The Antithesis- The Complete Pentalogy

by Terra Whiteman

  “…Hello?” called a voice.

  The sound of it made me jump; time on the trail had numbed my senses. I squinted through the light, searching for the source.

  A creature that appeared to be formed entirely from a web of pink light sat at an executive-looking desk, only twenty feet away. It had a human-esque shape, but there were no other features to its body. Two gleaming orbs for eyes, and hair like electric tentacles that floated around in some kind of alternate gravity.

  What. The. Fuck.

  “Where am I?”

  Alarmed, the creature rose from its chair. “Vel’Haru.”

  I stared, wondering how it’d known that. “Uh, yeah. How—”

  “How else would you know our language, looking the way you do?”

  True enough.

  “What does the Court of Enigmus want here? We haven’t breached our territory agreement.”

  “I, uh, actually have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m a member of the Jury for the Celestial Court.”

  There was a moment of silence. The creature stared at me some more. “Oh, you’re a judge.”

  “Right.”

  “Well, can I help you?”

  I looked around, getting to my feet. “Sure, you can start by telling me where I am.”

  “… You’re in the Nexus?”

  “Oh, good,” I said, sighing in relief.

  The being tilted its head. “Are you lost or something?”

  “Well I was, but not anymore. I’m here on Celestial Court business and would like a word with the higher-ups.”

  “…Higher-ups?”

  “Whoever’s in charge.”

  “You’ve come on Celestial Court business and you don’t even know who’s in charge?”

  “I’m here to investigate a contract violation that the Nexus had been involved with,” I explained, grasping at straws.

  The electric creature glanced at what I could only assume was a computer. It looked nothing like ours. “When was this?”

  “About a century ago.”

  The creature looked back at me. “You’re coming to investigate that now?”

  “It’s more of a follow-up.”

  Even though its face held no expression, I could imagine suspicion written all over it. “I’m not entirely certain you’re a judge.”

  I unleashed a scythe. The creature almost jumped out of its chair. “Need any more proof?”

  It left the desk and headed for a hallway, gesturing for me to follow. “Right this way, Justice.”

  I followed the secretary, priding myself on how clever I was—until of course I stepped through a gate leading into the next room and a sudden, automated voice alarm sounded off:

  ‘ALEZAIR CZYNRI—’

  —followed by a bunch of untranslatable numbers—

  ‘CURRENT STATUS: ROGUE. PLEASE DELETE RECORD. PLEASE DELETE RECORD.’

  Fuck me.

  ‘PLEASE DELETE RECORD.’

  The receptionist froze across the gate, staring at me. I imagined a combination of terror and confusion in its eyes.

  ‘PLEASE DELETE RECORD.’

  My face was mean. “So, now you have two options: you can either take me to your boss, or you can die.”

  ‘PLEASE DELETE RECORD.’

  The receptionist looked over its shoulder, debating on making a run for it.

  “Don’t bother,” I said. “You wouldn’t get two steps away before I’d sink this into you.” I held up my scythe. “I don’t want to kill you; I just want to talk to whoever’s in charge, okay?”

  ‘PLEASE DELETE RECORD.’

  “I knew I should have checked if my assistant initiated the purge,” the creature muttered under its breath.

  ‘PLEASE DELETE RECORD.’

  “Will you shut that thing off?!”

  It hit a button on the door and the alarms stopped. I exhaled, slowly.

  The receptionist was already halfway down the hall. “Come with me, Justice Czynri.”

  ***

  I was sitting in a waiting room. It had a white interior, like the front desk.

  White walls, white chairs, white end tables, with white tube lights overhead. A migraine was chewing its way through my brain from hunger and all the disgusting brightness. I’d spent the majority of my wait with my eyes closed, hands encasing my face.

  I began to wonder what the hell I was even doing here. Now that my investigation scheme was ruined, I didn’t have a single ounce of leverage to get whoever was coming through that door to talk. I could always threaten its life, but killing it would be counter-intuitive. I didn’t know how deep this ran. The receptionist had acted like the Court of Enigmus was a big deal around here, and its King had personally delivered me to the Nexus. The significance of that hadn’t eluded me.

  As if on cue, the door opened and another light-being strolled through it. This one was taller and broader than the receptionist. Neither of them wore any clothes. It was kind of obscene, but thankfully they didn’t have any visible genitalia.

  The creature sat in front of me, silent.

  Several seconds later, I said, “Well?”

  “Well, what?” asked the creature.

  “Are you going to say anything?”

  “I just did.”

  I leaned forward, curling my lip. “I didn’t come all this way to battle wits with a talking lightbulb.”

  “And what exactly did you come here for, Alezair Czynri?” Before I could respond, the thing laughed. “I knew from the moment when that God Killer dragged you in here that you’d be trouble down the road.”

  “God Killer?”

  “A Vel’Haru,” It elaborated, pointing. “You.”

  “What does that mean?”

  It dismissed me with a wave. “I’d rather not discuss that or we’d be here until the next Millennium.”

  “The Vel’Haru you’re speaking of; his name is Calenus Karim, right?”

  “Correct. You were a special case. Usually we only accept criminals brought here by their own worlds.”

