by Micah Thomas
What are you doing, Henry?
You ever play video games? This is where you load up on potions before the big boss battle.
Thelon laughed.
God forgive us. Henry let the fire take him in ways it always wanted. He was to burn for burning’s sake.
Unlike every other fire he’d ever sent out, Henry was not angry this time. His human thoughts dissipated as the fire entity lived fully through him and the difference between the two was at last burned away.
They perceived the Earth’s magnetic field, the motion and gravitational divot in space where this mass sat and moved. They began along the outer particles—the shield of atmosphere. A neon aurora formed over North America and spread in a chain reaction over minutes to encircle the planet.
So fast, Thelon thought, but Henry wasn’t listening.
The entity was feeling the push back from the Earth’s magnetic field, trying to protect itself as if this were a solar flare. The density of particle interaction meant to protect became fuel; the entity sought purchase. What was so large a moment ago seemed small as the entity integrated the magnetic field and pulled its own spirit into that matrix of energies. In that instant of conquest, the surface went with a nearly uniform burst. The iron-nickel core continued to spin, but the entity didn’t pay it attention. Burn.
The atmosphere jumped to plasma and the surface found combustion opportunities, burning itself out of oxygen within seconds. However, the spirit wasn’t done. The excitement was too great, and as it had done in Vegas at a scale it truly hungered for, the subatomic particles of the matter became a feast to rip free from their bonds.
Thelon was screaming, but Henry couldn’t hear him. They were plummeting towards the planet at speeds near their journey from the moon. The strata of accelerated nuclear winds burned into Thelon’s creche within Henry. The fire was more than the matter. They were ripping the fabric. Thelon was a vibrating awareness, disembodied and tied in knots, unable to find Henry’s mind.
You’re killing me!
It was too late. A flare of exited energy, hungry for Thelon’s humanity, snapped and whipped, ripping him out of Henry. It happened too fast to react. Like a safety belt failure on a roller coaster, Thelon fell from Henry and was no more in this universe.
The landscape was unrecognizable as the Henry entity came down. There was no line of sight; no horizon. All was black and broken in storms the planet had not seen since its creation. None of that could stop him. He was his own force, blasting through the sky unseen. The remains of the person—Henry—sought one place; one other person. Cassie was in here somewhere.
He heard her voice echo in his mind: Love, what have you done?
She was a shining beacon above the scared ruins of a city. A radiant Madonna holding back forces of destruction around her, she was the size of a titan, arms outstretched, beckoning him. And Henry, the shape of fire, flew into her open heart and was accepted, ready to burn with her forever.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE LAST THING Thelon remembered was channeling a significant destructive force into the core of the planet he called home. The last thing he expected was to be alive. The next to last thing he expected was to be home. His parents’ house. His bedroom. Thelon climbed out of bed wondering if he’d lost his damned mind. He was wearing boxers he didn’t remember buying. Feeling his face, he found a beard he didn’t remember growing.
Stupid words ran through his mind like lyrics to a nonsense song: “Time slips of individual, interlaced with all things that ever were in the mesh matrix of all things. Ever already moving across loci, and moving together in theme and feeling, the transition was only a moment in another time.”
Fuck. The words left and he wondered if he’d dreamed it all. This felt real. He was home. It had worked, or he had lost his mind.
Tentatively, still sure he was dreaming, Thelon walked into the living room. The TV was on, and his mom smiled at him from the couch.
His dad leaned in from the kitchen. “Just in time. I got waffles cooking and they are about to make the announcement. You want blueberries or chocolate chips?”
Thelon was shaky. He felt hung over. The memory of the dream hadn’t faded. He had a terrible thought: this was the dream and it was fragile and would break apart if he fucked up. Chill. Take it in, he thought and slumped down in the comfy chair. His dad’s chair. Mom didn’t mind. She was intently watching the news.
“You sleep okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, Mom. I love you.” Thelon wanted to run to her, cover her in hugs and kisses and tears, but naw. Let’s be normal, he decided.
“Oh, I wish they’d just get to it,” she said.
The news of the day scrolled on and on in familiar chevrons beneath a talking head manner. 100 more dead. Domestic terrorist prisons overflowing, detention centers across the country over flowing. 30,000 prisoners although accelerated executions were expected to reduce that number in the coming months. President Trump’s speech was coming up next. The screen filled with a sneering man ranting like Hitler, froth coming from his mouth as he hugged an American flag.
Fucking Donald Trump? Reality TV Donald fucking Trump? Thelon was tripping.
“Mom…?”
“Shush.”
