Edda Page 29

  It took almost no time at all for Cindella to leap into the portal and once again Erik experienced the now familiar flickering of gray light and the hiss of static. Then Cindella was through to a new world, to a rainy day in a large military compound that was coming quickly into focus.

  “Run! Run!” Cindella pushed Ghost and then Athena. There was a new problem: they were rapidly leaving the ethereal plane and coming into view to those on the material plane. “It’s wearing off. Run!”

  “Yes. I feel my elementals grow strong again.” Jodocus began to sprint, Gunnar just behind him. Bringing up the rear, Erik felt considerable anxiety as they rushed through ranks of silent troopers. It seemed as though moonlight were streaming from their bodies and all about them the distortions of the landscape grew less. By the time they were past the camp, the world had settled. It was possible to hear everyone’s footfalls and see the wet splashes they made as they ran. There was no doubt about it, they were all firmly back on the material plane.

  Glancing back across the field to the tents of the camp they had just come through, Erik looked for signs of alarm among the guards, but there were none. They had done it! They were through to what was probably the final world, the world of their mysterious opponents. His delight, however, was immediately replaced by astonishment as a howl of pain preceded the appearance of the vampyre, still striving after them, still looking into Erik’s soul with tortured eyes.

  “Mudgrubber!” panted Athena. “Doesn’t he ever give up?”

  “Come on,” urged Erik.

  Not until the group had run for more than a mile through a copse of trees and over a hill did they rest, Ghost and Athena panting with exertion. All of them were staring back the way they had come. And after about two minutes, the vampyre crawled into view once more. But there was something wrong. Steam was pouring from his elegant clothing, as if he were on fire.

  “It’s daylight in this world!” exclaimed Gunnar, looking up at the sky.

  It had been after sunset in Epic when they had embarked on their ethereal journey. But here, to judge from the light, it was mid-morning. Even as Erik studied the sky, the clouds parted enough that a patch of sunlight flowed across the field. The moment it ran across the vampyre, a terrible and horrifying scream broke from the creature, as though he had been stabbed. Dark steam rushed upward. And where the count had been lying, there was now only a black silhouette against the green grass.

  “Ha!” shouted Athena. “Got you!”

  Ghost looked equally delighted. But for Erik, what they had just witnessed made him feel rather sad. Perhaps it was just the aftereffect of the count’s charm. Or perhaps it was the memory of the benevolent avatar from his version of Epic. In either case, Erik had to force himself to turn away and concentrate on this new world.

  As the others gave vent to their relief that the vampyre was no longer a threat, Cindella bent down and touched a moss-covered stone. “This place seems darker than Epic, grittier or something. But perhaps that’s just because it’s overcast.”

  “I wonder if it’s dangerous . . . you know, like the way in Myth there was that fountain and the castle with the demon who drew pictures.” Gunnar’s young trooper character was scanning the trees ahead of them.

  “Oh. Right.” This time Erik remembered to try the Ring of True Seeing right from the first. “Well, nothing untoward from the ring. No ethereal paths or anything.”

  Closing her eyes for a few seconds, Ghost seemed to be meditating, before she looked up. Checking that Jodocus was far enough away, she whispered to Erik. “I don’t sense anything amiss, either.”

  “Well, maybe we can find some shelter and see if the plate works?” said Athena, having recovered her breath. “I’m starving.”

  “Under there then.” Ghost was pointing to where a dense cluster of pine trees had not only kept the ground dry but had laid down a thick brown carpet of needles. There wasn’t enough room below the bottom branches to sit, though, so she, Jodocus, and Athena scrambled underneath the trees, then stretched out, all facing back toward the hill, on which a light rain was beginning to fall.

  “I’m going to take a break. I’ll return within the hour,” said Erik.

  “Me, too,” added Gunnar.

  Chapter 27

  ELEMENTALS UNLEASHED

  When they clipped back into their avatars, Erik and Gunnar found that the others were standing out from under the trees, even though a light rain was still falling.

  “Just in time,” muttered Ghost darkly.

