Outlier: Reign Of Madness

by Daryl Banner

  Wick gapes. “You knew my younger brother when you were alive??”

  Dran snorts at Wick’s enthusiasm. “You even sound a bit like him. I told you, we have common ground. We’ll chat on it later. Come, let me introduce you to some other ninth folk you might know.”

  “My brother Lionis should be here,” insists Wick. “He died just before I did. Fuck, I have so much I need to say to him.”

  “Alright, alright. Calm down. You’re giving me a headache.”

  Wick can’t help nor contain his enthusiasm. He doesn’t even bother to hide his cock and balls as they swing with his strut into the tiny city. Everyone is clothed in an assortment of leathers and linens. No one seems to mind his nakedness, which is somehow exactly what Wick would have expected from a city “on the other side”.

  Wick is brought to the porch of a cabin where three men are seated over a table that has scratching all over it. Wick takes it to be some sort of game they’re playing. The men look up when Dran gives them a whistle, drawing their attention.

  “We have a new one from the ninth,” announces Dran. “How about you each give yourselves a little intro, yeah?”

  The first gives a nod. “Barley. Never seen you before, but I had a run-in with a … well, it’s not important. Metal Hand poked my nose and here I am.”

  The second man speaks up. “Kraag Tourney. Stole food from a sixth ward orphanage. I deserve to be here. Your turn, Rych.”

  The third man, bearded and solemn and gaunt, hardly looks up from the table when he speaks. “I am Rychis Bard. I have a wife and one baby boy. I lost my temper and broke a machine at my job.”

  Barley snorts. “Really, Rych. Are those the only words you ever say? Over and over?”

  Wick nods at each of them. “I’m Anwick,” he tells him. “Have any of you seen my brother Lionis? Looks like me, except … not.”

  Rychis scowls and returns his full attention to the table. Kraag snorts, appreciating Wick’s lightness, and says, “Nope. Not seen any Lionis around here.”

  Barley asks, “When did Metal Hand touch him?”

  “Oh, no, Metal Hand didn’t,” Wick explains. “My brother Lionis was killed. Impis touched him with the Madness and Lionis threw himself off the …” Wick feels a wave of emotion hit him suddenly. Perhaps he ought to slow down a bit with the excitement; it’s almost like he’s forgotten that he’s dead. “And he … he threw himself off of the edge of the Lifted City,” Wick finishes in a far flatter tone.

  The men stare at him hard. Then they lift their gazes to Dran expectantly, who regards Wick with two lazy, half-lidded eyes.

  Wick looks between the men and Dran. “What? What is it?”

  Dran gives a short sigh. “I think you got the wrong idea, Wick.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He puts his hands on Wick’s shoulders. “You’re not dead.”

  Wick blinks. He stares at Dran for the solid space of a minute. “I was … I was touched by Metal Hand. I was obliterated. I was—”

  “No. You were teleported.”

  Wick scrunches up his eyes. Now he’s thoroughly confused. “I was what?”

  “What I’m saying is, Metal Hand doesn’t know what the fuck his own Legacy is,” explains Dran with a crooked smirk. “The idiot thinks he destroys everything he touches. Nothing has ever proven to him otherwise. He touches something, it goes away. Simple as that. But the truth is … he teleports what he touches.”

  Wick can’t close his mouth, nor blink his eyes. Even now, he isn’t sure he’s hearing Dran correctly.

  “What I mean is,” Dran presses on, his tone a touch darker, “my brother Fylan was killed by the Banshee. Not Metal Hand.” Dran’s eyes darken with anger. “Greymyn killed the wrong fucking brother. Fylan was a sweet, untouched soul. He was only there because of me. I should have died that day. Not my sweet brother Fylan.”

  “Show him,” grunts Barley.

  “Yeah, show him,” agrees Kraag.

  Dran regards them with a roll of his eyes, then puts an arm over Wick’s shoulder. “Come, Anwick. You’ll want to see this. But I must prepare you: it’s going to fuckin’ rip your world wide open.”

  The boys leave the village and pass into the woods, the magic of which has worn off on Wick, now that his perception of everything has shifted dramatically. He feels more naked now than he ever has his whole life. Dran continues to walk him up a hill, the trees falling behind them. The hill turns rocky, and soon Wick is wincing as his sensitive feet press into the stones as they ascend.

  When they reach the top, Wick sees a span of desert before him. Far, far away at the other side of the flowing sands, a dark line draws across the horizon, extending as far as the eye can see both ways.

  “What is it you think you’re looking at?” asks Dran casually.

  “The Wall,” Wick says at once in perfect monotone.

  “Aye,” agrees Dran, “but have you realized yet which side of it you’re standing on?”

  Wick stares, awed. He feels the trees far behind him, and the wind of the wild on his skin, and sees the uninterrupted sky above, and the beaming sun, and the rolling sands … and the Wall …

  And the Wall … “We’re outside the city of Atlas,” answers Wick, staggered.

  Dran throws an arm over his back. “Welcome to the Oblivion, Anwick Lesser of the ninth.”

  - - -

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  Table of Contents

  THE OUTLIER SERIES Chapter Compendium

  The Citizenry of Atlas

  ACT 1

  Prologue

  0138 Sedge

  0139 Wick

  0140 Kid

  0141 Halvesand

  0142 Wick

  0143 Link

  0144 Ellena

  0145 Athan

  0146 Mercy

  0147 Wick

  0148 Arrow

  0149 Ellena

  0150 Tide

  0151 Wick

  0152 Halvesand

  0153 Ellena

  0154 Arrow

  0155 Kid

  0156 Athan

  0157 Ellena

  0158 Link

  0159 Tide

  0160 Arrow

  0161 Link

  Cintha’s Patience

  ACT 2

  0162 Rone

  0163 Rone

  0164 Link

  0165 Athan

  0166 Tide

  0167 Athan

  0168 Link

  0169 Ruena

  0170 Arrow

  0171 Forgemon

  0172 Link

  0173 Wick

  0174 Sedge

  0175 Rone

  0176 Link

  0177 Wick

  0178 Athan

  0179 Ellena

  0180 Forgemon

  0181 Ruena

  0182 Arrow

  0183 Wick

  0184 Kid

  Cintha’s Weapon

  ACT 3

  0185 Tide

  0186 Kid

  0187 Arrow

  0188 Wick

  0189 Ruena

  0190 Tide

 
; 0191 Link

  0192 Mercy

  0193 Halvesand

  0194 Kid

  0195 Ruena

  0196 Wick

  0197 Kid

  0198 Link

  0199 Sedge

  0200 Mercy

  0201 Tide

  0202 Athan

  0203 Rone

  0204 Tide

  0205 Kid

  0206 Wick

  0207 Wick

  ACT 4

  0208 Athan

  0209 Sedge

  0210 Kid

  0211 Halvesand

  0212 Rone

  0213 Arrow

  0214 Kid

  0215 Mercy

  0216 Ellena

  0217 Athan

  0218 Kid

  0219 Link

  0220 Rone

  0221 Arrow

  0222 Kid

  0223 Rone

  0224 Ellena

  0225 Forgemon

  0226 Ruena

  0227 Tide

  0228 Link

  0229 Rone

  Cintha’s Promise

  0230 Rone

  0231 Halvesand

  Epilogue