Demiurge
It was late afternoon by the time Ian
returned to the Chantry, bringing with him a host of fresh supplies,
including clothes for Trey that he'd pillaged from one of the other
ranch houses nearby. In the light of day, it was easier to focus his
energy on dealing with the here and now. Whatever his personal feelings
and frailties, this was not to time to let them swallow him. And for all
that Ian may have seemed as though just that thing might happen to him,
he'd managed to leave that moment behind.
The time away had done him some good, too. Having a clear task and purpose usually did.
But
when he returned, he knew immediately that something was wrong. Two of
the horses were missing. Sid and Trey... were missing - their patterns
nowhere to be found. So Ian left his horse and ran into the house,
searching for some sign of attack. Of something that might explain to
him why only Kalen and Sunshadow were there to greet him.
"Kalen!" He shouted across the huge, empty house. "Where's the girl? Where's Sid?"
Kalen Holliday
Kalen does not immediately answer, but after a minute he comes to join Ian. Hesitant.
"Gone," he says quietly. "They..." Abandoned us. Snuck away.
"...did
not consult me. I have no idea where they are, or where they plan to
go. Sid was looking for someone." He shrugs. "The girl has the symbol
I saw tattooed on her though, so...maybe she'll be headed somewhere
else now. I have no idea and fate here is not...right. In our world, I
could probably track, if not them, where we needed to be.
Here...doubtful." They'd been to a point where Kalen would come
closer, but he stays on the other side of the room now rather than
closing the distance between them at all.
Demiurge
It
took a moment for Ian to process what Kalen was saying. That somehow in
the span of a few hours, Sid and a thirteen year old girl in desperate
need of food and rest had simply disappeared. Maybe together, maybe not.
That
much was comprehensible though. The part that gave him pause... that
set his body into predatory stillness and his eyes fixed on Kalen with a
cold, unwavering intensity, was the other revelation.
"...What do you mean?" He finally said, all quiet, coiled tension. "She had it tattooed on her? An ouroboros?"
Kalen Holliday
And, for the first time, Kalen flinches at that predatory look.
After
a few seconds he nods. "Over the breastbone. Sid...before she left
Sid mentioned it in the context of The Neverending Story, which it is
certainly not unlike. And you said before, about this place being what
we made it." He looks away from Ian. "This place is perhaps broken
because of what I saw in Flagstaff and if that's true, you probably
should get as far away from me as you can anyway because-"
He
doesn't finish that, just swallows and shifts topic back to Trey and
Sid. "They haven't been gone that long. You can probably catch them.
I don't think they hate you. She's the only real idea for how to get
out of here, the girl."
Demiurge
You could see it
in his eyes... the moment everything came together in Ian's head. The
girl. The mark. What it probably meant for them now that she was gone.
Trey
might have just been a girl with a tattoo (odd enough in its own
right.) None of them knew for sure how important she was or wasn't. Only
that she bore a symbol that Kalen had seen in a vision. But the
coincidence was too big for it not to mean... something.
You could see it in Ian's eyes. The dawning awareness and the coiling anger. And a heartbeat later everything in him just snapped.
"What
the fuck, Kalen! Are you insane? Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Sid's
gone! Our first fucking clue in weeks is gone! You two can be martyrs
on your own time, but I am not going to sit here and let this place kill me! Get your shit and get on your fucking horse. I'm not leaving you here."
Apparently,
Ian was not in the mood to argue this point. Without waiting for an
answer, he ran to collect whatever immediate things he thought they
might need. There wasn't time. Never enough time in this place, until
there was far too much time and nothing to do.
But wherever Sid
and the girl were, he intended to find them. And he wasn't about to
leave Kalen behind and fracture their group any more than it already
was.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen blinks. Not because of the snapping. That he expected.
He
did not expect that Ian would refuse to leave him there. Ridiculous
loyalty...the only people he knew who demonstrated that particular
quality were dead. He had perhaps expected he'd found it in Denver, but
one of the few people he'd seen demonstrate it for other people just
abandoned him. Again.
"Fine," he said. "Your way then." And he slips off to pack.
