Life Across the Cosmos

by N E Riggs

  Vele must have been far away from Pardis, because the temperature changed, and the sun moved lower in the sky as David passed through the gateway. He zipped up his jacket, which helped a little. They were in the middle of a busy city. Unlike Pardis, this city was spread out, the buildings nowhere near as tall, though still impressive by Earth standards. The roads were made of cobblestones, and most of the buildings were built of brick. David smiled, feeling suddenly at home – this could have been a city in the northeast. Even the architecture seemed vaguely New England. Crowds of people hurried past, barely giving the Sword Priests a second glance.

  “Do you like it?” Anur asked from beside him.

  “It’s nice,” he said. Rolan was checking his com pad again. He then pointed for the Sword Priests to go through yet another gateway, this one smaller than the last.

  Anur smiled at the city, her eyes misty. “I’m from Vele,” she said. “We’re on a different world, you know. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it. Oh well, off to work.” She headed through the gateway ahead of David and Alosh.

  They found themselves now in a small town on the outskirts of a forest. From the weather and sun, it probably wasn’t far from the city. David gaped at the trees. Even from here, he could see trees as tall as any redwood and as wide as any sequoia. People walked around taking picture with com pads while floating buses stopped by a building at the edge of the small town. It must be some sort of tourist spot. “The Vele Woods,” Anur said, as if she’d heard his thoughts. “One of the great wonders of the universe. I came here a lot when I was little.” A little boy stared at the Sword Priests, hanging onto his mother’s hand. Anur waved at him.

  “Do you still see your family?” David asked. Like him, Anur had spent three months training. Even if her home was closer, she must have missed it.

  “I saw them yesterday,” Anur said. “They were very proud of me.”

  They might have spoken more, but Rolan stood on a chair and shouted, “Monsters will be appearing here soon.” The tourists stood still, listening intently. Some of the children began to cry, but the adults seemed calm enough. “Please go inside one the buildings and don’t come out till it’s safe.”

  The tourists made their way inside the buildings, the Sword Priests helping to make sure families didn’t get separated. While they moved quickly enough, no one ran. David guessed that they had enough time before the gateway appeared. Rolan climbed off the chair and spoke with an official-looking woman, gesturing emphatically. Alosh posed dramatically for a picture, Conal yelled at a group of teenagers who at first refused to go inside, and Niam returned a doll that a little girl dropped.

  Soon all the people were inside, the doors shut tight. Shutters were closed over first story windows, but people gazed out eagerly from windows further up. David shifted his shoulders, uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a spectacle. He consoled himself with the thought that the people would be more interested in watching Rolan or Hue rather than him.

  “A gateway to world 1687 will appear in a few minutes,” Rolan said, looking around at the members of the sixth. “It will stay open for ten minutes. It is possible that nothing will come through, but world 1687 is home to the afancs, terrible creatures with short, humanoid bodies and crocodile heads. They are allied with the Nephilim.” His gaze turned solemn as he continued to pace. “Unlike most monsters, afancs have near-human intelligence. They will try to fight past you, reach the people in the buildings. You will not allow that to happen. Stand firm and set your agitators to kill. You seven, stand in front of that gateway. Let nothing through.” The seven he’d pointed to, none of whom David knew, nodded and stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the gateway that led back to the city.

  The Sword Priests spread out, unholstering their weapons. David forced himself to stand straight though his hands shook as he held his agitator and Bramira. He didn’t remember anyone mentioning intelligent monsters. Sweat coated his palms. Surely after fighting griffins, barghests, and werewolves he should be confident before a fight. But David’s heart beat just as quickly as it always did before a battle.

  After what felt like an eternity, a blue shimmer appeared in the air, and a gateway opened up. From the upper stories of the buildings around him, David heard murmurs. Across the way, he could see people taking pictures. On the other side of the gateway he beheld a swamp, filled with old, gnarled trees. It was dark there and foggy. David was glad they weren’t crossing into that world. No monstrous creatures waited on the other side of the gateway, and David let himself relax a little bit. The afancs didn’t have Passion Priests; there was no way for them to know when and where a gateway might appear. It was only if an afanc happened to walk through the area that they’d have a problem.

