by Evan Currie
A leader was like a swordsman, only his blade was an army, and how he used the blade would reveal things to the enemy. Knowing what he was revealing would allow him to lay traps and feints in the way he’d been trained in one-on-one fighting.
This book is incredible. It’s as if it were written just for me.
He immediately continued reading, sinking deeper into the book with every passing word.
Chapter 6
The feeling of oppressive doom that had suddenly struck her had faded but left the feeling of deep paranoia in its place. Ser’Goth was used to paranoia, of course; it was part and parcel of any position in the circles, let alone a position as high and importantly placed as her own. However, she wasn’t feeling like the threat was a claw in her back this time.
The threat felt, or had felt, like it came from outside.
On the surface that was absurd. The enemy had no forces in this dimension, she was certain of that. If they did and they were in any way willing to put them into the field, they would have been employed a long time past.
It was remotely possible that they had held some sort of force back against a final-hour attempt to arrest the circles’ endgame, but they had to know that any such move would be doomed to be little more than a delaying tactic at most.
No, the enemy wasn’t the sort to waste resources on a fool’s errand like that.
All reports agreed, including her own. The enemy had effectively abandoned the entire plane when the demon incursion finally pacified the earth.
That was, perhaps, a rather ridiculous notion on the surface, Ser’Goth thought with some amusement. Earth was one world among a near infinite number across the face of the plane, but it was strategically the only important one in most universes.
Earth was the echo of Eden, the center of universal cartography. It was rooted most deeply in the substrata of the universe and was the most potent bridge to cross dimensions. That made it a vital position for the circles and for the enemy. It was a choke point, where final victory was of paramount importance.
Who held the earth controlled the universe.
Some universes were easier to take than others, of course, but this one appeared by all measure to be one of the simpler ones. There was no real sign of any universal forces to combat, though there were bound to be a few that would resist effectively. Life on earth was almost invariably among the oldest forms of life in the universe in nearly every plane.
None of that helped her understand the brief feeling of doom that had permeated her senses just a short time ago.
It is as if the enemy returned to the field and then vanished again, she thought grimly as she pored over reports that had been sent to her in accordance with her demands. Reports strewn across the table that held the strategic maps that showed her entire domain.
The problem with that thought, however, was that it made little sense. There was no reason for the enemy to have sent its minions back to a world as securely conquered as this earth had become.
She growled, frustrated, and tossed the reports aside. They clattered to the wall and to the floor as she got up from the table and stalked back and forth across the war room, frustration gnawing at her.
Perhaps they retrieved one of their agents? A long-term plant, being drawn out at the last moment? she conjectured. It wouldn’t be a stupid thing to do. Gaining intelligence on the enemy’s endgame might help them in future battles, even if this one was lost.
Still, something wasn’t sitting right with her.
Ser’Goth walked out on the open balcony that looked out over the city from the highest spire of what had once been a human palace, her talons growing from her fingers as she gripped the rails and looked down on her domain.
No. Something wasn’t sitting right at all.
Across the face of the planet, at five key points around the circle of the earth, work was feverishly progressing as the summoning runes were positioned and arranged carefully into the circles of power that would draw on the earth itself to bring forth the final end for the planet as it had ever been. No world survived the passing of the elder unscarred, and this earth would be no exception.
Demons and human slaves worked at each site, assembling the massive stoneworks required to channel the power it would take to open portals large and strong enough for the elder.
The titanic circles of stone were slowly heaved into place, mangling anyone unfortunate enough to be caught underneath as the massive chunks of granite shifted. Demon or human, the dead were ignored and left to rot where they lay.
All five of the sites were in locations that the demons had taken extreme care to ensure were pacified of all human presence.
Though Ser’Goth had no way to know it, in four of the five, they were even right in their belief. In the fifth, they would have been right just a few short weeks earlier.
Her intuition was closer to the mark than she was willing to believe.
*****
Jol looked on from a dark corner of the grand hall that had become the location where lower-level demons congregated before setting out on whatever assignments they had. He was one of the few humans with access to the area, partly due to his amusing the lady and partly because he tended to last longer than most humans did in the presence of power. How much was due to his innate toughness and how much was due to fear of the lady was open for debate, but either way it meant that he was often required to deliver messages or provide services to the gathered filth that called themselves the rulers of the world.
Something was up; that much was obvious even to his normally oblivious eyes.
It must have to do with the elder.
The twins had filled him in on the meaning of that title, and a shiver ran down his back at the thought of beings so powerful that they were practically independent of the circles. The circles didn’t tolerate independence. If you didn’t bow, then you either died or were hammered upon until you did.
For the circles to largely have arranged a détente with the elder implied things he didn’t want to think too hard on.
