Planar Wars: Apertures (Book 1)

by Edmund A. M. Batara

  But the release of the explosive force was but a momentary event. As I got back up to observe what was happening, I could see some houses along the nearby road had lost their roofs or parts of them, even if the eruption had occurred some distance away. I guessed we were lucky. The houses between the epicenter and ourselves provided some buffer against the demolishing power of that destructive wind. The house did vibrate violently from that unbelievably strong concussive blast.

  As we stayed quiet and continued observing the pillar of light, a tear in the heavens slowly appeared. There would be no simple way to describe the color the rift revealed, but if there truly were such a thing as blacker than black, then that was it.

  The ragged edges of the fracture abruptly glowed the same color as the pillar, revealing its irregular shape. Then the rip in the sky stopped growing. But it was already large. The darkness lightened, enough to see vague details, but I could see a massive structure coming into existence near the tower of green light.

  With its size, one could hardly miss it. At first, it was sort of a transparent image, and I could see right through it. Even the luminescence of the light tower glowed through its insides. Could be empowering its arrival, I absentmindedly observed.

  Then it was whole, it solidified, and the darkness lifted, though the rift remained. The pillar vanished but was replaced by a thinner one, also of the same repugnant and malevolent color, coming out of the top of the flat-top pyramid.

  A ziggurat.

  A Mesopotamian temple.

  Fuck, I thought. Now they’re building their churches right here on Earth.

  I believed the new light pillar was the one keeping the rift open. Maybe they needed the larger one to bore through any dimensional barrier, but it would only mean that whatever veil was between our reality and theirs was now weakened. Far, far diminished. Fractures created by the merging? I thought. At least it wasn’t a humungous gate. It was around thirty feet across, by my estimate.

  It was hard to guess correctly at the distance. Of all times to need binoculars! I’d had a pair before, but it got totaled one drunken night when we’d used it to check if the girls at the sorority houses were okay.

  Straining my eyes, I tried to pick out details in the distance. Then Henry spoke up.

  “Creatures. There, look. Coming out of the rift.”

  Such a simple few sentences with so many terrible implications. Before, the appearance or arrival of the creatures was obviously random. From what I could tell, at least from my experiences, accidental apertures in the barrier separating this world from that dark and corrupt dimension seemed to be the norm, except possibly in the Pines Valley area. New arrivals were few and disoriented. But this? It might not have been a dimensional gate exactly, but it was enough to pour a lot of whatever was in that dimension into this world. And as I’d observed before, we hadn’t seen anything yet. Then I saw another disturbing occurrence. A dark fog was also flowing from their world into ours. I didn’t know what it would do. But definitely, it was bad news.

  We watched, morbidly entranced by the numbers and the variety of creatures pouring out. We could see the details of some of them already. Many flew by, ran, or marched at viewing distance. Almost all were fast movers, allowing only fleeting glimpses. But there seemed to be an inordinate sampling of claws, fangs, pointy body extremities, and that popular horror fare – tentacles. I probably saw other bizarre and unfamiliar appendages but my brain couldn’t identify them; it was hard enough to even admit seeing them. They all headed in the direction of the highway, a fact which made me consider the town could be their target.

  That worried me greatly, not only for the town, but also for Stan and Cooper. I hoped their selected route wouldn’t cross the path of that dark, malevolent and repulsive army.

  At least the darkness was entirely gone, though I doubted the sight that greeted us was of any reassurance. The now open and visible field revealed ranks upon serried ranks of creatures, some looking vaguely like medieval human soldiers, armored and with weapons. Though I couldn’t tell if their armor and weapons were organic or manufactured. I’d have bet on the organic.

  Then a group of flying beasts came out of the rift and headed straight for us. We all ducked reflexively. Nothing happened for a few minutes, so we were emboldened to peek again. The damned things were perched on the roofs of the residences around us.

