by Ben Yallop
‘If you can spare something. Yes, please,’ said Sam.
The rogue passed over some bread and cold meat. ‘Close as I can find to proper sausage in that damned place.’
Sam took the food gratefully. ‘What place?’
‘The Rivenrok Complex.’
‘You’re from the Complex?’ Sam said in surprise.
‘Well, not originally, no. But I have been a guest there for some time. I recently found myself able to get outside the walls and with the means to sneak back in, so long as I am careful. I go back in to get food and other things.’
‘Where are you from originally then?’ asked Sam.
‘Well,’ said the rogue, ‘most recently, London.’
Sam choked on a piece of bread he had been chewing.
‘What? London? But, I thought you were from here. This world, Mu? I heard you shouting a strange language when I saw you the other night.’
The rogue laughed. ‘I am from Poland. You heard some Polish swearwords. They help me to vent my anger, yes. It makes you feel better to shout such things. Pochowaj sie w pokrzywach!’ He shook a fist at the sky. ‘It means ‘Go hide in nettles’.’ He held out a hand. ‘My name is Aleksy.’
Shaking the hand Sam looked more carefully at the face in front of him, still partially hidden by the folds of a black cloak. Aleksy’s scars were fascinating and horrible in equal measure. Sam couldn’t imagine the kind of treatment he had received, presumably within the Complex, to receive such terrible marks. Right now he didn’t feel like he knew this man well enough to ask.
‘I’m Sam,’ he said.
‘So,’ said Aleksy ‘You are from London too?’
‘Yes, well, sort of. I lived in England but have been in London recently.’
‘Ah, did they get you in the underground too?’ asked Aleksy. ‘I was in the Circle Line, working late at night, then suddenly, bam, I wake up in a cell in that place. A slave.’
‘I came here looking for some answers,’ said Sam. ‘And to get away from some of the questions too I suppose. I want to get back now, but I’ve been struggling to find the right door.’
‘The door they brought me through is not far away,’ said Aleksy. ‘Perhaps you can use that.’
Sam looked up excited. ‘Yes, that would be good. I think I would be better off back in London, for now at least.’
‘Well, you look pretty tired to me. Get some sleep now. I’ll watch for danger. That giant has been chasing me for a day. He will hopefully give up now and amuse himself with those other beasts.’
Sam started to protest but then realised how desperately he needed to sleep. This man seemed trustworthy and had, after all, saved him from the garoul and sitecah. Sam swallowed his inherent politeness and made himself as comfy as he could in the long grass.
‘Thanks Aleksy,’ he said. ‘Wake me if you need me.’ And with that he fell asleep.
CHAPTER NINE
Somewhere in Mu
The future: date unknown
The sky was bright when Sam awoke, although the sun wasn’t yet up. Aleksy sat a little way away with his back to Sam, looking out into the plains. Sam stretched, sore from sleeping on the floor. He didn’t feel much better, but he guessed it would take more than a few hours’ sleep in the grass before he felt well again.
‘Feeling any better?’ asked Aleksy, not yet turning to look at him.
‘Yeah, a bit thanks,’ said Sam.
‘Good. I have a little food left.’ He passed Sam some more bread, cold meat and an apple.
They ate in silence for a while. Aleksy had his hood back, exposing his bald head and the pattern of scars which crossed his pate and face. Sam tried not to stare but it was hard not to look.
‘When I was a child,’ said Aleksy ‘I always thought I would look good with a scar on my face. I loved pirate stories and I thought I would look good, brave and dangerous, with a line down here.’ He traced a finger along one of his scars running from his forehead, across his closed eye and down onto his cheek. ‘Guess I got my wish.’
‘How did it happen?’ asked Sam gently.
‘The Riven King did this personally,’ said Aleksy ‘For fun.’
‘You’ve seen the King?’
‘Seen him? Ha, I almost made him my friend. Whilst I was a slave in the Complex he pretended to be a slave also. He is mad and wanted to play a game with me. He lured me into the throne room and then. And then this,’ Aleksy indicated his scars. ‘He made a mistake though.’
