“So where are we going?” Kimi excitedly beamed.
Like a magician, Malum waved his hands through the air. “To an ancient place,” he said. “You recently turned twelve, and this is my belated gift to you.” Malum chuckled. “I’m taking you to a place of legend, one that time has completely forgotten about.”
“Will I be back in time to do more training with Vanessa?” Kimi clapped her hands with glee, and then hugged the middle waist of her impassive mentor. “I think you’re so beautiful.” Wrapping both arms around Vanessa’s inward curved midriff, Kimi gushed, “You look like my favorite doll back home, except her head fell off ‘cause I brushed her beautiful, long blonde hair too much, but it looked just like yours.” Kimi closed her eyes and held Vanessa tightly.
Vanessa quickly removed her hand from Kimi’s head, inspecting her recently manicured nails. She raised the back of her hand to smack the young girl from behind. Kimi, unmindful, opened her eyes, looked back at Malum, and smiled delightfully.
Malum glared ahead at Vanessa, who grudgingly ceased. Instead, she placed her hand on Kimi’s back, patting it and scowling as she did.
A sudden loving gesture emerged. Vanessa bent over, and curled her neck forward on Kimi’s shoulder instead. “What Lord Malum has to show you is more important than our training, so don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have the trip of a lifetime.” She stood back and then tapped young Kimi gently on the tip of her nose, deviously grinning as Kimi openly smiled.
Malum suppressed a smirk, but he locked eyes with Vanessa, and in that moment, each shared self-satisfaction with the other. “Come along now,” Malum said to Kimi. He opened a swirling vortex in the tunnel outside his laboratory. The wind gusted, blowing out some of the candles, while knocking down others along the burrowed corridors.
“I almost forgot something. Vanessa, I need you to be on the lookout for a female immortal that will travel near the castle any time now.” Malum waved Kimi toward him. “Get to her before she enters the castle’s boundaries. I’ve already sent word to Xander in Glasgow to be on the watch for a male immortal. They are both very dangerous, but possess something I greatly wish to have.”
“Yes, my lord.” She bowed her head. Vanessa crossed her right arm over her body, placing it atop her left shoulder. She concurrently extended her left elbow out, clustering her fingers together with an upward straight palm. She hailed a brief salute. “What is it you wish to possess from them?”
Malum issued a threatening, foreboding look. A stubborn quiet stifled his direct answer. “You’ll be looking for one half of it in the form of a scroll. It’s called the Sphere Atlas. There are two parts. Xander will obtain his scroll in Glasgow, but I need both parts. Do you understand?”
“Of course, but what does this Sphere Atlas do?” Vanessa fell prey to interest.
“That’s not something you need to know.” Malum tightened his lower lip. “You are an instrument of the Shroud, and curiosity can be a risky proposition.”
Feeling scolded, Vanessa’s eyes fell downward. “I understand, my lord.”
“And, Vanessa…”
“Yes?”
“Don’t let this female immortal say even a single word to you. Kill her and take the scroll before she has a chance to speak.”
Vanessa signaled understanding and agreement through a nod. Though wonderment filled her, she dared not ask for another unoffered piece of information.
Malum led Kimi by the hand as they approached the swirling vortex. A low-lying mist poured from the entryway. “You remember this?”
Kimi motioned recall.
“It’s an aperture,” Malum said.”
They walked briefly through a circular array of magnificent swirling colors. Kimi felt nauseous entering the opened aperture, yet she knew not why. She had traveled through apertures on several occasions, none had posed a problem before, but something felt odd, yet she soldiered on, ignoring her better judgment. Her tiny teeth smiled up at him, and she hid her aching doubt.
In an instant, the two stepped out of the old place and into a new one, but for Kimi, it seemed just like the place they had left, except darker, wetter, and with a certain unidentified foul odor, which promptly offended her senses.
Kimi reached down and pulled the collar of her shirt up over her nose and mouth. It helped a little, but not enough. The decaying smell saturated everything, and soon filtered through the fabric collar and invaded her nasal cavity. She breathed only through her mouth, but even the air tasted badly.