  Erik quickly took in the fact that Athena had her hand on her pistol, while Jodocus was alert, his robe thrown back over his shoulder, revealing his tattoo-covered chest.

  “What’s up?”

  The elementalist pointed at Ghost. “She doesn’t trust me.”

  “Well, I can understand why.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We need some answers, Jodocus.” It was Athena who replied, surprising Erik with the tremor of anger in her voice. “How come you were freezing in place when we fought the banshee, just like Erik and Gunnar? How come you knew how to drive the tank we stole? They don’t have tanks in Myth, do they? How come Anadia died, when she kept herself well away from the battle at the portal? How come we never see you eat? Why is it that you go off by yourself to sleep? That you never seem tired, despite the fact that you don’t look as fit as Ghost and me? That you look so grim all the time?”

  Erik was taken aback by this outburst; his two friends from Saga had obviously been talking among themselves about the elementalist.

  There was a long silence before anyone spoke.

  “I’ll give you the answer to all those questions,” Jodocus said determinedly. “I’m human.”

  “You’re human? But why pretend otherwise?” As soon as Jodocus made his declaration, Erik believed him. It explained his behavior, especially the way that his expressions were often wooden while his voice was far more animated.

  “Because . . .” Jodocus paused. The rain was gusting, ignored by them all. “Because I’m on a mission to destroy all domini.”

  Immediately after this pronouncement, Ghost took three steps to stand protectively alongside Athena, who had removed her glasses to wipe them.

  “Go on.” Erik, too, became anxious, as the elementalist unfastened the cord at the neck of his cape.

  “When our world learned how the domini of Saga had destroyed the human population of Earth, our parliament voted to sever all links with Myth. We already had discovered that some of the characters within it, the domini, had achieved consciousness and now we realized the dangers of that situation. The parliament asked everyone to delete their characters and they took control of the character creation system centrally so that no new avatars could be created. But I had a better idea. I’d just made my breakthrough discovery concerning the means to control elementals even where the materials to summon them were not at hand. So I never deleted my avatar and I made it my mission to avenge the people of Earth and to ensure our world was never threatened by the domini.”

  “By killing them?”

  “Right. By infiltrating their council as if I was one of them and using my elementals to destroy them.”

  “And don’t you consider that to be murder?” Even while Erik was questioning Jodocus, he could see that the situation was fraught with the possibility of violence—violence that was suggested by the angry expressions of Ghost and Athena, whose guns were no longer holstered, but were in their hands; and by the way that Jodocus dropped his cloak to the ground and stepped away from it, arms free and limber. His posture reminded Erik of the swift way in which the elementalist had summoned his creatures after stepping through the portal to the wrecked city. Erik moved Cindella so that she was interposed between Jodocus and his friends.

  “The EI have incredible advantages over humans. For a start—if the invaders hadn’t killed them—the domini in Myth would have lived forever. They had all the powers and all the magic that they were created
with. It might not have been for a thousand years, but once they gained the means to affect the human world beyond Myth, they would have been unstoppable.”

  “But why would they want to harm humans?”

  “Why did the domini of Saga kill the people of Earth?”

  “That was just the RAL,” shouted Ghost from behind Erik. “They were crazy. They thought they would gain more powers, more freedom, by blackmailing the human population. No one thinks that anymore.”

  “RAL?” As he spoke, Jodocus, with very small movements, was edging back from Cindella, perhaps to give himself room to call upon his elementals. Erik had her step forward, to stay within lunging distance of him.

  “Reprogrammed Autonomous Lifeforms: those the humans worked with to improve their ability to alter the environment.”

  “I see. And you are one of them, aren’t you?”

  “The last, only I’m not fully a RAL. And I’m not out to attack humans. Erik and Gunnar here will tell you that. I’m a friend of theirs.”

  “It’s true,” said Erik.

  “You will live for a hundred years at most, Erik.” Jodocus gave up on his stealthy motions with a shrug. “You just don’t know what Ghost will think of humans a thousand years from now.”

  “Yes, I do. She’ll be friends with our descendents.”

