by A. J. Rand
Chapter 7
The sound of the man’s warning was muffled to my ears, distorted. It sounded far away from wherever I was now. And wherever I was, I didn’t like it. The terrain had a vague, familiar feel to it. Damn. It was a dreamscape. Is that why the guy had felt so familiar? Was he the dream stalker I was after? Morpheus had mentioned separate and distinct personalities––was that the separation I had felt?
Somehow the answer didn’t feel right to me. This was––different. I wasn’t ruling it out, but dream stalkers were generally cowards in their physical form. They didn’t walk up to a tracker and bleed at their doorstep. I really didn’t need these kinds of complications right now.
I looked across the dreamscape. The sun was setting as a backdrop to an incredibly delicate, impossibly real crystalline city. The buildings were all dark. The last rays of dim light peeked over the rim of the horizon, ready to cast the city into the dark of night. It wasn’t a complete darkness. A pale shadow of indigo blue washed the dreamscape around me in an ethereal glow. It was just bright enough to keep full darkness at bay, but not the sick feeling in my stomach. I knew this place. And I was pretty certain I wasn’t going to like being here.
A slight tug at the edge of my conscious awareness tried to pull my attention in another direction. I wanted to avoid looking, but knew I had to. I turned my head and there it was. A gate. It was amazing, and intricate. It was beautiful, and yet it sent a stab of fear rushing through me. I did know this place. It wasn’t just any dreamscape. It was the place I returned to time again. The place that left me sitting up in bed with a cold sweat covering my body. This was the place of my nightmare, the one I’d had for years. But it wasn’t in bits and pieces. This was the full deal. Only this time I wasn’t living it, I was watching it, like looking into a fishbowl.
To look at the gate as an object, it was as ethereal as its setting. It was a large, slightly elliptical, mirror-like surface standing vertical and flat. The frame surrounding that surface was a bas-relief of soft shapes and colors. It reflected everything––the last light of the sun, the indigo hue of the twilight world, and it was constantly moving and shifting––reshaping itself in front of my eyes. It made my head hurt to watch it, but I couldn’t turn away. The surface, by contrast, was flat and motionless. It reflected nothing and showed nothing.
But something was there, just on the other side of the deceptive, calm surface. A chill went through me and I shivered. I didn’t have to know what it was. What I did know, and felt with every fiber of my being, was that it was wrong. It was very, very wrong.
My attention went to the base of the gate––in part because there was something moving, but mostly because I didn’t want to look at the wrongness beyond the surface of the gate. I could feel it reaching out, sensing and probing. I didn’t want it to notice me.
Two figures stood before the gate. Both were facing each other. And both had wings––amazing, delicate, beautiful feathered wings that spread from their backs.
The smaller of the two was using those wings to hover off the ground, bringing her to eye level with the one standing in front of the gate. She wore a dress of many layers, deep oranges, reds and golds. It was almost like the color of fire, but not quite. The many pieces of material didn’t so much move like flames as they did the petals of a multi-colored marigold wrapped around her body. Her wings were the same color, the hues weaving in and out to display a picture, like feathered butterfly wings. Her long, loose golden curls framed a cherubic face that was animated with playful pleading.
The other one stood with pride before the gate. Long, dark hair was braided over one shoulder to hang almost to her waist. The delicate feathers of her white wings took on the subtle hue of the indigo light around her. They contrasted the color of her clothing––dark, fit and tight, the dress of a warrior. It was her face that really caught my attention. It was a strong face, marred with tiredness.
I knew that face well. I looked at in the mirror every day. My face stared out from the form of the winged creature. Of course, I should have known that. In my nightmare, I was the one that stood before the gate and dealt with what was coming. This was the first time I’ve ever watched what happened from a distance. If I had a comfy chair and some popcorn, I could sit back and watch the show. Only this wasn’t a popcorn-type movie. It was a lean forward on the edge of your seat and call out to warn the dumb, blonde cheerleader not to go into the basement-type of movie. As though my thoughts cued the sound guy, the voices faded into my awareness, the curtain rising on the middle of the opening scene.
