Afterworld

by Lynnette Lounsbury

  ‘Dominic.’

  The voice woke him instantly. It was a voice that made his heart stutter. He opened his eyes and sat up in one movement. There was a woman sitting on the end of his bed. Watching him without blinking. Dom felt something strange wash over him. It was an emotion he had not ever felt before, a sense of some sort of completion. He felt as though by just existing in her presence he was doing something powerful. The woman watched him silently, a kind smile on her face.

  Dom had been stunned by Deora’s perfect features, but this woman was so exquisitely made that he could not stop looking at her, his eyes exploring her face, not knowing where to let his gaze fall. She had dark hair, thick and long, olive skin and dark eyes. They were a tilted almond shape, liquid pools that had their own light source. He checked around the room. Eduardo was still staring out at the City and the two girls were asleep. The woman waited. Her mouth was curled up with amusement and she had full lips. She seemed to defy any sort of ethnicity, almost as though she were a mix of every woman. She had a softness he had never seen in his own mother’s thin angles.

  ‘It is good to be here with you, Dom.’ Her voice was thick and wrapped around him. He could feel the vibrations of the words rippling across his skin.

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘You know who I am.’

  ‘No. I don’t.’

  ‘Yes you do.’ She waited.

  He sighed. ‘Are you like, God?’

  She laughed a throaty hoarse laugh. ‘Am I like God? Yes. A bit like God.’

  ‘You don’t look like how I imagined God. Not that I imagined God often.’ He didn’t know what else to say.

  The woman transformed into an older man, a grey beard and wavy hair surrounding a soft, friendly face.

  ‘Is this more like it?’ the man said gently.

  Dom had to smile a little, but he felt a strange nervousness. ‘I guess. But I didn’t believe in God. Sorry.’

  ‘Yes you did. Everyone does. You are part of me. Believing or disbelieving isn’t an option. Do you believe in your parents? It’s the same sort of question. If the name God bothers you, think of me as the Awe. Think of me as everything.’ The old man morphed back into the woman. Her face took his breath away again.

  Dom tried to think of something to say. ‘But people believe in different gods. In Allah and Jesus and Buddha and . . .’ he struggled, ‘Zeus and Poseidon, and the ancient Egyptians had hundreds of them.’

  She looked through him. ‘And I am all of those. Some people find it easier to believe in only parts of who I am.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘What is everything made of, Dom? When you get down to basics.’

  ‘Um, atoms? Molecules. I guess.’

  ‘Energy. Life. I am life. I gave some of that energy to everything that lives. I live through that. You live through that. Everything is part of me.’

  Dom’s head felt as though it might explode. ‘But if we are . . . you . . . then aren’t we simply puppets? Or pets or something?’

  ‘Do you feel like a puppet?’

  ‘Sometimes. I don’t know.’ He thought of another question. ‘Do you talk to people and answer prayers and stuff like that?’

  ‘People answer their own prayers.’

  He smiled suddenly. ‘Why does bad stuff happen to good people?’

  She watched him calmly. ‘That one? Because they choose it. Their souls choose their lives, all of it. They had something to learn.’

  ‘If you exist, is there a devil as well?’

  ‘I am the devil.’ She winked at him.

  Dom felt lost in the energy that swirled around and through him. There was so much power in this being. He felt safe and terrified at the same time.

  ‘I am everything. All energy. So I have to be all things darkness and light. All good and all bad. I am everything. I have given you the same energy. If you were only one thing, then you would not understand the other would you, Dom?’

  ‘You mean I wouldn’t value life if I didn’t know I was going to die?’ He sighed. ‘I may have learned that a little late.’

  Again the woman laughed, but this time she reached out a hand and gripped his arm. ‘Dom. Everything that happens is created by the energy of life – by people’s thoughts, beliefs, hopes. Your people are young, they are still evolving and it is time for change here in Necropolis.’

  ‘But these people are dead.’

