The Veil

by Stuart Meczes

  Just like the one the Darkness told me I would create.

  I noticed Gabriella in the distance, walking like a spectre over the remains of the town. I cupped my hands over my mouth and screamed her name. She stopped for a moment and glanced over her shoulder at me, before continuing to walk away.

  Why won’t she stop? What is she doing?

  I half-slid down the slick mountain of bricks, glass, wood and stone, trying my hardest to catch up with her. As I moved, the eerie melody grew louder, as if she were leading me closer to the source. I followed Gabriella through narrow paths that ran between demolished buildings. I chased her through the sagging maws of hollowed out houses and along the banks of the Monnow River, which now acted as a basin to collect the sinister rain. But no matter how fast I moved, and what route I took, Gabriella always seemed to get blocked from view for a moment and vanish, only to reappear further away.

  The celestial music continued to escalate as I chased after Gabriella until I could feel it reverberating through my skull, tickling my brain and making my eyes water. Eventually I followed my soulmate to a ravine hollowed out in the ruins. A long bridge that definitely hadn’t been in the real Chapter Hill stretched across the deep expanse towards a house that was well out of place for three reasons.

  First, it was the only building still perfectly in tact.

  Second, it was situated right at the far end of the bridge, leaving no space either side to get around.

  Third, it was my house.

  I watched as Gabriella moved towards it, silent among the blood that drummed down onto the cracked cement of the old bridge, and the eerie melody that seemed now to be emanating from within my house. The sound was becoming so intense; it felt almost like a force field, pushing me away. Gabriella moved towards the front door and reached out with her hand, pausing for a moment. At the same time, lightning smashed down either side of the bridge, blinding me as it carried the words that ripped at my brain.

  I understand.

  “Agggh!”

  I hunched over myself, clawing at my temples as the awful sensation buzzed though my head. When it finally subsided and I could lift my head, I saw that Gabriella had disappeared through the now open door. Pouring out from inside was a red light so powerful it bathed nearly all of the surrounding area with its glow. I could feel something authoritative from within beckoning me, drawing me towards the opening, whilst at the same time a contrasting force tried to push me away.

  I stepped out onto the bridge and started to walk, my hand coiled around Crimson and ready to strike. As I reached halfway there was a deep tearing sound behind me, followed by a series of rumbles. I whirled around to a sight that made my jaw drop.

  The entire town was rising upwards. Tower blocks, houses, trees, cars, vans, rusting park benches and swings, and even the ground itself was ripped up, forming a cluster of swirling tornados that snaked up towards the dark clouds. As soon as they hit the skyline, they disappeared into some kind of hidden vortex beyond, leaving nothing behind, except darkness…an absence of matter.

  The bridge started to tremble and the section behind me broke apart and rose up into the air. I sprinted as fast as I could away from the disintegrating town, trying to ignore the intense tickling in my brain from the melody, still fighting against the force that didn’t want me to go towards the house. I reached the door and burst through, shielding my eyes against the brilliant glow.

  When I lowered my arm away from my face, I was stunned into complete silence.

  Instead of my house, I was standing at the top of a mountain of rubble. More mountains formed a perfect circle around me, and surrounding everything was a shimmering ring of Veil that rose right up into the heavens. Except unlike the regular Veil, this veil was the colour of fresh blood.

  This is the Veil I went through in the Reaper Archives.

  At the base of the rubble mountains was a vast basin, itself forming a flawless circle. A weird, twisted shape that resembled a cross between a tree and an open shell stood in the centre, and surrounding it – armed with Crimson and the Blood Brothers – were thousands of doppelgängers of Gabriella and me. They stood silent and still, like sentinels waiting for the signal to attack.

  This is something to do with what I saw when I went to the Reaper Archives, I know it. But what does it mean?

  I saw movement from within the ringed army of effigies, and watched as the Gabriella I had been following emerged and walked towards the base of the chaotic mountain I stood on. She smiled and stretched out a hand to me.