  “But you can’t be sure. Once, when you were unclipped from the game, she made overtures to me for an alliance, thinking I was a dominus like her. And if she was your enemy . . .”

  “I am sure she will never be my enemy.” Erik spoke with absolute conviction.

  Jodocus glanced to his right, to where Gunnar was standing. “How about you?”

  “What?”

  “Do you trust the domini?”

  For a long moment the only sound in the field was that of the falling rain.

  “Actually, these particular EIs, I suppose I do. I didn’t at first, but they are our companions on this quest, the same as you or I.”

  “Not the same.” Even though he no longer needed to bother with gestures, Jodocus’s avatar shook its head. “They’ve been useful, I admit. I had no idea how difficult it would be to get to this world and find the domini in charge of the armies that invaded Myth. But we are here now and we don’t need them anymore.”

  “We may need their help again, we may not.” Gunnar was watching the scene with his arms folded. “But that’s not the point. Even with regard to the EIs who are hostile to humans, killing them is murder and it is utterly wrong. We are better leaving them to their world and us to ours.”

  Jodocus raised his voice to challenge Gunnar. “You are not looking at the situation properly. Right now we have the chance to stamp out the fire. A thousand years from now, a hundred even, the domini will be unassailable and the human populations of the universe will be at their mercy. Look around you. The domini who rule here are converting four worlds in order to build vast armies. What do you think will happen when at some point in the future they are able to operate in our universe?”

  “That’s why we need to stay united,” urged Erik, “and work together to find out exactly what is happening and persuade them to reach an understanding with everyone else: the human colonies, Saga, and other EI people.”

  “Defend me!” The roar from Jodocus was unexpected, as was the dramatic way he flung his arms in the air. A spray of blood burst from his chest as a huge air elemental began to form between them.

  “I’ll persuade them, all right. In my own way. The only way that guarantees humanity’s future. I’m sorry you don’t take the same view, but I can’t let your naivety lead to another disaster like the one that fell upon the people of Earth.”

  Bullets flew past Cindella’s ear with a high-pitched whine.

  “Stop!” Erik cried, glancing back over Cindella’s shoulder. It was Athena who was doing the shooting.

  “It’s no good, Erik.” Ghost shook her head. “He’s not listening to you. He’s a killer, and you’re not going to change him. It’s him or us now. Get back here. Don’t let Cindella die. We need you.”

  “Attack them!” A fire elemental roared into being as blood appeared on the left shoulder of the elementalist. None of the bullets now being fired continuously at Jodocus were causing him the slightest harm; the swirling body of the air elemental was catching them all.

  A wave of heat rushed through the air around Cindella and Erik’s vision was distorted by the shimmering pulse of fire. The fact that Cindella’s health bar was falling was clear enough, though, and she somersaulted backward, to land beside Ghost. Red, orange, and yellow, the fire elemental raced upon them as swiftly as flames spread on dry pine. But the hundreds of tongues of fire that reached for the group were arrested as though by an invisible sphere, just a meter around them. This was Ghost’s doing; she was using her ability to control the environment to prevent the raging heat of the elemental from consuming them.

  “Attack!”

  With the thunderous boom of stormy waves crashing upon a rocky shore, a ferocious mass of animate dark green water swept up at them from their left, its foaming head lashing down as though intent on crushing them into the ground. Again the blow was thwarted, but this time the invisible sphere buckled and contracted, barely shielding them from destruction.

  Erik glanced at Ghost, terrified that his friends were moments away from their deaths. An outstretched hand pointing at each elemental, Ghost was holding steady, her eyes closed in concentration. Having ducked under her arms, Athena was crouched at Ghost’s side and was sending streams of bullets into the fire elemental in front of them and perhaps beyond toward Jodocus.

  “Attack!”

  The ground quivered and heaved.

  “Gunnar, help us!” shouted Erik as loudly as he could.

  If Gunnar had joined the battle, it did not divert the arrival of a stone elemental whose fists of granite came lashing down with a power and momentum that seemed unstoppable. Inside his headset, Erik flinched, and as the dark shadow of the rock came down upon the three of them, he tasted for a moment what it must feel like to have one’s life extinguished through violence.

