Dark Solar Complete Trilogy: Oleander - Wolfsbane - Maikoa

by D. N. Leo

  Michael smiled at her. “Ciaran said you’re a talker. You’ll talk me into doing exactly what I don’t want to.”

  “What? I didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to.”

  He just smiled and hopped off the bed.

  “Are you okay now to walk the distance?” she asked.

  He nodded. “By the way, I don’t trust the Guardian.”

  “You don’t trust anyone. But he did save our asses last night. And he saved Ryan. And he sheltered all of the gypsies.”

  Michael put his belt on and tucked his weapons into their appropriate places. “Where’s Lanni?”

  “When we got to this camp, Lanni said his job was done. He left.”

  Michael nodded. “He doesn’t trust the Guardian, either. How many gypsies are there?”

  “Sixty-four.”

  “And you plan to take them all back to Eudaiz?”

  Lyla shook her head. “I don’t have that kind of authority. But I can show them the way to enter legally so that they won’t get robbed by identity smugglers in the future. I’ll tell them they have rights, and that Eudaiz and the Daimon Gate recruit citizens based on virtue, not wealth or property.”

  He looked at her and smiled.

  She blushed. “What?”

  “Nothing. Just please refrain from anything that would give away your true identity. Can you promise me that?”

  “Sure. Absolutely. I might be naïve, but I’m not an idiot.”

  Michael took Lyla outside and found that the group of gypsies had prepared for the trip. Little Linx approached him.

  “Are you okay now?” she asked, reaching up and holding his little finger.

  Michael crouched. “Yes, I’m fine now. Thank you, Linx. Do you like playing games?”

  She nodded.

  “We are going to take a walk,” he whispered into her ear, “and it’s going to be a long walk. The rule of the game is that if you stay the whole trip and never ever call out Lyla’s name, and always stand next to her, you will win. And when you win, I’ll give you a very beautiful dress that will make you look just like a mermaid. How does that sound?”

  She nodded and grinned. She kissed him on the cheek and enthusiastically went to stand next to Lyla.

  Lyla looked at him, raising an eyebrow. He winked at her.

  The Guardian approached and said, “All of these people want to go to Eudaiz. But they don’t have a Pass, so they will have to take the Daimon Gate tests. I have no intention of going there and have never had a Pass to go to the Daimon Gate. So I’m afraid I can’t take you there.”

  “Thank you for what you did for us last night. We can take it from here,” said Lyla.

  The Guardian led them to the forest and gave them a map. Then he returned to his camp.

  They walked for a while, and Ryan approached Lyla.

  “I still can’t talk to you, Ryan. I’m angry at you for leaving me at the Daimon Gate.”

  He smiled like a kind old grandfather. “You will have to forgive me one day, Lyla. No matter what happens, remember I love you like my daughter.”

  She teared up instantly. “Ryan, what’s wrong?”

  Michael put his hands on his daggers and glanced around to scope the field.

  “Cayson and Fifi, come here,” Ryan called out.

  Ryan pointed at the open field. “That is the crossroad. You all must pass through to go back to the Daimon Gate. It isn’t a problem for Eudaizians and citizens of the Daimon Gate member universes. But citizens from other universes have to cross that road before entering the Gate, and it isn’t a walk in the park.”

  “We know that, Ryan. I’ll talk to them,” Lyla said.

  Ryan nodded. “You have to cross the road like everyone else, Fifi. I know Cayson falsified your information on the application…”

  “Father!”

  “Let me finish. Falsifying information in the Daimon Gate is a grave offense, Cayson. They’ve already figured it out. As soon as you set foot in there again, you will be burned. As for Fifi, the falsification forfeited her rights to attend any tests in the Daimon Gate. I have used my lifetime credentials and my privileges to trade off for two pardons—one is for Cayson’s life, and the other is for Fifi’s right to enter the tests. But you still have to take them and pass to be with Cayson.”

  “You did what?” Lyla asked, and tears rolled down her face as she saw disaster coming her way.

