Now clean, but cold and wet, I returned to the clearing where Yggsdrasil had once stood vigil.
A figure stood near the giant stump. I felt a strange mixture of fear and joy at seeing this figure. Joy at the thought of being able to talk to someone, anyone about what had just happened to me, fear began to wrap its cold hand around what passed for my heart though as I got a closer look at this figure.
It was vaguely feminine, its pale flesh almost translucent in the dim light of the clearing. Her hair was long, dark and tangled in massive clumps that seemed to have a life of their own. Her eyes shone with a bright blue light that only made me feel even colder in my nakedness.
She waited as I stepped from the forest and cautiously approached her.
Now that I had the my natural equipment again, I found it difficult not to drop my hands down to cover my privates, but something told me that there was nothing truly sexual about this creature, so I resisted and kept my hands down at my sides, fists nervously clenching and unclenching.
“Who are you?” I saw no reason to beat around the bush.
“I am Me’shwara, She Who Watches, in your mortal tongue.”
“Can you tell me what the hell happened to me here?” I looked down at my new body before meeting her gaze again. “Where is my son? He helped to bring me here.”
“Your son made his sacrifice. His time has expired. He has moved on in his journey. You, however, have much work yet to do.” Her voice was cold and distant, ringing out with a hollow echo as she spoke, as if she were using a microphone and bad speakers.
“Why couldn’t he wait until this…transformation…that I went through was finished?”
The woman’s face showed no emotion as she replied. “His sacrifice was required for you to rise again. Without the completion of the act, you would no longer exist.”
I stepped forward, losing the fear for this strange woman as my frustration level grew. “What do you mean that I wouldn’t exist? I was far more powerful than I feel now. What the fuck did you people do to me? What happened to my body? Why do I need to eat again? Why…”
Her raised hand ended my rush of questions and halted me where I stood, unable to move or even speak as she exerted some sort of power over me.
“You will have to find your own answers to most of your questions, but I answer three questions that you ask now. Ask carefully, because I will answer no more than three questions.”
I felt her grip of power on me loosen. “OK, what happened to me?”
“You had fallen into the trap of becoming that which you had been fighting against. By defeating the Banes and absorbing their essences, you became too dangerous. This was a process that had been taking place over a number of years, but you reached a critical mass, a tipping point, where you would have soon fallen under the sway of the An’girasii and destroyed all hope for your people. Your son sacrificed his own life so that you could be saved. As you can see, your body has been dramatically altered. You are now flesh and bone once again, your Spirit has been reunited with a body that has certain physical needs. Your Spirit has been cleansed of all the others that you had absorbed over the years, including the creature you knew as Grendel’s mother.”
I didn’t stop to think about her answer before asking my next question.
“So, do I need to eat and drink again because I am alive?”
“You are immortal, to a degree, in that you do not require sustenance to survive. You do, however, need to eat and drink in order to thrive and become as strong as you will need to be for the challenges that you will surely face. You will find that you crave the lifeblood of living creatures, the fresher the kill, the more strength you will gain from its consumption. In that aspect, you are now well and truly your father’s son.”
That caught me off guard. I couldn’t resist throwing out my third question. “Wait a minute, who do you think my father is?”
“The man you know as Drake Kampmann was both your biological father and your spiritual father.”
I was so stunned by this statement that I had trouble forming coherent words in reply. “But…that’s…not…possible…”
The creature smiled for the first time. “It is the truth. When you come to a full acceptance of this fact, you will truly discover the full range of your inherited powers.”
“No…no…no…”
“Say your farewell to this place, human, for you will likely never return. You will find that it will be exceedingly difficult to travel through the Shadow, as you call it, like you did before. You still retain the knowledge of how to do so, but you will no longer have the same complete mastery of that place as you did before.”
She pointed to a pile of clothes and gear next to her.
“Please collect your things and prepare yourself for your final journey from this place. I will open the path for you to take back to your home world.”
I couldn’t bring myself to move just yet. “But what happened to Alexa? Why can’t I see Kenny one more time?”
She shook her head. “You have used up your allotment of questions, human. You will need to find those answers for yourself. You do not have much time before the pathway is open to you. I suggest that you use this time wisely.”
A door of Shadow formed just beyond my pile of clothes. Still dumbfounded, I staggered forward to scoop up my gear. I noticed something was missing. “Hey, where is Excalibur?”
“The Lady of the Lake has claimed the blade for now for safekeeping. If you prove worthy of it, and are in need of it, it may be returned to you at a later time. I suggest that you leave now.”
Clothes and gear in hand, I stepped into the Shadow with far more questions than answers.
“Drake is really my father? Mom, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do!”
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Friday, July 04, 2008
Radio Silence...Part 2
I emerged from the cavern to see even more dramatic changes to clearing.
Yggsdrasil was no more. There was simply a massive rotting stump where the mighty tree once stood. The clearing itself was much smaller, the surrounding forest loomed closer having reclaimed nearly half of the clearing.
This once familiar place was now strange and alien. Or perhaps I was now the alien in this place. I felt very much alone.
“Kenny? Alexa? Is there anyone here?”
The only response I received was the swaying of the trees in the breeze and the distant sounds of various forest creatures.
As I stood there surveying the incredible changes to the once place I could call a sanctuary, a strange, yet distantly familiar sensation erupted from my gut.
Hunger.
It was the first time I could recall the feeling since I had died.
My knees began to tremble as a wave of hunger and a seemingly insatiable thirst overcame me. These twin drives had been missing from existence for so long that I was at a loss as to how to satisfy either of them.
The need to eat something, anything, was growing by the moment. I started stumbling towards the woods, hoping to find something that would tamp down the screaming hunger pangs that were raging throughout my body.
As I plunged into the dark mass of trees, I grabbed a long hanging branch, plucked some leaves from it and stuffed them into my mouth.
The leaves quickly dissolved into a bitter, chewy mass of mush that only inflamed my hunger.
Crashing through the thick underbrush, I began to look for something more substantial to eat. I was hoping for a small woodland creature of some sort, but I would’ve settled for almost anything with a pulse.
I was making so much noise as I rampaged through the woods that everything with an ounce of sense and the ability to move or hide quickly did so.
Crying out in rage and frustration, I stumbled across a babbling brook that opened up into a small, clear pool just a few feet away from where I landed with a splash and a curse. Unable to contain my thirst anymore, I plunged my face into the muddy stream and sucked a mouthful of water, pausing only long enough to gulp it down and dive down for some more.
The water was shockingly cold, but it tasted absolutely horrible. It was full of grit and had a tangy, metallic aftertaste.
Before I had the chance to marvel at my newfound senses of taste, smell, and touch, I caught a flash of silver coming from the pool. Seeing a chance to satisfy the other primal drive that I was feeling, I crawled over to the pool and watched for more movement.
It didn’t take long for the silver-colored fish to move again. With all of the speed I could muster, I plunged my hand into the water and grasped at the slippery form. On my third try, I was rewarded with a wriggling brook trout.
I was far too hungry to even pause before I brought the fish up to my mouth and ended its struggle for survival with a massive bite through the fleshy belly. My teeth tore through the slimy scales, the juicy fat of the belly, and whatever internal organs were in the way. I was rewarded with a cool rush of coppery tasting blood.
I swallowed as quickly as I could break the flesh into digestible bits. In mere moments, most of the five or six pound fish was gone.
Looking down at my reflection, I was horrified to see how monstrous I appeared. Blood and scales covered the lower part of my face and a good portion of my upper torso.
For the first time since I woke up, I noticed that I was completely naked. Looking down at my naked body I was more than a little surprised to see parts of my anatomy that had been taken from me by Dr. Geek and his lab technicians. I seemed to have all of my natural parts again, despite the fact that all of my flesh looked deathly pale.
I shook my head in disbelief before plunging into the pool to wash off the remains of dinner.
(To be continued on Sunday, July 6, 2008)
Yggsdrasil was no more. There was simply a massive rotting stump where the mighty tree once stood. The clearing itself was much smaller, the surrounding forest loomed closer having reclaimed nearly half of the clearing.
This once familiar place was now strange and alien. Or perhaps I was now the alien in this place. I felt very much alone.
“Kenny? Alexa? Is there anyone here?”
The only response I received was the swaying of the trees in the breeze and the distant sounds of various forest creatures.
As I stood there surveying the incredible changes to the once place I could call a sanctuary, a strange, yet distantly familiar sensation erupted from my gut.
Hunger.
It was the first time I could recall the feeling since I had died.
My knees began to tremble as a wave of hunger and a seemingly insatiable thirst overcame me. These twin drives had been missing from existence for so long that I was at a loss as to how to satisfy either of them.
The need to eat something, anything, was growing by the moment. I started stumbling towards the woods, hoping to find something that would tamp down the screaming hunger pangs that were raging throughout my body.
As I plunged into the dark mass of trees, I grabbed a long hanging branch, plucked some leaves from it and stuffed them into my mouth.
The leaves quickly dissolved into a bitter, chewy mass of mush that only inflamed my hunger.
Crashing through the thick underbrush, I began to look for something more substantial to eat. I was hoping for a small woodland creature of some sort, but I would’ve settled for almost anything with a pulse.
I was making so much noise as I rampaged through the woods that everything with an ounce of sense and the ability to move or hide quickly did so.
Crying out in rage and frustration, I stumbled across a babbling brook that opened up into a small, clear pool just a few feet away from where I landed with a splash and a curse. Unable to contain my thirst anymore, I plunged my face into the muddy stream and sucked a mouthful of water, pausing only long enough to gulp it down and dive down for some more.
The water was shockingly cold, but it tasted absolutely horrible. It was full of grit and had a tangy, metallic aftertaste.
Before I had the chance to marvel at my newfound senses of taste, smell, and touch, I caught a flash of silver coming from the pool. Seeing a chance to satisfy the other primal drive that I was feeling, I crawled over to the pool and watched for more movement.
It didn’t take long for the silver-colored fish to move again. With all of the speed I could muster, I plunged my hand into the water and grasped at the slippery form. On my third try, I was rewarded with a wriggling brook trout.
I was far too hungry to even pause before I brought the fish up to my mouth and ended its struggle for survival with a massive bite through the fleshy belly. My teeth tore through the slimy scales, the juicy fat of the belly, and whatever internal organs were in the way. I was rewarded with a cool rush of coppery tasting blood.
I swallowed as quickly as I could break the flesh into digestible bits. In mere moments, most of the five or six pound fish was gone.
Looking down at my reflection, I was horrified to see how monstrous I appeared. Blood and scales covered the lower part of my face and a good portion of my upper torso.
For the first time since I woke up, I noticed that I was completely naked. Looking down at my naked body I was more than a little surprised to see parts of my anatomy that had been taken from me by Dr. Geek and his lab technicians. I seemed to have all of my natural parts again, despite the fact that all of my flesh looked deathly pale.
I shook my head in disbelief before plunging into the pool to wash off the remains of dinner.
(To be continued on Sunday, July 6, 2008)
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Radio Silence...Part 1
I awoke to nearly silent darkness. The only sound was a gurgling, squishing sound that was regular and strangely comforting.
I was floating within a warm, watery cocoon.
For the first time in years I didn’t have to push back against other voices in my own head. I was alone with my own thoughts, as confused and scattered as they were.
“Where am I?” My own voice sounded distant and muffled.
“What is happening?”
I tried to move, but my limbs felt heavy and unresponsive.
“Kenny?!?!”
“Alexa!?!?”
“What the fuck is going on? Someone help me!”
There was nothing but the muffled, water-logged sounds of my own small voice and warm, wet darkness.
Doubt began to eat away at the edges of the small amount sanity that I had left.
“Why am I here?”
“Who am I?”
That last question echoed through the darkness, bounced off the unseen walls and came back at me in endless waves of varied loudness.
“Who am I?”
“Who AM I?”
“WHO am I?”
“WHO AM I?”
“who am i?”
I tried to reach up and cover my ears, but my body refused to respond. I was completely helpless as the echoes grew louder and more insistent, hammering at me from every direction until it built into a constant crescendo of sound and fury.
I answered the questions as loudly as I could. I threw out a new true answer every time the question came bouncing back.
“I AM JASON SMITH!!”
“I AM AGENT RUSTY BONES!”
“I AM A DEAD MAN WALKING!”
“I AM A KILLER!”
“I AM KENNY’S FATHER!”
“I AM A COP!”
“I AM A MAN!”
“I AM…I am…i am…I am I.”
A small dim light grew around the edges of my vision. The darkness began to fade as my body began to feel normal once again.
I was laid out on my back on the floor of the cavern beneath Yggsdrasil. The sound water dripping from the roots above into the pool to my left brought me fully back. Each drop echoing in the cavern like the questions I had been bombarded with.
I was alone.
I sat up and looked at my hands in the dim, diffuse light of the cavern. They looked almost normal. They were very pale, but the flesh seemed real enough. I reached out to touch the floor with my right hand. It was cool, damp and hard. It was…smooth and slick.
I pulled back my hand and brought it up close to my eyes. Rubbing the tips of my fingers together, I felt the friction of skin on skin contact.
I stood up. My legs were stiff, but functional. I reached down with my right hand and felt my stomach. I actually felt the contact on my gut both through my fingers and through the muscles of my torso. I pinched the pale flesh between my thumb and forefinger, hard, and smiled at the pain of it.
“What the hell? Am I alive again?”
No one bothered to reply.
(To be continued on Thursday, July 3, 2008)
I was floating within a warm, watery cocoon.
For the first time in years I didn’t have to push back against other voices in my own head. I was alone with my own thoughts, as confused and scattered as they were.
“Where am I?” My own voice sounded distant and muffled.
“What is happening?”
I tried to move, but my limbs felt heavy and unresponsive.
“Kenny?!?!”
“Alexa!?!?”
“What the fuck is going on? Someone help me!”
There was nothing but the muffled, water-logged sounds of my own small voice and warm, wet darkness.
Doubt began to eat away at the edges of the small amount sanity that I had left.
“Why am I here?”
“Who am I?”
That last question echoed through the darkness, bounced off the unseen walls and came back at me in endless waves of varied loudness.
“Who am I?”
“Who AM I?”
“WHO am I?”
“WHO AM I?”
“who am i?”
I tried to reach up and cover my ears, but my body refused to respond. I was completely helpless as the echoes grew louder and more insistent, hammering at me from every direction until it built into a constant crescendo of sound and fury.
I answered the questions as loudly as I could. I threw out a new true answer every time the question came bouncing back.
“I AM JASON SMITH!!”
“I AM AGENT RUSTY BONES!”
“I AM A DEAD MAN WALKING!”
“I AM A KILLER!”
“I AM KENNY’S FATHER!”
“I AM A COP!”
“I AM A MAN!”
“I AM…I am…i am…I am I.”
A small dim light grew around the edges of my vision. The darkness began to fade as my body began to feel normal once again.
I was laid out on my back on the floor of the cavern beneath Yggsdrasil. The sound water dripping from the roots above into the pool to my left brought me fully back. Each drop echoing in the cavern like the questions I had been bombarded with.
I was alone.
I sat up and looked at my hands in the dim, diffuse light of the cavern. They looked almost normal. They were very pale, but the flesh seemed real enough. I reached out to touch the floor with my right hand. It was cool, damp and hard. It was…smooth and slick.
I pulled back my hand and brought it up close to my eyes. Rubbing the tips of my fingers together, I felt the friction of skin on skin contact.
I stood up. My legs were stiff, but functional. I reached down with my right hand and felt my stomach. I actually felt the contact on my gut both through my fingers and through the muscles of my torso. I pinched the pale flesh between my thumb and forefinger, hard, and smiled at the pain of it.
“What the hell? Am I alive again?”
No one bothered to reply.
(To be continued on Thursday, July 3, 2008)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Love's Redemptive Flame
…The swirling morass of memories parted to reveal the loving face of a woman making soothing noises as she stared down at Arixtocles. It was the earliest proto-memory of the man who eventually became a Bane…
Kenny moved closer to me, reaching out his hand. “I need you to come with me, Dad.”
I staggered forward, stumbling over the tangled roots of the dying tree. “The Banes were human?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Or something closer to it. They started out as normal, just like you did.”
I shook off the fog of memories and focused on my son. “How do you know all of this? If you knew this stuff before, why didn’t you say anything?”
He stopped for the moment, his face serious. “I think I’ve known most of this stuff for a while, but I didn’t have any real access to it before I was dying. Once I was wounded though, I knew what had to be done. It was a like veil being lifted from my eyes. We don’t have much time though. We have much to do before my time here is up.”
He began pulling me towards the far side of the tree again.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see soon enough. Trust me, Dad.”
I felt a massive amount of resistance well up inside me. I had to fight back against an almost irresistible urge to smash Kenny and flee from this place. But instead, I allowed him to pull me forward, oblivious to the danger he was in.
We circled the trunk of the tree to the far side. He was leading me to the small cave entrance that I had used before, except that small entrance had been widened by splintering of the trunk almost as if lightning had struck right at that point.
Kenny stopped and let go of my massive, gnarled hand. He pointed to the entrance. “Dad, you have to go down there by yourself. I will be here for you when you finish.”
I looked down at him. He seemed small and child-like as he stared up into my face. It was almost as if he was a young boy again. I could see the hope in his eyes that I would live up to the hero that he wanted me to be. The rage boiled up again. A dark haze obscured my vision. Powerful forces inside me called to be released, to be given the free rein to crush this whelp and to claim his soul as fuel for my growing Power.
I raised my hand as if to strike him, but hesitated.
His blue eyes bore through the red haze and into the last surviving remnants of my Spirit.
“Dad, if you love me, if you love Jasmine, you need to do this. Alexa needs you to do this. She is waiting for you, so please, Dad, go down there.”
My voice seemed small and distant. “Alexa is down there?”
He nodded, but said nothing further.
Between hearing his voice and seeing the hope still bright in his eyes, I found the strength to lower my hand and stagger towards the hole at the base of the once majestic and now silent tree. Instead of finding strength in the darkness that shrouded the stairwell leading down towards the pool, I felt a cold dread that deepened with each step closer to what seemed to be my doom.
My body shrunk to its normal size as I approached the hole.
I found the strength to look back to Kenny. His face was wet with tears, but he waved at me to keep going. “I love you, Dad!”
I nodded and pushed through my own tears, descending into the dark, dank cavern.
The place was preternaturally silent. The normal sighing of the tree above and the near constant drip-drop of water was missing. The only sounds were my own hesitant steps as I reached the end of the spiral stairway. The only light came from the flickering of a small candle held by a tall, lithe woman standing by the foul smelling, stagnant pool.
“Alexa?”
She nodded, but said nothing.
Her face was strikingly similar to her mother’s. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cavern, I could make out her light caramel complexion and see angular her cheeks were. She had the long limbs and lean muscles of a dancer. Her hair hung in loose, dark curls that shrouded her shoulders. Her eyes were bright as she looked me up and down.
“It may already be too late.” Her voice was soft, but there was a hint of hidden strength in her melodious tone.
“What might be too late?”
“Kenny’s sacrifice.”
I shook my head. “How are you even here? How did you get all grown up?” I looked around at this place and wrinkled my nose at the stench of the stagnant water. “What has happened to Yggsdrasil?”
“The only question I can answer right now is your last one. Yggsdrasil is dying just as your Spirit is being consumed by what you have become. It may already be too late, but I have come to try and save you both. This is all possible, however, because of Kenny’s sacrifice. Without that, you would be lost to us forever even as you completed your transformation into the greatest of Banes.”
I stepped back. “I would never serve them…”
She stepped forward. “Oh, but the process is already nearing completion.” Her eyes grew brighter, as did the flame that came from her candle. “You have fallen into the greatest trap of the An’girasii, Father—the illusion that you could become more powerful than they are and challenge them for supremacy.”
I shrunk back from the bright, pure light that reflected from her face as she pressed me back against the back wall of the small cavern.
“What can I do to stop this?”
She held out her hand to me with her palm upraised. A pure silver flame danced in her palm. The light from the flame filled the small cavern, becoming the only thing that I could focus on as it danced and grew brighter in her palm by the moment.
“This flame is fed by the love that your son has had for you all of his life. Take this flame into your hand and then into your body.”
“How can I do that?”
She reached out with her other hand and took mine left hand up to hers palm up. “It is no more complicated than accepting any other gift. Reach out and take it.”
I held out my left hand, she let the flame pour through her fingers and onto my upraised palm.
“I must warn you that this is going to hurt in ways that you’ve never imagined.”
It was too late to pull back. As the first drop of silver flame touched my palm I felt a searing, blinding pain that dwarfed anything that I had ever felt before. The flame spread from palm across my arm and up my body like I had been doused in gasoline.
Alexa stepped back as I fell to my knees and screamed in agony. The fire seared through my soul with a ferocity and a hunger that devoured the darkness of the Shadow. The voices of all those that I had consumed screamed in unison with me as I slipped into unconsciousness...
Kenny moved closer to me, reaching out his hand. “I need you to come with me, Dad.”
I staggered forward, stumbling over the tangled roots of the dying tree. “The Banes were human?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Or something closer to it. They started out as normal, just like you did.”
I shook off the fog of memories and focused on my son. “How do you know all of this? If you knew this stuff before, why didn’t you say anything?”
He stopped for the moment, his face serious. “I think I’ve known most of this stuff for a while, but I didn’t have any real access to it before I was dying. Once I was wounded though, I knew what had to be done. It was a like veil being lifted from my eyes. We don’t have much time though. We have much to do before my time here is up.”
He began pulling me towards the far side of the tree again.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see soon enough. Trust me, Dad.”
