I begin to separate from my other self’s consciousness, distancing myself from reality. “I have to go.”
“Wait, how are we supposed to join our minds? We need to—”
“He’ll kill me. He’ll take my memories.”
“What happens if I lose track of you?”
“I don’t know.” I search the view of the now sunny hills with trepidation.
He’s here somewhere.
Waiting.
I feel caught between the desire to run and the need to stay near Mym. If it wasn’t for the danger she and Doctor Quickly are in, I’d prefer to bolt, open up a portal to some disused memory and hide. Now I realize that’s not an option. Whatever my earthly self is walking into, he carries my fate with him, and theirs too. He’s right. We are getting closer to one another. It’s gotten easier to meld our thoughts and feel like the same person.
I settle back into the view through my other self’s eyes—forcing out the Neverwhere and concentrating on the darkness of the present. Will Zurvan still be able to find me if I’m hiding inside my own head? I focus on the path ahead in the dim view of reality, but can’t seem to completely shake my sense of the Neverwhere around me.
The procession of local Eternals arrives. We meet them on a path atop a flattened section of the hill made of rough stone. There is a black, tar-like substance oozing out of some of the spaces between rocks and the tang of salt hangs heavily in the air, reminding me that we’re not far from the sea.
The group we meet is made up entirely of bearded men. They vary in ages but all of them are very serious in their expressions. Most are carrying sturdy walking staves. A few cast awed glances toward the blinking ship we’ve left behind.
Elgin addresses the new arrivals in a language I don’t understand. A leathery man with braided hair who seems to be the leader steps forward. The two of them converse briefly before the other man points to a spot farther down the ridge.
I follow the group over the other side of the hill to where the leathery man has pointed. What I see astounds me.
At the bottom of the hillside there is a pool of water. It’s hard to say whether it’s a small lake or if it’s perhaps some sort of tidal flow from the nearby coastline. The shape of the pool is mostly circular, rimmed by a rough, rocky collar that forms a sort of bowl. This jagged rock rim is glowing a reddish orange because, despite the seemingly inhospitable environment for it, this lake is on fire.
We’re led down the hill toward an altar like I saw at the temple in St. Pete. This one has been erected right at the edge of the lake, a safe height above the water and its mysterious, flickering flames.
The fire burns steadily at the rim of its confines, glowing brightest as it consumes the gas pockets trapped along the rocks, but there are other bursts across the surface of the lake itself. Bubbles rise from the depths below and are quickly turned into balls of fire that erupt into the air at the first contact from neighboring flames. Whatever violence the earth is suffering below ground, the results above the surface are spectacular. It’s easy to see why the citizens here have erected a place of worship alongside it.
The spectacle is well attended tonight. The contingent that met us at the ship was only a small sample of the local faithful. Here they line the perimeter of the pool in rows three deep. All told there must be at least two hundred people. Many of them have their eyes toward the hills behind us. Turning to look, I see why. From here the upper half of the Starfire Epiphany is still clearly visible above the low hills. The great sphere is pulsing with blue light around its circumference, no doubt a wondrous sight to a people living thousands of years before the advent of electrical power.
Doctor Quickly, Mym, Melchior, and I are lined up near the base of the altar structure, while Longcase and Elgin ascend the steps. I’m finally close enough to Mym to whisper to her.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m okay,” she whispers.
“I missed you,” I blurt out, unable to contain myself.
“I missed you, too,” she replies.
“I promise I’m going to get you out of here,” my living self adds.
“How?”
“Still working on that part.” He tests the strength of the cords tying our hands behind our back. Whoever tied the knots knew what they were doing.
I find I’m just staring at Mym, unable to take my eyes off her. Finally, I realize my living self is trying to move our head, and I’ve been keeping him from doing so. I honor our agreement and go back to being a passenger again.
He doesn’t know how badly I’ve missed her.
A chair and table have been set up inside the temple and the table has been covered with a white cloth. The Eternals have brought something from the ship and are now making preparations. They set the table with bowls of food and are busy constructing something around it. After a moment, I realize it is the portable gravitizer. They are assembling it around the chair.
“What are they doing?” I ask.
“They made us teach them how to make time travelers,” Mym replies. “They want to use the machine on someone here.”
Elgin and Longcase have convened inside the gazebo-like temple structure and supervised the preparations. When they finally seem satisfied, the leathery man points toward a path on the right side of the lake. A group of figures is approaching, surrounded by another cluster of men bearing torches.
At the center of the group, dressed in all white robes, is the man I’ve been running from my whole time in the Neverwhere.
Zurvan.
Only this man isn’t quite him. Not yet. This man is younger, early twenties if I had to guess. His beard is trimmed shorter and he’s leaner than the version I’ve been seeing in the Neverwhere. He’s still muscular. Even under the loose-fitting white robes, his broad shoulders are evident.
The young man’s expression is somber. The men around him are likewise serious, but as he passes the other Eternals lined up along the lakeside, they begin to chant and hum. The noise precedes him like a wave, growing louder as he approaches. Some of the faithful even go so far as to fall on their faces or spread their cloaks on the ground for him to walk on.