The obvious nervousness he could see in the demons spoke volumes to Jol. He read fear in their eyes, those of them who had eyes, and that was something he’d never seen in a hale demon before . . . and rarely enough in a dying demon for that matter. When he killed them, most looked on him with hatred, not fear.
The twins had told him, that same fear glinting in their eyes, about the elder, but even their information was cycled through a dozen voices before it got to him, and Jol found himself doubting it all. Oh, certainly they had to be powerful. The demons respected nothing but the power to strike them down and only slightly that at times. However, the level of power they were whispering about seemed . . . impossible.
He hoped it was, at least, because if not . . .
He had limits, even knew what they were for the most part. He just chose to ignore them, push past them because of his stubborn pride. Against creatures such as everyone whispered the elder to be . . . well, he would be dead. He would not bend—his pride wouldn’t allow him—and he could not survive such as that. So Jol was calmly preparing himself for death. If the elder were as whispered, then he would make one last stand in his pride before he was killed.
He would kill Ser’Goth, and it would be his last act.
So be it.
*****
Infernal girl-child, Merlin grumbled to himself as he watched Elan prepare herself for the self-imposed idiocy she was intent on perpetrating.
He had linked to the newly named Atlantis redoubt, primarily to monitor the newly established colony, but the scanners on the old scientific station picked up something that distracted him from the frustrating child he was dealing with.
Odd. Why are there demons out this far in the ocean? he wondered, now focusing more of his attention there.
Atlantis was a solitary island some distance off from a small chain, interesting in itself only due to the existence of what was known as a fairly powerful ley line that p
assed directly underneath. The entire chain had that in common, and several of the islands had small nexuses that had been studied deeply just before the invasion but had not resulted in much useful research by the time all hells broke loose.
The island he was now observing through the limited scanners at his disposal was the prize of the archipelago, the location of one of the greatest nexuses ever located and where the original research station had been established. Unfortunately, that facility had been buried in a volcanic eruption a long time past, or Merlin would have better eyes on the site.
As it was, he could only barely tell that there were, in fact, demons there.
“Merlin . . . Merlin!”
The EI mentally blinked and shifted his focus back to the irate child growling at him.
“What is it?” he asked dryly, eying the girl standing there in augmenting armor with a sidearm secured to her hip. “And try not to lose that one, if you would. We have only so many available.”
Elan flushed, irritated but unwilling to delve into that particular issue just then. “I’ve never seen you distracted. What happened?”
“I am not sure,” Merlin said thoughtfully. “I’ve detected demons near Atlantis.”
“What!” Elan stiffened in place. “We have to—”
“Do nothing,” he snapped, piercing her with a glare. “They’re not close enough to happen on the colony and do not appear to be doing anything of note. If not for the colony, I would have ignored them entirely, but given the proximity, I will, of course, investigate.”
“How?” Elan asked, confused.
“Remote probes,” Merlin answered. “The station has a few old models that were designed to observe animal life without startling them. As stealth goes, they’re not overly impressive, but demons don’t use advanced scanners either. The probes should be sufficient to the task, much better than if you were to go. If you were caught looking into it yourself, the demons might search for more people, and that is not an acceptable outcome.”
Elan sighed but nodded. “You’re right. Watch them closely.”
Merlin inclined his head slightly, gesturing with his right hand. “I will, I assure you. Now, I suppose you’re fixated on visiting Lemuria?”
She nodded firmly. “I am.”
“The local command center is intact,” Merlin answered, “but it is buried deep under the city, and not all systems are linked back to me. I cannot say for sure what you’ll find, but I should be able to guide you when you arrive.”
“Thank you,” Elan said, taking a deep breath as she visibly steadied herself. “I . . .”
Merlin eyed her as she hesitated, then got herself under control. He wished only that he could get her a more proper training before all this. Their time had been limited, and while she had come a long way in using the technical prowess of her ancestors, there was so much left to learn.
She would be an impressive operative if only she had the time to learn what she needs to know.
“The transport system is charged,” he said. “Will you explain to the young man, or shall I?”
“Caleb?” Elan asked, glancing back the way toward the library. She looked tempted briefly, then shrugged and shook her head. “You do it.”
Merlin smirked slightly, amused by her predictable cowardice in matters he considered trivial. Unafraid of demons or death, only frightened truly of failure . . . failure and the opinion of a young man who obviously saw her in much the same light.
It was . . . amusing.
“Very well,” he acceded. “Then the transport will be ready when you are.”
“I’ll go now.”
Elan barely hesitated at the door as she left, glancing briefly over her shoulder before shifting to look ahead again as she strode down the hallway. Merlin watched her go, his memories overlaying her with a thousand similar young men and women who’d marched off to the final end down that very hall.
