He tried to clear his head and remember where he’d been last. He definitely remembered Omar, the tunnels, and the motorcycle. And he remembered falling asleep. Hey wait, this has to be a dream! Myles loved it when he realized he was dreaming because he could do anything he wanted and go anywhere he liked. He tried to imagine a casino, but he was distracted by what he saw walking out of one of the barns.
It was a woman and she was beautiful, but as he watched her he got a surprise. She didn’t look like a normal woman—she had angular features and pointed ears. He thought hard and remembered that he’d just been looking with Omar at people who looked like she did. But as he continued to watch her, he decided that she was somewhat different from the others. She wasn’t gray. There was a glow that radiated from her that was strong. In fact, if it got any stronger he would have to look away. Her beauty, he concluded, was indescribable. But this was his dream, after all, so maybe it was time to have some fun.
Myles looked around and found his coat and hat hanging in the closet, so he put them on. He grabbed a walking stick by the door and headed down the stairs. He realized as he descended that he had a slight limp, but he decided that he could mask it so he didn’t pay much attention to it. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, a man stood there waiting for him.
“Good day, my lord,” he said with a cheerful tone. “What would you like to have for breakfast today?” Myles laughed at his formal manner and waved him off as he walked past him and out the door. He headed straight toward the barn where he’d seen the woman from the window. As he got closer he could see that she carried a bale of hay.
She was absolutely radiant. Her long red hair was braided with a sharp metallic charm on the end. She had vivid green eyes that, even from a distance, he could see sparkling in the sunlight like rare gems. She was actually small in stature, but there was something about her that commanded his respect. When he reached her, she smiled.
“Good morning, my love. I trust you slept well. You’re up a bit late this morning, aren’t you?”
What did she just say? My love? What an odd turn of events this is. But hey, it’s only a dream. Myles winked and tipped his hat to her. “Yes, my dear. I slept well.”
The woman laughed; a beautiful laugh. “I haven’t seen that outfit on you in some time. It still suits you well.”
Myles decided to act as if he knew her as well as she seemed to know him. “I’m glad you still like it after all this ti—.”
She cut him off with a kiss. Myles was shocked, though he wasn’t quite sure why. This had happened to him many times before but not with a woman this sober and certainly not one as beautiful as her. He remembered that this was a dream so Myles kissed her back.
She gently pulled away from him. “Something is different about you this morning, my husband.”
Husband? Now that was bad. He had no intention of ever marrying…ever! He’d resolved a long time ago that no woman would ever tie Myles Callaghan down. Wondering if he had heard her right, he stole a glance at his finger and sure enough, there was a ring on it. It looked expensive, with a large red gem that seemed to be in the shape of a phoenix.
“Are you all right, Myles?” Genuine concern shone in her eyes. “You look a little pale.”
He didn’t respond right away but just looked at her for a moment, taking in her beauty close up this time. As he gazed at her he could feel all the blood rush back into his face. He’d never thought he would see the day, but at this moment he was definitely happy to have tied this woman down. How about that?
While Myles was busy absorbing this wonderful moment, she grabbed his hand. Her touch was like nothing he’d ever felt before, so gentle and loving. She stood there holding his hand tightly with a look of trust in her eyes. This was something he hadn’t felt about anyone in a long time. He didn’t want to take advantage of her. What was happening to him? Was this possible? Had he genuinely fallen in love with someone? He began to hope that this wasn’t a dream after all.
Myles kept staring at her without saying anything. After a few minutes of adoring looks between them, she leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “I thought we could go for a walk in the forest today. It’s such a—.”
Behind her a horde of ghostly shadow creatures rose up. Black smoke-like arms wrapped around her. Myles instincts took over. He threw knives toward them that ignited into flames upon impact. The ones that he hit let out a shriek and dissipated, but there were too many.
While he furiously threw his flaming knives, she fought the shadowy creatures as well and seemed to be winning for a moment. In seconds, however, they all vanished, taking his beautiful wife with them.
