by Gabi Moore
I let him process his thoughts, and continued to steadily drive into the forest. The only thing left for me to worry about at present was when he would get his thoughts together and start sharing the details of his research. I decided it was time to lay it all out.
"I need whatever information you have about the next portal opening, and I need you to give it to me in non-scientific speech. I don't want to deal with any of that bullshit math, I just need you to do the translations, and tell me where we need to go. Do you understand me?"
The question was direct.
I looked at him as I drove, and caught him staring wide-eyed in my direction.
"That's right, everything's coming clear now, I'm sure. Maybe you feel some sense of relief that I killed for you, but let me be the first to tell you that the one who died was worth more to me than you, and I'm not sure I would have done the same thing again. Is that understood?"
He nodded and cleared his throat.
"We need to go back to my house, then I will help you."
" Of course we do..."
Chapter 11
"I knew you were coming."
That was one of the first of a long strain of statements that came out from Erol's mouth as we went around the far side of the mountain, and made our way back into town. As it turned out, he actually didn't know shit, but his theories were interesting regardless.
At the end of it all, it was revealed that I was actually an agent of the O.T.O, here to bring about the new world order. As it turned out, I apparently had the DNA of archaic serpent masters inside of my body. Any human beings who used magic were descendants of Atlantis. The combination of DNA sequencing made our race particularly susceptible to forces of darkness. Obviously the fact that I was a trained warrior and was willing to kill in order to seek after occult knowledge was evidence to that end.
As for the others, the people that attacked us earlier that afternoon were none other than the Shadow Government of the Material Plane. Undoubtedly, they had been tracking his phone, which had cued them off to our location. His research was getting close to its completion, and now that all of the hard work had been finished, the vampires were closing in on him in order to make the kill.
From his synopsis, it wasn't clear to me whether or not he classified me as a vampire, but I didn't really care, as long as he cooperated.
"You're completely nuts," I replied. "You know that, don't you?"
"I know what I saw."
All I could do was shake my head and drive.
"Erol, I can't even begin to explain to you how inaccurate your picture of reality is."
I was going to tell him what was actually happening, but I didn't actually know myself. Perhaps in some way, his vision of reality was accurate, though the symbols might have been twisted within the limits of his paradigm.
Either way, I had no desire to share with him any more than necessary. At the moment, he had already conceded to giving me the information for the location of the next portal; I didn't need to care about much more than that. I figured we could worry about opening the damn thing when we got there, but at least it would be a push in the right direction.
"Don't be long, or the Shadow Government might make this a short trip."
"Oh God... You're right. If they have my phone tapped, then they probably have the house under surveillance as well. No! No. Don't stop here. Keep driving!"
I pulled over in front of his house.
"Hurry the fuck up."
The stress was obviously getting to him. He wasn't thinking clearly enough to be a rational person. Besides that, he was starting to get on my nerves.
"Oh, you're right. If they have this place under surveillance, then they would totally know that my car had driven pat and that would only tip them off that we know that they know."
"If you're not back in five minutes, I'm going to leave without you. That means the next O.T.O agent assigned to your case will find a crucified corpse on your lawn instead of an Erol. Now get the fuck out of the car."
"You wouldn't do that..."
He opened the car door, stepped out, and looked at me earnestly. "You need me."
As much as I would love to say that his last statement wasn't true, I could not. Likely, the most painful part about spending time with Erol was that for all of his un-examined conclusions, there was a ring of truth at the basis of his observations. Regardless if the conclusions drawn weren't accurate, for some reason, he still had his finger on the pulse.
Five minutes passed, and neither the O.T.O, nor the Shadow Government showed up to assassinate Erol, and steal his files. Regardless of the apparent moment of safety, Erol's return was not without some level of surprise.
Emerging out from the house, briefcase in one hand, and backpack in another was Erol. Following closely behind were Amethyst and Rosemary.
I should have known.
He opened the back door to the truck cab, and the dogs leaped in without hesitation.
"I'll drive from here," he said with confidence.
I thought about telling him to fuck off, but then I realized that I needed to back off a bit and let him take the helm for a while. There was no reason for me to continue assert control in a non-threatening situation.
"You're right," I conceded, and I opened the door and climbed into the passenger side of the truck.
Now that he was back in control, I could see a natural sort of liveliness to him. The adventure was beginning once more in his mind. Behind Erol's soul, in that moment, stood a sense of exploration and finality of purpose. The truth behind the experience was written all over his face. He expected that the moments to follow would be the purpose for which he had lived out these many years of his life.
"Good for you," I muttered.
Shunting the dogs to one side of the rear cab, I lowered my seat.
