by Clayton Wood
Kyle felt his stomach lurch suddenly, felt himself rising upward through the air, pulled by an invisible force. He cried out as his feet lifted off of the metallic platform; the Dead Man and Darius rose upward with him. Kyle looked downward, seeing the platform they'd been standing on shrinking as they flew slowly upward. He felt his guts squirm; despite his recent experience with his gravity boots, the height – they were well over a hundred feet high and still climbing – was nerve-wracking. He imagined himself being dropped, falling helplessly to his death. If the Dead Man wanted to kill Kyle and Darius now, it would be as simple as that.
Instead, a strong breeze whipped through the massive chamber, chilling Kyle to the bone. The blackness beyond the iris-shaped opening in the ceiling began to swirl, like a whirlpool of water in an upside-down pool. As they drew closer, he realized that the blackness was water, churning like the surface of the ocean during a storm. The whirlpool intensified, creating a watery funnel above their heads. The funnel deepened and widened as the whirlpool grew ever stronger, forming a long, dark tunnel. Suddenly, a blinding ray of light shot downward from the end of the tunnel, far above their heads. Kyle squinted against the brightness, watching as the tunnel widened, until it was well over a hundred feet in diameter. Its walls were made purely of churning, flowing water that spiraled madly, roaring with the fury of a dozen waterfalls.
Kyle stared down the length of that awesome channel, gasping as he realized what lay beyond...white, puffy clouds against an impossibly blue sky!
The watery tunnel stopped expanding, sunlight glittering off of the foaming water. The Dead Man continued to rise, carrying Darius and Kyle with him. They ascended through the tunnel, a cold wind tearing at their clothes. Kyle shivered involuntarily, staring into the dark waters as they rose, spotting dark shapes moving from deep within, darting rapidly away from the maelstrom. The roar of water was deafening, forcing Kyle to cover his ears with his hands. Still upward they went, until they reached the end of the tunnel at last, the cold wind dying away as they rose above the water. Kyle stared downward, seeing a large lake below. The whirling tunnel below slowed, shrinking rapidly, water pouring violently inward to fill the void the tunnel had created. The water at the lake's surface churned wildly, water spraying high into the air, until the tunnel had closed at last. Only the agitated surface of the lake remained.
Their ascent stopped suddenly, a few dozen feet above the surface of the lake. Kyle looked about, staring at the mountainous terrain beyond the lake, feeling the sun's hot rays on his scalp. The chill he'd felt in the chamber below had already begun to dissipate, and despite everything, he felt renewed under its glow. He scanned the rocky mountainside beyond the lake, spotting a shadowy entrance of a cave there. It was instantaneously familiar; it was the same cave they'd escaped from a few weeks ago, the one the Dead Man had ambushed them at...and had been supposedly killed near. Now Kyle knew how the Dead Man had gotten to them so quickly back then; he'd used the water-tunnel to get to the surface, intercepting them as they'd escaped.
The Dead noted the direction of Kyle's gaze, and nodded approvingly.
“Very observant, Kyle,” he murmured. They began moving forward then, toward the shore in the distance, summoned by the Dead Man's power. “You have so much potential,” he added wistfully.
They reached the shore in a matter of minutes, the Dead Man dropping them gently onto the grass beyond the sandy shoreline. Kyle glanced at Darius, who was staring back at him. The bodyguard's mouth was set in a grim line.
“You have one last chance,” the Dead Man stated solemnly. “If you reveal the identity of whoever is killing the Chosen, the others will be spared.”
Kyle glanced at Darius, then looked down at his feet. He grit his teeth, knowing that he could end this with one word, could save Darius and perhaps even himself, if he told the Dead Man who'd really been responsible for saving the Council. Kyle had promised not to tell, but that promise seemed insignificant compared to what was at stake. He knew, however, that there was a good chance that the Dead Man would kill them both even if Kyle did tell the truth.
But at least there was a chance he wouldn't.
“Very well,” the Dead Man stated with a sigh. “The Behemoth will take some time to arrive,” he added, turning his head to gaze at the lake behind them. “I suggest you start running now.”
