Infinities' Edge

by Andrew Dobell

  Later, after they had enjoyed a little light lunch, the team set about their assigned tasks. Valeria and Leon changed into their swimming gear and set off for the outer ring while the rest of the team spread out and started to hunt through this central island. Although it was the biggest bit of land in this Atoll, it was still fairly small and you could walk across it in under a minute.

  Still, looks could be deceptive and they had been told to go over the island with a fine toothed comb, leaving no rock unturned.

  Halfway through the afternoon, one of her team, Ignacio, called out to her. He had apparently found something towards the main central rock on the Island. Walking up the beach where she had been searching, the ground grew more like hard packed earth and the vegetation grew thicker. Ignacio led her through the undergrowth and eventually to the side of the rock, and a small clearing in the middle of some very thick bushes. This small clearing looked to be deliberately made, and the way that it had been hidden behind almost a wall of branches that she had struggled to get through, would have been enough to peak her curiosity. But that wasn’t the strangest thing about this find. Standing in the clearing before the rock face, there appeared to be some kind of doorway set into the rock. Clearly man made, the rounded vertical rectangle had been cut perfectly into the rock. Sunken into this carved doorway, sat the door itself.

  Assunta stepped forward, her breath ragged from the difficult climb through the bushes as she looked at the curious metal door before her. Made from a dull but polished metal it had irregular shaped holes cut into the surface to reveal some kind of inner workings that didn’t look dissimilar to the insides of a watch or clock.

  She stepped closer to it again, and with some concentration, called on some divine help from God to reveal the doors clearly Divine nature.

  Standing right next to the door, she raised her hand and moved to press it against the metal. She found she could touch it without issue, its cool surface hard and unyielding beneath her hand.

  She wasn’t sure, but she had an inkling that whatever lay beyond this doorway would be related to some kind of Time based effect.

  Pulling her hand away, she stepped back.

  ‘Well done Ignacio, this is an amazing find. We need an easier way in here, clear some of this foliage so we can get more people in here to take a closer look at this thing. Get Max and Miguel to help you.’

  Assunta turned to look back at the door and carefully looked over it. There didn’t seem to be a handle anywhere or anything that suggested a way to open it, apart from a small hole in the upper middle part of the door. She looked closer and the only thing that popped into her mind was the possibility that this might be a key hole.

  But who had the key, or was it here on this island somewhere?

  Ignacio had climbed out of the clearing and she could hear him calling on his two teammates.

  She pressed against the door with her hand but had no luck, it didn’t move. This would take some time she thought and turned to see Ignacio return, machete in hand with Max and Miguel. They wasted no time in choosing the lightest section of foliage and started to hack at it, clearing a way through the plants. Assunta spent the next twenty minutes inspecting the door, pressing things, trying to make the exposed mechanisms move and just generally searching for clues while the three Knights cut their way through to her.

  Finally, with a path through the wall of branches cut, Assunta decided to give it a break and take a walk, leaving the Knights to clear more of a space before the doorway. She wandered out onto the beach and back into the sun and made her way around the Island. She wondered what on earth that door could lead to, and whether it was Witch Magic or Divine Grace from God above. The feel of the energy around it seemed quite pure and reminded her of the Divine energy that she and the other Inquisitors wielded against the Witches.

  She wanted to report back to Mary with something big, something juicy to prove herself to her Mentor. Mary had elevated her to the position of Inquisitor Knight from the ranks of the Crusaders partially due to the manifestation of her Divine Gift, but also because Mary, like herself, believed that the Inquisition needed more female members.

  The organisation still felt incredibly sexist with the vast majority of those in positions of power being male. The fact that Mary had somehow risen to the highest rank within the organisation, the first woman to do so, was an incredible achievement, but they could not be complacent, they needed to continue to push for greater equality within their ranks or risk losing more of their numbers to the Witches. She knew several who had grown so disillusioned with the sexism, with the near constant promotion of men far less capable than her friends into higher positions of power, that they had defected. Leaving the Inquisition entirely to join up with the Witches and submit themselves to Satan.

  She understood the frustration and had been overlooked many times herself, but Assunta could never defect. God chose those he felt served him best, and she felt certain that as she proved herself to those in power, she would continue to rise in the ranks.

  She walked over to a collection of rocks that rose from the sand and continued out to sea and spotted a place to sit and have her feet in the crystal clear water.

  Placing her boots next to her, she sat and enjoyed the feeling of the cool water on her feet and the powerful sun beating down on her, warming her forehead.

  After a few moments enjoying the sun, she looked down, lowering her face into shadow to relieve her skin from the heat building up there.

  She opened her eyes and looked down into the water around her feet and the glittering light reflecting off the top of the ripples.

  Something seemed strange, though, something appeared to be glittering from beneath the water, so she tilted her head to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. Sure enough, something appeared to be down there.

  Leaning forward, she reached down into the water and pulled the gleaming item from the sand where it lay half-buried beneath the waves, and pulled out a curious item, like a shaped and decorated three inches long bit of metal on the end of a chain.

  Assunta could not believe her luck as she realised what she was looking at. This must be the key for the door they had found, just here, laying on this beach waiting to be found.

