Realm Wraith

by T. R. Briar

  “Yeah. You too.” Rayne fumbled with the wheels of his chair, but she went to the study door and exited without even looking back at him. Outside, he could hear her talking to David.

  “Are you done already? I can give you a ride home if you like.”

  “I appreciate it, but I’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’ll catch a late bus; don’t worry about it.”

  “Well, if you’re certain. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  “Take care, David.”

  “Yeah, you too.”

  The front door had already shut by the time Rayne reached the study door. He opened it to find David looking at him.

  “Did you say something to upset her?”

  “Not really. She’s just concerned about me.”

  “Because of your injuries?”

  “No, nothing like that. She thinks I’m off to fight a dragon, that’s all.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind.”

  Chapter 12

  Rayne stood beside his bed later that evening, feeling wistful. He very well knew this could be his last night on earth, his last night of even existing. But he did not want to dwell on potential goodbyes. He had not seen his son since that afternoon, and his encounter with David after Miranda left had been brief. As far as either of them were concerned, everyday life continued to be normal. Deep down, he didn’t want to do this. But he knew it was inevitable. It was one thing for Tomordred to threaten Rayne’s own existence, and it was another to threaten his child’s.

  The rain falling outside still hadn’t ceased. He could hear it pounding against the window, but could not see it in the darkness of night. He listened to it fall as he lay there in bed, and it comforted him, the sound of water. The sound grew louder and louder in his mind behind closed eyes. What started as a simple pattering became a loud rushing roar, and Rayne clung to that sound, sensing himself slipping between worlds, but continuing to focus.

  Water rushed all around him, turbulent ocean in a screaming tempest. Rayne’s feet alighted on the surface of the water, never passing through, even as the swells burst around him. The damned that struggled in this sea did not reach out to him. Not since that first night had they tried to touch him at all, and a frozen glare on this evening stayed as warning not to try again.

  “Tomordred!” he bellowed at the screaming heavens. “I know you can hear me! Show yourself!”

  His heart quavered, and he almost hoped that the beast would not appear, and give Rayne temporary reprieve. The longer he stood here, the more this seemed like a terrible idea that would end painfully. But there was no turning back. He would face this nightmare.

  The great eye burst open within the clouds, and Rayne felt the full fury of its power searing through his soul, threatening to tear him apart. Even the swirling winds and vapors could not diminish its strength this time.

  “I knew you’d come,” the terrible voice wafted through the maelstrom.

  “So it’s true!” Rayne cried. “That was you in my son’s dreams.”

  The eye narrowed its gaze. “If you had accepted your fate, I wouldn’t have been forced to find another soul, one close to yours. And I found that boy. Innocent. Naïve. Easily terrorized. It’s a simple matter of reaching through the Abyss into the soul, into the mind. In his dreams, I can speak to him.”

  It was as if a dam broke. Despite his terror, Rayne’s anger flooded through him. “You bastard! This is between us! You leave my son out of it!”

  “If I want to speak with your son, I shall do so. What are you going to do about it?” Six black tentacles erupted from the sea around him.

  Rayne curled his fingers into fists. Here in the den of the beast, as Darrigan had said, he didn’t have to hide. The air grew cold around him. He felt nothing, no pain, no discomfort, only keen awareness of swirling, frozen mist. The threatening tentacles slowed as they froze.

  A seventh limb pierced through the surface of the water, wrapping around Rayne’s feet like a coiled serpent before he could act. It dragged him down through the waves into the churning water beneath, deeper and deeper. Everything grew black, and he grasped that this sea had no bottom. He was still surrounded by cold air that froze the water around him, crystallizing it into ice with him imprisoned inside. The tentacle released him before it could become trapped in the ice, leaving him to plummet.

