The Forever Gate Ultimate Edition

by Isaac Hooke

  He hurt all over, but he dismissed the pain and, calling on all his gol strength, he forced himself up. He overlaid the map of the city over his vision and he stumbled through the mayhem, somehow finding the strength to fight off any Direwalkers that got in his way. He grew stronger with each step, and soon he was almost back to his old self.

  Rocks continued to fall from the sky, crushing houses, and sometimes Direwalkers. He glanced back a few times, but didn't see Brute.

  Yet.

  He reached the sewer outlet. A large group of Direwalkers had gathered there, fifty maybe, fighting the last of the holdouts. Cap and Al were still there, judging from the weak flames he saw arcing above the Direwalkers' heads. He wondered why the defenders hadn't fled into the sewers yet.

  He gathered his strength and then carved his way through the Direwalkers, his sword molten with the heat of bloodlust. Tanner felt no guilt at striking the enemy from behind, because that's exactly how Brute had dispatched him the first time they'd met.

  He ducked a claw to the face. He booted a Direwalker behind the knee. He released a torrent of flame. Tanner didn't dare stop, because to stop would mean to allow the Direwalkers to surround him.

  And then he was through. One moment he was surrounded by death and blood, the next he was face to face with Cap. The two of them very nearly struck each other down in that moment.

  Tanner swung to the side, fending off a Direwalker, and took his place beside Cap and Al.

  "Where you been?" Cap sounded muffled—Tanner's hearing still hadn't fully recovered.

  "Busy!" Tanner released a small spout of flame, enough to sear a Direwalker's face off. Tanner's strength was starting to ebb again, and his weapon felt heavier all the time. He could only imagine how tired the humans must feel. "Why haven't you fled?"

  "Outlet's sealed with rubble." Cap hewed the sword down with both hands, slicing open a Direwalker's neck. The man had definitely slowed. "Fire swords can't make a dent in it."

  Ah.

  Tanner deflected two blows, then kicked the first Direwalker in the chest and stabbed the second through the eye. "I'll see what I can do."

  He hurried to the outlet and stumbled over the mangled bodies just inside the tunnel. He reached an impassible wall of debris. Two defenders knelt before the wall, trying to dig it out.

  "Back!" Tanner said.

  The men obeyed.

  Tanner jabbed his sword into the rubble, right to the hilt. He pressed on the grip, shifting his weight left, right, up and down, but the blade wouldn't move. He released a fiery half-sphere like Ari had done in the chimney of Jeremy's duplicate mansion. The pressure created a momentary gap.

  Unfortunately, more debris simply flowed in to fill it.

  Trapped.

  93

  "I'm not your brother." Hoodwink said.

  "But I think you are. Why else do we look so much alike?" Jeremy clambered upright and turned around. Hoodwink could see his face a bit better. Jeremy had grown out his mustache, and now indeed he looked the spitting image of Hoodwink.

  Jeremy's gaze descended to the Dwarf. "You bring gifts?"

  "I bring doom. Yours, specifically." Hoodwink kicked the Dwarf behind the knee, and made the gol kneel. He secured the chain to one of the bed posts, welding the links in place with heat from the sword. Then he stalked forward, brandishing the blade casually in hand. "You used Brute to kill Ari."

  Jeremy raised his palms. "Now now, Hoodwink. The orders were to eliminate all outside threats. She was a threat."

  "She was part of my hand-picked team." Hoodwink didn't slow his advance.

  Jeremy stepped back, bumping into the mirror. "A team that robbed me of my Control Room, and both my Revision Rooms?"

  Hoodwink stopped roughly a pace from Jeremy. Close enough to spit him with the fire sword. "You were meant to give her the Boxes." His voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

  "Those orders were counter to the Great One's commands. I mentioned your order to him, and your interfering daughter, and the Great One specifically countermanded the order."

  "You tortured her when she first came," Hoodwink said. "Tried to revise her. Tanner told me everything."

  "Oh Hoodwink, why so dramatic? I didn't torture her. I tortured her friends, maybe. And sure, I might've tried to revise her, but that's not exactly a new experience for her now is it? We needed to know where the New User headquarters were. As I said, the Great One wanted to eliminate all outside threats."

