Nexus, p.11
Nexus, page 11
This was a lot to take in, quite frankly. “What’s your purpose?” I asked Crowmon. “Are you going to pop up every now and then and throw a rubber chicken at me?”
Instead of being insulted, the deity chuckled in amusement. “I would if I were allowed to, lass. I’m afraid this is the only contact we’ll be able to have with you. In the past, Fate’s champions were given no warning at all of what their purpose was. My beloved has learned it’s best to appear to them in a dream and advise them of the tasks ahead.”
“Why?” I dreaded the answer, but I had to know.
“I have found that showing my champions the price of failure gives them the incentive they need to succeed,” she told me. “Your case is slightly different.”
“In what way?”
“The other champions all had partners, family or close friends to save from the coming disasters,” Crowmon said. “The thought of losing their loved ones was enough to spur them to win.”
“So, because I’m single and friendless, I only have my mom to save,” I figured dourly. “I guess it’s lucky I have her, or I wouldn’t have any incentive to stop Chaos at all, would I?”
Exchanging a look at my snarky tone, Fate and Crowmon decided to get on with their pitch. “Perhaps you will realize the seriousness of this task if we show you what lies ahead,” Fate said.
Suddenly, the room was gone and we were standing at the top of a hill. Long grass rustled as wind rippled through the air. The tips of the grass were just long enough to brush against my fingertips. They felt solid, as if I was really here. Turning around, I stumbled back with a gasp when I saw I was standing mere inches away from the edge of a cliff.
Crowmon reached up to put his hand on my shoulder to steady me. He was a lot shorter than Fate and me. She was exactly the same height as I was. “You’re safe here, lass,” he reassured me. “No harm will come to you in this place.”
My heart was hammering, but I inched forward to peer downward. An ocean roiled restlessly far below. Waves tossed themselves on the rocks with suicidal abandon. Falling from this height would kill even someone as impervious to injuries as I was. “Where are we?” I asked.
“This is a construct of my mind,” Fate said. Her voice sounded even more hollow as she stood on the edge of the cliff. With a wave of her hand, a door appeared. Plain and unremarkable, it hung in midair. “Behold the destiny that your world faces if you fail to stop the coming apocalypse,” she intoned.
“Did you just say apocalypse?” I asked in trepidation, but she didn’t reply. At Crowmon’s grim nod towards the door, I turned to face it as it swung open.
Chapter Twenty-Four
IT WAS OBVIOUS FROM the first glance that the world we were seeing wasn’t earth. The sky was the color of old rust, but the rocky ground was normal shades of brown. Strange buildings made from crude brown bricks stood in the distance, surrounded by tall cliffs. A flying creature swooped past the doorway. I caught a glimpse of mangy fur, beady yellow eyes and leathery wings before it was gone from my sight.
“What the hell was that thing?” I asked in a disturbed tone.
“This realm of the underworld’s version of a bird,” Crowmon figured.
The image suddenly zoomed in closer to the buildings, making my stomach flip over. It was like watching a virtual reality game, but without the goggles.
I put a hand on my roiling stomach as the scene shifted to an overhead view. A compound of buildings surrounded an open area where strange creatures had gathered. They were wearing metal armor and were holding long spears and shields.
Once again, the image moved, this time swooping downward to come to a stop near the group of soldiers.
“I’m going to puke if this keeps up,” I warned the duo.
“Watch,” Fate admonished me. Heaving a silent sigh, I turned my attention back to the disturbing doorway.
Most of the soldiers were humanoid in appearance, if far larger than normal people. Their average height was nearly seven feet tall and they all had robust builds. They had to be strong to be able to support the weight of their armor. Most disturbingly, their heads weren’t where they were supposed to be. Their faces were situated in their torsos and were protected by their armor.
A trio of beings stood with their backs to the doorway. A weird red mist emanated from them, giving them an otherworldly appearance. Their helmets had horns and their armor was far more ornate than the ones their soldiers wore. Spikes stuck out on their shoulders and looked sharp enough to gore their foes to death. The trio wore ostentatious red capes.
