by J A Raikes
Eva shrugged, her expression tired and seemingly out of answers. Harris visibly shivered and then resumed cleaning up the storeroom. Eva walked over to me and leaned over to check my bandages.
Watching this whole exchange, I felt a little bit out of place. I raised my left hand, fingers extended, in a ‘teacher will you call on me’ gesture and cleared my throat.
“Hey, uh, guys. I know I’m just the new kid on the block but…” I looked from one to the other, “whats the Void?”
A gentleman’s voice with a strong Cockney accent chimed in from the door to the tavern behind Eva and Harris, “It is singularly the darkness that consumes.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
All three of us turned to look and saw Kal, the bartender, carrying three bowls filled with something that smelled delicious. He motioned to Harris to take a bowl from his hand, as he balanced a third bowl on his forearm.
“The Void is the death that comes for us all and only by the Ember do we still live.”
Ok. Well, so that wasn’t exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. I guess with a title like “the Void” it’s not likely to be pleasant. Still, Kal’s doom-and-gloom outlook seemed a bit heavy handed.
Eva took her bowl and the other from Kal and set it down next to me. She leaned over and offered to help me eat if I needed, gesturing with the spoon in her hand. I shook my head and sat up a little, wincing each time I moved. I was able to gently lean against a nearby shelf, and thankfully, I think the cold was working because everything hurt a lot less. With my good arm, I grabbed the bowl of soup and set it on my lap.
I chimed in, taking a spoonful of warm soup to my lips before asking, “I’m sorry, I just don’t get it. What is it and how did it get here?”
Kal’s eyes narrowed and it seemed as though he was trying to discern something very important. A moment passed and then his features softened. He put up a finger in a gesture of “wait a second” and walked back to the bar. He returned with a wooden stool and a bowl of soup for himself.
“Aye, well, it seems as though we’re going to be in here a long while,” Kal said, sitting and gesturing with his head toward the bar room. “The place is packed and people are scared. I don’t see anyone leaving until the 12 get their act together or the Arcmagus does something dramatic. I’d rather be back here with you lot than out there with a hoard of crying children and mothers who I can’t do anything for.” He took a large spoonful of soup and then licked his lips. He made satisfied sound and he nodded his approval to himself.
“So what is the Void, huh?” he said, reflectively, his accent thick as he chewed over the words. “Don’t get outside much, do you lad?”
I stared at him, unsure how to respond.
“He’s been, uhh, sick. The fall he took really messed up his head,” Eva offered in my defense.
“That I can see,” Kal said, leaning forward, looking me up and down. “Well, the Void is what remains of the time of the Culling. It is a real, visible presence outside our city which threatens at any moment to overrun us,” he said, leaning back on his stool and folding his arms over his chest. “Or at least used to threaten. It appears that something has changed all that. The reports I got from the first few folks rushing in here, it seems the Void swept over the whole city and is just holding. No Voidkin or anything have been seen, but it’s just a matter of time.”
The three of us looked at one another with knowing glances. Harris went back to eating his soup and Eva started playing with her hair. Kal never took his eyes off of me but it was clear he got the picture. He sighed once heavily and rubbed a hand over his face.
“Well, let us hope that the 12 actually can do something about it. We should be alright down here as long as the Ember holds, but this place wasn’t meant to be a refuge. I only have a few meals worth of food and certainly not for everyone out there.”
Just then, a loud click sounded like the one I heard in the house earlier when the darkness came and that same voice chimed on the intercom.
“Citizens of Emberwall. A red alert curfew is now in effect. Do not proceed outside under any circumstances. Secure shelter and await instruction. The Proterezar is in session. The Arcmagus will protect us.” And then there was silence, a click, and the message then repeated.
“Great,” Kal said, sighing and tossing a hand in the air in frustration.
We sat there, looking at one another, silence hanging in the air after the message. Then, a loud crash tore through the other room, and that’s when the screaming started.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Eva stood with a jolt. Harris stopped eating mid bite. Kal and I looked at each other wide eyed. All told, I think our reflexes were pretty impressive.
Kal bounded to his feet and threw open the door from the storeroom to the bar area. Screams flooded the room, punctuated by the sound of breaking furniture or horrible tearing sounds and then abrupt silence. Kal looked over his shoulder at us and hissed, “Voidkin!”
He shut the door and barred it quickly, then rushed to Eva and fumbled for something in his pockets.
“Here, take these keys. They’ll unlock the supply freighter out back. It’ll take you to the central hub of the Network and get you close to Emberhollow. I know your father has a plan, but we are in no position to take on an army of Voidkin. Send word to him that they’ve reached the Network and we must act quickly. I’m going to try and save as many as I can and we’ll hop on the next freighter.”
He shoved a bundle of keys into Eva’s hands and without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel, and grabbed a pole from the storeroom wall. In one fluid motion, he hit a small dragon symbol on the far wall of the storeroom and the wall itself slid open, revealing another tunnel. In the same motion, he flung open the door to the bar and turned the latch so it would lock behind him. People were still screaming and the sounds of fighting poured in once more.
