***
Davin Anul sat within the cave at the bottom of the Valley of Mystery, both eyes closed and the Eye of the Panopticrown shining. He was scanning the minds of the creatures, maintaining a link between the minds of his teammates and studying the potential near futures for the most desirable outcome to the fight. The last proved difficult. The future was rougher and more opaque than ever. The variant timelines swirled and blurred together, many vanishing outright, so that his foresight was for naught. He could still see the immediate future, however, and thought to Mandhe. The building behind you is about to collapse. Run! The Gunfighter ran, knowing better than to ignore such a thought from Davin. She could see the building crumble as it loomed over her. The golem she'd been hunting was pushing it over. Bricks fell like stone rain about her and the shadow of the tumbling wall blotted the sun. She wasn't going to make it. Then everything blurred and she was right behind the golem in question, well within range to put a bullet of pure Spark through its head. She did so and it fell forward, flattening a row of broken houses. Mandhe turned and smiled at Thom, who stood lounging against a pile of rubble nonchalantly. "Thank you," she said. "My pleasure," he bowed. He held his arms open, asking, "Can I speed you anywhere?" Mandhe smiled again. They'd grown close rather quickly, as often happens in such situations, in the course of a single night's shared grief. She jumped into his arms and smiled wider. "Let's go see how Kel's doing with the terror beats," she suggested.
***
Kel pummeled a terror beast with fists blurred for the speed of his blows. Each hit with immeasurable force, staggering the creature backward across a devastated street. He struck one last time and the beast's head snapped back, only to meet the savage kick of Kael T'Ken. It sailed forward, smashing face-first into the ground. It did not move after that. "I'll race you to the other one," Kel's father teased his son. He took to the air, only to be pulled down by Kel. "What?" he asked, quizzically. "What are you doing here?" Kel demanded. "Who are you?" The seemingly resurrected Champion took a step back, stunned. "Kel," he said, "I'm your father. I'm just here to help. I told you when I stepped down I would show up to tag along every once in a while. I'm not here to take command of the Legion back." Kel's face twisted first in confusion and finally anger. "Take command of the... what in the Broken Hells are you talking about?" He shouted at his would-be sire, "You're supposed to be dead!" Kael blanched and looked as though he'd been struck. "Kel," he said roughly, "I don't know what's come over you, but that's incredibly poor taste. I don't know what I did to make you wish me dead, but we can discuss it after this is taken care of." His voice took on a disapproving tone, indicating the ruins they argued in. Kel shook his head. "You don't understand," he said. "I don't wish you dead. You are supposed to be dead." Kael glared at his son. "Kel, this isn't funny." Kel turned away. "No, it isn't," he said. "I don't have time to figure this out now, but when I discover who conceived this ugly little joke, they'll wish they hadn't." Kael stepped toward him, reaching out, only to come up short against his son's words. "Don't follow me," the younger man said, back still to his ostensible father. Then with a great push of his massive blue wings, Kel took to the air. Kael stared after him then leaped up from the ground, flying off in the opposite direction from his son.
***
Jena stood her ground, her own flames deflecting and absorbing the blast of fiery breath from the dragon. She was ignited and the flames swirled and crackled about her. So locked in battle was she, that she very nearly missed the shrieking keen that echoed across the fallen city. Sparing a glance, she looked out toward the eastern horizon. She saw what appeared to be a cloud cross the sun. It was moving a little too fast for one though. She thought to Darine and suggested she investigate. The contact broke off abruptly as the fight with the dragon reclaimed her full attention. Darine soared high up above the fray, looking east with her enhanced senses. What her friend had seen as a cloud, she saw very clearly. Her eyes widened and she gasped. "Oh, hells," she breathed. "Oh, bloody broken hells!" And a swarm of shadow creatures blotted out the sun, howling in hunger and rage.
