by Karl Morgan
Carl could hear her crying, so he followed her into the room. Sylvia was sitting on the bed with her hands over her face. Tears dripped down her arms and fell onto the coverlet. Carl looked around the room. There were dozens of portraits of men filling most of the open wall space. Carl’s picture hung near the bed. He walked over and sat next to her. “Are you okay? I really like that picture of me.”
She dropped her hands and chuckled. “Which one?”
He pointed. “This is the only one, Sylvia.”
She groaned, stood up, and faced him. “Carl, these are the pictures of every man I’ve ever loved. All of them are you! Don’t you get it?”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“In every one of these lives, I have lived like a normal person, yet we always ended up together. I didn’t even realize all had the same soul until you were about to step off the Rope Bridge. In that instant, I saw all of these men in you. When you left me behind, I thought I’d lost you forever.” She began to cry again.
Carl stood and held her. At first, she resisted, but eventually held him back. “I am so happy to have had so many lives with you, Sylvia. I had no idea.”
She moved back and wiped her eyes. “Neither did I until the Rope Bridge. Now, I look around at these pictures and don’t know what to think. You said before there is a chance we could be together in this life, right?”
He smiled. “Yes, that is true, but as you’ve said, I’m still a teenager, and like everyone will have different relationships before I’m ready for marriage or anything serious.”
“What do you want me to do, Carl?”
“First, I don’t want you to join with the others. It won’t work, and countless lives could be lost, including yours.”
She nodded. “I’ll think about it, okay?” He smiled. “Now, take my hand.”
Carl reappeared outside of Death’s bungalow, which was now surrounded by hundreds of thousands of supplicants headed to pledge allegiance to the demon queen. Carl walked up on the porch and sat on a rocking chair. “I can’t believe this is all about me.”
Death stepped out of the door and offered a mug of coffee. “Busy day, huh?”
Carl took the mug and sipped his drink. “This isn’t regular coffee, Mort.”
“I know what you witnessed, Carl. I thought a little fortified drink might help you cope with what you saw. Full disclosure, I have been to that place before.”
“Am I really the only man she’s ever loved?”
Death sat on the other rocking chair. “Yes, but that isn’t the point.”
Carl sighed and looked at his feet. “I am so confused right now and why isn’t that the point?”
“You are a mortal human, and she is an immortal demon. What Sylvia did is not unusual. Many immortals choose to live regular lives in order to experience the unimaginable power of life, love, and desire. The only thing they are incapable of knowing that it always ends too soon. That is what makes life so perfect. It is temporary, and every moment could be the last, which makes every experience, emotion, and feeling real and important.”
“I never thought of it that way, Mort.”
“Of course, you didn’t. As a human, life is a journey. It is impossible for you to imagine eternity, even though the spirit within you is eternal. Sylvia is different and more like me. In my job, I experience death constantly, not my own, but those of my children. Even I do not comprehend their emotional state and those they have left behind.” He sighed. “Oh, how I wish I could sometimes.”
Carl stood, walked over to the edge of the porch and put his hands on the railing. “When she told me about us, I wanted nothing more than to comfort her. The pain she felt was agonizing to me.” He sighed deeply. “I feel like I had let her down so many times.” Carl felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Manny standing next to him. He hugged Him and cried.
“Please be calm, my Son,” Manny said. “You never let her down. In each of those lives, you loved her with your whole heart. She chose to love a mortal and paid the price when the life ended. That was her choice, not yours.”
“But what am I to do, Father?”
“This game ends tomorrow. I can see the moment in my mind even now. There will come a point when you, Sylvia, Aida, Burt, and Grace will face a decision. How you and they respond will decide everything.”
Carl shuddered with fear as tears fell from his eyes. “Please help me, Father. I don’t know if I will do the right thing.”
Manny pushed Carl back enough to look into his eyes. “Carl, whatever you do will be the right thing. I have faith in you.” Manny picked the teen up in his arms and carried him inside.