Myles awoke suddenly in a cold sweat, emotions raging out of control, still lying on the brick floor. That dream was too real! Myles finally was able to push it out of his mind by repeating, you can’t let nightmares bother you like that.
It was pitch black in the unlit room.
“Omar, are you awake?” a muffled snort was his only response.
Myles lit up his pipe and puffed away as he pondered where he’d been in life and where he was heading now. These were strange thoughts at a time like this, but they helped him get his mind off the nightmare. Myles debated with himself. I've only killed in self-defense, but those who’ve tried to kill me also had good reasons for wanting me dead. He’d always walked a fine line between just being criminal and becoming a monster. But that's horrible. I want to be the person others admire, not the guy they want dead.
I don't deserve a second chance, but I sure want one. But I'm such a liar. Am I just lying to myself about all this or could it be a real change of heart? In this new dimension the possibilities were endless. He had a real chance here to move in a new direction. This was a real world that they’d been watching through the hole all day. Perhaps he could carve out a place for himself where he’d be admired rather than disdained.
That thought sparked his curiosity, so he pulled out his Zippo lighter to find his way to Omar’s bags. Myles pulled out the binoculars and went down the hall to the opening to take another look. He could only see a few gas lanterns still on in the city so it was fairly dark. Myles turned on the night vision setting, but the place looked pretty inactive.
As he sat there on the floor watching the quiet scene below, he suddenly saw some movement in an alley by the café. The purple man and the vampire argued with each other as he zoomed in. The vampire had a jagged knife hidden behind his back. He kept fondling it as they argued.
Myles remembered the blood they had seen earlier under the vampire creature's fingernails. This guy is a killer, and the purple man is about to become his next victim. Myles knew that he had little time to act. On his way to the motorcycle where the bags were, he kicked Omar.
"Wake up!" But Omar only turned over and said, “You see, Misaki, due to gravitational effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead.” Omar groaned and rolled back over.
Myles sighed. “Then it’s just me, I guess.” He grabbed the auto-audio translator, some gloves, a rope, and a grappling hook. The rest of what he might need was already hidden in his clothes. He knew the rope was short of the 100 ft. drop but Myles was used to impulsive action.
He secured the grappling hook to a crevice in the brick floor of the hallway and looked down to see the purple man and the vampire now fighting. He lowered the rope and slid down, holding on with his gloves and boots.
The rope must have been close to thirty feet too short, so when he reached the end, he swung himself over into a trash heap. That was the moment Myles realized he should have grabbed a gun out of Omar’s bags. Feeling like an idiot, he grabbed a broken broomstick out of the heap and ran over to the café. Myles had learned stick fighting, among other things, while performing with the circus. But that was a long time ago.
The purple man looked pretty badly beaten and exhausted. The vampire had pinned the purple man’s arms to his chest with only one hand and in his other hand was his jagged
dagger, raised and ready to strike.
“I haven’t tasted Gabad flesh in so long. This will be such a pleasure.”
The vampire's wicked laugh choked off in a scream. Knives pierced his dagger hand, his left shoulder, and his right forearm. The vampire let go of the purple man, and in a rage, yanked the knives from his body. High, piercing shrieks erupted from him. Both the vampire and the purple man turned and gaped at Myles.
“Hey, Dracula, all you’re eating tonight is broomstick!” Myles shoved the butt of his weapon into the vampire’s face. It knocked the vampire back and stunned it for a moment.
“Scram!” Myles yelled at the purple man. He just continued to lie there staring as if he’d seen a ghost.
Myles went to hit the vampire in the face again, but it caught the stick in its hand and crushed it to dust. That isn’t good... Myles thought.
The vampire gazed at Myles, Salt or pepper? Myles read in its eyes. “Oh yes…an Adam. It is most feisty. I think it will make a rare, juicy skin bag. Yes, an Adam will do just fine.”
