The Light, the Dark and the Ugly

by Bryan Cohen

  The woman took his hand. "I bet you're pretty scared right now, but I'm here to protect you."

  The months of training came naturally to Adam; after all, he'd been doing martial arts from a young age. Erica, who was going by the name and identity of Marianne at the time, knew so much about the truth of the world. Adam could spend decades searching for the secrets of Earth, and he knew he'd only be scratching the surface compared to what the protector had experienced. While she initially kept him at a distance, Marianne eventually relented and shared her knowledge with him. When she let it slip that he had the ability to look into the minds of others, Adam didn't hesitate to use his power.

  He had misgivings at first, but the control he held over his protector was too tempting to pass up. He'd force Marianne to be his puppet, taking revenge on the heads of newspapers who wouldn't hire him. The front-page stories the next day wracked him with guilt, though the feeling waned with each successive crime. He became obsessed with growing stronger, and he searched Marianne's mind for more power. He learned that the living soul had capabilities beyond what she'd shared. Within days, Adam knew the basics of all his abilities, though the creation of portals to another dimension gave him trouble.

  When Adam received yet another rejection from a major publication, he had a break with reality. Carnage and devastation followed, though the media blamed it on a tornado and a hot summer day's worth of gunfire. It was no wonder Marianne banded together with his friends to destroy him. When he lay barely alive at the bottom of that rubble, Adam realized that he needed control. Not just over himself, but over the entire country. It was the only way.

  "You've done a good thing, Terry. Thinning out the herd." Kable took his feet off the desk and leaned forward. "How does it all make you feel?"

  Terry rubbed his hands together for a moment before looking up with concern. "It makes me nervous that the others are alive."

  Kable cracked a smile that was usually reserved for the TV cameras. It was much easier to plant a thought than it was to control someone completely. Kable was glad he hadn't needed to do either with Terry. The man was a devotee through and through.

  "You truly are incredible at your job. Don't worry about LaPlante. You've got enough stress with this campaign. I have a feeling everything is going to come up roses."

  Terry half-smiled. "I'm sure you're right. I'm just not a fan of unknowns."

  Kable clasped his fingers together. "But that's what makes life exciting. You never know when the next attack is going to strike."

  The phone on Kable's desk buzzed, which gave Terry a start. Kable laughed and pressed the speaker button. "Yes, dear?"

  "I've got Agent Vott on line two. Should I tell him you're in a meeting?"

  Kable licked his lips. "No, no. Put him through." The secretary complied and the line clicked over. "Agent Vott, how good of you to call. I hope you've been able to fix that window at DHS headquarters. I hear it gets mighty drafty up there."

  Agent Vott let the joke pass. "Mr. Senator, we've detected an energy signal in Western Pennsylvania. It appears to be consistent with an inter-dimensional portal."

  Kable's eyes grew wide and his smile got even wider. "See, Terry? Isn't it exciting to see where the next challenge will come from? Now, who do you think went through that portal?"

  Kable could tell that Terry wasn't comfortable with this line of questioning, but he pressed on anyway.

  Terry cleared his throat. "If I had to guess, I'd say it was Erica and the football player."

  Kable stood up. "And why would you say that?"

  "Because of love."

  Kable reached up his hands to the sky as if Terry had come up with the greatest epiphany of all time. "Because of love! Isn't it wonderful? Especially during war time." Kable walked around the desk and put his arm on Terry's shoulder. "And what's the best way to win a war?"

  Terry had a look on his face like a caged animal. "Divide and conquer?"

  Kable slapped him hard on the back. "Say it like you mean it!"

  "Divide and conquer."

  Kable moved over to the edge of his desk and sat. "Exactly! Agent Vott, are you taking notes on this?"

  Vott paused. Kable wondered if by controlling the DHS agent's mind if he'd removed every last bit of humor.

  Vott's breath echoed throughout the room. "What do you want me to do, Mr. Senator?"

  Kable looked back over to his senatorial election victory headline. He couldn't wait to replace the article with something a little more Presidential.

  "I want you to find the Indian and the Sheriff's daughter and I want you to kill them."

  Chapter 29

  When Ted woke up, he had a new understanding of what it must feel like to be deep-fried. His pain was something beyond soreness. It was crispier. A quick mental scan of his arms and legs told him he was in one piece. His eyes adjusted to the surroundings. The room around him was as bright as a snowstorm. It was also surgically clean. He wondered if he'd required any medical procedures to bring him around when he realized the room and the ship it was on were moving.

  "Natalie." His voice was as dry as his skin felt. "Where is she?"

  A blurry angelic figure walked into the room. A few blinks of moisture told Ted it was Reena, the woman in charge of the attacks. Her full lips were pouty, which made Ted think of a bikini photo shoot for some reason.

  She sighed. "You shouldn't have done that."

  Ted's pulse quickened. Had he been ogling her without realizing it? Or did she mean something else entirely?

  "Done what?"

  She patted his arm. The sensation felt strange, as if there was a thin layer of fabric between her hand and his skin.

  "You shouldn't have saved my life."

