by Marty Chan
Rather than use the front entrance, Ehrich edged up to one of the office windows and smashed it open. There was no time for stealth. By this point, every hunter on the island was either engaged in battle or dying. He cleared away the glass then lifted Amina into the building. Tesla followed, then Bess. Ehrich hoisted his little brother inside and climbed in after the group.
They navigated through the hallways with Tesla leading the way. They reached an intersection and Tesla veered to the right. Stairs were straight ahead. This was the way down to Demon Gate. At the very least, they had the advantage of knowing the layout of the headquarters while Ba Tian and his forces were travelling without a map. Ehrich considered the possibility that Farrier might have instructed them how to descend to the lower levels, but even with instructions, it would be easy to get lost in the maze of corridors.
He took the lead and headed down the steps with his weapons at the ready. The rest of the group stayed a single flight of stairs behind him. When Ehrich signalled the coast was clear, they descended.
They made their way down to the next level and eventually reached the lowest level. Ahead was the corridor that would eventually lead to Demon Gate. They were halfway down the hallway when a figure emerged from around the corner. It was Kifo in Mr. Serenity’s body. Two soldiers stepped in line behind him to block off the passageway. Ba Tian had beaten them down to the portal.
“I know another way to the portal,” Tesla said.
“We have to deal with them first,” Amina replied.
“No time,” Ehrich said. “If Ba Tian is down here, he’ll be opening the portal to let in the rest of his soldiers. We can’t fight them.”
“Kifo!” Dash growled. “He’s the reason for all of this.”
Ehrich grabbed his brother by the arm. “Dash. Focus. We have another mission. We have to get home.”
Amina barked, “Go! I’ll hold them off.”
“On your own?” Bess asked.
“I can handle them.”
Ehrich nodded at his friend and led the group back down the hallway to find the other route to Demon Gate. He was about to round the corner when a shout caught his attention. Amina was yelling at Dash to join the others.
“Kifo!” Dash yelled.
Ehrich started after his brother, but the firefight in the hallway erupted. Energy bolts sizzled through the air. He couldn’t reach them without being hit.
Tesla pulled at his arm. “We have to stop Ba Tian.”
Ehrich hesitated, unsure which way to go. Bess grabbed his hand. “Your brother will be okay. Amina will protect him.”
He reluctantly nodded and turned to join the others. He took one last glance back at the fight in the hallway. Amina and Dash were on their own.
He hated leaving his brother, but he had to get to Demon Gate. He led the group away.
Kifo
Amina pulled Dash back around the corner as the air sizzled from a Teslatron blast. She lowered herself and swung the rifle around the corner to return fire. A scream. She guessed she had scored a hit. Dash grabbed the pistol from her belt and took aim down the hall, firing two darts before she pulled him back. An energy blast seared the wall where he had been standing a second earlier.
“Kifo has to pay for what he did,” Dash said.
“Yes, but if you get hurt, your brother is going to kill me.”
He shook his head. “I owe him.”
“Don’t even think about it, Dash.”
Too late. The young Weisz sprinted across the open hallway as the air sizzled with electricity. Amina had to act fast. She swung around the corner as an energy bolt seared the opposite wall. One of Farrier’s soldiers was firing at Dash. Just behind him, Kifo was reaching down to pick up the fallen weapon from an unconscious soldier on the ground.
Farrier’s soldier took aim at Dash who raised his pistol and pulled the trigger. Nothing came out. The gun was jammed. Dash was defenseless.
“Duck!” Amina cried out.
He did, just as she fired her rifle into the chest of the soldier. The man convulsed and staggered back into Kifo, knocking the weapon out of his hands. She took aim at Kifo, but though she knew her mentor Mr. Serenity was now possessed, she couldn’t bring herself to fire on him.
Kifo shook off the soldier and turned to face Amina. She trained the weapon on him.
Dash shouted, “Shoot him! Amina! Shoot!”
She hesitated.
