Infernal Father of Mine

by John Corwin

  I traced a circle with a slash through it on my chest to activate the camo. Even though I could see the others, it was like looking through a slightly distorted window. "Weird."

  Elyssa took the rigid flying carpets and bent them into semi-circles so they'd stand on edge, and aligned them next to the fortress wall so we could duck behind them in case the aether charges on our armor ran out. If that happened, the armor would recharge, but we'd be exposed for a long time.

  "Why don't we keep the camo turned off and hide behind the carpets?" Dad said.

  Elyssa nodded. "Good idea."

  We hid behind the carpets and deactivated the spells on our armor, lowering the face-concealing masks as well.

  Elyssa examined the door, but there wasn't a handle to be found. Like the others, it slid into a recess in the wall when opened. "Justin, you told me the doors open and close without anyone actually touching them, right?"

  I nodded. "The minders must respond to whoever is walking through them."

  She hugged the wall to the right of the door. "When it opens, we'll have to wait for whoever is coming out to clear enough space for us to slip through. We'll have only a few seconds to get inside. From what Justin told me, we can't just hold open the door. It'll probably crush anyone who doesn't make it all the way through."

  Mom nodded. "If this place is dreamcasted by minders, anything could happen if they detect us."

  "Like the walls crushing us?" I asked.

  "Or spikes shooting from the floor and impaling us?" Dad added.

  I widened my eyes. "Or the floor falling into a bottomless pit?"

  Dad grimaced. "Or into a lake of burning lava?"

  Elyssa and Mom turned highly disapproving looks on us.

  "Jarvis said only parts of the fortress are dreamcasted," I said. "But that doesn't mean they can't conjure traps wherever they want them."

  "I need silence," Elyssa said in a harsh whisper. "We can't afford any distractions." She motioned toward the side of the wall the door opened away from. "Everyone line up and be ready to go on my signal. Remember, once we're inside, no talking. The brain might detect us."

  I just hoped it couldn't detect us merely by our stepping foot inside.

  We did as commanded with Elyssa standing closest to the edge of the door. The wait dragged on and on, making it difficult to keep my guard up despite the dangers of invisible Nazdal sneaking up on us from the pit. Their nifty camouflage trick must have been how Maloreck was able to get into and out of the fortress so easily. Either that, or Serena had granted him access. Somehow, I doubted the woman allowed him free reign inside the complex. The Nazdal had proved himself too clever and too strong to trust.

  Then again, it wasn't as if the creature had lied. In fact, he'd been pretty straightforward about wanting to kill me and take my life essence. I shuddered. Elyssa glanced back at me. Her alarmed looked turned questioning. I didn't have time to answer the unspoken question because, at that moment, the door grated open.

  We quickly activated our camouflage and raised the masks on the armor.

  A slobbering ghoul shambled through the door. It looked dazed. A string of saliva hung from its slack lower jaw. The skin was as green and mottled with liver spots as the others of its kind I had seen. A thick iron collar bound its neck. I realized with a shock I recognized this ghoul. It was the Arcane, Wax. The minders must have drained the poor man already. My fists tightened as two sentinels walked through the door behind Wax, each one gripping a thick metal pole attached to either side of the iron collar.

  Elyssa looked through the door and jerked her head back just as Jarvis strolled through, a smile across his face.

  "Should have eaten more vitamins, Wax," the chubby man said. "You might have lasted longer in the brain."

  Wax was obviously far past understanding anything. Elyssa jerked my arm, dragging us through the door as it grated closed. We whisked past just in time.

  My girlfriend said nothing as she moved forward. I didn't think the walls had ears, but in this place, there was no sense taking any chances. We crept down the corridor. Going by our memories, Dad and I directed the group through the grid of hallways. Thankfully, it was almost a straight shot to Serena's lab. Voices echoed down the hall. Elyssa held up a fist. We halted. She pointed to her eyes and made a circling gesture. Once again I wished I'd studied Templar black ops signals a little more, but Elyssa didn't stick around to elaborate before disappearing inside the lab.

  "They attacked the church," hissed an angry female voice. "My church!"