Chapter 18
Carl Prescott woke to the acrid smell of smoke. The small bedroom was blanketed in a thick cloud of noxious smoke. He got out of bed, rushed to the door, and pulled it open. The walls of the hallway were ablaze. Headmaster Dorchester grabbed Carl’s arm, pulled him toward the staircase, and they both hurried down and out the front door. Death, in the form of a younger Emmanuel and Professors Donnelly and Thorndike had already been loaded into a metal cage on top of a horse-drawn cart. Soldiers led Carl and Dorchester to the cart and forced them to enter at sword-point. Thousands of beggars filled the roadway. Most were jeering at the men in the cage, and a few spat on them and made threatening gestures. The cart began to move forward.
There were twenty people squeezed into the confines of the cage. Most were horrified at their predicament. While most cried and bemoaned their situation, Carl spoke with Death. After a few moments, Death nodded. Carl worked his way over to the professors. The three leaned forward to hear his words. “Mort and I know what’s going to happen. They are going to perform a mass execution of everyone in this cart.”
“What would be the point of such a spectacle?” Thorndike asked.
“Power,” Carl replied.
“We’ll just teleport ourselves and these poor people out of here,” Dorchester said. “We don’t need to play these stupid games.”
“Headmaster, let’s not be rash. It’s obvious the soldiers don’t know who Mort is, and I don’t think the demon queen would want me killed either. Frankly, she has a more sinister end in mind for me. If we escape, they’ll just grab twenty people out of this crowd and murder them instead.”
“Well, I for one am not ready to meet my maker,” Donnelly replied with a grunt.
Mort extended his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Alistair.” Carl suppressed a laugh.
“I already know you, Mort,” Donnelly scoffed.
“No one in this cart is going to die today. You are going to take them back to the school and guard them there. There will, however, be an execution. Mort and I have a plan and he’s done it before. Please let this just play out. If things start to go wrong, get out. In the meantime, trust me.” Carl looked about to see if anyone nearby had overheard, but all seemed more concerned with their own fates. “Headmaster.”
“Alex please, Carl.”
“Alex, play along with what I’m going to do now. Pretend you’re disinterested, but don’t deny anything.” Dorchester nodded.
Carl moved to the back of the cage and looked at those following behind. He smiled and waved, which enraged the onlookers, who pointed, shouted, and spit at him. Soon, dozens had grabbed onto the cage and began to shake it. The soldiers tried to push them away, but were soon overwhelmed. As the cage was about to be flipped off the cart, a pressure wave shot from the cart and pushed all the rioters back ten feet and to the ground. Everyone inside the cart, except Dorchester and Prescott, had fallen as well. Carl’s eyes bulged out, and he licked his lips nervously. “It tried to warn you, but you didn’t listen.” He climbed onto the side of the cage and moved around frantically. He motioned toward Dorchester with his head. “He is a prince of Darkness, son of the Evil One.” Carl crawled across the inside top of the cage until he was just over Dorchester’s head. “And yet you dare to spit upon him and threaten murder most heinous. Beware the wrath of
Satan!” Carl closed his eyes, let go of the cage, and fell to the floor.
The crowd had moved slowly toward the cage. One of the bystanders asked, “Is he dead?” The cart began to move forward again.
Carl scurried on his hands and knees to get away from Dorchester. “What happened to me?” He turned back and stared at the headmaster. “It is true then.”
A man in a priest’s robes approached and laughed. “That was quite a show, young man, but those were simple parlor tricks.” He turned to the crowd. “Ignore this child. We all know that our queen is the true power in the universe.” The crowd began to cheer and follow the cart again. Soon, they were all chanting along with the priest.
Donnelly leaned over to Carl and said, “Well, at least you tried.”
Carl smiled. “It’s not over yet, Professor.”
The priest started to say a prayer, but only a squeal come out of his mouth. He started to gag and fell down to his hands and knees. Suddenly, his robe collapsed to the ground. The crowd behind the cart stopped while the cart moved forward. One of the onlookers bent over to examine the robes. When she lifted them up, a pig squealed and began to run about. The crowd gasped in horror. A massive eagle swooped in, grabbed the pig, and flew away.