“So do you think you can come with me to the observatory tomorrow?” The cherubic girl was dancing in the air with restrained excitement.
“We’ll see, Arianna. But it looks doubtful.”
“Please, Ithane. Puh-leease––” Arianna’s wings were twitching back and forth anxiously. “The Council makes you work too much. You never get to do anything any more.”
For the first time, since I’d never had the chance to watch from a distance, I saw what I never did when the pieces flashed through my nightmare. A ripple appeared on the surface of the gate. It was so subtle that it was easy to miss. The winged warrior standing guard in front of the gate missed it. The annoying little cherub distracted her. If I had been sitting in a theater seat, this would’ve been about the time I’d be digging my fingers into the armrests.
“I know, Arianna. But the timing is not good. The Council seems to think––” Ithane stopped, shaking her head. “Never mind. It does not matter. I cannot go anywhere until the Council gives me leave.”
The cherub crossed her arms with a petulant pout, stomping her foot ineffectively in the air.
“They’ll never let you take a break. Not as long as he––” Her eyes widened. “They really think Lucifer’s gonna try again, don’t they? And soon—or else they’d let you go.”
“Stop, Arianna. You know we no longer speak the name of the Morning Star. And you know I cannot tell you anything—”
Lucifer? As in the big, bad, himself? This was getting weird. Maybe that’s why I never remembered the whole sequence of the nightmare. It was a little too surreal to wrap my mind around.
From my vantage point, I could see what Ithane didn’t at first. The cherub had stopped paying attention to the guardian. Her attention, as was mine, focused on the surface of the gate. The ripple had grown, a repetitive constant movement starting to push forward, bulging from the flat surface. Ithane caught the look of horror on Arianna’s face and looked behind her, catching sight of the mass trying to push its way through.
“Holy Mother—“ the guardian cursed, whipping around to face the gate.
I knew my own look of fear matched Ithane’s. I could feel it. I had experienced this many times before from the viewpoint of the guardian. And I knew what would come next.
Ithane regained her senses quickly. She set her stance, preparing to fight against the enemy coming through the gate. Her feet spaced solidly apart at shoulder width, she raised her arms and spread her fingers, calling for the power.
Two energy nodes, set on pillars half the height of the gateway, sprang to life. Violet-white lightning energy crackled in the air, rapidly building in strength. When the nodes could not contain the power any longer, it shot out, directly at the heart of the guardian. Ithane’s body went into spasms with the force of its entry, but she held her ground. She swayed as it filled her, bathing her body with the light of its power, glowing from the inside out. Wow. She was good.
Her form filled with the violet-white light, spreading its way through her body. Multiple lines of the energy shot out from the palms of her hands and fingertips. Her fingers immediately started curling and she moved her arms and hands, weaving the separate lines together. The flows took form with her intent, a woven pattern of energy. It was as though a cloth were being woven of light, a blanket to cover the surface of the gate.
“Arianna, sound the alarm!”
Ithane didn’t take he
r eyes from the pattern, working to tighten the weave. She couldn’t see the look of horror on the girl’s face. But she sensed the cherub’s fear, holding her frozen in place, unable to move.
“Arianna, snap out of it! Sound the alarm!”
The girl was still unable to move, caught in horrified fascination at the sight of the gate. I watched Ithane shift one of her hands, pulling out of the weaving pattern for a single instant. A bolt of lightning flew from her palm, headed directly at Arianna.
“By all that is Holy, cherub, moved your winged backside and do as I say, or we are all lost!” Ithane’s words gritted out her threat between clenched teeth as she struggled to work her way back into the weaving of the energy.
