Apocalyptic Fears II: Select Bestsellers: A Multi-Author Box Set

by Greg Dragon

  “I would imagine that some were very good, though, and that it would make you want to stay in the movie, away from your regular life,” Isobel said.

  “You’re always so smart, Izzy,” Alysia said. “Those people were called Fantoms, which was a nasty slur that I think meant fantasy phantoms. They would sit in these theaters for hours at a time, watching the same movie over and over. I had a friend who became obsessed like that; her parents put her into therapy.” She sighed. “It all seems so trivial now as I tell you about it. We had bigger issues coming our way and we were caught up in judging people for overindulging in what they loved.”

  “Movies sound absolutely wonderful,” Isobel said and then closed her eyes to sleep. “When we save your world and help Lord Chaos, CeeCee, we should go see a movie together.”

  Alysia smiled at the thought and then closed her eyes to see if she could force the sleep that was owed to her from days of combat and traveling.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  The next morning, the small group took to the road once more to reach the building that they had made into a home. Isobel seemed to be back to form, skipping along in front of them in her tattered white robes, her hair a black mess. James and Tracy were quiet, but they stayed close to one another and kept their heads low, biting their teeth against the chill wind that blew between the buildings, threatening to freeze them.

  When they were near their building, she touched Tracy’s arm and said, “Get him some rest and proper food.” She ran upstairs to find her friends, and when Jasmine saw her, she rushed to hug her, followed by Koko and Jaime.

  “If I knew that any of this would happen, CeeCee, I would have never volunteered to leave you behind,” Jaime said, looking her over to make sure she was okay.

  “We should have been there, sister,” Jasmine said, and Koko nodded and gave her another hug without letting her go.

  “You all are so kind,” Alysia said. She scanned the floor for anything amiss. “Anything happened while we were out?”

  “No, nothing at all,” Jaime said.

  “We’re going to need some time to heal and recover,” Alysia said. “My father especially, but all of us. No scavenging for a week, and no unnecessary trips outside. The demons were scouting for where we live, and we cannot let them find us while we’re taking a break.”

  They all nodded in agreement and Alysia went to the office to think. She closed the door and locked it, and then took a deep breath and sat down.

  A knock came at the door and she rose to answer it, and when she did Tracy came in and closed the door behind her.

  “Hey, you okay?” she asked. She stared at Alysia, who shrugged her shoulders sadly and then nodded her head.

  “I’m okay, Tracy. What’s going on?” Alysia asked.

  “Nothing much. Just checking on you since we haven’t had a chance to catch our breath, let alone chat. I saw you come in here and close the door, and I thought to myself, you know, no one has bothered to see if Alysia is all right. So … are you all right, CeeCee? Like, really? You don’t talk much anymore, and your dad is worried about you,” she said.

  “If Dad is so worried, how come he sent you to see about me?” she asked, pulling herself up on the desk and sitting so that her feet were dangling.

  “He didn’t send me; he’s giving you space. Actually, he begged me not to come in here because he says that when you’re angry you like to sort it out on your own,” she said.

  “Shows how much he knows about me. Heh, that makes me sad. He likes to sort things out on his own, and while he wishes that I were more of a chip off the old block, I’m not. I didn’t come in here to sulk or hit things or to ‘blow off steam.’ I came in here to think. Hard enough trying to do it when everyone is talking to you or asking questions, let alone Jaime’s childish games and suppositions or whatnot. So, I appreciate the gesture, Tracy, really, but I’m good. I just need some alone time to plot my next move.”

  Tracy furrowed her brows and nodded at her. But as she made to leave, she thought about what Alysia had said. “You know, ever since we met, you’ve always held your dad to a really high standard. Come to think of it, he was a pretty big deal and it made me envy you because daughters have that with their dads and I always struggled to have that… feeling. Now, I dunno, there’s something about the way you talk about him that hints at a change. You’re disappointed in him and it comes through in both your words and your actions.”

  “What do you mean, actions? I can be blunt with the things I say, but—”

  “No, blunt is me, Alysia. I do blunt. Hell, I mastered the art of pissing people off with being blunt. You were a sweetheart, a respectful, impressive young woman who was brave, tough, without it affecting her character. I don’t know what they did to you when they captured you but you came back different. It wasn’t just the cool hair, the red eyes, or the vampire teeth. It’s like…your attitude towards us.” She said all this with her hands moving frantically and for some reason it really annoyed Alysia.

  “Get out, Tracy, with your corny end-of-the-world love affair, and your stupid judgment of what the hell you think of me. I would love to see how you would end up if you knew half of what I knew, or if you’d been through half of what I’ve been through. How dare you,” Alysia growled. It took everything within her not to hop off the table and cut her in half with the Twilight Sword. She caught herself when she thought of this, and then touched her forehead, shocked by her thinking.

  “Look, I’m sorry. Don’t take any of that seriously. I just need some time, okay? And then I’ll talk to dad, have girl chat with you or whatever, and be a good human being,” Alysia said, not fully aware of the cynical tone she had taken with Tracy. The older redhead exited the room and Alysia took a deep breath and then threw everything off the desk in frustration.