  I guessed some were on the roof of the house. I prayed Ms. Adley wouldn’t freak out and give her position away. I examined the ones on the Benjamins’ house and this new group was yet another distinct variety. The size of large dogs, they had broad wings, taloned hands, and clawed feet. But here was the kicker: they appeared to be made out of bone. Not skeletal frames, but solid bone – aged, yellow, and dirty bones. The heads, similar to those of eagles, had large beaks, with the upper bill protruding over the lower, making a deadly hooked protrusion. No fangs, but the strangest characteristic was how the bulbous eyes appeared positioned in the precise area where we considered a nose should sit.

  A similar but taller creature was among them, standing on the rooftop of the house at the intersection, the Stanleys’ place I believe. This one had a winged humanoid form, though with its back turned, I couldn’t see its face. Considering it was the only one of its kind in the terrifying bunch, it must surely have been the leader of the flock. Or should it be termed a pack or a group? A cluster?

  Suddenly, they all took flight, catching us by surprise. I wondered what the disturbance was all about. Then I heard Henry calling my attention with a whisper.

  The man pointed to the back of the subdivision. A mass of another group of flying creatures was arriving, darkening their section of the sky, and by the way our previous guests reacted, these newcomers weren’t friendly.

  15

  Evicted

  As the bony winged creatures took to the air, a multitude of other flying monstrosities flew from the vicinity of the ziggurat. I didn’t expect there would be so many. Then I figured the winged aspect of their master, boss, or whatever they called him, had something to do with it. He must be a veritable king of winged demons. So, it followed that his mainstay would be monstrous creatures of the air. The host of the monsters darkened the sky. All headed toward their unwelcome visitors.

  “No wonder the town still stands. This territory is under dispute. The bastards are still fighting each other. But we don’t know how many factions are involved,” whispered Henry.

  “I would guess seven,” I replied. Funny; that comment came completely out of the blue. My brain must have been busy in the background. I seemed to speak without even engaging my mouth.

  “Huh? Why seven?” asked Jen.

  “The seven gates of Irkalla, Kur, Arali, among several other names. The gates are guarded by one Neti, unless he also carved out his own niche, which would make it eight realms. But it’s all conjecture on my part. Though based on what I learned about ancient mythology back in college, the prevailing situation might be different. Many of those accounts were ex-post facto ones. Written to glorify or validate the reign of a king or an emperor,” I replied.

  “Armies of two factions are out there, though I think what we are seeing is but a small representation of what they have. But seven or eight realms?” whispered Henry. “Jesus…”

  “Yeah. I know. We’re all fucked seven or eight ways to Hell,” answered Jen without turning her head. That surprised me. Rarely did Jen engage in earthy and colorful language. The stress must also have been getting to her.

  I continued watching and noted the surprisingly intense vehemence involved. No formations or a clear plan could be seen. The defenders bore straight toward their attackers and without any hesitation or pause for a momentary take on the situation, as is the practice in human battles, flew into the mass of incoming enemies, attempting to tear apart their opponents. The use of other means, either magical or organic, if any such attempts were being made to wreak havoc, could not be seen from our location.

  It w
as a disorganized, impulsive, instinctive and animalistic, savage battle of the air. The entire sky was filled with diving, flying, and grappling creatures. A colossal melee in the heavens. The shrieking, wailing, tearing and agonized cries of injured or attacking beasts became all-overpowering, while the skies were a writhing, seething mass of flapping black in which it was impossible to see where one unholy beast began and another ended.

  One of them is bound to give any time soon, I thought. Then I noticed the constant flow of new combatants from both sides pouring into the battle proving me wrong. Surprisingly, I didn’t see any of the creatures fall. I remembered that they’d turn into small piles of black soil the moment they died. If they came from a world, then they’d got a whole planet’s worth of it.

  Shit.

  An enormous disturbance at the edge of the forest from which the newcomers came abruptly broke out. It dawned on me that the flying attackers could have come with their own ground counterparts which had just reached the area.

