Demonworld

by Kyle B. Stiff

  At that moment, as Wodi realized that Marlon was staring into a purple light in the tunnel ahead, the bridge bucked and a vicious reptilian head rose at Wodi. Scared witless, Wodi leaped back and stumbled as Serpens Rex climbed over the side. Wodi waved his arms about and fell over the side. He heard a scuffle, shouting, saw a torch fly free, the shotgun roared, then he hit the cold water and his torch died beside him. The water was not deep and Wodi’s back hit hard earth; always he kept his left hand upraised, kept the shotgun shells dry, the ammunition that he’d clutched desperately the entire time.

  As he struggled to rise he heard a terrible roar, then saw a body fall from the bridge and hit the water on the far side. More scuffling, then the shotgun flew over his head and slapped into the water. He slogged away from the bridge, desperate for speed that would not come, then grasped the shotgun. He was filled with confusion, awful and wrenching. He did not know if the others were alive or dead and, in a moment of soul-crushing cowardice, he turned away from the bridge and ran through the freezing water deeper into the tunnel.

  He was lost in darkness and raked his knuckles against the wall to his left as he ran. He felt a ledge and climbed up. His knuckles hit wood and he knew that he was in another man-made tunnel. He staggered to his feet, then heard splashing and the agonized hiss of Serpens Rex not far behind. With shaking hands he fumbled at the shotgun, popped it open, then withdrew two spent shells. He placed two of his shells inside, then clutched the other in his left hand. He took in deep panic breaths as the reptilian horror slogged through the water behind him.

  He knew that he would have to get close if his shots were going to count, but the idea of approaching either one of the horrors was unthinkable. For one moment he thought of turning the gun, of escaping the nightmare as quickly as possible –

  At that moment the purple light flared far ahead of him. He saw the bulbous white face, the empty black eyes, the long and twisted limbs. It was the demon he’d met so long ago, the demon who stood at the doorway of his nightmare since the nightmare had first begun. Without thinking he aimed and fired. The gun bucked wildly in his hands and the demon staggered backwards and bumped into a wall.

  He’s too far away! Wodi thought. That wasn’t a fatal shot!

  Five little jets of glowing stomach juices delicately oozed from pinpricks made by the buckshot. The white demon stared at its own glowing stomach, fascinated by the sight, then passed a hand under the gentle stream. Wodi turned, fearful that the reptilian monster would be behind him – and it was. The giant behemoth of glittering black scales lurched awkwardly, mouth hanging open in a silent hiss. Wodi stumbled backwards and, blind with terror, dropped his shotgun shell and held the gun limply in front of him as if to ward off the monster. The thing reached out and grasped the end of the shotgun. Wodi’s legs buckled as he held on – then pulled the trigger. In a deafening roar the monster’s hand disappeared in a pink cloud and it gave vent to a skull-splitting shriek of agony. Wodi sat on the ground and backed away, flinging his arm out to the side to find his last shotgun shell.

  Wodi had no idea if Eragileak, the purple-glowing demon, was directly behind him or not. He only felt about in a panic, unable to find the shell, and watched as Serpens Rex sat down heavily on his ass. The monster held its shattered wrist before it, watching as two lines of blood gushed out and gathered on the stone floor.

  Why isn’t it attacking? Wodi thought. Why doesn’t it kill me?

  Finally Wodi found the last shell and popped open the shotgun. The reptilian horror turned its glazed eyes onto him, then worked its mouth strangely. Wodi loaded the gun with the last shell, heart pounding, sure at any moment that Eragileak would be on top of him.

  It’s the cold! he thought suddenly. That reptile can’t handle the cold… and it’s been sitting in here for no telling how long, waiting to ambush us!

  Finally the reptile opened its mouth wide and its tongue jerked back strangely. “Wodi,” it said. “Wodi, it’s me! Help me… don’t kill me…”

  Wodi loaded the shotgun, then shouted, “What!”

  “It’s me… Saul,” said the monster. “Don’t… kill… me…”

  Wodi felt something like an icicle slicing through his awareness. “You monsters,” he said. “You… you somehow took Saul into yourselves! You monsters!”

