by Dan O'Brien
He turned and sat down on a metallic outcropping off the Avenue. Seated, he was still taller than E’Malkai. “The Believer is a being born of Light, one that is rooted deep in tradition and thus has been passed down from generation to generation the length and breadth of human history; even before the Intelligence found this place.”
E’Malkai began to speak, but Elcites waved him away. “Leane ilsen was born in the north. The lore from the tribes of the north is full of pieces of the truths from the past. These pieces included the Believer and the power that was held by the Beginning: a power that if wielded could change events––alter the course of life itself. Here in Culouth was a different truth, one that was distorted with the coming of the Intelligence. The title Believer was replaced with mion, even though both are names for Creators. It is said that the Believer is the instrument of the Light and the mion of the darkness, but that once again is vantage point.”
E’Malkai sat next to Elcites. His eyes were wide, adding to the effect that he was a child compared to the giant.
“The mion is spoken of as a being that will bring about a union, a singular peace, but at the expense of free will, of allowances for being different. The closer humanity embraces cybernetics and enhancements, the greater the Intelligence’s hold will be on them.”
“You speak of the Intelligence like they were villains,” spoke E’Malkai, swallowing hard as he spoke the words.
“It is no secret that the Umordoc-Intelligence relationship is not one of equality and trust, but instead of bondage and servitude. We are bound to them because they control our past, our history. They wield it as I wield a weapon. Humans are no different; they too can be controlled no matter how powerful they may be. Fe’rein, may the Great Creator forgive me, is such a man, one with so much power that he required direction. The Intelligence gave him that.”
Elcites continued. “Culouth is on the brink of war. An internal struggle will consume millions of souls, unless there is a balance. Some believe in a lesser of two evils, that when faced with two futures which both provide death and despair, they choose the one with the least resistance. The General Commerce, the sheep that each day come that much closer to mindlessness, comprise more than eighty percent of the population of this place. Those untouched, or perhaps least touched by the Intelligence, from the Houses of Greater Commerce comprise the other side of that war. Before Fe’rein, before the Intelligence came to this place, the Greater Commerce had gained control of the Council of the Six, and Mitior was a thriving place. Relations with the Lower Plane were not strained as they are now.”
A sadder tone came into Elcites’ voice. “When darkness first befell this planet, it came with my kind. Waves of Umordoc spilled out over your golden hills like locusts and we consumed and destroyed until all who remained either stood with us or were ground beneath our boots. The House of Te’huen and Di’huere were the last to fall.”
“So much death,” muttered E’Malkai in amazement.
“And much more to come. Much more before another time of peace. Culouth will remain as it is as long as the Intelligence stands,” conceded Elcites.
Where they sat juxtaposed an alley. Its interior darkened further as the Culouth sun set and shadows crept over the ground. One such shadow moved close to the two of them, drawing Elcites off the platform.
“Peace, guardian,” whispered the ghost of a man.
His features were hidden by the alleyway.
E’Malkai stood alongside Elcites. “I know your voice,” spoke E’Malkai slowly. The shadow stepped out into the half-light. “Stephen, Son of Gregory.”
The right side of his face was swollen and his hands were wrapped in bandages. His hair was slick against his skull from sweat; his eyes were swollen red from exhaustion.
“You look like death,” whispered E’Malkai.
“I was visited by death. Fe’rein found our base.”
He coughed hard, interrupting his speech.
Bending over at his waist, he hacked harder.
E’Malkai moved to help him, but the large arm of Elcites interceded. The youth would have protested, but the last few days had been so taxing he did not care to question his guardian.
As Stephen lifted his head again, blood flowed from the corners of his lips. He wiped it away with the edge of his shirt sleeve and continued. “He killed all who were there, murdering men and women alike. He chased a young recruit and me into the tunnels below the city, near the ducts. I fell.” He pointed at the bandages and his bruised face. “I barely escaped with my life, crawled through the ducts for hours before I found my way out.” He turned, distracted by something farther down the street and then continued again. This time, his voice was a hoarse whisper. “I had to find you. You are the key to all of this. You can stop this madness.”
