The Call of Kerberos

by Jonathan Oliver

  The anger rose from the pit of Silus's stomach, burning like bile. He turned to Belck and saw himself reflected in the black orbs of the creature's eyes. In the darkness that surrounded his reflection he could feel the call of the Great Ocean; that wonderful infinite peace. And the thought of being denied that - being denied the chance to swim forever in those cool, dark waters - inflamed his rage and drove him, snarling, against the barrier that separated him from the humans.

  "You are Chadassa, Silus. These creatures are nothing. Take them apart."

  Silus's hands dug into the barrier and Dunsany started to reach for him, trying to help him break through. But when he saw the look on Silus's face he backed away. The slippery surface refused to give for a moment and this enraged Silus further. He started to scrabble furiously at the slick membrane, the growl in the back of his throat growing to an inhuman wail. He pushed his face against the barrier and it suddenly gave way.

  Silus stumbled, but he used the momentum of the trip to take him barrelling into one of the Calma. He grabbed the glowing nodules that hung from either side of the creature's jaw and pulled as hard as he could. As they tore away a part of him wondered why their strange light didn't die. It was, however, a momentary distraction, and Silus tore into the struggling beast, marvelling at how easily its flesh gave way under his hands, appalled at the vivid blue coil of its guts as they fell to the floor.

  He barely felt the flails of the other Calma as they brought them to bear. Something tickled, and there was the smell of cooking flesh, but then there were more bodies lying at his feet and those that he had called his friends were backing away from the spreading pool of blood.

  Sera was screaming something at him, but he ignored the foolish creature. Instead, he turned back to Belck, seeking approval, but the Chadassa ancient was no longer there. The hatred that Belck had inspired in him, however, was.

  "Silus, listen to me. Belck has placed some kind of glamour on you," said Kelos. "We're going to get you out of this but it's very important that you listen to me."

  This ridiculous mage with his cantrips and charms, what good would they prove against the might of the Great Ocean? Silus wanted to hurt Kelos. But he didn't want him to suffer just physical pain, he wanted first for him to feel the torture of grief. Silus wanted the mage to taste that profound despair.

  Dunsany held his bone shard before him as Silus approached, Jacquinto and Ignacio moved to flank him, their own weapons raised.

  Kelos had seen the look in Silus's eyes and he realised what was about to happen.

  "Silus, please don't."

  "I'm warning you," Jacquinto said. "Don't make me have to kill you."

  Silus's hand shot out, grabbed Jacquinto's face and pushed. The smuggler tumbled across the room and came up hard against a bone arch, his skull connecting with an audible crack. There was a cry of rage as Ignacio slammed into Silus's side, but he didn't shift, even under the weight of the heavier man. Instead Silus turned and twisted Ignacio's hand until he dropped his blade with a cry of pain. Then Silus turned back to Dunsany.

  "Silus come back to us," said Father Maylan, but he didn't approach. "This isn't you."

  Silus ignored the priest and looked into Dunsany's eyes.

  Kelos ran at him and started pummelling him with his fists, but he knocked him aside and reached for Dunsany's weapon.

  "You don't need this."

  Dunsany's face was slack as Silus held his gaze, and he knew that the mariner was looking into the darkness that burned in his eyes, the call of the Great Ocean reaching out to him.

  Silus ran his hand over Dunsany's head and cradled the back of his skull.

  "This isn't so bad really, is it Dunsany?"

  "No," Dunsany's voice was dead. "This isn't so bad."

  "It's just like going to sleep really. It will be easy."

  "Just like sleep."

  Silus looked back at Kelos. The mage was picking himself up from where he had been thrown. As he gained his feet, Silus put the knife to Dunsany's throat. Then, when he was sure that Kelos was watching, he drew the blade across the flesh.

  There was an explosion and spray hit Silus's face. It was too cold for blood though, and he soon found himself standing ankle deep in water.

  Silus wondered why the bone shard in his right hand was covered in blood, and then he looked, in horror, at Dunsany choking as scarlet liquid welled from between his fingers.

  Silus tried to reach out to his friend, help him staunch the flow, but the sea finally found its way into the Chadassa ship and pulled him into its cold embrace.

  Chapter Twenty

  Silus tried to roll over on to his side as something tickled his stomach, but found that he was hemmed in. The tickling sensation continued and he brushed it away with his arm.

  "Katya stop it. I'm trying to sleep."

  Suddenly there was a sharp, jabbing pain and he woke up fully.

  Silus looked down to see two giant trilobites crawling over his torso, probing the wounds that he had sustained in the destruction of the Chadassa craft. There was another burst of pain as one of them worked at a deep cut on his chest. Silus tried to drag the giant insect off, but it hung on tight as a limpet and pulling at it only caused him more pain.

  All Silus could see from the confines of the narrow, coffin-like box he lay in was part of one wall and the moist ceiling above him.

  "Katya? Dunsany? Kelos?"

  There was no reply and he tried to climb over the side of the box. The trilobites stubbornly clung to him as he raised himself. He staggered towards an archway before a rapidly approaching shadow drove him back into the room.

  Belck caught Silus before he hit the floor.

