by Mario Routi
As soon as the spaceship door opened, both Rebecca and Turgoth rushed to envelop their daughter in their arms. Leylah was pinned between them, unable to move and hardly able to breathe as they showered her with kisses.
“Alexander and Larisa, thank you very much for this,” Rebecca said when they eventually broke apart.
“Indeed!” Turgoth said, shaking both of them by the hand. “We’re enormously grateful to you both.”
“Mum?” Leylah asked on their way home.
“Yes, honey?”
“I don’t think I like vacations.”
***
As Leylah laid her head down to rest that night, she hoped that she might be allowed some reprieve from her nightmares. She hated the fact that she could not even feel safe when sleeping in her own bed. Rebecca grew worried as she watched her daughter fall into a fretful sleep.
A dazzling sun burned down on her face as its beams splayed across the Earth below. Leylah raised a hand to cover her eyes but as soon as she blocked out the light from above, the darkness below seemed to reach up to etch fear into her heart. She could see that she was back on Earth but everywhere she looked, everything was on fire. Screams filled the air as children ran in all directions, crying out for mothers and fathers who were never coming back.
Above the inferno the tentacles of a massive creature were laying waste to the city below it. On ground level, small devil-like creatures darted to and fro, spreading the fires in every direction. The tentacles from above wrapped themselves around buildings, ripping them from their foundations and tossing them aside. Leylah was watching from a park which was illuminated by both the sun and the flames. The heat was almost unbearably intense. She recognized this creature from books she had read but was struggling to remember its name. Was it the Kraken, the beast that Perseus had fought according to Greek mythology? Or was it the Cthulhu from the myths of the writer Lovecraft?
“It’s every beast ever spoken of,” a voice rumbled in her ear.
Leylah turned to see Ricky Soblett standing beside her, smiling at the scenes of carnage that surrounded them. “I was once among the living. I appreciated the wealth, the power and even the glory of what it meant to be alive.”
Leylah looked at him more closely. “You are the Sartani who tried to kidnap me. How dare you speak to me?”
Ricky ignored her indignation. “I’m dead right now because this is the future. At present I’m in the hospital fighting for my life. This is a possible future that will come about as a result of the changes I am participating in right now. Maybe this will prevent my death and I’ll be able to live longer. Either way, I will not remember doing this if the path is changed in any way.”
Leylah frowned, trying to work out what he was telling her. “Then you should be changing as we speak.”
“Dreams are said to be a suspension of time, which would be the only way I could continue to talk to you.”
Leylah eyed him doubtfully. “So, what exactly is this beast?”
Ricky tore his eyes away from the fires and turned to face her. “They are all the creatures we humans create in our nightmares. The Titans have used our imaginations for their own purposes. It is easier to make a creature terrifying when it is already so well described as fearsome, rather than trying to start from scratch. Find what people already fear and then make it real.”
He pointed to the giant octopus. “That is called the Kraken. The smaller creatures following it are fire imps from Celtic myths. All around the world there are mythical creatures coming out from books solely to feed the Sceptomorphs that the Titans have unleashed on the world. When people are scared, the Sceptomorphs can suck the energy out of them, leaving them as no more than lifeless husks. There will be one Sceptomorph for every city so that the whole world will be destroyed.”
“The Titans want to attack the entire world?”
“The Titans want to fight all of Existence.”
“So they’re going to fight the Land of the White Sun as well?”
Ricky smiled maliciously. “It’s a dilemma isn’t it?”
Leylah stared at him with a blank face, trying to absorb the enormity of what he was telling her. “They plan to attack everyone at once?”
Ricky shook his head. “No. Those in the Land of the White Sun will possibly remain unharmed, provided you are all willing to watch the Earth burn into nothingness. The choice is yours. You can either choose to back up Earth and risk everything, or to stand by and watch, thereby keeping yourselves safe. Either way, it will be a victory for the Titans.”
Leylah could now see the genius of the master plan. “So we have to choose whether or not to protect the Earth over protecting our own land?”
“That’s the gist of it,” Ricky laughed. “This is simply a diabolical distraction to force the Orizons’ hand. Is the Flame so important that it requires a sacrifice of over seven billion humans? That will be a decision that the residents of the Land of the White Sun will have to make.”
“Aren’t you betraying the Titans by telling me all this?”
“The Titans aren’t so nice once you’re in Tartarus. I would prefer to go wherever the Gods send the more peaceful souls.”
“What was the purpose of creating someone who could turn into anyone else? Who is General Varta?”
“A person who can become anyone? I have not come into contact with a creature like that during my time as a Sartani and I know nothing about this General Varta you speak of. It’s possible that it’s just a back-up plan.”
Ricky raised his hand and Leylah found that they were now looking at a different city. “This is Shanghai, where it will all begin.”
Leylah saw a black cloud swirling above the city and cloaked figures speeding through the streets, sucking blue energy orbs out of people as they screamed in terror. A large green creature was jumping through the city, crushing humans at random and creating fear for the Sceptomorphs to feed on.
