Dark Gate Angels Complete Series Omnibus

by Ramy Vance

  Abby’s nanobots peeled away, showing her face, which was crumpled in despair and pain. “She’s gone!”

  She collapsed into her friends’ arms, sobbing bitterly as the two held her tightly. Everyone else watched silently since there were no words to be said.

  Myrddin walked over to the three of them, his face somber and haggard. “Abby…”

  Abby glared at him. “What? What can you say to make this better?”

  He said nothing.

  As Abby sobbed, the Gate opened once more.

  Anabelle and Terra got to their feet as Sarah stepped to the Gate. “Impossible,” Anabelle muttered. “He can’t still be alive.”

  Rasputina and Grok stepped through the Gate. The lich was holding a jar, and she knelt in front of Abby. “I know what it means to lose someone you love. I know that pain deeply.” She took Abby’s chin in her hand. “It is not a pain either of you deserve. There’s little I can do to make amends for what I’ve done, but this I can do.” She looked at Grok. “This, we both can.”

  The orc nodded slowly. “A soul for a soul.”

  Rasputina met Myrddin’s eyes. “Let it be known that monsters do not always remain such.” Then she stood and walked back through the Gate, Grok following her.

  The portal exploded outward, and a gelatinous sac landed in front of Abby. Then the Gate collapsed, sucking inward into the Netherverse.

  A tentacled hand burst from the sac and Persephone tumbled out, gasping for breath.

  Abby burst into tears as she threw herself onto Persephone, holding the drow tightly and crying softly as she covered the drow’s head with kisses.

  Anabelle’s and Terra’s HUDs pinged. The elf pulled up a message from Roy. He was smiling widely, displaying a boyish charm she’d never seen. “They’re down! Every fucking ghoul! They’re done!”

  Myrddin stared at the spot the Netherverse Gate used to occupy. “He’s gone. The Dark One has been defeated. He’s gone.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Two weeks had passed since the Netherverse Gate battle, and there were no remnants of Gates on the orc or gnome homeworlds. It was as if they had never existed.

  There had been no formal declaration of peace throughout the realms. That seemed like too big a step for many, almost as if saying it was all over would prove it wasn't true. Those who were there that day knew what they had seen.

  The nine warriors who had stood before the Dark One had walked away with their lives intact. Changed somewhat, but nonetheless alive.

  Terra still couldn't wrap her mind around what had happened. Not just the Dark One's death, but how drastically her life had changed. Her current existence was a far cry from getting shitfaced in a bar and blacking out. She had fought a force that had destroyed universes, traveled to different planets and realms, and had forged friendships she could never have imagined. And she was going to be a bridesmaid.

  Sarah and Kravis were finally going to tie the knot. The wedding was later in the day. The war was over. It was time for everyone to get back to their lives. Or, as Sarah had put it, for some of them to start living.

  There was a knock on Terra's door. "Come on in."

  Anabelle and Abby stepped into the room wearing their DGA uniforms, the spaces over their hearts bearing several medals.

  Anabelle's hair was combed straight back and arranged in a tight bun. Her makeup was understated, almost plain. It allowed her natural beauty to radiate.

  Abby had created a metallic collar out of her nanobots, giving the impression that she was only human from the neck up—a severe and futuristic look she seemed to enjoy for public appearances.

  "Terra, you're supposed to be ready!" the girl lectured.

  "Don't get your wires in a bunch. All I have to do is a quick shave, and I'm good to go."

  Abby crossed her arms as she sat on Terra's bed. "We don't have wires, and you know that."

  Anabelle plopped down next to Abby and shoved her. "You two cut it out. Remember what Kravis and Sarah told us? This is a gnomish wedding. No stress, just chill out. I think we could all do with a little chilling out."

  Abby relaxed as Terra bustled around, changing out of her pajamas and into her DGA uniform. Terra looked at Abby and pointed to her head. "Hey, can you help me with this?"

  "Sure. We got you," Abby said as she came up behind Terra. Raising one finger, she ran a thin laser over Terra's short buzz cut to remove the hair.