Sam felt his heartbeat quicken. This man knew the King. What could Aleksy tell him that might be useful?
‘What mistake did he make?’
‘He accidentally gave me this power that his Riven have. This presence. Which you have too,’ Aleksy gave Sam a shrewd look, studying him for a moment. ‘Can I trust you? Should I tell you what I know?’
‘If you hate the Riven then you can trust me,’ said Sam. ‘They killed my parents. Burned down my house. Destroyed everything I ever owned and since I found out about them they have tried to kill me ever since. All because I have this presence.’
Aleksy nodded. ‘Yes, it is join them or die it seems. Okay. Here is what I know. I always felt that I was a little different to others around me. I think I may have had a little of this presence inside me all along. It is hard to remember the differences I felt as a child and hard to say exactly what was different about me but I just felt I had some sixth sense which I couldn’t quite touch. Sometimes it would come to the surface. I could stare hard at the back of someone’s head and they would turn round. Like they could feel me there. Nothing big, just lots of little things. I never spoke about it because it made me sound weird, but you have this power too so I don’t feel strange to tell you.’
Sam nodded. ‘I felt similar things.’
‘Well, I never paid it much attention. Then one day I was underground, as I said, working on the Circle Line. I sensed somebody there. I thought it was a ghost. I had thought I had felt ghosts before. But then suddenly I found myself pushed through a black doorway. I lost consciousness. I don’t remember much but I understand now that I was abducted. I was brought here to work as a slave. Before long I found that these Riven were controlling me with their minds, forcing me into the mines which run under the Complex looking for a kind of crystal which the King craves. Only, I was not as easily controlled as the others. I think this presence was able to help me resist a little and over time I was able to push back. Eventually, I broke it. I think that is when the King became aware of me. I was taken from the mine and brought into the sunlight for the first time in a long time. That’s when the King approached me. I think he was curious as to how I had broken the control. But it was just a game to him. I did not know who he was. How could I? Even those few who were around me when he spoke to me did not know him. The other slaves had never seen him. He offered me the chance to get into the throne room to see the king. I thought I might get the chance to attack him. But when I got there it was him sitting in the throne. He laughed and laughed. He thought he had played this great joke. He had a whirlwind of this crystal that I had been mining and…’
Aleksy took a breath.
‘…and he used it like flying knives. It ripped through me.’
‘How did you survive?’ asked Sam softly
‘Because of this,’ Aleksy turned his head and put a finger on a lump of scar tissue at the back of his head. ‘The King tried to destroy me but a piece of his crystal became stuck in my skull. I think this is what has fully opened the powers I felt as a child.’
Aleksy was quiet for a moment. Sam looked at the lump. There wasn’t much to see, although he fancied he could see the tiniest glimmer of crystal. Aleksy turned back.
‘Many cultures have regarded crystals as having mystical properties, particularly with healing. It seems there was some truth in it although I think this crystal is perhaps unique to this place and perhaps not even of this world. Anyway, the Riven, they thought I was dead. I may even have been dead for a while
. I do not remember leaving that room. But I awoke on a pile of garbage where they had thrown my torn body. I was in so much pain for the longest time. I crawled away. Hid inside the walls of the Complex, only coming out in my misery to steal food. Over time my wounds healed, more quickly than usual I think, and I began to live again. I moved around the Complex unseen. Sometimes I was even able to walk around as if I were one of the Riven, clad in black. They never suspected who I was. I even found a place inside the walls to spy on the King himself. I have learnt much about what that maniac plans.’
‘And Aleksy,’ said Sam ‘Will you tell me what he plans? I know people who are trying to hold the resistance against him. If I can find them again whatever you can tell me might be useful.’
‘Okay. I’ll tell you what I know of the Riven King. You are the first person I have been able to speak to in a very long time. I do not want the knowledge I have gained to be for nothing. I want to stop Allende. I hate him. If you know someone who can end this evil then I will help. Some of what I know I learnt in the mines but some I have picked up by watching him in the throne room. Sometimes he talks to himself. Sometimes he talks to one of the Riven whom he particularly trusts, a man called Pech.
