“Doc likes to play things close to the vest,” Titus said, introducing himself, and then the others.
“It appears we’ve got two problems to deal with now,” Kate said. She described the thing they’d found, the pile of humans merged together into a nightmarish monster.
“Zombies on the one hand, whatever that is on the other,” Billy said. “Be a superhero, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.”
Behind them, a distinct whirling sound suddenly began. Titus knew the sound immediately, practicing with Leto and learning about mystical arts. A teleportation spell. He hoped Doc would emerge from the purplish portal that opened up in Kate’s makeshift living room, but instead, Natasha Grey strode through instead. She immediately took in her surroundings and wrinkled her nose.
“That thing you found, Dancer, is called a flesh golem,” Grey said. “Or the start of one. I liked your spaceship better. This place is a dump.”
“Your opinion of my base of operations means the world to me,” Kate said.
“Lady Grey,” Dreamless said nodding. Both Great Danes moved to flank her defensively.
“Lady Dreamless,” Natasha said back, not unkindly. “I’m sorry you’ve run into some trouble. I hoped our friends here might get to you before King Tears did.”
“Back up, back up,” Jane said. “First of all, flesh golem? Second, King Tears?”
“A flesh golem. Think of it as a less handsome version of your Frankenstein’s monster story,” Natasha said. “A creature stitched together with the flesh of the living, made to follow a magician’s command. And King Tears is not his real name, much as Doc Silence is not his own nor Lady Grey mine. Magicians discard their true names. It’s more of a self-chosen title.”
“You guys do love to give yourselves honorifics you haven’t earned, huh,” Billy said.
“Do you even know what an honorific is?” Emily said.
“I read a lot,” Billy said.
“Guys, please,” Jane said.
“We found this ‘flesh golem’ while following whatever had caused some homeless kids to mutate into bizarre creatures,” Kate said. “Titus and I fought a kid who seemed to no longer be in control of his own body. His limbs were twisted into something…”
“I’d call it Lovecraftian,” Titus said. “Grotesque, misshapen. Hard to describe. The kid looked like he was in terrible pain.”
“Blood magic,” Natasha said. “My least favorite.”
“Blood magic?” Bedlam asked. “Sounds like something out of a video game.”
“It’s a type of magic, a school of magic,” Titus said. Everyone, including Dreamless and Natasha, turned to look at him in surprise.
“Well look at you,” Natasha said. “The little werewolf is a novice spellcaster. I can see it now. I’m impressed, young man. Nice to see one of you children has some ambition.”
Kate walked away to the small kitchenette, still within earshot of the conversation but with her back distinctly to Titus. She opened an aging refrigerator and took out a bottle of water.
“Care to elaborate, Titus?” Jane said.
“I am so here for this,” Emily said. “It’s like finding out Dungeons and Dragons is real.”
“We already kind of know Dungeons and Dragons is real,” Billy said. “Remember that board game incident?”
“I am so mad you guys made me put that game back in Doc’s study,” Emily said.
“I’m really not the one to explain,” Titus said. “I only know the very basics. Stuff my mentor taught me.”
Natasha looked to Dreamless, who made a slight gesture to the sorceress.
“Magic comes in different forms,” Natasha said. “Some of it is more science than art, some more art than science. Every magician works in their own unique way, of course, but there are methods and styles. Cheats and shortcuts.”
“So you and Doc are both magicians, but not the same kind,” Jane said.
“Silence is a street magician. He’s quite the jack of all trades. I’ve always enjoyed that about him, the way he steals and borrows from different magics,” Natasha said. “But in the end, I know he prefers the magic of secrets.”
“What’s that?” Emily said. Titus was surprised by the lack of sarcasm in her voice. He could tell she was honestly intrigued.
“Everything in this world has a secret name,” Natasha said. “If you call to the wind by its secret name, you might cause the weather to change. If you know the name of lightning, you can command it to strike down your enemies.”
“The secret names of things,” Emily said.
“What about you?” Jane said.
“I normally do not reveal my methods, but it’s no mystery that I work in bargains and pacts,” Natasha said. “I trade information or value, broker power for power. I buy my magic with other magic, or artifacts, or things darker and more valuable.”
Like souls, Titus thought. Leto had warned him about magicians like Natasha Grey.
“I would assume our little werewolf friend here is learning about the magic of nature. The living world has its own kind of magic,” Natasha said. “And I can’t imagine something as primal and raw as a werewolf tribe would be drawn to anything less pure than nature magic.”
“You’re not wrong,” Titus lied. Leto was a very old werewolf, and had learned a great many things in her time, and she wanted Titus, the last of the Whisperings, to be as prepared as possible. But there was no need for Natasha to know that, not now.
“So blood magic is…” Billy said, his lip curling in disgust.
“Body magic. Necromancy. Twisting and sacrificing living things for power,” Dreamless broke in. “It is forbidden in my land. Blood magic is worse than all others. Secret magic, pacts and deals, all of those can be done in good faith, if the magicians so choose. But blood magic always has a cost, and that cost is never willing.”
