by Kristen Day
Jamila left the men to themselves and went to comfort the victims of the soldiers' cruelty.
"Lavender," Jamila said to the girl, "I am sorry for those men, they are just as entitled as--"
Lavender cut her off, "That was my old life Jamila," she said, "I have a new one now, there is no ill will in my heart for those men, I have Marcus, and that is enough for me."
After that day, the soldiers didn't return to the door and no news of hateful words being spoken about any of her people reached Jamila's ears.
Eventually, the tension between the enemy soldiers diminished almost completely and there was no need for Jamila, or any other person, to defend anyone.
A few more years passed before the King and queen decided Jamila should have a husband. A search for a suitable man ensued, even more vigorous than the search conducted for an heir to the throne. Jamila turned down each man, claiming she would know the man when she saw him. Besides, she had all the time in the world, so to speak.
A third giant war brought many more newcomers to Beyond. The fallen called it World War Two. This time there were millions of dead flooding the gates, each more unwilling than the next to reveal anything about themselves. The soldiers proudly stated their name, battalions, and country to which their loyalty belonged. However, the war-ravaged victims of the Fuhrer were more than reluctant to give away any information, even where they had died.
The King became frustrated with this lack of information; he tried every method he could think of, within reason, to get at least the names out of the people, but with little success.
About this same time Jamila met a charming young man by the name of Daman Carter he, along with his twin brother Michael, had been killed in the war within hours of each other. They couldn't have been more different.
Daman was power hungry, but utterly brilliant and was nearly more persuasive in his speech than Jamila. He was dark as well, not in his looks, which were stunning, but in his thoughts and actions. There was gain to be had in everything he did and there was no price to great to pay for it.
Michael was just as tall and handsome as his brother, perhaps not quite as cunning, but smart all the same. There was a lightness about him, and a gentleness that brought women to swooning. He served others without thought for himself. These qualities were attractive to everyone but Jamila, who had a special soft spot for Daman. He was older than Michael, if only by minutes, he was stronger, if only in actions, and he was more powerful, if only on the outside. Jamila saw their match to be extremely beneficial, not only to her, but also to Beyond as a whole.
The King was a little skeptical until Daman proposed an idea that changed his mind. The proposal was to give each person who wanted it a new identity. They could completely forget who they were on earth, those who had taken lives could forget what they had done and start over, the Jews and other victims of the war could create a whole new life, knowing their names would never show up on a registry of those marked for death.
The King clapped Daman on the back, then hurried from the room to consult with his advisors before making the announcement official. He called back over his shoulder as he was exiting to inform the two of his approval of their match.
The wedding date was set; Jamila loved Daman wholeheartedly and couldn't wait for their nuptials.
The romance was only upset by the gloomy mood of Michael. It was widely believed that he harbored special feelings toward his brothers fiancée, but when questioned he denied the accusations vehemently.
The truth was, Michael knew something no one else did. He had been his brother's confidant as he had been courting Jamila. Daman had told Michael of his intentions to overthrow the King as soon as he had enough followers, had even asked his brother to be his right hand man provided his plans worked.
Michael adamantly refused and, ever graceful, Daman had laughed it off believing his brother would come around once he saw how great he could be. Besides, if he didn't come around on his own, Daman had other ways to persuade his brother.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Daman had been approached by Leif almost the second he appeared in Beyond. Leif told Daman he could sense something in him he hadn't seen in anyone else but himself. Daman could handle power without being corrupted by it as the current king had, and Leif had a way for him to do it, and to get a beautiful wife in the process. That was all the persuading Daman needed.
It was not hard to get into Jamila's good graces with his charms and good looks; the hard part was refusing food at each meal. Leif had worked out through various failed experiments that starving yourself of the food of Beyond gave you some degree of power no one else seemed to possess. Within a week Daman had Jamila, the King, queen, and the kingdom in love with him.
Daman made Michael his best man, Jamila was given away by the King and the ceremony proceeded as most earthly ceremonies did. However, there were no rings to exchange, instead as a new tradition, the bride and groom gave each other new names.
"I, and the people of Beyond, will call you Alecsander," Jamila said. Then she crinkled her nose and said, "Alecs for short."
"And I will call you Rose, because you are my flower," the new prince said. But he wasn't finished either, he took her left hand in his and traced a circle in her palm with his nail. At first nothing seemed to happen, but slowly a black circle appeared on Rose's hand, "This is my own version of a ring, it means you are mine, and I will always find you."
It seemed an incredibly romantic moment, until Leif appeared from nothing. He was standing behind the King one moment, the next second he and the King were both gone. No one but the newly named Rose, and Alec saw Leif, but everyone immediately felt the loss of their beloved ruler. No one showed more heartbreak than the queen; she fell sobbing into Alec's arms while Rose ran from the room with the rest of the wedding guests in a vain attempt to find her father.
Michael was the only one left to see Daman seize the queen’s face in his hands and breathe the soul out of her.
