“But it is said that such songs were too loud, and too lofty, and that it undid him in the end. The crooked men he had battled on Earth heard his praise, and became wroth. They hunted him in his sleep, and with the dark magic that lurked on that silent world they bound him and followed him here. They used the curses of demons long damned and summoned one of the old, hungry things that crawl between the stars in the night sky. The Lady of the Mists tried to rescue her hero, but the Old Hungry Thing overcame her magic, and slew her champion, forcing her to flee across the worlds. It is said that she travels from star to star in the night, ever moving, ever hiding from the Old Hungry Thing that would claim her.”
“Her hero rose again from death, as Earth's champions are known to do, but the craven ones that followed him here finally bound him for good, using the rarest of curses that have kept Earth silent since ancient times. Once bound, they stole his inheritance and used it to travel to our lands, becoming the first Earth-men to come here for conquest instead of salvation. The magic the strongest of them wielded was enough to battle, and sometimes even throw down, our mightiest of Icons. Kingdoms fell, tribes were enslaved, and the map of every civilized land shrank by portions all too great. And as they went they proclaimed the last Challenger was dead for good, and that they had spent fifty years ensuring his end. They further proclaimed that Earth was done winning our battles for free and would now take what it was due. Since then, no Earth-man, and no Earth-woman, has gone any place without dying the land red with blood and black with fire.”
I half-heard all of that. It was too much to absorb without thinking about, so I tried to replay the man's words in my head.
“I must be really tired, because for a minute it almost sounded like you were singing there. And it sounded like you were immortalizing the poor guy every time he gave a tissue when someone sneezed.”
The long-haired man's face hardened, but after moment he merely shrugged.
“You are from Earth, and have helped us, so I will excuse you. But know that outside of your planet, those who gain victory for the sake of others' lives are held in the highest of regard. Think of such heroes the way that your own people celebrate those with great wealth, or that run and jump quickly, or that entertain large crowds.”
“What's even more ironic,” Karim interjected as he spoke to me. “Is that the last Challenger was humble enough to share your opinion of him.”
“Guys, I'm not humble,” I sighed, exasperated. “In fact, whenever I try I actually suck at it. I remember everything I did and it really was all small-scale. It wasn’t even that inconvien- wait,” I suddenly said. “You guys keep saying fifty years. We were just talking about that before. There's no way it's been fifty years.”
The three didn't answer my question. Instead they were all giving me and each other these weird looks, as if lightbulbs were suddenly sputtering on inside their heads.
“Fifty years?” I demanded, still trying to wrap my head around that part. “How could it have been fifty years?” I turned to look at Shepherd. “Why are they saying fifty years? What have you done? How could you have possibly taken fifty years to kill me all those times? How could Stell be gone for fifty whole years? What have you done with Guineve and Breena and everyone? What have you done? What have you done?”
I was still shouting when I stepped forward and lifted Shepherd of the ground. “Tell me how it could have taken fifty years! Tell me!” I slammed him against the wall, and used the wall to punctuate every next word. “What! (Slam) You've! (Slam) Done!
Slam!
His eyes widened and the breath knocked out of him with every impact, but after a moment he laughed. “Young, dumb fool. You've really think you can intimidate one of us? With the things we've seen, and the powers we wield?”
“Yes,” I said quietly, leaning forward as I spoke. “I do.”
“Wait,” Karim said slowly, and carefully. “Who did you say you were?”
“He's a failure!” Shepherd said quickly, but he was sweating as he spoke. “Just some dumb, crippled boy! He can't help you!”
The men's eyes continued to widen.
“No,” the one named Weylin said. “It's impossible. He’s too young.”
“It may not be,” the dark man in robes muttered. “It is said that time can flow either slower or faster in the land of mists. It could very well have only been a few months for him…”
“He’s died, over and over,” the short man rumbled. “Before these idiots, there was only one kind of hero who did so. And if he wasn’t him, why would they torture him so?”
“You can't scare me,” Shepherd spat with a quivering voice. “You couldn't even save your magical fairy-land, Malcolm! You lost years for every month you stayed here, and even more years for every death! It's too late to be a hero for your milf and your little nerd girlfriend! They're gone!”
The three men hissed at those words, and I could feel them staring at me like they had just realized I had also walked in with two stone tablets. But my eyes were still on the man writhing on the floor.
“What do you mean 'gone?'” I said, still speaking quietly and still holding the other man firmly off the ground. “Tell me where Stell is. Tell me where Guineve is. Tell me where the Ladies of the Mist went. Think very carefully, so that you can answer very completely, and very honestly.”
