Strife

by M. T. Miller

  For what seemed like hours the Nameless crept along this barren world, his eyes and ears opened and alert. The wasteland extended everywhere he went, hills, valleys and plains, all composed of the same jagged rock. Yet, as he advanced, he took note of something peculiar in the far distance. It was only visible from elevation, but there was no mistaking it for anything but what it was: a beacon if intense, green light.

  Nowhere to go but there, he thought as he proceeded toward it. A goal was good. It gave him something to strive for. If he had to keep wandering the wastes, alone and with no point of reference, in all likelihood he would go mad.

  It also drew the Nameless’ attention from his immediate surroundings.

  The creature was completely silent, like a moving shadow. Up until it scraped its claws against the basalt as it pounced, the Nameless was completely unaware of its presence. He reacted in the last second, tossing himself to the side and kissing the ground while the attacker narrowly missed his skull with its several rows of razor-sharp teeth. The Nameless rolled away from the creature and forced himself up, expecting another assault to come instantly. Instead, the monster turned toward him slowly, as if to gauge his reaction.

  It was well over eight feet long, easily standing as tall as the Nameless on its four legs. It was just as black as the landscape, if not more. The only parts that spoiled this dark perfection were its claws and teeth: they could put pearls to shame.

  The creature snarled, a sound similar to that of a large cat. It lowered its body, further mimicking the behavior of that animal. The Nameless spread his arms and legs as far as he could while remaining upright. Beasts were most likely to attack fleeing prey. If he appeared menacing, he would at the very least gain some time. His eyes moved around, scanning the shape of the surroundings. Without a weapon, he had little chance of killing this thing. He would have to get creative.

  The Nameless moved, circling to the monster’s left. It growled, so he slowed down.

  You will let me finish setting up. He took another step to the side, then another. It was impossible to judge if the creature’s eyes moved along with him. They were completely black.

  I will get in position, and you will die as the dumb animal you are. As if it had read his mind, the monster roared. No longer willing to play his game, its claws scraped the rock again as it prepared to pounce.

  The air sang. One of the creature’s eyes exploded, leaking a tar-like fluid down its face. A long, thin spike jutted out from the hole, ending in a small prong. The shriek made the Nameless’ eardrums vibrate so hard they almost burst. The ground rumbled as the creature leapt forward, taking only one quick step toward the Nameless and then turning to his right.

  The Nameless followed its movements, yet couldn’t make out the archer, who was completely obscured by the rampaging monstrosity going their way. Another arrow cut the air, and then another, covering the area with more black blood. The creature leapt, having apparently found its prey. It went limp mid-flight as it collapsed with a wet gushing sound, turning over on its belly after landing on its head.

  The black-clad figure of the archer didn’t take any chances. Still holding a blade so white it couldn’t have been made from anything but a similar creature’s bone, they cut into its neck several times, not stopping even after it no longer showed signs of life. The Nameless approached slowly and silently, timing each step so the strokes obscured it.

  “Freeze or you’re next!” the archer said once he was some twenty feet away. The voice was that of a woman, coarse but strangely familiar. No detail could be made out. From head to toe, everything but her eyes was covered with black hide.

  The Nameless did as he was told. His thoughts raced as he fruitlessly tried to figure out who it was.

  The woman kept cutting until the blood flowed like a stream. Then she pulled her mask away, letting the Nameless get a brief glimpse of her delicate profile under a head of short, brown hair, before she knelt down and started to drink.

  Quite dry himself, the Nameless could imagine the depths of the woman’s thirst. He said nothing, watching her as she gorged herself on the blood of her kill. But who is it?

  “If you want some, here you go,” she said after almost a full minute. Her voice was no longer coarse, having regained some of its youthfulness. She was still on one knee but straightened her back, letting the Nameless see her blackened chin. Taking her mask from the ground, she proceeded to wipe herself as she rose.

  The Nameless went into alert mode. Divine?

  “It looks disgusting, I know,” she said in between wipes as she took up her sword and stepped away from the carcass. “But you won’t get any food or water elsewhere. I guess you can consider yourself lucky you bumped into me.”

  She does not recognize me, the Nameless realized. He took a step forward, then another. He considered trying to play the stranger card, but reasoned that she would know who he was the moment he opened his mouth. I will have to disarm her, then we will talk.

  “I’ll make more distance so you know I won’t stab you in the back. After that, you tell me who you are and how you got into this hell,” she said. Her face was almost clean. The stuff may be sticky, but seemed to come off without much trouble, at least while it was fresh.

  The Nameless played along, noting a distracting knot of tendons and smaller bones on her right shin. An injury, perhaps? If push came to shove, he would break it again.

  Once he was close enough he made his move. Dragging his foot over the ground, he swung it up toward Divine’s face, spraying her eyes with dust. Ready for an attack, but not of that sort, she swung right at him with her blade and hit nothing but air. The Nameless didn’t pull his punch. He slammed her forehead using both of their momentum, sending her flying backward.

  It was reasonable to assume that she was out cold. However, knowing full well there was nothing resembling reason within Divine’s head, the Nameless grabbed her by the right wrist with both hands and twisted it just enough for the long bone-knife to land in his grasp.

