Part 15 (2/2)
”Suit yourself, but we do have business to discuss, you and I. Circ.u.mstances have changed since we last met.”
”Met? You tried to eat my brain and murdered a bunch of innocent people.”
”My apologies. I'm working for the Dread Overlord itself. One can't hesitate when fulfilling the orders of something so epic and terrible that even saying its true name can cause insanity in mere mortals.”
”Well, you can take those orders and shove them up your Dread Overlord's a.s.s, or whatever orifice crustaceans have.”
He ignored me. ”But that was before that meddling vampire exposed you to a shard of the sacred artifact. Events have been set into motion and I'm afraid it may be too late for us all.” The Englishman finally turned to face me. His eyes pierced through me with an unnerving cold. ”I need your help.”
I actually laughed out loud. His expression did not change. ”Wait...you're serious? h.e.l.l no.”
”You think I'm evil, that I'm some sort of monster, don't you?”
”They teach deductive logic at Necromancer College?”
He shook his head. ”I'm no monster. I'm just like you.”
That ticked me off. ”You're nothing nothing like me. I don't go around murdering innocents.” like me. I don't go around murdering innocents.”
”Yet,” he muttered, his voice hoa.r.s.e, ”you murder every day to earn your living. Innocence is such an arbitrary arbitrary thing to a Hunter. Where you see creatures of evil, I see wonders of the unnatural world, yet you destroy them out of fear and greed.” thing to a Hunter. Where you see creatures of evil, I see wonders of the unnatural world, yet you destroy them out of fear and greed.”
”And I'm d.a.m.n good at it. Get to the point.”
”Remember your search for Machado's Place of Power? You learned that they only existed at certain junctures, certain specific places and times, and that they were oh so rare. Well, it isn't just places, mate. It's people as well. People like you and me. Destiny falls like a mantle on very few of us, and we're given the power to shape the world, whether we like it or not.”
Or as Mordechai would have said, I had drawn the short straw. I had drawn the short straw. I knew this part pretty well. ”Yeah, yeah, I'm the Chosen One. Whatever.” I knew this part pretty well. ”Yeah, yeah, I'm the Chosen One. Whatever.”
”Yes, a Chosen, but not the One, rather one of many. We are the artists, and this reality is our canvas,” he began to pontificate, reminding me why he was the leader of a religious nut cult. ”We're brothers, p.a.w.ns in a cosmic struggle, where only-” I lifted my gun, centered the front sight on his forehead and pulled the trigger. BOOM BOOM. Still no effect, but it was strangely satisfying. That seemed to annoy the Englishman. ”Oh, p.i.s.s off then. I'll tell you why I'm here.”
”About d.a.m.n time.”
”I'm not as simple as you might think. Yes, I do work for them but only because I was able to see the future. The greatest Old One will return, no matter what mankind does. It's inevitable.”
”Inevitable?” I was unable to accept that. ”We've beat him before. I stopped him last time. He'll try again in another five hundred years and somebody else will stop him then.”
”You think that's the only way? Do you honestly believe it's so easy? No. There are other plans, other ways back. And it's only a matter of time before he returns. I was exactly exactly like you once. I learned about the Old Ones, and I thought that I could stand against them. I studied their ways, their power, originally with the n.o.blest of intentions, only to discover it was futile. I could not stop them, so I joined them.” like you once. I learned about the Old Ones, and I thought that I could stand against them. I studied their ways, their power, originally with the n.o.blest of intentions, only to discover it was futile. I could not stop them, so I joined them.”
”So you wanted to kiss up to the winning side? n.o.ble,” I spat. ”Selling out humanity so you don't end up as dinner? I got the same offer from Machado, and my answer stays the same as last time. Go to h.e.l.l.”
”Machado was a fool.” He went back to the bread and ducks. ”You can think that if you like, but I'm not 'selling out' humanity. No, I'm the savior savior of humanity. If I can conquer this world and present it to them, then we will be spared from their full fury. Those are the conditions of my employment.” It was totally insane, but I could tell that he actually bought what he was shoveling. He was a true believer. ”If I fail, then eventually they will win, only they won't be as merciful as I would be.” of humanity. If I can conquer this world and present it to them, then we will be spared from their full fury. Those are the conditions of my employment.” It was totally insane, but I could tell that he actually bought what he was shoveling. He was a true believer. ”If I fail, then eventually they will win, only they won't be as merciful as I would be.”
”You're nuts.”
He chuckled. It was a rough sound. ”Perhaps. But there's a war coming, a war that man cannot win. The only question remaining is how brutal will be our defeat. Your way, your struggle, it only ends in death, the eradication of all life on this world. My way, many will perish, so that many more will live. It will be a time of rebirth, renewal, where man will take his place as righteous servants of the great Old Ones.” I started to raise my gun again. ”Okay, okay. You're so b.l.o.o.d.y impatient. I'm making you an offer...”
”I won't join you.”
”Join me?” he said incredulously. ”Why would I do that? I'm asking you to surrender.” Right about then I found myself really wis.h.i.+ng that this wasn't the dream world, and this wasn't a dream gun, filled with dream bullets, because I'd blow his brains all over the duck pond. ”Hear me out. The Dread Overlord has never been personally offended by a human before. He called you byname!” He said that like I should be proud. ”His fury is infinite. By sacrificing yourself, you will salve his anger. The longer it takes for me to bring you to him, the more the entire world will pay for your insolence.”
”That's one h.e.l.l of an offer.”
”I'm a humanitarian. Think of your friends, your loved ones...You've personally spit in the eye of the deadliest being in the universe. He will get you. It's only a matter of time. But it's my job to make sure that your meddling doesn't endanger us all. I'm trying to protect the innocent. Your irresponsibility threatens my plan to save the world.”
