Bill was a fallen. Not just that, but he was a fallen trying to help him against the others.
64
James stood at the top of the fortress in the caverns below Dirge. He looked downward, seeing all the tunnels that led to different places in this ghost city. After moment he sat down cross-legged on the top, thinking. He stretched his arms out, examining them. He’d taken off the jacket and had forced the xeno into the small of his back. His arms were bare.
There were bruises and dark blotches all over them, as well as the rest of his body. His bones had several cracks and fractures, but they were held together with the xeno’s strength. He would have probably been bleeding internally as well. He was tired, exhausted really. He wondered how it would all end. What am I trying to stop from happening? he wondered. I can’t keep going on like this. He stared at his right arm, at a small bruise. He remembered how easily the fallen could deflect and recover with the mind’s eye. He focused his mind, allowing the power to wash over him. The bruise started to fade away as he watched it. He felt his own wounds in his body regenerating faster. He knew he had a healing factor, but his meditation was actively accelerating it.
He engulfed his mind further into the realm. He felt like he was divided now; that part of his mind, his soul, was in the actual mind’s eye realm. He focused on his own body. He focused on his bones and internal structure. They were healing now, faster than before. He used some of the energy he pulled, and built it into his bones, his body. They were becoming stronger, denser. He began recreating his muscles and sinews, his hair and skin. He was rebuilding them to be stronger, denser, and more durable. His body would still be strengthened by the xeno, but the xeno wouldn’t have to work so hard now.
He felt a pull on his mind. It wasn’t a voice, but a force, drawing him near. Pulling on him. It was the mind’s eye. It was pulling him to it. He didn’t know what would happen if it took hold of him; he’d already seen what happened when the xeno controlled him. The mind’s eye realm was still very much an unknown force. Although it felt like a pool of dark energy, it didn’t mean him harm. But he still feared being controlled by it, and released his hold.
It was still there, and he was still drawing on its power, but he was only slightly tapped in now, like before. He breathed a sigh of relief as he opened his eyes. He was still sitting on the top of the fortress, looking over the city. He pulled a small data screen out of his pocket, glancing at the time. He was shocked to see that several hours had gone by. It had only felt like a few minutes to him in the mind’s eye.
He looked down into the city again, and decided to take a walk. He pulled on his jacket, which merged with the xeno. He then let himself fall off the tower, his wings growing; causing him to glide softly to the ground below. It only took a few moments, and he landed softly onto the stone ground. He began to walk slowly through the old tunnels and buildings, taking in all he saw.
There were no dead bodies, no casualties left. Virtually no sign left that a battle had occurred in that city. He could see decayed pieces of debris still left on the city street. One building nearby had a sign that said it was a general store. He walked in and began to look around. There were old remnants of food and canned goods on several shelves. Old clothes hung on racks and walls.
The clothes were apparently made of materials that lasted, for they had survived well. There were stains and dust on them though. On another shelf there was a stack of small vid screens which looked to be books. James picked up one of the vid books. He tried to activate it. It crackled twice, and there was some erratic static on the screen. It then shut off, dead.
He picked up another one, and tried. It crackled to life, and text started scrolling across the screen. He began to read, not really knowing what it would say. After a few minutes he sat down on the floor, crossing his legs with the vid on his lap.
65
Dante leaned against the wall quietly with his arms crossed. He was in Mayor Callahan’s office, staring off deep in thought. The mayor was gone, and most of the offices were closed in the capital. Medea sat in a chair by the desk, while Lucien sat on the floor tinkering with the wiring inside the hilt of one of his blades.
It had been an interesting night for them all. The Hunter had underestimated them, but they’d underestimated him also. Dante smiled again, shaking his head as he played the events over again in his mind. He knew the Vanguard was clever, although still a novice in this game. Still, the transition had surprised him. Dante didn’t want to die, at least anytime soon. He did enjoy fighting an unpredictable enemy, though.
“I think,” Lucien said without looking up from what he was working on, “that he has two personalities. He has the one personality that's the Vanguard, and the other that’s incredibly unstable. The second could have come from the xeno.”
“I don’t think you’re far off,” Medea said, “did you see the way the xeno acted when he changed? It was covering his entire body, his face had even changed. He was a different person.” Dante thought about that for a moment.
“That’s it,” Dante said, “it’s not just another personality. It is the xeno. One of the reasons we tried to destroy the prototype in the first place was because it had a mind of its own. A will of its own.” Both Lucien and Medea turned and looked at Dante. “He’s having to deal with his mind merging with another sentient creature. He couldn’t handle the strain, so another personality was formed. The xeno’s personality must have a way to tap into his own latent mind’s eye abilities, the abilities he hasn’t even learned to control yet. That’s why he never fought using the mind’s eye offensively until after he’d changed.”
“What was it he said before he changed?" Medea asked, stepping forward.