  Divine hit the ground before she lost consciousness. She rocked once or twice, refusing to relinquish control. She had no say in the matter, and her pupils dilated well before they had a chance to focus on the Nameless’ face. Once she came to, there would be a whole lot of catching up.

  Still keeping her within sight, the Nameless took a couple steps back, got on one knee, and drank from the beast. It was disgusting, thick, bitter, and too cold to belong to anything alive. It did quell his thirst, though, so he kept on drinking.

  Once he had his fill he cut a piece off his pants and started to wipe his face. The fact that these rocks were still caked with it could mean only one thing: there was no rain in this place. He tossed the fabric near the carcass, sat down on a smooth nearby rock, and waited.

  It didn’t take long for Divine to come to. With all the dexterity of an old drunk, she pulled herself up into a sitting position, looked around, and gave him a stare one usually reserves for their mother-in-law.

  “There was no need for that,” she said with subdued venom in her voice. “I said I was willing to share. I have shelter and everything. It’s not too late for us to work together.”

  “I have told you that myself several times,” the Nameless said, letting his arms rest over his knees, “yet you kept rejecting my offer. Glad to see you changed your mind.”

  If there were more monsters around, they would have fled at the sight of Divine’s expression.

  “You,” she spat. “Why won’t you die?”

  “Why won’t you?” the Nameless said.

  “You first.”

  The Nameless subdued his urge to hit her again. He had been handling Divine with kid gloves ever since the beginning. Was it because she was a woman? Maybe. But that needed to stop, or it would get him killed.

  “I see your time here has made you infantile,” he said.

  “I see you’ve been used as a dollar hooker and tossed here with the rest of us.”

  Us? The N
ameless tensed up. “So the rest of the Crew is here?”

  Divine smiled bitterly. “Maybe they are. Or maybe they aren’t. Maybe they’re about to get here and you’ll soon be outnumbered and killed. One can never know.”

  “This is incredible,” he said. “You are incredible, and not in a good way. Again and again, you keep repeating your stupidity, and the hole keeps getting deeper. You were put in the dungeon for trying to kill me, got the Crew into this mess by refusing to work with me, and even ended up here via your penchant for back-stabbing. You do not see the pattern here?”

  She didn’t respond.

  She knows that I am right, but refuses to acknowledge it. “So tell me, Divine, Astrid, or however you want to call yourself: what do I need to do to get you to cooperate with me?”

  “Kill yourself and I’ll consider it,” she said.

  “Ah.” The Nameless rose. “Get up.”

  Divine remained seated.

  The Nameless approached and pressed her blade against the side of her neck while being watchful of her movements. “I plan on taking us toward that light on the horizon. You can either come with me, or I can execute you right here. With these beasts roaming around, I might use the sacrifice.”

  Divine’s expression, still that of loathing and fury, gained a shade of fear. “You don’t want to go there. Not blindly.”

  “Mind telling me why? Or would that be too much sanity for you?”

  Divine sighed, her gaze drifting toward the far away light. “These things become more frequent as you get closer to it, yeah, but that’s not the only reason.”

  “Yes?” The Nameless raised both eyebrows. The fact that she was giving him any kind of info was staggering.

  “He is there,” she said. “I think you called him Contrast.”

  So he lives. “He will not be a problem. I have beaten him to a pulp before, and I will do so again.”

  “Not sure who I’d like to see clean whose clock,” she said with a bitter smile. “Something happened to him out here. Don’t know what.” She looked up to the Nameless, and he noted that her eyes were pitch black. Her skin seemed chalky white as well, but it might have been the moonlight.

  He considered her words, distancing the blade from her neck as he stepped away. “Explain.”

  “You didn’t say please,” she said.

  “Again with this?” He sighed.

  “A girl has to entertain herself somehow,” she said in a tone that mixed amusement with spite. “But no, this is losing its novelty. He went nuts. Not a little bit, like he was before. By the time Mr. Big tossed me in here, Contrast was both feet in insane land. No reasoning with him at all.”

  Your kindred spirit, the Nameless thought. “So what if he went mad? He still poses little danger to me.”

  “When I saw him, he was covered in this muck,” she pointed to the blood, “all the way to his neck. He’d killed… oh, I don’t know, enough beasts to make a spear and several blades from their bones. Oh yeah, and he howled like a banshee right when he saw me. I turned and ran. He gave chase. Still don’t know how I lost him. Anyway, I steer clear of that.” She pointed to the light. “I came back once, and that was to steal some bones so I could start hunting myself. Luckily didn’t stumble onto him that time.”

  Trauma or fact? “Contrast was not a better combatant than you.”

  “He is now,” she said. “That part right there, it’s like a monster graveyard, and I don’t think he’s working with anyone else. I can take down one of these things with preparation. Him, I don’t think he has that luxury out there. Hell, I think they cower from him.”

  “So the Crew is…?”

  “Dead,” she said. “I’m the last one. For how long… we’ll see, I guess.”

  The only thing the Nameless felt about that was relief at not having to deal with the Grin again.

