by P. S. Power
Instead of stopping or acting like that was insane, which it seemed to be to him, there was just an answer.
"Heather Westmorland. That kind of makes sense. Not you being here, but Gwen is me, or so I hear. She was body swapped, from her own world, by the woman who she's in now. Katherine Vernor. That piece of... Work, is still inside of her. It isn't a good situation."
Zack had to think for a long time, to try and recall the waif like version of Kate that he'd met before. There had been two shadows in there, which made a lot of sense. Now.
"That makes sense then, like you said. Good. I didn't know you were here too, or I would have asked for you as well. I came to get help. There's a problem coming, and we have to stop it. Some others as well, but in the end it's down to us." They kept moving, and his words were slow and clearly not normal sounding. The shadow inside the armor was concerned for him.
Thinking he might be insane.
Which wasn't totally wrong. Not that he'd lost it, but there was no way to connect with these beings now. It had been too long since he'd interacted with people. The last hours, but before that it had been... As close to forever as he could imagine. Longer than mere millions of years. It was part of how he was able to understand a portion of what was going on now. He'd touched part of what they had to face, so the rest of it made more sense to him now.
When they stopped Heather took her helmet off again, which was a sign of great trust in him, insane or not. There was a difference between harmful and dangerous after all.
She explained, echoing her own shadow about ten seconds after she told him on that level.
"You can turn this mess off, so it isn't that useful to me, if you decide to take me out." The woman, who looked a lot like Glenda, stared at him with green eyes. His were brown, but that wasn't what made a person themselves, he knew.
The outer body wasn't all that important. It was just the vessel, containing the focus that was the intelligence within. It seemed strange that most people didn't see it that way. They were always thinking of the body as being who, and what, they were.
Zack nodded, his mind wondering toward the palace, the shadow of Gwen coming. Above the ground. When the body came into sight, from past the few trees in the way, it was clear that she was flying. Only about fifteen feet above them, but quickly enough to make it faster than walking. She was in a dress, and lying flat, so that the wind pushed it down, not showing anything to them that wouldn't be desired. The clothing was a bit old fashioned seeming, but a nice blue, that was brightly colored, and seemed to be velvet when she closed with them, landing slowly. Her arms were held out to the sides as she did it, making her seem graceful, after a fashion.
"I wasn't expecting visitors. I hear there was a problem?" She looked from Zack to Heather, seeming a bit uneasy. Like it was her fault.
Heather nodded, smiling in a strained fashion and Zack waved that away.
"Nothing major. I didn't understand this was where the President lived."
Gwen understood him, but made a correction, her shadow going into specific protocols.
"King Ferdinand. He's a nice man, but people have tried to kill him over the last few years, so security is rather tight. The guys on the door are not going to be happy with you for a while. You were supposed to die, clearly. They get grumpy when people refuse to do their assigned jobs like that." She made a tight mouth movement, which was a lot like a smile. It wasn't a natural thing, and the part underneath didn't mimic it right. It made her look mean, really. It was an interesting effect, given that she was decently pretty, if a bit too thin. Then, a lot of actresses had that going on, too.
Her nose was a bit straighter and larger than Kaitlyn's was, but it didn't leave her looking ugly. Just a bit stronger, in some ways.
So he nodded at her, taking the effort to be friendly, which was what she was going for. Trying to smile, even if the move wasn't natural to her.
"No doubt. Well, oops? I'll know to do that next time." He smiled back, wondering if it was about like what his new friend was doing. Kind of fake, and not really showing from the inside now.
The only thing there was that Zack could get his inner self to do it, making it feel more real. Gwen laughed and after a moment, so did Heather. They were different, but it really did have some common thread between it, if filtered through different life experiences.
Without waiting, Zack started in on what he had to say.
"I was attacked, a... Day ago? In real time. I was on vacation, and my old friend, Big Shadow... He's an arch-demon, from where I come from. Um, anyway, this was before we were friends, so..." He stopped, thought about it all as the women looked at him, and smiled again. "Right. Okay, let me see here. Big Shadow, that's the name I gave him as a child, in the void, where he basically raised me. It's a different place, and time runs differently there. So I was there with him for a very long time. When he attacked me... Yesterday, it was from before he met me. Um... Time travel?" He looked at the women with him, and Gwen nodded, accepting it.
"So it was his first time meeting you, but you've spent thousands of years being his friend? Got it." She really seemed to, though Heather looked a bit puzzled still.
"Yeah. So, you know, I couldn't kill him, which left me possessed. That... Well, I ended up having to slow time and walking toward home, so my wife Merry could behead me. It hurt more than I can express and lasted..." He shrugged, and looked from one woman to the other. "Forever? That sounds like I'm just talking. The perceived time it took me was longer than all of time, from beginning to end, I think. It wasn't fun, but Big Shadow and I made it. It wasn't nearly as long for him, thankfully, or he'd have gone insane, too."
The women nodded then, as if it just made sense that he wasn't exactly right anymore. That made him wonder just how funny he was acting, not realizing it.
There were questions that they both had, but neither knew how to ask them. That wasn't what they needed to know anyway.