Demiurge
It
wasn't long before the two of them were back on their horses and on
their way. Something about it felt like a goodbye. Like they probably
wouldn't be returning to this empty husk of a Chantry, even if they did
manage to find either Sid or the girl.
It felt like a new chapter. Or maybe the beginning of the end.
In
a strange way, it was good to be on the road again. At least for Ian.
Good to be moving - to have some kind of goal in mind. But that feeling
soon gave way to frustration, as the day passed without any obvious sign
or clue. And then another. And another.
Almost as if the very world itself did not want them to find anything. Even the hawks could not offer help.
A
week passed, and some time toward the end the drought finally broke and
it started to rain. It ought to have been a relief, and at first it
was. But then the rain kept coming. Until the roads had turned to
rivers, washing debris and rotting corpses past the two soaked and weary
travelers as the horses plodded along.
I am not going to sit here and let this place kill me.
Of
all the disasters Ian may have imagined when he'd said that, death by
drowning had not been one of them. They were somewhere in Western
Colorado by then, drawing near to what looked to be a suburban
neighborhood at the outskirts of a city. It was storming hard that
afternoon, and Ian's horse had just about had her fill of mud and rain.
"We should stop here," Ian said, raising his voice over the wind.
Kalen Holliday
[Nightmares]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 5, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
looks through the rain toward the submerged road. How much deeper is
it now than the last time he looked? Could this entire world wash away?
Probably.
He
nods, not really trying to speak over the storm. Not that he's spoken
much since they set out after Sid and Trey. Once they've found shelter
there is something he might try. If he is ever going to find any trace
of fate it will be during a storm like this. He glances at the river
that was a road and shudders. Maybe he can find an elevated crossroads.
Doubtful. But possible.
Maybe they'll catch the figurative odds of a lightning strike and find some clue.
Or
perhaps actual lightning will strike them. That seems more likely, if
not from the standpoint of probability then from the standpoint of how
much fortune seems not to favor them.
Demiurge
[Life scan]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
They
were still a fair distance from the rise of houses on the horizon, and
it took a while for them to lead the horses over the soggy mess of
rolling hillside. As they drew closer, the dark clouds overhead sounded a
rolling echo of thunder, and a bolt of lightning streaked across the
sky, momentarily illuminating the landscape with an eerie white glow.
That
was when they saw the house. Two-stories, with a mangled garage that
looked as though the door had been kicked outward by some kind of
fleeing animal.
There was a girl sitting on the roof of that
house, huddled against the brick chimney with the brim of a cowboy hat
obscuring her features. She had a gun out, but wasn't using it.
And
on the ground below, a hoard of living dead clustered around the
building, groaning and hissing in the rain as they looked up at their
intended prey. Nearby, the picked skeleton of a horse lay dead in the
lawn, washed mostly clean by the rain.
Ian blinked in shock and reigned in his horse, putting a hand out toward Kalen as though to get his attention.
"That's the girl. I remember her pattern."
Whatever Kalen's definition of fate and fortune, one would be hard-pressed to imagine this a coincidence.
Kalen HollidayThere
is a long pause before Kalen responds. "Here. Come here. Let's try
this the more sane way from the beginning this time, shall we? Not when
everything is already going to Hell."
He takes a deep breath and
forgets for a few precious seconds that the rain is flooding the roads
and there are zombies menacing a girl. Instead, he focuses on the rain
itself. The ways it traces over Ian's skin, the invisible patterns he
can feel it tattooing against his own. And then he starts to murmur in
Enochian.
[Zombie-proofing! In advance this time!
D= 5 |
2(Highest Sphere) + 3(Standard) - will extend because targets x 2 + 1
suxx to make it work + suxx to subtract from damage is at least six to
be happy with this thing - also WP - also hopefully Ian is cool with
this]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (9, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday
[Extending, D=6 now, no WP but all the praying]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (4, 5) ( fail )
Kalen Holliday
[Extending, now 7 WP this time]
Dice: 2 d10 TN7 (2, 8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday
[One more time]
Dice: 2 d10 TN7 (3, 4) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday
[One more time again.]
