Beacon

by Kyle West

  “She asked,” Shara said.

  It felt as if I was being toyed with. “Asked who? Come on, spit it out. It’s not like we have much time here!”

  “Sorry. This is just one of those things where you have to pause for effect.” Then, Shara paused again…maddeningly. It was very like her; the real version of her that would sometimes tease me. “She asked you.”

  I hadn’t been expecting that…not at all. But then, Shara didn’t mean that she asked me, but that Mia had asked Anna.

  “So let me get this straight,” I said. “Mia asked Anna about the Prophecy, and Anna told her, and now Mia is going to tell me about it?”

  “Something like that,” Shara said. “You were right, though.”

  “About what?”

  “About us not having much time. We really need to…”

  “Stop!”

  We turned to see a guard, plated in the black hypermail of the Royal Guard. Two others were running up the hall, their armor clinking and their swords drawn.

  “I should have mentioned that I’m a bit of a fugitive here,” Shara said. “Kidnapping or some such. We should probably run.”

  “Kidnapping?”

  There really was no time to explain, because Shara grabbed me by the arm and we were fleeing down the stairs.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  WE RAN FAR TOO QUICKLY for the heavily armored guards.

  Unfortunately, there also happened to be a lot of them. As soon as any new one saw us running, they joined the chase, and soon the halls were filled with the clamor of clanking armor, and this was only made worse because Shara and I had no idea where we were going.

  “We need to get to a safe spot before I can explain everything. With luck, the others will join us, but not if Rakhim apprehends them…”

  The others were in the throne room, where they surely would be apprehended.

  I pulled Shara past a corner, and into the nearest open door, just to buy a few seconds before the guards came.

  “If they’re in danger, then why are we running? Why are we not fighting?”

  Shara’s eyes widened in surprise. “Shanti, there has to be hundreds of the Royal Guard here, all with hypermail and hyperswords. You think you can’t die in this place? You can. You die here, you are gone…forever. Your body just goes cold on the surface. That’s how it’s been explained to me, anyway. They have another Hyperfold here, and apparently it works just the same as this one.”

  I didn’t have time to go into the complexities of thinking about that. I could hear the guards approaching, the jangle of their armor signaling that they were just seconds away.

  “We’re going back,” I said. “I won’t leave them with Shal. It all goes back to him. Whether we like it or not, the time for running and hiding is over.” I drew my sword, the sound of which caused a few men to shout out in the hallway. “And I’m not leaving until I’ve said my piece.”

  “Shanti!”

  A second later, I was out in the hall, and just a few feet in front of me stood two guards, barring my passage, looking like giants in their armor. And there I stood, far shorter, far smaller, and unquestionably weaker.

  “Stand aside. I don’t want to have to kill you.”

  One of the guards chuckled, even taking off his visor and casting it aside, revealing a scar-ridden face, with hollowed, glowing eyes. One of the eyes was wide open while the other was set in a perpetual squint.

  “Put down the weapon, girl. You can’t win this fight.”

  Shara stepped out from behind me, wielding her own blade.

  I tried to see a way around the guards, but they were blocking the passage effectively. That was when Shara charged forward, even as the guards moved slowly – too slowly – to counter. They hadn’t expected her to do that, and for that matter, neither had I.

  Even as I ran forward to assist her, Shara was dodging the helmetless guard’s attack, cleanly swiping for the neck he had so foolishly exposed. She cut him there as the other guard gave a guttural yell, calling for aid, as I engaged him.

  My blade flashed, but there were no holes in his armor, unlike the first guard. Even as I swiped at it, it had no effect. Shara shook her head at me. I knew then that attacking was useless. Unless I had a blade like his that could cut through hypermail, it wouldn’t work. Apparently, Anna’s blade wasn’t something that could be replicated here…either that, or it wasn’t strong and sharp enough to cut through the guard’s plate.

  But then, there was the dead guard’s sword. That was the key.

