Beacon

by Kyle West

  It was just small enough to fit inside my robe, in one of the inner pockets. It was a little bulky protruding from my side, but at least I could carry it somewhere out of sight.

  I was also surprised to find that my katana was still with me. I wasn’t sure how things worked in the Hyperfold, but it appeared that everything I had been wearing in the real world had also manifested here.

  So, I carried it like that. I started forward through the trees, not really sure of my direction. If Isaru and Shara were here, there was no telling where they actually were. I wondered whether they had their own Orbs, or whether the Orb only traveled when I touched it. And that begged the question of whether they were actually here in the first place, or merely unconscious in the real world. There were a lot of questions I really didn’t have an answer to.

  The only thing I could think of was trying to find the city. It couldn’t be far.

  Before long, I came along a path following the stream. The scene was familiar, and it took me a moment to realize that this was the same path Isandru and Mia had followed on their way back to the city during my first dream. It meant I was going the right direction.

  Given that Isaru and Shara actually were here, they probably would have gone toward the city, as I was doing. The only logical option was that they would have waited for me to come, and the fact that they didn’t was troubling.

  Maybe they aren’t here after all.

  Before long, the trees broke, revealing the city before me. Unlike the real world, this version of Hyperborea was exactly as it had been in my dreams. Its towers were tall and countless, and the bridges leading toward it gleamed white in the sun, and were fully intact. I could even see people walking along them. A lake of ichor stretched along the city’s side, separating it from the xen-filled slope leading down toward the city. Lake Makar, if I remembered right. It had to be named after Makara, one of the heroes of the Ragnarok War. Even if her name was largely forgotten in the present, it seemed the Hyperboreans remembered her enough to name it after her…even if the name people remember had dropped the final letter.

  I stood still, taking in the scene, and was haunted by an unforeseen doubt: what if this was real? What if, somehow, some way, I had actually stepped into the past in truth? The Xenofold worked in strange ways, and some said that it had a way of working outside time itself. What if the Hyperfold was similar?

  I couldn’t let myself get bogged down by such questions. I had a job to do. Shal said that, once I gave him the Orb, he would give me the Prophecy. Only then could I return to the real world – or the present world, whichever it turned out to be.

  I ran toward the city. It didn’t take long for me to close the distance between the forest and the city. Unlike Mia and Isandru, I had no boat to go across the lake, so I was forced to go around. I didn’t have the first idea where to even begin searching for them. I began to pass people, and it seemed a little hopeless to stop every person and give a description and hope for the best.

  This idea seemed even more pointless when I realized just how many people there were in this city. I found myself entering in between the buildings, just one of thousands in the throng. Even so, I felt completely out of place because my clothes were different from theirs, and I seemed to be the only one with any sort of weapon. I got more than a few looks, but I hurried along in case anyone had a mind to stop me.

  The hum of this living, breathing city was almost surreal after passing through the deadened one not hours before, but seeing all the faces was even more surreal. Faces laughing, smiling, people haggling with vendors. People were living their lives, and it was hard to believe, that if this was indeed the Hyperfold, that each of those people was someone who was trapped here and didn’t realize it. They seemed completely oblivious to the fact.

  As I made a turn, I could see, high above, a large building that seemed to be supported by several towers. Several moving platforms went up and down, allowing access to higher tiers. I waited for one such platform to come down, joining it with an older man dressed in a light brown robe, along with a couple of children who were arguing over some candy. As the platform went up, the surreal feeling only grew. How could a place look and feel so real, yet not be?

  I soon found myself on the highest of the streets, held up by impossibly thin supports, giving the illusion that the street was floating. I was a bit nervous walking out on it, but there were hundreds of people on this road, supported by nothing more than what pretty much amounted to strings. It had to be safe, even if it didn’t feel like it.

  My attention was immediately drawn by what had to be the Cloud Palace. It looked the same as it had in my dreams, filled with hundreds of large windows, turrets, and flying buttresses, all gleaming in the sunlight. Its outer walls seemed to be a strange cross between stone and wood, as if the entire thing had been grown from the ground. It was a structure that looked too impossible to exist.

  I didn’t know if Isaru or Shara would be in there, or Rakhim for that matter, but it was as good a place to look as any. Perhaps Mia and Isandru were there as well. I didn’t know how I’d react to see them here, and Isandru’s existence was a puzzle in itself. There was no telling with this place.

  What I did know, however, was that the Palace was the center of the city, so Isaru and Shara might have gone here, if indeed they were here.

  At last, I found myself beneath the high-vaulted entrance of the Cloud Palace. Other peopled streamed in and out of the main hall, the cavernous Dome of the Sky from my dreams. The dome was trimmed with gold and ichorstone, each interlacing with the other, while thick columns of solid ichor provided the support. Milling in the vast space were several dozens of petitioners, which was a lot, but it didn’t seem that much given how much space there was. The floor was tiled with geometric designs, making a shape I couldn’t discern from my position on the floor.