Dice: 2 d10 TN7 (1, 1) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Demiurge
Less
than 24 hours ago, Sid had been in this house. Ian and Kalen didn't
know that yet (and may never find out.) They didn't know what had
occurred here last night or how Trey had ended up trapped on the roof.
And
they didn't know how or why it could be that they'd spend days
searching for someone who refused to be found, only to end up stumbling
upon her by accident.
Only her though. Not Sid. Not the horses. (At least... none yet living. Was that Lovelace on the ground? Or Artax?)
Ian
gave Kalen the time he needed to cast his effect, knowing full well
what kind of danger they were entering into. While Kalen worked, Ian
used his knife to cut a small notch on his thumb. He pressed on it and
swirled the blood between his fingers, focusing on the pain and the well
of life from his own pattern.
[Life 2 / Mind 1 - Pain Mastery - diff 5 -1 (practiced)]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (2, 7) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[extending]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (4, 7) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[one more time]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (1, 6) ( success x 1 )
Kalen Holliday
"As
many as come shambling over at a distance then? And then you can stab
the fuck out of any that get close before I manage to shoot them? There
are a lot, so some almost certainly will. But...I think avoiding the
kind of abject disaster the whole thing when we got to the chantry was is
for the best?"
It's the first time since...well since Ian has seen
him here in this reality that Kalen really shifts into actively
suggesting anything. The things one learns after failing to recall that
one's companions were not given the exact same training. Will not move
with you reflexively and easily as the other people you've gone into
fights with. You make that mistake only once.
Demiurge
"That's the idea," Ian said.
Both
of them were different tonight than they had been on that first fight
together. Kalen was focused, collected. And Ian was... restrained.
Quiet, even.
There was one last hint of hesitation in him, as he
looked out toward the house. Toward the girl. Toward the dead. Then he
jumped down from his horse and set about removing the mare's riding
gear. There was a sense of finality about it. A sense of silent
affection. Of goodbye.
He didn't know what was going to happen to them out there.
Dusk
lowered her head, and Ian rested his forehead against hers, and for a
moment they just stood there. Then he patted her lightly on the shoulder
and she trotted a few paces away, moving toward a stand of trees that
might offer some meager shelter from the storm.
Maybe Kalen was of
a similar mind, or maybe he preferred to stay on his horse. Either way,
Ian waited until he was ready, then he began to jog forward, waving his
arms in the air as he shouted over the storm.
"Hey! Over here!"
And as he approached, some of the walkers turned to look at him - and began moving in his direction.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
looks from Ian starting to release Dusk to the bones of the horse and
slips off of Sunshadow. He removes her gear as well, then pats her on
the nose and whispers into her ear.
And then he turns to face the now approaching zombies, raising his rifle to aim at the one in the lead.
[Init! +5]
Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (6) ( fail )
Demiurge
[Ian Init +7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )
Demiurge
[Walkers Init +3]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[Runners Init +4]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[Trey Init +6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )
Demiurge
Our bizarre order tonight:
Walkers - 13
Ian - 12
Kalen - 11
Trey - 10
Runners - 10
Demiurge
Something
happened when Ian started to approach the house. Trey spotted him and
jumped up, waving her hat as though to get his attention. At first it
seemed as though she was calling for help, but then...
"Watch out! Runners!"
Almost
they could not hear her over the sound of the rain and the wind. But
Ian heard enough to stop in his tracks. It was too late though. They
came from everywhere, it seemed. Around the other side of the house. The
garage. Leaping from broken windows. Some of them landed badly on the
grass and fractured their limbs, but most of them hit the ground and
kept running.
A dozen or so. Plus the... how many Walkers? It was
difficult to count. At least 20. Ian pulled back and reached for his
gun, aiming it at the closest head.
Demiurge
[Runners close distance to Ian. 6 will get to him next turn.]
[Trey shoots twice at the runners]
Kalen Holliday
[Shoot one of the runners headed for Ian, second from lead now that Ian is using one gun too.]
Demiurge
[Ian shoots a zombie in the head, hopefully]
Demiurge
[Walkers close distance slowly to Ian and Kalen.]
