by S V Hurn
Brenda wrapped her face, covering tightly around her nose and mouth and feeling the bite of frost on her face. Magnus pulled out his equipment, ready to spring the lock to Kore’s home but shockingly found it to be unlocked. Considering the structure’s surroundings he now knew having a locked front door seemed a bit redundant. He slowly pushed opened the door; it creaked loudly over the howling wind as they entered the darkness, a musty scent filling their frozen nostrils.
Kore saw the flicker of her candle and felt the draft of air as she sat peering into her fire as she had done countless times over the years. Tonight, was no different except for her awaited guests arriving at her door. Nikko’s fur raised at the back of his neck as he started to snarl a low foreboding growl. She gently stroked him, tugging on his leash and harness forcing him to heel.
Dorathy pushed her way to the front past Henry. She illuminated her way with a small head lamp and her hand tightly gripping her weapon. They slowly and cautiously entered into the small foyer while the rest of them entered single file behind her. Jobar took up the rear, slowly closing the door behind them. Dorathy had a bad feeling about this line of attack but knew there was only one way in, and one way out; they pressed forward into the main living area.
At the far end of the room burned a large fire with a high-back chair blocking its light. To the side they could see a beast’s glowing eyes staring back at them, crouched and ready to attack—its ears pinned straight back, its wings twitching. He snarled and exposed large fanged teeth.
Kore spoke from behind the chair reigning in her anger. “I knew you would eventually end up on my doorstep.”
Dimitri sat crouched next to the ship breathing in the frozen air; his eyes were closed and he drifted to another time and place where the scent of snow took him back to his time spent in his underground laboratory, in a cold musty bunker, exiled to the bitter cold of Siberia. His discovery brought him to this place and this time. He longed for home, for a life of normal. His mind churned over the unimaginable things he had done, places of wonder and sights of horror. One thing he knew for certain was that at this point of his life he knew that not much else could be thrown at him that he could not handle with ease, or so he believed.
Over the howling wind he thought he heard a roar, so he strained to look past the ship—but the conditions had turned from bad to worse with nothing but a blurred blanket of blowing snow in all directions. He stayed close to the hull as he felt his way past the tail of the ship, daring not to wander too far as it was a long way down to the bottom and the ground had become a slick frozen sheet of ice beneath him.
Coolie was with Patsup, who was asleep snoring in the captain’s chair beside him in the cockpit. Coolie strained to see out the forward transparent dome. A dark shadow amongst the frosted white had caught his eye, so he climbed to his feet and leaned in close, rubbing his eyes, forcing them to adjust to the fading light of night. He had a bad feeling growing in the pit of his gut and as much as he knew the cold would strike him hard the minute he opened the hatch, he felt compelled to check on Dimitri standing guard outside.
Coolie wrapped his cloak around his body and pulled the hood down over his face and cinched it tight, leaving just enough room for his goggles. He paused and took a deep breath as the hatch slid open, blasting him with snow and frigid air. Coolie stepped out and the hatch quickly closed behind him as he groped for the hull to steady himself on his feet. He tried yelling for Dimitri but knew it would be in vain as he struggled to hear his own shrieking voice above the ever-growing howl of the relentless wind.
From behind came a blow that knocked Coolie to the ground; as he struggled, gasping for air he could make out something that looked like big black claws in front of his face. He hazily decided it was a pair of boots and with another blow to the back of his head he was assured it was indeed boots; his goggles twisted to the side, and his face was lying on the cold stiff leather; his vision narrowed to black.
Kore rose from the comfort of her worn chair facing her guests—her back to the fire cast a red halo around her withered shape and shadowed the features of her aging face. She held Nikko firmly by her side as she slowly approached. She searched and presented the crystal amulet, glowing and pulsating, hanging from the heavy chain around her neck. “I seem to have something that you seek to possess, and it seems to have been awakened by your presence.” She stared into the darkened room illuminated only by a small head lamp; the shadowy figures moved in closer as Dorathy’s lamp brought light onto Kore’s pale face.
