| |
I awoke to find myself in darkness, the brightness gone and replaced with a featureless void. Everything felt cold.
Then, I remembered being pulled away from the others – and that Anna had somehow attached herself to me.
Anna?
There was nothing but blackness, no light for guidance. I walked forward – this place felt physically real. The air was so heavy that it felt like walking through water. I touched my arms, my face.
Askala’s voice entered my mind in a soft hiss.
Elekim...
I then felt myself being pulled toward the left, as if by gravity. I was falling, faster and faster, until a burst of light filled my vision, as bright as a star. I was racing toward it, my speed ever-increasing. The coldness faded and was replaced by a sickly warmth that grew increasingly hotter. It would only be moments until I entered that star.
Anna!
She cannot help you now, Elekim.
In an overwhelming flood of light, the star burst. I felt myself ripped apart from the blast of energy, disintegrating into nothing. I screamed, and all went dark.
***
AFTER A LONG WHILE, I felt my consciousness return, and with it came Askala’s voice.
You’ve come to destroy me, Askala said. But you haven’t the slightest idea how. I must say, though, I am impressed. You walk where no Elekim has walked before.
Where’s Anna?
Askala cackled. And why would I tell you that, Elekim? You are already dead, and so is the girl. I will destroy you, again and again, until you are broken and mad. She paused. I would hear you beg now.
I beg nothing, I said.
Did you think you could enter my world and control it? Pitiful fool. You will join the ranks of the other champions, maddened beyond identity. Askala chuckled. You will break, in the end. Make no mistake, Elekim...I will break you.
I stood in the darkness. Askala seemed to have disappeared, leaving me in a vast, empty nothingness.
Anna?
I had to find her, if it was the last thing I did. I ran, never seeming to tire, looking for some change in this emptiness.
I couldn’t say how long I ran, but surely for hours, if there was such a thing as time in this place. Maybe even that didn’t exist here. Turning in each direction, I found nothing but a black void. I looked up, down, left, and right, but there was no escape, no indication of where I should go.
I was alone.
Anna?
What if she wasn’t here? What if Askala wanted me to believe Anna was here, but only to make me go insane? I would never know for sure. The only thing I knew was that I was supposed to infect Askala with the Elekai xenovirus. But I had to find Anna first. Unlike me, she wasn’t Elekim. She wouldn’t have the same ability to fight Askala.
I reached out with my mind, seeking her consciousness in the void, increasing my scope farther and farther in every direction. And then...it suddenly became very difficult to concentrate. I realized what this was: Askala was weakening my ability to focus. I redoubled my efforts – no matter how much power Askala had here, she couldn’t take away my mind.
Anna, however, might not have the same luxury, which made it all the more important to find her.
The scope of my awareness enveloped hundreds of miles in each direction, an ever-widening sphere. Hours passed, with still no sign of Anna. Even Askala’s influence seemed to ebb, with time, as I became surer of my abilities and the freedom of my mind – but I never let my guard down in case Askala decided to unleash a new attack.
Alex?
There she was. I could scarcely believe it.
Anna? Where are you? Anna, I...
Alex, help me...
Hold on. I’m coming.
She’s going to kill me, she said. She’ll kill me if you fight her...
Stay there. I’m coming.
I’m...too far gone, Alex. She’s won. She’s...
And like that, Anna was gone. Tears formed in my eyes as I searched madly to find her voice again.
This happened, came Askala’s voice, hideous. You could not save her, Alex. She is mine, now.
No.
A horrible, grating laughter reverberated in my mind. It only grew louder, driving me to madness.
***
...AND SUDDENLY, THERE was light. There was feeling. There was warm air on my skin.
I opened my eyes, a pink light filling my vision.
And I heard voices.
“He’s coming to.”
“Ma...Makara?”
“Stand still. We got it off you, but you were still passed out for a good while.”
I coughed – my throat was incredibly dry and...slimy.
“Makara...” I said. “I thought you were...”
“Dead?” She chuckled. “I couldn’t die in that place. It wasn’t real, Alex.”
I frowned. Though there was pink light, that was all there was. I couldn’t see anything, just hear the voices, feel the clothes on my skin and the firmness of the ground beneath me.
“Where is this?” I asked. “What happened? Got what off me, exactly?”
“There was a tube, going into your right ear,” Makara said. “We all got separated when we entered the whirlpool, and...”
“None of this was real?” I asked. “The orbs...you died, Makara, saving us. I went to fight Askala, and...”
I pulled myself up. I felt as if I were in a dream. I didn’t know where I was, and all I cared about was reaching Anna. But still, I couldn’t see anything – nothing but the pink in front of my vision.
“Anna. Where’s Anna?”
Neither Makara nor Samuel answered.
“Where’s Anna?” I repeated.
Again, silence. A sickening dread twisted my stomach.
“I don’t care what the answer is!” I yelled. “I need to know. Now!”
With mounting horror, I realized that this wasn’t real. Makara was still dead. The others, probably dead as well. This was just one of Askala’s tricks to twist my mind, and my battle with her was far from over.
With this realization, all went dark.
***
DID YOU ENJOY THAT, Elekim?
My heart still raced, and I still felt sick to my core.
This is only the beginning. I will make you see their faces, again and again. I will make you forget that they are dead, only to kill them again in front of your eyes. Imagine this pain for the rest of time. I have that power, Elekim. It can all end in sweet oblivion, blessed annihilation, if only you surrender your power to me.
Never.
Your friends are all dead. Yes, even the girl. That is why you cannot find her. Her memory is like a mirage, beyond the horizon. A sweet dream, never to be recaptured. You are alone, Elekim...well and truly alone.