Rose came running back into the room. Her chest was heaving and her white dress was torn at the bottom where she had stepped on it, she had come to get her new husband to help her with the search. Instead, she saw him already with another woman. Her horror only grew when she realized her mother was slowly wilting under Alec's touch, within seconds she was lying dead on the floor, just an emptied poisoned shell of a once beautiful woman.
Then slowly, the queen rose from the floor, her skin pale and ghostly; she looked alive, but she wasn't living.
"Get out," Rose whispered angrily, when Alec did not respond she raised her voice, "Get out, now!"
Alec smiled congenially at his little wife, he approached her and reached out to touch her face, but Rose slapped his hand away. Alecs’ smile did not waver, if anything it grew stronger.
"I will not be leaving," Alecs said, "I am the new king, now you can either choose to be my queen, or you can leave."
Rose did not say another word, she turned her back on the man she loved and began walking away.
"I will find you," Alec reminded her, "One day you will realize your mistake and you will want to come back. When that happens, I will find you, you are mine."
Only when Rose was gone did Alec turn to his brother, "Are you with me or her?"
"I have been with you since birth," Michael began. The new king seemed to take this as a good sign until Michael finished, "But I cannot ignore what you have done. I'm sorry."
Alecsander let him follow Rose, but he made one last attempt to trick his brother into staying, "You were always afraid of getting what you wanted, Mikey."
"You and I do not want the same things," Michael said. He stared into his brother's eyes, but they were not the eyes he knew. They were totally black, like a beetle's, and all evidence of human life was gone from them; Daman had become what his christened name suggested.
Chapter Twenty-six
"Rose was renamed Kinga by her people while Michael kept his name and refused to follow the last law the
king had passed." Gregor finished. He sat down to much applause from the audience. I assume the clapping was for his story telling skills. His words had made the story sound so vivid it was like I was standing there watching the whole thing take place.
"So the problem between you and Kinga is because you wouldn't change your name?" I asked Michael. It seemed like a pretty stupid reason to be estranged from someone to me.
"She was angry because it was the last thing her father did, and even though it was all Daman's idea, she was determined to follow through on it. Apparently it would keep Beyond from going into complete anarchy if we still abided by the old King's rules." Michael said. His voice was calm but defensive.
“What happened to the King?” I asked of Gregor.
“No one truly knows,” the old man replied, “those of us not loyal to Alecsander are still loyal to his predecessor. We all believe he took Leif with him and is simply waiting for us behind the door.”
“Where is the door?” I questioned further.
“No one knows any longer, it has either been moved or destroyed. For all of our sakes, we hope it is the former,” Gregor said finally. I knew my questioning him was at an end.
I turned to Michael instead, "So how did Alec get the hallways put into place?"
"That is another unknown," Michael said. He wasn't going to let anyone say anything else that might put him in a bad light now, "He spoke to me shortly before the change happened. He said he knew a way to make it so no one would feel shorted of life's experiences when they got here. He neglected to mention how horrific the experiences he had in mind were."
I nodded, "So why is Maria like this?"
Michael shrugged his shoulders, "She is only the third we've seen like this. Leigh also went through all twelve doors, but we don't know how she still seems completely normal while the other three are in the same catatonic state as your friend."
"Okay, I guess that answers all but one of my questions," I said; "Now you just need to tell me what your plans to beat Ale--, I mean Daman are."
Michael again spoke before anyone else, "Our plan is to use you to lure Daman from wherever he is, but first we need to find out who his followers are. We need to learn their true names and as much about their pasts as we can. It's difficult, but we've done it before. It seems like memories and names are the key to beating him."
I stared at Michael blankly, "Memories? So what, we tell him about his past and hope it makes him suddenly go melancholy and see things our way?"
Max spoke from where she was sitting, "Of course not! Don't you remember it was all Daman's idea to give people new identities so they could forget their old lives? There's something to that, Michael thinks that we can use their memories against them. We open a memory in front of him and he'll lose the power he has so it's an even fight."
It was still too much to wrap my brain around, "Open a memory in front of him?"
Max sighed in exasperation and Michael took over again, "Do you remember what happened in that first door you went through? When you touched Daman you saw his life, or how he wanted you to see it, and he saw yours. He saw your entire life just by touching you; people that have a strong connection here can do that. That's what Gregor did just now, he was there when everything happened and because of that we were all able to share in his memory.
“We think if you can get near enough to Alecs to touch him you'll be able to draw him into one of your own memories, he'll be most vulnerable there because you already know how the memory should go. You'll have to draw him in and kill him at his weakest."
"What? Why do I have to kill him? Why don't you, you're his twin brother, wouldn't you have the stronger connection with him?" I asked. I was growing desperate. I was completely fine to be bait, but no one had told me I'd actually be the one to end Daman's life for the second, and most likely final, time.
Michael laughed bitterly, "Do you honestly think my brother is going to let me anywhere near him? He knows I have been plotting to end his rule all these years and he's not about to let me near enough to do that. It has to be you, he wants you, and you were in love with him at one point. Which means you've got a better shot and a stronger emotional connection with him than any of us."