“The Titans’ wrath extends to everyone connected to the Gods,” Ricky explained. “Perhaps this knowledge of what is to happen will avert this crisis. Perhaps not. Either way, I was given a message to deliver.”
Leylah continued to stare around her, unable to tear her eyes away from the horror. “So you are still with the Titans! And that’s why you’re here, talking to me. What is the message then?”
“I’m here!”
Leylah felt a sudden burst of pain and she looked down. Blood was beginning to soak through her shirt and she saw a knife protruding from her chest. She heard her name being called and felt her body being shaken but every ounce of strength was draining from her. As she tried to crawl her way out of the dream, her hand slipped and she tumbled into darkness.
***
“Honey! Leylah! Turgoth, come here quickly!” Rebecca screamed.
Turgoth came running into the room. “Oh Mighty Zeus! What’s going on?”
“Get towels and send a message to Doctor Afterland to bring the Flame immediately. Leylah’s been stabbed in her dream,” Rebecca shouted as she ripped the sheets off the bed.
Leylah had a small wound on the side of her lung from which the blood was flowing and her face was the colour of parchment. Rebecca put her hands on the wound in an attempt to reduce the flow but the pressure was too strong and her daughter’s blood continued to seep out through her fingers as Turgoth handed her towels and knelt beside them.
“What happened to her?” he asked.
“I was watching over her when I noticed blood start to soak through the sheets. I took them off and this was there.”
Turgoth lifted his wife’s fingers and inspected the wound, looking for any clues as to what might have happened. “This looks like a knife wound,” he said. “Someone ambushed her or tricked her into believing she was safe.”
A few minutes later they heard Doctor
Afterland running through the house.
“We’re in here!” Rebecca cried.
The doctor burst into the room and wasted no time in administering the Flame to the gaping wound. Slowly but surely, the gash healed as they watched and the colour began to return to her face. Doctor Afterland put his free hand on her forehead and made a disappointed sound.
“You need to know that Leylah has slipped into a coma from the loss of blood.”
“What?” Rebecca and Turgoth both asked in shock.
“It’s okay. She’s out of danger and she can stay right here at home to heal, however it will still be a while before she returns to us. We have to wait until her body feels that it’s okay to wake up. We can control an induced coma, but she won’t wake up right away.”
41
One week later
“Multiple sightings of Sartani across the globe, Princess Rebecca,” Larisa announced.
Rebecca looked at her daughter, who lay unconscious on her bed, still healing.
“Go, honey,” Turgoth said. “I will stay with Leylah until Alexander arrives and then I’ll come meet you.”
Rebecca nodded, biting her lip as she followed Larisa out of the room. She was still worried about what had happened inside that dream and who could have stabbed her daughter. It might have been the traitor or a demon, but she wouldn’t know until Leylah woke up.
As Rebecca entered the control room with Larisa, every orb seemed to be showing activity and messengers were being sent out to coordinate the Orizons down on Earth.
“What’s going on?” Rebecca asked.
“There’s a Sartani group preparing to hit Moscow in a few hours. There’s also a group planning to attack Tokyo and New York simultaneously,” Larisa said, looking at her checklist. “At this rate, there will be all-out war within hours if we’re not fast enough.”
“Inform the Orizons at the CIA in the United States,” Rebecca said, forcing herself to focus on what was happening. “They’ll be able to disseminate the information to the other two cities and it might at least prevent a global war. And get a team down to Tokyo as fast as you can.”
“What about Moscow?” Larisa asked.
“I’d like to see them try and hit Moscow - hasn’t worked in the past and won’t work now. The Russians may not seem like it, but they’re experts at preventing sabotage. Tokyo is also pretty good at defensive protocol, but they might not see it coming in time.”
“We have a report that Sartani have been sighted in Israel,” an Orizon reported.
“There’s nothing we can do to help them at this point,” Rebecca said. “There’s already too much turmoil surrounding Israel to touch it but several Orizons live there, so hopefully they’ll be enough to at least protect the innocent.”
She watched as the teams divided up the work and set to their tasks. She remembered from when she first came here, that what had always bothered Orizons the most, were the innocent bystanders who became entangled in wars that didn’t concern them. Now these conflicts had grown in complexity to such a level that a war in Moscow could affect innocent people as far away as Africa.
The increased activity among the Sartani was puzzling. During the twenty-six years that Rebecca had been the Princess of the Land of the White Sun, she had never seen them be so active and this worried her deeply.
42
Present time
Leylah awoke to a blaring sun and aches in every bone in her body. Her senses felt dull as the wound in her side reminded her of the ordeal she had barely survived. Everything around her seemed strangely normal, the birds chirping cheerfully outside and the sun streaming in through the window, warm against her skin.