It was his curse, sometimes, to see them go and know they wouldn’t be returning. Perhaps not this time, but eventually they all left and didn’t come back. He could see them all gathered as one group as he looked through time.
There had been a point in space-time when he could see the future and the past with equal clarity, but that had been before the demons had arrived and thrown entirely new variables into the universe. Since then he had been playing a desperate game of catch-up as he tried to analyze and determine the effects of their quanta on the universe as a whole.
By the time he had successfully adapted to the demons’ quanta, it had been too late. Nothing but death lay in the future. Death or worse.
Merlin extended his senses back into space-time, as he had earlier, and tried once more to see the future.
The past was there, as he knew it would be. Every soul he had ever known was speaking to him, and he was answering back. The present, as humans registered such things, was just as depressing as it had been for some time. Only Elan and Caleb now spoke to him, but they were both there.
The future, however, did not exist.
Merlin had been a master of time and space for as long as his memories went back, which was a long time indeed, and he had never encountered such as he was now observing. The future was so completely in flux as to be unreadable, despite his innate knowledge of the quanta about him.
That shouldn’t have been remotely possible.
Someone has introduced external variables. It was the only explanation that made sense. Nothing else could so totally throw everything into chaos as it had. The universe was a contained system; it was not possible for something from within to have this sort of impact.
Merlin just wished that he knew if this was a good thing or just another trap waiting to snap shut on what was left of the human race.
Time, he thought with some amusement, will tell the tale.
He only barely noted the flash of power as Elan departed Avalon.
For now, let us determine what those demons are up to out this far from their usual haunts.
*****
“Construction continues apace, my lady,” the general said as he presented the report, nervously shifting as Ser’Goth looked at him through slitted eyes.
“So I see,” she said coldly. “Tell me, Lord General, what is not going well?”
The general paused, then stammered, “I . . . what? I don’t understand.”
“You heard me,” Ser’Goth growled. “Every report tells me how well things are going, how perfectly it is all being managed. Nothing is perfect, Lord General. What setbacks have we encountered?”
The general stared at her blankly, then looked around at the others in the room, who held similar expressions.
“Lovely,” Ser’Goth grumbled. “So you’re not merely providing me with a shiny lie to make me happy. It seems that your own underlings are doing the same to you.” She glowered at them. “Go and find out just what you haven’t been told. Do not come back to me until you have. Go!”
They went.
Ser’Goth could feel the frustrations bubbling up deep inside her, but there were no targets to vent on that would leave her with any sense of satisfaction. Her generals were fools, yes, but they were necessary fools and too valuable to toy with overly. Slaves, even ones like her lovely Jol, were barely a morsel for one such as herself.
So she was left frustrated and wanting, with no serviceable targets to turn that energy on.
Occasionally, very occasionally, the life of a demoness left something to be desired.
*****
While stores were severely depleted after centuries of war, Merlin was not entirely without resources. Whether due to losses, simple overlook, or some other reason, he still had a small but significant supply of war materials spread across the planet. The ancient EI expected that there were many more stores tucked away in sections of the world he had no access to, but for the moment what he had on hand would do just fine.
No one on Atlantis noticed the sliver of motion flicker from the redoubt as he launch
ed the old scientific instruments and directed them toward the main island chain.
They flitted quickly over the blue-green waters, automatically registering and recording all the life below the ocean as they flew past. Merlin noted, with an odd corner of his attention, that local fish populations had rebounded nicely from the height of human civilization. The large sharks that patrolled the area, approaching nearly a hundred feet in length, caused him to make a note to inform the Atlanteans that perhaps venturing into the open water might not be in their best interest.
At least not until we can determine their hunting strategies, Merlin noted as he identified the species as one thought almost extinct before the invasion. I suppose the demons are good for something, at least in the short term. I wonder what the ultimate fate of such species will be under their rule.
The EI expected it wouldn’t be good, but then, that might just be his personal bias.
Ultimately it didn’t really matter much, he supposed as he directed the probes in toward the main island of the chain.
Now what in the name of humanity are they up to? Merlin puzzled as he examined the small horde of demon and human slaves in the process of erecting massive stone blocks in a circular pattern.
This will take more observation.
*****
Caleb closed the book and looked around, a little confused.
Elan said she was coming back, didn’t she?
He got up and checked around the library, but there was no sign of her or of Merlin, which also struck him as a little unusual.
Oh well. He shrugged before calling out, “Merlin?”
Instead of the immediate response he had half expected, there was a long pause, long enough that he was considering calling out again before the image of the old man appeared near him.
“Hmmm?” Merlin said, glancing at him. “You’re still here?”