Bridgeworlds: Deep Flux

by Randy Blackwell

  Myles tried to clear his mind of the shock and stuck out his hand. He heard gears moving quickly as a metallic hand appeared from under Rom’s cloak. Omar shook the hand and noticed a faint blue light coming from under Rom’s cloak. “The pleasure is mine,” said Myles with a forced smile.

  “I’m an automaton. I have been one since the day I slipped into a coma,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “So, you know you are in a coma on earth? One would think that would mean you could go back,” Myles observed. Rom nodded his head which made a squeaking sound, “Yes, I could. But I would return to a mindless sleeping state. Who wants that? I would much rather have worlds to live in that I can shape and mold.” The light of his eyes seemed to change in brightness and shading in tune with the emotion in his voice.

  Myles nodded, “I can’t say that I would disagree with that train of thought. So you can actually not only change your environment but also people if you so choose?

  “Yes,” said Rom with a matter-of-fact tone.

  “Ok, can you show me?” asked Myles. Myles heard some gears turning and Rom shook his head, then he held up a mirror to reveal to Myles that he had changed Myles’ eye color to orange and he now had pointed ears. Myles felt his ears and a chill went through his body. He never liked the idea of changing as Omar had. “Ok, change it back before I freak out,” said Myles in a hurried tone.

  Rom let out an awkward clunking laugh as he kept his hand with the mirror out for Myles to see and confirm, “You are back to normal.” Myles tipped his hat to Rom, “Thank you for showing me that.” Then he turned his attention to the captain. “What were you having a look at?"

  The captain handed Myles his telescope. “See fer yerself.” Myles put the eyepiece to his face and focused it on the green lush land ahead. He handed the telescope back to the captain. “That’s my stop. I have a lot to do. I hope you don’t mind me skipping out.”

  The captain gave Myles a hard slap on the back. “I know you will miss waking up on a ship.” The captain laughed and the crew began to jeer at Myles again.

  “Oh no, it's the warmth and gentleness I'm treated with that I will miss. …that and the shark vomit you call whiskey,” he jested as he slapped that captain's back even harder.

  There was a moment of silence but then the captain burst out laughing. “Yer welcome on me ship any day. Come back and maybe we can play a game of cards.”

  Myles shrugged, “And rob you of all of your gold? Not likely to happen on your ship, but thanks anyway. I may visit sometime, but for now,” he pointed to the shore, “I'm headed that way.” He thought about being on the shore and he was; faster and easier than he had imagined. The dreamer really did make his powers work better. If only I had one of those to follow me around… Misaki is here somewhere and she is a dreamer. I wonder if she knows it.

  Myles checked through his pockets to make sure no one had robbed him. There he found all of his things including several Gauntman teleportation devices. I need to get this to Omar. Then he had a profound thought. Now that he knew where the island was, he could return to it at will. Why not do it now?

  Myles teleported to the Tower of the Magi in Caelsis. He went straight to Omar’s penthouse, looked around, and thought the decoration felt a bit stuffy for him. Myles made himself invisible and crept to Omar’s study leaving two of the devices on his desk with a note that read, “Omar, its Myles… These are teleportation devices. You might be able to get your funding continued on earth if you take them back. I miss you. I have a few things to take care of and will be back soon. ~Myles”

  Hearing something in the other room, he poked his head out to see what it was. Omar lay face down on the marble floor with wine spilled around him. Taken to drinking a bit much, huh Omar? Couldn’t even make it to the bed…

  Myles found the bottle and took a sniff. It smelled rotten to him. Bleh, I never had a nose for wine. In fact, after that nasty whisky I may just stick to tea from now on. Myles took one last look around and then teleported back to the shore line. Ok Misaki, where are you?

  It was time to pick a direction. From what Myles had seen of this continent coming in from Musterion, it was at the very least twice the size of the continent of the Seven Kingdoms. I guess I will pick two directions. Myles chose North and East. He walked for a whole day on level terrain and decided not to walk any more. Why walk? I can move distances with a thought.

