John Jackson - The 9th Fortress

I now woke at the beginning of my story — that boring drone in my ears, the startling limbo white, and my life-support wrapping her restless self around my legs. "Knew you'd make it!" she declared. "I just knew! It's been so long! So, so long!"

I bent to embrace her, feeling a lump grow in my throat upon seeing Missy's tears and grin, and the appearance of Harmony, Yuki, and Kat beside her.

"How are you feeling?" asked Kat, his decapitated arm shocking me.

"Confused." I said. "And tired."

All of us were — congealed blood dangled from Kat's lost limb, Yuki had no tears left to spill and Harmony looked grey faced and worn out, the return of her wings hardly replacing the loss of her knight.

"You were brilliant!" said Missy. "You were all brilliant!"

"Were we?" I asked, unconvinced. The child recoiled suddenly. It was the unannounced presence of Sir Isaac Newton that startled her, the scientist looking proud as he removed his hat and then admirably tipped his head at each of us.

Awestruck, Harmony and Missy bowed before his polished shoes; and although I felt I should do the same, a cramp in my thighs forbid it. Kat on the other hand, would not be bowing to anybody.

"Stand up angels." said Newton. Harmony and Missy cordially rose and then waited for the old man. Our weariness obvious, he didn't make us wait for explanations.

"You are the talk of all the Realms." he said. "A remarkable achievement."

"We didn't achieve anything." I replied. "Your prisoner is gone. Killed by Scarfell. The mission in ruins and —"

"The object of your mission was never important." he interrupted. "John Curtis is no more wanted here than he is anywhere, and if you had brought that worthless piece of flesh and bone before me I would have immediately cast him back to the 9th Fortress."

"What?" I stuttered. "I don't.."

He came closer, his lanky arms taking me firmly by the shoulders.

"The journey, Daniel," he stressed; "the experience and the test! That was the vital component here. You and Kat left the Waiting Plain, not for prisoner 2020, but to redeem your souls and to deliver others — a marooned knight from his raft, an exiled angel from a wizard's cage and a tortured wife from perpetual suffering. You ended the rein of Scarfell and restored peace to the Distinct Earth. You achieved all that and more, yet you still search for a reason why…"

"Bludgeon," I whispered, weak on my feet; "he said there was more to this."

"There is more," he added, "and you are now ready to hear it. Your time with the Centaur King had to be especially gruelling — you had to be guided by heroes like Bludgeon and Kat to become one. You had to be tested Daniel, we had to know more than ledgers could tell."

"Tell you what?" asked Missy; and intrigued, the rest of us gathered to hear the elderly man's reply.

"That given the opportunity and the means, Daniel Fox would not kill John Curtis. Would he save a soul who caused him so much pain? Would he do the right thing when every impulse told him otherwise? What would he do?"

My hands trembled as I examined the dried bog blood over my fingers. "I wanted to kill him." I said, honestly. "You have no idea how badly."

Newton nodded understandingly. "Thoughts do not condemn a person Daniel, his actions do; and yours proved that you are the individual we are looking for." He took a weighty breath before carrying on. "These last few years you have been inadvertently training for a task, one which leaves that of the 9th Fortress in shade."

"Another?" I asked, with a light-headed chuckle as an appalled Missy clutched at my elbow.

His brow lowering, Sir Isaac Newton scrutinized us. "What I say now, none of you can share. This knowledge can never be made public, and you five, along with a trustworthy group of twelve individuals will be the only souls made aware of it."

Scared and excited at the same time, we searched the bewildered expressions of each other. "I must have your word." he earnestly added. "Do I have it?"

He came to us individually, and one by one we gave him our solemn word of honor — we would keep his secret. Content, Sir Isaac Newton seated himself on an appearing block of marble, then shared his great burden. "God is dying. Our God…is dying."

His words seemed to take a lot out of the old man — he was visibly weakened.

"What does it mean?" asked Missy, shocked.

"His light is going out." Newton replied, his voice breaking. "The twelve greatest minds in the universe are working day and night on the problem, but there is, as yet, no solution. We cannot explain it, and we cannot prevent it. The death of our Lord is now but a matter of time, and when that day arrives everything we know will change — the walls separating realms are already collapsing, soon darkness will infiltrate light, and the greatest of all battles will begin."

Sir Isaac Newton then stood from his marble block with a growing hardness in his eye. "We will fight for ourselves,” he concluded, “and we will die for the good we believe in."

"When is this battle?" asked Kat, his keenness to kill still apparent.

"The prophecy." added Missy, in disbelief. "No-one really knows when."

"The time will come," said Newton, "one year or one hundred years, it is coming Kat; the decisive conflict between good and evil, the absolute annihilation of one side for all time…and that side cannot be ours. One will lead the army of God at this finale. We have searched a very long time for our general, and he has been found in you Daniel. He has been found."

Too overwhelmed to react, so typically, Missy did it for me. "My Daniel!" she gasped. "I knew he was special! Didn't I tell you that?"

"I heard rumours of a prophecy." I eventually said, trembling harder. "In a saloon. They talked about it, those weird people."

"Godwin claimed he was the chosen one." added Harmony, with a smile. "That silly man."

"That prophecy only tells of the soul's moral attributes," continued Sir Isaac Newton, seriously, "a guideline of character not appearance. There have been many missions before yours Daniel, candidates from all across the universe, and all of them ending in abject failure. You have been a difficult soul to find, but you are the one."

Stunned, I seated myself on Newton's block of marble. How could I lead this finale, I could barely stand.

Missy came to rub a hand down my back. Her tiny touch was comforting, and Newton's confidence gave me some strength. "Have faith in yourself," he said. "You will pass every new test Daniel, and vanquish every foe. But that is for the future — the present sees me with unfinished business. Harmony Valour?"

The angel obediently raised her head, but her blue eyes appeared disinterested. "You have suffered more than most." he told her. "For that I am truly sorry."

Harmony attempted to conceal her painful expression. "Over there." said Newton, pointing now to a twinkling star of gold a little ways off. "You have served your penance angel. Go reclaim what is yours."

This yellow star floated over the horizon like a beckoning old friend, it was a doorway only one invited could enter. I stood for a better look, feeling Missy wrap her arm around my neck like a scarf. Harmony knew exactly what lay beyond this phenomenon, but still her heart longed elsewhere.

"There is nothing in the Heavens for me." she said. "Nothing at all."

At first the scientist appeared sympathetic, but his following question was meant to shock. "Angel if you are not in Heaven," he said, "then who will keep poor Eddinray company?"

"Godwin?" she said, instantly alive again. "You can't…"

Our eyes again followed Sir Isaac Newton's hand to his sparkling star, and a knight, striding out on horseback to greet us. "There is something in Heaven for everybody!" he said, with a beaming smile. "Even a wedding."