  My heart almost stopped. Daelissa was here.

  "Why did they attack it?" Serena asked.

  "Perhaps they thought the Slade boy was still there," the Seraphim replied. "I do not have all the details yet, but there will be suffering."

  "The Cataclyst—"

  "Do not call him that!" Daelissa screamed. "He is a speck compared to me."

  "The speck," Serena said, "was indeed instrumental in showing me the way to realign the Shadow Nexus to Seraphina."

  "His sister is still too young. Her voice still unsuitable," the angel said.

  "It wasn't his voice that showed me the way," Serena said. "He may have escaped, but he unwittingly gave me the key. I can attune—"

  "My church, my church, my church!" Daelissa sounded as if she were losing her mind.

  "The church doesn't matter," I heard Serena say. "I have already—"

  "Doesn't matter?" Daelissa shrieked. "This will not stand. I will personally erase the Borathen scum from the face of Eden."

  "Please reconsider, Daelissa." Serena's voice sounded sweet and soothing, much like the one she'd used in her attempt to con me. "You have still not rested or fed after the battles in Colombia. Please return to Eden via the Gloom arch at Kobol Prison. Regain your strength. When you are ready, we will open the way to Seraphina, you will have your army, and we will march an unstoppable force into Eden."

  Elyssa returned from scouting the room, and pointed toward a large silver box to the right of the door. She made some hand signals which I assumed meant she wanted us to follow her lead.

  "It is happening again, and so soon," Daelissa said. She actually sounded scared. "I'm losing myself."

  "Replenish your energy. You must be completely stable to open the gateway." Serena's voice was soothing. "Seraphina will heal you, but it will take time, and you must be ready in case there are unforeseen dangers waiting on the other side."

  I will return in two hours," Daelissa said in a low voice. "Be ready by then."

  Elyssa motioned us inside and pointed to a large silver box about ten feet away.

  "Of course," Serena said. "Let me walk you out."

  Elyssa flattened against the wall and pressed me alongside her. Mom and Dad mimicked us just as Daelissa and Serena appeared from behind a row of bulky devices.

  The pair walked toward the door we'd just entered. I saw beads of sweat on Serena's forehead as she closed to within a few feet of us. Despite the armor veiling our presence, any movement would be detectable standing this close. I didn't dare breathe.

  Daelissa's face contorted with rage one moment to an odd vacuous expression the next, as if a war were being waged in her mind. She suddenly stopped, nostrils flaring. "They're here." Her eyes went wide. "How dare they come against me?"

  My heart went cold as ice. My knees felt like jelly. It was all I could do not to run.

  Serena looked confused. "Who's here?"

  "The leyworms dare to side with Moses against me?" Daelissa raised a hand, and a bolt of searing white melted a metal table with glass vials on top of it. The vials spilled to the floor, shattering when they hit. She stopped her attack, staring at the mess on the floor. "That will hold them for now."

  What in the hell is she talking about? This woman was out of her ever-loving mind.

  White as a sheet, Serena seemed to muster some courage and took the angel by the hand. "Daelissa, you must feed." She led her towards the door. "You must regain your stre
ngth."

  The Seraphim blinked and flinched. She looked at the Arcane as if suddenly realizing where she was. "Get me to the flying carpet. I will return to Eden and feed. I expect to see my homeland when I return."

  "Of course," Serena said, wasting no time in escorting Daelissa from the room. Their voices faded as they went down the hallway.

  I noticed Elyssa's chest deflate at the same time I let out the breath I'd been holding. That was way too close. I also noticed Elyssa's camouflage veil fading in and out. The charge in our armor was running low. She led us to the far end of the room where we hid behind crates of equipment and lowered our hoods.

  "This room is empty except for the brain at the other end of the room," Elyssa whispered. "Keep your voices low."

  "For a minute I was thinking we could take Daelissa's crazy ass out," Dad said. "Then she blasted that table."

  I shivered. "If that's how powerful she is with the Gloom dampening her abilities, I'd hate to face her at full strength."

  "We need to plan our next moves carefully," Elyssa said. "Hopefully we can sneak past the brain."