  He couldn’t move his limbs, he couldn’t even open his mouth to cry out, trapped in the ice like so many damned. Through the fractured facets of his prison, he saw a shape before him, a white gleaming form, narrowed at the tip. Another shape, inverted in direction and thus narrow at the bottom, hung above it. They pulled back, then snapped together, catching the crystallized shape, crushing it. Beyond them, Rayne saw the swirling void of nothingness, and as the ice shattered he floated before a wall of teeth, and swam backwards. Too late, as another worming black tendril grabbed him again.

  The three great eyes opened behind him, hundreds of times his size, and here, so close, the sense of power they stirred around Rayne intensified. He screamed—he couldn’t help it. He fought to regain some dignity, and thought about why he was doing this, giving himself purpose. It helped, but he still couldn’t banish the nightmarish feelings, the cold sweat that somehow ran down his brow even while he was underwater.

  “Your stupidity should be commended,” Tomordred taunted him, dangling Rayne by a tentacle right above the void of a mouth. “You’re the first mortal that’s ever been insane enough to try to fight me.”

  “At least I’m not a coward!” Rayne spat back. It took all his nerve to do that, and he regretted it instantly.

  “What?” The three eyes blinked.

  Rayne gulped. “You heard me. I know the secrets they whisper about you on the shores. They said you were tiny and frail a long time ago, a weak creature. And now look at you. Bigger than anything! Nothing else in the universe compares! And you use it to cover for your lack of courage! If you really were more than a coward, you wouldn’t be so hell-bent on destroying one little mortal!”

  His eyes suddenly widened, as a thought entered his mind. “That’s it,” he gasped. The eye before him, despite its power, suddenly did not rattle him. The cold quiet that had gripped him in the past filled him now. His anger remained, but it was tempered, focused. He spoke in the barest whisper. “You were mortal once, weren’t you?”

  All three eyes went wide, the power inside them flaring as a raging inferno, threatening to consume Rayne with sheer aura. But Rayne held his ground, bolstered as Tomodred’s reaction confirmed his suspicion.

  “That’s why you hate mortal beings, isn’t it? We remind you of what you were—a testament to your weakness.”

  “I have had enough of you—”

  “The other denizens of the Abyss don’t know, do they?” Rayne clung to the tentacle now as it loosened its grip, trying to drop him down into that gaping mouth. Its movement halted when he asked that question. “I see now. If other demons knew you were mortal, you wouldn’t be so high and mighty now, would you?”

  “And you’re about to cease to be. There will be nobody to tell them.”

  “Oh no? How do you think I learned your secret? The information is out there.” Rayne looked Tomordred right in the eye. “And I wasn’t alone when I discovered it. Others know. And if I don’t return safely, they’ll spread your secret.”

  “Are you trying to threaten me?”

  “Why yes, I am. What are you going to do about it?”

  The mouth behind Rayne closed, disappearing into the inky blackness that enclosed them both.

  “Don’t act so smug. I will devour you, eventually.” The two eyes in the distance closed themselves, leaving one dull, dejected eye. “I suppose you want me to let you go?”

  “I want you to leave my son alone. Never speak through his dreams again. I want you to stop chasing me, and I don’t want you targeting the other Realm Wraiths either. Let us wander in peace.”

&nbs
p; “Fine. If I agree to all this, you will not breathe a word of what you know?”

  “I swear I will not tell a soul about what you once were.”

  “Good. Now get lost.”

  “Wait, I—”

  “I said leave!” Tomordred roared.

  “I want to know more!” Rayne blurted out.

  The demon’s eyes flashed. “More? About what? Are you looking for more reasons to humiliate me?”

  “No! I just want to know what happened! You’re this big, terrifying monster. How could a mortal become something that all other demons fear?”

  “How brazen. Why am I not surprised?”

  “You’re the one who noted I was curious.”

  “Curiosity is very dangerous, you know.”

  “Look, I already know your secret. What could it hurt to know the details?”

  “And if I tell you these details, mortal, then you’ll leave?”

  “Stop calling me mortal. I have a name; it’s Rayne.”

  “I don’t care what your name is.”

  “Well I just thought it seemed silly, calling me that when you yourself—”

  “Enough! Fine. Rayne. If it will shut you up.”