  She laid on the empty surface of it and closed her eyes, praying to her mother to help her do a better job of dealing with everything. She cried and her thoughts turned to happier times. Not the family together, like her normal thoughts, but to her time in school. She had been so excited when Ellen Lok University had accepted her application. She was in a new world her first year, and new friends came easily, along with attention from boys.

  She drifted off into a deep sleep and woke up with the sun beaming down on her through the tall glass window. She hopped off the desk, stretched her aching limbs, and then covered her mouth as she yawned, trying to figure out what time it was. When she walked outside the room, the floor looked empty. Jasmine and Isobel were still asleep near the fire, but everyone else was gone.

  She saw a note tacked on the office door, so she pulled it down. Her heart skipped when she saw ‘for Alysia’ written at the top.

  The note read:

  To my light, my life, and the reason I kept on, CeeCee,

  I feel foolish for not coming to you in person to discuss this decision, but I couldn’t stand looking at your disappointment in me. You’ve been made to do things that no young woman should have to do, and you have stayed strong for all of us. It gives me a deep reverence, one that I cannot put into words, but if I had to sum it up, I guess you can call it pride. I am proud of you.

  This morning I made up my mind that I wanted to stop being a liability to you and your mission, and that I should get to some place where I can cheer you on from a distance. I’m old, baby girl, and I still hurt from when the demon in the woods tried to kill me. I guess it took me being foolish and trying to help you in this last fight for me to see just how worthless I am against the demons.

  Tracy and I are going to check up on the old bunkers to see if we can figure out what happened to our people there. We have plenty of ammunition, and the best protection in Jaime and Koko. They aim to walk us to the bunker in case we need the backup, but they should be back to you by the time you’re healed and ready to strike out again.

  It goes without saying that I will miss you, Alysia, but since I lack the capability to protect you the way a father should, I think that I o
ught to stay out of your way and let you save this world the way you were meant to.

  Come see me and Trace whenever you’re ready. Thanks for being patient with me. You will always be my cute, little warrior.

  Love, Dad

  Alysia took the note, walked back inside of the office, and wept. It was one thing to lose the people you love to the monsters that you fought, but she had managed to push her father away.

  She cried and cried until the tears would no longer come, and she fought with herself internally over whether to find them and bring them back, or keep focused on her mission.

  “You did it. You lost them,” she mumbled to herself, and then read the note one more time. She sat for an hour and then got up to retrieve the girls to see about chasing down her father to stop him.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  They whisked through the trees like squirrels, unobstructed by petty forces like gravity, danger, and reality. They were the Bloody Garot, and they were weapons of Chaos, stationed on earth to remove the demon threat that had come from the world of Yalem.

  They came to the open field that Alysia recognized from the night when she fought the first giant, and time seemed to stand still around her as she slowed down. Isobel smiled as she walked up and took her hand, and Jasmine looked frightened as she came up and took the other.

  “What’s going on, girls?” she asked them. But neither answered as they stood with her and it became increasingly difficult to move.

  Paralysis took over, the world became void of color, and a man walked out in front of them in a royal blue cloak that barely concealed armor that was silver and bright. He was tall and wide, with a bodybuilder’s frame and on his back was strapped a massive bastard sword. He removed his hood to show his slender, handsome face, and Alysia was shocked because she recognized him. He looked like the man that her mother had revealed as her biological father.

  She made to move and fell forward as the spell was broken. The world was still a grayscale replica of itself and Jasmine and Isobel were still statues, but she could move and so could the mysterious man with her father’s face.

  “What is this?” she asked, and the large man smiled. He was a lighter complexion than her father but still dark, and the shiny armor contrasted his skin and cloak with much effect.

  “This is a rare moment, Alysia. It will be our only time during this war, so let’s not waste it on speculation, anger, and suppositions.” His voice reminded her of Chaos and she began to wonder whether it was him, coming to play a trick on her in a different form.

  “Who are you? How are you able to stop time like this?” she asked.

  “I am the knight, Lancert. You probably know me as Lancert Bell … your father.” He paused to let his words sink in and Alysia flinched, knitting her eyebrows into hard lines.

  She shook her head in disbelief. “My, my freaking father is—is a demon, like them?” she asked him, looking as if she wanted to cry. “When is this going to stop? When is this slow process of turning my life into pain and loss going to stop? You aren’t my father; you can’t be. My—my father is on his way to the bunker. You’re just a guy in armor that I’m probably dreaming about.”

  “Alysia, I met and loved your mother forty-nine years ago when she stayed in a small apartment near the school she attended. She didn’t know what I was, and I was sent to her on a mission,” he said.

  She pulled the Twilight Sword and held it up towards him and shook her head defiantly at what she was hearing.

  “Alysia, you are mine. I lay with your mother to make sure that you would be in place to help the world when Chaos attacked. My daughter, we don’t have much time so please listen to me. You are of the blood, the blood of the Turevila, just like he is.”

  “What does that mean? That I’m some sort of demon spawn? Are you saying that I am like Chaos, that I belong to Yalem?” she asked, pushing back her feelings to entertain the man, just in case he let his guard down and gave her an opening.

