by K M McGuire
“I know who you are, boy!” His nose flared, and his chest heaved with breath, cracking further, “I smell the essence…just like the children.”
“You did this!” Yael growled, her hatred quivering through her nose. “You slaughtered these children, these people!”
The half-man merely smiled, inclining his head. “They refused to be part of it. Me brother’s and I-we’s made sure they knew the price of choice.”
"What the hell are you talking about?" said Vec, stepping closer to the stranger. "Wait...you lived here! This was your home! You murdered your whole family! You sick bastard! And I-I remember you- cowering like a dog! I spared you because you were afraid!"
“And now, the few of us still left,” he said as the black ooze dripped from his nose, “’as been ‘enlightened.’ We’s are part of something greater now! We’s found our purpose! ‘E’s coming!”
“What do you mean?”
“Soon we’s will all see. Once our general returns to this realm the spark of revelations will grow!” He started to writhe, looking down at his metallic arm, while the cube whirled inside his chest. The four of them watched in horror as his organic arm snapped again, no one able to explain the queer smirk that never diminished from his eyes, until his finger finally touched a node on the golden limb. His arm flopped back to his side, the bone cutting through his skin, dripping the caliginous goo. He sighed, staring off into the stars.
“’Ave you's ever watched the moment ‘ope dies in the eyes of a child?” he asked and again turned his attention to Yael. Vec drew his dagger, his face turned violently red. The being chuckled. “To see that void, widen—the ‘onor that comes from being the master of life, the one who wields that gift! Ahh! Soon, the Beyond will be under our foot!” He turned one last time to Andar whose sword was already in his hand, raising up to the half-man's throat. “You’s would be a joy to corrupt. You’s would do so well among us! The things ‘e would ‘ave you do with that sword…” Without a moment of thought, Andar thrust his sword through his neck, up to the hilt, spouting globs of tar as it sliced through the flesh. The gore covered Andar’s fist, and he swiftly pulled the blade back out, while the man still continued to laugh at him with sputtering fits of chortles and coughs.
“Enough!” screamed Yael, and her root clenched fiercely around him, crunching nearly every bone, bending the metal.
“They's coming to kill you’s Voden,” came his strained voice. His glass eye flashed with a pervasive fuchsia, and his dilapidated tongue thrust from his jaw. His voice became something more than what it was. “Adetia will fall! And the depths of the Collapsing Plane will rise!”
As his final words echoed in Voden's mind, Yael thrust her hands down, and the root followed the motion, penetrating the crust of the earth. All they saw was that smile, still beaming up at them, as the sound of bone, ooze, and breaking soil took the man far below them until the earth settled.
Yael’s eyes returned to their natural brown, her features still vehement. The ground of the small village was now barren, the grass that poked out of the remaining snow withered to curled crisps, and it crept to the tree line, peeling at the bark. Pine needles began to fall like snow. They stared at the fluffed earth, waiting to see if the half-man would rise, but nothing changed. Hardly a sound created variation before someone finally spoke.
“I think he should be dead,” Vec muttered and sheathed his knife. But as they composed themselves and lowered their defenses, a low pounding caught Voden’s attention. He turned on his heel, unable to pinpoint where it came from, but the cadence grew louder.
“Do you hear that?” he asked, putting his hands against Yael so she would stop moving. “Shhh!”
Boom!
The birch trees shivered, clacking their bejeweled branches against one another. Again, it shook, louder than before, where the thunderous snapping of a mammoth tree cracked through the forest, expelling a plume of fearful birds. The brood of fowls screamed at the sudden eviction.
“What did he summon?” Vec asked, his eyes skittering in panic. The fear palpably beat within their chests. “I think our welcome here has come to an end!”
“The boat!” Voden replied, pointing to the shore where it lazily rocked with the tide.
“Yes!” Vec exclaimed. “Anything… anywhere but here! Come on!” He took off towards the shore.
