Interphase (41 page)

Thomas turned to the center of the room. A pair of green slits appeared in the air, slowly opening to reveal the gaze of a madman. He could make out the faint outline of Totarakh's face sneering at him. Despair, pain and grief overwhelmed him, and he sank to his knees before the visage. "Kill me and have done with it," he whispered.

"And spare you your agony? Power comes from pain. It is drawn to it and in turn, creates it. My existence stands as testament to this truth. You and your kind opened the doorway to my power, and now I shall in turn shape your suffering."

Something slithered around Thomas's ankle. The pool had drawn close enough to caress him, and a wave of revulsion swept through him. "Get away from me," he yelled. Instantly the tendril withdrew, and the amorphous blob of darkness flowed back over the stone, vanishing into the shadows.

Totarakh cackled. "You see how it obeys your commands? This is the power of your torment. Embrace it. Use it!"

"Against what?" Thomas asked dully. It was growing harder to resist the call of the shadows.

"Against your companions. Against the system that shackles the world before your eyes. Draw your pain within, break free of your chains and rule this existence at my side!"

Steve had been right; he really was going mad.

Thomas forced his eyes open and faced Totarakh. "I do not care for this world, or this system. All that I truly cared about has been taken from me, by you, by your people, by those that called themselves my friends. I will have nothing to do with you, fiend. My pain and grief are my own!" As his words rang out through the throne room, Thomas hefted his greatsword and swung at the glowing eyes. The blade passed through effortlessly, but Totarakh merely glared at him.

"So be it, fool. If you will not embrace my pain, then I shall find another to do my bidding. Suffer. Your world's end draws nigh."

Totarakh's face faded away, as did the pain in Thomas's chest. He could still feel the presence of the shadow essence, but he felt no fear. He felt hardly anything at all.

"
Thomas
!"

He did not need to look to know who stood behind him. He had never heard so much anger in Lucas's voice before. "Go away," Thomas murmured.

"Not before you pay for your betrayal!" A faint rasp indicated that swords had been drawn. "I trusted you. David trusted you, and you turned on him like a mad dog."

"I have no quarrel with you, Lucas. Leave me to my pain."

"Wrong! You have a
big
quarrel with me. You want pain? Well, come get some."

Thomas sighed and lifted his sword. It felt strangely light in his grasp, and he swung it one-handed as he spun. Lucas was glaring at him through Nadarra's eyes, scimitars at the ready. Through his detachment, he knew that he would have to hurt Lucas, but he didn't care. "I will not warn you again. Leave, Lucas, or share in my suffering."

Lucas charged.

So be it.

Thomas met the twin swords with a parry. Lucas leapt backward and attacked again. Once more Thomas defended, turning his blade to block one cut and then the other. Almost lazily Thomas returned the blow, and Lucas had to dance away to keep the sharp edge from slicing him open.

Lucas began to circle, clearly perplexed by the speed of Thomas's counterattacks, but not ready to give up.

Finally, Lucas thought he saw an opening and lunged in. Thomas let the left sword glance off his armor while he grabbed Lucas's other wrist. He made a fist around his sword's hilt and struck Lucas full in the face. The blow stunned Lucas, and Thomas's knee snapped up and caught him in the stomach. A rush of air left Lucas's lungs, and he dropped to the floor.

"Leave." Thomas turned to walk away, and something grabbed his ankle. With a growl of annoyance, he kicked Lucas in the face.

Lucas refused to back down. Gasping for air, he got to his feet and made a clumsy strike at Thomas's wrist. The edge of the blade caught underneath the seam of a plate, and sliced into Thomas's arm.

That was enough. Thomas snarled and punched Lucas in the collarbone. A loud crack was followed by a pained cry. His opponent's arm went limp, and the sword fell from his hand. Lucas swayed on his feet, groaning, and Thomas threw another punch at his face. Lucas collapsed on the dais.

"I warned you to leave me alone!"

Thomas lifted his greatsword with both hands, and with a wild cry sent it plunging down.

Chapter 34

Analara spent the better part of the afternoon helping David get settled back at home, reiterating the instructions of his medical drone to rest for the remainder of the day. She kissed him goodbye and headed out. The walk back to her own dwelling was uneventful, which gave her no distractions from her growing concern. She shared David's opinion that Lucas would seek Thomas out, and she feared for them both.

Jessica's cottage felt very welcoming when she entered the system. Immediately she began to reach out for her friends. =Lucas? Are you there? Thomas?=

No responses came back. Analara frowned to herself. Perhaps Lucas had not used V-Net to try to find Thomas. She sat in a chair near the hearth to think.

A glint on the floor caught her eye. Analara picked up the bright object and studied it curiously. Craftsmen back home in Ilinar would carve the likenesses of animals from wood or stone, but she had never seen a figurine so detailed. It was a beautiful and stately creature, and she set it upon the table to admire it, wondering how it got here…

It belongs to Thomas.

Analara couldn't explain how the notion came to her, but she knew immediately it was true. Thomas had been here and left it behind. On purpose? But why?

Something snarled behind her, and Analara spun around. A shadowy beast, with squat arms and legs and a mouthful of teeth, leapt onto the table. It leered at her and then lunged. Analara ducked and snatched the bow from her shoulder. An arrow fitted neatly to the string, and she fired before the creature could attack again.

Instead of remaining still, the creature's body collapsed in on itself. A black substance pooled on the floor and flowed around her arrow, rolling across the room to disappear into the flickering portal just outside the cottage. Analara stared at the gaping hole floating in mid-air.

It leads to the castle.

Fear and confusion knotted Analara's stomach. She sent a tell to Lucas again, then Thomas, but no one answered.

