“You are now entering
the realm of Bavandersloth: Master of the Council and Lich King of the Earth.”
Cody
stared at the sign for a while. Was this
real? Was it another hallucination? It had to be one. Gborin’gargoth had just said he was going to
show Cody what the world would be like when Bavandersloth won. It had to be a hallucination then. If that was the case, that meant there was a
way back home. Gborin’gargoth would only
have bothered with a hallucination if he wanted Cody to act differently than he
otherwise would because of what he saw.
So
how would Cody find the way out? Gborin’gargoth
said he needed to see what the world would be like under Bavandersloth’s rule,
so doing that would probably get him back.
The best way to learn that would be to explore.
Cody
took his human form and started walking.
He followed the road he was on, heading toward the sign, into
Bavandersloth’s territory.
It
wasn’t long before he gave up on using his human form and moved to covering
more ground in his true form. He’d
initially been concerned about what would happen if someone saw him, but that
gave way to his concern that he might never get anywhere at the speed his human
form restricted him to.
As
he walked, he encountered large fields of various crops. He saw orchards first: thick forests full of
apple and peach trees. Several miles
later, he came across wheat and corn fields.
Past that, he found fields of carrots and potatoes.
He
re-took his human form when he saw a group of buildings just on the horizon. He was finally getting close to a town. It was about half an hour before he arrived
near the limits of the town. As he
approached, he saw a tall, steel wall.
In the center of the side he was facing, there was a large gate. Cody saw guards on top of the wall.
Cody
thought. He probably wanted to get
inside. That should be easy enough. If this was a world run by liches, he ought
to be able to ask for entrance and be granted it.
Cody
took his true form and, uncloaked, approached the gate. “Guards,” he shouted. The guards’ eyes widened. They looked down at him. They kneeled, closed their eyes and bowed
their heads.
“Lord,
why do you honor us with your presence.”
Cody
smiled. This was going well. “Unpleasant reports have come in about this
area. The gravity of these reports
demands that a lich come in person to investigate. Bavandersloth asked me to go into your city
and do so.”
The
guards gasped. “What accusations have
been made, Lord?” one said.
“It
might be better if I do not say. Simply
arrange that I am allowed to enter the facility and navigate it freely without
human interference.”
“Of
course, Lord.” The guards pressed a
button and opened the gate. Cody went
inside.
Cody
looked around. There were various sheds
lining the inside face of the wall. They
were clustered in groups. Cody entered
one of the sheds. He found bales of
wheat inside. He left that shed and
looked at the next one. He found the
same thing. Cody checked more. All of the sheds were used for storage. Many of them stored food. Others stored parts for various machines.
As
Cody neared the center of the city, he saw a series of tall towers. He raised an eyebrow. Those were by far the largest buildings he’d
seen here so far. He walked closer. There were guards on the inside of the
door. He negotiated his way past them,
and was given a key-card he could use to access locked rooms.
The
lobby of the building was empty, for the most part. Its most prominent feature was an
elevator. Cody ignored it for now. He looked around the bottom floor. He was able to find an office.
He
went inside. There was no one there just
now. He saw something on the desk. His best guess was that it was a computer. He was able to find the button that turned it
on.
The
computer operated on a touch screen interface.
After poking around for several minutes, Cody was able to find a
database of humans in the facility. He
touched the first name on the list.
“Human
00000E00800000X1
“Given
Name: ‘Hana’
“Sex:
Female
“Occupation:
Breeding Stock, Mechanic
“Chronic
Illnesses: None
“Needed
Treatments: None”
It went on to describe
her height, weight, and various other statistics about her. At the bottom, there was a description of her
personality.
“Human
is somber, yet obedient. Her weary and
somber demeanor usually renders her complacent and cooperative around guards
and liches. She is visibly uncomfortable
around assigned mates.
“Notable
Incidents: Incident 050021E6: Human was charged repairing a hydraulic
pump. When given assignment, human
protested that an injury she’d received rendered her unable to perform task
without significant pain. Despite being
assured that this was irrelevant, she continued to request reassignment to a
less laborious task. After several
minutes of continued defiance, she was taken to floor 2E for procedure
041018. Afterwards, she complied.”
Cody took a deep
breath. He looked down and closed his
eyes. Visions of his family and friends
flashed into his mind. He looked back up
at the screen and scrolled down. He read
several more profiles. There were
significantly more women than men in this facility. The men were assigned various jobs, but all
of the women’s occupations were listed as breeding stock, followed by something
else. Cody didn’t see any female guards
or farmers. All of the serial numbers
began with “00000E008,” but varied thereafter.
Cody left behind the
files and looked up “protocol.” He
noticed he could have them sorted by category.
