Lighting Distant Shores Read online

  “Negative,” I sighed. I was tired of telling the same story over and over again, especially since I still didn’t know the beginning or the end. “Scan the device again for more records.”

  “Commencing third scan,” Broken Avalon replied. “Confirming that subject was originally a new class of Earthborn never seen before, one containing none of the strengths of old generations, including the ability to Rise or use magic. Updating records to show that the most common type of Earthborn now belongs to a new race designated as the Diminished Earthborn. Detecting evidence that said race was created strictly through tampering and abuse. Confirming that said occurrence is a galactic crime according to the laws of the Stellar Council. Logging protest over event, in order to bring crime to the Council’s attention. Said protest will be delivered alongside protest pertaining to Avalon’s invasion. Estimated that reply will be received within one Avalonian week of submission.”

  “That’s fine,” I said dryly. “But don’t hold your artificial breath over awaiting a response, Avalon. Can I enter the chamber of madness and death now?”

  “Confirming that nascent Planetary Lord wishes to fulfill duty of battling Tumult level threat.”

  “That’s already been my job,” I said with a sigh. “Check your logs again if you wish.”

  “Acknowledged,” Broken Avalon replied. “Said event is outside normal parameters for current Rite. Accessing data left behind by previous Planetary Lord and Solar High King.”

  My mindscreen chirped in my inner ear, and I received a vision of the same figure I had seen in my dream a few nights ago.

  “Greetings,” the dark-haired man’s voice spoke in my mind. “You are receiving this message because you are the heir to my power and are confronted with what may be the greatest threat ever to surface among the sister worlds. Know that the Flood was one of the only beings able to successfully conquer one of my worlds. To that end,” the dead man’s eyes flashed. “I have come up with every countermeasure I could, in case the entity ever breaks the containment I set up over Atlantis. The entity will attack and damage your mind, specifically your mind’s ability to comprehend data, such as any memories you have, or even your ability to grasp the natural laws that govern the Expanse. Avalon will assist you directly, so that you can save it from suffering the same fate of its sister-world. When you confront the entity beyond this door, your mind will be periodically scrambled, so that entity cannot absorb it permanently. This will not be enough to completely protect you, but it should give you enough time to bring Breaker to bear. I am assuming you have assembled enough of Breaker to call forth light, otherwise you are already doomed, and probably would have never made it to this Rite to begin with. I am hoping you will have better luck than I did, claimant. Remember: All is Not Lost. Should you ever get the chance, return to Atlantis and reclaim the devoured people imprisoned there. Please,” the ghost added. Then he vanished.

  Commencing opening, Avalon said. Creating one-way partial pathway that will allow the nascent Lord, and only the Lord, the ability to travel to the chamber beyond and battle contaminants. Wishing luck and speed upon nascent Lord. Farewell, would-be king.

  A small, black crack opened along the massive door in front of me. I passed through it before I even knew what was happening. As I passed through the other side, I held Breaker high and converted it into the sword of light.

  But I was a hair too late, and the activation command died in my mind. The next moment, while peering into the room, my mind itself began to die as well.

  I was in a library, back when there were such things as libraries. But there never were, because books are a lie and reading is a lie and no one had ever done either and anyone who says otherwise is a lie and there are no such things as lies and—

  Countermeasures activating, a voice that wasn’t real didn’t say. Scrambling now.

  Reality blinked, and everything made sense for a moment.

  I was inside a room half as large as the city-sized cavern I had passed earlier. Blue pillars and bookshelves and glass cases lined the walls as far as my eyes could see, with the hint of other items just beyond the edge of my vision. But there was no such thing as vision, I realized. Otherwise I could see the tentacles crawling across everything and wiping it away, returning to the world that never was before, and isn’t now, and never will be.

  I shook my head at it all, growling at the hungry insanity. The squid-things flickered, briefly erasing everything I could see.

  I began thinking weird thoughts. Thoughts that I couldn’t even identify.

  Please don’t step on my hand, a voice said in my mind. It was my own. Please don’t step on my hand, it repeated Just let me hang here. I promise I will be good. Please don’t step on my hand.

  Wes, Teeth asked. What’s happening?

  He sounded frightened. I had never heard him frightened.

  Wes? He repeated, his voice fading. What are you doing? Where am I going? Why is it so dark?

  Then he stopped talking. Because he was never really there. Just like everything else.

  Just like myself and words and my hopes and my dreams and please don’t step on my hand I promise I’ll be good and—

  Countermeasures reactivating, a voice that wasn’t real didn’t say. Scrambling now.

  Reality blinked again. The room was full of mouths and tentacles and madness and hate.

  “Solais!” I shouted with all my might. “Brighten these walls!”

  Breaker flared with more light than I had ever channeled through it. Teeth let out a roar of fear and rage as he threw his own will behind my efforts, linking with me in a rare moment of total cooperation.

  I will not disappear! The dragon inside my head screamed. I will rise! I will overcome!

  I will protect, my heart added. I will prevail. I will be king.

  Defiant Heart engaging, my mindscreen informed me. Challenger’s Will is also coming into play.

