by Vincent Vale
I eased into my seat. “There are other revelations that only I can deliver to Nara-Narayana.”
“Which are?”
I scratched at the table nervously. “I can’t tell you.”
“You’d better tell me something, stranger, or I’m off.”
With truth I’ll find trust, I thought.
“I believe I hold the key to the Fume’s plans.” I drilled my index finger into the side of my head. “Long ago, he instilled in me a part of his essence, or exotic energy, or whatever his constitution, and now it grows in my brain like a cancer. If I deliver myself to Nara-Narayana, she may have the power to extract this spark of evil from my brain. Maybe it’ll help her learn the mechanics behind the Fume’s plot, so to stop him.”
Fanbert drew back in his seat as if I had become the villain. “This is troubling, Mr. Mobius. You admit that you’ve been corrupted by the Fume, and are possibly an instrument in his plans to absorb the energies of our universe.” Fanbert’s eyes widened. “No, no, no—I can’t allow this. I won’t help you. I won’t lead you to Nara-Narayana. In fact, I’m compelled to kill you on the instant.”
“Wait!” I called. A pressure ran through my head as I strained to find a solution to this fragile moment.
“Speak fast!”
“Your eye,” I said.
“What?”
“There’s something in your eye. A strange glimmer.”
Fanbert ran a finger along his bottom eyelid. “There’s nothing in my eye, you lunatic.”
“It grows,” I said, looking at the shimmering fracture that lengthened across Fanbert’s eye. It opened wider, like a second eyelid. Light spilled outward. I looked inward and marveled.
A fissure into his mind.
Fanbert’s teeth chattered. “I can’t move. What’s happening?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I felt the path before me. I focused harder on Fanbert’s glowing eye. My perceptions slipped inward, like rainwater into the gaps. Fanbert’s mind was before me. Thoughts and emotions swirled around me like objects. “I see you, Fanbert. All of you at once.”
“What are you saying?” uttered Fanbert. “What are you doing?”
“What is consciousness?” I said in excitement. “What is thought? What defines you, Fanbert? What defines me? The totality of a man sits between the gaps of his skull.”
“You’re speaking crazy,” cried Fanbert.
I grabbed Fanbert’s hand and felt an energy travel between us. I felt his every atom. “Be still now, Fanbert.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t worry,” I whispered. “I’ll make you understand.”
Fanbert and I rejoined Orsteen and Morion at the bar.
Orsteen looked at us suspiciously. “Have the two of you agreed on our next course of action?”
“We have,” said Fanbert. “We leave to find Nara-Narayana.”
Orsteen raised his thick brow high. “What of the Guardian laws, which ban you from such action?”
“Theron has made clear the errors of my earlier thinking. In dire times a man must reevaluate laws and break them if necessary.”
I felt guilty. Fanbert wasn’t deserving of such deception.
I’ve done the unforgivable. I thought back on the sanitarium and how the Fume had violated me. Am I becoming the monster I hate? My heart fluttered, my chest hurt.
“Let’s go!” I said.
Morion squirmed in his seat. “Before we go, I have to shit. This beer is rank.” He signaled the serving girl. “Where’s your bathroom?”
“The alley’s as good a place as any.”
“You wouldn’t be pleased if a breeze found its way through the front door. Now, I demand the use of proper facilities!”
The serving girl hesitantly pointed to a door next to the kitchen.
“We’ll be waiting outside,” I said. “Be fast with your duties.”
Morion frowned and then disappeared to the back of the bar.
Upon exiting the Drunk Bird Saloon, Fanbert looked up to the stars and sampled a generous gulp of air, as if trying to taste the beauty of the heavens. It wasn’t long before his expression shifted to surprise.
“I’m not one to become easily startled, but I find myself worried by this glowing haze lighting the night sky.” Fanbert pointed to the celestial cloud that couldn’t go unnoticed. It now covered an area equivalent to a large moon. “What is this celestial phenomenon?”
