Fallout (Tales of the Other Universe Book 2)

by J. G. Taschereau

  “Damn it,” he grumbled. “I thought I just got this cup.” It had been well over an hour since he had last filled his cup, but with all of the work on his desk to distract him he hadn’t noticed that the morning had flown by and it was already well after noon.

  Setting the letter back down, he intended to refresh his cup, which meant a trip downstairs to the palace dining room. He preferred to prepare his own tea rather than having one of the palace servants do it for him, even if it meant taking time away from his work to make the trip. Were he not so focused on the problems in front of him on his desk, he might have thought to bring a large pot full of hot water to his office. Instead he had been going back and forth for a single cup, many times forgetting to even drink it until it was cooled well below his liking.

  As he headed for the door with his cup, he saw the handle turn. The door opened and a petite palace servant that he always recognized right away by the pale blue color of her short hair, a natural hue according to her but an oddity to him. Her name was Miko Lith, and though she had been a servant at the palace for two years, Adam had never really paid much attention to her, and she had never particularly attempted to make a direct connection with him. Over the summer she seemed to be a bit more forward with him, but she was still a quiet and somewhat shy young woman.

  “Good morning, Miko,” Adam said.

  “Good afternoon, sire,” she replied.

  “Is it really?” Adam asked, checking the clock on the wall. “Where does all the time go?”

  “Lost into nothingness,” she said in monotone. “It ceases to exist, as if it were never there at all.”

  Another trait Adam noticed in her: a very dry humor, and an almost dark view on life that he could only hope was overplayed in jest. It was very hard to tell with Miko, as her speech was flat and at times entirely devoid of emotion.

  “I suppose so,” he said. “At any rate, the passage of time has cost me a warm cup of tea. Excuse me.”

  He took another step forward before he realized that Miko was already holding a small plate with a tea cup. Steam floated from the top, and Adam only now noticed the aroma of his favorite variety of tea wafting from it.

  “I thought you might be engrossed in your work and would need another,” she said, taking the plate over to Adam’s desk.

  “Oh, thank you,” Adam said. No longer needing to leave, he set the cup of cold tea on the edge of his desk and returned to his seat.

  “I’m surprised your house guest hadn’t already brought some to you,” Miko said, scooping up the other cup no sooner than Adam set it aside. “She’s usually so keen to try to keep you contented. It must be nice, hm?”

  Miko was referring to Diatyallah Gatti, by now known to everyone in the palace by her nickname, Dee. Ever since Adam’s return from Kyoto the previous winter, Dee had been staying at the palace per the suggestion of her employer, the Creator of the Other Universe. She had originally only intended to be in Magid for two weeks when she helped Adam prepare for a ritual that would remove centuries worth of rage trapped within him, but she had ended up growing close to him while the two were in Kyoto. She stayed behind after the Creator left, to keep him company as the Creator would have put it. To Adam, it was clear why the Creator had really left her behind, and it was something that had forever tarnished Adam’s view of the deity he had once been a part of.

  “Ms. Gatti isn’t around me twenty-four hours a day, Miko,” said Adam. “She has plenty to do around here besides cater to my every whim. She’s not a servant.”

  Miko gave him a curt look. “No, she certainly isn’t. But she does seem to be by your side more often than not, at least when you’re not doing the work demanded of you as king.”

  “More often than not that is the case,” said Adam. “I’ve been particularly busy these last few months, what with the economic depression and the conflicts going on in the west. I haven’t really seen much of Ms. Gatti since the Equinox Festival.”

  It was true, and it was something he wasn’t happy about in the least. He had grown accustomed to spending time in Dee’s company during the summer months, and on occasion with Miko and Spencer Pierce, a thief turned attendant who disappeared a few weeks earlier with a visiting ex-bounty hunter named Nelly Hawthorne. Adam had hardly noticed Nelly’s departure in search of Mathias Silvos, her old comrade, whom she intended to take revenge upon for personal reasons. But he had noticed Dee’s lack of attendance by his side in recent days, though not by either of their choices.

  “You shouldn’t ignore your pets, sire,” said Miko. “She might die of loneliness.”

  Adam scowled. “Thank you for the tea, Miko. If you’ll excuse me I need to get back to work.”

  “Of course, sire.” Miko made a slight bow and stepped away from the desk. She paused, turning back just as Adam reached for his tea. “I hope this most recent news hasn’t added too much additional stress for you.”

  Adam took hold of the cup but kept his eyes on Miko. “What recent news would that be?”

  “The incident that occurred in the woodlands a few hundred miles southwest of the palace,” Miko went on. “Of course I’m sure you’ve already been briefed and know all about it.”

  Adam sighed, releasing the grip on his cup. “I haven’t. Please tell me.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know all of the details, only the gossip I’ve heard around the palace. It sounds like there was a duel in which both parties were killed. The scene was discovered two nights ago.”

  “Duels are commonplace, what’s the significance of this one?” asked Adam.

