He Who Crosses Death

by Isaac Hooke

  Tane trudged through the trees, taking care to avoid the particular deadly brand of mushrooms Jed had pointed out earlier, readily identifiable by the yellow spots dotting the purple caps. The large mushrooms had spores that contained hydrochloric acid which, if stepped on, could easily dissolve through a boot. And the flesh inside.

  According to the scans from orbit, there were otherwise no fauna the party had to worry about. This was a plant world. Which was probably why the archaeoceti had selected it to serve as one of their colonies. Assuming the aliens hadn’t actually terraformed the place to suit them, which was probably the likelier case.

  If the team had been visiting the world in the Umbra, the fauna situation would be completely different: they’d have to be on constant lookout for kraals. It was kind of nice not to have to worry about a surprise attack from the native inhabitants, seeing as the only animals that had ever been present—the grazers—were long dead.

  Then again, that didn’t mean dwellers or humans were not hiding somewhere in ambush: he had a whole galaxy in pursuit, after all. Still, it was doubtful anyone had followed him here, given the extents Tane had taken to cover his tracks to this world.

  Yes, no fauna, but there were insects in profusion. Pollinators. Most were tiny, though a few of the bigger ones looked rather nasty, with dual stingers and multiple biting pincers. Tane was definitely glad he had elected to wear a spacesuit.

  He occasionally gazed out at the swamp to his right, toward the bones of the giant creature that resided within it. He wondered what those beasts with the dual ribcages had looked like when living. Though they were herbivores, they were still probably formidable creatures, terrible when provoked.

  “Found something,” Lyra announced over the comm.

  Tane doubled back with his portion of the team and quickly reached the spot on the far side of the swamp where Lyra was waiting with the others.

  As he neared, she stepped aside, revealing a dark, elliptical shape that thrust up from the jungle floor and swallowed the surrounding light. The top and sides of the object were hidden by the foliage; G’allanthamas promptly cleared the branches with his tentacles, revealing the lens-shaped object in its full glory. It was one of the dark artifacts left behind by Tiberius, Tane’s forebear.

  There were no dark threads leading from Tane to the artifact—the filaments only appeared in the Umbra, or when he siphoned the Dark in this universe while near such a lens.

  Jed knelt and cleared some foliage G’allanthamas had missed from the base of the artifact.

  “Here’s the source of your signal,” Jed kicked a rusty metal box he had revealed. He stepped back, and the foliage snapped back into place to hide it once again.

  “I’m surprised the power cell lasted this long,” Chase said.

  “Some of the more powerful cells are rated to endure a millennium or longer,” Positron said. “Even cells from the time of Tiberius.”

  “Maybe so, but I suspect this device was set to begin transmitting only after several centuries had already passed,” Jed said. “Until then, the power cell would have been only under minimal load, drip feeding the timer.”

  Lyra stepped toward the artifact, then looked at Tane. “When you touch it, will this create a distortion tunnel to the Umbra or some other higher dimension?”

  “No,” Tane said. “Look at the edges. They’re solid and don’t distort the light. It won’t trigger any stored works. Instead, when I touch it, I’ll learn something. Perhaps an Essencework if I have a high enough level. Or maybe I’ll just receive a memory.”

  “The one you call Tiberius left this?” Chase asked.

  “It has to be Tiberius,” Tane answered.

  “Not the archaeoceti?” Chase pressed.

  Tane glanced at G’allanthamas for confirmation.

  “Don’t look at me,” the alien told him. “While Tiberius spoke often of this system, I know nothing of any artifacts he might have left. But I must say, I tend to agree with you that it was in fact Tiberius, as I have never seen the archaeoceti create something like this. Their works are... different.”

  Tane approached the artifact, and the others stepped back, giving him clearance. He extended a hand, but paused.

  Well Tiberius, looks like we’re going to meet yet again.

  He took a deep breath and touched the object with his glove.

  He waited for something to happen. Anything. But time and space remained constant around him.

