I couldn’t believe him. The Tosks had almost killed us with the floaters. No. He was boasting, lying in order to sap my willpower. And yet, why would he bother lying now?
“Lord,” a clone said.
Beran turned to the portal. A wisp of fog drifted from the other side to ours. It seemed to struggle to push through a film that still separated our dimensions. Then, it was through, and a noxious stink accompanied it. The foggy tendril drifted farther and then seemed to solidify in the chamber, growing heavier as it sank toward the floor.
I peered at the portal. It was an eerie world with vaporous tendrils drifting in different directions. The place seemed murky, like a limbo realm without a sun, yet with light of sorts. I thought I saw a vast creature in the distance of that world, but it was difficult to make out as it trod upon the soggy soil.
At that point, the sunken tendril in the chamber congealed into a humanlike form, crouched over at first. After it finished reshaping itself, it unfolded and stood to its feet. The form was still ghostly and eerie, and it produced two narrow eyes that glowed red like I imagined the fires of Hell.
“Hello,” Beran greeted the ghostly thing. “I’ve been waiting a lifetime for this meeting.”
-50-
I strove to move, but proved unable. I tried to squeeze my hand harder around the hilt, but could not even do that. I was simply a frozen witness to the terrible event.
The ghostly form regarded Beran, the red eyes brightening as it did so. At that point, red beams from the eyes flashed at Beran.
The red eye-beams washed against the blue nimbus. Both brightened and began to pulsate. After a short span, it became obvious that the rays could not penetrate the Antaran force field. At last, the ghostly thing from across the portal quit beaming.
“Yesss…” it said in a sibilant whisper. “You will do. You are superior and thus worth my wait. I will inhabit you, creature of flesh. I will explore your dimension—”
The words cut off as the clones of Beran worked with haste, causing a whine to increase from a parked floater.
Beran laughed, raised the baton and shot a milky beam at the ghostly thing. The beam seemed to color the murky shape, adding depth and weight to what had been a wraith before.
The whine from the parked floater increased yet again. The milky beam thickened and the thing solidified from head to torso to legs to feet, until it seemed to have white skin and thick white hair, followed by a fully formed body. I spied a nose, lips and teeth as a Polarion opened his mouth in shock.
Finally, Beran stopped beaming the Polarion, lowering the baton and watching with interest.
The Polarion examined his hands as if seeing them for the first time. He felt his body and seemed astonished.
“How…?” the Polarion asked.
“I am Beran of the Antares Institute. I am the greatest mind of our universe. I have learned of your condition, and it tempted me to attempt a fantastic exploit. Tell me, sir. What is your name?”
The Polarion blinked as Beran spoke. Afterward, the Polarion frowned, and the wonder on his face transformed into what appeared to be horror.
“How…long have I been gone?” the Polarion whispered.
“For cycles of time,” Beran said.
“But…” the Polarion faced the portal. Suddenly, he threw back his head and howled. He clawed at his face, scratching and tearing at his skin. Blood spurted beneath his fingernails. Then, abruptly, he lurched toward the portal, pushed through the hazy film, and staggered back into the other reality.
Beran seemed astonished as his eyebrows rose. “Strange,” he muttered. “I’d expected more from the encounter.”
“Lord,” a clone said, indicating the portal.
Instead of a fog or a tendril, a large shadow-thing marched toward the returned Polarion and the entrance into our reality. The Polarion stood in horror as the thing approached. The shadowy being swatted the Polarion, shattering him into many bloody pieces. It was uncanny, sinister, proving that other laws governed that realm’s physics. The huge shadowy being regarded Beran with glowing yellow eyes.
“Hmm…” Beran said. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this one yet. Lower the portal’s gain.”
Nothing happened.
Beran turned, and swayed as if shocked.
The chief clone seemed altered. He grinned wickedly at the Antaran. The clone raised his gun and beamed his fellow clones, burning them down before any of them could react.