Once through the other side, the aperture closed behind them. Without any light, it was black, dark, and blinding.
Kimi raised her hand to her face, not able to see nary a digit wiggle in front of her. The air was damp and heavy, stale, with a musty ancient rot. Puddles of cool water mixed with slushy goo underfoot, making every step a slippery fall waiting to happen. Kimi reached for support. To one side, a stone wall with deep lines and elongated clawed marks ran parallel with the two of them, and on the other side it felt about the same.
Plip-plip-ploop-plip-plip-plip-ploop. The water dripped, pinging through the darkness.
Kimi stammered, “Wh-wh-where are we?”
“Why under the streets of Paris,” Malum carelessly responded.
Kimi grabbed ahold of Malum’s arm, holding it close. He took her from his side and placed her directly in front of him, grasping the tops of her shoulders, squeezing his fingers into them solidly. His fingers slithered up and down Kimi’s shoulders, kneading pressure with each step forward.
Kimi looked back. “Shouldn’t I be next to you?”
“No, no,” Malum dismissively replied. “This helps me better guide you in this nasty darkness.”
“But I don’t wanna be in front, it’s scary…” She heard a passing, beastly sound from the tunnels up ahead. “What was that?”
“Nothing. Probably just some rats. But don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” In the blackness, he felt able to express the full nature of his non-verbal amusement with a full smile.
The two of them walked along, awash in widespread darkness, neither able to see a thing, but even without sight, Malum sensed many other things were closing in on them. He placed his right leg between Kimi’s legs, tripping her.
He pushed her forward as she fell.
“Aaah!” she shouted. Her hands reached out to brace. Fa-thud. Down onto the hard, wet, muddy ground she tumbled.
“Oh, my dear girl, are you all right?” Malum held back a snicker.
“I think so.” She pushed herself up off the ground. “What happened?” Her face heavy, covered in slimy muck, her knees soaked, and hands layered with abundant dirt.
“I guess you must have tripped.” Malum’s grin hid itself in the dark tunnels. “I tried to reach out and stop you from falling, but alas, I was unable.”
“I can’t see.” Kimi waved her hand. She touched naught, except the openness of vast air. “Where are you?” Her voice boomed panic.
Malum remained silent for a moment. He waited for the eventuality. He became impatient, knowing they sensed he was not human, and so they feared approaching him, as they should have already attacked by now.
The temptation of a free meal was too great for a starving clan. The bait was set.
Nonetheless, the creatures in the tunnels pondered if a single meal was worth the chance of being hooked by what they truly feared in the mortal realm, and thus they loitered in the darkness, just observing.
Borborygmus. One creature’s stomach rumbled. What Malum had sensed all along, closed in, yet not on him.
Little did Kimi know, the creatures enclosed only around her in the unlimited, black void. She reached out and felt something inches away. It was an arm reaching out for her as well. Her fingers lathered with grimy sludge up to her forearms. Kimi’s tactile awareness became mute. A hand lifted her up off the ground. Her finger
s slipped, drifting downward toward the ends of the hand that helped her up.
Unexpectedly, she felt the sickle-shaped, razor-tipped edge of the helping hand. Kimi discovered it was not Malum’s hand at all. Thinly bent, knuckled fingers accompanied the sickle clawed tips. “Ahh!” she yelled.
Kimi jumped back, slamming into a lean, slimy body. Without vision in the dark, she felt several bodies to the front, right, left, and behind her as well. Kimi even heard things snarling from the ceiling above. “Uncle Malum…help me!” her young voice shouted a throaty, fraught cry.
“You’ve disappointed Alcazar,” Malum said with intended malice. “You have failed to make progress with your abilities, so you are no longer worthy of me—no longer worthy of the Shroud, and thus I release you from your obligation to serve our cause.” One side of his mouth rose above the other. He chuckled. “Ha! And don’t worry, my dear, Vanessa won’t miss you. In fact, nobody liked you anyway.” He crossed his arms and his expression turned blank.
Malum summoned his sword.
The blade glowed and steamed with a haunting translucent, grayish black tint. The sword burned and smoked with a hazy quality, yet without a true flame, it smoldered.