“You know there is a chance to save your precious Mr. Serenity,” Kifo taunted. “But not if you shoot me.”
She aimed the rifle, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Kifo advanced a few more steps.
“What are you waiting for, Amina?! Shoot him!”
“I can’t. He’s still Mr. Serenity in my eyes.” She lowered
her rifle.
Kifo took another step forward. “Yes, he’s here still.” He lifted the Infinity Coil from under his shirt. “And if you ever want to see him again, you’ll drop your weapon.”
Dash let out a war whoop and charged at Kifo. The beefy man swatted the boy away, slamming him into the wall. Dash slumped to the ground, stunned.
This spurred Amina to action. She raised her rifle to fire, but Kifo lunged at her. His hands reached for her throat. She kicked him in the gut, forcing him to back away. She turned her body but he was quicker. He wrapped an arm around her neck. She tried to throw him off, but the man had leverage and wasn’t about to let go. She kicked backward, but struck only air. She reached behind her head and tried to box his ears. No effect. She grabbed a part of his shirt and pulled but he maintained a firm grip. She thought she heard a snap and wondered if it was one of her tendons. Pain shot through her throat as he squeezed harder.
“Drop the weapon,” he hissed in her ear.
She began to feel lightheaded. The rifle clattered to the stone floor. He increased the pressure against her throat. The light began to fade before her eyes. She couldn’t catch her next breath.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Dash bending over to pick up the Teslatron.
Kifo laughed. “Little man, you’re going to shoot me? Careful, you might hit your companion.”
Dash straightened up but not with the rifle. Instead, he held in his hand the Infinity Coil, which dangled from a broken cord.
Kifo growled. “Give that back to me.” He loosened his grip around Amina’s throat.
Dash shook his head. “Never.” He picked up the Teslatron. “I’m going to make sure you never get to use it again.”
“Don’t even consider it, or your friend will perish.” Kifo squeezed, causing Amina to gag and struggle.
“You know what will happen if I unload all the energy into the Infinity Coil, don’t you?” Dash asked.
“Nothing. It won’t do a thing.”
Dash tapped his head. “I’ve shared your consciousness, Kifo. I know when you’re afraid. I can sense it right now.”
“Hardly.”
“Then let’s find out.” He tossed the medallion on the floor and took aim with the rifle.
“Wait!” Kifo shouted. “You destroy the coil and you will doom all the souls within. Your friend Mr. Serenity, Ning Shu, all of them. The ones who supported you in the void. You will be sentencing them to death. When the amulet is destroyed, all the souls will be untethered and cast adrift in the universe.”
“At least they will be released. They were dead as soon as you took over their bodies and left the shells behind.”
Amina pushed back again, but Kifo exerted more force with his chokehold. She started to see spots and knew that she was going to pass out soon. She tried to conserve her breath. Kifo angled himself to get closer to Dash, but Amina pushed against him and kept him at bay.
Dash kept the rifle aimed at the amulet. “I will put an end to you, Kifo. You’d be trapped in one body and when it dies,
you die with it.”
“You will be responsible for the death of thousands of souls. Can you live with that?”
Dash hesitated for a second.
“Back away from the amulet and I will let her go.”
Amina gasped for air and steeled herself for the end. She tried to speak, but the pressure on her throat had reduced her voice to a croak. “Destroy it.”
Dash wasn’t sure what she had said, but he knew he couldn’t let her die, even if it meant that Kifo would regain the amulet. Then an idea sprang into his mind. All the time he had spent in the void of the Infinity Coil, he had felt the presence of others, and the shift from dread and hopelessness to tangible fear when Kifo added another soul to the prison. He recalled how the universe seemed to unfold and open up to bring through the falling soul. He wondered if he could open that universe now. He knew it would come at a price, but he had to try.
“Hold on, Kifo. You win.”
“Back away from the Infinity Coil.”
Instead, Dash bent over and picked up the amulet and held it in his hand. The metal felt hot to his skin and he noted the never-ending gears whirring and ticking within the heart of the mechanism. He began to walk to Kifo with the amulet held out. He dropped the rifle at his feet.