  Wodi’s fear was replaced with burning rage. He leaped to his feet, fell upon the reptilian monster, jammed the shotgun into its mouth, then blasted the back of its head off. In a gushing wet thunderclap the monster was slain.

  Sucking in ragged breaths, Wodi turned back to Eragileak. He was shocked. The flesh demon had not been waiting to strike – instead, its stomach had been eaten away by the acidic juices flowing out of it. The monster held one arm in the air, the hand replaced by a smoking stump, while the other hand pushed at the guts in an effort to hold them in. Steam rose as its other hand was slowly eaten through. The ground hissed where juices dripped down beneath its feet. Wodi stood and watched, then slowly approached.

  Suddenly the monster’s other hand fell apart and the guts spilled out in a rushing torrent. Hot coils splattered onto the ground and steaming juices rolled down the demon’s legs. Eragileak gave vent to a pathetic, bird-like squawk. It turned its eyes onto Wodi.

  “One day,” said Wodi, “we’re going to do this to all of you.”

  Eragileak hissed and tried to approach, but its legs buckled and it fell to the floor, splashing into its burning stomach juices. It waved its stubs and glared at Wodi with dying, vengeful eyes. Wodi watched the monster smoke and writhe until it finally laid still. Wodi turned away from the slain demon, then stepped over the body of the dead serpent without fear.

  He returned to the cold stream and picked his way back, fumbling in the dark. One torch remained on the bridge and lit his path. He quickened his pace when he saw a body propped up in the stream. It was too late – Peter was dead, his body already cold, head hanging loosely from a shattered neck. Filled with dread, Wodi found a series of handholds and climbed back up to the bridge.

  There, he found Marlon.

  Wodi knelt over him. He still breathed, but he was badly beaten. Both eyes were sealed shut.

  “Marlon,” he said. “It’s just us now. We’re the only two left.”

  He waited, then pushed on his friend. The oppressive silence was a roar in his ears.

  “Get up, Marlon,” he said, and his voice cracked. “Get up, Marlon, please! We have to go. Let’s get out of here. Marlon. Let’s get out of here.”

  He shook Marlon.

  “God dammit Marlon, please get up! Let’s get out of here!”

  He pushed against him violently. His face burned. Still Marlon did not move.

  “Marlon, we still have so far to go!” Wodi screamed. “I NEED YOU TO SURVIVE!”

  Marlon stirred, exhaled, then spit red across his cheek. “I’m up, kid,” he said, his words slurred. “Now shut up before you get us killed.”

  Wodi laughed hysterically, lifted Marlon’s arm and pulled him to his shoulder. Marlon leaned on him heavily and nearly brought them both down. Wodi handed the empty shotgun to Marlon and waited a few awkward moments before he took it and leaned on it. Wodi picked up the last torch. The two rose and crossed the bridge. They crossed the remainder of the cavern, read a sign that promised a northern exit, then passed into another man-made tunnel.

  Minutes dragged into hours in the darkness. Marlon leaned on him and Wodi was dwarfed by the broken, bleeding giant. Time did not move but ticked back and forth, each slow step a new eternity, each step forward more difficult than the last, each step after the next proving to be the most difficult thing that both had ever accomplished. They did not rest. Wodi knew that his friend did not need a few moments of rest; he needed weeks in a modern hospital and care from trained professionals. He pushed the thought from his mind.

  The torch withered to a glowing ember, then died. Wodi cast it aside and they continued on in darkness.

  Marlon entered a bla
ck dream-state and conversed with a host of distracting thoughts, images, people. He spoke to them and through his slurred soliloquy Wodi gathered that Marlon was painfully aware of his own shortcomings. He had turned his interests to the Guardians in order to prove his worth. Wodi tried to offer consolation but his friend could not hear him, and was lost in a world of desperate negotiations with internal forces. Wodi carried on in silence.