Listening to their inner selves, he understood what was needed, for them to understand him.
"Ah. So, I guess the right thing to say is that Big Shadow was sent by the elder gods to drive me into opening a bridge, or gateway for them to come back to this place and time. So that they can destroy reality, in their madness. It isn't the only way to get that, but it is the only way they have left. For the moment. Coming in on the mind of a human, not just me."
The women, both of them, went white then.
Gwen winced, and looked upset for a bit. Scared, really. He only got that because her inner self told him however. It was a thing that he just couldn't connect to now. Fear.
"Fuck. So this is about them? I thought, really, that we were done with that. We had a thing a few years ago, where a group of insane mages tried to open up a gate for them. What do we do?"
Zack looked at her and didn't speak for a long time, deciding not to really tell her all of it, since he doubted it would help at this point. She didn't need to know it all, just enough to save everything. That path would lead to fall out later, when she understood it all, but until then it would let her still live.
"We can stop it. Working together. There is a section of reality, of worlds, really, with people there that are part of their bigger plan. Us, Kate... Um, a friend of mine. She's pretty much Katherine, I think?" That got Heather to sneer a bit, and look away.
It was clear she wasn't a fan of that particular being.
Zack shrugged.
"Not all of us will be the same, even if we are on some levels. She's an Alede... Um, a succubus? Also a line walker, which means she can, um, teleport between worlds?" He looked at both of the women, as Gwen made a fake, deep chuckle.
Then she looked at Heather.
"See, I told you that we called it that. It's called teletransport here. I can do it, but I've never gone between worlds. Not that I've known about. That kind of makes sense. That Katherine here is involved too? Are there others?"
He shrugged.
"Yes? My friend Troy, I
think. He's a vampire in one world, and a line walker in mine. I don't know if he's here, but it wouldn't shock me to find that he's around someplace. There are about six of us, I think. Maybe more? If we can work together... We might be able to end this. For now."
Heather looked at him, so he did it back. She wasn't as good looking as Gwen, but part of that was age, and the rest the hard line from around her mouth. From being stern for so long.
"That doesn't sound good."
"I know. This has all happened before. It will happen again. Until, eventually, they walk through one of the gates, and destroy it all. I don't know how many times, but this isn't uncommon. We also aren't the only ones that have had to do something like this. There's a battle, and it's been going on longer than humans have existed and if we do our part correctly, it will be left to someone else after humans are gone." Part of that was true, anyway.
It was, in the end, a simple truth that had to be looked into. They were going to be around until the end. Some version of their intelligence was at any rate. It was just the way reality worked.
He didn't mention that, since it was too big for them to make a part of themselves. They didn't need to yet, since they could be young and partly free, for the time being, if he wasn't a jerk about it all.
Still, shadow Gwen turned to him, her inner voice soft, and gentle.
We are them, aren't we? We are the Elder Gods...
Inside he nodded, but smiled too.
The ones that do not seek an end to all existence. The good guys, but yes. We are them. We all are. Every being you've ever met. All that have been, and will be.
Shadow Gwen took a deep breath, but didn't pass the data along to the conscious part of her own self. Getting what was probably needed to allow her to keep going.
Outer Gwen moved toward him and touched his arm. It was interesting, but not flirtatious. She actually felt slightly bad about doing it, being so ugly. Which wasn't true. Not now, at any rate.
"What do you need us to do?" She was scared, having connected with the utter madness of what was coming before, once. It lived inside of her now. Heather too, he realized. Just brushing against it had left them twisted and scarred.
"Prepare. Make your minds focused, and be willing to do anything. It...We can't fail, and it will be worse than I can make you ready for. So... Keep that in mind and get ready?" It didn't make sense, but both of them weren't strangers to pain or hard work. It would be enough for them, he thought. For now.
Gwen finally moved back and nodded.
"I think I get it. I need to learn to move between worlds. That will be fun." To her that meant being tortured, until she did it correctly, and probably being stuck forever in some other place, unable to get back.
Zack shook his head.
"It's easy. If you can move from one place to another, you just need to know where you're going. I'll show you. We can... Can you get away for a bit? You can come with me, as I redo this little talk. Maybe people will be nicer if I have a girl along. You know, being less of a threat like you are?" He smiled, since Gwen was rather dangerous in a lot of ways. Heather was, too. She didn't teleport however, so wasn't going to come on this trip.
There was a nod, and an inner knowledge that if she left from there that day, she might never return. That was the risk of life, which was a thing she was hardened too now.
"We can do that. Now?"
"Sure. Heather... Can you get away soon? It will just be a few hours. Well, on the outside. I need to teach you to line walk, and it might take a while in the void." He didn't want to scare her off. Still, being able to move around was probably the most basic of skills needed. It was a power, after a fashion, but without it they weren't going to be valuable enough to stop what was coming.
Really, they might fail anyway.
The woman looked at him, and figured that he was going to torture her too, which was how they did things here. They took children and pushed them with pain into doing things no one should ever have to. It wasn't these peoples fault, but he felt so sad about it for a moment, before he let that part go.