  I assumed Treeform, easily countering any of the guard’s attacks, and as Shara came to my assistance, it gave me enough leeway to move toward the other guard’s discarded blade. I waited for the right time to reach down, and when I picked it up, I was surprised that it was as light as my own, despite being almost twice as large.

  Now that I had the sword, the guard’s attacks became more panicked, but finding a way to make the new sword work in Treeform took some adjustment. Even so, it was almost too easy. I had plenty of opportunities to press the attack, and with Shara helping me, it wouldn’t be long until he couldn’t defend himself.

  All of a sudden, he dropped the sword and raised his hands in surrender.

  Shara took his blade, quickly. We waited a few seconds to be sure he had truly given up.

  “Remove your armor,” I said. “You have ten seconds.”

  The guard hesitated, then moved suddenly. Too suddenly.

  In tandem, Shara and I both crashed our blades into the mail, which gave off flashes of light. The mail cracked across the chest and fell, piece by piece, until the man’s heaving chest was revealed. He was knocked backward, dropping the knife he’d reached for in the process.

  Shara, without a second’s hesitation, stabbed him directly in the abdomen.

  More guards were coming, still out of sight around the corner. The entire fight had taken place in under a minute, but it had seemed far longer.

  Shara and I didn’t waste any time, running down the hall and losing ourselves in the Palace’s seemingly infinite corridors. I let Shara take the lead, and I followed her through the maze of halls, staircases, and open archways. The enormity of the Palace was mind-boggling, and at times we passed rows of windows that overlooked the massive city below. From time to time, there were screams in the corridors, and the shouting of the Palace guards. I understood that they were trying to track us down, but how had other people been dragged into it?

  And that was when, turning a corner, we almost ran right into Isaru, Mia, and Isandru, who stared at us with widened eyes. Mia was the first to speak.

  “Anna?”

  Now, it was my turn to be surprised – even more surprised than I was already. Before I could correct her or explain, Isandru stepped forward, placing himself between us and his sister, even as Isaru hugged me in a very rare show of affection. I was completely stunned, because it had only been a few hours since I’d last seen him, but for him, it had been two months.

  “Easy there,” I said. “We’ll have time to catch up later.”

  “It’s…so good to see you. I was worried something might have happened…”

  “Who is this, Shara?” Isandru said. “Is this…?”

  “Yes. It’s her.”

  “She looks just like her,” Mia said, wonderingly. “We meet at last. In person.”

  Looking at her, the feeling was all too surreal. And there was no time to take everything in or make sense of it. I next looked at Isandru, whose familiarity, despite being young, was bewildering. The fact that he was uncommonly handsome certainly didn’t help, either. Somehow, I hadn’t noted that fact during my dreams of Mia.

  “We can’t stay here,” I said, finally. “I was trying to find Rakhim, because I was afraid he was holding you all. And we do need to confront him at some point.”

  Mia grabbed my hand, and the gesture surprised me; it was as if she already knew me, even if I had never spoken to her. “Everything Shara has told us has come
to pass. I…didn’t know what to believe, but to see you here, returned, after all the prophecies and visions…” She looked at me adoringly, as if she were looking at a god. It made me a little uncomfortable, but that was exactly the case. She had grown up her whole life thinking I was a deity and it would take time to set that straight.

  “We just need to get out of here,” I said. “We all have a lot to catch up on. Is there a safe place we can go to talk?”

  “Of course,” Mia said. “I know just the place.”

  “Lead us,” I said.

  Mia jumped to obey. Now I was absolutely sure she did see me as a goddess. Apparently, neither Shara nor Isaru had said anything to the contrary. Perhaps they did, and it hadn’t worked.

  We followed Mia down the corridor at a run. She led us into an empty part of the Palace, until we came to a flight of stairs we started down. It grated me that she moved so slow compared to the rest of us, but her dress was probably hampering her movement…and considering how bulky it was, with its rainbow of hems cascading down, it was a surprise that she could move that fast at all. All the same, I followed last, looking around every landing to make sure the coast was clear.

