Mom. Dad. Bren. Again, I see their faces in that horrible distant memory, weakening me further. The creature snaps and hisses, and my arm weakens, threatening to bend under its weight.
As death closes in on me, I hear Emery’s voice again. Raven, don’t give up. Accept the truth.
My eyes and cheeks burn as tears stream down my face, mixing with blood and dust as I finally accept the truth—
It wasn’t my fault. They died, and I lived.
A guttural scream erupts from deep inside me. I free my knife and aim upward, right into the belly of the creature, and slit it from bowel to neck. Warm, sticky fluids and entrails burst onto my body as the lizard screams one last time and falls dead on top of me. Struggling to breathe, I push it to the side, the smell of the creature’s innards putrid. I gag and scramble away for some much-needed fresh air, my body convulsing from the strain.
As if extended from the stars, an ethereal hand reaches down for me to grasp.
I stare at it, recognizing the wedding band on the left ring finger. I take his hand and allow myself to be pulled to my feet.
My heart swells. “Dad.”
A faint glowing image of my dad stands before me, and he smiles down at me. “I’m so proud of you.”
“So am I.” My mom appears behind him with Bren, the same glow surrounding them.
Bren beams up at me like he used to when we were kids. “Good work, Raven.”
I sigh as the last layer of ice melts from around my heart. They are a figment of my subconscious, but they feel as real to me now as when they were alive. I never allowed myself to miss them or remember the good times. But now, all those memories come rushing back like a river emptying into a sea. “I love you all so much.”
Dad puts his arm around Mom and Bren and smiles back. “We love you too. You’re ready.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Until we meet again,” he says.
I nod. “Until then.”
A strong wind comes and sweeps my family away like grains of sand in a storm.
“I won’t forget,” I whisper into the swirling air. I turn back to the task at hand, feeling certain that the creature would be gone—a machination of my own making to allow me to face my true fears.
But the attack was real. The artificial skin on my bionic forearm is shredded. I pull the skin off, leaving my artificial arm exposed. Otherwise, I’m not seriously hurt. Just covered in guts. I make my way back over to where the beast fell to locate my pistol. Getting down on my hands and knees, I find it. Next, I use a small light on my timepiece to assess the creature.
I shine the light on what I can only describe as a giant lizard—gray scales, black eyes, and massive claws. From nose to tail, the thing has to be at least seven feet long. Using my knife, I reach for a claw and sever a talon to take with me. It will remind me of this day—the day that I took back my life. I head back to camp, stench and all, to clean myself up as best I can before I leave for the Ring.
23
A Traveler Returns
I walk through darkness toward light, the weight lifted from around my heart. Tobias was right. The dark side allowed me to see what I needed to. I could’ve done without the lizard, but then again, maybe it pushed me to face my fear. I stroke the talon in my pocket, feeling the smooth weight and sharp tip. I will remember.
The light from the Ring appears on the horizon, and like coming out of a tunnel, my eyes adjust to the brightness of twilight. A silhouette of a man in the distance waits for me, a smile spreads across my face.
Tobias.
I pick up my pace to a jog and then a full-fledged run. He heads for me too.
“Tobias!” I reach him and leap into his outstretched arms.
He hugs me tightly as I him. “I knew you could do it.” He gags and drops me. “Dear Mythos, what’s that smell?”
I laugh, having gotten used to the odor. “You said there were predators that wander over to the dark side. You weren’t kidding.” I reach into my pocket and get my first real look at the huge talon I took from the lizard.
Tobias gasps, but he’s not looking at my memento. He’s looking at me.
“What?”
The corners of his mouth turn up in a huge smile. “Your eyes made the transition. You’re Mythosian.”
It finally happened. I ball my hand into a fist and raise it into the air in celebration. “You bet your sweet ass I am!”
He laughs. “And there go the degrees of oneness.”
“Oh come on, I can have degrees of oneness and still be me, can’t I?”