  The pull of her was so strong – the connection our twin souls shared too powerful to ignore, so there was no option but to climb down the mountain and go to her. The closer I got, the louder and more intrusive the melody became, until it felt like it was being injected right into my brain. I winced, squinting my eyes as I jumped, slid and stumbled my way down the last of the immense mountain towards Gabriella.

  When I reached the base, I extended my own hand and our fingers connected. An almost instant sense of combined power rushed through me – the strength of our two souls made double.

  Gabriella was the force that was drawing me to this place.

  Holding my hand, she guided me through the ranks of us, and they seemed to part without actually moving, as if space itself bent to allow us passage. We drew closer to the huge object in the centre, the thing that all of the versions of us had come to protect…or attack… I didn’t know which. We slipped through what felt like an endless wave of ourselves until finally we broke through to the front.

  Lying on the floor in front of the tall, pulsing object was a heap of black robes and a mask. Gabriella pointed down to the mask. I bent down and retrieved it, feeling its weight in my hand and seeing the ornate engravings that were etched into the metal. It was the same mask as the ones I had seen on the dead bodies in the archives.

  It belonged to a Reaper.

  For a split second as I stared at the mask, it changed form, becoming as dark as iron, and as hot as hell. I cried out and dropped it onto the ground, where it dissolved into nothing.

  A silent force urged me to move forward towards the weird structure, which was somehow both dead and alive at the same time, its shell hard and old, but its fleshy innards pulsing and beating. The melody became so loud it seemed to pierce the sky itself – although now, with Gabriella at my side, I felt somehow immune to it. I understood that it was the strange thing in front of me that was creating the powerful music. I had no idea what it was, but I knew it held unimaginable power.

  Gabriella raised our connected hands, hers now clasped around the back of mine. She nudged mine forward, until my palm was hovering inches from the surface of the otherworldly structure. Her lips parted into an encouraging smile and she gave a gentle nod.

  Together we placed our hands against it.

  A torrent of images screamed through my brain. A flurry of gigantic wings surrounded by a storm of ice and fire, water and disease, which spewed forth from the maws of darkness. The face of a Reaper flickering and being replaced with the face of something far more sinister. The screams of death and the innocent cries of rebirth, blending with the rumbling roars of something ancient and omnipotent. And at the centre of it all, Gabriella and I. The words came from everywhere and nowhere all at once, hitting me with the strength of a bomb.

  The cycle repeats.

  *

  “I understand!” I gasped as I shot upright.

  I leaned forward, my breath escaping my lungs in ragged bursts. Sweat clung to my skin, the bed sheets bunched up in my clenched fists, and tangled around my legs like rope. Don’t forget, don’t forget, I repeated over and over in my mind, and for once I didn’t. I remembered the fallout of Chapter Hill at some distant point in the future, existing on a barren version of Earth, which was so poisoned by the disease of war that not even nature had been able to reclaim the world for itself. I remembered the strange object that had appeared to be some type of nest…or egg. Somehow alive but d
ead at the same time, releasing its eerie melody and bizarre sensory images, and surrounded by an identical army that wore our faces. The problem was that even though I kept hearing the words ‘I understand,’ I honestly didn’t know what any of it meant. What I did know when I pictured my soulmate’s face, turning towards me and holding out her hand for me to take, was how it felt.

  Like the end.

  I let my thoughts drift back to the present and it took me a while to work out where I was. I’m in my bunk on I’orin. I was resting after the Hydra battle…I must have fallen asleep. Then I felt the sadness when I remembered why I was on I’orin – that it was no longer just my father who had been stolen from my life, but now my soulmate and two of my friends. I let the bed sheets drop from my cramped hands and picked up my Biomote from the side table. I scrolled through the options until I reached the vocal-link screen and pressed on Gabriella’s Biomote. The two devices connected, but all I heard was the lonely sound of static feedback.