I don’t believe you. I refuse to believe you.
Then you must learn. I have an eternity to teach you.
With each passing second, I felt myself grow smaller. Still, I wasn’t going to back down or give up. Not if this took an eternity.
I would always have my mind, and I would always have the ability to choose what to believe. I resolved to never believe a word Askala said to me. I had to assume it was all a lie, every single word, or eventually she would win.
So in that darkness, in that smallness, I remembered what the Wanderer had told me, my original purpose for being here: I was supposed to infect Askala with the Elekai version of the xenovirus. I had thought this infection would be physical, but this was a battle of wills.
Even here, in this darkness, there must be some line to the real world. I had to believe it was there, or I would never find it.
I closed my eyes, and listened for anything that wasn’t Askala’s voice. Still, she whispered, sometimes several things at once. I had to expand my awareness beyond that, and let the whispers pass me by.
This continued for a long while. The whispers became more insistent, more permeating, and more difficult to ignore. I refocused myself, remembering why I was doing this. I had no power here, so my only chance was finding a source of power that went beyond this horrible place.
And then, I heard it: the Eternal Song of the Elekai. It was faint, but it was there, existing far beyond the confines of this Hell. It wasn’t a mirage or a dream, but entirely real. Even Askala would not have had the ability to profane its notes in imitation – the Eternal Song was not something that could be copied.
So, I embraced it in full, until it became louder, drowning out Askala’s fell whispers. They no longer had any power over me – and what’s more, I realized that they never did. For the first time, I detected a new emotion in Askala’s consciousness.
Fear.
Her new attack became unrelenting, brutal, even panicked. And like that, the song was dashed from my mind. The darkness returned, along with my fear, my sickness, my helplessness.
Desperately, I reached for the Song again before Askala’s assault could continue. It was still there. And I knew: whatever Askala tried, she could never silence it. The Song had found me, even in this place.
Fool, she whispered. You have no power here.
I remembered my resolve to not believe a word she said, so I believed the opposite. The Song had all the power here.
Listen, I told her. Listen to the Song.
Before she could silence the Song again, I became a conduit for it. Somehow, I started to sing its notes – reproducing it perfectly, channeling its beauty to fill this dark void with a bright, spreading light. In a nova-like burst, the light expanded outward. Askala screamed, long and horrible, as the darkness departed and ceased to be.
There was nothing but the light, the Song, the cleansing of Askala’s consciousness. There was nothing here that was hers – no memory, no thoughts or intents; everything had been wiped clean. This consciousness, this world, was mine now.
I opened my eyes to the whiteness, not believing that it was over. The oppressive air had been lifted. Askala was truly gone.
“Anna?” I called out.
Nothing responded in the following silence. I realized then, now having full access to this consciousness, that Anna wasn’t here. She never had been. Askala had only led me to believe that.
I reached out, beyond the consciousness, seeing the outside world for the first time. Every creature, every plant, every cell under the dominion of Askala reverted to my control, to the control of the Elekai.
Far beyond, on the plateau, by some miracle, a few thousand men stood back to back, fighting the legions of crawlers and swarms of dragons.
I commanded those creatures to stop. And they did. I could see, through their eyes, the terrified faces of the legionaries. I switch perspectives, until I was looking down from above, at Augustus himself, staring dazed out into the vast field of corpses – of men, of crawlers, of monsters.
The battle was over. We had won.
All at once, I commanded the creatures to retreat, to fall back into the Great Blight. They were all Elekai, now, the commands and directives of their former master completely forgotten.
So, as one, I issued a new command.
Askala is dead, I said. All of you are free, and all of you are Elekai. Live according to the tenets of the Eternal Song. Meditate on its precepts. It was what you were born to do.
There was agreement among all the new Elekai. A thousand different voices flooded my mind, all incomprehensible when taken together. In that mass of voices, I only cared about one thing – the fate of my friends. They had all entered the whirlpool with me, and I had to know if Quietus had led them to safety.
And I had to know if Anna was alive.
But a great weariness overcame me, one that I could not explain. I remembered the Wanderer, and when he released his power, how it had only taken a few minutes for him to pass.
I knew that was now happening to me.
Anna...
My mind was beginning to fade – soon there would be nothing at all.
But before that eventuality arrived, I heard the most important thing I could ever hear.
Alex...
Anna...you’re alive?
Quietus kept me from following you...
I’m...just glad you’re okay.
Alex...where are you?
I’m...fading, Anna, I said. But all is well. I have a feeling eternity won’t be so bad after all.
Alex...no. You can’t go. You have to come back...
...I can’t.
Makara...she never came, either. We were all there, on the shoreline, but she was gone...
I felt my consciousness slipping away. A sense of peace filled my entire being.
I will see her soon, I said. But go now. Live your life. Remember what happened here. Remember how hard we fought. Never let anyone forget what happened this day, but not for my sake. The Radaskim will return in four hundred years. You can’t let the world forget. I...might not be able to protect them next time.
Alex...I won’t. God, you can’t leave me.
Where are you now?
We’re all standing here, watching the sea. Wondering if you or Makara will come back.
She’s home now. And when your time comes...it will be your home, too. Live your life, Anna. There is so much for you to do, so much for you to see, and a new, safer world for you to live in.
I don’t want to live in it, she said. Not without you.
I’ll always be with you, I said. I promise.
And then, I saw her face with the tears streaming down, tinted pink from the light of the Sea of Creation. It was all one sea, now, just as we were both one – one in purpose, one in life, one in love.
And then, all went quiet. All went white. I faded into that which was eternal, the song of the universe.
The music was waiting for me.