Extinction

by West, Kyle

The Wanderer closed his eyes, as if preparing himself. I felt a sudden panic rise in my chest. It was all going to end, and I would not have anyone to guide me on my final mission.

  Before I could say anything more, the Wanderer’s body stiffened. His white eyes glowed brightly, his arms outstretched, and a deep, resounding call emanated from his lungs, like a low, musical note that should have been impossible for his human vocal cords to produce. It made the very building beneath me shake.

  Instantly, every dragon in the vicinity angled toward the tower. At first I counted ten, then twenty. As more materialized from the darkness, flapping their wings to fly toward the building, all the Blighters in the streets below quieted. A few gunshots sounded, but soon they, too, dimmed to nothing.

  And still, the call went out. The Wanderer did not pause for breath. The dragons bore down on us, their white eyes fiery with violence. More rose from the streets below until at least fifty dragons were headed our way.

  The forerunner of the dragons was only seconds away, coming at us full speed.

  The Wanderer’s call ceased. The dragons hovered in midair, waiting for...something. The Wanderer’s form was completely still, as if he had turned to stone.

  Then, in a multitude of screeches, the dragons turned away, diving once again for the Los Angeles streets.

  I watched over the edge of the building as they swooped between buildings. High-pitched shrieks sounded as the dragons began ripping into the Blighters that advanced past the long wall. Both Perseus and Orion moved among the dragons, not firing on them, recognizing that the Wanderer had done his work and that the dragons were now on our side – at least for the moment.

  The Wanderer fell to one knee. I grabbed him by the shoulders. His body was hunched and pained.

  “Wanderer,” I said. I felt weird calling him that; it seemed as if I should know his proper name by now. For all I knew, Wanderer was his proper name.

  He looked at me. His eyes were fading – their power had been drained.

  “It is done,” he managed. “You know what you must do. There is strength inside that you do not even know...your own hidden power.”

  He fell forward as I watched with horror. He didn’t move, and I couldn’t believe.

  “No...”

  As the dragons above the city continued to scream and attack Askala’s swarm, and as Perseus and Orion lent their aid from the air, I knew that the Wanderer was really gone. The entirety of his spirit had taken control of the dragons.

  I reached for my radio.

  “This is Alex,” I said. “It’s...done. The Wanderer’s dead.”

  It was a moment before Ashton answered.

  “Copy that. The dragons are turning on the horde right now. We’re coming to pick you up.”

  “Got that. I’ll...I’ll be here.”

  I stood there, the cold wind whipping at my face. I looked down at the Wanderer’s lifeless body. He stared upward, his eyes dark and no longer white. The only movement was the wind ruffling his worn, brown robe.

  I was so drained of emotion that it was hard to feel anything. I knelt beside the Wanderer’s body, touching his shoulder. I gave him a slight shake, in the vain hope that he might still be alive.

  But it wasn’t to be. It was then that the reality of the Wanderer’s death hit me in full force. My throat tightened as hopelessness welled up within. I hated this feeling; it reminded me too much of losing my father, losing Khloe. I didn’t know what I was going to do without the Wanderer. He was the only one who knew how to fight the war against the Radaskim.

  Now, there was only me, and I definitely wasn’t cut out for this.

  The Wanderer had told me that I was supposed to lead the Elekai, and that was too much for a sixteen-year-old kid who didn’t know what the hell he was doing. The Wanderer had the wisdom of the Elekai collected over eons, where I had only sixteen years, most of which was spent living a sheltered existence underground. If there was anyone who couldn’t do this, it was me.

  The last thing he said was to go back to the Elekai. That meant returning to the Xenolith. I didn’t know what was going to happen there, but I wasn’t really looking forward to it.

  I couldn’t be plain, boring Alex anymore. I thought of who the Wanderer was. He was a vast reservoir of knowledge with access to all the memories of an entire alien race. What would that do to me? Would I still be the same person?

