Seconds later, his house toppled into a newly formed sinkhole and disappeared beneath the mountain.
***
The beast was sated.
Energy sizzled and crackled as Brent’s flesh blackened and burned from the heat.
Tempered into something better.
“You will go first,” the Skryel said. “Use the power I’ve given you. The wasps will protect you and kill for you. The more that perish, the more energy I’ll have when I arrive. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Brent replied.
“I will take care of everything. You know what you have to do. Find the boy and make him suffer. When he begs for death, you will bring him to me. Do not underestimate your enemy… he’s far stronger than I’d imagined. If you kill him, that doorway will close forever and all this will have been for nothing. You will never become a king, and your failure will be punished eternally.”
Brent nodded and disappeared.
Chapter 15
The sky was dark and starless. A shroud had been pulled over the Earth.
Danny and Eric sat side-by-side on the picnic table and watched as leaves browned and fell from rotting trees. The grass yellowed, and the flowers shriveled and died. A fetid wind blew in from the south, carrying the smell of smoke and things much less pleasant. The streetlights came on, shining dim circles of yellow light that did nothing to dispel the shadows.
Elmview was dying.
A mile away in the rank darkness of the Rimmel factory, a black wall of smoke opened and dumped Brent to the floor. Scraps of clothing clung to his charred flesh. His open wounds leaked a thick, yellow pus that plopped to the floor in stinking clots.
His wasp army grew restless beneath the surface of his skin, droning loudly in anticipation of the work ahead. His body was falling apart; if he was going to get the job done, he needed to hurry.
Brent walked through the crumbling building, imbued with his master’s strength and will. The large metal garage door rose before him, screeching on rusted tracks. He walked into the waiting world with purpose.
Find Danny and kill everything else in his path.
Brent shuffled up the road, scanning the houses around him as petrified humans peered out from behind the curtains. A small boy and his older sister sat on the swings in the front yard, watching as he passed.
The hole in Brent’s leg opened like an infected mouth, vomiting a cloud of angry wasps into the night. They were on the children in seconds, entering their bodies, stinging their eyes and tongues. They flew down their throats, clogging their windpipes, choking them. They fell to the grass, scraping at their necks, unable to scream. Once they stilled, the wasps left their bodies like rats on a sinking ship, returning to Brent to form a protective cloud around him.
Everything in his path was quickly overwhelmed and obliterated as the chorus of pained screams echoed into the unnaturally darkened sky. Brent reveled in his new power.
Brent The Destroyer.
Surely, his master would be pleased.
Brent’s reign of terror continued across town, leaving bloated, stinking death in his wake.
***
Eric pointed to something on Broad Street and asked, “What the hell is that?”
Danny squinted, but couldn’t make it out in the gloom.
Suddenly, Elmview went dark. Sparks spit from overloaded transformers and rained into the street. The only illumination was from the raging fires that consumed parts of Elmview’s business district. Citizens ran from their homes, driven by the need to be close to others in their terror and confusion. They set fire to garbage cans, dumpsters, and parked cars to keep the darkness at bay. Civilized, rational thought ceased to exist.
Danny and Eric stood and walked drunkenly over the side of the hill, pulled toward the blurry, black shape floating down the center of Broad Street. They picked up the pace, running at an all-out sprint, barely able to control their own actions.
“Oh, my God, Danny,” Eric puffed. “I’m not ready for this…”
“If we get separated, hide. It’ll kill you the first chance it gets.”
Eric nodded.
The night enveloped them.
When they reached the intersection, a harsh white light exploded before them, forcing them to cover their eyes with pained shouts. A rancid, acidic wind soundlessly washed over them. The only sound was of their feet crunching on the loose dirt and stones beneath their feet.
Danny opened his eyes slowly. They were in The Gray. Familiar houses and storefronts surrounded them on both sides; they were still in Elmview, just not the one they called home.
