“But how does it know?”
“Perhaps it was taught. As it taught the doll.”
“But who would teach it? These things know not their origins, save a few. This one is too young to be so learned.”
“I heard it in the cockpit of Hyper Battle Machine #25 Allepexxis!” Paress shouted.
“What are you doing?” Casten hissed.
Paress honestly didn’t know. Maybe he’d just had enough of these two monsters talking like he wasn’t even there or beneath their notice. For all he knew, he probably was beneath their notice. But dammit, if he couldn’t even stand up to a couple of gate guardians on his morning commute, how could he face whatever evil things lurked out in space?
“It speaks,” one of the Phantoms said.
“Not to us,” the other replied. “The rambling noise of a stupid thing in terror.”
“I am talking to you,” Paress said through gritted teeth. “I can hear you and I’m talking to you now.”
Aside from the terror, the one constant thing about the Dread Phantoms was that they never moved. They had always stood still at their posts on either side of the gates. They moved now. Paress could feel the ground vibrate and as they drew near, it felt as if his nerve endings were all being frozen— like ice was being pressed against bare skin despite the fact that he was wearing his uniform.
“Paress…” Casten said, and Paress could feel his friend start to slump.
“No,” Paress said. “Come on, hold on. Stay here with me.”
“O…okay…” Casten’s voice was barely a whisper, but his grip on Paress’ hand tightened.
“Child of the Sixteenth Realm in the Third Era, how is it that you can hear us?” The Dread Phantom’s voice was extremely close. Paress got the impression that the thing was leaning down and staring into his face.
“I…don’t know,” Paress said, trying to keep his knees from buckling.
“Your statement was accurate on the prior eve. It does have the Truth upon it,” the other Dread Phantom said. “I see it now that we are close to it.”
This time, when Paress heard the word “Truth”, a pattern flashed into his mind. It was gone before he could focus on it, but he knew it was one of the things that had been stolen from him.
“Yes,” Paress said. “I saw the Truth and then heard the song when I activated Allepexxis, but it was stolen from me.”
“Allepexxis?” One of the Phantoms seemed confused.
“The dragon of power. The doom bringer,” the other confirmed. “And why did you sing one of the Songs before?” It shifted its focus back to Paress.
“Because it brought me comfort. I knew I saw something important. The Truth and other things. They were stolen, but not the song. I felt like I could be a little stronger if I sang the song.”
The Dread Phantom said, “Indeed, the Song is one of Elder Ahdoh. From something far in time and location. Another Age. Another Realm. The first lover of our Queen. She who became betrothed to the second Emperor of the Two-Hundredth Realm of the Eighty-Eighth Age to carry the identity Gustav. He who brought a sheen of your people’s former glory back to you.”
The other Dread Phantom agreed. “The Glamour of the Science of Ancients. He opened the door to such things. There is no new Story or Song under the Stars and no Story, Song, or pray tell, Truth remains hidden for eternity.”
There was a general sense of agreement and perhaps even appreciation in the air. Paress could feel Casten relax slightly and start to stand a little straighter. “Are things going well?” he asked hopefully.
“The doll cannot hear us,” one of the Phantoms said, almost mockingly.
“It has a soul. Perhaps that soul only need see the Truth as the other has,” his colleague said.
“It’s…going about as well as expected…” Paress said to Casten. “I think…” he raised his voice to the Dread Phantoms, who he’d gotten the feeling were standing up straight high over him again. “I think I want to see what you look like.”
That statement was greeted with laughter and Casten shivered again. “What’s…”
The laughter, as before, was hideous and terrifying. And yet, Paress didn’t feel any malice. Rather, it was like the laughter of an adult watching a child trying to walk, only to fall down. The effort was appreciated, but still humorous.
The Phantom spoke carefully. “Child, to see our faces would be to bring about your Doom. Such a thing only occurs to those who trespass. Even amongst our Realm and Age, those such as we can send the unprotected into the eternal blackness.”