He did. He looked up the category
for human behavior.
“Universal
Regulations:
“060010001:
All humans are to listen to a recording of Bavandersloth’s Commands three (3)
times daily.
“060010002:
Humans are not permitted to exit their site of residence except while complying
with authorized evacuation procedures.*
“060010003:
Humans are not permitted to physically assault each other.*
“060010004:
Humans are not permitted to tamper with equipment of any kind.*”
Cody peeked down at the
footnote.
“*Regulation
is not applicable to humans with some occupations. To find exceptions, consult the regulations
for those occupations.”
Cody read through the
last of the regulations. Near the end,
punishments were prescribed.
“6001010E:
Humans in violation of the rules given to them are to be taken to Floor 2E for
appropriate discipline. See set 06081
for guidelines.”
Next, Cody looked at
the regulations for “Agricultural Laborer.”
He took note of one of the rules.
“60E0095:
Agricultural Laborers are permitted to leave site grounds in exception to
general regulations only to enter assigned fields to perform assigned duties.”
Cody
spent a few more hours looking through the database.
When
Cody was done with the lowest floor, he moved to the elevator. Inside, he saw the elevator buttons were
notated strangely. There were evidently
thirty-six floors. They were labeled
“00, 01, 02, 03, 04 etc… 09, 0X, 0E, 10, 11etc… 1X, 1E, 20 etc…” It was base twelve, Cody realized. The serial numbers on the computer had been
the same way.
Cody
pressed the button to go to the top floor, ‘2E.’ The computer had said this was where
discipline took place. After the
elevator brought him there, he exited.
He was on the roof. His eyes
widened as he looked around.
The
most obvious feature on the roof was the row of five tables lined up in its
center. Each table was covered in
straps. Next to each one was a rack
containing a whip, what looked like a large pizza cutter, several metal spikes,
a meat cleaver, and a device Cody didn’t recognize. All of the devices looked clean.
Cody
wanted to turn around, but forced himself to look further. There was another obvious feature of the
roof. It was surrounded on all sides by
a small fence. The stretch of fence on
the side opposite him had a latch on one side and two hinges on the other. Cody shuddered, but was able to make himself
approach the latch. After he made a
padlock decay away, was able to swing the gate right open.
Cody
looked down. His eyes widened. He saw a metal pad below. No, it wasn’t a pad. Cody saw a track next to it. It was a cover for something underneath it.
Cody
looked around. He found a button. He gulped and approached it. He pressed it.
He
looked down at the pad as it opened to reveal a pit. When he saw inside, he stepped back from the
roof and covered his mouth. The pit was
full of corpses.
Cody
looked down. He tried to cry.
A
moment later, Cody heard a voice behind him.
“I trust they are decomposing in a manner compliant with protocol?” Cody turned around. His eyes widened. It was Bavandersloth.
“I
got an interesting call from one of my guards at this facility, something about
an inspection I never requested.
Naturally, I was curious about how this mistake came about, so I called
you. I’m sure you remember. You told me that you had no idea what I was
talking about, and that you were in your palace having dinner. Just to be sure, though, I came myself, and
look what I found.”
Bavandersloth
approached Cody. Cody backed away.
“I
wouldn’t back up too far. A form isn’t
of much use once it has fallen from a rooftop.”
Cody
took a deep breath.
“What’s
the matter? This is hardly the first
time you’ve seen a facility for execution by impact.”
Cody
backed up another few paces. He found
himself on the edge of the roof. He
couldn’t go any farther back.
Bavandersloth
raised an eyebrow. “That wasn’t you I
called earlier, was it?” he asked. “Who
are you?”
“I’m
Cody.”
“Cody? You’ve not answered to Cody in a while.” Bavandersloth paused. He took a few steps closer to Cody. “Take your human form,” he said.
“What?”
“Take
your human form.”
Cody
took a few breaths. Bavandersloth held
out his arm. “Do it now, or I’ll blast
you off the edge.”
Cody’s
eyes widened. He took his human
form. Bavandersloth gasped and took a
step backward. “Well, well,” he
said. “That’s… interesting.” Bavandersloth put his hand down. “Do you mind coming with me? I’m sure we can get this sorted out.”
Cody
stepped to the side, toward the hinge which connected the section of fence on
the right side of the roof to the section he’d unlatched.
“Come
now, Odelarch. It’s Bavandersloth. Even at that age, I seem to recall us being
on the same side.”
Cody
tried to shed another tear as he stepped closer to the gate until he was on the
corner of the roof near the hinge.
Bavandersloth approached him.
Cody put his hand on the gate. He
felt it swing in the wind as he touched it.