  "How long until our armor recharges?" I asked.

  She traced a pattern on her sleeve. A meter appeared showing only a sliver of red. "We need at least twenty minutes."

  I groaned. "Someone needs to make longer-lasting aether batteries."

  "I can make them charge faster," Mom said. She gave me a meaningful look. "You should be able to as well. Remember how you told me you charged the flying carpet when you were chasing Maulin Kassus?"

  "And set it on fire?" Elyssa asked. "I don't want to catch on fire."

  "Give me a break," I said. "I got a little excited and overcharged it."

  Mom pressed a hand to my armor and Dad's. "Our powers are muted here, son. Even at full strength there shouldn't be any danger of spontaneous combustion."

  Dad barely repressed a snort.

  I frowned at him. "You have a sick sense of humor."

  "Can you truthfully tell me you didn't find it funny?" he whispered.

  I imagined him screaming as he threw off burning armor and was forced to run around the Gloom naked. I held back a laugh.

  He winked. "See? Sick minds think alike."

  I pressed a hand to Mom and Elyssa's armor and concentrated on charging them. It took me a moment to remember how to rejigger my thinking so I could become a walking, talking charger. Once I managed that, I felt aether channeling through me.

  A surprised look came over Elyssa's face as she watched the charge indicator creep up at about one percent every few seconds. I pushed harder and was rewarded by a slight increase in speed.

  "I wonder how Serena can attune the rune without me," I said. "She seemed pretty confident."

  "I don't know," Dad said. "And I don't want to give her the chance."

  Elyssa knocked my hand off her armor. Apparently it had reached full charge while I was busy talking. Mom's armor was also at full charge. Mine and Dad's were only about halfway. I joined my efforts with Mom's and strained to listen in case Serena came back but heard nothing.

  After our suits finished charging, we slipped into camo mode and followed Elyssa across the lab. I saw the minder brain drifting lazily without any victims caught in tentacles. We stayed behind cover until we reached the arch room doors and peeked through. Again, I was amazed at its size. The circular chamber was at least a hundred yards in diameter. The domed ceiling looked about seventy feet at the highest point. Something about the ceiling looked different, though I couldn't quite put a finger on it. We made our way across the room.

  Mom sucked in a breath at the sight of the Shadow Nexus. "It looks just like the Grand Nexus, though the colors are off."

  Earlier, I'd told the others about how Serena had grown it from a cube left by the mysterious builders of the arches. "It seems to work just fine," I said, looking from side to side in case any stray minders or Nazdal were wandering about. "Which is why we need to capture it and shut this place down."

  Mom nodded and walked up to the arch. "I still only remember bits and pieces of how I activated the original arch," she said. "But I do remember how to remove the Cyrinthian Rune without causing another Desecration."

  "That's exactly what we'll need to do after we shut down Serena," I said.

  "What about the minder brain?" Dad asked, jabbing a thumb in their general direction.

  "We can't invade with the minders still in control. The sentinels will tear us apart." I looked at the large room and wondered how much of the building was real, and how much was dreamcasted. I didn't want it collapsing on us. "While Serena is gone, I'm going to see if I can draw the minders into the psionic disruptor."

  Elyssa made a quick circuit around the room and returned. "Looks empty." She deactivated her camouflage, and we did the same.

  Mom hummed a few notes as she inspected the rune in the arch. Her eyebrows pinched. "The rune isn't attuned to Eden."

  "It was when we left it," I said.

  Mom's eyes widened. "This arch is set to open in Seraphina. Serena must have already done it."

  My stomach twisted into a jumbo-sized knot. Somehow, Serena had attuned the arch to the angel home world. Daelissa really didn't need the Grand Nexus anymore.

  Chapter 36

  "How is that possible?" Dad asked.

  Mom shook her head. "Serena said she had the key."

  "Why would Serena have kept this from Daelissa?" Elyssa asked. "She could have opened it for her already."

  "I think she wants Daelissa in full control of her faculties when she opens it," Mom said.

  My mouth suddenly felt very dry. "How long will it take you to realign it with Eden?"