Myles tried kicking the vampire in the chest, but it caught his leg with both hands. Myles let out a scream of agony as he felt and heard his bones popping into little pieces. He’d learned to endure pain with the circus, but this was a totally new and indescribably horrible pain. Every instinct was useless now as Myles felt sure he was being slowly crushed to death.
A loud pop sounded behind Myles and a light flashed past him. That’s a flare gun. The vampire fell backward, shrieking. The flare was embedded in its chest and still burning. After a moment, the creature went limp and died. Omar stood behind Myles, still holding up the smoking flare gun with a trembling hand.
Despite his agony, Myles managed a wide smile. “Doc…oh ... Doc…thanks, partner! Hey, my leg is bad. I don’t know if it’s fixable. I really need some of your genius right now.”
“What are you doing?” Omar shouted. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed!” But then he sighed and softened his tone. “Myles, I told you not to go rushing off. Your leg looks horrible. I have some medical supplies back at the bike. I’ll look at your leg and see if we can save it.”
Myles tried to get up and the purple man rushed to his aid. “I’m Sebastian of the Gabad. I will help you, stranger. I owe you my life. Thank you for saving me!”
Myles flushed. “You don’t owe me nothing, buddy. As far as I’m concerned, that thing had it coming.”
The purple man swelled and scowled. “That he did, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t call my life nothing.”
Omar spun away and spread his wings. “Stay here with your new friend, Myles, and I’ll go and get my medical supplies.”
Myles smiled. Where did he think I’d go with my leg like this?
Myles turned to Sebastian. “What did that creature call me, an Ad…a what?”
“You’re of the Adam. Why do you ask? Have you lost your memory?”
Myles grimaced. “Yeah, that might be the case. Just indulge me, please.”
Sebastian shrugged, “Until you, there have only been 13 of the Adam to visit Musterion in the past one thousand years. You are a new one—the 14th Adam to arrive.”
Myles raised an eyebrow. “Musterion huh? Is that where we are?”
“Yes, stranger. You’re in Musterion. Where are you from, Soterion?”
The pain was distracting Myles. “I plead the fifth.” He stared down at his leg.
“I’m sorry, the what?”
“It means, I’m not telling, at least right now. It’s better that way.” Myles didn’t want Omar to throw another hissy-fit because of his talking too much.
“Okay, stranger.”
People began to crowd the streets, astonishment on their faces. The presence of Myles drew them as much as the sight of the vampire creature lying dead on the street. Attracting a crowd like this is not going to sit well with Omar. One of the other Gabad came up and hovered over them like a helicopter. She grabbed a horn from her side and blew a blast.
Hurry up, Omar. Hurry up! The curiosity of the crowd continued to grow.
7
Encounters
Myles thought about what a mess he’d created with his impulsive move. Is this how all my efforts to do the right thing are going to turn out? The truth was that he was much better at doing bad things than he was at doing good things. But he’d saved someone’s life, and that had to be good. Maybe he just needed more practice at doing good things in order to change his downhill momentum. Then again, maybe he was just over-thinking all of this and needed to trust his instincts more. He decided that, for now, he’d stick with what he knew and work out the rest later.
What he knew was that there was no way to hide from these people the truth about who he was without lying. But he’d also promised the Doc that he wouldn’t get them into any more trouble. Now, with a dead vampire creature on the street, whatever authority there was around here would have questions; and what the two of them needed to avoid most would be questions. This was where Myles’ talents usually excelled. Rather than lie to anyone, he’d just misdirect attention like a magician. He looked over at Sebastian. “Cover me. You owe me one.” Sebastian nodded.