***
Jena leaped aside as Kel threw a terror beast into the dragon she was fighting. At a word from Davin, she quickly sealed the portal to the Valley of Mystery, thereby keeping the descending horde of shadow creatures from invading their sanctum. The dragon shoved its fellow monster aside and took to the air. The shadow creatures would rend it as surely as they would the humans, and the dragon knew fear at their approach. It sped away, fleeing to its former prison in the Wild Lands. Kel landed next to Jena and Darine floated above them. Jena remained ignited, staring in horror at what approached them. "Do you think my flame will do much good against them?" she asked, struggling to keep her voice even. Kel drew the Sword of Vega and Spark crackled along its length. "We're about to find out," he said matter-of-factly. Thom and Mandhe arrived in a cloud of dust. Kel turned to them as Mandhe slipped from Thom's arms. "Good," the Champion said. "Everyone is here." Kel began to issue orders. "Thom and Darine, do one one last sweep of the city, getting anyone who might have been left behind as far away as fast as you can." The flier and the speedster took off. "Mandhe," he grinned down at the smiling Gunfighter, "you're with us. I know your guns can hurt them." Mandhe looked away from where Thom Kenar had been and tipped her hat to Kel. "Aye," she said, "and a nasty hurt it is, too." "You two find cover to attack from," he told them. "I'll take as many as I can out of the air before they get here." The women nodded and sought their cover. With one beat of his great blue wings, Kel Vega took to the skies.
***
"How will they fare, Davin?" The young Adept of the Eye looked up at Kai as she entered the cave and sat comfortably against the wall, eying him expectantly. Davin cleared his throat slightly. "Well," he began, "in the current temporal state, probabilities become less predictable, alternates are collapsing and-" "Will they all survive?" Though no longer an officer of the Pacifica, Kai's voice still commanded if she wished. Davin was silent a moment, then, softly, he said, "One of them won't come back." "Do you know who?" He shook his head. Time passed silently, but comfortably. Kai and Davin had found a certain ease in each other's company, being the ones who remained behind. The Sisters became more reclusive each day, spending their time in silent immobile meditation. They were scant company for the two Adepts. At last, Kai chuckled. "What?" Davin looked up from his own meditations. He still maintained the telepathic link for the others, but it took so little of his considerable power to simply act as a conduit. "I'm still not used to waiting," Kai confided. "I traded my great strength and stamina for this," she held up her Totem, Anya's Chalice, "but there was a time I'd have been there in the thick of it, shock baton swinging. Sometimes I wonder if, since I changed, well, if Kel still..." She shook her head, standing up. "Never mind." Then Davin was beside her, taking her hand in his. "Is that what truly bothers you?" he asked. "Or is it the thought that, being so much more now, you might not still love him?" Kai took one step back, her eyes locked with his, her hand still in his. "Davin, I don't..." She took a hesitant step toward him. "Yes," Davin whispered, staring deep into her gaze, "yes, you do." He put his arms around her waist and kissed her. After a brief hesitation, Kai kissed him back, leaning into him, her fingers twining in his hair. Then, almost immediately, she stepped back, pushing against Davin. She shook her head. "No," she said. "No, wait. This isn't right." Davin smiled at her, a slow pulse coming from the Eye of the Panopticrown. "Of course it is, Kai. Think of how close we've grown since this team came together." He took her hand in his, tipping her chin up so her eyes met his. "Think of how distant you've grown from Kel." Kai nodded slowly, unable to look away from this incredible man with the most beautiful eyes. She and Kel had been growing apart since she changed. She was no longer the hard young bruiser who'd led a Pacifica troop. She'd grown and continued to grow, while he remained the same ineffective man-child, still desperately chasing his father's approval. She could do so much better. The team could do better. Th
ey needed a real leader, not some blundering muscle-bound clod who... She shook her head again, turning away and refusing to look at him. "Davin, what... what are you doing?" She stumbled toward the cave entrance, desperately fighting the persistent grip of his mind. She knew, on some instinctive level, that her own considerable healing abilities were staving off the mind control. She groped her way along the cave wall, a soft breeze guiding her to the entrance. Her eyes remained shut tight in concentration. To keep Davin out, she resorted to a tactic some young private had once used to rid his mind of an unwanted tune and began singing a small bit of doggerel over and over again to herself. "I've got a song that'll get on your nerves. I've got a song that'll get on your nerves. I've got a song that'll get on your nerves. And here's how it goes. I've got a song that'll-" Pain was a spike through her brain, silencing her and dropping her to the ground, where she flopped about clutching her head and screaming silently. Davin stood over her and smiled down. "Very clever darling, and most certainly annoying, but ultimately fruitless." He looked down at her and shook his head. "And you showed such promise. I am very disappointed, Kai. We could have been great." Kai growled from her place on the cave floor. "I'm... already part-part of -nnng!