  The world around them shifted as Tomordred took them from the black depths of the bottomless sea to the blue underwater floor of another ocean, where a graveyard of vessels rested beneath endless fathoms of water. Here, the tentacle let go of Rayne’s body, and he swam forward to sit on a rusted anchor that dug its way into the ground. In the dim aqua light, he could see the formless black of a great mountain, but couldn’t tell if it stood close or far away from him. When the violet eye opened and stared through him, Rayne felt his fear creeping up on him. But he controlled it now. Perhaps knowing he had power over this intimidating creature put things in perspective. He pushed that fear into the back of his mind, and dwelt on the positives of the situation. Levi was safe now. That’s what mattered.

  Enormous sea creatures floated above them, but they shied away from Tomordred’s massive form, their instincts sensing danger. Their movements were sluggish next to the speed of his tendrils, and as Rayne watched, Tomordred snatched up the great worming form of a massive fish-like demon with a mouth full of jagged spikes that passed for teeth, dragging it while it struggled into a mouth many times its size, where far larger, sharper, and more numerous teeth crushed it, obliterating its existence. Rayne knew this was not any act to satisfy hunger, but a warning of the fate he would face should he break his promise.

  “Nen’kai destroyed my world,” Tomordred began.

  “Destroyed—?”

  “Do I need to repeat myself? Don’t interrupt.”

  “Sorry.”

  He continued. “My world, Ivnyaatir. By your concept of time, I’d say it was over eight billion years ago. I was only a child when my god first appeared to me. He made me his catalyst, and used me to bring sin and temptation to my species. They abused his gifts to destroy their entire civilization. That was his plan from the start. He knew that the more corrupt life became, the more the spirit of the planet weakened.”

  “What? Planets don’t have souls.”

  “All celestial forms do. They are the gods of the physical universe. Ivnyaatir’s soul was a benevolent deity named Ivannos. In ancient times, he walked among my people and guided them. But as we evolved, we turned our backs on the world, and became arrogant. He stopped speaking to us, and became a myth over the eons. By the time I was born, few even remembered his name.”

  “Still sounds far-fetched to me.”

  “You’re an ignorant mortal. Your race is embarrassingly young. I’ve only seen your kind over the last few million years—strange little things with stubby limbs that only bend in one or two places. Not surprising your planet doesn’t speak to you. Probably embarrassed you even exist.”

  “Better than a giant mountain. How do you even move around?”

  “I didn’t always look like this. My mortal form was quite different; I was small, and floated through the air like water, trailing my tentacles below me.”

  “So Nen’kai turning you into that was some sort of punishment?” Rayne gestured over Tomordred’s massive spirit.

  “If you would let me finish—When my world lay in ruins, and our wars snuffed out all other life, my people truly fell into ruin. They turned savage and cannibalized each other to survive. Right in front of my eyes, my own species turned into monsters. I was spared, because I was chosen. That was when my god appeared before us in his true form, that of a thousand-headed beast. He commanded the oceans to rise up, and the sky to rain endless water, drowning the entire planet in an endless flood, burying the ruins of our civilization beneath the waves. I remember a flash of gold as Ivannos tried to fight back, but it was too late. He was too weak from all the corruption, and my god drove him back. I survived the flood, as did a few others, clinging to the broken remains of our fallen cities. Then Nen’kai covered the sky with black clouds, and took away all warmth. The oceans became solid ice, and eventually, I was the only thing left alive.”

  “What happened to Ivannos?”

  “In the world’s final hours, I met a young child, uncorrupted and pure. And I knew as I looked at him that it was Ivannos, taking mortal form one last time while his true body perished. He was not angry, but his face held a deep, unfathomable sadness. He looked at me, and he asked me one thing: ‘Why?’ And then he was gone, and I was alone on a frozen, dead world.”

  “So your god abandoned you.”