“Who are these bozos?” I asked.
The tallest soldier spun around as if he’d heard me. Red eyes glowed behind his hideous helmet. Razor-sharp metallic teeth were fixed in a malevolent grin. A second face identical to his helmet was embedded in his chest plate. His eyes seemed to look straight through me, then he turned back around to face the army before him.
It was a shock when he spoke and I understood his words. “Soon, we will take possession of the spell to unlock the axis-gate that leads to Nexus,” he said. His voice was deep and filled with so much malevolence that a shiver wracked me. “We will be able to retain our natural forms when we use it to invade the humans’ world,” he went on. “They will fall beneath our might and we will rule their entire planet!”
Cheers sounded from the army, then the image faded away. Fate and Crowmon turned to face me to judge my reaction. Contemplating what I’d just seen, I shrugged. “So what if a ragtag bunch of creepy underworld weirdos invade Nexus? Lord Gilden’s goons will wipe them out.”
The dragon lord employed thousands of supernatural beings. A lot of them were dangerous and acted as his guards. I was pretty sure they could handle one small army.
“How much do you know about the underworld?” Crowmon asked.
“Not much,” I said honestly. “Most of the earliest supernatural creatures and beings on my world originated from there. They made more of their kind over the millennia and have increased in number. Only a small number of beings are allowed to pass through the gates from the underworld now.”
“There are nine realms in your version of the underworld,” Fate said. “Each one is governed by an overlord. They are conspiring to find a spell that will unlock the axis-gate so that they can come and go freely from your world.”
“What’s an axis-gate?”
“It’s the only gate that will allow the creatures to retain their natural forms once they enter your world, lass,” the trickster god said.
“I have seen something like it in another dimension,” Fate said. “The gates on that world were sentient, but this one is not. The axis-gate was created by a powerful being five thousand years ago. There is only one spell that will unlock it.”
“Did you create it?” I asked suspiciously. “Or did you manipulate someone into doing it for you?”
Crowmon frowned at my harsh tone, but Fate put a calming hand on his arm. “An agent of Chaos created the gate after the battle between good and evil was over,” she said. “They hid the spell and its whereabouts was lost over time. I believe it lies within one of the nine realms. You must prevent the overlords from gaining possession of it. If they find it, they will band together to wipe out all life on your world.”
I was highly skeptical about her claim and couldn’t quite muffle my noise of disbelief. “That sounds really dire,” I said lamely when I sensed her disapproval at my reaction.
“Show her the rest, love,” Crowmon suggested. “Saige needs to see the ultimate result if she fails in her duty to save her world.”
Fate waved her hand again and eight more doors materialized to form an arc in front of us. Images from all nine realms of the underworld appeared within the doors. They changed too quickly for me to take everything in. I saw armies gathering and the overlords of each realm rallying their soldiers for war. Instead of just the one compound I’d been shown, there were hundreds in each realm. The overlords in each doorway all held a short, raggedy scroll and took turns reading from them. A spectral looking glowing blue gate appeared in front of them all simultaneously. The doors swung open and a shockwave almost blew the armies over when the spell kicked in.
I felt like I was watching a movie about an alien invasion as creatures from the nine realms poured through the axis-gate into Nexus. The city couldn’t stand against the monsters in their true forms. Once the citizens were all wiped out, the overlords spread out to conquer the rest of the world.
My unease grew and so did the roiling in my stomach as scenes of devastation appeared in each doorway. City after city and country after country fell beneath the might of the invaders. Modern technology and weapons couldn’t stand up to the magic that was used to disable them. Once their guns and missiles failed, humans had to rely on knives and makeshift clubs. Their pitiful defense wasn’t enough and humanity was utterly wiped out.