- something greAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" Her spine arched and her eyes rolled back in her head. Then the pain left her and she collapsed, panting, on the floor. "Why?" her voice was a ragged whisper. "Why are you doing this? How could you do this to us now?" Davin shrugged. "Now, two days from now, next week... it doesn't matter when I did this. What matters is I don't have to pretend at heroism any more. I've finally mastered this Totem of mine and I'm finally ready to be rid of you wretched imbeciles." He sighed, looking down at Kai, who struggled valiantly to her hands and knees. Her brain was healing itself, as were her nerves and muscles. Davin sighed again, clucking to himself. "You had potential, though, Kai," he said sadly. "I could have made something of you." He shook his head. "Now you're just going to die like the rest of them." "Perhaps I'm interrupting," a deep voice spoke from the cave entrance. Davin turned and smiled. "You are. But what you're interrupting isn't working out so well, so why don't you kill her," his eyes locked with those of the former Champion, "now." Kael stood, staring at Davin. The corners of his mouth turned up a bit. Then he smiled. Finally, he laughed long and loud. "Davin," he said at last, once his laughter subsided. "Davin, Davin, Davin. The most powerful telepath in all of Amorlia was my wife. Do you really think me incapable of shielding my own mind? Besides," he stepped quickly toward the young Adept, "I've been suspicious of you for weeks." "No you haven't," Davin sneered. "You've been suspicious of a clearly inferior version of me in some backwater alternate universe. You see, here," he laughed derisively, "here you've been dead for ten years." He laughed again at Kael's look of shock. "Yes, Kael," he said, "you're not from here. You came here from a branch off our timeline, a branch that has undoubtedly been destroyed." "Why?" "Haven't you heard?" Davin mocked, "the 'Worldbreaker' is coming. And all the little copies of this world are going to come crashing down on it unless the Champion and his heroic band of Adepts can save the day." He laughed. "They won't, of course. I'm here to see to that." He smiled wickedly. "I've already severed the telepathic link. That ought to make things confusing at just the wrong moment." "Again, why?" Kai asked, voice still rough. Kael helped her to stand. "Why are you turning on us?" "Because I learned something recently," Davin answered. "Something very interesting. I learned there are only supposed to be five heroic Adepts of this Age." "But there are six Totems." "Very good, Kai," Davin said. "There are indeed. That's because, as my own Totem told me last night, there are only supposed to be five hero Adepts," he smiled, "and one villain. Now," he clapped his hands briskly, "who's first to die?" A gunshot echoed across the Valley and reverberated off the cave walls. Kael and Kai turned, seeing Mandhe silhouetted in the entrance, smoke pouring from one of her guns. "How about you?" she suggested to the corpse on the ground. The Eye of the Panopticrown had shattered when the bullet hit it, and shimmering glass shards dulled in the growing pool of blood. She turned to the others, explaining, "when the link broke, Kel sent me back through a portal to see what had happened." She turned and led the way out of the cave. "Come on. The shadow creatures are everywhere. They seem to be waiting for something, though. They didn't even try to follow me through the portal." The three heroes walked briskly across the Valley floor, Kai growing stronger by the moment. "What do we do about Davin?" she asked, gesturing over her shoulder toward the cave. "Leave him for now," Mandhe said. "He's no threat any more and we have bigger problems." She pointed ahead. "The portal is just over here and we need to-" she stopped short. "The portal," she gasped. "It's gone." She looked in horror at the place where the flaming portal once stood. "It was right here," she said, turning to Kael and Kai. "It was right here and we need it to get back to Kel and the others. What happened to it?" "It died," Kel's voice spoke from above and behind them. He held a woman's body wrapped in a tattered cloak. Darine floated behind him. Landing, he set the body down gently, then lay the blackened and cold Torch of the Burning Man atop the cloak. "It died when she did." Mandhe's hand went to her mouth and she gasped. "Jena..." "What happened?" Kai asked, rushing to Jena's side. She had power enough to raise the dead, she knew it. She had never tried it, but she knew she could- "Don't." Kel's hand came down on her shoulder and his grip was iron. Kai looked up at him, frowning. "Why not?" Kel dropped his hand, holding her instead with his gaze. "She begged me not to let you," he said, his voice a low monotone. All emotion was stripped from him now, as it had to be for him to do what needed doing. "The shadow creatures... they're different from what we fought before." He shuddered involuntarily, then continued. "She was doing well. We learned early