The First

by A. Claire Everward

  “Why would you? They raised you as one of their own, as family. Their truth was yours, and they were smart enough to place you in the perfect position to do their bidding at just the right moment, no questions asked. In a way, they did to you what they did to Aelia. Quenched everything that was the Protector in you. It kept you where they wanted you.”

  Kyle wasn't consoled. Knowing what he now knew, he couldn't help looking back at the life he had led, at the man he was. At the simple fact that he was the perfect killer. He knew he had to push these thoughts away, this wasn't the time for them. But it wasn’t an easy thing to do.

  Something occurred to him. He raised his head again and looked at Ahir. “Do you know where she came from?”

  “Aelia? No, we have no idea who She is.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “You are from the Protector line. We knew as soon as you were taken. But the Light can be born in any family, anywhere among the Firsts. Your parents traveled, you could have met Aelia in any of several places they had been to in the months before you were taken. And She was obviously taken as a baby, before we identified Her as the Light. And since She was removed from among the Firsts and effectively hidden among humans, in an environment specifically designed to subdue Her, Her chances of ever being discovered were near naught.”

  “But her family, she must have one.”

  “We are looking into it. We know She was probably taken around the time you were and we know Her given name, which She was found with so we assume it is in fact Hers, and our people will start from there. Other than you two, no children of the Firsts have ever disappeared. So we will be looking at deaths of single adults or couples who we did not know yet had a child, see what we might have missed. We will find out who She is, and if She has a family, we will find them. In the meantime, She has Neora and me.” He paused. “And you.”

  Kyle nodded slightly, his eyes fixed on his plate, his hand playing with the fork, and repeated quietly, “And me.” He thought about her trust in him. No matter the threat he posed to her, no matter what he did, she was never afraid. Never of him.

  Her born Protector.

  He shook his head. “Does she know all this?”

  “Yes, Neora and I told Her.”

  “Neora seems to be good with her, she’s made her comfortable here.”

  “She is a special woman,” Ahir said with evident enthusiasm. “Like all other Keepers before her, it was her choice to assume the life she has, to keep the faith, lead the Firsts spiritually, you might say. And she has done so without any regret. She has always been well aware of the importance of what she does for our people, and she has never stopped believing that the Light would return.”

  “The Keepers stay in their role their entire life?”

  “Yes, until their last day, and they live their entire life from the moment they become Keepers here, at Aeterna. And whenever a Keeper passes, she is commemorated with a painting that is placed among those of her predecessors.”

  “So all those paintings, those women who are dressed the same, along those staircases, were Keepers.”

  “Yes.”

  “Exactly how many were there?”

  Ahir’s sigh was sad. “Too many.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The phone Rolly gave Kyle beeped and he focused instantly. “We've got a sighting. Just off the cliffs to the south,” he said when he ended the call.

  Seconds later he was outside, checking his gun as he called out to Rolly, “Until I give you the all clear, keep this place in lockdown. And do not take your eyes off Aelia!”

  With a glance at the house, he jumped into the waiting car. As it drove off, he called the man tracking Semner for more information, but the guy barely managed to say a few words before the call was cut off.

  Neora looked at the hope of her people standing at the picture windows, her eyes betraying the deepness of her thoughts. Aelia had not left the room since Kyle's return, instead waiting, tuned to him, worry evident in her eyes.

  The old woman nodded to herself. She knows him, better than she knows herself. She has accepted him, although she has yet to accept who she herself is.

  “I could feel him when he returned, he was all broken inside,” Aelia said, as if to herself. “He'd just lost the only family he's ever known, he's lost everything. He needs Ahir, he needs something real.” She turned to find Neora looking at her in wonder.

  “I'm not your Light,” she blurted out. “What you're talking about, what you're searching for, it's an impossibility. I don't know why I have this thing with Kyle, but what you're saying, it simply cannot be.”

  Neora was about to answer when Aelia's gray eyes grew intense, her focus shifting. Kyle had suddenly become alert, she could feel the tension in him peak. Before either managed to react movement outside the French doors caught their eye, and Aelia stepped closer to find that security had positioned themselves immediately outside, along the stone terrace. A hushed hiss, and a protective shield appeared on the other side of the glass. At the same time the doors to the room opened and Rolly stepped in.

  “Keeper, Ma'am,” he said with urgency, “I need you both to stay in here. I've got people outside and at this door. We're in lockdown.”

  Aelia lowered her head and focused. Kyle had left the house. “The man Kyle was waiting for, he's here, then.”

  Rolly nodded. “He's been spotted at the edge of the grounds. Kyle went to intercept him.”

  When he closed the doors behind him, Aelia turned back to the clear glass and the shield beyond it. “All of this because of me.” Her voice was barely audible. “Why?” She turned back to Neora. “Why do you need me, I mean the Light? You're the Keeper, and there have been many Keepers before you. You've all kept these people together, led them, guided them. Why not continue this way?”

