It was too dark to see who was there, so Michael walked along the dark hall of the chapel, approaching the altar at the far end, making sure Lyla stayed behind him the whole time.
When they got closer, Michael could see the shadow of someone standing, gazing at what appeared to be a wall. There was no artifact, statue, symbol. Nothing that would normally be placed on this sort of altar. But it didn’t surprise Michael. Xiilok was truly the land of the outlaws. There was no authority or governance of any kind, so it would only be natural that there was no god on the altar.
But why then is there an altar? Michael wondered.
Large candles on the stone base of the altar and torches on the wall suddenly lit up. The shadow turned around, and it appeared to be a man who looked somewhat normal.
“Hello there. You requested to speak to a representative of the village citizens?”
Michael smiled. “Indeed.”
“You’re Michael Fraser? May I see your credentials?”
Michael glanced at the electronic pad he was holding. “And your name?”
“I have no name.”
Michael turned around to look at Lyla. “Let’s get out of here. This conversation’s finished.”
“Why the hurry?” the man asked.
“I don’t talk to nameless creatures.”
The man looked at Lyla. “Who’s she?” he asked.
“Nameless.” Michael smiled.
The anonymous man chuckled. “Very well, Michael, my name is Samuel, and now because I’ve told you—”
“You have to kill me?”
The man laughed. “That’s absolutely right. Nothing personal, though.”
“Well, if you’re going to kill me, I think that’s pretty personal. We wanted to talk to the citizens who intend to migrate to Iilos or any other member universe of the Daimon Gate. How can I be sure you are their representative?” Michael said as authoritatively as possible.
Samuel chuckled. “May I ask to what the conversation pertains?”
“No, we need to see the citizens,” Lyla said.
“And again, what is the name of the beautiful lady I’m talking to?”
Michael pushed Lyla behind him. “She’s my technical assistant. Now if we can’t see the citizens, we’re done with this conversation.”
As Michael turned to leave, Samuel said, “Once again, you want to run away, Michael?”
“Excuse me?”
“Life was too hard for you to handle, so you ran. And on that cold night, you left your mother to die.”
“You bastard.” Michael charged at Samuel.
Lyla grabbed him with both hands, using all her body weight to hold him back. “Don’t engage. Stay in the holocast, Michael. You promised me.”
“Don’t worry, lady. He’s a coward. He won’t do anything. If I wasn’t sure about it, I wouldn’t be standing here by myself.”
Michael inhaled deeply to calm himself down. “Don’t worry,” he said to Lyla, careful not to speak her name. And then to Samuel, “You wanted to trick me so that I’d step out of the holocast to fight you. Once we engaged, you’d be able to steal my biological profile. If I stay right here, all you have on me is a simulated psychological profile from some factual information you hacked from somewhere. Well, I certainly have to hand it to you—you almost got me.”
Samuel nodded. “You know more than I would expect from a street kid.”
“I had a good mentor.” Michael turned around once again, intending to leave with Lyla.
Samuel rushed at them. He penetrated the holocast light wall, pulled out a short dagger, and ran toward Lyla.
Michael had thought it was impossible to penetrate the wall. He was caught by surprise but pushed Lyla aside and pulled out his gun. But he was too late. Samuel was as fast as lightning. The force of the man’s movement hit him like a storm, pushing him backward and causing him to fall and drop his gun.
Michael leaped instantly to his feet. He had fought and killed many space creatures. This was nothing. Samuel swung his dagger. Michael blocked him and kicked at Samuel’s abdomen.
Samuel fell backward, and his dagger dropped to the ground.
Michael kicked the dagger away then approached the fallen man. Samuel crawled backward on the ground.
“I don’t attack a man when he’s down. Get back on your feet.”
Samuel smiled. “I can see you are trying to prove you’re not a coward. But your mother died because you tried to escape your pathetic life. That’s a fact you can never escape from. But I have a solution for you…”
“Fuck you, Samuel.” Michael picked up the dagger and darted toward the man, who was already standing. He heard Lyla yelling out to him, but he couldn’t help himself. Two more steps and he’d cut Samuel’s throat.
He charged at Samuel.
Samuel threw his arms up into the air, and an invisible force struck Michael, throwing him to the ground. The hit was so hard it dazed him. He felt an incredible heat, but he didn’t know where it was coming from.
As he lay on the ground, his mind wandered back in time. He was eight. It had been a while since his mother had died, but the guilt was still eating at him. At the moment his stepfather was about to slit his throat, he was prepared for it. He just wanted everything to end. Then, at the end of the dark tunnel in the subway, Ciaran stepped out. He still remembered the blood and gore raining down on him when Ciaran killed the old man.
Seven years later, a space creature dragged him across dimensions. Once again, he was prepared to die. But Ciaran injected the Iilos energy into him, keeping him alive once more. Since then, he had learned how to live a useful life, how to contribute and give back, and how to justify his own life when others died.
Ciaran hadn’t asked, but Michael had promised himself before this trip to do whatever it took to protect Lyla. He would never be able to repay Ciaran for what he had done for him. But this wasn’t all about repayment. He had been given precious opportunities in life, and he would do whatever it took to deserve them.