As a con artist Myles had thrown himself in front of moving cars, taken a few punches, and orchestrated many other purposeful accidents. Myles had even gone to the extent of creating a ‘cacklebladder’, faking his own death with chicken blood all over him as his ‘outside man’ blackmailed the mark to not go to the authorities and to clean the mess up. It was particularly effective on politicians not wanting publicity. But all of that was going to pale in comparison to the amount of pain he was about to inflict on himself now. He remembered how Omar had told him the first encounter with the peoples of this world was important. Unfortunately, Myles’ lack of education or experience in other cultures would probably result in a bad first meeting with these natives. So he pulled himself up, took in a deep breath, and then shifted as much weight and pressure as he could onto his shattered leg. Instantly, Myles let out a yell that could be heard throughout the entire city and then fell to the ground unconscious.
Sebastian had seen that Myles purposefully hurt himself. Though was confused by his actions, he picked him up and moved him to the café patio and out of the street. Hundreds of natives now crowded the patio, wondering what had happened. Fortunately, Omar arrived at the same time as the governing officials did.
Omar took charge. “Everyone please stand back! Can someone clear this crowd? We have a serious injury here.” Omar’s winged appearance was familiar to them so no one questioned him. They stepped back and gave him room.
A creature stepped forward. He looked to be an official, and was different from any of the species that Omar had studied already. He began issuing orders to several bystanders dressed in uniforms. The official wore clothing fit for a king, and he let off a glow brighter than that of the Gabad race, those purple people like Sebastian. But his skin is of a more human peach color. He had green eyes and blonde hair. It seemed that he might have some form of wings tucked against his muscular frame under a long cape, but Omar couldn’t be sure. He also had angular features and pointed ears like Omar did.
Being the scientist, Omar wanted to stop and study all the species around him, but he had to pull himself away from analyzing this strange new breed. It took everything he had to redirect his attention to Myles. Omar looked at Sebastian, who was standing over Myles’ body, and asked pointedly, “What happened?” Without waiting for an answer, Omar bent down and began to cut away Myles’ pants leg from the knee down.
Sebastian leaned over and whispered to Omar, “The invisible ones are always on the watch. He can tell you what happened later, and then he can also tell you why. That I don’t know.”
Did he say invisible ones? Omar had to fight the urge to ask a thousand questions. He slipped on his Perspective Goggles and turned his attention to Myles’ leg. These allowed him to see things in many different ways, including x-ray vision.
> “Fascinating. That creature with the white epidermis apparently had the strength to break his fibula into hundreds of pieces. Because of that vampire creature, Myles will never walk on that leg again.”
“That creature was one of the Kalat. Vampires are rare, but Kalat unfortunately are not. And your friend may possibly walk again. I’ve seen stranger things happen here in Musterion.”
Omar attached a brace to Myles’ leg. “It’s highly doubtful, but I appreciate your optimism. This brace should keep the movement down for now.” He looked up at Sebastian. “Kalat huh? Are they cousins to your race?”
Sebastian nodded. “You could say that, but it’s much more complicated than that.”
About that time, the man who had taken charge of the crowd walked over to Omar. There was a confidence and majesty about him. “My name is Baron Ischus Kaio Meren. And you are?”
“I am Omar and this is my companion, Myles. Can you help us? I need to get him somewhere away from prying eyes.”
Ischus seemed to peer into Omar's soul before he nodded. “Indeed you do, Omar. Welcome to my Barony, Pneuma Karpos. Once this Myles is taken care of I will get to the bottom of what happened here. I hope you don’t mind if I take Sebastian off your hands since he was a witness to the murder of this Kalat.”
Omar shook his head but maintained a respectful demeanor. “Actually, I do mind. I mean no offense, sir. I perceive your authority here and will try to do as you ask. I do request, however, that you allow Sebastian to stay with me for the moment. I need his assistance to take care of my friend.”
Ischus rubbed his chin as he looked at Omar. “You’re telling the truth, but there’s more to it than you’re telling me now. Very well then, when you’re done tending to your friend you’ll visit me at the city hall, and we’ll discuss what transpired here today. Make sure that you come as soon as your friend is stable. You may leave Sebastian to watch after him if you wish.”
Bridgeworlds: Rise of the Magi Page 7