  Marlon’s weight bore down on him. Wodi was beyond exhaustion and his thoughts began to sink down into a black well of hopelessness. If he could just lie down and sleep, sleep forever in the dark, cold earth… Immediately his mind went back to his childhood home. He saw his mother cooking dinner and he sat at the table, brooding and complaining about the hours his father had him working in their grocery store. How insurmountable his problems seemed! The fate of the universe depended on him having an extra day off work. He remembered that his mother kindly listened, then said, “Well, you know, Wodi, it’s a new store. There’s a lot that needs to be done. I don’t like doing it either, but, well… you just have to hang in there, son! Your father needs you now. I know he’s unreasonable at times, and it seems like you just can’t go on, but if there’s anyone who knows how to dig in their heels and get something done, it’s you. You’re as hard-headed as he is, Wodi. I just know you can get through this!”

  I just know you can get through this. Wodi laughed once in the dark, freezing tunnel. Now, after what he’d been through, after what he’d done, he knew that he would pay any price to be back in that shitty grocery store on the other side of the world. Even if it meant taking one more step… then one more step… then another…

  The tunnel ascended. Hope grinded against their feet as they fought their way upwards. Eventually Marlon dropped the empty shotgun and bore his weight onto little Wodi. Wodi breathed in great, ragged sobs.

  Wodi banged into a wall. If he dropped Marlon, he would not be able to pick him up again. There was nothing left in him, so he simply rested his forehead against the wall and breathed. Eventually he turned his head and saw that a starscape greeted them in the distance.

  “Marlon,” he said. “We’ve made it! One last push, that’s all…” With great difficulty he turned Marlon about. “One last push…”

  Marlon stirred and, with an unexpected surge of strength, pulled Wodi off his feet. “S’okay, kid,” he muttered. “I get you… out of here…”

  “Marlon, you dummy, I’m the one carrying you!”

  “Just follow… me…” said Marlon, then he stumbled and fell against the side of the tunnel.

  The sight of the stars filled Wodi. “Get back up, Marlon,” he said quietly. “Tonight, we sleep under the stars.”

  The two stumbled, crawled, and dragged one another through the last steps. They cleared the entrance. They stood on a sloping precipice under a thousand-mile canopy of shining stars. The pitted cradle of the moon shone overhead, impossibly bright, and the blue wasteland of earth stretched before them.

  The two stumbled again and fell against a wide, squat rock. Wodi pried himself away, and Marlon rested against the rock.

  “We did it,” said Wodi. “We made it out of the valley.”

  Marlon exhaled slowly, then closed his eyes.

  Wodi laid his head on the ground and rested.

  He heard voices.

  He lifted his head, saw two shapes moving below. “Marlon,” he said, smiling, “there’s people here! Good... human... people!”

  He rose and heard Marlon grunt behind him. Wodi ran down the hill, swaying from side to side.

  There were two men below, one tall and wide, another short, among a scattering of wide boulders. Wodi thought he heard one say, “If we don’t find anything, we’re gonna get it bad.”

  “Hey!” cried Wodi. “Hey! We need help! We fought demons, and... and my friend... he’s...” He tripped and fell against a squat boulder. The two figures jumped, turned to him, and stepped back.

  “Don’t be afraid,” said Wodi.

  Wodi crawled nearer the two. He saw their motley armor and leather, the wild blond beard of the tall figure, the rifle he carried. They said nothing.

  Wodi stood and, as he approached, he saw that their faces and arms were covered in black tattoos and scar tissue. Their noses were bent, their ears in shreds. They smiled strangely. Wodi stopped.

  “Wait, Wodi!” Marlon shouted behind. “Wodi, get back!”

  Something heavy slammed into Wodi’s back, then something crashed into the side of his head. Pain and stars. Spinning, falling. He shifted into black.

  Chapter Thirteen

  In the Beginning…

  My first impression of Didi was that he was autistic. That would certainly explain his ability to absorb all the data that every scientist must know, and at such a young age. I also had the distinct impression that he may have been answering my questions, but he was never really talking with me. It was as if he was not really there. Then his insistence that he be allowed to take and send messages to his colleagues while still answering my questions made me think that he was some kind of multi-tasking savant, a polymath of the “here and now”. Any company would have paid, and paid well, to have him manage their affairs! When I asked him why he chose science as his career path, he upset my image of him once again by speaking of the “invisible world” behind the “veil”, of gods and demigods that man can only see by evidence of the “shadows” they cast in our world. This prompted me to ask him about his religion. He answered that he was an atheist.