Demiurge
[Ian (who has no firearms haha) Dex+nothing, +2 for called shot]
Dice: 4 d10 TN9 (1, 2, 5, 9) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[1 runner dead]
Kalen Holliday
[Firearms D=8 called shot]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
[2 runners dead]
Demiurge
[Trey shoots -2, +2 diff]
Dice: 5 d10 TN8 (1, 1, 3, 8, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[and again, -3]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (4, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Demiurge
[Trey is a badass, kills 2 runners]
Demiurge
[Runners keep running]
Demiurge
[Runners declare: 4 reach Ian and bite, 4 still closing distance - 2 of them break off and go for kalen]
Demiurge
[Trey shoots twice at the runners - they are now out of range]
Kalen Holliday
Free action: "I have a plan. One I probably survive. Get on the roof with her if you can!"
[Run
for a house that he can hopefully reach before runners reach him and
which Trey is not in because fire is (hopefully) about to happen.]
Demiurge
[Ian drops the gun and pulls out his knife, then runs the fuck away]
Demiurge
[Walkers keep coming, all moving for Ian now.]
Demiurge
[Ian Dex+Ath -3 for split - run awaaaaay! (toward the part of the house with less zombies)]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
[Kalen runs for the house next door. He will get there next turn]
Demiurge
[Trey tries to shoot things out of range]
Dice: 5 d10 TN10 (1, 4, 4, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[And again]
Dice: 4 d10 TN10 (5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[Trey is shockingly good at this and lives up to her character. 2 more runners dead.]
Demiurge
[2 runners keep going after Kalen, 2 keep going after Ian, 2 more try to bite while he runs away. Zombie 1 Dex+Brawl]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Demiurge[Zombie needed 5 to hit, between the shield and the running, so he misses]
Demiurge
[Zombie 2 bites!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4) ( fail )
Demiurge
[hah]
Demiurge
[New declares!
4 runners chase Ian to the house
2 runners chase Kalen
Trey is out of bullets and can't do anything. :( ]
Kalen Holliday
[Kalen
runs into one house which is hopefully so he can close a door behind
him rather than going through a window. I'm pretty sure running to a
door and opening it and getting inside or failing to open it is one
action. Ish. Two if you want?]
Demiurge
[Walkers
all follow Ian. He's still moving so they haven't reached him yet, but
now that he's at the house the first wave will hit him next turn.]
Demiurge
[Ian
was supposed to go after the Walkers, but it will not change their
declare. He is going to, uh... try to ninja his way up the side of the
house]
Demiurge
[Walkers do their thing. They groan and shamble and stuff.]
Demiurge
[Dex+Ath, diff... 9 I think]
Dice: 7 d10 TN9 (2, 2, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[Ian manages to get part of the way up the house. Not far though.]
Demiurge
[Kalen reaches the back door of the next house, but it is locked.]
Demiurge
[Trey
can't do anything. 2 Runners get to kalen and will attack next turn. 4
Runners reach the spot where Ian was and try to climb after him]
Demiurge
[2 Runners Bite Kalen
4 Runners climb the house
Trey is still out of bullets]
Kalen Holliday
[Engage secondary plan of leap through window!]
Demiurge
[Ian keeps climbing]
Demiurge
[6 Walkers get to the spot beneath Ian and start clawing at the air uselessly. The rest keep coming.]
Demiurge
[Ian climbs!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN9 (1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[Ian gets a bit further and will need another 3 successes to reach the roof]
Kalen Holliday
Dex+Athletics
Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (3, 3, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[Bashing damage from breaking through the glass]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[Kalen has a shield and is fiiine]
Demiurge
[Runner 1, can he bite before Kalen is out of the way?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )
Demiurge
[nope]
Demiurge
[2nd one]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Demiurge
[nope again]
Demiurge
[Ian's Runners now, first one climbing]
Dice: 6 d10 TN9 (1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[2nd one]
Dice: 6 d10 TN9 (1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
[Uh oh, zombie 2 just caught up to Ian]
Demiurge
[3rd one]
Dice: 6 d10 TN9 (3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[4th one]
Dice: 6 d10 TN9 (3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) ( fail )
Demiurge
[WELL AT LEAST ONE OF THEM FAILED]
Demiurge
[New declares:
1 Runner bites Ian
3 Runners climb after Ian
2 runners jump through the window after Kalen
Trey realizes Ian might not make it and starts to try to climb down to him with a knife in her mouth like a badass]
Kalen Holliday
[Kalen runs for a room with a door that closes, on the second floor if there is one.]
