Murdering Her Light

by Michael Clement

  Kara’s mind shivered.

  Then, her walls came tumbling down.

  A sense of wonder filled me, as Kara reached out to me, creating a tunnel between our minds. Then, a wall came up, but this time, it was if a door existed for just me, into her soul.

  “Friend?” she purred, as I unlatched the cage.

  I picked her up. She weighed about fifteen pounds and was about the size of a large cat.

  “Friend,” I said out loud, as I placed her on my shoulder.

  Now, if I could only keep Zebulon from killing her.

  - 27 -

  I walked back into Zebulon’s office with Kara on my shoulders. Like normal, I knelt in front of him. In my mind, I warned Kara that he was dangerous and that I wasn’t able to protect her from him. I would fight for her -- and most likely die -- but we wouldn’t win… not yet.

  She sent me a quick acknowledgment. Mimicking me, she climbed down my back and knelt next to me.

  “You chose a M andraga ?” he asked, confused with my choice. “She is tiny and not a fitting choice for my apprentice. Go back and pick a larger, fiercer animal. Something with big teeth and claws.”

  “With all due respect my Lord, she is strong-willed and capable of taking care of herself,” I replied. “Together, we will make a fierce opponent.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled, giving up on me.

  Picking up a stack of papers, he handed them to me.

  “Read these,” he commanded.

  They were part of the manuscript that Tori had negotiated with him to be translated.

  Again, I read, “My name is General Elijah Richardson. I was the commanding officer of Fort Sam Houston, when we brought the others to our world, including the wretched spiders who destroyed everything. And, I know the whereabouts of the Shadarstalk, the Door of Blight and Harm.”

  Taking a deep breath, I continued. “It was June 28th, 2018 when the Door opened on the San Antonio Riverwalk, of all places. I was eating lunch at the Mall when suddenly, I felt hot, like I was standing in front of a raging inferno. Looking around, I saw that several of the other customers were fanning themselves and sweating. I stood up, but then collapsed again into my chair when something yanked the energy from my body. Shaking, I could barely move. I had never felt anything like it before. I wasn’t a believer in God... until that very moment.”

  I looked up at Zebulon who was listening closely, so I continued to read. “Something evil was feeding on my soul. Hell, I didn’t even know that I had a soul until something bit into it and ripped a chunk free. An older woman next to me screamed when her husband collapsed clutching his heart. And, then, the strangest thing happened. A doorway opened in the middle of the little stone island in front of me. At Least, it looked like a doorway to me. It was huge, at least fifteen feet tall and around ten feet wide. Other people that I talked to later reported that it looked like the air split open.”

  “Then, I was thrown from my chair, as a blast of displaced air slammed into my body. The tables and chairs were thrown against the glass windows, shattering them. The river water shot up into the air, drenching the frightened people. When I sat up, I could hear a rushing noise, similar to the sound that a waterfall makes. No one was making any sound. We were all scared to death. And, then, things got so much worse. A monster exited the doorway and entered our world.”

  Taking another breath, I licked my dry lips. “It was about nine feet tall and the beast was covered in bronze armor. It had legs like a spider, but without the massive abdomen. A man-like body rose up over those legs, but there was also a sort of twisted section that curled underneath him and ended in a spike. He was holding a spear with a glowing red crystal embedded in the shaft below the blade. A red flag fluttered above the crystal, snapping in the wind that came out of the doorway. The monster strode forward and slammed the butt of the spear into the ground, somehow embedding it into the concrete. Then, he shouted the damnedest words.”

  “I claim this land in the name of the King of Abishikaashi. He was smiling as he removed his helmet and stared at us like we were savages who were about to be civilized. Fuck, maybe to him we were.”

  “I didn’t like his words. Something about him claiming our land rankled in my spirit. So, I did something rash. I drew my service revolver and without a thought, I fired on him. My bullets slammed into his head and blew out the other side, spraying the wall behind him with a nasty green mush. The bastard collapsed and fell into the water. Some fool whooped and screamed, ‘Come and Take it, you alien bitch!’”

  Zebulon’s knuckles cracked loudly. Turning, I looked at the Sorceror and noticed that he was trembling. I sat the next page on the table and picked it up.

  “Silver spheres, about four feet in diameter flew out of the rip in the air next. Maybe a few dozen in total. They must not have been expecting to have walls of glass and steel around them, because several of the spheres slammed through the glass and went careening into the mall. Women began to scream, as they grabbed their children started to run. Mass panic gripped the crowd, as they realized that it was time to run. They rushed for the stairways out of the Riverwalk.”

  “I hid behind a steel girder. There were just too many people to try to calm them. And, it wouldn’t have helped. A thrumming noise that sounded like a trio of giants pounding on kettle drums began to vibrate through the doorway and pounded at the men and women who were trying to escape, increasing their panic.”