“We don’t know.” I didn’t look at it, for fear of another episode. “Over the past week, it’s expanded four-fold, enveloping all the stars in its path.”
“You underestimate the scale of this formation,” said Fanbert. “Those aren’t stars being enveloped.”
I was perplexed by his statement. “Then what are they?”
“They’re galaxies in the Brahman Sprawl.”
“Impossible,” I said, slack-jawed.
“I’m not mistaken!” said Fanbert. “As a Guardian, I command a quantum control plexus. I have an advanced perception of the universe, which allows me to navigate galaxies. I know the sky like I know myself.” He indicated a dense band of stars. “That’s the main disc of the Crux Galaxy, which we’re in. And over there, where the celestial phenomenon hangs, is a gap in the stars affording us a view of the many galaxies in the Brahman Sprawl.”
“If this is true, then I fear we’re too late.” I looked out into the universe. “This may be the beginning when all becomes one.”
As we stood on the street, marveling at the sky, more than a thousand people materialized by some mode of dimensional transportation. I inspected the crowd of people that filled the street. They were in a state of frenzy, like a herd of panicked livestock.
“Like you,” said Fanbert, “these people aren’t from the Crux Galaxy. Their anatomy is strange to me.”
From the crowd emerged four Guardians. They moved toward Fanbert and disengaged their armor.
“I’m Rygel,” said the tallest of the four. “This is Tambo, Crenum, and Deakin.”
“I’m Fanbert. Why have you come here and who are these people?”
Rygel gestured to the sky. “If you haven’t noticed, a doomful swell of mystery consumes the Brahman Sprawl. We’re fleeing its wake of destruction. I was the closest to the phenomenon when it first appeared. I tried to contact my superiors, but found the Guardian network down. It became obvious this wasn’t a force to be reckoned with. After gathering as many people for rescue as possible, I fled to a galaxy farther from the phenomenon. There, I was able to locate another Guardian by the telltale of his dimensional transporter.”
“And consequently he found me,” said another Guardian. “The planet I was stationed on had highly advanced astronomical telescopes, which we utilized in an attempt to identify the phenomenon.”
“And what did you learn?” I asked.
“We learned that it’s unlike anything in the universe. It displays characteristics that defy logic. The word supernatural comes to mind. When it decides to consume a nearby galaxy, it grows outward at an impossible rate, as if the laws of the universe don’t apply. If I tried to define its constitution, I’d say it’s composed of an indefinable energy organized into a highly complex pattern. Even the dimensional fabric of space itself is being restructured.”
I looked fearfully at the glowing celestial phenomenon. “I’ve heard a similar description regarding the Fume’s constitution.”
“The similarity is frightening,” said the Guardian Rygel. “But the Fume has only ever manifested himself in the seven Galaxies, which are far from the borders of the Brahman Sprawl. It may have a likeness to the Fume’s exotic energies, but this isn’t one of his outpocketings into our universe. This is something different, something occurring independently within our own universe. The very fabric of our universe and all its dimensions and energies are restructuring into something fundamentally different.”
Orsteen leaned close to Theron. “The universe is evolving, just as the Fume said it
would.”
“And without my influence,” I replied, somewhat relieved.
The Guardian Crenum stepped forward. “The most inconceivable aspect of the phenomenon is that we’re capable of seeing it at all. It should take millions of years for its light to reach us, given its distance. Somehow we’re able to see the phenomenon growing in real time. When does light travel faster than light?”
“When the universe is unraveling,” I said.
Crenum looked up at the celestial phenomenon with something like admiration. “Whatever it is, it’s extraordinary.”
The Guardian Rygel looked skyward as well. “Since the phenomenon continues to expand, we’ve had no choice but to move farther and farther away, skipping from galaxy to galaxy, locating fellow Guardians and rescuing as many people as our dimensional transporters will accommodate. Will you join us, Fanbert?”
Before Fanbert replied, I read his thoughts. He was on the verge of revealing the details of the Fume’s plan and our current quest to find Nara-Narayana.