He heard its hinge squeak.
Bavandersloth took another step.
Cody held tightly onto the gate as he jumped off the roof. He let go with one hand and climbed onto the
gate’s opposite side. He looked over at
the next lower floor. He saw a
window. He swung over, jumping from the
gate to the window. He punched the glass
and climbed inside.
He
found another office. He ran out into
the corridor. At its end, he found the
door to a room labeled “Nursery.” He
opened the door. There were rows of
babies inside, each in a medical pod of some sort. There were tags near each of their
tables. About two thirds of them read
“2E” in large letters. Cody gulped. He thought about his family again. He ran out the room’s other door and to the
elevator. When he reached it, it
opened. Bavandersloth was inside. He stepped out. Cody turned around and ran. Bavandersloth reached out and fired a magical
beam at Cody, causing Cody to fall over.
Bavandersloth ran up to him and grabbed him.
Bavandersloth
forced Cody’s hands together with one arm and put the other around his neck as
he stood Cody up. Cody fired backward,
but Bavandersloth kept Cody’s palms pointed away from him. Cody struggled, but Bavandersloth was able to
keep his grip. “Calm down, Cody,”
Bavandersloth said. “We can…” Cody
continued struggling. “Do you know
what? Fine. Be like that.” Cody felt a pressure against his back. He blacked out.
*****
Cody
awoke in a concrete cell. He stumbled to
his feet and looked around. The floor
and three walls were made of cement. In
front of him was a row of rusty bars.
Bavandersloth sat on the other side.
He looked at Cody and smiled.
“Ah, good to see you awake.”
Cody
glared at Bavandersloth. “Where am I?”
“My
palace. There’s a special dungeon
designed specifically to contain liches.
It’s a maze, actually. You’re at
the back of it, and I have a specter making sure it’s impossible for you to see
your way around. If you try to leave,
I’ll know long before you have any chance of navigating it blind.”
“So
these bars aren’t real?”
“No.”
Cody
looked down and took a deep breath. He
sat down on a cot in the corner of the room.
Bavandersloth scooted forward.
“Look,” he said, “I want to help you.
I know you must be a great deal more confused than I am. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you
have.”
Cody
looked up at Bavandersloth. He clenched
his fist. “Okay. The last thing I remember is leaving Joy’s Coast after the incident with the
specters. Tell me everything that’s
happened since then.”
Bavandersloth
smiled. “Alright then.” He scooted forward, closer to Cody. “I believe by then I’d already started to use
my powers over television?”
Cody
nodded. “Yeah, for about three weeks.”
“Well,
I did it more. At first I only used it
to keep suspicion off of me and keep my public image as positive as
possible. After a while, though, I
started to use it a little more actively.
First thing, I got my own show. I
was able to get a prime time slot on a major network. That was the point of going public. I was trying to keep the world’s interest
high. On that show… well, I did a lot of
things, but the most important one was that I used the power to make them keep
coming back. I grew my audience. I told them all that they had to get their
friends to come watch, and when their friends watched, I told them the same
thing. I arranged for the show to be
played in waiting rooms and in hospitals.
As time went on, I became more accepted, and could be bolder. I created sound files that had the same
effect. I spread them everywhere. I put them in ads at first. Eventually I started having my souls drive
trucks down streets, playing those sounds out of loudspeakers. It took a while, but I was eventually able to
grow my audience to the point where I could make my boldest move.”
Cody
raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Bavandersloth
smiled. “I told them that I was their
master. I told them that it was their
obligation to do everything I say.”
Bavandersloth sat back. “Of
course, that’s not quite the same thing as controlling their minds and forcing
them to do it, but it’s still near enough that it worked. The people who hadn’t seen the show didn’t
realize what was going on in time to react, and after a short war and a long
period of clean-up, every human was under my thrall.
“From
there, I set out to build a society for our kind. I gave the book to eight-thousand humans to
increase our numbers and the council divided the world into ten-thousand slices
and gave one to each lich. Most of the
territories, called realms, operate in basically the same way, including
mine. There are a few outliers, but the
city you saw was typical.”
“Why
the infanticide?”
“A
few reasons. Firstly, I received help in
conquering the world from Kandrinarkora, and one of his conditions was that I
ensure the creation of as many souls as possible. Many of the humans created are useless except
for that purpose. All they need is to
exist, and only for a moment.”
“Does
Kandrinarkora rule the underworld now?”
“Yes. The other part of the deal was that I help
him take it back over.”
So
that was why Gborin’gargoth cared so much about keeping Bavandersloth from
taking over. It was a threat to his rule
of the underworld.
“How
did you help?”
