by Ramy Vance
Alex fell through the miasma of charred bodies. As her eyes began to flutter closed, her body became weightless. What’s happening? she wondered hazily.
Her dragon’s voice in her head comforted her. I am here for you, Dustling, he said before everything went black.
Chapter Eight
Alex stood in a room which was all white. There was no furniture. The walls did not seem to be walls. She was ankle-deep in water, and she had both her arms. Someone was singing, but she did not recognize the song or the voice.
Vardis crouched across from her, staring into the water. He looked over his shoulder. “Oh,” he said, “you’re finally here.”
When Alex spoke, it was not with her mouth, and it was not telepathy as she experienced it with Chine. This was something else. It was a flurry of emotions and concepts that crystalized in what could pass for language in such a place. She had felt this aboard the meteor.
Where is here?
Vardis stood, flicked water off of his fingers, and walked over to Alex. This is your mind, he explained. Or something like it. You’re sleeping now, much like when we first spoke. The only difference is that this is not a natural sleep. I’m assuming you passed out during the battle.
Alex looked down at her hands. They were quivering, bending in and out of the light as if they weren’t real. How are you able to do this?
We are linked. When I first saw you, I connected with you telepathically as a failsafe in case something happened to me. I wasn’t certain I could trust any of you yet. Not the most prudent of means to ensure my safety, but it was the best I could do.
Alex crouched next to the water. There were minnows swimming under the surface. Why didn’t you think you could trust us? she asked. Wasn’t that the reason you came here to meet with us?
Vardis knelt beside Alex. I traveled here to deliver a weapon to destroy the Dark One. I wasn’t sure who or what I was going to find. For all I knew, you people could have been pawns of the Dark One. There are enough in this realm to have made that a possibility.
You came from the place the Dark One is from, didn’t you?
For the first time, Alex saw something like emotion in the alien’s eyes. Its eyes conveyed a deep sense of loss, perhaps more than Alex believed anyone was capable of feeling. I came from a place the Dark One intimately touched. I do not know where he came from, only where he has been.
The white room contorted, its edges blurring and stretching as the light disappeared and was replaced by the darkness of space, stars birthing themselves as the universe stretched out around them. This was my home, Vardis said.
The view zoomed in on one planet that did not look much different than Earth. They continued to get closer, passing through the atmosphere and the clouds until they were on the land, watching other members of Vardis’s race going about their lives in a city that nearly reached the stars.
The Dark One came to our planet in silence. Much like what has happened here, he infected our people through means we did not understand. Now we know it to be some kind of mind-controlling technology, but we did not then. Agents of the Dark One walked amongst us, and we were ignorant of it. Slowly, a war brewed.
The cities crumbled to dust and were carried away by the wind. Members of Vardis’ race fought each other. Bodies littered the ground, the dead stacked in piles. A pale white child wearing a buck’s head mask walked amongst the corpses.
Vardis spoke again. We were unprepared for the war. It did not take long before our planet was ravaged, our people destroyed or scattered. There were resistances, but how were we to fight against ourselves? Our world was soon destroyed. Those he was not able to enslave were killed.
Now there were images of mines, of an alien race burrowing into the ground. There was something deep and strange down there. Alex didn’t know how she knew, but she was certain that whatever was there should not be disturbed.
When Vardis spoke, the mines disappeared, replaced by what looked like an oversized child, something swollen with loose skin, crying and screaming. The Dark One began to dig deep into our planet. No one knew why. The Resistance couldn’t figure it out. He seemed unconcerned with minerals or ore, but he continued to dig.
The two were standing above the planet, which was graying. Alex could see the vegetation dying and fading. The seas were drying up. I do not know how, but the Dark One began to devour our world. He sucked it dry of all life. After a while, it started to affect more than our home.
Vardis and others like him were walking in long lines in an endless desert. Their bodies were gaunt, their bones prominent. Many had fallen to the wayside on the endless march, their skin turning to ash and floating off into the bloodred sky. We were dying, and the planet was drained.
The planet grew red amongst the stars. Fires erupted across it as the seas boiled and evaporated. The core sizzled and bloomed as the earth cracked and flames erupted from its bowels. Then the planet exploded, sending its remains into space.
The room was white again, and only Alex and Vardis remained. What are you doing here?
As I said before, I discovered a weapon to destroy the Dark One. I wish to give it to you in the hope that this war can finally be brought to an end.
Great! Where is it? If you have something to stop the Dark One, let’s do it.
Vardis shook his head slowly, his eyes filled with sadness. It is not here. I had to hide it from the Dark One. It is on a moon in the realm you are from—Earth’s moon. And you are the only one who can get it.
Alex scowled and folded her arms. Are you serious? Why can’t Myrddin? I’m just a kid. A soldier. There are—
Because I trust you. That is why.
Chapter Nine
Alex snapped awake, jerking backward, scrambling and trying to get away from whatever was around her. Hands grabbed her and she reached for her scythe, uncertain of where the enemy was until she heard a familiar voice squeak, “Alex, it’s okay!”