  “Forgive me, Lyla. As I said, I love you like my daughter.”

  “Please Father, don’t. Return the pardons. Do whatever. I can’t take this.”

  “It’s too late son. Lyla, I don’t know what it is, but there is a force coming from the outside. It is dark, and it’s headed for Eudaiz’s central system. It has many forms, and it can take the tangible form of a creature. The Guardian is one of its forms.”

  Before anyone could say anything, Ryan raised his hand to signal for silence. “I haven’t much time. Whatever that thing is, it feeds on people’s deepest emotional wounds. I don’t know exactly what it wants, but I think it wants to steal someone’s profile. Once it has done that, the person will perish. The Guardian wanted my profile. He offered help, and I accepted it to get out of the brotherhood’s hands. But what the Guardian didn’t know is that I had already traded my privileges in the Daimon Gate and swore to die at the crossroad. When I die, the Guardian will have an empty profile.”

  Ryan turned to see a whirl of blue smoke coming from the forest.

  “It’s time. These travelers don’t know anything. They can’t survive. But all of you will survive and pass through to the Gate. Gale knows. He will open the Gate for you when you approach.”

  “Father!”

  “I love you all…” Ryan darted toward the crossroad. When he crossed, his body disintegrated into particles.

  Cayson wept.

  The group of gypsies rumbled, and some cried out when they saw what happened. They looked back at the forest and saw the blue fire coming. They looked at the crossroad and hesitated, not knowing if they would disintegrate like Ryan when they crossed.

  16

  Lyla looked at the group of confused and desperate travelers of the multiverse. Everyone had deep emotional wounds. She didn’t know how to help them, but she was definitely going to try. She thought that what Ryan was referring to, the thing that had taken the Guardian’s form, was the Shadow she had detected. If it was a computer program that fed on people’s emotional wounds, why did it differentiate between Eudaizians and the rest? Eudaizians had emotional wounds, too.

  The blue fire came closer. It approached in waves and encircled them. Even if they wanted to run to one side or the other, they couldn’t be certain that the blue fire wouldn’t burn in that direction.

  People started to panic.

  She walked to the front of the group. “If you talked to the Guardian last night and accepted his offer, whatever it was, that fire is going to burn you. It’s here to take you as a trade for whatever you promised the Guardian.”

  “He promised us the future. He said the Daimon Gate wouldn’t take us. And what he said is totally true. They just burned Ryan,” someone in the crowd said.

  “The Daimon Gate and Eudaiz do not discriminate against people based on their origins.”

  “We don’t even have an origin. We’re doomed,” someone else said.

  “I will cross back to the Daimon Gate. Fifi will go with me. Will you, Fifi?”

  “Yes.”

  “As you can see, she is like you. She isn’t going to stay here to be burned by the blue fire.”

  The crossroad lit up with a burning red fire.

  Someone in the crowd shouted out, “Are you saying the red fire won’t kill us? We have a better chance with the blue fire.”

  Another person said, “At least the Guardian has been helping us and the village. What have you done apart from taking us out of the bunkers of the brotherhood? Who are you?”

  “I don’t have time to explain it to you. I’m a Eudaiz
ian. I know my universe as a true Eudaizian. All I can say is that the crossroad fire will not kill innocent and virtuous people.”

  “What was Ryan guilty of?” someone asked.

  Lyla looked at Cayson then returned to the crowd. “He wasn’t guilty of anything. But he traded his life to save those he loved.”

  “What kind of man would do that?” someone else asked. “This must be a scam.”

  Lyla zeroed in on the person who had just spoken. “That’s what virtuous men do. That’s what true Eudaizians do. If you are not worthy, you will die in the fire, be it the red or the blue. Now I am going in. My only advice is that if you want a chance at a better life, come with me.”

  “Why should we trust you? You’re young. What do you know?”

  She turned toward Linx. “Do you understand what’s going on, Linx?”

  Linx grinned. “Yes.”

