Kyle West - Darkness

“Wait,” I said. “This is good news to you?”

Elias nodded. “Of course. She only seeks unity for humanity — for all life. War, starvation, disease — they shall all end once we surrender to her will. As I have. Yes, it was a struggle, at first. But in time, she made me see the truth. And she gave me the strength to carry out that truth.”

“Are you talking about…Askala?”

Elias’s face paled at the mention of that name. “Do not say it. It is a holy word, not to be used by unbelievers. Do not test me on this; at the next infraction, I cannot promise any measure of control on my part.”

I had been warned. He would kill me if I said “Askala” again.

A long silence passed. Elias seemed to be weighing his next step and awaiting my response. Perhaps my silence surprised him.

“How did you survive the journey north?” Elias asked. “Are more camped nearby?”

I shook my head. “As I said, my group is merely a recon team. We thought Bunker 84 was abandoned. Ashton — the older man with us — tried contacting this Bunker several times before arriving.”

“Ah,” Elias said. “Yes, I remember him.”

“Why didn’t you answer those calls?”

Elias said nothing for a moment. He was probably deciding what to tell me. Like me, he recognized that information was valuable.

“We knew you were arriving,” Elias said. “And we planned accordingly. You were armed, and we had no idea of the threat you posed. Forgive me, but we do not take any potential threat to the sanctity of the Community lightly.”

“I understand that,” I said. “However, we are not a threat. I actually used to live in Bunker 108, along with one of our team members here. Our survival group comes from many different backgrounds.”

“108 is gone, then,” Elias said. “Once again, she is right.”

“Do you…communicate?”

I did not want to get any more explicit than that. I didn’t want to test Elias’s earlier threat.

Elias smiled. I guessed he was going to keep that secret to himself.

“The Bunkers will all fall, until there is but one.” Elias motioned around the room. “Bunker 84, as it was once called, now known as the Community. And there are no other Bunkers left. We are all that remains. She informed me that Bunkers 76 and 88 has been offline now for several months, which means that we are the last one left. The time has come for the Ascension. The Day of the Five has arrived.”

“The Day of the Five?”

Elias said nothing for a moment, merely standing and staring at me with those dark eyes.

“Two days ago, Askala informed me that five would come into the Bunker. At this sign, we were to begin the Ascension.”

Five. There were supposed to be five of us originally, but with the addition of Grudge, we were six. Did Elias know that?

“Do you have all five of us down here?”

Elias nodded. “Yes. And since the prophecy has been fulfilled, we can begin the Ascension soon.”

So he did think there were only five of us. Which meant…

…one of us might have gotten away.

Before I could betray any emotion with the realization, I decided to keep Elias talking.

“What happened here?” I asked. “How did the Community form?”

“We were marked by the Voice. By her will we rose and took command of this Bunker.”

“A rebellion,” I said.

Not just a rebellion, but a rebellion orchestrated by the Voice herself. How was this possible? If Elias, or any others under his command, were infected with the xenovirus, then it couldn’t be the Howler strain. It couldn’t be any strain we knew about. This rebellion would have happened fifteen years ago.

“No, it was not a rebellion.” Elias said. “We call the day of our awakening the Realization.”

“So, you realized the Bunker’s fall?”

Elias gave a single nod in answer, his eyes shining. I could tell he enjoyed talking about this. Maybe if I could keep this up he might become more accommodating in telling me where the others were.

“I was sixteen when Bunker 84 fell,” Elias said. “At the time, it was run by a man named Charles Lawson. He was a cruel man, so the atmosphere was ripe for rebellion — so much so that a sixteen-year-old could spark the Realization: that we all dwell in darkness until we accept the truth. Our humanity is repugnant and dark. We must aspire to a higher calling — and that higher calling is aiding the Voice in driving the darkness out of humanity. After the Ascension, we will become new creations — we will become one with the Voice, free from darkness, and share in her glory in ruling the Earth.”

I would have thought Elias completely insane, except that the Voice were real. There were two Xenominds on Earth — both were godlike in power and abilities: Askala of the Radaskim , and the Wanderer of the Elekai . Could Elias really be in communication with Askala, the Voice of the Radaskim?

“You said you were the Voice of the Community,” I said. “What does that mean?”

“There is only one Voice, and she speaks through me. I speak the truth from the Great Beyond. I don’t know why I was chosen. I dream and prophesy about the Community and its purpose in the world. I foretold the Bunker’s fall. I foretold the Prophecy of the Five. And I foretold the Ascension, the time where we would all leave this Bunker behind to inherit the Earth. Those who are faithful to the Voice and her commands will inherit her glory and live as gods above — but only if we obey, only if we die to ourselves.”

“What does this Voice say to you?”

“You are skeptical?”

I shook my head. “No, far from it.”

“You tread dangerous ground,” Elias said. “You speak of the nature of the Voice herself. This is not something I would speak of with an Outsider — only with a select few within the Community itself.”

“But it is a she.”

I wanted to be sure of at least that much.

Elias nodded. “We always call her ‘she’. But she cannot be known, except by those who know the Voice of the Community.”

“So, the way to her is through you.”

Elias nodded. “She and I are the same. If you know me, you know her. You could say…I am her son.”

Askala had a child, apparently. Either that or this guy was completely out of his mind. Or both. His pronouncement left me speechless. I didn’t know how to safely respond. Instead, I let Elias talk.

“Those who follow me became marked with the Voice’s holy purpose. Again, it is easier for women — indeed, no man has ever been able to free himself from his own darkness. I have come to guess, over the years, that the Voice only allows one man to shepherd her flock. I cannot say why. Whatever the reason, over many months the Community battled in this Bunker. It was bloody. Three separate groups controlled different sections, but in the end, the Community was victorious. We held the fusion reactor and most of the food supply, so it was only a matter of time. And we were empowered with holy fervor that drove the rest to annihilation. And since the Realization, we have learned and grown together, preparing our minds and hearts for the Ascension.”

“For when you leave the Bunker.”

“Yes,” Elias said. “I have seen visions of the new world. In my dreams, I have seen a colossal flying beast, upon which flies a man.”

I tried not to show my surprise at what Elias had just said, but it was hard. He seemed to sense my reaction.

“This man is our savior. And our destruction. He will destroy the world, and chaos will overrun us all. From the dust and ashes shall rise the New Humanity — a humanity free from darkness. They will dwell in peace with her.”