  And still, the stairs continued. The air was becoming cooler as we descended. The rich trappings of the Palace were replaced with bare, gray stones that looked like something out of a dungeon. There were no more windows, and I got the sense that we were deep underground.

  “How far down does this go?” I asked.

  “This is the Endless Stair,” Mia said. “Not truly endless, but it enters the Caverns of Creation itself.”

  “The Caverns of Creation?” I asked.

  “The location of the Sea,” Isandru said.

  I was struck by Isandru’s voice. Hearing its familiarity, while also being young, was very strange. I was still having trouble wondering how I would bring up the fact that I knew him…the future him.

  “Shara,” I whispered, so that the others couldn’t hear. The siblings both turned to watch, curious, but I still spoke so that they couldn’t hear. “Is this truly the Hyperfold? It’s so real that it almost feels as if we’ve stepped into the past.”

  “It is the Hyperfold,” Shara said. “Isaru and I are sure of it.”

  Mia and Isandru continued to lead the way quietly, but I could tell they wanted to know what we were talking about. I decided not to ask any further questions. That conversation was going to be a hard one, if Mia and Isandru didn’t already know about it.

  The stairs, after a very long time, ended in a long, rocky tunnel that sloped its way downward. It would have been dark had it not been for the pink-glowing xen lamps lighting the way.

  “The Palace is connected to the Sea of Creation?” I asked.

  Mia nodded. “Yes. It’s not just the Sea down here, though. The Caverns of Creations extend for miles and are a literal maze. Shal will never find us down here if we don’t want him to.”

  We followed the long, winding corridor in silence. The air was cool and damp, and the rocky floor and walls soon became coated thickly with glowing xen. The tunnel widened, until it could be more aptly described as a cavern. Glittering stalagmites and stalactites gleamed in the otherwise dimly lit underground, while several joined in columns of majestic beauty. The cavern was quiet, clearly empty, and only grew larger the further we walked.

  There was no trail, though evenly spaced poles marked the way, which we followed. If it weren’t for those poles, it would have been easy to get lost among the thousands of stalagmites and rock formations.

  A memory suddenly struck me of being here, and it filled me with dread. Or, rather, the memory flashing through my mind had been one of dread. I remembered walking through this cavern, this darkness, knowing full and well that I wasn’t going to be able to escape – and more importantly, that the one I was with wouldn’t be able to escape.

  Who had I been with, though? I couldn’t remember, but the feeling was powerful, and nothing I had ever felt before except in deep memory. Something too deep for words to describe.

  As suddenly as the memory came, it was gone.

  “This is the last rise,” Mia said, so quietly that I almost couldn’t hear her.

  When we crested the final bit of ground, it was to see a narrow sea far below, bright and glowing and pink. I gasped at the sight. It was small – so much smaller than it was when Isaru, Fiona, and I had entered the reversion north of the Sanctum. It had to be only a quarter of the size. It sloped down far before reaching the thin, snaky Sea, and the light it produced was far less than when I had last seen it.

  And, in the distance, was a bright, shining light…and extending upward from it was a long, tree-like substance. It shot up until it reached the cavern top, where the rest of it was lost.

  “The Xenofont,” I said.

  “The death of us,” Mia said. “They won’t listen. None of them will. They harvest the ichor here and turn it into Aether. The whole city is addicted to it.” She shook her head solemnly. “There are far too many people who depend on it, now. And when the Sea goes, it will all be over. Not even the Elder Dragons will save us. Not when they warned us all those years ago.”

  I was surprised to see that she was close to tears. But if my own knowledge was any indication, her fight would be for nothing. And of course, if this reality – this dream – of Hyperborea simulated what actually happened, then of course it would be for nothing.

  “Don’t think your fight goes unnoticed,” I said. “In the future…people will remember you. Hyperborea will always live in memory, and not only for bad.”