  Landing lights flashed above, but I lay sprawled on the rooftop right next to the Wanderer. He had saved the city, but the price was now clear: it was all on me, now. If I couldn’t do it, then no one could.

  I probably looked as dead as the Wanderer by the time Perseus touched down. The building vibrated upon the ship’s landing. The engine gave out its deep hum, and the wind blew almost violently. The screams of dragons carried in the air.

  The ship’s drive idled. I waited a moment longer, not ready to get up and face reality.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Alex!”

  I turned and saw Anna’s face. I shielded my eyes because the landing lights were so bright and pointing right at me. She held me in her arms, pulling me into her embrace.

  “I thought you were dead,” she said.

  She pulled back, looking me in the eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  I couldn’t look at her. Not directly. “I don’t know what to do, with him gone...”

  Anna’s eyes went over to the Wanderer. By now, Makara, Samuel, and Julian stood nearby.

  “We need to return him to the Elekai,” I said. “As soon as possible.”

  “Alright,” Makara said. “I can let Augustus know. He can hold Carin in check until we get back.”

  “What about those dragons, though?” Julian asked. “What if they...turn?”

  Makara sighed. “I don’t know. But Alex is right. We need to get the Wanderer back home as soon as possible. Maybe...maybe he really isn’t dead. Maybe if that stuff could heal Anna, it can heal him as well.”

  I wasn’t holding out much hope for any miracle. The Wanderer had been pretty clear this was the end for him. Some things you just couldn’t come back from.

  “We need to get moving,” I said. “The Wanderer wanted to make me leader of the Elekai. I don’t know what’s involved in that...but it’s something we should do sooner rather than later. I need to get back to the Xenolith.”

  “Let’s get on board, then,” Samuel said.

  I stood. Everyone’s focus went to the Wanderer. His form was still. A truth came to me that must have haunted many people throughout the ages: no matter how much the world changed, death and its finality would not.

  Everyone helped me lift his body. It was light with all five of us bearing it. We walked to the ship, as if in a dream. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I still didn’t know how long I had left to be me, Alex Keener, or how long I had left to be alive.

  The clock was counting down on both.

  ***

  We stood in Perseus’s wardroom. The clinic’s bed had been placed in the center of the hold, and the Wanderer was laid on the bed. His eyes, now brown, stared at the ceiling, lifeless. His hood had fallen, and his long, gray hair spread out, some of it tumbling over the bedside. His weathered face spoke the story of a man who had seen much. His form was thin – very thin. If I hadn’t had known better, I would have said this man had died from his long years, not battle.

  Several of the hardened Raiders wiped tears from their eyes. Both Makara’s and Anna’s eyes were wet with the tears, and Samuel’s face was grave.

  It was up to me to say something about the Wanderer and his final moments.

  I cleared my throat, and everyone looked at me. There was nothing I could say to give justice to what he had done.

  “No one really knew who the Wanderer was,” I said. “I mean, before he became the Wanderer. We first met him in a cave, on our way to the Great Blight for the first time. This was about three months ago. There, he gave us prophecies of what was to come – things we were supposed to kee
p hidden until the end.”

  I paused a moment to collect my thoughts.

  “There were five of us, then. Lisa – who I’m sure you know – was the first to have hers fulfilled. The Wanderer told her that she would have to give it her all when she thought it was over. And she did. In Bunker One, she saved our lives, even when she was dying.

  “Samuel’s came next. We had just met with Emperor Augustus for the first time, and Samuel struggled over whether we should join up with him, or go our own way. He was reminded of what the Wanderer told him: that he had to stay true to himself if we were to succeed. Samuel decided not to join Augustus at that time, and it was that decision that led Makara to form the New Angels.”

  Makara looked at me, knowing her part came next.

  “With Samuel’s decision, Makara became leader of the New Angels. She knew what her first action would be, because of what the Wanderer had told her. She was to seek those who were lost, which meant finding the Exiles. This led to the formation of the New Angels. We were a fractured group, only held together because of a strong leader.”