Elgin is watching the young man approach with an unusual expression on his face. While still respectful, it’s something akin to jealousy. He has been chief over all of the Eternals I’ve encountered. I can only wonder how he will really feel about having his Lord Zurvan returned from the grave.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him looking so young,” Melchior says softly from his position beyond Mym.
“Who is he? Mym asks.
“Adarvan. One of our earliest members. They’ve sought out a version of him from before we recruited him. They mean to use him as a host.”
One of Elgin’s Eternals quiets us with a slashing motion of his hand. I’m not familiar with the gesture, but the threat is clear enough. He returns his attention to Elgin, but casts occasional glances back at us to make sure we’re staying quiet.
The now starry sky above us flickers.
Another flash of sunlight.
I search the dusty hills around the lake and spot him. The sight of him is all it takes. I’m suddenly firmly back in the Neverwhere—sunlight and hot, vaporous hills shedding heat into an afternoon sky. Just the presence of my enemy has been enough to make me lose firm contact with the real world. I struggle to regain the connection, but I’ve been dislodged from my other self. I can still see him, but I’m no longer inside his head.
A few small rocks tumble down the path ahead of Zurvan. He’s striding confidently down the hill toward his memory of the lake of fire. In daylight its effect is less mysterious. Smoke drifts over the water from the bursts of flame, but the sunlight outshines the fire here. Zurvan is the main spectacle now and I’m unwilling to take my eyes off him, terrified that he might suddenly attack.
He’s seen me. As he draws closer, a smile turns up the corner of his mouth.
“This truly is a magnific
ent day, Ben Travers.” He raises his arms ahead of him as he walks. “I’m glad that you’ve come to witness my victory. It seems right that you should be here. This is the end for you, after all, and a man should meet his end on his feet in the sun, not cowering and hiding.”
“You’re going to ruin it,” I say. “I heard Melchior. If they bring you back it could rip another hole in reality. End the world all over again.”
“Melchior is an old fool. When I’ve been returned to my body, he will be the first of the Magi I’ll dispose of. It was his Magi who attempted to stop me from achieving my greatness before. They have no vision.” He touches the scar at his forehead. “But they’ve done the last damage they will. I plan to carve out a new future, free of their interference.”
“You’ve taken too much already. Too many people. He says you’ll rip the fabric of space and time pulling out all the souls you’ve taken out of the Neverwhere. You can’t contain it all in one mind.”
“I’m just getting started,” Zurvan replies.
He’s reached the lakeside now and the scene around us begins to grow more vivid. Zurvan and I are viewing the scene in daylight, his memory of sun layered over the reality of the darkness. But as he concentrates on the scene around us, we begin to ghost back into the actions in reality. We’re watching with a sharp clarity compared to what everyone else is seeing, since we’re viewing the scene in daylight, but I can now see the Eternals and Mym again.
I’m still outside myself. The four captives are lined up at the base of the steps to the altar, hands tied behind their backs, but I’m no longer viewing the scene from inside my own head. The other me has noticed the change. He’s concentrating on something, perhaps trying to figure out where I’ve gone.
From outside the scene I get a true sense of his vulnerability. The environment around him is nothing but hostile. The two hundred Eternals are only the first problem. The terrain itself is hazardous. A flaming desert in a country thousands of years in the past and no way out. I’ve always had a natural tendency toward optimism, but even I can’t see how this situation could possibly end well.
Elgin has invited Adarvan up the steps of the altar. The young man takes a seat. Among a lot of ceremonial bowing, each of the Eternals from my time come to him and offer him food. Pieces of fruit, breads, even what looks like it might be a plate of brownies. All food from the ship that has been heavily gravitized and will help the process of turning him into a time traveler.
The young man had looked very serious and a little bit nervous as he approached, but it’s clear that the food is having a positive effect on his morale. The more of it he samples, the more he seems to lose his sense of formality. It appears as though he is beginning to really enjoy this new celebrity.
Zurvan is smiling at the view of his younger self. “I had so much to learn. I knew nothing then. He can’t imagine the power that he’ll have when I possess his mind.”
As the procession of food items dwindles, Longcase prepares the gravitizer. The assembled faithful around the altar are still chanting their praises to Zurvan, ready to see their god of time return to them. Longcase activates the gravitizer around Adarvan. The young man grimaces at first, clearly uncomfortable with the sensation, but after a few seconds the treatment is over. The gravitites have been transferred and it is only a matter of time till they’ll finish multiplying inside his body.
Zurvan mounts the steps of the altar, this ghostly Neverwhere version of him taking a place behind his real-life counterpart. Zurvan licks his lips. It’s as though he can taste the life of the young man in the chair and is ready to devour it. But he doesn’t act yet.
The Eternals have more pomp and ceremony to perform. The table of food is cleared away and, as the brethren look on, Elgin delivers a final gift to the young man. This gift resides inside a wooden box that looks like it was made for the occasion. Various symbols have been carved into the sides, including the one I recognize, the symbol of the Lost Star. Adarvan accepts the box and reverently pries open the lid.
Reaching inside, he extracts the final, shiny, metallic gift. My chronometer.