"It doesn't hurt, doing it my way. You'll change, but that's just what we have to do. If I could keep you both from it, I would." He meant it. They were both so young and fragile in a lot of ways, even as they stood there being hard, and in control.
Heather, understanding that they had a plan for the moment, put her head piece on, and then spoke calmly.
"Come at night, and I can get away. About ten?"
"It will be a few days, I think. Plus, I can't guarantee the exact arrival time. I'll wait for you, back here?" Unless the guards came to kill him. That would change things.
Heather sighed.
"Which means I have to check every day? Great. Well, a walk won't hurt me. See you then." She had to walk in a half circle to turn in her armor, and moved off sounding like a giant.
Then he held his hand out, and took Gwen's. She was a bit reluctant to do that, so he looked at her white hand, and tilted his head.
"Is holding hands wrong here?"
She looked at him funny, but laughed a bit.
"Yeah. That isn't it. I used to be... Kind of warped. Deformed? In my old body. So I keep expecting everyone to treat me like they used to. Forcing themselves to touch me, and then only when needed. It wasn't fun. Not walking through hell for all eternity either, so I'll try not to let it be a big deal now, I guess." She winced a bit, as if bringing up most of his life was forbidden. It did bring back the idea of the pain, but he forced his mind away from it smoothly.
"Oh. Well, it will be easier to take the shortcuts to the node here if we do. You won't need that, I bet, but I do for now. I need to stay in the physical world as much as I can for a while, so I don't forget about it. Come on?"
The walk took about half an hour, and they held hands the whole time, since letting go would make it seem like he was judging her, when he wasn't. She looked fine now, and even the image of her how she was before seemed correct to him. Lumpy and not symmetrical, but still, she was him. No matter what they looked like. Or what she did.
She seemed interested when they got through the first shortcut, and glanced at him on the other side of the trip, after three more hops. They ended up in front of a node, which she didn't see, clearly.
"That's different. Is that hard for you to do, taking someone else?"
"Nope. We just walked through rips and tears that were already there. I can just see them, so it makes it easier for me. There's a big one right here, in the rock face? We can enter the void from here." He pointed at the tan rocks. It was probably in the Grand Canyon, or whatever they called it there, a good two or three thousand miles from where they started.
Gwen stared then shrugged. Then, for some reason flipped her hands up.
"I don't see anything. Then, I didn't before. Shall we?"
Zack stepped in, Gwen moving along with him. He didn't really have to move physically to do it now, of course. Really, if he were alone, all he had to do to end up in the void was die. That or rip open a shortcut to a node directly. This was less messy, so he carried Gwen through with him, ending up not in his world, but in a room that wasn't there, in space. With the giant version of him.
Tor. That seemed like a mistake at first, but the man turned to look at them, seemed confused for half a second, then spoke. This time his words weren't strange and foreign at all.
"Hello! I'm Torrance Baker."
"Zack Hartley, or at least one of us. This is Gwen Farris." He was about to explain when he tilted his head. Like Zack and even Gwen did.
"I... Know you. Here. I think that you're my friend, Trice. My sister-in-law?"
She seemed to be about to explain, so Zack waited, amazed that the man was speaking the right language now. The man looked at him, touching his shadow, answering instantly.
"I learned it. I have a friend, Doris, who knows it. It's really old. It pretty much hasn't existed in a few thousand years. It took me most of the last week to pick up.
I'm still not perfect at it. Doris keeps making fun of my accent." He did have one, and sounded slightly German, but it was a soft thing, and no one would have had a problem with it back home.
Zack thought about where they were, and figured it out, smiling.
"We're on the Moon?"
Tor looked at them both, and bowed, as if it wasn't strange not to know that.
"Second City. In the above ground portion? It's made of magic. This is the secondary operations base. The prime one is on Earth, in the Noram Capital city. My son, Dereg, is in command there. It's really the space port outside the city, but that's his area."
The news got Gwen to go wide eyed for some reason, her voice pleased when she spoke.
"You have kids? That's amazing. How old is he?"
"Fourteen. He's part of this. Fighting the Adversaries. They killed friends of ours. Just scouts... I don't know how to explain it, really."
It took a while, but they got what he meant. Here, in this world, there was a war starting. An invasion it seemed, from the beings that wanted to destroy reality. Clearly they were connected to the attacks on Lesser Shia and Zack's Earth. What they'd sent seemed to be arch-demons to him, probably having possessed people, but Tor seemed to think it was different, from the description. He couldn't really remember his point of contact with them, so it could be anything.
From Zack not being right about what he thought, to Tor being incorrect, to the reality just being presented in a different fashion in this part of the multiverse. It was probably that one.
The big difference was that here, in this place, thousands of people were preparing to fight. They didn't know how, and were floundering that way, but they were willing to try. Including some that came from space.
After a while, they all bowed, the others doing it better than he did, and he had Gwen teleport home.
She nailed it on the first try, naturally.
Then all he had to do was take her everywhere else, so that she'd know how to find the other worlds that were needed.
It was easy, really.
Chapter nineteen
