by Karl Morgan
“You know they’re just going to come down here after us.”
“How do you know our names?” the other Dom Emmanuel asked.
Bill put his hand on the old man’s shoulder and said, “You are the reason we’re here. We’ve come to save you.” He turned to Faith and continued, “You take them down the tunnel toward the city. I’ll go take care of the enforcers. Then, I’ll block the entrance to the tunnel so they can’t try to get in again.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“There is no time to talk right now. You take them away from here as fast as you can. There could be more demons on their way. After I block the entrance, I’ll head for the city on the surface. If you find another exit and it seems safe, come out and look for me.”
“Bill, I don’t think we should separate. Those things almost devoured you the last time.”
“We’re out of options. I am not going to allow those things to imprison Dom and Prudence again. If we both fight, some of the enforcers could get through, and these two are in no condition to fight them off. Go now. It will work out, I promise.” He turned without waiting for a reply and rushed over to the ladder. He smiled at them and then climbed up and out of the tunnel.
“Your friend is a brave man,” Dom said. “Who are you two anyway?”
“We can talk as we walk, okay?” Faith replied as she took their arms and moved down the tunnel toward safety.
Bill stood on top of the small door. The nest was still littered with the bodies of dead enforcers. He could see thousands more peering at him from the surrounding forest. He instantly transformed into the beast, his red eyes glowing at the army of enforcers. He dropped to his knees and began to throw stones and blocks from the berm into a large pile over the small door. The enforcers looked at each other quizzically, unsure what this demon was doing. After a moment, Bill jumped on top of the ten foot mountain of rocks, stretched out his wings and roared, causing the nearby trees to shudder and shake. He looked at the beasts and began to laugh. They charged, pouring out of the forest and rushing up the rock pile.
In a second, there were on him. He could feel their claws trying to rip his flesh and their teeth pressed against his skin. More and more climbed on. When he could not handle any more weight, he jumped into the air and began to fly with the enforcers hanging onto him and each other. He glanced back at the clearing and could see hundreds more starting to remove the pile of stones. A large lake was just ahead, hidden among endless rows of trees. He flew toward it as fast as he could. He dived, smashing into the water at full speed and dove toward the bottom. The enforcers that survived the impact struggled to rise to the surface for air. There was movement in front of him, and then ten large sharks surged past him to feed on the drowning enforcers. That was when he saw what he was looking for. A gigantic boulder rested on the lake bottom. He struggled to move the twenty-foot diameter stone. He summoned all of his strength and lifted it and began to rise to the surface. In a few seconds, he was airborne again, holding the massive rock over his head.
As he reached the clearing, he noticed his rock pile was gone, and enforcers were lining up and heading down into the tunnel. He hovered two hundred feet over the nest and dropped the boulder, which smashed down on the nest, crushing most of the beasts beneath it. Bill dived down, landing hard with both feet on the stone, which trembled, and then collapsed into the tunnel, killing more of the monsters. Bill jumped down in the tunnel. He could see several enforcers ahead of him, so he ran toward them. Every fifty feet or so, he would jump up, breaking the tunnel which then crashed down behind him. The tunnel opening was gone, replaced by a massive pile of debris.
He was now galloping on all fours to catch the remaining beasts. As he reached each one, he would smash it against the wall of the tunnel or slice it to sheds with his claws. There was a bright light ahead and he slowed down and squinted to see what was happening. He could see the shadows of ten more enforcers. Faith was standing just past them, holding up her silver sword. He hoped the others were behind her. He charged, ripping through the enforcers and even throwing one or two at Faith, who slashed them to pieces with her weapon. In a few seconds, it had become very quiet. Bill, in human form again, sat panting on the floor, drenched in sweat and the blood of the enforcers. “Are they okay?” he grunted between gasps.
“Yes, Bill, thanks to you, we are all safe.”
The second Dom walked up and stood in front of Bill. He smiled and waved his hand and the blood and corpses vanished. The old man looked much better than earlier. The bites had almost faded away and his body was still thin, but not emaciated as it had been. “Thank you for rescuing us, Son, but I have to tell you that none of this makes sense. I mean Faith is standing right there, but I saw her taken away by the monsters in the dungeon several weeks ago. And pardon me for saying this, but I am not accustomed to having one demon protect me from another. Faith tells me this is not your universe. Is that true?”
“And not just any demon, Father,” Prudence noted.
“Yes, in this reality, a man who looks just like you fancies himself to be emperor of the universe. He stole her away and most of my children.”
“Like me?”
Faith walked behind Bill and put her hands on his shoulders, lightly kissing the top of his head. “But it wasn’t you, Bill. We came here on a mission to rescue your family and my sister.”
“I don’t think that can succeed,” Dom replied. “And any success you achieve will be short-lived.”
“He’s right,” Bill said as he climbed to his feet. “That’s what is causing all the terrorist activity and nuclear war in our universe. The enforcers have been there for a long time and have just turned the tide of war in their favor. Even if we escape and manage to hold them off until the two universes separate, the world will be in decline for generations. Any enforcers stranded there will make sure of that, and when the universes touch again, all will be lost.”
