by Brian Rella
When it was done, Uriel rose from the depths of the great river, erupting from the surface in a geyser of water and light. He landed gracefully on the shore, raised his chin to the sky, and sang the Creator’s praise into the heavens.
From the night sky, seven bands of light appeared and shot toward the Earth like sparkling trails of lightning. From the farthest reaches of space and time, the Seven Powers streaked to the Earth and in a blaze of His glory, landed where Dalkhu had been entombed.
And the Seven Powers were compelled to stand guard around Dalkhu for eternity, ensuring the Shepherd of the Soulless would remain concealed from His world forever.
When the sun returned, Uriel spoke to Razmus and praised him on behalf of the Creator, and told him of the greatness of his line and how his ancestors would be called again to fight against the evil once more. And Uriel gave Razmus His words to write down so that the people of the Earth would not forget, and told him how the Creator had blessed him with His power, which would be passed down to all of his ancestors.
Razmus gave thanks to the Creator, and brought the people out of hiding, back into His light, and the world was left in peace for many generations.
37
FRANK
October 28, 2015
Hudson Highlands, New York
Frank strode into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the drying stack Jack was putting away. Jack paused, letting Frank get his ale, then continued to restock the cupboards.
Frank sipped slowly, stealing a sideways glance at Jack and returning his gaze to the kitchen. A bowl on the center island of the kitchen spilled over with fresh root vegetables; onions, carrots, potatoes, turnips and the like. My dad used to farm those, down below in the valley.
The light at the edges of his vision grayed and an image of farmland splayed out in front of him, as if he were looking at the scene through a tunnel, and then Frank zoomed in and was in the scene himself.
The fields were lined with neat rows of green stalks and shoots that had sprung up out of dark brown soil. The sunlight was bright and hot and vibrant, gleaming off the sweaty brow of a man in a straw hat, coming in from the fields. His face was out of focus, like Frank was looking at him with his eyes open under water, but there was an unmistakable beaming smile stretched across the man’s face. His hands were open, palms facing Frank, brushing gently over the leaves of his crops as he walked.
“Frank,” the man called in his father’s voice, but the face… The face of the man was distorted, except for his smile. The smile was unambiguous, the teeth white and glowing at him, gleaming gems in his mouth.
“Dad?”
“Frank,” he called again, his hands coming up to his chest over this heart. The clouds behind darkened and rolled toward him with silent lightning that streaked to the ground and sent his skin into a prickled mass of gooseflesh. The voice had changed and took an edge of thunder with it as it came to him on the wind. The straw hat fell off his head and the grin became wolfish, the teeth sharpening before his eyes, and his face changed too, its nose lengthening into a snout and coming into focus as the clouds thickened and began to look like swirling soot behind his wolfish toothy head.
Dread rolled over Frank in waves and he wrapped his arms around himself, holding himself, and suddenly he was a little boy and the man was a vague dark shadow and the fields caught fire and burned to the ground, and Frank fell to his knees, trembling under the weight of a thunderous heartbeat that pressed both sides of his head like a tightening vice—
“Frank?”
It was a boy’s voice now, but he couldn’t see who—what boy? His eyes slammed shut and the beat of a heart thrummed in his head, scrambling his thoughts.
“Frank, you okay?”
Jack…the fields…they’re burning…Jack…the heart…do you hear it? Run, Jack! Run!
He threw his eyes open and wobbled. He caught the edge of something and steadied himself. The images faded and the room came into focus. Jack…Jack…
“Jack,” Frank said, turning to the boy who was staring at him, his face full of consternation and near terror.
Jack dropped his eyes and went for the exit. Frank frowned and touched his arm.
“Look at me, Jack,” Frank said.
Slowly, Jack turned his head sideways. His face was blank, and showed nothing now until Frank met his eyes, and Frank saw the fear again. Under the surface Frank saw the recognition and knew the boy saw himself in Frank. and he was scared, scared at what Frank had become and certain that was what life had in store for him. He was receding further into himself, back into his shell, running from it, hiding from what he might yet become.
Frank felt sorry for the boy. Partly because he had human blood flowing through his veins, but also because the boy and his brother—their circumstances were so similar to his. He knew what lay ahead for them, and in some vague, abstract layer of understanding without experience, Jack knew too. Frank wasn’t sure the boy would make it. He wasn’t sure Jack had the will or the constitution to be a Watcher, never mind the Chosen One to take on the evil that was coming.
Frank poured his ale down his throat, not sure where to begin. Jack was staring at him again. “You want one?” Frank asked.
Jack shook his head, his face still blank, waiting for Frank to say something.
Frank placed his mug on the counter. “I scare you, Jack, I know I do. But you’re not me. You don’t have to end up like me.” It was a misleading truth. Sure there was a chance of Jack escaping unscathed, but the odds were slim to none. All the Watchers Frank had known had been fucked in the head or dead, and that was the real truth. We play the cards we have, though. I need to know what his hand is. Then we can play it together and not make the mistakes I made. Maybe…
“Jack, I want to help you. I don’t want you to end up like me. I want to teach you and help you avoid the mistakes I made. But you have to let me in.”