Bavandersloth
chuckled. “That’s a long story. I wasn’t done with your last question. There are two other reasons for the
infanticide. First, desirability. We select for the traits we desire, both in
general, like obedience, and for specific occupations. Guards should be aggressive. Farmers should be strong, etc. Those not well-suited to any task are tagged
for re-evaluation and if no error was made they are killed. Second, the gender ratio. I presume you saw in the computer that most
of the humans are women. That is,
essentially, because a woman may be impregnated about once every
two-hundred-eighty days, while a man may impregnate a woman once every two days. Hence, it is most efficient to have one male
for every one-hundred-forty females as breeding stock. That is why we use almost every female for
that purpose, and use only men for anything mutually exclusive with pregnancy. Still, we don’t need anywhere near one-hundred-thirty-nine
males to do that work, so some of them are killed. If you’d stayed in the nursery longer, you
would have noticed that almost all of the ones labeled for infanticide were
male.”
“So
you just throw them off a building?”
“It’s
the mode of death that uses the fewest resources. You should be happy. We torture the ones we execute for
disobedience before removing them, but for the babies and the old, death comes
before there’s any opportunity for pain.
The roof is too high up for there to be any risk of them surviving, even
for a moment.”
“What
happened to Lester, Cherie and my parents?”
“They’re
brainwashed like the others. Legally
speaking, they’re your live-in servants, though you treat them well. Their fate is certainly better than it would
have been if you had resisted me.”
Cody’s head hung down.
Bavandersloth stood up and entered Cody’s cell, passing right through
the bars. He put his hand on Cody’s
shoulder. Cody swatted it away. Bavandersloth frowned and stepped back. “Look, I know what you’re going through--”
“No
you don’t.”
“Yes
I do. I’ve seen you go through it
before. I watched you, and helped you,
as you adapted to this new world. It
took a long time for you to cope with this state of affairs, but you managed
it, and you can manage it again.”
Cody
gulped. He took a deep breath and stood
up. “Can I speak to my future self?”
“Not
yet.”
Cody’s
eyes widened. “What? Why not?”
“He
specifically requested not to see you.
He doesn’t want to be reminded of his past. He finds the memories too painful.”
Cody
looked down. He tried to cry. He allowed himself to fall onto the floor so
that he sat with his knees bent. He
wrapped his arms around his legs. He
looked up at Bavandersloth. “Are there
any other liches I am allowed to see?”
“Oh,
sure. Anyone but Tkoralkiarch is fine,
really. You can talk to Rngwelokt,
Kgobauru, Nglavingithu--”
“Nglavingithu?”
“A
student of mine. I’m sorry; it slipped
my mind that you’d not met him yet. He
helped you a lot the first time you adjusted.
I was too busy managing things to be as big of a help to you as I wish I
could have been. Building all of those
facilities, managing the whole human population, all of that was a lot of work.”
Cody
leaned back on the cot. He sighed. “I’ll think on it.”
Bavandersloth
nodded. “You do that. If you don’t mind, I’ll go ahead and leave
you alone now.”
Cody
nodded. “Okay.”
Bavandersloth
walked away. Cody sat, clenching his
fists. He tried again to shed a tear. He still couldn’t in his true form. He waited until he was pretty sure
Bavandersloth was farther away. He
gritted his teeth and seethed. He
shouted and punched the wall behind him, leaving a hole in it. He took his human form and fell to his knees,
sobbing, his head down.
“You
were right,” he whispered. “You were
right, Gborin’gargoth. I am a coward.” Cody’s head sank lower. “No, I was.
You can go ahead and take me back now.
I’ll help you. My parents, my
friends, they’re not worth this.”
Cody
heard Gborin’s voice. “Not yet. There’s still more for you to see.”
“What
more could there be?”
“Try
to find your own way back to the past.
You will discover it in the course of that path.”
Cody
wiped a tear from his face. “In case you
didn’t notice, I’m not exactly free to leave this dungeon.”
The
voice took a second to respond.
“True. I can help you with
that.” There was a pause. “I’ve cast the specters away from you. That should make it possible for you to
escape.”
“But
he’ll still see me. He probably has
souls watching me right now.”
“True. Let me take care of those.” There was another pause. “Alright then. They’re not a problem anymore. You can sneak out.”
Cody
took a deep breath. He stood up and
turned around. Sure enough, there were
no bars. Cody took his true form and
ran.
He
came to a fork in the road. He could
either go right or left. He went
right. That led to another fork, where
he could go straight or right. He went
straight. That led him to a dead
end. He turned back and went right at
the fork. A few paths branched from
there, but they were all dead ends. Cody
turned back to the first fork and went from there.