  “Then… more monsters came pouring forth from the doorway, at first dozens, then hundreds, and finally thousands of them. More spheres roared over their heads as they came out of the rip, jumped the river and landed among the fleeing crowds. The river was at least twenty feet wide and still, they cleared the jump with ease.”

  “They had blades in their hands that slashed and cut, ripping the people to pieces. I fled like a coward down the Riverwalk, just another fool mixed into the crowd of a thousand fools. We had fought with each other for centuries, over food, sex, and gold when we should have been preparing for the monsters to return.”

  “What, you say, return? They had never been here before. But, I discovered the truth too late. They had been to our world in the distant past, before the White Christ sealed it shut to save us all. Our savior sacrificed himself -- to save us -- but we squandered his gift of precious time. If only we had worshiped him more fervently, maybe the monsters would have passed us by. But, instead, we put our faith in the Warlocks and their bloody gods who claimed our lands instead. Lord, please forgive us and protect your foolish children.”

  Tears coated the paper at this point, smudging out many of the words.

  Lowering my gaze, I picked up the next page in the story and continued.

  “Somehow, I made it down the river. During that time, I saw children eaten, women beheaded and whole boats capsized filled with tourists. The bloody attackers ripped the foolish, unprepared, humans to pieces. And, stranger still, the monsters exhibited powers similar to our Warlocks.”

  “I ran for miles, leaving the Riverwalk behind. The crowds had thinned and most people didn’t even know that we were being invaded. Looking around, I realized that I was in Travis Park. I looked up at the statue of the man impaled on a spike. The great coward and traitor, William Barrett Travis who turned against our Emperor, Santa Anna, the First among the Perfect.”

  My own words chilled me. Santa Anna had been a butcher and upstart from Mexico who had tried to crush the Alamo, in my world. But here, on Chasomine, he was something else entirely.

  “Keep reading,” Zebulon insisted, absorbed by the tale.

  I set down the page that I had been reading and picked up the last.

  “I used a payphone to call Fort Sam Houston, where I was stationed. My commanding officer thought that I had lost my mind. He refused to scramble the jets and attack helicopters. He called me a raving madman. And, then, I heard him screaming. In the background, I heard explosions and the whine of those silver spheres.”

  “If only he had
launched our planes. They might have been able to slow the invasion. San Antonio is the home of the Emperor, the Supreme power in this hemisphere. With his son’s aid, we might have triumphed.”

  “But, humanity is made up of greedy fools. We had been at the top of the food chain for millennia and had forgotten how to prepare for disasters. The monsters overran base after base, killing Warlocks with ease, as they destroyed our legions.”

  “I am the only survivor of the massacre of San Antonio. I saw when the door between the world of Abishikaashi and Chasomine opened. It is called the Shadarstalk, the Door of Blight and Harm by the monsters... the Shadar. They came to our world as Vikings, to rape, plunder, and pillage.”

  “And, worse yet, they told their allies about Earth. Monsters using Shadar magic opened gateways all over our world, polluting our home with thousands of monsters, each one worse than the spider-like monsters who attacked Texas.”

  “Thankfully, the monsters hadn’t expected our technology or our Warlocks. But, the unending fighting shattered our civilization and ecosphere. The world is now more of a Wasteland now than the Garden of Eden that our Lord’s father created. Creatures out of a thousand drunk nightmares roam the land, looking for flesh to eat and blood to spill. The Shadar had expected an easy war with many spoils. I was told by Kazlagerath himself they were only supposed to be here for a few short weeks.”

  “And, they would have been, except, that fool, the Warlock Prime, snapped the connections to their worlds and sealed us away again, just as the White Christ had down millennia ago. He closed the Shadarstalk -- and all the other gateways like it -- trapping the monsters here, with us.”

  “My name is General Elijah Richardson, and I am the last who saw how he did it, God curse his rotten soul.”

  The words ended.

  I set the paper down, and Zebulon started shaking. “Read more,” he insisted.

  “There is no more,” I said.

  Zebulon snapped his legs up and down anxiously, slamming his talons into the tile floor.

  “Fine,” he hissed. “Maybe what I seek will be in the next batch of papers that you agreed to read. Tomorrow we will begin again. Now, it is time for some fun.”

  He reached down and grabbed my shoulder, pulling me behind him as he bull-rushed his way out of the room and down another corridor. He had forgotten Kora, who had slipped under his desk while I was reading. I acted like I didn’t notice, to keep her safe.

  Zebulon rushed down flights of stairs in a whirlwind, running faster than the wind until he arrived at what looked like a subway station in New York.

  There weren’t subways in my San Antonio, but apparently, there had been one in this world. It had been abandoned centuries ago. Everything metal was covered in rust. Tiles clung to the ceiling, but just barely. Dust and old bones covered the corners of the room. Against one wall, I saw an old baby doll that had been forgotten ages ago.

  Without breaking stride, the Shadar jumped down onto the tracks and raced into the dark tunnels. I pulled my body in close to his to protect myself. Zebulon was running like the Devil himself was chasing after him.

