Eternity Gate

by Traci Harding

  The clash of forces ceased, and the world fell silent as if in mourning — all that could be heard was the sound of the rain falling in empathy with Avery’s tears. Wu Geng was mortified by what he’d just witnessed and he didn’t even know the woman.

  ‘How has Vugar become so powerful?’ Aysel didn’t understand why the cosmic light had not frightened him off as it had in the past.

  Wu Geng looked to her and held a finger to his lips in silent appeal that she discuss such matters later, out of respect for the dead.

  ‘Oh dear goddess,’ uttered the governor as he arrived on the scene with a beautiful woman Wu Geng had never seen before.

  ‘I was right.’ The woman gasped back her tears and ran to the dead woman’s side.

  ‘Rhun!’ Avery found his feet and his anger. ‘This is your fault!’ The lord literally went flying into his brother and knocked him to the ground.

  ‘I know it is!’ Rhun agreed, before he was slammed in the face by his brother’s fist.

  ‘Stop it!’ The female Rhun had brought with him looked up from inspecting the victim. ‘Your bickering will not bring your child back!’

  Landing one more good slam to Rhun’s face, Avery backed off him, too drained of emotion to continue. ‘Fallon was never supposed to die.’ He fell to his knees and wept for her loss.

  ‘But she is immortal like the rest of us, so how can she have been vanquished thus?’ the lady asked of Rhun, tears filling her eyes. ‘A DNA-destroying weapon perhaps?’

  ‘That would be my guess,’ Rhun was sorry to concede as he gathered his battered wits.

  ‘When are you both going to advise our council about this threat to all the human tribes?’ She sounded surprised at them both.

  ‘Sybil —’ Rhun staggered to his feet.

  ‘It is no matter,’ she decided, obviously still angry with the governor, but not about to pursue the argument when they had company. ‘Who are these people?’

  Rhun only just realised that Wu Geng and Aysel were present.

  ‘You foresaw this too?’ Rhun asked Aysel.

  ‘I did,’ she confessed, ‘but I had no idea who the victim was.’

  ‘You are a seer?’ Sybil was suddenly fascinated.

  Aysel nodded.

  ‘Did you see beyond this event?’ Sybil queried.

  ‘No, I did not.’

  ‘I did,’ Sybil advised, approaching the grieving lord to place hands upon his shoulders. ‘Do not lament, my brother. This sad event will open you to better ways to achieve your desired outcome that you would not have risked before.’

  Avery was bemused by her words. ‘Are you implying we can change this?’ He looked to her to garner a response.

  Sybil nodded to assure him. ‘Our ex-governor will lead the way.’

  Rhun frowned, bemused by her soothsaying. ‘Brian?’

  Brian Alexander had been the governor of Kila prior to Rhun’s appointment, but he had long since departed this world. Sybil nodded, completely unaware that the soul of their ex-governor was visiting them and that this other incarnation of him was currently residing at Noah’s lakehouse.

  ‘Song,’ they deduced at once.

  The thought recorder shut off and Song emerged from the viewing trance. ‘Holy shit,’ was his appraisal. Noah and Telmo had been watching over Zeven while he studied the recording, but his thoughts were already playing through scenarios and the different paths through time that the timekeepers could follow in order to defeat the virus.

  ‘That’s all you’ve got to say?’ Telmo appealed, reaching out to take the thought recorder from Song in order to view it himself.

  Song avoided the handover, and held the orb close to himself. ‘I know what needs to be done.’

  ‘Do tell then?’ Telmo challenged, folding his arms in preparation to be unimpressed.

  Song shook his head in all seriousness. ‘Too risky.’ He knew the answer would annoy Telmo, being the control freak that he was.

  Telmo opened his mouth to express his discontent when Noah intervened.

  ‘I agree, we should not discuss it, unless we have cause.’ The historian looked to Song, and his expression queried what their next move should be.

  ‘We are just going to trust that Song knows what he’s doing?’ Telmo was very uncomfortable with that idea.

  ‘We are,’ Noah concurred, serving Song a smile of support. ‘What do you need from us?’

  ‘Nothing really,’ Song knew the reply was pushing his luck with Telmo, yet it was the truth. ‘I need the girls.’ He stood and headed back into the meditation chamber, where Huxin was sitting with her grieving sister. She’d pried Hudan away from her dead lover’s body, and covered his remains. They were still seated on the floor, and Song joined them.

