Throng of Heretics

by Hideyuki Kikuchi

  Resden’s lips pressed against the girl’s.

  At that moment, the two of them flew apart the way two similarly charged magnets would.

  III

  As Resden looked over his shoulder his right hand struck the ground. A power invisible to the human eye shot through the earth. It was an instant later that the colossal tree towering before him toppled on its side. By the thick roots that’d ripped free of the ground there were indications that someone had been startled. Still, nothing but darkness took shape, yet Resden grinned.

  “Surprised? I don’t know who the hell you are, but anyone who stands in the way of love deserves to be roasted to death by a fire dragon. You can either get out of here without any more trouble, or have every bit of meat stripped from your bones!”

  “That sounds intriguing,” a youthful male voice responded. It was so lovely, it made the eyes of both Resden and the girl go wide. “I saw your prowess in that town earlier. You are a Hunter of Nobility, are you not?”

  Tension filled every inch of Resden’s body with the urge to fight. In a split second, he knew the true nature of the speaker.

  “So, you’re a Noble? One of Grand Duke Xeno’s clan, I take it?”

  “I am Xeno Gillian—and the Grand Duke was my father.”

  The first response, made after time enough to process these words, was a scream from the woman. Falling flat on her behind, she scrambled madly in an attempt to back away. She was driven to do so out of fear for her very soul.

  Catching her crazed activity with his peripheral vision, Resden showed his teeth in a laugh. Then, hugging his arms around himself, he said, “Oh, I’m trembling to the core. Never thought I’d run into such a big fish right from the get-go, you see. And I’m gonna land you for sure!”

  He was looking forward. However, all that lay there were darkness and a moonlit stand of trees where quiet was settling once more. Where was the source of the voice—Xeno Gillian? And why was Resden keeping his composure so well?

  “Legend has it your parents got destroyed, but you managed to survive, eh? I hear there were some Noble Hunters in the mob that stormed the castle. You didn’t run into any of them? Well, you were one lucky son of a bitch, but here’s where it runs out.”

  “You certainly don’t lack confidence, human,” came the voice of the Noble. It rang from the heavens. It echoed from the depths of the earth. “But can you see me? Without seeing me, how are you to slay me?”

  “Oh, you’re right there,” Resden said with a nod. “I can’t see a damned thing. At least, not with my eyes. But my power—that can see!”

  What did he mean by that?

  Resden raised his right foot, then brought it down as hard as he could. A dull whump! was heard in the woods. At the same time, a massive shock shook heaven and earth. Each and every tree fell at length. Not only that, but when they hit the ground the bark tore off them, their trunks came apart—to be precise, they went to pieces. In the same way, these ultra-intense vibrations would shake flesh from the bone or concrete from steel-reinforcing rods. The split ground swallowed up the fallen trees. Who could’ve imagined cracks in the earth swallowing the whole woods?

  From the woods that were breaking into bits that dropped straight down like a demolished building instead of trees, there came a sound like birds’ wings flapping, serpentine bodies resembling vines writhed as they fell, and simian figures tried in vain to jump only to find empty air. And in no time the rumbling had departed heaven and earth alike, leaving the moonlight to shine on a massive depression more than a mile wide and Resden, who stood on the brink of it and roared with laughter.

  “What do you think? Not even a Noble can defy Mother Nature’s wrath. Spending the rest of your eternal life thirty miles underground is part of your Noble privilege!” Resden laughed at the ground at this feet.

  The girl slumped weakly. Her face’s pallor not entirely due to the moonlight, she looked up at him with terror in her eyes, her mouth hanging open.

  “How about that? Did you think I was just an ordinary Noble Hunter? If you were surprised, you can tell me about it later, sweetie.”

  An electric jolt raced down Resden’s spine. The girl wasn’t looking at him. At what, then?

  Even before he turned to look, he knew.

  The silhouetted form of Xeno Gillian stood there casually, and Resden pressed his hand to the Nobleman’s shoulder. Gillian’s form grew blurry.