“And there is something else, right?” Dom asked.
Bill took Faith’s hands and began, “Just this morning you said it was impossible for there to be two Gods, yes?” She nodded and glanced at the others nervously. “Now, here we are, standing next to a second Dom Emmanuel.”
“So, there are two Gods?”
“No. Because this is a second reality, and God is everywhere, we experience this version of Dom here. The other is still on the other side, perhaps sitting in his office in Las Vegas right now wondering what we’re up to. But I think that also means that I am the emperor who killed Dom’s family in this reality.”
“You? You mean to tell me that in this universe, you murdered me?” she moaned.
“Faith, don’t you see, that is why I was born in the other reality to fix this! I caused the schism and now I must fix it.”
“That’s a brilliant bit of deductive reasoning, my boy,” Dom smiled.
“I’m afraid I’m not finished yet. In our reality, good and evil are balanced and the world revolves based on people’s choices. That balance no longer exists here, and that begs another question.”
“And what’s that?” Faith asked.
He let go of her hands and turned to the other man and asked, “Dom, where is your brother?”
Cassie and Mary were sitting at a small table in the corner of the staff dining room, resting their feet and eating their dinner. Most of their conversation had been about Mary’s encounter with Councilor Lucius. For her part, Mary said as little as possible, content to allow Cassie to opine how she would have handled the same incident. Mary concentrated on what was left on her plate, eager to go to bed after the long day. She noticed that Cassie had become quiet. Then she heard a man clear his throat. She looked up to see Councilor Lucius standing two feet away. He held out his hand and said, “Please don’t get up.” He waved at Cassie and said, “You get out!” She practically jumped from her seat and headed for the door. Lucius sat on the chair Cassie vacated and put his hands in his lap. “First of all, I would like to
apologize for my actions in the kitchen.”
“Sir, I know my place and do not wish to get into more trouble.”
He looked around nervously and whispered, “But you’re one of them? The emperor sent you to spy on me, didn’t he? Please don’t tell him what happened. You know he’ll kill me for that.”
“But I am just a slave, master.”
“Shush. Don’t talk so loud,” he insisted and then looked around to see if anyone was listening. He leaned across the table and whispered, “I saw your eyes glow.”
Mary understood now. He had seen her demonic side. Perhaps the emperor he feared so much was like her. That could explain the terrible curse of slavery on the planet. She leaned toward him, stopping when their noses were only a couple inches apart. “My darling Lucius, what am I supposed to do? Ignore the facts, lie to the emperor?” She could see beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
“Of course not, that would make you as bad as me. Perhaps a little discretion on your part would be possible?”
“Perhaps we can help each other?”
He smiled broadly and replied, “Anything for you, mistress. Name it!”
“It is true that I am checking up on some of the people here in the city. I find that my schedule in the kitchen is very arduous, and cuts into my ability to observe others. Perhaps there is a role where I could have more access and time to monitor the emperor’s subjects.”
“You can work for me!” he sang. “Monitoring is what I do. I could use someone with your unique talents in my organization.”
“That seems reasonable. Then there is the matter of the young slave girl who was sitting there. She is a dear friend of mine.”
“Of course, of course, she can be your assistant!”
“Thank you for your kindness, Lucius,” she smiled and touched her hands to his.
He pulled his hands away as if she was on fire, and then giggled nervously. “I’ll send someone for you tomorrow morning after breakfast.” He smiled back at her and hurried out of the room.
J.C. woke to the loud bang of a door closing. He was lying on the straw mattress in his cell. He looked blearily around the dungeon. It was still quite dark, and most of the room was in shadows. He saw the shadow of Kong pulling open his cell and tossing in a second mattress. Then another shadow came into the opening and pushed a man down onto the other bed. Kong said, “Slug, it seems you now have a roommate!” The door was closed and locked and the two guards left.
“Hello?” a strange male voice said. “Is someone there?”
“Hi, my name is J.C.,” he replied, “but the guard calls me Slug.”
“I’m Tom Anderson. Where the heck is this place?”
“It’s just another prison full of enemies of the emperor of the universe.”
The other man chuckled and replied, “That’s funny man, but really, where are we?”
J.C. knew something was wrong. “Where are you from, Tom?”
“My family is from Billings, Montana. Are we close to there?”
“Do you know a man named Bill Watson?”
“He’s my father-in-law! Who exactly are you?”
“J.C. Emmanuel. I met your father-in-law in the California desert where a group of terrorists were about to cut off my head. He and Mary Stewart saved my life.”
“Wow! I don’t think I heard about that. Where are we now?”
“Tom, please try to get some sleep. The guards will be here when the sun comes up and they will not be treating us well. Do you know where your family is?”
“No. As I recall, we went to bed in the hotel last night. The next thing I knew, they pushed me into this cell. I guess I assumed they were still there.”
“I’m afraid not. Whoever took you also took your wife and mother-in-law. Your children were left in the hotel room where a housekeeper found them the next morning. They are staying with my father. Bill, Mary, my sister, and I came here to find you and take you home.” J.C. could hear the other man choking back tears. “Don’t worry, Tom, we’re here and we will fix this, I promise.”