Jack shuffled his feet.
“I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest.”
Jack nodded.
“When you dream, what do you see?”
Jack blinked and shook his head.
“Tell me about your visions. Let me in.”
Jack’s eyes disappeared under his locks and his shoulders rolled forward.
“Jack, it’s important. I…we need to know what’s coming. I know it scares you. It scares me too, but we need to know, so we can fight it…so we can stop it. Together. Do you understand?”
Jack raised his head slowly. He blinked and his eyes grew wide. The energy was visceral between them. Jack started to quiver. He’s terrified of what he sees. He can’t tell me. He won’t. Maybe he’ll let me see for myself…
Slowly, Frank reached out and touched Jack’s shoulder. His hand glowed powder blue and he sent calming energy toward the boy while he probed his mind. At first, Jack resisted, but Frank spoke to him through his thoughts, soothing the scared child.
It’s okay, Jack. You don’t have to be afraid.
I don’t want to…
I know, but it’s important.
No.
Jack pulled away, and Frank furrowed his brow at him.
“You have to trust me, Jack.”
“You don’t know me. You don’t…”
Frank sensed the boy’s struggle. He was on the verge. It was fight or flight, and Jack was fleeing. But Frank couldn’t let him. He took Jack firmly by the shoulders and turned him, forcing the boy to make eye contact with him.
“Look, kid. You need to face this. I get what you’re feeling, but the sooner you confront it and accept what you are, the easier it’s going to be.”
For the first time, Frank saw rage in the boy, and felt his power rising.
“You know shit,” he growled.
“I know more than I ever wanted to.”
Jack tried to pull away, but Frank held him firm and showed him what he knew. He fed him images of his own visions, and what he had witnessed when visiting the Second Death, t
he monsters, the battles, the blood, the tears, all pumped into the boy’s mind. Scenes of the battles he had been through. The Harbinger, Arraziel, Pasmet, Glak'xhohr, Jessie—all the terrifying images that crowded his memory—including the attacks on his family.
Jack’s mouth fell open and his head quivered. Yes, Jack. This is the real world. This is what we are fighting.
The boy pushed back, and Frank felt his power. He heard a loud heartbeat fill his ears that was not his or the boy’s, and then…he saw it. The thing that had the boy quaking in his skin.
A barren land…
A scorched world, blackened and dead…
A burning orange sun, forever setting on the horizon…
The Heart of Darkness… The Father of all Monsters… The King of the Fallen…
The heart was enormous, and its beat boomed across their joined minds. It reached out with its tentacle-like veins, wrapping itself around Jack, squeezing and suffocating him. And Frank recognized that cadence from his own visions and tortured dreams, and the two of them were standing in front of the enormous heart that pounded at them, and it was reaching for Frank now with its—
An explosion of energy flashed between them, and Frank flew across the kitchen, slamming into the wall behind him. His brain shook in his skull and his sense of his surroundings dulled. The room was spinning as he tried to stand and his body was numb with pins and needles.
Jack was in front of him. Waves of energy rippled over him. Spittle hung from his lip and his fists were balled. “Stay out of my head,” Jack growled.
Frank stood slowly, trying to find the words. “Jack, what you saw… That’s what’s coming for us. The Heart of Darkness. That’s—”
“I know what it is,” Jack snarled. “It’s looking for me. It wants me. It tries to find me in my dreams.” He was shaking with fury, and Frank suddenly understood why the boy had been so withdrawn. The weight of it all, the terror and the fury of the creature—it’s too much for him.
“It’s coming for me and it wants to take everything from me. But I won’t let it. I won’t let it find me and I won’t let it hurt me. I’m not you. You’re nothing like me. You don’t know me. You don’t.”
“Jack, you’re right,” Frank said. “I’m not you, but I can help you. You’re only alone if you choose to be.”
Frank felt the rippling energy emanating from Jack become less intense, and his breathing slowed. His shoulders slumped, and he stared deadpan at Frank. “You’re not like me, and you can’t help me. It’s after me, and I need to get away from here. I’m…I’m marked.
“It wants me, and I won’t let it hurt me or my family.”
Jack turned, and in a blur he fled down the tunnel at Watcher speed. Frank got up and hesitated for a moment, the shock of the moment freezing him. He frowned, and took off after him.
38
ROY
October 28, 2015
Illinois Beach State Park, Illinois
Even wrapped in Legion’s form, the remaining human side of Roy found it difficult to keep warm as he made his way through the state park. Roy was frustrated, hungry, and cold. “Fuck nature!” he yelled at no one. “I fucking hate nature!” It was dark in the woods and the wind howled off the not too distant lake. At least it had stopped snowing, because I fucking hate snow! Fuck, I hate everything, don’t I? Roy shivered.
“How much further is it, goddammit?”
Almost there, master.
The woman had been quite useful. In the end, she had told him about her part in Nalsuu’s plan. She had been little more than a servant, hardly a pawn. Her job had been to give the confused bitch he had chosen as his queen food, shelter, and comfort. Somehow, Jessie hadn’t realized her power or who she was and she had needed help. She was freeing the Fallen from the Second Death for Him and had already freed Arraziel in Louisiana. Her next stop had been somewhere around here in the Illinois Beach State Park.