  Terra ran her hand over her freshly shaved head. "Damn. Great. Real high-quality work. When we get back to Earth, you have a career in hair."

  "Yeah, we guess we will have to figure out something to do with our lives. Do you think we'll still need a college degree?"

  Anabelle stood and stepped between Terra and Abby, looking at them both sternly. "Nope. Not happening right now. We are not discussing this today. We are going to enjoy Sarah and Kravis' wedding, then we are going to finish our vacation. After that, we can talk about the future."

  A voice shouted from outside the room, "Bridesmaids check!"

  Terra jumped at the shout, but the door was already opening. Sarah stepped into the room wearing a pair of rust-covered jeans and a t-shirt, and her hair was tangled.

  Abby's jaw dropped. "Sarah! You're not ready yet!"

  Sarah laughed as she walked over to Terra's mirror, picked up a hairbrush, and started to try to handle the mess on top of her head. "Oh, I'm ready. Gnomish culture dictates you dress comfortably if you're the couple getting hitched, and you have no idea how long I have wanted to wear a pair of jeans. Do you know the last time I wasn't in uniform?"

  "We always thought those were your only clothes."

  Sarah laughed as she put on lip gloss. "Yeah, that's pretty much what everyone thinks." She turned around, her smile blinding in its brightness. "You guys ready to do this?"

  Terra clasped her hands together and leaned forward, smiling sweetly. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

  Sarah shook her head. "Nope. I'm not doing a big mushy speech or anything. I love you guys. I'm happy to be getting married. Kicking the Dark One's ass felt great. We're leaving it at that."

  Terra jabbed Anabelle in the side. "Hey, did you hear her say she loved us?"

  Sarah sighed as she headed toward the door. "All right, all right. Come on. Everyone's waiting for me."

  She walked out of the room, leaving the rest of the DGA to follow her.

  The ceremony took place at the foot of a waterfall not far from the newly erected town of Grindlehok. Terra wouldn’t have thought it possible to build a new city in two weeks, but she didn't know much about gnomes.

  The world was rebuilding with stunning speed. As Kravis put it, "Elves talk, dwarves mine, and gnomes build."

  Anabelle hadn't been able to disagree.

  Their ceremony was short and very difficult for Terra to follow. Much of it was in gnomish, and there didn't seem to be a priest or an officiator. The couple occupied a grand table, surrounded by their wedding party, the DGA on Sarah's side and Cire, Roy, Blackwell, and Naota on Kravis'. As everyone ate appetizers, the guests approached the table, delivered a gift or a kind word, and returned to their table. About halfway through, Terra and Cire were instructed to tie a wreath to Kravis' and Sarah's wrists.

  Kravis and Sarah kissed each other and the gnomes in the crowd cheered, leaving the humans a little confused. It wasn't until Sarah turned to her bridesmaids, her face bright with joy, that Terra realized Sarah and Kravis were married.

  Myrddin stood and raised his glass. "Sarah asked me to give a speech on this momentous occasion. Initially, I said no. We all know how my speeches go."

  Laughter echoed through the crowd.

  Myrddin cleared his throat and continued, "But that was precisely why Sarah asked me to speak. Because we cannot recognize the joy without acknowledging the sacrifice. We stand where many of our comrades and friends once stood. Their blood runs deep in the soil. Without their sacrifices, we would not be standing here today, enjoying the union of our fri
ends. Let us celebrate the living and remember the dead."

  Myrddin raised his glass, as did everyone else.

  Terra leaned over to Anabelle. "I know it's respectful and all, but who is going to get up and dance after that?"

  She was right. The band had started to play, and it didn't look like anyone was going to move.

  Then Nib-Nib waddled onto the dance floor. She stood there for a moment, extremely still. Then she swayed, bobbing her head to the music, and finally spun in a circle before moonwalking backward.

  Terra, Anabelle, and Abby stared at her in disbelief. That was all it took to get the party started. Most of the guests were on the dance floor within moments. Even Kravis and Sarah managed to dance for a little bit, looking much happier than they had for a long time.