“But it’s a hell of a shortcut,” Natasha said. “And I say that as someone who knows the best place to literally buy power.”
Jane rubbed her eyes irritably.
“So if he’s a blood… magician? What does he want with Lady Dreamless?” she asked.
“I’m curious about that myself,” Dreamless said.
“He’s consolidating power for some idiotic reason,” Natasha said. “And you, darling, are power incarnate.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Bedlam said, folding her arms across her chest.
“Dream magic is rare and incredibly powerful,” Dreamless said.
Titus found himself instantly drawn in by her voice in a way he hadn’t been before. It wasn’t a spell, not in the way he’d begun to think of them; it was more of a natural effect, something about her voice itself, her presence, that filled his heart with wonder, even longing. I could get pulled into dangerous water by that voice, he thought.
“Dream magic can alter reality. Change the past and present. It literally makes real that which you dream in your mind,” Dreamless continued. “But he couldn’t take it from me. Not even in this inhibited form.”
“Inhibited form?” Kate said, returning to the conversation finally. She did not make eye contact with Titus and there was no doubt in his mind that was on purpose.
“While Lady Dreamless is here in your world, she inhabits a body, a form that she asked me to create for her,” Natasha said. “Her power is tied very much to the Dreamless Lands. She couldn’t come here in her true state without someone noticing.”
“Could this King Tears want to somehow… sacrifice that body or something?” Titus said.
“I think it’s simpler than that,” Natasha said. “He wants a power he could control. And having the Queen of the Dreamless Lands trapped and in his service…”
“I would sooner die,” Dreamless said. “I’ve been enslaved once. I will not be again.”
“Well, I have some good news about that,” Natasha said.
“Great,” Jane said. “Always with the good news.”
“Something followed you through, my
dear,” Natasha said. “And our necromancer thinks it might be an easier target than you.”
“I won’t have him controlling dream magic,” Dreamless said.
“Glad we’re all on the same page,” Jane said. “So the question is, what are we going to do about it?’
Chapter 31: I’ve had better internships
Keppler had no idea why King Tears ordered him to meet him in an old, long-unused warehouse in the City. It was among the various properties the Children of the Elder Star had ownership of all across the City—all across the world, really—but why it held any sort of importance, he couldn’t fathom.
He hired a car, despite King Tears telling him the zombies were perfectly capable of driving him over, and stepped out in a neighborhood where he was earnestly concerned that his expensive shoes and fitted dress pants would make him a target for a mugging. A homeless man asked him for money. Keppler ignored him and he entered the warehouse.
Until recently, he would not have instantly recognized the wretched stink of old blood and opened guts, but they were familiar to him now, and he recognized them immediately. He walked with trepidation down the long corridor within the warehouse entrance and into an open space beyond.
The carnage he found there took his breath away.
A great mound of flesh had been torn asunder, limbs tossed about, innards discarded on the flood like party favors. He nearly stepped on an eyeball. Keppler began to wretch, running to a darkened corner of the foyer to empty the contents of his stomach on the ground.
“You get used to it,” King Tears said, previously unseen in the shadows. The magician’s white tattoos glowed in the darkness.
“What happened here?” Keppler squealed, voice cracking as he wiped vomit from the corners of his mouth.
“Someone killed my experiment,” King Tears said. “Violently, apparently. These are claw marks if I’m not mistaken. I am not having a wonderful day.”
“What was this?” Keppler said, struggling to not return to puking his guts out.
“What might have been a useful, dumb, powerful weapon,” King Tears said. “No great loss in the end. I can always find more urchins to stitch together. Still, a waste of resources and time.”
“I don’t understand,” Keppler said.
“That’s because you’re a simple tool in the service of your betters,” King Tears said. “Speaking of service, tell me you found what I asked you to seek out.”
Keppler nodded, cracking a briefcase he’d carried in.
“I’m almost afraid to ask what you need these for,” Keppler said. “Although if I’m being honest, I’m afraid to ask why my employers had these in a vault in the first place.”
“Your employers liked torture, enslavement, and greed,” King Tears said, lifting a barbed whip from the briefcase. “I wish I had this in Manhattan. Not your fault, of course. I got impatient. I should have waited.”
“What happened in New York?” Keppler asked.
“Complications,” King Tears said. “Did you bring those files I asked you to bring me when I called as well?”
“Those were easier to find than the… stuff in that briefcase,” Keppler said, handing King Tears a manila envelope. Tears tore the envelope open and began to peruse.
“Solar-powered messiah. Alien host. Mortal with a death wish. Ah, a werewolf. I wonder if he’s the cause of this mess here. Sentient gravitational anomaly? That’s a curious one.”
“They caused problems for our organization a few years back,” Keppler said. “We’ve apparently been keeping tabs on them ever since. And then they were involved in that… embarrassing incident.”
“When half your board of directors tried to sell out the planet? The greed and stupidity of rich men, I swear to all the gods in heaven and hell, I will never understand why men like that continue to remain in power throughout history,” King Tears said. “Humanity always rewards morons who say the right thing.”
“Anyway,” Keppler said nervously. “Our files haven’t been updated since the invasion, but they were pretty extensive up until then.”
