Path of the Heretic (The Beholder Book 2)

by Ivan Amberlake

  Kyle ran faster and reached the crowd among the first. The people in the bunker tried to force their way out, pushing those who descended the stairs, causing others to get crushed.

  Tonia, Kyle, and other Sighted sent out silvery threads that weaved their way through, enwrapping everyone and depleting the crimson around them.

  Debbie ran towards Tonia and Kyle.

  “How can I help?” she asked.

  “We got it, Debbie,” Tonia said. “It’s all right now.”

  As soon as the silver threads wrapped around the people, their expressions changed from panic to calm and they stopped pushing each other. Instead, they turned around and went down the stairs, leaving the aftermath behind.

  Dozens of bodies lay on the stairs, some of them moaning, bleeding, and cringing in pain. But most of them were already dead.

  Chapter 38

  Jason’s eyes snapped open. He lay face down on a hard surface as cold as ice. Everything around him was white, as if someone had spilt milk all over the place.

  He checked his hand, and to his surprise, it was intact. No scar, not even a sign, the skin smooth as silk.

  What the hell? he thought.

  He propped himself up on one elbow, his head spinning, and then he spotted an old man standing a few yards away.

  “Aaron, it’s you.” Jason sighed in relief.

  “I wouldn’t be so enthusiastic, Jason,” the heretic said. “I hate to break this to you, but since you’ve ended up here, Pariah managed to kill you.”

  “What? I’m dead?”

  “Look at yourself. Your scar is gone. You don’t feel any pain. And now take a look around. What can you see? Nothing. There’s nothing here except the whiteness.”

  “So am I dead?” Jason repeated the question.

  “I think you know the answer,” Aaron said, an eyebrow raised.

  “Yes. I think I do.”

  Aaron didn’t move a muscle. Jason let it sink in, the truth he both feared and tried to get used to. “Where are we then? And what are you doing here?”

  “This is Limbo. You’re caught somewhere in between the physical and spiritual worlds, and there is a choice you’ll have to make before you move on from here. Either you leave your physical body where it is and your soul will rest in peace, or you go after Emily where she got stuck and try to take her away from there. To that piece of reality I told you about. It lies beyond the whiteness.”

  “I’m not leaving Emily. It’s killing me to know that she’s there right now, all alone.”

  “I must warn you that stepping into the confines of another person’s soul may cause irreparable damage to your sanity. You’ll find her worst fears there. She wanted me to tell you that you shouldn’t go after her if you’re not ready.”

  “I am ready.”

  “Then go.”

  Jason hesitated for a moment.

  “Just go,” Aaron encouraged him.

  Jason walked towards the mist.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” Aaron said. “If you get her out of the circular hall, you’re both safe. Do not let her kill herself. She’ll find a way if you’re not careful enough. If you succeed, both of you will be transferred to the City of Tranquility.”

  Jason didn’t ask any questions. There was no time for it. He entered the mist, the white clinging to his hands then swallowing him.

  Cold filled his lungs as he took a tentative breath. Something crunched beneath his feet, and then the mist was gone. An endless landscape of frost and snow lay before him, black leafless trees standing here and there with their forked, skeletal branches swaying. An occasional bush stuck out of the ground, pushed to the ground by a fierce wind.

  Farther ahead there was a narrow road paved with weather-beaten stones. It went up a hill leading to a white structure that reminded Jason of a huge fortress. He took one cautious step, then another. The frost-covered stones crumbled under his weight. He balanced so as not to fall, then looked down to see nothing but ashes below. It took Jason a while to get used to the road.

  All of a sudden, the ground collapsed under one foot and he fell, his leg locked in a cold vise. As he was trying to scramble out of the hole, pushing himself up with furious effort, Jason noticed that one of the stones was not a stone. It was a face, the eyes and mouth frozen in terror, the skin flecked with bits of frost.

  “Good lord,” Jason said, his eyes widened. He knew who it was and refused to believe his eyes. “Matt, what the hell?”

