Riven

by A. R. Knight

  I ignored the remark. Went outside and saw the sphere on the street, left there as promised. Picked it up and ran my fingers over its smooth surface. It seemed to be stone, something Nicholas could have found anywhere in Riven.

  “Come on,” I said to Anna as she followed me out of the lab, chain in hand. “Let’s go. Next time a spirit jumps me, it’d be nice if you had a way to help.”

  Chapter 31

  On the walk back to the lab, I kept turning over the banded spirit in my mind. While Riven had plenty of spirits in states between losing their minds and on dead-eyed journeys to the Cycle, before Graham, I hadn’t encountered any that were calculating. Aggressive but not out of control. Now, counting Cane and Spike, there’d been four in the last couple of days.

  Anna and I passed by a trio of spirits, standing on the thin sidewalk and staring at each other, confused. Newcomers. Sharing that lost and dazed stare amongst themselves.

  “Hold this,” I said, handing the sphere to Anna. “I want to try something.”

  I went up to the trio and waved my hand in front of their faces. They looked like travelers, sporting jackets and trousers meant for a trek. Victims, perhaps, of an accident or disease in some edgy frontier. As my hand passed in front of their eyes, they tracked it.

  “What’re you names?” I asked them. They turned at the sound of my voice, but said nothing. Angry spirits, like the one Selena found days ago, clung to their personality. To a warped version of themselves. Others, especially if they had some expectation of death, understood where they were and managed to bring part of themselves to bear on it. Gained a voice, even determination. Until the Cycle washed it away.

  These three, though, they were what I expected. Whomever they had been at the moment their lives left them was gone.

  “What are you doing?” Anna asked me.

  “Confirming that Riven still makes sense,” I said. “At least in its own way.”

  We left the spirits and kept going back to the apartment. The trio hadn’t helped me figure out why the banded spirit bothered to attack, but at least Riven wasn’t turning to a murderer’s row of hostile spirits around every corner. I only knew one way, though, that a spirit could gain that level of reasoning, come up with goals beyond tearing the throat out of the next thing it saw. That was through binding, which a guide could do, which anchored a spirit to Riven through a piece of the guide himself.

  Graham suggested another. That perhaps a strong-willed spirit could survive on its own. Even bring other spirits under its power. If that was true, and Cane and Spike suggested it was, then Graham might be able to form his own army. Bring bands of armed, deliberate spirits to sweep ambush and annihilate unsuspecting guides. He was more dangerous than ever.

  I opened the door to the apartment and froze. Nicholas stood in the middle of the living room, holding one of the blue-tinged crossbow bolts and wearing a dark cloth vest with indigo lines running through it.

  “You’ve returned!” Nicholas said as he saw me. “Now, the test can begin!”

  Before Anna or I could say anything, Nicholas stabbed himself with the crossbow bolt, blazing blue fire up and around the scientist. I felt a sudden rush as Nicholas severed our connection. Ran forward to try and pull the bolt out of the scientist’s chest, but Selena stopped me. Caught my arm as I went into the apartment.

  “He thinks he has a way to stop it,” Selena said as we watched Nicholas collapse to the floor. “To block the Cycle. It would mean you wouldn’t have to bind us anymore.”

  “This is his idea of how to test that?” I said, incredulous.

  “If it doesn’t work, you’ll rebind him,” Selena replied.

  “You chose some weird spirits,” Anna said.

  The fire burned down around Nicholas, eventually vanishing and leaving the spirit lying on the floor. We all watched him. Waited. I’d never seen a broken binding before, had no idea what would happen next.

  “Nicholas, you still there?” I said to the scientist’s prone form.

  He didn’t reply.

  “Should we poke him or something?” Anna said.

  “Wait,” Selena said. “Give him time.”

  Nicholas eventually stirred. Stood up on his feet, his back to us.

  “So if this worked?” I said to Selena.

  “He said he should be himself,” Selena said.

  When Nicholas turned around, though, I didn’t see any trace of my friend. His eyes were as dead as any of the spirits I’d wrangled before. As devoid of comprehension as the trio on the street.