  Here, everyone was nodding their agreement. Makara’s face turned slightly red; she didn’t really like to have attention like this, but I felt like I owed it to her for all she had done.

  “There are still two prophecies left,” I said. “And they will be fulfilled, in time. The Wanderer told me it all hinged on me. It was only later that I learned what my part was.

  “I guess what I’m trying to say is, that prophecy doesn’t apply just to me. We’ve all played a big part in this struggle to save our planet. We’ve saved each other’s lives, and every good deed has counted. I can’t count how many times I would have died, if it hadn’t been for Makara, Anna, Samuel, Julian, and countless others. We’re all in this together, and the Wanderer told me that we had to unite, if we were to survive.”

  Again, everyone nodded in agreement. Many looked at the Wanderer as they contemplated his words.

  “The Wanderer died to give us a chance to make it to the final battle. After much bloodshed, a lot of which was needless, we’re finally at a point where we’re all on the same page. The best way to honor the Wanderer is to stand together. I believe we are going to win this war. I can’t explain how I know that, but I do.”

  I went quiet, not really sure what else to say. After a moment, Makara nodded.

  “Thank you, Alex. In an hour or so, we’ll be touching down in the Great Blight. We’re going to bring the Wanderer to the Xenolith. And Alex is right – everything is coming to a head. Just be ready. In the next day or two, we’ll start planning the final attack.”

  When Makara was finished speaking, Ashton went back to the bridge. I looked at the Wanderer one last time before following Ashton.

  Chapter 20

  An hour later, we had landed at the Xenolith. It was three in the morning – after the constant activity of Bunker 84 and the battle of Los Angeles, we were, somehow, still going.

  When we disembarked, everyone came, including the Raiders. We walked across the fungus to the opening of the Xenolith. Makara, Samuel, Anna, and I all carried the Wanderer’s body. I realized, as we crossed the threshold and into the spiraling tunnel, that the four people carrying him were the four about which he had prophesied.

  We made our way down the glowing corridor, and it wasn’t long before we stood before the glittering pink ichor. As Ashton looked around, awestruck, I could tell he could probably live down here just to unlock the Elekai’s secrets. The ichor was empty of dragons – they had gone elsewhere.

  I had no idea what came next. For some reason, I thought I would know what to do as soon as we entered. But the place seemed empty, so all I had to go on was my own intuition.

  “Let’s set him by the shore,” I said.

  We advanced toward the edge of the lake, softly setting the Wanderer down, face-up, where the xenofungus sloped downward to meet the ichor. We backed away a few steps.

  “Do we just leave him here?” Makara asked.

  Her voice seemed to trigger a reaction from the lake. The surface near the Wanderer’s feet seemed to reach for him, stretching away from the rest of the ichor. It covered first his feet, and then the rest of this body.

  “Back,” Samuel said.

  As we stepped back, the ichor covered the entirety of the Wanderer’s form, pulling him into its main body. He still faced upward, just below the surface of the pink, translucent liquid. His long, gray hair fanned out, floating.

  And then...the Wanderer’s form faded. His image became less clear as the surrounding liquid clouded. Anna stepped forward, as if to do something about it. I held her back.

  “He’s returning to the Elekai,” I said. “I should have seen what he meant.”

  As the ichor continued to cloud, I explained.

  “The Wanderer wanted to return to the Elekai – to literally return to them. His memories will become part of the Elekai consciousness.”

  The nature of the pool became altogether clear to me. It was the wellspring from which all Elekai life sprung, whether it was xenofungus or xenodragon. Anything created by the Elekai had to come from here, just as anything that passed had to return.

  Over time, the liquid became less murky. The sediment had either drifted to the bottom of the pool or dispersed throughout. Over the next minute, the lake’s surface and depths gleamed once more, clear and smooth as glass.

  I realized what I had to do. I turned to face everyone.

  “I have to go in there,” I said. “Whatever the Wanderer wanted me to do...it starts in that lake.”

  “Alex...?” Anna said.