  I began to see legions of creatures returning from the direction of the highway. Perfect, I thought. Less danger for Stan and Cooper.

  Previously, it had difficult to get the details of the passing creatures and beasts as they moved so fast. But now, a group paused at the intersection. I guessed they were waiting for their brethren as I saw similar monsters joining forces with them. That also meant this group had at least human-level intelligence. They looked like the winged leader of the bone birds, only without the flying appendages and with arms that suspiciously looked like long, sharp swords. These were also made of bone, but it was the sword arms which drew my attention. Broad killing implements, they tapered into a small pointed tip. I guessed they just didn’t need hands.

  The head was an elongated mound of bone, shaped like that of an alligator with that animal’s horrendous mouth. It extended from the end of the face, up to just before a thick and low neck. I couldn’t see the kind of teeth or fangs they had, but with a gaping orifice like that, they could bite or swallow whole the heads of most of their opponents. The bony body was slightly built as well as the legs, the monster being made for quickness and agility rather than brute strength. With those arms and mouths, and speed, I didn’t think they needed much more.

  But the more I saw of those creatures, the more depressed I became. They were truly monsters. Primitive men against huge mastodons had stood a chance. Hell, we’d hunted them. But these terrible creatures, in their variety, hunger, and otherworldly aspects? I realized we didn’t have a conception of how genuinely terrifying they were.

  Whatever terrors were depicted in ancient writings and rare pictographs had barely scratched the surface of what that underworld was like. Some were clearly killing machines like those bony humanoids. Others, I couldn’t even begin to speculate on how they functioned – they were merely repulsive globs of floating slime with a lot of eyes and tentacles. Then, I saw mounted ones too, riding a kind of horned lizard — but they moved too quickly for me to get details of the appearance of the riders.

  A lot of them didn’t grant us the convenience of moving within our line of sight. Then, there was this one creature which really blew my mind. And I mean a sudden onset of terror, a balls-in-your-mouth kind of fear.

  That indescribably horrified reaction.

  This…this…thing…was a tall amorphous shape, black miasma swirling all around it. It was alone and passing the bony company when I saw it. The height of a two-story house, it radiated terror so intense that we were all looking at our packs, fighting a visceral instinct to run. Thankfully, it was quickly gone from sight.

  To think it was around a hundred and fifty feet from the house up to the intersection. I guessed any humans close enough would all be driven quite mad by fear.

  An hour passed, then another hour. The fighting didn’t abate. Actually, it worsened with both sides throwing their heavies into the fray. But the defending heavies came from the far side of the subdivision, so we were not able to see them.

  For the attackers, the first gigantic monsters to arrive were three flying beasts so large that their smaller brethren looked like sparrows next to a condor. That big. We could see they had wings, but they didn’t flap them as much as the first arrivals. One could even have used the term majestic as they flew slowly toward us. Majestic if one disregards the fact that the frontal part was full of eyes, while below them, a long slit ran side to side, which I guessed was the mouth. It had a dark green color, though its strangely smooth skin metamorphosed through numerous shades as it flew, trailing tendrils of dark haze behind it.

  The kaleidoscope of colors must have had a purpose. A purpose more appropriate to a beast of a nether realm than Earth animals which used color in a delicate and subtle way, to attract mates or hide from predators.

  Then we sighted their enormous ground counterparts, towering above the trees. The fucking things looked like ticks the size of a large whale. I could only shake my head in disbelief. And we hadn’t even seen what the defenders threw into the fight.

  So far, the chaotic fighting had been limited to the edges of the subdivision, specifically the back and the far side. But I was getting apprehensive. The longer the battle dragged on, the higher the chance it might spill over to our side.

  I felt sure Henry was also thinking the same thing as he walked back to the kitchen and fixed the packs, picking up the torches and tying them to the sides of the bags. Next, he placed a spear beside each one and began fashioning carrying pouches for the Molotovs. I went to him.