  “Will you go with me?”

  “Yes. The fire only burns bad people. My parents said I am a good person. So I will go with you.”

  Lyla arched an eyebrow at the person who had just made the comment. “Linx has just addressed your concern. She is one of yours. And she’s barely five.”

  “Five and a half,” Linx corrected.

  Lyla looked at Michael. “Promise me you’ll be fine, Michael. What happened with you in the fire before…are you sure you can control it? I’ll never forgive you if you lie to me now. If you die and burn in hell, I will go down there to yank you out—and then punish you. Are you sure?”

  Michael nodded.

  From the back of the crowd, they heard people screaming. The blue fire had gotten a handful of people. They burned to ashes right in front of everyone.

  Lyla raised her voice. “Blue fire is certain death. Follow me, and you will at least have a chance.”

  She took Linx’s hand and ran toward the crossroad.

  Michael ran next to her. Cayson and Fifi followed.

  The heat was incredible. But it was like a miracle. Even when the flames of the fire touched them, it didn’t burn.

  The crowd saw that. They rumbled in amazement. The blue fire crept closer. A handful of people from the front stepped into the crossroad to follow Lyla. They walked into it just like her. Intact.

  More people followed.

  The heat intensified as they walked deeper into the field. But still, nobody was burned.

  More and more followed them in.

  A man at the back screamed in agony then burned like a torch and exploded into fiery particles.

  Lyla turned and addressed the people before they panicked. “Do not let guilt affect you. There will be a voice in your head telling you that you’re guilty of something. It will remind you of your sins. Remind you of what you regret. It will offer you a chance of redemption.”

  Michael turned and looked at Lyla as she spoke as they continued to walk.

  Someone person burned in the red fire. The rest continued walking, but a number of people started to shake.

  Lyla continued, “Whatever happened in your life that you regret, remember, if you continue to live and make yourself worthy, you will pay back all your debts. No one, and no god, has the right to give you redemption. You must prove that you’re worthy to yourself. Sacrifice yourself only for those you love. You don’t have to give yourself to any god or higher power.”

  More people burned. Some in the group started to turn around, running toward the blue fire instead. Those who had remained in the back by the blue fire had burned to ashes. But even so, some people in the crossroad ran back and were burned instantly.

  “Stay and be true to yourself, and you will survive,” Lyla shouted at them.

  More ran to the blue fire.

  More burned in the crossroad fire.

  They were close to the border. She could see it.

  She glanced at Cayson, Fifi, and Linx. They were all okay.

  More people burned.

  “Open the Gate!” she shouted.

  The Gate slid open, revealing the rolling hillsides on the other side. A large screen hovered in the air, showing the control room and Gale focusing on his tasks.

  “Welcome,” Gale said and glanced at the. Lyla smiled at him. She knew he had seen the fire and wanted people to cross over to the Daimon Gate as quickly as possible.

  She turned around to see that only a handful of people were left. The majority had either been burned by the crossroad fire or had run back and perished in the blue fire.

  Then she noticed that the survivors were children.

  Children were innocent. They didn’t know the difference between innocence and corruption. They weren’t guilty because they didn’t know guilt. That was how they had survived the fire, whether it be red or blue.

  She looked at up the screen again and saw Gale, and she squinted at a shadow behind him.

  She heard Michael cough.

  “Oh no, Michael, you promised me! Whatever it is you’re thinking, it isn’t your fault. Michael, look at me.”

  He coughed more, and more, and then slumped to the ground.

  17

  Gale winced as the cold moisture from the stone floor seeped into his skin. He opened his eyes groggily and immediately registered the reality of the situation. He scrambled up on to his feet and darted toward the monitor.

  “Lyla, are you okay? Is Michael okay?”

  From the monitor, he saw Lyla stand up from the ground. Tears streamed down her face.

  “I’m sorry about Michael…”

  Gale felt a gun muzzle at the back of his head. He turned around. He remembered it now. He had been hit in the head. “You’re Lyla’s deputy!”