He held his blade down by his side, but it was more than enough light to expose all who were present in the tunnels.
“Aaaaaah!” Kimi yelled a prolonged scream. She beheld a cluster of ghastly, walking corpses surrounding her. She could see her own reflection in the dilated horror of their large, black eyes. A few briefly twisted their heads backward, looking at Malum. He moved an approving gesture. Instantly, the creatures turned their fangs for tearing, and sickle talons for ripping, into instruments of torture against Kimi. Cling. They opened their sickle claws. Siss. Each hissed, widening their mouths and spreading their razor-tipped claws as they focused in only on Kimi.
“What are you?” Kimi yelped. “Why are you doing this?” she implored.
With a singular amplified, raspy voice, they replied, “We are Dwellers, and you are a free lunch.”
Kimi jumped to her feet. “I’m nobody’s lunch.” She glared past them, crinkling her nose at Malum in defiance. Her hands wobbly, she balled her fist, attempting to summon powerful weapons of pure metaphysical energy, like her teacher Vanessa had trained her to do.
The Dwellers shrunk backward, covering themselves and turning away.
Malum feigned disinterest. He placed an index finger against the side of his chin, hoping to see a strong reaction, but no weapon materialized.
“You’ve failed yourself.” Malum yawned. “How pathetic.”
Frustrated, Kimi opened and closed her fist repeatedly, wrinkling her brows downward. She clenched her tiny teeth, grinding them. The creatures recoiled each time. Some hid their faces in the crook of elbows, while others turned their backs, twisting away from her in protective defense.
The Dwellers knew this power well, being the only weapon that had ever struck them down to near extinction. The swords had earned their name as strikers, by nearly striking them from off the surface of the earth. Though they hated their half life, they still feared total death. They hated immortals. They despised the knights who killed their kind, felling them with strikers and power greater than what they themselves possessed. Yet, Kimi seemed an unlikely immortal.
“Nothing happened. Nothing happened,” exclaimed one of the tunnel dwellers.
“Why would they,” another Dweller shouted, pointing at Malum, “give us one of their own. It’s a trick! The Shroud always tricks.”
“Who cares! I’m starving.” yet another Dweller replied.
“I agree. Better to die with a full belly than an empty one. Get her!” A Dweller signaled forward the others and howled.
“No! Please no!” Kimi squealed. She tried to break through them and run toward Malum, but a beast grabbed her leg and pulled her back toward the inner circle. “Help me!” She spread her fingers apart and reached up at Malum. “I’ll be better. I promise.”
“No, you won’t.” Malum turned his head, tilting his nose into the air. “You’re simply not worth the time. It’s just the nature of your devolving species.” His bushy eyebrows inched up and down. “Humans lack purpose. You’re defective.” Malum wiped his baldish head. “Ha-ha-ha.” He let go a hearty laugh. “All humans are primitive and worthless, and for that, I will allow these Dwellers to exterminate you and your kind with extreme prejudice.” Malum drew a long, satisfying breath.
The Dwellers began tearing at Kimi’s soft flesh with their piercing talons and fanged teeth. A group of them huddled, surrounding her in the dimly lit darkness. Kimi punched and kicked. The Dwellers stabbed here and there all over her legs, arms, and face. She screeched, bawled, and wailed with every piece of flesh they skinned from off her. She battled for her life, but as the Dwellers dug deeper into her soft tissue, feasting on clumps of bloody meat, her loud cries muffled, and soon disappeared altogether.
The Dwellers crushed Kimi as when a pillar is smashed into tiny pieces of gravel.
Red liquid branched out from the inner circle, drenching the Dwellers’ feet. Several inches high, Kimi’s blood sapped like copious, warm, vivid red bathwater from bloodstained wall to wall. The once living plasma, now dead, pooled with puddles of muddy water, mixing with dirt and filth, staining the black ground a brownish red.
Malum, for his part, stepped back as the gory mess trickled near his sandals. Malum hiked the coarse, woolen fabric from his robe away from the draining, reddish fluid. It was not that he minded gore, he just hated getting it on his garments.