  Myles focused on a point and then thought of being there and he was. He smiled. Then another idea came to him. He looked up and focused on a cloud in the sky and, as if zooming in with a camera, he was at the cloud. He immediately began to fall. Myles loved the feel of adrenaline pumping through his body. He imagined winds so strong that they would move him and used them to stay aloft and propel him forward.

  He looked down at the terrain, watching it meander by. He would have walked the plains he was traveling for at least another day, but even though it was the end of the day, he was able to get past the plains into a forested area. Myles decided to follow the tree line for some time and then stopped for the night to camp. He found a small creek where he caught some fish and started a camp fire before resting for the night.

  In the morning, Myles woke to a rustling in the woods. He dashed ashes over his campfire and investigated. He took no chances; he was not here to interact or be imprisoned again. He immediately looked up to the tree line and was on the move again. As he flew, he passed a flock of birds in v formation. Myles rode the wind for half of a day until the forest dwindled to sporadic trees and bushes. As he looked down he could see several small villages, but Myles passed them by not allowing his curiosity to distract him. I can explore this place in later, he determined.

  Soon after, it began to rain making it hard to follow the terrain from the air. He landed and continued on foot. That night was a wet one, but he was greeted by the sun the next day.

  As Myles went further north on this new continent, the air got colder but he learned to ignore the climate. Was it real or a dream? He couldn't really tell the difference any more. After days of traveling, he began to notice that the further north he got the fewer hours of daylight there were. Finally, he reached a place where there was only one hour of daylight per day.

  He woke one morning to hunt for his breakfast. He could see the two suns in the distance but dark clouds hung overhead. There was one spot in the clouds where the light broke through illuminating a large part of the fields ahead. Myles set off towards it.

  As Myles drew closer he could see a crowd of figures dressed in black. He asked himself if they might be Kalat. Kalat liked to wear all black. Myles quickly covered himself in the illusion of a Kalat. These are the first natives I have come across that looked to be organized into any kind of group; I have to get a closer look.

  As he drew closer he could see a crowd of figures around the shaft of light... These are the first natives I have come across that looked to be organized into any kind of group; I have to get a closer look.

  Myles pulled a small telescope from his coat. They looked like male humans wearing all black clothing surrounding a man in crimson red who wore a crown. The crowd was pushing him towards the light and the man was fighting them with everything he had. A woman appeared as if from no-where. Myles was caught off guard by how strikingly beautiful she was. She was screaming and fighting to free the kingly man but the others managed to restrain her and continued dragging him towards the break of light in the fields.

  Myles guessed, by the way they were all acting, that this would somehow harm the man if not kill him, though he couldn't guess how. And then Myles heard a voice in his head like a woman whispering. They are going to kill my father, someone please come... help! Images of the men in black robes ambushing the woman and the King they beat him and putting a bag over his head, and then her getting away flashed and reverberated in his mind and then the beautiful woman in the telescope, though there was no way she could see him from that distance, looked directly at him.

  Alri
ght, that was weird. Guess I will help. Myles illusioned himself into black robes with a black mask that covered his entire face. His past dreamings had worked to protect him from physical forces on Soterion so he hoped this would also protect him from the sunlight if it were indeed dangerous.

  This could be a really bad idea... eh, that's never stopped me before. He teleported to the crowd and began fighting in the way that he had most recently trained; striking one after another teleporting through the ranks of the enemy. Appear, a knife in the gut to one and gone... Appear, a knife in the chest to another and gone, and so on. Myles did this to six of them before he realized that the kingly man had already been pushed into the light by a member of the crowd.

  The King cried out as the others backed away. Myles teleported over to him. Nothing had happened, but the King had look of terror on his face. "Relax King, it didn’t hurt you," Myles said in a distorted voice that sounded deep and mysterious.