  Jason started digging his friend out of the icy trap, but as he raked the snow away he realized there was no body. Just ashes. Jason scooped some in his hand, and as he unclenched his fist they seeped slowly through his fingers. He touched Matt’s head with the tips of his fingers and it gave way, the skull crumpled beneath the pressure.

  Shaking all over, Jason crawled to the other side of the road, and found himself in the snow. Unable to avert his eyes from the dent in Matt’s head, he just stared at it.

  The surface beneath him felt sticky for some reason. He looked at his hands and found them stained with blood. It wasn’t just his hands. He was sitting in a pool of blood, and next to him lay William McAlester.

  “No, it’s not real. It’s not William,” Jason whispered, fearing what might happen next.

  William’s eyes snapped open. Lackluster bits of cold that had no emotion in them.

  “You shouldn’t have come,” he said, his brows locked together as he narrowed his eyes. “Emily doesn’t want to see you.”

  Jason sprang to his feet and stumbled down the path. Faster. No need to be cautious with the steps. Otherwise I may go insane. Go straight to the end. Never veer off the road.

  An icy gust knocked him off his feet, and he hit his head against the stones. This time they didn’t turn to ashes but were hard as rock. Something snaked across his torso, then coiled around his hands, shackling him to the ground.

  “Emily!” Jason yelled. “I’m not going to give up! Never! Can you hear me? Never!” His throat started aching, but he went on yelling.

  All of a sudden, he was free to move again.

  He took a breath and smelt something burning. To his right, two cars materialized, or what Jason would call metal shells of what used to be cars. Curious, he got to his feet and trudged through the snow towards them, swaying from time to time, his strides wide but slow.

  Black smoke whirled upwards as moans and pleas of help came from inside the cars. There was someone alive. He rushed forward, hoping he might save them. As he got closer, the pleas went silent. The people there were already dead. Emily’s mom and dad in the front, and her grandfather, Monsieur Bertrand, in the back seat.

  Tears welled up in Jason’s eyes. This was a tragedy Emily had to live with for years. She didn’t know how the accident had happened, but that was how she pictured it, rushing towards them, but never able to get there in time.

  Jason couldn’t stand and watch the three of them being consumed by the ravenous fire. It was time for him to get Emily out of here.

  He trudged to the circular hall of the citadel with his head bowed, trying not to pay attention to the next ordeal Emily had prepared for him: Pariah’s laughter. Debbie screaming for his help as she was being torn to pieces. Tyler hanging with a noose tight around his neck.

  As the heretic had told him, this world held Emily’s fears, but some of those were his own too, and it terrified him. His calves burned from the effort by the time he got to the citadel. Finally there, he stared at an impressive structure made of brick. Even though it probably had hundreds of rooms, a countless number of corridors, maybe even secret rooms, Jason knew where to go. On top of it there was a dome, lined with a row of arched windows.

  Jason walked in through the gates, wandered to the entrance into the building, and went inside; the only light was the one seeping through the windows. Amidst empty rooms, Jason spotted a stairwell to his right. Rushing up the spiral staircase, he found himself in front of a beautiful door framed by a stone arch and stud
ded with myriads of sapphires, moonstones, topaz, and ancient letters that burned in iridescent mauve and turquoise all over it.

  Beads of sweat trickled down Jason’s forehead as he grasped the door handle with his bloodstained fingers. His hand was shaking a bit, both from his fatigue and apprehension.

  There’s no turning back now, he thought.

  He gave the door a light push, and it creaked, inviting him into a vast circular hall lined with massive columns and a perfectly smooth marble floor. The ceiling was embellished with angels and demons waging a fierce war. An eerie light flooded the room, reflecting off the marble, enveloping a small figure wrapped up in rags that crouched in front of a tall, framed mirror.

  He took a step forward, eager to get closer to the person in the center of the chamber.

  Just in case, he entered the Sight, and the room flared crimson. Though it was the color of betrayal, Jason didn’t stop.

  He couldn’t see her face even in the Sight. The cloaked figure flinched, then raised its hand towards Jason.

  “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t have come. Go away before it’s too late,” she said, the voice raspy, threatening.