Most humans I’d dealt with had been horrible to me, but I still felt some pity for them. As if reading my mind, eight of the doors vanished, leaving the original one behind. Nexus appeared, but it was now a shattered ruin. I saw the charred remains of the Den of Iniquity. Lenny was a broken, badly burned and now unanimated corpse. The patrons I knew on sight were all dead, including a few of the men I’d used for sex during the past few months.
The image shifted to Lord Gilden’s silver tower and it had been blasted apart. Drake’s body was sprawled in the wreckage, lying on a pile of gold coins. Smoke wafted from his nostrils, then petered out. I sucked in a breath at seeing his handsome face battered almost beyond recognition.
A pile of ash and black clothing lay near him and I instinctively knew it was Ruen. The vampire had tried to guard his master and had died as a result. Those two deaths hit me harder than all the rest, but the last body I saw took me to my knees.
My mom lay on the floor in her living room, eyes glazed and unseeing. Something had torn her apart, leaving a bloody ruin behind. Tears welled in my eyes even though I knew this was just a dream. A sob escaped from me, but the nightmare wasn’t over yet.
A final image appeared on the screen. It was almost as horrible as seeing my mom’s lifeless body. “No!” I wailed in horror, broken at last by the consequences of what would happen if I failed my duty.
I struggled to my feet and turned to confront Fate and her consort. “You have seen the price you will pay if you fail your duty,” Fate said ominously.
“You won’t recall much of this dream, lass,” Crowmon said. “But you’ll remember enough to know you have an important destiny that you dare not shirk.”
I opened my mouth to scream at them to make this abomination stop, but an invisible hand pushed me backwards. My heels tottered on the edge of the cliff and I pinwheeled my arms. A second shove was enough to push me off balance. I fell screaming and closed my eyes, so I didn’t have to see the rocks that were rushing towards me.
Chapter Twenty-Five
JERKING AWAKE, MY STOMACH flopped over from the sensation of falling for what had felt like a thousand years. Lurching off the bed, I raced for the bathroom. I managed to reach the toilet and puked until my nausea subsided. When I was done, I sank down onto the tiled floor with a groan, clutching my aching head.
“I feel like I drank an entire bottle of Drake’s horrible whiskey,” I complained in a raspy voice, then flushed the toilet. The dragon always delayed paying me by offering me the strong alcohol. One shot wouldn’t make me drunk, but a whole bottle might.
After a few minutes, my illness passed and I heaved myself to my feet. Brushing my teeth, I ambled over to my closet to choose an outfit. It was just after eleven am, so it was about time I got up anyway. My stomach had settled down enough to eat a bowl of sugary cereal. I washed it down with strong coffee, then returned to the bathroom to grab my hamper full of dirty clothing.
Although our building had laundry facilities, I took my clothes to my mom’s house instead. I’d be spending the day with her anyway, so it made sense to do my washing at her place.
After stashing my hamper in the back of my car, I slid behind the wheel and dumped my kill-bag on the passenger seat. Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the driveway of her bungalow. My head was still thumping from my phantom hangover when I used my key to unlock the front door. “Hi, mom!” I called out after stepping into the hallway. “I’m going to put my washing on! I’ll be right back!”
“Hurry up!” she called back. “We’ve got a lot of monsters that need killing!”
Snickering at her impatient tone, I opened the first door on the left to reveal the stairs that led to the basement. I put my clothes on to wash, then headed upstairs. Pausing in the kitchen, I poured two mugs of coffee and walked to the living room. Mom grinned at me when I entered the room. A variety of snack food was sitting close to hand. “Are you ready for the challenge, Lil Bish?” she asked.
“You bet your butt, Big Momma,” I retorted, placing our mugs on the coffee table that sat between the identical recliners. Taking my seat, I reached for the gaming handset that was charged up and waiting for me. “Let’s do this,” I said with a smirk and we resumed the latest videogame we’d been playing.
“These zombies aren’t going to know what hit them,” mom said, then we proceeded to slaughter our electronic enemies.