  The other Sword Priests didn’t lower their weapons, watching the gateway closely. Hue fiddled with his com pad for a few seconds before holding it between him and the gateway. Squinting, David could see a magnified view of the other world on Hue’s com pad. “Do you see anything?” Rolan asked.

  “Not yet,” Hue said. “Maybe we’ll be lucky this time.”

  “Maybe,” Rolan said, but he didn’t sound confident. He fell silent, waiting. David glanced around. Other than Anur, Niam, and Conal, the other Swords Priests seemed confident. Of course, they’d been fighting monsters for years. Bellon looked equally laid back, standing closer to the gateway than most, shifting his grip on his lance. David was just glad he wasn’t the only one who was nervous.

  “Seven minutes,” Tain called out. He stood further back, behind the Sword Priests. As the only Heart Priest around, he couldn’t afford to get too close to the front. He held a agitator though and looked ready to defend himself and anyone who got injured.

  Hue scowled as he adjusted something on his com pad. “Still nothing,” he said. “Going to infrared.”

  Rolan paced slowly, never taking his eyes off the gateway.

  “Five minutes,” Tain called, and David started to hope that no monsters would come through.

  Rolan glanced at Hue. “Anything?”

  “Maybe,” Hue said. “Afancs don’t have a lot of body heat, but I’m picking something up in the distance. It may not have seen the gateway.” David didn’t know how anything could miss a giant, glowing blue door leading somewhere completely different. Maybe the afancs were blind.

  The Sword Priests didn’t lower their weapons. Alosh shifted his shoulders and rocked back on his feet, keeping his muscles loose and getting ready to move at any moment. “Three minutes,” Tain said.

  “Something’s moving,” Hue said, adjusting his com pad again. “It’s coming this way.”

  “Can you see how many?” Rolan asked.

  Hue put the com pad away. “Two, maybe three if they were standing close together. They’re moving fast.”

  “Stand ready!” Rolan yelled, raising his agitator.

  Through the gateway David could see movement. The murky waters of the swamp rippled as something swam. Near the side of the swamp, the grass quivered and shook. “One minute,” Tain said, and David hoped for a moment the afancs wouldn’t get to the gateway in time.

  Three dark shapes suddenly flew towards the gateway, two from the bushes, one leaping out of the water. They barreled through the gateway. “Fire!” Rolan shouted. David aimed at the shape on the left and started shooting. He could see the creatures more clearly now. They were short and heavy, with powerful arms that were as thick around as their legs. They had crocodile heads, filled with rows of razor sharp teeth. As they looked around the little town, their eyes seemed far too intelligent for comfort.

  The one in the middle fell to the ground, the focus of most of the agitator fire. The one of the right darted forwards, terrifyingly fast. “Keeping firing!” Rolan yelled as the afanc rushed towards the nearest building, the other one right behind it.

  Despite their squat build, the afancs moved quickly and agilely. They darted about, changing direction without warning. They jumped over benches in on
e easy bound. And they seemed to know instinctively when and where someone was going to shoot, maneuvering away at the last moment. The Sword Priests tried to outwit them, shooting near them as well as directly at them. No one seemed to be able to hit them.

  The front afanc reached the side of one of the buildings. It jumped up, grabbing the side of the building. It climbed, racing towards an open window. The tourists inside screamed, falling back. They didn’t close the shutters though. Someone finally managed to shoot the afanc. With a pained squeal, the afanc fell off the side of the building, where it was shot again many times, just in case.

  David had lost track of the other afanc, and he looked around, trying to spot it. Then he saw it, racing deep into Vele Woods. Already some of the Sword Priests ran after it, trying desperately to shoot it before it disappeared among the trees. Hue led the chase. David started after them. Hue put his agitator away, pulled something out of his jacket, and threw it at the afanc. A grenade, David realized, watching it soar towards the afanc. The afanc had just reached the line of trees when the grenade fell, exploding. The Sword Priests continued at full speed, ignoring the smoke and noise of the explosion.

