by Brett Baker
“I see” he said, turning his attention back to Watanabe. “You’ve brought them here. No doubt seeking answers. Well since you have gone through so much trouble to find me I suppose I have the obligation to play the accommodating host. Please, follow me.”
The guards lowered their weapons, and Rin, Lexi, and Watanabe fell into step behind Markus as he led them back down belowdecks.
“For starters, my name is not Peter Markus, it’s Peter Torvix. Can I offer you some foie gras? Caviar? Champagne?” Torvix began as they found a luxurious cabin, with a central marble-top table surrounded by big soft white leather chairs, a white leather sofa along one wall facing a marble-topped bar with a sumptuous spread of delicacies, and two silver buckets with bottles of champagne chilling on ice within.
“Expecting company?” Watanabe asked as he, Rin, and Lexi took seats around the table.
“What makes you think I wasn’t already entertaining?” Torvix replied.
Just then a lovely blond woman peeked her head out from the other cabin, Rin and Lexi could both see a rumpled bed beyond half festooned with silk sheets.
“Petey are you coming back to bed?” the woman asked in a seductive tone.
“No” Torvix replied coldly. “This is more important. Get dressed and get out.”
The girl pouted for a moment, then slammed the cabin door.
Torvix downed half a flute of champagne, then turned to face them.
“So, Watanabe, how did you find out I had your daughters?” Torvix began.
“Wait… daughters?” Lexi replied in an incredulous tone as her wide-eyed gaze shot over to Watanabe who stared back at her completely stone-faced.
Torvix chuckled to himself for a moment. “You mean you didn’t know? That’s… odd.”
“He doesn’t tell us a lot of things!” Lexi said, her glare burning into Watanabe.
“You didn’t really think you could kidnap them from school without my finding out did you?” Watanabe answered after another moment, turning his attention back to Torvix.
Torvix smiled. “Last I heard you were somewhere in the myriad of shadow earths, so yeah, I kind of did.”
“What do you want with them?” Watanabe asked in a growl.
“They’re the daughters of the Hermit of Umbral Earth. I want for them the same thing that you have for yourself. Power.”
Rin was thoroughly confused and didn’t understand anything that was happening. Why did Watanabe suddenly seem so chummy with Torvix? Why was it that Torvix didn’t seem at all afraid of them? And was Lexi actually right this whole time? Was Watanabe really not telling them anything?
“The Hermit of Umbral Earth?” Lexi asked.
“My goodness, you really don’t know do you?” Torvix replied, his eyes falling on Lexi. “Your father is the last survivor of a dead reality, murdered by Queen Milandra, the ruler of Pandeamonium.”
“Wait” Lexi replied, shaking her head as confusion filled her eyes. “who?”
Torvix let out a loud audible sigh. “You really should educate your children, Watanabe. Maybe then, I wouldn’t have had to kidnap them. Let’s start with the basics. The multiverse is made up of countless universes all coexisting at once. There are nine protorealities. Eternal Earth, which is the realm of Order, and the eight realms of Chaos, the worst of which is Umbral Earth.”
“Umbral Earth is ruled by Queen Milandra.” Torvix continued. “She sits on the throne of shadows in a city called Pandaemonium. It’s a wretched place filled with complete anarchy, and fumes that can choke the very life out of you. Only the strong survive there, everybody else is prey. Your father was Queen Milandra’s lover. He even fathered two children by her. But then he fled, and in her vengeance, Milandra destroyed his entire home reality. There are any myriad of Earths just like this one that are cast like shadows from the conflict between Order and Chaos. Your father, after fleeing Umbral Earth hid in these shadow earths. He’s a loner, always on the run, always careful to avoid attachments or anything else that might make him vulnerable, so on Eternal Earth, which is where I am from, we call him the Hermit of Umbral Earth.”
“So why did you kidnap us and experiment on us?” Lexi asked.