Michael was confused and dazed. In which reality was he in? Why was he brooding like this in the middle of a fight?
He lifted his head from the ground and saw a giant ball of fire flying toward him. It was too late for him to do anything.
Was this it? Was he going to die here and now? The fireball was so big and fast. There was no way to avoid it. And what about Lyla?
He felt the pressure of another force of air coming toward him. Then Lyla yanked him out of the way. The momentum and the energy from the fireball hit them both and threw them several feet.
Then his whole world went completely dark.
Chapter 10
Lyla went back into a temporary control room Gale had arranged for her at the station in the Daimon Gate. Michael was still lying on the bench. She handed Gale some water. “It’s been a while,” she said. “It’s my turn. Thank you, Gale, but you’ve got work to do. I’ll take it from here.”
Gale took the water from her and stood up from the computer. “You were reckless, Lyla.”
“If I hadn’t been, Michael would have died.”
“Can you tell me what you saw?”
“Yes, aside from Michael’s personal information, I can tell you everything. We have never before encountered such an attack. And if that was the first strike from the Shadow, I’ll need every single bit of help from you that you’re willing to donate.”
“The Daimon Gate system is my lifetime responsibility, Lyla. You don’t have to ask for my help. I’m your man. But is Michael prepared for this? I mean, it looked like a nasty experience.”
“I can’t speak for him, but I’ll ask him.”
On the bench, Michael stirred and groggily opened his eyes. With anticipation, Lyla rushed over and sat at the side of the bench. When the memories came back to him, Michael bolted right up.
“Are you okay, Lyla?” he asked, heaving and coughing at the same time.
She patted his back. “Look around, Michael. Y
ou’re in the Daimon Gate. You’re okay. I’m okay.”
When his coughing subsided, Michael sat up properly and glanced around the room. He looked at Gale. “Gale!” he exclaimed.
“Yes, I’m Gale Brody…ever since the day my parents named me.”
Michael glanced back at Lyla. “We were in Xiilok. I was in a fight with Samuel. There was a giant fireball.” He looked Lyla up and down. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I told you I’m fine.”
“So what’s this then?” He picked up her two hands, eyeing the bandages wrapped around them.
“That happened when she saved your ass.”
“Gale!” Lyla scolded.
“I think you have to tell him, Lyla. He’s a big boy. He can take it. So you saw a fireball, huh? That makes it even worse. She’s reckless. She walked right into it. There wasn’t any fight. Just the one you saw and chose to be in.”
“What does that mean?” Michael asked. “What’s he talking about, Lyla?”
Gale grabbed his computer gear. “I opened the holocast for you, but I can’t control it as an outsider. Once you’re in it, it’s totally under your control. And you were hacked the very moment you engaged physically with Samuel.”
“So he’s real?” Michael asked.
“Yes…and no. Before the attack, he was real. When he charged at you, he vanished. Then it was between you and him. I saw nothing, except you falling like a stone. So this lady here wanted to see what you saw, and she connected with you. The rest is history. The fight and the reason you were in it is between you and Samuel. I think Samuel would have burned you alive if Lyla hadn’t jumped in.”
Gale strode toward the door, mumbling to himself on his way. “I’ll leave you two to work it out. And for your information, Ryan is still in Xiilok. And I think I found traces of Cayson, too.”
Lyla looked into Michael’s eyes. Those beautiful eyes grew intense. She knew it was difficult, but Gale was right—she might have to push this. “You were a child when it happened. You can’t blame yourself for that, Michael.”
“It’s none of your business, Lyla.”
“It is when I have to risk my life to save yours.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re irresponsible to say that, Michael.”
“Irresponsible! Hell, I didn’t have to do all this from the beginning.”
“Then why did you? Repaying debts? My father saved you, and you think you somehow owe him. My father didn’t ask for your repayment, did he?”
“You violated my privacy.”
She gazed into his eyes. “Hell, I did. So bite me!”
Michael stood up. “I’m done with this. I’m going back to Iilos in the past. I’ll tell Ciaran I failed the mission.”
She stood up and locked eyes with him. “Tell him, too, how you let me die. Because after you leave here, I’m going to go back to Xiilok to sort this out with the smugglers. When they attacked you, I went all the way in to save you.” She raised her bandaged hands. “And because of that, I figured out how they attack. I’m going back to stop them from hurting more people.”
“It isn’t your fight.”
“I’m the daughter of the king of Eudaiz. When someone tries to harm our citizens, it is my fight. More than that, Cayson is my confidant, and Ryan is my second father. And now, Gale and I have figured out that the smugglers might be into something larger than just stealing identities. That puts our universe at risk, so it’s definitely my war. If you want out, I guess all I can say is goodbye, Michael.”
“You and your father are just the same. You never have to ask people to give!”
She smiled. “My father would let you think for yourself and make up your own mind about what you want to do with your life. On the other hand, I will prove to you that the way you think about yourself is wrong. I won’t risk my neck invading your privacy for nothing.”
“Good luck! So what have you figured out about Samuel, and how do you plan to use me?”