“Only our Queen may look upon our countenances and exist. Even our King does not possess such a gift,” the other elaborated.
“You are one of the Truly Invited,” the first Dread Phantom said. “One of those for which this entire world exists. Were you to die in the viewing of our faces, it would break one of the most intricate and perfect of the Absolute Treaties. The curses of the Black Tongue would wash over us and smash ten Realms while doing so.”
“And at least three Ages,” the other agreed.
“Indeed. And so you must understand why our faces remain hidden.”
Paress hadn’t the slightest idea of what all the talk of Ages and Realms were. He knew the words, but the Dread Phantoms obviously used them to mean different things to what he understood. He also realized that there was a good chance that a lot was getting lost in communication during the filtration between their realities. And so he just nodded. “Yes, I understand. Thank you for being careful.”
“We are guards. Not just for this gate. But against many other things as well. That includes protecting one such as yourself from our Doom.”
Paress was positive that “Doom” was a word that meant many things to the Dread Phantoms. After all, they described Allepexxis as “the doom bringer”. He wanted to find out more but had a feeling it would be fruitless.
“The Child of Claw,” a Dread Phantom said. “Where is it?”
Paress surmised the creature meant Mriniw. “I don’t know… From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t show up very much.”
“Indeed. The prior morn was the first we’d seen it in many thousands. Its accompaniment shows that you are one of rare quality when compared to others than the typical. Its aspect is now upon you where it wasn’t prior.”
“Uh, well, I think you mean the shielding he’s put around me to protect me from more psychic attacks. As for his coming along with me, others seem to agree that it’s pretty rare.” Paress remembered how Mriniw said he could see the Dread Phantoms all the time and how he didn’t like them. And yet, he knew a lot about them and their Queen. Of course, Behlen maintained that Mriniw might have told them the story just to see what Paress’ thoughts would be. “The uh, child of claw…he said he could see you. But if looking at your faces is so terrible, how is he okay?”
“The masks protect. Open thine eyes.”
“I’m opening my eyes,” Paress told Casten. “If something happens to me, get me back to the dorm.”
“If something happens to you? Whaddya think’s gonna happen?” Casten sounded like he was going to panic.
“Don’t worry. I’m saying just in case.”
“Okay…”
Paress opened his eyes so slowly as to be almost excruciating. He was looking down and saw two massive sets of armored boots in front of him. As he slowly lifted his gaze, he could see the odd blackness shimmering around the slowly-revealed bodies of the Dread Phantoms. The blackness curled around them and occasionally sent tendrils out to run along and twist around Paress and Casten. Paress tried to not to bat the tendrils away and run and instead focused on moving his eyes up.
Two swords each were sheathed at either side of the creatures’ waists. Paress figured the swords to be about twelve feet long. Clenched in chainmailed fists dripping black were ancient halberds capped with obsidian blades.
When he got to the upper torsos of the creatures, about sixteen feet high, he swallowed, took a deep breath, and quickl
y lifted his eyes. Under helmets made of what looked like rusty iron plate the Dread Phantoms were wearing what appeared to be smooth white porcelain masks. The flawless masks stood in stark contrast to the dirty, rotting appearance of the armor the monsters wore. The eyeholes contained a cold, inky blackness, and from that blackness, two tiny burning orbs of white shone: eyes.
“And so you see, the masks protect those with the Sight from incurring the Doom our faces bring,” the Dread Phantom on the right said.
“I understand,” Paress said. “It’s okay, Casten, I’m fine,” he said when Casten shivered. “It’s safe. You can look at them. They’re kinda like knights. There’s like a death haze around them, but their armor pretty much covers them up.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Casten said. “I don’t have to see.”
“The doll cannot see or hear us,” a Phantom reminded Paress. “Its soul is lesser and bound. It also hasn’t seen the Truth as you have. It will only feel the pressure we exert on this realm and the stress we place upon the nearby beam.”