  I looked at her, taking her hands and looking her in the eyes. I didn’t know what was going to happen in there, and I didn’t know who I would be when I came out...Alex Keener, or the new Wanderer.

  “Be careful,” Anna said.

  “Whatever happens,” I said. “I love you.”

  I reached out and touched her face. Her eyes held back tears. I wished I didn’t have to do this, but the Wanderer had told me it was what I had to do. Still, it was hard to turn from Anna and walk forward.

  Everyone was quiet as my first boot was covered by the sticky ichor, then my second. I kept walking forward. Once the ichor was up to my shins, it seeped inside my boots. The warmth rushed around my socks, soaking through. Still, I strode forward, until the ichor was up to my torso, until I stood in the spot the Wanderer had been mere minutes before. It felt strange knowing that his body, his memories, were now part of the pool I stood in.

  I turned to see Anna, Samuel, Makara, and Julian standing on the shoreline, shoulder-to-shoulder. Ashton stood a few feet off, and the Raiders stared, probably unsure what to think. I turned back to the pool and swam out further.

  That was when the ichor pulled me under.

  Panic rose in my chest, and still, I was pushed to the very bottom by a current. The pressure increased, and the thick warmth of the ichor was suffocating.

  My panic subsided a bit when a familiar face appeared before me. The Wanderer stood on the lake bottom, as if he were standing in the free air and did not have thirty feet of liquid above him. I realized that this was a hallucination, from my lack of oxygen.

  Breathe.

  I had been holding my breath for well over a minute now. There was no way I was coming out of this pool unless I did as the Wanderer said.

  But I needed air to breathe, not this liquid substitute. My lungs burned with the need for oxygen – my only hope was that there was enough in the liquid to help me survive.

  So, I breathed.

  The liquid seemed to squeeze into my lungs. My body immediately rejected the liquid, forcing it back out. But it sucked it in again, greedily – only to force it out once more. My body was caught between the need to breathe and the panic of having something that wasn’t air in my lungs. Slowly, I became aware that my head had cleared, and the burning in my lungs had ebbed. My panic, slowly, settled into calm as my heart beat madly.

&nb
sp; I accepted, instinctually, that I would have to breathe this liquid, at least for a little while.

  I focused my attention before me. The Wanderer still stood just ten feet ahead, garbed in his usual brown robe. His white eyes shone brightly in the thick, warm liquid.

  I couldn’t speak, for obvious reasons. I breathed the liquid in and out, wondering whether the man who stood before me was flesh and bone, or merely a vision.

  Are you real?

  The thought crossed over through the liquid. The Wanderer stood, his form wavy.

  Yes.

  If he was alive, then it meant that he hadn’t really died. He could still lead the Elekai.

  Seeming to guess my thought, though, the Wanderer shook his head.

  My time to walk this world has passed. The sacrifice, once made, cannot be undone.

  How are you still here, then?

  I will always be here, the Wanderer thought. I am the Elekai, now. And I will always be with you, wherever you go.

  Do I have to lead, now?

  The Wanderer nodded. The prophecy has come to pass. This is your time to shape the fate of the world.

  It’s...too much.

  It always is, Alex. Even I didn’t know what I was doing.

  That’s...comforting.

  Isn’t it? The Wanderer’s thought entered my head, and the implication was that it should be comforting. It has always been a fool’s quest. But we should be glad that the battle in Los Angeles was won. Askala is thwarted for the meantime, but in the coming days, she will have another army ready. We must use the time given to us to prepare the final attack, before she strikes again.

  All I could think, as the Wanderer “spoke” to me, was why it had to be me, and why it couldn’t have been someone far more qualified.

  Why did you pick me? I asked. I’m not saying I won’t try. I just have to wonder. Was there something different about me that made you decide that I was the one to do it?

  There is one quality I have looked for in each Champion, the Wanderer said.

  I was about to ask him what that quality was, when he spoke again.

  You must think lightly of yourself, and deeply of the world.