Fallout (Tales of the Other Universe Book 2)

by J. G. Taschereau

“You don’t know that,” Adam muttered.

  “Do you?” Dee asked. Adam remained silent with his head hanging, prompting an angry look from her as she took hold of his chin and tilted his head up to meet her steady gaze. “Hey! I want to help you, Greg. But I deserve to know the truth about things from you. No more secrets, alright? Do you know why the Khazaki came after you?”

  She let go of her hold of him and he held his head up on his own. He seemed reluctant to answer, but he knew she was right. “They were coming to deliver punishment for high treason, for the murder of Commander Andrei Moscov.”

  Dee’s spat of annoyance towards him shifted to incomprehension. “Commander Moscov? Wasn’t he the one who inspired you to move away from your old life and start being a more just man?”

  “Yes,” Adam confirmed. “And I was the one responsible for his death. I killed him with my own hands.”

  Dee listened to his confession with total surprise. Adam had never mentioned anything about this before, but she could understand why. “In those days I was still governed by my anger. I couldn’t always control it; it was much worse than when you and I met. One night I had a dream I was fighting against myself, rather the angry part of me. In the dream, I lost the fight, or at least the good part of me did. When I woke up, I learned that Moscov had been murdered. The rest of the men who had been with him were gunned down, but he was killed with a sword. It was my sword, Dee, still stained with blood the next morning.”

  “That doesn’t prove that you killed him, Greg,” Dee said. “Someone could have taken your sword.”

  “No, even while sleeping soundly I would have noticed. It was me, Dee. I kept it hidden and devoted the rest of my days with the Khazaki to furthering Moscov’s ideals. I hoped to keep those ideals with me when I became king, but somewhere I lost my way.”

  “That’s not true,” Dee said. “I’m amazed at the kind of man you’ve become in the time since I met you. And yes, you’ve made mistakes, but who hasn’t? It doesn’t mean you can’t accept the past and move on from it.”

  “I can’t move on from it, Dee,” Adam said. “Every time I try, I find myself borne back by something. It seems the harder I fight it, the more I’m caught up by it, and the more people are affected. Now things are worse than ever. The Khazaki are gone, and I killed them just to save myself. Well, what if I’m not worth saving, Dee?”

  “Don’t talk like that, Greg!” Dee said, carrying a rare passion in her voice that Adam didn’t expect. “Of course you’re worth saving. Because whether you believe it or not, you are a good person. You’re the kind of person I want to have in my life. You’re the one who inspires me to keep going, the one who shows me that even against all odds there is still something worth fighting for.”

  Adam let out an unexpected chuckle. “Funny, since you’re the one who does all that for me.”

  Dee blushed, but tried not to lose her momentum. “Look, Greg, I can’t begin to imagine what you’ve gone through during all of this. I don’t know if I would have the strength to keep going. But I know that you do, and I’m going to stay here and help you, even if I have to hold you up myself. You’ve made mistakes, yes, but it’s not too late to fix them. If you still believe in what Commander Moscov taught you, then you have to get back up and show it. Show it to me, show it to Oracle, and most of all, show it to yourself, because that’s the only way you’re going to start feeling good about yourself again. But you can’t give up now, Greg. Not as long as there’s still an ounce of hope left to fight for.”

  She exhaled, not realizing how involved in her speech she had been as she made up for rationed breath. Adam looked back at her, still soaking in all she had said. Then in a moment of recollection Dee reached into her coat pocket, pulling out the bracelet that Adam had left behind in the village square. She took his wrist and fastened the fibers of the strap together.

  “There,” she said. “If you’re still unsure, look at the bracelet and remember the man you were in Kyoto, the one who refused to give up on himself. Remember the man who stood for justice and saved countless people from a monster. You haven’t changed, Greg. You just have to remember who you are and carry on.”

  Adam felt the warmth of Dee’s fingers on his wrist, and as if by magic all of his self-doubt, the darkness and despair that surrounded him, seemed to recede. He closed his eyes and found a smile forming across his face.