Erol may have found his purpose, but I still had no idea what the hell was happening. The appearance of the Wilder Fae worried me more than an little. As far as I was concerned, I was stuck, operating on previous orders, with new information that threw a significant doubt into the nature of the mission overall.
The problem was that this new information only provided a source of cognitive dissonance, and not any sense of true evidence of betrayal. The problem with the Void was documented, and had no apparent solution. The entire reason I had agreed with Thane in the first place was because of the overwhelming evidence that our world was about to suffer catastrophic ecological changes, and nobody was doing anything about it.
"But why would they want to stop me..."
"Who's they?"
Ever perceptive, Erol had picked up his investigation where he left off not long ago.
"My brain hurt.
I strained to think of a way to explain it to him in a way he could understand. I didn't want to go through the entire history of a fictitious race with him, while contending with the long standing imaginary constructs that he held in his own mind.
"At a certain point, people end up believing what they want to believe, and I'm not sure it is worth while to attempt to change things after that."
"Well if I've got something wrong, and you can prove it, then why not just share it with me?"
"Because I can't prove it. Not yet anyways."
"Why are you here?"
"I need you to open a portal."
The car started accelerating, and Erol rolled down the window to feel the fresh air of the highway blow into the cab of the truck. Rosemary opted to join Erol in the indulgence offered by the breeze, while Amethyst was content to rest her head on my shoulder.
The comfort of another creature felt nice, and I allowed myself to be soothed by the dog's affection.
I had expected a stream of questions to come out of Erol's mouth, but instead, he let me alone for a while, and focused on his driving. The break was peaceful, if short-lived. As it turned out, he was simply taking my information and processing it within his own mind. He needed to reason why I wanted him to op
en a portal, and fit it within whatever paradigm that he had constructed for himself.
I was getting tired of dealing with his conflicted and limited paradigm. Letting him believe whatever hew wanted about the experience was liberating, in that I didn't have to explain everything to him, but it still felt manipulative and disconnected.
I'm no better than Thane, if I keep this game up, I thought.
Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long before Erol spoke up.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry," he began. "About the O.T.O, and the Shadow Government bit."
I shrugged, but he continued regardless.
"Things have happened to me in the past, before you showed up. You're not the only person who has ever taken an interest in my work."
"Is that right?"
I was genuinely interested, though still cautious about the significance of this information.
"Absolutely. I've gotten strange letters in the mail. Unnecessary clicks on the phone line. Even the sensation that I was being followed out in the middle of the wilderness."
None of that surprised me in the least. After all, I had been given information on him as a target before even coming to the Material Plane. Likely there had been other scouts in the past that had kept and eye on him. Still, there was no reason to discount this information out of hand.
"So what?"
"I know that I'm onto something, and I know that I'm not the only one that is interested in this information. Having you come into my life, and directly verify what I had suspected all along..."
"What exactly is it that you think these portals do?"
"Well, it's obvious. They open dimensions between worlds."
"And you automatically suspect Atlantis and the Shadow Government?"
"That's why I want to apologize. Sometimes, I get a bit carried away. The fact is, that I don't know what is on the other side, and I don't know why you want me in particular to open the portal."
He shrugged.
"It may just be that I have been studying these things my whole life, or it may be something else. Regardless of what it is, or who you are, I want you to know that I'm with you, though I might not be doing this for the same reason as yourself."
He had gaffed me.
"What do you mean?"
He continued to drive, quiet for a time, as though collecting his thoughts. All around us, I could see nothing except a sea of thick redwood trees. The highway itself had narrowed, and the little beat up truck continued to rumble along in spite of itself.
"I think humanity needs you. Whatever you are, wherever you've come from. I think humanity needs something in this world to pull them out of a state of philosophical depression."
"I'm not sure you understand what you are saying."
"Well, the way I see it, you are a representative of a race capable of things that we humans only dream of. I recognize that obviously you have the capacity for both good, and bad, which means that there is no certainty as to the outcome of an intersection between the two races. "
He paused for a moment, and let out a long sigh.
"As a matter of fact, in all likelihood, your culture will likely overthrow our own. I don't think it will be personal either. Historically, every time a more advanced civilization has interacted with a less technologically integrated civilization, there has been an unrepentant dominance and absorption of the previous culture into the dominant new culture. I don't think you'll have a choice."
"I don't understand how that is an advantage to humanity."
"Well, that's because you don't see humanity as I do."
"Elucidate."
He laughed.
"The problem is that most people in our world today don't have any kind of imaginative capacities whatsoever. Scientific reductionism has taken so firmly a hold on our cultural psychology that we can't seem to determine the difference between our own ass and an ad in a fashion magazine."
"No offense, but I've seen more than a few asses here that look nothing like they belong in a fashion magazine."