“Because I had to,” Torvix replied crossing his arms as he leaned back against the bar. “Milandra’s ambition is endless and so is her ruthlessness. There are signs that this Earth, this reality is already in her sights. And here are the daughters of the Hermit of Umbral Earth, the powerful psionicist who evaded Milandra’s wrath, and who is feared by the courts of Order and Chaos alike. If you possess even a fraction of his power, then you can fight to protect your reality.
“What are you talking about?” Lexi asked, a clear dose of skepticism dripping in her tone.
“You don’t see them in the cities” Torvix replied. “Not yet anyway. There aren’t enough of them yet, but they’re here… the hordlings.”
“Hordlings!” Watanabe replied, “here?”
Torvix nodded. “They kill, murder, sew the seeds of chaos, so that their masters can draw mana from it. If they can sew enough chaos and disarray, then it opens the door for Milandra’s greatest weapon: the devourer.”
“What is a devourer?” Lexi asked.
“A massive creature of darkness and entropy, which consumes all. It was the devourer which ended Watanabe’s native reality.”
“This all sounds pretty fantastical” Rin offered. “It’s like something out of a fairytale or something.”
“More like a nightmare.” Torvix replied. “I was skeptical at first too. But then I saw it. It was so large it blotted out the sun, with a massive maw that can swallow entire planets and even stars whole. Once it is released into your reality it will roam the starways consuming all in its path until there is nothing left. If it can consume enough fast enough as it did in Watanabe’s universe, then it can cause spacetime to collapse on itself and cease to exist. It literally eats itself into oblivion.“
“The court of Order won’t allow another universe to be destroyed. Work with us girls. Help us protect the multiverse.”
Watanabe shook his head. “Your real aim isn’t to protect the multiverse, and we both know it. If you’re goals were really as noble as you make them sound, you would never have resorted to kidnapping and human experimentation to achieve them.”
“All I did was awaken the abilities that were already laying dormant within them” Torvix protested, turning his attention to Watanabe.
“You did more than just that!” Watanabe said rising from his seat and marching angrily over to stand face-to-face with Torvix. “You programmed skills into muscle memory. If you were willing to toy with their memories, then what else were you willing to toy with?”
Torvix looked past Watanabe to Rin and Lexi. “Girls I am truly sorry if I caused you any distress. Trust me when I say that I fight on the side of righteousness, and I had nothing but the best intentions for you both. Will you fight with us? Will you help us to protect your world, and your universe?”
Rin and Lexi were both a little hesitant given this exchange. Neither of them knew who to believe since Watanabe was their father, but had withheld so much from them.
Finally, Lexi, her eyes on Watanabe’ nodded in agreement.
“And what about you Rin? Torvix asked.
“If Lexi will then so will I,” Rin replied.
“They’re my daughters” Watanabe said, his eyes burning into Torvix. “If they will fight with you, then so will I. But be warned, I’m not going to let you manipulate them again.”
“Excellent!” Torvix said in a boisterous tone as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “You know, I have a 75 year old bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild I have been saving for a special occasion. Shall we break it open to celebrate?”
“No we shall not!” Watanabe replied in an incredulous tone. “They’re 14!”
Torvix laughed. “Fair enough.” Well then, let’s meet tomorrow morning, back at the old site. Shall we say 7am?”
“Why would you want us to go back there?” Lexi asked.
“To begin your training, of course!” Torvix answered.
*******
They rode the I-train back to the safehouse in silence. To Rin the entire encounter with Torvix seemed kind of surreal. Closing her eyes, Rin tried to listen for the music.
“I’m just going to come out and ask it” Lexi began, “Why didn’t you tell us you’re our father?”
“It’s complicated” Watanabe answered with a pained look on his face.
“What’s complicated about it?” Lexi replied. “Hey Lexi, Rin, I’m your father.”
“Let’s focus on what’s important here” Watanabe replied. “You agreed to help Torvix despite my warnings against it.”
“Well I didn’t hear you offer any solutions to save the world.” Lexi shot back, rolling her eyes.
“Torvix can’t be trusted!” Watanabe warned.
“Like you’ve done anything to earn our trust!” Lexi spat back angrily.
“He did release us from stasis” Rin interjected.