More Guardians with this knowledge will only cause further conflict with my plans.
I seized upon Fanbert’s mind, so to fashion an adequate response for Fanbert to convey.
“I cannot,” said Fanbert decidedly. “My companions and I head closer to the phenomenon. We’re on a quest to find an ancient people, who command great insights into the universe. They may have a better understanding of the celestial phenomenon.”
“You risk death moving closer to the phenomenon, for what seems a mission of little promise.” Rygel looked at Fanbert doubtfully. “Who are these ancient people you speak of? I know nothing about them.”
“Their existence was hidden long ago on the orders of Nara-Narayana. I apologize, but I can’t tell you any more details. I suggest you continue moving farther from the celestial phenomenon, rescuing as many people as possible.”
For a moment, the four Guardians stared with distrust at us until at last the Guardian Rygel spoke. “As you wish. Good luck with your quest.”
With that said, the Guardians returned to the crowd. A minute later they were gone, and the streets were once again empty.
“I’m confused, Fanbert,” said Orsteen. “Shouldn’t we have enlisted their help and told them about the Fume’s plans to evolve the universe?”
Fanbert pulled at his ear. “It’s strange. I had every intention of doing just that, but was compelled by some deep impulse to do otherwise. Now that I contemplate my decision, I regret it.”
What am I becoming? I thought. A liar? A monster? Forgive me.
I patted Fanbert on the shoulder. “We’ll be fine without them. Let’s continue on our quest and find the lost world where the Prophets sleep.”
Fanbert nodded in agreement. “Before we leave this planet, we must stop at my bunker. We’ll require a special device to awake the Prophets when we find them. Also, the three of you should change into more suitable clothing. Yours are far too fancy for where we’re going.”
“Here’s Morion,” I said.
“Very good,” said Fanbert. “Gather around me and prepare to transport.”
We arrived in an enormous room. Despite its size, it provided little space to move around freely, since the floor was cluttered with heaps and mounds of random effects.
“We’re a hundred feet underground,” said Fanbert. “I excavated this place long ago to ensure my identity would remain safe. I possess many devices beyond the understanding of the natives of this world. If found, there would be many questions concerning my origins and intentions.”
Morion glanced around the room. “It looks like a dump. Why do you keep these stacks of newspapers? They appear useless, outdated, and a fire hazard.”
“Those are important historical documents. When the threat of paradox lingered, it was my duty to carefully monitor and archive them.” Fanbert looked harshly at Morion. “My job wasn’t an easy one. I alone was responsible for all the planets in the Crux Galaxy.”
Orsteen picked up a magazine with a scantily clad alien woman on the cover. “Was there ever really a possibility that anyone from this galaxy could’ve found Earth and caused a paradox?”
“I’m trained to underestimate no one. To do otherwise would be reckless.” Fanbert gestured to me. “At any time, the next Theron Mobius could’ve been born into this world with a mind for dimensional mechanics.”
Morion opened a glass case filled with crystal spheres. He picked one up and peered at its center, where a sparkling light was contained. “And what of these? What universe-toppling significance do they hold?”
“Be careful with that!” said Fanbert. “Those are my prisoners. Each crystal sphere holds a criminal serving their sentence in a dimensional realm—a self-contained prison. If you break them, they’d be released.”
Morion tapped on the sphere. “Are you saying there are people living in these crystal spheres?”
“Very bad people,” replied Fanbert, grabbing the crystal sphere and carefully returning it to the glass case.
He then led us to a table, where lay various devices of apparent complexity. Fanbert selected a device ten centimeters long, with the shape of two slender rods, fused and convoluted. “This is the device required to wake up the Prophets.”
I looked at the thing. “Tell us about these Prophets. Why are they sleeping and how do they know Nara-Narayana’s location?”
