by Tyler Vance
“What do you mean?” Sheikoh asked Camillio, pushing his dark hair back distractedly. “Why am I so special?”
“You possess the potential of the world’s deadliest warrior against magic. No one could ever make better use of the Transcendent Amulet,” Camillio answered frankly. “I want you to work alongside me, to help me crush the Intrasentient’s tyranny. I need a right hand that can evade the Celestial’s traps, someone to share in my victories, to consult regarding my failures. And no one fits that description better than you.”
”You’re an expert when it comes to getting places, and more resourceful than anyone I’ve ever met. You made history when you brought Emili back from the dead, and you overcame the demon in your way. You’re only a teenager and you’ve already written your own legend.”
Sheikoh kind of liked the sound of all that. Still, there was something that bothered him.
“So you just happened to stumble into me, the dude that the Centaurai hired to kill you?” Sheikoh asked Camillio with suspicion.
“Of course not. You are the reason that I came to Interium in the first place. The codex was merely an afterthought. Sure, Ghost’s rise in power would’ve unbalanced the empire, but in reality I only gave him my support to gain his valuable allegiance and to meet you,” Camillio Tyche explained earnestly. “I mistakenly believed Silence, you, were a member of The Legacy of Vengeance and Vigilantes.”
Sheikoh let out a derisive snort.
“Then how did you find out about me in the first place?” he questioned.
“I spent years searching for the specimen of man that could compete with an android,” Camillio explained patiently. “An android can’t wear the amulet as they’re life-force is directly tied to a blood rune, so if Ghost were to ever put the amulet over his head, he’d die. Instantly and irrevocably. It became apparent that no man could ever hope to match the relentless power of a machine. Even a human inscribed with blood runes couldn’t match your overdrive potential. And a blood rune’s power is dispelled by the Transcendent Amulet.
“I despaired of ever finding anyone worthy of it. I was on the verge of throwing it into the ocean. Until one… memorable day. A Four-addict learned about me, a wandering Celestial unaffiliated with the Empire. He tracked me down and held me at gunpoint, demanding I create him some Four. He believed that a Celestial possessed the means of synthesizing the substance, but I was forced to disappoint him.”
What did this have to do with Sheikoh?
“Whatever his circumstances, the poor addict was brilliant. He told me that Four was a compound whose released energy formed a quantum bond with one’s life-force. I was skeptical until he told me his sad story. I listened in disbelief, wondering whether it could possibly be true. I didn’t sense any deceit in him, but even so, I checked his claims out. He wasn’t lying. I was beside myself with excitement. That was the moment that I resolved to come to Interium,” Camillio smiled mysteriously at Sheikoh. “His name was Alimiat Wray.”
Sheikoh’s mouth fell open in shock. He never imagined that he’d hear that name from the Celestial. Camillio nodded quickly and went on, his eyes shining with excitement.
“The moment that Alimiat told me that he had repaired you, the only cyborg without a blood rune, I knew that we were destined to change the world,” Camillio finished dramatically.
Sheikoh felt like the story had knocked the wind from his chest. A part of him couldn’t help but feel tempted at the Camillio’s offer of partnership, but he just wasn’t sure. The world was changing all around him, moving too fast to process. He wasn’t totally sure who he’d become these last few tumultuous days. The only constant element through it all was Dorothi. He couldn’t risk himself unnecessarily; Dorothi completely relied on him. Sheikoh closed his mouth and looked off to the side.
“I promised myself that this would be my last job,” Sheikoh murmured. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I have to refuse.”
“For Dorothi?” Camillio asked shrewdly.
“Yeah as a matter of fact, mate,” Sheikoh shot back at the Celestial. After everything, he was thoroughly unsurprised that Camillio knew her. The Celestial had met her father after all.
“The Supreme Centaurai escaped us, Sheikoh. All of the money in the world won’t protect her from searching Century, and if there’s one thing that we both know it’s that the empire plays for keeps. You and Dorothi would be much safer, living here with me. This house resides in an entirely untouchable dimension,” Camillio answered quickly and then added; “Besides, if you leave I can’t reliably inform you of when I’ve revived Emili.”
