by Ramy Vance
“I’ve been waiting for you to get here for so long.”
Suzuki sipped his coffee and stared at Sandy.
He was confused. He still didn’t know where he was, or what exactly was happening.
All he could remember was closing his eyes and trying to find the source of the song that had been playing in his head. He remembered a sharp pain in his chest and the feeling of coldness spreading across his body. But that coldness had disappeared and had been filled with something warm. And the feeling he should not have gone after the voice. Now, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. “Sandy, where are we?” Suzuki finally asked.
Sandy ran her hair through the young girl’s hair. At that moment, Suzuki understood the young child was Sandy, albeit, a different version than the Sandy Suzuki knew. The child had a long scar running from the crown of her head down to her chin. “We’re in me,” Sandy said. “I think. I’m still trying to figure this place out, but I think this is my mind. Or something like that. Maybe the mind of all of me.”
“Why am I here?”
“Because I was calling you.”
The child version of Sandy moved her black chess piece. She stared at the board with an eerie amount of focus. Then a white piece moved, the rook. It took her pawn, and the child pouted as she crossed her hands.
Suzuki stared at the board. He didn’t know why, but he was obsessed with the game. There were patterns he could see, moves the child version of Sandy didn’t seem to make out. Even though she had just lost a pawn and the white rook was on the prowl, she was still winning the game. She did not seem like she knew. “Why were you calling me?” Suzuki asked.
Sandy stirred her coffee with her finger. “I’ve been hiding in here,” she explained. “José didn’t quite tell me all I was supposed to expect. Diana told me, but it was hard to understand. Very hard to understand until I got here.”
“And here is the place between realms. The chaos the Dark One lives in?”
“Yeah. So, I built this place. To hide from him.”
Sandy looked up at Suzuki and her face changed. It was subtle but all-encompassing. Her hair was now white, and her face was lined with wrinkles. She sighed and sipped her coffee. “I feel like I’ve been here for my entire life,” she whispered, her voice sounding frail and broken.
Suzuki reached across the table and took Sandy’s hand. He didn’t know why, but it felt like the right thing to do. Sandy looked up at Suzuki and smiled the way a grandmother does at a child. “What are you doing here?” Suzuki asked. He felt like he already knew the answer but had forgotten along the way.
Sandy leaned over and moved one of the chess pieces. Instantly, the black rook moved forward and took another pawn. “Looking for the Dark One’s name.” Sandy sighed. “It’s been exhausting. This entire place is him. That’s why I built myself someplace to rest. Me and my others. But we can’t find it. His name, I mean. No matter how many of us are looking. But it’s because this is all him. How the fuck do you name an entire reality?”
“What do you mean, an entire reality?”
“The Dark One doesn’t reside in the place between realms. I don’t know when he did it or how it happened, but he is the place between realms. He’s this entire universe. At first, I thought the place was built on all the unspoken things, all the places that reside in us that we don’t know about. And maybe it was at first. That’s what it felt like, at least. But the longer I’ve been here, the more it feels like that’s a lie. It’s all him, and maybe he’s seeping into all of us…”
Sandy’s face returned to normal. She sighed again, sounding as if her soul were escaping through her gritted teeth. “I just wanted to see you, Suz,” Sandy said. “All of you. But I couldn’t get Diana to come back here, and Beth would have been torn apart. She doesn’t have a very good handle on magic, if you haven’t noticed.”
Suzuki laughed, and his laughter broke into a thousand pieces that floated up and contorted into different versions of himself that hung on the wall and scurried away. “Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Suzuki said after he gathered himself again.
“And Stew, God, I want to see Stew so bad. I’ve seen a million of him live and die, fight and breathe. I’ve talked to some of them. But none of them are my Stew. And I miss him so much. I’m afraid I’m never going to see him again. Not the way I want to. It’s this fucking place, this fucking name. I can’t figure out how I’m going to find it.”
Suddenly, everything clicked. Suzuki could see all the Sandys standing in the room, pacing and talking to each other. They all looked to be going out of their minds with frustration. Old versions of Sandy and young versions. Sandys who were missing limbs, Sandys who glowed with an upsetting bright light. Some of them were taking notes. Others were writing on the walls.
