by Jacob Holo
“Did you sleep at all last night?” Daniel asked.
Despite herself, Nicole shuddered. “You heard?”
“Well, yeah. We all did.”
“Then you can guess I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Sure. I understand.”
No, you don’t, she thought.
Nicole rubbed her stomach where the Mantis had spilled out her intestines. She had an ugly, ragged cut across her belly where the Mantis had ripped her open. The wound was scabbing over, but underneath it felt like her stomach had been gut punched over and over again.
As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t ignore the truth anymore. These injuries came from the dreams.
And they’re getting worse, Nicole thought. But what can I do about it? Maybe someone in Chronopolis can help me before it’s too late.
The Parthenon, with its tall, proud columns and broken roof, loomed closer.
“Is there another way to get to Chronopolis?” Nicole asked.
“Do you or Amy know how to sail?”
“No.”
“Then, nope. No other way.”
“I thought you said this route wasn’t safe.”
“It’s not,” Daniel said. “But we don’t have a choice.”
“Have you traveled it before?”
“Once, years ago. It wasn’t all that safe back then, either.”
“We’re here,” Rüdiger said. “I’m starting the freeze.”
“You sure?” Daniel asked. “I thought the entrance was closer to the—”
* * *
The bus halted. The air went still.
“—Parthenon. Okay, I stand corrected.”
A marble archway appeared a few paces off the main road. It was wide enough for four lanes of highway traffic and the top towered over the bus. Thick, fluted columns supported an elaborate frieze that ran across the entire top. Nicole spotted carved images of naked people battling caricatured reavers. Some of the people were engulfed in flaming auras or lifted impossible loads. All of them were carved in triumphant poses.
Daniel unsheathed his sword and jumped down. Melanie and Amy unfolded their crossbows.
Nicole climbed over the bus’s open-top railing and dropped to the road. She walked up to the archway. Blue crystalline spheres embedded in the columns began to glow, illuminating the immediate interior. A wide causeway lay before her, ornately tiled but decayed by the passage of time.
Columns lined the Greek Road, one after another as far she could see into the gloom. Some had cracked. Others had toppled along with their ornate archways, but the road itself looked stable. Life size statues stood between some of the columns. A few were even intact.
Beyond the columns to either side was nothing. Just blackness and void. Nicole had expected the normal claustrophobic press of those dark tau crystals. In a lot of ways, this was worse. Anything could be hiding in that inky dark.
“Once we’re on the road, be ready for anything,” Rüdiger said. “We have no idea what to expect in there.”
“All right. Let’s get this over with.” Daniel marched in. Another set of blue crystals lit once he was far enough inside.
Nicole stepped through the archway. She pulled a throwing knife out of a set of sheaths hidden beneath her hoodie. Rüdiger had bought them for her in Athens.
“This is incredible,” Nicole said, passing the statue of a nude man. He held a flame aloft in his open palm.
“Yes, it is,” Rüdiger said. “It must have been something to see Chronopolis at the height of its power.”
“What makes this place so dangerous?” Nicole asked, looking around.
“Besides reavers, the road itself can be a hazard,” Rüdiger said. “The further in we go, the more decay we’ll find. If part of the road doesn’t look stable, don’t walk on it.”
Nicole glanced back. The archway to Athens was a fading white dot against a black tapestry. She should have been able to see the entrance at this distance, but something fogged her view. The distant point of light dimmed until it vanished completely. Only the blue glow from the orbs in each column provided an oasis of faint light.
They pressed on in silence. The squeaks of their shoes died quickly and without echoes. The black sky drank in all sound and light. The road stretched before them for over an hour. Around them, the stonework began to show signs of decay. Fewer columns remained erect, and those that did were laced with cracks. Near the edges, the road was a spider web of hair fissures.
“How far does it go?” Amy asked.
“It will take us several hours to clear the road,” Rüdiger said.
Amy groaned.
“Quiet,” Daniel said. “Stay on guard.”
