Warriors of the Way-Pentalogy

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  “I can’t navigate the Mirror or know how to get to the Watch,” I said.

  Meja turned to me. “Then it would be a good idea if we stayed together, don’t you think?”

  I nodded as we headed out of the room, thinking this was a plan that was shaky at best, but knowing it was the only plan we had at the moment.

  CRACKED

  WE WALKED AS a tight group, with Kal and Meja leading. Val and Zen brought up the rear with me sandwiched in the middle.

  “We are heading to Grand Central to find a specific entrance,” said Kal.

  “Why?” I asked, feeling like the only one who didn’t know.

  “This entrance will allow us to skirt the edge of the Mirror and then arrive at the Watch. Think of it as a crack in the Mirror. This way we avoid Watchers,” said Meja.

  “What’s the downside? I know there is some catch,” I said.

  “The only problem,” said Val from behind, “is that it is very likely that the monitors, Sylk and the Lotus know of this unofficial entrance, which means any one or all three groups can be there waiting for us to use it.”

  “Which is exactly why we are going to use it, to draw them out,” said Meja.

  “We want to face them —why?”

  “This way we know who is where and we don’t have to guess about who is after us.”

  “I thought we had that established,” I said.

  The walking traffic along 42nd was congested as usual. At any moment, I expected some kind of attack. As we walked east on 42nd St, I was acutely aware of mirrors and window panes, realizing how any of these could serve as a point of attack from Sylk and his group. As we entered the terminal, I was impressed as usual by its size and scope. It was clearly a functional work of art.

  It had undergone extensive restoration a few years earlier and a large quantity of brand name stores had been enticed to take up residency on the concourse level. It made the terminal feel modern and sleek with a touch of old world architecture. We walked past the stores on the concourse level and headed to the track level. That was when I sensed the first tail. I looked back to see a tall man with olive skin, his black hair combed back, sunglasses covering his eyes. He was dressed in a dark blue suit that contrasted the crisp white shirt. He looked like a power broker more at home on Wall Street.

  “Meja—,” I began.

  “I know. Don’t let him distract you. He is the one they want you to see, to force you into running. It’s a monitor tactic. Let’s head to track nine,” she said calmly.

  As we made our way down the stairs, I felt the shift in pressure. Too late I realized what it was as I saw Kal get slammed into a column. She crumpled to the floor unconscious, the wind knocked out of her. Val ran to her side as Zen moved next to Meja, who had drawn her ice blue sword. As we looked down the platform, I saw Rory standing with what seemed to be a whirling mass of energy in his hands.

  “Rory, still using amateurish tricks?”

  Rory’s face reddened. “Hello, Meja. You would be surprised at the tricks I know now.”

  I wondered where the rest of the Lotus was, since I didn’t think Rory would be there alone.

  “Where is your mistress, Rory? Did she let you off your leash?”

  “Bitch.”

  “Still eloquent as ever. I wondered why Diana kept a useless lapdog like you around but I’m beginning to understand now. Someone has to run errands and do the menial tasks, right?”

  Rory’s face grew dark and I could see anger twist his features.

  “I’m going to show you who the lapdog is. Then I’m going to kill you and your excuses for warriors.”

  I noticed that the platform was strangely empty of people. When I looked around, I noticed all of the adjacent platforms were empty as well. How was this possible? Then I saw the suits on every stairwell entrance.

  “If Diana sent you here, she must have considered this the lowest priority.” Meja laughed then, and something snapped in Rory. The energy coalescing in his hands went from a pale blue to deep ochre, bristling with the promise of pain.

  “Move to the end of the platform. Keep an eye on Dante,” Meja said to Zen.

  “You don’t need us here to deal with him? He looked a little—”

  “Imbalanced?”

  “I was going to say crazy, but imbalanced fits,” said Zen.

  “That’s exactly how I want him. Go to the end of the platform and look for a door hidden in an alcove that has a monitor symbol over it. Do not try to open the door. Take the twins with you. Go, now, we don’t have much time.”