on that if the creatures didn't like Mandhe's bullets, they hated Jena's flame. But she had to focus it pretty intensely on the creatures she wanted to burn." He shook his head, swallowing hard, forcing the rising tide of mad grief back down. "She was tired," he said, his voice barely a whisper, "and there were so many..." Kai reached out for him, tears running down her face. Kel shook his head and stepped away. "Not yet," he told her. "Not until... just... not yet." He looked down at the covered body of his teammate and friend. "They took her flame. Then... then they took something else from her. I couldn't see, I was fighting so many, but it was something vital. When I finally got to her she begged me not to let you bring her back, not to let you save her. Her flesh was... mostly burned away. They'd used her own flame on her." He nodded at the look that crossed Kai's face. "Yes, they can do that too. And they did it to Jena, before taking her soul." His eyes beseeched hers. "She didn't want to come back soulless, Kai." Thom sped into the Valley, a trail of dust behind him. "I've evacuated all towns along its path," he reported. Kel nodded, then turned to the others. "Where's Davin?" he asked. Kai explained what happened, from Davin's first kiss to the bullet in his head. Kel listened intently, nodding every so often. Finally, he asked, "He said that? That he was here to prevent us from stopping the Worldbreaker?" Kai nodded. Kel turned pensive. Kael approached him. "You have an idea," he said carefully. "That's your idea face. But you're scared it's the wrong one and so you're just going to sit there and chew on it until someone asks you about it." Kel regarded the other man thoughtfully. "I'm willing to believe," he said at last, "that you might be my father from an alternate reality. And I apologize for the way I spoke to you earlier." Kael simply nodded. "I understand this must be very confusing for you as well," Kel said quietly, "finding yourself suddenly in a world not your own. And I sympathize, I really do." He stepped closer to Kael, locking eyes with him. "But do not talk to me like my father." Kael blanched, then stepped back, nodding stiffly. "Of course," he said. "My apologies. Can I help, at least?" "Yes," Kel answered. "We're short-handed enough as it is. And you're right," he admitted. "I do have an idea." He looked toward the cave where Davin's body lay. "That was too convenient," he said. "What was?" Mandhe asked, approaching with Thom. "Come on," the Champion said. "Davin turning on us just when it wou
ld hurt us the most, because his Totem told him he was supposed to be a villain?" "What of it?" Darine asked. "We still don't fully understand our Totems or what they can do. Perhaps-" "Except Davin was supposedly working to prevent us from stopping the Worldbreaker," Kel said, "which results in every last shred of reality being destroyed. What kind of villainy do you call that?" "So you think he was being manipulated?" Kai asked. Kel nodded. "It makes sense," he said. "According to Thom, we're hardly the first group of Adepts the Worldbreaker has encountered. It's my understanding it's fought our exact group multiple times. Given that, I know if I were the Worldbreaker, about to bring my assault to the Root World itself, I'd want to take out its heroes before they even had a chance to start fighting. With its past experience, it knew all of our weaknesses before we even knew it existed." "So what do we do?" Kael asked him, expectant. Kel looked at him a moment, then turned to Kai. "Kai, you need to bring Davin back to life." "What?! After what he-" "Trust me." Kai nodded and rushed to the cave to begin. "So what happens when Davin wakes up crazy and tries to kill us all with his brain again?" Mandhe demanded. "We'll have another telepath waiting for him," Kel answered. "The most powerful telepath this world has ever seen." "Artemis," Kael whispered. "Are you telling me she lives? That here on this world, my beloved did not die ten years ago?" Kel stared at his father's doppelganger, his mouth open. Then, thinking back, he nodded, finally understanding. "She lives," Kel explained, "because on this world, it was you that was killed by the shadow creatures. Unfortunately, my mother has left Amorlia for Faery. Someone needs to go and bring her back." "I'll go," Kael volunteered. Before Kel could answer, Darine spoke. "But no one can get to Faery," she said. "At least, none of us can." "We're in the Valley of Mystery," Kel explained. "This used to be the Yoni Luna, the heart of the Great Wood. If we can pierce the veil between Amorlia and Faery anywhere, we can do it here. I'm thinking the Sisters might-" "Um, Kel?" Mandhe interrupted, pointing. "Do you have another idea?" From out of the shadows of the trees, the Sisters shuffled. Their limbs were crooked and their heads cocked at odd angles. Blood flowed freely from their eyes and thin sheens of drool covered their chins. A low moan rose from their gaping mouths. Jerkily, they each raised an arm to point at the assembled group. "ALL YOU DIE. NOW." They spoke in unison, with a voice not their own. Before anyone could do anything, a massive tremor rocked the Valley. "What in the..." Mandhe looked around. "Its footsteps," Thom whispered fearfully. "It is come. It is here." "The Worldbreaker is here."
Amorlia: Age of Wonder Page 20