by Amy Cross
“Is there a back door?” she hisses.
“No,” I say firmly, with my eyes fixed on Sharon, “but there's a front door and I intend to walk out through it, right after I've wiped the floor with these two assholes.”
Sharon laughs.
“Oncephalus might not have known what misoforms are,” Emilia replies, “but I did some research, and you do not want to end up in a fight with them. Not when they actually intend to win. They're notoriously vicious.”
“I'll take my chances,” I sneer, pulling free and taking another step toward Sharon. After a moment, however, I see that there are other figures out in the parking lot: hundreds of men and women are walking toward the motel, their blank eyes fixed on us.
“Misoforms can commandeer the bodies of others,” Emilia tells me, “and use them as a kind of drone army. If we stay here and fight, Jonathan, you'll end up killing a lot of innocent people before you even get a chance to wrap your hands around that bitch's throat. It'll also take time, and we really need to get to Abby.”
“You're surrounded,” Sharon says with a smile. “I can't wait to watch you fight your way out of this one.”
“Don't give her what she wants!” Emilia hisses. “Jonathan, she's deliberately luring you into a fight so she can keep us from starting the journey to Karakh! You know what that means, don't you? It means there's still a chance Abby's alive! Why else would she still be bothering with us?”
“Good luck finding her,” Sharon replies, her body shimmering again as she resumes my mother's form, almost as if she's trying to bait me. “Even if she's still alive, Abby Hart is so far away right now, you could never reach her in time.”
Staring at her, I realize that the urge to attack and gain revenge is almost too strong to resist. At the same time, I let my sister down a long time ago, and I'm not going to allow myself to get distracted again. Turning, I hurry to the bed and pull open the bag of items I kept from the old days, and after a moment I pull out the metal sphere that Abby gave me when I went to the Great Library. The settings are the same as when Abby last touched it, which means that in theory I should be able to use it again, to zero in on her location.
“What the hell are you doing with that?” Emilia hisses.
“It'll take us to Abby,” I reply, with trembling hands. “I didn't think there was any point trying it before, but now...”
“If Abby's dead,” Emilia replies, “do you know where that thing will end up taking us? It'll scatter our goddamn atoms in an instant and kill us!”
“Then we'd better have faith that Abby's not dead,” I tell her, as Sharon's mindless army starts entering the room. Turning to Emilia, I see the fear in her eyes. “Time to go. Hang on tight.”
She grins as she steps forward and puts her arms around me, resting her face on my chest. “I thought you'd never ask,” she purrs.
With that, I turn the top of the sphere.
“See Maisie?” I whisper. “I'm going to find your aunt.”
“No!” Sharon shouts in my mother's voice, but she's too late.
The whole room around us starts to flicker and fade, and I feel a rush of nausea in my belly as I close my eyes and hope for the rest. For a fraction of a second, I'm convinced that this was a terrible mistake, that Abby's dead and that using this device was a form of suicide. After a moment, however, I open my eyes and find that Emilia and I are standing in a patch of moonlight under a dark night sky, and all around us there are huge rock formations rising toward the stars above, with a mountain towering above us.
“Where are we?” I whisper.
Stepping away from me, Emilia looks around, her eyes filled with wonder.
“We made it,” I continue. “Wherever this place is, Abby must be around.”
“I recognize those constellations,” Emilia says after a moment, staring up at the stars for a few seconds longer before frowning as she looks around again. “I know where we are, but...” Stepping forward, she almost trips over something that's poking up from the ground. “It can't be...”
“What's wrong?” I ask, as I start to see what appear to be ruined walls nearby. “What is this place? I thought we'd be going to Karakh.”
“I think we did,” she replies, turning to me with an expression of shock, “but... Karakh's gone. These are just the ruins, the palace itself is gone. It must have been completely destroyed.”
“Then where's Abby?” I whisper, looking down at the metal sphere in my right hand. “Why did this thing bring us here?”
Part Six
Demon's Grail part 1
Abby Hart
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Breathe...
What comes next?
Silence. Tracking me in the dark.
Footsteps.
Breathe in.
You're not insane.
Your mind is still your own.
Breathe out.
He isn't in here with you.
You never...
You never let down your guard.
There are cracks, though. Cracks at the edge of your mind, cracks that are getting imperceptibly wider with each passing second until...
Breathe in.
He's trying again. He's forcing his fingertips into those cracks and screaming as he tries to break them apart.
I won't let him.
Breathe out.
I can keep this up forever.
I can do anything.
Breathe in.
Never...
Something.
I forget.
Breathe out.
How long have I been here?
Everything before this place was just a brief flicker. This is the only real place now.
He's still trying to tear my mind apart.
Something about a grail.
Breathe in.
Yeah, I can keep this up.
Breathe out.
My mind is the last place I have left.
You won't get in.
Wait...
What's my name?
Damos
The dawn of time
“I sense a change,” I whisper, standing at the window and looking out across the vast, churning primordial plains. “Is it just me, or do you sense it too?”