  The three members of the DGA split up, Terra trying to get Cire to dance with her, Roy and Anabelle playfully bickering over his flamboyant suit choice, and Abby sitting with Persephone near the waterfall, watching the rainbows shifting across the lake.

  The party went on long into the afternoon and evening. When the booze turned the party into a mellower event, Terra, Anabelle, and Abby met near the water, where the pixies had come out to dance.

  Myrddin was there, looking at the pixies.

  Terra clapped Myrddin on the back as she stood next to him. "Didn’t think you could suck the fun out of a wedding, but you always impress."

  Myrddin didn’t take his eyes off the pixies. "So much left to do. So many wrongs left to right, although some have been remedied. José is free of death. Made whole again, riding with the Horsemen in Middang3ard. Boundless has been exonerated, by the way. I, ah, fixed the memories of those who witnessed their betrayal. They are now free.”

  “You can do that? Fix memories?” Abby asked.

  If Myrddin heard her question, he ignored it. “I never thought you three would come so far. It doesn't even seem like it was a gamble at this point."

  Anabelle knelt and ran her hand over the grass, watching the pixies as well. "We had a lot of help. But what now? The Dark One is defeated and the Netherverse Gates are closed, which means we won't be hearing from Rasputina or Grok. The orc and gnome worlds are rebuilding. Looks like everything is wrapped up in a nice little package. Where does that leave us?"

  Myrddin turned to face the DGA. "If you prefer, you can return to civilian life, but like I said, there is much left to do. The nine realms are open to each other now. That will need…policing. And as for the Dark One, many of his agents have not been brought to justice. Such work would need the patience and power of an angel or three."

  The Dark Gate Angels looked at one another, not saying anything. They weren’t going anywhere. They were a team. A family.

  And families stuck together, no matter what.

  Then the old man sighed and shook his head. "Besides, the Dark One is never truly gone."

  Terra couldn't believe she’d heard what she thought Myrddin had said. "What is that supposed to mean?"

  "All we did was speed up a process. The Dark One travels from universe to universe, destroying and enslaving. He was going to move on eventually. We just managed to make it on our terms."

  Abby looked at Terra and Anabelle. "Then why would we disband? If the Dark One is still out there, he still has an ass to kick."

  Myrddin smiled, his eyes glinting. "I had a feeling you might think something like that. For now, we should enjoy the evening."

  And with that, Myrddin walked back to the afterparty, leaving the DGA agents to talk briefly before following him.

  If the Dark One was still out there, they could allow themselves one day to pretend he was not.

  Epilogue

  “I still don’t understand why we have to do this right now,” Stew whined. “Everything worked out, and we’re still alive. We should just cut our losses and get out of here.”

  The Mundanes were wandering through a dungeon. Specifically, the dungeon the DGA had explored and failed to conquer. Throughout the complexities of defeating the Dark One, the original plan of using the Soul Jar had been forgotten. That is, by everyone but Suzuki, who had brought it up during the wedding.

  Most of the Mundanes were indifferent to going back to the dungeon. Suzuki had been the only one excited. Stew had the opposite opinion.

  Suzuki was staring at a door with a lock mechanism. Nothing about this dungeon matched the information the DGA had given him. The puzzles were different, as were the enemies. Anabelle, the leader of the DGA, had said there was a rogue named Maurice hidden somewhere in the dungeon, doomed to fight his way through it for eternity. Suzuki hadn’t seen him. That being said, the coordinates were right.

  Sandy came over to check out the door as well, while Beth and Stew walked around the small room, looking for something to entertain themselves. “You really want to find out what’s going on with this place, don’t you?” she asked.

  Suzuki nodded absentmindedly. “I don’t know. I’m kinda curious. We went through all that effort to get the Soul Jar, and then it got dropped like a boring plot point in a convoluted fantasy story. How can I just let that go? And the DGA doesn’t care about it, which means if there’s any loot in there, it’s all ours.”

  Across the room, Stew perked up. “Wait, what did you say about loot? Why the hell are we just standing around? Let’s break this door down!”

  Stew charged the door, hunkering down and breaking through it with a shoulder hit. Rock and debris went flying.