  Marconi shrugged. “Well, I’m the acting chief…that sounds about right. Are you taking in illegal migrants, Gale?”

  Gale quickly took inventory of the scene. He was in the final stages of getting Lyla and Michael out of the into the Daimon Gate. He was on the floor of his own computer control room. A couple of other members of the staff were sprawled on the floor as well. By the look of their bodies, he guessed they were dead.

  “You don’t have jurisdiction here.”

  Marconi chuckled. “I don’t need it. My task is finished after this.” He approached the control panel. “Now close the Gate.”

  Gale turned. On the monitor, the blue fire had eaten into the red fire at the crossroads. It was chasing Lyla and her people as they ran toward the Daimon Gate. If he closed the Gate now, they would be burned by the blue fire.

  “You can’t close the Gate yourself?” Gale said and earned a smash in the head with the gun barrel. He fell to the floor.

  Lyla continued to run toward the open Gate.

  “I can’t close your Gate, but it doesn’t mean anyone can get in and survive.”

  Marconi smiled to himself. He could get mercenaries to stop Lyla at the Gate, but there was no one stupid enough to be in the crossfire. But he always had a solution for everything. Lyla ran into the Gate with Cayson, Fifi, and the children. None of the other adults had survived. But that was good enough for him.

  He smiled and entered a command. A curtain of light beams streamed down, surrounding the group of people. Marconi spoke into the microphone at the control panel. “Cayson, you falsified information in the Daimon Gate, and that’s a death sentence. Fifi Anton, you entered the Daimon Gate illegally. That is also a death sentence. And Lyla, you are an accomplice in bringing illegal migrants into the Daimon Gate and Eudaiz. That is also a grave offense.”

  “My father traded his privileges for the crime I committed,” Cayson said.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry! I think I made a mistake and just accidentally erased any records of a trade agreement for privileges in the system.” Marconi chuckled. “I’ll have to execute you on Gale’s behalf.”

  “You don’t want to kill me, Marconi,” Lyla said. “I can tell by your low skill level that you're not the Shadow, but I know you work for it and bugged our system.”

  Marconi smiled. “I’m low skill? All right t
hen, show me what you’ve got!”

  “Your employer wanted you to infiltrate our system, and to do so, you’d want to take over my position. You hacked some minor database somewhere, and you found out about Cayson and Fifi. You hired the brotherhood to create confusion, forcing me to do some personal investigation and take time off work so that you could take over.”

  Marconi grinned. “Very good!”

  “Your employer also wants you to capture as many profiles or identities as possible. You figured out the multiverse traveler groups are easy targets, and you fed the info to the brotherhood.”

  Marconi nodded. “I’m impressed.”

  “What your employer didn’t tell you is what will happen if you kill off an important Eudaizian profile.”

  “Is that your way of asking me not to kill you?”

  Lyla smiled. “Have you ever questioned why your employer wanted you to collect all kind of profiles and destroy the originals after you collected the information?”

  Marconi stopped smiling.

  Lyla continued. “It’s because Eudaiz is the origin of the project. Your employer is building something modeled after Eudaiz, so he didn’t want to destroy important subjects in Eudaiz. I am one of these important subjects. To demonstrate, why don’t to check your account. Type TX25GyQ.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Just do it.”

  Marconi typed in the command, and his face went pale “You have access to my personal profile?”

  “Top-level access.” She smiled.

  “Who are you?”

  “You’ve worked with me for years and still don’t know my true identity. And now you expect me just to tell you? I’m disappointed, Marconi.”

  Marconi gazed into the screen. “What do you want?”

  “You can’t give me what I want. Given you have such low-level skill, I won’t need you for the station anymore.”

  “I can explain.”

  “You’re fired, Marconi,” Lyla said and smiled at him.

  No, she was smiling at someone behind him. Marconi turned around. It was Michael. He opened his mouth to say something, but Michael put the gun muzzle into his mouth and pulled the trigger.