“Wait,” Kyle protested, stepping forward. But the Dead Man ignored him, lifting up into the air gracefully, then flying across the rippling waters of the lake, his black cloak flowing sinuously behind him. The surface of the lake began to churn violently, a depression forming in the center. The depression grew wider and deeper as Kyle watched, and he felt his heart leap into his throat.
“No, wait!” he shouted, bolting forward. “Wait, I'll tell...” He felt a strong hand grip his forearm, stopping him in his tracks and spinning him about. He found Darius standing before him.
“Run,” the bodyguard commanded, pulling Kyle forward toward the tree line. Kyle resisted, turning to stare at the Dead Man, still hovering above the center of the lake. A massive whirlpool was already forming below the dark Weaver.
“Now!” Darius shouted, shoving Kyle forward.
They broke into an all-out run, bolting madly for the forest beyond. Kyle pumped his legs as hard as he could, the grass and dirt crunching under his boots. Darius ran alongside Kyle, easily keeping pace despite the fact that he was barefoot.
Boots, Kyle thought, glancing down at his feet. Black leather boots covered his feet, with strips of silver metal going down the sides. A few blue gems sparkled on the surface of the leather.
“Darius!” Kyle called out, skidding to a stop. Darius frowned, stopping beside him. Kyle pointed down at his own feet. “I have gravity boots! Grab onto me!”
Darius glanced down at Kyle's feet, then wrapped an arm around Kyle's waist from behind. Kyle concentrated, sending a stream of magic to the blue gem on the top of the boot. Then he sent a burst of magic to his left boot. Almost immediately, he rose up into the air, carrying Darius with him. Just as Kyle had hoped, the wide cylindrical gravitational field surrounding him – the one preventing him from tipping over – kept Darius from falling away as well. They both soared into the air, flying up above the treetops. Kyle sent a stream of magic to the left toe crystal, and he bolted forward, feeling his guts twist as they accelerated rapidly. Within seconds, they were zooming over the treetops, far faster than he had ever gone with Master Banar. Still, he struggled to send even more magic to his boots. Depleted after his stay in the Void, he barely had any magic left to work with. If it hadn't been for the Void crystals, he would have been able to fly much faster.
Kyle glanced back over his shoulder, at the roiling surface of the lake far in the distance. The tunnel was completely formed now, a greenish glow coming from deep within. As Kyle watched, a dark shape began to rise from the depths of the lake...a black, metallic dome. It was, he realized, the massive head of the Behemoth rising from the watery tunnel. Its green eye cleared the surface of the lake, followed by its black, armored body. The Behemoth continued to ascend, until at last its massive legs had cleared the surface of the waters. Still upward it rose, flying higher into the sky.
“It's flying!” Kyle shouted in horror. “Darius!”
“So are you,” Darius retorted. “Go faster!”
Kyle struggled to dredge up more magic into his mind's eye, feeling sweat bead on his forehead with the effort. He'd already nearly depleted what little magic he had left; the sheer force of will it took to conjure up more was simply too great. He shook his head, gritting his teeth.
“I can't!” he cried. He glanced backward, spotting the Behemoth. Its upper body leaned forward, and it began to move, slowly accelerating away from the lake – and toward them. Kyle was still traveling much faster than the monstrosity, but it was gaining speed remarkably quickly. Darius tightened his grip about Kyle's waist.
“There!” Darius shouted, pointing at something in the distance
ahead of them. Kyle squinted, following Darius's finger; the bodyguard was pointing to a break in the forest perhaps two miles away, where a huge spiral of shattered rock had been carved into the earth. It looked like pictures of mining excavations Kyle had seen back on Earth. Kyle squinted, noticing a truck-sized hole carved into the side of one rocky wall.
“What about it?” Kyle asked.
“The mine shaft,” Darius shouted back. “It's too small for that thing to fit in!”
Kyle nodded, swerving toward the excavation site. It had to be one of the many mines near Crescent Lake that had been abandoned long ago. Even after all that time, the forest had barely begun to regrow around the site. Kyle glanced back again at the Behemoth; it was still far away, but it was moving quickly now...almost as quickly as Kyle was.
And that, he realized, was far slower than he'd been going a minute earlier. The magic stream he'd been powering his boots with had nearly petered out; he'd spent so much energy blasting ahead as fast as possible that he'd used up nearly all of his reserves. Now he didn't have much of anything left...and not only were they beginning to slow down, they were also losing altitude at an alarming rate.