They marched on, staying close to the center of the road. After about two hours, best Nicole could guess, she started seeing small chunks missing in the outer road. Pieces still in place around the edges looked unstable, almost as if something had chewed on it.
“You see those?” Amy whispered, pointing ahead.
“Yeah,” Daniel said, not stopping. “Reaver tunnels.”
A black outline shimmered against a column. Another opening sat on the floor, sinking into unknown depths. As the group progressed, the faint glow from the orbs illuminated more openings. Nicole stopped counting after thirty.
Most of the tunnels were small, but some were large enough for sentinels or juggernauts to pass through.
Amy walked up to the edge of a wide, black pit and looked into its jagged interior.
“Should we turn back?” she asked, a hint of fear in her voice.
Daniel didn’t turn around or slow down.
“We knew reavers would be here,” Rüdiger said. “It’s best to keep moving.”
The group continued on. Nicole fell back a little and walked next to Amy. Quietly, Nicole found her sister’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
Amy mouthed the words I’m fine.
“Okay,” Nicole whispered.
The reavers had torn up some areas with dozens of tau tunnels. Others they’d left unblemished. Nicole couldn’t figure out a pattern to it other than the further they traveled, the more deteriorated the road became. Nicole kept an eye open for cracks in the road. Some were large enough for her to foot to slip through. She kept a firm grip on Amy’s hand.
Nicole guessed they were three hours deep when a faint scent tickled her nose. She sniffed the air.
“Do any of you smell that?”
Daniel took in a deep breath. “Barely. Something foul is out there.”
“Smells like…” Nicole rubbed her nose. “I don’t know. Rotten meat, maybe? It’s getting stronger.”
“Whatever it is, it’s not good,” Daniel said.
Amy gripped her hand tightly. Nicole gave her a reassuring squeeze back.
“Gott!” Rüdiger said. He coughed into a fist. “Now I can smell it.”
Nicole let go of Amy and pulled her turtleneck over her mouth.
The road gradually narrowed to a single lane. Ahead, the path arched gently upward until it peaked and curved down. It took Nicole a moment to realize what she was seeing.
“A bridge?”
“One of two we’ll have to cross,” Rüdiger said.
“Spanning what?”
Daniel pointed over the side. “A very long drop.”
Nicole glanced over the edge. Fluted pillars of dark tau crystals supported the Greek Road from underneath. She couldn’t tell how long they were because they vanished into the blackness below. Most looked solid and intact, and seemed capable of holding tremendous weight. But several were worn or decayed. Others had cracked or broken away, standing out like jagged stalactites from the road’s underbelly. A few had reaver tunnels cut into them.
The bridge spanned a wide chasm. Nicole had no way of knowing how deep it was, or even if this surreal realm actually had a bottom.
“Ve are not alone,” Melanie whispered.
Orbs along the bridge’s stone guards provided a ghostly glow. The pale ligh
t picked out a human silhouette at the far end of the bridge. He wore a long trench coat, similar to Daniel’s. Nicole thought it was a “he.” It was hard to tell.
The silhouette of the tau guard waved for them to approach.
Daniel cupped his mouth. “Who’s there? Identify yourself!”
The silhouette raised his arms in an X and shook his head.
Nicole tugged on Daniel’s coat. “I think he wants us to be quiet.”
“I’ll be quiet after I know who he is,” Daniel said. “You there! I asked you a question!”
The silhouette covered his ears and looked behind his back. He pointed to a prone shape on the ground next to him.
“I tink somevon is injured,” Melanie whispered.
“Then we should help them,” Rüdiger whispered.
“Just hold on a minute,” Daniel said. “Hey you! Answer me!”
“Something is wrong here,” Amy whispered.
“Yeah. No kidding,” Daniel said.
“It’s not that,” Amy whispered. “Look at those blue orbs.”
“Huh?” Daniel looked at the one glowing next to Amy. “What about them?”
“What turns them on?”
“People do. They switch on when we walk by.”
“What about reavers?”
“No, just people.”