  “Got it.” Zen moved over to where Kal lay and picked her up effortlessly. Her shallow breath was ragged and I was pretty sure she had some broken ribs from the impact she withstood. I could see the worry and anger on Val’s face. She wanted to attack Rory. It was in every gesture, in every fiber of her being.

  “Val, no, don’t. Let Meja handle this. She can take him,” said Zen as he put a hand on her shoulder.

  “I swear, Zen, if she doesn’t, I will,” she answered through clenched teeth.

  “Let’s go and find this door. I have a feeling we are going to need it,” Zen said as he ran to the other end of the platform.

  I stood where I was, riveted to the spot.

  Something was off. I felt it all around me.

  The energy Rory was manipulating was different, somehow familiar. As Meja raced towards him, I knew something was wrong. It was a trap and she had fallen into it. I had to stop her, but I was too far away. I knew she was running to her death. Rory being here was no accident or coincidence. They expected us. They knew the history Meja and Rory had, they knew she would taunt him, we had been played the moment we set foot on the platform.

  “Meja! No! It’s what he wants!” But my voice felt muffled and dim even though I was yelling at the top of my voice. Something or someone was dampening the sound and energy on the platform. I looked up the stairs to see Mr. Blue Suit in what appeared to be a trance. I raced up the stairs, Maelstrom in my hand, glistening like a strand of night.

  “Dante, don’t! It’s too dangerous!” Zen’s words came to me like a whisper.

  The energy around the rogue monitor was a deep violet with shards of red flashing. I didn’t want to kill him but I needed to stop him.

  “Consume the energy, my vessel,” Maelstrom’s voice echoed in my head.

  “Assimilare,” I whispered as I placed my staff against the monitor. In a rush, the aura of energy surrounding him entered the staff, taking my breath away and sending me to my knees. No longer in a trance, the monitor recovered faster than I would have liked.

  “What the hell —you!” he said as he lunged at me. The energy was still there, under the surface. I felt like a balloon at the bursting point. I barely ducked under the blade swipe as I placed my hand on his chest. Immediately I knew this was a bad idea. All the pent up energy rushed through my arm and slammed into him with percussive force. I saw him lift into the air and slam into a wall with a sick crunching sound. He fell to the floor in a heap. I was certain he was dead. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard laughter. It took a moment to realize it was my own. I ran down the stairs to see Meja suspended in a cylinder of amber light. From her expression and flailing I could see she was being strangled slowly.

  “It’s too late for her,” said Rory as he grinned a smile full of malevolence. “She is going to die a slow and painful death, but you, your death can be swift if you surrender now.”

  The anger had reached a fever pitch in my head. My vision became crystal clear. I don’t know if it was Owl’s abilities or the effect of Maelstrom but I could see the weak links in Rory’s defenses as I sank into my inner sight. I walked over to where Meja was trapped.

  “Dante, don’t come close! Head for the door and forget me,” she gasped with what little air she had left.

  “I can’t do that.”

  “It was a trick. He is much more powerful than he used to be and I walked right—” she gasped as the circl
e drew tighter around her. I could see that it took all she had just to say those few words.

  I looked down and saw the markings that had created the trap. They shimmered in and out, there but not. Rory was coalescing energy in his hand again. I didn’t want to find out if I could withstand his attack. I slammed Maelstrom into the circle, that was trapping Meja.

  “Dante! No!” but it only came out as a strangled whisper.

  “Desolver!” I shouted and the circle collapsed. I didn’t know where these words were coming from. On some level I knew this was Maelstrom but it was also heightened by Owl or rather Owl’s essence. I didn’t feel the energy rush into me like with the monitor. It had simply ceased to exist; there one moment and gone the next. Meja fell to one knee, murder in her eyes.

  “I’ll deal with him, Dante. Get to the door.”

  Rory took a defensive stance. “Come on.”