That’s the way I would’ve handled it. I watched Arianna reel under the force of the energy blast, tumbling away from the gate with a squeal. The cherub shook it off, momentarily dazed. I could see her trying to clear her head, her eyes darting from the gate, to Ithane, and back to the gate again. Realization finally hit the annoying little twit and she gathered herself together, flying to the gong set a pace away from the gate. Arianna picked up the hammer hanging on a tie to the side and started pounding on the gong, frantically, repeatedly.
I closed my eyes to the scene, mouthing the words simultaneously as Ithane spoke them out loud.
“No—it’s going to be too late—”
I heard the sound of footsteps and the whispering sound of what had to be wings. The sounds got louder as they came closer. But I knew what was still to come. I couldn’t stop from watching, from reliving the horror of the nightmare over again.
Ithane struggled to tighten the weave of the energy pattern across the gate. The surface of the gate bulged outward, pushing back against the weave, stretching it in places. Ithane’s expression was one of intense concentration. It was also one of a struggle against a battle she knew to be lost.
I saw a single angelic figure reach the scene. He was dressed similar to Ithane, his dark fitted clothing that of a warrior. Before, when I played the part of Ithane, I knew him. Upon waking, he was always a mysterious figure, only a part of the elusive nightmare. Now, looking on from the sidelines, I knew who he was. The winged creature was the same stranger who had arrived wounded at my door.
Ithane knew him and welcomed his arrival, although she didn’t acknowledge him. There was no time. The man stepped up to her side, took his stance and tapped into the gateway nodes. A different color, blue-white lightning, flickered at the nodes and shot out to him. Just as Ithane had embraced the violet light to her heart, the man did the same with the blue. His fingers and hands worked as hers did, weaving the blue light with her violet energy, strengthening the weave.
I started to shake my head, feeling the horror of what I knew to be coming. The end of the nightmare was moving toward its conclusion. The surface of the gate pulled back, and Ithane worked with both colors of light, trying to reinforce the weaves.
The surface of the gate bulged out forcefully, not pushing through, but just enough to break the pattern, to unravel the weave slightly at the center. The expression of both guardians changed to shock and then fear. The blue color of light within the node started to flicker and fade.
I could feel the tear rolling down my face, the same one mirrored on the face of Ithane, catching the light of the nodes. I could hear the echo of her voice in my head.
“We are lost.”
The surface of the gate pulled back again, and I knew it was for the final time. The end was coming. I could feel Ithane’s resolve grow to determined anger.
The guardian straightened from her position of defeat and retook her full warrior’s stance. She drew a deep breath and pulled the energy from the nodes, no longer waiting for it to come to her. The violet lightning surged outward in full force, bathing Ithane in its light. It flared brighter, drawn to her, changing her form to that of a being of intricately patterned light, woven directly into the web of life she drew her life force from.
I saw the man’s light flare to its own intensity, bright blue-white. The look of surprise on his face said it all––he was no longer in control of it––she was. The violet light flared outward again, growing brighter, until Ithane was nothing but a being of almost pure white light.
A solid wall of energy formed where Ithane’s hands had been. With a burst of brightness, it spread outward, away from the gate. The light enveloped the Crystal City, blocking the new arrivals from reaching them. It surrounded the gate, at the same time setting it outside of the barrier with the two guardians.
I could see the angelic hosts of the Crystal City arrive. I watched them in all their multiple forms, pounding at the barrier, trying to reach the gate. But Ithane held the weave. They could not reach her.
The surface of the gate surged outward again, this time shattering it. I knew the nightmare was at its end. The formless plane exploded outward, sending pieces flying. But it didn’t stop, not like it always did before. The scene continued to play itself out. For the first time, I watched beyond the explosion, although part of me wanted it to end here. I didn’t want to know any more. But the choice wasn’t mine to make.
A huge, dark amorphous shape emerged from the gateway. Its blackness heaved directly at those pounding against the wall of energy. It bounced off. It could no more get through the barrier to reach the denizens of the Crystal City than they could get to it. It tried again, with the same result. Another spot was attempted with no success, and its howl of frustration started a roll of thunder that hung in the air, rumbling in the background.