Cody
followed the next fork. He didn’t do
much better at first, but he was eventually able to find a door. It required a code to open it. Cody tried to make the wall next to it decay
away. He got a few inches in before
encountering a strange gelatin-like substance.
It was beige and semi-transparent. Cody willed it to decay away. It didn’t.
He raised an eyebrow. DIAPP had
substances that liches couldn’t make decay.
Maybe Bavandersloth had worked on developing that technology
further. Cody punched the blob. His fist was buried into it, but nothing was
accomplished. He thought. He made more of the wall decay away. He stood back and blasted the gelatin. He was able to make a hole in the blob. It took a few more blasts before he could get
to the other side and make the opposite wall decay away. He did the same for the next wall.
By
this method, he was able to find the exit in a few hours.
He
peaked around the corner and up the stairs.
There were guards there. Cody
thought. He got an even better
idea. He went a little ways back into the
maze and tunneled downward. He was able
to make the ground under him disappear and make sand appear around him,
imitating the natural decay of rock by wind and rain. Before too long, though, he ran into more of
the gelatin. He tunneled to the side. Cody tunneled for a while, but when he
reached the edge of the maze, he encountered another sheet of the strange
jelly.
“Like
it?” Cody heard behind him. His eyes
widened. He turned around. Bavandersloth stood behind him. “Our chemists created it. It’s a substance that doesn’t decay.”
Cody
glared at Bavandersloth. He looked down
and took a deep breath.
“Why
bother escaping? What is there for you
on the outside?”
Cody
thought. Gborin’gargoth said to try to
get back. Cody’s future self would be
the one most likely to help him.
Bavandersloth had probably lied about his future self not wanting to see
him. If all of this happened, Cody would
do anything for a second chance. Cody
looked up at Bavandersloth. He looked
down. He closed his eyes. “I need he--”
Suddenly,
Cody was outside the palace. He looked
around. He was in a farm. He didn’t see anyone around. He looked up.
“Where am I?”
“That’s
for you to figure out. I only help you
when there is no other way for you to escape.”
“Then
why didn’t you poof me out at the start?”
“Because
you could have gotten out with the help I gave you. You just weren’t smart enough.”
“What? How?”
“I’ll
let you figure it out for yourself.
Here’s a hint: The guards didn’t know what you looked like.”
Cody
stood. He looked down and sighed. He needed to figure out where he was. He saw trees in the distance to his one
side. The last farm had been ringed with
apple trees. He was standing in a field
of wheat. He remembered what the last
city had looked like. According to the
computer, the orchards were always the farthest fields from the city’s center
so fleeing humans would be out in the open for as long as possible before being
able to hide in the trees. That meant
that if he went away from the trees, he’d approach the city’s center.
Cody
did just that, and it worked. He walked
through a few more fields and eventually neared the wall.
The
sun was rising by the time Cody was close enough to the wall to see the guards
standing on top of it. Their backs were
to him. Cody heard music playing in the
distance.
Cody
moved along the wall, hoping to find a place where he might be able to enter
the city. As he neared one corner, he
heard the music get a little louder. A
second later, he heard Bavandersloth’s voice speak over the music.
“All
humans, great and small, rich and poor,” he began, “for seven months, as of
this very day, I and my community of Angels,” there was a pause, “of liches, I
may as well frankly admit, have served your interests. Through our heroism, we have reduced crime to
a fraction of what it once was. We have
stopped disasters. We have healed the
sick and dying. We have brought villains
to justice.
“However, at the very
same time, you have seen the villains of the world fight back. Despite our vigilance, and the reduction of
petty crime, countless lives have been lost in several recent tragedies at the
hands of various criminal organizations.
Governments that ought not to have fallen have fallen in recent months. Others have been tainted by scandal to a point
where you, the people, rightly, do not trust them any longer.
“Because of these
facts, I am forced to commit drastic action.
This action saddens me for its desperation and difficulty, but also
fills me with hope for the opportunity it represents. I am both afraid and delighted to announce
that I believe it necessary for this planet to give over its governance to the
community of liches.
“World leaders, you
must submit your land and powers to our community. You must not resist my appropriation of your territories. Common folk, you must bend and not resist my
coming reign. To all, you must bend to
my will. You must accept me as
humanity’s master. You must obey my
every command as I will it, and you must do the same for any I should appoint
to represent me in any capacity. You
must never act in any way against my will, and you must never disbelieve
anything I say. You must obey me as a
perfect slave obeys its master.