  Several of the petitioners looked my way, anyone from rich to poor. There was a man who looked to be a rich merchant or lord, his fat fingers filled with rings, along with someone in dusty clothes who looked like he’d just come from his farm. Several black-armored guards stood at regular intervals between the columns. Sunlight glinted off that armor from the thick sunbeams spilling in through the windows from high above – the Heavenly Windows, if I remember right. The wide, Cerulean Stairway stood before me, glittering like sapphires under the sunlight.

  A pair of guards stood to either side of the Stairway, which made it seem as if I couldn’t go that way. I stayed on the periphery of the Dome, trying to find a way deeper into the Palace without any of the guards seeing me. From there, I could find another way up.

  There was a wide hallway at the back of the dome, along with several smaller ones at different locations. The large one was guarded, but one of the smaller ones I happened upon was completely empty.

  So, I began walking, and no one tried to stop me.

  At times, I would pass richly dressed courtiers or servants, but beyond a glance, I was never confronted. The corridor circled past countless doors, halls, and rooms. I considered stopping someone and giving a description of Shara and Isaru, but decided that keeping a low profile was more important. All it would take was a single question to find out that I wasn’t supposed to be here, and I didn’t want things to become more complicated than they had to be.

  I noticed then that everyone I passed seemed to be going in a single direction — as if there were something interesting going on. I followed one of these groups, which joined a larger stream of people heading that direction. I overheard voices talking about an announcement in the throne room.

  Of everyone, I was the most shabbily dressed; I wouldn’t have passed even as a servant. However, I was already inside the Palace, so to these people, it meant that I had already been cleared, even if all I’d done was walk right in. Better for them to ignore me than to commit a grave error by suggesting I didn’t belong, and I walked in a way that said that I deserved to be there as much as anyone else. Even my sword didn’t
get attention, and maybe that was part of the reason why people didn’t bother me. No one that I could see even carried a weapon.

  I followed the crowd up a curving staircase following the circumference of one of the many towers of the palace. When I reached the upper landing, things began looking more familiar. The shining, pearlescent floors, the high windows overlooking the vast city, the rich rugs and tapestries and crystalline chandeliers, were all part of the dreams I’d had of this place. I reached the second tier of the Dome, and was probably within moments of seeing the king and queen themselves. Perhaps I was just as close to finding Rakhim Shal and with luck, Shara and Isaru.

  I broke into a cold sweat, doing my best to push down my unease. Something told me that this wasn’t merely the Hyperfold. I was inside a memory, something that had actually happened at some point in the past.

  And then, I was entering the wide audience chamber, almost completely filled with people, all with their attention on the two empty thrones front and center. I didn’t see anyone I recognized, and I realized that I would have to wait a bit longer.

  The crowd stilled and quieted as, from a back room, two people walked in regaled in shining clothing and jewelry. The King and Queen. They looked exactly as they had from my previous dreams.

  Both monarchs took their seats with a regal air, and there wasn’t a sound, other than a few coughs and scuffs of boots on the floor. The line of guards behind the thrones stood stock still, bearing sharp, black blades that shone under the light of chandeliers.

  “We will begin,” the King called out, in a sonorous tone. He gave a curt nod toward somebody, and to my surprise, Rakhim Shal stepped onto the dais on which the thrones were situated. His cold blue eyes surveyed the room as if he owned it. As he faced the assembly, his eyes seemed to be right on me. I had to be imagining that.

  “The Tower of Shal, at last, has been completed,” he began. “At sunset tonight, there will be a ceremony to celebrate its opening. For the first time, there shall be no difference between Xenofold and Hyperfold. The two will be as one, joined forever in power and glory. It is the beginning of a new era, a golden age that will last for centuries to come.”

  Excited murmurs greeted this announcement. So that was what this was for, but what Shal described seemed to be impossible. Merging the Xenofold and the Hyperfold? No such thing had ever occurred in history — at least, as far as I knew.

  “The Tower makes possible what we once thought to be impossible. No longer will Giftless children afflict our families. In this age, Giftlessness will be as curable as any ailment. The Hyperfold provided an alternative, but it was an imperfect alternative. Now, truly, all of us shall be children of the Xenofold; no longer will purity of blood matter. All blood shall be made pure, and together, we will build — both in this world, and those conceived — the greatest legacy this world has ever produced. Great changes are coming to this city…you have known this for some time, but until this moment, I have kept back the true reason for the Tower’s construction.”

  The murmurs grew — all the faces were smiling, and some people were even hugging each other. This was seen as a joyous announcement, but all I could feel was trepidation. Apparently, and perhaps for as long as Hyperborea existed, they had been seeking a way to cure the Fading. According to everything I had learned, it was a condition one was born with that was impossible to change. While those who were Giftless might wish that they weren’t, it wasn’t exactly seen as a disease or something to be ashamed of. Here, in Hyperborea, it seemed to be quite different.

  “All one needs is Aether,” Rakhim said. “Aether, which we produce in abundance. Aether, which runs like water. Aether, which is every Hyperborean citizen’s birthright.”

  Aether, which is also addictive, I thought.

  But apparently, the Hyperborean people didn’t think the same way. It was here that I caught a detail I was surprised I had so far missed: many of their eyes shone with the tell-tale light that they were under the influence of the drug.