The announcer, a white blonde lady with big boobs and a plastic smile fixed to her huge teeth finally cut to the chase. “Everyone, remember where you were today. The joint Russian-American research laboratory is rolling out the ultimate renewable resource and the generator will be initiated now, for the first time, on national TV. Doug is live with the Presidents of both countries now. Doug, over to you.”
Doug was a doughy white guy, Republican tie and haircut. He wore a huge double flag of the United States and Russian Confederacy. “Let me tell you Lisa, this is not more fake news. As you can see, the Presidents are standing in front of the reactor, and, ok, they are ready to turn it on.”
“Jesus Christ. Shouldn’t they at least be wearing protective gear?” Thelon asked.
“Hush, baby love,” his mother scolded. “I’ll tan you hide if you keep talking over this. This is as big as men going to the Moon.”
The camera cut to a weasel-looking Russian with cold blue eyes. Thelon thought he looked every bit a murderer as he gripped the sack of rotten orange mayonnaise who was the President. They shook hands like they wanted to rip each other’s arms off.
President Trump said, “Listen, nobody in history has ever done this. I made this miracle possible and I want to see what the haters have to say now. When we push this big red button, and its the biggest reddest button in all time, there’s no going back. We’ll have all the power we ever need to make America and Russia, yes, Russia, the most powerful countries in the world.”
Whatever he said next, Thelon couldn’t hear. The man’s voice was grating. A nasal whine, a wet thucking sound of sucking ill fitting dentures in, and, god damn, he stumbled over every other word. Is he drunk and coked out? How did this fuck ever become President? Thelon was more interested in what stood behind the politicians: a goddamn Star Gate. I bet that design choice was on purpose. It looked cool. The camera panned around and Thelon wished it would show more. The arch was black—a huge goddamn black box with an arch. Within it, a spark of light was suspended in air. It was bright as a welder’s torch, but no one seemed to be blinded. Thelon became increasingly nervous.
“Don’t push the button,” he whispered.
Dad came in and thrust a plate of waffles and bacon into his lap. “Don’t get syrup on my chair, son.”
The two Presidents concluded their speeches and made a big show of placing their hands together on the button.
“Big bucks, no whammy,” Dad said.
The audio crackled with feedback and Mom had to turn the volume down as a humming sound rang out loud enough to hurt their ears. The tiny little speck rapidly expanded to the size of the portal in a bright flash, then simmered down to a red and purple neon glow. Everyone cheered and Mom let out a sigh of rel
ief. Thelon didn’t relax, staring into the pulsing energies of the portal.
Did he make out a face, or was is an illusion? Before the forms shifted back into swirls of energy, he could have sworn he saw Henry.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
IT WAS HOT as hell in Phoenix. Thelon realized he’d have a sunburn on his left arm from being in the diver’s seat for so long. He couldn’t imagine living here. Let’s make the pick up and get the hell out of town, Thelon thought. They’d been waiting all morning. It was getting uncomfortably hot in the car, even with the AC running. Then, there she was. She pulled into a spot marked reserved for employees. Must be nice, coming to work at 10AM. They watched as she walked across the parking lot and fiddled with the key code at the door of the medical center. Classy place. Must be fine quality medical assistance to be located in a strip mall.
“Dude, that’s her. Look,” he said to Henry, who had been nodding off.
Henry shifted in his seat to get a better view. “I see her.”
“Go on then.”
“I’m not doing this.”
“Bro, she’s your soul mate. I know this. You know this.”
“You told me—and not that I believe you what-so-fucking ever—that I ruined this chick in another universe. What part of that makes me want to do it again?”
Thelon took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he was doing this—trying to get the band back together—but the stakes were high. “Henry, I found you and got you this far. Don’t you believe me by now that I know what I’m doing? Everything is riding on this. Last time this played out, you didn’t get a choice. You were roped into the mess like I was. You can choose this time. Do nothing and let another world end, or man up and do your best.
“What if I fuck it up again?”
Thelon thought hard about this. He’d traveled across the country to Seattle and found Henry. Convinced him to come with to Phoenix, even if he couldn’t convince him of the truth, that he was important, that doing this was important. He needed them both, Henry and Cassie. One wouldn’t be enough to stop the madness Thelon knew was waiting to spill over from another world.
“Could be we fuck up. I don’t even want to get into what would happen if we do, but forget that shit for a minute. I once saw you do something awesome and terrible, to do what was right.”
Henry was silent, but listening.
“Some part of you wants to do it again. I believe it. You think no one ever gave you a shot in your entire shitty life? This is that shot.”