  ‘Oh, Dom. How do you feel? Can’t you see that death is just another stage of life? It’s simply the next step. Only you have to deal with the lack of mortality. You have to face the eternal.’ She leaned closer and he could feel the warmth of her breath. ‘I have chosen you, Dominic. I allowed you to come here, even though it goes against the natural laws that have evolved. I guided you and your companions together. They need you, and Necropolis needs you. You are the catalyst for evolution here.’

  Dom was horrified. ‘Why? I don’t even want to be here. I am not one of those people who want to lead a revolution or be famous or change the world . . .’ he trailed off.

  ‘You are. What did you do when you saw your sister today? Did you plan a way to save her?’ She tilted her head and watched him. ‘You did not wait. You are exactly the person that is needed here because despite the fact that you are young and in this waiting place – you acted when you needed to. What is it that you want most, Dominic?’

  ‘I don’t know. I want to be alive, I suppose.’ He sighed.

  ‘Then live. And fight for Satarial. He needs you.’

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding. Needs me?’ Dom raised his voice a little and hurriedly lowered it. ‘For his collection, you mean.’

  ‘He needs both of you. Save Satarial and you save the Necropolis. He represents everything this place has become. People bitter and despairing, indulging their worst impulses and ignoring their best. Waiting forever because it is less terrifying than doing anything.’ She looked across at his sister.

  ‘Both of us? Kaide? Can’t you send her back and let her live? Please.’ He was serious, begging.

  ‘You and Kaide are everything Satarial needs for change. You will see. And Kaide does not wish to go back. I do not force the human soul to do anything.’

  ‘I didn’t want to die,’ Dom said quietly. ‘I had no choice.’

  ‘You wanted something, Dominic. You just didn’t understand what it would take to get it.’ She smiled at him and nodded gently. ‘It is nice to finally be close to you, Dominic. I will see you again soon. Remember that you are exactly where you are meant to be. Exactly where you wanted.’ She was gone, and he immediately felt the absence of her warmth.

  He took a breath and the air around him flickered a little with the excess energy running through it. The air during a storm.

  He turned to find Eduardo staring at him intently.

  ‘The Awe was here.’

  Dom nodded. He was about to ask a question, but Eduardo indicated for him to be quiet. ‘Let’s walk.’ He moved silently and Dom followed as quietly as he could, glancing back to see that the girls were still asleep. He followed the Angel down the narrow alley outside their apartment to the busier part of the City, past the coloured, softly lit walls and a few scattered market stalls, busy despite the late hour, to Giraldo’s where they had first met. The door vanished to admit them and Dom felt almost the same amazement as the first time he had seen it. They sat at a table in the darkness at the back and Eduardo ordered a bottle with a flick of his hand at the bar owner. Pouring two drinks, he pushed one towards Dom’s side of the table. Dom drank it carefully and it warmed his throat as he swallowed.

  ‘You’re going to compete,’ Eduardo said when he had finished his drink.

  ‘I guess so.’ Dom felt sick. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘The Awe.’

  ‘She’s convincing.’ He took another sip. It tasted like some sort of fuel.

  ‘She?’ Eduardo was surprised. He paused for a moment. ‘Dominic, we have little time. You could train e
very day and not be ready for a hundred things he could throw at you.’

  ‘Thanks – I feel much better.’

  ‘I can help. But it’s your choice. I can give you some of my knowledge, if you let me.’ He held out his hand, palm up. Dom’s eyes didn’t move from his face.

  ‘Why are you here?’

  Eduardo kept his palm on the table. ‘It is the same as what Satarial did to you, except I will give you knowledge, whereas he was taking it.’

  ‘Why are you here, Eduardo?’ Dom persisted.

  The Angel’s face creased and showed signs of the broken man Dom had known yesterday. It passed and was replaced by a slight narrowing of the eyes. Sparks. Dom realised that something had shifted. Not physically perhaps, but emotionally. Eduardo’s eyes grew darker with every moment. Angry Angel.

  Dominic wasn’t just another person to protect anymore. It was the Awe, she had altered everything. He still didn’t want to go anywhere near the terror and the screaming crowds of the Arena, but there was a plan in motion and part of him knew he would do what needed to be done.

  He had a sudden urge to laugh. He had spoken to the being most people called God. And the Devil. He was looking into the face of an Angel. He was dead. It was unbelievable.