  The King shook all over looking nervously from side to side. He pointed a trembling finger at his captors. "The Broken will pay for this! You will all suffer the same fate as me!"

  Myles noticed that the ones he had stabbed, the ones that should have been dead were now standing and looking on as if nothing had happened to them. One of them started to laugh but stopped abruptly as a yellow sulfur-smelling mist started to rise from the ground. Black ink-like creatures oozed from the ground and took humanoid form letting out high pitched screeches. They clawed and tugged at the king pulling him towards a forming hole in the ground. Myles' ears were assaulted by the moans and groans of what seemed like millions of people, and the king's terror no longer seemed so unwarranted.

  The King cried out with renewed horror and Myles reached for him. The woman screamed again, but he heard her speak in his mind. "Save him stranger! Save my father!" He glanced her way as she touched his mind and her eyes and mouth opened wide as if she had found something she had not expected.

  He didn't have time to think about it, though, as he focused on saving the king and tried every trick up his sleeve. He tried tricking the inky creatures into thinking the King was Myles and he was the King, but illusion did not confuse them. He tried making the light go away, but the dark did not phase them. He tried pulling at the King as hard as he dared without ripping him apart, but even with all the mental strength of the power of imagination, the king was sucked down into the ground. Myles still had a hold of one of his arms when the king looked at him in resignation and took off his crown. “You are a strong man, I can see it." He put the crown on Myles' head with a tear in his eye. "Take care of my daughter." The creatures pulled him further every second wrenching him from Myles' grasp. He started screaming and wailing already in torment and then, as quickly as the screams came and the ground had opened, it closed and there was silence.

  Myles spared only a few seconds to regret his failure, remembering the dozen murderers that still surrounded him. Calculating that the next move of these so called “Broken” was to push the young woman in, Myles moved quickly to preempt. He focused on her and zoomed in right to where she was pausing for only a moment. She smelled strongly of Wisteria and his vision took her in. The irises of her eyes were a swirl of rainbow: drops of oil on water. They shimmered and changed as the light hit them. She was medium height and wore all black but the clothing was form fitting and well embroidered. Her hair was braided around her head and her full lips came to perfect angular points at the tips.

  Only a second went by and Myles snapped out of it. He moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “Hold on tight,” he whispered. The others turned ready to fight, but Myles only looked up to the clouds and they were in the air being carried by the wind. The woman did not scream, instead she managed to turn herself around in his grip so that they were facing each other. There was a tear in her eye likely for her father. Despite the tear she said, “Thank you."

  The princess cried for some time as they flew. Myles held her tight not only because they were in flight but because he felt for her in her loss. After some time in flight she stopped crying and looked up to him and gave him a soft smile.

  Myles lost concentration while admiring her and abruptly they began plunging toward the ground which did make her scream. Myles regained concentration on the wind and they were flying again just before they hit the tree line.

  As they swiftly moved north the air became cold and the sky got darker. Myles landed with her in his arms, and she stared at him biting her lip. It made him uncomfortable, “What?”

  She spoke in his mind, “I just haven’t met anyone like you. You would gladly take all of my gold without batting an eyelash, yet you would also save my life if I were in danger. It really makes no sense.”

  Myles smirked, “You don’t believe it?”

  She shrugged, “I will spend some time with you and figure it out.”

  He winked at her, “You mind not probing my brain while you're at it?” She smiled, “Why, are you afraid of what I might find?" She spoke aloud in English and Myles lifted a questioning eyebrow at her before figuring she had probably learned it from his mind. "Like about earth?” she continued with a playful smile.

  Myles sighed, “Great, the most widely known secret.” She laughed melodically drawing Myles in, “What marvels me more is how your mind works. You are two separate people, Myles Callaghan. You are the hero and a villain. I’ve never met someone like that. “

  Myles lifted his hat and scratched his head, “People where you come from must be awfully boring.”