The adrenaline began to drain from Alex’s body when she recognized Jollies’ voice. Her vision started to return.
Team Boundless and Roy surrounded Alex. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was. It was somewhere near the Nest, but they weren’t inside. “Where are we?” she asked.
Roy and Jim helped her to her feet. They were in the outer section of the Nest in an alcove that overlooked the valley. The rest of the captains and the mech and dragonriders were spread out around the alcove. The riders’ dragons floated above.
Alex walked over to the edge and looked over. “What are we doing up here?”
Roy stood beside Alex and lit his cigar. “Someone was smart enough to give their squad the call to retreat,” he said. “It was a good one. Looked like we were winning the damn thing. Turned out, that’s not exactly what was happening.”
Roy pointed into the distance. The techno-organic slugs were still making their way toward the Nest, a black swarm of orcs above them.
Alex sighed and leaned her head back in frustration. “Are you kidding me? I thought we killed most of those damn things.”
“Language, Alex.”
“I can fight for Middang3ard, but I can’t use a PG curse word? So, who’s going to fill me in on what the hell is happening?”
Roy knocked his cigar’s ashes over the edge of the alcove. “Like I said, we retreated. Myrddin thought it was a good idea. Said he was going to come out here and meet us. Doesn’t seem like Myrddin’s style to sit back and wait for his favorite facility to be overrun.”
Alex looked around, trying to find Myrddin. “Where is he?”
The double doors of the Nest opened, and Myrddin walked into the alcove. He didn’t bother to stop and address anyone as he breezed past and peered at the valley.
He held a thin white wand in his hand and raised it above his head. Energy crackled around him as he floated into the air, his eyes turning bright white, lightning flashing from them and surrounding the rest of his body.
The old wizard began speaking softly und
er his breath and drawing sigils in the air, his wand moving elegantly as he traced the elaborate shapes. His voice grew louder and louder until it sounded as if it were a force of nature.
Dark clouds spread through the sky. A storm was coming, and it was obvious Myrddin was the one who was weaving it. Thunder crackled in the distance.
Roy leaned against his mech as the rest of the riders and captains moved in to get a better view of what was happening. “Oh.” He chuckled. “You guys have never seen Myrddin in action before. This will be a treat.”
Myrddin pointed his wand in the direction of the Dark One’s forces. His voice echoed throughout the valley as he spoke a dead language, one lost long before humanity arose.
The sky ripped open and bolts of lightning the size of city blocks tore through the air, striking the slugs as they traveled through the valley. When the bolts struck the ground, flames erupted.
As the flames licked at the slugs, winds swirled around, pulling the flames and the slugs into a vortex of lightning and fire. The flaming tornados danced, leaving destruction in their wake.
Above, the old wizard vibrated with energy. A pulse of fire rushed from his body, sending all the riders flying backward as Myrddin gave a cry that sounded as if it had been ripped from a god.
In the distance, the flaming tornados converged, transforming into a larger tornado that stretched to the sky. Another massive bolt of lightning struck the eye of the tornado and a flash of light spread through the valley, bright enough that it could have been the sun. It momentarily blinded everyone.
When Alex could see again, the valley was empty. There was no grass, no trees—nothing.
Myrddin floated back down to the ground and waved his wand one more time. A shimmering bubble spread over the Nest, stretching out as far as the path of destruction.
The wizard walked over to Alex, his movements labored and looking painful. He was breathing very deeply, and his eyes looked extremely tired. “Alex, we need to speak. There are more reinforcements coming since this will only hold for so long. I need to know what Vardis told you.”
Alex was surprised Myrddin knew she’d had a dream about Vardis. “How did you know about that?”
“That is not what’s important. What you were told is.”
Chapter Ten
Myrddin and Alex met in the wizard’s study. No one else was allowed in. When he stepped into the room, he went straight to a chair and collapsed in it. He looked tired but not defeated, and his eyes were still bright with life. “When you were unconscious,” he started. “Vardis spoke to you, didn’t he?”
Alex took a seat next to Myrddin as she tried to recollect what Vardis had told her. “He said we were telepathically linked.”
“Yes, I know you two are linked. That is one of the troubling aspects of all this. Did he say why he linked to you?”
“Because he trusted me.”
Myrddin leaned forward as he stared at Alex. His eyes were impossible to read. Alex knew he was thinking, but she couldn’t tell what. “That is disconcerting,” he muttered.
Alex felt her pride flash as her cheeks burned red. “Why is that disconcerting?”
Myrddin’s face softened as he reached over to his coffee table and picked up a glass of water that appeared on it. “Please do not take offense, Alex, but you are a child. If there was a matter of this importance, Vardis should have spoken with me. That is what is disconcerting.”
Only a child? Fighting in a war, leading an entire squad, risking my life? And I’m just a child?
Silence hung in the air between Alex and Myrddin as they watched each other. Alex couldn’t believe that was how Myrddin thought of her. After all of the work she’d done for him, after everything she’d sacrificed and experienced, Myrddin didn’t think she was anything other than a kid.
Myrddin didn’t seem to care about how Alex was reacting to his opinion. “What did he tell you?”