  He stifled his laughter and continued to gaze at Eduardo. He would wait him out. The Angel curled his open palm into a fist and slammed it on the table. The wood splintered slightly.

  ‘You don’t need to know anything about me,’ he said roughly.

  ‘Yes I do,’ Dom countered as confidently as he dared. ‘You want access to my mind. I should be able to ask you a question. Or two.’ He added, ‘Why are you here?’

  Eduardo continued to stare at him for almost a minute, and with every scrap of strength he had Dom stared back. Finally Eduardo softened a fraction.

  ‘Or two? You spend time with the Awe and suddenly you can tell me what to do?’

  ‘You think you are better than me, don’t you?’ Dom let a slight smile escape. ‘Because I’m human.’

  Eduardo matched his smile and raised him an arched brow. ‘Perhaps I do. Or because you are fifteen minutes old. I have been around for longer than your world has existed. I am immortal.’

  ‘That’s pretty harsh.’ Dom was unfazed. ‘Are you going to answer my question or not? It’s not a hard one. I’m here because I died in a car crash. You aren’t dead. As far as I can tell, Angels don’t come to Necropolis very often. And, from Satarial’s reaction, I don’t think that they act as Guardians. So what is your deal?’

  There was another long pause as Eduardo refilled his cup from the bottle on the table. Dom wondered if he would ever answer. Maybe Angels didn’t deign to confide in humans.

  ‘I was waiting for someone. I am waiting for someone.’ He said it softly, but clearly.

  ‘And all the stuff about being a conquistador?’

  ‘I borrowed it from a man I was Guardian for. It was his story. I liked it.’ Eduardo smiled.

  ‘A woman?’

  ‘Yes. A human woman. I am waiting.’

  ‘How long have you been waiting?’ Dom felt a wave of sympathy. The thought of an immortal waiting for his love to die was tragic.

  ‘A long time.’ Eduardo’s voice was quiet, but it was iron. ‘Are you going to let me help you or not?’

  ‘Is there any chance I could do this myself?’ Dom asked without much hope.

  ‘Yes. There is.’ Eduardo smiled finally.

  ‘I’m guessing by your amusement that my chance is extremely slim.’ Dom smiled too, in spite of the situation. He held out his hand. ‘Don’t take anything I need.’

  Eduardo grasped his hand firmly and Dom felt again the heat that he had felt when Satarial had first touched him, a strange, searing intrusion that spread up his arm and into his mind. He could feel his mind filling with thoughts and emotions and knowledge. It was strange, like learning a new concept in math and understanding it and feeling it become part of his mind. Yet this was on a grand scale, idea after experience, concept after thought, all of it filling his mind and making him suddenly aware. When Eduardo withdrew his hand Dom had to rest his head on the wooden table for a minute.

  He sifted through what was in his mind. He knew how to use a sword, knife, a staff, other weapons he had never seen before. He knew how to fight with his hands, how to kick, to land if he fell from a height. He knew how to kill a man. And he knew how to fly.

  ‘Fly?’ he said aloud, mystified.

  ‘Yes.’ His Guardian laughed. ‘I let that one slip through. Ironic though, since you have no wings. You may be the only human to ever fully understand flight.’

  ‘I feel . . . I don’t know. I feel invincible.’ Dom watched his own hand as it twisted and flicked in a series of fluid fighting motions. It was like no martial art he had ever seen. ‘Why do you use swords and knives? Haven’t Angels got more sophisticated weapons than that?’

  ‘You mean like the sophistication of humans?’ Sarcasm stabbed through each word. ‘We have evolved further than that, Dominic. A fight or a war is about minds, you have to be close to your enemy, feel them and touch them to understand what it is you are fighting and wanting. Human weapons keep you removed from the physicality, the reality and consequences of the fight, so there is no empathy and no learning. Without knowledge there is no point to conflict and thus no evolution. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes. I think I do.’ Dom was stunned by the simplicity of the idea. Dropping a bomb onto millions of people taught nobody anything. If people fought face-to-face they could each see how much they believed in what they were fighting for. How much they wanted to live.