  "Several minutes." Mom held her hand out to the rune, eyes closed in concentration. "I can't tell if the arch was used. It feels cold which probably means she hasn't actually opened it yet."

  "That's good, right?" Dad asked. "It means we don't have a horde of Seraphim in the fortress."

  "It's not good any way you look at it." Mom bit her lower lip. "Perhaps we should take the rune and find another way out of the Gloom. We can't risk losing the battle with Serena and leaving her with a fully functional nexus."

  Elyssa swatted the idea out of the air. "Absolutely not. We have enough assets waiting on the other side of the arch to shut Serena down once and for all. Then, and only then, will we deactivate this arch."

  "I don't think you understand, child." Mom regarded her with soft eyes. "If we lose this battle, we lose the war. But if we take the rune, Daelissa will still be shut off from Seraphina and reinforcements."

  "What makes you think Daelissa still has the political capital to command a Seraphim army?" Dad said. "For all we know your current leaders will kick her to the curb if she shows up after being gone for so long."

  "That was exactly what I thought would happen when Daelissa and inner circle conspired to overthrow our political system thousands of years ago," Mom said. "Feeding off humans made them incredibly strong. They overpowered all resistance and wiped out the government. Daelissa and the others established a regency with her closest advisor, Skazaeleus as the regent."

  "Sounds like a monarchy by council," Dad said, a sour expression on his face. "I assume what's-his-face stayed in power even after the Desecration."

  "It's likely, though we've been cut off for so long, anything's possible," Mom replied. "If Skazaeleus is still in power after all these millennia, Daelissa will have her invasion."

  I decided to toss my own two cents in. "Maybe they got tired of his crap and overthrew him."

  Mom shrugged. "We have no way of knowing until we open the portal."

  Elyssa shook her head. "I understand your concerns, Alysea." She placed a hand on Mom's shoulder and looked her in the eye. "I need you to hear me out. Serena has multiple ways to ferry troops into and out of the Gloom. The arch ripper Justin told me about is probably a small sample of the devices she has at her disposal. This means Nazdal could pour into the mortal realm from a
ny Obsidian Arch. They could surprise attack us anywhere around the world. Imagine what they could do to people living in one of the pocket dimensions like the Grotto."

  "It would be a massacre." Mom shuddered. "I hadn't thought of that."

  "I have a plan that should prevent Daelissa from controlling this arch in case we do lose this battle." Elyssa looked up at the black-veined structure. "Once my troops are through, I want you to remove the rune."

  Mom's eyes flashed wide. "But that means—"

  "We'll all be trapped here. No retreat, no surrender."

  As if my stomach weren't already one giant iron ball of stress, the idea of being trapped in this place with Daelissa's imminent return added a thick layer of heart attack gravy to the mix. Unfortunately, I couldn't disagree with Elyssa's idea. "Mom, you remove the rune and escape."

  Mom shook her head. "I'm not leaving. I will remove the rune and hand it off to a Templar who can hopefully take it somewhere nobody will find it in case we lose the battle."

  "I can agree to that," Elyssa said. She motioned toward the arch. "Let's get started. We've wasted enough time already."

  Dad nudged me on the shoulder. "Ready to go slaughter some minders? We need to get rid of that thing before it dreamcasts an army of sentinels."

  "Wish I'd gone potty before we left the house," I replied. "But unless you can dreamcast a port-a-potty, yeah, killing the brain sounds like a good plan."

  Elyssa kissed me. "Be careful, and kick ass."

  I flashed her a confident look. "I'll see you soon, babe." The room fell quiet as the weight of the situation sunk in. I was about to offer up one last witty comment when a faint noise caught my ear. "Do you hear something?"

  She tilted her head. "No."

  I held out my hands. "Everyone be quiet."

  Again, the sound. Like a very faint gurgling. My heart froze solid. My eyes wandered up the wall of the domed room. When they reached the curving ceiling, I realized something was definitely off. The surface looked lumpy and uneven in spots. "Mom, get started on the arch right now."

  She backed away toward the rune. "What's wrong?"