  She looked at me, and now she was crying. “How do I stop it? Is there anything we can do to save the city? That’s…that’s why you’ve returned, right? I know you’re Anna. I know your voice. You’ve spoken to me in my dreams.”

  How to even explain? I looked at both Shara and Isaru, but neither could help me here. It would have to come from me.

  “This is going to be difficult to say. I…don’t even know where to begin. I am who you say that I am, but in a way…I’m also not.”

  Mia frowned. “What do you mean?”

  I looked at Shara and Isaru, taking them both in at a glance. “How much do they know?”

  Now, Isandru and Mia were both looking at them. Isaru was the first to answer. “We kept back what was necessary. We never lied, but we also didn’t tell the full story. Perhaps now is a good time tell it…so that we’re all on the same page.”

  Mia and Isandru looked at them questioningly. They hadn’t been aware there was more to it than whatever Isaru and Shara had let on…all of which I was in the dark about.

  “This is going to be hard to explain, so I need to know what Isaru and Shara have told you so far.”

  “They told us that you were coming,” Mia said. “And here you are!”

  Her saying that triggered the memory of my final dream. I looked at Isaru and Shara. “You were the ones in my dream! The Heralds of Annara, right?”

  “How did you know about that?” Isaru asked. “We thought of that only because we knew it would get us to Mia and Isandru. And we did think you were coming, although we were starting to wonder…”

  “Wait,” Mia said. “You saw that? What else have you seen?”

  “That’s where it ended for me,” I said. “I’ve…had visions of your life, Mia. Nothing intrusive, mind you. But it feels as if I know you. It’s…strange.”

  I went on to explain, briefly, all the visions I’d had. Her eyes widened with surprise every bit of the way.

  “It’s true!” she said. “All of it. No one could have known all that! I can do the same for the prophecies you’ve given to me.”

  “That’s the thing, though,” I said. “I don’t remember any of those prophecies.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I am Anna, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.”

  “Is this all some trick?” Isandru asked.

  “No, it’s no trick,” Mia said.
“She looks exactly like the Anna of my dreams, and what she knew, no one else but me could. But I’m confused…how can you not remember the things you told me?”

  “I’ll…try to explain. In the future, Anna returns. Only, she returns without her memories because of the Sea of Creation.” I paused, trying not to lose them both. “I am Anna. But I grew up most of my life not knowing that. My real name is Shanti. Shanti Roshar. I was born in Colonia three hundred and eighty-three years after the Ragnarok War.

  Mia did some quick math in her head. “Gods…that would be…”

  “Over a century and a half, yes,” I said. “I know.”

  “If that’s true, then how is it that you’re here?”

  Now, came the hard part. She was accepting this remarkably well, but Isandru looked skeptical. I didn’t blame him in the least.

  “This is where the news will be especially hard to accept. Shara and Isaru are both my friends. We’ve known each other for a while.”

  “In the future, you mean.”

  I nodded. “Yes. But the future is not really the future.”

  Now, Mia’s eyes were not understanding.

  “We’re actually in the same time period, you and me. It’s just…”

  It was so hard to say. How to tell someone their entire world wasn’t even real? How could anyone accept that as truth?

  I had never been receiving visions from the past, as I had originally believed, but from this place. The Hyperfold.

  Both Isandru and Mia still appeared mystified, but suddenly, Isandru’s face darkened. He understood.

  Seeing this, Mia looked at him. “What? What is it?”

  “Our world isn’t real.” His light gray eyes turned to me. They were absolutely haunting. “This is the Hyperfold. Isn’t it?”

  I made myself nod, but I was startled at how quickly he had figured that out.

  “What are you saying?” Mia asked. “How do you know that…?”

  “…This world isn’t real? That nothing in it matters?”

  “I’m not saying it doesn’t matter,” I said. “From what I have seen…everything here is exactly as it would have been in your own time. You are just…reliving it.”