  “Well, forest dwellers a few miles away said that they could see flashes of light far off in the forest, bursts of purple light. There was a sound like an explosion that shook their homes even at that distance. It was already nightfall, but a group of them went out the next morning to see if there were signs of what had happened. That’s when they found the bodies, two men. At least, they knew one was a man. Word is that it wasn’t clear at first just what the other one was. They said his head was covered in a solid black mask.”

  Adam froze, staring at the stone-faced girl in front of him. Miko blinked, her eyes only half open.

  “Well, I’m sure you have a lot of catching up to with your work. Have a good day, sire.”

  Miko made her second attempt to leave, but was stopped by Adam.

  “Wait, Miko,” he called to her. “How did you find out about this?”

  Miko turned back, her face once more lacking emotion. “Perhaps the better question, sire, is how did you not?”

  Adam pushed his way through a crowd of people oblivious to his presence as he made his way into the police station of the town of Cadbur, nestled on a river at the edge of a great forest. Upon hearing the news from Miko, he dismissed all of his duties for the day and set out for Cadbur from the palace, a trip he shortened by means of spatial portals. Such technology could be found scattered across the Other Universe, allowing for easy travel across planets or from one world to another if desired. The palace had such means within its walls, but it was restricted to only the most important palace missions. It was in this way that Adam had travelled to Earth the previous winter, but he otherwise preferred more conventional means of travel. The situation at hand, he determined, required his immediate inspection.

  His hope was not to be recognized by the public, but it didn’t take long for someone to realize who he was. Attention turned away from the story hidden inside the station walls and was thrust onto Adam as a hundred questions were shouted at him about the incident in the woods, as well as about the myriad other problems in the country. Adam ignored them all and pressed onward to the station doors. A guard inside had been keeping the public out, but upon seeing the king he pushed the door open just enough for Adam to step inside before it was slammed shut on the anxious crowd.

  “You’re a few steps away from a riot out there,” Adam said, brushing the dust off of his sleeves. He had dressed down more than usual for his travels to t
ry to remain hidden, something he was glad to have done after he had endured the mob.

  “We’re keeping an eye on it, Your Majesty,” the guard said. “We tried to keep things quiet, but word spread and now everyone is demanding that we release information about the bodies that were found.”

  “Have you disclosed anything?” Adam asked.

  “Nothing other than two bodies being found far out in the woods.”

  “Good. Keep it that way until I get a chance to examine them. Show me the bodies.”

  “At once, Your Majesty,” the guard said, leading Adam through the lobby of the station and to a door which revealed a set of stairs going to the basement behind it. Adam followed, intent on getting a look at the bodies.

  “Why weren’t any of the palace officials informed about this yet?” Adam asked.

  “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but to be honest we didn’t think it was that worthy of your attention,” the guard explained. “From the witnesses’ descriptions it sounded like a duel between wizards, which is not unheard of. The commotion only started because of the unnatural looking fellow, the one in the black mask.”

  The guard opened a door at the bottom of the stairs and brought Adam into a white room that smelled like antiseptic. Adam looked around and saw several tables with white cloths draped over them and metal trays filled with surgical equipment beside them. Behind the antiseptic, the strong stench of death hit Adam’s nose.

  “They’re over here,” the guard said, leading Adam to the farthest two tables at the end of the room. Most of the tables were bare and the white cloth draped over them was flat against the cold metal. The last two sheets were molded around the shapes of the human forms that lay beneath them. Adam saw a bin hanging off of the slab behind the head of the corpse but didn’t get a look at its contents. The guard and Adam stood in between the two tables as the guard gently pulled the sheet away to expose the head and torso of the body.

  Adam took a swift breath to stifle his shock. The body in front of him was human in form only, but its characteristics were unlike any man he had seen before. The skin was ghostly pale, almost white. It was natural for a body to lose skin tone as decomposition began, but this body showed a level of paleness unlike any Adam had seen. It was as if it had never seen the light of day. The most striking feature of the corpse was the face, which lacked all features aside from two closed eyes. The skin was smooth all across his flat face without nostrils or a mouth to breathe or eat. There was no mistaking it. Adam was looking upon the body of The Baggins.

  “Tell me everything you know about what happened,” Adam said with urgency, not taking his eyes off of the corpse.

  “I’m sorry Your Majesty, but we honestly don’t know all that much,” said the officer. “These men were dead for at least a day when the forest dwellers brought us to them. As far as we know, there were no direct witnesses to the fight.”

  “What about the crime scene?”

  “There were signs of a very intense fight. Some of the surrounding wooded area was burned away, but the damage was restricted to a narrow path. With a fire, it spreads out all around and keeps burning. Here, it was like the fire just burned straight ahead and then stopped. There were more singe marks in the field just outside of the woods where the bodies were found, but again there was no obvious source of a fire in either location.”

  “That’s because it wasn’t a fire,” Adam said. “The closest thing you could relate it to would be some kind plasma.”

  “Was it magic?”

  “No, this was something on another level. Something our world will never see again.”

  “Do you know who this was?”

  Adam took the sheet and pulled it back over the body to cover it. “A victim of science.”