  “Thank you, Dee,” his choking voice said.

  Dee smiled too, and her face became warm as tears slipped down her cheeks. “You’re welcome.”

  Adam cleared his throat and exhaled, drawing himself up straight. “So, where do we go from here?”

  Dee wiped her eyes. “To be honest, I thought you would have an idea because I haven’t the foggiest.”

  Adam got to his feet, finding his legs still shaky from the psychological experience he had gone through prior to Dee’s arrival. He scanned the empty hall in thought while Dee looked up to him. She hadn’t thought any further ahead than just finding Adam, something that was not a guarantee. Without the Khazaki or the Astrusian mages, she didn’t know of any other sizable group of allies Adam could turn to in his battle against Oracle.

  “We’ll have to keep moving,” Adam said. “It’s not safe in Khanka. News is going to spread that the Khazaki were killed, and I’m certain it will be linked to me. I’m already a convicted criminal in the country, so staying here would only endanger us even more. We’ll have to look elsewhere.”

  “We could turn back west, head into territories of the Allied Tribes of Carul,” Dee suggested. “The reception might not be so friendly, but it’s more out of the way and would give us time to think.”

  “I don’t know how much that would help. I was thinking about heading south.”

  “To the Opal Kingdom?” asked Dee.

  “To Leapador,” Adam clarified.

  “What’s in Leapador?”

  “Someone I hadn’t thought of until now,” he explained. “The king owes me a favor, and he may be able to lend us a hand.”

  Dee stood up. “Well, it’s better than nothing,” she said. “When should we leave?”

  “Immediately,” Adam said. “It won’t be long before someone realizes that the Khazaki aren’t coming back and they’ll search this building. We should stock up on supplies and make for Leapador as soon as possible. Will you be alright camping outside?”

  “What do I look like, a pampered princess?” Dee chided him. “I spent most of my time travelling sleeping outside you know.”

  “Just making sure,” Adam said, turning and bending over to collect his travelling cloak and the other items he had dropped. Dee’s eyes were drawn to Adam’s back, which she noticed had some sort of markings. They appeared to be tattoos, black outlines etched into his back, forming a pair of folded wings that stretched down his back. She let out a soft gasp at the sight of them, and Adam gave her a curious look as he stood back up. “What is it?”

  “Nothing,” Dee said. “It’s just, I never noticed your back before, those markings.”

  Adam flung his cloak around his shoulders, obscuring the designs. “Nothing important, just a silly little custom I went along with a long time ago.”

  “Is that permanent? I thought that any kind of wound a Legend gets heals after it’s inflicted?”

  “That’s true,” Adam said, “unless I choose not to let it heal. Some scars aren’t meant to fade.”

  He bent back down to take his bloodstained jacket, pausing as his fingers graced the worn fabric. Adam stood there for a moment, clutching the jacket, before exhaling and standing back up. He turned back towards the kitchen and returned a moment later with one of the large pots he had been scrubbing, setting it down on the floor. Kneeling down, he held the jacket in front of him. It had been stitched up more times than he could remember, and the copper colored blood stains made it almost more brown than blue. Dee watched in silence as he reviewed his all important garment before folding it into a compact square and settin
g it into the pot. With a snap of his fingers, the jacket burst into flames and burned before the both of them.

  “Greg,” Dee said, unsure of what to make of the action. He sat before the pyre as black smoke rose until all that remained were ashes. Adam, keeping his head down, reached for Moscov’s sword, knowing that beneath the sheath was the dried blood of so many of the people he once cared for. Adam held the sword out in front of him and said a silent prayer for the dead. With firm resolve, he set the sword over the rim of the pot that contained the ashes of his old jacket.