Danny’s face was covered in sweat and the weapon Ben had given him was tucked securely in the waistband of his shorts. It dug painfully into the tender skin at the small of his back.
“What is this?” Eric asked. “What do we do?”
“Stay behind me… something’s coming.”
A wood-frame house exploded in a dusty cloud of splintered wood as the Skryel emerged with a roar. It no longer masqueraded as a man but had assumed its natural form. It hurt their eyes to look at it.
The monster walked into the center of the street on six black legs covered in sharp, white spines resembling fence pickets. Its spider-like body was covered in thick, greasy hair and secreted a yellow fluid that steamed and smoked as it dripped to the cracked asphalt. On either side of its pointed head were vertical lines of silver eyes, six on each side, every one an unbroken mirror reflecting everything it saw. Its long snout was lined with hundreds of jagged, needle-sharp teeth. A long, cracked tongue hung to the ground ten feet below, curling and twisting in the dirt like a nightcrawler.
The Skryel remained perfectly still, watching the boys, waiting for them to turn and run or beg for their lives. Instead of falling to his knees, Danny stepped forward.
“What are you doing?” Eric whispered. His bowels felt like hot jelly. Danny wasn’t paying attention, intent on the creature before him. He knew it wouldn’t kill him or the doorway would close. The Skryel read his thoughts and seethed with anger. It growled and spit large gobs of green saliva into the street.
“The Doorway and The Traveler,” it hissed. “I will take everything from you. Your friends, your parents, your precious human slut. I’ll kill them all and force you to watch. Give up this nonsense, you know you can’t possibly win.”
“Doorway and Traveler?” Eric asked. “What’s it talking about?”
“There’s so much to learn. So much the Guardian hasn’t taught you.”
“I can beat you, and I will,” Danny shouted. “Even if it means putting a bullet in my head.”
“You coward,” it raged. “Don’t you see this is the only way? The multiverse can’t survive without me.”
“Maybe that was true once. Maybe you served a purpose before you let your jealousy and greed take over. There are others ways, but you’ve chosen to ignore them on your quest to become a god. The human race is not yours to destroy.”
“It’s mine when I say it’s mine. You’re dust in my path. Nothing. When I tire of you, I will fuck this world to death and lick my fingers clean.”
“You can’t and you know it.”
The beast walked forward, its legs gouging large holes in the hardtop. On either side of it, buildings trembled and collapsed, spewing debris into the street.
It was so close, Danny could see himself reflected in its eyes. The Skryel roared and rushed toward them. A swirling globe of darkness surrounded it, growing thicker as it gained ground. Arms of black smoke reached out in every direction, grabbing burned-out vehicles and tossing them aside. Buildings were shredded like paper.
“Danny, take my hand,” Eric screamed.
Danny only heard his friend from a great distance. His concentration was aimed at the Skryel.
“Danny, now,” Eric said. His voice was clearly frightened, but calm. The beast grabbed a rusted fire hydrant and hurled it toward them, missing Eric by mere inches. “Take my hand,” Eric repeated.<
br />
Danny obeyed.
“What are you doing?” the Skryel bellowed. “You don’t run from me!”
The boys disappeared in a blinding flash as the Skryel descended on them. The dark cloud surrounding it pulsed with anger and grew in size until it covered the buildings on either side of the street. The dried wood burst into flames and burned furiously as the creature vanished, following the boys through the vast space between worlds.
Its wail reverberated through all realities as it chased them to the battlefield.
***
For a minute after they arrived, they were blind.
Eric dropped Danny’s hand and peered down Broad Street, expecting to see the monster charging toward them. The orange, flickering glow of the burning Home Savings & Loan was the only light.
“What the hell just happened?” Danny asked. “Did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” Eric said. “It was just a… feeling I had. I saw the town and knew I could get us here.”
A wave of shouting people emerged from the darkness and ran toward them.
“Now what?” Danny asked. Before he could make sense of it, a quick, searing pain shot up his arm, from his fingertips to his shoulder. He stumbled and nearly fell before recovering.
