Anni’s eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
“But, I…oh no…”
“What is it?”
She looked at Maya with eyes full of shock and regret. “I told Ev it might not hurt to listen to what Arcturus has to say.”
“That was a huge mistake,” Maya said. “But I’ve committed some huge mistakes of my own, so I won’t condemn you for it. But we have to find Ev. Didn’t he leave some clue as to where he went?”
Anni shook her head. “No. None. He wasn’t here for very long. I’m afraid I don’t have the slightest idea where he went.”
Maya’s hopes of finding Ev quickly had just been dashed against the giant rock of reality. This was the only place she knew of to look for him, and was had been too late. Now she had no choice but to return to the Academy and—
—wait! She wasn’t out of leads. Arcturus Reich had been operating in the Tru Republic. Perhaps he was still there somewhere. And if he was there, Ev would be as well.
She thanked Anni Bannen and left immediately.
Chapter VI
Ev approached the strange monument that lie a few hundred miles west of Blasdow, the very place Arcturus had instructed him to go to. This was Stonecroft.
Built thousands of years ago, this collection of giant stone slabs standing upright in a circle had long been a place of mystery for not only the citizens of the Tru Republic, but the entire world. What was its purpose? Who built it? Many scholars believed it was a site for pagan rituals carried out by long-lost sect of indigenous peoples, but no one knew for sure. Ev figured the gods at the Academy probably knew, but so far they had not revealed the answer to him. How they loved their secrets.
On this day, there was a large group of tourists gathered around Stonecroft. They pointed, they took pictures, and they marveled at the engineering feat before them.
Ev wasn’t here for them.
He walked over to where one dark solitary figure stood a ways from the monument: Arcturus Reich. “I knew you would come.”
“Have you just been waiting here all this time?”
“Not very long,” Arcturus said. “I figured you’d show up without too much delay.”
“Well, I’m here. I hope you’ll make it worth my while.”
Arcturus pointed at the circle of stone slabs. “What do you know about that monument?”
“Only what’s in the history books,” Ev said, uncertain about where this conversation was going.”
Arcturus stared at it. “It was built to harness the power of the gods.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Zero Grade is a bit more forthcoming with information than the Academy. Belial taught me many things I’m sure Bethos wouldn’t want you to know. For instance, he taught me that every universe has sites just like this. Primitive man thought he could just build a monument and omnipotence would be his. Of course, it’s never that simple. Gods don’t want their power falling into the hands of mere mortals, so they take certain precautions.”
“Like what?”
“We’ll talk about that later. Isn’t there a more pressing question wanting to escape your lips?”
“The Ark of the Covenant,” Ev said. “What does it do?”
Arcturus replied enigmatically, “Everything.”
“Everything?”
He grinned at Ev. “Everything. It is the ultimate power—the power to birth an entirely new world subject to your every whim. With it, you can literally create man in your own image.”
Whoah. “A new world?”
“That’s right. Any kind of world you want. You decide the environments, the inhabitants, even the laws of physics.”
“So, it’s like a video game?”
“Sort of,” Arcturus said. “Except it’s real. Down to the last detail.”
Ev had to admit, that was tantalizing. “But what happens to this world, the one that already exists?”
“It gets rewritten, much like an old VCR tape.”
Ev wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. “So everyone dies?”
“Not necessarily. We can transfer people between worlds. We could save every single person alive today, if you wanted to.”
“Oh. That’s a relief. I wouldn’t want to create a new world if it meant killing people.” Was he actually contemplating this? He honestly couldn’t believe it. Would Ev
Bannen actually be involved in the creation of the ideal world? It was unbelievable, yet undeniably exciting.
Arcturus replied, “No, we don’t have to kill a single soul. But let’s think about this for a moment. Aren’t there people the world would be better off without?”
“You mean…gods?”
“That’s right. Don’t you think we can do without Zero Grade? And do we really need Bethos and his Academy?”
“Now hold on a minute,” Ev said. “I agree we could probably get rid of Zero Grade without any problems, but the Academy is another thing. I have friends there.”
“But they lied to you, Ev. They kept the truth from you because they didn’t think you had a right to know. Does the world really need people like that?”
But this was a line Ev could not cross. “Look, if we do this, if we create a new world, everyone gets to live. Everyone except Zero Grade.” Even the Asshole Three deserved to survive, as much as Ev hated to admit it.
“Fair enough. Everyone aside from Zero Grade will continue to exist in the new world. Are we in agreement, then?”
He extended his hand to Ev who stared at it for a moment, carefully considering his options. Once he decided to embark on this venture, there might be no turning back. Could he take Arcturus Reich at his word?
“What the hell.” He shook his hand. Sometimes you just had to roll the dice. He just hoped he wouldn’t live to regret it.