“What about Kinga?” I asked weakly.
The whole room laughed at this, “She does not believe in our ideas, I’ve tried discussing them with her. Besides, I don’t think she’d wait for Daman to be at his weakest before she tried to murder him. She underestimates his power.”
I hated that what Michael said made so much sense. I also hated that I had already told Leigh I would help without knowing exactly what I'd have to do, but I had promised and I would follow through.
"Fine," I said, "You win. I'll help you, but you have to promise me one thing."
Michael looked relieved; he obviously hadn't been expecting me to concede so easily, "Anything."
"You have to find a way to make Maria better."
Michael looked uneasy, "We're looking for ways, but so far we've been unsuccessful."
"Well I want to be there when you try new things with these other people from now on so I know you're trying. Otherwise, I won't help you and you'll have to find some other girl to be bait for your psychopathic king." I stated with authority. Maria looked at me and I could almost see some emotion behind her eyes, gratefulness?
Michael nodded, "I'll take you to where we keep the others now if you want."
"I think that would be the best idea for your cause at this point."
I'd gone back to being upset with Michael; I didn't like it when people beat me so easily at arguments.
An hour later, Maria and I were standing with Michael and Leigh outside another door that looked like the wooden one leading to my bedroom.
"This is the infirmary," Michael said, "It might be a little appalling when you see the people inside. Most are insane, it didn't take all twelve doors to drive them crazy; some have been there since before the hallways were put into place because of what killed them."
I gestured for Michael to open the door, "I think I can handle it."
"Just giving you fair warning," Michael said, "I thought I could handle it the first time too."
I was done waiting for Michael to open the door so I reached in front of him and did it myself, "After you," I said with a flourish of my hand.
Michael glared at me as he walked past, he obviously didn't like me much either, that was just fine with me. It would be better for all involved if we didn't grow to be friends because friends don't send each other out to lure a demonic sibling into death. That's for business associate's and partners in crime.
Inside the infirmary was much as I imagined it to be. Twenty or so beds were lined up a few feet apart along two walls with a path leading down the middle, there was also a curtain as wide as the room hiding something behind it at the far end of the beds. I could just make out shadowy shapes seemingly moving from bed to bed behind the barrier. The part of the room I could see was clean, most of the beds were absent and made, but that didn't make the scene before me any less horrifying.
It wasn't horrifying in the physical sense, their were no bleeding injuries and there were no cries of pain issuing from the patients; instead, it was just the opposite. There were only seven people in the room, all were lying in their beds with the same hapless expression on their faces, all were pale nearly to transparency, and all were deathly quiet. There were four men and three women ranging in age from about twenty to seventy, but each appeared to have mental capacity far below that of even Maria’s at this point.
"I told you that you weren't going to like it," Michael whispered in my ear. He made me start so badly I almost hit him, but I decided violent reactions in a place like this were inappropriate and unproductive.
"So, all these people survived all twelve doors?" I asked Michael.
Michael shook his head, "No, only two of them did that, the other five, well, the only thing we were able to get out of them before
the shock took over was that each of their deaths were so horrifying that the doors drove them completely insane. None of them seem to remember how they escaped. We think there are still a lot more who never will until Daman is dethroned."
I suddenly felt extreme sympathy for each of the people in the beds. I had been so busy mourning my own tragic death that I had forgotten I wasn't the only one who had been unfairly ripped from life.
"Who are the two?" I was hesitant to know, but I was also full of anticipation to see if there was anything to be done for them.
"They're at the end, I'll introduce you to each patient on the way," Michael said. The patients were all spread out so that there was plenty of space between each of them; I also noticed heavy-duty belts on each of the beds. I hoped I would not have to witness an event in which those would be necessary.
The first occupied bed we came to was on my right, Michael motioned to the person, "That is Jessica Carrie. Her husband drowned her in the bathroom sink after she found him having an affair, we think there was a door that dealt with it further and that's what sent her into this state."
Even though Jessica was dry her skin still seemed heavy with the water that killed her and her hair floated listlessly around her head as though it were still suspended in liquid. Her eyes were so pale blue she could have easily been mistaken for being blind, the effect was made more prominent when she continued staring straight ahead as Michael and I passed. I could almost feel the pain and betrayal emanating from her.
The next person was a man, three beds down on the left, Michael pointed to him and launched into his story, "Adam Kern, watched his wife and all three of his children tortured and killed because he offended some big time mobsters back in the '20s. The murderers let him go so that he could deal with the guilt of letting his family pay his debt for the rest of his life."
Michael continued down the row describing the deaths of the remaining three people.
"Lewis Roberts, he wouldn't talk about it, the shock took over too quickly. We believe the doors are more what did it to him than the actual dying part. Then there's Cadent Roy, he was slowly suffocated as he sat in a room that was gradually leeched of oxygen. We think he would have been okay if his wife hadn't been there watching the whole ordeal."