“Hell if I know,” Shepherd spat, but his teeth were chattering as he spoke. “The milf's wherever the hell you've hidden her. The other one's still playing hide and seek with her real boyfriend. You're all lucky he hasn't caught her yet or the whole Expanse would already be ours. Well, you're not going to be lucky. Everyone's really clear about that.”
“Bastard idiot,” I growled. “Do you know how many catastrophes you've probably guaranteed? Do you realize just how much Stell does for these worlds? How badly they need her? Do you even realize what you've put her through by sending that thing after her? Do you even...”
“Buddy Wes.” Little Gabby called out. “Can we open our eyes yet?”
Shit. I had forgotten to be angry about that too.
“Not yet, Gabby, I'm sorry... go ahead and count to three hundred first.”
“Counting to three hundred is really hard, buddy Wes.”
“You can do it, Gabby,” I urged. “You're a really good counter. You used to show me all the time, remember?”
I turned to look at the three other men, who were all looking at me like I was now ten feet tall and glowing gold.
“I need a favor,” I said. “Drag any of the bodies that haven't faded yet out of the room. When I come back we can talk about everything.”
“Are you him?” Karim asked urgently. “You said your name was Wes. He called you Malcolm. Are you Wes Malcolm, the last Challenger? Tell us the truth, before we agree to anything else.”
I sighed.
“Yes, I'm Wes Malcolm. But I have no idea how I can prove that other than my word.”
“Think of your Deeds,” the dark man insisted. “You are on Avalon. Merely think on your Deeds and they will appear.”
I let out another sigh but closed my eyes and did what he said. A moment later the three men quietly sucked in gasps of surprise.
“It is true then,” Karim intoned. “We have found the last Challenger, and he is still alive. This act is hereby witnessed in script...”
“Witnessed in song...” Weylin added.
“And witnessed in stone.” the dwarf-like man finished.
That whole thing was weird enough for me to pause and give them an inquisitive look. The robed man must have noticed.
“Outside of Earth, there are those who keep records, in different ways, on every corner of the Expanse. We are called the Testifiers. The three of us were charged with finding the old gates between worlds, so that we may learn for certain the fate of Avalon’s Challenger.” He paused for a moment, looking at the two others with him. “We did not expect to find the Challenger himself. We will discuss this later.”
The,
without another word, the three men began grabbing the lingering bodies and dragging them out of the room.
I was curious about what they had just said, but right now I needed to handle other concerns. I looked back at Shepherd. “You hurt those little girls, didn't you? You weren't just in charge. It was you, specifically, wasn't it, Mr. Shepherd?”
My former neighbor bared his teeth at me again, but he didn't answer.
“He did, Mr. Wes!” Gabby spoke up again. “Val and Kayla and Sam! And all the people in the other corner! He made a whole bunch of them cry!”
“I thought so. Thank you, Gabby,” I said quietly. “I'm sorry I wasn't there to stop it. Just keep your eyes closed for a little longer.”
“Do I have to keep counting, Buddy Wes?”
“I really need you to Gabby. Please do it as a favor for me.”
“Okay,” she pouted. “But only because you're my friend.”
“Thank you, little Gabby.” I turned to look at the other men. “I'll be right back.”
“With him?” The dark-skinned wizard asked, pointing to the cultist in my hands. “Are you bringing him back?”
“No,” I said flatly.
“Good,” Karim said with a nod. The dwarf-like man looked at me for a second longer, but then he nodded as well.
“What do you mean?” Sherpherd spat. “You can't kill me for good, cripple-head.”
Instead of answering, I started dragging him out of the room. He struggled, but not only was he bound, he was weaker than me, so he wasn't able to stop me from just grabbing one of his limbs and pulling him along the floor.
“Where are we going?” the evil idiot demanded. “Let go!”
“Do you know if they've changed out any of the rooms since they've killed me last?” I asked before I left. Karim shook his head.
“We weren't often let out of our cells. But they do not strike me as a very diligent group. I would be surprised if everything wasn't exactly as you remembered it.”
“Thanks,” I said as I grabbed Shepherd's leg. “Come along, neighbor.”
“Ow!” the man said as he bumped his way past the door frame. “You're not going to scare me, Wes. All of us who wield power have seen horrors you can't even imagine!”
I grunted apathetically as I kept dragging him.
“You think I'm scared of fire?” The struggling man said as he scraped along to the floor. “You think I'm scared of losing blood, or drowning?”
“Nope,” I said, not looking back at him. “Hadn't even bothered to think about it.”
“Of course you haven't!” The idiot spat. “The tortures I've seen would break your mind!”
“Good thing I hadn't seen them then,” I said, keeping the fake calm wrapped around my screaming brain. “Otherwise I'd be broken enough to be dragging a man across the floor right now.”