Carl made his most evil grin. “I warned you.” For the remainder of the journey, no one got closer than ten feet from the cage.
Donnelly sat next to Carl. “Did that eagle eat the priest?”
Carl shook his head. “No, I asked Jeff to take him at least ten miles away and then leave him. When he touches the ground, he’ll be human again, although all of his clothes are still on the roadway.”
“The eagle’s name is Jeff?” Carl nodded, and then Donnelly started to laugh. Soon, Carl joined him.
An hour later, the cart with the cage was pulled through the castle gates. A tall gallows had been set up with twenty nooses and hangmen. All stood ready to complete their offering to the demon queen. Those in the cart had sworn their allegiance to Dorchester in return for their lives. He reluctantly played along after Death had promised him that God would not judge him for his actions. One by one, the prisoners were led off the cart and up the few steps onto the gallows. A minute later, all stood in position, with Carl and Death in the center positions.
Carl heard a loud laugh and looked up to see the demon queen in her box. Her courtesans looked at her is though she was mad. Carl waved at her.
Sylvia stood and shouted, “Good morning, Uncle Mort, and you too, darling. Are we in for another show?”
Carl replied, “My queen, I would bow, but I’m afraid the noose will not allow me to do so.”
“Dear niece, you know you will fail at your attempt to kill us or to destroy the universe. Please reconsider.”
She laughed again, sat, and motioned to the hangmen. The one next to Carl removed his hood. “My friends, as a sign of our faith, these souls will soon be quenched in hellfire.” He bowed to the queen. “And my reward will be to join with her as we recreate a universe worthy of her rule. Are you ready to accept their sacrifice, my queen?”
Sylvia covered her mouth to suppress another chuckle. She gave a thumbs-up and leaned forward to see what would happen next.
On the count of three, the hangmen pulled their levers, the trapdoors opened, and the victims fell until the ropes reached their full length, snapping their necks. The crowd erupted in cheers. Everyone was on their feet, jumping up and down. The hangman who had pulled Carl’s lever had his hood on again. He pulled it off. It was Carl Prescott. Death pulled off his hood and stood in his skeletal, robed form.
After a moment, the audience began to notice what had happened. All the hangmen were dead, hanging from the nooses around their necks. It was absolutely quiet in the courtyard.
Carl moved over to Headmaster Dorchester. “Alex, you can take these people to the school now, but please make an exit these witnesses will never forget.”
Dorchester smiled and patted Carl on the head. “My pleasure.” The headmaster gathered the others around him. Their bodies floated into the air. Fifty lightning bolts shot out of the clear sky and struck them, which created a massive fireball that shot into the sky. Twenty more lightning bolts hit the gallows, setting it on fire.
Meanwhile, Death and Carl had casually walked down from the burning gallows and headed back through the still open castle gates. “Burning down the gallows was a great idea, Mort.”
“Thanks, Carl. I doubt Sylvia will waste time building another, but that doesn’t mean she won’t go ahead with her plans.”
“Yeah, I was surprised she just let us walk out of there.” Carl looked back to see if any soldiers were pursuing them. “What do you think her plan is now?”
“Wake up, Carl. You already know, don’t you? You said it when you returned from her special place. Don’t you remember?”
“I can’t believe it’s all about me?”
“Exactly. She wants you to go to her. If you can convince her not to destroy the universe, her faith and love for you will be renewed. If not, she imagines the destruction of you and everything else will somehow cleanse her of her feelings.” He shook his head. “Of course, it never will. The only way she can forget is to choose to be mortal. Then, when she dies, her soul will be free to love again, either the same soul, or another.”
Carl stopped and turned around. “Then, it’s better to get it over with now.” The two were now on the mountain top with Death’s cabin. “Why did you bring me here, Mort?”