  Motion drew his eye to the spire that protruded from the jungle next to the swamp beside him. A dweller in an environmental suit clung near the top, aiming an energy launcher down at the party.

  Before Tane could warn his team, the world around him finally changed.

  He was standing in the same spot, he thought, but the swamp was gone, as was most of the jungle, replaced by luminous vines that shrouded everything. They glowed with a gentle violet light, and climbed the wooden trellises set against the many spires around him.

  The entire area was on a slope, so that in the distance, past those towering structures, Tane was able to discern a valley. There, roaming the grassland, were gargantuans, their bodies as large as houses, their four legs like tree trunks, their elongated heads the size of small rooms. Long tails and necks emerged from torsos that could best be described as two giant barrels stacked one atop the other, forming a figure eight when viewed from the front. Their skin was covered in shimmering scales of silver and gold, and flecked with diamond dust.

  Most of the colossal creatures were congregated near the edges of the savanna, where they gathered next to the spires that bordered the valley and ate the leaves from the luminous vines that grew near the tops of the structures. When the beasts swallowed, the glowing plant matter passed down their gullets and caused the upper regions of their necks to briefly emit light, the entire area becoming momentarily translucent, allowing Tane to watch the passage of the plant matter as it traveled down their esophagi.

  Behind those that were feeding, other behemoths rested in the grass. Around them, smaller versions of the animals frolicked about, cajoling in the tall green blades. Their children.

  Those beautiful, awesome creatures could only be grazers.

  And the glowing vines that covered the land around Tane were no doubt—

  “The archaeoceti,” Tane said. Or rather, Tiberius. “An interesting species.”

  Tane looked down at his body. He was dressed in a robe whose swirls of black and white competed with one another for dominance. He held two staffs, one silver, the other black. It was the same outfit he had seen upon Tiberius in the last memory he had of the man, though his voice sounded somewhat younger.

  “They never revealed their powers to me,” Tiberius continued. “But by rights, they should have. They know I have the ability inside of me. They have tested me and confirmed as much. They also know I would use the power of Khaeota only to help the galaxy. To help them. But I digress. There is more to life than power, after all. You will learn this. Just because you can control, doesn’t mean you should. Sometimes it is better not to force your will upon someone, but instead strive for a more peaceful solution. A compromise. I have struck such a compromise with the archaeoceti.

  “They have agreed that when you return here several centuries from now, they will share their knowledge with you. By then they will have left this universe behind entirely. Already there are mutterings among their council of abandoning this reality. I see the signs among them, the universe-weariness. They will not stay.

  “If I am right, there will be no archaeoceti inhabiting this world, nor any other worlds in Umanitar, our home universe, when you arrive. Even so, they have offered a way to reach them, a path that is not currently open to me. But five hundred years from now, that path will unfurl. The archaeoceti have sworn it. With this—” Tane’s hand moved of its own accord to point the black staff at a small pyramidal object sitting between the glowing creepers on the ground in front of him. “You and a select few companio
ns may travel to the Khaeota, the universe that sits above our own, somewhere between the Umbra and the Lumina. It’s a one-way journey: pass through the gateway created by this relic and you cannot return, not until you complete whatever trials the archaeoceti have laid before you. You must seek them out in the Khaeota, for only they can send you back to Umanitar. If you cannot find them, or if they have become extinct, then you will be forever trapped in the Khaeota.

  “The journey will be difficult, fraught with danger. I cannot say if the attitudes of the archaeoceti have changed since my day, but I knew them as a reserved, somewhat aggrandizing race, mostly unwilling to reveal their secrets, though known to mete out benevolence in measured spurts. Nor can I say whether they will keep the bargain they have struck with me. They will test you. Oh, they will. Be prepared for that. They will want you to prove you are worthy of the powers of the Khaeota. They will not give it lightly.

  “For you see, hidden away within the knowledge of the archaeoceti is the ability to bring back the dead.”

