Extinction (22 page)

I couldn’t look at her. Not directly. “I don’t know what to do, with him gone...”

Anna’s eyes went over to the Wanderer. By now, Makara, Samuel, and Julian stood nearby.

“We need to return him to the
Elekai,”
I said. “As soon as possible.”

“Alright,” Makara said. “I can let Augustus know. He can hold Carin in check until we get back.”

“What about those dragons, though?” Julian asked. “What if they...turn?”

Makara sighed. “I don’t know. But Alex is right. We need to get the Wanderer back home as soon as possible. Maybe...maybe he really isn’t dead. Maybe if that stuff could heal Anna, it can heal him as well.”

I wasn’t holding out much hope for any miracle. The Wanderer had been pretty clear this was the end for him. Some things you just couldn’t come back from.

“We need to get moving,” I said. “The Wanderer wanted to make me leader of the
Elekai.
I don’t know what’s involved in that...but it’s something we should do sooner rather than later. I need to get back to the Xenolith.”

“Let’s get on board, then,” Samuel said.

I stood. Everyone’s focus went to the Wanderer. His form was still. A truth came to me that must have haunted many people throughout the ages: no matter how much the world changed, death and its finality would not.

Everyone helped me lift his body. It was light with all five of us bearing it. We walked to the ship, as if in a dream. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I still didn’t know how long I had left to be me, Alex Keener, or how long I had left to be alive.

The clock was counting down on both.

***

W
e stood in
Perseus’s
wardroom
.
The clinic’s bed had been placed in the center of the hold, and the Wanderer was laid on the bed. His eyes, now brown, stared at the ceiling, lifeless. His hood had fallen, and his long, gray hair spread out, some of it tumbling over the bedside. His weathered face spoke the story of a man who had seen much. His form was thin – very thin. If I hadn’t had known better, I would have said this man had died from his long years, not battle.

Several of the hardened Raiders wiped tears from their eyes. Both Makara’s and Anna’s eyes were wet with the tears, and Samuel’s face was grave.

It was up to me to say something about the Wanderer and his final moments.

I cleared my throat, and everyone looked at me. There was nothing I
could
say to give justice to what he had done.

“No one really knew who the Wanderer was,” I said. “I mean, before he became the Wanderer. We first met him in a cave, on our way to the Great Blight for the first time. This was about three months ago. There, he gave us prophecies of what was to come – things we were supposed to keep hidden until the end.”

I paused a moment to collect my thoughts.

“There were five of us, then. Lisa – who I’m sure you know – was the first to have hers fulfilled. The Wanderer told her that she would have to give it her all when she thought it was over. And she did. In Bunker One, she saved our lives, even when she was dying.

“Samuel’s came next. We had just met with Emperor Augustus for the first time, and Samuel struggled over whether we should join up with him, or go our own way. He was reminded of what the Wanderer told him: that he had to stay true to himself if we were to succeed. Samuel decided not to join Augustus at that time, and it was that decision that led Makara to form the New Angels.”

Makara looked at me, knowing her part came next.

“With Samuel’s decision, Makara became leader of the New Angels. She knew what her first action would be, because of what the Wanderer had told her. She was to seek those who were lost, which meant finding the Exiles. This led to the formation of the New Angels. We were a fractured group, only held together because of a strong leader.”

Here, everyone was nodding their agreement. Makara’s face turned slightly red; she didn’t really like to have attention like this, but I felt like I owed it to her for all she had done.

“There are still two prophecies left,” I said. “And they will be fulfilled, in time. The Wanderer told me it all hinged on me. It was only later that I learned what my part was.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is, that prophecy doesn’t apply just to me. We’ve all played a big part in this struggle to save our planet. We’ve saved each other’s lives, and every good deed has counted. I can’t count how many times I would have died, if it hadn’t been for Makara, Anna, Samuel, Julian, and countless others. We’re all in this together, and the Wanderer told me that we had to unite, if we were to survive.”