Demiurge
[Ian Knifes a runner in the eye, maybe, then keeps climbing]
[Walkers all line up under Ian and keep uselessly reaching for him]
Demiurge
[Ian Dex+Melee -2, +2 diff]
Dice: 5 d10 TN8 (5, 7, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[Well that was a waste of precious WP]
Demiurge
[Climb! -3]
Dice: 4 d10 TN9 (1, 2, 7, 8) ( fail )
Demiurge
[It had to happen eventually. Le sigh]
Demiurge
[Ian
falls into the zombie horde. Bashing damage from the fall wouldn't be
enough to hurt him with the shield so we'll skip that.]
Demiurge
[Trey climbs down!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN9 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[Kalen's runners: jump through window? 1]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )
Demiurge
[Damn these guys really are ninjas]
Demiurge
[2]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 5, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[New declares!
2 Runners go for Trey (climbing)
1 Runner is still down with the Walkers and bites Ian
2 more chase Kalen upstairs to the closest bedroom
Trey climbs in a direction that is both down and away from zombies]
Kalen Holliday
[Slam door in some zombie faces. Brace door. (This assumes you can slam a door and lean into it as one thing?)]
Demiurge
[Ian gets up / pulls his sword / swings at a zombie (and there goes his last WP)]
Demiurge
[4 walkers bite Ian, the rest try to get close enough to also bite but their friends are sort of in the way]
Demiurge
[Walker 1 bites!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 5) ( fail )
Demiurge
[And falls over, apparently]
Demiurge
[Walker 2 bites]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 8) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[and misses]
Demiurge
[Walker 3 bites]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[and also misses]
Demiurge
[Walker 4 bites]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
[and still misses]
Demiurge
[Ian Dex+Melee on the runner -5 for third split, +2 diff]
Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (5, 7) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday
[Strength+Athletics]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
[Runner Str+Ath]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )
Demiurge
[Runner 2 ditto]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 5, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
[They most definitely break in]
Demiurge
[Oh right, Trey climbs]
Dice: 6 d10 TN9 (2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[And makes it down!]
Demiurge
[Last round of declares!
2 Runners bite Kalen
Trey starts waving at the Walkers to get them to chase her and leave Ian alone]
Kalen Holliday
[Fuck it. We'll just light the place on fire now.
Wildfire - E2/Forces2 - this is why we carry lighters. -- If he needs a
separate action to pull out a lighter pre-casting, then pull lighter
while retreating toward window.]
Demiurge
[Ian Katanas 2 zombies
6 Walkers bite Ian]
Demiurge
[Walker 1]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )
Demiurge
[Damage]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (1, 2) ( fail )
Demiurge
[It is but a scratch, apparently]
Demiurge
[Walker 2]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
[Walker 3]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[Walker 4]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 7) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[Walker 5]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 7) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[Walker 6]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[Somehow Ian is not dead]
Demiurge
[Ian katanas -2]
Dice: 5 d10 TN8 (1, 3, 3, 7, 10) ( success x 1 )
Demiurge
[-3]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (3, 6, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
[Ian is clearly desperate to kill things now]
Demiurge
[Trey does her distraction thing. It works on like 6 of them.
I forgot the runners chasing Trey. They jump down from the wall now.]
Kalen Holliday
[Flick one flame to life. Blow at zombies. Hopefully GTFO next round.