  Neora corrected her. “Not guided. I have led, as others have before me. But the Keepers have led the Firsts based on what the Light has taught us.”

  “The Light has been gone for a long time, Neora. Things change. Times change. People lose touch with their beliefs and rely on tangible leadership. That's you, the Keepers. You and the Protectors alongside you.”

  “It is difficult to explain to someone who has not grown up among us, someone who has lived her entire life among humans, with their way of thinking and their perception of belief.” Neora contemplated her words. “The Light is not just a belief, and it is not a set of values and rules that were decided in some forgotten past and no longer relevant circumstances, to be followed by people whose lives are completely different from those of its creators.” She spoke with passion. “Our Light is real, and She has walked among us, guided us through a substantial part of our existence and our development.”

  She looked toward the sealed windows, her eyes distant. “And yes, She has prepared us for times in which She would not be here, to continue as we have even while She is gone. She did not assign to us rules, She showed us a way of thinking. A way of life. But She has been gone for a very long time, and as the Keeper I can tell you that I feel I am no longer a sufficing substitute. We need our Light back, now more than ever. These are not simple times, Aelia.”

  “If I am gone, the organization might retreat.”

  “You have turned an obscure theory of theirs into reality. I doubt they will ever again retreat. And they are not the only threat to us,” she added enigmatically. “We need you.”

  “Me.” Aelia shook her head in disbelief. No matter which way she looked at it, she could not bridge the gap between who she thought she was her whole life and what Neora was telling her she was, asking her to be. The pragmatic human she was could not begin to accept that she could be the Light, or that such a force could even exist.

  It does, you've felt it, you are it. A new voice broke through the logic that was trying hard to keep its place in her mind. You may not have their knowledge of it, their memories, but you are the only one who has felt the reality of it.

  It
doesn't matter, she answered herself. Even if it were true, what I am is nowhere near the kind of might the Keeper is speaking of, what her people need. It is better that they remain with what they have come to rely on, to trust, than turn, after all this waiting, all this hope, to what would fail them.

  “Still,” she said out loud, “they are amazing, the Keepers. To give their lives like this. To lead this way, keep the people's hopes unwavering for so long. You've proven yourselves worthy of this role you've been given.”

  “Yes. But none of us was born of the Light. We are all just the keepers of the faith, Firsts like all the others. There is only so much we can do. And we too are guided by the hope, the belief that we ourselves need, that the Light would return someday, when the time is right.”

  And that’s when it dawned on Aelia. “That’s why they seem sad. In the paintings, their eyes are sad,” she said quietly.

  “Yes, they were all sad, especially toward the end.” Neora spread her hands to indicate the great house around her. “They have all spent most of their lives here, in this very house, waiting for something, a miracle if you will, that never came. They have seen our people struggle through too many centuries, hanging on to increasingly desperate hope. All Keepers were amazing women who did their best. But ultimately the Firsts have known all that time that the Light was no longer among them, that the Keepers cannot guide and protect like She did, that we are only . . . stand-ins.” She sighed. “We have all had to live with the question of why the Light has stayed away for so long and whether She would ever return. We have never had such a long time go by without Her returning, never more than a generation or so. And it is taking a toll on us. We need Her.”

  Neora stood up and began walking to the windows, stopped when she remembered the shield was still there. Outside, beyond it, she knew, it all looked the same, as if the world of the people she had been called on to lead all those decades ago had not changed, as if the Light herself, the awaited First of the Firsts, was not right there in the room with her. She had to succeed in this, had to make Her understand. Had to help her people, could not let their struggle continue.

  Aelia approached her, wanting, needing to help. She felt the old woman's despair, felt it flow from her in waves that hit Aelia with all their strength. “Don't, please, you're in pain and it's so deep, it runs through you all the way far into the past.” She closed her eyes and shook her head, bewildered, but could not shake it off, could not stop it. “I can feel it, I can’t—” The words flowed out of her, unchecked, and she saw it, saw it all, felt it all. “This whole place is in pain, the people, they are all aware that I'm here, every single person here has me on their mind this very moment, and they are all so scared, so afraid to feel hope, afraid to lose their hope.” Tears flowed down her cheeks and she opened her eyes, out of breath. “What's happening to me?”

  To her surprise, her tears were mirrored in the old woman's face, except that Neora was laughing and crying at once. She took the younger woman's hands in hers. “You are waking up, child, what normally happens in years you are going through in days.” She tried to find the words to explain what it was now time to tell her. “Your connection is not only with your Protector. That is only the connection designed to keep you safe. At Her height, the First can connect to all Her people, all the Firsts. Connect, feel and be felt. And”—she nodded slightly, remembering the stories the Keepers were privy to—“defend, when She needs to. That is the true power of the Light, Her ability to do what no one else can. That is why She has remained our hope for so long, She is what no one else can be.”

  “But I’m . . .”