I felt a massive amount of resistance well up inside me. I had to fight back against an almost irresistible urge to smash Kenny and flee from this place. But instead, I allowed him to pull me forward, oblivious to the danger he was in.
We circled the trunk of the tree to the far side. He was leading me to the small cave entrance that I had used before, except that small entrance had been widened by splintering of the trunk almost as if lightning had struck right at that point.
Kenny stopped and let go of my massive, gnarled hand. He pointed to the entrance. “Dad, you have to go down there by yourself. I will be here for you when you finish.”
I looked down at him. He seemed small and child-like as he stared up into my face. It was almost as if he was a young boy again. I could see the hope in his eyes that I would live up to the hero that he wanted me to be. The rage boiled up again. A dark haze obscured my vision. Powerful forces inside me called to be released, to be given the free rein to crush this whelp and to claim his soul as fuel for my growing Power.
I raised my hand as if to strike him, but hesitated.
His blue eyes bore through the red haze and into the last surviving remnants of my Spirit.
“Dad, if you love me, if you love Jasmine, you need to do this. Alexa needs you to do this. She is waiting for you, so please, Dad, go down there.”
My voice seemed small and distant. “Alexa is down there?”
He nodded, but said nothing further.
Between hearing his voice and seeing the hope still bright in his eyes, I found the strength to lower my hand and stagger towards the hole at the base of the once majestic and now silent tree. Instead of finding strength in the darkness that shrouded the stairwell leading down towards the pool, I felt a cold dread that deepened with each step closer to what seemed to be my doom.
My body shrunk to its normal size as I approached the hole.
I found the strength to look back to Kenny. His face was wet with tears, but he waved at me to keep going. “I love you, Dad!”
I nodded and pushed through my own tears, descending into the dark, dank cavern.
The place was preternaturally silent. The normal sighing of the tree above and the near constant drip-drop of water was missing. The only sounds were my own hesitant steps as I reached the end of the spiral stairway. The only light came from the flickering of a small candle held by a tall, lithe woman standing by the foul smelling, stagnant pool.
“Alexa?”
She nodded, but said nothing.
Her face was strikingly similar to her mother’s. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cavern, I could make out her light caramel complexion and see angular her cheeks were. She had the long limbs and lean muscles of a dancer. Her hair hung in loose, dark curls that shrouded her shoulders. Her eyes were bright as she looked me up and down.
“It may already be too late.” Her voice was soft, but there was a hint of hidden strength in her melodious tone.
“What might be too late?”
“Kenny’s sacrifice.”
I shook my head. “How are you even here? How did you get all grown up?” I looked around at this place and wrinkled my nose at the stench of the stagnant water. “What has happened to Yggsdrasil?”
“The only question I can answer right now is your last one. Yggsdrasil is dying just as your Spirit is being consumed by what you have become. It may already be too late, but I have come to try and save you both. This is all possible, however, because of Kenny’s sacrifice. Without that, you would be lost to us forever even as you completed your transformation into the greatest of Banes.”
I stepped back. “I would never serve them…”
She stepped forward. “Oh, but the process is already nearing completion.” Her eyes grew brighter, as did the flame that came from her candle. “You have fallen into the greatest trap of the An’girasii, Father—the illusion that you could become more powerful than they are and challenge them for supremacy.”
I shrunk back from the bright, pure light that reflected from her face as she pressed me back against the back wall of the small cavern.
“What can I do to stop this?”
She held out her hand to me with her palm upraised. A pure silver flame danced in her palm. The light from the flame filled the small cavern, becoming the only thing that I could focus on as it danced and grew brighter in her palm by the moment.
“This flame is fed by the love that your son has had for you all of his life. Take this flame into your hand and then into your body.”
“How can I do that?”
She reached out with her other hand and took mine left hand up to hers palm up. “It is no more complicated than accepting any other gift. Reach out and take it.”
I held out my left hand, she let the flame pour through her fingers and onto my upraised palm.
“I must warn you that this is going to hurt in ways that you’ve never imagined.”
It was too late to pull back. As the first drop of silver flame touched my palm I felt a searing, blinding pain that dwarfed anything that I had ever felt before. The flame spread from palm across my arm and up my body like I had been doused in gasoline.
Alexa stepped back as I fell to my knees and screamed in agony. The fire seared through my soul with a ferocity and a hunger that devoured the darkness of the Shadow. The voices of all those that I had consumed screamed in unison with me as I slipped into unconsciousness...
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Just Call Me Ruxxxty Bones...Part 2
Kenny was waiting for me just beyond the range of the obelisk. His Spirit was bright and strong, with the vibrancy of youth.
I crashed through the forest to stand in front of him. “Why didn’t you let me help you, Kenny? You didn’t have to die!”
Kenny shook his head. “You are the one in need of help, Father. Such help always comes with a price.”
“Why do you have to pay the price for helping me?”
His eyes bore into me. “Because you are no longer capable of helping yourself.” He turned his back to me. “We will be going to a place you were once quite familiar with. Meet me at Yggsdrasil.”
I hadn’t been back to that place since I had parted ways with Drake and John Red Bear. It was in the forest near that clearing where John had shown me about the obelisks and their strange powers.
“You know how to get there?”
Kenny glanced back at me before shimmering and slipping into the Shadowland. “I do now.”
I had little choice but to summon the Shadow myself and head towards the clearing where I usually found more questions than answers.
I emerged from the Shadow on the edge of the clearing expecting to see the towering mass of Yggsdrasil that dominated the middle of the place ever since I had planted the baton that hade grown into a full blown tree. Instead, I found a place that changed drastically. The once thriving tree that had introduced itself to me as Yggsdrasil was now a withered remnant of its former self.
The once black trunk was now graying in many places. Nearly all of Yggsdrasil’s marvelous black and white leaves lay scattered about the clearing, lazily blowing and rustling in the mild breeze.
I stood there in shock, unwilling to believe that this once massive tree was now a shriveled relic of itself.
Kenny stood near the base of the tree. He had adopted the physical image he had before the battle in Alaska. His face was grim, his eyes sad.
I stumbled towards him, tripping over the tangled mass of dry roots between us. I was still at least eight feet tall, my body now resembled the Demon’s than my own natural form.
“What happened here?”
He looked up into my eyes with his own expressive brown eyes. “This tree reflects the strength and vitality of your Spirit. When you planted this tree, you planted it in strength and defiance.” He looked form me back to the tree. “You see, Father, the Tree is you, you are the Tree.”
“But how can that be? I am stronger than I have eve r been? I almost single-handedly slew and consumed three Banes! I’m finally strong enough to take on the damn An’girasii on their terms!”
He shook is head. “Dad, you can’t beat these creatures by becoming like them. Look inside the memories of those Banes that you destroyed. When you do that, you will find that each of them was once a powerful person who thought that they too could challenge the power of the An’girasii. In the end, each of them fell under the sway of the very powers they thought they could replace.”
“I’m different. I’m stronger. I’ve got the benefit of Drake’s thousands of years hunting the An’girasii and all of John’s teaching.”
“You’ve taken all of that knowledge and experience and have become stronger than any Bane, this is true. But in the process, you’ve also lost what it is to be human. If you can’t find a way to regain what you have lost, you will become more a danger to all you hold dear than any number of Banes. That is why I am here, to help you find your way back to us. If I fail, then I would not have had much a future in any event.
“But know this, Father. I may be your last chance to save yourself, the ORC’s, Alexa, and the future of humanity.”
Looking inward as he spoke, I combed through the roiling images of the memories of the Banes that I had destroyed. Of the three, though, only Arixtocles’ were immediately decipherable. I began sorting through all of the earliest memories that I could looking for what he may once have been. Just as Kenny was finishing, I found a small kernel of memory that had been suppressed for almost as long as Arixtocles had existed. I was not prepared for what I found…
I crashed through the forest to stand in front of him. “Why didn’t you let me help you, Kenny? You didn’t have to die!”
Kenny shook his head. “You are the one in need of help, Father. Such help always comes with a price.”
“Why do you have to pay the price for helping me?”
His eyes bore into me. “Because you are no longer capable of helping yourself.” He turned his back to me. “We will be going to a place you were once quite familiar with. Meet me at Yggsdrasil.”
I hadn’t been back to that place since I had parted ways with Drake and John Red Bear. It was in the forest near that clearing where John had shown me about the obelisks and their strange powers.
“You know how to get there?”
Kenny glanced back at me before shimmering and slipping into the Shadowland. “I do now.”
I had little choice but to summon the Shadow myself and head towards the clearing where I usually found more questions than answers.
I emerged from the Shadow on the edge of the clearing expecting to see the towering mass of Yggsdrasil that dominated the middle of the place ever since I had planted the baton that hade grown into a full blown tree. Instead, I found a place that changed drastically. The once thriving tree that had introduced itself to me as Yggsdrasil was now a withered remnant of its former self.
The once black trunk was now graying in many places. Nearly all of Yggsdrasil’s marvelous black and white leaves lay scattered about the clearing, lazily blowing and rustling in the mild breeze.
I stood there in shock, unwilling to believe that this once massive tree was now a shriveled relic of itself.
Kenny stood near the base of the tree. He had adopted the physical image he had before the battle in Alaska. His face was grim, his eyes sad.
I stumbled towards him, tripping over the tangled mass of dry roots between us. I was still at least eight feet tall, my body now resembled the Demon’s than my own natural form.
“What happened here?”
He looked up into my eyes with his own expressive brown eyes. “This tree reflects the strength and vitality of your Spirit. When you planted this tree, you planted it in strength and defiance.” He looked form me back to the tree. “You see, Father, the Tree is you, you are the Tree.”
“But how can that be? I am stronger than I have eve r been? I almost single-handedly slew and consumed three Banes! I’m finally strong enough to take on the damn An’girasii on their terms!”
He shook is head. “Dad, you can’t beat these creatures by becoming like them. Look inside the memories of those Banes that you destroyed. When you do that, you will find that each of them was once a powerful person who thought that they too could challenge the power of the An’girasii. In the end, each of them fell under the sway of the very powers they thought they could replace.”
“I’m different. I’m stronger. I’ve got the benefit of Drake’s thousands of years hunting the An’girasii and all of John’s teaching.”
“You’ve taken all of that knowledge and experience and have become stronger than any Bane, this is true. But in the process, you’ve also lost what it is to be human. If you can’t find a way to regain what you have lost, you will become more a danger to all you hold dear than any number of Banes. That is why I am here, to help you find your way back to us. If I fail, then I would not have had much a future in any event.
“But know this, Father. I may be your last chance to save yourself, the ORC’s, Alexa, and the future of humanity.”
Looking inward as he spoke, I combed through the roiling images of the memories of the Banes that I had destroyed. Of the three, though, only Arixtocles’ were immediately decipherable. I began sorting through all of the earliest memories that I could looking for what he may once have been. Just as Kenny was finishing, I found a small kernel of memory that had been suppressed for almost as long as Arixtocles had existed. I was not prepared for what I found…
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Just Call Me Ruxxxty Banes...Part 1
Inside, I was roiling with emotions. I had just defeated and consumed three Banes, some of the most powerful servants of the An’girasii almost single-handedly, but my friends were now looking up at me with a mixture of fear and awe that I found to be strangely pleasing. I felt a rush of power coursing through my body and my Spirit that made me feel almost invincible. I just knew that I could not be beaten, that there was no one who could destroy me. This was what it felt like to be a god!
People were speaking and moving about, but I was too wrapped up in my own experiences to pay any attention to what these lesser creatures were talking about or doing. I was imagining how easy it was going to be to hunt down and destroy all of the remaining Banes so that I could become even stronger. As random memories from the conquered Banes came flooding up to my consciousness, I realized how easy it would be to take on the An’girasii themselves. Surely, I thought, no single An’girasii could be any stronger than I was already!
I sensed Jim approach me from behind before he had a chance to reach out and touch me to get my attention. I swung around to face him, perhaps with more force than I had intended. He staggered back, a look of concern on his face. I could feel the waves of fear coming from him even as he seemed to be concealing the outward appearance of fear. It was now that I also noticed how I towered over him in height. Normally, he was nearly half a foot taller than me, but now I towered over him by a good three feet.
He started to speak as he pointed towards a set of bushes nearby where other ORC’s had gathered around something. I had to struggle to hear his words even though he seemed to be shouting. “Rusty, come over here, we’ve found Kenny.”
A sudden concern for Kenny quieted the internal torrent of voices, memories, and ambitions that had kept me occupied momentarily. I brushed Jim aside with one hand and stalked over to where my son lay, surrounded by obviously concerned companions.
As I approached, they parted to allow me into the circle. I looked down to see Kenny’s broken body, his limbs splayed out in ways only possible due to many broken bones. His chest was still moving, if barely, but his eyes were closed until I looked down upon his face.
His eyes sprung open as I kneeled down to reach out and touch his face. He spoke only one word. “No.”
I stopped. “I want to help you, son. I can heal you with the powers possess.” I began to reach towards his face again.
“NO!” His face jerked away from my approaching fingers causing him to catch is breath and retch to side. “Don’t touch me you monster!”
I was taken aback. “Son, it’s me, your father. Let me heal you of these wounds! You’ll die if I don’t!” I could see that he couldn’t move away any further, so I knelt down lower and began to brush the hair from his face as I prepared to summon Shadow to heal him.
I staggered to side as Jim grabbed my arm and pulled it away from his face. It took all of his strength, but with two arms wrapped around my upper arm he had managed to pull me away from helping my own dying son!
Rage kicked in as I stood up and grabbed Jim and hoisted him up off the ground with my other hand, breaking his grip on my right arm. His feet dangled several feet of the ground, but he stared back at me with defiance and he spoke through clenched teeth.
“Jason, you have no idea whether these new powers of yours are tainted by the very Banes that are now inside you. What if you make your own son into a mortal enemy? He doesn’t want your help.”
The other ORC’s had taken up positions around me.
Ravyn had called Fire and seemed poised to attack me if necessary.
Herne had drawn that handgun of his and was aiming at my head.
Cerrydwen had a darker look on her face than normal, as she held a ball of black energy of her own in her good hand, ready to leap to Jim’s defense.
Others had taken up positions around me as if they were all prepared to fight me.
I snarled and pulled back my right hand to prepare for a devastating punch, but hesitated when I saw Kenny—actually Kenny’s Spirit form—standing behind Jim looking at me.
“There is nothing you can do to help me now, father, but there is something I must do for you. Put Jim down and come with me.”
I stood there stunned for a moment, not wanting to believe that Kenny, my only son, was dead. Waves of grief rolled through me. I lowered my fist and released Jim to fall to the ground.
Kenny nodded and turned to head deeper into the woods, away from the obelisk that was preventing access to the Shadowland.
I stepped over Jim and pushed through the ORC’s that stood between me and where Kenny was going. “I’m coming, son!” Even as I followed him, the roiling chaos of voices, memories, and delusions of grandeur began to fill my thoughts. I had to fight to stay focused on Kenny.
People were speaking and moving about, but I was too wrapped up in my own experiences to pay any attention to what these lesser creatures were talking about or doing. I was imagining how easy it was going to be to hunt down and destroy all of the remaining Banes so that I could become even stronger. As random memories from the conquered Banes came flooding up to my consciousness, I realized how easy it would be to take on the An’girasii themselves. Surely, I thought, no single An’girasii could be any stronger than I was already!
I sensed Jim approach me from behind before he had a chance to reach out and touch me to get my attention. I swung around to face him, perhaps with more force than I had intended. He staggered back, a look of concern on his face. I could feel the waves of fear coming from him even as he seemed to be concealing the outward appearance of fear. It was now that I also noticed how I towered over him in height. Normally, he was nearly half a foot taller than me, but now I towered over him by a good three feet.
He started to speak as he pointed towards a set of bushes nearby where other ORC’s had gathered around something. I had to struggle to hear his words even though he seemed to be shouting. “Rusty, come over here, we’ve found Kenny.”
A sudden concern for Kenny quieted the internal torrent of voices, memories, and ambitions that had kept me occupied momentarily. I brushed Jim aside with one hand and stalked over to where my son lay, surrounded by obviously concerned companions.
As I approached, they parted to allow me into the circle. I looked down to see Kenny’s broken body, his limbs splayed out in ways only possible due to many broken bones. His chest was still moving, if barely, but his eyes were closed until I looked down upon his face.
His eyes sprung open as I kneeled down to reach out and touch his face. He spoke only one word. “No.”
I stopped. “I want to help you, son. I can heal you with the powers possess.” I began to reach towards his face again.
“NO!” His face jerked away from my approaching fingers causing him to catch is breath and retch to side. “Don’t touch me you monster!”
I was taken aback. “Son, it’s me, your father. Let me heal you of these wounds! You’ll die if I don’t!” I could see that he couldn’t move away any further, so I knelt down lower and began to brush the hair from his face as I prepared to summon Shadow to heal him.
I staggered to side as Jim grabbed my arm and pulled it away from his face. It took all of his strength, but with two arms wrapped around my upper arm he had managed to pull me away from helping my own dying son!
Rage kicked in as I stood up and grabbed Jim and hoisted him up off the ground with my other hand, breaking his grip on my right arm. His feet dangled several feet of the ground, but he stared back at me with defiance and he spoke through clenched teeth.
“Jason, you have no idea whether these new powers of yours are tainted by the very Banes that are now inside you. What if you make your own son into a mortal enemy? He doesn’t want your help.”
The other ORC’s had taken up positions around me.
Ravyn had called Fire and seemed poised to attack me if necessary.
Herne had drawn that handgun of his and was aiming at my head.
Cerrydwen had a darker look on her face than normal, as she held a ball of black energy of her own in her good hand, ready to leap to Jim’s defense.
Others had taken up positions around me as if they were all prepared to fight me.
I snarled and pulled back my right hand to prepare for a devastating punch, but hesitated when I saw Kenny—actually Kenny’s Spirit form—standing behind Jim looking at me.
“There is nothing you can do to help me now, father, but there is something I must do for you. Put Jim down and come with me.”
I stood there stunned for a moment, not wanting to believe that Kenny, my only son, was dead. Waves of grief rolled through me. I lowered my fist and released Jim to fall to the ground.
Kenny nodded and turned to head deeper into the woods, away from the obelisk that was preventing access to the Shadowland.
I stepped over Jim and pushed through the ORC’s that stood between me and where Kenny was going. “I’m coming, son!” Even as I followed him, the roiling chaos of voices, memories, and delusions of grandeur began to fill my thoughts. I had to fight to stay focused on Kenny.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
A War of Shadows...Part 5
Jim stumbled backwards from the explosion of energy and ichor caused by his fatal thrust of Excalibur into the Bane’s back.
I waited, watching for that special moment of vulnerability, knowing that it would come soon.
Arixtocles struggled to stem the flow of blood and power. His hands clutched towards the edges of the blade as if he could push it back the way it had come, but Excalibur was simply too powerful, its magick prevented him from touching the edges.
The Bane staggered, his feet now touching the ground for the first time I had seen, then fell to his knees. The link between his magickally enhanced body and his Spirit form was weakening.
Still laid out on my back, I concentrated on being prepared as the moment inched closer. Two strong tentacles of Shadow extended from my core, poised to strike.
Arixtocles’ convulsed, spitting out a geyser of blood before he collapsed in a boneless heat. Just as his body slumped to the ground, his Spirit form coalesced at a point slightly in front of the now useless pile of flesh.
Before he could gain his bearings and begin the search for a new body, I lashed out with both appendages. I felt an immediate surge of power as I snared his helpless form and brought him struggling into the dark void of my own soul. I consumed his Spirit just as I had the Dragon.
I rose from the ground with a mere thought. Reaching out my right hand, I summoned Excalibur from the lifeless husk of the Bane and turned towards where I had last seen the Demon facing off against Cerrydwen and Herne.
As I turned, I had only the briefest glance towards Jim and Alana to see that they were both OK. Jim was sitting on the ground, looking towards with a look of mixed fear and awe. Alana had rushed up to him, but she stopped dead in tracks as she saw me rise and glance in their direction. The heavy weapon in her hands slipped through her fingers as she almost cringed back from me.
Everyone and everything seemed to slow down to a crawl except me. I felt like I was only walking, but I crossed almost the entire width of the clearing in moments. With Excalibur glowing in my fist and the power of two Banes roiling around inside, I was invincible.
The Demon was smaller than I remembered, even as he loomed over the crouching form of Cerrydwen. She was looking up into the Demon’s eyes with her own fierce look of determination.
Both Cerrydwen and the Demon showed the results of a brutal, bloody battle. Cerrydwen’s left arm hung limply from her shoulder while her face was badly bruised. Blood ran freely from several small cuts on her cheeks and forehead.
The Demon was missing one entire wing. The other wing was shredded and hung limply from his back. He stood up to his full height, but seemed to have to support his weight by holding on to the broken trunk of battered tree with the talons of his massive right hand.
As I approached from behind the Demon, Herne popped up from behind a fallen tree and aimed a massive handgun at the Demon. His face was such a mass of bruises and blood that I wondered briefly how he was able to see in order to point his weapon. But his eyes widened when he saw me approach.
The Demon must have sensed my approach because he released his grip on the tree and swung around to face me, pivoting on his one good leg. The other leg was a tangled mass of twisted and blasted flesh, but it was apparently intact enough for him to stand in place, but not much else.
I couldn’t help gloating. “Kosferaxtu! What a sad sight you’ve become!”
He was looking up to me, for some reason that I couldn’t comprehend at the moment. “This is not possible! What have you done with my brothers?”
I smiled, or at least it I thought I did. “Worry not, Bane. You’ll join them soon enough.”
He appeared to tremble at the sound of my voice. It did seem louder than I had remembered it being before.