Paress had heard of beams before; lines of various energies: life, magic, realities, travel systems, and interplanar communications lines. He could understand how Casten’s other-dimensional aspects of his creation would likely be able to detect those beams. And how if other-phase entities were near a beam, they’d affect its properties in a way that Casten would feel.
“Well, you may as well open your eyes,” Paress said. “You won’t be able to see them because of something to do with you being a Companion and how you didn’t see whatever I did in the cockpit.
“If you’re sure…” Casten said.
“Positive. Remember what Jil said about telling the truth and trusting each other? Well, this is one of those times. You’ll see.”
Casten slowly opened his brass-colored eyes and Paress could tell right away the Companion couldn’t see the Dread Phantoms when he looked right through both of them and didn’t react. But then…
“Hey, look at me,” Paress said.
“Why?”
“I want to see your eyes.”
Casten did as he was told and Paress was fascinated to see the tiny “M” creator marks in Casten’s eyes were pulsing with a soft, gentle light.
“What?” Casten asked as Paress stared.
“Your creator marks have this glow. The glow is pulsing kinda a like a heart beat. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.” Paress made the sound in time to the pulse.
“Huh, weird since I don’t have a heart that beats blood,” Casten said.
“It is an aspect of the Doll’s bound soul and the symbol of the one who bound the soul,” a Dread Phantom remarked.
“His creator?” Paress asked. “She was the one who called his soul.”
“Yes. The laws of placing a soul into a vessel other than the natural living put restrictions on that soul. The soul understands that we, as denizens of the dead, are near. It reacts. But the bounding has dulled the soul’s absolute life force in understanding the dance of the phases. A Truth could perhaps modify the laws, but that is still an unsureness.”
Paress said. “I’m sure I don’t understand all of that. But that’s okay for now, I think. Mriniw seemed to accept that Companions can’t see you.”
“Indeed. It is, after all, as it should be considering the circumstance of the Doll’s existence.”
Paress was suddenly shocked to realize how at ease he’d become with talking to the Dread Phantoms. No doubt they were still scary and he found himself averting his eyes so as not to focus on them completely. But overall, familiarity had done a lot to take away the terror. Casten seemed to be taking things in stride too. His internal systems must have adjusted to the presence of the monsters.
Then again, Paress noticed the tendrils of blackness were no longer reaching out to touch and embrace the two of them. Perhaps the familiarity ran both ways and the Dread Phantoms and their black haze had discovered enough about the two boys to give them their relative privacy. And with the tendrils no longer touching them, the death energies weren’t affecting them.
As soon as Paress realized that, his mind could once again roam to other things. Things like…
“Dr. Behlen!” Paress gasped. “Oh no, we’re gonna be late.”
Casten said, “Well, we’re still almost twenty minutes early. Maybe a half-hour if we run. Not that I’m encouraging you to hang around here…”
“No, we should go…” He looked up in the general direction of the Dread Phantoms’ masks. “I’m sorry for our rudeness, but we have to go. It’s my first real day as pilot and I want to make a good impression with Dr. Behlen by being early.”
“Behlen, yes,” one of them nodded. “We know of it. A being of some importance in this place. It is understood.”
“It is good for you to continue on. We are the guardians of the gates. Denizens of our realm tasked with the duties we’ve been given should not be speaking with you as a fact. Therefore it is for the best that you continue on your way. Our speaking with you must not be done until it is of importance again.”
“You won’t talk to me again?” Paress asked.
He was surprised to sense a slight bit of embarrassment. “We should not have been talking for you to hear from the start. It was against out duties as guards. Small laws were broken by our carelessness. We simply could not know that one such as yourself could hear us.”
“Even though,” the other Phantom put in, “I maintained it had an aspect of the Truth upon it.”
“Yes, the statement was correct.”
“Indeed.”