“You miscalculated, Antaran,” the evil clone said in a booming voice. “I left the Polarion and slipped along the floor to take over this being. Now, the Master comes. You are doomed, creature of flesh.”
“We shall see,” Beran said stiffly.
He raised the baton as the clone aimed the beam pistol. They both shot each other. The milky beam hit with greater force than previously. It burned the clone and seemed to burn the resident foggy-being that had inhabited the Polarion.
How that being could have caused the flesh and blood Polarion to take on its fogginess, I did not have the slightest clue.
At the same time, the green beam washed against the blue force field to little effect.
Abruptly, the clone or its otherworldly wraith screamed in agony, and in an instant, it turned into a dirty puff of vapor that spiraled upward before it vanished.
Did that mean the entity from the other reality was dead? I did not know. I certainly felt as if it had died, but that did not necessarily make it so. One thing it meant was that no one was at the controls. If the need arose, could the floater still feed more power into Beran? I believed the golden circuit around his head was linked to the power-grid that ran through the parked floater, or maybe all of them there.
In any case, Beran turned to face the portal. He and I watched as the giant shadow creature slowly oozed through from one realm of reality to another. The thing became dimmer, less substantial and finally plopped through. That caused the shadow giant to fall onto its face.
A moment later, it pushed against the floor and seemed to float into an upright stance. The shadow was black again, with ferocious yellow eyes. It was huge, maybe ten feet tall and half again as wide. It seemed evil and powerful. Was it more powerful than Beran?
I had a feeling I was soon going to find out.
-51-
“You have opened the way,” the shadow said in a harsh voice. “I deem that a miracle, as I have attempted for a time upon a time to open it. Are you the miracle-worker who managed this feat?”
“I am,” Beran said, sounding pleased by the question. “Do you have a name?”
“I am the Master.”
“The master of what?” asked Beran.
The shadow shook his head. “I am the Master.”
Beran stroked his chin. “Have you always been the Master?”
“I am weary of your interrogation. I rule here, as I rule wherever I go. You will now instruct me in the process of opening and closing the way.”
“Supposing I do as you say, what reward will you give me for this instruction?” Beran asked.
The giant shadow-thing looked around the chamber. “You have slain a vile, I see, and in such a short time. You are a power, then?”
“I am,” Beran said.
“Ah, I see that a terror has taken weapon form,” the shadow-thing said while studying me. “The terror strains to move the flesh vessel. Am I to take it you paralyzed the flesh vessel?”
“I have,” Beran said.
“For what reason?” asked the shadow.
“Firstly,” Beran said, “to keep it from attacking me. Secondly, so I can study it later at my leisure.”
“But you do not possess a later, as your existence is about to end.”
“Caused by you?” Beran asked.
“Can you doubt it?” the giant shadow asked.
“Is there no way we can come to an accord?”
“Indeed,” the shadow said, “there is a simple method. You must merely bend your knee to me and open yours
elf to one of my viles.”
Beran smiled even though perspiration dotted his brow. “You expect me to meekly accept defeat?”
“You are flesh. You are thus a slave. That is the way.”
“Have you forgotten that this is a different reality, a different dimension? Here, then, the rules also differ.”
“So the Polarions of long ago spoke on first meeting me. I had almost forgotten their arrogance. Yes. It was a pleasure dominating them. Perhaps that is why I have longed to see this realm. I shall enjoy dominating you arrogant flesh-beings.”
Without further ado, Beran aimed the baton at the giant shadow as nearby floaters whined with power. It appeared the clones hadn’t controlled that after all. The milky beam shot at the Master, striking him and coloring a dime-sized area on his shadowy surface.
The Master roared, and he aimed a shadow hand at Beran. A portion of shadow seemed to peel off the fingers like ink bleeding into the air, floating toward Beran.
I watched the shadow blot advance at what seemed like a leisurely pace. Beran backed away from it. Did he think he could dodge the thing? Yes, the Antaran ducked, but the blot of inky shadow followed until it reached the blue force field.