“We’ll see about that, Drashe’en.” That name caught me off guard. “Yes, Drashe’en, I know what you are. Now it is time to tell my masters about you.”
His eyes rolled up into his skull and his body stiffened.
I didn’t wait to see what he was trying to do. Instead I closed the distance between us faster than I thought was possible and struck with Excalibur. As his head tumbled from his shoulders, I plunged my empty left hand through his chest plate and drew forth his Spirit without waiting for it come free as I had done with the other two Banes.
The empty husk of the Demon’s body slid off my clenched left fist as I sucked down the last bit of his Spirit. As the body fell away, I was surprised to note that I snatched the dark muscled mass of his heart from his chest. I stood there staring at the grisly thing. It was puny compared to my left palm.
I heard a strange rushing sound in my ears. I was near to bursting with Power.
Cerrydwen stood up from her crouch, her eyes narrowed as she looked at me. “Rusty, is that you?”
I barely heard her words over the pulsing, pounding rush coming from inside my own body, my own Spirit. “Of course it’s me, Cerrydwen. Who else would it be?”
Herne stood up from his position, barely able to stand. Other figures began to emerge from the woods behind him as well. Each person was someone I had known for sometime, but they all shared the same look of fear and awe that Jim had on his face when I last saw him.
Herne was the only who found his voice. “Rusty, you’ve changed.”
“Yeah, that other Bane, Arixtocles, damaged me a bit, I’m sure I’ll heal up in few moments.”
Cerrydwen shook her head, craning her head to look up at me even though she was standing straight. “It’s more than that, Rusty. Something you’ve done with the Spirits of those Banes has affected you more than you might realize.”
Something else was nagging at the back of my mind, but I couldn’t place it.
Ravyn’s voice called from behind me. “Herne, is everyone accounted for over there?”
Herne glanced around at the gathering crowd of survivors. “Did anyone see Kenny Smith?”
I waited, watching for that special moment of vulnerability, knowing that it would come soon.
Arixtocles struggled to stem the flow of blood and power. His hands clutched towards the edges of the blade as if he could push it back the way it had come, but Excalibur was simply too powerful, its magick prevented him from touching the edges.
The Bane staggered, his feet now touching the ground for the first time I had seen, then fell to his knees. The link between his magickally enhanced body and his Spirit form was weakening.
Still laid out on my back, I concentrated on being prepared as the moment inched closer. Two strong tentacles of Shadow extended from my core, poised to strike.
Arixtocles’ convulsed, spitting out a geyser of blood before he collapsed in a boneless heat. Just as his body slumped to the ground, his Spirit form coalesced at a point slightly in front of the now useless pile of flesh.
Before he could gain his bearings and begin the search for a new body, I lashed out with both appendages. I felt an immediate surge of power as I snared his helpless form and brought him struggling into the dark void of my own soul. I consumed his Spirit just as I had the Dragon.
I rose from the ground with a mere thought. Reaching out my right hand, I summoned Excalibur from the lifeless husk of the Bane and turned towards where I had last seen the Demon facing off against Cerrydwen and Herne.
As I turned, I had only the briefest glance towards Jim and Alana to see that they were both OK. Jim was sitting on the ground, looking towards with a look of mixed fear and awe. Alana had rushed up to him, but she stopped dead in tracks as she saw me rise and glance in their direction. The heavy weapon in her hands slipped through her fingers as she almost cringed back from me.
Everyone and everything seemed to slow down to a crawl except me. I felt like I was only walking, but I crossed almost the entire width of the clearing in moments. With Excalibur glowing in my fist and the power of two Banes roiling around inside, I was invincible.
The Demon was smaller than I remembered, even as he loomed over the crouching form of Cerrydwen. She was looking up into the Demon’s eyes with her own fierce look of determination.
Both Cerrydwen and the Demon showed the results of a brutal, bloody battle. Cerrydwen’s left arm hung limply from her shoulder while her face was badly bruised. Blood ran freely from several small cuts on her cheeks and forehead.
The Demon was missing one entire wing. The other wing was shredded and hung limply from his back. He stood up to his full height, but seemed to have to support his weight by holding on to the broken trunk of battered tree with the talons of his massive right hand.
As I approached from behind the Demon, Herne popped up from behind a fallen tree and aimed a massive handgun at the Demon. His face was such a mass of bruises and blood that I wondered briefly how he was able to see in order to point his weapon. But his eyes widened when he saw me approach.
The Demon must have sensed my approach because he released his grip on the tree and swung around to face me, pivoting on his one good leg. The other leg was a tangled mass of twisted and blasted flesh, but it was apparently intact enough for him to stand in place, but not much else.
I couldn’t help gloating. “Kosferaxtu! What a sad sight you’ve become!”
He was looking up to me, for some reason that I couldn’t comprehend at the moment. “This is not possible! What have you done with my brothers?”
I smiled, or at least it I thought I did. “Worry not, Bane. You’ll join them soon enough.”
He appeared to tremble at the sound of my voice. It did seem louder than I had remembered it being before.
“We’ll see about that, Drashe’en.” That name caught me off guard. “Yes, Drashe’en, I know what you are. Now it is time to tell my masters about you.”
His eyes rolled up into his skull and his body stiffened.
I didn’t wait to see what he was trying to do. Instead I closed the distance between us faster than I thought was possible and struck with Excalibur. As his head tumbled from his shoulders, I plunged my empty left hand through his chest plate and drew forth his Spirit without waiting for it come free as I had done with the other two Banes.
The empty husk of the Demon’s body slid off my clenched left fist as I sucked down the last bit of his Spirit. As the body fell away, I was surprised to note that I snatched the dark muscled mass of his heart from his chest. I stood there staring at the grisly thing. It was puny compared to my left palm.
I heard a strange rushing sound in my ears. I was near to bursting with Power.
Cerrydwen stood up from her crouch, her eyes narrowed as she looked at me. “Rusty, is that you?”
I barely heard her words over the pulsing, pounding rush coming from inside my own body, my own Spirit. “Of course it’s me, Cerrydwen. Who else would it be?”
Herne stood up from his position, barely able to stand. Other figures began to emerge from the woods behind him as well. Each person was someone I had known for sometime, but they all shared the same look of fear and awe that Jim had on his face when I last saw him.
Herne was the only who found his voice. “Rusty, you’ve changed.”
“Yeah, that other Bane, Arixtocles, damaged me a bit, I’m sure I’ll heal up in few moments.”
Cerrydwen shook her head, craning her head to look up at me even though she was standing straight. “It’s more than that, Rusty. Something you’ve done with the Spirits of those Banes has affected you more than you might realize.”
Something else was nagging at the back of my mind, but I couldn’t place it.
Ravyn’s voice called from behind me. “Herne, is everyone accounted for over there?”
Herne glanced around at the gathering crowd of survivors. “Did anyone see Kenny Smith?”
Saturday, March 01, 2008
A War of Shadows...Part 4
The Bane Arixtocles, still hovering about a foot off the ground, had turned his attention from the fallen Ravyn towards Jim and Alana Danae as they tried to come up behind him, each carrying strange looking firearms.
I was running towards the Bane as fast as I could, but I knew I wouldn’t get there in time.
I waved for Jim and Alana to get down and hurled Excalibur towards the Bane. The blade hurtled through air, twirling end over hilt in a blaze of magickal energies, scything towards the creature.
I saw Jim’s eyes grow wide with confusion and shock even as he hit the dirt. Alana had beaten him to the ground.
The Bane saw the hurtling sword in time to throw up one arm to deflect it with a blast of red energy, just as I had anticipated. The blade skittered off towards Jim, landing less than three feet to his left with the hilt vibrating as the blade stuck into the earth.
As the Bane turned to face me, I sent a whispered message towards Jim. “Don’t worry about me. Watch for your opportunity and strike with Excalibur.”
The Bane’s face lit up as he recognized me. “I’ve been waiting for you, human. I won’t be as gentle with you as I was with your fire-throwing friend over there. She might actually prove to be a useful diversion after I eliminate you.”
I slowed to a walk, but continued to shorten the distance between us. My hands were empty, so I opened and closed them reflexively.
“I think you are overestimating your strength, Bane. Even now, I am digesting on the Spirit of your brother, the Dragon.”
Arixtocles’ eyes narrowed. “Malaxifer was a fool. Besides, without that sword, you are no threat to me.”
I smiled. “We’ll see about that.”
He threw out his right hand towards me. As he did so, a huge blast of red energy erupted from his palm and blasted me in the chest.
I staggered under the searing onslaught but continued pressing forward, there was only a hundred feet between us now.
The energy tore at my body, shredding my skin.
The Bane laughed as he watched my reaction to his attack. “There will be nothing left of you, Human, when I am done. It will be as if you had never existed.”
Through my peripheral vision, I could see that Jim had pulled Excalibur from the ground and was making his way behind the Bane. I had to keep the thing distracted.
“Arixtocles, you think you have the power to stop me? Look, I am still coming for you. When I get there, I will feast on your Spirit.”
The Bane glared as he brought up his left hand and redoubled the size of the bolt of blazing red energy that he pouring into me. The bolt was tearing at the very fabric of my physical being. He was trying to vaporize my body.
I leaned forward into the blasting force of the massive beam. As quickly as my skin was dissolving, it was being replenished by the small wisps of Shadow that were constantly crawling around inside of me ever since Ma Grendel and I had been merged.
The Bane’s face contorted in a snarl as I continued to plod towards him, one step at a time. “How can your frail, man-made body resist my powers?” He threw his second had towards me, blasting out with a second bolt of energy. “I will incinerate you, Human!”
The power of this second effort forced me back and down to one knee. I stood back up through sheer force of Will and staggered forward. There was less than twenty feet between the Bane and I, Jim was almost equidistant. He needed more time. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to give it to him. My body was beginning to dissolve faster than the Shadow could repair it.
I lunged forward, but tripped on the carcass of a dead wolf. I landed in front of the Bane, face down and spread-eagle. The move surprised Arixtocles as well, providing my pet Shadows the briefest of badly needed moments to restore a fraction of what had been destroyed by his attacks.
I rolled over just in time to see Arixtocles smile in glee as he slipped forward to administer what he anticipated to be a death blow. As he brought his arms up to finish me, the business end of Excalibur erupted from his chest in a shower of black ichor and chaotic, destructive energies…
(To be continued next week)
I was running towards the Bane as fast as I could, but I knew I wouldn’t get there in time.
I waved for Jim and Alana to get down and hurled Excalibur towards the Bane. The blade hurtled through air, twirling end over hilt in a blaze of magickal energies, scything towards the creature.
I saw Jim’s eyes grow wide with confusion and shock even as he hit the dirt. Alana had beaten him to the ground.
The Bane saw the hurtling sword in time to throw up one arm to deflect it with a blast of red energy, just as I had anticipated. The blade skittered off towards Jim, landing less than three feet to his left with the hilt vibrating as the blade stuck into the earth.
As the Bane turned to face me, I sent a whispered message towards Jim. “Don’t worry about me. Watch for your opportunity and strike with Excalibur.”
The Bane’s face lit up as he recognized me. “I’ve been waiting for you, human. I won’t be as gentle with you as I was with your fire-throwing friend over there. She might actually prove to be a useful diversion after I eliminate you.”
I slowed to a walk, but continued to shorten the distance between us. My hands were empty, so I opened and closed them reflexively.
“I think you are overestimating your strength, Bane. Even now, I am digesting on the Spirit of your brother, the Dragon.”
Arixtocles’ eyes narrowed. “Malaxifer was a fool. Besides, without that sword, you are no threat to me.”
I smiled. “We’ll see about that.”
He threw out his right hand towards me. As he did so, a huge blast of red energy erupted from his palm and blasted me in the chest.
I staggered under the searing onslaught but continued pressing forward, there was only a hundred feet between us now.
The energy tore at my body, shredding my skin.
The Bane laughed as he watched my reaction to his attack. “There will be nothing left of you, Human, when I am done. It will be as if you had never existed.”
Through my peripheral vision, I could see that Jim had pulled Excalibur from the ground and was making his way behind the Bane. I had to keep the thing distracted.
“Arixtocles, you think you have the power to stop me? Look, I am still coming for you. When I get there, I will feast on your Spirit.”
The Bane glared as he brought up his left hand and redoubled the size of the bolt of blazing red energy that he pouring into me. The bolt was tearing at the very fabric of my physical being. He was trying to vaporize my body.
I leaned forward into the blasting force of the massive beam. As quickly as my skin was dissolving, it was being replenished by the small wisps of Shadow that were constantly crawling around inside of me ever since Ma Grendel and I had been merged.
The Bane’s face contorted in a snarl as I continued to plod towards him, one step at a time. “How can your frail, man-made body resist my powers?” He threw his second had towards me, blasting out with a second bolt of energy. “I will incinerate you, Human!”
The power of this second effort forced me back and down to one knee. I stood back up through sheer force of Will and staggered forward. There was less than twenty feet between the Bane and I, Jim was almost equidistant. He needed more time. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to give it to him. My body was beginning to dissolve faster than the Shadow could repair it.
I lunged forward, but tripped on the carcass of a dead wolf. I landed in front of the Bane, face down and spread-eagle. The move surprised Arixtocles as well, providing my pet Shadows the briefest of badly needed moments to restore a fraction of what had been destroyed by his attacks.
I rolled over just in time to see Arixtocles smile in glee as he slipped forward to administer what he anticipated to be a death blow. As he brought his arms up to finish me, the business end of Excalibur erupted from his chest in a shower of black ichor and chaotic, destructive energies…
(To be continued next week)
Sunday, February 17, 2008
A War of Shadows...Part 3
The last thing I did before making the jump myself was to re-activate the obelisk with a quick touch and a simple command. That sealed the trap, preventing any of my unwitting victims from escaping back through the Shadowland.
There was a serene moment of silence as we all landed in the middle of the snow filled shallow clearing. That silence was shattered as a very surprised looking Dragon plummeted into the place where I had been standing. Without the weaker gravity and abundant magick of the Shadowland, the Dragon found that his bulk was too great to fly. He crashed snout first into the snow-covered ice of the small lake in the center of the depression with a thunderous roar.
The Demon, who had been charging towards me in the Shadowland, gave out a snarling yelp and dove to the side to avoid being crushed by the Dragon’s bulk. Several wolves and three Reavers were not so lucky.
Before the snow and ice thrown up by the Dragon’s impact could settle back to the ground, chaos erupted as volley after volley of bullets slammed into the scene. Herne’s troops had entered the fray. Each of the hundreds of rounds being firing into the clearing had been charged with magickal energy by my daughter Jasmine.
The bullets were working as advertised, the shadow wolves, Doppelgangers and Reavers were dropping like flies from the concentrated fire from the edge of the forest.
The Banes however, each seemed to be shaking off their momentary surprise and all had their own defenses against the barrage of bullets.
The Demon’s armor plating absorbed even the larger caliber bullets that had been directed him by Herne, but it didn’t stop him from showing his rage at having been caught in our trap. He leaped up after having dodged the fallen Dragon and took off a dead run towards the far edge of the clearing where Herne and Kenny had shown themselves as they pumped round after round towards him.
Arixtocles stood stock still, seemingly in serene meditation, but that was belied by the fact that he was surrounded by a glowing dome of energy that erupted in sparks each time a bullet meant for him exploded short of its target. Meanwhile, he scanned the edges of the forest and would direct a blast of sizzling red energy at the form of any target that presented itself to him.
The Dragon, however, was where my attention was focused. Most of the bullets pelting his hide were deflected by his thick metallic scales. Some rounds were getting through, but their impact seemed miniscule. The Dragon was more concerned with pulling its face and front legs from the debris of thick ice that it had shattered with its fall. It was arching its back and unfurling its wings in an attempt to pull free.
I couldn’t take the chance that a creature that massive got free, so I bolted towards the thing, Excalibur in hand.
A stray wolf lunged at me from the side, latching onto my right calf with its jaws, but I barely broke my stride. Instead, I lashed out with Excalibur, lopping off its head in one heavy stroke.
Just as the Dragon freed its head from the ice, I leapt up towards the base of its massive throat and plunged Excalibur in with both hands as far as I could. The blade practically sang with energy and excitement as it passed through the Dragon’s scales like a hot knife through butter.
The creature reared up in instant pain, pulling me up high into the air with it. I continued to push the blade deeper even as I redoubled my grip on the hilt. Black ichor gushed from the wound, coating my face and hands as the thing continued to thrash.
Bullets continued to thud into the beast, both above and below me. It was hard to tell if they were having any direct impact though as the Dragon already seemed to be in its death throes.
Gathering my Will even as I held on from being thrown to the side by the thrashing beast, I waited for the moment that I knew from Ma Grendel would come. She had hunted all manner of creatures in her eons of existence, including more than a few Banes. I had played back one of those memory fragments in my own head during these past few weeks. I had watched as she had inflicted a mortal wound on the living body of a Bane and had lain in wait to snatch the Spirit of the creature. There would be the briefest of windows where the normally indomitable Spirit of the victimized Bane would be vulnerable. It was that moment when I had to strike at the Spirit if I had any hopes of preventing any of these Banes from snatching the bodies from my allies and beginning the transition to new physical forms.
Like a great tree struck down by age or axe, the Dragon’s body began to sway as the life force within began to slip away. Excalibur had found its mark. As the body began to fall forward, I maintained my grip long enough to glimpse that moment when the Spirit of the Bane let loose from the physical form that it had invested so much energy in developing. That time came just moments before gravity was to impose its final will upon the body of this beast.
Reaching out with a tentacle of Shadow, I snared the stunned Spirit of Malaxifer before he could gain his bearings and pulled him in. As our bodies impacted yet again with the snow and ice of the clearing, I struggled to digest Malaxifer.
I don’t know how long my body lay prone in the snow because there was a titanic struggle taking place inside. Ma Grendel had the distinct advantages of having both the full command of her power and the experience of having consumed the spirits of thousands of victims. She also rather enjoyed the endeavor. I, however, had none of those traits. But I was desperate and determined to get back into the fight before any of my friends paid a mortal price for my inexperience.
Fueled by a burning desperation, I shoved Malaxifer past that internal wall I had made between myself and that innumerable horde of small, hungry predators that spoke to me in whispers, crying out their hunger. That horde descended upon the struggling Spirit of Malaxifer and tore his essence to pieces like a pack of piranha swarming a joint of beef.
Physically, I sat up and looked around just in time to come face to face with a pair of wounded, raving Reavers. Excalibur was still lodged deep in the throat of the Dragon’s carcass so I triggered my wrist sheaths and took them on with my batons. It wasn’t long before I left them as quivering piles of bone and flesh.
I dropped my right baton and reached up to pull Excalibur from the Dragon’s throat. As I did so, I glanced back towards where I had last seen Arixtocles.
An explosion of fire and thunder announced Ravyn’s engagement with him, his own red energy adding to the intense mix. Several bodies lay sprawled between the two of them, but I was unable to see whether they were those of friends or foes. I did manage to see Jim and Alana coming down from the edge of the woods behind the Bane, apparently trying to sneak up on him.
A great roar of triumph from the Demon caused me to snap my head around to the other side of the battle. I saw Kenny’s limp form being lifted in the air by the Demon and tossed to the side like a limp rag doll as the creature lashed out with his other massive claw towards Herne. Cerrydwen darted out from behind a nearby tree to place a battered and bloodied hand on the Demon’s left wing. The Demon howled in pain as that wing exploded in a blast of bone, black flesh and smoking ichor. Cerrydwen and the Demon were tossed in opposite directions by the blast.
I wanted nothing more than to rush to Kenny’s side to see if he was alright, but a second explosive blast from the direction of Arixtocles drew my attention back to that side of the battle. As the smoke cleared, I saw Ravyn’s form crumple to the ground.
Excalibur finally slid free from the Dragon’s corpse, just as I leaped up onto the beast and began running towards Arixtocles…
There was a serene moment of silence as we all landed in the middle of the snow filled shallow clearing. That silence was shattered as a very surprised looking Dragon plummeted into the place where I had been standing. Without the weaker gravity and abundant magick of the Shadowland, the Dragon found that his bulk was too great to fly. He crashed snout first into the snow-covered ice of the small lake in the center of the depression with a thunderous roar.
The Demon, who had been charging towards me in the Shadowland, gave out a snarling yelp and dove to the side to avoid being crushed by the Dragon’s bulk. Several wolves and three Reavers were not so lucky.
Before the snow and ice thrown up by the Dragon’s impact could settle back to the ground, chaos erupted as volley after volley of bullets slammed into the scene. Herne’s troops had entered the fray. Each of the hundreds of rounds being firing into the clearing had been charged with magickal energy by my daughter Jasmine.
The bullets were working as advertised, the shadow wolves, Doppelgangers and Reavers were dropping like flies from the concentrated fire from the edge of the forest.
The Banes however, each seemed to be shaking off their momentary surprise and all had their own defenses against the barrage of bullets.
The Demon’s armor plating absorbed even the larger caliber bullets that had been directed him by Herne, but it didn’t stop him from showing his rage at having been caught in our trap. He leaped up after having dodged the fallen Dragon and took off a dead run towards the far edge of the clearing where Herne and Kenny had shown themselves as they pumped round after round towards him.
Arixtocles stood stock still, seemingly in serene meditation, but that was belied by the fact that he was surrounded by a glowing dome of energy that erupted in sparks each time a bullet meant for him exploded short of its target. Meanwhile, he scanned the edges of the forest and would direct a blast of sizzling red energy at the form of any target that presented itself to him.
The Dragon, however, was where my attention was focused. Most of the bullets pelting his hide were deflected by his thick metallic scales. Some rounds were getting through, but their impact seemed miniscule. The Dragon was more concerned with pulling its face and front legs from the debris of thick ice that it had shattered with its fall. It was arching its back and unfurling its wings in an attempt to pull free.