  “Nicholas?” Anna said to the scientist. He didn’t say anything. Stared past us, towards the door. Took a step forward.

  “Right,” I said, moving in front of Nicholas. “This one’s gone on long enough.”

  I reached out, put my hand on the spirit’s shoulder, and found our connection. Brought the two of us back together, and re-bound the scientist to me. When it was done, Nicholas blinked and, behind those eyes, I saw the shimmering intelligence that had been missing a moment before.

  “I take it the experiment failed?” Nicholas said.

  “It did not go well,” I said. “You went blank, and were about to march on out of here.”

  “I’m sorry, Nicholas,” Selena said.

  “That’s all right,” Nicholas said to her. “Experiments are meant to fail. Are meant to be tried again. Eventually, if one follows their hypothesis to the end, the idea is confirmed to be possible, or...”

  “Or we have no other choice,” Selena said.

  “Right,” Nicholas seemed to deflate. “If we cannot devise a means to suppress the Cycle, then we are tied to Carver here. When he eventually passes, then we will lose our anchor.”

  Selena nodded, then slipped away, out towards the balcony. We watched her go.

  “Nicholas,” I said. “Do you think you’re close?”

  The scientist sighed, shook his head. “Without a better idea of how the Cycle works, I’m afraid I am only guessing. The vest was meant to suppress the frequencies your resonator picks up. I had hoped, perhaps, the compulsion came through along those lines.”

  “Keep trying,” I said. “You might get lucky.”

  Anna held up the sphere, and Nicholas brightened. “There’s no better cure for a failed experiment than conducting another one!” Nicholas said. “Now, bring that bauble over here and lets get started.”

  Chapter 32

  After Nicholas declared we’d found the right pieces, and that it would take him a day of focused effort to put the thing together, Anna left to cross back over. I went out to the balcony, where Selena was still standing, watching the occasional spark.

  “So you’re still tied to me,” I said. “I hope you’re not too disappointed.”

  “So clever,” Selena said, rolling her eyes. “So funny.”

  “I can’t help it,” I said. “Part of who I am.”

  “It’s good that you know who you are,” Selena said. “It’s easier to lead the life you’re looking for, that way.”

  The hard swing to the serious. I had already made up my mind to leave Opperman’s material alone for now, but if Selena wanted to dig into that side of life, I was ready.

  “Do you know who you are?” I asked her.

  “Me?” Selena said. “Sometimes I think I’m just a woman who wound up on the unlucky side of life. Other times, I think that everything that brought me here is my own doing. That it’s who I am.”

  “What brought you here?” if Selena wanted to confess her past, and thus make revealing Opperman’s work unnecessary, I’d take that chance.

  “Choices,” Selena said. “While you’re living it, life moves too fast for reflection. Here, though, in Riven, you’re presented with as much time as you need. All the evidence of lives lived wrong.”

  “The other spirits.”

  “I look at them and wonder how they died,” Selena said. “Is that strange?”

  “That’s basically my job. So, I hope not.”

 
“Right, but its different for me. I want to know, did they deserve it?” Selena said.

  “Because you did?”

  Crap. That was the wrong thing to say. I knew it as the words came out of my mouth, and it was confirmed when Selena frowned at me.

  “What did you say?” Selena’s voice didn’t hold the anger I expected.

  “That you think you deserve to be here?” A chance to change my words, to dodge the swinging ax, but no. I went for it. Because I knew I wanted to have this conversation. To find out whether the Selena I knew was a fraud, whether she was using me as some new affection before stabbing me in the back, or finding a way out of Riven with Graham.

  “I do,” Selena said, not even bothering to fight. “Then, so do most people. I’ve done terrible things, Carver. Even so, they’re not so awful as others. I didn’t die terribly, this scar notwithstanding. I didn’t suffer through a disease. I didn’t watch my children die. I wasn’t mutilated or drowned. It was instant. One moment there, the next, here. If you hadn’t found me, I’d be gone entirely by now.”