Kifo cracked a grin. He kept Amina in front of him, but he shifted himself so he could reach out with his free hand to take the amulet being offered. He hesitated when he smelled sulphur. “What do you think you’re doing? Stop it.”
But Dash wasn’t listening. He closed his eyes and concentrated, willing the Infinity Coil in his hand to open up the universe as he had seen from the other side. The gears ticked loudly in his ears and he could feel the metal grow warmer to the touch, to the point where he almost wanted to drop it. He clutched the amulet harder and gritted his teeth as he heard the voices of a thousand souls shout out in unison.
Smoke poured from the Infinity Coil. Kifo relaxed his grip. Amina elbowed him in the side and pulled away. The man staggered backward, holding up his hands against the smoke that writhed in the air like a cobra and moved closer to him. Amina stepped aside, but the smoke seemed to have a mind of its own, curling around and past her and making a path straight to Kifo. The rotund man backed away.
Dash thrust the Infinity Coil in front of him and aimed it right at Kifo. More smoke poured out and engulfed Kifo in a cloud. The assassin let out a scream, but it was drowned out by the sound of a thousand voices calling out.
Amina scrambled away, moving behind Dash and picking up the fallen Teslatron. When she looked up again, the sulphur smell was almost unbearable. The smoke was pouring into the eyes and mouth of Kifo as he thrashed about. Dash continued to press forward.
There was silence for a moment as Kifo froze, then the smoke began to pour out of his eyes and mouth and head toward Dash. The boy began to back up, but the smoke was coming for him like a snake after its prey. Amina guessed this was how Kifo had taken over the bodies of his victims. The smoke would enter the Infinity Coil and disappear into the void.
Slowly, smoke began to emerge from the backside of the coil and the black tendrils reached out to Dash. The boy was oblivious, with his eyes closed. Amina acted quickly, knocking the Infinity Coil out of Dash’s hand. It clattered to the ground as the black smoke poured back into it and wisps of smoke emerged to reach out to Dash.
Amina took aim with the Teslatron rifle and fired into the device. Over and over again. The amulet absorbed the energy as the smoke continued to pour in and seep out. She fired twice more and then, suddenly, a brilliant flash erupted from the centre of the Infinity Coil.
A hurricane-force wind blew Amina against the wall. The deafening roar of a thousand voices filled the corridor. The smoke recoiled, rushing back into the Infinity Coil then dispersing as the voices faded.
Then all was silent. The amulet was shattered into pieces. Dash was prone on the floor. Beside him, the unconscious form of Kifo in Mr. Serenity’s body. Amina rushed to Dash’s side and tried to revive him.
“Dash. Dash? Dash.” She slapped his face until his eyelids fluttered.
He opened his eyes. “Amina. What happened?”
“I destroyed the Infinity Coil.”
“Where is Kifo?”
She looked around, unsure. “He might still be in Mr. Serenity’s body.”
Dash shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the way the Infinity Coil works. The smoke is the soul. That’s how he transfers into the bodies.”
“But now that the amulet is destroyed, what happens to the souls?”
Dash looked down at the broken device. “I’m afraid that was the only thing that kept them alive.”
“They’re all gone?”
He closed his eyes for a moment. “They are no longer trapped.”
A low groan came from a few feet away. Amina grabbed the rifle and swung around. Mr. Serenity was stirring on the floor. She took aim and pushed Dash behind her, worried Kifo still had possession of her mentor.
“Oh, my aching everything.”
“Mr. Serenity?” Amina called out.
The rotund man looked around the corridor. “Where am I?”
“Do you think it’s really him, Dash?”
The young Weisz nodded. “I felt Kifo’s presence in the Infinity Coil just before you destroyed it.”
“But how did Mr. Serenity get out?”
“I imagine the same way I did. If the host body still exists, the consciousness will try to reconnect with it.”
“And what about Kifo?”