Malum, with an unmoving affect, said, “Little boys are made of snips and snails, and puppy dog tails. Little girls are made of sugar and spice, and all things nice. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” he shouted a gratifying laugh throughout the tunnels. “Now I know they’re all made of the same things, just blood and guts, and lots of black stuff.” Malum leered.
One beast turned. It slurped and slushed up a long piece of Kimi’s intestine, and then wiped bright blood from its mouth, smearing the red across its lower face. “That was good. She put up a fight. It tastes better when they fight.”
“She tasted different, tasted different,” another Dweller added.
“We shouldn’t have killed such a young girl.” One Dweller slouched. “We broke the law.”
“I’m sick of your laws, Killian.” Another beast with long, thick sickle talons pointed a finger. “What? Should we all starve because the law is to only feast on those that are of the larger variety?” He shook his talon and snapped his jaws. “I say no more laws!” The Dweller raised its arm into the air.
“That is the Dwellers’ only law, Slash.” Killian straightened from his hunched position, and puffed his chest outward. “If we are to remember our…” He purposely stopped.
Slash challenged. “Say it! Say it! I dare you!”
But Killian would not say the word. Rather, he just shook his head, and remained quiet.
“That isn’t my law. I have no laws. We Dwellers have no more laws, for we are no more human! Isn’t that what you were going to say, Killian?” Slash folded his arms, smirked, and looked at the other Dwellers behind him. “I think everyone else agrees with me.” Slash delivered a self-satisfied snort.
Killian unexpectedly lunged at Slash in a quick, jerky motion. The two
Dwellers clawed at each other with beastly, hooked scalpels protruding at length from the ends of their fingers.
Slash bit Killian’s shoulder, its fangs clamping down. Profuse, black drainage spurt through the air and onto the wall. The black, oily fluid sluggishly rolled down the stone. The Dweller’s dark, tarry blood soon reached the ground, mixing with and consuming Kimi’s leftover red plasma. When the black tar mixed with the red blood, they bubbled and foamed upon meeting, and soon, the black coated all red in its wake, until the red was no more.
The other Dwellers withdrew from
the fight, their eyes pasted to the action. They followed every move closely with sadistic enjoyment.
Killian stabbed Slash.
Slash ripped flesh from Killian.
A small Dweller near the back of the group appeared disinterested. It remained clustered in together with the pack, but in many ways stayed isolated from the others. It spoke to one Dweller standing beside it. “Where am I? What’s going on?”
All the while, Malum was observing with a grin. One palm on top of the other, his blade directly in front, it slanted upside down as he gripped the pommel with both hands. The blade’s translucent, eerie radiance lit the dim tunnel with ethereal shadows jetting upward, distorting faces and events. He tilted his chin in toward his chest and glared up at the Dwellers. Malum’s good eye rolled forward toward the Dwellers, and with each distorted, murky shade of light, it gave him a fearful appearance, an evil spirit, it seemed. He stood there enjoying the carnage.
Malum slammed his blazing sword into the ground. “That’s enough!” he shouted, his striker penetrating deep into the solid earth.
“Stop fighting! Stop fighting!” a lone Dweller repeated, telling the others to pull Killian and Slash apart. “He is our enemy, our enemy.” The Dweller pointed.
Slash reluctantly disengaged from Killian and said, “Recur’s right.”
“Yeah, what’s he doing down here?” Killian grimaced. He held his hand over his wounded shoulder, while trying to stop the flow of black blood from pouring out of his body. “We should be doing this to him.”
“You have a real nerve, immortal. You’re a fool to come down here.” Slash bent his knees and opened his talons wide as he waved his fellow Dwellers in closer for backup.
Slowly the horde approached Malum.
Some crawled along the side walls, fanning out for an attack. Their heads twisting back and forth, their bulbous craniums pulsated with large purple veins. The Dwellers were all points, from jagged elbows and knees, to protruding, spiny vertebrae. Try as they might to hide any weakness, sunken ribs revealed another truth as structural organs grew abnormally large, while the visible underline of starvation endured through thin layers of glossy, yellowish gray covered membranous skin.
Something Eternal Page 23