  He turned around to the other slab and pulled the sheet off of the other body. The red haired man’s face seemed tense even in death. At the top of his chest Adam saw the outline of a burn. Pulling the sheet further down, the chest revealed a wide burn wound that consumed most of his torso and gave a view of the metal underneath. Death would have come quick for him.

  “Do you have any idea who this was?” Adam asked.

  “I’m afraid we don’t know anything about him, other than that he was a swordsman.”

  Adam let go of the sheet and turned his head to the guard. “A swordsman?”

  “Yes, that’s how we gathered that these two were the only ones involved in the incident.” The guard moved to a counter a few feet from the tables and picked up a broadsword that he held up for Adam. Dried blood coated the length of the steel blade.

  “This was still in the first victim’s chest when we found them,” the guard said.

  “You’re saying that the first man was killed with a sword?” asked Adam.

  “There’s no doubt about it. The wound in his chest is the only wound on his body, and given the size and position it’s unlikely he lived long enough to be killed by anything else.”

  Adam hadn’t pulled the sheet away far enough to see the sword wound, and a morbid curiosity called for him to do so now. He stayed his hand, deciding to respect the dead and leave him be. Instead he peered into the bin at the end of the table. Inside was a smooth black object that reflected the fluorescent lights of the room.

  “What is that?”

  The officer looked into the bin. “That’s the front of the mask that he was wearing when we found him. The coroner had to cut it off in order to conduct the autopsy. We figured it would be best to save it, in case it proved to be of some significance.”

  Adam reached into the bin and plucked out the object he had hoped not to find but would prove irrefutably who was laying on the table. The unmistakable mask of The Baggins confirmed it.

  “I would appreciate it if your department could continue to keep this quiet for the time being,” Adam said, placing the mask back in the bin. “No need to stir up a panic over nothing.”

  “Is there a need to panic?” asked the guard.

  “No, not at all. Like you said, there’s no indication anyone else besides these two were involved. Just another senseless act of violence in a troubled world, that’s all.”

  The guard seemed unconvinced, but he wasn’t about to argue with the King of Magid.

  “Thank you for your time,” said Adam. “I’ll be going back to Takuda Central. Please keep me informed if there are more developments.”

  “Of course, Your Majesty. Should I have a group of officers escort you back?”

  “No need, thank you.” Without waiting for the guard, Adam crossed the morgue and went back up to the ground floor of the station. All the while, he couldn’t get the image of The Baggins’ pale face out of his head. This was a situation he didn’t need on top of everything else. There was going to be plenty of talk about what happened, and sooner or later someone was going to piece things together. A lot was at stake for his credibility if it was known that information was being suppressed, but that wasn’t his major concern. What troubled him the most was that The Baggins, a superman whose powers rivaled the Legends on a godlike scale, was killed by a swordsman. There was much more to this case than was apparent on the surface, and Adam feared that something far more sinister was in the works.

  Chapter 3

  Uncertainty

  In the expansive courtyard of Magid Palace, the fallen leaves blew through the wind like a calm tornado, spiraling around Dee Gatti’s head as she walked along the cobblestone path. She paused, putting her hand up to catch her trailing hair before it washed over her face. The leaves twirled around her, a few sticking in her hair as she shielded her face. As the wind died down and the leaves floated back to the ground, she ran her fingers down the length of her hair to remove the stuck leaves. She admired the beautiful colorations on each of them as they floated down to her feet.

  She enjoyed the quiet autumn days, especially after the hot days of summer had given way to the cool, breezy weather that came with falling leaves. Things just seemed more peaceful in
autumn, and after an eventful summer spent in the company of Adam and a few other palace attendants she was getting used to that quiet. Yet at the same time it was almost uncomfortable. Since coming to stay at the palace, she had grown accustomed to fun filled days of excitement spent at Adam’s side. Of course those days had already begun to wane over the summer as troubles within the kingdom forced Adam to attend more to his duties as king. Even now he was away on some sort of visit which he had not spoken of to many, Dee being one of the few he informed. After his departure the previous December, he knew that it worried her anytime he disappeared for a lengthy time without explaining why.

  The wind returned, chilling Dee enough to hug her body to stay warm. She tied the sash of her silk outer coat that lay over an ankle-length white dress. It wasn’t going to be enough to keep her warm if the wind kept up, but she decided to stick it out for a little while longer. The days were already starting to get shorter and she wanted to appreciate the pleasant weather for as long as she could before it got too cold. There was a time when cold weather didn’t bother her, but in the years that she had been away from her home village in the snowy mountains, she had become more sensitive to winter’s nip.

  She frowned as she thought of her home. It was a place she tried not to keep in her mind, because it reminded her of the reason why she had left in the first place four years earlier. It was a mission that at the time she had sworn to complete even if it killed her, and vowed not to come back until she had done what she set out to do. She was a bright, dedicated sixteen year old at the time. Now at twenty, having spent two years completely sidetracked from her purpose, she was beginning to wonder when that dedication had faded away and if she would ever be able to reclaim it.