Zurvan is leering down at the man and the chronometer with an expression of pure craving. The desire to possess the power that the young man now holds is written plainly across his face. It makes me wonder what the brethren might make of him if they were capable of seeing him this way. Would they still want to resurrect him if they knew this was who he truly was? Not a god. Just a man who wants to possess the entire knowledge of the human race for himself. The man who will sacrifice anyone to get it.
“It’s a beautiful gift, Ben,” Zurvan says. He looks up from the chronometer in his other self’s hands. His eyes fall on Mym. “So many beautiful gifts you’ve brought me today.”
Anger burns inside me as his eyes linger on Mym.
“I understand why losing her drove your other incarnation mad,” he says. “She really is exquisite.”
“Go to Hell.”
Zurvan sneers at me. “You know, I had planned to simply take your mind if I saw you again. The way I did with your scruffy other self. Benny. But now . . . now I think I’ll let you watch. I’ll let you live, so you can see me take your whole world from you.”
I clench my fists, but stay silent. This is still his memory. His world.
The Eternals in the real world have begun to chant in unison. Adarvan has put my chronometer on his wrist and has risen from the chair. He is facing the lake of fire now, standing with his arms outstretched toward the flames. I can tell he’s making an effort to concentrate, pull his mind from the heady treatment he’s just received so he can focus on the task at hand. It appears to be difficult. Amid all of this tumult he’s just been through, he’s meant to try to meditate and be calm. But next he will be receiving the greatest of his gifts. He’ll become the living god of time.
Zurvan is standing right next to Adarvan, unseen so far, but so close to just reaching out and touching his younger self. What will he do with his younger self’s mind? Has Adarvan been preparing? Will they be able to function as the same person, or will Adarvan become some repressed consciousness, held down by Zurvan’s will?
I look back at my living self, hands bound and waiting for an unknown fate. Considering the situation, it’s hard to decide which one of us is currently worse off.
I concentrate and bridge the gap between his mind and mine, sliding inside his head again, plunging myself back into his nighttime reality.
“Where did you go?” he whispers.
“Zurvan is here. He’s ready,” I say. Too loud.
Mym looks over at me, studying me in the half-light. From back inside my head, the view is only illuminated by flickering torches and the glow from the fiery lake. Mym’s expression is hard to read.
“I’m not crazy,” I say. “I promise. I’m just—”
“It’s okay,” she says. “I know who you are.”
Her words are a relief. Whatever she has inferred from my situation, she at least knows I’m not the screaming version of me she heard last—Benny—telling her to get away from me because it’s too dangerous. I realize that it’s too late for running away now anyway. Whatever fate lies in store for us in the near future, we’re committed to facing it together.
“What is Zurvan going to do?” my other self asks, able to speak to me openly now.
I don’t need to respond because the answer is readily apparent. Adarvan is making contact.
The young man has his arms open, head tilted back. He turns to face the assembled brethren and his eyes are twitching in their sockets. He’s still muttering the words that the assembly has been chanting, but his face is beginning to glow. The view of Adarvan is subtly changing. His face is being lit by unseen sunlight. I know the source of the light, but no one else does. Some of the local Eternals have stopped their chanting and are just staring open-mouthed at the sight of their compatriot, glowing with daylight.
The whole group sends up awed shouts when the sun suddenl
y appears overhead in the night sky.
Zurvan is bridging the Neverwhere and reality and even the Eternals are starting to see his world. He’s crossing over, but the Neverwhere is coming with him.
A deep, metallic moan echoes over the hills and I turn to look for its source. The Starfire Epiphany has begun to glow brighter. Lights around its perimeter have intensified, scattering beams of blue and purple across the sky. The moan repeats from somewhere inside it and something else is changing too. In the gullies and valleys between the ship and us, fog has begun to appear—iridescent, colored fog, wicking out of the landscape.
“This can’t continue,” Melchior shouts. “This isn’t the way!”
One of the Eternals guarding us strikes Melchior across the face and knocks him down. He sprawls at my feet. I squat down to try to help him, but with my hands tied behind my back there’s little I can do.
Melchior rolls onto his side and looks up at me. “Ben, you have to stop him. You’re the only one who can.” He’s looking straight at me and I know it’s not the real world version of me he’s addressing. “He’s bringing too much back. If he bridges time and the Neverwhere like this, there’s no telling what damage will result.”
There is a crack like thunder across the sky and the Eternals around us jitter and yell. Some of the less devout members flee or cower on the ground, arms over their heads.
I concentrate on Melchior. “How do I stop him?”
“Get him out of here. We’ll try to disrupt the ritual on our end.”
Mym drops to a squat beside me and rolls onto her back, sliding her bound arms beneath her legs and popping back up to her feet so fast that I’ve barely had time to react. With her hands still tied, but now in front of her, she hauls Melchior to his feet. “Go, Ben!”
I concentrate on the strange sun in the dark sky above us and hurl myself back into the Neverwhere.
I’m back in daylight. Zurvan is in the same position as Adarvan was, arms spread, eyes aloft. Fog is rolling across the fiery lake now. It’s oozing out of the rocks and crevices, a thousand different colors shimmering inside it.
In Times Like These Boxed Set Page 159