  Rising from the rock she had sat on, she picked up her boots and walked back to camp where she dried her feet and replaced her boots onto her feet before heading to the door once more.

  Her three teammates were still there and had cleared a good amount of undergrowth. They stepped aside to let Assunta in and watched as she approached the doorway. Lifting the key, she pushed the end into the hole where it fitted perfectly.

  ‘You found a key?’ Ignacio asked.

  ‘It appears so,’ Assunta said, and turned it. It clicked once to one side before returning to its original position. Assunta waited, but nothing happened. She frowned, and wondered if she had done something wrong, but felt sure she hadn’t. With a frown, she pulled the key back out, only for there to be the sound of movement from the door followed by the mechanism turning, it’s cogs whirring, and then a beat later, the door slid to one side.

  So that’s how it worked, Assunta thought and smiled to herself as she marvelled at the powerful energy that flowed from the other side of the door. Now she felt sure that this thing, this artefact was actually some kind of Time device.

  Beyond the now open door, the room or space, whatever it was, appeared pitch black, only a small part of the floor, just inside the door could be seen and seemed to be made from the same kind of metal as the door.

  Assunta stepped towards the door.

  ‘Careful,’ Ignacio said, clearly worried.

  ‘I will be,’ she said, and cautiously lifted her foot and stepped over the threshold into the darkness. The moment her foot hit the floor, recessed lights suddenly flared into life, hidden within the holes in the wall with more of the exposed mechanisms and bathing the room in a soft cool blue light. The room was entirely made from metal with more of
its guts exposed like the door had. Circular in shape, it looked as though someone had cut a doughnut shape from the inside of this rock and lined the walls in this strange metal. In the center of the room, a circular platform rose up a couple of foot from the floor, with a similar platform descending from the ceiling above, mirroring the one on the floor.

  In here Assunta could feel the energy of the divine almost tearing at the timeline, and felt more certain than ever that this must be some kind of time device or time machine. As she neared the platform, she could see a control panel of some kind that rose up from the edge of it. Only two controls were obvious to Assunta, one of them seemed to be another key hole, and the other a fairly large button.

  Assunta looked behind her and saw the three faces of the men peering inside, watching her with looks of fear and curiosity clearly etched on their features.

  ‘What is it?’ Ignacio said.

  ‘Looks, strange to me. Alien maybe?’ said Max.

  ‘Alien?’ said Miguel.

  ‘Well it doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before,’ Max answered.

  ‘But why does it have to be Alien? More like some kind of weird government place, no doubt linked to the Americans,’ Miguel said.

  ‘Have you even listened to yourselves?’ Ignacio said, interrupting them. ‘It’s probably the Witches, right Assunta?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she said. ‘It’s strange.’ Lifting up the key, she inserted it into the control panel. It slid in easily, clicking into place. Turning it, the key clicked to one side and stayed locked into the hole. Around her, a hum of power grew within the room and she could feel the divine energy quickly build up while a soft light glowed from beneath the button.

  ‘Let’s see shall we?’ she said, and pressed it.

  A blinding light hovering between the two platforms on the floor and ceiling burst into life from nothing. Starting life as a pure a brilliant light, it quickly grew into a huge ball of flickering blue energy that filled the space in the middle of the room between the platforms. All told, the huge ball of energy must have been about eight foot across and its surface roiled and flickered energetically with blue, black and white energy.

  Assunta had fallen back against the wall behind her, keeping a good distance from the ball of energy, while the Knights outside uttered expletives that were both unbecoming of an Inquisitor of their rank, but also understandable given the situation.

  The energy that this thing generated felt like it might burn away her mind as she struggled to be near it with her divine sight, and yet, she couldn’t help but stare at the thing, fascinated by this curious development.

  ‘I think Mary will be interested in this,’ she said to herself.

  To High Inquisitor Damask

  I am writing to you to request your presence at the Atoll at your earliest convenience. We have found something that we believe you will find of great interest.

  I hesitate to say more in a message such as this that can be read by others.

  I await your contact.

  God be with you.

  Assunta Belloni.

  Warsaw Whispers

  Warsaw, Poland

  Jan 14th

  Walking along the cold street in Warsaw, Demitriov pulled the long leather trench coat he wore closer to him to help keep the warmth in and the cold out. As a powerful Magus, he didn’t usually need to do this, but whenever he was out in public he kept the enchantments he had cast upon him to a minimum and only used his magic to smooth over the ripples in the local Essentia he created with his presence.

  The Arcadian Magi were sneaky, and when he went for one of these walks, he didn’t want some upstart apprentice causing him trouble trying to prove himself to his masters by taking on a Nomad such as he.

  Demitriov enjoyed getting out of his underground Sepulchre and either wandering the streets or stopping by one the places he frequented around the city. It helped him think and it felt good to get some fresh air as well.

  Today he headed towards one of his regular haunts, a greasy café that served a wide range of foods, most of it likely to cause a heart attack just by looking at it, but he loved it.

  The front of the shop looked as run down as the rest of the block, its dirty windows with rusty metal bars in front of them making it look more like a prison than a café.