  I stared at the screen for a moment more, blinking back tears. Then I let the hand holding the Biomote fall into my lap. Rubbing both eyes with the back of my hand, I took a deep breath and then lifted the unit back up. I scrolled through the other links until I found Scarlett’s device and connected. A similar sound of static rolled out through the speaker and my stomach knotted in fear. Then I heard Scarlett’s husky Irish voice replace the buzzing.

  “I’m here Alex, go ahead.”

  I gave a relieved sigh. “Hi, Scarlett, good to hear your voice. I just wanted to know how you’re getting on your end.”

  There was a pause. “Not going to lie, it hasn’t been easy. We ran into a lot of trouble in the Darklands, but we managed to make it onto Death’s Backbone in the end. We lost four on the way though.”

  The knot in my stomach twisted again. “Any of ours?”

  “No. Vengeful.”

  “I’m really sorry to hear that.”

  “Thanks. Two of their deaths could have been avoided …but there’s no point going into it now. How are you?”

  “Not so good either. We ran into a Hydra Queen.”

  “Did you just say a Hydra? As in the mythological beast with nine heads?”

  I gave a humourless chuckle. “That’s the one. Just our luck, right?”

  “Jesus, Alex. I don’t know how to respond…. I didn’t even know they existed. Please tell me everyone is okay.”

  “All of our guys are. A bit banged up but otherwise okay. But we lost over half the Lightwardens and the Vengeful. Captain Garrett is understandably upset.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “But that’s not the only thing. We got a visit from Cetus.”

  “The god Cetus? What did it want?”

  I was about to tell her exactly what had happened, but something stopped me. One of us could still be an imposter. For now I need to keep this to myself. “I wish I knew,’ I said. “It chased off the Hydra, but just when I was about to kill the thing, so I don’t know if it was helping us, or the Hydra. It was all pretty weird.”

  “I thought when you met Lafelei, it told you that the Elementals weren’t going to interfere with events. It said that they wanted to stay impartial.”

  “That’s what it said. I don’t know, maybe that wasn’t a unanimous decision. All I know is that Cetus turned up and scared the Hydra away. Oh, and all of the Luminar stopped fighting so that they could pray to it. Definitely one of those what the hell moments.”

  There was some rustling and then Mikey’s voice came pouring through the receiver, which made me smile all over again. “You took on a Hydra? As in like those ten headed things from mythology?”

  “Nine heads,” corrected Scarlett.

  “Who cares how many heads it has. You took on a Hydra?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Bro, that is sick!

  My smile faded. “Well yeah except for the fact that it killed a lot of the crew.”

  “Oh right. Sorry Alex, that was a dick comment.”

  “No, it’s fine. I’m just glad to hear your voice. Are you okay?

  “Yours too, bro. I’m okay. Things got a little bit crazy over here. One of the Lightwardens is a proper dickhead. Oh and I got my hand burned a bit but–”

  “A bit?”

  “More than a bit actually,” Scarlett added. “But don’t worry Alex, he’s okay now.”

  “Tell me what happened.”

  “A Bloodseeker was on fire and lunged at me. Mikey stopped it, but hurt himself in the process.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. I absolutely hate this.

  “Bro, honestly I’m fine. I can look after myself,” Mikey assured me.

  I nodded even though I knew neither of them could see me. “I know you can, Mikey.”

  “Then stop kicking off,” he said in a jokey tone.

  I gave a chuckle that was half sob. “Sorry.”

  “Listen Alex, we’d better go,” said Scarlett. “It’s been a long first day and we need to rest so we can plan the next part of the journey with fresh heads.”

  “Of course, us too. It was good talking to you both. Say hi to the others for me, and please…stay safe.”

  “Same goes to you and the team. And listen, we always knew this was going to be dangerous, but we’re Guardians. Our whole life revolves around danger. We are going to do this, Alex. We’re going to get them back, and then wipe that bastard Hades and his little minions from Pandemonia.”

  Her words breathed resolve back into my exhausted body. “Yes we are.”

  “Good. Speak soon,” said Scarlett.

  “Bye, bro,” added Mikey.

  “Bye.”