“Exactly! So why don't you just… wait,” Shepherd said, as if he was finally paying attention to me.
Idiot.
“Where are you going?” he said. “You passed the fire room!”
“Oh I know,” I replied. “This is the one hallway that I know where everything is.”
“And you think you have a better way to kill me?” The idiot spat again. “I'm just going to come back on Earth! Then I'm going to bring every team we have through the portal and finish you off for good!”
“Portal's broken,” I said without looking at him. “You're probably going to have to explain that to your boss when you're back on Earth.”
“Liar! The portal's indestructible!”
“Sounds like you've got nothing to worry about then. Go ahead and stop talking then,” I replied casually.
He shut up for all of a blessed minute. Then, when I had turned a certain corner, he started jabbering again.
“Wait,” he said, I finally heard him speak without arrogance. “This... this is the wrong hallway! There's nothing down here!”
“Were you always this stupid, Mr. Shepherd?” I asked calmly. “Because I don't remember you being this stupid back on Earth.”
“You... you're the stupid one! There's nothing down this hallway!”
“Yes there is,” I said quietly. “This is the one torture room you had to keep separate from the others because it's so dangerous. I remember it because you guys really liked the reactions I gave when you put me in it.”
“No!” Shepherd shouted desperately. “We moved it! We moved it! It's not here anymore!”
I didn't dignify him with a response. He was lying, and he knew I knew it.
“You... you can't do this!” He sputtered. “You can't!”
“Why?” I asked thoughtfully. “Did you get this cause of death trademarked? Are there copyright issues involved? Do I risk getting sued for intellectual property theft?”
“What?” he asked.
“Didn't think so. We're almost there though,” I added.
“But you can't do this!” He repeated desperately. “It's... It's not Christian!”
“Christian?” I asked. For a moment I stopped dragging him and actually turned back to look at him. “You, a member of a cult that worships some kind of demonic being who gives you all kinds of unholy magic, a person that has been hiding in my church helping the other cultists steal and abuse children, is trying to get me, a person you have repeatedly tortured and murdered, a person whose friends and family you have helped target, to be more Christian? Are you trying to be concerned about my immortal soul, Mr. Shepherd? Is that what's happening right now?”
He didn't reply immediately, so I continued answering him.
“Number one,” I said, growling a little more than I meant to. “Assume I have developed a crisis of faith alongside of all of the trauma and psychological issues you've helped inflict on me. I am more concerned with getting answers for all the horrible things that were allowed to happen to me and everyone else that I care about.”
Grief, the quiet voice said. I grieve. And weep.
I ignored it. I'd start screaming again if I didn't.
“Number two,” I continued. “Since we are on the subject of Christianity and the Bible, I've got a fun lesson that you apparently didn't pay attention to back when the old pastor was there. Back when we actually talked about the Bible instead of all the hatred, fear, and useless political issues that Barnes kept harping about. Did you know that in the new testament, arguably the only group of people who Jesus seems to directly threaten are those who target little children?” My brain could remember facts easily now, so I went ahead called up specific verses. “Matthew 18:6, King James Version: 'But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone' -that's a rock that can weigh over a thousand pounds- 'were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' There's a similar passage in Mark 9:42,” I continued. “Different translations say 'be a stumbling block to' or 'cause them to sin' or even 'bully or take advantage of their trust' but since you both tortured them and forced them to tell lies about my dead dad, you qualify either way.”
“You couldn't know the Bible!” Shepherd shouted. “You're too young! It doesn't say that!”
“Believe what you want,” I said. “But I'm done arguing with you. And I don't have a millstone, and the room you people drowned me in isn't big enough to count as a sea, so we can't go that route. We're going this route instead.”
I kept walking towards the door at the end of the hall, still dragging my burden behind me.
“Y-you can't throw me to the gibber-kin! You can't do that!”
“Yes I can.”
“They eat people alive!”
“That's right,” I replied. “I remember. It's extremely painful.”
“But it's not right! It's an eye for an eye!”
“Not even,” I replied. “Because I'm only doing this once, unlike what you people did with me. And don't say you didn't have a hand in it because I remember you getting excited about your turn to torture me. It doesn't even begin
to qualify as retribution. Not after what you all put me through. It's just the closest I can do to justice,” I continued. “There's no police here I can turn you over to. There's no judge or jury that can take forever deliberating what should be your fate. There's not even a jail I can keep you in, because you could just send yourself back to Earth as soon as you worked up the courage to commit suicide or use some other magic trick I don't know about and escape. So my only recourse is to kill you in some form, right now, while the portal's down and you can't come back.”
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