“What are you doing?” Darius shouted in Kyle's ear. “Go faster!”
“I'm trying!” Kyle protested.
“Try harder!”
Kyle pushed himself as hard as he could, the veins on his forehead bulging with the strain. He grabbed at wisps of magic desperately, shoving them toward his boots. But it was hopeless; the stream was not even powerful enough to keep them afloat now. They dropped down toward the treetops, sinking until leaves and branches were slapping at their feet. Kyle struggled valiantly, but still they dropped. A tree branch slammed into Kyle's shin, threatening to flip him head-over-heels. He cried out, seeing another branch coming for him, pushing a wisp of magic toward his boots to dodge it. It clipped his thigh anyway, sending him into a mad spin through the air. A kaleidoscope of green, brown, and blue flashed before his eyes, and he felt Darius's arm slip from his waist. Kyle screamed as he fell, closing his eyes and throwing his arms in front of his face. Something slammed into his chest, and the air exploded from his lungs. Stars floated before his eyes, and his body went numb. Time slowed as he rolled onto his back, realizing that he'd stopped falling – that he was on the ground.
Kyle tried to take a breath in, but his body refused to obey his commands. He felt his head swim sickeningly, and stifled the urge to vomit, instead rolling slowly back onto his belly. He tried to breathe again, this time managing to suck some air into his burning lungs. He exhaled, then took another breath, the stars in his vision fading slowly. He got to his hands and knees slowly, feeling a sharp pain in his left shoulder as he did so. He rose to his feet, staggering to his left and slamming his already injured shoulder against a tree trunk. He howled in agony, clutching his shoulder and nearly falling back to his knees. Tears streamed down his cheeks, dripping onto the bed of dead leaves and dirt below.
“Kyle!” a harsh voice shouted from behind. Kyle turned about, blinking through his tears, seeing a man running toward him. It was Darius; the bodyguard's shirt was a tattered mess, a large rent exposing the thick muscles of his chest. Darius ran up to Kyle on his bare feet, ignoring the sharp branches and pebbles littering the forest floor.
“Darius!” Kyle shouted back, nearly buckling again as another surge of pain spread from his shoulder to his arm. Despite this, he felt a wave of relief wash over him. “You're alive!”
“For now,” Darius grumbled back. He ran up to Kyle, grabbing him by the right arm and pulling him forward. “The mine is ahead,” he added, breaking out into a run. Kyle clenched his teeth, forcing his legs to match Darius's pace. Kyle's lungs burned with each breath, and it wasn't long before he was struggling to keep up with the bodyguard. His foot struck a small rock, and he stumbled, landing on the ground with one knee. Darius ignored Kyle's plight, dragging him across the forest floor. Kyle scrambled to his feet, each step sending sharp pain through his knee.
“Damn it,” Kyle swore, trying his best to keep up with Darius. But the bodyguard’s pace was too much for his knee, and it gave out from under him. The bodyguard gripped Kyle's wrist hard, yanking him to his feet.
“I got you,” Darius stated, wrapping an arm around Kyle's waist and hauling him forward. Kyle grimaced, stumbling along as best he could, dodging tree trunks as they ran. Kyle spotted a hint of bare rock through the trees in the distance, and realized that it was the excavation site, only a hundred or so feet ahead. He felt a surge of hope then, his limbs filling with a second wave of energy. He caught up with Darius, matching his long strides. It wasn't long before they burst through the tree line, the massive rocky spiral of the excavation site opening up before them. There, on the far side of the site, halfway down the long spiraling pit, stood the entrance to the mine shaft Darius had spotted earlier.
“There!” Kyle blurted out, pointing at the mine entrance. Darius ran along the now-rocky path, his torn shirt rippling in the wind. Kyle glanced backward, but from his vantage point, he could see no sign of the Behemoth. They were still a few hundred yards from the mine entrance, but with a little luck...
Kyle felt Darius skid to a sudden stop, one muscled forearm barring Kyle's way forward. Kyle nearly lost his balance, his gravity boots sliding over countless scattered pebbles. He glanced at Darius, but the bodyguard was staring off into the distance, his eyes sweeping the area ahead.