After a moment, I turn to Skellig and see that he's writing something in one of his many notebooks. Lately, he has taken to recording his every thought, and this too seems to be a departure from his usual behavior. He's worried, even he if hasn't yet admitted as much.
“The others deny it,” I continue, “but I see the fear in their eyes too.” Making my way across the room, I stop at the desk and watch as Skellig continues to write. “You are one of the wisest among us,” I tell him. “Please, don't even think to lie to me. For as long as our conscious minds have prevailed, we have known that our empire can never die, and yet...” I pause, struggling to make sense of the ripples that are burning through my body. “If I didn't know any better, I would start to think that perhaps we are not alone.”
“Of course we're alone,” Skellig hisses, turning to the next page. “There have always been twelve demons, nothing more and nothing less. How could we not be alone?”
“Other life -”
“There is no other life!” he says firmly, as thunder rumbles outside. “Twelve demons, that is all. Please, Damos, don't let yourself get distracted. This is how it is, and it is also how it shall always be. The twelve demons rule all the worlds, and the universe itself needs no more life.”
I watch as he continues to write. Before I can say anything else, however, I hear footsteps hurrying to the door, and I turn just in time to see Berios running into the room.
“Come quick!” he stammers. “I've found something outside in the mud! Something awful!”
***
“What are they?” Berios asks, his voice filled with fear as we stand in the rain beyond the edge of our home. “They're not... I mean, they can't be... alive... Ca
n they?”
Leaning closer, I watch as the tiny figures continue to squirm and wriggle through the mud. Rain has been falling for so long now, I can scarcely remember a time when there were not vast puddles and bogs surrounding the castle. Never before, however, have those puddles been filled with these small things that twitch frantically. I can scarcely believe that other life could finally be developing, but at the same time, I cannot deny what I am seeing with my own eyes.
“It's an illusion,” Skellig stammers. “There can be no other life!”
Reaching down, I dip my hand into the puddle and then lift it up, cupping some of the muddy water along with one of the little wriggling creatures. As I hold it up to get a better look, I see that the thing is no bigger than my smallest fingertip, yet it certainly looks to be alive as it flips and turns in the water. After a moment, it starts to crawl across the dry part of my hand, even as fresh raindrops continue to fall.
“It's not alive,” Skellig continues. “It's just... It's a type of mud, that's all.”
Tilting my head slightly, I watch as the creature starts exploring my wrist.
“This is what we have always feared,” Berios says finally. “We talked about the possibility of other life. Since the dawn of creation, there have only been demons, but look! Something else is emerging from the mud!”
“Impossible!” Skellig hisses. “Heresy!”
“We cannot deny what we see,” I whisper, filled with wonder as I watch the creature squirming across my flesh. “This is life -”
“No!” Skellig shouts.
“It is!” I sneer, turning to him. “Are you such a fool that you would rather lie to yourself, instead of facing the truth? For so long, the demons have been the only form of life in the universe, but finally a change is coming. It will take millions of years, perhaps, for these creatures to become anything more than the pitiful collection of cells that you see here, but we cannot close our eyes to the truth.”
“If that thing is alive,” Skellig mutters, stepping closer and taking the creature from my hand, “then explain this.”
He claps his hands together, and when he parts them again it becomes clear that the creature has been squashed. We all watch, waiting for it to move again, but it's almost as if the life has left its body.
“Do you remember what I mentioned once?” I whisper. “The idea that life might have an end...”
“You mean death?” Berios stammers. “No, that can't be possible. It was nothing more than a flight of fancy, a thought exercise on your part!”
Nearby, a bolt of lightning streaks through the sky and hits the ground, sending ripples of energy through another patch of water.
“It was not a mere thought exercise,” I mutter darkly. “Perhaps the elements around us are the cause, or perhaps there are higher beings, gods that have chosen to do this. Either way, it is clear that new life has begun to emerge from the mud, and this life is not like us. It has a beginning and an end. Death is real, and it balances out life.”
“Rubbish!” Skellig sneers.
Before I can reply, he reaches down and scoops up more of the wriggling little creatures from one of the puddles, and he wastes no time crushing them in his hands and smearing the remains across his palms.
“Do you intend to do that with all of them?” I ask.
“If necessary.”
“You can't hold back this tide,” I continue. “New life will emerge, whether we like it or not.”
“And perhaps we too shall face death,” Berios suggests. “You both feel it, don't you? A change in our souls, as if our state of eternal grace is starting to break down.”
“We must gather the others,” I tell him. “All twelve demons must meet to discuss this change.” Hearing a splashing sound nearby, I turn and see that Skellig has begun to kill more of the creatures, hurrying from puddle to puddle and scooping them up so the new life-forms can be crushed. “There will come a time,” I continue, “when this whole world swarms with creatures. We must either face this new reality, or we risk being left behind.”