  Madness crawled at the edge of my brain. It wanted inside. It wanted to crack it open and eat all of the sweet facts and memories lurking around.

  Especially the ones that were still trying to hide from everyone else.

  Please don’t step on my hand. Please don’t step on my hand. Please don’t step on my—

  No, I growled. Claimh Solais burned brighter.

  The darkness and mouths and tentacles all shrank back. They knew my weapon, despite the fact that they rejected knowledge itself. However old my fragmented sword was, they knew my weapon to be something that they could not consume, could not remove from existence. A small blob of tentacles did not retreat quickly enough, and it vanished as if it was never there to begin with.

  But I was not my weapon.

  I was a thing with arms and legs. I was a thing that walked, and talked, and bled, and begged everyone not to step on my hand.

  Even though I knew they wouldn’t listen. Even though I knew they were going to—

  Countermeasures reactivating, a voice that wasn’t real didn’t say. Scrambling now.

  The world blinked. I growled away the memory and stepped forward with Breaker’s light. Something with many mouths came into view, then vanished like a bad dream.

  I took another step forward. I will protect. I will prevail. I will be king.

  But they might step on my hand if I do that, a voice said in my mind. I had better…

  Stop it, I growled. I will protect. I will prevail. I will be king.

  I took another step forward.

  There were mouths and fangs and talons and tentacles and shapeless blobs as far as my eyes could see. It would take many, many steps to bring the light to them all.

  And they could just as easily fill the space behind me as soon as the light left it.

  “They’re going to kill you, you know,” a voice said out loud. I had heard it before. “You don’t have enough of the Destroyer’s blade to undo them all. This time, though, I’m just going to sit back and watch. I’m looking forward to this, little would-be king.” />
  The one who laid claim to Avalon’s depths. I had driven him away before. But this time he was not alone.

  He was in a room full of madness and pain and memories and heartbreak and whatever that thing is that always hides under my bed and the doctor still says I’m not really getting better so they’re going to come back and step on my hand and it’s going to be too late and I’m finally going to use me. I rage.

  “It was hard to bring them along, you know,” the sinister voice continued. “I was only able to grab a small handful of them. I figured I’d have to, after all the stories I had heard about this world. For all I knew, a Planetary Lord could have risen up here, when no one was looking. But they have proven to be excellent insurance anyway. Just ask the hulking thing outside this place. Better yet, go ahead and forget how to think at all.”

  He had a point. No one could step on my hand if I just stopped thinking at all. Then I could just hang here, and never fall, and never hurt in all of the ways I was afraid to, and never have to be all the things others said I was never good enough to be anyway, and then I could let the lightning beget fire and light, and let the fire beget more light!

  My voice carried across the room before I knew I had begun speaking.

  Defiant Heart reengaging, my mindscreen informed me. Unknown ability activating as well.

  My hands sparked. Claimh Solais flared, silver current and white flame flickering along its golden blade.

  “Again,” the voice spat. “For the third time, at least. You are an anomaly, Earthborn. I grow so very tired of it.”

  “Let the light banish the things that are not real, for the dark is a time of rest, and not false knowledge...”

  “Is it now, Earthborn?” the Usurper spat. “Do you even know how obnoxious the rest of the Expanse finds your people’s words?”

  Breaker’s light doubled in radius. Another dozen not-things vanished into nothingness. My hands sparked further, and sent more current up into the ancient blade.

  “Everything hidden can one day be revealed, and thus all is not lost. Greater things are yet to come, and will still come, no matter how many of the worlds go mad…”

  Something melted off my knuckles. Breaker brightened again, and another dozen nightmares all died at once.

  “The Soulcurrent cannot destroy the Flood, Earthborn,” the Usurper spat. “If it could, your people would have freed Atlantis themselves, back when they were strong. But tell me, do you even know what the Destroyer is taking from you, every time you do this? Do you even know how much of yourself you have lost?”

  “Let the light reveal the lies of the dark, that all is not lost, all is not forgotten, and that no one will ever be worthless!”

  “And now you are being obnoxious on purpose, would-be king,” the sinister voice said in disgust. “Spouting the Destroyer’s unnatural obsession with the weak who should be prey.”

  “By my command,” I shouted, as my voice echoed off every corner of these ancient halls. Breaker’s light flickered like a bonfire, and a ten-meter tall mass of teeth and eyes melted away into more natural shapes. Another step forward revealed a shadowy orb that the hallucinations had gathered around, the same orb that I had destroyed before in other tunnels below Avalon. “Let the truth, which the light begets and reveals, awaken sleeping minds, and set all fear to flight!”

  I slashed Claimh Solais out in a circular pattern, the same pattern I had used in the past to sever a half dozen bodies at once. The Soulcurrent crackled along the blade like they were made for each other. The massive underground library became a maelstrom of golden flame and silver lightning that jumped from shadow to burning shadow as every gnashing mouth and writhing arm was eaten by morning light.

  “I curse you by your own mad and thieving god, Earthborn!” The Usurper shrieked. “Let his lust for the weak kill you, as it killed your fathers and grandfathers! Let your mind be the first thing his mad plan destroys, before it can destroy the rest of us with meaningless goals! May all the worthless people you hunger to save see you for the mad, broken thing he has made you, and abandon you for it! Let—”

  Then the bright, blazing doom washed over the shadowy orb, and the Usurper’s voice fell silent.