“Cogspit!” Harris said, dropping his bowl and getting to his feet. “I’m going after him. He can’t…”
Eva interrupted, “No, Archer. I need you. More importantly, Finn needs you. I can’t get him around as quickly as you and we don’t have time to waste. We need to get to my dad and find out how to stop this.”
His hands balled into fists and I saw Harris flex them noticeably with frustration.
“Fine. Let’s get going. The sooner this is over, the better,” he said, bending back down to me, grabbing hold of my good arm. He looked me in the eye and I nodded once to him. Together, we managed to get me back into the chair with a lot less pain than before and pushed me toward the hallway.
We hurried down the long corridor, Eva rushing ahead of us. At the end there was a cart that looked like a trolley car. It was wooden, except for the frame, which was crafted of one solid piece of silver metal. The design on the side of the car intermixed ornate metals of gold, bronze and silver along with pieces of machinery that looked more decorative than functional. There were cogs, sprockets, prongs, gears and all manner of oddities. Instead of being on tracks like a normal trolley, though, the cart was suspended in the air by a single rail above where it swayed slightly.
Timed perfectly, Harris got me into the car just as Eva got the key into the lock and flung open the door. It opened like a minivan cabin door, sliding off to the side as Eva pulled on it. We hustled into the freighter and Harris rolled me to a side and snagged the keys from Eva. No conversation passed between the two, instead they seemed to simply know what to do. Harris jammed the key into the ignition, pushed several buttons, and then pulled on a large lever which extended from the floor up to the conductor's chair. A flash of blue light pulsed on the outside of the trolley along the entire frame and track which held the car suspended in air.
Just then, a crash sounded down the tunnel toward the Barrow and I looked up to see the door from the bar room burst inward. A torrent of dark smoke poured out of the bar.
“Guys…” I called out, gripping the arms of the wheelchair in anticipation, “we’ve got to g
o!”
I saw the glowing blue eyes of the Voidkin moving quickly down the hall. Harris was working the control panel and Eva was trying to secure the door of the trolley.
“Guys!” I called out again, my heartbeat racing in my chest.
Eva’s head snapped toward Harris and she nodded once.
“Punch it,” She said with an eerie calmness.
Harris flipped a lever and the trolley took off. The force of the acceleration pulled my wheelchair backward until I was pressed against the back wall of the tram, opposite the conductor’s room. It was pitch black in the tunnels ahead of us, save for the glowing blue track of the trolley which seemed to illuminate only moments ahead of us. As we shot through the dark, our speed continued to increase, the velocity made my head swim and my vision blurred. Darkness edged into my sight and a strange sensation came over me.
It’s daytime. I’m hovering over a city, but falling head over heels toward my death. The city is huge and a massive metal wall stands like a monolith hedging in the buildings, pulsating with an eerie red-orange glow. The wall seemed to stretch off in one direction well beyond what I can see. In the other direction, the structure dead ends in a massive mountain which looks like a volcano, pulsating with that same glow. Beyond the wall and all around the city is darkness, but above is a glorious blue sky with the sun shining. It seems like only the city is illuminated and the rest of the world covered in darkness. A few towers rise high above the rest but I can’t even see the entire city. As the wind rushes around me, it strikes me that the city must be the size of a country. Just then, I see something coming toward me, fast. It looks like a robot. That can’t be right...It isn’t slowing down. It’s going to hit me. No. Please. Wait. I just want to go home. I throw out my arms in front of me trying vainly to stop it. The machine slams into my left side and pain shoots through my arm and torso. I black out.
Pain shot through my arm and torso and I drew in a sharp breath. My vision went back to normal and my head cleared. From across the car Eva looked at me, holding on to one of the poles that lined every few feet of the freighter.
“Is everything okay?” she asked as concern creased her forehead. Her voice was calm and surprisingly reassuring. Something about that barely noticeable accent really calmed me down.
I shifted slightly in the wheelchair and tried to get more comfortable.
“Yeah. Thanks,” I replied, waving a hand in a ‘yeah, I’m totally fine, but not really’ gesture.
She seemed to digest that for a moment before she nodded, walked down the cabin toward me and sat on a bench near me. We sat in silence for a few moments as the tram blazed a trail in the dark tunnel.
A bit unsure what to do, I cleared my throat and looked at Eva.
“Hey, so I’ve been meaning to ask,” I said, placing my hands in my lap and looked out the window behind us. Yeah, its nearly pitch black out there, save for the glow from the rail. So what? Guys don’t like to talk and it makes it easier if we don’t have to look at the other person while we do it. It’s why we like campfires and video games. We can have a good conversation, but we have something else to look at so it doesn’t get all awkward.
I continued, “Why...uh,” I cleared my throat again, finding my mouth surprisingly dry. “Why did you come back for me? And, perhaps more to a point, why have you and Harris taken care of me?” I couldn’t bring myself to look directly at her, so I continued staring out the window, occasionally looking down at my lap.
“What do you mean?” Eva said coolly. “Why wouldn’t I?”
The emphasis she put on her reply made me flinch slightly.