I couldn’t take the chance that a creature that massive got free, so I bolted towards the thing, Excalibur in hand.
A stray wolf lunged at me from the side, latching onto my right calf with its jaws, but I barely broke my stride. Instead, I lashed out with Excalibur, lopping off its head in one heavy stroke.
Just as the Dragon freed its head from the ice, I leapt up towards the base of its massive throat and plunged Excalibur in with both hands as far as I could. The blade practically sang with energy and excitement as it passed through the Dragon’s scales like a hot knife through butter.
The creature reared up in instant pain, pulling me up high into the air with it. I continued to push the blade deeper even as I redoubled my grip on the hilt. Black ichor gushed from the wound, coating my face and hands as the thing continued to thrash.
Bullets continued to thud into the beast, both above and below me. It was hard to tell if they were having any direct impact though as the Dragon already seemed to be in its death throes.
Gathering my Will even as I held on from being thrown to the side by the thrashing beast, I waited for the moment that I knew from Ma Grendel would come. She had hunted all manner of creatures in her eons of existence, including more than a few Banes. I had played back one of those memory fragments in my own head during these past few weeks. I had watched as she had inflicted a mortal wound on the living body of a Bane and had lain in wait to snatch the Spirit of the creature. There would be the briefest of windows where the normally indomitable Spirit of the victimized Bane would be vulnerable. It was that moment when I had to strike at the Spirit if I had any hopes of preventing any of these Banes from snatching the bodies from my allies and beginning the transition to new physical forms.
Like a great tree struck down by age or axe, the Dragon’s body began to sway as the life force within began to slip away. Excalibur had found its mark. As the body began to fall forward, I maintained my grip long enough to glimpse that moment when the Spirit of the Bane let loose from the physical form that it had invested so much energy in developing. That time came just moments before gravity was to impose its final will upon the body of this beast.
Reaching out with a tentacle of Shadow, I snared the stunned Spirit of Malaxifer before he could gain his bearings and pulled him in. As our bodies impacted yet again with the snow and ice of the clearing, I struggled to digest Malaxifer.
I don’t know how long my body lay prone in the snow because there was a titanic struggle taking place inside. Ma Grendel had the distinct advantages of having both the full command of her power and the experience of having consumed the spirits of thousands of victims. She also rather enjoyed the endeavor. I, however, had none of those traits. But I was desperate and determined to get back into the fight before any of my friends paid a mortal price for my inexperience.
Fueled by a burning desperation, I shoved Malaxifer past that internal wall I had made between myself and that innumerable horde of small, hungry predators that spoke to me in whispers, crying out their hunger. That horde descended upon the struggling Spirit of Malaxifer and tore his essence to pieces like a pack of piranha swarming a joint of beef.
Physically, I sat up and looked around just in time to come face to face with a pair of wounded, raving Reavers. Excalibur was still lodged deep in the throat of the Dragon’s carcass so I triggered my wrist sheaths and took them on with my batons. It wasn’t long before I left them as quivering piles of bone and flesh.
I dropped my right baton and reached up to pull Excalibur from the Dragon’s throat. As I did so, I glanced back towards where I had last seen Arixtocles.
An explosion of fire and thunder announced Ravyn’s engagement with him, his own red energy adding to the intense mix. Several bodies lay sprawled between the two of them, but I was unable to see whether they were those of friends or foes. I did manage to see Jim and Alana coming down from the edge of the woods behind the Bane, apparently trying to sneak up on him.
A great roar of triumph from the Demon caused me to snap my head around to the other side of the battle. I saw Kenny’s limp form being lifted in the air by the Demon and tossed to the side like a limp rag doll as the creature lashed out with his other massive claw towards Herne. Cerrydwen darted out from behind a nearby tree to place a battered and bloodied hand on the Demon’s left wing. The Demon howled in pain as that wing exploded in a blast of bone, black flesh and smoking ichor. Cerrydwen and the Demon were tossed in opposite directions by the blast.
I wanted nothing more than to rush to Kenny’s side to see if he was alright, but a second explosive blast from the direction of Arixtocles drew my attention back to that side of the battle. As the smoke cleared, I saw Ravyn’s form crumple to the ground.
Excalibur finally slid free from the Dragon’s corpse, just as I leaped up onto the beast and began running towards Arixtocles…
Sunday, February 10, 2008
A War of Shadows...Part 2
Calling upon the Shadow to speed my travel, I breezed through the last three hundred yards of my journey. I emerged in a large clearing that was more of a shallow depression. Near the center of the roughly circular depression stood the obelisk that I had known would be waiting.
The obelisk rose from the center of the depression, its brooding dark presence dominating the space. A quick glance around the far perimeter of the clearing showed the brightly-hued Spirit forms of Herne’s assault team, over twenty strong in all. Herne was waiting in the center of the depression next to the obelisk. Next to him were Cerrydwen, Ravyn, Alana and Jim.
I reached out to touch Herne’s Spirit form. He flinched before recognizing my touch. “Damn, I’m glad that’s you Rusty. Our Spirit vision is blinded by this obelisk of yours.”
“Herne, there’s not much time to get ready, they will be here soon. I need your guys to get into place quickly. Did you bring the weapons we discussed?”
He nodded. “Yes, Jasmine has been very busy. We have enough weapons for everyone.”
“Good. Remember, don’t worry about me. I’m going to be in the crossfire but don’t let that stop anyone from firing. You guys are not going to have very much time before the surprise wears off. Oh yeah, keep an eye on the sky, I’m not sure what will happen to the Dragon when I activate the trap.”
Herne nodded again, but Ravyn spoke up first. “Rusty, how many Banes should we expect?”
I touched her shoulder, enjoying the shudder of a reaction caused by touching her Spirit form directly. “Three. Malaxifer the Dragon, Arixtocles the Wise and Kosferaxtu the Demon. Leave the last one for me, he’s the one who killed you at the Coop, he’s the most powerful. Now go, quickly. I need to activate the obelisk or this trap will be sprung before it ever begins.”
I didn’t have time to watch as they scrambled back up the far slope of the depression and into their positions. I had far too much to do in a very short time.
Instead, I reached out to touch the obelisk to activate our first line of defense.
In my travels through the Shadowland over the last few weeks, I had finally begun to reach the full potential of abilities and skills that Drake and John had envisioned bringing about in one person. I had also discovered additional abilities that neither one of them had planned.
The obelisk responded to my command readily. Deep inside it a small light began to growing, pulsing stronger and brighter with a regularity that reminded me of a heartbeat. Within moments it would be glowing so brightly that not even the Banes who would soon be here would be able to see the Spirit forms of my allies. This obelisk was a powerful beacon that would serve to effectively blind anyone nearby in the Shadowland from being able to peer into the real world. There was no corresponding tower in the real world, but the corresponding depression in the real world was a small lake that was noted for the healing power of its water in the brief Alaskan summer. In the dead of winter, like now, it was frozen solid.
The howling of the pursuing pack ended as the first wolves streamed from the dark of the forest into the bright light of the obelisk. They circled me, staying close to the forest edge, almost as if they feared to come too close to the pulsing white light of the tower.
I reached up and grabbed the hilt of Excalibur. Before drawing the blade though, I gathered myself and exerted the control over it that I had developed in the last few weeks. It hadn’t been easy, but I had finally imposed my Will on this unruly, independent-minded blade. I felt the blade respond to my grip, both physically and spiritually.
Even as I drew Excalibur, I was working on the last task that needed to be completed before the enemy arrived in full force. Using every ounce of concentration I could spare from controlling my sword, I quietly called the Shadow up into me through my feet. I silently reached out with tendrils of Shadow to the ancient trees surrounding this clearing, imploring them to lend me their strength. As each individual tree acknowledged me and responded, the secret net that I was weaving grew stronger and tighter.
After the wolves, dozens of Reavers crashed out into the open, shambling forward into the light, unconcerned about their already decaying bodies. Each Reaver held a weapon of some sort, ranging from large lawn tools to actual swords and axes. A few carried rifles or shotguns, but many of those were carried more like clubs than as firearms.
I could feel the Banes drawing closer, but the only one that I could see was Malaxifer the Dragon. His massive silhouette was just barely visible over the tree line, but only because of the massive amount of light being thrown off by the obelisk. The other two Banes were coming closer, but were still hidden by the forest.
Despite their clear agitation, the wolves continued to circle the edges of the clearing. The Reavers moved in closer, but not close enough to be of any threat, at least not yet. None of these lesser creatures were willing to face me without the help or motivation of a Bane. I had slain dozens of the wolves in the last couple of weeks, slaughtering whole packs that had come too close. Reavers and Doppelgangers had also felt the bite of Excalibur of late.
I continued building the hidden web of Shadow even as I stood facing the growing crowd of enemies. ‘Damn, this plan better work or this is going to get ugly.’
Watching the numbers of wolves, Reavers and Doppelgangers build, I began to worry about whether or not Herne had brought enough firepower to have a chance at winning this battle. That concern only grew stronger as Kosferaxtu’s massive frame emerged from the forest. He stood over eight feet tall, but seemed even larger with his huge black wings sprouting from his back and his massively muscled frame. His skin was entirely black, very shiny and as hard as obsidian. His glowing yellow eyes bore down on me as soon as emerged from the shadows of the forest. He pointed on of his massive claws towards me and issued his challenge in the ancient language of the An’girasii, his voice booming throughout the clearing.
“Puny man-thing, your time is over! I will crush you and throw your broken body to my slaves.”
I saluted him with Excalibur and stood my ground. “Come Demon, if you dare! I will be glad to add your name to my tally of fallen foes!”
That challenge angered him as I hoped that it would. I needed all three Banes to get within range of the web that I had set up.
Before the Demon could do more than shake his clawed fist at me, Arixtocles followed him into the clearing. This was my first time seeing this Bane in person. He had retained a very human visage. He was at least seven feet tall, but very thin. His face resembled the image I had of Confucius in my mind—Asian eyes and complexion, long, thin white beard and white hair. He was wearing long white robes and carried an elaborately carved staff of some black material.
His voice was calm and measured when he spoke to his fellow Bane and me. “Relax dear Kosferaxtu, he cannot escape us now. We have heard of your exploits, Mr. Bones, but as impressive as they have been to date, even you shall not be able to face the combined might of three of the mightiest Banes. You should have fled while you still could.”
I could sense that Arixtocles was weaving some spell of his own as he spoke, but I was too wrapped up in my own to be able to tell what exactly he was trying to do. I needed to keep them talking long enough for the Dragon to get in range.
“So, the two of you are the mightiest Banes that serve the An’girasii?”
The Demon stomped and snorted before responding. “I am the mightiest Bane. You fled from me before, but I shall not let you escape this time, whelp!”
Both the Demon and Arixtocles continued to move closer as we spoke. The Demon’s steps thundered. Each footprint trailed tendrils of smoke as soon as his foot lifted form the ground. Arixtocles glided forward, his feet never seemingly touching the ground, his legs unmoving as he traveled inches about the dark earth of the Shadowland. As they advanced, the wolves and the Reavers made their own tentative advances on either side of the two imposing figures.
From behind the two advancing Banes, a group of figures emerged from the woods. From their very quick, intense movements, I could tell that these were Doppelgangers, but they had taken the forms of human-like warriors. Each was sheathed in shiny black armor and carried wicked looking scimitars in each hand.
The Dragon’s pride must have been tweaked by the Demon’s claim at supremacy because his voice roared from above as his massively scaled body swooped in from over the forest, smoke trailing from his mouth as he belched out his own claim.
“I, Malaxifer, am the mightiest of the Banes, puny human! It is I who shall end this battle before it ever begins!”
The Demon roared his own challenge and rushed forward as soon as he saw that the Dragon was diving towards me.
I smiled. The An’girasii apparently liked to foster competition among their chief servants, which I had been able to manipulate to my advantage. Or at least it would if my crazy plan worked.
As long as the obelisk was showering this place with its powerful light, I was not going to be able to call upon the Shadow with enough strength to make my spell worked. Holding Excalibur forth with my right hand, I reached out with my left to touch the tower. With a simple command, the light switched off like a bulb going out, plunging the area into darkness.
The Dragon continued his dive, smoke and fire trailing his open jaws and barreled toward me at the base do the tower. The Demon was brushing aside his lesser servants as thundered toward me at a dead run. Only Arixtocles hung back as he appeared to mumbling his own spell, his eyes closed.
Calling the Shadow with all of my Will, the web of Shadow sprung from the edges of the forest, coving the clearing with a dome of darkness. By calling upon the ancient trees of the surrounding forest and amplifying their power with my own, I was able to create a portal between the Shadowland and the real world that encompassed the entire clearing. With a twist of my Will, everyone and everything in the clearing, except for the obelisk, shimmered and was transported from that world of darkness into the world light and life…
The obelisk rose from the center of the depression, its brooding dark presence dominating the space. A quick glance around the far perimeter of the clearing showed the brightly-hued Spirit forms of Herne’s assault team, over twenty strong in all. Herne was waiting in the center of the depression next to the obelisk. Next to him were Cerrydwen, Ravyn, Alana and Jim.
I reached out to touch Herne’s Spirit form. He flinched before recognizing my touch. “Damn, I’m glad that’s you Rusty. Our Spirit vision is blinded by this obelisk of yours.”
“Herne, there’s not much time to get ready, they will be here soon. I need your guys to get into place quickly. Did you bring the weapons we discussed?”
He nodded. “Yes, Jasmine has been very busy. We have enough weapons for everyone.”
“Good. Remember, don’t worry about me. I’m going to be in the crossfire but don’t let that stop anyone from firing. You guys are not going to have very much time before the surprise wears off. Oh yeah, keep an eye on the sky, I’m not sure what will happen to the Dragon when I activate the trap.”
Herne nodded again, but Ravyn spoke up first. “Rusty, how many Banes should we expect?”
I touched her shoulder, enjoying the shudder of a reaction caused by touching her Spirit form directly. “Three. Malaxifer the Dragon, Arixtocles the Wise and Kosferaxtu the Demon. Leave the last one for me, he’s the one who killed you at the Coop, he’s the most powerful. Now go, quickly. I need to activate the obelisk or this trap will be sprung before it ever begins.”
I didn’t have time to watch as they scrambled back up the far slope of the depression and into their positions. I had far too much to do in a very short time.
Instead, I reached out to touch the obelisk to activate our first line of defense.
In my travels through the Shadowland over the last few weeks, I had finally begun to reach the full potential of abilities and skills that Drake and John had envisioned bringing about in one person. I had also discovered additional abilities that neither one of them had planned.
The obelisk responded to my command readily. Deep inside it a small light began to growing, pulsing stronger and brighter with a regularity that reminded me of a heartbeat. Within moments it would be glowing so brightly that not even the Banes who would soon be here would be able to see the Spirit forms of my allies. This obelisk was a powerful beacon that would serve to effectively blind anyone nearby in the Shadowland from being able to peer into the real world. There was no corresponding tower in the real world, but the corresponding depression in the real world was a small lake that was noted for the healing power of its water in the brief Alaskan summer. In the dead of winter, like now, it was frozen solid.
The howling of the pursuing pack ended as the first wolves streamed from the dark of the forest into the bright light of the obelisk. They circled me, staying close to the forest edge, almost as if they feared to come too close to the pulsing white light of the tower.
I reached up and grabbed the hilt of Excalibur. Before drawing the blade though, I gathered myself and exerted the control over it that I had developed in the last few weeks. It hadn’t been easy, but I had finally imposed my Will on this unruly, independent-minded blade. I felt the blade respond to my grip, both physically and spiritually.
Even as I drew Excalibur, I was working on the last task that needed to be completed before the enemy arrived in full force. Using every ounce of concentration I could spare from controlling my sword, I quietly called the Shadow up into me through my feet. I silently reached out with tendrils of Shadow to the ancient trees surrounding this clearing, imploring them to lend me their strength. As each individual tree acknowledged me and responded, the secret net that I was weaving grew stronger and tighter.
After the wolves, dozens of Reavers crashed out into the open, shambling forward into the light, unconcerned about their already decaying bodies. Each Reaver held a weapon of some sort, ranging from large lawn tools to actual swords and axes. A few carried rifles or shotguns, but many of those were carried more like clubs than as firearms.
I could feel the Banes drawing closer, but the only one that I could see was Malaxifer the Dragon. His massive silhouette was just barely visible over the tree line, but only because of the massive amount of light being thrown off by the obelisk. The other two Banes were coming closer, but were still hidden by the forest.
Despite their clear agitation, the wolves continued to circle the edges of the clearing. The Reavers moved in closer, but not close enough to be of any threat, at least not yet. None of these lesser creatures were willing to face me without the help or motivation of a Bane. I had slain dozens of the wolves in the last couple of weeks, slaughtering whole packs that had come too close. Reavers and Doppelgangers had also felt the bite of Excalibur of late.
I continued building the hidden web of Shadow even as I stood facing the growing crowd of enemies. ‘Damn, this plan better work or this is going to get ugly.’
Watching the numbers of wolves, Reavers and Doppelgangers build, I began to worry about whether or not Herne had brought enough firepower to have a chance at winning this battle. That concern only grew stronger as Kosferaxtu’s massive frame emerged from the forest. He stood over eight feet tall, but seemed even larger with his huge black wings sprouting from his back and his massively muscled frame. His skin was entirely black, very shiny and as hard as obsidian. His glowing yellow eyes bore down on me as soon as emerged from the shadows of the forest. He pointed on of his massive claws towards me and issued his challenge in the ancient language of the An’girasii, his voice booming throughout the clearing.
“Puny man-thing, your time is over! I will crush you and throw your broken body to my slaves.”
I saluted him with Excalibur and stood my ground. “Come Demon, if you dare! I will be glad to add your name to my tally of fallen foes!”
That challenge angered him as I hoped that it would. I needed all three Banes to get within range of the web that I had set up.
Before the Demon could do more than shake his clawed fist at me, Arixtocles followed him into the clearing. This was my first time seeing this Bane in person. He had retained a very human visage. He was at least seven feet tall, but very thin. His face resembled the image I had of Confucius in my mind—Asian eyes and complexion, long, thin white beard and white hair. He was wearing long white robes and carried an elaborately carved staff of some black material.
His voice was calm and measured when he spoke to his fellow Bane and me. “Relax dear Kosferaxtu, he cannot escape us now. We have heard of your exploits, Mr. Bones, but as impressive as they have been to date, even you shall not be able to face the combined might of three of the mightiest Banes. You should have fled while you still could.”
I could sense that Arixtocles was weaving some spell of his own as he spoke, but I was too wrapped up in my own to be able to tell what exactly he was trying to do. I needed to keep them talking long enough for the Dragon to get in range.
“So, the two of you are the mightiest Banes that serve the An’girasii?”
The Demon stomped and snorted before responding. “I am the mightiest Bane. You fled from me before, but I shall not let you escape this time, whelp!”
Both the Demon and Arixtocles continued to move closer as we spoke. The Demon’s steps thundered. Each footprint trailed tendrils of smoke as soon as his foot lifted form the ground. Arixtocles glided forward, his feet never seemingly touching the ground, his legs unmoving as he traveled inches about the dark earth of the Shadowland. As they advanced, the wolves and the Reavers made their own tentative advances on either side of the two imposing figures.
From behind the two advancing Banes, a group of figures emerged from the woods. From their very quick, intense movements, I could tell that these were Doppelgangers, but they had taken the forms of human-like warriors. Each was sheathed in shiny black armor and carried wicked looking scimitars in each hand.
The Dragon’s pride must have been tweaked by the Demon’s claim at supremacy because his voice roared from above as his massively scaled body swooped in from over the forest, smoke trailing from his mouth as he belched out his own claim.
“I, Malaxifer, am the mightiest of the Banes, puny human! It is I who shall end this battle before it ever begins!”
The Demon roared his own challenge and rushed forward as soon as he saw that the Dragon was diving towards me.
I smiled. The An’girasii apparently liked to foster competition among their chief servants, which I had been able to manipulate to my advantage. Or at least it would if my crazy plan worked.
As long as the obelisk was showering this place with its powerful light, I was not going to be able to call upon the Shadow with enough strength to make my spell worked. Holding Excalibur forth with my right hand, I reached out with my left to touch the tower. With a simple command, the light switched off like a bulb going out, plunging the area into darkness.
The Dragon continued his dive, smoke and fire trailing his open jaws and barreled toward me at the base do the tower. The Demon was brushing aside his lesser servants as thundered toward me at a dead run. Only Arixtocles hung back as he appeared to mumbling his own spell, his eyes closed.
Calling the Shadow with all of my Will, the web of Shadow sprung from the edges of the forest, coving the clearing with a dome of darkness. By calling upon the ancient trees of the surrounding forest and amplifying their power with my own, I was able to create a portal between the Shadowland and the real world that encompassed the entire clearing. With a twist of my Will, everyone and everything in the clearing, except for the obelisk, shimmered and was transported from that world of darkness into the world light and life…
Sunday, February 03, 2008
A War of Shadows...Part 1
The Shadowland whizzed by in a blur of grey and black images as I slowed a move fast trot. It was proving difficult to move too quickly through this stretch of wilderness since thick, twisted and very substantial trees existed both in the Shadowland and in the real world.
John had once told me that this only happed in the oldest of forests. “As trees age, their spirits strengthen, expanding their presence beyond the world of light to the land of shadow. It is almost as if their essence transfers slowly from one world to the next once they reach the height of their majesty. In some places in the Shadowland there are majestic, towering trees where there is now nothing but fields or cement roads in the world of the living. But alas, over time, those forests fade away in the Shadowland as well once the living trees have been gone long enough.”