E’Malkai’s surprise melted into anger. “Shut your mouth, you fool. What could you possibly know? You are enemies of Culouth and you wonder why Fe’rein hunts you,” the youth screamed, his face reddened.
Stephen seemed unfazed by E’Malkai’s outburst. His rambling continued all the same. “There are sympathizers within the Houses, not many; two in particular who you must go to. Must tell them what has happened.”
Elcites moved forward quickly.
“What are you talking about?” he snapped.
Stephen backed away from the sudden movement of the imposing Elcites. “I….” he stammered, fighting for words.
“Speak, fool,” Elcites snarled, drawing an even more frightened look from Stephen.
“General T’elen of the House of Te’huen and Master Yioren of the House of Di’huere. They have for some time plotted with my leader to undermine the General Commerce and the military commanded by High Marshal Kyien,” rambled the man.
“Impossible,” spoke E’Malkai with a scowl.
“Silence, my sien.” The words were frozen.
He looked at his guardian with fear for the first time. His primal features carved into a fearsome snarl as he pried for more information. “Does the rest of the Council of the Six know of this?” queried Elcites with less force.
“No, Lady T’elen is very calculating.”
Elcites’ scowl deepened. “Does she know that you are blathering to the blood of the mion about dissension within Culouth; a plot against Fe’rein and the others who support the Intelligence?”
“Yes––no, she did not agree with us making contact with the boy. She believed that he could compromise the entire structure of the Resistance,” stammered the man, shrinking beneath Elcites’ gaze.
“As he could,” responded Elcites, backing away from the man. “You stupid, little fool.” The man opened his mouth to speak again, but Elcites was far too quick. He grasped the man by the neck. Lifting him into the air, Elcites snapped his neck with a sickening sound.
“Elcites.” It was all that E’Malkai could muster as he watched his guardian murder the man called Stephen, Son of Gregory.
“E’Malkai sien, that had to be done. He spoke in open company. There could have been any number of people listening,” reasoned Elcites. He cast a look down the alley once he had stowed the gnarled body
“You murdered him.”
Elcites was silent.
“There is no explanation that you can give me, Elcites. You killed him in cold blood for a reason that I cannot understand. It seemed to me that he was only trying to come to us for assistance.” E’Malkai’s voice rose as he continued to speak, growing louder and louder.
“Lower your voice, E’Malkai sien,” cautioned Elcites with a lowering gesture of his hand. He placed it on the youth’s shoulder.
E’Malkai slapped away the hand with disdain. “Be quiet, or what? You will kill me like you killed that man there? Maybe you are a monster as my mother believes,” he replied. His anger materialized as his eyes narrowed and his fists clenched.
Elcites grew taller at the words. His back straightened and he pulled his hand back. “As you wish, my sien. Would you like to retur
n to your domicile now?” he replied without inflection.
“Elcites….”
He saw the resolve in his guardian’s eyes and straightened as well. Nodding, he followed his guardian back through the synthetic night along the Avenue to the House of Di’letirich.
*
As they pushed through the door, the strained face of Leane greeted them. Her diminutive figure acted as a sentinel, keeping them from moving deeper into the room. She looked them over once and saw the steely eyes of Elcites. The angry set of his jaw as well as the drained look on E’Malkai’s face spoke volumes. She moved aside far enough for them to enter, and then shut the door behind them.
“You must be quiet,” she began. Turning, she saw that neither was standing next to each other and switched to her motherly voice. The commanding tone resonated in the hall. “What is the matter?”
E’Malkai remained silent and cast a dark look at Elcites. “We encountered the man from the Resistance we had previously spoken about,” replied Elcites in his easy tone.
“And?” she pressured, casting a sidelong glance at the sullen features of E’Malkai.
“He spoke of sleepers in the council and plans against Kyien and the Intelligence.”
“Did you silence him?” she responded.
Her eyes darted down the hall as if looking for someone.
“Of course,” he answered with a shrug.