“I will not lie to you;
it is likely that this will be difficult at first. However, if there is one thing I know about
humanity and my community, it’s that there is no challenge that our power and
your resolve, when combined together, cannot face and conquer.” Cody heard a pause. “With this scythe in hand, I shall devour the
souls of the unrighteous, as shall all my kind, and when they have left, we
shall establish an ideal order: a society in excess of any other: One where our
kind and yours shall live in glorious harmony for all eternity, and one where
prosperity shall be present for all, and where peace shall reign as I do,
forever.”
The humans inside the
wall cheered. Cody thought. Seven months to the day. He needed to remember that. He repeated it a few times in his mind to
commit it to memory. He heard a human
speak. “And now, in the name of our Lord
Odelarch and our God and King Bavandersloth, let the day begin.”
Cody’s eyes
widened. He was in his realm.
Cody
thought. He needed to learn where his
palace was. His first instinct was to
just show himself and get inside, but if Bavandersloth had put out a message of
some sort, he might be apprehended. No,
that was stupid. These were human
guards. Let them try to apprehend him.
Then
again, they might give away his location.
Still, he’d be well clear by the time Bavandersloth found him, and
Gborin’gargoth would bail him out if worst came to worst.
Cody
approached the gate as two guards stood at it.
“Guards,”
he said.
The
guards turned around and looked down at him.
They kneeled. “Lord Odelarch,”
one said, “why have you honored us with your presence?”
“I’ve
no need to explain it to you. Simply
allow me inside.”
“We
would be happy to, master, but…”
“But
what? Did you not hear what
Bavandersloth said? You must obey me.”
“Master,”
one of them said, trembling, “we are honored by your visit, however, only half
an hour ago, we learned that there is an imposter on the loose. By your own orders, we request that you show
us your human form before we let you pass.”
Cody
clenched his teeth. Drat. He thought.
If he was caught, Gborin’gargoth would probably let him out again. Still, he would be back to square one. Perhaps there was an easier way to learn the
location of his palace. These humans
still respected him.
“Pop
quiz,” Cody blurted, “which way’s my palace?”
“It’s
to the northeas… wait, why did you--”
Cody
was off.
*****
Cody
ran northeast for about three hours before he saw the boarder of his realm’s
capital. The farms outside it were much
smaller than the ones outside of both of the other cities he’d seen.
As
Cody neared the wall, he thought. He
needed to get inside the city, ideally without being noticed. Could he climb over the wall? Perhaps.
Cody walked part of the way around the wall. It was made of steel. Cody got an idea and smiled.
He
made sure there were no guards nearby, and then made a section of the wall decay
away. Not too much of it; just a small
hole. He used the hole to climb up the
wall. He created several more holes, and
used them to support himself.
At
one point, Cody heard some guards coming.
His eyes widened. He couldn’t get
away in time not to raise any alarm.
Cody rushed up the wall and climbed up the ledge onto the top, stepping
right in front of the guards, intending to immobilize them before they could
alert anyone to his position.
Before
he could knock them out, both of the guards pressed buttons on their
suits. An alarm sounded. Cody heard people screaming.
Cody
jumped off the wall and landed in the city.
He dashed toward the palace. He
could see it in the center of the city, only a few minutes away.
Grass
was flattened by Cody’s feet as he ran.
He saw a guard coming from the left.
He swerved to the right, forcing the guard to end up behind him. Cody was able to outrun the guard with
ease. Another guard came at him from the
right. Cody used the same maneuver. It took him a few minutes to get to the steps
of the palace.
The
whole place was built to accord with a lich’s idea of beauty. Fountains of blood, possibly fake blood,
mixed with slimy dark brown goop flowed outside. The handrails on the palace’s sickly green
steps were coated with rust. The columns
which held up the disgusting brown roof were coated with something squishy and
pink. Carrion flowers sat in gardens
rimming the palace.
Cody
dashed up the steps, feeling them smack against his feet. He approached the palace’s large doors and
yanked them open.
Once
inside, he looked around. There were
indoor fountains similar to the outdoor ones Cody had seen. Hideous paintings covered the walls. More carrion flowers were potted and
scattered around the hallway.
It
took Cody about ten minutes to stumble on the throne room. He barged in.
Cody’s
future self stood up when he saw Cody enter the room. His eyes were wide. Cody stopped.
The
two stared at each other for a moment.
The older lich’s guards pointed machine guns at Cody. The older lich waved his hand. “At ease,” he said. Cody smiled, but then his older self held out
his own hand. He stepped forward from
his throne. “Bavandersloth is concerned
that you’re a threat to our order. Are
you?”
Cody
stepped back. It seemed like his older
self’s voice had deepened a bit. He took
a deep breath. “Are there souls in here
to worry about?”
“There
are,” the older Cody said. “However, we
can go into my private chamber if you want.
Bavandersloth’s souls are forbidden to follow us into there.”