Amy pointed at the mysterious tau guard. “Then why aren’t they glowing near him?”
“Uh…”
“Wow, she’s right,” Nicole whispered. “Shouldn’t he be in a pool of light also?”
“Oh, crap,” Daniel said. “Not good.”
“I don’t know what that thing is,” Amy said. “But it’s not human.”
“Let’s be certain,” Daniel said. “Hey, I’m going to throw a knife at you! Are you okay with that?”
The silhouette raised his arms in an X again.
“Uh huh. That’s what I thought.”
The knife sank into the silhouette’s chest. The body fell back and hit the ground. A dozen reaver roaches burst from underneath. They scuttled away from the corpse and slipped through cracks in the road.
Underneath the bridge, metal scraped against stone. Something much larger than the drones was retreating. Nicole ran to the bridge guard and looked over, but she couldn’t spot it. The scraping sound grew fainter until it disappeared from hearing.
“What was that?”
“Good riddance, whatever it was.” Daniel walked over to the two bodies. “Eww. They’re rotting or something.”
Nicole and the others joined Daniel. The flesh on one corpse sagged as if half-melted. It broke off in stringy gobs when Daniel prodded it with a boot.
“Don’t touch it,” Rüdiger said.
“Yes, mother.” Daniel scraped the goo from his boot onto the floor.
The other lay in a pool of stinking, liquefied flesh. Nicole’s eyes watered from the stench.
“Those drones must have been moving the corpse’s limbs,” Daniel said.
“Aren’t the drones too stupid for that?” Nicole asked with her turtleneck pulled high.
“Alone, yes, but there was something controlling them.”
“We should pick up the pace,” Rüdiger said. “Whatever that was will try again if we give it time.”
“At least we know where that stench came from.” Daniel started walking down the road at a brisk pace.
The road widened again, but the edges looked even worse than before, more like pale, crumbling dirt than stone. Nicole kept to the center. Some of the glow orbs had cracked, providing little or no light.
Occasionally, they heard metal scrape stone, but never long enough to get a sense of where it came from.
“Shouldn’t that smell have gone away?” Nicole asked.
“I don’t think it was just the corpses,” Daniel said.
Rüdiger looked over his shoulder. “We’re being hunted. Be on guard.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Daniel said.
The group proceeded further along the road. Darkness pressed in around them. So many lights were missing that Rüdiger had to ignite a small flare and hover it over his head.
“Bridge ahead,” Daniel said after what felt like an eternity.
“Finally,” Rüdiger said. “We’re getting close to the end.”
“Oh no,” Amy said. “Look.”
The road narrowed just like the first chasm, but only the initial upward arch of the bridge was intact. The rest had fallen away, leaving a gaping chasm ahead with no way to cross it.
“Crap,” Daniel said. “What now?”
“I have some rope in my pack,” Melanie said. “Maybe ve can cross de gap dat vay?”
“You have a rope?” Nicole asked.
“You never know vhen you might need rope,” Melanie said. “Ve could tie it to de columns on eider side.”
“Daniel, can you jump this?” Nicole asked.
“Umm… oh, boy.” Daniel stopped at the broken edge of the bridge. He kicked a pebble off. “I don’t think so. It’s a long way across. Maybe if some more of the bridge was intact, but it would still be a close thing.”
Behind them, metal scratched against stone. The screech was like a reaver clawing at a chalkboard.
Rüdiger spun around and conjured two fireballs. “We need to find a way across, fast!”
“Then you jump it!” Daniel shouted, his back to the bridge. He raised his sword.
“Where is it?” Rüdiger asked.
“I don’t see it! Melanie?”
“Nutting here!”
Amy stared intently at the end of the bridge. Nicole could practically see the gears grinding in her skull.
“If the bridge was just a little longer…” Amy mumbled.
“What is it?” Nicole said.
“Thinking,” Amy said.
“It’s got to be out here!” Daniel shouted. “Where is it?”