She winced at the light, but it was at that moment Brenda felt as if she were staring at the ghostly image of her mother, long past. Brenda moved in close removing her head wrap, “My God, who are you?”
“Who am I?” Kore asked in a whisper as she stared back at Brenda, recognizing the curve of her face and the color of her auburn hair and the glow of her bright blue eyes. “Now, that is a very good question, maybe you can answer that for me.”
From behind a new booming voice startled and made them jump and grasp for their weapons. “Who she is has been kept a secret . . . but I have been waiting for you a very long time, my dear Dorathy.”
Dorathy dropped her weapon to her side, the voice taking her back to another life and she almost forgot where and when she was. “Simon? Is that really you?” She turned and gazed at the face lit by her fading light. She struggled with the past rushing up to remind her of the implications. His bald head and the firm handsome features remained ageless, and she peered into the ancient eyes of her father’s oldest friend, a dizzy feeling came over her. “How is this possible?”
Kore clamored to get to the meaning of it all. “Silas, what are you talking about, why are you here? I demand answers at once, and who in Hell’s name . . . is Simon?” Silas ignored Kore’s requests for the first time in years and he felt free to disclose the truth . . . finally.
Dorathy was shaken as the reality started to seep into her cells. “I was told you killed my father!”
“Ah yes, I did indeed kill your father, and you died ever so tragically my dear girl, at the hands of Lucca Venturini . . . or actually his nephew Carlo who you so willingly took under your wing. They were trying to protect you and your ungodly bloodline. They thought if they killed you and had you sent here, they would get you out of harm’s way and get you to the future to fulfill their mission. Unfortunately Simon killed, or shall I say, I killed your father before I had a chance to realize John Rosen had in his possession a very interesting artifact . . . its glow dimmed as life left your father in his final breath.”
Dorathy started to shake as the information reeled in her head—a ghastly scene from a horror she had tried so hard to forget. “Why my father? My father helped mankind progress to a better future . . . Dorathy’s voice trailed off as she remembered visions of her father’s involvement with attempts to depopulate the planet.
“Yes Dorathy . . . search your feelings.”
Dorathy started to cry. “My father knew as many did that our planet and its nearly ten billion inhabitants could not continue to be sustained.” Her voice trembling, she said, “Something had to be done!”
“Yes, and something was done . . . by your blasphemous Illuminati. They abandoned nearly ten billion people to suffer and no doubt extinguish themselves! My dear, I killed your father because he was not human . . . I wanted you dead for the same reason.”
Dorathy struggled with his words and was forced to recall every event in the last few months. The ship protecting her as if she were from the same species, the lost city, the message in the cave. She tried desperately to recall her father’s journals, and it all started to make sense to her. Simon could see her wheels turning over the events of her new life, not knowing exactly what she had been through or experienced; but he knew her real identity was starting to sink in by the expression on her face.
“Yes Dorathy, you and the other twelve bloodlines of the Illuminati are of the purist alien DNA. The only way I could see this through
was to wait for you to arrive to this time, a time when I would have the technology to explore your origins and destroy it.”
Dorathy’s head swam in the implications, knowing that whoever seeded the universe did so approximately fourteen Billion years ago from another dimension; everyone was merely a byproduct of their efforts to populate the universe from God knows where. An alien race far more advanced, evolved to a higher level of being. If there ever was a God, the beings were no doubt a part of the master plan. For the first time in her life she felt she was meant for something greater than what she had grown to know. It empowered her at a level she could not begin to comprehend.
Dorathy had had just about enough of Simon or Silas or whatever the hell his name was, and shouted, “You listen to me you small narrow-minded prick, it’s you against the entire universe and I for one have had enough of your bullshit!”
Suddenly Kore started in and pushed her way forward to face Silas, Nikko snarling at her guests. She held the Amulet high above her head, the chain dangling down the length of her arm. “Someone tells me now what the meaning of all this is or I swear I will smash the crystal against the stone!”