Sheikoh’s mouth dried up. His heartbeat pounded a few beats faster; he could feel it glancing against his blacksteel chest. He wasn’t sure what to say to the Celestial. Other than that a partnership was starting to sound real good.
Sheikoh never entirely believed that Camillio intended to honor his promise. It was too far-fetched of a notion that he and Dorothi were getting Emili back. It just seemed too good for it to possibly be true. Even as he tried to beat the hope back it inched up his chest like the vines of his walled garden, forever climbing upwards.
“Emi… you really think that you can bring her back?” Sheikoh asked the Celestial numbly.
“I promise you that I will ask nothing more of you until I have successfully brought Emili back,” Camillio vowed with a quick nod.
They both turned to look at the girl that lay on the white table.
‘Emili, are you ready to come back?’ Sheikoh mentally asked the unconscious girl, with a feeling of unreality. He turned back to Camillio.
“If you can bring Emili and Dorothi’ll be safe, then you got yourself a deal Mr. Camillio Tyche,” Sheikoh promised with wary eyes.
“Don’t worry; you won’t regret this,” Camillio Tyche responded, smiling his relief.
Sheikoh fervently hoped Camillio was right.
Chapter 19
The Celestial and the Sycrarian
Sheikoh looked down the endless staircase and tried to contemplate another long hike down. The next thing he knew, he was spiraling down the banister, riding faster speeds than he’d ever before imagined. As he hung on for dear life, adrenaline kicked him into the next level of awake. A few seconds later Sheikoh was at the ground level.
Strangely, he wasn’t tired anymore.
Sheikoh climbed off of the wood shakily and went through the first door in the nearby hall. It wasn’t a bedroom, but he let his exhausted body drop into a white couch all the same. As Sheikoh sank into the soft, cool leather, he flicked on the TV. Its noise quickly gave way before his quiet snore.
His head fell back against the headrest.
After about a minute of rest, he was jerked back into consciousness.
“SHEEK!”
Hi body was pulled into a tight choke hold. He woke up to a racing heartbeat and mortal terror. His hand grasped the smooth hilt of his electroblade before he had even realized what had happened. As he breathed in coils of tangled brown hair, his hard eyes widened with understanding.
“Dodo!” Sheikoh laughed with relief, returning the girl’s bear hug. “I’ve missed you girl! You would not believe the things I’ve…”
Sheikoh trailed off, realizing that he wasn’t sure what he was going to tell her. That he got a job to kill a dude, did it, then accidentally summoned a demon wearing Emili’s body? Then he had a Celestial promise he’d try to bring her sister back? It sounded like a lie and a cruel joke all in one.
He changed what he was saying mid-speech.
”What have you been doing?” Sheikoh asked her.
Dorothi’s face brightened, and her sky-blue eyes sparkled. Sheikoh was suddenly reminded of Emili. Dorothi’s brown, curly hair and mocha skin where about as far as you got from blonde-hair and freckles, but they had the exact same eyes.
What was he going to tell her?
How was he supposed to explain about Emili?
He didn’t see any way that he could tell her the whole t
ruth; it was just too complicated. Alternatively, if he didn’t tell her anything until Emili popped out of nowhere it would be even more so. Sheikoh had no idea how Dorothi would react to any of this.
He only half listened while she talked.
“Oh my god, Sheek, I had the best time ever! When Mr. Dream picked me up and brought me here, I thought something horrible was going to happen, but Mr. Dream just told me not to worry, that you were taking care of an errand for him and you wanted him to take care of me, and he gave me a credit card, and then he brought me to the East Side, and I’ve been exploring and shopping for new clothes all day! I’ve never had more fun in my life!” Dorothi chattered with a rosy tint to her cheeks.
Sheikoh smiled back at her, but it didn’t completely mask the unease in his eyes. Inside of his chest, he felt cold at the question of what Camillio Tyche had talked to Dorothi about. He eyed the girl, speculating.
Dorothi opened her mouth.