  Tiberius paused a moment before continuing. “Your eyes light up. This is why you are here, isn’t it? No, rest assured, I haven’t developed the ability to see down the branching rivers of time to you… I merely guessed. Because this is the very reason I myself journeyed here: the promise of restoring someone close who was lost to me. The archaeoceti would not grant me the ability directly, but they have offered to restore my lost companion themselves. I go now to fight for that companion. Apparently, raising someone evokes forces that not even the archaeoceti themselves can contend with alone. Even with all of my power, I may not survive.

  “So go then, my fateful protégé. Pass into the Khaeota. Fulfill your destiny. What that fate might be, I have only a small inkling, despite what others may tell you. No doubt whatever words I leave behind will be twisted into a grand prophecy of some sort. I am very much in tune with the Essence. I freely admit this. I can sense some far future calamity coming. I can sense a crossroads. Whether or not you are even involved with this crossroads, I cannot say. All I know is that when it arrives, a few will determine the fate of the many. A few will decide whether to save the galaxy, or destroy it.

  “And the latter might not be a very bad thing. Who am I too judge? Maybe the galaxy needs to be destroyed. A fiery cleansing. Because from death always comes rebirth. The galaxy is forever renewing itself. Stars die, casting off their shells, giving birth to new suns from the remnants of their stellar masses. The universe collapses, and is reborn in the next Big Bang. Some would say it would be the work of evil to destroy the galaxy, but good and evil are merely a matter of perspective, aren’t they? Is nature evil for doing what it does best? Before there was order, there was chaos. And order tends to chaos. Always. It is the law of entropy.

  “But as usual, I digress. I am merely trying to delay the inevitable, I suppose. I must go fight now for the one I love. It will be my greatest battle yet. Farewell, my protégé. Until we meet again.”

  And then the jungle snapped back into existence around Tane, along with the artifact.

  He was still gazing at the spire that protruded from the jungle next to the swamp. And at the dweller clinging to the top, its energy launcher pointed down at him.

  The dweller fired its weapon.

  3

  The energy bolt swerved at the last moment and slammed into the artifact.

  Tane was thrown backward by the impact.

  He landed on his back upon the mossy ground and had the wind knocked out of him.

  “Defensive positions, now!” Lyra said. She launched an Essence missile and the bright light streaked over the trees, hitting the top of the spire. But the dweller had slithered from view.

  Tane forced himself to sit upright.

  Beside him, Jed became invisible. Nearby branches swayed as the Volur darted away into the jungle.

  Tane scrambled weakly to his feet; he had been certain the energy bolt had been aimed at his head, but apparently the artifact had drawn it away. In its place was left a shattered pile of black rocks. The impact shouldn’t have had that effect, but it was possible Tane had drained the artifact of whatever Arcanum it contained after he touched it, with Tiberius storing just enough to implant the memories, so that the object was ready to disintegrate before the bolt struck.

  “Stay down!” Lyra said. She pulled him behind a nearby log. Positron and Chase hid behind separate trees on the opposite side of the destroyed artifact. The scepter robot had cut all levitation power to the stasis pod, so that the device and its precious cargo lay in cover on the jungle floor between the robot and the Mancer.

  G’allanthamas meanwhile had taken cover behind the ruins of the artifact, which were spread out in a pattern just wide enough to shield his broad form.

  “Gia, Nebb, we could use some air support here,” Tane transmitted as he drew the D18 rifle from his storage pouch. He activated his energy shield in autogating mode, so that it wouldn’t take damage when he took cover behind objects, as he was doing now.

  “They’re not responding,” Lyra said.

  True to her word, no answer came.

  “World Bender, requesting permission to remove the Restrainer,” Chase said.

  “Permission granted,” Tane told the Mancer.

  Amaranth streamed through the trees a moment later. Tane knew what they were because of the protective spheres of Essence that enveloped the eight-legged dwellers—these were aliens who could wield the Dark.

  Tane threw out his Essence Sight lifeline to get a view of the battlefield from an isometric perspective above and behind himself. Branches were in the way, and he had to adjust accordingly until he could see himself.