  Her eyes widened, “Ha! I think I will have you taking that one back in no time.” Myles put his head in his hand, “Ok, well since you have all of the answers to your questions – without permission I might add – you mind giving me a chance to play catch up?”

  She shrugged. “You need only ask.” “Rapid fire… What is your name? What are you? You aren’t human or Adam as some might say. How can you read my mind? And why did the kingly man give me his crown?” Myles crossed his arms smugly. “That will do for a start.”

  She playfully elbowed him in the arm, “Well then, are you writing a book?”

  “No, but I’m sure you know much more about me. Spill it,” he said with a sideways grin.

  She leaned against a tree and Myles took out his pipe, lit it, and began puffing away as he listened. “I am Princess Catalina Salazar, and I am a vampire,” she said with a straight face. She paused as Myles choked on some tobacco that he had sucked through his pipe. Vampire?

  “That was your father then?” He asked.

  She nodded. “He was my father and my King, but now you are my King… and my betrothed.” Myles coughed again hacking this time as more tobacco had made it through the small hole in his pipe. After he stopped choking he looked up at her. She was very beautiful but at the moment she looked angry.

  “Now that was uncalled for. Do you find me to be comely? Or are you just a fool? When my father placed the crown on your head he did two things. He named you King and betrothed me to you. It was his last living act and I think he chose you for your heroic side, not the coward you are being right now,” she said with a flat tone to her voice.

  I’m no King. How come everyone wants to give me some kind of title? On earth people were lining up to take me down and on Soterion they line up to hand me titles.

  “That is because you are of more influence on this world. Take it as a compliment not an insult,” she said.

  Ah, get out of my head! “Well you know what? I don’t have anything to explain. You can obviously read my mind.” Myles thought of Kasey and the dream he'd had, the prophecy that Nekar had spoken and future Seux’s words. He held nothing back letting his true mixed feeling for Kasey come through in his thoughts, too. He showed her his betrayal and he showed her his dedication to finding Misaki.

  She looked at him as if looking through him for a moment. “You show me these things? You: the liar, the cheat, the womanizer and the scoundrel? You see what I mean? You are not who you are
but you do enough wrong to maintain those titles, why?”

  He thought it before he realized what he was doing. Because I hate responsibility. If everyone thinks of me as the wild card and the unreliable one, then I will never get pinned down. Images of his father as the county Sherriff in a small town came to mind along with images of life on the farm growing up. He really did hate responsibility.

  “Ha!’ She laughed.

  Myles slapped his palm to his head, “I’m not going to get anything past you, am I?” She shook her head, “No. Responsibility is like a hound. The more you run from it, the harder it follows you until eventually it catches up to you not as responsibility but as consequence. You failed to save my father; now you must accept your responsibility to take his place.”

  “What of Kasey?” Myles asked. She smiled, “I know more of prophecy than you do. Prophecy always comes to fruition, but in its own time and its own way. There is nothing you can do that will thwart it including marring me.”

  Myles shook his head. “But I just met you.”

  “And?” “Aren't you supposed to love someone before you marry them? I mean, you are beautiful, but I know so little about you… other than you drink the blood of others to live,” he ventured.

  She made a face as if tasting something bitter, “Drink blood? No, that is disgusting; I would never drink blood. Only the maddest of vampires has ever done such a thing. I do not need blood or food to survive.”

  “Then how are you a vampire?” She smiled, “I am more of what the ancient cultures of your world would call a muse. I feed, but off of the emotions, passions, and inspirations of others.”

  Oh, that’s not half as bad as I thought it was.

  “No, it isn’t,” she said with a smile. Myles and Catalina spoke as they walked through the wooded area. Catalina explained that her castle was to the north and if they kept walking this way they would eventually reach it. As night fell the air got even colder until there was a bite to it and then it started to snow. They found a hollow in the side of a hill to sleep in for the night. They lay close together keeping each other warm with her cloak and his jacket over them as blankets.