  "That's not how Tanner told it. Said you wanted to find out how she became a gol."

  "Oh." Jeremy licked his lips. "Well, okay, that might have been earlier."

  "I find that mighty interesting, because you already knew that I was a gol. You just wanted any old excuse to revise her, didn't you?"

  "Now look, Hoodwink—"

  "And as for the New User headquarters, I could have easily told you where to find them. I could have told you everything."

  "And yet it is telling that you did not!" Jeremy said.

  Hoodwink shook his head. "You're cruel. Sadistic. And for no reason. What you did to Marks, what you did to Ari, it's beyond cause."

  Jeremy rounded his lips. "I am a bit cruel at times, aren't I? At least I can admit it. But come now, we both know that's why you like me so much. And I'd hardly say I'm cruel for no reason."

  Hoodwink raised an expectant eyebrow.

  "I am formed by my two greatest vices," Jeremy said. "My love for power, and I my hate for humanity. A world of clean, scentless gols is much preferable to a world of dirty, stinking humans. Humans are such pesky things, always running around to and fro, looking for things to do, moping about, whining about their lot in life. Always dirtying themselves by licking the feet of their betters. But I? I'll never lick any human's feet. I'm more than human. Super-human. The Übermensch. I know this. I sense it. I'm above every one of them. And as for my aforementioned cruelty, well now, I've always believed in a life without limits. A man in my position can do anything he wants. Anything. Without repercussions."

  "There's always repercussions." Hoodwink let vitra flow into the blade so that it became red-hot.

  Jeremy scarcely noticed. "Why are you so hard on me, Hoodwink? I did give your sweet little Ari the Control Room in the end. Along with her just deserts, speaking of repercussions."

  "Just deserts?" Hoodwink's hand shot out and the sword tip caressed the hollow of Jeremy's neck, beneath the bronze bitch. "I go away for a while, just a little while, and you destroy everything that's dear to me. You bastard, you goddamn bastard."

  He heard the sizzle of Jeremy's flesh. "You think me a fool don't you Hoodwink? It's a dangerous game you play, working both sides. Better to commit to one side or the other. You'll be torn apart in the ensuing bloodbath, mark my words."

  "Sides? The only side I'm on is my own." Hoodwink watched a small wisp of smoke rise from Jeremy's neck. "The time for games and pleasantries is over. Where's the disk?"

  A mocking smile curled those lips. "Ah. Now I understand. The disk. That's why you've come. That's why you bring the Dwarf in parley."

  Hoodwink gritted his teeth. "Where's the disk?"

  "The disk is with the Great One," Jeremy snapped.

  Hoodwink poured more heat into the fire sword. The stench of charred flesh in the room was growing strong. "Let me speak to One then."

  Jeremy laughed. A sword burning his throat, and he actually laughed. "You won't kill me, Hoodwink."

  "Won't I?" Hoodwink remained motionless. He watched the smoke hiss from the flesh wound. The blade was so hot that it instantly cauterized the gash, preventing any blood from spilling forth.

  But Jeremy was still smiling. "Go ahead. Do it. All your plans shall come to ruin. The Council shall have your head."

  "You remember, then?" Hoodwink wondered at the resourcefulness of this man. Had Jeremy known all along?

  Then he noticed that Jeremy's eyes were twinkling. Ah. The man had been fishing. He knew nothing of the Council.

 
"I remember enough," Jeremy spat. "Enough to know that this world isn't real. It never was. It never will be."

  Hoodwink nodded to himself. "Repeating the words of others. The Council, and the world you came from, but a half-remembered dream. A memory of a dream." He turned the blade slightly, widening the flesh-wound. "Give me the disk, or give me One. Choose. Or die."

  Jeremy's eyes burned with zeal. "The Great One does not appear to just anyone. The Great One—"

  Hoodwink lowered the sword, scarcely able to conceal his irritation. He'd have to try a different tack. The truth, perhaps? In addition to getting the disk, he might even be able to plant enough doubt to change the course of events. "You know why One wants the Dwarf so badly, don't you?"

  Jeremy bit his lip, and his eyebrows bent toward his nose. "I'm sure you'll enlighten me."