The sound grew louder as they frantically raced down the sloping bank. The noise flanked them, and flashes of arrows whizzed past Voden’s shoulder. He kept his eyes fixed on the unperturbed boat. Vec had already untethered the boat from the bank, when the crashing of several trees pulled Voden’s eyes around. The village was now littered with more of the queer half-men and what looked to be a massive, brazen spider. The glance he was able to spare gave him the distinct impression of thin, javelin-like legs—four of them spaced evenly—attached to a disc-shaped carriage. He could just make out the bulbous head of a Scez, his eye fashioned with the same sort of glass eye as the half-man they had just killed.
He sat in the machine, moving his arms and calling out strange demands, garbled by the whirling and stamping of the monstrous… thing. Hisses of steam cried from out of the joints of the automaton, crushing the roofs of the nearby shacks. The Scez swiveled in his seat, somehow harnessed to rotate fully, and thrust his finger in the air towards Voden. As it turned towards them, Voden saw a small shimmer lighting up the Scez’s face, where another strange cube was held inside a gyroscopic apparatus. It spun, ripples of light oscillating down the weird, angular lines that covered the surface of the disc, joints, and legs of the mechanical cellar spider.
On the front face, Voden saw what looked to be a glass orb, like a fish’s eye, and a tiny flicker of purple glittered inside. Sparks of energy fought within, collecting into a vibrating sphere, brightening to an unbearable strength. At the peak of the brilliance, the earth grumbled at the burning paroxysm from the beam of light that cut across the gravel, turning the stone to slag and chard obsidian. It seemed to cackle with vengeful heat, and the ray traced a bellowing, violet line across Voden’s path. He felt the heat calling to him, and he staggered to avoid the steaming barrier keeping him from moving forward. The globe cooled, while vortexes of smoke jaunted through the air, and the color returned to the dull blackness.
“COME ON, VODEN!” Vec bellowed.
The others were already out in the water, Vec holding the boat from drifting off without him. Panic dug into his lungs, but he couldn’t let it stop him. His hand brushed against his leg, the vial still in his pocket. He needed this hope right now. He pressed his teeth harder together, hearing the excitement coming from the half-men, while volleys of arrows kept missing him. He could hear the hum of their precision, sharp enough to split the air like thunder, nearly missing his kneecap and his arm as he pumped them back and forth. He nearly fell as his feet hit the icy water. The swirling sound of energy accumulated inside the machine.
Voden reached the boat and jumped in. “Go!” he cried.
A searing beam boiled the water around them, sizzling and throwing a pillar of water into the sky, the swell pushing the boat further across the lake.
“Give me those!” Vec barked and snatched the oars from Andar. His thick arms pulsed with vigorous strength, throwing distance between them and the horrible beings scattered along the shore. Their attack did not continue. Vec said nothing, rowing profusely and without words, even as the shadows of the half-men turned to specks. Finally, he found himself lacking air to continue. “Can we be safe in Adetia?” he wheezed.
“I don’t know,” Andar whispered, forlorn, shivering while his eyes still observed the flicker of gold on the shore. Yael snapped her fingers and held a fire cupped in her hands. They huddled around it. “But it may be the only place that can remain safe until we find a way to stop…whatever that is.”
The boat scraped the shore, bringing Voden back to reality. It wasn’t as though he knew exactly what he had been thinking about. He mostly wanted to distrac
t himself. He wanted to avoid the painful thoughts of those dead but thinking anything else proved to be nearly as difficult as trying to repress the atrocities. Regardless, they needed to stay focused. There was so much at stake.
They pulled themselves from the boat, quietly dragging the vessel onto the shore, glancing up at the dome as it shimmered in the evening light. Sublime silence caught hold of them, though no one seemed able to express any sort of thought. The terror they had experienced from across the lake reached for them, still looking at them, searching for a way across.
Andar sighed and pushed his way through the gel first, then Voden, the sensation as strange as when they had left, the warmth hugging him gently as he passed through. He took the comfort somberly and continued with a dull trudge. Vec and Yael stood nervously in front of the rippling dome.