  "You shouldn't be up and about before the creatures have finished their work," the Chadassa said, helping Silus sit. "Ah, there you go."

  With a high-pitched twitter, the trilobites scurried down Silus's torso and out through the archway. He looked down at himself and saw that the wounds that criss-crossed his chest had been expertly stitched shut. When he touched them they weren't even sore.

  "We are not interested in hurting you, Silus." Belck said.

  "What happened to Katya and Zac?"

  "They are safe, but they need not concern you now."

  "And the crew, my friends?"

  "No doubt killed in the inept attack launched by the Calma."

  Silus couldn't remember the attack. The last thing he remembered was following the Calma as they fought their way through the Chadassa ship.

  "Those creatures, the Calma, you used them, changed them," he said. "The Great Ocean showed me how your race was grown from their kind."

  "That is true, but we changed for the better. Just as you have been changing, Silus."

  "What do you mean?"

  "You really don't understand how different you are, do you?"

  Silus struggled to his feet and shrugged off Belck's touch. He was sick of ancient prophecy, sick of being the chosen one to a twisted aquatic race that had done nothing but bring pain and death into his life.

  "If I cooperate, will you let Katya and Zac go?"

  "If you do, then they will be well looked after, yes," Belck said.

  "And what will happen to me?"

  "You are to be prepared for the Queen. By breeding with her you will father the Land Walkers."

  "Will it hurt?"

  "Your body will be consumed but you will find it to be a joyous and fulfilling experience."

  The thought of his own death didn't move Silus in any way. In fact, he was so exhausted, so drained by grief and worn down by fear that he found it difficult to feel anything.

  "Gods, what am I?"

  "Let me show you."

  Belck ushered Silus into a wide corridor. Stone arches covered with molluscs stretched away into the gloom, while the floor was slick with rotting seaweed. The walls were decorated with murals depicting, for the most part, the Chadassa battling the Calma. Whatever artist had carved these reliefs clearly delighted in c
ruelty, for the most intricately worked parts of the stone were the scenes depicting slaughter.

  Other reliefs were more simple, portraying nothing more complicated than a vast black disk.

  "Is that...?"

  "The Great Ocean, yes. The father of the Chadassa. It is to His infinite waters that we shall soon return, when the time of the Great Flood is finally brought about and all reality is changed."

  "What exactly is the Great Ocean?"

  "I have told you, it is our creator, our god."

  "And what is the Great Flood?"

  "It is the time when the Great Ocean will change all reality so that it will be as the Great Ocean. Then we will swim together, forever in His infinite waters."

  "You don't actually know what that really means though, do you Belck?" Silus said. "You sound like a member of the Faith, blindly following their god wherever they are told, even if they don't understand why."

  Another Chadassa passed them and raised a hand to Belck in greeting. "The Great Flood be upon us," the creature said.

  "I... I... yes, the Flood," Belck stammered, clearly thrown by Silus's interrogation.

  Recovering himself, Belck gripped Silus by the shoulder and marched him into a room that was bathed in the diffuse light of the sea. Only a thin, translucent membrane separated them from the water beyond.

  "Now, Silus, behold your natural habitat. We drained the rooms you passed through so that the shock of the water would be lessened, but you, like us, can breathe water. I will show you how."

  With his hand on the small of Silus's back, Belck pushed him through the membrane and out into the sea.

  As the chill water gripped him, Silus instinctively closed his eyes and started to struggle for the surface.

  Belck, however, held him firm.

  Be still, his voice came. Open your eyes.

  Silus had expected the sting of salt water, but he could see clearly and without pain.

  Now, breathe.

  Silus shook his head and tried to kick away from the Chadassa again, but he couldn't move.

  Breathe, Silus.

  Silus looked up and realised that he couldn't see the surface. Even if Belck let him go, he would drown before he could reach air.

  After a moment it became clear that he had no option but to take a breath. As water filled his lungs, he fought panic. Even though he had prepared himself for death, when he was faced with its inevitability he still railed against it. He struggled against Belck as his chest tightened with the coldness of the water that was now inside him, but the Chadassa's grip remained firm.

  This is what you are, Silus. This is what the Chadassa have made you.

  Why had this creature gone to so much trouble to capture him only to bring him out here to drown? But then Silus was startled to realise that the water wasn't choking him, that the cold sensation of the sea moving in and out of his lungs was easing, that, in fact, he was breathing the sea as easily as if it were air.

  What is this?

  This is what we have been trying to tell you all this time, Belck said, releasing his hold. You are no ordinary human.

  He truly was the son of the Chadassa. With the despair this brought, however, there was still a rush of excitement at the abilities that had been revealed to him.

  Come, Belck said, swimming away from him, let us experience the joys of the ocean together.

  Belck was rapidly dwindling from view now and Silus didn't think that he'd be able to catch him up, but then he sprang from the seabed. The weight of the water between him and the surface was vast, but he cut through it rapidly, revelling in the sensation of it rushing against his body, taking great lungfuls of the sea, feeling its invigorating power as it filled him.

