Downfall And Rise

by Nathan Thompson

  Especially now, when he's probably figured out what really happened with his dad.

  “I'm done!” she said brightly, looking like a cat that had gotten the last of the cream.

  She kept swaying as she walked past me, flashing me a wink before she walked out of the door. I watched her go and shook my head in disgust.

  “Don't even think about it,” Dad growled. He must have misread my gesture. “She would tear you apart before you ever got to into her bed.”

  “No kidding,” I said with a snort. “You didn't think I was...”

  “I think you need to remember what I've taught you about sex,” he interrupted. “Say it for me.”

  I sighed.

  “Everything is about sex,” I began the quote he had stolen from someone else. “Except sex. Sex is about power. Which means everything is really about power.”

  “And if your time with a woman doesn't get you more power, especially over her,” My father continued. “What you had wasn't sex. Just assisted masturbation. You were half-assed with your first girlfriend, and let this little shit,” My father pointed over to our special friend. “Stop you, even though you had back-up and no one else there would have said anything. Then you were half-assed again with his little blonde friend, and let her stop you by herself, even let her leave the party when she was supposed to need you to get home. You let the family down on both occasions, Chris. And Dalfrey would use it to have you wrapped around her fingers. And then she'd try to use you against me which would mean I'd have to act against both of you. For good.”

  I turned to look at him incredulously. Explicit death threats from Dad were rare.

  “Yes, for good, Chris,” my father said levelly. “Now that things are changing, I want to make one thing entirely clear to you, son. You are no longer needed to continue on my legacy. Disobedient children are useless to the immortal. So be useful to me, Chris. Don't make me waste eighteen years of investment. Because that's all I'd waste. Stay away from Dalfrey. That's an order.”

  “Yes sir,” I said calmly, doing my best to submit without appearing too weak. Because it was Dad's bluntness that had been surprising, not his attitude.

  I had always known I was expendable.

  In fact, deep down, I was grateful.

  Every comment that made me look like the lesser of two evils to Wes right now helped my goals.

  The only goals I could have, now.

  “Now, speaking of this little shit,” my father growled, as he stepped forward. “Before he dies, I want to know one thing.” He walked right next to Wes. “How does it feel,” he asked softly. “To have all your magical fairy-tale worlds taken from you, someone they were supposedly made for, and see them put to better use by real men. By people who actually don't want to save somebody else's world, and then go back home with nothing gained. By people who don't want to apologize all the time for being strong, who won't help others for free, who aren't satisfied with the two-bit gratitude the maidens around here normally offer to the virgin boys that save them. How does it feel?” My father asked, sending a kick into Wes' side. As if Wes wasn't completely immune to being kicked at this point. “How does it feel to know that even your freaky half-couger, half-loli, nerd girlfriend is spoken for at this point, that the monster you failed to kill gets to keep her after all? Tell me, cripple-head! Tell me what happened when you gave up guaranteed survival just to try and be like your dad!” Flecks of spittle flew out of my father's mouth as he kicked my classmate again.

  I had been ignoring my father's instinctive display of dominance, watching my enemy's eyes instead. At the mention of his 'girlfriend,' they flashed briefly, almost too briefly to notice. His next gasp had a growl hidden in it.

  My dad was closer. He should have noticed. But he was too busy celebrating his victory over his real enemy.

  “Are you watching, John Malcolm?” My father roared, sending another heavy kick into Wes. “Are you watching down there in Hell? You staked everything on your little retard, your cripple-headed manling, and he still failed! Just!” Kick. “Like!” Kick.”You!”

  A final kick slammed into Wes' ribs, hard enough to actually lift him into the air. Then he took a deep breathe, and calmed himself down. “Alright, that's done,” he said, straightening his business suit. “I feel pretty good. This was an even better idea than I thought. Wes,” Dad said as he turned. “When you get to hell, do me a favor and ask your dad if he was watching me. Repeat my questions for him if he wasn't.”

  Without a word to me, my father turned and walked out the door. He didn't need to say anything. I knew he'd be expecting me in the portal room when I was done. That was good news. It meant I had even more time to myself. Maybe after I finished with Wes I could work on that new alloy I was designing. Just to calm myself down, since it was basically finished. How finished was a question that would be answered when I finally showed another person what it could do.

  I watched some dozen or so people come by to taunt Wes with their goodbyes. Barnes. The medical team in charge of the device in his head, and a few more locals that had made the cut, ones that Wes had grown up with his whole life.

  I sighed.

  This was the reason I hated watching conspiracy movies now. They sounded too much like work.

  I waited until the last idiot left, then I closed the door, locked it, and counted to two hundred. I heard no more footsteps. Then I walked close to Wes and knelt down next to his head. I kept a sneer on my face as I whispered. And don't give me that look. Of course I whispered to him. I'm not an idiot. I was taking a risk talking to him at all. I had to, though. I could read the signs, see just how immortality was changing Dad's long-term plans. Especially those regarding me. I had to bank on the fact that everyone would stay stupid just a little longer, because as soon as Dad felt fully comfortable here I was going to be disposed of as well.