  The Mundanes walked down a long corridor until they came to a gold door with elvish writing scrawled on it.

  Suzuki held up his torch to see better. “Anabelle didn’t mention anything about elvish.”

  Beth, who had walked over carrying her torch as well, shrugged. “It’s pretty obvious things changed. Let’s just finish this up as fast as we can.”

  Sandy was studying the inscription. “It’s what they described. This is a riddle door. The damn thing doesn’t want to wake up for us, but it’s still the same door.”

  Suzuki pulled the Soul Jar out of his inventory and looked down at it. “Okay, who’s going to step up for this one?”

  The Mundanes looked at each other. Stew cleared his throat. “Well, I don’t know, man. This was kind of your idea. I figured you were going to do the big hero thing and sacrifice yourself…since it was your idea.”

  Suzuki stared at the gold door. “I assumed we were going to be adults about this and draw lots or something, but I can see that you’re all terrified of what’s on the other side.”

  Beth drew her dagger and flipped it in one hand. “Stop stalling. How do you want to die, slow and painful or long and drawn out?”

  Suzuki rolled the Soul Jar in his hand. “Hm. If I had to choose…” He leaned over and whispered in Beth’s ear.

  Beth’s eyes widened, and she slapped Suzuki. “That’s disgusting.” Then her face went red and she grinned, turning to Stew and Sandy. “You two need to leave for like ten minutes.”

  Stew crossed his arms and shook his head. “Nope. If Suzuki’s going to die, I want to see it.”

  Beth tossed a dagger at Stew, the blade passing only a few centimeters beneath his crotch.

  Stew threw his hands up and turned around, and Sandy followed him. “Fine, fine. Cut me and Sandy out of all the fucking fun.”

  As Sandy walked away, she threw an invisible spell at Suzuki and Beth.

  As Stew and Sandy waited on the other side of the wall, a litany of sounds came through from the other room. Not many of them were pleasant.

  “All right, you two can come in,” Beth shouted.

  The two Mundanes walked back into the room. Beth was panting heavily, her face sheened with sweat. Suzuki lay at her feet, his chest carved open and blood smeared all over the ground.

  Stew winced at the scene. “Ugh. You two are into some weird-ass shit.”

  Beth pointed her dagger at Stew. “Don’t even start with me. I’ve heard you and Sandy. Come on, let’s see what’s behind this
door.” Beth raised the Soul Jar to the gold door.

  A face appeared and looked down at the Mundanes. “Hmph. Looks like you figured this one out.”

  With that, the door opened. A room full of jewels and weapons shimmered before the Mundanes, as well as piles of gold that reached the ceiling.

  Beth smiled as Stew and Sandy ran into the room, Stew leaping into the largest pile of loot, screaming as he stood up, a knife in his thigh. “Goddamn it!”

  Beth went over to Suzuki’s corpse and held the Soul Jar to his mouth.

  Suzuki’s wounds healed, and his eyes snapped open. “Did it work?”

  Beth pointed at the room of glowing loot. “We just might be the richest MERCs ever.”

  Author Notes Ramy Vance

  August 14, 2020

  So I thought I would share a little story with you all. Let’s call this one Covid Check-In #2:

  So my son developed a fever a few weeks back. Plus a whole bunch of canker sores in his mouth. Normally we wouldn’t be too worried – kids get sick all the time. Right?

  Well, my son almost never gets sick. In the last year, he’s only needed paracetamol once.

  The kid’s immune system is something from the gods.

  So when he got sick enough that he actually put himself to bed at 3 PM, my wife and I got a little bit worried. We started googling.

  Google is evil.

  Google gives you cancer.

  By the time we were done googling his symptoms, he had at least seven diseases that were terminal.

  In normal times, we book an appointment with the doctor and go in. But in the era of ‘Love in the Time of Covid’ going in isn’t easy. You need to call a hotline and confirm ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ to having the virus.

  Now this isn’t bashing the UK health system. It is incredible here. Anyone who’s ever heard the story of my son’s birth will know how badass the health system is in this country.

  But still – a Covid test for a five-year-old? Seriously!