by Matt King
Talus led him down the trail. They marched toward a pair of stone monuments guarding the front of the wall, each as tall as a skyscraper. As they got closer, he saw that they were statues of a woman. She held a sphere in one hand and a flame in the other. Her face was beautiful. Between the statues was a pair of massive stone gates. As soon as Talus approached, they opened with a loud yawn.
Inside the walls, hundreds of gray humanoid beings roamed the grounds. Their iron-colored skin had an oily sheen, like it would be wet to the touch. They reminded him of Talus with their white, unblinking eyes, but the rough sections of their skin only covered parts of their body, mostly around the face and shoulders. The rest was smooth and iridescent, like the inside of an oyster shell.
The crowd watched as he and Talus approached the steps to the main castle door. Several looked away as soon as Michael caught them staring. He smiled each time. They’re afraid of me.
They spent close to an hour meandering along the path up the mountain. Michael’s legs were starting to get weak. His throat was raw. Talus marched ahead, unfazed by the steep climb. Michael kept pace with him by thinking about what lay ahead. It was Amara. It had to be. Her voice was the only thing that kept him going over the last few weeks. He didn’t realize how much he needed to see her until he started picturing her in the halls of this giant castle.
Finally, they reached a plateau where the entrance to the main spire stood beneath an arch of smooth diamond. Talus guided him into the main hall of the castle, a large open area with a circular floor made of silver polished stone. Two sets of staircases on either side of the room led up to a grand set of doors on the second level. He wondered if she would be on the other side. He hoped so. Talus walked up the stairs and waited until Michael made it to the landing before he grabbed the ornate door handles and pulled one side open. Michael stepped through.
The interior of the room felt instantly familiar, even if it was on a much larger scale than he was used to. Most of the floor was taken up by rows of benches made out of an emerald rocky material. A single aisle ran down the center and at its end was a dais with two crystal thrones in the center. It was a lavish cathedral, and rising from her throne was a woman so gorgeous it made him dizzy on his feet.
“Welcome, Michael,” she said. “I am Amara, and I have waited so long to meet you.”
She was tall, elegant, and beautiful in her pearlescent silk dress. The fabric moved around her legs like water as she walked down to meet them. Standing at her side was a stiff-looking man outfitted in dark crimson armor and a black cape. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Michael’s exposed skin. His eyes were black, with a slotted red pupil.
Talus left him at the end of the aisle to stand beside Amara. She motioned for Michael to join them.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” she said.
“I’m not nervous.”
“You’re trembling.” She held out her hands. “Come here.”
He took a hesitant step forward. He could only look at her silver eyes in quick glances. They were sharp, piercing, and intelligent, and he felt like she was looking right through him. As he got closer, he felt an overwhelming rush of emotion hit him out of nowhere. He ran the last few steps and buried his head in her chest. Her arms wrapped around him.
“Shhh,” she said. “Everything is all right now.”
His tears slipped down the fabric of her dress. She held him close for as long as it took his heaving breaths to calm. It was only then that he realized how he must have looked to the disapproving man behind her. Michael took a step back and dragged his fingers through his hair.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. I am glad that Talus has brought you to me safely.”
Michael sniffed. “He saved me.”
Amara smiled. She stood to the side, motioning for the man in the armor to come over. “I want you to meet Galan. Galan, this is Michael, my crowning achievement.”
Michael stepped forward to shake his hand. Galan recoiled.
“Galan, you’re being rude,” she chided. She turned to Michael. “You will have to excuse my companion. He has a prejudice against the flesh.”
“More of an aversion,” Galan answered.
“Are you hungry?” she asked Michael.
Without food for so long, his stomach rumbled at the thought of something to eat. “Yes.”
“Come. You will dine on the finest food this world has to offer. We will take our dinner on the upper spire. I want to show you the view.”
Michael followed her as she turned to walk toward a doorway beside the stage. She held his hand as they walked. Her skin felt alive. It reminded him of putting his finger to the electric toy train tracks he had growing up. Talus followed closely behind, but Galan stayed at the end of the aisle. Michael looked back to find him. Galan watched them until they were through the doorway and into a torch-lit hall.
“He doesn’t seem to like me.”
“It isn’t you he does not like,” she replied. “It’s humans. He considers them lower forms of life, even though he is a descendent of them. In his eyes, they are unworthy of the energy used for their creation. Galan is a master of artificial life. I abhor the idea of such a thing, but I must admit that it proves useful in times like these.”
They ascended a set of spiral stairs. More of the oily-looking men passed them on the way down. They lowered their heads and stood to the side to let them by. She smiled and squeezed his hand when she saw the curious way he looked at the alien creatures.
“What is this place?” he asked.
Amara smiled again but didn’t answer. They reached the top of the stairs. An archway led them to a wide, curved balcony that wrapped around the exterior of the tower. To their left was a table covered with plates and dishes overflowing with food. He didn’t recognize a single offering.