  That would have to do for now, I realized. But I would come for him eventually, no matter how deep he hid in Avalon’s core.

  I will protect. I will prevail. I will be king.

  Tumult successfully reverted, Avalon intoned, as lanterns of blue fire suddenly lit along the pillars all around me. Universal laws All is Not Lost and Failure is Non-Permanent are currently demonstrating. Confirming that nascent Lord and retinue will receive the natural compensation allotted for such an event. Confirming that the Rite of Territory is still ongoing and requires completion before further Right to Rule can be gained.

  The massive door far behind me slowly sank into the ground. Avalon spoke again, this time aloud, for the benefit of my awaiting party.

  “Confirming that foreign contaminants have been successfully purged from local Atlantean library. Access has been granted for the local visitors and participants of the current Rite. Avalon requests that nascent Planetary Lord persist in completing the Rite of Territories before attempting to exit sealed space.”

  “That’s still very much my intent,” I said as familiar faces stepped through the door, some cautiously, some in awed wonder, some heading straight for me as fast as they could.

  Breena grew to a height of roughly three feet and flew directly into my chest, hugging it tightly when she landed.

  That was scary, she told me, her voice muffled from being buried against my chest.

  I’m okay, Bree, I told her, carefully putting an arm around her, still unsure what the protocol was for hugging a flying person currently half my height.

  I heard you in there, she told me. Your bond with me shared everything. It tried to make you broken and dark.

  That was actually bad. If the sensations passed through the link, then Breena could have been targeted too. I had been able to clamp down on the mindlink while I was trapped inside, but I had no idea how to muffle our familiar bond to prevent anything harmful from passing through.

  Breena, are you okay? Did any of that wash over to you?

  I felt her head move against my armor in a definite ‘no.’

  I could hear what it was doing to you, though, she said, and I thought she was repressing a sniffle in the mindlink. It tried to take you from us all. In the scariest way I’d ever seen. And it pulled out things you’ve been hiding from us. And probably hiding from yourself.

  Yeah, I said, tightening my grip on her just a little. Probably.

  I’m not going to make you talk about them, the little fairy said in my arms. But I’m going to be here for you, until we both know how I can help.

  I hadn’t been expecting her to say that. I had no idea how she even knew I needed to hear her say it.

  Thank you, I said, holding her even tighter. Thank you for everything, Breena.

  You’re welcome, she said, but you’d better stay with us. We all need you. Even if some of us can’t tell you how much.

  Is he okay? Val suddenly spoke through the mindlink. Have you finished checking him? Brother, are you okay?

  Yeah, sis, I answered her. I’m okay. We should probably start looking around. Or just prepare for the increase of power we’re all about to get in a few moments for reverting a Tumult.

  Oh, right, that, Val said, looking around. Does that mean you’re going to get knocked out again?

  I knew I wasn’t the only one that noticed! Breena shouted, then lowered her voice. Sorry, Wes. But would you mind humoring us and finding somewhere comfortable to sit, just in case?

  I sighed, abandoned my dignity, and let my sister and fairy companion lead me down rows and rows of giant bookshelves. Now that I wasn’t dealing with mind-eating eldritch tentacle horrors, I was able to look around and really see all the stuff in this place. The bookshelves were even larger than I first realized, reach
ing at least twenty feet up, braced on each end with those massive pillars I had noticed before, every dozen yards or so. Blue fire flickered inside closed lanterns that were set into alcoves on the giant columns. From what my magical senses could tell, the fire emitted no heat, but the Atlanteans had clearly chosen to be careful with the fire anyway, sealing it with stone and enchanted glass.

  I couldn’t make out any of the titles on the books themselves, but they all seemed to be hardback copies made from some material that didn’t give a rip for things like decay or erosion. The covers gleamed, and blue script glowed just enough for me to make out the titles on them, assuming my mindscreen finished updating their written language into my brain. But I couldn’t see any nearby ladders, so I had no idea how the people managed to reach the literary works on the highest shelves.

  I could, however, make out the comfortable-looking desk nestled between two more of the large pillars, forming an odd break in the rows of bookshelves. But from what I could tell, several more little desk-alcoves adorned the sides of this intersection, making an open, yet still private, study area. The desks and chairs were set deep enough into the alcoves that people could walk by without disturbing those researching or resting. They were also somehow padded with a leathery hide I couldn’t make out, and carved out of some ivory-looking wood.

  “This works,” Breena said softly. “We’d better hurry. We need to set him down before it all starts up again.”

  “Guys, I’ve said this earlier,” I replied. “I don’t pass out every time something important happens.”

  “Of course not, Wes,” Breena said in a tone that actually resembled Guineve’s really well, except that it came out way more patronizing. “Sometimes you just have visions or seizures or do that thousand-yard stare for a couple of minutes. So we’ll watch you for a few moments just to make sure everything’s okay. Besides, doesn’t a break sound nice anyway? Maybe you could make time to eat one of Stell’s pizza-rations, that she made for you earlier?”