“No, no, I’m really grateful,” I said, turning to look at her and putting my hands out in a placating manner. “But, I mean, you don’t even know me. We’ve had one real conversation and the rest of the time, I’ve been unconscious or basically screaming in pain. But when all the craziness started going down, you came for me and even brought Harris to help me.”
Eva shrugged and this time it was her turn to avoid eye contact. She fidgeted for a moment and then started playing mindlessly with her hair. “It’s the right thing to do, I guess. It’s not like you could’ve gotten out of the house on your own. And even though I didn’t know there would be Voidkin, it seemed cruel to leave you in the house in the dark to fend for yourself when you couldn’t even get out of bed without tearing open your back.”
“True enough.” I said, letting the thought hang in the air for a moment.
“Plus,” she added, sweeping her hair out of her face with a hand, “I told you I believed you. I promised to help you figure out what was going on and I can’t very well help with that if you’re lying in a puddle of your own blood on the floor of my guest room while the entire world is headed for the Cogs. I don’t know if you’ve caught on but this sort of thing,” she gestured outside aimlessly, “doesn’t happen every day around here.”
“Well, thanks.” I smiled at her and then quickly shifted my gaze back out the window.
I cleared my throat again and changed topics. “So, what do you think happened to all those people in the bar?”
Her face darkened a bit and her smile faded. “I don’t really want to think about it. They’re probably all dead at this point. There really isn’t a way any of them made it out of there unless Kal…” She stopped mid sentence and closed her eyes. Her voice was shaky and she took a moment to steady herself.
I reached out best I could and rested my hand on her forearm. She put her other hand on mine and I gently squeezed her arm to reassure her.
“Sorry I brought it up,” I said apologetically.
“No…” she started but her voice caught and it took her a moment. “No, it’s okay. I’ve known Kal most of my life and while I haven’t seen him much of late, it hurts to think that he may have died trying to protect us.”
I nodded and silence settled in as I gave her space to grieve. The trolley shot through the darkness and the sound of the mechanisms clicking and changing was oddly soothing. I looked around and tried to come up with something else to talk about to get her mind off what just happened.
“So, how did Harris know how to operate this thing? And where are we going?”
Eva took another moment to finish composing herself and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. She looked up and took in a breath, then glanced over at Harris who was stalwartly looking out the front entryway with one hand placed firmly on the conductor’s console.
“He doesn’t,” she replied honestly as she cleared her throat. “But thankfully there is only one track, and Kal gave us the key, so I imagine he just pushed buttons until everything turned on.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” I said. “Where does this take us?”
“I'm not exactly sure,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders. “But all of the freight lines head to a central hub over in Emberhollow, the first Ward. Since we're trying to get to my dad in the council chambers, that’s where we need to go. From there, it'll just be a matter of getting to some of the upper levels within the ward itself.”
“All right then,” I replied, adjusting my robe as I noticed it had slipped awkwardly off my shoulder. “Hopefully he'll be able to make sure I didn't completely rip something open, or do irreparable damage to my back. That said, I've been feeling a lot better over the course of the last hour or so. Ever since we got to the Barrow and I got to lie on the cool floor, everything has been feeling a whole lot better!”
“Oh I am so glad!” she said, mustering a smile. “I was worried when we found you in the guest quarters on the floor. It looked like you had lost a lot of blood! I know that the last few weeks have been really rough on you but I'm glad you are feeling better. ”
Yes, really rough might be an understatement, especially considering I can’t remember any of those “few weeks” aside from nearly dying and waking up in excruciating pain and all of the events of this hellish evening.
I smiled back, unsure how to continue the conversation a
nd went back to staring out the window. It must just be a habit of mine at this point with all of the driving around from job to job over the last few years. I like to look out the window and enjoy the scenery, daydreaming about what things could be like. I always enjoyed looking at the mountains in Tucson, just wondering what's going on out there. Wondering what kind of wildlife was busy making a home, or what kind of predators were stalking their prey, or what kind of insects were crawling all about trying to just survive. It always fascinated me that there are entire ecosystems of life that exist well beyond my perception. They continue on with life as though there is nothing more important in the world than finding that next berry or building a nest or protecting the queen.
Yet for me, most of my life I’ve spent trying to figure out what’s next. Dead end jobs and unrewarding schooling and all the other areas of life I’ve explored up to now just seemed rather trivial. But the little ground squirrel scurrying around the desert, making sure there was food for the evening while not being food for something else - that was a life I found I envied. The squirrel knew what to do and how to enjoy the moment and there were no question marks about where to go from there. Even now, when I’ve been broken into little pieces and being pushed around by strangers in an odd world with a terrifying demon somewhere behind us, I still don’t know where to go next. I don’t even know how to get home.
I find staring out the window helps calm me and helps me to focus. As I stared out the window now, I was greeted with only darkness. I didn't know if we were still in a tunnel, or if we had gotten somewhere outside, all was still pitch black.
“You know…” I started to say, but stopped mid-sentence as I spotted something in the darkness behind us. I could see the faint outline of something glowing far behind us. The glow was slowly but definitely gaining on our position. I squinted to see it better, and realized it was the eyes of the horrifying creature that had been chasing us.