“What is going on here?” queried E’Malkai.
Elcites opened his hand and gestured toward Leane. “Leane ilsen informed me that she knew of the alliance, as well as the man. It was her desire that, if he spoke openly about such things or if their cell had been compromised by Fe’rein or any of Kyien’s men, he be silenced. Permanently,” explained Elcites.
E’Malkai turned his rage on Leane.
“His murder was your idea?”
She looked at him with an air of indifference. Crossing her arms over her chest, her eyes narrowed. “What would you have me do? Allow him to speak openly of this? Perhaps tell someone else and it would be reported up the chain, and connections would be made, implicating Elcites, myself, and even T’elen. Is that what you wanted?”
“No, but murdering him?” pleaded E’Malkai, uncertainty in his voice.
“There was no other way, E’Malkai sien.”
Elcites’ voice softened.
E’Malkai nodded as if his head were controlled by a string.
“We must keep this quiet. Fe’rein is here,” replied Leane in their shared silence.
“Does he know?” stammered E’Malkai.
“We should not be here. He will see through us,” spoke Elcites, shaking his head. He moved one of his powerful arms around E’Malkai in protection.
Leane shook her head. “Too late, he heard me come to the door. He knows that you are here.”
The silence that accompanied her words was deafening. It drew to a close as Leane herded them forward. In moments, they found themselves moving through the waiting room and into the common room.
Fe’rein sat in the flat-backed chair as he always did.
He regarded them with a thin line of distrust. “I had begun to fear that you had fallen, Leane ilsen,” spoke Fe’rein, though his words were obviously meant as a joke.
Leane managed a tight smile. Elcites hid behind the sour look that all Umordoc carried. It was only E’Malkai who suffered from the fear that held him so feverishly.
“Nothing of the sort.”
“Where has my favorite nephew been?” he spoke, a lighter tone to his voice.
E’Malkai struggled forward.
Swallowing hard, he forced himself to smile and sat down on the steps. He rubbed his hands together to keep Fe’rein from seeing them shake. “Favorite nephew, I’m your only nephew, uncle.”
Leane placed a hand on E’Malkai’s shoulder as she passed. Giving it a light squeeze, she took a seat across from the mion. “Fe’rein was telling me about the Deliberations today…”
Fe’rein interrupted.
His rough voice was even. “There was much amiss in the Deliberations. That damnable T’elen: I realize that she is a friend of the House and all, but she speaks with such a tongue that I should rip it from her mouth as she speaks.”
E’Malkai gulped at Fe’rein’s words. He looked back at Elcites who continued to look on without expression. “What was hammered out at the talks?” queried Leane, trying her best to sound relaxed.
“Nothing. Augustine and Kyien argued aimlessly with Yioren and that bitch. Is there something the matter, E’Malkai?”
E’Malkai had begun to sweat. Although his long hair was pulled back, sweat dripped down his cheeks from the edge of his hairline. E’Malkai shook his head, not meeting Fe’rein’s eyes.
“He isn’t feeling well,” finished Leane, drawing the attention back to her.
“You must rest while undergoing the trials. They are taxing on your energy,” scolded Fe’rein, dismissing the irregularity of it. “She spoke to me as if I were common, just another being. I lost control, throwing a chair into the crowd, killing several of those present.”
He presented the deaths as facts, without remorse.
Leane’s eyes twitched.
A flicker of anger rose in her, but she subdued it.
“That is terrible.”
“It is her fault,” seethed Fe’rein.
“I am sure she meant for you to kill them,” reasoned Leane.
“What did you say?” he snapped.
The air of the room drew thin, warmer.
Leane rose from her chair. “I said that it was her intention to provoke you so that you might kill some bystanders. Her fault entirely.”
“You mock me?” He stood as well. His eyes sparked, the blood energy of his power seeping into his pupils.
“No. I merely suggest that killing innocent people might be unfavorable,” she replied, meeting his inhuman gaze.
E’Malkai was on his feet now.
He watched the tense scene with wide eyes.