“If anyone can…” Tobias puts his arm back around me, and we head to the hovercraft.
After a hot shower, I look at my new silver irises. They’re more attractive than I thought they’d be. My eyes were a dark blue-green, so the silver is deeper than Emery’s and Tobias’s eyes. After getting dressed, I make my way back to the monastery meeting room. I’m ready to face Joe again.
Tobias is waiting for me there. “Okay, so you’re sure that you’re ready this time? No fear.”
“I’m sure. This is as ready as I’ll ever be.”
“All right, then. Just be careful, okay? I don’t want to be the last Mythosian stuck with Joe.”
I smile at him, half laughing at his joke.
“I got this, Tobias. And this time, I mean it.” I grasp his forearm in the Mythosian handshake.
He mirrors me and nods. “I’ll be waiting.”
I traverse the underground maze quickly, surprised at how much I remembered from last time, and enter the large room at the bottom. Joe is no longer inside a cage. He’s sitting on the floor in an empty room, legs crossed, meditating.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but—”
Joe opens his eyes and smiles up at me. “Well, well, look who’s back.” He gets to his feet as I move to stand in front of him. “And look at that. Your eyes have transitioned. I must say, silver becomes you.”
Don’t say something sarcastic. Don’t. “Thank you.”
“All right, let’s get the nasty stuff over with so we can have a real conversation.” He closes his eyes.
This part I remember. He slithers into my mind like a snake, shuffling through my thoughts and memories. Only this time, I’m not afraid of what he’ll find and show me. First, my family. Then, oddly, he spends some time examining my memories and thoughts of Cole. Next Emery, Garren, Tobias, and finally the creature from the dark side. No pain this time other than the weirdness of having someone poke around inside my head.
He opens his eyes, the green glowing ring present around his silver irises. He beams. “You have achieved the degrees of oneness.” Then, pursing his lips, he adds, “Although, you still have some wayward tendencies.”
I fist pump into the air. I passed! Not with flying colors or anything, but a pass is still a pass. I did think I was in trouble when he lingered on Cole.
Before I can ask about the immunity, he grasps my arm and links it in his. “Now that you are worthy of my presence, let’s chat. Call me Joe, and I’ll call you Raven. I haven’t been in the company of a woman for such a long time.”
Oh-kay. “Do you think that has anything to do with you staying down here?”
“I’ve been living here for close to three centuries. Sometimes I get a little depressed. It’s been a long life. Being down here allows me some solitude. But now, with a beauty on my arm, I think perhaps I’d like a stroll topside. Maybe have a little fun? What do you say?”
I can’t get an accurate read, but he might be hitting on me. He doesn’t look terribly old, but as he just said, he’s at least three centuries old. On the other hand, he almost melted my brain a few weeks ago. Better be on my best behavior. “Sure, why not?”
Joe stops. “Although it will be strange to not see any Mythosians. It’s only you and Tobias now?”
“Yes, but you should go up. It will do you good to see the twilight.”
He nods. We move out of the large chamber and into the hall.
Walking ahead of me, he asks, “I’m curious. Why do you have such an interest in the state of affairs of your galaxy?”
“The person who has the sphere is going to enslave my planet. She also killed someone close to me.”
“Emery D’Grath.”
Starfire. How did he… Oh wait, he’s been in my brain. “Yes, that’s right.”
“He was a good boy.”
“He was like a brother to me. I miss him so much. Sometimes—” I stop, thinking I might sound crazy.
Joe turns around, his eyes meeting mine. “You hear him.”
I nod. “Always when I need him the most.”
“The clerics on Mythos are a unique people, their abilities fascinating.”
We get to the ladder, and I indicate he should climb first. It occurs to me that Joe not only referred to the galaxy as my galaxy but also referred to Mythosians in the present tense.