“Rest yourself,” she said, leading him to a chair beside the head of the table. She took the seat next to him. “You can eat while I explain where we are.”
Talus followed them to the table but didn’t sit. He stood at one end with arms crossed, his eyes scanning the expansive balcony.
Michael wasn’t sure where to begin. The smells filled his nose, driving his senses wild. He wanted all of it, even though he had no idea what it was made of.
“Try these,” Amara said. “They are small, but filling.”
She handed him a tray of something that looked like doughnut holes. Michael took one and popped it in his mouth. The texture was close to dense bread, but the flavor was smoky, like salmon. He instantly reached for another.
“Not too many,” she cautioned. “It wouldn’t agree with you.”
Michael ate another despite the warning. “I’m starving. Seems like it’s been days since I’ve eaten anything.”
“You no longer need food, but your body still has urges. And we can’t give up all delicacies, can we?”
“No,” he said. He sniffed the milky gray liquid in his cup before taking a drink. It may have looked like mercury, but it tasted like ginger ale. He gulped half of it down.
“You poor thing. I apologize for making you sit in that awful place while you waited for Talus to arrive, but it was the only way I could guarantee your safety until you became stronger, and you are stronger now, aren’t you, Michael?”
He smiled. “Yes. I learned to control it, just like you said I would.”
“So impressive.” She beamed like a proud parent as she leaned forward and ran her fingers through his hair, exposing his eyes. “You are magnificent and powerful. There isn’t a living being that can match your potential.”
Talus snorted.
“What about those two that came after me?” Michael asked. “The animal, especially.”
“In time, they will fall. No man will be a match for you once you have gained more strength. Until then, I’ve brought you here.”
“Where is here?”
“My home, as much as there is one. T
his is Pyr, named after the goddess Pyra. She is the giver of life and the creator of our universe. The Pyrians believe she created this world especially for them, but in truth, I am responsible for much of what you see here. This was a rocky moon, with all the ingredients required to sustain life. All it needed was a spark, and that is what I gave it.”
“I didn’t know you were a god.” In truth, he’d always hoped she would be. A vengeful god that would punish his enemies.
She smiled. “No, my dear, I am not a god, but I do serve one, and it is because of my devotion to Her will that I created you.”
“Created me? I don’t remember that. The people who raised me were nothing like you. One was a drunk and the other was a psychopath.”
“You speak of your parents,” she said.
“Yes.”
“And they were cruel to you, especially your father.”
He stopped chewing. “Yes,” he said after a pause.
“You think of him often. Your memories weigh heavily on you.”
“I try not to think about him. I still hear his voice sometimes and I… I lose control.” He remembered hearing the voice at the bus stations. His father usually surfaced when he was alone. Or when I feel alone. He’d fanned the flames of Michael’s fears, which stirred the power inside until it became too much to hold back. So many had died already because of the man. Pictures of the dead flashed through his head. There was a time when the realization of what he’d done at those stations brought tears to his eyes. Those days felt like a distant memory now.
“There are things I remember,” he said. “Things that happened before that I think I must’ve buried, because they feel like they happened to someone else sometimes. Like when I was ten, I accidentally broke my mom’s makeup mirror. I tried to clean it up. Dad didn’t get home until after dark and I was already asleep. He was high, and maybe drunk. He woke me up by punching me in the head. He had some of mom’s makeup and he smeared it all over my face. I was so scared of him and he was yelling, screaming at me and calling me names. I remember seeing one of my neighbors outside the window. I wanted them to help me. All they did was turn away.”
“A horrible memory.” She took a sip from her chalice. “One day your father will answer for his treatment of you. They all will. For now, though, we have other matters to attend to.”
“Like what?”
“Come with me,” she said.
They rose together and he followed her to the edge of the balcony. The enormity of the mountains gave him a queasy feeling in his stomach. He concentrated on the valleys instead. The balcony gave him a view of several cities scattered throughout the canyon on either side of the castle. They looked like shadows on the landscape.
“This world is so rich,” she said. “So alive and full of life. The people here are millennia beyond humanity’s evolution on Earth, even though they may look like simple creatures. Inside, they harbor a wealth of energy. Far more than the humans of your world.”
“What do they do with it all?”
She stared down at the city. “Whatever their God requires.” Saying the words brought a content smile to her face. “The Pyrians will serve their purpose soon. You must be curious of your own purpose, my prince. Have you ever wondered why you’ve gotten more powerful since I first gave you your gift?”
He shrugged. “I just thought I was getting better at it.”
“That you were. But you felt something after each episode, didn’t you?”
“I guess.” He couldn’t remember much of what happened when he woke up after the blasts, other than the way his body felt so empty.
“I not only gave you the power to discharge your energy, I also gave you the power to absorb it.”
“Absorb what?”
“Life. Life doesn’t end when a body dies, Michael. A person’s energy carries on, but without a vessel, it simply…exists. You have the power to harness that potential. You transform it, magnify it.”