"Okay, well, maybe that was a bad analogy. What I mean to say is that there is nothing special about the human, in their own self-evaluation. Everything has been reduced to materialism and consumerism. All emotions and tendencies are commoditized. Religious instincts are used for political control, or subverted into dominance schemes. "
"Sounds like you did this to yourselves."
"It’s true! But, that doesn't make it any less depressing."
"I don't think you'll find us to be the benevolent saviors you hope for."
As I spoke, my mind replayed the battle with Xan, and all of the intricacies of the political system within the Capitol. The very fact that the Wilder elves had attacked meant that there was no final bastion of ideological purity within the Fae Realm. If there was no purity, then I could hardly believe that we could be seen as the saviors of another world.
"Your spiritual death sounds like a personal problem that each human needs to face. I sincerely doubt we will change that for you."
"That’s just it! I don't think you will change anything either. However, I think that opening the portal might lead to creating a catalyst, which challenges the basic assumptions of the world we live in."
"I see..."
He was right.
Not even the Fae knew how the rift would work out. We were working in entirely unknown territory. It went without saying that the opening of a Rift would change everything, but that didn't necessarily mean that everything would change for the better.
It was more like a desperate strike into the darkness, in hopes that whatever rested on the other side was somehow better than what was inevitable in the absence of such exploration.
Of course, whenever we struck out into new territories, there was always the risk that was associated with that process of discovery. Problems might be alleviated, but then again, things might only grow in their complexity, as well.
"Neither side knows what will happen."
"And both sides believe that there is a hope for things to change."
I looked at him, skeptical of how much he understood.
He caught the glance and laughed again.
"It's obvious that the stakes are high. Otherwise, why show yourself? Why expose yourself, or put yourself in danger to protect the life of someone like me?"
He shook his head and bit his lip.
"No, things are changing, for sure. All I can say is that I am going to do everything in my power to make that change happen. As for the consequences, I'll leave the burden of impact to someone else."
Amethyst lifted her head to stare at her master, and then lowered it down once more to the seat. I agreed with her sentiment entirely.
"We will see."
Whether it was the hum of the car, or the fatigue from the battle at the restaurant, I found that it was soon time for me to nap. Closing my eyes once more, I drifted off to sleep; passively riding along with Erol while he carted us forward to our destinies.
I woke up to the sight of fire.
Chapter 12
The fire was contained within a sphere that was thousands of miles away. I adjusted my eyes to the light, and looked around my environment. The familiar car, and the comforting presence of the dog were no longer part of the picture. Instead, I had somehow found myself once more in the landscape of the Demon Realm.
With a mixture of revulsion and intrigue, I looked at the body that I once more inhabited. The same reptilian form as before covered my skin, and I thought about the words of Erol.
Could this be? I thought to myself.
I wasn’t sure if this was my true form, or if this was only another passing moment. The whole question brought deeper thoughts into my brain, and in the way that only dreams can provide, an answer arrived matter-of-factly in my consciousness.
Like a giggle, or a transformation of thought, the conclusion left me, as soon as it had arrived.
I blinked.
Whatever that thought was,
it didn’t seem to matter much any more. I was here, and that was enough for me to worry about. I felt more capable than I did the time before. Already, I was keeping an eye on the ground, and making my way toward more stable places to rest.
I launched up into the air, and felt the beauty of my wings as they manipulated the air currents around me. I felt powerful, and strong. A smile came to my face, in spite of the horrific landscape, and I remembered the simple joys of flying.
Without any effort at all, my wings opened and caught the air currents on the way down, transforming my plummet into a graceful arc. I soared past the edges of the wasteland, and into the rocky grey mountains beyond.
The pleasure slowed when I realized that I was not alone, and that I most likely stood out like a bloodstain against the vacant sky. I opted to dive down to the ground, and fly along the parched and cracked soil beneath my shadow. In all likelihood, whomever I had observed would also have seen me.
As I grew closer to the mountainsides, it became clear to me that I had been seen by whatever beings had been standing on the cliffs. I could feel their eyes on my body as I approached. My body shrank, and I remembered the difficulties that I had experienced during my last visit to this place. I dared not stop on the ground, but I was also hesitant to approach.
In the end, curiosity won out over deliberation, and I decided to fly upward, along the incline of the mountain. Once I reached an altitude that was slightly higher than that of my target, I slowed to a stop.
The claws on my feet dug into the gravel and sand which made up the sides of the mountain. A feeling of relief, and also dismay followed thereafter. In front of me, on the plateau, was a demon whom I knew to be Thane.
"I see you've acclimated to your new form!"
He laughed and extended both of his wings for emphasis. He sounded victorious, as though none of this was any sort of surprise to him. Thane had always been a worldly type of person, but to believe that something as strange and perverse as this world was to be considered normal.