  - Barry Klapperman, Hey There, Haven!: Interviews from Top to Bottom and In-between

  ***

  Thirty-Eight Years Ago

  It was a cool summer night and Didi leaned over the side of the stone bridge overlooking an avenue filled with revelers. Blue lights shone from the bars down below, and Didi watched the lights dancing along gossamer dresses and sequined jackets.

  “Are you ready to get twisted?” said Korliss Matri, opening a bottle as he approached.

  “A terrible thing to say to someone suffering from scoliosis,” said Didi. “Not to mention severe allergies to alcohol.”

  The two laughed and shook hands. Korliss studied the crowd below, then took a long drink. Didi could see the University graduate ring that his friend had recently earned. It looked impressive as the light glittered along its many facets, but Didi knew the ring was made of polished salt-stone; within a month, the body’s moisture would dissolve the ring, a reminder that one’s education was never complete.

  “Congratulations, my friend,” said Didi.

  “Head of my class!” said Korliss, wiping his mouth. “The dean’s already offered me a position to teach philosophy, literature… and mythology. I’ll relight the fire, Didi. I’m finally going to do it. For years now Haven’s system of education has been about making students overcome unrealistic hurdles of memorization and cramming for lengthy exams so we can differentiate the iron from the slag metal. It’s not education, it’s a stress test. Those who survive are rubber-stamped and handed a diploma that allows them to mingle with the elite workaholics who uphold our fantasy world. But I passed their test.”

  “That you did,” said Didi. “And what will you do now?”

  “You know the answer to that one. My students won’t memorize a long list of the names and dates that make up the foundation of Haven. No. I’m going to show them how our Founders changed the world by fighting against the status quo. I’m going to show them what it meant to stand up to the demon-kings, what it meant to cross the Sea of Tranquility and create a new world in this place that was once wilderness.” Korliss laughed, then said, “I’m going to show them all that learning… is fun!”

  Didi laughed as well, then said, “Will you be able to get me an honorary degree?”

  “Didi! I’ve already explained again and again that by joining the Department of Science with absolutely no formal education, you have completely upended every one of Haven’s golden idols!”

  “Yes, but Korli
ss, you must understand that for me, it was never about ideology. Graduate or no, I only care about what leverage could be gained.”

  “The fact that you did it naturally and without forethought makes it that much more of an insult to those who uphold a system long past its expiration date!”

  Didi laughed again, throwing his small head back, and Korliss realized that once again his friend had prodded an emotional outburst from him with little effort. Didi was an endless mystery to him. He wondered what it must have been like for him growing up with a host of diseases and deformations that kept him from going out in public. Years spent in bed due to brittle bones, years with the window shades closed due to light sensitivity, years with next to no contact with others due to a weak, or sometimes hyper-aggressive, immune system. All those years of reading, learning, absorbing, dreaming, creating.

  He is a techno-shaman, thought Korliss. He wasn’t even twenty years old when he bridged the gap between the Barabbas School of physics and Keplinger’s A plus non-B debate, and even used it to shed light on our tattered historical documents concerning the Ancients and their constant attempts at interstellar travel! Didi comes from a long line of true scientists who were never a part of any standard system of education, but were instead touched by something divine. And now he’s…

  “And now your two years of assistant research are complete,” said Korliss. “The mystery of the human building block, the “spiraling stairway” as they say, is no longer such a mystery to you. What will you do now?”

  “We’ve opened the book and catalogued its contents,” said Didi, “but the content, the script, is still a great mystery. I know that some sections of the Department of Science will develop drugs that inhibit some systems and help trigger others. We’ll be able to track the diseases that ride piggyback on certain genetic weaknesses and, eventually, eliminate them. But the mystery, Korliss… the mystery only deepens.” Didi stared into the distance. Before Korliss could press him for more details, Didi said, “You mentioned mythology earlier. What will you do in that field?”