  ‘I have a plan,’ he assured Hudan.

  ‘You can’t —’

  ‘Tell you, I know,’ Song pre-empted her concern. ‘So I need you both to do exactly as I ask, without question.’

  Where normally they would have mocked such a request, they both stared wide-eyed at him a moment and then nodded in agreement.

  ‘Good,’ Song was glad to get no argument. ‘I need you both to return to AMIE with me immediately.’

  The request brought a gasp from everyone present, including Telmo who had followed Song into the chamber to hear his resolve.

  Hudan gripped her stomach. ‘I cannot.’

  ‘Trust me, you can.’ Song advised surely. ‘And you will.’

  Hudan was clearly panicked.

  ‘I know how hard it is for you to relinquish control,’ Song ventured, ‘but you gave me command because you claim to trust me, and now I need you to prove it.’

  Her gaze drifted to the cover under which Dan’s body lay. ‘Can I not lay him to rest first?’

  Song clicked his fingers to regain her full attention. ‘No,’ he instilled in her once she was focused on him. ‘It would be a waste of time.’

  ‘Song.’ Huxin was surprised at him. ‘What difference could it make?’

  ‘All the difference,’ he assured. ‘I am not being callous, just honest.’

  Hudan gathered her shattered sensibilities, as she quietly considered her circumstance, then said, ‘I will do as you ask.’

  ‘I appreciate that.’ Song was truly honoured by her faith.

  ‘What about me?’ Telmo wondered why he was being left out of the equation.

  ‘You can’t help us in this phase of the mission,’ Song stood to inform him. ‘In fact you may even be a hindrance.’

  ‘You are not going back to AMIE without me!’ Telmo was not of a mind to miss out on going home.

  ‘Would you argue my order, Telmo?’ Hudan stood to exert her influence.

  ‘No,’ he assured her, ‘of course not, but —’

  ‘Song is in command now,’ she insisted, ‘and, knowing what I know, I would suggest we follow his orders to the letter. No argument.’ She gazed back to the cover under which Dan’s body lay. ‘If we are not all on the same page, we don’t stand a chance of defeating this curse and its vendetta.’

  When Rhun entered the chamber looking like he’d just been in a boxing match, Song was concerned. ‘What happened to you?’

  ‘I happened.’ The Lord of the Otherworld entered behind his brother, still angry, until he saw the blood and the covered body on the floor. ‘Not Dan too?’ He moved to comfort Hudan when she nodded.

  ‘I need to speak with you both,’ Song said, as he prevented Avery from approaching Hudan, and directed both him and Rhun back into the other room.

  ‘You have a plan?’ Avery queried before yielding to the request.

  Song nodded and then looked back to Noah, ‘I would speak with you also.’

  ‘But not me?’ Telmo was getting very frustrated.

  ‘That’s correct,’ Song informed him. ‘You stay put with Wu Geng and Aysel.’

  The role reversal had Telmo fuming. ‘If this is personal —’

  ‘It isn’t,’ Song assured him. ‘I promise you
,’ he added as his crew mate was still perturbed.

  ‘I think I know why you must stay,’ Noah said in the hope of easing Telmo’s frustration, ‘I believe Song’s reasoning is sound.’

  ‘Have I done something adverse that I am not aware of?’ He didn’t understand why his input was suddenly redundant.

  ‘Quite the contrary,’ Noah assured.

  ‘Here.’ Song thrust the thought recorder into Telmo’s hands, impatient at wasting time arguing the point. ‘If you must know, you can view it once we are gone.’

  Upon entering the adjoining room with the governor, Avery and Noah, and finding Wu Geng and Aysel there, Song asked them to join the others in the meditation chamber, so he could confer with those he needed to.

  ‘You still don’t trust me,’ Aysel commented, rolling her eyes, as she complied with the instruction.

  ‘Actually,’ Song waylaid her, ‘for the record, I do trust you. I believe I know who your dragon guide is …’

  The claim surprised Aysel.

  ‘We are fighting for the same cause,’ he stated. ‘So now it is you who must trust me.’