Alex thought Myrddin could ask Vardis himself if he was so certain of how important he was, but she also knew this wasn’t the time or place for such pettiness. However hurt her feelings were, it wasn’t going to help the situation. She had intel, and the war effort needed it. “He said he hid the weapon on Earth’s moon.”
Myrddin clicked his tongue, folded his hands, and sat quietly for a bit. “Interesting.” Then he rose and walked to his desk. “Alex, your leadership skills saved many lives today. You were the only one wise enough to do what they all knew they should have done. I commend you.”
Myrddin rested his hand on his desk, leaning over it. He looked immensely old. “That is why I tell you this in complete honesty. I do not know what to think of Vardis. I can’t figure him out, and that is dangerous. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Alex didn’t. She’d never seen Myrddin speak so candidly, and it was upsetting. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t follow.”
“Ignorance is dangerous. It ends in wars, and in this situation, we are ignorant.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
Myrddin turned to face Alex, his face tired and worn. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just don’t know.”
Team Boundless had gathered in the stables to prepare for their next mission. Myrddin and Alex had sent out a briefing to let them know they were going to be traveling to Earth. There was a weapon on Earth’s moon that had to be retrieved.
The members of Boundless were beyond excited to visit Alex’s realm. They were joking and talking about it loudly as they prepared their dragons for the trip.
Alex watched them from afar. She was excited to go home, but her conversation with Myrddin had left her anxious. The wizard was running all this. To see him at a loss for what to do or think worried her. On top of that, they still weren’t certain when the Dark One’s reinforcements would arrive. Myrddin might be sending Boundless to Earth in the middle of a siege.
In any other situation, Alex would have been ecstatic to go back to Earth, even if it was for a mission. Something felt off about this, though. She didn’t know why she shouldn’t trust Vardis, other than Myrddin’s mistrust.
Jim noticed Alex standing on the upper level, looking down at the rest of the team. “Hey, you going to join us anytime soon?” he called, “We’re going home, dude!”
Alex jumped down and walked over to him. “Yeah, I know,” she said, “I’m super excited.”
Jollies fluttered over to Alex, gushing, “I can’t wait to see what your realm is like! I’ve never seen a lot of humans up close.”
Brath groaned as he dragged the augments he had removed off Furi. “Why would you want to see a bunch of humans? Just imagine Alex and Jim and think about more of them. Though I doubt they’ll be as—you know, what, never mind.”
Gill grabbed Brath’s beard as the gnome walked by. “Were you about to compliment Jim and Alex?” he asked.
Brath slapped Gill’s hand away. “Not even. I was going to say the humans will probably be more annoying than Alex and Jim. Damn. And I’ve told you before, don’t grab my beard. It takes a lot of time to get it looking this good.”
Gill and Jim cracked up as they watched Brath hobble off, huffing and puffing and muttering under his breath. When Jim saw that Alex wasn’t laughing, he came up to her and took her hand. “You okay?”
Alex squeezed Jim’s hand, but she was aware she was doing it more for Jim than herself. “Yeah, everything’s cool. Can’t wait to take you guys to my favorite pizza spot.”
Before Alex could say anything else, the comm interrupted her. “Team Boundless, please report to the hadron collider immediately for teleportation.”
Alex took a deep breath as she tried to smile at the rest of the team. This was it; they were heading back to Earth. This wasn’t how she was expecting her return to Earth to be, but she was with Boundless. It couldn’t possibly be too bad.
The secret weapon capable of destroying the Dark One is buried on the moon. But dragons aren't meant to go to space … Join the Alex and the Boundle
ss in To The Moon and Back!
Author Notes Ramy Vance
April 17, 2020
I couldn’t make this up. I wish I could. I’d be a million, billion, trillionaire if could, but my mind simply couldn’t conceive of such scenarios. And as such, I have been outdone by the greatest storyteller of all: Life.
At the peak of the Coronavirus crisis, my family got … lice.
“How?” you might ask. “Weren’t you self-isolating?” you might ask. “Was someone cheating?” you might ask. Well, I can assure you that no one in the Vance household was sneaking away to have nefarious playdates, revelry and/or non-social distancing activities. We were diligent in our efforts to ‘not see anyone.’
“But how did you get lice?”
The answer, I’m sad to say to say, was that my son must have picked it up on one of his last days of nursery – two weeks ago before we discovered it!
But we didn’t detect it due to a hodgepodge of circumstances that were so coincidental I sometimes feel like a bit player in some farcical production.
Grandpa didn’t get it. His lack of hair made his scalp a veritable nuclear wasteland for our dear lice friends.
I didn’t get it. It seems that my hair is so thick that lice find my scalp the equivalent of a dense, deadly jungle ala ‘Heart of Darkness’ style.
As for the other three – they all got it. But my son seems impervious to discomfort. I once caught him running into a wall over and over again because – and I quote – “I see funny little lights when I hit my head hard enough.”
As for grandma … her excuse was that her scalp always itched. “I’m old. Things are constantly breaking down, aching, itching, creaking. If I complained about it all, I’d never do anything else.”