D=5 | WP]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (8, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Demiurge
[This house is on FIYAH]
Demiurge
[Runner 1 bites Kalen :( ]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Demiurge
[Runner 2]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Demiurge
[Damage]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 10) ( success x 3 )
Demiurge
[Ouch]
Demiurge
[Kalen takes 3L and is INFECTED nooooo]
Demiurge
Kalen
had a plan, and Ian, for once in his life, followed directions. He
didn't know what Kalen intended to do, but if Kalen needed him on the
roof, he was going to get on the roof - if he could.
Ian ran
headlong for the house, shoving the flat of his knife between his teeth
as he jumped to catch his fingers on a high windowsill. He was just in
time to avoid the runners panting and growling in his wake. But they
were not so easily deterred, and moments later three of them followed
Ian onto the wall, grabbing hold of whatever they could to leverage
themselves up the side of the building.
Meanwhile, Kalen bolted
for the house next door. When he found the door locked, he took a leap
and went crashing through a nearby window. Fragments of glass shattered
over the floor and scraped at his skin, but thanks to his effect he
managed to escape any real damage. The two runners behind him came
hurtling through the open space a moment later.
"Ian!" Trey
shouted from the roof. Because she remembered who he was. "I'm out of
ammo! Hurry!" And with an athletic motion, she swung down from the lip
of the roof and began to climb toward him.
But it wasn't exactly
an easy climb. And the runners were right on Ian's heels. One of them
scrabbled up the wall next to him and tried to bite his arm, and Ian
yanked the knife out of his mouth and buried the blade deep in the
creature's eye socket. But the motion unblanced him, and he fell.
He fell.
And the hungry dead were there waiting for him.
He
shouldn't have lived more than another few seconds. He knew that. When
he leaped up off the ground and pulled his sword, the act was a thing of
wild desperation. Of survival in the face of impossible odds.
She was so close. The girl was so close.
And now he was going to die here, chewed apart by walking corpses.
But
Ian didn't die. At least not right away. That was Kalen's doing more
than anything. His effect slowed the walkers' already sluggish attacks -
just enough to give Ian a fighting chance. And he did fight. He swung
his sword at one, then another. Taking out the walkers nearest him. It
was hopeless. There were so many of them. But as long as he breathed, he
would try.
In the house next door, Kalen bolted up the stairs and
into the nearest bedroom. He tried to bar the door with his weight, but
the runners forced their way in. In a last-ditch effort, Kalen pulled
out his lighter and...
It was almost beautiful, the way the flames
lit the walls. The way the room just exploded with light and heat. How
one small spark could become a bonfire.
But the runners kept
coming, and one of them sunk their teeth into the place where Kalen's
neck and shoulder met, tearing free a section of flesh. It would not
have mattered if the bite had barely broken the skin. It was a death
sentence either way.
He was going to die. There was no question now.
And
in the fraction of a moment between that bite and Kalen's desperate
escape through the second story window, he saw something in the flames
overhead. He saw black glass, and an altogether different kind of fire.
He saw flashes of people dancing in a club. Of a flock of animated white
birds soaring across the room.
He closed his eyes and heard music.
And
then he remembered all of it. The club. Dancing with Ian. Sid and her
friends. That beautiful, infinite force. And a vision of the dead, and
of a two-headed ouroboros. He remembered what had brought them here all
those weeks ago.
And then he was crashing through the window, and there was more glass, and he was falling... falling.
When
he landed, it jarred through his body like a crack. But none of his
bones were broken. And behind him, the second story of the house
exploded in flames, torching the two runners left inside.
That was
when he'd see Trey, frantically waving her arms as she goaded the
walkers to chase after her. Trying to distract them from...
Oh.
Ian.
(And
Ian remembered too. It came to him in wild flashes as he fought for his
life, glinting lights like the lightning reflecting off the blade of
his sword.)
Around them, the wind howled. Rain crashed down in heavy sheets. The black clouds thundered.
(A storm. How appropriate.)
Then
the corpses just... stopped. And all at once, they turned as though
hypnotized. As though something were calling them. They turned and
looked at the sky. At the edges of their world falling away. Ripped up.
Unraveled. Unmade. And slowly they started to walk toward it.