Again, everyone nodded in agreement. Many looked at the Wanderer as they contemplated his words.

“The Wanderer died to give us a chance to make it to the final battle. After much bloodshed, a lot of which was needless, we’re finally at a point where we’re all on the same page. The best way to honor the Wanderer is to stand together. I believe we are going to win this war. I can’t explain how I know that, but I do.”

I went quiet, not really sure what else to say. After a moment, Makara nodded.

“Thank you, Alex. In an hour or so, we’ll be touching down in the Great Blight. We’re going to bring the Wanderer to the Xenolith. And Alex is right – everything is coming to a head. Just be ready. In the next day or two, we’ll start planning the final attack.”

When Makara was finished speaking, Ashton went back to the bridge. I looked at the Wanderer one last time before following Ashton.

A
n hour later, we had landed at the Xenolith. It was three in the morning – after the constant activity of Bunker 84 and the battle of Los Angeles, we were, somehow, still going.

When we disembarked,
everyone
came, including the Raiders. We walked across the fungus to the opening of the Xenolith. Makara, Samuel, Anna, and I all carried the Wanderer’s body. I realized, as we crossed the threshold and into the spiraling tunnel, that the four people carrying him were the four about which he had prophesied.

We made our way down the glowing corridor, and it wasn’t long before we stood before the glittering pink ichor. As Ashton looked around, awestruck, I could tell he could probably live down here just to unlock the
Elekai’s
secrets. The ichor was empty of dragons – they had gone elsewhere.

I had no idea what came next. For some reason, I thought I would know what to do as soon as we entered. But the place seemed empty, so all I had to go on was my own intuition.

“Let’s set him by the shore,” I said.

We advanced toward the edge of the lake, softly setting the Wanderer down, face-up, where the xenofungus sloped downward to meet the ichor. We backed away a few steps.

“Do we just leave him here?” Makara asked.

Her voice seemed to trigger a reaction from the lake. The surface near the Wanderer’s feet seemed to
reach
for him, stretching away from the rest of the ichor. It covered first his feet, and then the rest of this body.

“Back,” Samuel said.

As we stepped back, the ichor covered the entirety of the Wanderer’s form, pulling him into its main body. He still faced upward, just below the surface of the pink, translucent liquid. His long, gray hair fanned out, floating.

And then...the Wanderer’s form faded. His image became less clear as the surrounding liquid clouded. Anna stepped forward, as if to do something about it. I held her back.

“He’s returning to the
Elekai,”
I said. “I should have seen what he meant.”

As the ichor continued to cloud, I explained.

“The Wanderer wanted to return to the
Elekai –
to literally
return
to them. His memories will become part of the
Elekai
consciousness.”

The nature of the pool became altogether clear to me. It was the wellspring from which all
Elekai
life sprung, whether it was xenofungus or xenodragon. Anything created by the
Elekai
had to come from here, just as anything that passed had to return.

Over time, the liquid became less murky. The sediment had either drifted to the bottom of the pool or dispersed throughout. Over the next minute, the lake’s surface and depths gleamed once more, clear and smooth as glass.

I realized what I had to do. I turned to face everyone.

“I have to go in there,” I said. “Whatever the Wanderer wanted me to do...it starts in that lake.”

“Alex...?” Anna said.

I looked at her, taking her hands and looking her in the eyes. I didn’t know what was going to happen in there, and I didn’t know who I would be when I came out...Alex Keener, or the new Wanderer.

“Be careful,” Anna said.

“Whatever happens,” I said. “I love you.”

I reached out and touched her face. Her eyes held back tears. I wished I didn’t have to do this, but the Wanderer had told me it was what I
had
to do. Still, it was hard to turn from Anna and walk forward.