  ‘Come on. I have an idea.’ Eduardo tipped a handful of minutes onto the table and they rolled into the hole in the middle, syphoned away into the wood. He stood and devolved into a human. He hunched a little, brought his head forward, rounded his shoulders and let his eyes glaze. He gestured to Dom with believable inebriation and slurred, ‘Let’s go pick a fight.’

  To Dom’s surprise it sounded like fun. There must be some thieving drunk stupid enough to let him try out his new skills. He stood up to follow his Guardian and felt that even the way he was walking had changed. He stood more lightly on his toes, kept his muscles loose and ready. It felt good. ‘What if my body can’t do what my mind tells it to do?’ he said as they swished through the mist of the doorway.

  ‘Then I will find that extremely amusing. As will your opponent.’

  Out in the cool night, it struck Dom again how even the air had a smell to it. Or maybe a lack of scent. It was so clean it made his nostrils feel cool. They wandered down streets Dom had never seen before. They were mainly empty, a few drunks lying on the edges, the odd street-vendor selling food and fruit. Nothing seemed to interest Eduardo. He kept walking as though he knew where he was going, had a plan. That worried Dom. While he thought it might be interesting to try out the new skills swirling through his head, he didn’t want to be handed over to the Necropolis equivalent of a bikie gang. Not being able to die from it didn’t make pain any more appealing.

  They rounded the corner of an alley so narrow he had to walk behind his Guardian. By the time he could see around Eduardo’s bulk, his heart sank. It was some sort of bar, brightly lit with gaudy colours, men and women milling noisily around outside, obviously having drunk far too much. It was in an open courtyard and men were kneeling on the smooth black stones shaking minutes out of their hourglasses and tossing them around in a game that looked like marbles. They were flicking them at each other and occasionally a roar erupted as someone won or lost their entire day’s wage. There were women and men wrapped around each other, tucked against any part of the wall that wasn’t glowing as brightly as the glare of the bar doorway. It was the sort of place that Dom would have avoided in life and he had exactly the same instinct now.

  As they got closer a few faces looked up to examine the newcomers. Dom couldn’t help but stare back. Many of the faces were twisted and mottled. Their eyes were
bloodshot to the point that there was barely any white left.

  ‘Glass eyes,’ he said to Eduardo.

  Their bodies were weakened and shrunken, and he wondered when was the last time they had eaten and he shuddered at the memory of the freakish creature that had tried to tear out his throat earlier that night.

  ‘The game is simple. You throw your minute at the pile and knock as many as you can towards your own hourglass. Only you are going to cheat. Until someone fights you.’ Eduardo leaned back against a wall, nodded to a few patrons who clearly knew him.

  ‘Cheat? How do I cheat?’

  ‘I don’t know. Use your imagination. Call someone else a cheat. Throw a punch. Whatever it takes. These are people accustomed to fighting.’ He pointed to a couple of dark shadows brawling in the alley beside the venue, their grunts and gasps escaping as they were kicked in the ribs or were thrown against a wall.

  Dom suddenly thought this was a ridiculous idea. Reckless. These people were drunk and desperate. He took a deep breath and only because Eduardo was watching, walked towards the group of gamblers closest to him.

  He took another breath to fill his chest and make it seem as large as possible. Which still didn’t feel big enough. He was becoming more muscled, but when it came to something like this, with a chance that any one of the dozens of people in the area might try to attack him, breaking his limbs over and over again, he felt like anything short of angelic wouldn’t be tall enough.

  One of the men noticed him and squinted up through bleary red eyes. There was a smear of blood on his cheek. Dom braced himself. He tried to speak, but found he had absolutely nothing to say. He’d never been one for confrontation, much more of a brooding-in-the-corner kind of guy. He felt stupid.

  ‘Hey.’

  ‘Hey, hey. Hey,’ the man stuttered, squinting to look at him more carefully. His eyes suddenly brightened. ‘Hey, isn’t you the kid? The young one? You are. Isn’t you?’ He yelled and gestured, struggling to stand. ‘Hey y’all, this here’s the kid they been talking about. The little one. You’re only eight, right?’