Silas shook his head. “Patience was never one of your virtues. Kore, search your feelings, you do have them, don’t you? You have been presented with a woman here—Silas rushed forward and with a quick movement grabbed Brenda and shoved her so close she could almost taste Kore’s foul breath.
Henry had had enough, and in one sudden attempt to disarm Silas he and Magnus were met with fierce opposition. They exchanged expertly crafted blows, with Nikko growling and fighting against his leash. Kore reached around with her free hand still clinging to the chain, the amulet bouncing around and growing ever brighter and brought a dagger to Brenda’s throat. “Stop now or I will finish her off!” Henry struggled to get to Brenda but was knocked hard to the cold stone floor, hitting his head and now lying dazed and on the brink of passing out. Magnus shifted his stance, disarming Silas and holding him by the scruff, ready to finish him off.
“Now Kore,” Silas said, laughing an evil sound, “you wouldn’t kill your only living relative, now would you?” Kore turned, dropping the knife and it clanked across the floor. Brenda moved away slowly, unscathed.
Facing Silas, Kore demanded, “We need some answers here, and clearly you are here for some as well.”
Silas shook free from Magnus’s grip and straightened the collar of his thick woolen coat. “Dorathy,” Silas goaded her, “tell us about your amulet.”
Dorathy spit at him, “I won’t tell you a damned thing!”
Silas threw his head back in laughter. “You haven’t a clue! Okay, I will go first. The reason Kore has the amulet is because I gave it to her very great grandmother, and she in turn gave it to our daughter.”
Brenda’s thoughts were rushing to her like a tidal wave of emotion slamming her to the ocean floor tossing and turning as she struggled to breathe. She gasped, “Oh God, you’re my father!” Her thoughts and words drifted off to silence.
“Yes, your mother was helpful and very accommodating thanks to you. Your emotional note had struck a chord with her and she came with me to investigate but I assure you she never forgave you for abandoning her and together we left you. Time marched on as I watched over the Amulet through the centuries, watched it get past from mother to daughter.” Silas turned his back on Brenda, leaving her reeling at the thought of her mothers’ betrayal. Her thoughts churned on the idea that she had inherited his convoluted DNA.
Facing Dorathy, taunting her, Silas said, “You are its rightful owner and only you and your bloodline carry the power to activate it. So now I think you and I are going to go on a little trip in your magnificent ship.”
Dorathy screamed so loud the walls shook up to the rafters sending dust particles floating down from above. “Never!” She turned to reach for the amulet as it grew hot in Kore’s hand and lurched from her grasp, burning her in the process—then it shot across the short distance landing in Dorathy’s out-stretched hand.
Kore shouted in pain as she held her scolded hand. “Give that back to me!”
Silas’s eyes grew wide as the scene unfolded, and he found himself chasing them out into the bitter night. He shouted after them, “I know I will be seeing you again shortly because I have something you will no doubt want back, and they are long gone now!”
Kore screamed, “Silas, stop them at once, that is an order!”
Silas turned to face her. “I have waited a lifetime to do this!” He approached her with a look of a feral animal, a rage that had been building up inside of him for centuries and struck her hard across the face, sending her backwards to the hard floor, Nikko trying hard to sink his sharp teeth into his master’s attacker. “Silence!” he yelled.
She was struggling, forcing her old bones up from the floor still having a firm grip on Nikko’s leash. She tried to calm him as she now knew Silas was no longer the person he had been all the years of loyal servitude. He was indeed a stranger to her, this man by the name of Simon who had now taken the place of her devoted pilot.