Once I rise out of the hole in the bottom floor of the monastery, he turns, grabs me by the shoulders, and kisses me square on the lips. It happens so fast there’s no time to react. Once his lips leave mine, I cover my mouth. Ewww. His lips taste like ketchup—salty, tangy, and sweet.
He releases me, his eyes alight with wonder and excitement. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been up here? This is wonderful.” He walks outside.
I follow. “Okay, don’t go all crazy on me now.”
The red star shines dimly on the horizon. Joe raises his arms wide and basks in its dim light. He’s been living for centuries and, for who knows how long, in an underground cavern. He lowers his arms, a smile on his face. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“I didn’t do anything, but you’re welcome.”
Joe taps his two index fingers together. “So quiet. Time for me to go home for a spell.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wasn’t born on Mythos, as I know you’ve already gathered. I’m not from this galaxy, let alone this dimension.” His tone turns serious and lucid. “As you can imagine—wait, scratch that, as you already know—the sphere is a sought-after weapon. My life’s mission is simple: hide the sphere in your dimension so that those in mine, who seek to use its power for my people’s destruction, never find it. But the sphere is a burden for those who guard it. So it was decided that a human race with special mental capabilities should guard the sphere and accompany me here.”
My jaw drops. “Then it’s true. The people of Mythos did come from the dark side, appearing out of nowhere.”
“Yes, that’s correct. There’s a door that connects our dimensions on the dark side of Mythos. That’s how I transported them here. But before I entered the world, I needed a human body. In my true form, I can’t survive on this planet.”
I cover my mouth in shock. “This is unbelievable. Tobias’s ancestors are from another dimension. Emery too.”
“Yes, and up until now, things had been going according to plan. I even sealed the door connecting the two dimensions so that no one could find it. My kind did a good job at placing the door—the dark side of a red dwarf planet in another dimension.”
“Yeah, I’ll say. So once you were here, did the Mythosians know that you weren’t one of them?”
Joe turns and narrows his eyes at me. “You know, that kind of hurts my feelings, Raven. I mean, just because I don’t look like a Mythosian on the inside, doesn’t mean that I’m not one of them. We all came here together, and I was as much a part of this community as anyone else. And just so you know, I didn’t take this body against the will of the previous owner. I selected a body that had recently expired and gave it life.”
Huh, well, I guess as far as bodily possession goes, that seems like the honest and decent way to go about it.
“Sorry. That came out wrong. I didn’t mean to imply that you weren’t Mythosian. I only meant that maybe they noticed that you were just a smidge different?” I pinch my index finger and thumb together for a tiny emphasis.
“Why must everyone dwell on the fact that I don’t age? Living forever isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I can promise you that. I’ve had some serious bouts of depression. Especially lately. Anyway, yes, the humans noticed I was different. But unlike some people,” he says, eyeing me sideways, “they still accepted me. By the way, my ability to sort through minds came from the body I possessed, not from my species.”
“I keep insulting you. I promise that isn’t my intention.” I’ve only lived for eighteen years, and already I’ve had my fair share of depression. Imagine three centuries.
A smile spreads across his lips. He grasps my shoulders again. “That’s all right. A blue-haired woman saved me from my sadness.”
My shoulders stiffen. Please don’t ketchup kiss me again.
Instead, he looks me up and down. “Say, you could come back with me to my dimension and help me pick out a new body. I think I’ve got a pretty good idea about your tastes.”
He raises his eyebrows expectantly. Lovely. Joe is an alien lecher.
“So, I don’t know if you realize this, but I’m eighteen, and you’re much older than me. Also, I don’t know what it’s like where you come from, but here we have some pretty nasty STDs. Who knows what kind of action you saw in your dimension and what you might be carrying under your hood. Besides, shouldn’t we be talking about how to retrieve the sphere?”
He laughs. The sound is strange, almost like a laugh within a laugh. “You’re a funny human. First, time is relative. In fact, I’m probably not much older than you in our standards. Second, I don’t have any diseases in this body. I’m offering you the chance to see another dimension. Can you even fathom that? Granted, your galaxy is desirable, but in my dimension, we have much bigger and better things.”