My guess was that this stretch of Alaskan wilds hadn’t been significantly touched by Man for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
The howling of my pursuers grew louder, likely both because they were drawing closer and because their numbers were growing. If I didn’t pick up the pace soon, they would be upon me.
I tapped my forearms for reassurance, making sure that my batons were securely in place. Excalibur was practically humming in its sheath, eager to be called upon, but I continued to ignore the blade. I didn’t want to make it that easy for my pursuers to find me.
I pushed deeper into the tangled mass of branches as I wondered how much further it was to my destination. It was going to be a close call as to whether or not I would be able to beat my pursuers to it. If I didn’t win this race, things were going to become very unpleasant.
It wasn’t the shadow wolves that concerned me, but their masters…
***
“Rusty, you got a minute?” Herne’s face was showing the strain of several weeks of stress.
“Yeah, Herne, what’s up?”
He nodded and took my left arm by the elbow. “Come walk with me.”
I allowed him to guide me deeper into the Bat Cave, through the control room and towards the privacy of the small library that had been designated for command-level meetings. It was one of the few places where people weren’t bunked down.
Once we were in the library, he closed the door. I was surprised to see that we weren’t alone in the cramped space. Ravyn, Cerrydwen, the Frau, Alan and Jim had been waiting for us.
“What’s going on?” I was extremely curious about the need for a seemingly secret command meeting.
Everyone remained silent until the door clicked shut and Herne threw the bolt into place to lock us in. He was the first to break the silence. “Rusty, we think that our enemies have found a way to track some of our away parties through the Shadowland.”
This was a new development. “What makes you think that? I didn’t think that was even possible.”
Cerrydwen answered. “No one did. But the evidence is beginning to mount that El Diablito or the An’girasii themselves have found a way.”
Herne nodded. “On the last supply run, Jordan, one of Alana’s students, heard the sounds of what seemed to be wolves of some sort as soon as they entered the Shadowland to make their way back here. Jordan was smart enough not to lead them here, but led them off towards Canada before going to ground back in the real world. Once he could, he called for help. I just got back from that mission myself. I took a few of the security team with me. We ended up hitting a pack of shadow wolves that kept hanging around where Jordan and his crew had left the Shadowland. One of the creatures only looked like a wolf when we hit them. It was really a Doppelganger. It managed to jump one of the men in all of the confusion and escape.”
“Shit. So if they can track us in the Shadowland, it may only be a matter of time before they manage to track us back to the Bat Cave here.”
The Frau nodded, her eyes showing her concern. “That’s why we wanted to have this meeting in private. We’ve suspended all travel in and out until we can figure out the danger those trips are actually posing and how seriously they are looking for us.”
Ravyn was the next to speak. “Right now, Rusty, you’re going to be the only one we allow to travel in and out. We are also wondering how willing you would be serving as a decoy? I know how much you enjoy getting yourself into trouble.” She gave her most impish grin as she finished, knowing that I would take the bait.
I could see the logic of their thinking and nodded. “Well, if they are looking for any of us more than the others, I would certainly be the main target. But I am also the one best equipped to face any kind of attack as well.”
Cerrydwen’s eyes narrowed as she stepped forward to speak. “You are most familiar with the Shadowland and its strange rules. If you were willing to go out and wreak some havoc on a couple of their strongholds and make a lot of ‘noise’, it might attract the attention of whatever forces they have looking for our away parties.”
Herne folded his arms across his chest. “And, if you found that there was some basis for our concerns about being tracked, we would like to see about setting up an ambush…”
***
I had spent the better part of a week stomping around the Shadowland and the real world, stirring up trouble in a number of places. In that week, I had doubled back and slain the wolves that had picked up my trail on at least three different occasions. But it only took a few hours after each battle for a new, larger pack to catch my scent and begin the hunt anew. The pack that both trailed and flanked me now must comprise at least twenty individuals.
This pack, though, was not only larger and better organized than the last couple, but it was smarter. This pack wasn’t comprised solely of shadow wolves. There was some thing, or a group of things, that were just behind the wolves. I could feel it, them, there driving the wolves on.
I pushed on through the forest of giant black trees knowing that my allies lay in wait ahead…
***
Once I had confirmed that the wolves were indeed able to track me in the Shadowland and that there was a concerted effort to do so, I slipped back into the real world to make a phone call.
“Yeah?” Herne’s voice was gruff.
“It’s me. I’ve been tracked twice now. I’ve eliminated the wolves each time, but a new pack takes over within hours for the ones I kill.”
He grunted. “So our worst fears have been confirmed. Are you prepared to move forward with the plan as we discussed?”
“Yes. I’ll see you at the rendezvous point in three days time.”
“Are you going to be able to stay ahead of them?” There was concern in his voice as he asked that question.
“I’ll be fine. Both Drake and John taught me well. Just be ready for the party when I get there, I intend to bring as many of to the event as I can find.”
***
My destination was only a few hundred yards ahead. My pursuers seemed to sense the coming climax as well—the howls grew louder and more insistent. The pack behind and around me had grown in the last hour as well. I could sense the presence of at least one Bane and had glimpsed a group of Reavers out of the corner of my eye. I could only presume that several Doppelgangers had joined the pack as well.
As soon as I emerged onto the trail that Herne had told me would be there, I picked up the pace and gained a few valuable seconds in my quest to beat the enemy to the rendezvous point. I just hope that Herne had been able to get everyone into place in time…
John had once told me that this only happed in the oldest of forests. “As trees age, their spirits strengthen, expanding their presence beyond the world of light to the land of shadow. It is almost as if their essence transfers slowly from one world to the next once they reach the height of their majesty. In some places in the Shadowland there are majestic, towering trees where there is now nothing but fields or cement roads in the world of the living. But alas, over time, those forests fade away in the Shadowland as well once the living trees have been gone long enough.”
My guess was that this stretch of Alaskan wilds hadn’t been significantly touched by Man for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
The howling of my pursuers grew louder, likely both because they were drawing closer and because their numbers were growing. If I didn’t pick up the pace soon, they would be upon me.
I tapped my forearms for reassurance, making sure that my batons were securely in place. Excalibur was practically humming in its sheath, eager to be called upon, but I continued to ignore the blade. I didn’t want to make it that easy for my pursuers to find me.
I pushed deeper into the tangled mass of branches as I wondered how much further it was to my destination. It was going to be a close call as to whether or not I would be able to beat my pursuers to it. If I didn’t win this race, things were going to become very unpleasant.
It wasn’t the shadow wolves that concerned me, but their masters…
***
“Rusty, you got a minute?” Herne’s face was showing the strain of several weeks of stress.
“Yeah, Herne, what’s up?”
He nodded and took my left arm by the elbow. “Come walk with me.”
I allowed him to guide me deeper into the Bat Cave, through the control room and towards the privacy of the small library that had been designated for command-level meetings. It was one of the few places where people weren’t bunked down.
Once we were in the library, he closed the door. I was surprised to see that we weren’t alone in the cramped space. Ravyn, Cerrydwen, the Frau, Alan and Jim had been waiting for us.
“What’s going on?” I was extremely curious about the need for a seemingly secret command meeting.
Everyone remained silent until the door clicked shut and Herne threw the bolt into place to lock us in. He was the first to break the silence. “Rusty, we think that our enemies have found a way to track some of our away parties through the Shadowland.”
This was a new development. “What makes you think that? I didn’t think that was even possible.”
Cerrydwen answered. “No one did. But the evidence is beginning to mount that El Diablito or the An’girasii themselves have found a way.”
Herne nodded. “On the last supply run, Jordan, one of Alana’s students, heard the sounds of what seemed to be wolves of some sort as soon as they entered the Shadowland to make their way back here. Jordan was smart enough not to lead them here, but led them off towards Canada before going to ground back in the real world. Once he could, he called for help. I just got back from that mission myself. I took a few of the security team with me. We ended up hitting a pack of shadow wolves that kept hanging around where Jordan and his crew had left the Shadowland. One of the creatures only looked like a wolf when we hit them. It was really a Doppelganger. It managed to jump one of the men in all of the confusion and escape.”
“Shit. So if they can track us in the Shadowland, it may only be a matter of time before they manage to track us back to the Bat Cave here.”
The Frau nodded, her eyes showing her concern. “That’s why we wanted to have this meeting in private. We’ve suspended all travel in and out until we can figure out the danger those trips are actually posing and how seriously they are looking for us.”
Ravyn was the next to speak. “Right now, Rusty, you’re going to be the only one we allow to travel in and out. We are also wondering how willing you would be serving as a decoy? I know how much you enjoy getting yourself into trouble.” She gave her most impish grin as she finished, knowing that I would take the bait.
I could see the logic of their thinking and nodded. “Well, if they are looking for any of us more than the others, I would certainly be the main target. But I am also the one best equipped to face any kind of attack as well.”
Cerrydwen’s eyes narrowed as she stepped forward to speak. “You are most familiar with the Shadowland and its strange rules. If you were willing to go out and wreak some havoc on a couple of their strongholds and make a lot of ‘noise’, it might attract the attention of whatever forces they have looking for our away parties.”
Herne folded his arms across his chest. “And, if you found that there was some basis for our concerns about being tracked, we would like to see about setting up an ambush…”
***
I had spent the better part of a week stomping around the Shadowland and the real world, stirring up trouble in a number of places. In that week, I had doubled back and slain the wolves that had picked up my trail on at least three different occasions. But it only took a few hours after each battle for a new, larger pack to catch my scent and begin the hunt anew. The pack that both trailed and flanked me now must comprise at least twenty individuals.
This pack, though, was not only larger and better organized than the last couple, but it was smarter. This pack wasn’t comprised solely of shadow wolves. There was some thing, or a group of things, that were just behind the wolves. I could feel it, them, there driving the wolves on.
I pushed on through the forest of giant black trees knowing that my allies lay in wait ahead…
***
Once I had confirmed that the wolves were indeed able to track me in the Shadowland and that there was a concerted effort to do so, I slipped back into the real world to make a phone call.
“Yeah?” Herne’s voice was gruff.
“It’s me. I’ve been tracked twice now. I’ve eliminated the wolves each time, but a new pack takes over within hours for the ones I kill.”
He grunted. “So our worst fears have been confirmed. Are you prepared to move forward with the plan as we discussed?”
“Yes. I’ll see you at the rendezvous point in three days time.”
“Are you going to be able to stay ahead of them?” There was concern in his voice as he asked that question.
“I’ll be fine. Both Drake and John taught me well. Just be ready for the party when I get there, I intend to bring as many of to the event as I can find.”
***
My destination was only a few hundred yards ahead. My pursuers seemed to sense the coming climax as well—the howls grew louder and more insistent. The pack behind and around me had grown in the last hour as well. I could sense the presence of at least one Bane and had glimpsed a group of Reavers out of the corner of my eye. I could only presume that several Doppelgangers had joined the pack as well.
As soon as I emerged onto the trail that Herne had told me would be there, I picked up the pace and gained a few valuable seconds in my quest to beat the enemy to the rendezvous point. I just hope that Herne had been able to get everyone into place in time…
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Forgiveness
(The events of this post take place several weeks after the events of the previous post—sorry, but some events must remain hidden for reasons of operational security.)
I stepped from Shadow into the quiet darkness of the pre-dawn wilderness just outside of our hidden haven. Inside my head, though, it was anything but quiet. Dark whispering voices cried out, expressing their hunger, their pain.
After four weeks of constant forays to locate and retrieve stragglers the Bat Cave was bursting at the seams with people. There were very few areas where there weren’t any cots or sleeping mats laid out for ORC’s or their family members. The Frau had been working hard to find each and every person as much space and privacy as the cramped quarters could provide, but even she couldn’t cast a spell that would create enough space for the nearly four hundred survivors that had been assembled.
I needed an opportunity to be alone with my thoughts and to deal with shattered remnants of those dark spirits that remained inside with me. Their voices had become too loud to ignore, too dangerous for those I cared about to be around me. But those chances had been few and far between of late. That was especially true since our latest raid on the headquarters of Bone Financial had stirred up El Diablito and his allies again.
Ravyn had been the impetus behind that raid—she felt it was vital that we inflict a little damage and inconvenience on our enemies. It had been wildly successful, but retribution against our few remaining agents and allies that hadn’t been hit in the first series of attacks had been swift and severe.
My hard-soled boots crunched on the stony ground of the hillside. Even the thick layer of pine needles and low grasses couldn’t keep my steps from scraping loudly in the stillness of the pre-dawn darkness. But the clamoring inside of those dark souls almost kept me from hearing my own steps.
The air was probably cold at this time, but I couldn’t feel it. I never have to breathe unless I need to say something, but even if I did my breath wouldn’t bring about any steam since my body generates no warmth. Extremely cold temperatures used to affect my inner workings, when I still needed the infusions of sugared soda pop to keep me operating, but ever since my encounter with Ma Grendel, flushing and gushing was no longer necessary—small residual bits of her life essence had fused with my body, providing all of the energy I would ever need to keep working. That same dark energy also healed my body of any wounds I suffered, usually within minutes, depending on how severe the blow had been.
Those things came with a price, however. While I had gained a number of powers and abilities over the Shadow and a huge host of memories from Ma Grendel, I had also inherited a darker side. Most of the time, I was able to control the urges, the hungers, or those evil little voices deep inside, but the more people that I was around for extended periods of time, the more those voices were able to play on my own innate insecurities and darker moods. With the Bat Cave as cramped as it was for the last month or so, I was getting dangerously close to snapping and doing some things that I would’ve regretted.
I turned uphill and began trudging to the summit of the hill, towards the Sacred Circle that mirrored the exact placement of the obelisk in the Shadowland.
Each obelisk was unique, but they all shared some powers. One of those shared powers was that no one, no matter how skilled or powerful in their use of magick, could locate one through the use of magick. Just like Drake had been, each obelisk was invisible to detection through any kind of magick.
John had told me that the obelisk was located at the top of this particular mountain, but that it could only bee seen in the Shadowland. I had to discover for myself though that the thing wouldn’t let anyone or anything approach it within the Shadowland. Even with the amulet that allowed us to use the transportation chamber below, it blocked all approaches to itself within the Shadowland itself.
The closest that I had been able to get to it within the Shadowland was a few hundred yards from the summit where it stood. It stood there in the distance, a towering pillar of obsidian stone that simply radiated power like a radio tower in the real world. It was easily a hundred feet tall and forty feet in diameter at the bottom. It narrowed gradually, coming to a point well above the nearest trees. Even at the distance I had been from it, I had been able to make out strangely glowing and moving runes that appeared at seemingly random points on the obelisk before they shifted shapes and positions, like a foreign language neon sign in Times Square.
I had tried every trick I knew of moving about in the Shadowland, including flying, but I could never approach closer than three or four football fields to it.
So I gave up on approaching the thing within the Shadowland and had decided to hike to the summit. I needed the time alone anyway.
Herne had simply nodded and clapped me on the shoulder when I told him I was going. “Good, you need to get away for a bit.”
“Have I been that bad?”
He nodded. “You nearly took that kids head off last night when he bumped into you. Go, recharge your batteries.”
I shook my head as I walked away. “If only it was that damn simple.” But Herne was right. I had spun around and raised my arm to strike before I even realized it when that kid of fifteen had barreled into me trying to escape his friend. He had gone completely pale as he realized who he crashed into and what I had been about to do.
The kid had stammered his apologies, but I was lost in my own world of dark whispers and a sudden hunger to exact revenge. Luckily for both of us, Cerrydwen had been passing by and rushed over to get between us. She, of all the people I knew, understood the darkness that lay inside of me.
She placed her left hand on my raised fist and spoke softly to me. “Easy, Rusty. Let it go.”
Her simple presence and her quiet reassurances brought me back to the moment. “Damn. What the hell was I going to do?”
She turned to the boy and waved him away. “Go on Darren, Rusty knows it was accident. He accepts your apology. Why don’t you and your friend there head to the library? I’m sure the Frau could use some of your energy to get that place organized better.”
Darren had nodded and ducked out of the hallway, glad to be away from me.
It only took about thirty minutes to reach the crown of the mountain from where I had come out of the Shadow, but in that time the first sliver of morning sunlight had begun to lighten the eastern horizon. The mountain was not particularly tall, but it was tallest of the nearby peaks. Even so, the summit was still crowned with smaller pine trees that leaned to the east from the constant wind. There was one wide area, however, that was barren of all growth. It was a circular patch of ground about sixty feet in diameter, with an inner circle about forty feet in diameter that was clearly marked out by deliberately placed stones, each no larger than a closer fist. The inside of the smaller circle was barren, hard-packed dirt, except for in the very center. In the center was a small set of larger rocks that formed the edge of a fire pit.
I recognized the spot immediately as the exact place where the obelisk stood in the Shadowland. By entering the circle of smaller stones, a person would be simultaneously inside the Shadow of the obelisk and in a place of power.
John had indicated that this place had been sacred to each of the various tribes of Native Americans who had controlled this land, that this was a place that shamans and warriors had come to participate in vision quests without ever knowing of the existence of the obelisk in the Shadowland that stood in that very spot.
As I approached the circle, I could feel the power of this place. The dark whispering inside my head reached a crescendo as they objected to my coming here, crying out in fear and pain, but I pushed them away and crossed the threshold. As soon as I did, they stopped as if a switch had been thrown.
I signed in relief as my mind was finally as quiet and peaceful as the outer world around me. I was alone with my own thoughts and just my own inner voice for the first time in weeks. I knew it had been bad, but now in the total absence of their hounding, I realized just how loud and obnoxious they had become. I needed to come here far more often.
As the eastern sky continued to brighten, I moved to the center of the circle near the fire pit. In the distance I heard the sharp, piercing cry of an angle soaring high above on the warming currents. Glancing up, I saw the majestic bird as it circled high above me before continuing on its own journey.
I smiled to myself and sat down. “Thanks, John. I needed this.”
I felt a tremendous welling of emotion as I thought back to all that John Red Bear had done and all that he had sacrificed for the greater good in a battle that had never been his to fight.
For the first time since I learned of his dealings with Drake, I found myself truly able to forgive him. Now that the dark voices within had been silenced, even if only for a short while, I could begin to appreciate all that he had given up to help Drake bring me to this point of self-realization.
The sun finally rose above the peaks to the east, shining gloriously on the verdant greens and deep rich browns of this magnificent land. I could feel the cleansing burn of the sunlight on my mostly artificial skin as it washed over me. The shadowy spiritual remnants of Ma Grendel and her thousands of victims cringed quietly, hiding deep within the cracks of my flawed and all-too-human Spirit.
This beautiful, peaceful feeling was better than almost anything that I had ever experienced while I had been alive.
I stepped from Shadow into the quiet darkness of the pre-dawn wilderness just outside of our hidden haven. Inside my head, though, it was anything but quiet. Dark whispering voices cried out, expressing their hunger, their pain.
After four weeks of constant forays to locate and retrieve stragglers the Bat Cave was bursting at the seams with people. There were very few areas where there weren’t any cots or sleeping mats laid out for ORC’s or their family members. The Frau had been working hard to find each and every person as much space and privacy as the cramped quarters could provide, but even she couldn’t cast a spell that would create enough space for the nearly four hundred survivors that had been assembled.
I needed an opportunity to be alone with my thoughts and to deal with shattered remnants of those dark spirits that remained inside with me. Their voices had become too loud to ignore, too dangerous for those I cared about to be around me. But those chances had been few and far between of late. That was especially true since our latest raid on the headquarters of Bone Financial had stirred up El Diablito and his allies again.
Ravyn had been the impetus behind that raid—she felt it was vital that we inflict a little damage and inconvenience on our enemies. It had been wildly successful, but retribution against our few remaining agents and allies that hadn’t been hit in the first series of attacks had been swift and severe.
My hard-soled boots crunched on the stony ground of the hillside. Even the thick layer of pine needles and low grasses couldn’t keep my steps from scraping loudly in the stillness of the pre-dawn darkness. But the clamoring inside of those dark souls almost kept me from hearing my own steps.
The air was probably cold at this time, but I couldn’t feel it. I never have to breathe unless I need to say something, but even if I did my breath wouldn’t bring about any steam since my body generates no warmth. Extremely cold temperatures used to affect my inner workings, when I still needed the infusions of sugared soda pop to keep me operating, but ever since my encounter with Ma Grendel, flushing and gushing was no longer necessary—small residual bits of her life essence had fused with my body, providing all of the energy I would ever need to keep working. That same dark energy also healed my body of any wounds I suffered, usually within minutes, depending on how severe the blow had been.
Those things came with a price, however. While I had gained a number of powers and abilities over the Shadow and a huge host of memories from Ma Grendel, I had also inherited a darker side. Most of the time, I was able to control the urges, the hungers, or those evil little voices deep inside, but the more people that I was around for extended periods of time, the more those voices were able to play on my own innate insecurities and darker moods. With the Bat Cave as cramped as it was for the last month or so, I was getting dangerously close to snapping and doing some things that I would’ve regretted.
I turned uphill and began trudging to the summit of the hill, towards the Sacred Circle that mirrored the exact placement of the obelisk in the Shadowland.
Each obelisk was unique, but they all shared some powers. One of those shared powers was that no one, no matter how skilled or powerful in their use of magick, could locate one through the use of magick. Just like Drake had been, each obelisk was invisible to detection through any kind of magick.
John had told me that the obelisk was located at the top of this particular mountain, but that it could only bee seen in the Shadowland. I had to discover for myself though that the thing wouldn’t let anyone or anything approach it within the Shadowland. Even with the amulet that allowed us to use the transportation chamber below, it blocked all approaches to itself within the Shadowland itself.