  If Rakhim was encouraging them to drink more Aether, they certainly didn’t seem as if they would argue against it. I found myself scanning the crowd, hoping to find a familiar face: Isaru, Shara, or even Isandru or Mia. But I found none of them.

  Whether this was a vision of the past — or the past in truth — I still couldn’t say. It was so real that I couldn’t tell the difference.

  As Shal continued on, there were sudden shouts of exclamation that quickly rose to an excited buzz. Something was happening in the crowd that I couldn’t see — I stood on tiptoes to get a better view, but that did little good. But excited voices did the explaining for me.

  “It’s Princess Mia!”

  “She’s returned!”

  “The Princess is safe!”

  And then, climbing onto the dais, was the princess herself. I had never seen what she looked like, because in my dreams, I had only occupied her mind. She was pretty, but I could see she was also thin – very thin. She looked as if she had been on a journey, and not an easy one. Her regal cheekbones seemed out of place for one so young, and yet her gray eyes were full of intensity and challenge. And they stared right at Shal.

  Her parents stared at her with widened eyes, and for the moment, neither could seem to find their tongues.

  “Princess Mia,” Shal said, quickly recovering. “We were all worried that…”

  Mia looked as if she wanted to shout, but was only barely restraining herself. Instead, she turned to the crowd, calling out in a powerful voice that seemed impossibly loud for a girl who was so small and frail.

  “This man’s lies will be the downfall of this city,” she said. “The Xenofold is dying, and this Tower will be the final stroke!”

  Even as the crowd broke into angry murmurs – anger to Mia, not Shal – the Queen rose, her violet eyes burning, while the King continued to stare on in shock. Isandru quickly appeared from the crowd, lending a supporting hand to Mia; indeed, it looked as if she might faint. It was impossible to tell how long she had been gone, but long enough to have everyone worried over her.

  Even so, she continued. “In less than ten years, the city of Hyperborea will fall. Its towers will crumble, the Sea of Creation will go dry, and nothing but ghosts will walk its avenues. Instead of ichor, blood will run down its streets. The city will never rise again. You will hate me, revile me, and cast me out. Fine. But I have seen it in the Xenofold; this, and worse, I prophesy!”

  As several guards stepped forward to intervene, Shal raised a hand; even if Mia was out of line, no guard could lay hands on the princess, even if everyone knew Shal wielded the real power. Better to make it look as if she were crazy than to give credit to her words. As Shal opened his mouth to respond, Mia continued.

  “You know that you are killing everyone here,” Mia said. “You are no better than a murderer. In fact, you are worse. You know what you are doing, even if none of these people do. Speak the truth!”

  That was when I felt a hand on my shoulder that nearly made me jump out of my skin. I reached for my blade, even as I turned around to see Shara. My shock was even greater when I saw that her eyes — the eyes that had so often glowed and haunted me — were completely clear and lucid. She was looking at me with sadness, a sadness that let me know that I was seeing the real her and not the Shara I had grown accustomed to. I had no time to wonder at the change, because she was pulling me through the crowd, back toward the doors through which I had entered.

  “Shara, what are you…how…?”

  “It’s so good to see you, Shanti. You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this.”

  “What? I just got here. What are you…?”

  “I’ll explain everything in a moment. Wait until we’re outside.”

  Mia continued to shout from behind us, but the growing din of the crowd made it hard to hear. Only when we were outside the throne room on the second floor balcony did Shara stop. We stood behind one of the columns where, I noted, we were hidden from the guards now
looking into the throne room.

  “I…have been here longer than you. Some two months. Isaru and I both.”

  “Wait…two months? I literally entered the Hyperfold a couple of minutes after you!”

  “And we have been wondering the same thing,” Shara said. “We came to the conclusion that either you couldn’t follow, or that time might work differently here. It seems to be the latter, thank the gods.”

  “And what have you two been doing? Where is he?”

  “He’s in there, too,” she said, nodding toward the throne room. “We’ve been with Mia and Isandru. When Isaru saw that I was back to my old self, he told me about you.” She looked at me seriously. “Everything.”

  She knew, then, about me being Anna. It would have taken Isaru a lot of time to decide Shara was worthy of trust. A lot must have happened in that two months.

  “I’m reeling,” I said. “I just can’t believe…”

  “Believe it,” Shara said. “I know it’s probably not easy, but I’m so glad to see you.”

  There were tears in her eyes as she hugged me. I felt as if I’d fall over from the vertigo.

  “I don’t know what to say,” I said. “Only…hope you stay like this. That this is permanent.”

  “So do I,” Shara said. “Isaru thinks this just might be my temporary state, while I’m in here. I was so afraid we’d be stuck here forever, but you’ve come, and you have the Orb.” She looked at me seriously. “You have the Orb, don’t you?”

  “Of course,” I said, patting the cloak.

  She closed her eyes in gratefulness.

  “What about the Prophecy?” I asked. “Have you spoken to Shal yet? What have you been doing here for two months?”

  “We found it,” Shara said, smiling. “At first, I didn’t believe it. Mia was the one who got it.”

  “How?” I asked.