  “No!” Don’t you see that’s the point? He’s a diversion to keep us here until the rest arrive.”

  Realization raced across Meja’s features. “You bastard,” Meja spat as she began to back up.

  I really hoped Zen found the door. I had a feeling we were going to have a lot more Lotus on the platform very soon.

  “We need to go now,” I said as Rory headed to us. I touched Maelstrom to the platform and whispered, “Mura.” A shimmering blue wall of energy sliced across the platform cutting Rory off from us. He was punching holes in it as we turned to run to the far end of the platform.

  “How did you —? Never mind,” she said as we made it to the end of the platform and to the others. Zen still held Kal and she wasn’t looking good.

  “Is he dead, Meja?”

  “No, Val, he isn’t. Please don’t distract me. We don’t have much time. It was a trap.”

  “What?! What do you mean —?”

  Val grew suddenly quiet as Zen gave her a look, silencing her. Meja faced the door and placed her hand on the monitor symbol that I hadn’t noticed earlier. The door frame glowed with a soft blue light and the door opened with a quiet rush of air.

  As I looked around and out of the alcove, I saw that Rory was almost through the energy barrier.

  “We should get moving,” I said as I saw more and more of the barrier disappear. On the other side, I could see the rage in Rory’s face.

  “We will. I just have to set this entrance to destroy itself once we are through,” said Meja as she touched some symbols on the inside of the door.

  “You what?”

  “It’s the only way we can be sure they won’t follow us.”

  “Let’s go!” I said as I saw that Rory had made his way through. We ran into the doorway and pulled it shut behind us. A few seconds later we heard a muffled thump and the screams of an angry and hopefully hurt Rory. I turned around to take in our surroundings. It looked like our plane with the exception of a silver patina if I moved my head too fast.

  We were in the Mirror.

  REFLECTION

  “WE NEED TO get moving,” said Meja. “Even though this is the outskirts of the Mirror, given enough time, we will attract attention.” “Watchers?” I asked.

  Meja nodded. I looked around and except for the surreal aspect, it felt just like where we had come from.

  “What are all these people? Are they dead?”

  “No more dead than you or I. I am certain Sylk explained the workings of the Mirror to you?”

  “Some things he did but I never went out and so I never met any people from this side.”

  “Don’t think of it as this side. There are several planes of existence.”

  “So this is just another plane of existence or an alternate version of ours?”

  We walked down the street and I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn’t my plane of existence.

  “No, you aren’t going to run into yourself on this plane. It’s not an alternate plane. It’s an entirely different plane. One in which time flows differently,” said Zen. “For us, because we are not native to this plane, time can be… strange.”

  “Yes this much I know from my time with Sylk.”

  “Yes, I recall,” said Meja.

  I didn’t want to think about my time of incarceration at Sylk’s place in the Mirror. The thought soured my mood. Changing the subject I asked, “Where are we going?”

  “We need to avoid the Watchers and find an exit near the Watch. There is a nexus not far from here. That should lead us to the Watch entrance,” said Meja.

  “I have a question, Meja,” said Zen.

  “Ask it.”

  I looked at the people and noticed that no one was really paying us any attention, which I thought odd, since they had a distinctly different colored aura to the rest of us. I guessed not everyone possessed the ability to use their inner sight.

  “Where was the rest of the Lotus? I mean they knew of the entrance. Why weren’t they there in force? It’s what I would do. Overcome us with superior numbers.”

  Meja stopped walking and thought aloud, “Something that Dante said has been with me for a while. About Rory being a diversion. What if his role was not to stop us, but to force us into the mirror, into the real trap?”

  “That sounds like something the Lotus would do. Is there another way we can go to avoid the nexus?” I asked. I was getting a little self-conscious just standing on the sidewalk.

  “No, not without alerting the Watchers.”

  “So it seems we have to take this risk. Let’s minimize it as much as possible.”

  “Good idea, Dante. Let’s find a place we can scout out the location,” said Zen.