The nimbus brightened as the shadow blot oozed deeper and deeper, trying to pass the force field and touch Beran’s skin.
“No,” Beran said, while tapping something on his chest.
The nimbus strengthened, and the floaters parked nearby began to tremble as their engine-whines increased dramatically.
The Master laughed with gong-like peals of doom. “You are a miracle-worker indeed. You attempt to thwart me. This is delicious beyond words. Few have attempted this, and not in a thousand times upon times have any resisted this long. I will study you, miracle-worker, so that I may increase my span of knowledge.”
Beran did something to his baton. The milky beam thickened, and it created more color where it struck the shadow form battling him. The area of color grew so it was several inches in diameter.
“I feel that,” the Master said. “It is a strange numbing sensation. How are you able to do this?”
Beran had begun to sweat in earnest, and did not answer the question.
Abruptly, the Master groaned as if in pain. He turned from Beran and examined the floaters.
“I begin to perceive,” the Master said. He aimed a hand at a floater. A dark ray beamed toward it.
“No!” Beran shouted.
The floater shuddered and suddenly ceased shaking and whining. The lights in the floater died, and so did the engine.
One by one, the Master destroyed the remaining floaters. Then he turned back to Beran and intensified the inky shadow attack.
I tried to move during the duel. I could not. I tried harder, and slowly, I managed to bat an eyelash. That didn’t seem like much, and yet it almost seemed like everything. I began to strain harder, wondering if I’d even get a chance to fight.
“You haven’t won,” Beran shouted. He floated upward, no doubt using the antigravity mesh inside the soles of his feet. The Antaran leaned toward the tunnel exit and began flying away.
“Stay,” the Master said. He blasted the exit with a thick black beam, and rocks rained down, sealing the escape route.
Beran spun around. He looked wild and desperate. He flew at the shadow giant, and he beamed the thing with the baton even as he closed. The Antaran also drew a device from a fold in his metallic garment. The thing gleamed silvery.
Now the Master used two shadow hands, aiming them at Beran as streams of shadow blots battered at the blue nimbus. The force field no longer shined as brightly, and it seemed thinner.
The area of color on the Master had grown considerably. Inky shadows oozed from the area in his side. It seemed like blood from a stricken human. The Master groaned, finally using a shadow hand to try to stanch the bleeding—if that’s what it was.
Beran flew closer, and he sped up at the last moment. He slashed the Master in passing with the silvery thing, cutting out a clot of shadow.
The shadow giant made a hideous sound that might have been a scream. “Miracle-worker, I will make you suffer an eon for that. You have kindled my wrath.”
Beran swerved in the chamber, rushing in for another slash, cutting out yet another clot of shadow.
“I have prepared a long time for you,” Beran boasted. “I have read and studied everything known about your realm. Now, I am about to defeat the so-called Master of the Shadow Dimension.”
Once more, the Antaran swooped down at the Master. He made to slash, and the shadow giant leapt upon Beran. The blue nimbus crackled and smoked. In turn, color streaked the Master in crackling lines all over his shadow form. Beran’s silvery blade hacked and stabbed at the shadow.
Abruptly, the nimbus flickered off.
“No,” Beran said in horror.
“Yes!” the Master cried. He put two shadow hands directly on Beran. The Antaran made gobbling sounds as his eyes popped outward in terrible shock and pain. For a time, they stood like that. Then, Beran screamed. It was a terrible wretched thing to hear. I wanted to cover my ears—and suddenly, I did.
I bent my head, averting my eyes from the brutality of the Master.
With a choking sound, the screaming quit. The silence lasted long enough that I grew curious. I looked up.
Beran lay on his back in the other dimension. He lay in a heap, seemingly crippled. He yet breathed, and a look of dire hopelessness filled him.