  Ted's face felt too numb to know if his smile looked super heroic or drug-induced, but he assumed she got the point. "Seeing as we're both alive, I guess you'll have to live with my decision."

  Reena half-smiled back. It would have been easy to lose himself in her gaze, but his memories of the attack continued to rise to the surface.

  "Where's Natalie?"

  Reena's face became grim. She straightened her spine. "I'm sorry. We would've lost 20 men looking for her. As far as we know–"

  A glass-like object flew from one end of the room into the pure white wall. The sound brought a skinny light soul guard to the door.

  Ted's arm started to twitch. "She's alive!" The bed beneath him began scraping against the floor as it shifted. "I heard her. We need to go back."

  Ted pictured Natalie back in the torture chair. He watched as a man cloaked in secrecy whipped her without mercy. As he saw the blood trickle from her body, everything in the room with Reena began to shake. She was shouting at him, but all he hear were the imagined lashes of a whip on Natalie's skin. All he could see was his friend's blood-streaked face. A red light began blinking and alarms blasted through Ted's ears as he felt his body begin to drop.

  Reena slapped Ted hard in the cheek. Ted came back to reality and the room settled. The guard by the door held onto the frame and looked like he was going to be sick.

  Ted rubbed at his cheek and his eyes widened. "You hit me!"

  She nodded with gusto. "And you almost knocked our ship out of the air." Reena rubbed at her reddened hand. "I'd say we're even."

  Though he was back under control, Ted continued to consider Natalie's condition. He sat up in bed and ignored the sensation of the blood rushing toward his brain. "We need to go back there."

  Reena nodded. "I know. And we will. But let's keep the members of our crew alive for now, okay?"

  Ted's cheek felt hot from the contact. "Fine. I suppose I need to recover from getting roasted anyway."

  She grinned until the ship shook beneath them once again. Reena glared.

  Ted put up his hands. "I swear, that wasn't me."

  Reena pressed a button on her shirt and a holographic interface came up. She stretched it out using her fingers and they both saw three red, pulsing dots moving
across the display.

  "Damn." She closed the display. "The dark souls are in pursuit. I have to go."

  As she passed his bed, Ted held up his arm to stop her. "I'm coming with you."

  She pushed him away. "I bet you can't even walk."

  He smirked. "I don't need to."

  Ted reached with his powers to a chair on the other side of the room. He floated it over and then pulled himself out of the bed. After he was firmly in place, he made the chair hover an inch or two off the ground.

  Ted could tell by the look on Reena's face that even she was impressed by the display of power. "What? You've never seen a flying chair before?"

  She scowled. "Enough patting yourself on the back. Let's go."

  While Ted's body wasn't feeling its best, his powers seemed stronger than ever. He didn't have any trouble keeping the chair balanced as he matched Reena's speedy pace. Perhaps it had something to do with being restricted by the dark souls so much. Like running with ankle weights, the encounter had made his powers progressively stronger. Ted didn't have much time to admire the inside of the ship as they dashed through it, but it looked newer than the dark soul craft had from the inside. The other ship was functional, but this one was a work of art. It resembled his room with its pure white light, but there were occasional swirls of color that seemed to represent the ship's computer at work.

  Star Trek, eat your heart out.

  As the ship shook again, Ted gripped the chair's armrest tightly and looked up at the light soul commander. "How'd you know where I was?"

  Reena's breath was steady and even. "We detected you as soon as you went through the portal. We were an hour away from the village when the General got to you."

  Ted considered asking Reena about the light soul raiders who'd tried to kill them, but he figured there'd be a time and place for that conversation.

  He banked his chair hard around a turn to keep up with her. "There's so much I don't know about this place. About the war."

  Reena came to a keypad beside a locked pair of doors. She punched in a code using characters Ted didn't recognize. "Good, then your protector is doing her job."

  Ted rolled his eyes at that, but he didn't want to press further. Given the havoc that Adam had caused, he understood why the light souls might be tight-lipped. The doors in front of them slid open and Ted and Reena strode into what looked like the ship's command center. The white motif continued here, though a flashing red light cast a strange glow on the entire room. A dozen crewmembers were punching keypads at their stations, and a massive holographic view screen displayed the ongoing battle. Three ships appeared to be in pursuit, and the light soul craft's back camera showed the blasts of energy headed their way. Ted watched as one projectile connected with the ship, causing everything to lurch to the side before the craft righted itself.

  Reena left Ted's side and sat in the captain's chair. "Evasive maneuvers!"

  A man to her right with platinum blond hair pressed buttons at his station with rapid speed. "They can't get much more evasive."

  Reena looked like she wanted to bite her subordinate. "This is not the time for snark, Commander."

  Another blast hit the ship, and some kind of gas hissed into the room. Ted hoped it was just steam.

  The blond commander shook his head. "Defenses are down. I hope everyone said their prayers."

  Reena's body tensed. "Everybody brace for impact."

  Ted watched the screen as a massive energy blast headed straight for them. Only, it never reached the ship. Ted's hand drifted up toward the display. Before the payload could hit, he felt himself redirect the weapon back to its source. The energy blast connected with the dark soul craft that fired it. The screen lit up with a fiery explosion as the two remaining ships continued pursuit.