Sheikoh quickly cut her off; he somehow knew that she was going to ask what he’d been up to for the last couple of days.
“What do you think of Mr. Dream?” Sheikoh managed.
“At first he was a little bit creepy but he’s actually pretty nice I guess, and what did you do for him by the way? He wouldn’t tell me no matter how many times I brought it up,” Dorothi asked quickly.
Sheikoh opened his mouth indecisively, but Dorothi didn’t leave enough pause for him to answer.
“Did he show you his magic?” she whispered conspiratorially.
Sheikoh’s half-smile froze. A chill traced a finger down his spine; after everything that he’d seen, the mention of magic held his chest in a cold grip of fear. Sheikoh hastily rearranged his features into an indulgent smile.
“Yeah, he did, pretty funky stuff, huh? What’d he show you, ladybug?” Sheikoh asked Dorothi in a carefully light voice.
“He made flowers appear out of nowhere, and he could turn his eyes blue, like fully blue! One time he made one of my toy horsies dance! It’s because Mr. Dream is a Celestial,” She explained with a laugh of delight.
Sheikoh laughed along, his own stemming from slightly hysterical relief. Strangely, he’d never seen any magic performed just for the fun of it.
“That sounds so much cooler than what he showed me, that’s not fair. How come everyone always likes you more than me?” Sheikoh mock complained.
“It’s because everyone knows that girls are better than boys! We’re prettier and smarter and better at fashion,” Dorothi giggled back at the teenager.
He flashed a pair of hurt eyes at her.
“Don’t be sad, you were just born a little bit wrong,” Dorothi went on, wrapping Sheikoh into a hug. He hugged her back, and, as the girl laughed into his torn and burned, dusty coat, Sheikoh was suddenly glad that Camillio had healed him; he didn’t want to picture Dorothi’s face upon the sight of him after his battle with Khryzt.
“Whoa, that’s pretty harsh. Specially coming from the girl only wearing one sock,” Sheikoh replied smugly.
His face shined a warm smile down on the small girl with her face buried in his chest. She rubbed her face against his shirt in a motion that was either snuggling or wiping her nose. Dorothi’s hair tickled him and made him sneeze into his shoulder. Dorothi came up and looked at him. He sneezed again.
“You never told me what you did,” Dorothi asked him with a smile, expecting a crazy story.
“’Mr. Dream’ wanted me to pick up a book for him,” Sheikoh decided to tell her, fixing a smile onto his face. Dorothi laughed and pulled her head up to look into Sheikoh’s dark eyes.
“So it took you this long to get to the library and back? I thought you were supposed to be fast, Sheek,” She teased him.
“Fast huh?” Sheikoh’s smile widened and a devious light sparkled in his eyes. “Like this?”
He put both of his hands into Dorothi’s hair, and his hands blurred with speed, tangling her hair into a wild nest. Dorothi screamed and laughed, trying to pull away from the teenager, without success. He didn’t let her go until her brown hair resembled an afro. Dorothi gazed at him with reproachful eyes. He burst into laughter at the sight her.
“Sheek, not cool!” Dorothi exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at the giggling teenager. Her expression arranged itself into annoyance when he didn’t stop. Dorothi flicked his nose the way he sometimes did to her, only harder.
“Sorry Dodobird, I couldn’t resist,” Sheikoh grinned at her.
Dorothi pursed her lips for a moment. Then her face broke into a smile of triumph.
“A girl could resist,” she exclaimed with finality, as though that fact proved girls were superior to boys once and for all.
“Then I am glad I’m not stuck as one of you boring old girls!” Sheikoh replied, winking at her.
They stared at one another for a moment, and then before either of them knew what was happening, the two of them were rocking backwards and forwards with wild laughter. They ended up on opposite sides of the leather couch, gasping and clutching their sides.
Sheikoh looked over at the still-giggling Dorothi on the other side of the couch and flashed her a lazy smile. He suddenly realized how much he’d missed her. Spending time with her simply made him happy; Dorothi’s presence filled Sheikoh with an inner peace he could never attain on his own.
