by Daryl Banner
Wick gapes. “You knew my younger brother when you were alive??”
Dran snorts at Wick’s enthusiasm. “You even sound a bit like him. I told you, we have common ground. We’ll chat on it later. Come, let me introduce you to some other ninth folk you might know.”
“My brother Lionis should be here,” insists Wick. “He died just before I did. Fuck, I have so much I need to say to him.”
“Alright, alright. Calm down. You’re giving me a headache.”
Wick can’t help nor contain his enthusiasm. He doesn’t even bother to hide his cock and balls as they swing with his strut into the tiny city. Everyone is clothed in an assortment of leathers and linens. No one seems to mind his nakedness, which is somehow exactly what Wick would have expected from a city “on the other side”.
Wick is brought to the porch of a cabin where three men are seated over a table that has scratching all over it. Wick takes it to be some sort of game they’re playing. The men look up when Dran gives them a whistle, drawing their attention.
“We have a new one from the ninth,” announces Dran. “How about you each give yourselves a little intro, yeah?”
The first gives a nod. “Barley. Never seen you before, but I had a run-in with a … well, it’s not important. Metal Hand poked my nose and here I am.”
The second man speaks up. “Kraag Tourney. Stole food from a sixth ward orphanage. I deserve to be here. Your turn, Rych.”
The third man, bearded and solemn and gaunt, hardly looks up from the table when he speaks. “I am Rychis Bard. I have a wife and one baby boy. I lost my temper and broke a machine at my job.”
Barley snorts. “Really, Rych. Are those the only words you ever say? Over and over?”
Wick nods at each of them. “I’m Anwick,” he tells him. “Have any of you seen my brother Lionis? Looks like me, except … not.”
Rychis scowls and returns his full attention to the table. Kraag snorts, appreciating Wick’s lightness, and says, “Nope. Not seen any Lionis around here.”
Barley asks, “When did Metal Hand touch him?”
“Oh, no, Metal Hand didn’t,” Wick explains. “My brother Lionis was killed. Impis touched him with the Madness and Lionis threw himself off the …” Wick feels a wave of emotion hit him suddenly. Perhaps he ought to slow down a bit with the excitement; it’s almost like he’s forgotten that he’s dead. “And he … he threw himself off of the edge of the Lifted City,” Wick finishes in a far flatter tone.
The men stare at him hard. Then they lift their gazes to Dran expectantly, who regards Wick with two lazy, half-lidded eyes.
Wick looks between the men and Dran. “What? What is it?”
Dran gives a short sigh. “I think you got the wrong idea, Wick.”
“What do you mean?”
He puts his hands on Wick’s shoulders. “You’re not dead.”
Wick blinks. He stares at Dran for the solid space of a minute. “I was … I was touched by Metal Hand. I was obliterated. I was—”
“No. You were teleported.”
Wick scrunches up his eyes. Now he’s thoroughly confused. “I was what?”
“What I’m saying is, Metal Hand doesn’t know what the fuck his own Legacy is,” explains Dran with a crooked smirk. “The idiot thinks he destroys everything he touches. Nothing has ever proven to him otherwise. He touches something, it goes away. Simple as that. But the truth is … he teleports what he touches.”
Wick can’t close his mouth, nor blink his eyes. Even now, he isn’t sure he’s hearing Dran correctly.
“What I mean is,” Dran presses on, his tone a touch darker, “my brother Fylan was killed by the Banshee. Not Metal Hand.” Dran’s eyes darken with anger. “Greymyn killed the wrong fucking brother. Fylan was a sweet, untouched soul. He was only there because of me. I should have died that day. Not my sweet brother Fylan.”
“Show him,” grunts Barley.
“Yeah, show him,” agrees Kraag.
Dran regards them with a roll of his eyes, then puts an arm over Wick’s shoulder. “Come, Anwick. You’ll want to see this. But I must prepare you: it’s going to fuckin’ rip your world wide open.”
The boys leave the village and pass into the woods, the magic of which has worn off on Wick, now that his perception of everything has shifted dramatically. He feels more naked now than he ever has his whole life. Dran continues to walk him up a hill, the trees falling behind them. The hill turns rocky, and soon Wick is wincing as his sensitive feet press into the stones as they ascend.
When they reach the top, Wick sees a span of desert before him. Far, far away at the other side of the flowing sands, a dark line draws across the horizon, extending as far as the eye can see both ways.
“What is it you think you’re looking at?” asks Dran casually.
“The Wall,” Wick says at once in perfect monotone.
“Aye,” agrees Dran, “but have you realized yet which side of it you’re standing on?”
Wick stares, awed. He feels the trees far behind him, and the wind of the wild on his skin, and sees the uninterrupted sky above, and the beaming sun, and the rolling sands … and the Wall …
And the Wall … “We’re outside the city of Atlas,” answers Wick, staggered.
Dran throws an arm over his back. “Welcome to the Oblivion, Anwick Lesser of the ninth.”
- - -
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2017 - 2018
Table of Contents
THE OUTLIER SERIES Chapter Compendium
The Citizenry of Atlas
ACT 1
Prologue
0138 Sedge
0139 Wick
0140 Kid
0141 Halvesand
0142 Wick
0143 Link
0144 Ellena
0145 Athan
0146 Mercy
0147 Wick
0148 Arrow
0149 Ellena
0150 Tide
0151 Wick
0152 Halvesand
0153 Ellena
0154 Arrow
0155 Kid
0156 Athan
0157 Ellena
0158 Link
0159 Tide
0160 Arrow
0161 Link
Cintha’s Patience
ACT 2
0162 Rone
0163 Rone
0164 Link
0165 Athan
0166 Tide
0167 Athan
0168 Link
0169 Ruena
0170 Arrow
0171 Forgemon
0172 Link
0173 Wick
0174 Sedge
0175 Rone
0176 Link
0177 Wick
0178 Athan
0179 Ellena
0180 Forgemon
0181 Ruena
0182 Arrow
0183 Wick
0184 Kid
Cintha’s Weapon
ACT 3
0185 Tide
0186 Kid
0187 Arrow
0188 Wick
0189 Ruena
0190 Tide
; 0191 Link
0192 Mercy
0193 Halvesand
0194 Kid
0195 Ruena
0196 Wick
0197 Kid
0198 Link
0199 Sedge
0200 Mercy
0201 Tide
0202 Athan
0203 Rone
0204 Tide
0205 Kid
0206 Wick
0207 Wick
ACT 4
0208 Athan
0209 Sedge
0210 Kid
0211 Halvesand
0212 Rone
0213 Arrow
0214 Kid
0215 Mercy
0216 Ellena
0217 Athan
0218 Kid
0219 Link
0220 Rone
0221 Arrow
0222 Kid
0223 Rone
0224 Ellena
0225 Forgemon
0226 Ruena
0227 Tide
0228 Link
0229 Rone
Cintha’s Promise
0230 Rone
0231 Halvesand
Epilogue