The wall she pointed to reflected the light in a complex way.

Something was carved there.

“Those are the names and the legacies of those who went to sleep here a thousand years ago and eventually awoke.” Rose took her eyes off of Schweitzer to view the wall just like he was. “Do you understand? These carvings are not just art; they are blueprints. The knowledge of those who slept here for centuries will occasionally become the Ober Geheimnis of the age in which they awaken. They leave their past knowledge here and then depart to live in that age.” A breath. “It is said England’s god created a fount of knowledge in heaven, but this is the same! All of the knowledge that has supported Germany can be found here!”

“Unfortunately, most of it either cannot be understood or cannot be reproduced with our current level of technology,” said Graham.

Schweitzer sighed.

“Are you saying my father protected Germany from the leakage and destruction of all this knowledge?” His head rose in sudden realization. “Wait, did Marsch know about this?”

“He visited here once at the request of Development Division Chief Elrich. It is impossible to know what he learned here, but his results afterwards were impressive.”

Schweitzer nodded and looked down at Der Held.

A slight frown twisted his face.

Just then, he felt a tug on his left hand. By Rose. She was tugging on it with both her delicate hands. Urging him toward the hallway – to leave this place.

“Let’s go, my brothers. You too, Lieutenant. Today is such an important day. It is the one day a year I am awake and can spend time with everyone. And the one day I can see how Nibelung, the Wheel of Ruin is turning.”

“The Wheel of…Ruin?”

Rose did not answer his question, but she did continue with a smile.

“Today is the day I learn whether I will gain a new body or if this one will be destroyed. But through that, I also learn if Nibelung has begun to turn! And…” She looked up at him. “I just know it will be an important day for the Schallmauer Zerstörer and the Kaiser Schwert!”

She tugged on his hand and began walking, but he looked back behind him.

Graham had begun to walk and Bermark followed.

Past those two, Heiliger alone remained where he was.

“…”

Schweitzer looked away from him to view the hall instead.

The engravings on the wall shined in the bright lights from the ceiling.

He viewed the reflection of all that precious knowledge that still kept so many secrets from them.