“This will be helpful. Thank you, Mr. Keppler,” King Tears said, gesturing with the envelope. “It defies reason why Doc Silence would waste his time being a glorified high school teacher. The man was a world class magician. Probably the strongest white magic practitioner in a century. And instead he’s wasting his time training freaks and lunatics.”
“I… if I may,” Keppler said.
King Tears raised an eyebrow curiously.
“Yes?”
“The freaks in that envelope stopped an alien invasion. Maybe they’re not… I’m sorry, but maybe underestimating them isn’t the preferred course of action?”
King Tears stared blankly at Keppler for a moment, and the young executive thought he was about to be eviscerated. Instead, the magician laughed.
“You know, my boy, you might be worth keeping around yet,” he said. “You’re not wrong. Every tool has its uses. Maybe Silence was onto something.”
Keppler tried to let the magician’s laughter lessen his stress levels, but it still felt like his stomach acid was eating through the lining.
“What do we do next?” he asked.
“Well, the dream queen knows I’m looking for her, so she may be more problematic to lock down now than before,” King Tears said. “Again, that was my fault. Rush to action. I should’ve known better. But fortunately, there’s a secondary acquisition we can focus on.”
“A what?”
“Someone was foolish enough to open a door between the Dreamless Lands and our world, and something slipped through,” King Tears said. “I want it.”
“How do we make that happen?” Keppler asked.
“I have an assignment for you,” King Tears said. “I need you to scour current events. Find me the weirdest thing happening out there in the world right now. Whatever that is, I’d put money on it being where our next target is.”
“That’s easy,” Keppler said. “An entire town disappeared out in California.”
“Excuse me?” King Tears said, immediately intrigued.
“Yeah. Gone,” Keppler said. “People, buildings, streets, everything disappeared.”
King Tears contemplated this new information for a minute, scratching at his five o’clock shadow.
“Well then,” he said. “I guess we’re going to California.”
“We?” Keppler said.
“There were some vaults in the Los Angeles office I didn’t have time to unlock,” King Tears said. “And some bodies you could help me identify while we’re there.”
Keppler’s stomach knotted up inside, churning and roiling with stress.
“Whatever you say, boss,” he said.
Chapter 32: The Queen and the Wizard
Doc Silence traced the edge of his cell, making arcane gestures in the air, often leaving glowing traces of light behind. He muttered to himself occasionally, tilting his head to listen to voices only he could hear.
Gloomly, barely visible in the darkness of the dungeon, sat in an almost comically human fashion, leaning against the wall.
“I thought you said you were going to call for help,” the shadow-man said.
“I will,” Doc said. “But I need to know more about this world that’s been constructed before I ask my team to come in here and risk their lives.”
“I’ve watched you for several hours walking around in circles talking to yourself,” Gloomly said. I don’t know how much you can learn about the world from that.”
“I’m pulling at the threads of magic,” Doc said. “Not enough to destabilize the world. Just enough to… get its pulse. Or see how it’s knit together. I’m getting a better idea of how it came to be.”
The shadow leaned in, eyes eerily bright.
“And what have you learned?” Gloomly said. “Honest question. My friends and I were barely corporeal less than a week ago, and now the bear carries a longsword.”
“Which is adorable,”
Doc said.
“Which is alarming,” the shadow said. “The others were toys before this happened, magician. I was something else. I understood my place a little more. But this… I know I should be grateful for the life breathed into me, but I know it’s not right.”
“Very little in magic is right or wrong,” Doc said. He waved a hand in front of him, and a few feet lit up in every direction, lines and sigils and wrinkles in reality. “These are the veins of the world.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Something holds every world together. Science, usually, even the weirder ones,” Doc said. “But this world was created wholesale. It didn’t exist until Alice willed it into existence.”
“Like us,” Gloomly said.
“Like you,” Doc repeated. “It’s woven from dream magic, which is generally unstable. Dream magic is incredibly powerful, but it’s fleeting. It doesn’t want to last. It wants very much to evoke emotion, and then be forgotten.”
“So this place shouldn’t exist much longer?”
“No, that’s not it,” Doc said. “It’s very firmly held together. I can see it in the construction. It’s not pretty, or elegant—elegant isn’t what dream magic does, it’s more abstract art than geometry—but there is a powerful will holding it all together, and a powerful magician ensuring it remains as real as any other world.”
“Alice,” Gloomly said.
“That would be my guess,” Doc said. “How she got access to dream magic I haven’t quite figured out yet, though I have my suspicions. But Alice is a staggeringly powerful natural magician. She has an innate ability most magicians I’ve met would give their left arm for.”
“So she’s a very powerful magician, and then someone taught her dream magic, and those two things made this world?” Gloomly said.
“Working on a hypothesis on that,” Doc said. Her innate ability is how she brought you and your friends to life. That wasn’t dream magic. All of you are far too… forgive the term, but you’re too real to be dream magic.”
The shadow-man somehow, despite being made of ethereal dark matter, shot Doc a sarcastic look.
The Indestructibles (Book 5): The Crimson Child Page 15