  As he spiralled up through the depths a school of dolphins surrounded him, calling to him with clicks and whistles. Beneath their chattering language, Silus could hear their true song. The song that was at the core of their existence, all existence. The song that Kelos had taught him to hear. Above him, Silus could even hear the song of Belck. It was a discordant and jagged tune, one that didn't belong in the great symphony that played here beneath the waves.

  Silus began to close on the Chadassa. The soft glow of Kerberos was beginning to penetrate the water and life was more abundant this close to the surface. A great, roiling mass of glittering gemfish shattered as he powered through them.

  Silus broke the surface and spray surrounded him like a multitude of glistening jewels. Contained within each individual droplet he could see the azure glow of Kerberos. Ahead of him Belck re-entered the water and Silus followed in his wake. He overtook the Chadassa, swimming down amongst the shafts of sunlight. One of these caught the edge of an arch of stone and, his curiosity piqued, Silus swam towards it.

  The great bow of volcanic rock rose from the seabed far below and Silus followed its curve down. Belck caught up with him and swam alongside.

  Let me show you what it is to know the Great Ocean, Silus.

  Belck overtook him and Silus followed.

  They swam for a long time. Finally, as the pressures of the deep began to make Silus's bones ache they arrived at the base of the arch. Even here, however, they didn't rest. Instead, Belck led Silus over the lip of a canyon and into a darkness more absolute than anything he had experienced before.

  Belck reached out and took his hand. Silus didn't resist, even though he found the touch of the creature repellent. He was too afraid of being lost in the infinite darkness to let go.

  He is the Great Ocean. He will come again, Belck began to chant.

  As the Chadassa's mantra filled Silus's mind he sensed the walls of the canyon fall completely away.

  Nothing surrounded them now. Silus couldn't even feel the water against his skin.

  Now, Belck said. Witness his coming.

  The Chadassa sent out his consciousness into the darkness, yet there was no response. Silus could feel Belck straining to make contact with his God.

  He is the Great Ocean. He will come again.

  The chant sounded more urgent this time, as though Belck was pleading.

  After what seemed like a long time, it became obvious that the Chadassa's god was not going to grace them with its presence.

  The doubt and anxiety that Silus had sensed in Belck earlier began to boil over into anger. The Chadassa's grip on his hand suddenly became painful and the canyon walls rushed past them as he was dragged up through the depths.

  Soon they came into sight of the Chadassa city and Silus only had a moment to take in the enormity of the terrible architecture before Belck shoved him out of the sea.

  He fell to the floor of the chamber and began to cough up the water that filled his lungs. It burned as it flowed out of him and Silus found himself shivering uncontrollably as an intense weakness overtook him.

  He looked up to see Belck standing over him, his dark eyes regarding him dispassionately.

  "Get up."

  But Silus couldn't stand and, with another great shudder, he coughed up more saltwater. He cried out as Belck wrapped his claws in his hair, dragged him to his feet and threw him across the room to land in a heap before another Chadassa.

  "Take this one to be prepared for the Queen," Belck said. "It is time."

  After Katya had been ejected from the belly of the Chadassa craft she had fallen through the depths - cradling Zac to her as he screamed and screamed - convinced that they were going to die. For a moment the sphere they were in stabilised, gently swaying, rather than spinning in all directions, and Katya looked up at the bizarre vessel they had left behind.

  There was a flash of intense light and then they were tumbling again like some circus act from Miramas, as the shockwave from the explosion caught up with the sphere.

  The water around them boiled with clouds of debris and within them Katya could see the broken corpses of dozens of Chadassa. For a moment she thought that she could make out a human face in the morass but then, with a violent shudder, the sphere was snatched away from
the scene as they hurtled down along some unseen current.

  Katya closed her eyes as her stomach somersaulted. Zac, however, had begun to enjoy himself and his cries turned to squeals of laughter.

  There wasn't much to see outside of the sphere now, other than the occasional pulse of fluorescence from the delicate creatures who grazed on the plankton fields that seeded the depths. Katya gently shifted Zac into her lap before leaning over and pulling on the fleshy protuberances that grew from the sphere floor. She had hoped to be able to take control of the strange craft in this way, but her ministrations did nothing to alter their course.

  Something caught Katya's attention then. A pale shape moving just at the edge of her vision.

  It emerged from the darkness, its long body stretching far behind it, seeming as though it would never end. Its eyes were a blind milky white, yet the pits of its angular nostrils seemed more than sufficient to smell out any prey that entered its territory. It scooped up the creatures grazing on the plankton in its great jaws, but this didn't seem enough to sate its hunger because it headed straight for the sphere.

  Katya closed her eyes and braced herself, with Zac held tight to her breast. There was a flash of light and an intense smell of ozone filled the sphere. When she opened her eyes, the creature was falling away from them, its vast length entangling around itself as streams of bubbles rushed from its slack jaws.

  Katya saw the creature crash into the side of a jagged peak of stone that appeared to be part of a building of some kind, before it impacted with the seabed in a cloud of silt.

  The sphere followed the creature down into the city, descending at a much more sedate pace. As the towers and strange mound-like structures rose around them, Katya breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought that they would fall forever, to die in some lightless, airless abyss. Instead the sphere rotated on its axis before heading towards a hole that had opened up in the side of one of the buildings.