“He said,” Lucien said, “ 'can you do it? I’ll let you.’ ”
“He was talking to the xeno,” Dante said, “he was giving it permission to take over.” He was about to speak again when Wolfgang and Damaine opened the doors, both limping into the office.
“What’s going on here?" Wolfgang asked. His arm was in a sling, and he was walking with a crutch. He muttered to them, “sling'll come off tomorrow. We all heal fast.”
“So will he,” Medea said. They were silent for a moment, all of them aware that she was referring to the Hunter.
“All of you left me,” Wolfgang said, “you abandoned me to that creature. I’m sure Father would have frowned upon that.”
“Actually,” Medea said, “Ares has already spoken to Father. Father was not only angry at you, but disappointed.” Wolfgang’s face held slight surprise.
“Why?”
“You were in command,” Medea said, “you were the one that backed the Vanguard into a wall without knowing the full extent of his abilities. You were going to torture his people in front of him. Father compared the Vanguard to a cornered animal. They become unpredictable when they’re cornered.”
“If anything,” Dante said, “everyone learned something tonight. The Vanguard, or Hunter as he calls himself, learned not to underestimate us and to examine his strategies a little better. We learned that his true strength is in this berserker rage personality of his, which presumably came from the xeno.”
“It came from the xeno?” Wolfgang said. Medea explained what she, Dante, and Lucien had deduced before he and Damaine had arrived. They stood there quietly for a moment.
“We left,” Dante said, “because he beat the hell out of you. I’m surprised you’re not dead. You’re the strongest of us. We were unprepared for that. We just expected one of you to defeat him, because we were ordered to back off. You had your chance. Now it’s my turn.”
“Father’s given you permission?” Damaine asked. Dante folded his arms behind his head as he leaned against the wall. He grinned slightly.
“More like given me command.” Dante smiled slightly, looking down at the carpet. He was enjoying this moment.
“Well, if
it’s Father's orders then I concede.” There was disappointment in Wolfgang’s voice. "What do you have planned?”
“Nothing yet,” Dante said, “but I’m patient. Everyone has a weakness; we just need to find his. I’ll find some sort of connection that we can use, I just need a little more time.” He turned to Lucien. "Can you make more of those blades?” Lucien looked up, surprised that he would be brought into the conversation.
“I already have.”
Dante nodded slightly.
“Good. All of us know how to fight with a blade, except Ares. He’s never needed it, though. For right now, we can equip ourselves with Lucien’s swords and Lucien’s high velocity rounds. Those can pierce a tank.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Lucien asked. “They're unstable. The small rounds that fit in one of your pistols are more difficult to make. I’d only have enough for us, not Civic Protection. They also wear down the gun. Two clips would make a pistol useless.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Dante said, "one shot is all I need."
“We can arm Civic Protection with the high velocity rifles,” Lucien said, “those work as well as the small rounds, except they’re easier on the weapons since the rifles were designed to fire them. They fire more slowly and the weapons are heavier that the standard assault rifles Civic Protection is using now.”
“That’ll work fine,” Dante said.
“So are we going to increase patrols?” Medea said.
“Not yet,” Dante said, “I want to see what he’ll do next.” He smiled, letting his fangs show.
66
Christina walked slowly through the decayed streets of what had once been an underground city. She stepped very deliberately, taking in all her surroundings. There were homes, apartments, and shops that filled these tunnels just like they did in the streets of Dirge. The city of twilight was much more vertical. In fact, Dirge was monstrous comparatively. Something rang differently about this place, as if were built brick by brick, by human hands. Dirge was intimidating. This city, however, spoke of something else. Something simpler and more content. She wondered what life had been like for the people in the tunnels.
Her steps echoed throughout the caverns. It was amazing that some lights still worked in there, enough that she could easily see her way. She wondered if the cavern was truly man-made, or if it was a natural cave that people had made into their home. It seemed way too big for people to have created it. Of course, so does Dirge.
She continued walking for a few minutes. She stopped when she heard movement from inside one of the buildings on her right. It was a store of some sort. She pulled up the small light that had been in her jacket pocket. She held it up as she walked through the old doorway.
She walked through several aisles until she found James sitting on the floor, leaning against a shelf. There were several small vid books lying around him, and one in his hands that cast a blue light in the room. The light coming off the screen cast a blue glow onto his face, making him a specter in the darkness. When she shined her light at him, he looked up at her. His eyes reflected back the light from the flashlight in an animal-like quality.
“Hey,” he said calmly.
“Hi James,” she said as she approached him, “what are you doing down here?”
“Oh...reading.”
“I can see that,” she said as she shook her head at him, “I mean really, what are you doing down here?” She walked next to him, and sat down. He leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment.
“I take it you heard about what happened at the warehouse?”
“Yes, from several different people. The most interesting perspective was Alicia’s. She can sense you from however far you go, and she had a pretty graphic description of what was happening to you.”