“I think his original body is dust by now. He’s like the other souls that were trapped. Adrift.”
Amina headed over to Mr. Serenity and took hold of his arm to help him up. “You’re safe, Mr. Serenity. We’re on Devil’s Island.”
Mr. Serenity squinted at his ward. “Amina, your idea of safe is very different from mine.”
She smiled and hugged him.
Dash pulled on her sleeve. “We have to help Ehrich.”
Her reunion with her mentor would have to wait. She led the way down the hall in the direction Ehrich and the others had gone, hoping she could navigate the maze to Demon Gate.
Final Battle
Far below the surface, Ehrich led Bess and Tesla to the entrance of the Demon Gate portal. Two of Farrier’s soldiers stood outside the doorway. Ehrich primed his rifle as did Bess. They nodded to each other and charged around the corner, firing at the soldiers. The unsuspecting guards went down before they could even draw their weapons. The path to Demon Gate was clear. They moved quickly toward the doors.
The door opened and Ba Tian smiled at the approaching group. “I thought there was a commotion out here. Just the people I wanted to see. I’m sure one of you knows how to operate the equipment to open the portal.”
“You won’t get the chance to use it.” Ehrich raised his rifle to fire, but a metal hand from the doorway next to him slashed the rifle barrel in two, leaving the weapon useless.
Ehrich turned to face his new assailant. Ole Lukoje punched him in the stomach, causing him to double over. Bess swung her rifle around. A sharp disk embedded itself in her hand. She dropped her weapon and glanced up at the source. Ba Tian held a ring of the disks in one hand, ready to flick the throwing stars.
“Now, now, let’s not get off on the wrong foot,” the crimson warlord clucked. “I think we’ll get along swimmingly if you just give me what I want.”
Tesla growled. “You have some nerve to demand anything from us.”
“Oh, but it’s not an order. Think of it as more of a bargain. You open the portal for me, and I will let you return to your world, Ehrich. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”
Ehrich cocked his head to one side and stared at Ba Tian, then back at Ole Lukoje. “You’re offering me a way home? How do I know you won’t just invade that world as soon as I go thr
ough?”
Ba Tian smiled. “You have my word of honour. Passing on your world is a small price to pay for the rest of the universe.”
Tesla was about to say something but Ehrich shook his head. “No, Mr. Tesla. This is my decision. Show me my world and I’ll consider helping you. Open a portal, Ole Lukoje.”
The raggedy man reached into his pocket for the nano-dust he needed to open a dimensional portal.
Ehrich stopped him. “Not here. In the Demon Gate chamber.” He was taking a chance that the raggedy man had no idea about the dangers of two portals opening in the same location.
Ole Lukoje shrugged. “It matters-s-s not to me where we open my portal.”
Ba Tian stepped aside and allowed the group to pass through. Tesla lowered his makeshift bomb to the floor and followed
the others.
To one side of the room, the portal area was a bare alcove. Opposite the empty space sat the equipment to operate it. The console with various diodes, gauges, and gears loomed large in Ehrich’s eyes. There was one other door in the room, which was the doorway the newly arrived travellers would have to go through for processing. Normally, the hunters stood guard at the console and doors. Without their presence, the large room seemed cavernous.
Ole Lukoje set up in the middle of the room. He reached into his pocket and retrieved his dust. He tossed the particles in the air. They shimmered, tearing the fabric of space.
Ehrich recalled the last time he had seen the raggedy man pull off this stunt. They had used the same portal to take out Ba Tian. The warlord must have remembered, too, because he backed away behind the console.
The portal opened like a cat’s eye, revealing a myriad of worlds beyond. It was small enough for one or two people to slide through, but hardly large enough for an army. Ole Lukoje narrowed his eyes and waved his hands, slowing the images down until Ehrich recognized the Appleton he had lived in. He saw the graveyard where he had first encountered Kifo, unaware that the assassin had possessed his brother. A lump formed in his stomach and came out of his throat in the form of one word: “Home.”