Paress almost wanted to laugh at the odd bit of bickering these two terrifying monsters were engaging in. Apparently people were the same no matter what they were or where they came from.
“It’s okay, I understand,” Paress said. “You didn’t know I could hear you and you thought it was safe to talk. You don’t get to do much just standing there guarding the gates. Talking passes the time.”
“Indeed. But with that truth established, we must now adhere to the correct aspect of our tasks and remain silent when you or others are near.. We two may only speak when alone.”
Paress actually felt disappointed. “I wish we could talk more. But I understand. I hope that one day we can speak again. This has been…” He searched for a word. “…enlightening.”
He knew he found the right word when they both nodded and he could feel a sense of appreciation in the air. “Indeed it is so. With hope of more discussion someday. Until then, the luck and blessing of the Black Swan of the Dark Paradise be upon ye, Dragon Tamer Paress and Doll Friend Casten.”
“May it be so,” both Dread Phantoms chorused and they made a stately bow before moving off to stand at either side of the gates. They stood bolt upright, looking ahead, their halberds at the ready.
Paress stood there a moment looking at the two noble monsters, both still as statues. He had hoped he could ask them more questions tomorrow. Among other things, questions about Elder Ahdoh and who or what it was. And now that opportunity was gone. “Goodbye,” he said. He led Casten away from the gate and toward the elevator.
“What happened?” Casten asked. The air got a lighter and things weren’t so scary.
“They realized that they weren’t supposed to be talking to me or anyone else— or even to talk around me. They kinda screwed up talking about me when they thought I couldn’t hear them. And then to talk to me after that… they figured they might get in trouble so they decided to stop taking on the spot.”
“Well, nice to know even Phantom ghost monsters can make mistakes,” Casten said.
“Yeah. Too bad though since I had some questions,” Paress said thoughtfully.
“Seems like that’s the usual way of things on this planet.”
After their arrival at the transportation hub, Casten looked around expectantly. After a few moments of this, in the middle of a large group of people who still occasionally wished them luck, Paress said, “What are you doing? We have to ge
t to the Doctor’s office, not stand around like idiots!”
“I was hoping to take a few minutes and see if the girl from yesterday would show up,” Casten said, craning his neck to see.
“Aw, man, we really don't have time for that!” Paress said. “If you start talking to some girl, we won’t be early— we’ll be late. At least talking to Dread Phantoms is a pretty good excuse. But standing around waiting for some girl and then flirting isn’t. Come on. You’ll see her again sometime. Let’s go.”
“Alright…” Casten said with a sigh of resignation.
Paress ran down the hallways leading to Behlen’s office with Casten close behind. When they got to the office door, it was slightly ajar. Paress looked at it curiously and then at Casten. Just as Paress was about to say something, the two boys heard the muffled sounds of raised voices coming from deep within the office. Paress put his finger to his lips to let Casten know to stay quiet and he softly opened the door the rest of the way to let themselves in.
As they crept along the path through the paperwork and books, Paress noticed a branching pathway that went off in a vaguely parallel direction that led to tall bookshelves near the section of the office where Behlen’s desk was. If they went there, they could listen in while not be seen. Paress pointed his plan and Casten nodded his understanding. As they settled into their hiding place, Paress could hear Behlen’s voice and the voice of a woman.
“…but he went too far, Jeddeg. Are you really gonna let him get away with it?” the woman demanded.
“Considering the fact that your three idiots started it and my boys finished it? Yes,” Behlen’s voice replied.
“Oh my God, are you capable of not being an obtuse jackass for two seconds? He nearly snapped Shanyn’s neck and tore Shendra’s tongue out of her mouth! Who does something like that?”
Hearing that, Paress and Casten looked at each other. Apparently somebody wanted them to get in trouble for the fight.
“I don’t know, somebody who doesn’t like getting threatened and slapped while trying to eat a fucking apple?”
“Are you for real? In what possible way is tearing somebody’s tongue out a proportionate response to getting slapped?”
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