Reality was coming undone. In the distance, the horizon was nothing but an empty void.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
rises and walks toward Ian. Under other circumstances he might have
run, but there is the howling void and suddenly the fact that he is
going to die in a day seems much less pressing. He stares at it wide
eyes, and they are perhaps a bit fearful but the overriding expression
in those first few infinite seconds is wonder.
Because watching the world come apart is breath-taking in ways that he has to marvel at.
And also he was just bitten by a zombie and flung himself out a window and he's maybe not entirely with it.
"Are
you okay?" Yes. Just bitten by a zombie. World unraveling. And
that's the first thing Kalen asks. Awareness swims through his eyes, at
least for a few seconds, and then he says, "Do you think we have to
Name something? Ruby slippers? Not have eaten pomegranate seeds?"
Demiurge
Kalen
asked if Ian was okay, and Ian looked at him with wild-eyed shock.
Everything in his body hummed with animal energy - with the will to
survive (fight or flight.) He was breathing hard. Rain poured in thick
rivers down his neck and arms.
No, he was not okay. And somehow, shockingly, he was.
Whatever
Kalen was guessing at, Ian's own thoughts were far removed. He looked
out at the sky - at the edge of the world - and to him it did not look
beautiful. It looked like nothing. Like an end. And there wasn't any comfort to be had in Kalen's words. Sometimes even small spaces could seem so wide.
"No!" Trey screamed as she looked at the sky. "No! Fuck you!"
She
screamed and for a moment she let herself fall. Dropped to her knees
and pressed her forehead into the mud and sobbed broken, angry cries
into the earth.
So much death. So many endings.
Finally she
stood. Her hair hung, dripping, into her eyes as she approached Ian and
Kalen. When she looked up, it was impossible to tell her tears from the
rain.
"We deserved better," she said. And she held out her hands to each of them.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen watches Trey rage at the force devouring the world. Brave girl. She deserves better. And Ian.
"There
are other worlds," Kalen says gently. "Other lives. This is just...."
He looks toward the approaching horizon. Emptiness spilling over the
world.
He takes Trey's hand in one of his and then reaches out for Ian. "This is just a storm."
Demiurge
Other lives, Kalen said. And Trey looked at him first with anger and confusion, then with a kind of dawning acceptance.
What had she said to Sid? Can we pretend we're somewhere else for a while?
(I think this world is dying. I thought I could save it.)
Kalen
took her hand. And Ian, after a moment, took the other. She was so
young. Too young to be given this kind of role. This kind of
responsibility. They'd come here to save her. Why? Because of a mark? A
tattoo?
(Here is the truth Ian will never say: he would have followed her anyway.)
When
he took her hand, something in him broke, and he leaned forward to rest
his head against her own, just as he'd done to the horse. And his other
arm wrapped around Kalen's side, drawing him in close. Holding them
together. For what few moments they had left.
Trey looked up with
freshly welling tears in her eyes and said, "I'm sorry I ran away. I
think your friend is safe." Then she swallowed and said, "Go. Go home.
Go away. And do as you wish."
In that moment, her voice was both
her own, and something else. Something deep and ageless. And when she
said those last words, pinpoints of light sparked in her eyes, and her
tattoo began to glow beneath the soaked fabric of her shirt. Two snakes:
white light, black shadow. Different, and the same. An ageless cycle.
Lightning
came down from the sky, but it was not lightning. It was something
else. It was the universe... infinite. Connected. Weaving through them.
Into and around their bodies and their minds. Something opened up. And
then... darkness.
Darkness.
Kalen was alone. But the dark
was not cold. It felt peaceful. (Like death.) When the presence came, he
felt it before he saw it. Infinite and unknowable. Omnipresent.
Demiurgic. Like basking in the light of some great, universal force.
Then
he opened his eyes and saw her standing above him. She looked.. human.
At least, somewhat. Androgynous and pale and unearthly, with luminous
eyes and bright rotes of swirling light dancing around her head. And
when she spoke, her voice resonated everywhere at once. Soft, but
inescapable.
"Did you believe we might let you die, Kalen?"