  "With the Dwarf, One can become you. For good. There will be no mayor. No Jeremy. Only One."

  Jeremy licked his lips nervously. "You lie. The Great One made me a promise. I shall be rewarded for my services."

  "Rewarded by becoming his vessel."

  "No." Jeremy whispered.

  "You know it's true. Tell me, have you noticed blocks of time missing from your day? What did you do this morning? Last night? You can't remember, can you? The time is gone. During those lost moments, One rules your mind and body."

  "No."

  "What reward did One promise anyway? To bring you to that world you dream of every night?" Hoodwink glanced at the sculpture of a sea creature beside him. "That world of water?"

  Jeremy looked at the sculpture, saying nothing.

  "Water." The word rolled off Hoodwink's tongue with a vile taste. "If you ever go back, you'll get your world of water all right. You'll drink your fill. Just not in the way you'd hoped. That's if your mind can even take the strain. You'll probably return as an empty shell like most of the others. Like I almost did."

  Jeremy studied him, those beady eyes moving back and forth, processing, thinking.

  "You should be congratulated, I suppose. Of all of us, you were the only one who succeeded. Though you've become insane for it. The mayor with the mind of a psychopath. Maybe it's for the best that One takes over."

  Jeremy's face was the model of confusion. "What are you talking about, Hoodwink? I succeeded at what?" His voice betrayed a slight tremor.

  "You said you knew this world wasn't real. Well, you got that part right. It is an illusion, that's very true. The body you see here is merely your avatar, a reflection of your true self. We're actually on a ship. In space. Crashed on a moon. Now here's the tricky part. One is the main A.I. of this ship. The master gol, if you want. You created a little germ and fed it to One. Your germ changed One, and that germ started to trickle down to the other A.I.s. The gol mind disease? It's all you. But there were blocks in place that stopped the germ from bringing down this reality entirely. So you changed the germ somehow, and with it you linked your avatar to One so that you could get around some of those blocks.

  "The link didn't come without a price, of course. It ate away at your mind, and you slowly became mad. I helped as I could when I reached the Outside and understood what I was. How much of it you remember, who knows, but I guided you, because your madness blinded you. With the children I'd gathered, I helped you tweak the source of the gols to make the Direwalkers. I helped you create Brute, and the bomber gols. I helped One.

  "And now that One has the Dwarf, the A.I. will take you over entirely. Think of it as being revised. Except far, far worse. And it's all your doing."

  Jeremy regarded him in silence for a long moment. Then he smiled a false smile, his eyes white with fear. "And I thought I was mad. You're crazier than a fox Hoodwink my dear fellow."

  Hoodwink exhaled a long breath. He'd told the truth. Would it make a difference in the hours to come?

  He spun Jeremy toward the mirror and forced him to his knees. "Summon One."

  Jeremy smiled. "I cannot simply—"

  "Do it!"

  Jeremy glanced at the fireplace. "Oh no."

  Hoodwink followed his gaze. There was a clock on the mantle there. Three o'clock.

  Jeremy's body flickered.

  The chamber seemed to darken. Jeremy's face was now hidden in shadow. The gold threadwork had vanished from his sleeve. His hands were bone-white, and instead of four fingers and a thumb each hand possessed two thick, ridged digits. Electricity sparked from them.

  On the robe was written a single number.

  One.

  94

  Unsure of what to do, Tanner withdrew the sword and stared at the wall of debris that blocked the outlet. He considered using his last pipe bomb to blast his way through the rubble, but he suspected that would only make matters worse.

  He pulled up the city map in his head.

  This entire area used to be swampland before the system froze the city. He zoomed in on his current location. According to the map, there was another outlet just twenty paces to the north of this one.

  He hurried outside.

  "To me!" Tanner said. "There's another way out!" He led the defenders along the concrete wall, away from the first outlet. Direwalkers offered resistance every step of the way.

  "Where are we going?" Cap cut off a claw aimed at his face. The man's movements seemed to be growing more sluggish all the time.

  "Another outlet!" Tanner ignored his own fatigue, and did his best to defend against the constant barrage.

  "There isn't another outlet!" Cap said.