The closest that I had been able to get to it within the Shadowland was a few hundred yards from the summit where it stood. It stood there in the distance, a towering pillar of obsidian stone that simply radiated power like a radio tower in the real world. It was easily a hundred feet tall and forty feet in diameter at the bottom. It narrowed gradually, coming to a point well above the nearest trees. Even at the distance I had been from it, I had been able to make out strangely glowing and moving runes that appeared at seemingly random points on the obelisk before they shifted shapes and positions, like a foreign language neon sign in Times Square.
I had tried every trick I knew of moving about in the Shadowland, including flying, but I could never approach closer than three or four football fields to it.
So I gave up on approaching the thing within the Shadowland and had decided to hike to the summit. I needed the time alone anyway.
Herne had simply nodded and clapped me on the shoulder when I told him I was going. “Good, you need to get away for a bit.”
“Have I been that bad?”
He nodded. “You nearly took that kids head off last night when he bumped into you. Go, recharge your batteries.”
I shook my head as I walked away. “If only it was that damn simple.” But Herne was right. I had spun around and raised my arm to strike before I even realized it when that kid of fifteen had barreled into me trying to escape his friend. He had gone completely pale as he realized who he crashed into and what I had been about to do.
The kid had stammered his apologies, but I was lost in my own world of dark whispers and a sudden hunger to exact revenge. Luckily for both of us, Cerrydwen had been passing by and rushed over to get between us. She, of all the people I knew, understood the darkness that lay inside of me.
She placed her left hand on my raised fist and spoke softly to me. “Easy, Rusty. Let it go.”
Her simple presence and her quiet reassurances brought me back to the moment. “Damn. What the hell was I going to do?”
She turned to the boy and waved him away. “Go on Darren, Rusty knows it was accident. He accepts your apology. Why don’t you and your friend there head to the library? I’m sure the Frau could use some of your energy to get that place organized better.”
Darren had nodded and ducked out of the hallway, glad to be away from me.
It only took about thirty minutes to reach the crown of the mountain from where I had come out of the Shadow, but in that time the first sliver of morning sunlight had begun to lighten the eastern horizon. The mountain was not particularly tall, but it was tallest of the nearby peaks. Even so, the summit was still crowned with smaller pine trees that leaned to the east from the constant wind. There was one wide area, however, that was barren of all growth. It was a circular patch of ground about sixty feet in diameter, with an inner circle about forty feet in diameter that was clearly marked out by deliberately placed stones, each no larger than a closer fist. The inside of the smaller circle was barren, hard-packed dirt, except for in the very center. In the center was a small set of larger rocks that formed the edge of a fire pit.
I recognized the spot immediately as the exact place where the obelisk stood in the Shadowland. By entering the circle of smaller stones, a person would be simultaneously inside the Shadow of the obelisk and in a place of power.
John had indicated that this place had been sacred to each of the various tribes of Native Americans who had controlled this land, that this was a place that shamans and warriors had come to participate in vision quests without ever knowing of the existence of the obelisk in the Shadowland that stood in that very spot.
As I approached the circle, I could feel the power of this place. The dark whispering inside my head reached a crescendo as they objected to my coming here, crying out in fear and pain, but I pushed them away and crossed the threshold. As soon as I did, they stopped as if a switch had been thrown.
I signed in relief as my mind was finally as quiet and peaceful as the outer world around me. I was alone with my own thoughts and just my own inner voice for the first time in weeks. I knew it had been bad, but now in the total absence of their hounding, I realized just how loud and obnoxious they had become. I needed to come here far more often.
As the eastern sky continued to brighten, I moved to the center of the circle near the fire pit. In the distance I heard the sharp, piercing cry of an angle soaring high above on the warming currents. Glancing up, I saw the majestic bird as it circled high above me before continuing on its own journey.
I smiled to myself and sat down. “Thanks, John. I needed this.”
I felt a tremendous welling of emotion as I thought back to all that John Red Bear had done and all that he had sacrificed for the greater good in a battle that had never been his to fight.
For the first time since I learned of his dealings with Drake, I found myself truly able to forgive him. Now that the dark voices within had been silenced, even if only for a short while, I could begin to appreciate all that he had given up to help Drake bring me to this point of self-realization.
The sun finally rose above the peaks to the east, shining gloriously on the verdant greens and deep rich browns of this magnificent land. I could feel the cleansing burn of the sunlight on my mostly artificial skin as it washed over me. The shadowy spiritual remnants of Ma Grendel and her thousands of victims cringed quietly, hiding deep within the cracks of my flawed and all-too-human Spirit.
This beautiful, peaceful feeling was better than almost anything that I had ever experienced while I had been alive.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
"This...I say...This Means War!!!"
Jim, Ravyn and I stepped from the Shadow into the shadow of the enormous oak tree in the southwestern corner of Jim’s backyard.
The night was dark, since the sliver of the waning moon was obscured by thick, low hanging clouds. It was a quiet, quaint neighborhood of faculty and administrator’s homes for the nearby college. A dog barked in the distance, but not at us.
Jim looked pensive as peered through the night towards his darkened home. “I don’t see any damage.” He was whispering as he leaned forward.
Ravyn nodded, her hands clenching the cuffs of her sweatshirt to keep herself from calling fire out of habit. “I doubt they were worried about the outside of your house, Jim.” She kept her voice to a low whisper as well.
I reached out and touched each of them on the shoulders as I leaned towards them. “I’ll pop inside to get a quick look around. I want you guys to stay here.” I looked directly to Ravyn. “Keep a sharp eye out, but try to burn the neighborhood down, will ya?”
She gave me a withering look before leaning back against the trunk of the tree. “Be careful, Rusty. Let us know as soon as you find anything.”
I nodded and glanced over to Jim. “Do you want my sword again? Just in case?”
He swallowed hard before shaking his head. “No. You keep it. You might need it in there.”
I stepped back and summoned the Shadow.
***
Once in the Shadowland, I took a moment to examine the area for any foes unique to that realm before moving towards Jim’s house.
The only Spirits of note besides Jim and Ravyn were those of an alley cat and the rat it was stalking.
I slipped up to the porch and then through the wall next to the door. The house, like most real world constructions was no more substantial than a shimmering mirage. It was substantial enough to block out my view from outside of anyone or anything that might be hanging out inside, but I passed through the wall like a proverbial ghost.
As I did so, I thought back to the war council that had taken place only a few hours before…
***
“So, it is decided then.” Herne’s voice carried an air of easy authority. “We will send out teams to find surviving ORC’s and associate members and either bring them back here or give them the resources to go to safely into hiding until they are needed.”
Ravyn leveled her gaze at each member of the council before she spoke. “And it has been decided that Herne will be our Commander in this struggle. He’ll be in charge as far as security goes in this facility. The Frau will serve as Steward, handling the daily operations and directing. Jim will remain as Treasurer, handling all of our finances. Alana will be our Spokesperson and handle our computer network. I’m sure that each of these folks will have our unconditional support and assistance, however it is needed.”
“I appreciate the honor.” Herne nodded towards Ravyn as he spoke. “I still think that Ravyn should have accepted the mantle of overall leader, but I understand her reasons for not doing so.”
Ravyn had rejected all titles or positions of authority that the group had wanted to bestow on her, stating that for her this struggle was now far too personal. She had argued that the only true leader of the ORC’s was Alexa, when she was ready for that position and that the Frau would be a far better Steward than she would ever be. No one had been able to persuade her otherwise. Instead, she insisted that her skills would be better used in the classroom to teach the younger ORC’s how to use their powers more offensively and on the battlefield, when needed.
Herne looked from Ravyn to me. “Now that this essential business of leadership has been resolved, we have some additional business. Rusty, I believe that you had something you wanted to tell us about this facility and how it came to exist?”
I stepped forward and told the tale of how Drake and John Red Bear had been secret allies for decades. I also explained how this facility had been a Cold War relic that had become more or less obsolete after the fall of the Berlin Wall and had been mothballed by the military. John had come to learn of the now abandoned facility in what was considered the sacred lands of the Black Hills of South Dakota and that it was safely tucked away in a little visited area of a National Forest Park. He had known that Drake was looking for a safe haven in the United States. Working together with Zulu and through the Bureau, Drake had managed to have the deed to the facility transferred first over to the Department of Justice and then the Bureau and finally was handed over to Drake personally as the Director of the Omega Project. It was then made to disappear from all government records by careful redaction and deletion over a period of many years. Drake had assured me that there was no known remaining reference to this facility ever having existed.
The faces of John’s closest friends among the ORC’s showed the same sense of betrayal and sadness that I had felt.
Ravyn’s eyes glowed with anger, her jaw set as she clenched her teeth. “How did John fool all of us for so long?”
The Frau’s face showed more concern than anger. “If Drake and John were allies all this time, why did John allow himself to be killed by Drake’s servant in Miami?”
Anger flashed in Cerrydwen’s eyes, her voice quivered with rage. “Why? Why the ruse?” She threw her hands up in anger. “I don’t know. There are too many unknowns here. I don’t know that we can really trust this place for too long.”
I held up my hand to the group. “Look, I know how difficult this news is. It has taken me awhile to come to terms with it myself. I didn’t believe any of this until I spoke with John himself. He confirmed Drake’s tale, for the most part, and provided additional details that Drake wasn’t aware of. John had his reservations about the way Drake went about creating me. He honestly cared about each of you and the work that you all did as ORC members. His biggest regret was that he couldn’t be fully honest with any of us.” I looked directly at the Frau. Her question needed a direct answer. “As to why John allowed himself to be killed as part of this whole charade, he freelanced that without Drake’s knowledge. John did that place himself fully within the Spirit World and to work with secret allies that even Drake didn’t know existed at the time.” I looked down to the floor as I shuffled a boot over the hard stone of the floor. “I can’t say that I agree with John that it needed to be done that way, but after meeting with him this last time, I can understand why he did what he did. Ravyn, Zenny, did you guys find a set of ten or so matched pendants in the vault?”
Zenny nodded. “Yes, we did. I could tell that they were items of power, but they resisted my attempts to discover what they do.”
“I’m not surprised. Those amulets are tied in with a very powerful obelisk that is located on the summit of the mountain that this facility is located inside of, but the obelisk itself can only be seen in the Shadowland. It is an ancient artifact that controls who and what can travel through the Shadowland in this area. Those pendants give their bearers the ability to use a special transportation chamber that is hidden inside this facility. I can show you guys how to use them so that we can get people in and out of here without being seen. The obelisk prevents anyone who doesn’t have one of these charms from using the Shadowland to come anywhere near here.”
Herne’s eyes narrowed. “So how did you open a portal inside, Rusty?”
I reached inside my shirt and pulled out my amulet. “Drake retrieved one of these when he took control of my body. He also spent considerable time in getting this place ready to receive us. That’s why the food is all fresh and the technology is as current as it is.”
***
There was a chaotic energy swirling throughout that was immediately noticeable as I entered Jim’s house through the Shadowland. I flexed my hands, dropping my batons down into my palms as I looked about at the disarray of the items in the house. Summoning the Shadow again, I slipped back into the real world to get a better look around.
Whoever had been here had spent a lot of time tearing the place up. Every bookshelf had been toppled. Every drawer and cupboard had been opened and emptied. The place was a disaster zone. I stood stock still as I listened for any sounds of life or other trouble, but I heard nothing.
I walked to the door and pulled it open, pushing debris with it as I did so. I waved an arm towards Ravyn and Jim before heading towards the stairwell that led upstairs where Kenny usually slept in the guest room.
I intended to slowly move up the stairs, but the shadow of a prone body lay stretched across the threshold to the second floor. I pounded up the stairs with a reckless abandon. “Kenny!”
Ravyn and Jim were just coming in the back door as I reached the top and saw that the body was not that of Kenny, but was instead the decaying form of what might have been a doppelganger. A small voice called out from the guest room. “Is that you, Dad?”
“Kenny! Are you alright?” I stepped over the corpse, noting that it was wearing the uniform of a local cop.
Kenny emerged from the shadows clutching a small, silver handgun. It was pointed in my direction, but not with any kind of conviction. “Dad!” He brought the gun down to his side and moved towards me. “I had to do it. I had to shot that guy! They were trying to take me away!”
I held him in my arms, trying to soothe him. “It’s OK, Kenny. I’m glad you shot him, he wasn’t a real cop. It was a creature that would have killed or hurt you.”
He was shaking as I held him, sobbing.
I heard Jim cursing down below as he began to survey the damage done to his home.
Ravyn eased her way up the steps to join us. “Kenny, do you have anything that you need to collect? We can’t wait around long. We’ll take you to your mom and your sister. They’re both OK.”
Kenny nodded as he disengaged from me. He looked down at the gun in his right hand as he wiped away tears and snot with his left hand. “Jazz gave me this gun, Dad. It was one of the guns in your old collection. She told me that I should carry it with me and that she had done something to the bullets so that they could hurt some of the creatures you had been fighting.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “That was good thinking on her part. I’m not a big fan of guns, but I’m glad you had it when it was needed. Let’s get your things and get out of here.”
Jim was still cursing when the three of came down to collect him. He looked up from the debris field near his desk as we entered the office area. He shook his fist at the sky and called out in his best Foghorn Leghorn voice. “This…I say…this means war!”
The night was dark, since the sliver of the waning moon was obscured by thick, low hanging clouds. It was a quiet, quaint neighborhood of faculty and administrator’s homes for the nearby college. A dog barked in the distance, but not at us.
Jim looked pensive as peered through the night towards his darkened home. “I don’t see any damage.” He was whispering as he leaned forward.
Ravyn nodded, her hands clenching the cuffs of her sweatshirt to keep herself from calling fire out of habit. “I doubt they were worried about the outside of your house, Jim.” She kept her voice to a low whisper as well.
I reached out and touched each of them on the shoulders as I leaned towards them. “I’ll pop inside to get a quick look around. I want you guys to stay here.” I looked directly to Ravyn. “Keep a sharp eye out, but try to burn the neighborhood down, will ya?”
She gave me a withering look before leaning back against the trunk of the tree. “Be careful, Rusty. Let us know as soon as you find anything.”
I nodded and glanced over to Jim. “Do you want my sword again? Just in case?”
He swallowed hard before shaking his head. “No. You keep it. You might need it in there.”
I stepped back and summoned the Shadow.
***
Once in the Shadowland, I took a moment to examine the area for any foes unique to that realm before moving towards Jim’s house.
The only Spirits of note besides Jim and Ravyn were those of an alley cat and the rat it was stalking.
I slipped up to the porch and then through the wall next to the door. The house, like most real world constructions was no more substantial than a shimmering mirage. It was substantial enough to block out my view from outside of anyone or anything that might be hanging out inside, but I passed through the wall like a proverbial ghost.
As I did so, I thought back to the war council that had taken place only a few hours before…
***
“So, it is decided then.” Herne’s voice carried an air of easy authority. “We will send out teams to find surviving ORC’s and associate members and either bring them back here or give them the resources to go to safely into hiding until they are needed.”
Ravyn leveled her gaze at each member of the council before she spoke. “And it has been decided that Herne will be our Commander in this struggle. He’ll be in charge as far as security goes in this facility. The Frau will serve as Steward, handling the daily operations and directing. Jim will remain as Treasurer, handling all of our finances. Alana will be our Spokesperson and handle our computer network. I’m sure that each of these folks will have our unconditional support and assistance, however it is needed.”
“I appreciate the honor.” Herne nodded towards Ravyn as he spoke. “I still think that Ravyn should have accepted the mantle of overall leader, but I understand her reasons for not doing so.”
Ravyn had rejected all titles or positions of authority that the group had wanted to bestow on her, stating that for her this struggle was now far too personal. She had argued that the only true leader of the ORC’s was Alexa, when she was ready for that position and that the Frau would be a far better Steward than she would ever be. No one had been able to persuade her otherwise. Instead, she insisted that her skills would be better used in the classroom to teach the younger ORC’s how to use their powers more offensively and on the battlefield, when needed.
Herne looked from Ravyn to me. “Now that this essential business of leadership has been resolved, we have some additional business. Rusty, I believe that you had something you wanted to tell us about this facility and how it came to exist?”
I stepped forward and told the tale of how Drake and John Red Bear had been secret allies for decades. I also explained how this facility had been a Cold War relic that had become more or less obsolete after the fall of the Berlin Wall and had been mothballed by the military. John had come to learn of the now abandoned facility in what was considered the sacred lands of the Black Hills of South Dakota and that it was safely tucked away in a little visited area of a National Forest Park. He had known that Drake was looking for a safe haven in the United States. Working together with Zulu and through the Bureau, Drake had managed to have the deed to the facility transferred first over to the Department of Justice and then the Bureau and finally was handed over to Drake personally as the Director of the Omega Project. It was then made to disappear from all government records by careful redaction and deletion over a period of many years. Drake had assured me that there was no known remaining reference to this facility ever having existed.
The faces of John’s closest friends among the ORC’s showed the same sense of betrayal and sadness that I had felt.
Ravyn’s eyes glowed with anger, her jaw set as she clenched her teeth. “How did John fool all of us for so long?”
The Frau’s face showed more concern than anger. “If Drake and John were allies all this time, why did John allow himself to be killed by Drake’s servant in Miami?”
Anger flashed in Cerrydwen’s eyes, her voice quivered with rage. “Why? Why the ruse?” She threw her hands up in anger. “I don’t know. There are too many unknowns here. I don’t know that we can really trust this place for too long.”
I held up my hand to the group. “Look, I know how difficult this news is. It has taken me awhile to come to terms with it myself. I didn’t believe any of this until I spoke with John himself. He confirmed Drake’s tale, for the most part, and provided additional details that Drake wasn’t aware of. John had his reservations about the way Drake went about creating me. He honestly cared about each of you and the work that you all did as ORC members. His biggest regret was that he couldn’t be fully honest with any of us.” I looked directly at the Frau. Her question needed a direct answer. “As to why John allowed himself to be killed as part of this whole charade, he freelanced that without Drake’s knowledge. John did that place himself fully within the Spirit World and to work with secret allies that even Drake didn’t know existed at the time.” I looked down to the floor as I shuffled a boot over the hard stone of the floor. “I can’t say that I agree with John that it needed to be done that way, but after meeting with him this last time, I can understand why he did what he did. Ravyn, Zenny, did you guys find a set of ten or so matched pendants in the vault?”
Zenny nodded. “Yes, we did. I could tell that they were items of power, but they resisted my attempts to discover what they do.”
“I’m not surprised. Those amulets are tied in with a very powerful obelisk that is located on the summit of the mountain that this facility is located inside of, but the obelisk itself can only be seen in the Shadowland. It is an ancient artifact that controls who and what can travel through the Shadowland in this area. Those pendants give their bearers the ability to use a special transportation chamber that is hidden inside this facility. I can show you guys how to use them so that we can get people in and out of here without being seen. The obelisk prevents anyone who doesn’t have one of these charms from using the Shadowland to come anywhere near here.”
Herne’s eyes narrowed. “So how did you open a portal inside, Rusty?”
I reached inside my shirt and pulled out my amulet. “Drake retrieved one of these when he took control of my body. He also spent considerable time in getting this place ready to receive us. That’s why the food is all fresh and the technology is as current as it is.”
***
There was a chaotic energy swirling throughout that was immediately noticeable as I entered Jim’s house through the Shadowland. I flexed my hands, dropping my batons down into my palms as I looked about at the disarray of the items in the house. Summoning the Shadow again, I slipped back into the real world to get a better look around.
Whoever had been here had spent a lot of time tearing the place up. Every bookshelf had been toppled. Every drawer and cupboard had been opened and emptied. The place was a disaster zone. I stood stock still as I listened for any sounds of life or other trouble, but I heard nothing.
I walked to the door and pulled it open, pushing debris with it as I did so. I waved an arm towards Ravyn and Jim before heading towards the stairwell that led upstairs where Kenny usually slept in the guest room.
I intended to slowly move up the stairs, but the shadow of a prone body lay stretched across the threshold to the second floor. I pounded up the stairs with a reckless abandon. “Kenny!”
Ravyn and Jim were just coming in the back door as I reached the top and saw that the body was not that of Kenny, but was instead the decaying form of what might have been a doppelganger. A small voice called out from the guest room. “Is that you, Dad?”
“Kenny! Are you alright?” I stepped over the corpse, noting that it was wearing the uniform of a local cop.
Kenny emerged from the shadows clutching a small, silver handgun. It was pointed in my direction, but not with any kind of conviction. “Dad!” He brought the gun down to his side and moved towards me. “I had to do it. I had to shot that guy! They were trying to take me away!”
I held him in my arms, trying to soothe him. “It’s OK, Kenny. I’m glad you shot him, he wasn’t a real cop. It was a creature that would have killed or hurt you.”
He was shaking as I held him, sobbing.
I heard Jim cursing down below as he began to survey the damage done to his home.
Ravyn eased her way up the steps to join us. “Kenny, do you have anything that you need to collect? We can’t wait around long. We’ll take you to your mom and your sister. They’re both OK.”
Kenny nodded as he disengaged from me. He looked down at the gun in his right hand as he wiped away tears and snot with his left hand. “Jazz gave me this gun, Dad. It was one of the guns in your old collection. She told me that I should carry it with me and that she had done something to the bullets so that they could hurt some of the creatures you had been fighting.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “That was good thinking on her part. I’m not a big fan of guns, but I’m glad you had it when it was needed. Let’s get your things and get out of here.”
Jim was still cursing when the three of came down to collect him. He looked up from the debris field near his desk as we entered the office area. He shook his fist at the sky and called out in his best Foghorn Leghorn voice. “This…I say…this means war!”
Friday, January 04, 2008
Starting over...