  “You think the fighting will reach us?” I asked.

  “Maybe. But the length of time that melee’s been going on is starting to worry me. And if that’s their version of a beer brawl, a real attack’s got me worried. Who am I kidding? Terrified,” he answered. “I’ll take care of this. Give Jen the pistol and let’s prepare for a possible retreat. Try to see if we forgot anything.”

  “The emergency lamp, though it’s powered by batteries. I’ll advise Jen to continue watching and I’ll scrounge around. We’ll need more water though. There are fresh streams around, but I’d rather get my water away from this area,” I answered as I grabbed the map from the table and inserted it one of the pockets of my backpack.

  I talked to Jenny and advised her about our plans. I found a small canvas bag which I used to carry carpentry tools around and placed the emergency lamp in it, along with all the spare batteries I could find. I refilled three plastic bottles with water and put them in too, along with a cleaver. Checking the cupboard, I found extra steak knives and inserted them in the bags, together with some nylon rope.

  My camping knife, I strapped to my belt. I thought about the hammer and nails, vacillating between their obvious utility and their weight. But I finally decided to bring the items. A small ax was added to Henry’s load. I knew mine was going to be heavy – a backpack and a shoulder bag.

  With everything as ready as it could ever be, Henry and I went back to our view of the ongoing battle. The battlefield had expanded, leaving us in a precarious position. The attackers had broadened their front, and we could glimpse the horrors fighting somewhere down the road, but on our side of the subdivision.

  “This is bound to be interesting,’ said Henry. “They’re trying to move on that structure in a pincer movement.”

  Damn. There goes another theory. I thought all they had in those gooey brains was a bite-and-slash approach. Now, it appears they’ve some rudimentary idea of tactics. At least, those leading them.

  “See that three-story house down there? The one with a green roof? What remains of it anyway. If the fighting reaches that point, it’s time to leave. We’ll only have around fifteen to thirty seconds. It’s a fast-moving battle. But we have to be extra careful. No telling if the woods are now full of these creatures rushing to join the fight. I didn’t observe any passing through from the back, but take care and move with prudence. I’ll take point, and Eric, the rear. Jen in the middle,” Henry added. “I really hate to leave a solid r
efuge like this, but like any battle, things rapidly change.”

  At that point, I started to wonder why the attackers were very persistent. I could imagine the massive casualties by now. The sky was as full as ever with biting and clawing creatures. The three enormous flying monsters were engulfed in a storm of diminutive opponents. Could it be the temple they were after, not only as a symbol of ownership but as a transfer point?

  A “capture-the-flag” struggle? Inane.

  Then I saw sinuous black tentacles coming out of the rift. Shit. More reinforcements. Creepier. This is going to be a really long fight.

  I noticed the patches of greenish slime dripping from the tentacles. Slime, my mind insisted, though my rational side said pus. Pazuzu was a demon of disease and pestilence after all.

  A frenzied movement of creatures in the middle of the “front,” as we referred to it, caught my attention. It appeared the attackers were trying to make a concerted effort to break through. I saw a distinct shift in the movements of the defenders toward the new threat. At least it was away from us, I thought.

  Well, I was wrong.

  After around thirty minutes in which my attention was divided between the ebb and flow of the distant fighting and the sight of the owner of the tentacles slowly making its way downward, a new disturbance grabbed our attention.

  A wave of the giant ticks now moved into view, leading a charge from the side. The attack from the center had been a feint.

  The huge and loathsome creatures were accompanied by more flying ones that looked like the bats we’d seen on the highway. Ground forces could have accompanied them but I was not able to see any. The remaining intact structures were in the way.

  The stampeding monsters squashed houses as they moved at full speed toward the ziggurat. I didn’t believe they even considered them as obstacles, as the structures were destroyed and the ruins scattered like straw on a windy day.