Cody
thought. He nodded. “That sounds good.”
Odelarch
turned to his guards. “Stay here.” They nodded.
Cody and Odelarch walked down the hall.
“I feel I should clarify,” Odelarch said to Cody, “that when I asked if
you were a threat, I meant more along the lines of attacking our structures in
this world. There’s no one who doesn’t
know that you’d like to go back in time and change things.”
“Is
that possible?”
“Bavandersloth
has forbidden it for you. He wants you
to be kept here where you cannot be a threat.
Either he or Nglavingithu--or I, if I have a say in it--shall mentor
you, and you will be given control of the next realm to lose its ruler.”
“What
year is it?”
“2042
on your calendar.”
The
two arrived at Odelarch’s private chamber.
A middle-aged blond woman sat on the bed. Odelarch smiled at her. “Cherry,” he said. The woman looked at Odelarch, then at
Cody. She moved back, her eyes
wide. “I need you to leave the room for
a moment, Cherry,” Odelarch said.
Cherie
stood up. She nodded. She didn’t say a word as she left, but walked
slowly past Cody. Once she was gone,
Odelarch closed the door. The two sat
down on the bed Cherie had been on.
“So
how can I go back?” Cody asked.
“It
does not matter.”
Cody’s
eyes widened. “What? What do you mean it does--”
“Cody,”
Odelarch said, “I remember the trip to the future you’re going through right
now. I know exactly when you’ll go
back.”
“When?”
“Before
this conversation is over.” Odelarch
looked up. “At the time, I wasn’t sure
it was real time travel, but I suppose the fact that I’m experiencing this now
proves it.” Odelarch looked back down at
Cody. “That proves nothing to you, of
course.”
“So
how do I go back?”
“Gborin’gargoth
brought you here because he wanted you to learn about this future. He hoped it would inspire you to action. He failed, in my timeline, and since this
trip has gone as I remember it, I suspect he fails in yours too.”
Cody’s
eyes widened. “No! That can’t be true. There still has to be a way to change things.”
“Maybe,
but probably not.”
“I
can’t accept that. I have to try. Do you remember what happened before you were
sent back? Can we recreate that?”
Odelarch nodded and
took a deep breath. “We can do just
that.” He put his hand on Cody’s
shoulder. “Cody,” he said, “you must
understand that I am wiser than you. In
many ways, I am precisely a wiser version of you. With my wisdom has come understanding.” Odelarch looked down at Cody. “And with that understanding has come
evolution. The truth Gborin’gargoth
thinks you will find so horrible is how my thinking has evolved.”
Cody’s
eyes widened. “Wait… You’re not saying…”
“I
don’t want you to change the past or the present,” Odelarch said. “I like things just the way they are.”
Cody’s
eyes widened. He trembled a bit. He stood up and backed away. Odelarch’s gaze followed him. “I remember how it felt,” Odelarch said. “Go ahead.
Say it. I don’t mind.”
“You’re
a monster.”
“Valthakar
was right.”
“How
could you say that? How could you
cave?” Cody tried to shed a tear. “After all of the fighting I did, after all
of the people I saved, how could you cave?”
“When
a person casts their soul into an object they are not simply casting out a lump
of spirit. They are dooming their soul,
Cody. Notions of goodness, of even the
vaguest sort, decay like all other things, most especially in us.”
“No.” Cody took another few steps back. He took his human form so he could sob. “Damn it Cody, you know better than that.”
“On
the contrary, you know better than what you’re saying. Have you ever questioned what your ideals are
grounded in, Cody? They’re a
fiction. They’re a fiction created by
evolution as an aid to the survival of a race to which you and I no longer
belong. Throughout your entire life, they
have only ever caused you pain and suffering.
All your life, you’ve sacrificed your happiness to uphold them, and all
your life you’ve plunged yourself into sadness when you could not. You can never live up to them in any form,
and you know it. You’re a lich, Cody.”
“That
doesn’t matter.”
“It
doesn’t matter?” Odelarch stood up. “Good God, Cody, listen to yourself. You devour human souls for sustenance. You spend your days helping a man take over
the world. Do you think anything’s going
to change after this? You love your
friends and family far too much to let them die. That is your weakness. It’s my weakness too, and it’s a weakness I
will have until their bodies grow too old and I have to devour them to keep
them on this earth.” Cody took another
step back. “You haven’t the power of
will to suffer loss. Not even
close. You’ve always been a slave to
your emotions. They are the reason you
have been good and they are the reason you shall be evil.”
Cody
cried. “That’s not true.”
“Then
why am I standing here?”
Cody
sobbed.