“Why did you agree to fight with Torvix?” Watanabe pressed. “It was just to defy me wasn’t it?”
“Look who suddenly thinks everything’s all about him! No wonder you left us!” Lexi spat, angrily. “I agreed to help Torvix because it will save the planet… you know this planet? Where we live?”
Rin looked across at Lexi, and felt her own cheeks flushing as her frustration with Lexi rose within her. Even she could tell that no matter how much Lexi protested, she at least in part agreed to help Torvix just to irritate Watanabe to get back at him for holding out on them. “How do we know Torvix isn’t going to try to put us back in stasis tomorrow?”
“I can’t believe you’re taking his side!” Lexi spat, angrily turning on Rin.
“Stop it! There are no sides!” Rin protested. “We’re family! You may not trust Watanabe, but I do! You want to work with Torvix fine! I’ll work with him too! But if Watanabe says we can’t trust him, then I believe him!”
Then the train pulled up to a stop, and a few people boarded, forcing their conversation to fall quiet. The three of them rode in silence the rest of the way back, and Lexi simmered at both Rin and Watanabe, while Rin rode with her eyes closed, trying to hear the music, but unable to listen past her own frustration with Lexi. Watanabe meanwhile sat in silence, watching them both without expression.
Once their stop arrived, they disembarked and walked back to the safehouse without a word spoken between them.
*******
Morning seemed to arrive earlier than most. Without a word the three of them showered, got dressed, ate a light breakfast, and headed back to the hidden lab where Torvix had kept them locked away for four months.
Torvix met them there, clad in a white tunic and trousers, and white dress shoes; flanked by Sully on one side, and the Guardpost Commander on the other. Seeing the three of them together made both Lexi and Rin cringe, expecting the worst, but much to their surprise as they arrived, Torvix smiled and spread his arms wide.
“Welcome back” Torvix began. “Allow me to introduce my associates. This is Lars Gunderson” Torvix began, gesturing to Sully, “He is a General in the Army of Order, and one of my most trusted associates, And this is James Blanchard” he continued, gesturing toward the Guardpost Commander. “Blanchard is Gunderson’s second-in-command. Now, follow me please, I have something to show you, and I daresay when you see it you will find it quite impressive.”
The three of them followed Torvix, with Gunderson and Blanchard falling into step behind them.
Rin and Lexi couldn’t help but look nervously back at the pair of them, realizing that in the last few days they had pummeled the both of them. Lexi even found herself wondering how Gunderson had recovered so quickly from the broken rib she had given him, but if either of them were harboring a grudge, they did nothing to alert either of the girls or Watanabe of it.
Searching for a sign of what to expect, Rin listened for the music in what she heard around her. What she heard was a quiet, sleepy adagio.
Torvix brought them up a side corridor, which neither of the girls recognized, and as they approached the end of the corridor, a pair of white sliding doors parted, revealing a wide chamber beyond. And at the center of that chamber, was a platform with a strange device upon it, which housed at its center a swirling vortex of shimmering energy. There was a long walkway of metal grates, bordered on either side by metal railings, which led to another higher platform and a ramp leading up to it at the back end of the room.
Watanabe’s eyes grew wide as soon as he saw it. “You’ve built a dimensional portal?”
Torvix smiled and nodded. “It wasn’t easy given this earth’s still primitive technology, but with the resources of Eternal Earth, nothing is impossible.”
Then Torvix turned his attention to Rin and Lexi as he gestured toward the far platform along the back wall. “Shall we?”
“Where are we going?” Lexi asked.
“To Elysium, the bastion of order throughout the Multiverse.”
Torvix meanwhile, seeing their hesitation smiled. “Of course, I forgot, you girls haven’t traveled between dimensions before. Well, allow me to provide a demonstration.”
Torvix looked beyond them to Gunderson and Blanchard, and gestured toward the portal with his head. The two walked past them and climbed up onto the platform as Torvix began navigating through holomenus. Then suddenly, a beam of blueish-white energy shot out at the platform, engulfing the both of them. And in a brief instant, they were gone.