Everyone was quiet as my first boot was covered by the sticky ichor, then my second. I kept walking forward. Once the ichor was up to my shins, it seeped inside my boots. The warmth rushed around my socks, soaking through. Still, I strode forward, until the ichor was up to my torso, until I stood in the spot the Wanderer had been mere minutes before. It felt strange knowing that his body, his memories, were now part of the pool I stood in.

I turned to see Anna, Samuel, Makara, and Julian standing on the shoreline, shoulder-to-shoulder. Ashton stood a few feet off, and the Raiders stared, probably unsure what to think. I turned back to the pool and swam out further.

That was when the ichor pulled me under.

Panic rose in my chest, and still, I was pushed to the very bottom by a current. The pressure increased, and the thick warmth of the ichor was suffocating.

My panic subsided a bit when a familiar face appeared before me. The Wanderer stood on the lake bottom, as if he were standing in the free air and did not have thirty feet of liquid above him. I realized that this was a hallucination, from my lack of oxygen.

Breathe.

I had been holding my breath for well over a minute now. There was no way I was coming out of this pool unless I did as the Wanderer said.

But I needed
air
to breathe, not this liquid substitute. My lungs burned with the need for oxygen – my only hope was that there was enough in the liquid to help me survive.

So, I breathed.

The liquid seemed to
squeeze
into my lungs. My body immediately rejected the liquid, forcing it back out. But it sucked it in again, greedily – only to force it out once more. My body was caught between the need to breathe and the panic of having something that wasn’t air in my lungs. Slowly, I became aware that my head had cleared, and the burning in my lungs had ebbed. My panic, slowly, settled into calm as my heart beat madly.

I accepted, instinctually, that I would have to breathe this liquid, at least for a little while.

I focused my attention before me. The Wanderer still stood just ten feet ahead, garbed in his usual brown robe. His white eyes shone brightly in the thick, warm liquid.

I couldn’t speak, for obvious reasons. I breathed the liquid in and out, wondering whether the man who stood before me was flesh and bone, or merely a vision.

Are you real?

The thought crossed over through the liquid. The Wanderer stood, his form wavy.

Yes.

If he was alive, then it meant that he hadn’t really died. He could still lead the
Elekai.

Seeming to guess my thought, though, the Wanderer shook his head.

My time to walk this world has passed. The sacrifice, once made, cannot be undone.

How are you still here, then?

I will always be here,
the Wanderer thought.
I
am
the Elekai, now. And I will always be with you, wherever you go.

Do I have to lead, now?

The Wanderer nodded.
The prophecy has come to pass. This is your time to shape the fate of the world.

It’s...too much.

It always is, Alex. Even I didn’t know what I was doing.

That’s...comforting.

Isn’t
it?
The Wanderer’s thought entered my head, and the implication was that it
should
be comforting.
It has always been a fool’s quest. But we should be glad that the battle in Los Angeles was won. Askala is thwarted for the meantime, but in the coming days, she will have another army ready. We must use the time given to us to prepare the final attack, before she strikes again.

All I could think, as the Wanderer “spoke” to me, was why it had to be
me,
and why it couldn’t have been someone far more qualified.

Why did you pick me?
I asked.
I’m not saying I won’t try. I just have to wonder. Was there something different about me that made you decide that I was the one to do it?

There is one quality I have looked for in each Champion,
the Wanderer said.

I was about to ask him what that quality was, when he spoke again.

You must think lightly of yourself, and deeply of the world.

What?

It was a saying, on a faraway world. Its name cannot be pronounced, nor understood, by any human. It was the first world attacked by the
Radaskim,
millions of years ago. And it was the first to fall. When the
Radaskim
first came there, they were greeted as gods. It wasn’t long before that notion was dashed.

If all of those worlds have been conquered, then what hope do
we
have?

I thought I caught the Wanderer smiling. I had no idea how he could smile at something like that.

There never was much hope, Alex. Know this: it is much better to hope than to despair. The greatest things are accomplished by the tired and the discouraged, by the ones who don’t give up. If they have no song to sing, they find one.