“You sure we can come through?” Vec asked, muffled by the dome.
“I don’t know,” Voden called back. “The worst thing would be it rejects you, I guess.”
Vec shook his head and muttered something, and Yael pressed against it. She slid through, muttering about how strange it felt, patting herself down, amazed that she was dry. After a few minutes of Vec struggling to work up the courage, he finally decided it best to try, working out that if the half-men did find a way over, he would presumably be safer in Adetia.
The birds were lively as ever, drifting from tree to tree, diving in graceful motions that would have normally captivate Voden, but now it seemed oddly dry. It almost felt like he was being mocked. It was all too cheerful compared to what they had just escaped. Perhaps the lie was here. They walked for most of the evening (the sun had set shortly after their arrival), and the temperature was mild. Voden took little comfort in it. They kept conversation to a minimum, much of it light remarks about the beauty of the land. No one wished to make mention of the half-men or the feeling that those abominations were still coming for them.
They crested the final hill. The purple darkness draped over the Blue Keep, and they all stood there a moment, soaking in how sweet the light ebbed from out of the open doorway.
“Almost there,” Andar smiled, giving his companions an encouraging grin. “We need to get the elixir to the Well and tell Eigan what we saw. The sooner the better. Regardless of how anyone feels, it would be a pity to see this place lain in ruins.”
Voden nodded, and he heard Yael sigh with admiration. “You don’t think they can break through the Dome do you?” Voden asked.
“I hope not.”
It took them a few hours to find their way to the gardens, but not without some rather persistent urging to keep Vec and Yael going. They stepped into the massive atrium where their footsteps joined the echoes of the few priests still awake at this hour, but none of them paid any mind to them. Even with the grand reveal of the Blue Keep, there was still an empty feeling that rang inside Voden’s chest.
It occurred to Voden they had been gone for over half a year. Though nothing seemed different to him, he still felt a shudder, like he no longer belonged here. They walked through the massive doors to the courtyard where the fountain babbled cheerfully to the silent square. They stood together in the doorway, staring at the Well. The sky started to pulse with a groping maroon, casting life back into the clouds.
“The Well of the Will,” Vec whispered.
Voden smiled, seeing that his heart leapt with the truth of all the legends he had heard throughout his life. And here, at the ruby heart, he had validation for something that had merely been a dream. Andar led them to the fountain, where they could see a few shopkeepers through their windows, beginning to start their ovens to bake breads and cakes. For a moment, they just watched the water spilling out of the jeweled ventricles, reflecting on the Well’s bounty.
“Perhaps we should go get Eigan and tell him we’re here,” Voden said.
Andar looked at Voden and gave him a weary smile. “It should be you that sees this to the end. We can wake him when it’s done. There is no harm in just getting it over with. Besides, we still need to discuss with him what we saw at the village.”
Voden shook his head. It was Andar who had gotten him through this journey, him and everyone else. “It should be you.”
“It was always meant for you. I could not take that for myself.”
Voden turned his gaze to Yael, and she rubbed his back. He couldn’t refuse her smile. He started digging in his pocket, and he took out the crystal vial. Voden looked at it and squeezed it gently. He yanked the stopper from it, and with a hollow pop the contents finally breathed for the first time in nearly two thousand years. There was no smell that came from it, just a lucent swish, whirling the image of his face. He climbed the slippery surface, searching the ruby heart for a place to pour the contents. He stood on a tiny ledge of one of the upper bowls. The water splashed over his boots, and his eyes were level with the ventricles at the top of the Well.
He stared into the water gently mushrooming out of the hole, cascading down into the bowls. He breathed and looked back into the vial. He could just make out his reflection, churning in the clearness. He found it strange how much he had changed in such a short time. He wondered if this was the right thing for Adetia and if it was proper for it to stay hidden away from the world. He sighed. It felt he had the opportunity for choice, to take the responsibility into his own hands, and flick the dominoes. Yet he still felt the weight of the choice pressed too much to one side of the scale. He left the thoughts up for rationalization. Perhaps some things needed to be protected.