One of the first things I learned from spying on him was the link between our world and this one. That this is our distant future. That was quite a shock I can tell you. The Riven King’s real name is Allende. He spends most of his time just sitting in a strange chair which he calls his throne. Often he doesn’t move, I think his mind is elsewhere, his eyes roll over and turn white in their sockets whilst he looks at something somewhere else. He is mad. There is no doubt of that. Whatever power he has absorbed it has driven him crazy. He is a psychopath on a grand scale. He wants to bring death to our time, the world that we know. In fact, he thinks he must already have succeeded because in this place, this future, he rules. He thinks the past must already be doomed to lose. It gives him the confidence that he is right to seek the death of mankind. For him, although he has yet to take action, he can already see the success of it. He wants a pure world, as he sees it, ruled over by the Riven, who he sees as superior to people without presence. I remember another mad man from our own time having similar plans. It took a world war to stop him and he was nowhere near as powerful as Allende.’
‘Hang on,’ said Sam. ‘The King, Allende, he doesn’t end the world. It’s a supernova or an asteroid or something.’
‘That’s not what Allende talks about. He talks as if he would take the action. Maybe he has tricked you. Or maybe whoever told you it was unstoppable is lying. The way I see things it is not just the Riven who have something to lose if Allende is stopped. None of this world, this Mu, would exist if we do not get blasted.’
Sam spat out a name. ‘Tarak. He told me it was a supernova. He’s lying again. He doesn’t want me to stop Allende in my time. He just wants to stop him here. If he is stopped too early then Tarak won’t exist. That selfish…’
‘It sounds like you need a conversation with this man. I am not sure what the truth is. Perhaps Allende has created this misinformation.’
‘Yes. I do need a conversation,’ said Sam anger bubbling inside him. ‘So what else?’
‘Well, Allende had me in the mines as I said, digging for the crystal. He has fashioned some of the crystal into skull shapes, fused it together with presence somehow and put power into it. One I have seen he can use to kill, although I do not know how. He loves the crystal. I do not know where this crystal has come from. Perhaps from out there,’ Aleksy pointed a finger to the sky. ‘Many people dig for it. He keeps it in the throne room, plays with it, and spins it around using his presence like a whirlwind of glass. I guess he did not expect this piece to stick in me and did not expect that it would awaken something in me.’
‘I’ve heard of crystal skulls,’ said Sam. ‘I once saw a movie with them in. It was pretty awful though. There’s a bit in my grandfather’s journal about them too. How many people are in the mines?’
‘I am not sure. Quite a lot I think, although I was never allowed to see that many and we were divided into groups. So far as I know I am only the second person ever to escape.’
‘The second? Who was the first?’
‘I didn’t meet him. But I remember his name. My friends told me the story. He disappeared one night from a locked cell. Spirited away and through a line no-one had spotted. Somehow the Riven had missed it. His name was Hadan.’
Sam spluttered in shock. ‘Hadan? Really? Wow. If he is the same person then he was my grandfather. Well, he eventually met me when he was not much older than I am now but then he was pushed back in time and got stuck there where he had a family which resulted in me. He died an old man having had a happy life.’
‘Well, it seems that you have a strange story to tell yourself, Sam. It is good to hear that one person at least had a happier life. But I fear that not all of us are destined for such a long life. Time in the mines seems too often to be fatal. And Allende must succeed in destroying our world, after all here we are in Mu, the future result of his actions. Whatever he is going to do and whenever he is going to do it, he must manage it. Unless stopping him would mean that this future will disappear. Ah, it is too hard to think about. I cannot follow it.’
‘What else is the Riven King planning?’ asked Sam.
‘Hmmm, two more things which seem important that I can tell you. He is planning to make a final push here, in this time, to rid himself of the last of the resistance to his rule. He is sending out the Riven ever more frequently to pick off those with presence. He is planning for war too. And the last thing, he talks about finding two things. A box and a line which will make him even more powerful. This is connected to a search he has the Riven doing under London. The Blood Line he calls it. He searches for it even more hungrily than he seeks the crystals. The search is everything to him and he is sure that it will make him unstoppable. He talks about boxes. He says when the last box has gone then the location will be revealed.’
