Souls of the Never

by CJ Rutherford

  But the Corp had grown in numbers steadily over the last few years; the reasons given had been ambiguous, but seemed to have the ring of logicality about them at the time. It was clear to Toshi the numbers involved had been grossly misquoted.

  As they walked along the edge of the crowd waiting for the riser tube he knew everything he’d been told was a lie. He felt exposed and vulnerable, although there was no way B’ran or any of the others could ever have expected there were Liberi here who knew what was happening on Sanctuary.

  That said, the sheer number of guards created a level of risk which would have blunted any normal person’s determination and will.

  Toshi and Laren were not normal people however, and as they took the riser upwards to the control centre at the heart of the building, they linked briefly to the other teams to confirm their readiness.

  They were positioned to provide support to Katheryne and the others, when Toshi and Laren deactivated whatever was blocking the portal from Earth.

  That none of them knew how this had been done hadn’t perturbed them in the slightest. They knew the only place it could have originated was from the control centre, which was soon to become a very interesting place to be.

  If the total destruction of every machine in the room was required, then this is what they would have to do. They knew no one would be able to stop them. During a scout earlier by one of the others, there had been between fifteen and a maximum of twenty five guards present.

  If that might have caused one Liberi to break a sweat, two of them were complete overkill. Toshi liked overkill. Especially now he knew any collateral damage inflicted wouldn’t be to anyone innocent.

  This confidence lasted barely half a second as they exited the riser at the control centre, and came face to face with something, someone completely unexpected.

  Dwenn was, to Toshi and Laren at least, an extremely junior Liberi who had arrived on Sanctuary just days ago. But as she stood before them, the power she emanated dwarfed what she should have been able to wield at this early stage of her training. And it was this power which seemed wrong to them. There was a perceptible aura of evil and corruption coming from her.

  Laren linked the others instantly, warning them to expect the unexpected as Toshi took in the room. There were over 100 guards, weapons primed and pointed at them, but Toshi wasn’t concerned about them. Anything they could do would be inconsequential to Laren and him. Unlike Derren and Krista, he and Laren had come prepared for battle.

  What worried him was this...Dwenn seemed to have been expecting their arrival. And this by extrapolation meant she was either much more powerful than they could imagine, or they’d been betrayed by someone they’d thought they could trust.

  Neither choice was attractive to him, which was why he paled at Laren’s expression. He knew right away at least one of the other teams had been compromised and taken out.

  This was why at that moment he decided to go for one of his plan B’s. The fact there was no plan B didn’t distract him. Plan B was good, simply because it didn’t exist. If one or more of the other teams had been turned, the enemy knew the original plan, so plan B was a better option.

  Toshi was good, very good at what he did best, which was thinking on his feet, so he knew if plan B was to work, Dwenn or whoever...whatever she was, had to think they were still following the original.

  They approached each other slowly and warily. Dwenn watched them with a bored expression, but both Toshi and Laren could sense the rage within her.

  “So Dwenn, I take it you are responsible for the block on Earth,” he said, watching as Dwenn crooked her head sideways.

  “My, you are a clever one aren’t you?” she sneered in a condescending tone. Her face was a mask of neutrality, but her eyes had a look of wild glee as if she was anticipating something.

  “Not clever, just logical,” replied Toshi, “The block is unlike anything we have seen before, as are you. I don’t believe in coincidences this...unusual.”

  Laren moved to his side, brushing her hand against his in a prearranged signal.

  As a last resort they were to abandon the building and open portals to designated escape points. With traitors among them this was unsafe, as the escape points would no doubt be manned by the enemy now, so Toshi and Laren needed to regroup and gather what Liberi they could trust together. And one of them just happened to be below them in a cell.

  A cell that none of the enemy suspected they knew the location of.

  Toshi grinned widely and bowed with a flourish. He was rewarded with a brief furious look of rage, as he and Laren stepped backwards and fell through the portal she’d created in the floor of the chamber.

  Belfast—The Wrecked Chapel

  Katheryne and Perri looked around at the ‘spacious secluded area’ Krista had brought them to. They had to admire her audacity, as they took in the derelict pews and pulpit across from the nave of the empty chapel.

  Scaffolding was everywhere, though it too was rusting and ancient.

  “Well, it’s definitely deserted, I’ll give you that much, Kris,” said Perri, sarcastically, as Krista frowned. She always got annoyed at Perri’s habit of shortening names. When Perri put Kat and Kris in one sentence together it threatened to provoke a squeal, but for now she let it go.

  She stood in the centre aisle which had been cleared of seating. Katheryne and Perri could clearly see where a swath had been cut through them by some sort of blast.

  The wreckage, bent metal and splinters of wooden pews lay against the stone wall behind them. How someone could have withstood the level of destruction was beyond them, but they both knew how it had happened. Their respect for Krista raised another notch.

  “You two should stand over there,” suggested Krista, gesturing to the nave. “The wall should deflect any debris.” Her tone was totally neutral but they knew her too well by now. She felt responsible for keeping the two of them alive.