The crowd of people grew larger, passing them by and gathering behind them, crying out the names of those still lost in the gloom.
“We need to get out of here,” Danny said, his voice was wracked with pain. “Just don’t grab my hand again, okay? I feel like I’m going to be sick.”
Eric nodded, still not sure how he’d brought them home, but scared to death of his hidden ability. “Where do we go?”
“To your fucking graves,” a broken voice shouted.
Brent’s mangled body approached from the crescent of dim firelight, walking on legs that had rotted to the bone. The crowd hiding behind them erupted into a chorus of prayer. Danny blocked out the noise and gawped at what was left of his friend. Wasps buzzed around him like a wall of electricity.
“Oh. My. God.” Eric whispered. “Brent? Is that you?”
“What’s it done to you?” Danny cried.
“Sorry, the old Brent is gone, this is the new and improved version,” he cackled. “I’m the Brent who never needs to worry about bullies, or girls, or school ever again. This Brent is going to become a god!” As he spoke, chunks of rotten flesh slid from his face, revealing the bloody bone beneath.
Something exploded a few blocks away in a wave of light and heat. Eric cringed but didn’t waver.
“Why would you do this?” Danny asked, his voice choked with emotion. He rubbed his arm as it throbbed and burned. “I’m your best friend. I would never hurt you, Brent.”
“You couldn’t offer me what the master has offered. I can live forever, free from pain, free from sorrow, free from this body that’s caused me nothing but grief for the past sixteen years of my miserable life. I will be eternal and I will be feared.”
“This isn’t who you are. You’re funny and kind and have the biggest heart of anyone I know.”
“That Brent is dead. He got shit on for everything he did, for how he looked and how he talked. He watched his best friend slowly slipping away. Always getting the pretty girl and living happily after ever. Danny wins again.”
“Is that what you think? That I always get what I want? You have friends who care about you, who’d do anything for you. The only thing I want is for you realize that.”
Brent looked down at his body and his hard exterior began cracking. He frowned and rubbed his hands over his ruined flesh. “No one will ever love me now. Look at me. For fuck’s sake, just look at me.”
“Everything can go back to the way it was,” Danny said. “Long nights on your back porch talking about our favorite bands and what we want to be when we grow up. Sharing jokes only we understand. The way we felt when we were together and how we always stood up for each other when things got tough. We can do that again.”
“How?” Brent asked. “Too much has happened and the monster… the master… is coming to take it all away.”
“We can stop it, Brent. We can fight together, just like we always have.”
“Like we always have,” Brent muttered. The buzzing wasps changed pitch as the cloud thinned.
“Yes, you and me and Eric. Friends until the end, remember?”
“Friends until the end.”
“Fight it,” Danny shouted. “You can do it, Brent. Don’t let it control you anymore. I don’t want to stay here without you by my side.”
Brent’s lips curled in a frown. “Don’t worry, Danny. We’ll meet again.” He opened his arms and the cloud of wasps swarmed forward. “Right now, I have everything I need.”
The wasps surged over them and began attacking the crowd. Eric reached out for Danny’s hand. It was hot to the touch.
“Be careful,” Danny warned. “We have to stay and fight. Do not take us away from here, not now.”
“I don’t even know how,” Eric said.
“Just keep your mind blank.”
The crowd scattered, tripping over each other and being trodden down by their neighbors. Eric couldn’t stand it anymore. He closed his eyes and blocked it out. Only Danny’s hand and the ground beneath his feet felt real.
Danny turned and pulled Eric with him as they ran the opposite direction. Brent laughed. “The wasps are the least of your worries. Run while you still can.”
Panic surrounded them. When they ran to the town limits, it’d grown so dark, they couldn’t see the road two feet ahead of them. The stretch of highway led off into an unknown world beyond.
Brent followed them slowly as his army killed everything in its path. The gloom hugged him tightly. He laughed until his larynx ruptured, spitting blood between cracked lips. Behind him, the world exploded. He turned to witness the birth of the Shadowking.