The Master ignored the Antaran as he regarded me. The huge shadow seemed to pant. As he did, the cracked lines of color on his shadow form began to heal. The wound of color on his side slowly darkened. His eyes changed color many times, until finally he regarded me with yellow glowing orbs.
“Who are you?” the Master said in an angry voice. “Why doesn’t the terror control you?”
I realized now that it was all up to me. If I couldn’t figure out something, this hellish Master was going to invade our reality with who knew how many of his unstoppable minions.
-52-
As I stood there before the Master, I wondered about the otherworldly knife. It seemed terrified of the giant shadow, almost as if it was hiding from him. I had no idea why, if I was even correct.
“It doesn’t matter,” the Master said. And he seemed to lose interest in me as he studied the chamber.
“Uhhh…” I said, thinking as fast as I could. “How can I best help you, sir?”
The healing shadow regarded me again. “You wish to aid me?”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“Why?”
“Well…I saw what you just did to Beran. I also realize you defeated the Polarions long ago.”
“That was the last good battle I had,” the Master said.
“Exactly,” I said. “You just defeated our best. Well, our second best, that is. Our dimensional champion wondered if you could defeat Beran. No one thought that was possible.”
“Hold your impertinent tongue,” the Master said as he studied me more intently. “Your words indicate there is another in this realm like Beran.”
“I don’t mean to correct you, sir, but our champion could kick Beran’s butt any time of the day. To tell you the truth, I’m a little surprised it took you as long as it did to defeat the Antaran.”
“You expect me to believe these lies?”
“Suit yourself, sir,” I said with a shrug. “And you know what? I’m rescinding my former offer.”
“Explain your meaning.”
“I asked how I might help you, remember? That’s because I thought you were tough. Now, I see our champion is going to sweep the floor with you.”
“Describe this champion to me.”
“What’s to describe except that he’s a living creature of fire? He’s nothing like the rest of us flesh and blood humans. We all piss ourselves when he enters a room.”
The Master seemed to calculate.
“Beran caused me pain,” he said at last. “I have not felt pain
like that for a time upon a time. I am unsure…” He laughed in a diabolical fashion. “I see that you are a font of knowledge. I will take you with me when I step back into my reality.”
That was not what I wanted to hear. “Our champion’s coming fast. I’m going to enjoy watching him destroy you.”
“No, little gnat, you are going to suffer for far longer than you can imagine. I am going to drain every ounce of knowledge from you. Now that I recall the episode, that was the mistake of the arrogant Polarions. They did not study a new place. They charged in, confident in their considerable strength. While I am clearly the strongest, a combination of foes might possibly…”
The Master made a sudden motion with his hand. “You are coming with me to my realm. I see that I must summon my ur-dire. Besides, a dip in the healing pool will speed my recovery. Did you hear me, flesh creature? Come here.”
“I heard you, Lord,” I said, cowering, “and I re-extend my former offer. I thought you were an arrogant idiot. But I can see you have deep cunning. Maybe you can beat our champion after all.”
“Are you a traitor to your kind that you willingly tell me these things?”
“Not at all,” I said. “I simply like siding with the winner. You’re a winner, sir. You handled Beran—” I snapped my fingers— “like that.”
“You are a pathetic creature,” the Master said.
“Please, sir, I just want to help.”
“Bah! How can you help me other than by—?”
A boom sounded, causing the rocks in the rockslide that sealed the exit to shake.
“What was that?” the Master asked, sounding concerned.
I had no idea what had caused that, but I said, “The champion is coming just like I told you.”
“Hurry here,” the Master said. “You will move through the portal with me. I will study the odds for a time and summon my ur-dire.”
That let me know that Beran must have come closer to winning than he might have thought. For all his boasting, the Master did not want to face someone that could easily kick Beran’s butt. It also gave me an idea.
“Sure thing, sir,” I said. “That’s damn clever of you, if you don’t mind me saying. Do you want me to first get the book on our champion’s abilities?”
Invaders_The Antaran Page 22