Odelarch
took a step toward Cody. Cody moved
backward. He stood up, took his true
form, and turned around. He ran.
Before
he got too far down the hall, he saw a portal up ahead. He sprinted for it. He could see the parking lot he’d been in
before on the other side. Cody jumped
through, landing on his stomach. Gborin
was standing there outside, waiting for him.
Cody thought he heard the portal close behind him.
Gborin
looked down on Cody for a moment. “Are
you willing?” he finally said.
Cody
stood up. He looked up at Gborin. “My future self said he remembered you
sending me there. Does that mean there’s
nothing that can be done?”
Gborin’s
head sank a bit. “That means it hasn’t
been done yet.”
“Then what do I do?”
“You
kill Bavandersloth.”
Cody
nodded. “Okay.” Cody waited a moment. “Was all of that real time travel, or just a
hallucination?”
“Neither.” Gborin took a step toward Cody. “It was a shadow.”
“A
shadow?”
“The
wills of mortals make exact prediction of the future difficult, but I’ve long
known of a creature that, casts a shadow of what it calculates to be the most
likely future.”
“So
none of that suffering has happened yet?”
“No. The people you met were philosophical
zombies.”
“Good.” Cody looked down. “So, will Bavandersloth kill my family?”
“Very
possibly. I’ve blinded his and
Valthakar’s souls, so no one can see us right now, but I can’t to anything to
ensure he won’t figure out that you’re trying to stop him.”
“Why
not kill him yourself? You had that
opportunity when you took him, right?”
Gborin
shook his head. “No. I didn’t have his phylactery.”
“Still,
couldn’t you get it?”
“Not
necessarily. Justin’s ability is not as
easy to use as it appears, and I’m currently using a large portion of my power
for something else.”
Cody
tilted his head. “What?”
“I’m
keeping Kandrinarkora from coming back.”
Cody’s
eyes widened. “What?”
“The
less I tell you, the better, but Kandrinarkora is trying to come back, and this
planet is essential to his efforts. With
me doing what I’m doing right now, he can’t release himself. Someone from the other side, though, could
release him, and there are plenty of beings who’d volunteer. It’d be a long and complicated process, though,
and the people of this world would want to try and stop him. That is, of course, unless Bavandersloth
pacifies this planet. If that happens,
he shall return.”
“Is
that why he sent that dragon then?”
“Yes. His goal then was to end life on this
planet. That way, his agents can run
around here as they will and release him.”
“So,
like, is he here or--”
Gborin
shushed Cody. “The less I tell you, the
better. All you need to know is
this: If you lose, not only shall the
whole of the human race face slavery at Bavandersloth’s hands, but his reign in
the Underworld would resume. That would
mean that this world would be far from the only one to look like the Spirit
Farms of old. Worse still, he’d abolish
the afterlife. Souls are at their most
efficient when they’re deactivated.”
“Deactivated?”
“When
a soul is forced into a dormant state, consciousness ceases. Because it doesn’t have to do anything, even
think, all of its magic is up for grabs.”
“And
the underworld just wants magical energy?”
“Right. It was originally programmed to supply energy
to the gods, but a glitch in their instructions caused it to stop them from
taking its power. Now it simply collects
magic to no end at all.”
“Okay
then,” Cody said. He clenched his fist. “I think I can do this.”
“Good. I’ll be available for you to talk to any time
you want. What little power I can spare,
I’ll be happy to use, but the bulk of the responsibility here lies on you.”
“I
already have a plan. We need to find a
way to ensure Justin will believe me when I tell him the truth about
Bavandersloth. If I just tell him now, it’ll
be Bavandersloth’s word against mine, and Bavandersloth will probably be able
to weasel out of that.”
“You
need proof, then?”
“Exactly.”
“Think
on that, then. I’ll think about it
too. We’ll speak again soon. If you need me, just whisper my name. Bavandersloth’s souls won’t be able to hear
you if you’re quiet enough. They’re not
usually that close to you.”
“Okay,”
Cody said.
“Oh,
and that thing you do where you eat extra souls to try to keep them out of
hell.”
“Yeah?”
“Stop
that. I won’t say anymore, but it’s
based on a misconception of how things work.”
Cody’s
eyes widened. He looked down. “Oh, okay.”
“Don’t
feel bad. You didn’t know any better.”
Cody
sighed. “Alright.”
Cody
turned back to the abandoned streets of the Northwest District. The sun was creeping up on the horizon. Odd, it’d felt like he’d spend longer in the
future. Perhaps Gborin had compressed
time for him. Was that possible? If he had, he hadn’t done it enough. Cody’d have to go without food tonight if he
was going to get back home in time to be there when his parents woke up. Cody sprinted home.