‘Thank you, Aleksy. I’ll pass the information on. You’ve been watching Allende. Can’t you attack him when he isn’t suspecting it?’
‘He is much too strong for me. I may have this presence but it is nothing compared to his power.’
‘Is there any clue as to where he came from? With the lines linking around through time I wondered whether we could do what he tried to do to me and kill him when he was still a child.’
‘No,’ said Aleksy, shaking his head and standing up. ‘Nothing I have heard. So, shall we get you back to London? It will be dangerous, the line is very well guarded, but I have an idea about what we can do.’
CHAPTER TEN
Somewhere in Mu near the Rivenrok Complex
The future: date unknown
As they walked Sam could feel a malignancy in the air which became stronger the further they went until it was almost a rumble, barely there at the edge of hearing.
‘You can feel it can’t you?’ said Aleksy softly. ‘The nearer we get to the Complex the more it drags you down. I hadn’t realised it was there until I left and got away from the building. It was like fresh air after being trapped underwater. I think it is having so many with presence in one place, or perhaps it is just the presence of the King himself.’
They were properly moving uphill now, away from the plains, along ridges which stretched like crumpled corduroy. The land became rocky and forested. The hum in the air became ever more palpable as they climbed. Most of the time they walked in silence but when they stopped, which Sam needed to do several times, they talked in hushed tones.
‘What tricks have you learnt with presence?’ asked Aleksy on one such rest. Sam described the basic leaping, pushing and pulling he had done. Aleksy nodded at this but gave a look of surprise when Sam showed him how to send his presence inside another’s body to heal injuries. Sam was not able to do much, not even cure his own fatigue, but Aleksy was quick to grasp the concept. Sam also described how he had learnt to grasp
flame, a technique copied from Ferus, and how he had used it to fight the terrifying beasts called wendigo, blasting them away like dried leaves in a wildfire.
In return Aleksy showed Sam how to use presence to create lightning.
‘As well as pirates I was always interested in the weather as a child,’ he said. ‘Storms fascinated me. When I began to learn how to use this presence I had an idea. Lightning is a bit like friction. Air rubbed hard together, so I had a think and, with a little practice I was able to do it. You can even do this, look.’
Aleksy moved into the shade of a pine tree and held out a hand.
‘By rubbing the air a little more gently you can make it glow rather than sparkle.’
A warm orb appeared above his hand, creating a soft light. ‘You have to sort of squeeze the air. Compress it and kind of imagine it as tiny grains bumping against each other as you rub. You just have to keep concentration.’ The globe vanished. ‘Ah,’ he said. ’I can’t do any of this for very long.’
Sam found that in his tired state he could do none of it at all, but resolved to try if he ever made it back to London and recovered from his exhaustion.
‘May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out,’ said Aleksy. ‘There is more to this presence I am sure. I am experimenting. I think this is the same power that we have heard of in stories about Thor and the Greek Gods. The white lightning you saw me use. I was sure it was possible so I kept practicing. As a child I not only liked pirates and storms. I also studied the Greek Gods. I was taken by the idea of Zeus’ thunderbolts. Perhaps there was some truth in it, blurred by the passage of time. I think there is much more that can be done, but we are finding our way. Baby steps, yes.’
‘Another thing that occurs to me,’ Aleksy continued, ‘is telepathy. What we do when lifting, pushing and throwing used to be called telekinesis in our world, perhaps telepathy can be real too. Speaking to others via your mind. But I have never dared to reach out for fear of who I might find. I do not know if it would be like a telephone call to one person or like a radio where anyone with a receiver can listen in. I am, you understand, not keen to reveal myself. It may be like a beacon in the night, but perhaps one day we will speak across distances. I am sure that there is more to presence. I think we are only at the very beginnings of understanding this power. Babies to the gods who used to wield such power in the past, or will wield it in the future and take it to our past to be worshipped by ancient peoples.’ Aleksy stood. ‘Come, I do not want to wait too long.’