  Katheryne looked at her watch and saw it was almost time for them to act. Synchronising the attack had been a nightmare. Between the different types of time flow inherent throughout the Island, here on Earth and on Sanctuary, they’d had to adopt something Katheryne was incredibly uncomfortable with. She’d had to rely on her own judgement.

  But as she closed her eyes and expanded her perception outwards across the Never, she knew it was time.

  What she also realized was something had changed. It was subtle but somehow it tasted...wrong. She stopped and concentrated her attention on Krista. As she watched, Krista began to open a portal, and probe the other side. Katheryne saw the tendrils of her thoughts as they reached out to the threshold. She also saw the malevolent energy hidden just across it.

  “Krista, stop!” she shouted, just in time. Krista withdrew her mind an instant before she’d committed, but even as she stepped back all of them saw the angry red tinge in the air where the portal had hung.

  “What is that?” asked Krista in horror and revulsion, “That’s not a block, that’s some sort of trap.” She turned to Katheryne, aghast. “That would have killed me...thank you.”

  Katheryne nodded in acknowledgement, but as she watched the ring in the air dissipate, she felt a…flavour. How she could feel a taste she couldn’t explain, but it was the only way she could reconcile the sensation in her head.

  Until she let it in, and realized it wasn’t her memory this taste of emotion came from. It was Derren’s.

  For a moment she had to separate the thought, as the taste and the memory of his absence was still too raw to experience without pain.

  “Dwenn?” she muttered. Puzzled, she turned to Krista, “Who’s Dwenn?” She knew the name, and it matched the consciousness she’d just felt, but it was wrong...there was something evil there.

  That one word provoked a reaction in Krista neither she nor Perri could have predicted.

  “No!” Krista groaned in anguish. “She’s dead, she has to be!” Krista’s face drained of color as she stood shaking her head from
side to side. Perri started to cross towards her, but Katheryne held her back.

  “Damn you! DAMN YOU!” she screamed at where the portal had been. Her face was a mask of madness and hysterical grief. She had nothing to lash out at physically however, so while Katheryne didn’t think she would hurt them intentionally she didn’t want any accidents happening.

  But as she watched Krista’s madness rise in power, it suddenly wilted and they heard Krista sob, “No, please don’t, she’s dead. She has to be.”

  She looked like a little girl lost, who had just been told her parents had died, but this was far worse. Neither she nor Perri understood as Krista curled up on the ground and broke apart, crying.

  Perri pulled away as Katheryne released her arm and ran to Krista, taking her up in her arms, gently cooing to her like she was an injured bird.

  Katheryne searched Derren’s memory. Her ability to do this still amazed her as she recalled all she knew about Dwenn.

  She had been Derren’s friend, and Katheryne cried as she shared Derren’s grief at her death months before his own journey to Sanctuary. In the same battle Krista had travelled there in fact.

  Derren had known his sister and Dwenn were close, but as Katheryne watched through his eyes, she saw the truth Derren had been too blind to see.

  Krista and Dwenn had been lovers. More than that, they had been in love, completely and totally.

  And now Dwenn was alive could only mean one thing. As Krista sat sobbing on the ground Katheryne heard her heart and soul shouting no, no, no, no.

  It was the worst form of grief. That her love had died was tragic. That she had returned, a vessel of the enemy’s malice, hurt Krista, seared her deep into her being and she sat there, broken.

  Katheryne didn’t know what to do. She relied on Krista to get them to Sanctuary, but she stood watching as Perri cradled Krista in her arms. She felt guilty because she should be doing the same. She should be comforting her friends.

  Instead she felt angry. Derren was there alone and she couldn’t get to him, and it was this ‘Dwenn’ who was stopping Krista from helping her. She hated her. How could she have left Krista like that only to return to torture her?

  For a moment she pondered how she might punish Dwenn. Hurt her the way she was hurting her loved ones. God, how she hated her!

  Hate was a word, an emotion which Katheryne was growing closer to. It was so easy to do, so easy to hurt others. The monster within her grew restless and uneasy as the bindings controlling it weakened.

  Derren knew for months who I was, she thought bitterly. Why hadn’t he come to her earlier? They could have had months of love before the battles. But no, he waited till it was too late. He gave her just enough time for her to fall in love with him before he deserted her.

  And Perri, she had left her to the dreams. Yeah she’d told her the dreams had gone, but a real friend would have known wouldn’t they? Of course they would. Perri had known she was still having the dreams, but had left her alone to suffer. Damn her!

  As for the others on the island, they were just using her for protection. Without her they would be still screaming in pain. Why did they deserve her help anyway? What had they done for her except to use her selfishly, never intending to repay her kindness? She would kill them all, but not before she watched them burn for a little while.

  Hate was… easy. She smiled as she began to see how much easier it was to hate than to love and forgive.

  Fortunately, Katheryne had never had an easy life, but she’d had a loving one, and now a familiar voice echoed behind the poison spilling into her mind. One word screamed over and over. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies.