“No!” Skellig shouts, as he gets further and further away, still crushing the creatures wherever he finds them. “There will be no change! There will always be twelve demons, and no other life!”
“He's wrong, isn't he?” Berios says after a moment.
“Very wrong,” I reply, turning to him. “We must come up with a plan. No matter how long it takes, we must ensure that these new life-forms can never pose a threat to our existence.”
Abby Hart
Today
It hurts, but I refuse to scream. Even after all these years, I won't let him use my pain as a way to enter my mind and body. No matter how much suffering he brings, I will not open my mouth and cry out. I just wish I could remember who I am.
Damos
The dawn of time
“There are more than ever,” Skellig mutters, pacing past me as he makes his way around the table. “Every time I go out to check, there are more puddles and more of those things swimming around! Some have even become to crawl out, onto the land! There's no stopping them!”
“For once, you are right,” I reply, relieved that he has finally given up on the foolish idea that he can somehow crush every one of the creatures as they appear. “It is as I have said from the start, these life-forms are multiplying at a rapid rate. I am certain that we shall never be alone again.”
“What if we burned them?” Berios asks. “That might work.”
“We cannot stand in the face of the inevitable,” I tell him, before turning to the other demons. “These creatures live and die, but I have witnessed the first signs that they can reproduce themselves. They have offspring, children who themselves grow even as their parents die.”
“What kind of madness is this?” Karran whispers, as if he can scarcely understand such a thing. “Why are they so different to us?”
“Perhaps life is seeking new forms,” I reply. “I confess that I do not fully understand, but I fear that we, as the twelve demons, have become stagnant. We do not reproduce, we have no parents and no children, we just stay the same forever. There might, however, be an advantage in this other way. If we fail to act, if we simply hope that the other life-forms will die out, we risk being swamped.”
“We risk being swamped regardless,” Skellig mutters, clearly becoming more and more irritated. “Have you seen how many there are out there? It's not just the sheer number, either. They're bigger than ever before, and they're not all the same! It's as if there are different types of life out there! Some walk on eight legs, while others are more similar to us and have just two. Some have sharp teeth, some have fur covering their entire bodies! It's madness! If this is the work of gods, then what insanity are they bringing down upon us?”
“I told you before about my dreams,” I reply, before turning to the others. “I have seen visions that I believe show things that are yet to transpire. We cannot stand apart from these new life-forms, so we must take on the strongest of their aspects.”
“You mean...” Berios stares at me, clearly shocked. “You want us to become like them?”
“I think we could benefit in certain ways,” I tell him. “If life is now to be paired with death, then we too must accept the need for children. We too must reproduce and -”
“Never!” Skellig shouts, slamming his fist against the table. “I refuse to let our life-blood be tarnished by mixing!”
“We have no choice,” I reply. “I believe I have discovered a way to create new life from our own bodies. I propose that we create a thirteen demon and -”
Before I can finish, the others start muttering their instant disapproval.
“Let me explain,” I tell them. “A thirteenth demon would -”
“Absolutely not,” Megiah says, shaking his head. “You're overreacting, Damos, as usual. What need is there of a thirteenth demon when we already are twelve?”
“We might not be twelve forever,” I reply, turning to him. “I fear th
at soon we shall become subject to the lure of death. We cannot assume that we twelve can live forever. For the demon race to prosper, therefore, we must create a new generation, starting with the thirteenth -”
“No,” he says firmly, “I cannot countenance this. It's sacrilege!”
“We shall simply observe the new creatures for now,” Karran adds. “Most likely, they will simply die off, and everything will go back to how it was before.”
The others murmur their agreement, and I realize that I am outnumbered.
“You will see the truth eventually,” I tell them. “I just prey that when that day comes, it is not too late.”
Abby Hart
Today
Silence.
Even he can't keep it up forever. Hanging here in the dark, naked and shivering, with blood running down my body, I wait for him to come back.
I know exactly what he's doing, of course.
He thinks that if he leaves me in silence, I'll be driven insane. He thinks I'll have to open my mouth and make a noise, and that by doing so I'll let my defenses down.
I need to stay strong.
Strong and silent.
Like my father.
And when my tormentor returns, maybe I can trick him into killing me. Whoever I am.
Damos
The dawn of time
The creature stops for a moment as it stumbles across the mud. Lanky and thin, its naked body glistening in the morning sun, it seems blissfully unaware of my presence. Instead, it stares at the horizon, as if captivated by its first sunrise.
“What are you?” I whisper, unable to shake a sense of awe as I witness this new life-form discovering its world. “And what will you become?”
For the next few minutes, I watch as the creature – barely two-feet tall, and with thin gray skin stretched tight over its fragile bones, stares at the horizon. It takes a couple of cautious steps forward every so often, almost as it's worried that the sun will somehow attack, and I must admit that there's something rather beautiful about watching new life adapt to its surroundings. It has been many years now since the first signs of activity in the puddles, and these creatures are growing more rapidly than I ever anticipated.