…is never easy.
The band of ORC’s that arrived in the Bat Cave was a tired, wounded, ragged bunch of shell-shocked survivors. The assault by El Diablito’s forces and An’girasii allies had come as a total surprise. Every ORC safe house, stronghold and academy across the United States had been hit in some way on the same night. All told, hundreds ORC members and students had been slain; dozens more were badly injured or missing.
By the time the final tally of escapees and survivors was taken—several days later—fewer than three hundred full fledged members and associates of the ORC’s survived that deadly night. The last census prior to that deadly night had put the membership rolls at just over a thousand members and associates. Forty of those survivors came with me to the Bat Cave.
After a close inspection by Cerrydwen, Ravyn or myself, I created a portal of Shadow that established a link between El Diablito’s dark tower in the Shadowland and another place of relative darkness—the entrance hall to the Bat Cave.
The hall was actually a natural cavern that had been worked on and expanded extensively by the military in the early part of the Cold War. The hall was easily wide and smooth enough for two vans to pass in opposite directions and long enough to hold a whole caravan of vehicles—in fact several aging but otherwise non-descript vehicles were parked along one of the walls facing the opposite direction. They were facing a set of heavy metal blast doors that opened to the outside world. I knew from Drake though that those doors were concealed from casual observation by what appeared to be a storage facility for salt for local highways.
Looking ahead, our way into the Bat Cave itself was barred by a smaller, but equally formidable set of steel doors that were secured both by lock and key and by a combination key pad set bear the handle of the left door.
Between the keys Drake had sent to Ravyn and the combination codes that I had memorized, we were able to open the doors to the incredible refuge that Drake and John Red Bear had secretly spent nearly four decades creating.
Beyond that sealed door was a decommissioned underground military base that was easily large enough to house several hundred people. The facility was comprised of several sections. It was also fully stocked with food and water. But the true bounty of the Bat Cave was found deep inside, beyond the living quarters. The Command Center was a fully operational, if slightly outdated control room full of computers and communications equipment. The Inner Sanctum was even more amazing as it included a vault that held the hundreds of weapons and other items of power that Drake had taken or acquired through his existence.
The Frau, Ravyn and Herne quickly took control of situation.
The Frau immediately drafted most of the able-bodied folks and began to set up a sick ward in one of the larger rooms in the dormitory part of the complex. She gently clucked out her orders to those that could carry them out while she coddled those who were still too shocked to act independently just yet. Moira, though wounded herself, helped out.
Ravyn, Cerrydwen and Zenny Al Farhan had set up shop inside the vault as they began to identify and catalog the surprising large cache of weapons and items that Drake had amassed.
Herne, the Professor, and the pretty gal from the San Diego Circle, Alana Danae, began the process of firing up the computers and communications equipment in the Command Center. Between Herne’s intimate knowledge of the military, the Professor’s computer tech skills and Alana’s expertise in software and network systems, they had the place humming to life in no time.
As everyone else set down to the task of getting the Bat Cave up and running, I finally had time to search out my ex-wife Katherine and our daughter, Jasmine. Katherine was sporting an improvised sling for her left arm, which had been broken in the initial struggle at the Coop, but she was still one of the people helping the Frau to tend to others. Jasmine appeared to be physically unharmed, but her nerves had been badly shaken.
I had come up from behind Jasmine and touched her gently on the shoulder. “Jazz, are you alright?”
She flinched at my touch, but whirled around for a fierce hug when she heard my voice. “Dad!” She was sobbing. “I was so scared!”
“I know, honey. I wish you never had to experience that.” I put my hand on the bottom of her chin to get her to look into my eyes. “Did anyone hurt you?”
She swallowed hard, her gaze glazing over as she looked through me rather than at me. “I…I…think I killed someone, Dad, with my…my…magick.”
“Was it someone who was trying to harm you?”
She nodded. “One of those shape-shifter things grabbed me from behind, it looked like Mom at first, but it just didn’t feel right. The eyes didn’t look right, so when it tried to take me away from the others, I pushed it away. I saw it’s face change for just a moment. I was so scared. When it grabbed for me again, I just sort of felt the magick flow through me. I killed it with a blast of lightning from my hand.” She was looking down at her right hand. Her fingertips were still blackened by soot. “I just did what Mistress Fyre had taught me to do.”
I nodded and pulled her close in another hug. “It’s alright, Jazz. Those things aren’t really people. They’re monsters. That thing would have probably taken you away and stolen your memories before killing you. You did the right thing.”
Katherine stood watching me console our daughter. She gave me a tight little smile and small nod of approval before giving me that look that she had always given when she wanted to talk, in private.
I disengaged from Jasmine and pointed her towards where the Frau was. “Jazz, do you think that you can go see if the Frau needs any help? Sometimes you just need to stay busy to keep from thinking of nasty things like the attack for awhile. We’ll have more time to talk later.” I gave her a pat on the shoulder. “I’m sure Ravyn will be very proud that you were able to summon and control that kind of energy.”
As Jasmine shuffled off to go help the Frau, Katherine and I took a small walk back out into the large area where we had first come in, the garage area.
“Thanks, Jason, Jasmine needed that from you.”
I nodded. “It was the least that I could do. Has anyone heard from Kenny?”
Her face tightened up. This was why she wanted to talk to me. “No. He was away at school. I don’t know if he is safe or not. Can you try to find him?”
I nodded. “As soon as I can make sure this place as safe as it seems and Herne and Ravyn give me the all clear signal, I’ll go check on him. I think he’ll be safe enough at that school since it didn’t have anything to do with the ORC’s.”
Katherine didn’t look very reassured. “I don’t know, Jason, the Professor teaches there and I know that Kenny often stays at his house when the Prof is away. He could be in all sorts of danger.”
I reached out and grabbed her healthy hand, giving it a quick squeeze. “I’m worried too. If he’s in danger or has been harmed in any way, I will find out and get him to safety. You can count on that.”
She squeezed my hand hard. “I know, Jason. I have faith in you. I better go see if my help is needed inside.” She released my hand and went back to the infirmary.
I made my way back to the Command Center.
Herne looked up from a monitor as I walked into the room. The previously quiet room was not a hub of beeping, buzzing, and chattering activity.
“Rusty, come check this out. This stuff looks vintage but it was top of the line equipment not that long ago.”
I walked over to stand behind him. The monitor was an older clunker, with a resolution level that would’ve given me a headache if I had actually had any optical nerves left to be irritated.
Despite its age and its low level of resolution, it was clearly accessing the internet. Herne had pulled up a newswire service.
“It looks like there is a strong PR campaign going on to characterize the ORC’s as some sort of New Age death cult. All of the news agencies have picked up on the various attacks, although the attacks aren’t being depicted as attacks at all, but as some sort of suicide pact.” He looked up at me. “They’ve got to have agents in the government and maybe even the Bureau to have tied all of this up so neatly so quickly.”
The Professor sat at another workstation with his own unique laptop that had somehow survived our bizarre journey. Alana was standing behind him, a look of concern on her face.
Jim looked up form his computer. “They’ve acted very quickly to shut down all of our corporate accounts as well—none of my attempts to access any of them have been successful.”
That reminded me of something else Drake had given me. I pulled out a small notebook that Drake had used to record several account numbers and passwords for the off-shore accounts that he had held in reserve. I held it out towards Jim. “Try looking up these accounts. I think you will find that we’ll have the financial resources to put up one hell of a fight.”
He nodded and took the notebook.
Within minutes, he had logged into the first of the accounts. He whistled in appreciation. “Yeah, there’s more money in this account alone than the ORC’s have ever had in all of our other accounts. It’s a Swiss account too, so we will have absolute privacy with what we do with it. I can make this work quite well.”
I watched as Herne bounced from website to website checking out all of the stories about the attacks. El Diablito and his allies had done a very thorough job of destroying and discrediting the ORC’s.
Ravyn and Zenny soon joined us, notebook in hand. They had heard some of the news already from Herne before. Ravyn’s face was quite grim.
“Rusty, we’ll need to have an executive council meeting as soon as the Frau has seen to the last of the wounded. We’re going to need to take stock of who’s here and what resources we have at our disposal. I think we’ll want to gather as many of our members and associates to us as possible, but we’ll have to screen anyone we bring back to ensure that we aren’t bringing any Doppelgangers or other spies back to our little haven here. I’m afraid we’re going to be working long and hard over the next few days to take full stock of what’s left of the ORC’s and what can be salvaged.”
Herne nodded. “We also need to come up with a plan of action. We need to show these bastards that while they’ve won this battle, they’re going to have a long, hard war on their hands.”
There was no disagreement with Herne’s statement.
The band of ORC’s that arrived in the Bat Cave was a tired, wounded, ragged bunch of shell-shocked survivors. The assault by El Diablito’s forces and An’girasii allies had come as a total surprise. Every ORC safe house, stronghold and academy across the United States had been hit in some way on the same night. All told, hundreds ORC members and students had been slain; dozens more were badly injured or missing.
By the time the final tally of escapees and survivors was taken—several days later—fewer than three hundred full fledged members and associates of the ORC’s survived that deadly night. The last census prior to that deadly night had put the membership rolls at just over a thousand members and associates. Forty of those survivors came with me to the Bat Cave.
After a close inspection by Cerrydwen, Ravyn or myself, I created a portal of Shadow that established a link between El Diablito’s dark tower in the Shadowland and another place of relative darkness—the entrance hall to the Bat Cave.
The hall was actually a natural cavern that had been worked on and expanded extensively by the military in the early part of the Cold War. The hall was easily wide and smooth enough for two vans to pass in opposite directions and long enough to hold a whole caravan of vehicles—in fact several aging but otherwise non-descript vehicles were parked along one of the walls facing the opposite direction. They were facing a set of heavy metal blast doors that opened to the outside world. I knew from Drake though that those doors were concealed from casual observation by what appeared to be a storage facility for salt for local highways.
Looking ahead, our way into the Bat Cave itself was barred by a smaller, but equally formidable set of steel doors that were secured both by lock and key and by a combination key pad set bear the handle of the left door.
Between the keys Drake had sent to Ravyn and the combination codes that I had memorized, we were able to open the doors to the incredible refuge that Drake and John Red Bear had secretly spent nearly four decades creating.
Beyond that sealed door was a decommissioned underground military base that was easily large enough to house several hundred people. The facility was comprised of several sections. It was also fully stocked with food and water. But the true bounty of the Bat Cave was found deep inside, beyond the living quarters. The Command Center was a fully operational, if slightly outdated control room full of computers and communications equipment. The Inner Sanctum was even more amazing as it included a vault that held the hundreds of weapons and other items of power that Drake had taken or acquired through his existence.
The Frau, Ravyn and Herne quickly took control of situation.
The Frau immediately drafted most of the able-bodied folks and began to set up a sick ward in one of the larger rooms in the dormitory part of the complex. She gently clucked out her orders to those that could carry them out while she coddled those who were still too shocked to act independently just yet. Moira, though wounded herself, helped out.
Ravyn, Cerrydwen and Zenny Al Farhan had set up shop inside the vault as they began to identify and catalog the surprising large cache of weapons and items that Drake had amassed.
Herne, the Professor, and the pretty gal from the San Diego Circle, Alana Danae, began the process of firing up the computers and communications equipment in the Command Center. Between Herne’s intimate knowledge of the military, the Professor’s computer tech skills and Alana’s expertise in software and network systems, they had the place humming to life in no time.
As everyone else set down to the task of getting the Bat Cave up and running, I finally had time to search out my ex-wife Katherine and our daughter, Jasmine. Katherine was sporting an improvised sling for her left arm, which had been broken in the initial struggle at the Coop, but she was still one of the people helping the Frau to tend to others. Jasmine appeared to be physically unharmed, but her nerves had been badly shaken.
I had come up from behind Jasmine and touched her gently on the shoulder. “Jazz, are you alright?”
She flinched at my touch, but whirled around for a fierce hug when she heard my voice. “Dad!” She was sobbing. “I was so scared!”
“I know, honey. I wish you never had to experience that.” I put my hand on the bottom of her chin to get her to look into my eyes. “Did anyone hurt you?”
She swallowed hard, her gaze glazing over as she looked through me rather than at me. “I…I…think I killed someone, Dad, with my…my…magick.”
“Was it someone who was trying to harm you?”
She nodded. “One of those shape-shifter things grabbed me from behind, it looked like Mom at first, but it just didn’t feel right. The eyes didn’t look right, so when it tried to take me away from the others, I pushed it away. I saw it’s face change for just a moment. I was so scared. When it grabbed for me again, I just sort of felt the magick flow through me. I killed it with a blast of lightning from my hand.” She was looking down at her right hand. Her fingertips were still blackened by soot. “I just did what Mistress Fyre had taught me to do.”
I nodded and pulled her close in another hug. “It’s alright, Jazz. Those things aren’t really people. They’re monsters. That thing would have probably taken you away and stolen your memories before killing you. You did the right thing.”
Katherine stood watching me console our daughter. She gave me a tight little smile and small nod of approval before giving me that look that she had always given when she wanted to talk, in private.
I disengaged from Jasmine and pointed her towards where the Frau was. “Jazz, do you think that you can go see if the Frau needs any help? Sometimes you just need to stay busy to keep from thinking of nasty things like the attack for awhile. We’ll have more time to talk later.” I gave her a pat on the shoulder. “I’m sure Ravyn will be very proud that you were able to summon and control that kind of energy.”
As Jasmine shuffled off to go help the Frau, Katherine and I took a small walk back out into the large area where we had first come in, the garage area.
“Thanks, Jason, Jasmine needed that from you.”
I nodded. “It was the least that I could do. Has anyone heard from Kenny?”
Her face tightened up. This was why she wanted to talk to me. “No. He was away at school. I don’t know if he is safe or not. Can you try to find him?”
I nodded. “As soon as I can make sure this place as safe as it seems and Herne and Ravyn give me the all clear signal, I’ll go check on him. I think he’ll be safe enough at that school since it didn’t have anything to do with the ORC’s.”
Katherine didn’t look very reassured. “I don’t know, Jason, the Professor teaches there and I know that Kenny often stays at his house when the Prof is away. He could be in all sorts of danger.”
I reached out and grabbed her healthy hand, giving it a quick squeeze. “I’m worried too. If he’s in danger or has been harmed in any way, I will find out and get him to safety. You can count on that.”
She squeezed my hand hard. “I know, Jason. I have faith in you. I better go see if my help is needed inside.” She released my hand and went back to the infirmary.
I made my way back to the Command Center.
Herne looked up from a monitor as I walked into the room. The previously quiet room was not a hub of beeping, buzzing, and chattering activity.
“Rusty, come check this out. This stuff looks vintage but it was top of the line equipment not that long ago.”
I walked over to stand behind him. The monitor was an older clunker, with a resolution level that would’ve given me a headache if I had actually had any optical nerves left to be irritated.
Despite its age and its low level of resolution, it was clearly accessing the internet. Herne had pulled up a newswire service.
“It looks like there is a strong PR campaign going on to characterize the ORC’s as some sort of New Age death cult. All of the news agencies have picked up on the various attacks, although the attacks aren’t being depicted as attacks at all, but as some sort of suicide pact.” He looked up at me. “They’ve got to have agents in the government and maybe even the Bureau to have tied all of this up so neatly so quickly.”
The Professor sat at another workstation with his own unique laptop that had somehow survived our bizarre journey. Alana was standing behind him, a look of concern on her face.
Jim looked up form his computer. “They’ve acted very quickly to shut down all of our corporate accounts as well—none of my attempts to access any of them have been successful.”
That reminded me of something else Drake had given me. I pulled out a small notebook that Drake had used to record several account numbers and passwords for the off-shore accounts that he had held in reserve. I held it out towards Jim. “Try looking up these accounts. I think you will find that we’ll have the financial resources to put up one hell of a fight.”
He nodded and took the notebook.
Within minutes, he had logged into the first of the accounts. He whistled in appreciation. “Yeah, there’s more money in this account alone than the ORC’s have ever had in all of our other accounts. It’s a Swiss account too, so we will have absolute privacy with what we do with it. I can make this work quite well.”
I watched as Herne bounced from website to website checking out all of the stories about the attacks. El Diablito and his allies had done a very thorough job of destroying and discrediting the ORC’s.
Ravyn and Zenny soon joined us, notebook in hand. They had heard some of the news already from Herne before. Ravyn’s face was quite grim.
“Rusty, we’ll need to have an executive council meeting as soon as the Frau has seen to the last of the wounded. We’re going to need to take stock of who’s here and what resources we have at our disposal. I think we’ll want to gather as many of our members and associates to us as possible, but we’ll have to screen anyone we bring back to ensure that we aren’t bringing any Doppelgangers or other spies back to our little haven here. I’m afraid we’re going to be working long and hard over the next few days to take full stock of what’s left of the ORC’s and what can be salvaged.”
Herne nodded. “We also need to come up with a plan of action. We need to show these bastards that while they’ve won this battle, they’re going to have a long, hard war on their hands.”
There was no disagreement with Herne’s statement.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Confessions all around...
(The events and conversations in this post took place in the Lower World immediately before and during Drake’s final passing. These events can now be told in full. For a brief refresher on the context in which these events take place, readers are encouraged to re-read the posts from the following dates: March 18, 2007, A Visit from an Old Friend…Part 1; May 27, 2007, Drake’s Farewell Message; June 10, 2007, Meditation and June 14, 2007, Hell’s Bells…Part 1)
When Drake revealed to me the location of his secret stash of artifacts, his voice was been dry and raspy in my head, like he was having difficulty with what he was saying. “Rusty, I have been afraid to reveal this information to you, because it is perhaps the last and most dangerous truth that I have to tell you.”
“Drake, as much as you have lied, I can only imagine how painful it would be to have to tell the truth. Say what you have to say and be done with it.”
“It is not that simple, Rusty, because this truth goes to the very foundation of who you are and how you came to be as you are now. It was the one truth that I could not risk for you to discover on your own.”
“Drake, stop playing around. Nothing you have to say will surprise me.”
His dry chuckle resonated in my mind. “Very well, I will delay no further.” His voice became deep and somber when spoke again. “Long before there was an Omega Project, I had met a young man—an FBI agent—who I thought might have the potential to eventually inherit the struggle against the An’girasii. He was a talented Caster with a natural charisma and the strength to carry on a long, lonesome battle, if need be. He left the FBI at my urging and worked with me for several years. We learned a great deal from each other once we learned to trust each other. He taught me much about the Shadowland and the many Spirit Worlds that I had been unable to experience myself. I taught him of the long and bitter war that I had been fighting against my father’s people. After nearly a decade of working together though, we came to the mutual decision that he would not be the one. But even so, we made a solemn pact. The essence of that pact was that I would provide him with the initial financing and support to form a secret group of Casters that could become the backbone of a defensive force against the An’girasii if necessary, and in return, he would provide me with any assistance that I needed when I had found the person I considered to be the candidate. I also asked for his assistance in creating a secret storage site for all of the artifacts and books that I had acquired in my many millennia. He agreed, providing a place that was secret and safe.”
“Come off it, Drake. It sounds like you are trying to take credit for founding a group like the ORC’s.”
“Indeed, this young man was instrumental in just that, it was he who founded that little group that you are so fond of.”
“Yeah? I find that very hard to believe. Who was this mystery man?”
“He didn’t have to keep his end of the bargain until quite recently, so it is someone you know, or rather, you knew, quite well…”
I sat there stunned as I listened to his words, coming to a conclusion that I did not like very much at all… “No…not him!”
“Yes. John Red Bear was my ally in creating you.”
“That’s not possible!”
He sighed again. “I am sure that you have the means to ask him yourself, should he choose to answer you, but you may rest assured, John Red Bear helped me to make you who are now.”
“You better believe I’m going to ask him! But I want to hear it all from you, Drake. Finish your story and tell me where this stash is so that I can be done with you forever.”
“As you wish. It is well past time for me to move on in any event. After we parted our ways, he began to form the group that became the ORC’s. He sought out like minded Casters and individuals who had the potential to become Casters. He helped to mold this budding young group into a force for good, creating secret schools and academies all over the country. I began to gather individuals like Klimm and Papa Locks to me, in part to keep them from interfering with John Red Bear and his fledgling group, and in part because I had come up with a new idea to try that would need the services of Casters with fewer morals and inhibitions than those individuals that Red Bear was making contact with. Throughout the years though, I kept in secret contact with him, each of us providing guidance and resources to the other as needed. He had very deep misgivings about my new ideas, but maintained his pledge to assist me when I felt that the time was right.”
“So, you are saying that John Red Bear knew of this plan to make zombies of people?”
“He was aware of the general principle that I was looking at, yes. He wasn’t privy to some of the darker details that were required to make the Omega Project successful, but that was necessary in order to make his eventual role easier to play.”
“What role was that?”
“He played the role of the good cop.”
I snorted. “Let me guess, you played the role of bad cop?”
He chuckled. “Indeed, a role that I am quite comfortable playing.”
I shook my head. “Drake, just tell me this. Why did we—did I—have to go through all of this? Why did you have to bring John into this mess? And why did you have to tell me about his betrayal?”
“Rusty, over the millennia I have come to learn that I do not possess the ability to ultimately win this war that I have been fighting against the An’girasii. But I have learned something about what will be needed to win this war. Every trial, every single test that I have put you through has been designed to determine if you had the potential to develop into the person that could help lead this struggle. In all of my previous attempts, save one, I had either broken my potential successor or created a monster that I would later have to put down. John Red Bear was the lone exception. He was the one candidate that I parted on good terms with. In the process he taught me a very important lesson…that in order to succeed my heir would have to maintain an essential humanity that I have never had. Despite all of the years that have passed, I remain my father’s son.”