  Criminals. “The Nexus is a prison,” I said.

  “Yes, of sorts.”

  “And I lived here?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t call it living. You, all of you, are kept in isolation chambers and placed into cryogenic sleep. The only time an agent is awake is when someone pays for his or her services.”

  That was a hard fact to swallow. “How long was I here for?”

  It thought about my question for a moment. “I’m not sure. I’d have to check.”

  “I’ve got all day.”

  The creature stood, and I imagined it giving me an irritated frown. “One moment, please.”

  Awaiting its return, I strummed my knees. This place was taking little bites out of my nerves. I’d gotten used to the idea that I would never know my true identity. My curiosity had all but vanished until this fucking mess happened.

  The creature returned, holding a bunch of translucent, plastic-looking sheets. It sifted through them, sitting down.

  “Eight hundred years,” it reported.

  My heart sank. Eight hundred years? “So let me get this straight,” I began. “Beings from all over the Multiverse are sent here because they’re considered too dangerous to live freely, yet you wipe their minds and send them back into the goddamned field?”

  “With behavioral modifications. Most of our agents are contracted for relatively peaceful engagements. It says here the last mission you were sent on had you battling humans in a war.”

  “That isn’t news to me. It’s the only mission I can remember.”

  “Your mission was unusual. We typically don’t send our agents into something like that. However the Archdemon that requested you paid quite a large sum.”

  “Namah Ipsin, right?”

  “Yes.” It shook the files. “That isn’t in here, by the way. I found it peculiar because when he came here, he asked for you specifically.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, he called y
ou by your real name.”

  And then It paused, reading over the document.

  “Oh, dear. Well now it makes a little more sense. I didn’t realize Namah Ipsin was from The Atrium.”

  I blinked. “Why would that matter?”

  “A little complicated to explain, I’m afraid.”

  How had that Archdemon known who I was? The more questions I asked, the more confused I became. “What was I?”

  It skimmed the files. “Nehel.”

  Never heard of them, not even from my lessons. “Where do they reside?”

  “Nowhere.”

  “Nowhere?”

  “They’re extinct, Justice. You were the last one.”

  I fell silent for a moment, absorbing that. “Where did they used to live?”

  Now it was the creature’s turn to hesitate. “The Atrium.”

  Whoa, wait a second, how could that—?

  And then Calenus’ words invaded my mind: ‘Would you have Leid kill everyone in The Atrium again?’

  Oh my god, no.

  “W-What happened to them?”

  “Regrettably I don’t have that kind of information,” it said. “But…”

  “But?”

  “I’m willing to give your memories back to you.”

  A beat. “You can do that?”

  “You’d be amazed at what the Nexus can do, Qaira Eltruan.”

  Qaira Eltruan.

  The creature stood. “You’re going to have to trust me.”

  “With?”

  “Your freedom.”

  I didn’t reply, unsure of what It meant.

  “Since my incompetent staff failed to purge your files, we still have your information in our database. We have your memories. You can have them returned to you if we put you under.”

  I recoiled. “What, in a coma?”

  “Relax; we can’t control Vel’Haru. Their minds aren’t susceptible to our technology.”

  I wanted to ask why, but couldn’t afford to derail the topic. “Fine, let’s go.”

  The creature nodded, gesturing to the door. “I’ll take you to the sanitization room where we can begin.”

  ***

  After a considerable amount of time, most of which was spent as a lab rat for a group of electric-creature scientists, I stood in the heart of the Nexus.

  It was cold and dark, and I was naked. The creature I’d met with in the waiting room held my clothes in a wadded heap beside me. We were riding on a circular lift, ascending the never-ending floors of cylindrical pods. They almost looked like coffins. In a sense, they were. There had to be hundreds of thousands here; entombed in a chemical, dreamless sleep.

  It was so quiet that I could hear my breath. I probably could have heard my breath even if there was noise, because it was heavy and wrought with near-panic. Once upon a time I was inside one of those pods. I was just another number—another poor asshole that’d lost everything. I’d known that all along, but seeing it was an entirely different bag.

  “Are you alright?” asked the creature, sensing my unease.

  “What’s your name?” I asked, shivering.

  “Aczeva. I am the CEO of the Nexus Initiative and President of the Anakaari.”

  “Are you male?”

  It scoffed. “Of course I’m male.”

  “Just checking.”

  “You didn’t know I was male?” He sounded offended.

  “It’s hard to tell.”

  Aczeva looked me over, eyes lingering between my legs. “Maybe for you.”

  The lift slowed and came to a stop on one of the levels. I didn’t know how high we were because the scenery never changed, and we’d ascended for a pretty long time, but I still couldn’t see a ceiling. Aczeva led me through a network of pods. They were connected by circuitry and computers. Most of them were flashing vital signs, and incomprehensible data streamed across each screen.

  He stopped in front of a vacant one. There was a hissing sound, and the pod hatch slid open, releasing an eerie green light. I stared at it, trying to hide my horror. That thing couldn’t have been more disturbing if it was used to molest children.

  Aczeva hesitated, catching the look on my face. I wondered how he was able to read facial cues when his people didn’t have any. “It’s completely safe, I assure you.”