  “How far to the nexus?”

  “A few blocks south. It’s a plain building on the south-west corner. In our plane this building is a FedEx office. Here it may be something else,” said Meja.

  “What about Kal? We can’t get into a fight with her like this.”

  “That is why we need the nexus. I can get her some place safe where she will be seen to.”

  “I’m going with her,” said Val.

  “I wouldn’t expect any less from you, Valeria,” said Meja.

  “Fine, it’s settled. Dante and I will scout the building and see if we have the Lotus waiting for us.” Meja nodded. “Be careful, Zen. Remember that they have the ability to sense us from quite a distance.”

  “I didn’t plan on getting too close. Just close enough.” With that we headed off.

  “No chi use, Dante, or else we’re done.” she said.

  “Understood.”

  As we made our way to the location of the nexus, I began to sense a growing electric charge in the air.

  “Zen, something’s wrong. This feels familiar.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Can’t you feel it in the air, like being too close to power cables?

  “No, what are you talking—”

  The air shimmered and a blinding light obscured everything. It was like being in front of the largest camera flash in existence. When I was finally able to see, Zen was gone.

  “Hello, Dante.” I recognized the voice and realized that things had gotten exponentially worse. I turned around as my vision grew clearer. Clad in brown skin-tight leathers, a large knife in one hand, another strapped to her thigh, her hair in a long ponytail and wearing dark glasses, stood Mara.

  “Hello, Mara,” I said knowing that Sylk was not too far away.

  “If you go any closer to the nexus, you will meet your death. It is in your best interests to come with me.”

  “Where is Zen?” I asked, not moving a muscle, controlling the flow of chi so as not to alert the Lotus.

  “He is safe, for now. If you wish him to remain that way, come with me.”

  I had no choice, it seemed.

  GAMBIT

  SHE LED ME through some back alleys and cross streets. I kept track in case I needed to make a hasty retreat back to Meja and the others. I knew Sylk had several locations in the Mirror. How he went undetected by the Watchers was something t
hat I wanted to know. How did he avoid them for so long? Mara led me into a nondescript office building, with a lobby that was all glass and marble and looked very modern. Some abstract paintings hung on the wall, bringing the only jolt of color to an otherwise bland space of blacks and greys. As we walked to the elevator bank, Mara produced a key card, a silver rectangle that seemed to have circuitry embedded in it. She slid it into a slot beside the elevator call buttons.

  One of the elevator doors quietly slid open in silent invitation. As we stepped in, I noticed the lack of floor buttons. In fact there were no buttons at all. The elevator itself was brushed silver and nondescript. The floor was the same marble as the lobby. The doors closed as we waited. I barely felt the motion and couldn’t tell if we were ascending or descending into the building. After about two minutes, we came to a stop and the doors sighed as they opened onto a dimly lit corridor. Mara stepped into the hallway and the elevator closed behind us. I examined the hallway for a stairwell and found none. The hallway was painted a sky blue with a dark blue accent running the length of the wall. At even intervals hung a decorative mirror, directly across from its twin. The floor was covered in a slate grey carpet that complemented the blue on the wall. The lack of light was due to the fixtures, which weren’t the usual fluorescents but decorative track lighting which snaked across the ceiling. It was the mirrors that caught my attention.

  “We must step through this hallway quickly or risk triggering the Detention system,” Mara said.

  She pulled out the silver card she used to call the elevator and paused as she turned to me.

  “Look straight ahead and do not stop to admire yourself in any of the mirrors. If you do, you risk being trapped in an infinite loop and it will be very difficult to extract you from it.”

  I understood. The mirrors created a kind of holding cell if you were curious or vain enough to look into them while they were active. The door at the end of the corridor was similar to the elevator doors. As I looked closely, I realized the doors, like the mirrors, were a mirror image of each other.

  “Remember —stay close and keep your eyes fixed on the doors, no matter what you hear or see in your peripheral vision.”