  The Biomote crackled and then fell silent. I stayed still for a moment, staring at an invisible spot on the wall and trying to rouse myself.

  How long have I been out?

  The Fenodaraian technicians had updated our Biomotes with software that converted Pandemonian time to ours, so we could keep track of how long we had been traveling for. I flicked to the time conversion screen and checked. Six am.. Just over two hours and I’m almost back to normal energy. Not a bad recovery time. It’s getting faster.

  At my request the techs had also included a descending timer onto our Biomotes, which showed how long we had left until Lilith carried out her sickening promise. I changed options and stared at the screen. The numbers ticked away as if it was a countdown to the end of the world. Which it might as well be.

  6d: 05h: 26m: 31s

  I kept looking at the time; each second that dropped away felt like a punch to the gut.

  26s

  25s

  24s

  Don’t do this to yourself. We’re making good time.

  I took a deep breath and then set the Biomote down on the side-table. All I wanted to do was to lie down and go back to sleep, to rest up until my supernatural batteries had been recharged all the way back to a hundred percent, but I’orin was still reeling from a vicious battle, and there was no doubt that it would need repairing. So I stretched, popping the joints in my arms and back and then climbed out of the bunk, my damp t-shirt clinging to my skin with the sweat of my dream. Or vision…. I still don’t know what that actually was.

  I slid the wall panel back, revealing the fitted wardrobe and pulled out a towel, wrapping it around my waist. Padding out of the room, I walked down a network of corridors, passing bloodied and battle-worn Lightwardens heading in the opposite direction – who gave weary nods – and found the bathrooms. The communal Luminar showers were almost identical to communal human showers – a large tiled wet room with a central drain, surrounded by a series of protruding plates that released water, piped off to panels that required a palm touch to activate, and dials to change the temperature.

  I stripped off the towel and hung it on a run of hooks near the entrance, walking to the nearest showerhead with the anticipation of a hot shower. I pressed my bloodstained hand against the panel, leaving a smeared imprint of Hydra blood on
the smooth surface and waited as the water poured down from above. I leaned forward and pressed my head against the cool tiles, my muscles throbbing from the fallout of the battle. It felt good just do something normal and mundane for a change, something that any seventeen-year-old could be doing. A seventeen-year-old who isn’t part of a once secret organisation designed to save the world from supernatural threats. One who didn’t have go through a portal to another world – a place so dangerous that many of its own inhabitants had performed a mass exodus to escape – in order to find his missing father. A seventeen-year-old who didn’t exploit his friends’ loyalty at the request of his leader and bring them to a world no one wanted to go to, which had now resulted in three of them being taken.

  I stared down at the tiles beneath my bare feet, watching as the blood and grime slipped from my body and mixed together, pouring away towards the drain in the centre. I ran my palms through my tangled hair, which smelled of gunpowder and putrid seawater.

  A normal seventeen-year-old who isn’t probably going to die trying to save them.

  When I returned to my cabin, I drained a bottle of water from the drinks cabinet and chewed my way through several slices of some dried meat I’d been given for my supplies. Once I was satiated, I changed into my uniform, which I’d peeled off and strewn over the floor in my exhaustion before falling into bed. I scooped the Biomote off the table and tucked it into the pocket of my jacket – which was still covered with the dried gore of the battle. Kind of defeats the purpose of a shower…still it gave me the extra energy I would have gained sleeping. When I was ready, I tracked my way back through the belly of I’orin and up the stairs that lead outside. When I emerged on the other side of the door, I saw that the sky above was dishwater grey and a drizzle of light rain was pattering down onto the deck.

  The clean-up operation was in full swing. Several Vengeful had activated large, snake-like hoses connected to sleek generators, and were vacuuming up the water the Hydra had spewed at us, before dumping it over the side of the ship – creating a hell of a racket in the process. A collection of Lightwardens were pushing mops across the areas the Vengeful cleared, clearing away the streaks of blue Luminar blood and shards of stone that the dead Hydra Spawn had become. Others were heaving upturned containers back the right way up, and checking over the contents inside.