“There isn’t a Samuel. Samuel is just a form the Shadow takes. And it can take many forms, depending on its purpose—and that’s something I don’t quite know yet. What I do know is that the Shadow is a hybrid of a space creature and a machine. And after witnessing its encounter with you, I think it attacks people’s most vulnerable emotional weaknesses. To do so, it must physically engage with its victim. The baseline for an attack is that it has basic information that you voluntarily give.”
“Identification.”
She smiled. “Yes, so merely filling in a form would be enough. Or verifying yourself at a control panel. Or entering a holocast communication. Based on Gale’s estimation, it has hacked the surface data of the EYE system and stored it. So when it gets your identification, it compiles that with the stolen data and simulates scenarios of your most vulnerable psychological weaknesses.”
“That was what Samuel was trying to do.”
“Yes, once the victim bites the bait…”
“But I didn’t fall into the trap.”
“Unfortunately, Michael, you did. It didn’t have to be a physical reaction or a conscious recognition. Psychologically, your mind registered your deepest emotional wounds without you even knowing or consciously admitting to it. So then the pain is triggered, and your mind will click. It wasn’t you. It was your mind that played tricks on you.”
“Right, but say it gets people upset. Then what?”
“I’m not sure about what will happen in other cases. But in your case, what it tried to do was to get your full biological and psychological profile, copy it, then burn your physical form.”
“Burn me?”
“It didn’t burn you. You burned yourself.”
“Self-combustion?”
“Yes, but it was a slow burn. The longer it takes to collect your profile, the longer the burn is. And because you fought back, it gave me time to jump in and interfere.”
“It’s like getting the information and then burning the original proof of existence?”
“Yes. It chose you because you were the communicator of that holocast. It could have been me, Michael.”
“So how do you want to stop this?”
She smiled. “I need your consent this time so that you won’t accuse me of violating your privacy. But if you help me trace the Shadow and destroy it, when it counterattacks, you now know what it will go for.”
“My most vulnerable emotional wounds.”
“Correct. Do I have your consent?”
“Yes, I give my consent to Lyla J. LeBlanc to use my information in any way she sees fit to infiltrate the infiltrators of her computer system and save her universe from the cyber attack. How does that sound?”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
He held up her injured hands and kissed them. “You’re a hell of a brave woman, Lyla.”
Chapter 11
Cayson yanked at the chains they had used to secure him to a steel pole in the middle of a stone chamber. It was hopeless, he knew. He had no idea where he was. But he had to do something. The cowards had snatched him from his own bedroom in the middle of the night and had chained him here. Judging by their language, they were most likely Xiilok creatures. He hadn’t had a chance to talk or negotiate. If they wanted to use him as some sort of ransom, wouldn’t they need proof that he was alive?
He heard footsteps. The guard must be bringing him food as he had before. He didn’t plan on touching any of the food they provided, no matter how long they held him captive. Not only was their food too disgusting for him to even think about swallowing, but he was also afraid it may be poisoned.
He wasn’t afraid to die, but he didn’t want to be controlled by any kind of chemical that might cause him to harm people he cared about. He didn’t want to reveal Lyla’s identity. And he would never do anything to jeopardize his future with Fifi—whatever it might be.
He couldn’t afford to daydream now. He had to get out of here. His Eudaizian code of conduct snarled at him fr
om the back of his head, warning him that he might be harming innocent people by what he was thinking of doing. But what about those he cared about? If he did nothing now, harm would come their way.
Thinking no further, Cayson lay down on the ground and pretended to be unconscious. As he suspected he would, the guard panicked when he entered and saw him on the ground. He came closer to him to check on him. Cayson grabbed the guard with one hand and punched him in the temple with his other hand, knocking him out. He wasn’t much of a fighter, but he had learned enough to defend himself.
Cayson grabbed the key from the unconscious guard and freed himself.
Fifi clutched Linx tighter to her body as they sank even deeper into the mud, breathing through two small straws she had made from the hollow stems of giant water lilies. It was the only way the hounds of the brotherhood wouldn’t smell them.
She had thought the brotherhood was the protector of the village. She knew now, however, that they were the ones responsible for capturing innocent citizens. She didn’t know why they had taken her. Her family wasn’t rich. They had an unusual heritage, but that wouldn’t be beneficial in any way to the brotherhood.
It had been a while. Feeling that the hounds had gone, she surfaced, hiding underneath a large leaf. When she was sure the coast was clear, she led Linx to the bank of the muddy pond. The little girl’s body shook with the cold, and she was as pale as a sheet. Fifi held the girl tighter to give her some warmth. She wasn’t sure it how well it would work, because she herself felt as if she was going to freeze to death.
She had two options—die from starvation and the cold or go back to the village to seek answers. She decided to head back to the village. They needed clothes and food, and if the brotherhood had been kidnapping and slaughtering people, she needed to find out why.
They skirted a narrow strip of trees on the black hill. From her vantage point above, she could see the village lit up with torches and bonfires. People walked around in festive costumes. What’s the occasion? she wondered. But soon her questions were answered. The three leaders of the brotherhood marched out into the middle of the open ground—with her parents in chains.
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