It was madness, every Sandy trapped in a small routine of insanity.
Suzuki reached over and moved the chessboard to face him. The child Sandy’s eyes went wide, and she looked as if she were going to cry. Suzuki did the only thing he could think of; he scooped the child into his lap and kissed her on the forehead. He pointed to the chessboard and he felt he should say something, but he knew his words would carry no meaning in this place, not the kind of meaning he wished for.
Instead, Suzuki moved a pawn forward and pressed his finger to his lips so no one would speak.
The black rook moved again, taking Sandy’s pawn. Suzuki moved another pawn. The rook pounced once more. Suzuki gave away three more of his pawns as both Sandys watched, their eyes wide with horror and their lips trembling.
One more of Sandy’s pawns disappeared. It was the last one Suzuki needed. He grabbed his queen and moved her across the table in a classic move he had seen Bobby Fisher perform. His queen waltzed over the board and took the black king.
Suzuki stood up and drank a little more of his coffee. He felt his back and stomach expanding and looked over his shoulder, only to see thousands of Suzukis laughing and congratulating each other. He turned back to the Sandy in front of him. “You got this, Sandy,” he said. “You fucking got this.”
Sandy was crying, her head buried in her palm. “Thank you so much, Suz,” she said. “I’ll be back soon. Be safe.”
“You too.”
And then Suzuki opened his eyes.
Suzuki was strapped to Stew’s back when he woke up. At first, he tried to move, but the bindings were too tight. Then the flood of memories came back, and he understood what had happened. “Hey, Stew, I’m awake,” he said.
Stew was holding onto a rope, scaling the side of the cavern wall. He kicked off the wall and pulled his sword from its sheath. “Not now, dude!” Stew shouted.
It didn’t take long for Suzuki to see the reason. The creature they had seen earlier was running up the side of the cavern wall after Stew. Suzuki looked up and could see Stew was close to the summit of the wall. He wished he could call his axe to him, but his hands were bound too tightly.
Stew scrambled up the rope as the creature clawed up the wall of rock, its mouth slack and open as it screeched, its arms stretching so it could grasp the rock. It was a thing of nightmares and Suzuki almost screamed, seeing the creature approaching so fast and not having a way to defend himself. Stew was very aware of the threat, though, and threw his sword at the creature, nailing it in the chest. Then he turned back to his rope and leapt up the side of the wall, landing on the edge of the cliff.
Beth reached out and grabbed Stew and pulled him to safety. Then she leaned over, disconnected the rope from the harpoon gun, and took off running. Stew was right behind her, unhooking Suzuki from his back and stopping for a moment to undo his bindings.
Suzuki hit the ground and got to his feet, taking off after Stew. There was more light on this side of the cavern, but Suzuki did not stop to think why. He was trying to figure out the best way to take care of the monster at their heels. The creature was too fast for a full-on fight. It might have had the advantage while the Mundanes were tied to a rope, but that seemed like t
oo strong a gamble to make at the moment. If the creature was still pursuing, it meant it felt comfortable enough with its own strength to keep the fight going. It could still have the upper hand.
The rest of the Mundanes had gathered up ahead and were preparing to make their stand. It didn’t take long for Stew, Beth, and Suzuki to meet them.
Diana was standing, wand in hand, and at her side, Chip’s plasma cannons were ready.
Suzuki skidded next to them as he turned and called his axe. “It’s too fast,” Suzuki shouted. “Even with all five of us!”
Beth drew her short bow and aimed in the darkness. “Yeah, and what do you propose we do?” she asked.
“Diana, bless Stew with a protection spell.”
Diana waved her wand, and a blue aura appeared over Stew’s body.
Suzuki grabbed Stew’s shoulder. “Look out there with your HUD and tell me where you’re at!”
Stew flipped down his HUD and stared into the dimly light cavern. “Sixty percent chance of success,” he replied.
“Perfect. Leroy this shit right now!”