“My last job made some serious cash. We’re pretty much rich enough to do anything that you’ve ever wanted. If you could do anything in the world, what would you want to do?” Sheikoh asked Dorothi with a cocky grin.
Her face brightened into an enormous smile.
“Then we’re going to have to take you shopping!” Dorothi squealed with delight, jumping up off the couch and wringing her hands. She looked at Sheikoh with excited eyes, brainstorming his new look. He laughed a little nervously.
“Not tonight, Lovebug. I haven’t slept well in way too long. I’m gonna crash here on the couch,” he confessed, yawning. He stretched his arms out with an exaggerated groan.
“No Sheek, here. We’ll just share my bed,” Dorothi offered, beckoning.
Guess Camillio’d explained their living situation.
“What did I tell you about inviting us boys into bed with you?” He asked Dorothi, referring to a talk they’d had when one morning, Dorothi had run out of the toilet screaming that her insides were bleeding. He caught a glimpse of a bright blush, and then Dorothi stomped out of the room, slamming the door on her way.
Sheikoh looked after her, a little worried. He’d only been joking. Sometimes he didn’t know what was too far to Dorothi. He hoped he hadn’t said anything that freaked her out overmuch.
Sheikoh fell back down onto the soft leather couch, berating himself. Gradually, coherent thought drifted into theatres of his dreams.
Sheikoh watched Dorothi carefully the next day, and she didn’t seem to hold last night’s conversation against him. She was probably too excited to be mad at him. After all, today they were going shopping, and that was rare enough that she wasn’t giving him any excuse to back out.
Sheikoh tracked down one of the gaunt, tattooed men and struck up a conversation about the door to the outside world. He learned that it could be opened into anywhere, that you needed Camillio’s insignia, and his hand unconsciously twitched. Sheikoh kept flattering and wheedling, and when he left, he left with the man’s ring in hand.
He brought it to the door and, when it opened into the east side, his suspicions were confirmed. Sheikoh and Dorothi walked through the hallway of blackness, out of Camillio’s castle and into the cobblestoned streets of the east side.
First they went into a nearby high class petticoat store. Sheikoh was complaining the second they walked into the first aisle of tailed suits, each colored a slightly different shade of boring. Dorothi ignored him and dragged him to a monocle-wearing, grey-haired man. The balding dude was wearing a suit so tight that Sheikoh was sure that it cut off his circulation.
The elder man looked down his nose at Sheikoh and his
tattered black garments. Undaunted, Dorothi had the dude measure him down. Sheikoh looked around and grumbled a bit more, but Dorothi ignored him. Then they headed back the way they’d come. He followed behind Dorothi, surprised when they left the department store without a backwards glance.
Dorothi brought Sheikoh to another store with a completely different vibe. They walked through a pair of automated doors into an artificially urbane scene. Mannequins showed off various styles, facelessly leaning against walls and silversteel poles. The store’s ambient noise was a mixture of trancey music and teenagers’ conversations.
For a while Sheikoh found himself looking around in surprise; he’d never seen a rich East Sider child before. He’d assumed that the upper class spent all their time working, with no time to make babies. The dudes strolling through the shop around them were mostly pale and thin, and every single one of them wore a monocle.
While Sheikoh was people watching, Dorothi was busy searching for outfits for him. Sheikoh jumped when a bundle of clothes shoved itself into his arms. Dorothi pushed him towards the men’s dressing rooms. A lady gave Sheikoh a number and a room. He went in, carrying the clothing over his shoulder. The door clicked behind him.
For a moment, Sheikoh stared at his tattered reflection in the mirror. He could see why he’d accumulated so many strange looks. He looked inordinately out of place against the polished beige backdrop of the changing room. Everything about him, from his lack of a monocle to his dirty, ripped clothes, made it clear that he didn’t belong here.
His shirt was filthy with ash and dust. His black jacket, already torn before his fight with the demon, had acquired three enormous new holes and a million tiny ones. His shoulder showed through, as well as his the chest. The right sleeve of his jacket was all but nonexistent. His black pants were tattered to the point of indecent.