  “This is you,” Neora interrupted gently but insistently. “The real you. What those who took you did only delayed the Light that you are from growing as should have been from the start. But they did not kill the Light, they do not have the power to do that. You are still you and no one can take that away from you.”

  Aelia closed her eyes. “I don't know what to do.”

  “Yes, you do. You are already doing it. You are the only one who can. It is that simple.” The Keeper’s hands tightened around Aelia's. “And I'm sorry, child, but you have no choice. We need you.”

  The driver, a member of one of Aeterna’s security teams, drove toward the cliffs above the sea, to the coordinates the scout who had followed the intruder had given immediately before his call to Kyle was cut off. Some distance from their destination, Kyle got out of the car and instructed the driver to leave. Rolly had already deployed more people to the area, which was also being watched by satellite, but Kyle had told him to keep everyone away. He would deal with Semner himself.

  The car drove off and Kyle walked up to the edge of the cliff before him, where he could see the dark water far below. He watched the light of the moon reflect in the water as a stray cloud moved away, then turned to walk along the dark rock.

  Almost immediately he stopped. He closed his eyes, listened in the darkness surrounding him, let his training guide him. Finally he opened his eyes and nodded slightly to himself. He turned back toward the water and waited.

  “Hello, Kyle.”

  He turned slowly.

  Semner and Kyle faced off.

  “Well, well,” Semner sneered. “If it isn't the . . . what are you? The superior race or whatever you call yourselves? What, you're with them now? Come to defend your people? Or just that woman?” He huffed. “What'd she do to turn you?”

  Kyle was astonished by the extent of his old friend's knowledge, and even more by the hatred in his voice. “What happened, John? We've known each other how many years now? We were friends, good friends. We've worked missions together, been in some tough situations.”

  “We were never friends. I’ve known who you are for years.” Semner’s laugh was cruel. “You thought you were Jennison's star. But it was me he trusted with his most precious secret.”

  “You knew?”

  “No reason not to tell you now, seeing as I'm going to kill you. They came to me, Jennison and the others, back when they recruited me, long before you think they did. Swore me to secrecy, said I was about to learn the most well-kept secret of the organization, that if I did as they said I'll get far.” Semner moved back, keeping a careful eye on Kyle, and sat on a low boulder. “They told me about them, the first race or whatever. About how they’re a danger to us, how they're biding their time and eventually will take us over, go back to being the controlling race, the only race. And how you are one of them, how they took you when you were a kid, plan to use you against your own people.”

  “So you knew all this time.”

  “Knew, reported to them on your every move, every thought. How'd you think they controlled you so well? Their own personal puppet.”

  Kyle felt the blood in his veins turn to fire.

  “But I told them,” Semner went on with unhidden glee, “I told them it wouldn't work. I saw things they didn't, told them you'd never truly be one of us. Told them eventually you'd turn on them. And when Jennison told me about that woman, how the only way to stop them was to kill her before they took her back and she helped them go against us, and that he was sending you after her, I knew you wouldn’t do it. I knew you'd finally fail. And I was right.”

  He got up, and suddenly there was a gun in his hand. “I've waited for this day too long. This is as good a place as any to kill you. And when I finish with you, I'll get her. You won't be able to protect her this time.”

  Kyle was more focused than he'd been for days, his training taking over—with a twist. His newfound knowledge of who he was. He went for Semner's weakness, his ego.

  “A gun? Really?” He sounded amused.

  “You're right,” Semner said viciously, taking the bait. “Let's play this out for real.” And he threw his gun aside. He drew a knife from the sheath strapped to his hip and lunged at Kyle, opening an ugly cut in his chest. Reacting to the searing pain, Kyle stepped aside and punched Semner in the side, and Semner roared in anger, turned, and lu
nged at him again. They wrestled, each using tactics that, inevitably, the other knew. It was more a question of stamina than anything else, the stamina of each man and the one's hatred against the other's preservation instinct.

  Moments later found them locked in a deadly embrace, both putting all their strength into it, with Kyle trying to maintain his footing, his muscles straining against his shirt, Semner's knife at his stomach. He had the past days against him, with barely any rest and the constant tension of having his life turned upside-down and facing a new reality he could not begin to grasp. He'd been going on adrenalin, but against this man, who was not only trained as well as he but also knew both his strengths and weaknesses, he finally felt the exhaustion win, and his strength drain. He felt the point of the knife penetrate his shirt, then his skin, right at his spleen. Which would kill him fast, would—

  Aelia.

  The thought popped into his mind without warning. And with it the realization what his death would mean. The burst of energy came from nowhere and he moved fast, faster than ever before. The surprised Semner lost his footing and stumbled, and Kyle used this to get behind him and place his arm around his neck. He had Semner in a tight grip now, barely allowing the man to breathe, but Semner still struggled and uttered in hate, “There'll be others after me. One day you’ll leave her and we'll be there.”

  His mouth at his former friend's ear, Kyle whispered, “I'll never leave her.” And he broke the man's neck with the easiness of newfound strength.