  Reena looked back at Ted.

  Ted shrugged. "I guess they can't see me."

  She smiled devilishly. "No, they can't." She moved her eyes back to the screen. "Ted, would you mind doing that again?"

  He felt the pride bubble up in him. "Yes, ma'am."

  When one of the remaining ships fired again, Ted repeated the process. He deflected the blow back and shot the craft out of the sky in the process. The crew around the room cheered at the sight, and the third ship fell back to retreat. Several commanders surrounded Ted's chair, congratulating him for saving their lives. He soaked up the praise and met eyes with Reena. Ted hoped his heroics would earn them a quick return to the dark soul stronghold.

  Ted was asleep in his recovery room when the ship landed. He regretted not being able to see the city as they descended, but he knew this was no vacation. Ted followed the crew off the craft, his legs feeling more and more like normal as he walked. The ship had landed in a long, metallic hanger that was bigger than most airports Ted had seen. The two empty spaces beside the craft he'd flown on reminded him that not everybody made it out of the stronghold alive. Before he and the crew had even gotten to the bottom of the ramp, they stopped and gave a sort of salute to a man in decorated light soul army garb.

  "Protect and Preserve!" The crew said in unison.

  The man's tight face and solid jaw looked humorless. Nevertheless, he returned the salute to the crew. "Protect and Preserve."

  Reena took Ted's hand and led him forward, bringing the man into full view. He was massive. His arms and legs were so muscular, Ted assumed the guy won most light soul bodybuilder competitions. Ted doubted he would get many points for smiling.

  Reena stopped at attention in front of the man, and Ted mimicked her pose. "Ted, I'd like you to meet Gan, the general of the light soul army."

  Ted wasn't sure what to say, so he remained silent.

  Gan extended his hand in an Earthly gesture. "Pleasure to meet you, son. How about we get you home?"

  Chapter 30

  Erica and Travis materialized exactly where she'd hoped to end up. Hundreds of years ago, she'd landed in the exact same spot just outside the city walls. Back then, she was shivering and cold, which made sense for someone who'd just been brought back from the dead. A young guard had spotted her and approached with caution. While it appeared as though they weren't so far apart in age, Reena was actually well over a hundred years old at the time. Once inside the city, it took the light soul army weeks to determine what had happened. After consulting the ancient texts, the military leaders determined that many years ago when the dark souls created the living soul from the essence of their power, they used the blood of a light soul in the process. When Cora died with a sword through her heart, the combination of her blood with a dark soul's caused a sort of reversal. She was no longer human, and nothing would ever be the same.

  Erica placed her hand against the stone walls of the city. A look down showed the dry, brown plants that grew in the crevices between each rock. A look up saw a wall that reached high into the sky that had never been penetrated by enemy forces. There were thousands of years of history inside, and hundreds for her alone. She was tempted to relate this history to Travis, but when he clutched his stomach and puked into a patch of greenish-brown bushes, she figured it was better saved for a later time.

  Travis wiped at his mouth. "I wasn't ready." He looked down at the tainted shrub. "Shoulda gotten some Dramamine or something."

  Erica laughed. "You've just been transported across dimensions. Be happy your limbs are still attached."

  Before Travis could appreciate the completeness of his body, something in the bushes began to shake. Some kind of animal made a squeak that resembled a sneeze and stepped forward. The creature was short, squat and hairy. Erica recognized it right away.

  Travis tentatively stepped back. "Is it friendly?"

  The creature's feet began moving rapidly as it literally ran circles around Travis. The speedster sprinted so fast that dirt kicked up around the both of them. The little dog-like creature made a barking sound as it continued to spin.

  Travis covered his eyes and cowered in response. "Get this thing away from me!"

 
Erica chuckled. With an expert swipe, she yanked the creature into the air and held it by one of its paws. Its little feet continued pedaling in the air.

  Travis looked like he was going to puke again. "Holy crap!" He held his stomach. "I don't like this place. Can we go back?"

  Erica caught the speedster's eyes. "I know he puked on your house, but he didn't mean it."

  Travis' eyes grew to the size of pancakes when he saw the creature stop its feet and actually nod to Erica. "It understands what you're saying?"

  The speedster let out a huff.

  Erica sighed with a smile. "Not it. She. And I think she wants you to apologize."

  Travis hesitated at first, but a few deep breaths helped him collect himself. "I'm sorry. Um… Miss? I'll come back to clean this up soon."

  Erica planted the speedster back on the ground. With lightning-quick speed, the creature zipped to Travis' leg and gave him a hug. When he tried to return the gesture, she sped away, out of sight.

  Travis shook his head. "If the worst thing here is hugging Tasmanian Devils, then hopefully Natalie's fine."

  Erica watched the dust settle from the speedster's path. "It's not."

  She looked to the path leading into the light soul capital. Two guards in silvery armor standing at the city's entrance were looking straight at them.

  "But hopefully that's all she had to deal with." She gestured for Travis to follow as she walked toward the guards.

  Now that Travis' stomach was recovering, he finally noticed the scope of the city.