“Glad to have you with me, Ev.”
“Let’s go create us a new world. Where’s the Ark?”
But Arcturus said, “All in good time, Ev. There are preparations we have to make.”
“Like what?”
He explained, “There’s a Zero Grade base not too far from here. They’re holding an important object we need to activate the Ark.”
“That makes sense,” Ev said. “Of course they would be keeping something like that to themselves. Let me guess—it’s also heavily guarded.”
“Actually, the security isn’t that tight. The Academy will never admit the Ark’s been stolen, so Zero Grade doesn’t know I have it. To them, the object we need is just a curiosity.”
“What exactly is this object?”
Arcturus said, “It’s a crystal rod full of condensed god-energy. “Think of it as a battery for the Ark.”
Ev gave a sly grin. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get it.”
“I like the way you think, Ev Bannen.”
* * *
Maya returned to the village of Blasdow. The inhabitants greeted her warmly. She exchanged pleasantries with them and made inquiries about the targets of her search. They said they hadn’t seen either Ev or anyone fitting Arcturus’ description. That was disappointing, but she continued on to the O’Hare’s house. Jenny answered the door.
“Well, well! If’n it isn’t our savior. Well, one a’ them, anyway. What can this lass do for you?”
“Hello again. I’m looking for my friend Ev. Average height; short brown hair. I don’t suppose he’s been back here.”
“Oh! So it’s the plain one you be looking for.”
Maya wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call him plain. I think he’s good looking.”
“I’m just havin’ a bit o’ fun with you. Think nothing o’ it. No, I haven’t seen your friend. I woulda heard if’n he came back here. We’re a small village, you know. Word gets around.”
“Oh. OK.” Maya felt dejected. Still, her hopes were extinguished just yet. “I’m also looking for another man. Tall; long black hair; tanned.”
; “Ah! Now him I did see. He showed up recently and inquired about the way to Stonecroft.”
“Stonecroft?”
“Yes. It’s the famous stone monument. I told him he was quite a ways off.”
Now things were starting to look up. “Just where is this monument?”
Jenny told her. Maya thanked her and headed off towards Stonecroft.
* * *
On an island, in the middle of a lake in the northern area of the continent, sat Zero Grade House #4—Tru Republic Branch, or House #4 for short. It was a magnificent mansion situated on a well-maintained property. A huge lane made of bricks extended out from the front of the mansion with a fabulous fountain on top. On either side of the fountain were exquisitely-pruned hedges in the form of various gods. Ev didn’t recognize any of them, but Arcturus said they were the bosses of the organization. They called themselves the Flawless Few. They were rumored to be unimaginably powerful. Ev hoped he would never meet them.
“Fortunately, they never visit these minor branches. They always send their lackeys in their place,” Arcturus said.
Ev stared at the obscenely-huge building before him—it had to have at least a hundred rooms—and wondered how this could be considered a “minor” branch. “Are you sure they’re not here today?”
“Positive. They’d never set foot in such a—let’s say ‘quaint’—place. It’s beneath them.”
“Then where do they live?”
“I don’t know. Belial was more open to me than he was to Maya, but even he wouldn’t tell me. All I know is, the Flawless Few’s home puts this one to shame in every way.”
Ev tried to imagine such a place. Perhaps these gods of gods lived in a fantastical realm he couldn’t even imagine. Like maybe an infinitely large house in a dimension outside time and space. Wouldn’t that be something to see?
He put those thoughts aside for the moment. There were more pressing matters to think about as they approached the front door. “Strange. I don’t see any security cameras.”
“CCTV is for mortals,” Arcturus said. “Gods have no need of such things. There’s a whole team in here that specialize in surveillance. They spend all day astral-projecting around the property. They know we’re here. Count on it.”
The door opened. Cautiously, Ev followed Arcturus inside. For about the hundredth time, he considered the possibility the other man was luring him into a trap. Nevertheless, for the sake of his dream he went anyway.
They found themselves in the biggest, most lavish living room Ev had ever seen. His entire house could have fit inside it. There was a beautiful marble floor, as well as marble pillars spaced evenly throughout the almost cavernous room. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling. And this place wasn’t good enough for the bosses of Zero Grade?
Before Ev knew it, they were surrounded by well-dressed thugs. Suits; ties; dark sunglasses. They had the look of intimidation down.
Ev whispered to Arcturus, “Who are these guys?”
“Zero Grade foot soldiers. They handle all the grunt work. Think of them as pretend gods.”
“Arcturus Reich!” Coming down the stairs ahead was what Ev figured to be the alpha suit with broad shoulders and expensive-looking hair cut. “What is the meaning of this?”
“What do you mean?” he asked innocently.