“What?” Kyle asked. Then he noticed the air around them shimmering ever-so-slightly, like the air rising off of a sun-baked parking lot on a hot summer day. A dark shape materialized out of the air in front of them. It was a tall man in a red cloak, a black sash tied about his waist. A green diamond-shaped symbol had been woven into the center of the sash, the all-too familiar symbol of the Death Weavers.
Kyle felt his mind go blank with terror.
Darius shoved Kyle backward, moving to stand guard in front of him. The bodyguard stared coldly at the lone Death Weaver, his blue eyes unblinking. The Death Weaver smirked, the air around him shimmering with the might of his multi-layered gravity shields. The air near the Death Weaver warped, and another man appeared beside him, and then another. More and more red-cloaked figures popped out of thin air, until more than a dozen Death Weavers stood before Kyle and Darius, blocking the way to the mine shaft ahead.
“Turn around!” Darius barked, grabbing Kyle's arm again and pulling him away from the line of Death Weavers, sprinting back toward the tree line. Kyle ran alongside Darius, his heart pounding in his chest. The forest was only a hundred feet away, maybe if they reached it, they could find a place to hide...
A massive black dome rose above the tree line ahead.
Darius skid to a stop, pulling Kyle to his side. Kyle's eyes widened as he stared upward, beyond the treetops, at the huge metallic dome lifting through the sky like a dark sun. Upward it went, leaves whipping about madly, branches waving violently in the wind of its passage. A huge, diamond-shaped eye rose into view, peering from atop the treetops, its green light aiming right at them.
Kyle stared at the Behemoth, his mouth agape.
“Come on!” Darius yelled, spinning Kyle around again, then stopping dead in his tracks.
A tall man in a rippling black cloak stood before them, pale, bone-thin hands extending beyond his loose sleeves. A brilliant green gem embedded in the man's forehead shimmered in the sunlight, splaying spots of verdant light across his ebony cloak.
“I'm disappointed, Kyle,” the Dead Man stated, his pale lips pulled into a frown. He gazed down at Kyle with his piercing black eyes. “I was hoping for something...unexpected.”
Kyle felt his knees buckle, felt his bottom strike the rocky ground below. He barely felt the pain of the impact, a numbness coming over him. He stared mutely at the Dead Man, too terrified to speak. The Dead Man sighed, dropping down to one knee before Kyle, his face only inches away. Kyle drew backward, but was unable to turn away; the ghoulish Weaver's eyes wer
e almost hypnotic, pinning his own gaze to them.
“I had such hopes for you, Kyle,” the Dead Man lamented, putting an icy cold hand on Kyle's shoulder. “You were so different from the others...so pure.” He shook his head sadly. “It's tragic, the process that Xanos demands.” He gestured at the line of Death Weavers standing behind him. “Preparing men for war necessitates taking a piece of their humanity from them, Kyle. I took this from my students, just as Xanos took it from me.”
Kyle felt the coolness of the Dead Man's hand seeping through his shirt and into his flesh, and stifled a shudder.
“But I did not take it from you,” the Dead Man continued. “I treated you gently, in hopes that you would retain some measure of your humanity, your enthusiasm. I thought that I could mold you into what Xanos required without ruining what made you special to me.”
Kyle shook his head angrily, tears forming in his eyes.
“You tried to kill me!” he blurted out, pulling back from the Dead Man's hand. “You tried to kill my friends!”
“I never tried to harm you,” the Dead Man countered. “Think back...when did I ever threaten to hurt you? I had to take you by force...I threatened your friends because it was the only way to ensure your loyalty. If circumstances had been different, I'd like to think you would have joined me voluntarily.”
“Never,” Kyle retorted, shaking his head. “I hate you,” he growled, feeling something snap inside of him. He grit his teeth, rising to his feet and clenching his fists in a sudden rage. “I hate you!” he screamed.
The Dead Man stared at Kyle impassively, his black eyes unblinking. The ground shook suddenly, a massive boom exploding from behind them. Kyle whipped about, seeing two black, metallic legs in the distance, right in front of the forest line. There the Behemoth stood, many times the height of the trees behind it, its green eye staring down at him. Kyle stepped backward, feeling something cold touch the back of his neck. He spun around again, seeing the Dead Man standing there, staring down at Kyle, his face expressionless.