Stew smiled as he grabbed another of his swords. “Are you serious?” he asked.
“Hell-fucking-yeah.”
“LEROY JENKINS!”
Stew went running into the darkness toward the creature just as it pounced into the light. The creature hit Stew in the chest and they fell to the ground, Stew struggling to get the monster under him. The creature’s tail slashed and flicked about as its arms and jaw stretched out. Acid dripped onto Stew, but the protection barrier held.
Suzuki pointed his axe at the creature. “Stew’s tanking! Everyone on Stew, and we kill this fucking thing! Find its weak points, and we take care of this!”
The Mundanes wasted no time. They ran toward the creature Stew had managed to put into a headlock. Diana cast a lightning bolt from her wand as Beth leapt, firing arrow after arrow while Chip darted forward, taking her time lining up a shot and firing, hot plasma flying through the air.
The creature couldn’t escape Stew’s grasp, and it got hit with everything, Stew along with the beast. He screamed in pain as the creature screeched. When the smoke cleared, Stew held the dead creature’s body, cradling it as if it were a child.
Suzuki reached down and helped Stew to his feet. “You okay?” Suzuki asked.
Stew looked down at his chest. He was covered in scratches, but most of them were from the friendly fire of the Mundanes. “Yeah, I’m good,” Stew replied.
“I figured we got fucked up so badly before because we were out of our element. Whatever that thing is, it works on surprise. And it stuck to climbing through the walls as well. It’s not a fighter. It was an opportunist. The only thing we had to worry about was that acid. Which is why it’s lucky we have such a good fucking tank, something you need to remember. We need you to tank because no one does it like you. You got it?”
Stew smiled as he wiped the blood off his chest. “Hell-fucking-yeah.”
“Good job, Mundanes. And thanks for keeping me alive. Now, let’s figure out what the fuck is going on here.”
14
The Mundanes were filled with a renewed sense of purpose as they approached the facility ahead. Suzuki thought it was good he had managed to pull off a pep talk to bolster the party’s morale because what he saw as the Mundanes closed on the facility would have broken anyone’s spirit.
There was nothing particularly off about the facility, but it was much different from what Suzuki had expected, seeing it across the chasm. For one, the facility was much larger. Now that he was closer, Suzuki could see it was the size of a few city blocks. Its height and width had been diminished by the gray mists that hovered over the chasm.
The style of the facility was obviously military, just as Beth had said, but there weren’t any noticeable sigils or flags or anything of that sort. It looked as if it had been purchased from the military and then scrubbed clean of anything that remotely reminded one of the military’s authority.
The closer the Mundanes got, the easier it was to pick out distinct aspects of the facility that stood in the face of reason. The first one that stood out to Suzuki was that this facility was deep underground. If the dinosaurs they had fought had come from here, how would they have gotten up to the surface? The path the Mundanes had taken was difficult despite how small they were. There was no way a T-rex was going to fit through those spaces.
The second thing that stood out was the lights. Stadium lights were placed all over, and they shone with an intense brilliance that reminded Suzuki of the first time he and his dad had gone to a baseball game. There were also lights on inside the facility, which made no sense because the place was obviously abandoned.
Who the hell was paying the light bill?
Suzuki sighed as they walked up to the main mechanical door. He felt like he was in a bad science fiction movie, one that wasn’t plotted well and probably had spent the entire budget on monsters.
Stew reached out to open the front door when Beth grabbed his hand. “Hold on,” Beth said. “We should check the perimeter.”
Suzuki thought it was a good idea. They still weren’t certain about how large the place was, and they had no idea what was around them. This would at least give them an idea of whether or not there was a chance of an ambush or something. “Good idea,” Suzuki admitted.
“It’s army shit. Old habits die pretty hard.”
“All right, we’re going to split into teams. Me and Chip will take the left, and Stew, Diana, and Beth are going to take the right. We will scope out the entire building from the outside, meet up in the middle, and go from there.”
Diana cleared her throat, her glasses catching the light and giving the illusion that her eyes were glowing. “Actually, I think it would be better to go with you, Suzuki,” Diana suggested. “More firepower, you know?”