  “You’re a lucky man to get to experience my power up close and personal. Now watch real close as Noble flesh gets stripped from Noble bones.”

  Resden’s last remark was directed toward the girl. The ultra-intense vibrations his hands gave off were especially to be feared. But what should happen at that moment but the Nobleman’s blurry arms stretched out toward Resden. His hands latched onto Resden’s shoulders. At that instant, Resden’s body also became a foggy blur. The intense vibrations that could split the earth were now coursing through him. Flesh fell from his gigantic frame, and the bloody bones too were destroyed in an instant.

  Unable to shut her eyes, the girl could only watch it happen. She didn’t even have enough presence of mind left to realize it was due to the very same phenomenon Resden had caused.

  From a mouth agape like a cavern a single panicked syllable continued to escape. In response to her endless cry, the young Nobleman told the woman softly, “I shan’t kill you. Be at ease. You yet have a role to play. However, that is only after you’ve been made my servant, body and soul.”

  His eyes, red and blazing with light, had drained the woman of even her fear.

  There are roads even in the wilderness. Roads taken by monsters and demonic beasts. Roads traveled by humans and wagons. And still others—

  The transparent white tube disappeared at the horizon. More than a hundred yards in diameter, it ran through towers and a building twice that high.

  The building had an area of nearly four square miles. Who would’ve imagined that, despite having enough space to build a city, it was simply a train station? One of the great mysteries of the Noble mind was their nightmarish sense of scale. The lower part of a tower that touched the very heavens contained a two-mile-long home platform. A heavy stillness hung over it, but for the first time in five millennia part of the platform rang with furtive sounds. The sound of hoofbeats.

  Astride his cyborg horse, D was bathed in the afternoon light that poured through the roof of the platform’s ceiling.

  “They’re strange ones,” the hoarse voice said. “Even though they knew daylight was the death of them, their buildings are bolder in their use of natural light than humans’. It’s almost like—”

  “Like they wished to be destroyed?”

  D’s words had surely caught his left hand off-guard. The hoarse voice was clearly shaken when it next stammered, “Th-th-th-that’s right. There’s a bunch of evidence that could only be taken as the light-hating people of the night actually loving light. Countless paintings, seemingly purposeless openings in the walls of their mansions, the excessive dedication their scientists showed in their research on ‘daytime,’ the adoration of ‘light’ so often discussed at balls that it finally developed into a whole philosophy . . .”

  At the very end, the voice had regained its customary sarcasm and composure.

  “That may be.”

  The platform was vast. A facility in the land of the dead, with not a human figure anywhere. Light may have filled the emptiness, but it remained light all the same. And through it, the gorgeous darkness known as D rode onward in silence.

  “A ‘train’ moving through a tube over a hundred yards in diameter? They sure thought of some crazy stuff. Plus, the only passenger was the unknown Noble who built this place. Must’ve been one real empty trip, eh?”

  In addition to the vaguely glum words of the hoarse voice, D could hear another faint sound. Something flat and insect-like glided across the thousand-foot-wide floor of the platform. A cleaning robot.

  Although the identit
y of the Noble who’d created the tube train was still a mystery, various legends about him remained. One was that he was inordinately concerned with cleanliness—with some going so far as to say he had a phobia about dirt. The station, an opulent hotel that would never host any guest save the Nobility, power plants, and more were all sealed off from contact with the air outside, while all the air inside would periodically be replaced. All of these were his own personal property, and the fact no thought had been given to their preservation or use by anyone else after he was gone only served as commentary on the dark nature of the Noble psyche.

  “I thought once we were here it’d be a leisurely ride over to the eastern Frontier sectors, but since the Castle ain’t here, there’s not much we can do. Let’s hit the road.”

  Not replying to the hoarse voice, D gave a light kick to his steed’s flanks. Cantering down the corridor and galloping up a staircase, D came to an enormous doorway. Turning his horse parallel to it, the Hunter put his hand against the surface of the doors, the sound of a lock unfastening rang out, and the doors began to magically swing to either side. Even after D had slipped through the opening they still didn’t stop. The doors themselves were fifteen feet thick.