A chill runs down my spine. He didn’t acknowledge my request to retrieve the sphere. “You’re right. My dimension probably pales in comparison to yours. In fact, it never ceases to deal me a bad hand. Everyone I’ve ever loved is dead. I had my arm lopped off, and every time I turn around, I’m trusting the wrong person.” I glance into his eyes to emphasize the current case-in-point. “But the sphere is in a despot’s hands. I have to get it back before she uses it against my people.”
Joe waves his hand in the air as if swatting an insignificant fly. “Let her have the sphere for now. As long as it remains in this dimension, I see no reason to chase after it. Besides, there’s not anyone here to look after it.”
Wait, what?
His words hit me in the chest and knock the air from my lungs. He doesn’t want the sphere back? I have to do something to change his mind. I raise my hands and do something very uncharacteristic—I get on my knees. “Please, Joe. Help me. I promised Emery that I’d retrieve the sphere. He saved me in more ways than one, and now it’s my turn to avenge his death. For his lost people, your people. I will return the sphere as soon as I get it back. But the only way to do that is to have immunity. Please, grant me this one thing.”
Joe watches me, seeming to consider my request. He sighs and looks back out across the Mythosian terrain. “There’s no need to return the sphere.”
I slump down on the ground. “Then we’re screwed.”
He reaches down and grasps my arm, pulling me to my feet, so that we are looking directly into each other’s eyes. Two green rings light up his silver irises. “You do this? You beg, something against every fiber of your being, to avenge one human life?”
I fight against tears. My planet’s future—hell, the whole damn galaxy—is in Joe’s hands. One human life? Try millions. But Joe doesn’t care about my people. He cares about his. “Yes.”
Joe nods, approvingly. “Emery meant a great deal to you. The current wielder of the sphere, tell me more about her.”
I grit my teeth and narrow my eyes at the mere thought of Garren. “She’s an arrogant, power-hungry tyrant from a wealthy planet with beautiful people. She intends to enslave the rest of us.”
“But you will not be enslaved, Raven Nevar. Tell me about your planet.
”
“I’m from Zeta, a war-torn planet. We’re not beautiful, but we are proud people.”
He lifts my chin and turns my face from side to side. “Oh, I beg to differ.” He makes sure our eyes meet so I know his sincerity. “You’re very beautiful.” His tone changes to all-business. “Okay. I’ll take you back to the door. Between the dimensions is a chamber of light. Only there, in my true form, can I give you immunity to the sphere. Besides, I’m due for an upgrade, and this city isn’t going to be rebuilt by Tobias on his own. I’ll bring over new immigrants. You’re Mythosian now too, but you’re a traveler through and through. You and I both know your place is among the stars. Just promise to return from time to time, as you will always have a home here.”
I inhale sharply. “So—”
“Yes, I’ll help you.”
I can’t help myself, I throw my arms around his neck and pull him in for an embrace. “Thank you, Joe. You don’t know what this means to me, to everyone in this galaxy.”
As I try to pull away, he holds me to him. “As I said, don’t worry about returning the sphere.”
I get to keep the sphere?
“I kind of like thinking about a powerful weapon in your hands.” He nuzzles my neck.
My shoulders set as my body stiffens. Whoa. Keep your hands above the waist, buddy.
He releases me and raises his hands innocently.
Starfire! He read my mind. I smile awkwardly. “But the burden of the sphere—”
“It shouldn’t be a problem for someone such as yourself,” he replies. “And, when the time comes, you will pass it on to another Mythosian cleric.”
“Of course.”
“I meant what I said about you coming over to my dimension though. If you want to pick out a new body for me, I’m open.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”
He laughs. “A little.”
I smile. “Hey, if you’re getting a new body, maybe you should also consider a name change?”
He smiles at me slyly. “Great idea. How about Cole?”
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