He held the vial over the hole and spilled the liquid down into the ventricle. He waited, watching the final drop splash into the spring. The silence seemed to tear like thunder. He looked at Andar.
“Is that it?” he asked, filled with a creeping consternation. He could not reconcile this with his original expectations. He had expected more. It felt worse than any other thought spinning through his mind.
“I…don’t know,” Andar stammered, and he turned a fearful glance to Vec. His eyes darted back and forth. “Something should have happened, right? I mean, we did what we were supposed to!”
Voden shivered. He flung his arms around his chest and became suddenly aware of a wintery breeze snipping at his skin. He shot his friends a concerned look.
“Great Beyond!” Vec said, gripping the fringe of his cloak, pulling it firmly around him. “I hadn’t notice the cold! This is what I hate about winter! Always making you feel the fool!”
Voden hardly heard him, racking his brain to understand. “Could this mean…” Voden muttered, quickly climbing down from the fountain.
“Voden?” called an old voice with an inquisitive inflection. Voden spun around, heart pounding, fearing who had recognized him. It was his grandfather, hobbling towards them.
“Grandfather!” Voden called, trying to hide his quaking nerves. It did not work well, though his grandfather did not seem to notice. He beamed brightly at them. Voden felt trapped, and Andar looked just as uncomfortable as he felt. Yael tried to diminish herself behind Vec, quickly reading into their demeanor.
“It’s been quite some time, my boy!” his grandfather said as he approached them, taking them both in a firm embrace. He wheezed as he sat down on the edge of the fountain. “In fact, no one has seen you two for…Great Beyond, I’m not really even sure! Well, right after your graduation, really. Your mother mentioned something. This old brain of mine struggles to sift through all these things I’ve been collecting up here over the years…some sort of research. And my, who is this lovely dear? I haven’t met you, or…” His attention was arrested by Vec’s outstretched hand. “Quite the handshake, friend! You are… Vec, you say? You must be from the farming communities! Hands like yours couldn’t have any other way of life! So, you took these boys in! I can tell by the clothes, you know! I-don’t be offended!” His eyes were without judgment. In fact, he seemed enamored by them.
“We had something rather important that’s kept us busy,” Voden said quietly. “
Eigan asked us to do something for the city. We…met these two on our travels.” Voden was struggling to find a way to explain even an ounce of their journey, trying to decide the best way to break the news to him. Shame purred inside him, unable to give his adoring grandfather an idea of what had been going on.
His grandfather’s eyes lit up at his words, awe gripping the wrinkled cheeks, bringing color into his pale face. “My,” he said, voice full of wonder, “I knew you two were made for something special! Well, I must say, Voden, I know you had always enjoyed climbing the fountain, but it’s rather unsafe. Oh! And this chill! I can’t remember Adetia getting this cold!”
“Grandfather?” Voden asked curiously. “Why are you here so early? Shouldn’t you be resting?” His heart was uneasy, trying to figure out a way to avoid more attention. He needed some time to gather himself. More people started to flow through the square, and his grandfather—bless him—was rather vocal, at least in such a quiet place, it was more difficult to ignore his voice carrying through the square.
“I do this every morning!” he replied, rather matter-of-factly. “Ever since I can remember, hah! And I can remember surprisingly far if you can believe it! Well, when I remember! I have always come here, first thing in the morning, waiting for the sun to rise over our city, then take a quick drink, and be on my way. It helps me focus, like a morning prayer, if you can imagine.”
“That sounds nice,” muttered Vec, as his eyes nervously watched those who stopped a moment to stare at the group.
“Oh, it is,” he replied, failing to notice Vec’s tone. “I’ve been thinking of you two.” He smiled proudly at Andar and Voden.