The bird-faced slut had told Roy of another grainy video that had been going viral. A dragon-looking creature had flown over Lake Michigan and the government had put out some phony story about an experimental aircraft, but the now beakless bird-face from the hotel had connected the dots nicely for Roy. It was no aircraft. It was Pasmet, another one of the Fallen the bitch had freed. Busy, busy bee she is, Roy sing-songed in his head as he floated along with Legion in the shivering cold.
Hours ago, he had sent a swarm of Legion to scout ahead in the park. The park was large along the lake, and he’d been meandering through it for hours waiting for his scout to come back. Finally, the scouts returned and whispered to Roy that they had found something. Roy searched through the demon’s memories and saw a large group of people at an abandoned facility in the woods. They looked like science and military types with their lab coats and khaki fatigues. Something had happened there for sure.
Watchers were there, master. Fallen were there…
A grisly grin spread across Roy’s face. He was getting closer. She was only a few steps ahead of him now.
“Well, let’s go say hello, hmm?” Roy chuckled. “Save a few for me to play with, Legion. Go now! Swell your ranks!”
The demon swarm separated, some remaining with him, and others gathering into a savaging mass chattering for blood. The latter flew off in a silent blur seeking their next meal. Legion had doubled in size since New York and Roy was pleased with his growing army.
Roy shot through the woods to join the first wave of the attack. As he neared the entrance, he heard gunshots and shouting. And then the shrieking came, and Roy shook, giddy with pleasure as he made his way toward the symphony of agony and pain.
The path through the woods opened to a gravel road. Legion deposited him on the ground and he waddled toward the facility, among the fear and blood and madness happening around him. His nostrils flared beneath the lighting that had been set up around the area. The black, oily bodies of Legion floated and slithered around the outside of the base, chasing down men and women, dining on them and incorporating them into the swarm.
Moans and hisses from Legion guided Roy through the doorway and down rusted metal stairs. “Fucking stairs!” he shouted. “Pick me up, goddammit!” And Legion did as it was commanded, taking Roy all the way to the bottom, the cries of Legion’s victims echoing up through the stairwell, from someplace deep and far away underground.
At the bottom of the steps, Roy saw a perfectly shaped doorway cut into the moss-covered gray wall. He stepped through and into a cave. More lighting had been set up, scientific instruments blinked and bleeped. He gazed around the area and noticed the iridescent green glow coming from behind fields and piles of rock. It looked as if the cave had been collapsed. A path had been cut through the cave-in, and Roy walked along the winding, rocky trail. It opened into an enormous underground lake which glowed green and lit the whole area in an eerie iridescence.
Legion swarmed over the lake in a whirling mass, hissing and moaning. Several men and women were being held captive by a smaller group of Legion. Some were unconscious, others were staring bug-eyed at the silky black appendages of their captor, frozen in fear.
“Oh look, a party!” Roy exclaimed, clapping his hands in front of him. The clap echoed over the water, drawing the attention of those who were still alive.
“I see you have met my friend,” he said sardonically, locking eyes with one of the men who was wearing a military uniform.
“Whatever you want, just take it and leave the civilians alone,” the military man said, scowling at Roy.
“Oh good, a hero,” Roy replied. “I do love a hero. They’re so predictable…and stupid. Legion?”
Roy snarled and Legion swooped down and grabbed the military man, yanking him up off the ground, dropping him in front of Roy. Roy’s belly jiggled with his laughter.
“Well, hero, here we are. Now I have some questions for you about a girl and a demon, and you will answer them or you’ll watch all these people die before you do.” He stepped closer to the man and grabbed h
im by the shirt, pulling him in. “And I promise, hero, it won’t be fucking pretty! Want a demonstration, army man? Legion, show him.”
Legion swooped down and picked a woman from the group. She screamed as the demon toyed with her in the air. The military man looked up, clenching and unclenching his fists as the demon passed the woman back and forth among its tentacle-like appendages, nibbling chunks out of her. The swarm became frenzied and, in a blur, tore her to pieces in the air. Blood and entrails splattered on the rocks around them. The man’s mouth fell open and Roy guffawed as the screams died away behind the moans and hisses of Legion.
“That was fun, wasn’t it?” Roy asked. “Now… Yoo-hoo!” Roy called to the man, who was still staring at the swarming demon and looked like he might puke. “Over here, army man,” Roy said, and when he didn’t listen, Roy slapped him. He turned to look at Roy, his mouth still open. “That’s better. Now, you will tell me everything you know about Jessie, the Fallen, and the Watchers, and then I will kill you quick.” He grinned.
The military man frowned. “I won’t tell you anything.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. So predictable, you heroes. Oh well. Time for some fun, then,” Roy replied, and his eyes grew dark and narrow. The cave became a melody of screams that echoed across the lake—and eventually, Roy got the answers he was looking for, and the ranks of Legion swelled.
But not before Roy had a few hours of fun.
39