  “Is that enough?” he muttered. “I can’t offer up my body, not yet, but I hope that this small sacrifice was enough for all of you.” He stared at the embers in the pot as they faded away into the black ashes. How quick and painless it seemed, going from a bright fire to faded embers and then silent dust. He wondered if that same fate was yet to be his, and just how much longer he could hope to pretend that he would be able to get back everything that he had lost. He stood and bowed before the memorial before turning to Dee. She had remained silent throughout and still had nothing to say. Without further explanation or spiritual reconciliation, he left his once prized possessions behind, going with Dee out of the hall of fading memories and the ghosts he intended to leave behind.

  Chapter 21

  Outlaws

  Adam wrapped his arms around him as the cold air of the city chilled his bare chest. His thin cloak was effective at hiding him from the public but did little to keep him warm. Dee noticed his discomfort and scolded him. “You should have put your shirt back on, You’re going to get yourself sick.”

  “I don’t get sick, Dee,” said Adam. “And my shirt was still soaking wet from washing the dishes.”

  “Why were you washing dishes, anyway?”

  “Everyone has their own way of working their problems out,” he said.

  “Well couldn’t you have at least dried it out? Lit a fire under it or something?”

  “Knowing my luck I would have burned it.”

  “Whatever,” Dee said. She coughed, something she had been doing frequently since arriving in the city. “You know, the way you talked about Khanka I expected it to be nicer. You can barely breathe the air here.”

  “It wasn’t always like this,” Adam said. “I don’t much like it anymore either. We should gather what supplies we need and start heading south as soon as we can.”

  “How are we going to pay for anything?”

  “I still have a line of credit open here. There’s enough in there to get us what we’ll need. We’ll have to be careful about getting the money, though. The order to arrest me supposedly came from the highest levels of the government, meaning that others besides the Khazaki are looking for me. Best case scenario, the bank employees won’t make the connection. If not, we might need to improvise.”

  “Well if they’ve got you for high treason anyway, armed robbery probably isn’t going to mean much,” said Dee. She never failed to find something optimistic, even in the deep situation they’d found themselves in. Dee kicked her feet against the cold ground as the two walked. “You know, I was thinking the whole while I was travelling here. How is it you think the Khazaki knew where to look for you? No one knew where we were.”

  “Someone did, Dee,” Adam said. “Just one person, the only one who could have known.”

  “You mean the Creator?” Dee asked. “It couldn’t be. Why would he do something like that?”

  “Before they attacked, my successor told me the Creator said I was hiding in Erebia. He also told them how to kill me, and even though it was correct, mortals wouldn’t be able to do so.”

  “That can’t be,” Dee said, astounded by this new admission. “He’s our ally, Greg. He cares for both of us; otherwise he would have never gone to Kyoto to bring you back safe.”

  “I’ve wondered if that was really his reason,” Adam went on. “Before everything fell apart at the palace, he tried to get me to step down from the throne. He was convinced I’d made too many mistakes and that it would be best for Magid to abdicate. But he doesn’t care about Magid; he cares about how bad I’ve been making him look because he’s the one who put me in charge. It was the same with Kyoto: if something had happened and Magid fell to pieces, it would reflect poorly on him. He’s only out for himself, Dee. He always has been.”

  “Greg, I know there’s been some tension between you and the Creator lately, but he’s not all that bad.”

  “He’s been lying to you,” Adam said.

  “So have you,” Dee reminded him.

  Adam sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I imagine your grandmother told you everything. I wanted to tell you Dee, but I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  “I know, Greg. I’d rather just not think about it, alright?” He seemed to have struck a raw nerve. It was reasonable that she would want to avoid the sore subject, so he did.

  “Look, I’m just saying that I don’t think the Creator has been acting in our best interests,” he said, jamming his hands in his pockets. “Why wouldn’t he have come to help us? Why would he send the Khazaki after me? He knew they wouldn’t be able to do anything, so why bother? Why not just come after me himself if he was out to get me?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Greg,” said Dee. “I just wish we could hear from him and know what’s happening on his end of all of this.”

  Dee noticed that Adam had stopped walking and looked back to him. He was staring up at the sky, focused on something up above them. Dee traced his line of sight and saw what had captivated his attention. She gawked at the enormous, semitransparent image of the Creator’s upper body that appeared across the murky sky of Khanka. All around them people began to clamor as the icon looked down over them and many bowed down before the all powerful god of the Other Universe. Adam remained standing as he was, glaring up at the Creator’s likeness.