  The voice was silenced almost instantly, and Katheryne felt a sudden unbearable sense of loss. The love which had come in a wave along with the voice had been unmistakable in its origin, and its intention to force Katheryne to step back worked. She broke the spell of bitterness and hatred which threatened to engulf her. Her anger broke free of the bounds within her, as she opened her mind to confront the thing which attacked her across the gulf of worlds.

  The Island—The Beast’s Fury

  There was something wrong, the creature knew now. The girl had been holding out for much longer than she should have been able to. It decided to take a more personal involvement and removed the spell which prevented the girl from seeing it. Surely the sight of its malevolence would finally bring the girl to the brink of hopelessness.

  But as it stood before her, the cloak torn away, the reaction was...nothing. No terror, just the continual scream of pain as she burned. It looked around and saw the flame licking against everything on the island, the rivers of lava consuming the beach as it ate into the jungle.

  Everything was as the beast had intended, so how was this girl, this child, able to defy it?

  Then it dawned upon the beast how badly it had failed. With a thought it banished the inferno it had created, but the scene before it remained the same. It roared in anger, reaching out to crush the girl, sweeping its talons straight through the mirage. For all this time, all these months, it had been watching an illusion.

  Master would punish the beast for this. The pain of before would be nothing compared to the damage which would be inflicted on it when it returned with the news. But it never dawned on the beast to not return, as it was bound in slavery to its master, never to escape.

  Desperately, it sought some method of redemption, some way to attenuate its master’s anger. It withdrew from the illusion and searched the planet below for any crumb of chance. It still couldn’t manifest physically on this world, but as it searched hysterically it found the familiar soul and drew closer to it.

  As it hovered over the orb of light, a plan of sorts began to form. If the soul could only be poisoned and defiled a little, then the beast had a chance to return to the girl’s dreams. It only needed a sliver of hatred to exist, so it could be cultivated and expanded, allowing it access again.

  And this time there would be no slow advance. This time the soul would be ripped away and destroyed, before the ruined husk was returned to its master. Master would still punish the beast; for it would have denied him the satisfaction of corrupting the innocent, but it would still be useful as a mindless slave. And the Master would have his tool on the blue planet, ready to carry on his plan.

  The creature studied the soul, wondering how best to attack. It seemed stronger somehow than it had been in the dream, but what was the soul of one of these humans compared to the being its master had created?

  It had to be subtle, however, so the beast began by sowing doubt and anger, plucking the threads which tied the soul to its physical body, to instil feelings of jealousy and hatred. Emotions which would unbalance the sub consciousness of the girl, and warp her way of thinking, turning her from herself into a being the creature could again influence in the dream worlds.

  The beast was so intent on its task it was unaware of the rising rebellion of the soul inside. Its control and dominance over it was let go for a fleeting instant, and the remnant screamed out. The beast slammed it deep into oblivion so fast it thought its actions futile. It would deal with it later, and the creature’s hunger flashed in anticipation.

  It turned its attention to the task in hand. Just in time for the fury and power released from the single insignificant human soul to wrap it in pain.

  Lashes of energy, unexpected but no less devastating for that, curled around the beast’s body, causing welts to appear and scales to sheer off in agony. It was impossible, but its physical body was being destroyed by this spirit essence, and there was no way for it to fight back. Any attempt to erect a defence was ripped down, any offensive action instantly and painfully repulsed.

  The beast retreated to its body but the soul continued its assault, fresh waves of pain wracking its body and mind. The beast ran; its last desperate effort before its ruin succeeded, and it departed into the Never, but even here the beast knew it could still be touched, as the whips of pain sought to drag
it back to its death.

  Just as it seemed it was doomed, the barbs let go, releasing the beast to escape further into the Never to safety. It raced, terrified toward its Master, knowing what lay ahead, but dreading what lay behind.

  Belfast—Payback’s a Bitch

  Katheryne’s heart thumped as she became fully aware of the thing, quite literally, from her nightmares. The very fibre of her being told her to run and hide, but she knew if she did she would be defenceless against the beast.

  The power flowed through her, unbridled as she summoned all her will and attacked. It was raw, untrained but utterly furious in its purpose, as she lashed the creature with wave after wave of anger.

  Part of Katheryne knew that to be angry was to give in to her inner passion, but too bad. This thing had pissed her off. It had hurt her, tortured her for months if not longer. And it had hurt her friends and tried to turn her against them. She felt sick to her stomach as she recalled the thoughts which had been going through her head just moments before.

  This thing deserved to be destroyed. It was an abomination, made evil, by evil. It was beyond pity so it got none. It fled to its body but Katheryne followed, refusing to let it escape. The power she was using to attack was but a tiny fraction of what she was capable of, and part of her quailed, as she realized this was because she wanted the beast to suffer.

  She was barely aware her consciousness was now far above the planet as she punished the body of the creature, ripping parts of it away in chunks of rotten flesh.

  The thing attempted to flee deeper into the Never but Katheryne simply reached in and began to pull it back, savouring the fear she felt coming from it.

  Let it think it can escape, just tease it, she thought with cruelty.

  A faint voice tugged at the back of her head, telling her to stop, to pull back from this madness, that this wasn’t who she was.