  “So,” she said, “what amazing stupidity are you going to suggest now?”

  “I will not suggest a thing,” the Nameless said. “We are going there. That, or I am leaving you here, but something tells me you would not like that.”

  Divine took a deep breath. “I wouldn’t. Fact is, this whole thing is driving me nuts. Loath as I am to admit it, you getting tossed here might even be a good thing. We’ll either succeed, or die. If I spend another month here, I might start painting myself in this stuff and howling like Contrast.”

  “Another month?” the Nameless asked. “How long have you been here?”

  “Hard to say,” she said. “There’s no day and night cycle. But I do have to sleep, and I am fairly regular at that. So… give or take a week, I’d say about a month and a half.”

  The Nameless’ eyes narrowed. “That is not possible.”

  “You’re not possible, but here you are anyway,” she said.

  “I am not kidding. Last I saw you was maybe a couple of weeks ago. No more than twenty days or so.”

  Divine’s expression was vacant. “Someone lied to you. Did you lose your watch or forget to wind it? I know you suck with tech as much as you do in general.”

  “I was outside this whole time,” the Nameless said. “Or at least the majority. It is possible that I missed a day or two, but a month is out of the question. It was you that I saw in New Orleans’ jail?”

  She nodded while still in thought. “What is this, then?”

  “If I had to guess, I would say that time passes differently here,” the Nameless said.

  “That’s… that’s just stupid,” Divine said. Once again her expression didn’t agree with what she was saying.

  “Maybe,” the Nameless said. “But unless you have a better explanation, this is what we have to go on. In all likelihood, Contrast spent quite some time here before you arrived. Thus, the insanity and improvement in skill.”

  Divine pondered that. “So what, now he’s better than you?”

  “No one is better than me,” said the Nameless, brandishing the blade. “He had months, maybe a year of survival training in this hell. I have centuries. Perhaps more.”

  “Still full of yourself,” Divine said.

  “It is not unfounded,” the Nameless said. “Unlike your assumptions back in Babylon. Was it worth it? People have died, all for setting up your escape. How you have managed to keep lying to yourself about being in the right over this, I will never know.”

  “I’m not lying to anyone,” said Divine. “Power corrupts, and you have power beyond that of any man. Given control of a city, it’s only a matter of time before you start tailoring it more and more to your demands. I’m telling you, I’ve seen it on the outside, and I’ve seen it under the old Management. You’re the same as me, and I’m the worst. If I weren’t, I’d have been dead by now.”

  The Nameless measured her up from head to toe, then walked up to her bow and quiver and took them as well. “I had planned on giving these to you, but now I realize that the idea was madness. Now get up, and empty your pockets.”

  Divine did as he instructed. Besides what looked like a utility knife, she didn’t have any hidden weapons.

  He nodded. “Good.”

  “So what now?” she asked. “Are we charging like madmen?”

  “Yes. But not immediately,” the Nameless said, pointing to the carcass. “First, food. Then, the grand push.”

  Divine didn’t reply, but the way she looked at the body told him all he needed to know.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Besides giving him instructions on where to tread, Divine was mostly silent along the way. The Nameless didn’t mind.

  He allowed the blade to hang under his belt while he held the bow in his hands. Fastened by several stretched-out hamstrings, the bone-and-leather quiver was on his back. He had inspected an arrow minutes ago. Its craftsmanship was competent, much better than circumstances or the woman’s background would suggest.

  “Who taught you how to make all this?” he asked as they climbed a particularly jagged hill.

  “I saw it worked for Contrast, so
I tried it myself,” she said.

  “You never mentioned him having a bow and arrows,” said the Nameless as he secured the weapon over his shoulder. “And even if he did, one does not simply make these after seeing them once.”

  “Ah,” she said as she felt for a protrusion in the hillside. “I grew up in a commune. Lived off the land before the world ended. I learned my way around bows, arrows, and other pointy things before most kids knew how to read. Now, making them from these… things, that’s tough, but these rocks are sharp, and it’s not like I had anything better to do.” She pulled herself up, then got on one knee and extended a hand down.

  The Nameless didn’t take it. He pulled himself up with his own strength.

  “I want to get out of here, you know?” she said once he straightened himself up. “Now, I do hate your guts, but no one else would give me a better chance at making it to that smoke out there. You know I’m aware of that, right?”

  “That knowledge did not stop you from wasting months of your life,” the Nameless said, gesturing for her to continue leading the way. “Be glad that I am taking you with me. If I were smarter, I would have left you there.”

  Divine turned toward the source of the light. They were getting close. A vague point on the horizon hours ago, now it was becoming apparent that the green glow originated from the center of a gigantic formation of thorny brambles. These were just as black as the landscape, and covered almost a mile in diameter.

  The Nameless strained his eyes and failed to make out anything useful. “What is this? You did not mention it before.”

  “Keep your voice down,” Divine said, crouching. “This means we’re in monster country.”

  The Nameless got down as well. “My questions stand.”

  “I have no idea what it is. Some local plant, possibly the only one in this place. Why didn’t I mention it before? Why would I? Not like I ever got the chance to see it up close. We reach it, we cut it if we need to.”