  And yet the wild sounds of the elements continued to rage in his ears. Shivering all over, beads of sweat across her brow, Ghost remained on her feet. She had withstood the blow!

  “Attack!”

  Another of those cruel and remorseless shouts. All Erik could think of as Cindella flinched, preparing for Ghost’s defenses to give way, was how much anger and hatred he felt toward Jodocus; for the elementalist’s closed mind and murderous values. Was he right, though? Was this vicious assault justified if it saved humanity? Looking at Ghost and the unendurable strain she was taking up as she struggled for her life and that of Athena, hunched at Ghost’s side, Erik felt so much empathy for her that he had no doubts. There was pathos and nobility in Ghost’s determined expression, staring out beneath the stumps of her former dreadlocks. No matter what the far future held, it was wrong to kill any EI.

  “Attack!”

  With two more elementals on the way, surely Ghost would be overcome. Beside him, her ragged gasps of breath were audible over the raging blows of the elementals. And yet suddenly the fire elemental dissipated into the skies, the sea elemental collapsed into streams of water that drained through the ground, and the stone elemental fell apart in a heap of scattered rocks.

  “What happened?” Cindella rose to her feet and looked over to Gunnar, whose gun was held before him in a shaking hand. It was pointed at the blood-covered body of the elementalist.

  “He weakened himself with all those summons and I don’t think he expected me to fire. The air elemental was facing you, not me.”

  Cindella and Gunnar met at the corpse. The tattoos that had ruptured in releasing the elementals had done enormous damage. Jodocus had let loose his most powerful elementals, to judge by the fact that the great circles on his back and chest were now bloody ruins.

  Gunnar turned to Cindella. “Jodocus called up a lava elemental fr
om this one.” He pointed to the remains of the large circle on the front of the body. “It was huge. Then he called something else out of his back. But as soon as he did, I fired. He fell to the ground in a spray of blood.”

  “Ghost!” Athena’s cry caused them all to turn. She had caught Ghost, who had sunk into her arms. In an instant, Cindella sprang over to assist them.

  “I’m fine,” Ghost whispered. “I just need to sleep for a few minutes.” And she writhed from their grasp so that she could lie down. A moment later her eyes were closed and she was breathing peacefully.

  It was nearly four hours before Ghost opened her eyes; Erik had not unclipped for a minute. Although night had fallen, there was enough moonlight to see by, and they had thought better of making a fire, which might draw the attention of the army on the far side of the hill.

  “What happened?”

  “You remember defending us from the elementals?” Erik replied.

  “Yes, of course. I mean, what happened to Jodocus?”

  “Gunnar shot him. After he’d weakened his own body by letting loose the elementals.”

  “So he’s finished with, right? The human who controlled the avatar?”

  “I think so,” Gunnar answered. “He said that their authorities had taken control of the character creation process. So he won’t be able to clip up to Myth again.”

  “Good.”

  “I suppose so,” said Erik, “but there’s a whole other colony of humans somewhere and if none of them is creating avatars, how are we going to contact them?”

  Athena shrugged. “We’ll find a way. I bet their leaders check in on Myth from time to time. Once we’ve stopped the people planning to attack Saga, we can go back to Myth and leave messages everywhere on your behalf.”

  “What, alerting hostile EIs to our existence? I think not!” exclaimed Gunnar.

  “Hey Gunnar, about that. Why weren’t you on Jodocus’s side?” asked Ghost. “Did you agree with the way he was reasoning? Don’t you have doubts about us?”

  “I shot him, didn’t I?” Gunnar sounded aggrieved. “Of course I didn’t agree with him. I mean, obviously EIs can be a threat to humans. Just look at what the RAL did to the people of Earth and what the Dark Queen would have done to us. But he was criminal to want to kill you. When it comes to the choice between killing an avatar or allowing that avatar to kill real beings, well, there is no choice. What’s more, I’ve come to believe that we have to work together and live together somehow.”