D. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne

I wasn’t so sure he was wrong, but I didn’t want to make him feel any worse. “We don’t know that,” I said, trying to be positive. “The others may have escaped. And Twig may be a prisoner.”

“It was a death ship,” Siry said. He was sounding more numb than upset. “I asked them to make sure nobody would board. I know that’s what they did. Until the end.”

“The Jakills are loyal, not dumb. Once the attack started, I’m sure they abandoned ship. Some of them must have.”

“It’s my fault,” he whimpered. “They’re dead because of me. And for what?”

“They chose to be here,” I insisted. “Don’t beat yourself up.”

“Why not?”

“Because I need you.”

“It’s over, Pendragon,” he said, defeated.

We were at a crossroads. I was losing Siry. The guilt over the loss of his friends looked like it might crush him.

“I know you don’t buy into the fight against Saint Dane,” I said. “I don’t blame you. It took me a long time too. But there’s something I believe, and I want you to believe it too. No, I need you to believe it. I don’t know how many of the Jakills died today. Maybe all of them, maybe not. Their deaths were not wasted.”

“How can you say that?” he snapped.

“Because you went looking for the truth and found it. Siry, the quest you all began may have saved Veelox from disaster.”

Siry didn’t know how to react.

“You were right,” I continued. “There is more going on here than you were told by the tribunal. I know that for sure now. I know what they’ve been keeping from you. At least some of it.”

He looked at me with total confusion.

“I’ve been to Veelox before, Siry. I think it was a long time ago. Maybe generations.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t know myself. Some territories are on the same world, but at different times. There are three territories where I come from. What makes a territory a territory isn’t just a location. It’s about turning points. Saint Dane found ten turning points of Halla. He found moments in history where an event will happen that will determine a territory’s future. If events play out the way they should, the territory will continue in peace, the way it was meant to be. Saint Dane has been trying to influence these turning points to go the wrong way and plunge each world into chaos. That’s what he wants, Siry. He wants the territories of Halla to crumble, so he can remold them his own way. We’ve fought over seven territories and lost two. One is Quillan, where your father died. The other is Veelox.”

Siry scowled and shook his head. “You were here before, in the past, fought Saint Dane, and lost?” “Exactly.”

“Then if Veelox crumbled, why are we still around?”

“I don’t know. The island of Ibara looks like it escaped whatever fate Saint Dane’s victory brought to Veelox. Look at this city. The destruction. I think this is what most of Veelox has become. This is the truth that was kept from the people of Ibara.”

Siry walked to one of the walls and put his hand against it. The plaster material crumbled. The symbolism wasn’t lost on either of us. Veelox had crumbled.

“Let’s pretend I believe you,” Siry said cautiously. “That means Ibara will fall too. They can’t keep the Flighters away forever. If Veelox is truly lost, what’s the point?”

“The point is this is a territory,” I said. “Remudi was the Traveler. Now you are the Traveler.”

He scoffed. I didn’t react.

“Each territory has a turning point,” I continued. “If I was sent here, that means there is a turning point. Here. It means we might have another chance to save Veelox. You think the Jakills died for nothing? I say they gave us another chance to save this world. If we don’t try, if you don’t try, their lives were truly wasted.”

Siry wanted to believe. I saw it in his eyes. But it was a little too much for him to swallow. Okay, maybe a lot too much. I had to convince him. It seemed impossible… until I remembered something we had seen earlier.

“I can show you proof that what I’m saying is true. That’s what you wanted from the start, right? The truth? If you want to learn the whole truth about Veelox, you’ve got to come with me.”

“Where?”

“Have you ever seen a pyramid?” I asked.

Minutes later we were carefully making our way deeper into the city. I knew exactly where to go. When I’d seen it earlier, it hadn’t registered. Now I knew. It was the black wall. It had given me an uneasy feeling and now I knew why. Siry and I jogged quickly toward it. We reached the end of one block and stopped, ready to turn the corner.

“If we’re going to guide the future of Veelox,” I said, “we first have to unravel its past.”

We turned the corner. Siry gasped. I would have too, except I knew what to expect. It still gave me a shiver. It was a giant black pyramid. It stood out in its surroundings not only because of its size, but because it didn’t look anything like the architecture of the rest of the city. Not even close. I knew there were many more like it all over the territory. These dark monoliths were the cause of the Travelers’ loss on Veelox. The incredible technology they contained sent the territory on a path of ruin. No, that’s not right. It wasn’t the fault of the technology. It was the fault of the people who became slaves to it.

Lifelight.

“What is it?” was all Siry could say.

How was I going to explain this incredible virtual-reality generator to a guy who grew up in a grass hut?

“You should see inside first.” I figured it would be easier to explain if he saw it for himself.

The pyramid was so huge that Siry and I had to jog several more blocks before we got to it. I remembered the pyramids having shiny black skins. But that was long ago. Time had done a job on them. The many places, revealing the framework. The shine was long gone, probably from being exposed to the elements. But for how long? When had I been there before? Decades ago? Centuries? Back then, Rubic City had already begun to decay. The city had been technically still alive, with running water and electricity, but the people had already turned their backs on their homes by leaving reality and entering the fantasy world of Lifelight.

This was the very same Lifelight pyramid I had entered on my first trip to Rubic City. By my own clock that had been only a few years earlier. My memory was still pretty fresh. The base of the pyramid was trashed with the fallen remains of civilization. Mounds of debris were piled several feet up the sides of the structure. Luckily, the revolving-door entrance was clear. It was one of the few bits of good luck we had that day. It was a regular-size revolving door, but it looked like a speck at the base of this massive structure. I gave the door a shove. It didn’t budge. Siry joined me, and we both put our shoulders to the door while pushing with our legs. Slowly, painfully, the door let out a screech as the metal gave way. It didn’t swing smoothly, but we were able to move it far enough to squeeze ourselves inside.

We were faced with a long corridor. It was the sterilization corridor where long purple lights had killed any microbes that might have hitchhiked their way in on people. The purple lights were now dark, which meant the corridor was too. I couldn’t see more than a few feet into the pyramid before daylight gave way to a big, black nothing.

“What do we do?” Siry asked.

“There’s another room on the far end of the corridor. Hopefully, there’s light in there.”

I took his hand. The corridor was narrow enough that. while holding hands, we could reach the side wall with our free hand. We each kept one hand on the wall while moving slowly forward, shuffling our feet in case something was blocking our way. The corridor was dead black. Something could have been two inches from my nose, and I wouldn’t have known it until I walked into it. We had gone only about ten yards when I kicked something. It felt kind of like a pile of hard sticks.