Only it wasn’t his master. The luminescent white cloud raced up the street toward him. His smile faltered. Brent knew at once he’d been beaten.
“I’m sorry it had to be this way,” the Guardian said. “I’ll look over your friends, but your part in this story is over.”
Brent’s voice whined inside the Guardian’s head. Why would you take this away from me? I was promised I would live forever.
The swarm returned to him, surrounding him, instinctively trying to protect him. As soon they touched the white, swirling mist, they dropped to the ground and exploded like cheap firecrackers. Within seconds they were gone. Brent stood alone.
“Your master lied.”
The white cloud drew closer. Brent’s face twisted in a rictus of pain as the cloud tore him apart, flinging pieces aside like discarded trash, stripping the rest of the flesh from his bones in a cyclonic whirlwind. In a matter of seconds, Brent’s body was reduced to a steaming lump of bloody meat. The ground where he’d stood was scorched and blasted.
The Guardian dissipated. He’d done what he could. He was weakened and powerless to help any further. The Skryel would now have to face Danny and Eric alone. It was the chance they needed. With his remaining energy, the Guardian sent out a powerful message to Danny, hoping he’d hear it, and praying the boy was strong enough to do what needed to be done.
The white cloud vanished. The Guardian, known to his young friends as Ben, was gone.
***
The voice in Danny’s head was so loud that he stumbled and fell down the embankment running next to the highway. Eric’s hand was torn away as Danny tumbled down the hill, coming to rest in a pile of dead leaves. He couldn’t see anything. Small creatures cackled and squealed in the forest beyond.
You can defeat it, Danny, the voice had said. Dig deep, harness your gift, and fight. I will find you.
Danny tried reaching out to him but there was no answer. Ben was gone.
First Brent, then Eric, and finally Ben. He feared the worst for Sam. All he could hope was that she was safe. His heart ached for everything he’d lost. He tried calling out to
her, but only received static. Either his gift was gone, or there was no one left to hear it.
Danny sat and listened as the things in the forest crept up on him. He was running out of time.
Chapter 16
Danny heard the soft babble of water on his right and knew exactly where he was.
He and his friends had spent many afternoons here. The stream came out of the hills a mile from town and ran alongside the highway, disappearing into thick brush and going underground. Before it did, it passed within a few yards of the abandoned Shulman Mine tunnel. Danny was sure if he followed the stream it would lead him directly to the mine. A place to rest, to hide, to plan his next move.
I’ve done this before, he thought. He’d seen in it his first vision. It rushed back at once, forcing him to question if it was happening at all.
Danny stumbled through brambles and high weeds for five minutes before reaching the rusted steel gate at the tunnel’s entrance. He flipped the latch, walked inside, and closed the gate behind.
At that moment, the Skryel pierced the veil with a deafening roar. The portal inside the Rimmel factory split open as the beast stepped into the ruins. The building exploded and collapsed, sinking beneath the earth and stone. Danny felt the vibration beneath his feet, and an even more disconcerting pulse that felt like the beating of some diseased, subterranean heart. It thumped rhythmically beneath the surface of the factory, echoing down tunnels hidden beneath the skin of reality.
It’s not only in Elmview, but part of it…
Danny backed away from the entrance. He felt the Skryel searching for him. Deep in the tunnel, he heard rocks crashing together as parts of the ceiling collapsed. His only way out was the way he’d come.
He pulled Ben’s gun from his waistband and held it in his hand. The cold steel felt reassuring. He couldn’t kill the monster with it, but that wasn’t why he was carrying it.
The .44, the same one Eric’s father had used to end his battle, was meant for Danny.
He put the gun to his temple and closed his eyes. He didn’t have the answers, no magic powers, only one way out of this mess before the creature could find him and use him. He heard the Skryel’s path of destruction along Broad Street. Crowds of frightened voices rose into the night only to be silenced.
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