Suzuki didn’t really care and shrugged his shoulders as he nodded. “Sure, works for me,” he said. “Ready?”
The party broke apart, the MERCs banding together as Suzuki and Diana had suggested. Diana and Suzuki went down the left, stepping over industrial size piping that plugged into the side of the cavern. As Suzuki and Diana tried to find the easiest way to approach exploring the area, Diana cleared her throat and stepped closer to Suzuki. “I need to talk to you,” Diana whispered. “You went to the place between realms, didn’t you? While your chest was healing.”
Suzuki watched Diana. For some reason he couldn’t put his finger on, he didn’t trust her. He had no reason to mistrust her before and, even now, he still didn’t have one. But there was something off that made Suzuki wonder what it was Diana was thinking. “Yeah, I did,” Suzuki finally admitted. “What about it?”
“It’s interesting. Very interesting. Usually, the only way between the realms is through magic. Mostly very powerful magic users. Myself. Sandy, you know what I mean. But you? You don’t use magic much. You don’t seem to have a knack for it. So I’m interested to know how you got there.”
“Don’t know. I just closed my eyes and kinda slipped into it. Sandy said something about calling me, but I couldn’t make much sense of anything I saw in there. I’ve been thinking about it since I got back, but nothing clicks.”
“That’s how things are in there. All you have is the knowledge of the immediate. It is very difficult to bring anything back.”
“So, you don’t want to know what I saw?”
“No, I don’t care. I assume you got in contact with Sandy. Until Sandy comes back, none of it matters, though.”
Suzuki stepped over another pipe. There were more and more of them feeding into the side of the building. The longer Suzuki and Diana walked, the more apparent it was that the place was huge. Suzuki wondered where the pipes were coming from, where they went, and what purpose they had. There were far too many for it to be an aesthetic. What could the facility need pumped in?
Diana was right behind him, taking a bit more time jumping over the pipes. “How did Sandy see
m?” she asked.
Suzuki looked over his shoulder. He understood why he hadn’t trusted Diana earlier. Diana was worried about Sandy but didn’t know how to express it. That’s why she had been acting so weird. There were probably feelings Diana hadn’t tried to explain for some time. The one that was apparent now was her love of Sandy. Diana’s face looked hollowed out in the darkness as if something had sucked out all of her life. Her skin was sallow and her face gaunt as she chewed her bottom lip.
Suzuki took Diana’s hand for a moment. “She looked tired,” he answered. “She looked very tired. But she also looked like she knew what she was getting herself into, and like she could handle herself.”
Diana relaxed a little bit, the wrinkles going out of her face, the blue cracks in her skin shining less brightly as if a volatile reaction with her had disappeared. “That’s good to know. I’m glad you got in touch with her. It’s been difficult with everything going on, but I’m glad you got in touch with her.”
Suzuki’s HUD crackled, and Beth’s voice came through. “Hey, are you guys done fucking around?” she asked. “We got something important over here. You’re going to want to see it. Fast.”
Diana and Suzuki exchanged glances, uncertain of what to expect.
The rest of the Mundanes were on the other side of the facility. They weren’t even close to the halfway point. Suzuki and Diana had to backtrack to the front and then work their way through that way. It was apparent the facility was much larger than any of them could comprehend, although it looked regular-sized. There was no doubt magic at play. It took a little under twenty minutes to find where the rest of the Mundanes were. No one bothered to take notice of Diana and Suzuki. They were staring straight ahead, slightly downward. As Suzuki got closer, he could see what had grasped their attention.
What Suzuki saw was something akin to a garden. It was an empty space quite different from the rest of the pipe-covered area around the building. It looked as if someone had intentionally cut away a bit of space away from the rest of the facility for this project. In the area were hundreds of the black sprouts. They were not the small things Suzuki had seen before. These pods were the size of a small dog and stretched toward the sky like a row of fingers. Other than the size, the other major distinction between these sprouts and the others was that a clear, thick liquid was oozing out of the tops of the flowers.