“What happened to them?” Rin asked, her eyes shooting wide open and her brows furrowing.
“They’ve returned home of course.” Torvix replied. “Come with me, and I will show you wonders beyond imagining.”
Rin and Lexi looked to Watanabe, and he nodded to them reassuringly. “Don’t worry, it’s safe.”
The two girls and Watanabe followed Torvix as they climbed up the ramp and mounted the platform, and as Torvix navigated through the holomenus, suddenly a blueish-white energy shot out toward them. Like a wave it washed over them, caressing them, and then it twisted and writhed and the universe twisted and writhed with it and was suddenly gone like a distant whispered memory.
And for but only an instant, Rin found herself floating in the midst of the full fury and beauty of the orchestra of universes. The song didn’t just fill her, it was her, and she was it. With countless voices at once, she rose like a flame soaring through endless skies of melody, then receded into quiet and thoughtful harmony. And from deep within herself, Rin could feel joy welling up. It was the joy of an omniscient and omnipresent parent watching its tiny, mortal children live and flourish. It was the joy of all existence marveling at the greatest and most rare gift that could be given – life. And in that moment, Rin realized that the multiverse itself was alive, and it had a will of its own.
Then as suddenly as the orchestral rapture had arrived it was gone again, and Rin found herself standing on solid ground, and surrounded on all sides by towers of alabaster and gold. Lexi, Watanabe, Torvix, Gunderson, and Blanchard were all there as well.
Lexi stood next to Rin, craning her neck, and shielding her eyes from the sun above with her hands as she gazed upon the soaring towers which reached up into the skies like the outstretched fingers of some great gilded hand grasping for the sun. “This is…?” she prompted.
“Elysium” Torvix said, finishing her sentence for her. “The Eternal City.”
Rin suddenly noticed the wide-eyed stares of disbelief from all the denizens of the city around them. Tugging at Lexi’s sleeve, she redirected her sister’s attention to the locals.
“Uh why is everybody staring at us?” Lexi asked.
“Eh, you probably just remind them of somebody” Torvix replied, dismissing the matter out-of-hand with a shrug.
But Watanabe’s wordless reaction was not lost on Rin. She noticed him shaking his head, and the deep and heavy look
of sorrow in his eyes in that moment.
“Come,” Torvix beckoned as he started walking ahead of them, “let me show you the jewel in the crown of this city, the Tower of Justice.”
Torvix led them along a winding street of carefully carved, and intricately laid flagstone tiles, which made its way uphill to the top of the city; and atop that hill, a soaring oval shaped tower which stood so high above them, that they struggled to see the top of it with the naked eye.
“I’ve never seen a building so tall” Lexi marveled. “It must go up into the clouds or something.”
“It’s the tallest building on this world” Torvix replied proudly. “Home of the Court of Order.”
“I’ve heard you use that term before. What is the Court of Order?” Lexi asked as they followed Torvix through a pair of tall sliding doors and into a cavernous lobby set with grand staircases of white and gold.
“I’m glad you asked” Torvix replied. “The Court of Order is a formal gathering of the most powerful Lords of Order. It’s where we make decisions that will affect the fate of the multiverse.”
“Torvix is one of its highest ranking members” Gunderson added, “one of 3 Princes of Order.”
They followed Torvix up the grand staircase, to a pad, on the mezzanine above. As they stepped onto it, suddenly, there was a flash of light, and they found themselves in an office high above. The opposite wall was a vast curving window, stretching from end to end. There was an oval desk of glass, and a comfortable chair of white leather. They stood on plush white carpet, and a chandelier of various crystals hung above their heads.
Torvix sat down behind the desk facing them, and nodded to Blanchard, who left the room for a moment, only to return with two men dressed in golden blast armor. They each held a pole which was affixed to a collar around the neck of a creature of hardened chitinous plates, sharp teeth and deadly looking claws. It was as if somebody had bred a dog with a praying mantis, and tortured it until it grew mean enough to tear a person in two. As it entered, and it saw them it lashed and snapped at them in futility, its movements restrained by its captors.