“About two hundred thousand years ago, the Guardian Army came across a rebel group that had discovered Nara-Narayana’s location. They were determined to undermine Nara-Narayana’s rule over the Brahman Sprawl by assassinating her. Since they didn’t have the convenience of dimensional transportation, they built massive ships capable of traversing the long distances across the Brahman Sprawl. Before they launched their ships, myself and a hundred other Guardians arrived at their planet. We tried to establish peaceful talks so to understand their motives, but they said they wouldn’t speak to the servants of the beast.” Fanbert paused in a moment of recollection. “They then tried to overtake us. Consequently, many of them were killed. Once we took hold of the situation, there was only a handful left. We decided to put them into temporal stasis until the threat of paradox had passed. Since the planet was so remote, we left them there in stasis, along with their ships.”
“Why do you call them the Prophets?” asked Orsteen.
“Some of the Guardians gave them this nickname as a joke, since when we asked them why they wanted to kill Nara-Narayana, they responded: ‘We’ve seen the future.’ We assumed they were talking about Earth.”
“So you never understood their motives?” I asked.
“Once we put them into stasis, we searched their ships and their encampment, but found few clues to reveal the reason they were against Nara-Narayana. However, after examining the remaining dead, we discovered they had performed strange mutilations upon their brains. We believed this might have contributed to their delusions.”
“Yet, if they were delusional,” I said, “how did they know Nara-Narayana’s location? Are you certain they even knew?”
“Nara-Narayana seemed positive they knew, and demanded swift action. We never figured out how they knew. And after two hundred thousand years, we still don’t.”
Morion whistled. “Are you saying you’re over two hundred thousand years old?”
“It’s hard for even me to comprehend my age. Now wait! You’ve made me think of another item we may need.” Fanbert retrieved something like a hand-cannon. “Two hundred thousand years is a long time to be in any one place, even when in temporal stasis. The Prophets have, in all likelihood, been buried by the sediments of time. This entropy gun will help us excavate them if necessary.” Fanbert handed it to Orsteen and then disappeared into a maze of alcoves formed by his massive collections. He at last reappeared with a stack of clothes. “These should fit you. Their lack in style is made up by their durability and comfort.”
“Did you say we’re headed closer to the celestial phenomenon?” asked M
orion.
“We are,” said Fanbert. “To a galaxy at the near edge of the celestial phenomenon.”
I grabbed a set of clothes from Fanbert. “The phenomenon has been expanding at more frequent intervals.”
“It’ll be dangerous. Everything could go bad in a second.” Fanbert’s mouth gaped wide from a yawn. “We should get some sleep. The world we’re headed for has been left untended by man for many millennia. We may need our strength.”
I didn’t feel like sleeping. I lay motionless, contemplating my mental state and the powers I was gaining.
What is the energy of the Fume doing to me? Right now it festers inside me.
I shuddered—I thought to feel it squirm, like a parasite tunneling through my brain. I bit my lip till I tasted blood.
What of the celestial phenomenon? Why does it pull on my mind with such force? Am I connected to it? How? Why?
There were too many questions. My thoughts turned to Allienora—her round blue eyes, her soft skin, her vanilla smell.
I miss you, my darling.
At last, I slept.
FEEDBACK
We arrived on the planet where the Prophets slept and were captivated by the celestial phenomenon, which saturated nearly half the sky. It cast a brilliant glow on the landscape before us, and only from the absence of a sun did we determine it was night.
“It’s both breathtaking and terrifying,” said Orsteen. “Our eyes gape wide at the end of the universe. We’re too small to stop this. We are but men trying to move mountains.”
I experienced the scene more viscerally—I felt the power of the phenomenon pulsing in and out of my being like the ebb and flow of an ocean tide. After a while, the sensation faded to become no more than a second heartbeat. “We must do what we can, no matter how impossible it may seem, Orsteen. Even an insect can cause an avalanche.”
“Speaking of mountains,” said Fanbert, looking off into the distance at a snow-capped peak. “I don’t remember this peak. The landscape has transformed substantially more than anticipated.” Fanbert retrieved an ocular device. He held it to his eye and looked to the ground. “If I remember correctly, the Prophets should be three meters below us. Yet, I don’t detect them.”