Silas said, “I have my own agenda and you are no longer a necessity.” He bent down and picked up her discarded dagger from the stone floor and with a precise throw, it struck Nikko in the chest and he winced and whined in pain, yelping for comfort. Kore screamed and cried, tears flowing freely now as she quickly drew the dagger from her beloved pet and ripped a portion from her cloak and tended to his wound. Anger welled in her like a dormant volcano coming to life; she held the dagger firmly in her hands and attacked Simon from behind. The cumulative effects of the stresses of her life and the events of the last few weeks had given her an unnatural strength that could never be matched. With a force of ages, she came down hard into Simon’s back with her dagger, instantly severing his spinal cord and sending him lifeless to the floor. She withdrew the dagger and straddling him, brought it down hard into the base of his head, the dagger stopping as its tip broke against the stone floor. The blood flowing freely and gurgled as Simon took his last breath. Kore screamed a scream that could be heard over the centuries, time ever flowing but just a mere echo.
Henry was the last one to the top, out of breath, his throbbing head only matched by the pain of frostbite setting into his extremities. He clamored over the icy jagged rock with the help of Dorathy pulling at his coat collar. The others fought against the gale force winds threatening to blow them all over the edge. They slowed to a crawl, groping their way in the darkness, their eyes sealed shut by the freeze, finally managing to find their way to the outer hatch of the ship patiently waiting for them.
The hatch slid open, welcoming them into the warmth. The commotion startled Patsup; he stretched and yawned lazily as his senses came back to him and he ran to welcome them back. Patsup winced at the sight of them, Magnus and Henry both bruised and bloodied and covered in frost. The women were unscathed but traumatized by the ordeal with anguish written on their red frozen faces.
Patsup was helping Jobar with his coat as Henry moved past them towards the cockpit, shouting over his shoulder, “Get Dimitri up here—we need to vacate ASAP!”
Patsup now had a very confused look on his face and shouted after Henry, “Aren’t Dimitri and Coolie with you?”
Jobar knew that look only too well as he grabbed Patsup by the collar, slamming him hard against the inner hull. “What do you mean Patsup! Where are they?” he screamed, his voice cracking as it thawed.
Patsup shrugged, “I don’t know! I . . . I . . . was asleep, and when I woke they were gone, I assumed you called them down.”
Henry stopped short of the cockpit, remembering what Simon had said and turned back on his heels. “He has them. We can find them with the personal locator Dimitri has.” Henry ran past them to the main lab bringing up the information, “If he’s close by, we’ll find him.” His hands, stiff and sore, sailed over the console. “Damn it, nothing!”
Dorathy leaned against the hull shivering, clutching her
crystal pyramid, her amulet that was her magical talisman, sobbing, her legs giving way as she slid to the floor. Hot tears were streaming down her face. “All of this is because of me, it’s all my fault, the reason your lives have been stolen from you is because of me, because of my capabilities.” She sobbed uncontrollably, “There is no place like home . . . I just want to go home now . . . please . . . we just need to go home.”
Suddenly the ship lurched alive with a sole purpose. Everyone was thrown flat to the floor as it ascended at such an accelerated speed, that no one could begin to comprehend. Henry was trying hard to crawl to the cockpit in order to take command back, but it was a futile effort. The ship rose into space within seconds and was hurtling at an inconceivable speed. The innards seemed to warp and stretch as a rubber band would, stretching its limits into infinity. It grew so long and deformed; it was as if everyone had been separated by miles between them.
With a snap and a boom, time seemed to stop, frozen in the fabric of space. There were words being spoken, but it all sounded like a recording at the slowest speed, distorted and unrecognizable. With a flash of golden light brightly shining through the cockpit, immersing everything in its warm glow, they slingshot forward, and it was over just as suddenly as it started. Henry was the first to his feet, stumbling to the cockpit holding his aching head, Magnus on his heels. Jobar sat up like a pop-up cartoon character while Patsup rolled onto his side using Dorathy and Brenda as crutches to stand. Brenda, disgusted with him, pushed him back to the floor as she stood and helped Dorathy up.
Henry sat in his captain’s chair, stunned and utterly shocked as tears formed at the beautiful sight that lay before him. “You need to look at this people, it is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen.”
Dorathy came in behind him, tears staining her face. “Oh my holy God.”