  ‘I trust Wu Geng,’ she proffered, looking to him to gauge his thoughts on the matter.

  ‘I am certain that Song wants this adversity resolved in favour of the greater good as much as anyone here, including me,’ Wu Geng told her, and Song appreciated his support.

  ‘I have factored the desires of everyone into my plan, and trust me, if we play our cards right, we shall all get what we want,’ Song vowed.

  Wu Geng appeared indifferent, knowing his desires ran contrary to most of the timekeepers’ main objectives. ‘For Aysel, I hold no fear of that. As for myself, I doubt that very much.’

  ‘Don’t.’ Song was unable to say too much on the matter. ‘There is a place for every being in this universe,’ he shot a glance at Rhun, having drawn upon his recent resolution, ‘and we shall help you find yours, that’s a promise.’

  Wu Geng was stunned, and although clearly grateful for the reassurance, he hesitated to believe it. ‘In the big scheme of things, my desires matter little.’

  Song shook his head, frustrated, and moved in close to whisper in his old nemesis’ ear. ‘You were right all along.’ Song pulled back to see Wu Geng utterly flabbergasted, his expression full of question. ‘But for now,’ Song went on, not at liberty to expand on his confession, ‘you are one of us, and we shall not abandon you, in this universe or the next.’

  Wu Geng clutched Song’s right arm below the elbow, and Song returned the gesture, to shake on it. ‘That intention is mutual,’ Wu Geng pledged, ahead of escorting Aysel into the meditation chamber.

  Noah closed the door behind them and their eyes fell on Song.

  ‘Now, what the hell is going on?’ Avery was not in a patient mood.

  ‘I can summon you from the Otherworld to anywhere in the physical realms, is that correct?’ Song directed the query at the Lord of the Otherworld.

  ‘Correct,’ Avery verified.

  ‘Excellent,’ Song resolved. ‘Those of you who wish to be involved at this time, go to the Otherworld and await my summons.’ He turned and headed for the meditation chamber.

  ‘What about telling us the plan?’ Avery was in no mood to be put off, and moved to extract the information from Song by teleporting himself into his path.

  ‘Not here,’ Song emphasised, despite the lord’s dark mood.

  ‘He is right to refrain,’ Noah cut in before Avery retaliated to the response with force.

  ‘My wife and unborn child lie butchered!’ the lord stressed, as Noah held him back from the new timekeeper commander.

  ‘Not for long,’ Song insisted, and the comment pacified the lord to a degree. ‘Just do as I ask.’ He waited for confirmation from the lord and, jaw clenched in frustration, Avery moved out of Song’s path. ‘I would see you gone, before I depart,’ Song asserted.

  The request did nothing to appease Avery’s mood, yet he complied nonetheless and vanished in a huff. Noah followed suit without question.

  ‘I regret the responsibility for my mess has fallen in your lap,’ Rhun stated in parting.

  ‘Your actions have provided me with clarity,’ Song granted, ‘and this sidetrack will grant access to a far greater highway.’

  ‘It is my greatest hope that you are right about that.’ Rhun vanished to join his brother in the Otherworld.

  ‘Mine too,’ Song uttered quietly, and steeled himself to stay the course.

  Inside the meditation chamber, Song was met by silent bemusement from everyone therein, and as much as he wanted to set their fears at rest, if he did, they would surely fail. Hence, he looked to Huxin and Hudan. ‘Let’s do this.’

  With a wry smile of confirmation from them both, all three of them lay on the floor of the chamber.

  Hudan was close to Dan’s covered body, and noting his hand protruding from the shroud, she placed her hand on his. ‘See you in the next one.’ She looked to the ceiling to allow her welling tears to roll down her face. She drew a deep breath for strength, and placing her free hand on her belly, closed her eyes to mentally stave off her fears for her child.

  ‘When will you be back?’ Telmo appealed, fearful that he would never see them again.

  ‘Before you know it,’ Song retorted, although Telmo was left dissatisfied with the answer.

  ‘We are returning to the day we left?’ Huxin assumed.

  ‘No,’ Song advised, ‘to exactly one Sermetic year prior to our leaving.’

  Huxin frowned upon casting her memory back to that long forgotten time. ‘But nothing was happening then.’