  What could be so important? I wondered.

  I couldn’t see a thing and the only thing that I could hear was the incessant slamming of his talons into the ground.

  It was cold down here. It slipped into my flesh like a lost lover who had been waiting for me on her deathbed. The tunnels smelt musty and awful, like shit, for the lack of a better description. Something large was living down here and using the tunnels for its toilet.

  It was probably good that I couldn’t see anything.

  After almost an hour, Zebulon roared up a subway platform and then flowing up the stairs like a ghost. He exploded into the abandoned city streets. The desert had overtaken the city. Houses were half collapsed and bigger buildings around me were missing most of their glass windows. Ancient graffiti, pleading for the Warlocks to save the people covered the walls.

  Zebulon ignored everything, plunging onward until he stopped in front of a massive tent that had been erected in the middle of the street. On my right, several large motorized vehicles sat idling. The smell of their diesel engines wrapped around me, making me feel like civilization still existed. Shadar soldiers stood at attention, bowing to Zebulon as he rushed into the pavilion.

  They had machine guns in their hands. The sight shocked me. I thought that guns had ceased to exist with the fall of civilization.

  Apparently not.

  Comfort was waiting there. She was wearing crimson silk today with thick golden armbands. The monster of my dreams looked savage and beautiful at the same time. A young human girl was sitting on her lap. She had Mexican ancestry and looked to be about five, maybe. I had seen her before in the kitchens, working with her mother. The child smiled at me, as she ate an ice cream cone.

  A man was kneeling on the floor in chains. He had a scruffy beard and a bald head. Unsavory tattoos covered his muscular body in a chaotic mixture of what do I want to ink my body with today. He was wearing a brown frayed jumpsuit with no sleeves. His front pocket was ripped, and he looked pale and unkempt.

  Zebulon skidded to a halt in front of the prisoner, throwing me to the ground with a thud. I lay there momentarily stunned. My shoulder ached and throbbed from where he had gripped me so tightly.

  “This is Calden,” Zebulon introduced me, as I slowly sat up.

  “His people call him Buttercup,” Zebulon continued, drawing out the last word sarcastically.

  “Tell her why you are called that,” he hissed at the man.

  Calden flinched. Then, with a dead tone, he answered. “Little girl’s pussies are called Buttercups in my village.”

  When he didn’t continue, Zebulon poked him with his talon.

  “I enjoy eating buttercups,” Calden shrugged. “I like my pussies young.”

  Then, he looked at me and smiled. The monster was missing several teeth. I could smell his rotten breath from several feet away.

  Horror filled my mind. He was a fucking sociopath who raped children.

  “Kill him,” I implored Zebulon. “Kill this fucking piece of shit.”

  “Oh no,” Zebulon replied with amusement leaking out of his pores. “It is not I who will kill Mr. Buttercup.”

  Snapping his fingers, he held out his hand. Comfort sighed and set the child down on her chair. Then, she slid over to her husband with a box in her hands. Kneeling, she held it open and allowed him to paw through it.

  Fuck, I thought. That box looks very similar to Tori’s box. It wasn’t exactly the same, but the leather sheets that he was pawing through sure looked identical.

  Zebulon smiled and pulled out a leather sheet covered with black scales accented with gold and silver. This strip was longer than the one on my arm.

  “I have instructed Mr. Buttercup that this little peach will be his,” Zebulon said, pointing at the child, “along with his freedom, if he can reach the top of the Tower of the Sovereign before you. I have a Shadar waiting there to judge the contest.”

  Snapping his fingers again, Comfort stood up, set the box down and left with the child. Outside, I heard an engine roar to life.

  Looking at me, he held up the scaly hide. “This is another charm of mine. It is called the Hound, by my people. The curse gives the bearer the ability to track anything once they have the scent. It will increase your speed and endurance also, so that like a hound, you can run for miles to track down your prey.”

  Cocking his head, he said, “You are not from this world. I am going to give Mr. Buttercup a head start. The only way that you are going to find him -- and stop him -- is with this little beauty.”

  The vehicle outside pulled away from the tent, roaring as it drove away from us.

  Pointing at the child rapist, he said, “Go. Win the race. Take the motorcycle that you will find outside.”

  Calden smiled and held up his manacled hands.

  Zebulon scowled, but he still reached down and unshackled him. />
  Grinning wickedly, Calden ran out of the tent.

  Zebulon held up the skin. “Shall we begin?”

  - 28 -

  I grimaced and nodded.

  “Remove your necklaces and lay down,” he instructed.

  I followed his orders and laid down on the thick shag carpets.

  “This will hurt,” he said with a smile. “If you move or try to fight me, I will stop and the girl will die a most horrifying death.”

  Holding up the leather, he placed it so that the first scale lay in the hollow under my jaw. I felt the others covering my throat and flowing downward so that they ended between my breasts.

  Whispering words that I didn’t understand, the Sorceror ignited the scales.