Kyle West - Darkness

Was this real?

Unsure, I took a few steps forward, as if testing it out. It certainly felt real enough. Had I really fallen asleep on Gilgamesh only to wake up here?

Suddenly, three xenodragons flew out from the Crater from one of the cracks in the Earth, one after the other, shrieking as they streaked into the sky like missiles. Their wings unfolded as their bodies angled upward — it was as if they had been shot out. As their momentum slowed, their wings unfurled fully, and they took to the wind with deadly grace, allowing warm updrafts to carry them further and further upward. More dragons shot from the Earth, going after the first ones. There were a dozen or so, followed by still more…

I just watched for the next few minutes as more dragons vacated the Crater. I stopped counting after fifty.

“Los Angeles is the least of your concerns now,” a voice said.

I turned around to find the Wanderer standing behind me. He had just disembarked from his completely white dragon. I hadn’t heard him land. His eyes glowed white within his hood, his cloak thick and brown about him, its tail whipped by the wind. He wore leather boots and carried his trademark walking stick.

“Is this really happening?” I asked. “Am I really here?”

The Wanderer did not answer, merely staring up at the red sky. The dragons were now turning west.

West, toward us.

“Who are they attacking?”

“The time is coming,” the Wanderer said. “The final battle is about to start. Askala has already sent her legions to the outskirts of the Great Blight.”

“But we aren’t ready! We just needed another week…”

The Wanderer smiled, as if he understood that sentiment. “Askala has always been careful, and she does not take chances. She is striking when you are weakest; when you least expect it.”

“But how are we supposed to stop that?”

The Wanderer looked upward once more. His white eyes held no answers.

“Should we…should we attack now?”

The Wanderer looked at me once again. “In the end, it doesn’t matter who among humanity comes out on top. These are trifling concerns in the grand scheme of things. Are they not?”

“So you’re saying that we should end it now?”

The Wanderer shook his head. “No. I am saying that if something isn’t done now, humanity will soon be extinct. The Radaskim are launching their final assault. There is no time for disunity. All must come together as one.” The Wanderer leaned forward, his white eyes blazing. “You must unite them.”

At last, the dragons stopped leaving the Crater. The first that had left were now specks in the sky, lost in swirling, crimson cloud. I didn’t know how long it would take them to reach…

“Where are they going?” I asked.

The Wanderer continued to watch the sky. “They are searching for you.”

“They are coming to Bunker 84, then.”

Just after we had got everyone settled in, we were going to be attacked.

“As long as we are underground, they cannot reach us…right?”

The Wanderer nodded. “Maybe so. But it also means that you cannot leave.”

We stood on Ragnarok Crater’s rim for another minute or so.

“Elias said there was no darkness as great as the human heart.” I looked at the Wanderer. “Was he right?”

The Wanderer was quiet for a moment. “There is no darkness as great as the human heart. But he left out one critical point: there is also no light as great. Be wary of evil men, Alex. They always tell a half-truth because they can’t stomach the full.”

I was quiet at that. It was a moment before the Wanderer spoke again.

“We always have the choice, Alex, to be good. And sometimes, the most evil of men begin as the most good. In fact, that is almost always how it turns out.”

“I’m really going to have to do it, aren’t I?” I asked.

The Wanderer stared down at the Crater with me. “You see those cracks in the ground?”

“The ones the dragons came out of?” I asked.

The Wanderer nodded. “Those are the Warrens. Deep within those scars is Askala. I can sense her, down there.”

“Can she sense you?”

The Wanderer nodded. “Oh, yes. I know she can. Though you are here in a dream, I am here in the flesh.”

“Then why doesn’t she kill you?”

The Wanderer smiled. “Do you really think the heart of the Elekai is confined to this old body? If that were the case, then we’d have but to destroy Askala with a single blow. But it is not that simple, is it? That is why she must be infected — must be turned. She has been ‘destroyed’ before. It has never worked.”

“We were right to shoot down Grudge’s idea, then.”

The Wanderer nodded.

“There is no other way, then. I have to do this.”

The Wanderer did not answer for a moment. At last, he spoke.

“Be very careful, Alex,” The Wanderer said. “The time is coming and it is coming soon. You will face a choice. A series of choices. You must choose rightly, or it will all be for nothing.”

I didn’t bother asking what those choices were. The Wanderer would probably not tell me. It seemed he had a way of answering questions and leaving me with two more than I started. Asking him questions was a battle I was sure to lose.

All the same, I couldn’t stop myself. I thought of what Anna told me — how she would save me from having to die. I felt that the Wanderer was saying that this was one of the choices I would have to make.

“How are we supposed to get the Reapers to help us?” I asked. “How could I ever convince Makara to set aside her vengeance?”

“Perhaps you cannot,” the Wanderer said. “Makara is Makara, and always will be. So will Anna be, for that matter. Or Samuel. Or any of the rest.”

I paused. “You speak as if you know them.”

The Wanderer smiled. “Of course I do. I’ve looked into their eyes. I have seen their stories. You forget that night in the Boundless, three months ago. Their stories will continue and follow their courses and there is nothing you can do to stop that. You shouldn’t want to.”

“So…let Makara do what she wants with Carin Black?”

“That remains to be seen. Even I don’t know how all of this will play out. Everyone will be here soon, however. That much I can see.” He looked at me. “One thing is for sure; you must stand strong and be resolute. Trust your heart and your goodness even when death and chaos swirl around you. That is all any brave man can do.”

“Brave man.” I smiled. “I don’t really feel that brave.”

“We all feel fear, Alex. It’s what we do with it that counts.”

I didn’t know why, but the Wanderer always had a way of making sense. Not scientifically, maybe, but in the soul. It made me ask my stupidest question yet.

“Are you God or something?”

Suddenly, the Wanderer was laughing — a deep belly laugh. “No. I’m not God. But I am certainly something.”

“Sorry. I don’t know if it was the long white beard, the cloak, or your truth bombs. It just seems like you fit the bill.”

The Wanderer’s smile remained. It seemed to take him a moment to find his words.

“When you meet God, Alex, you will know. You won’t have to ask.”

The dragons, even the tail end of them, were now distant. I didn’t know how long it would take them to reach Bunker 84. Nonstop, it might be a full day. It was hard to predict.

“I need to warn the others,” I said.

The Wanderer nodded. “You must hurry. We will have one chance, and one chance only, to strike. We cannot waste it.”

“And Augustus?” I asked.

“I know you see him as your enemy,” the Wanderer said. “But he comes at an opportune time. Make use of it. Make whatever promises you must make in order to complete your mission. The survival of all depends upon it.”