  David was one of the last to arrive. He saw the last afanc lying motionless, its body burnt and smoking. The grenade hadn’t affected anything but the afanc, because the grass wasn’t even scorched. David breathed slowly, the tension inside him finally disappearing. The afancs were all dead.

  They collected the bodies of the three dead afancs and loaded them onto a wheelbarrow for transport back to Pardis. If David ignored the blood and the fact that they’d tried to kill him, they looked kinda cute. It was the big eyes, probably.

  Some of the people near the window had gotten scrapes while trying to escape the afanc, so Tain healed them. None of the Sword Priests had been injured, and there wasn’t even any property damage, apart from one broken bench. Rolan looked deeply pleased as the tourists streamed back out of the buildings, pressing their ear pieces quickly as they took picture after picture.

  Almost before he knew it, David was back in Valal helping to unload the dead afancs near the crematorium – three levels below ground in the Inda Administration Building. “No one’s going to study them?” he asked Alosh as they dumped the last body into a drawer with small holes in the bottom. The Sword Priest on duty at the crematorium pushed the tray shut and pressed a button. ‘BURNING’ appeared in red letters above the drawer.

  “We know how to kill them,” Alosh said. “What else do we need to know?”

  David frowned as they left the crematorium. “Back home, people study all the creatures on Earth, even the dangerous ones. Anyway, Rolan said the afancs are intelligent. Maybe if we knew more about them, we could make them into allies.”

  Alosh gave him a look. “It’s okay to talk like that around me, David, but be careful what you say with others. The afancs often work with the Nephilim. Wanting to ally with them could be mistaken for wanting to ally with the Nephilim. You don’t want anyone thinking that.”

  “Right. Sorry,” David said. That seemed like a ridiculous reason not to study the afancs, but he was beginning to realize that Bantonans, even non-natives like Alosh, were completely unreasonable when it came to Nephilim.

  Which was a shame, because the more he heard about Nephilim the more curious he became. He’d even made a vow about fighting Nephilim, but he still knew almost nothing about them. He could probably learn by reading The Condensed Tomes of Ages, but he didn’t want to do that. It was so dry, and there’d probably be hundreds of entries about Nephilim if he tried to search. What he really needed was a children’s book about Eternism and the Nephilim, but he didn’t know where he might find such a thing. The library in Kumarkan hadn’t seemed to have any children’s books, and he hadn’t seen other libraries or book stores.

  Their duties were complete for the day. Few of the Sword Priests exercised on days after they’d been on duty – thanks to their gift, they didn’t have to keep in shape, though it was still important to maintain their skills. Alosh said they practiced on days they weren’t on duty. David sat in the corner of the lounge and wondered who he could ask about a children’s book. Alosh collapsed in front of the television, laughing as he watched a comedy news show. Anur had stayed behind on Vele for the night. Conal and Niam disappeared together to Conal’s room, and Bellon was off practicing because he was a freak.

  David wandered out of the lounge and saw Hue. His office sat beside the lounge, and he was dictating a report of the day to his com pad. David remembered that Alosh said Hue was an expert on legendary weapons. He thought about asking, but couldn’t work up the nerve. Hue intimidated him.

  He left without saying anything. He went back to the Inda Administration Building and found the elevators. Next to the elevator was a long list of where everything was. David studied it for a long time, finally finding a library. He punched the button for 25-LM and waited. He barely noticed when the elevator went left then forward – he’d long since become used to the crazy elevators on Bantong.

  The library at Valal was smaller than the Kumarkan library. David wandered slowly through the shelves for a few minutes before realizing Bantong didn’t use either the Dewey Decimal system or the Library of Congress. Returning to the entrance, he found a row of com pads and started searching. Most of the books on Eternism that came up were commentaries on the various books comprising The Tome of Ages, though he found some histories too. He wanted to look up Nephilim, but, after the reactions he’d seen, he was worried he might get in trouble just for looking. He wrote down where to find the histories but had to get a librarian to help him find the right shelf.

