Then something shifted in Blount’s mind again.
Chapter Seven
R’yleh
“We’re not going to make it,” Sam said through gritted teeth.
The helicopter shuddered as it sucked the last of their fuel. Something groaned beneath his feet, and Blount felt his stomach lurch as they dropped in altitude.
“What the hell?” Sam shouted as they were snatched back into the air. The rotors ground to a slow halt, yet they were still airborne. The water flashed by beneath them like liquid glass.
Blount glanced out and tried to see below the lip of the window. He caught flashes of white that stood out starkly against the deep blue of the ocean.
“Abdiel,” he whispered. To Sam, he said, “Don’t worry. He’s a friend.”
Sam shot him an incredulous look and tightened her shoulder harness. They flew towards the beach and soon they were deposited on the sand with a bump.
Sam scrambled out of the chopper and stared in disbelief at a ten-foot tall man with massive white wings. “Jesus.”
Abdiel smiled and shook his head. “Not quite, but it’s not the first time I’ve been mistaken for him.”
Casey stared in awe at the angel, and Abdiel smiled in her direction. “It’s good to see you, child.”
“Me?” Casey was taken aback by the angel’s words.
“We’ve met before. A long time ago.”
A memory flashed through Casey’s mind. She was two years old and had toddled out of the house. A butterfly had caught her attention, and she’d gleefully chased the fluttering wonder across the lawn, into the busy street at the corner. A nice man had taken her hand and guided her back safely to her front porch. The man had possessed wings.
“You’ve been following me,” Blount said.
Abdiel nodded. “I figured you’d need my help eventually.” He spread his arms and shrugged.
“Thanks.”
Abdiel’s wings fluttered as Archer eased himself from the chopper. The angel’s eyes narrowed and his hand moved to rest on the enormous sword strapped to his side. He crouched slightly and looked at Blount. When Blount failed to react, Abdiel frowned. The sense of uneasiness passed as quickly as it had come. He shook his head, and Blount was sure it was to clear the murkiness of his thoughts. Archer ignored the angel, leaning heavily against the fuselage with one hand.
The ground felt as if it were vibrating beneath Blount’s boots. He shifted his stance and looked around to see if the others were feeling the same sensation.
As the surf crashed in, he walked off by himself, leaving the others for a moment. Foamy water washed over his boots as he stood staring out at the horizon. Abdiel came and stood beside him.
“Makes you wonder where He’s at,” Blount said.
Abdiel remained silent. Blount had had this conversation with the angel many times, and Abdiel’s response had always been the same. Silence. Blount often wondered what it was like being one of God’s creatures, void of true free will. While Abdiel was prohibited from interfering directly in the affairs of man, he helped out where he was able.
Abdiel spoke. “All of this has happened before, and will happen again.”
Blount turned in surprise and looked at the angel. “But, why?”
“It is what must be. It is what has always been.”
“Well, I think it’s bull.”
Abdiel smiled. “As do I. It’s been eons since the war, but everything happens according to His plan, as it must. That’s all I can offer you. There is a plan, and one day all of this,” the angel spread his arms, “suffering…it will end.”
“So we just endure.”
“Yes. We endure and fight until we have no fight left.”
“What happens after?”
“This world will recover. Evil has left its mark, but man will recover, as they always have before.”
“Let’s do this then.”
* * *
They moved single file—Blount, Archer, Casey, Sam, and Abdiel bringing up the rear—along the same path Blount’s original team had followed through overgrown plants and foliage. The vines had crept back over the original path, as if to bar their progress. They stumbled over the rocks that jutted from the ground like carnivorous teeth. The trees in the distance towered, masking the structure ahead of them.
Blount struggled with a multitude of feelings as they trekked. He knew what was ahead, and he waited for the others to gasp once they caught sight of the citadel. What he dreaded the most was coming upon the bodies of his slain team.
They came to the place where the freak snowstorm had erupted and Blount tensed, waiting for it to happen once more.
“This place smells of death,” Abdiel said.
“We were attacked here.” Blount cringed as his voice echoed. He knelt and touched the ground, and it vibrated at his touch.
Casey moaned as she caught sight of a severed leg along the trail. She moved closer to Sam, who offered a comforting hand. The girl gripped Sam’s hand gratefully as she whispered encouragement in the girl’s ear.
“Keep moving,” Blount called over his shoulder. He pressed on amidst the phantom cries of his fallen comrades.
A short time later, they arrived at the path that twisted into many directions and sloped down out of view. Once more, Blount felt drawn to the one that led downwards.
“It draws us closer,” Archer murmured.
Blount glanced behind him and paused. It been quite awhile since Archer had spoken, and Blount was intrigued by the man’s statement. He held up a closed fist. “Hold up.” He made his way back, carefully easing around Sam and Casey on the narrow ledge, and approached Archer.
“You feel it too?” He studied Archer’s eyes as they shifted and fluttered.
“It calls out. It hungers for sustenance, for completion.”
The uneasiness that had clothed Blount like an ill-fitting suit made its self known once more. His hands shot to his head as an image exploded in his mind’s eye. He cried out when it felt like his head would shatter in his clenched hands. The vision passed as quickly as it had come, leaving Blount drained and weak. He’d seen the future and knew what would face them inside the citadel.