She could hear no noise coming from the rest of the house and she grunted as she attempted to get out of bed. She felt dizzy at first and had to wait for her head to clear. She saw a bucket of hot water sitting beside her bed along with towels draped across her chair. Footsteps approached from down the hall and Leylah tried to get up but her legs weren’t quite ready for her.
She started to topple forward, only to find herself caught in Alexander’s muscular arms. She smiled meekly up at him and he grinned back, gently laying her down on the bed. He lifted her shirt to make sure the wound hadn’t re-opened and then sat down in the chair beside her.
Neither of them could find the right words and so they sat in a companionable silence - just gazing at one another - each waiting for the other to speak first. Leylah wished she could have stayed longer in his arms, revelling in his smell, but she didn’t have the courage to ask him to hold her.
“You were in a coma,” he said eventually.
“A coma? Oh my gosh! For how long?”
“Just a week, but long enough to miss some pretty big troubles down on Earth.”
“So, the Titans did attack?” Leylah asked.
“The Titans? No, no, the Sartani have gotten bold with what happened in London so their level of activity has gone through the roof. As Orizons have come back to rest or heal, we have seen others leaving to replace them. It’s all become rather hectic.”
“I need to talk to my parents.”
“They’re on their way here.”
43
When her parents opened the door, Alexander stood to greet them. They shook hands before Alexander left to attend to duties elsewhere. They both rushed to hug and kiss their returned daughter.
“My darling, we were so worried about what happened!” Rebecca said.
Turgoth frowned. “We would have been here with you the entire time, but something has the Sartani whipped up in a frenzy. It’s all we can do just to keep up with them. How do you feel, my dear?”
“I feel like something ate a hole in my side and then began to gnaw its way through my bones. I can’t even stand yet.”
Turgoth nodded. “You’ve been unconscious for a week so it’s bound to take at least a few hours before you can get back on your feet.”
Leylah looked at her mother. “Mum, I think you guys need to watch out for Larisa.”
Rebecca smiled indulgently and stroked Leylah’s forehead. “There you go again. That’s just love talking, honey.”
“No it isn’t, Mum. She’s been acting strangely since forever. I get a feeling about her that forces me not to trust her. Mum, I’m the Oracle! You need to trust my instinct!”
“Leylah, Larisa saved your life,” Rebecca reasoned. “If you can’t trust a person who risks her own life to save yours, then who can you trust?”
Leylah looked at them both with the realisation that no matter what she said, they would think she was just speaking from jealousy, her judgment clouded by love. She sat in silence for a while, trying to find the words to talk about her two most recent dreams. She knew her parents’ world would be turned upside down by the information and she had to be ready for a thousand questions.
“Before I went on vacation to Earth,” she said eventually, “I had another dream concerning General Varta.”
Rebecca waved her finger at her daughter. “Before you say any more, Larisa is not General Varta. There were plenty of opportunities for her to get you captured or even leave you for dead. You cannot accuse her of being General Varta. That’s taking it too far.”
Turgoth put a restraining hand on his wife’s arm. “Honey, be reasonable. Leylah has been through a lot and her thoughts aren’t entirely together. She’s most likely talking about something completely different.”
Leylah pressed on. “I had a dream just before I left that I thought wasn’t important enough to tell you until I got back, but the dream that I just survived from, is something I consider about as important as life itself.”
“Look, honey,” Rebecca said, “you don’t have to go into all this immediately. You need food, a nice bath and some time with your dog and once you’re well rested and ha
ve your strength back, then you can tell us all about your dreams.”
“But Mum, what if I have another dream that puts me into another coma? I need to tell you about this before I fall asleep again.”
“Doctor Afterland’s instructions to us were very clear, Leylah. We can’t talk about anything that might distress you until you have put some proper food into your system. Otherwise we might be putting your mental health in danger. No matter how important your dreams and visions are and how much we want to know everything about them, your life is more important to us. So... soup time! Mushroom or tomato?”
Leylah tried once more. “But Mum...”
“Mushroom or tomato?”
“Tomato.”
Rebecca bustled out of the room towards the kitchen while Turgoth smiled indulgently at his daughter.
“Your mother is one of a kind.”
Leylah smiled weakly, “You’ve got that right.”
“Listen, she’s been sick with worry about you, okay? We’ll talk about those dreams once you’ve eaten and regained your strength but until then, submit to the will of your mother or we’ll both have to suffer her wrath.”
They laughed together. Leylah felt good to be back with her father. Rebecca interrupted her thoughts as she came back into the room with a bowl of soup on a tray. Her body seemed to come back to life with every sip she took and her parents watched with relief as the stiffness and aching appeared to drain from her before their eyes.
“Now,” Rebecca said once the bowl was empty and she had settled Leylah comfortably among her pillows, “what was it that you wanted to tell us, sweetheart?”
“I wanted to ask whether or not you had any suspicions as to who General Varta could be because, while I think I know who it might be, you two have a completely different line of thought on this right now.”