  Jed blinked into view and struck at one of the Amaranth from the side. He caught it off guard, his sword biting partially through the shield and into several tentacles before the dweller responded, sending smears of darkness hurtling into his body. Jed was slammed into a tree, sword and all.

  The injured Amaranth retreated into the undergrowth, staggering, but two more appeared to fill its vacant spot.

  An invisible hand closed around Tane so that he couldn’t move; the vise lifted as either Lyra or the Mancer Deflected it. He remembered when he had first faced Amaranth, and Lyra had exhausted herself straightaway trying to create a distortion tunnel to relocate Tane. She had obviously learned from that encounter, and expended her stamina reserves much more strategically.

  Still, a distortion tunnel seemed like a good idea right about now…

  “Lyra, can you open up a distortion tunnel and take us out of here?” Tane said.

  “I’m not sure I want to risk it!” Lyra said. “If one of those Amaranth hurls Disrupt, then my efforts will be wasted, and I’ll be exhausted, out for the rest of the battle.”

  “Hold off for now, then!” Tane told her.

  Dark smears came at Tane and other members of the party. Those smears were also Deflected, thanks to the efforts of Chase and Lyra, and perhaps G’allanthamas. But then eight-legged Tarkwails stepped through the trees, joining the Amaranth ranks. The spider robots were equipped with laser turrets, and two launchers carrying four deathfire missiles each.

  “Concentrate on the Tarkwail!” Tane said. “If they fire those missiles we’re done for!”

  Tane had two dark works in reserve: one Fingers of Ruin, and one Melt Metal. He was too far to use Melt Metal, so he released Fingers of Ruin, and three smears of unreality pummeled one of the Tarkwail. He launched an Essence Missile as well, and a large streak of white energy passed right through his second target and struck the Amaranth behind it, eliminating both the robot and the alien: the Feral Necklace he wore made his Essence Missile equivalent to level four. He fired his D18 at yet a third robot.

  Between himself and the other members of his party, they were able to eliminate all the Tarkwail before any of the robots could launch their weapons.

  Then Tane and his companions turned their attention to the Amaranth. The dwellers would soon learn that i
t was one thing for them to come across Tane and his team when the members were exhausted. But when fully rested?

  The dwellers were in for a fight.

  The battle quickly became a stalemate. Each side released different deadly works upon the other. The Amaranth Deflected the Essence Missiles that came their way courtesy of Tane and the other wielders of the White, as well as the Dark works launched by G’allanthamas, such as Fingers of Ruin, while Chase and Lyra Deflected in turn the attacks the aliens launched.

  Tane tried to unleash fire a few times, via Persistent Flame, and while that couldn’t be Deflected at the lower levels in that work, it was easy enough for the dwellers to dodge behind a nearby tree to avoid it. Tane succeeded only in setting the jungle ablaze. But that was good, because it brought his team some more cover—the dwellers couldn’t aim through smoke and fire. Though neither could he: Essence Sight was no help here not just because of the flames, but the many branches between himself and his opponents.

  Jed had vanished once more, and he appeared once again, cutting through the underside of one of the Amaranth with his Chrysalium sword and disappearing again before any of the others could respond. That Jed could get close enough to breach its defenses and inflict damage before the dweller could respond told Tane the alien victim had likely exhausted most of its Dark reserves.

  As the battle of attrition continued, the other Amaranth would be facing similar quandaries: because of the nature of Dark Siphoning, with the long creation times inherent to Dark timelines, when their reserves were done, they could not readily be replenished: the Amaranth would have reduced ability to attack and defend. For offenses, they could use Dark beam hilt equivalents, or their energy launchers, and for defense, they’d have to rely on shield generators. Tane suspected that more than likely they’d flee at that point, considering that his team would still be able to launch works of White for as long as their stamina held out, works that would readily penetrate their shields.

  Sure enough, some of the dwellers began to run.