  Tanner stopped beside a part of the wall that was covered in snow drifts. He swept fire across the area and cleared it. There was indeed an outlet.

  Except the entrance was sealed by an ice plug. At least, he hoped it was a plug—if the outlet was frozen all the way through then he and the defenders were in trouble.

  Fighting against his weariness, Tanner stabbed his sword into the ice. The blade sank deep, resisting him all the way, but it yielded for the final inch. If the ice was as thick as his blade was long, there was no way he'd be able to remove the plug, even if he carved a circle.

  He'd have to melt it.

  He summoned all the vitra he could muster and heated the blade.

  The ice melted slowly.

  Too slowly.

  Arrows rained down around him—Direwalker bowmen had taken up positions on the rooftops.

  "Help me!" he said.

  Cap and Al joined him, and stabbed their own blades into the ice with obvious effort.

  "Make your blades as hot as possible," Tanner said.

  Behind them, the closest men lifted shields to protect Tanner, Cap and Al from the arrows, while others fought off the Direwalkers.

  The ice melted down to his shoulders, enough for Tanner to peer into the tunnel beyond. With relief, he noted that it was empty inside. Thick as the length of his blade, but just a plug after all then.

  There was a commotion behind him.

  Brute had arrived, and was hacking down the defenders two at a time.

  Melting the ice plug wasn't going to cut it anymore.

  "Step back," Tanner told Cap and Al.

  He slid his sword out and plunged the blade into different parts of the ice again and again. Faster he moved. Faster. Ice fragments struck his face. Cracks formed.

  On the twentieth blow he released a sphere of flame at the same time, and the ice plug collapsed inward.

  "Go!" Tanner hurried inside, and waited by the entrance as Cap, Al and the other defenders dashed over the icy shards. "Hurry!"

  He fetched the last pipe bomb from his satchel. The final defender raced toward him—

  Four scimitars erupted from the man's chest, and he was drawn back toward the entrance.

  Brute.

  Tanner bit the igniter and tossed the bomb at the four-armed Direwalker.

  He raced away down the cramped tunnel, expecting the bomb to go off any second.

  It didn't.

  Had he bitten away too little of the fuse?

 
; Had Brute found a way to deactivate it?

  He was just starting to turn back when the bomb detonated.

  The shock-wave flung Tanner down the tunnel. He fell, skidding across the frozen sewage that formed the floor. Flames ripped past him. He felt the intense heat all along his backside.

  When it had passed, he scrambled to his feet. The floor had become slushy beneath him. The stench of sewage made him crinkle his nose. Though his fire sword provided light, he could only see a few spans in any direction because of the dust that filled the tunnel. The high-pitched keening in his ears had returned worse than ever. Fresh blood trickled down his lobes.

  Because of the dust cloud, he couldn't tell if the bomb had sealed the tunnel entrance or not. Well, he'd just have to assume that it had.

  Because he sure as hell wasn't going to wait for the cloud to settle. He and the others had to go.

  Now.

  He stumbled forward. The dust was slowly clearing, and he found the others resting against the tunnel wall not far ahead. The last defenders of the Black Faction. Al Dooran. Calico Cap. Seven other hard men.

  Cap patted Tanner on the back and said something to him, but Tanner couldn't hear a thing, and just nodded his head.

  Face covered in dust like that, Cap's resemblance to Hoodwink in that moment was unsettling. Tanner could've almost believed that it was Hoodwink.

  Hoodwink.

  He wondered how his friend was holding up. He was probably seeing Cora, the Dwarf, and the Boxes to safety at this very moment.

  Good old Hoodwink. You could always rely on him.

  "Let's go," Tanner said, not hearing his own voice.

  95

  Hoodwink backed away until he reached the Dwarf. He fumbled for the chain, not taking his eyes from One, wanting to make sure he had his bargaining chip in hand.

  One stood. It didn't turn around, but rather spoke to Hoodwink from its reflection in the mirror. "Excellent, Hoodwink." Those unseen lips spoke in a deep, inhuman baritone. "I am pleased."

  Beside Hoodwink, the Dwarf fell to its knees and placed its face in its hands. Loud sobs came from the gol.