He was telling the truth, but there was something more. I thought of what Susan said. ”There's something else...Something in it for you.”
”I have made a deal, yes. The great G.o.ds of the beyond do not give power easily. It must be earned. You will be traded for something that I, and my father before me, have yearned for. You are the key to achieving my life's work, the merciful domination of this world. ”
”You're as deluded as Machado was. I've seen what those things want, and mercy isn't part of the equation,” I said.
”The Old Ones don't want to destroy this world. They're ambivalent masters. They only destroy that which they can't have.” He tossed more bread on the water. The ducks quacked and fought for the crumbs. ”There are many factions of Elder Things. They don't care about us. They only want to control as many worlds, as many souls, as they can, and deprive the others of their owners.h.i.+p.”
”Nice touch.” I pointed at the duck pond. ”So, are these like some sort of symbolic illusion of great warring interstellar beings and we're the bread?”
He looked at me like I was dense. ”No. They're just ducks.”
”Yeah, I'm not real good at this whole metaphysical dream thing. How about we hook up someplace out in meat-s.p.a.ce so that I can shoot you with real bullets?”
”Owen, I'm begging you. Help me present this place to them. It's the only way to save us all. Fighting only makes them mad.” He gestured around the city. For the first time I noticed some sort of ma.s.sive, alien tree tree amidst the skyline, as tall as the skysc.r.a.pers around it. The branches were segmented, twisted, unnatural and black. There were no leaves, rather strange membranes, s.h.i.+mmering like locust wings, stretched between the insectoid branches. It was wrong. It did not belong on this world. amidst the skyline, as tall as the skysc.r.a.pers around it. The branches were segmented, twisted, unnatural and black. There were no leaves, rather strange membranes, s.h.i.+mmering like locust wings, stretched between the insectoid branches. It was wrong. It did not belong on this world.
”What is that?”
He was rather proud. ”The key to man's unity. The key to our survival. Under its boughs, there is only peace.”
The beautiful city had been built around the tree, for the tree. I shuddered.
”This is my world. My world will be a utopia. No more war. No more starvation, strife, or disease. I will banish banish death. But if we continue to struggle, their patience will wear thin, and their methods will turn from subterfuge to brute force...” As he said that, the sky darkened. The nearby leaves and gra.s.s turned brown, wilted, and died. The giant buildings twisted and collapsed in gus.h.i.+ng clouds of dust, but the great tree remained unharmed, standing alone on the burning horizon. The sky turned blood red with smoke and fire. The sounds of laughter in the distance mutated into screams of pain and the wails of torture. ”And this will be the result...” The clean water of the pond turned to black pollution. The feathers burned off the ducks in a stench of acid and bile. Oily purple tentacles the size of spaghetti noodles encircled the frantic birds and sucked them down in a spew of harsh bubbles. ”My way is the only way. Help me stop death. But if we continue to struggle, their patience will wear thin, and their methods will turn from subterfuge to brute force...” As he said that, the sky darkened. The nearby leaves and gra.s.s turned brown, wilted, and died. The giant buildings twisted and collapsed in gus.h.i.+ng clouds of dust, but the great tree remained unharmed, standing alone on the burning horizon. The sky turned blood red with smoke and fire. The sounds of laughter in the distance mutated into screams of pain and the wails of torture. ”And this will be the result...” The clean water of the pond turned to black pollution. The feathers burned off the ducks in a stench of acid and bile. Oily purple tentacles the size of spaghetti noodles encircled the frantic birds and sucked them down in a spew of harsh bubbles. ”My way is the only way. Help me stop this this.”
Glancing around the terrible landscape, I knew he wasn't exaggerating. I had seen this before, different variations of this vision many times. The Old Ones were coming. This was the future...
No. This was a a future. I strengthened my resolve and gave my final answer. ”I've already picked my side.” future. I strengthened my resolve and gave my final answer. ”I've already picked my side.”
”Your side?” he replied derisively. ”Oh, I'm quite familiar with them. Your side is made up of ghosts and fools. You ally yourself with the Hunters, yet Harbinger's a liar and a murderer. You think the government can protect you from my religion of truth, yet Myers is a traitor and a coward. The vampires Shackleford offer you an out, but my own sins pale before Susan's ambitions and Ray's pride. Your side is an alliance of flawed convenience, and it will shatter at its first test.”
He spoke like he knew them...”Who are you, really?”
”I'm your friend. I'm the only one who'll tell you the truth.” His voice raised in volume and intensity. ”I am the Lord of Shadows, High Priest of the Sanctified Church of the Temporary Mortal Condition. I am the first Horseman of the Apocalypse, the herald of the burning sunset of one age and the dark dawn of a new.”
My grip tightened on my pistol. A hot wind blew through the destroyed park. I had had enough of this nonsense. ”No. You're just another pain-in-the-a.s.s psycho s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around with magic s.h.i.+t that shouldn't be screwed with. Listen real careful, you quisling f.u.c.k, I'm coming for you and your little church, and I'm going to end end you.” you.”
”I was afraid of that, but I had to offer. I'm not by nature a violent man,” the Englishman responded, but the steel in his voice indicated that was a lie.
”Well, I am,” I responded.
We were plunged into shadow as a huge shape blotted out the reddened sun. I glanced up, my brain unable to comprehend the ma.s.siveness of the creature swimming through the air above us, trailing streamers of flesh, thorns, and a thousand eyes for what had to have been a quarter mile. Part blimp, part squid, all gut-wrenching terror. I knew that there were hundreds more just over the horizon.
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