  The cheap neon sign in the window declared the place to be open, so he stepped through the front door, which set some bells that hung above it a ringing.

  Apart from two other men sat on the far side of the room, speaking quietly to each other, the shop was empty today.

  Demitriov saw them immediately upon entering as they glowed brightly in his Magical sight. They were Magi and they weren’t hiding it. One of them glanced up at him but paid him no further mind, Demitriov’s Magical signature hidden well enough that this Magus didn’t even notice him.

  Demitriov didn’t like the idea that there were two Magi, probably Arcadians sat in his favourite diner. He’d hoped to sit in here and kill a few hours in thought while people-watching through the window, just to relax and have some time to himself.

  But, he was inside now, and walking right back out again would look suspicious to this pair. Plus, the man behind the counter, the owner, was a friend and Nazi sympathiser, someone Demitriov liked. Without a pause, Demitriov walked into the café and found a seat not too close to the other Magi. The owner, Ludwik Ząbek, a man almost as wide as he was tall, and with an almost permanent frown on his face, glanced up and nodded to Demitriov. Demitriov nodded back and sat down. Ludwik knew what he wanted to order as it was always the same thing, and Demitriov always got it for free as well.

  Sitting back in his chair while he waited, Demitriov closed his eyes and used his superior hearing to listen to the hushed conversation the other two Magi were having.

  ‘…so I have no idea if it’s true, but I did some digging through some recent reports on the Pentagon database and it seems like some kind of nuclear test had been detected out there and some survivors had been found there as well. So something had happened. But that’s not the interesting part.’

  ‘Oh really, a nuclear explosion possibly caused by some Magi is not the interesting part of this story? This better be good!’

  ‘Have you heard the rumours of the chosen one?’

  ‘Chosen one? No, not in real life. That only happens in films with a plot so cheesy that you could cut it up and eat it. I mean, come on, a Chosen one? What are you talking about? Sounds like you’ve taken a trip to crazy town.’

  ‘No, I swear, it’s true. You’ve heard of the Prophecy of Helene right?’

  ‘Who hasn’t?’

  ‘That new Magus that killed Lucian in New York, they’re saying it’s her.’

  ‘That was never confirmed either, the Council say that they killed him.’

  ‘Don’t believe what the council tell you. They’re just trying to protect her. No, it’s the same girl, they’re saying she’s the one talked about in that Prophecy, they’re saying that this Amanda-Jane Page is the chosen one.’

  Demitriov’s eye’s snapped open.

  Amanda? Had he heard that right? He couldn’t believe it. He’d not heard that name for so long, and now here it was, appearing out of nowhere to haunt him once again.

  He hated that bitch, so much so that just hearing her name made his blood boil, but what was this talk of being the chosen one?

  He moved his eye’s only and looked over at the pair of Magi sat to his left, talking quietly under their breaths as he continued to listen to them.

  ‘The chosen one?’ said the sceptical Magus.

  ‘Well, in the Prophecy it talks about some signs or markers that will let you know who that person is, and apparently, she has most of them.’

  ‘You’re going to have to remind me of the Prophecy, I can’t remember exactly what it says.’

  ‘I thought you said you knew it.’

  ‘I know of it, sure, but I’ve not memorised the damn thing. It
’s the one that says the Archons will return isn’t it?’

  ‘That’s right, and that a woman, who carries a Physical mark, an Aura with the colours of life and death in it and the ability to pass into the Abyss will light the way.’

  ‘And she can do all of these things that the Prophecy says?’

  ‘I think the only one they missed out is the one about being friendly with the Weavers. That’s not been mentioned.’

  Demitriov had heard enough. The fact that Amanda had once again appeared out of the woodwork after being gone for so long would have been enough to get his interest, but with these rumours of the Prophecy as well, he simply had to do something. But, he needed to know where Amanda was these days. Where could he find her and hopefully, finally kill her? He stood up and walked towards the two Magi.

  ‘Where are you getting this information, Artur?’

  ‘The Dark Web, you know, the usual places,’ said Artur.

  ‘And you believe it?’

  ‘Why wouldn’t he believe it,’ Demitriov said to them both.

  ‘Excuse me,’ said the sceptical one.

  Demitriov looked down at him, and cocked his head to one side, he sensed the Magic within this Magus as it just started to stir. Within moments this Magi’s Aegis would be brought up to full strength, but he had no intention of letting this Arcadian do that and brought all of his strength to bear in a Magical Essentia Strike that hit the Magus with a power that saw his Aegis crack and within a heartbeat shatter beneath the attack. Coloured flares and crackles of light spilt out from the Magical blast, lighting up the café while the other man, Artur, looked on in terror.

  Demitriov wasted no time and followed up the Essentia strike with a direct attack on the man’s body itself, which the Magus did his best to resist, his Magic pushing back and resisting, trying to cancel the effect. But some started to get through, and his body started to pull itself apart where he sat. The man screamed as he lost the battle of wills and his Magical resistance faltered under the unrelenting attack from Demitriov. Breaking through, Demitriov’s Magic ripped the Magi’s body into shreds and covered the fake leather seat in gore.