  “Yes, my daughter, you are of Yalem. I was tasked in making sure that you were in place when—” Alysia saw an opening when the man looked down to gather his thoughts. She swung the blade at his exposed neck, but he threw up a forearm to block the swing and his silver armor deflected it, causing her to stumble.

  He pulled out the bastard sword that was on his back and then squared off against her within the grey, grassy field. “You are more like Chaos now that he has tainted you,” he spat at her. She ignored his words as she circled with him, ready for anything that would come.

  He swung the sword several times; he was so fast that it defied his size and weight, but Alysia was quick and avoided its swing as she darted this way and that, trying to cut him down.

  “He made you commit murder, tainted your soul, and then gave you a cursed sword as a reward,” he preached as he spun and connected with her guard, causing her to slide across the grass and roll head over heels from the strength of his swing. “Like him, you think that strength is the answer towards attaining peace. You attack what you don’t understand, and use tricks to win at your fights.”

  Alysia ran towards the trees where she hoped he would lose her. Then, when he put his sword down, she dashed back at him using the demonic speed gifted to her from Chaos. She moved so fast that she didn’t know whether her blade had cut through him, but when she stopped on the far side from where she had cut across him, she noticed that he led the bastard sword up from where he had countered.

  “Tricks, all tricks. Oh daughter, oh savior of the world of man, you are better than him, yet you let him manipulate you with lies and deceit,” he said as he lowered his sword. He shook his head as if disappointed. “Alysia Bell, you’re on a foolish mission to prove to the Chaos demon that you are worthy of being the captain of his army. I cannot allow this, since you will most likely succeed, and the second of the Greater V’Kosha’s has revealed himself to me,” he said, his deep voice sounding like thunder.

  She ran at him stubbornly with the Twilight Sword behind her, but the large man parried, and spun her one way, then another. He then used the hilt of the massive bastard sword and smashed it into her wrists, forcing her to drop the Twilight Sword.

  “Separate yourself from that accursed tool of Chaos, girl. It is through it that he sees you, and controls your every move. He will sweep away the love that has made you into the woman that you are, and he’ll take away your family, your friends, and your humanity. As a part of us it will be easy to turn you dark, and by the time you remove the last of the great generals, you will be his, just like Dibolosa!”

  He swung and slammed his sword into the Twilight Sword and it shattered like glass. Alysia felt her body weaken, as if a part of her had been removed. She screamed and scrambled for the blade. She was sure that all hope was lost now that he had taken the weapon needed to free the earth.

  “BASTARD!” she screamed and scrambled for the pieces, but the warrior merely sheathed his sword and paced the field as if he was thinking of what to say.

  “Alysia, my child. I haven’t been there, and I wasn’t there for your poor mother or the struggles you faced in this harsh human world. It was forbidden. Our war has rules, but you must believe me that I have watched you with love for all of your years, and this is why I’ve come.” He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, then unlatched the sword and set it on the ground. “The Twilight Sword, accompanied with lies, is the reason why Chaos’s army is unstoppable.”

  Alysia looked at him. She got to her feet and walked over to where he knelt and picked up the sword. She was surprised at how light it was to the touch, and as she held it, a euphoric feeling came over her. Something about it felt right, and she gripped it with both hands and closed her eyes. It shuddered and popped audibly as spikes ejected from its hilt, into Alysia’s hands.

  She screamed loudly as it mixed with her blood and when she was so out of energy that she couldn’t stand, she fell to the ground and passed out. When she awoke, the sword was a replica of the Twilight Sword but
instead of the image of her mother reaching down, it now bore a symbol of a knight handing a sword to a kneeling woman. She looked over at the man who claimed to be her father, and he looked weak, as if he was dying.

  “I have to go, Alysia. It is unnatural for me to be here. I just needed you to know the truth of your role, and to give you a weapon that Chaos cannot corrupt,” he said.

  “What is my role? Who is Chaos, really?” she asked, and he looked around as if he was trying to determine how much time he really had.

  “Chaos is a warmonger, a world conqueror, and a tyrant. He has invaded many realms throughout the centuries in order to grow an army strong enough to take over the world of Yalem,” he replied.

  “But how, if he’s having me kill them? How is he growing an army when he’s influencing us to help him kill all of them?” Alysia asked.

  “Chaos plays the long game; an immortal has no use for time. He sends in savages to ruin the lands. This is the first step towards finding the ones that are strong enough to resist when their worlds fall to ruin. He then indoctrinates them, gives them lies about a greater good, and then he uses the warriors of that very world to join his Bloody Garot, his usurper corps,” the big man said as he stood up and gestured with his hands. “I have to go,” he said finally, and the world began to become colorized once again.

  “Lancert! One more question,” Alysia said as the silver knight began to fade with the change. “What am I supposed to do ... about Chaos Lord?”

  “Follow your heart, my beloved daughter. Follow it and save your world. He has already taken thirty years from you. Do not let him take any—” and he was gone before he could finish.

  Isobel and Jasmine looked at Alysia and nodded. They seemed unaware of what had transpired and were eager to pick up the pace to find her father.