  He stared at the books, discouraged. They were all thick tomes, clearly intended for adults. He probably should have expected as much; the library was for Sword Priests, and none of them were children. He pulled out some of the books, checking for indexes. Fortunately, most of the books had indexes, so he hunted for mentions about Nephilim.

  Two hours later he left the library without any books but having learned the basics. Six thousand years ago, the time when the Eternism religion had been founded, Aeons had fought the Nephilim. They’d been too much for him to defeat on his own, so he made the six legendary weapons and gave them to the original Cardinals to help him fight the Nephilim. David had taken careful notes about the six weapons – besides Bramira, there was Excabur the sword, Ganta the bell, Glenir the chain, Jamsid the cup, and Batlus the stone. All the books he’d leafed through agreed that Bramira was on Mu, making David wonder again how Cethon got it.

  As Alosh had said, Excabur was kept somewhere in Valal and carried by the Sword Cardinal on formal occasions. There’d been no mention of any recent Sword Cardinals actually using the sword. Ganta was kept safely on another world, much like Bramira had been, while Batlus had recently returned to Thul, to the Heart Priests. There was no mention of locations for the other two weapons, so he assumed they’d been destroyed or lost. He didn’t know what the other weapons did, and couldn’t guess how a bell, a cup, or a stone could help fight against monsters.

  At any rate, the original six Cardinals had used the weapons to help Aeons and the first High Priest to defeat the Nephilim. Once the king of the Nephilim had been killed, most of the rest fell with relative ease. The books all agreed that not all the Nephilim had been killed six thousand years ago. A few had escaped. Over the millenia since, Nephilim had been spotted on Bantong, if only a handful of times. They’d been seen more often on other worlds, but they were still a rare sight. None of the books had any descriptions or pictures of Nephilim, which David didn’t think was very helpful.

  One book, which had looked newer than the others, said that Nephilim had killed Aeons’s Beloved. David remembered hearing about that from Anur, Niam, and Conal. That was why Aeons had left Bantong, when the desolation had begun. It certainly proved that Nephilim weren’t just a bogeyman from the distant past – they were still very much a threat today.

  All he learned
had only left David feeling more confused. He still thought it’d be better to study the dead afancs, if only to find more weaknesses. What little he’d learned about the Nephilim only made him more afraid. One of the vows he’d taken was to fight the Nephilim and their allies, even if it meant his death. Now he knew why the vow was phrased like that – against Nephilim, Sword Priests didn’t expect to survive.

  He shivered and hoped he’d never see a Nephilim. He was having enough trouble fighting regular monsters.

  3

  The Sunken City of Atlantis

  “Lots of excitement for you today, David,” Alosh said over breakfast. His eyes glinted mischievously.

  David smiled back. “Oh, no. I’ve been a Sword Priest for a full month now. I’m not excited anymore.” His hands still shook when hunting monsters, but he was getting better at hiding it. Maybe one day he wouldn’t be afraid at all.

  Alosh tapped the side of his nose. “This is exciting for everyone. We’ve got an off world mission, should be there a few days.”

  “Boring. I’ve been off world before.” David leaned back in his chair, trying to look nonchalant. Enough gateways opened on Bantong that they spent most of their time here rather than off world. Besides which, off world missions were usually long, so the divisions rotated who took them – and traditional units only took the missions to low-tech worlds. It would make a nice change of pace, at least. David had to admit that he liked the idea of traveling to another world. “What kind of world is it?”

  “One of our close allies, world 94,” Alosh said. “They were Bantonan once, now they’re just allied. Gateways are very regular, but they’ve been having trouble lately. They usually like taking care of things themselves, but something’s changed recently, it seems.” He finished the last of his lunch and stood. “Whatever it is must be serious. Atlantis prides itself of taking care of its own problems.”