“Yeah, I can sense her too. I don’t know if it has to do with us being siblings or if it has to do with our race in general. I can’t sense Dante or Wolfgang, or any of the others for that matter. Alicia and I could only do this once our abilities had awakened. There’s something there, something that separates Alicia and me from the fallen.” He paused for a moment, as if contemplating what he was going to say next.
“She also told me about the monster,” Christina said, “the one you fight. It is the xeno, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes. I don’t know why, but there seems to be a block to some of my abilities. When I try to engulf myself further with the mind’s eye, it feels like I’m going to lose myself. The xeno for some reason has no problem accessing it, which makes the creature more powerful than me in some ways. I needed him earlier tonight, but I had to maintain control. I lost it, and I almost killed Khaleel.” He looked down for a moment at the glowing screen, breaking eye contact with her. “So many people have died because of me already.”
They were quiet for the next few moments. Christina had put her arm around him, and pulled his head against her shoulder.
“James,” she said, “I know you feel like you need to do this alone. I guess in some ways, none of us can really know what you’re going through. But you're not alone, and you never will be. I’ll always be with you.”
“I don’t think you should,” James said. “I was able to stop the xeno this time, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop him next time. I have to push back the urge. It’s always there, in the back of my head. It waits for me to drop my guard, when I’m at my weakest. Then it can take control. What scares me most is that sometimes I like it. It’s exhilarating when it’s in control of me. The power, the strength. What if I killed the guards because I wanted to, not the xeno?”
There was a quiet pause; neither of them knew how long it lasted. Christina remained by his side, gripping him even tighter than before. The silence was finally broken by James.
“I want to read something to you. I found this book, and I’ve been reading it. It has ideas I’ve never heard of before, but they make sense. I’ve actually been able to read most of it, due to my mind’s eye, but it takes me time to mentally process all the information.”
“What is it about?” Christina asked. Her curiosity was piqued.
“It’s about God, and man. How we had the choice to be right or wrong. We made the wrong choice, damning ourselves and this world. The rest of the story is about God trying to bring us back to him.”
“God?” Christina was unfamiliar with the word.
“This book says there was a great being that existed before everything, everyone. He created it all, including us. He’s called God.” Christina was silent. The concept seemed foreign to her, but also familiar at the same time.
“Did he?”
“Well, in a way. He sent his son, a savior for everyone.”
“He saved them all?”
“Not at first.” James was quiet when he began to speak again. “He healed the sick and made miraculous things happen. He said some amazing things. One of my favorites is this passage here:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
He paused for a moment after reciting the passage from memory.
“They didn’t believe, though. They killed him.” Christina was quiet, but the hopelessness of his statement started to give way to her fears. She put her hand over her mouth.
“James, I don’t think I want to hear the rest.” He looked at her, the look of despair she suddenly had. He put his hand on hers.
“That’s not the end. I told you he was the son of God, didn’t I? He came back from the dead, defeated death itself.”
“Is that how it ends?”
“No, but it tells us how it will end. It tells of a great battle in the end, and how all of humanity and heaven will be united after being so far away from God. My favorite passage in the book is the one that describes the new heaven
and new earth for us.”
“Describe it to me.”
“God’s dwelling place will be among the people again, and he will wipe every tear from every eye. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain.”
*****
Khaleel sat at a desk he’d made use of in the building that had become one of several outposts for the resistance. He’d been glancing over some data screens, trying to pass the time and get his mind off what had happened earlier that night. In some ways the night had been a disaster. In others however, it had been a success. Both they and their enemies had seen the Hunter at his strongest, though he still didn’t understand what had happened.
Something had changed in James. They had all witnessed him break into a berserker mode that killed most of the Civic Protection soldiers and nearly killed Khaleel. He remembered too clearly the look in the Hunter’s eyes when he was holding Khaleel by the neck. The fierce rage, followed by the deep regret and sadness when James had realized what he’d done, what he was about to do. The image made Khaleel shudder as he thought about it.
He eventually just pushed the data screens to the side, unable to focus. He stretched his arms across the desk, feeling the faded metal surface with his hands. It was designed to imitate wood, even the color and texture. It still had the coldness that told him it was metal.
He sighed out loud. He then heard steps from outside the small room. Before he could react, the door opened. Savannah came in, followed by her brother Kyle.
“Hey,” she said, “is it all right if we hang out here for a while?”
“Sure,” Khaleel said. He glanced at Kyle. “How's your shoulder?”
“It still hurts, but I’ll be fine. I can move it some, but I’m trying not to. Hurts like hell, really.” Khaleel turned to look at them as they both leaned against the wall and sat on the floor. He sat in the chair sideways, using the back of the chair as an armrest for his right arm. It was quiet until Savannah spoke.
City of Twilight Part II: The Fallen (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 2) Page 10