  “We all go eventually.”

  “Only that’s not really true, is it?” Selena said. “Graham’s idea. The binding you’ve done. Spirits can live forever, and maybe come back.”

  I studied her expression as she said those words. Looked for any sign of malice, or her eyes slipping away from mine as she lied. There was nothing. Only honest conversation.

  “You’re going to take me to him,” I said.

  “Yes,” Selena replied. “Together.”

  “What if he can crack Riven? Open a way back?”

  “I’ll be the first through the door,” Selena said.

  “Even if it would hurt everyone on the other side? Even your children?”

  Selena’s face went sad for a second, and she turned back to Riven’s torn skyline. “For another life, I would do anything.”

  The words chilled me. There were a lot of terrible things Graham might offer her for that chance.

  “Are you ready?” Selena said. “He’ll be there tonight, but we can wait. If you’re tired.”

  I was. I was exhausted and burnt after this conversation. After the fight with the spirit in Nicholas’s lab. But I was sick of Graham. Sick of what he was doing to my life.

  “Let’s go,” I said. “Take me to Graham.”

  Chapter 33

  The building wasn’t natural. Wasn’t in its original Riven state. I could tell from the imperfect shards placed on the square roof. From the bars put into the windows and the broken mortar around them. Could tell from the large deep wood door with new hinges covering the entrance.

  The windows hadn’t the slightest glow. No sound came out of the place, which was a half-block in size. At least three stories. A big place for a single spirit to bother with.

  “He’s here,” Selena said at my questioning look.

  “How’s he want us to come in?” I said. “Knock? Break through the door?”

  At my words, Selena walked forward, took the handle that sat on the right side of the door, and pulled it. With silent grace, the door large enough for Selena and I to walk in side by side swung out towards me.

  Inside, the entrance held a single bench and clear stone walls. A passage went back briefly before opening into a wider room.

  “Boring, but I guess its functional,” I said.

  “Focus, Carver,” Selena said, this time a flash of worry darting across her face. With all that talk of getting out of Riven alive, it was nice to see she still cared.

  “Making stupid statements is how I focus,” I said, peering down the passage. “I’m finding the lack of a greeting suspicious.”

  “Follow me,” Selena said. And so I did. Down the passage, where the lack of windows made the world dim. The room beyond, however, lacked a ceiling. Riven’s light poured in. I guess in a world without rain or anything other than gray nothing, missing a roof wasn’t a problem.

  One thing caught my eye.

  “There he is,” I said to Graham, standing at the end of the empty courtyard. The ash that fluttered through Riven’s air had been collecting here, had built up until it formed a loose carpet.

  “Indeed, here I am,” Graham replied. “Thank you, Selena, but you may leave us now.”

  I wanted to tell her to stay, but stopped myself. What would she do? Would Selena blindly obey Graham and make it obvious I was screwed, stab me in the back? Or get herself hurt trying to help me?

  “Be careful,” Selena told me. “His weapons aren’t only physical.”

  Graham gave the comment a nod, and then Selena walked back the way we’d come. Shut the door to the outside and disappeared. Leaving me alone with captain top hat and his hammer.

  “Why’d you wreck Nicholas’s lab?” I said.

  “Because he was making things that don’t belong in Riven,” Graham said. “That crossbow you wear on your back. That was never meant for here. Riven is where you get up close with the lost, and by doing so earn your own self.”

  “That’s a bunch of crap,” I said. “You’ve told me, told Selena that you have a way out of Riven. What is it?”

  “So direct, Carver,” Graham said.

  “You remember that you used to be a guide?” I said. “That your job was to keep Riven safe? To keep spirits locked in?”

  “Look where it took me,” Graham said.

  “Tell me how,” I repeated. Either Graham would tell me how, and then I could share it with the rest of the guides, and potentially Selena, or he wouldn’t. In which case I would wrangle him and send Graham to the Cycle.

  “Some things are better shown, I’m afraid. If you’ll come over here, lie down, then we’ll get started?”