  Jason recognized that voice, though it wasn’t anything like the last time he had heard it.

  “I’m not leaving without you,” he replied, his eyes focused on the skeletal, crooked fingers. She didn’t lower her hand; it smoldered red as if warning Jason not to come closer.

  All of a sudden, the woman turned around, and Jason stiffened. Crimson eyes stared at him from under thick eyebrows, an evil grin distorting the woman’s face fringed with a mess of lifeless gray hair.

  “You leave or I’ll kill you,” she spat.

  “You won’t.” Jason didn’t budge.

  “It’s too late,” she said and lowered her hand. “Don’t you understand?”

  “No, it’s never too late.” Jason took another step closer.

  “Halt!” The woman’s cry reverberated off the floor, echoing in ripples around the hall. “If you want to take me away,” she whispered, her voice thick with sarcasm, “let me show you what I really am.”

  With her clawed, crooked fingers, she combed clumps of her lifeless hair back, then turned to the mirror.

  “That is me. Behold.”

  Jason riveted his gaze on the reflection. The woman he loved stared back at him, but there was little he could recognize of her. Sunken cheeks made her cheekbones unnaturally protruded, like it was a victim of a holocaust scrutinizing him with curiosity. Cadaverously pallid skin harmonized with the crooked line of cracked lips. Lips he’d once kissed.

  “No! You know it’s not you. I’ve seen your fears, your greatest fear, and you can’t blame yourself for it.”

  “You know nothing about me,” she snapped, menace seeping through her voice.

  “Then tell me.”

  She shook her head. “You’ll be disappointed.”

  “All I know is you don’t belong in here. What happened wasn’t your fault,” Jason hissed through clenched teeth and headed towards her with resolute steps. “I’m taking you out of here or die.”

  “Then you leave me no choice,” she snarled.

  The woman grasped the bulky frame of the mirror and thrust it at Jason. Its brim hit Jason in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. Shards ripped his flesh as he landed on the floor, the frame pinning his body to the ground. The room faded a bit, but he managed to stay conscious, his forehead stinging from sweat, a coppery taste spreading over his tongue. Jason checked his cheek and found it bleeding.

  The room went up in flames, and a crazed cackle reached Jason’s ears. He pushed the frame off of himself and darted towards the figure that still stood motionless in the center. Just as he was about to reach her, the old woman’s body flickered like a hologram, and disappeared. In her place Jason saw Emily. Emily the way she used to be.

  Something flashed in her hand. A shard of the broken mirror.

  “Emily, no!” he screamed.

  With a bitter grin, she brought it to her throat and the jagged edge sliced across her tender flesh.

  Jason snatched Emily’s hand ruthlessly and yanked it away from her throat, but blood gushed in persistent rivulets. She was faster.

  “Damn it!” He snatched the shard out of her fingers and tossed it aside. He clamped his hand over Emily’s throat, but the blood trickled through his fingers.

  “No, I won’t let you leave me,” he muttered feverishly, pressing down her throat with probably too much strength. “You’re not gonna get away from me. Ever. Do you hear me?”

  Emily writhed in his arms, gurgling sounds escaping her purplish lips. Jason’s hands glowed with warm silver. He hoped his Energy would help heal the cut. After a few seconds he let go of her throat to see if it worked. The slit healed a bit at both ends, but then ripped open again. I have to get her out of the room. Take her out of the circular hall. Quick! Scooping Emily in his hands, Jason trod heavily towards the door.

  Carefully, Jason laid Emily down, then lay beside her. Her dark brown hair clung to her shoulders, fringing her face like a lion’s mane, her rich amber eyes framed by long black lashes.

  He stroked her, smearing her skin with blood, then he cupped her face with both hands. There was only one thing to do to save her. Emily stared back at him, a spark of recognition gleaming in her eyes. Jason smiled widely, and Emily smiled back, her lips slightly curved upwards. Never give up, he told himself. He swore he’d try everything to get them both out of here.