Magnified. He thought back to the first bus station, how he only killed a few people. Then he thought of the others, each scene more deadly than the one before it. “That’s why each time it happened, more people died.”
“Yes. Because of their sacrifice, you became stronger.”
He let the words sink in. How many people had he killed? A hundred? And already he was leveling areas the size of a city block in a single burst. He envisioned what would happen if he killed a hundred at once, or a thousand. Just how strong could he get? The possibilities brought a smile to his face.
Talus stepped away from his post beside the door. “Ja’aucht regale,” he said. He stood canted toward the exit as though he was impatient for them to follow.
“What does he want?” Michael asked.
“Regaly,” she replied to the monster.
For a fleeting moment, he felt the need to follow Talus through the door. He chased away the thoughts as soon as he realized how weak they made him seem.
“Do not worry,” Amara said. “He will be back soon.”
“I wasn’t worried.”
“You cannot hide your thoughts from me, Michael. There is no shame in wanting Talus by your side. I sent him to protect you, after all. He is anxious to get back to your world.”
“Why?”
“To begin the war in earnest. To crush the will of those that would do us harm.”
Michael looked down at his skin. “Maybe I can help.”
“Not this time,” she said, rubbing her hand across his shoulder. “You need to rest.”
“But I’m strong enough.” He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. He sounded like a kid.
“That you are. I am saving your return to that world for something truly special. In the meantime, rest.” She ran her hand down his arm. Her fingers danced across the cracks in his skin. “I want you at your strongest. Tomorrow is an important day. I can’t wait to show you your surprise.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Bear’s search ended as soon as he saw the skid marks at the bottom of the hill. The black streaks started just ahead of the curve, but ended abruptly before reaching the grass. From there, it looked like the truck went sideways and slid over the side of the embankment. He ran the rest of the way, ignoring the gawking driver that passed him in the opposite direction. Bear stopped at the edge of the drop-off and scanned the trees below.
“Oh my god.”
One of the truck’s wheels was visible through an opening in the canopy. The rest of the vehicle was hidden by the brush. He looked over the side to see if he could make it down on foot. The slope wasn’t too bad. After zigzagging his way down the mountainside, he came to level ground. The truck was only a few feet away, leaning sideways against a tree.
He approached it after a cursory look to make sure August hadn’t been thrown from the cab and stuck on a branch like a Christmas stocking. He stopped once he realized August wouldn’t have been out of commission for that long. He still wasn’t thinking like an immortal. He wondered if he ever would.
The truck cab was flattened. Broken glass everywhere and both airbags hung limp from the dashboard. Something glinted as the wind blew aside the tree tops, sprinkling the cab with light. He looked closer and saw August’s swords behind the driver’s seat. A knot formed in his stomach. He walked to the other side of the Chevy. After he made sure no one was watching, he flipped the truck over with a heavy push. Glass shards rained into the cab as the truck settled onto its tires. He reached down and pulled the door handle. When it didn’t budge, he pulled harder, ripping the door off its hinges. The swords lay criss-crossed on the seat.
A man’s voice spoke from behind. “Didn’t put up much of a fight, did he?”
Bear took his time emerging from the truck with the blades, partly because he didn’t want to give the man the satisfaction of surprise, but also because he was only a man, and Bear stopped fearing them a long time ago. He stood to full height. “Do I know you?”
“I warned him those would be no
help,” the man said, pointing at the swords in Bear’s hand. He looked like he was close to Ray’s age. It was hard to tell beneath the shadow of his fedora. A polished wooden pipe hung from the corner of his mouth.
“I asked you a question,” Bear said.
“Shouldn’t you be asking me where your friend is?”
Bear lunged with his free hand to grab the man by his coat. His arm passed right through his chest. He stared at it for a moment before stepping back with a scowl on his face.
“Does that answer your question?”
“You’re the man Meryn spoke about. Paralos.”
“She finally told you something, did she? It’s a wonder you lived long enough to hear it, what with her sending you directly into a trap. You were lucky to survive.”
“She didn’t know.”
“Ignorance is no excuse when failure means the end of all living things.”
Bear side-stepped his dig at Meryn. “What about August? Is he alive?”
“He was, the last I checked.” Paralos took a drag on his pipe, doing little to hide the smile creeping across his lips. He exhaled a cloud of smoke. It smelled sweet. “The way things were going, though, I’m not so sure he’s been able to withstand it.”
“You saw him and did nothing?”
“Don’t raise your hackles at me, dualist. I can’t interfere in a war I’m a part of, or is that something Meryn forgot to mention, too?”
“She told us you were supposed to help. If this is your idea of it, I think we can do without you.”
Paralos grinned. “The last thing you want to do is to make the one person who knows the whereabouts of your friend angry.”
“Enough of your games,” Bear said. He walked away from the truck, intent on finding his way to town to find a car to pick up his father. He made it only a few feet before the path in front of him warbled and started to transform. The air rippled like water. An image formed, blurry like looking through tired eyes.