  A white cylinder alone loomed modestly in air nearly at the freezing point. Thirty feet in height, it was set in a room covering about ten million square feet and with a ceiling more than three hundred feet high, where it looked like a humble artifact.

  “The control room,” said the hoarse voice. “Though actually there’s just the one control system computer, and, by the look of things, that handled everything from driving the train to maintaining the station.”

  “And still handles them.”

  Dismounting, D walked toward the tower. Something like a terribly dangerous intent was focused on every inch of him. The pendant at his chest began to give off a bluish glow. And the device’s ill intents vanished as if they’d been a dream.

  On reaching the base of the tower, D placed his left hand against its smooth surface. Though he didn’t hear it, at that very moment something awakened out in the distant wilderness. Energy flowed through a nerve center that’d been dormant for five millennia, spreading throughout its steel body in the blink of an eye. Without a sound, the massive shape resting at the bottom of the tube floated upward.

  Paths Heavenly, Earthly, and Demonic

  chapter 6

  I

  “Okay, all set,” Hiki said, clapping his hands together. He was sitting cross-legged, with thin fabric reminiscent of a gossamer wing stretched across his knees.

  “What the hell is that?” Pikk inquired, sneaking a peek at his work.

  “Nothing that concerns the likes of you. Now, go tell the lady I have a present for her.”

  “No way. Tell her yourself.”

  Just as the boy turned around, he bumped right into Annette, who’d just come over.

  Until a few hours ago Hiki had been working on horseback, but then he’d dismounted, saying that soon he’d be done with something really useful and he wanted to just plow right through it. “Why?” the girl had asked with visible distaste as she was about to ride on, and for a moment she donned a sad expression that quickly vanished.

  Pikk bared his pearly teeth. “The jerk’s working on something weird. I say we leave ’im and keep on going. Haven’t liked him from the get-go.”

  “I think having him around is preferable to being left alone with you.”

  “The hell you say! Little girlies don’t know what to look for in a man.”

  “What’s that?!”

  “Never mind. Let’s just go. You’re being followed, right? We can’t afford to waste time.”

  Annette fell silent. Pikk had a point.

  “What in the—?”

  Pikk turned what could only be described as a look of loathing behind Annette. Here came Hiki, the fabric of his gossamer wing in hand.

  “Well? I’ve finished our new transport! Miss, you’ll fly with me on this.”

  And saying that, he made a light sweep of the breeze-filled fabric.

  “What in heaven’s name is that?” Annette asked, eyeing both the fabric and its owner suspiciously.

  “A magic carpet. I’ll have you home in a day. And no foe will be able to lay a hand on us.”

  “Really?” The question exploded from Annette, her expression equal parts expectation and suspicion.

  “Forget it,” said the boy. “There ain’t no such thing. Besides, just because you’re flying through the sky, that don’t mean you’re safe. The Nobility made all sorts of monstrous birds, and they’re always on the lookout for fresh meat!”

  Pikk’s remark made Annette stare at Hiki. Her eyes were heavy with the glint of doubt.

  The skinny man nodded. “I’m well aware of that, thank you. Harpies, dead man doves, and death clouds are all creatures of the skies. But I’ve committed to memory the times and places where each such species appears. Avoiding them will be simple enough. Just relax, and leave everything to me.”

  “Really? We’ll be okay?”

  As Annette leaned forward, the agitated boy said, “I’m telling you, don’t do it. On the ground, there’s a bunch of things we can do if your pursuers come. But in the air, you can’t run or hide!”

  “If they catch up to you, you’re finished anyway.”

  “I see,” the stern-faced Annette said, giving Hiki a nod. “I’ll go with you. Start the preparations immediately.”

  “Hey, hold up there!”

  “Hold your tongue. You’re in my employ.”

  Somehow managing to restrain his feelings of misery, Pikk showed his teeth.

  “Oh, so that’s how it is? I see. Do what you like, then.”