“Are you OK?” Sam helped Blount back to his feet.
He waved her away and nodded “I’m fine.” Blount stared at Archer and steeled his resolve. The man stared back through hooded eyes and offered nothing. “You take the lead.”
Archer merely nodded and started past Sam and Casey.
“What just happened?” Sam asked.
“I got a message,” Blount said.
“A message? From whom?”
Blount leaned in close. “When the time comes…follow my lead.”
“What?”
“Just trust me. Please. Follow my lead.”
Blount followed at a distance as Archer chose a singular route, as if by some unseen hand, from the many then ascended the small ridge. When he reached the top, he stopped. The rest of them gathered around and looked to where he was staring, and they were all struck with awe at the sight awaiting them. Even though Blount had seen it prior, he was still humbled by the obscene wrongness of it.
Dark spires sprung out of the ground, huge and towering, made of smooth stone that was covered with disturbing hieroglyphs. When Sam focused on the hieroglyphs, she felt like ants were crawling around inside her head. Some spires were formed with grotesque, cold spheres that sat unnaturally atop one another, unnerving the onlookers. In the center of this cluster of towers rose a single, monolith-shaped citadel. Its surface stretched at impossible angles that made its shape abnormal and frightening, stopping the group cold.
“This is wrong,” Abdiel whispered. His face was slack and he breathed shallowly.
Blount studied the angel’s reaction and it troubled him greatly. He’d never seen Abdiel more scared.
“This shouldn’t exist,” the angel said.
“It’s beautiful,” Archer said.
The others stared
at Archer in disbelief, while he continued to stare at the panorama and lick his lips. He was kneading his crotch, Sam noticed, with disgust. When he looked back and noticed they were watching him, he abruptly stopped. “Let’s go.”
He led them without hesitation, Blount noted, to the gash in the side of the nearest tower. Archer clambered up the debris and disappeared into the darkness of the opening.
“There’s something wrong with him,” Abdiel said.
“Yeah, I know,” Blount said.
“What’s wrong with my dad?”
Blount grimaced as Casey spoke. He’d been hoping to avoid her questions. He steeled himself and plastered what he hoped was a reassuring smile on his face, turning to Casey. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
Blount looked to Sam for help, and she led Casey aside. Abdiel approached the opening and cringed, then he stepped back and looked at Blount. “I can go no farther.”
Blount looked at the opening and the glyphs. They were worn with age, barely noticeable at first glance, but they were there. He recognized a few of them—binding and blocking spells. He pulled his knife and scraped away at one of them. The glyph crumbled beneath his blade, but as soon as it was obliterated, it morphed back into existence in the clay.
“I’ll try and find another way in,” Abdiel said, lifting off with a whoosh of his wings.
“Stay close,” Blount said as he climbed up the ruble.
The others flicked on their flashlights and looked about the corridor.
“What’s that?” Sam asked.
“My team.”
“But, I thought they were dead,” Casey whispered.
“They are. It’s their death echoes.”
Blount pressed on. A short time later, his light revealed Archer peering down the crevice. He turned and nodded to Blount. “There is no logic, or comfort, or convenience to this place. This place feels wrong…all wrong.”
“How’d you know that was there? You don’t have a light,” Blount said.
Archer merely shrugged. “I just knew.”
Something about Archer struck Blount just then, but he had trouble intuiting exactly what had changed about the man. Then it clicked. The man looked healthier, more full, more aware. Blount noted the change, but didn’t mention it aloud.
“If you’re being guided, then I won’t interfere,” Blount said. “Lead the way. We can use all the help we can get.”
Archer maneuvered around the pit and paused in front of the overhang Blount and his team had entered previously. Blount held his breath. He was dreading swimming back in that dark water, and what waited on the other side of the swim. After checking his gun, he motioned for Sam to do the same. She shot him a questioning look, but complied.
Archer moved away from the overhang, tilting his head as if listening to something. He stood this way for a short time, and then moved off along a path that was barely noticeable in the gloom. It was barely ten inches in width, but Archer’s boots were sure as he began to ascend. With his flashlight, Blount followed Archer’s progress along the narrow shelf of rock, until Archer disappeared. Blount cursed and searched the area for any sign of the man.
“Where’d he go?” Sam searched for Archer, too.
“There,” Blount said. “It’s a passageway between the two cliff faces.”
Blount started up the path and slipped through the camouflaged opening. He found himself in a large, empty space, where water dripped all around him. His light reflected his image back at him, and the sight was disorientating at first.
Shielding his light with a cupped hand, he discovered the floor of the chamber was clear as glass. He could see the pool of dark water in the next chamber below, where his team had been attacked. Piles of bones littered the rest of the crystal floor. He tentatively stepped onto it, and it held his weight.
Directing his light to the far side of the chamber, he caught a glimpse of Archer as he disappeared through yet another opening in the wall’s face.
“Archer! Hold position!” To Sam and Casey, he said, “The floor’s solid. We can’t lose track of him.” He hurried to catch up with Archer.