  “Alright, cock-blocker,” I said quietly. “I should be the last one for today. Unless someone lied. Then we're both screwed.”

  No response except for the disguised, steady breathing.

  “I'm not going to convince you this isn't a trick. I'm gonna figure honesty stopped working after the first dozen murders. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to call them favors, and if you disagree that's okay. Most of what I want is already in your best interest and won't change any of your plans. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to start by saying I am your last visit for today. Tomorrow morning is when they're coming to incinerate you,” I had caught that little bit of information from Wes' fifth guest. “I don't know if they're go to burn you alive or terminate you in here first. Probably the second one, given how you thrashed around the last time they burned you to death. There will be only one executioner. The rest of the people here, about a dozen people total, will be spending time with the other native prisoners. And managing the 'indentureds.'”

  I caught a flash of curiosity from one of his eyes.

  “I'll get to them in a second,” I replied. “In fact, I'm going to save them for last because if I don't you might kill me first. And yes,” I added. “I am the only one here who figured out you're still faking. Everyone else has bought the act, and figured they've beaten you. I don't know how you're still able to fake being broken, instead of actually breaking. If I had known that, things would have been different all these years.” I took a breath. “And I don't know how much you're holding back. But I hate you, Wes,” I couldn't help spitting. Not on him, I wasn't stupid. “I hate how much Dad obsessed over your father, and wanted me to break you, his son, so badly that was my main job all these years. I hate how you both made me do it until I was sick and tired of it, but still wasn't allowed to stop. And because I hate you, I know you better than all of the other idiots, including my Dad. Dad hated your dad, so he just hated you by proxy. Dalfrey hated her job, hated how boring you were, and how you made her move down here from New York, but that was it. You've taken years away from me, Wes. Years that I could have spent doing what I really wanted
, figuring out all the things I wanted. See how far I could really go in science. Focus on taking the football team to the next level. Figuring out a modeling career. Getting far enough away from Dad to where I could find a consenting girl to explore something with. But all of that came second to breaking you. And if you had just backed down once, not gotten in my way one single time, Dad would have counted it as my win, and we both could have moved on. He wouldn't have made me escalate and escalate and...” I took a breath. Wes hadn't interrupted me. He had just laid there, staring at me, maintaining his pattern of heavy breathing and fake gasps.

  Just exactly what he needed to do to make me look like a little bitch.

  “But forget that,” I hissed, trying to whisper again. “My point is, I hate you for you, so I know you. You're not going to back down a single time. Not just because we took your Dad and your future and whatever else we could think of away. You're not going to give up even just one time, no matter how much easier it makes everybody else's life. Including your own. Why, I don't know. There's something wrong with you. That's why even here, even after all of those deaths and torture, every time they tried to torture someone in front of you, you got up and resisted. Even though it didn't make a difference. Even though all you did was get yourself killed faster every single time. I don't know what you were trying to accomplish, if a quicker death wasn't it. And if everyone wasn't so excited about the fact that they can come here and be strong and fast and throw fireballs or whatever, they probably would have noticed too. Or maybe not. Maybe Dad just hired a bunch of idiots again- fuck, I'm rambling again. Anyway Wes, back to the subject. Fuck you, and here's my help.”

  I took another breath.

  “I told you who's coming next. You've got six, maybe twelve, hours to prepare anyway you can. And remember: whoever is coming is going to kill you for good. They've done their version of at least one Rise, and no we don't really have a better name for it yet. I think they're gonna go with 'Descent'. Even though it sounds stupid. Anyway, Wes, they can kill you for good, and if you can you should try and kill them. Even though you didn't kill anyone in the fight earlier, and even with my Dad you still made a half-assed attempt. But unlike you, Wes, they won't stay dead. They'll just go back to Earth. They'll be gone for as short as a day and as long as a month. Unless you take down our portal network. You'll find that if you head left from this door and turn right at the fifth hallway. I have no idea how to destroy it but using it almost killed you and probably will the next time. Whoever you pissed off is hiding, Wes. I don't know what you did but every monster we work with here has this massive hate-boner for you. Go figure. But anyway, we can only come back through the portal, so if you destroy our gate that will set us back until we can build another one. And building those things cost a lot of money and even more time.”

  “About what you're fighting:” I continued. He was tracking me. I could tell because his breathing was quieter and because his eyes were watching me now and not just staring straight ahead. He still hadn't said anything yet. “Dad's one of the key people in charge of the organization dedicated to some kind of dragon or demon-thing. I'm still not clear about it because I haven't impressed anyone enough to be initiated into their special mysteries. That was why Dad and the others could use magic on you. It's about the only magic on Earth and even that was barely stronger than the magic we saw you using on Avalon. Anyway, this organization is just the sort of thing they'd use in those crappy movies. Actually, I think they've been hiding behind those crappy movies so that no one would believe they actually existed. They're not completely all powerful, but they have contacts just about everywhere, and they can call on anyone ranging from the Mafia to the Illuminati to most of Congress. They're the scariest thing you can make an enemy of and that's exactly what your family has been doing for generations. I don't fully understand it. But a long, long time ago, your family was given something by the thing that powers all of our magic, and it gets passed down to every firstborn male. I don't know why it's only males and why it's only the firstborn. But your family did something to make everyone mad and as far as our monster is concerned you've never really lived up to your potential. Maybe that's why they call you traitor-prince.”