Drinking coffee and snacking on junk food, we killed a horde of undead before taking a break. We took turns using the bathroom, then mom made us a gigantic plate of sandwiches. “You look like you have something on your mind, honey,” she said when we sat down at the dining table to eat.
I took a sip of my fresh cup of coffee before replying. “I had a really weird dream last night.”
Quirking an eyebrow, she gestured at me to go on. I’d always had vivid dreams, so this wasn’t exactly startling news. “What was it about?”
“Us,” I told her. “Part of it was about our heritage, anyway.” Now intrigued, mom waited for me to continue. “A hooded woman who called herself Fate and a weird little dude called Crowmon interviewed me for a job.”
“What sort of job?”
“To become their champion and save our world from an apocalypse.”
Instead of laughing, mom almost choked on her sandwich. “It’s finally happening,” she said in awe.
“What’s happening? It was just a stupid dream, wasn’t it?”
“It wasn’t a normal dream, Saige. You were given a glimpse of your destiny.”
“It was more than just a glimpse. They flat out told me I need to visit the nine realms of the underworld and stop the overlords from getting their hands on a spell that will unlock something called an axis-gate.”
Mom’s face went dead white and she gaped at me. “I always knew you were destined for greatness, but holy crap!” She took a fortifying gulp of coffee while I tried to figure out how she’d known I was destined for greatness. “Tell me everything you remember,” she ordered.
“Crowmon told me I’d forget most of it, but I guess they didn’t read my resume properly,” I said with a hint of smugness. “I remember everything that happened.”
“They don’t know about your immunity to mind control and memory wipes?” mom said.
“Nope. It’s all still in here,” I said, tapping my head. I relayed everything that had happened and described the second last scene.
“That sounds horrible,” mom said sympathetically. “It couldn’t have been easy to see my body lying on the floor like that.”
“They really twisted the knife, because the dream didn’t end there,” I told her.
“What else did they threaten you with?”
“The final image was of my gaming console,” I said uneasily. “It was sitting on my coffee table, covered in dust. It didn’t look like it had been used in years.”
We both shuddered at the thought of never being able to game again. “That was a low blow,” mom agreed darkly. “They’re obviously trying to manipulate you into doing what they want.”
“It kind of worked,” I admitted. “If the dream isn’t just my imagination, we could really be facing an apocalypse soon.”
“Surely, Drake Gilden would have heard about this,” she said in a disturbed tone. “You should ask him about it the next time you see him.”
“I might ask around at the Den,” I mused. “Lenny knows all sorts of weirdos. One of them might have heard rumors about a widespread conspiracy in the underworld to invade Nexus.” We fell into an uneasy silence as we continued eating our lunch. “What did you mean when you said you always knew I was destined for greatness?” I asked when the silence dragged on for too long.
“I’ve never told you this, but I saw an omen just after you were born,” she replied. She’d given birth to me right here in this house, since she couldn’t exactly have me at a hospital. Humans might have run tests on me and the results would have freaked them out.
“What sort of omen?” I queried, goosebumps rising on my arms in anticipation.
“Right after I pushed you out, I glanced at the window to see the full moon was rising. An owl flew past the window and a werewolf howled at the same time.”
I stared at her, waiting for more. “Is that it?” I asked in disappointment. “No offense, but that’s a pretty lame omen.”
Mom scowled and threw her butterknife at me. I caught it before it could become lodged in my forehead and placed it out of her reach. “Your reflexes are uncanny,” she said in satisfaction.
“I know,” I replied, but I wasn’t about to let her sidetrack me. “What made you think me being born on a full moon and seeing an owl and hearing a werewolf howling was an omen?”
“One of our ancestors used to have prophetic dreams,” she said. “She wrote them down in a journal. One of her dreams was about a distant descendent who she predicted ‘would be born in a new country far from her origins’.”
“We’ve been living here for several generations now,” I reminded her. “That could have applied to any of us who’ve been born here, including you.”