“You’re being rash, Carl. Let’s have some stew and a coffee. She is attempting to draw you to her. You must make her wait. She needs to bring your friends first, and embed them in the walls. Perhaps those professors and even your parents.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Carl, think about it. You need your friends because they have tremendous powers, especially if Aida finishes the Rope Bridge test. The professors are powerful as well and may help. Your parents will ensure she has your full attention.”
“I feel sick to my stomach, Mort.”
Death patted him on the shoulder. “Then a bowl of stew is just what you need. Come inside.”
After they had eaten, Carl lay down on the small cot to take a nap while Death washed the dishes. Just as he finished, he was surprised by a knock on the door. He walked over, pulled it open, and stepped back to allow Joshua and Aida to step inside. “Josh, whatever happened? Why aren’t you on the bridge?”
“Oddly enough, Uncle Mort, the bridge led here,” Joshua replied. “I thought that was very strange as well.”
Death walked outside and confirmed that the bridge had changed course to stopover on the mountaintop. He walked back inside shaking his head. “It doesn’t seem right.”
“But the bridge never makes a mistake,” Joshua noted. “It knows the lessons that Aida needs to learn.”
“By the way, Mort, is Carl here?” Aida asked.
Death pointed to the bedroom door. “He just went in the other room to take a nap. Needless to say, we had an eventful morning. Go on, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to see you.” She turned and walked away. Once she had gone inside, Death leaned over to his nephew and whispered, “This is a trap; I know it is.”
Aida opened the door and stepped inside. She pulled a chair next to the cot and sat. She put her hand on Carl’s shoulder.
He opened his eyes and a smile spread across his face. He sat up, hugged, and kissed her. “I am so happy to see you. This is so amazing. Did you finish the bridge already?”
“No. Actually, the bridge led us here. I guess there’s something I need to learn from you, Mort, or this place. Do you know what that could be?”
Carl sighed deeply and looked down. After a moment, he looked up and forced a smile. “I don’t think it has anything to do with the Rope Bridge, but there is something I have to tell you.”
Aida sat back. “Carl, you’re frightening me. Please explain.”
“After everything we’ve gone through dealing with the
demon queen, it turns out there is a reason she is so fixated on me.” He sighed. “She told me that she has lived many lives as a human. That turns out to be pretty common with immortals.”
“And?”
“Apparently, in every one of those lives, she fell in love with me.”
She furrowed her brow. “You’re only fifteen.”
“The language is complicated and not designed for the truth about reality. You, I, and most other souls live many lives. It turns out that she fell in love with the person who had the same soul as me every time.”
She put her hands on Carl’s knees. “Are you saying that you’re dumping me for her?”
“No! That thought never even occurred to me. Mort explained it. As humans, we lose the connections to others when we pass away. As people, we cannot know the past of our own or other souls. Sylvia is immortal. She never forgets. She told me that when she and Barbie separated from me at the end of the Rope Bridge, she saw all her former loves in my spirit.”
“So, the survival of the universe depends on what, exactly?”
He shook his head. “I’m not really sure. She knows we’re not destined to be together this life due to our age difference and her demonic nature.”
Aida smiled and patted his cheek. “You have to convince her that your past connections and possible future ones are enough to save the world.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
She leaned in and kissed him. “Thank you for telling me. I know it had to be hard for you.”
“I’m more confused than anything else.”
She moved over and sat next to him on the cot. “Let’s change the subject completely, okay?” He nodded. “A lot of what you just said rang a bell in my mind and sort of fits something I’ve been considering on the Rope Bridge. Perhaps you can help me clear it up?”
“Sure, I’ll try.”
“First, I totally get the idea about our souls being the reality of us. You and I dealt with that a lot when dealing with the Beast. My soul was inside you while he had my body. So that’s clear.” He nodded. “Okay, you just told me that Sylvia had been your lover through many lifetimes. That proves that our spirits are immortal; that we are immortal.” Carl nodded and smiled. “You’re just nodding. I think you should be more supportive.”