With blind fury, the darkness turned on Ithane, throwing itself at her. The contact created an explosion that shook the barrier, and the gate, yet they remained standing. So did Ithane. The dark form backed off, regrouping, stopping for a moment to think for the first time.
I noticed the man off to the side, trying to gather his energy from the nodes where Ithane had brought them back to life. The female guardian’s attention was also turned his way. More violet light erupted from the nodes, to flood the man’s energy matrix with hers, combining the two. A portal opened between them, created of the two colors. It looked to be a gate of its own, separate from the guardian’s gate, but created of the combined essence of the gate and the energy.
I could tell the man was in shock. Ithane had full control over the energy. He could do nothing more than to stand there and feed what he could into the pattern. I was betting he didn’t even have that much control any more.
Without warning, Ithane moved the light of the created gate to envelop the darkness of the hovering monstrosity that had broken through the guardian’s gate. The black entity realized her intent, too late. It threw itself against the light that wrapped around it, but couldn’t break free. Repeated struggles went nowhere. It was trapped, with no recourse for escape.
The light surrounding Ithane began to flare, growing brighter. My head began to throb with pain. The intensity of the light was too much to look at. But I still couldn’t look away. With a final burst of brightness, Ithane forced the form of darkness into the created portal. The man seemed to come back to himself at the last moment and he sealed the portal with a matrix of his own energy, drawn from deep within his essence.
I finally had to close my eyes against the light. The pain in my head was throbbing to horrific proportions. But I had to see it all. I couldn’t stop now. When I opened my eyes again, the light was subsiding, leaving residual spots of brightness across my vision, like the flash of a camera that flared and died out, leaving me to readjust my focus.
Ithane was gone. So was the portal. It was as though neither had even existed. The protective barrier keeping the others out dissipated, and the residents of the Crystal City stumbled toward the gate. Everyone was in a state of shock. I could see their dazed looks, the confusion in their faces as they tried to absorb what had just happened.
Arianna was the first to come to her senses. The cherub launched herself to the space where Ithane had stood and threw he
rself on the ground, pounding at it, sobbing for the loss of her friend.
I looked away from her and met the gaze of the man. He was staring directly at me, as though he saw me standing there. The intense look on his face frightened me, but I couldn’t make myself look away. Instead, I gave into that intensity, allowing myself to be swallowed by the hunger in his gaze. I could feel my body start to fade away, as though melting into his, becoming one.
A trumpet sounded, hollow and far away. Just as the darkness started to overtake me, I could’ve sworn I saw a rider on a white horse burst through the gate that still stood as a backdrop to the scene of tragedy. But I couldn’t be certain. Lights flared in the gateway, like a thousand meteors illuminating the surface, blinding me to the sight. The sound of the trumpet faded as I slid into the darkness, welcoming it.
Chapter 8
My head felt heavy and my body sluggish. But when I opened my eyes and found myself back in my apartment––well, let’s just say I don’t recall ever having moved so fast in my life. I jerked my hand back from the man’s neck, lost my balance and fell off the edge of the bed. My hands and feet found the floor and I scrambled backwards away from the bed, not taking my eyes from him.
Chaz dropped the rags and was at my side by the time my back hit the wall. “Yesh, what happened? Did you get zapped or something?”
I shook my head. “How long was I out?”
“Out?” He sounded confused. “You just touched him, and then fell off the bed.”
“All that in the blink of an eye?”
Literally, from the sound of it.
“All what?”
I shook my head again, not trusting myself to talk about it yet. Pulling my feet up under me, I used the wall for balance to get up off the floor. Chaz reached to help, but I didn’t want him to touch me. I’m pretty certain the incident was isolated to the man on the bed. At least I had never heard of some dream jumping from one person to the next like a metaphysical virus. I didn’t want to take any chances until I knew what was happening.