Something is wrong. Thomas was here. He needs help.

Analara sighed and looked down at herself. The last time Thomas had seen her, he had only seen Jessica's body. That would do him no good. He had to understand, once and for all, that Analara was not his lost love. She was herself.

She crossed the room and looked in the mirror. Jessica's face gazed back at her. On Phoenix, she would look this way for the rest of her days. But inside V-Net, this world of living dreams, reality could be changed.

"I am Analara, daughter of Adranas and Nycae. I am an Anrathian of the city of Ilinar." She closed her eyes and let memories fill her mind: helping Varlath tend the gardens, getting lost on an excursion through the wilderness, beating Rupu in a footrace through the fountain square…

The images kept coming. Fragments of her life and how it had been shaped came to the fore, right up to events of yesterday, and for the first time in the last month Analara remembered what it was to simply exist. It was like putting on a well-worn and comfortable set of clothes, where every tear and patch was familiar.

When Analara opened her eyes again, Jessica was gone. The face she saw was exactly the same as she had last seen it in Analath. It was hers. She looked down at her clothes and was tempted to remake them into something more suited to an Anrathian, but she decided on a different course. She concentrated, and the golden threads transformed into a deep green. Green and white. A balance between her two worlds. While she would never be completely Anrathian again, she was no longer afraid of being something in between.

Knowing she would never be more prepared to face whatever lay before her, Analara took up her bow and stepped into the dark portal. Light faded away, and a sense of wrongness filled her mind. Her skin prickled, and it felt as if the world shifted.

Analara emerged from the portal in a gray and overgrown garden. She recognized it as a part of David's castle and wondered why it had become so dark. A bush ahead of her rustled, and several of the shadow creatures burst into view. She put an arrow into each of them before they could get within ten feet, and, like the first monster, their bodies melted away. The sight filled her with horror. She hurried into a side door of the castle.

No fires or lights were lit, and the shadows of the hall came alive. They swarmed toward Analara, who couldn't draw arrows fast enough to hold them all off. As the front ranks of the creatures leapt for her, she threw a shield up, deflecting the ravening monsters.

Push them away.

Analara blinked; she couldn't see anyone else nearby.

Call up your powers and throw the barrier in front of you.

Unsure of the source of the advice, Analara closed her eyes and focused on the well of power within. The shield around her began to glow, and suddenly it shot forward down the hallway, hurling the shadow creatures away. A faint shine emanated from her clothing, and the other nearby shadows slunk away from her back into the darkness.

Analara wandered through the castle, nervous that the teeming monsters would attack her again. She entered a large vaulted chamber, and the door slammed shut behind her. All around her she could hear the chittering of the shadow creatures. A pale green light in the chamber barely illuminated a figure slumped upon a throne in the center.

"Thomas!" Analara rushed forward, but she stopped before she reached him. Something was wrong.

"Why do you pause, traitor? Isn't this your dear, lost friend?" Maniacal laughter echoed through the throne room.

Analara's eyes narrowed. "I know your voice, false prophet. Why do you hide in the shadows? Do you fear to be destroyed yet again?"

Totarakh snarled at her, but his voice quickly returned to a calm tone. "While the destruction of my form was a setback, it served only to free me from the rage of the flesh. You'll find that my mind is far sharper than it ever was before. Allow me to demonstrate. Your friend decided he didn't want to play by my rules, but his will is finally crumbling under the weight of his own guilt. He may not answer my call, but his torment is mine to command. Let us see how well
you
fare against it."

The green glow intensified, glinting off of Thomas's armor. The shadows within the room began to shriek and melt, and a cascade of flowing darkness enveloped him. Green strands of energy began to surround the dark orb as it slowly shrunk. The shadows faded from view, leaving Thomas unchanged on the throne.

Something detached itself from Thomas's body, dark and translucent. It drew itself into the shape of Thomas, eyes blazing a pale green. Strands of viral energy coursed around his body as the shadow Thomas drew a gleaming black blade from the darkness. The real Thomas had not moved; he sat motionless, eyes closed, leaning upon his sword.

The shadow roared at her and stepped forward. Analara drew an arrow back and let it fly. It passed through the shadow to break upon the floor.

This is no ordinary foe. You'll need to use a holy arrow.

Analara gasped and barely ducked a vicious swing.

Focus! This is it…

Words formed within Analara's thoughts as if she had known them since birth. Leaping backwards, she nocked another arrow, her tongue forming the syllables from her mind. Her arrow became a spear of gleaming light, and it blazed a trail through the air, searing the darkness of her opponent's shoulder. The figure grimaced with pain, then sprang at her.

Analara summoned a barrier. The shadow struck at it, and it flickered. She channeled the shield and hurled it outward, throwing her opponent backwards.

More words flowed through her mind.

Channel the holy energy. Instead of a broad shield, make it a narrow lance.

Who are you?

Thomas must be saved.

The shadow came at her, and she muttered the strange words. A spike of blazing energy leapt from her hand, impaling the dark figure and forcing it to its knees.

Panting with exertion, Analara approached the fallen figure, studying it. "You are a part of him, aren't you?"

The shadow seemed to shudder away from her approach.

It is hate and grief manifested. You must destroy it!

Analara shook her head slowly. Pain could not be defeated with more pain. "Thomas, if you can hear me, it's all right now. I want to help you."

The shadow seemed to fade in the air.

"You can trust me. Just let me help you."

Analara took one more step, and suddenly green energy flared around the shadow. In one smooth motion it rose and drove its sword through her, even as her arms opened to embrace it. Her body went numb, and everything turned black.