Rüdiger threw a fireball. It exploded in a flash, turning the road into a vivid contrast of light and dark. Nothing was there.
A reaver made that scratching sound again.
“You missed!”
“I don’t even know where it is!”
“All right,” Amy said, stepping onto the bridge. “Here goes nothing.”
“Amy?” Nicole asked.
“Stand back. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but if Rüdiger can do this, so can I.”
Nicole was about to follow, but then she saw frost spread wherever Amy stepped. The air grew colder. Both their breaths condensed into puffs of mist.
Amy spread her arms, hands open, palms up. It looked like a pose Rüdiger would strike. Mist gathered near her body, spiraling around her in a double helix. Spheres of ice formed above her hands, growing in size. A sheen of frost caressed her skin and clothing. It tinkled and cracked when she moved.
“I can do this!” Amy shouted, raising her arms. “I can really do this!”
With a sharp thrust, Amy threw the spheres towards the bridge. They hit and expanded, growing out into an extension of the bridge. Amy continued to feed it, a continuous stream of white mist shooting out of her hands. The ice grew faster and faster, thickening and spreading, arching towards the other side.
“I didn’t know she could do that,” Rüdiger said.
“Brilliant!” Daniel shouted. “Okay! Everyone watch Amy’s back!”
“We still don’t know where it is!”
“Doesn’t matter! As soon as it shows up, kill it!”
Nicole reached out with her sense, found the rough, textured surface of broken statue, and lifted its head.
The ice bridge continued to form and thicken behind her.
“How are you doing, Amy?” Nicole asked.
“This! Is! Really! Hard!”
“Keep it up!”
Nicole looked over her shoulder.
A vague outline moved over the broken edge of the bridge and slinked onto the ground next to Amy. At first, Nicole thought her eyes were playing tricks with all the
mist flying around, but the shape moved across the ground, disrupting the patterns of frost on the stone. Its skin had better camouflage than a chameleon, but it couldn’t hide the cracking ice around it.
“Amy! Behind you!”
The shape rose from the ground, its flat body coiling back, ready to strike. Images of the marble played across its upper skin, but its underbelly possessed the familiar metallic shine of a reaver. It wasn’t much larger than a creeper, only flatter and more compact. Its limbs were shorter, but looked just as sharp. Clear, viscous oil dripped from its two longest legs.
Amy turned around.
“Amy!”
The reaver lunged forward, driving both of its long blades through Amy’s abdomen. With no visible effort, it lifted her off the ground. Amy didn’t scream. She stared down at the blades piercing her body, an unbelieving expression on her face.
The reaver flung her aside and spun towards Nicole. It had no eyes on its flat, triangular head. Amy rolled across the ground until she stopped, face up, bleeding. She didn’t move.
Nicole screamed with white hot rage. She made an overhand motion and threw the statue head at the reaver. It tried to dodge out of the way, but the stone slammed into it and crushed its body.
“What happened?” Rüdiger asked, turning around.
A second reaver detached itself from the floor and rushed Rüdiger from behind.
“Rüdiger!” Nicole shouted, pointing.
Rüdiger spun around, and as he turned, he gathered energy in his palms. The reaver had almost reached him, but its face met a scorching flamethrower.
Melanie shot the reaver, knocking it back. Daniel blurred past it, sword whisking through its body.
The reaver slumped to the ground. Its head rolled away. Smoke rose from its scorched body.
“Amy!” Nicole shouted, rushing to her side.
“Don’t touch her!” Daniel shouted.
Nicole flinched back.
Melanie ran to Amy’s side. She knelt next to her and held both hands over the wound. A slick oval of fresh blood stained Amy’s shirt around the stomach, but alien fluid mingled with the blood. It was thick and oily. Her chest rose and fell with labored breaths, eyes closed.
“She is poisoned,” Melanie said. “De poison is very strong.”
“Can you save her?” Nicole asked.
“I vill try.”
Slowly, the blood flowed back into Amy’s body. Sweat glistened on Melanie’s brow. It looked like it took a lot of effort.