Blount squeezed through the opening and almost ran into Archer, but he maneuvered around the man then sucked in a breath. They were in the spired chamber he’d astral traveled to back in Nebraska. Archer knelt and peered through the crack in the floor. The stench Blount had smelt in his astral state was even more powerful here. His eyes watered and his lungs burned, even though he breathed as shallowly as he could. The stench didn’t seem to affect Archer. He huddled over the chasm as if warming his hands over an inviting fire.
Blount stood back as Archer began to glow from within. His skeleton was outlined by the glow, and Blount watched Archer’s heart beating in tune with the hum the crevice emitted. Blount steadied himself as he felt the floor’s vibration intensify.
He knew he had time, not much, but time to go back to the opening and tell Sam to keep Casey away from what was about to transpire. Blount hurried back over and stopped Sam as she was preparing to step through.
“Take Casey to a safe distance.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“Just do it.” His heart thudded as he saw the hurt look pass over Sam’s face, so he softened his tone. “Trust me, she doesn’t need to see this.”
“What are you about to do, Gibson?”
“What must be done. It’s the only way. I don’t like it, but it’s necessary. Please, just start heading back to the entrance. I’ll follow as soon as it’s done.”
Staring intently at Blount, Sam held her ground. He could see she was torn between arguing or accepting him at his word.
“Please, go.” Blount glimpsed Casey peering over Sam’s shoulder.
“Why’d you drag us all the way in here if you were only going to send us back?” Sam said.
Blount sighed and cast a glance back over his shoulder at Archer. His glowing form had morphed from white to a deep red now. With not much time left, Blount weighed his options. He knew Casey would go berserk if she witnessed what he’d have to do to her father, and he had his doubts about Sam’s reaction, as well. How would she feel about him after?
“Fine,” Blount said, coming to a decision. The world was more important than his happiness. He’d made these choices before and would continue to make them. It was his curse, his mission, his existence. “Keep her back…whatever happens.”
With that, he marched back over and stood directly behind Archer. He heard the girls gasp as they caught sight of the man.
“Daddy!” Casey cried.
“Keep her back.”
Sam cringed at Blount’s warning. She’d obviously never heard anybody sound that deadly. She was seeing a new side to Blount, and he could tell it scared her greatly. She did what he instructed, holding Casey in her arms as the girl struggled to get free.
“Archer,” Blount called out. “Fight it.”
“But I don’t want to.” Archer moaned, as if deep in the throes of ecstasy.
“Fight it, or I’ll do what I must.”
Archer turned and faced Blount. Red light leaked from his eyes and his hands glowed brightly. When he smiled, light bled from his mouth, superimposing his teeth. Archer’s voice grew deeper than humanly possible. “We will be one.”
“You still have a choice,” Blount said. “You can choose to step away. Whatever it’s promised you, whatever it’s whispered in your ear, the reality will be much different.”
“Silence! I will have this body. My existence will become reality.”
Blount sensed something behind him, but he couldn’t risk breaking eye contact with Archer. What happened next felt like it happened in extreme slow motion. Casey ran past him in a rush of air. Blount reached out to grab the girl, but his fingers slid through her long, blonde hair and closed on emptiness. He managed to grab Sam as she ran after the girl, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly.
&nb
sp; “Don’t,” he said.
“Daddy!” Casey howled as she raced to Archer.
Archer grinned and held his arms open wide as his daughter approached. Casey crashed into nothingness, as if the emptiness were as solid as a brick wall. She went down in a heap, moaning painfully.
Archer’s expression of triumph exploded into fury as his daughter was flung backwards. He stalked forward and hissed as he put his hand out and hit solidness. The air surrounding him crackled, as if infused with electricity.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked.
“A little insurance I took out,” Blount said. “I wasn’t sure about his condition, but I wasn’t about to take any chances. That’s a containment spell…very old and unbreakable.” Blount pointed out the sigils he’d drawn in a circle around the crevice.
“When did you do that?”
“When I traveled here earlier.”
“You knew there was something wrong with Archer and still brought him here?”
“I had to be sure. Back at Rugby Rock when Archer touched Casey, the entity transferred to him. It’s been growing inside, getting stronger, and clouding my mind. It wanted me to bring Archer here so the soul and body could reunite. I wasn’t aware of this on the surface, but I’ve suspected it.”
Blount said to Archer, “Thaddeus, you can still come out of this. It’s still your choice. It doesn’t have the power to bend free will. Just tell it to leave.”
“It’s too strong. I have no choice!”
“There’s always a choice. Now choose.”
“You’re too late, human,” Archer growled.
Blount pulled the vortex enclosure from his pocket and brandished it. “I also have a choice…I’m sorry.”
Blount rushed the circle, screaming as he broke the boundary of the sigils. Archer gripped Blount’s right hand and cringed away from the vortex enclosure. Blount brought a knee crashing into Archer’s gut and the man stumbled backwards. Seizing this opportunity, Blount savagely kicked at Archer’s left knee. The man screamed in agony as the knee bent at an unnatural angle. Blount shoved the vortex enclosure into Archer’s mouth and pushed him backwards.
If God Doesn't Show Page 22