  “And because what you received is so important, one of the higher-ups in our organization has to keep an eye on you at all times. And even though they hate you no one's allowed to take your life, especially not before the next firstborn male is born. This is all true even though they don't even want your power to activate, because it would upend everyone's influence and plans. That's how special your gift or whatever is, at least according to their secret devil, dragon-thing.”

  “Dad was chosen to be the higher-up to watch your family, and he's hated it ever since. But apparently your dad discovered Avalon. I think he was a Challenger and just never told anyone. I don't know how my own dad found out. Maybe that creepy giant thing that's after your friend told him. And I don't know how they met or where, but that thing was the reason Dad has been so confident we'd find Avalon if we studied you long enough. And that thing hasn't found your friend yet, by the way.”

  I wasn't sure, but I think I saw the first flash of gratitude fly through Wes' eyes. “It's stopped helping us, both to look for her and to look for whatever you knocked out of it that last fight.”

  I shook my head at that. Nobody knew it, but I had seen the reports. Wes had managed to get that weirdly cute nerd girl and that tall milf both to safety somehow, to bear the wrath of our own special demon ambassador all by himself. Then, after that thing killed him in a horrifically violent way that it had no problem bragging about, Wes had come charging back to fight it again, still alone and with fewer weapons then he had fighting my dad's goons.

  The second time around the monster had run screaming away from him.

  But did we learn from that? Of course not. That victory was a fluke, everyone had said. Just a case of mistaken identity. Our 'honored ambassador' hadn't really been scared shit-less over an eighteen year old boy. Because he was just an eighteen year old boy. How scary could he be? And even if he did have a few tricks, we had captured both of his bodies. And killed him over and over again, a horrific event that surely no one can recover from. We had won, right?

  Besides, we were obviously in control of the entire situation now. Because we could run fast and shoot lightning and crap. Something a lot of the other natives can apparently do too, but that was irrelevant.

  I had to stop thinking about all of that. It would just give me another rage-headache. I reminded myself that I didn't care about these people and that I was going to get away from it all myself soon anyway.

  “So your friend's safe for now. For how long I don't know, but I do know that Jeepers McKrueger or whoever has been frustrated with his lack of success in finding her. I don't even know where that thing is right now either. But apparently it told Dad that it wouldn't bother to check back with us until at least three years had passed.” I narrowed my eyes at Wes. “You've got that long to figure out how to save your magical candyland.”

  He was still breathing normally, but I thought I saw suspicion in his eyes. Why was I telling him this?

  His eyes asked. “Because I hate you less than Dad, okay?” I answered. “I'm telling you this because even though I hate you, you and I probably wouldn't be in this if Dad hadn't insisted I try and break you. Now yes,” I added. “There was Regina. I...”

  I sighed. “I have no excuse.”

  Instantly, something inside me dropped. And I regretted admitting that. I desperately wanted excuses back to hide behind again. “I mean, you heard about what Dad wanted me to do and...” It didn't work. The excuses wouldn't cover me anymore. “And I regret it. I liked Regina. I liked her a lot. I hate what I did, I hate what I almost did even more and I don't want to admit that I owe you, for stopping me. It doesn't change my hatred for you, it doesn't mean I accept all your bullshit morality and it definitely doesn't mean you and I will ever be right. But thank you. For not
letting me hurt her even worse than I did.”

  I didn't speak for a moment, and neither did his eyes. After a while, I tried to continue. I failed, but another another moment I tried again.

  “That's most of what I got, so I'll go ahead and say what I want out of this. I want you to kill my dad.”

  There. I had said it.

  Now I can be judged for being the worst son eve[5][6]r.

  “He keeps his permanent body here, in one of the kingdoms he's been building up. I don't know which, he hasn't bothered to tell me but since he's on top of the ladder here it's probably located in your fairy-tale's richest world. You won't be able to kill him right away, but when you've got the best opportunity I need you to take your best shot. He'll get one last projected body back on Earth. I'll take care of that one.”

  I watched my enemy's eyes to see how he'd react. I wanted to see if he was judging me, give me an opportunity to explain, to put things in perspective so that the one guy my age that had me figured out first could understand why I wanted to do this, why we both needed to do this.

  Nothing. The bastard didn't even blink. It was infuriating.

  “God damn it Wes,” I hissed. “Look, we both need this, okay? You know what he did to you. In a minute you're going to even know more what he's like, but I have to make sure you know to go after him instead of me. At least at first. If I get enough of a head start I won't care when you go after me because I'll make sure you never see or hear from me again. But if he doesn't die, Wes, then you and I are never done. And if he kills you he's just going to make me go after someone else related to your dad, I don't know, your mother or sister maybe.”