  He leaned towards her and pressed his lips to hers. Emily put her cold, fragile hand to his cheek, encouraging him. Slowly both their auras welded, their threads coiling around one another, and then they became one. Jason gave away as much of his Energy as she needed, and it trickled into Emily’s veins. Their lips became more persistent as they got hungry for each other. Each moment he’d lived without her was void of any sense. He felt complete only when she was beside him. He pressed himself against her harder, giving to her all of the Energy he’d been keeping inside.

  When the last bit of Energy became part of her, she pushed him slightly back. He let go of her grudgingly, and she gasped.

  “Mmm, Jason, seems like you can’t get enough.” She smiled.

  “You have no idea.”

  They both laughed, taking deep breaths.

  “I missed you so much,” he breathed, tracing the tips of his fingers against her neck. The cut was gone, and the bleeding had stopped. Emily was still pale and weak, blood caked all over her face and neck, but she was alive.

  “I’m so sorry, Jason,” she whispered. “I should have told you everything. I should have been honest with you from the start.”

  “Shhh!” Jason pressed a finger against her lips. “Not now. You’ll tell me everything later. When you feel it’s the right time.

  “We’d better get out of here now. There are lots of people we have to save.”

  “It’s Pariah?” Emily asked. “He’s never going to stop.”

  “He’ll have to, now that we’re together. I’m sure he’ll be surprised to see you back. Can’t wait to see his face when that happens.”

  Emily didn’t respond. She just stared at him, her eyes filled with palpable apprehension.

  “You know that I’m not a Sighted anymore, don’t you?” she asked timidly.

  “I do,” Jason replied, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, “but that changes nothing for me.”

  Chapter 39

  Debbie hadn’t yet recovered from the shock after seeing so many people trampled and squashed to death when the Darksighted lunged to the bunkers. By that time, the whole city had been streaked with red threads. Flashes ripped the air, followed by a thunderous roar.

  About a dozen of the Dark Ones were plummeting towards their bunker like comets, tongues of blood-red flames in their wake.

  “Don’t let anyone through,” Kyle yelled to the Lightsighted nearby.

  The Dark Ones landed softly at a dis
tance from the bunker entrance, and Debbie recognized one of them.

  It was Tyler. His left cheek was badly mangled, as if some beast had slashed it with sharp claws. Blood stained his jaw and neck, but it didn’t seem to bother him. His eyes terrified Debbie the most: black, impenetrable pieces of coal boring into her. All this time she had hoped Matt’s memories were some sort of deception, his wild imagination. But they were not.

  She hadn’t expected to see Tyler so soon. As she laid her eyes on him, she realized that even though they belonged in two different worlds now, she was still in love with him.

  Slowly, she took a few paces towards Tyler.

  “No, Debbie, don’t go,” Tonia pleaded in a hushed tone. “You don’t know what they’re capable of.”

  Debbie raised her hand to show she knew it perfectly well. As she trod towards the shimmering auras ahead of her, she told herself she would never let anyone past to the bunker.

  Tyler moved towards her, one step after another. There was only a few yards’ distance between them, which for Debbie seemed like miles, yet even that seemed too close for her.

  “Stop or I’ll kill you!” she yelled. She didn’t know if she meant it, but the moment when Pariah announced Jason was dead replayed in her memory, and the bitterness inside made her gag.

  Tyler stumbled for a moment. “Debbie, it’s me,” he said softly and his aura rippled from dark red to a purplish glow. “I was trying to save Alexei, and then you ran out of shelter, and Pariah’s Energy, it paralyzed me. It made me do things I didn’t want to. But when I see your Light, I know I belong with you.”

  “Don’t listen to him, Debbie,” Tonia said. “He’s lying.”

  “Shut up, bitch!” Tyler hollered. “Or you might regret it.”

  “You’re not the Tyler I used to know,” she said, using his words, her voice shaking and filled with disappointment. “You’d better leave.”

  Tyler’s lips widened in a wicked grin. “I can’t. I’ve waited for this moment for a long, long time, and I’m not going back.”

  “What are you talking about?” Debbie asked.