  ‘That’s exactly why I picked that destination,’ Song explained. ‘Mission Log Day one thousand, three hundred and fifty-six … the day following my daughter’s ninth birthday.’

  ‘Thanks for the reminder,’ Huxin grinned, ‘but I do believe I awoke with a splitting headache that morning.’

  ‘We all did,’ Hudan complained.

  ‘See, we all remember it,’ Song rested his case. ‘I’m guessing you won’t remember the next day half as clearly.’

  ‘He’s right, I don’t.’ Huxin reconciled herself to the miserable homecoming, as did Hudan.

  ‘What have I missed?’ Jahan arrived on the scene to forestall their departure once again. ‘You’re leaving?’

  Huxin sat up to address his concerns, but Song reached up and, grabbing her shoulder, urged her to lie back down.

  ‘Focus,’ he ordered, ‘we don’t have time for this.’ And with a mournful look in Jahan’s direction, she closed her eyes to comply.

  ‘Watch out!’ Song heard Wu Geng cry as a commotion erupted, and he snuck a glimpse.

  Ling Hu leapt at Wu Geng as Jahan reached for his weapon to fire at Vugar and several other reptilians that had forced their way into the chamber. For a moment Song considered raising himself to help fend off the attack, but if they failed to return to AIME their best route to ridding this universe of the virus would be cut off.

  ‘Don’t look, just go!’ He encouraged the girls beside him, to join him in pouring their entire focus into leaving these bodies before they were slain. No pressure, he quietly mocked their goal.

  His last conscious wish was that his female crew mates could maintain the concentration needed to join him back on AMIE, as convincing the crew of the vital urgency of this mission on his own would prove highly problematic.

  11

  ORIGINS

  His body being rocked woke him with a start, and his eyes parted to set blurry sights on the depths of deep space beyond the window in his sleeping quarters. ‘What … what is it?’ The throbbing of his head urged his eyes closed once more.

  ‘Daddy? You told me to wake you if you were not awake by now.’

  His body was rocked a few times more.

  ‘And you’re not awake.’

  ‘I’m awake,’ he mumbled, his mouth as dry as the surface of Sermetica. ‘Just stop with the shaking, or I’ll be sick as well.’<
br />
  ‘I made you tea.’

  In a burst of consciousness, it hit Zeven that he was in bed on AMIE, and the little voice begging his attention belonged to his daughter. ‘Ray?’ His eyes shot open and immediately flooded with tears, due to both his sorry condition this morning and the relief of seeing his only child after an age without her.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she was amused by his doubt, placing the tea on the bedside table. ‘Who else would dare wake you in this condition?’

  ‘Baby girl,’ he sat upright and pulled her close to him in a tight embrace, savouring the smell of her dark hair.

  ‘You have to stop calling me that,’ she hugged him gladly and then pulled back to remind him. ‘I turned nine yesterday.’

  Zeven grinned. ‘You could have turned a hundred and nine, you’d still be my baby girl.’

  Ray rolled her eyes, freed herself and patted his chest in reassurance. ‘Whatever floats your boat, Dad.’

  He looked aside to find his wife, Aurora, still sleeping off the celebration of the previous day alongside him, and leaning over he kissed her bare shoulder and savoured her scent also.

  ‘She won’t be happy if you wake her,’ Ray warned, ‘we promised to let her sleep in today.’

  Zeven was very tempted not to honour that promise, but withdrew to a less tempting distance.

  ‘So are you going to get out of bed of your own accord, or shall I be forced to lift you out of there?’ Ray folded her arms and raised both eyebrows in question.

  She had some cheek, Zeven considered, as she could make good on that threat. For Ray had no psychic talent of her own, but could tap into the talents of any psychic in her close vicinity; meaning at present she had access to his psychokinesis.

  ‘Threaten me, will you?’ He jumped out of bed and threw her, squealing, over his shoulder.

  ‘You told me to!’ she insisted through her unbridled laughter, as he tickled her. ‘I brought you tea!’ She defended her own good intentions.

  ‘Have some respect for the dead,’ Aurora stirred to complain, and brought their game to an end.

  ‘Shhh!’ Zeven put Ray down.

  ‘Your bad,’ she pointed out.

  ‘I accept that,’ Zeven held up his hands in truce, as he backed towards the bathroom.