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
melts into Ian's side. There is not much time but... "We're here," he
says, and it isn't clear if that's meant for Trey or Ian or both. He
can't help but say it more into Ian, the way he's half-relaxed,
half-collapsed against him. The world is ending and he's bleeding and
he's already pushed himself about as far as he can. He does not tell
Ian he loves him because the world is ending, because that strikes him
as a terrible reason to admit a thing like that. But he lets his
forehead rest against Ian's temple and for the first time, though
possibly not the last, hopes that he knows.
He stays silent after that, until that world ends.
It is dark. And then it is light. Which is how a new world should begin.
And there is something like but not like an angel, and so he smiles at her. Dazed and wondering and not really surprised.
"You
are beautiful," he says to her. "But beautiful things, even very
powerful ones, are no guarantee of safety. I did not think you meant us
any harm." And he had not, not in the club and not now. He stares at
her with wonder, but a different kind than for the end of the world.
She is something luminous and tranquil and entirely different.
Snakes and cycles and worlds complete endless circles. Light snakes. Dark snakes. Birth. Death. Spring. Autumn.
"I'm glad I can remember you now."
Demiurge
The woman smiled softly, but there was a tinge of sadness to it. A soft glow of regret that never quite left her ageless eyes.
"You and your friend. You have such different dreams."
For
a moment the light around her head grew brighter, swirling and
beautiful like firefly trails. Then it dimmed again, and she looked down
and closed her eyes.
"We did not want to see that world die."
But
it had anyway. All those people - those survivors who'd hoped to build a
better world (and those who'd merely tried to survive in the one they
were given) - they were gone. To fight so hard for so long, only to have
their chances ripped from them... by what? Fate? Or something else. The
what hardly seemed to matter now.
"But it is gone now."
The woman (the light, the center of the universe) looked up. Glittering tears trailed from her eyes.
"When
we were young, we often wondered why it is people tell sad stories. Now we
think we know." A breath, and her light grew brighter again. "What story
would you tell, Kalen?"
Kalen Holliday
Kalen smiles at her, not joyous perhaps, but wonder is...close enough.
"Ian?
I'm never sure what I am to him. But...his dreams must be very
different from mine. I hope...they're easier. I think some peace might
be good for him right now. Warmth creeps into his voice, even though what he says might not seem, conventionally, like a warm thing.
He
does not tell her that everything ends. That stars burn out and
mountains crumble and emptiness swallows the world. She already knows
these things. So he stays silent and watches her a few seconds when she
asks that question.
"That depends. Who am I telling a story to?"
Demiurge
The
woman made a sound, soft and resonant. It almost sounded like laughter,
but even in this she could not shake the notes of melancholy from her
voice.
"To yourself."
Kalen Holliday
"I
think, maybe, about you. And all of your light. I forget sometimes,
how much more the world is than the things I have to save it from."
Demiurge
"Is
that where you would be then?" The woman asked in a hesitant voice. She
stepped forward and put out a hand to touch Kalen's cheek. It felt like
being touched by the stars.
"With us?"
Kalen Holliday
"No.
I have a home. It may not be the most gentle of homes. Or the most
conventional. But it took me a long time to find it. I just want to
remember you, when I am there. We don't tell stories about the places
we are. We tell stories about things we remember and things we can't
forget and things we want to dream into being."
"You're
incredible. And maybe one day. But this isn't a place I could stay
now. I took oaths and fell in love and...I promised someone I wouldn't
leave him. There are other places I need to be. However much I think I
could love here."
Demiurge
The woman closed her eyes again, and lowered her head in a soft nod of acceptance. Then she whispered, softly...
"Remember us, then. Goodbye, Kalen."
Somehow, it felt like more than a goodbye. Her voice hummed a quiet echo, and it sounded like: We will remember you. But we will not see you again.
Then
the light around her began to whirl in bright, ever-expanding circles,
reaching out to Kalen... reaching into him. Permeating his mind, his
heart, with light. With stories. With stardust.
For a moment, everything glowed. And then... more darkness.
When
he opened his eyes, he was in a white, antiseptic room, and the light
was no longer the woman's infinite glow but the harsh tint of
fluorescent tubes.
Awake. In his own body. Home.