  “Peace be upon you all,” his booming voice came. It echoed throughout the city and had to trail for miles around, yet it was not so loud that it was unbearable for those below. “I am your Lord, the Creator, Most High, Most Wise, and Most Benevolent. Look upon me, my children, for your master calls upon you now.”

  The people in the streets began to lift their heads to lay eyes upon the deity, something that Adam and Dee considered mundane, but was for most people a supreme honor.

  “My children, there is great discord in my heart. Long ago, I allowed a part of me to drift away and take new form, to wander the universe as his own being. I gave him the name Iilil Shakal Suruvia, but he has had many names. Today he is known as Adam Evans, a name which has earned terrible infamy for many years, and especially as of late. In the planet-country of Magid, where he was king, his mistakes resulted in widespread suffering amongst his people, and in cowardice he fled his throne.”

  “That son of a bitch,” Adam growled.

  “I may have forgiven him for these many, many mistakes. But it has come to my attention that in his desire to flee from responsibility, from my helping hand, he has turned against me and against those who once cared for him. In an attempt to bring him safely back to me, the Khanka Sword Corps found Adam Evans and were killed by him without mercy.”

  The people in the streets began talking with frenzied panic as they learned of the Khazaki’s demise. No one was more stunned than Adam as this new betrayal caused a sickening burn in his core that spread up into his chest. Dee was just as shocked by the Creator’s words, the first confirmed to be spun in a direct attack at Adam.

  “This comes as a tragic loss to the city of Khanka and the Republic of Gravell on the planet Carvon,” the Creator continued. “I express my deepest sympathies to those affected by this tragedy, and I assure people of every nation and planet in this universe that Adam Evans will be brought to justice.” He paused, anticipating the cheers of the fueled crowd. “His last known location was in the dense forests surrounding the Artekt mountain range in northern Carul on the planet Carvon. He is believed to be travelling with a female mag
e named Diatyallah Gatti.” His image disappeared and was replaced with depictions of both Adam and Dee from the shoulders up. Dee felt a panic as she became exposed in hostile territory, but more so because she had just been declared a fugitive by the Creator.

  The Creator’s face reappeared before the people. “They are to be considered dangerous, and extreme caution should be taken when approaching them. If discovered, all attempts should be made to subdue them as best as possible. Because of pressing matters I cannot pursue these two myself, but if discovered and captured I will take it upon myself to dispense long due justice. Know that Adam Evans’ crimes will not go unpunished, nor will anyone who helps him receive mercy. As of this moment, Adam Evans and anyone who supports him is an enemy of the Creator Most High. This is my command, so thus shall it be.”

  The face disappeared and there was great commotion amongst the people. Dee stood frozen, unable to process what had just happened. A shadow fell over her and a quick panic gripped her until she saw that it was Adam casting his cloak over her head to hide her .face

  “This is very bad,” he said. “We won’t be able to get any supplies. We need to get out of here as soon as possible and hide where there aren’t any people.”

  “What if we just get out of Khanka? We should be alright when we get away from the people who heard the Creator’s message.”

  “Don’t you get it, Dee? That message wasn’t to just the people of Khanka. The Creator was addressing everyone. His face probably appeared over every little town, city, and civilization in the Other Universe. He’s just made us public enemies to every one of his servants.”

  Dee was dumbstruck, still in disbelief. Adam grabbed her hand and dragged her along under his cloak. “We need to go. Nothing’s changed. We have to head for Leapador and just hope that we don’t get caught in the meantime.”

  “But if someone caught you, you wouldn’t have any problem overpowering them,” Dee said.

  “That’s exactly what the Creator wants,” said Adam. “He knows we’re backed into a corner, and he expects us to lash out at anyone who comes after us. He’s forcing me to fight against innocent people to make me look like some kind of monster.”