  Smirking, Hiki said, “Well, here’s where we part company. You’ll get your wages for today, and then you can go wherever you like.”

  “Whaaat?!” A fierce killing lust exploded from every inch of the boy. And it wasn’t on account of his own circumstances.

  “Wait just a minute,” said the flustered Annette. “We’re supposed to leave a child alone out here? That’s simply too heartless!”

  “Sorry, but this carpet can only carry two. Just a single passenger and one other—the pilot.”

  Her expression mournful as she looked at them both by turns, Annette then shut her eyes. When she opened them again, she nodded at the same time. The wishes of one of them had been discarded.

  “I see,” Annette began. “Well, be careful out there, little one.”

  “Don’t do this,” Pikk said in a low voice. It was the voice of a man who’d been through blood-soaked hell as a child. “Sorry, but if you’re hell-bent on going alone with him, I’ll stop you by force if need be. I gave you my word, so I’ve got a duty to protect you.”

  “Which is why I’m saying your contract ends here. If it’s about the money, I’ll give you ten days’ wages.”

  “I ain’t talking about the money!”

  “This punk really doesn’t know when to call it quits, does he?” Hiki jeered. “So, ten days’ wages aren’t enough for you? Or could it be you’ve fallen in love with—”

  The boy impacted on Hiki’s chest like a fireball. With a dull thud Hiki hit the ground and rolled around. Pikk delivered a series of kicks to the man’s side, and on the second one there was the crunch of breaking bone.

  “Stop it!” Annette screamed, throwing cold water on the boy’s rage and madness.

  When he stopped, Hiki’s hand latched onto the boy’s now motionless ankle.

  “Whaaaa—?!”

  Pikk’s cry of astonishment rose toward the sky. Fingers reaching out for the ground caught only dust. The boy’s body was effortlessly lifted a good thirty feet. His ankle was gripped by Hiki, and Hiki was rising thanks to the thin fabric in his left hand.

  “Ground-crawling rat! Thanks to wonderful me, you get to fall from the sky to your death, for which you should be thankful.”

  “Let go of me, you beanpole! Screw you and your s
tupid tricks!”

  “Oh, you mean it’s okay if I let you go?”

  His fingers opened.

  “Wha—!”

  Quickly grabbing him again, Hiki sneered, “Now, unless you want to be smashed flatter than a frog, swear you’ll never interfere with me again. Go on, swear it!”

  The boy twisted frantically, saying, “Like I’d ever promise you anything! If you don’t set me down on the ground like a little angel, you’re gonna regret it!”

  “Oh, your wish is my command! I’ll set you down just as kindly and gently as an uppity little shit like you deserves.”

  Now the two of them were at a height of over a hundred and fifty feet. Animosity intertwined in the sky, and insults flew between the two.

  “This is your last chance. Swear it!” Hiki shouted, teeth bared.

  “Screw you. I ain’t promising you squat!” Pikk repeated, but he then immediately shouted, “Hey—wait a sec!”

  “Finally scared, punk? Well—”

  “No. Behind the girl—it’s a dust creeper!”

  “Don’t make me laugh, you little coward. That line’s as old as—”

  “Look, you idiot!”

  “I’m not falling for—what the hell?!”

  What Hiki saw was an elliptical shape latching onto Annette from behind as she looked up at them. Three pairs of limbs from the dozens wriggling on the creature’s abdomen robbed Annette of her freedom, pulling her underground before she could even scream.

  “Damn it all!”

  The instant the airborne Hiki lost focus, his grip slackened.

  “Whaaa—!”

  Pikk fell, his scream leaving a long, perpendicular tail.

  Just as the boy was about to slam into the ground Hiki came diving down, scooped him up with expert timing, and landed about ten feet from the dust creeper’s hole. At the same time Pikk kicked at him, saying, “Saving me was all your idea. I didn’t ask you to. Of course, I suppose you want me to help rescue the girl now, don’t you?”

  “Right you are,” Hiki replied, peering down into the blackness of the perfectly round hole.