“I mean,” the alpha suit said, pointing at Ev, “why have you brought an outsider here?”
Arcturus motioned nonchalantly to Ev. “Oh, him? He’s just a friend.”
The alpha suit responded, “I can sense his god-energy from here, and it’s been developing for a while now. He’s not one of us, so that can only mean you brought a servant of Bethos here.”
Arcturus threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Looks like they got us, Ev. I guess these guys are just too clever.”
“Looks like,” Ev said. He wasn’t sure where Arcturus’ confidence was coming from. From what he could see, they had just walked into a trap and were seriously outnumbered.
“So I’ll ask you again. What are you doing here with a dog of the Academy?”
“Turning in my resignation,” was the response.
The alpha suit stared at him while pondering the situation. “Does that mean you’re surrendering to us?”
“Hardly,” Arcturus said. “And I won’t accept your surrender, either. We’re here to raise some hell.”
Letting out a bitter laugh, the alpha suit said, “Your arrogance is astonishing. Do you really think the two of you can overcome all of us?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
The suits moved in. One of them dove in and let fly with a right hook. He was surprisingly fast, and Ev had just enough time to raise his arms to block. The impact sent him reeling backwards into another suit who put him in a headlock. The enemies began working him over pretty good. It seemed no area of his body was off-limits to them, and they struck wherever they could, though his stomach and face seemed to be favored targets.
Arcturus didn’t seem to be faring much better. They had dog-piled on their target and were beating the crap out of him.
After a few more minutes, the alpha suit said to the two of them, “Well? What do you have to say for yourselves?”
Ev did something even he himself had not been expecting. He snickered. “Is that all you got?”
The alpha suit was taken aback. “What?”
In truth, these guys weren’t that strong. The Academy’s training program had obviously been far more beneficial than whatever methods these chumps used.
From beneath the dog pile, Arcturus laughed. “Looks like we had the same idea, Ev. I thought I’d let these guys have their fun and take their measure. I have to say—the ruler’s pretty small!” With a roar, he flung the suits off him.
“Guess that’s my cue,” Ev said. He grabbed the arm of the guy who had him in the headlock and ripped it away before punching him in the face. He spun around and delivered a kick to another enemy, sending him flying across the room and onto his ass. A third adversary tried to punch him, but he took hold of his wrist and threw him into a pillar. It collapsed on top of him with a satisfying crash.
Similarly, Arcturus was now cleaning house. After dispatching several suits, he evidently saw what Ev had just done and decided he could do better. He grabbed the closest enemy and slammed him into a pillar with far more force than Ev had just done. The explosion of marble reverberated throughout the massive room.
The alpha suit angrily pushed aside his subordinates and stepped in to face Ev himself. He took hold of Ev’s throat and began to throttle him. He was stronger than the others, but Ev managed to pry his hands loose and launched a right cross to the bastard’s jaw. The enemy’s head careened backwards and he staggered a bit.
However, the alpha suit quickly recovered. He brought his hands together and sent the resulting oversized fist down onto Ev’s who side-stepped the attack and punched him in the throat. Pained sounds escaped the man’s mouth and he stared at Ev with shock. Clearly he wasn’t used to being manhandled like this.
The shock was quickly overtaken by rage. He lunged at Ev with wild abandon—
—and a sharp blade took off his head. The resulting geyser of blood covered Ev’s upper body. Arcturus stood there holding slim swords such as Ev had never seen before.
“Shit!” Ev said.
“Don’t act so shocked,” Arcturus responded. “I know you’ve seen carnage before.”
“Yeah, but it’s so unexpected. You were using your fists a minute ago.”
He shrugged. “I saw the leader attacking you and decided to speed things up.” He motioned to a collection of body parts swimming in blood on the floor.”
Ev looked away. It was true he had seen blood and death before, but this was too much. “Did you really have to butcher them like that?”
“You yourself agreed this world would be a much better place without them. We were going to erase them anyway, remember? My katanas just made it easier. And quicker, I might add. He didn�
�t suffer much.”
Ev had to admit he had a point. “I guess you’re right. Still, it’s not an easy thing to look at.”
Arcturus smiled sweetly. “You wouldn’t be Ev Bannen if you could shrug off such violence. I’m sorry; I’ll try to tone it down in the future.”
“Just how much more trouble are you planning to get us into?”
From the top of the stairs, a voice answered, “None. You’ve done quite enough damage.”
He looked to be a relatively young man, perhaps the same age as Arcturus (though with gods looks were almost always deceiving). He wore a heavy coat the same color as the sea. He had navy blue hair, and his head had many piercings. Ears; lips; nose; eye brows. They were all filled with metal bolts and studs.
Incident 27 Page 7