  “That’s not happening,” I said. “If you’re not talking...” I reached for the lash.

  Graham smiled, a creepy affair as his eyes opened wide, dragging his wrinkled, scraggly face up around them. “With pleasure.”

  Graham broke into a loping run, setting the spiked hammer over his shoulder and holding the hilt. His left hand, still sporting the gauntlet, pumped with every footstep. I flipped the crossbow off my back. Raised it, and fired.

  On the walk over, I’d slotted in a normal bolt and cranked the weapon. Figured having a ready-to-fire shot wouldn’t be a bad plan. Graham tried to dart out of the way, but wasn’t fast enough. My shot caught him in the shoulder, spun him around and to the ground.

  I drew the lash and snapped it as Graham tried to push himself to his feet. I hit his leg, but Graham twisted his ankle away from the pointed end. Still, the lash tore away parts of the spirit’s clothes and the skin beneath.

  I sent the lash forward again. This time at his chest, an easier target. Except Graham’s left hand snaked out and caught the lash. Held it tight. I did nothing for a second. Stunned. A whipping lash was fast, so fast that I couldn’t believe anyone could catch it. Graham would have had to anticipate the move, already getting into position before I’d snapped the lash.

  Then the spirit pulled hard. Yanked me forward. By instinct, I dug in my heels, and realized what a bad call that was when Graham used the resistance to pull himself up to his feet. He lunged, swinging the hammer. I dropped the lash and darted back, the spirit’s swing catching only air.

  I pulled out the long knife. Sidestepped to Graham’s right, towards the side with the hammer. His weapon took space to get a good swing, and if I could close, get inside his reach, there’d be openings. I kicked my right foot, throwing up a cloud of the ash that’d gathered on the courtyard floor. It flew towards Graham’s face, and as soon as my foot hit the ground, I pushed off towards his right side.

  The spirit didn’t move fast enough, the ash forcing him to block his face with a hand. I cut in, grabbing his hammer arm with my left and stabbing with my right. I felt the knife bite in and expected the pale fire to burst out, crawl over Graham and end the fight.

  Only it didn’t. The knife burned blue, but Graham jerked free before any pale fire touched his clothes.
Swiped the hammer as he back-stepped. I couldn’t get out of the way, the hammer catching my left shoulder as I tried to keep a grip on the knife.

  Graham couldn’t get much power behind the hit that close to me, but there wasn’t a light way to get slammed with a large hammer. The spike brushed my shoulder, the rest of the head crunching me down to the ground.

  I used the momentum to roll, ignoring the ache from my left side. A second later, the hammer struck the ground where I’d fallen, denting the courtyard’s floor.

  “There are two ways, Carver!” Graham continued. “Two ways to bridge the gap between Riven and your world. One, you already know.”

  Graham let me stand up. The spirit wasn’t pushing his attacks. Why? “Clog Riven with spirits?”

  I felt something against my foot and noticed I’d rolled near my lash. Without taking my eyes off of Graham, who seemed content plucking the crossbow bolt from his left shoulder, I crouched and regained my lash.

  “Yes, and what a terrible choice that would be,” Graham said. “Chaos. No control over who went across. At one time, though, I thought that would be the only way.”

  The crossbow was behind me, only a few feet away. If Graham stayed on his monologue, I’d have a chance to get it. Get another shot off. This one straight into the spirit’s busy mouth.

  “Until I found you, Carver,” Graham said. “Until I found out who you were.”

  I paused. “What do I have to do with anything?”

  “With you, Carver, I can control the breach. Control the bridge between Riven and our home,” Graham said.

  “Giving you control has to be the last thing I want,” I said, yanking up the crossbow.

  I didn’t see Graham launch the hammer. Didn’t see it whirl through the air. I only felt it when the spiked end embedded itself in my chest and pushed me into the wall.

  I felt my ribs break. Couldn’t focus. My vision pulsed, shook at the edges. But I could see Graham walking towards me, that same manic grin on his face.