“An evil fucking bastard.”
“Indeed. That is why I needed him to help with you. I had to push you away, to make you stronger. I had to make you hate me enough to fight with everything you had. He was there to pick you up again, to keep you grounded in you human nature, and to give you the spiritual tools that would allow you grow in ways that I never could.”
“But why are you telling me all of this now? Why are you trying to ruin my memories of John?”
He sighed. “Rusty, I’m telling you this now because it is the truth. You needed to hear it from me—and him, if he is willing or able to speak to you about it—before it discovered by your real enemies and used against you. Red Bear sacrificed much in order for you to become who you are now. Don’t let those sacrifices be in vain.”
I sat in stunned silence as I contemplated everything that Drake had said so far. His voice was small and quiet in my mind when he spoke again.
“My last gift to you and your friends is the location of that vault I had mentioned earlier. You will find it safely hidden in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Here is the exact location and the combination you will need to access everything…”
With that last bit of information, Drake left me and the ring behind. His Spirit moved gracefully to stand in front of Alexa. Her small face was both serious and tender as she took his confession of and forgave each and every one of his thousands of crimes, one at a time.
I was still trying to absorb everything that Drake had just revealed when the sound of a footfall behind me caused me to turn around.
John Red Bear stood behind me in human form. His face was that of his younger self, but his eyes held all of the wisdom of his years and a tremendous sadness. “Jason, will you walk with me one last time?”
I couldn’t have been more surprised by his appearance here after what Drake had just told me, but I was suddenly nervous leaving Alexa alone with Drake. That nervousness must have been obvious.
“Jason, do not worry about her. She, of all people, is safe in this place.”
I snorted. “I’ve heard that kind of assurance from you before, John. But I’m not sure I want to have anything to do with you anymore.”
“I would understand if you refuse my request. You have every right to reject me, but I feel I have much to explain in just a short time. This is the last time that I will be able to come to you, so please, will you walk with me one last time?”
I swallowed my pride and my anger and nodded.
John turned and guided me out from underneath Yggsdrasil’s canopy and towards a small path that was opening in the woods beyond.
We walked in silence for a few moments. I couldn’t take it for long though. “John, is Drake telling the truth? Did you work with him to help create Rusty Bones?”
I could tell from the flash of emotions across his face that he was deeply conflicted.
“Yes, Drake spoke the truth, as much of it as he knows.”
“What does that mean?”
He stopped and knelt in the middle of the trail. I knelt down beside him as he began scribbling in the open patch of dirt with a twig.
“I am sure Drake has told you that he and met many years before.”
“Yes. He said that you were an FBI agent then.”
John nodded. “Yes, I was the first Native American agent that the FBI ever had. I had a promising career ahead of me, but despite the promising career track laid out before me, I was unfulfilled. I longed for something deeper, more spiritual than such a career would allow me become.
“One winter, near four decades ago, I left my assigned office and cases work to track down a vicious killer in the backwoods of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. There had been rumors that this killer was actually a wendigo, a creature from the myths of many tribes in that region.
“I had asked my supervisor in Detroit to allow me to go investigate this mysterious killer, but he refused. He said that there was no indication that this killer warranted the Bureau’s involvement yet. His victims were poor, rural, and Native American. He said that the locals and the tribal cops would handle the investigations. One Friday night after another brutal killing, I ignored my boss and set off on my own to investigate the matter.
“By the next evening, I had tracked the creature to an abandoned cabin deep in the woods. I was about to confront it by myself when I discovered that I wasn’t the only person tracking the wendigo. A strange man who later introduced himself as Drake Kampmann came up beside me and indicated that my shotgun and sidearm would be of little use against the creature. He recommended that I use a bladed weapon, if I had one.
“Before we could come up with a plan, the wendigo charged us from the cabin. It was a terrible sight. As Drake had predicted, my shotgun blast to its face had little effect on it. But luckily for me, the wendigo had no interest in me. It attacked Kampmann with its full fury.”
John shook his head as he looked up from his scribbling in the dirt. “I had never seen anything as fast as those two fighting each other. The wendigo towered over Drake, fully eight feet tall, but incredibly gaunt. Despite being very thin, it was wiry and strong enough to push down small trees with each clawed hand. Drake ducked and dodged with such speed and agility, striking the creature with only his feet and hands, yet obviously causing it great pain.
“In less than two minutes, it was all over. Drake had broken one of its legs and each of its arms. He had the creature in a headlock from behind. He looked up at me long enough to ask one question. “Can you come get the necklace out of my jacket pocket?”
“I did as he asked, pulling out a strange looking pendant with a large ruby at the center. He grabbed it from me and placed it on the creature’s forehead. The beast let forth a terrible howling shriek that died in the winter air as the creature dissolved in his arms. Needless to say, I had never seen anything like this creature or its demise.”
I looked down at the drawing that John had made in the dirt. It looked very much like the creature I had known as Grendel. “John, what does any of this have to do with why you helped to create me?”
John tossed the stick away and stood up. He motioned for me to continue down the path with him. “Jason, that was the day when my eyes were opened to the possibility—the reality, really—that monsters that were walking freely in this world. My people had stories of such creatures—most cultures have had their stories of fantastic creatures that roam the world—but I had never seen one with my own eyes. I had not yet learned to walk the worlds of Spirit, so this was all new to me.
“Drake saw something in me that day though, perhaps he sensed the shaman that I would later become, but whatever his reason was, he asked me to join him in his fight against creatures like the wendigo and their masters, who he named as the An’girasii, as you know well. In this strange, distant man, I sensed a certain strength and strong sense of purpose that I had been unable to find as an agent of the FBI.”
John turned from the path that lay before us and pushed through the thick foliage into the heart of the forest. He waved for me to follow him.
“I left the Bureau the following week and joined up with Drake Kampmann. We spent a period of several years together. He taught me much about his history and the war he had fought against the An’girasii. He took me to a number of masters and teachers that he knew of who helped me to find my path. It was he who was most responsible for me becoming a shaman of some small skill.
John stopped moving ahead of me and stared at a tall obsidian obelisk that was almost totally obscured by thick, leafy vines and tall, thorny bushes that had grown right up against it.
“What is that thing?”
“It is a map of sorts.”
“A map? A map of what?”
He moved closed to the obelisk and began pulling the vines off of it. I moved in to help him as he replied.
“It is a map that can be used as a guide through the many Spirit Worlds and to some places beyond as well.”
“There are places outside of the Spirit Worlds?”
John laughed and pulled another vine from the stone. I could see that there were thousands of tiny symbols, pictographs and writings all over it. “Oh yes. The multiverse is an inconceivably large and complex place. This obelisk is a both a map and guide post placed here long, long ago. There are similar markers in other places, other worlds. For those who recognize them and who discover the keys to unlocking their mysteries, these obelisks tell how to get to places that might otherwise be totally inaccessible. Before I leave you, I wanted to show this one to you and show you how to access at least a portion of its information. But first let me finish with Drake.
“After a few years under his guidance, I found the path that I knew that I needed to follow. Unfortunately, my destiny was not to be the Warrior, the Hunter, the Successor that Drake had been seeking in me. Our skills complimented each other in ways that found us each wishing that we had some or all of the skills and abilities of the other. We parted ways quietly after coming up with a new plan. Drake explained to me that he felt that he needed to re-create, as much as possible, the conditions that led to him becoming who he was, but that he would try to do so in such a way as to drive his chosen successor to acquire some of the same skills in the realm of Spirit that I had. That plan eventually led to your creation, and to the creation of the ORC’s.”
I dropped the vine I had pulled from the obelisk and looked into his eyes. “John, tell me this. Do any of the other ORC’s know of your involvement in helping to create the Omega Project? Do they know the role Drake had in creating their own organization?”
John shook his head. “No. Those were secrets that I have had to keep to myself. By design, none of the others share my guilt. Jason, I feel no pride in having deceived you as I have. It is a shame that I will carry with me as I leave these realms and move on to my next journey.” He held up his hands imploring me to listen just a little longer.
“Jason, I could not reveal any of this to you before because I could not risk the possibility of failure. You were our last best chance at succeeding before the An’girasii freed themselves again. Time had grown exceedingly short. I know this not from Drake and his stories, but from my own journeys and research through using these obelisks. So let me tell you how to access the information on this so that you can someday do your own research. I am not asking for your forgiveness, but only for your eventual understanding. Once you learn everything that I have, I hope that you will come to fully understand the necessity of what has been done to you. Please don’t judge me too harshly until then.”
At that point John showed me how to unlock a small portion of the mysteries of that and any other such obelisk that I might encounter. But dear reader, you will come to see how those things work in the coming weeks.
My next post will be made on Friday, January 4, 2008 where I begin the story of what happened after the surviving ORC’s fled El Diablito’s tower in the Shadowland.
When Drake revealed to me the location of his secret stash of artifacts, his voice was been dry and raspy in my head, like he was having difficulty with what he was saying. “Rusty, I have been afraid to reveal this information to you, because it is perhaps the last and most dangerous truth that I have to tell you.”
“Drake, as much as you have lied, I can only imagine how painful it would be to have to tell the truth. Say what you have to say and be done with it.”
“It is not that simple, Rusty, because this truth goes to the very foundation of who you are and how you came to be as you are now. It was the one truth that I could not risk for you to discover on your own.”
“Drake, stop playing around. Nothing you have to say will surprise me.”
His dry chuckle resonated in my mind. “Very well, I will delay no further.” His voice became deep and somber when spoke again. “Long before there was an Omega Project, I had met a young man—an FBI agent—who I thought might have the potential to eventually inherit the struggle against the An’girasii. He was a talented Caster with a natural charisma and the strength to carry on a long, lonesome battle, if need be. He left the FBI at my urging and worked with me for several years. We learned a great deal from each other once we learned to trust each other. He taught me much about the Shadowland and the many Spirit Worlds that I had been unable to experience myself. I taught him of the long and bitter war that I had been fighting against my father’s people. After nearly a decade of working together though, we came to the mutual decision that he would not be the one. But even so, we made a solemn pact. The essence of that pact was that I would provide him with the initial financing and support to form a secret group of Casters that could become the backbone of a defensive force against the An’girasii if necessary, and in return, he would provide me with any assistance that I needed when I had found the person I considered to be the candidate. I also asked for his assistance in creating a secret storage site for all of the artifacts and books that I had acquired in my many millennia. He agreed, providing a place that was secret and safe.”
“Come off it, Drake. It sounds like you are trying to take credit for founding a group like the ORC’s.”
“Indeed, this young man was instrumental in just that, it was he who founded that little group that you are so fond of.”
“Yeah? I find that very hard to believe. Who was this mystery man?”
“He didn’t have to keep his end of the bargain until quite recently, so it is someone you know, or rather, you knew, quite well…”
I sat there stunned as I listened to his words, coming to a conclusion that I did not like very much at all… “No…not him!”
“Yes. John Red Bear was my ally in creating you.”
“That’s not possible!”
He sighed again. “I am sure that you have the means to ask him yourself, should he choose to answer you, but you may rest assured, John Red Bear helped me to make you who are now.”
“You better believe I’m going to ask him! But I want to hear it all from you, Drake. Finish your story and tell me where this stash is so that I can be done with you forever.”
“As you wish. It is well past time for me to move on in any event. After we parted our ways, he began to form the group that became the ORC’s. He sought out like minded Casters and individuals who had the potential to become Casters. He helped to mold this budding young group into a force for good, creating secret schools and academies all over the country. I began to gather individuals like Klimm and Papa Locks to me, in part to keep them from interfering with John Red Bear and his fledgling group, and in part because I had come up with a new idea to try that would need the services of Casters with fewer morals and inhibitions than those individuals that Red Bear was making contact with. Throughout the years though, I kept in secret contact with him, each of us providing guidance and resources to the other as needed. He had very deep misgivings about my new ideas, but maintained his pledge to assist me when I felt that the time was right.”
“So, you are saying that John Red Bear knew of this plan to make zombies of people?”
“He was aware of the general principle that I was looking at, yes. He wasn’t privy to some of the darker details that were required to make the Omega Project successful, but that was necessary in order to make his eventual role easier to play.”
“What role was that?”
“He played the role of the good cop.”
I snorted. “Let me guess, you played the role of bad cop?”
He chuckled. “Indeed, a role that I am quite comfortable playing.”
I shook my head. “Drake, just tell me this. Why did we—did I—have to go through all of this? Why did you have to bring John into this mess? And why did you have to tell me about his betrayal?”
“Rusty, over the millennia I have come to learn that I do not possess the ability to ultimately win this war that I have been fighting against the An’girasii. But I have learned something about what will be needed to win this war. Every trial, every single test that I have put you through has been designed to determine if you had the potential to develop into the person that could help lead this struggle. In all of my previous attempts, save one, I had either broken my potential successor or created a monster that I would later have to put down. John Red Bear was the lone exception. He was the one candidate that I parted on good terms with. In the process he taught me a very important lesson…that in order to succeed my heir would have to maintain an essential humanity that I have never had. Despite all of the years that have passed, I remain my father’s son.”
“An evil fucking bastard.”
“Indeed. That is why I needed him to help with you. I had to push you away, to make you stronger. I had to make you hate me enough to fight with everything you had. He was there to pick you up again, to keep you grounded in you human nature, and to give you the spiritual tools that would allow you grow in ways that I never could.”
“But why are you telling me all of this now? Why are you trying to ruin my memories of John?”
He sighed. “Rusty, I’m telling you this now because it is the truth. You needed to hear it from me—and him, if he is willing or able to speak to you about it—before it discovered by your real enemies and used against you. Red Bear sacrificed much in order for you to become who you are now. Don’t let those sacrifices be in vain.”
I sat in stunned silence as I contemplated everything that Drake had said so far. His voice was small and quiet in my mind when he spoke again.
“My last gift to you and your friends is the location of that vault I had mentioned earlier. You will find it safely hidden in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Here is the exact location and the combination you will need to access everything…”
With that last bit of information, Drake left me and the ring behind. His Spirit moved gracefully to stand in front of Alexa. Her small face was both serious and tender as she took his confession of and forgave each and every one of his thousands of crimes, one at a time.
I was still trying to absorb everything that Drake had just revealed when the sound of a footfall behind me caused me to turn around.
John Red Bear stood behind me in human form. His face was that of his younger self, but his eyes held all of the wisdom of his years and a tremendous sadness. “Jason, will you walk with me one last time?”
I couldn’t have been more surprised by his appearance here after what Drake had just told me, but I was suddenly nervous leaving Alexa alone with Drake. That nervousness must have been obvious.
“Jason, do not worry about her. She, of all people, is safe in this place.”
I snorted. “I’ve heard that kind of assurance from you before, John. But I’m not sure I want to have anything to do with you anymore.”
“I would understand if you refuse my request. You have every right to reject me, but I feel I have much to explain in just a short time. This is the last time that I will be able to come to you, so please, will you walk with me one last time?”
I swallowed my pride and my anger and nodded.
John turned and guided me out from underneath Yggsdrasil’s canopy and towards a small path that was opening in the woods beyond.
We walked in silence for a few moments. I couldn’t take it for long though. “John, is Drake telling the truth? Did you work with him to help create Rusty Bones?”
I could tell from the flash of emotions across his face that he was deeply conflicted.
“Yes, Drake spoke the truth, as much of it as he knows.”
“What does that mean?”
He stopped and knelt in the middle of the trail. I knelt down beside him as he began scribbling in the open patch of dirt with a twig.
“I am sure Drake has told you that he and met many years before.”
“Yes. He said that you were an FBI agent then.”
John nodded. “Yes, I was the first Native American agent that the FBI ever had. I had a promising career ahead of me, but despite the promising career track laid out before me, I was unfulfilled. I longed for something deeper, more spiritual than such a career would allow me become.
“One winter, near four decades ago, I left my assigned office and cases work to track down a vicious killer in the backwoods of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. There had been rumors that this killer was actually a wendigo, a creature from the myths of many tribes in that region.
“I had asked my supervisor in Detroit to allow me to go investigate this mysterious killer, but he refused. He said that there was no indication that this killer warranted the Bureau’s involvement yet. His victims were poor, rural, and Native American. He said that the locals and the tribal cops would handle the investigations. One Friday night after another brutal killing, I ignored my boss and set off on my own to investigate the matter.
“By the next evening, I had tracked the creature to an abandoned cabin deep in the woods. I was about to confront it by myself when I discovered that I wasn’t the only person tracking the wendigo. A strange man who later introduced himself as Drake Kampmann came up beside me and indicated that my shotgun and sidearm would be of little use against the creature. He recommended that I use a bladed weapon, if I had one.
“Before we could come up with a plan, the wendigo charged us from the cabin. It was a terrible sight. As Drake had predicted, my shotgun blast to its face had little effect on it. But luckily for me, the wendigo had no interest in me. It attacked Kampmann with its full fury.”
John shook his head as he looked up from his scribbling in the dirt. “I had never seen anything as fast as those two fighting each other. The wendigo towered over Drake, fully eight feet tall, but incredibly gaunt. Despite being very thin, it was wiry and strong enough to push down small trees with each clawed hand. Drake ducked and dodged with such speed and agility, striking the creature with only his feet and hands, yet obviously causing it great pain.
“In less than two minutes, it was all over. Drake had broken one of its legs and each of its arms. He had the creature in a headlock from behind. He looked up at me long enough to ask one question. “Can you come get the necklace out of my jacket pocket?”
“I did as he asked, pulling out a strange looking pendant with a large ruby at the center. He grabbed it from me and placed it on the creature’s forehead. The beast let forth a terrible howling shriek that died in the winter air as the creature dissolved in his arms. Needless to say, I had never seen anything like this creature or its demise.”
I looked down at the drawing that John had made in the dirt. It looked very much like the creature I had known as Grendel. “John, what does any of this have to do with why you helped to create me?”
John tossed the stick away and stood up. He motioned for me to continue down the path with him. “Jason, that was the day when my eyes were opened to the possibility—the reality, really—that monsters that were walking freely in this world. My people had stories of such creatures—most cultures have had their stories of fantastic creatures that roam the world—but I had never seen one with my own eyes. I had not yet learned to walk the worlds of Spirit, so this was all new to me.
“Drake saw something in me that day though, perhaps he sensed the shaman that I would later become, but whatever his reason was, he asked me to join him in his fight against creatures like the wendigo and their masters, who he named as the An’girasii, as you know well. In this strange, distant man, I sensed a certain strength and strong sense of purpose that I had been unable to find as an agent of the FBI.”
John turned from the path that lay before us and pushed through the thick foliage into the heart of the forest. He waved for me to follow him.
“I left the Bureau the following week and joined up with Drake Kampmann. We spent a period of several years together. He taught me much about his history and the war he had fought against the An’girasii. He took me to a number of masters and teachers that he knew of who helped me to find my path. It was he who was most responsible for me becoming a shaman of some small skill.
John stopped moving ahead of me and stared at a tall obsidian obelisk that was almost totally obscured by thick, leafy vines and tall, thorny bushes that had grown right up against it.
“What is that thing?”
“It is a map of sorts.”
“A map? A map of what?”
He moved closed to the obelisk and began pulling the vines off of it. I moved in to help him as he replied.
“It is a map that can be used as a guide through the many Spirit Worlds and to some places beyond as well.”
“There are places outside of the Spirit Worlds?”
John laughed and pulled another vine from the stone. I could see that there were thousands of tiny symbols, pictographs and writings all over it. “Oh yes. The multiverse is an inconceivably large and complex place. This obelisk is a both a map and guide post placed here long, long ago. There are similar markers in other places, other worlds. For those who recognize them and who discover the keys to unlocking their mysteries, these obelisks tell how to get to places that might otherwise be totally inaccessible. Before I leave you, I wanted to show this one to you and show you how to access at least a portion of its information. But first let me finish with Drake.
“After a few years under his guidance, I found the path that I knew that I needed to follow. Unfortunately, my destiny was not to be the Warrior, the Hunter, the Successor that Drake had been seeking in me. Our skills complimented each other in ways that found us each wishing that we had some or all of the skills and abilities of the other. We parted ways quietly after coming up with a new plan. Drake explained to me that he felt that he needed to re-create, as much as possible, the conditions that led to him becoming who he was, but that he would try to do so in such a way as to drive his chosen successor to acquire some of the same skills in the realm of Spirit that I had. That plan eventually led to your creation, and to the creation of the ORC’s.”
I dropped the vine I had pulled from the obelisk and looked into his eyes. “John, tell me this. Do any of the other ORC’s know of your involvement in helping to create the Omega Project? Do they know the role Drake had in creating their own organization?”
John shook his head. “No. Those were secrets that I have had to keep to myself. By design, none of the others share my guilt. Jason, I feel no pride in having deceived you as I have. It is a shame that I will carry with me as I leave these realms and move on to my next journey.” He held up his hands imploring me to listen just a little longer.
“Jason, I could not reveal any of this to you before because I could not risk the possibility of failure. You were our last best chance at succeeding before the An’girasii freed themselves again. Time had grown exceedingly short. I know this not from Drake and his stories, but from my own journeys and research through using these obelisks. So let me tell you how to access the information on this so that you can someday do your own research. I am not asking for your forgiveness, but only for your eventual understanding. Once you learn everything that I have, I hope that you will come to fully understand the necessity of what has been done to you. Please don’t judge me too harshly until then.”
At that point John showed me how to unlock a small portion of the mysteries of that and any other such obelisk that I might encounter. But dear reader, you will come to see how those things work in the coming weeks.
My next post will be made on Friday, January 4, 2008 where I begin the story of what happened after the surviving ORC’s fled El Diablito’s tower in the Shadowland.
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