“There are no innocents,” he snarled, pacing toward her as she backpedaled.
“Your brother was. That did not stop you from killing him, did it?” she challenged. Fe’rein slapped Leane across the face, knocking her to the ground. E’Malkai’s cry echoed as he lunged out, falling across a chair.
“Stay out of this, boy,” he snarled.
Obsidian energy crawled down his body as he swung his arm. He connected with the youth’s chest, lifting him off the ground and into the opposite wall.
Elcites bellowed as he charged forward. His mammoth frame slammed into Fe’rein, knocking him aside for an instant. Leane lay on her back, wide-eyed, as blood dripped from her mouth. Fe’rein’s head snapped up as Elcites lowered his shoulder to charge again. Energy flared over the Creator’s hand and enveloped the guardian, lifting him off the ground, binding him in the energy. Blood-red crackles of lightning flashed over the Umordoc’s body.
E’Malkai looked at his mother and then the writhing form of Elcites. Leaping to his feet, he charged at his uncle. He lowered his shoulder as Elcites had taught him, but Fe’rein turned. His pooled, black eyes stopped the youth in his tracks, frozen by the undead stare of the shadow.
This time Fe’rein did not hold back as he slammed his closed fist into E’Malkai’s stomach. The force of the blow doubled the youth over. Kneeing him in the face, his free hand kept Elcites in stasis. E’Malkai flew end over end and landed on his stomach with a heavy exhalation of air, blood coating his lips.
“You bastard,” screamed Leane, springing to her feet. Lifting a chair high above her head, she slammed it over Fe’rein’s back. The material split over his energized body.
He merely turned, gazing back at her, and pushed her halfway across the room. Vicious laughter erupted from his lips. E’Malkai watched as his mother flew and rebounded off the wall. Her head snapped back, and she lay still. Looking at the cackling figure of Fe’rein, he no longer saw his uncle.
E’Malkai s
aw his blood on the ground, pooling just beneath his mouth. He rubbed his hand over it and watched as his fingers glowed. A white hue flowed around them, and emerald electricity crawled over his skin. Reaching his arm out, he rose to his knees. The energy flowed over his arm and then in a flash over his body.
He was standing straight again.
He felt power at his fingertips and flexed his hands.
Fe’rein looked at him, cocking his head questioningly. He dropped Elcites, allowing the heavy weight of the unconscious Umordoc to fall to the ground.
“This is what they were hiding,” spoke Fe’rein, stopping a few feet from E’Malkai. Shaking his head, he allowed himself a small laugh. “They thought that a boy would stop me, a child pampered by this society.”
“What is happening to me?” queried E’Malkai. Hearing the hollow tone of his voice, he forgot about the unconscious bodies of his guardian and mother. The fear of his present state took precedence.
“An intermediate tsang, not yet complete. It is safe to say that the trials of Tal’marath are useless to you now. You have surpassed anything that those idiotic traditions could have taught you. I should have known. You are an Armen, once the greatest of men.” The malice seemed to have disappeared from Fe’rein’s voice. His defenses were lowered, though fear kept E’Malkai from reacting.
Fear of what was happening to him.
“I don’t understand.”
Fe’rein paced around him now.
His voice was explanatory, expressing wisdom. “Nor could you. For seventeen years they have hidden much from you, fed you lies instead of truths. This power was once hidden from me by the council of the Fallen. That fool Higald tricked my brother, never explained to him what power dwelled in our blood. I was a boy then, like you. Ryan Armen, such a weak, whiny child.” He thumped his chest with his closed fist. “I am so much more than that now. Back then no one could have foreseen what was outside our small box of life.” There was regret in his voice, a sorrow that he squashed quickly.
“You have killed so many.”
“But to save so many more. There must be sacrifice to be a leader, to be a Creator. Your mother, your guardian, they fear the power that runs through your veins. They fear what it can and will do.” There was an evil flash in his eyes. “You will take their power. This is what you are for, what all Armen are for. They fear what you can do, as they fear me.”