  I sighed, taking the plunge.

  The pod was lying horizontally, so I had to lie down once I got in. The hatch closed and I peered at Aczeva through a pane of yellow glass. He was at the computer, sliding an electric finger across the screen. The pod’s interior was heated, and it felt good on my skin. The comfort made me relax a little, but then I felt a pinch at the base of my neck. Metal snake-looking things slithered over me, coiling around my arms and legs. I thrashed, but I was getting really tired, like I’d been drugged.

  Yellow liquid bearing a striking resemblance to urine erupted from a tube at my feet. The pod shifted, moving to a vertical stand. The piss was at my neck, still rising.

  I was going to drown.

  “Hey!” I screamed through the pane, the liquid creeping into the corners of my mouth. “Hey, what are you doing?!”

  Aczeva said nothing at first, watching my submersion. Then I heard, “I hope you find what you’re looking for, Qaira Eltruan.”

  I clenched my teeth, trying to shake free of the restraints. Bubbles exploded from my mouth and I couldn’t see anything for a second. The more I thrashed, the more tired I became. Pretty soon I couldn’t fight at all. My eyes rolled back into my head and my chest heaved, then fell.

  As I slipped into unconsciousness, I dreamed that I was drowning in a black ocean, hands of the fallen dragging me deeper and deeper, until I couldn’t see any surface light.

  Down,

  down,

  down…

  The void swallowed me whole.

  ‘Lo the Wrath

  'Lo the wrath of Sanctum's Savior

  The Nehelian who feasts upon the blood of his own kind;

  Hear the laughter of his malice bellow,

  Upon the highest spires of Eroqam.

  'Lo the wrath of Sanctum's Savior

  The Nehelian who drinks upon the souls of his own kind;

  Hear the cries of his people echo,

  As the flames of Sanctum rise.

  'Lo the wrath of Sanctum's Savior

  The Nehelian who yearns for the death of his own kind;

  Hear the whispers of his victims tremble,

  As the ruins fall from the sky.

  'Lo the wrath of Sanctum's Savior

  The Nehelian who is freed from his own kind;

  Hear the screams of his pain and sorrow,

  As the smoke clears in his demise.

  'Lo the wrath of Sanctum's Savior

  The Nehelian who is no more;

  Hear the Angels shout in communion,

  As light in Heaven is restored.

  O

  RUN

  (The Enforcers have found you)

  THE ANGEL FLED IN TERROR.

  The sounds of screams and gunfire echoed through the darkness as her feet pounded over tiles. Bursting through the doors and past the genocide, fear blinded her, and she slid on a pool of blood. It was fresh; still warm.

  She fell, cracking the side of her face against the floor. She felt a crunch, and knew something was broken. Her jaw tingled, and she couldn’t feel her tongue. But that wasn’t important right now. She needed to get away. Scrambling to her feet with a desperate sob, she continued to flee.

  It was all wrong; she shouldn’t have signed up. The infiltrations were never successful and even if she survived she’d have to face her family empty-handed. The rations were all but gone, and anarchy rose through starvation. The last of the supplies were held in safe-keeping by rebel groups.

  No one wanted to do this. They just wanted to eat.

  She had never thought her life would lead up to this very moment: running through a supplies facility in Sanctum, soaked in the blood of her friends. She didn�
��t want to hurt anyone, and the Enforcers shouldn’t have arrived so quickly. But then again, they always did.

  Only seventy years ago she was attending school and studying to be an engineer. She dreamed of working at the Plexus when she graduated. But then the food ran out, and the sky went dark. There was no light, so everything began to die. She didn’t even understand what happened. One day everything was fine, the next it was gone. She still remembered her world fading into the distance of the cosmos as their ship drifted away, floating toward a terrifying unknown. As far as she was concerned, her life had ended then.

  She heard screams in the next room and slid to a stop at the door.

  Keep running, said her instinct, but she had to see what was behind that grimy, circular window.

  Two Enforcers were brutalizing another girl; she didn’t know her name but had talked to her on the trip here. Too young to legally work, forced to do the rebels’ bidding so that she might have a week of food.

  Eventually the screams died, and their victim stopped moving. They kicked her battered, violated body to the side with the rest of the pile, laughing. Nausea crept up her throat, but this was something she’d seen before. The Nehel were vile and immoral; there was no atrocity too beneath them.

  “Status,” she heard a voice announce. It came from their radios.

  “All clear,” one of them answered through their masks.

  The Enforcers dressed differently than the Sanctum militia; black armor and buzzard masks, with gleaming red eyes. Their belts were decorated with killing machinery—rifles, knives, and everything in between. They tried to look like monsters, but they didn’t need costumes. Savages, filthy and barbaric.

  “How many?”

  “Fourteen.”

  “The Eye of Akul said there were fifteen.”

  “We only found fourteen, Commandant.”

  “I don’t care how many you’ve found, Ara. They said there were fifteen, so you’re missing one.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. She bolted down the hall, blood pounding in her ears.

  She was going to die!

  They were going to catch her!

  She was going to end up like that girl!