  “He did no such thing! My god did not condemn me, or leave me to suffer for betraying my planet. He beckoned to me from the void, and took my soul away from my now-lifeless body into Hell, where he bade me to serve him for eternity. How could I pass up such a wondrous offer?”

  “By saying no?”

  Tomordred’s eye narrowed. “Do you not understand that this was a god? I devoted my entire being to him. I worship him even now! Out of all the Abyss Lords, he is the greatest! His kindness is cruelty, his gifts like sweet venom. He granted me great power, and over time, my form became as you see it. Everything I once was perished, but I became something far greater. It was a beautiful torment.”

  Rayne couldn’t believe how calmly this creature accepted what he had become, and the terrible sins that he had committed. Tomordred leveled his eyes upon him, his wistful nostalgia returning to hostility.

  “So now you know my story, Rayne. Is it what you expected?”

  Rayne wasn’t quite sure what to think. “Why would he do such a thing? Why would he destroy an entire planet?”

  “Curiosity, I suppose. Corruption is nothing new to demons; it is in their nature to drive mortal beings to sin, to add to the Abyss’s numbers. But he told me he had his eye on a greater prize. It is incredibly rare for a celestial being to fall into Hell, and it had never been done deliberately. Nen’kai’s plan was to corrupt all life on a single planet, and in doing so, corrupt its soul.”

  Rayne sucked in his breath. “He sent your planet’s soul to Hell?”

  “No. His plan did not work the way he had hoped. He corrupted everything and destroyed the planet’s physical form, but Ivannos’s soul was spared.”

  “That’s utterly mad. And none of this bothered you?”

  “I lived for one hundred and sixteen years as a mortal, and I’ve been a demon for eight billion. You may guess which I am more accustomed to.”

  “And your god is the only one who knows you used to be mortal?”

  “That’s how it’s supposed to be. When I find the souls responsible for spreading this information, I can assure you they will be dealt with.”

  “The other Abyss Lords don’t know?”

  “Kaledris might, but she wouldn’t speak of it. The rest do not, nor are they aware of my god’s accomplishment.”

  Rayne draped his arms around the anchor. “Because he failed? Or did he really not care if anybody knew what he did?”

  “That’s how he is; it was just a game to him. Why wo
uld a being as great as a god care who celebrated his accomplishments?”

  “I wouldn’t call something like that an accomplishment.”

  “It’s more than you’ve ever done. I’m surprised you’re not more upset. I was hoping to see you squirm.”

  “Of course I’m disgusted.”

  “You don’t look like it.”

  “What, am I supposed to scream in bloody terror all the time? Were you hoping that if I got frightened enough, your eyes would work on me again?”

  “You may be able to stand up to them, but nobody is immune to their power. Stay a little longer, and you’ll understand.”

  “Thanks, but—no.”

  He could see Tomordred shuffling back and forth. “Very well. Since I have done my part, you will keep my secret. Now leave, before I change my mind and eat you anyways, consequences be damned.”

  Rayne had already guessed he would not be welcome in Tomordred’s realm. The peace between them was far too fragile, and Tomordred’s power was far too much to stand up against. But he felt a slight thrill that he had accomplished something, and a strange sense of honor from being the first human to learn the reclusive being’s story, even though he could not tell it to anybody. The demon had fallen for his bluff; nobody else knew that the creature was once mortal. Even Miranda had glossed over that fact when they read about it in the book together. But it had worked, and he was free to do as he pleased without the fear of being hunted.

  “All right, I’ll go,” he said. “But, I have one more question. You said you were eight billion years old. How long has your master been missing?”

  Tomordred glowered. “In your terms? About four and a half billion years.”

  “Four bill—” It boggled Rayne’s mind. “Right. That was quite a fascinating story. I’ll leave you alone now.” He pulled himself away from Tomordred’s Hell, leaving the great demon behind him.

  His body fell with a thump on dingy ground in neutral territory. Beside him he heard another thump. He looked, surprised to see another body fall beside him. The other stood up, brushing water droplets off himself and vomiting more water onto the ground.