Faith and Prudence led the way through the tunnel with Bill and Dom just behind them. “That is another quandary, Bill. I haven’t felt the presence of my brother in a long time. But I am sure he is still alive.”
“What makes you so certain?” Bill asked.
Dom put his hand on Bill’s shoulder and replied, “You said it yourself. The only reason any of this exists is because good and evil are balanced. Without one, the other crumbles away into nothingness. I think the emperor knows that and is keeping my brother alive. If he or I died, his plan, his universe and his very soul would evaporate. It would be as though the universe and therefore life never existed.”
Faith asked, “But Father, we are immortals as well, and yet the emperor killed me in this reality. How is that possible?”
“I think your friend Bill also explained that. If this version of me dies, the others in other realities would continue to live. But if my brother or I die in this reality; this version of reality will blink out of existence. Countless trillions of lives will be lost, but the other realities would continue. That is what makes the doorway to your reality so dangerous. The emperor can destroy this reality and escape into yours.”
“Can we try an experiment, Dom?” Bill asked.
“Sure, what did you have in mind?”
“Other than the horrible condition I found you in here, I can’t tell the difference between this you and the Dom in my universe. On the other hand, the me in this reality is evil, and I don’t think I could ever be that bad.”
“And what is the experiment?”
“Can you tell which of us is from this reality versus the other?”
“I thought you already knew where you were from?”
“Father, I think he means Prudence.”
“Yes, Dom, an angel named Prudence is my mother. I think she was taken here against her will, leaving my sister Mary as an orphan.”
“Let’s give it a try, but I’m not promising anything. Bill, let me give you a hug.” Dom put his arms around him and squeezed him tight. After he released him, he hugged both Faith and Prudence in turn and then turned to look at them. He looked up and thought about the experience and replied, “I’m sorry, but Prudence is from this reality. I could definitely feel the difference between Faith and her. I could also feel the other Prudence within you, Bill. Your father is my brother, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
Dom chuckled and said, “That’s funny you know. The other me and his brother put this plan together deliberately, whether they consciously knew it or not.” He put his hand on Bill’s arm and said, “Your mother may still be alive, Son. Don’t give up hope yet.”
After breakfast the following day, Cassie and Mary were met by Octavian Vitus, a young lieutenant reporting to Lucius Montez, the Chief Investigative Councilor to the emperor. He helped them into his vehicle which then traveled across the imperial compound toward the Imperial Investigative Bureau, located in a large marble structure far from the residence and kitchens they served. Everything inside the dome was pristine and adorned with golden accents, including buildings, temples, light posts, and even street signs. All of the people they passed were part of the royal entourage, with no tattoos and the finest clothing and jewelry. Mary remembered the dark and dirty alley where she and J.C. arrived and thought how different things were here inside. “Where is he?” she wondered.
When they arrived at the Bureau, they were led into the personnel section where they were finger-printed and had DNA tests prior to being given badges and clearance into the facility. They also had to take extensive mental acuity tests. They could tell that most of the workers looked at them with disdain, as it was unusual for slaves to be inside critical government agencies. It was after noon when they finally arrived at the Councilor’s office. Lucius greeted them warmly and then took Octavian and the women to lunch to celebrate their new positions. Thankfully, the new jackets for members of the B
ureau were long-sleeved, concealing their tattoos of ownership. Soon, the four were seated at an outside table, with a view of a large park across the street and several other agency buildings along the same road. “Just order whatever you’d like. I am paying for everything,” Lucius said as he perused the menu.
“Thank you again for the new assignment, Councilor,” Mary purred.
Lucius looked around nervously and replied, “It’s my pleasure. By the way, Octavian is a personal friend and a man I trust completely. He already knows your, shall we say situation.”
“This is all so amazing,” Cassie blurted out. Mary frowned back at her.
Octavian leaned forward and whispered, “We hope we can count on you to put in a good word for us with you know who.”
“Of course we will,” Mary smiled as she put her hand on his. “One hand washes the other, after all.” He blushed and pulled his hand away. She turned her attention to Lucius and said, “What kind of high value targets will we be monitoring?”
Lucius leaned forward and whispered, “That is not a topic to be discussed in public, Mary. Almost everyone here lives in constant fear they are going to be trapped in something. As we discussed last night, you two will be pretty much on your own. I know you have your own work to do and Octavian and I do not want to hinder your current assignment.”
“I understand,” she smiled, “but if we can help, we’re happy to do it.”
“I’ll take that under advisement.”
A very large floating vehicle pulled up near them on the street and a strange music began to fill the air. “Down on the floor!” Lucius shouted as he and Octavian jumped out of their chairs and knelt on the floor with their heads pressing the hard surface. Mary felt Lucius’s arm pulling her from the chair, so she and Cassie mimicked their position. A door on the vehicle slid open and two guards exited with rifle-like weapons ready to fire. They checked in every direction for trouble, but found everyone nearby in the correct position. They motioned back into the vehicle and a woman stepped out.
