The Berserker and the Pedant (15 page)

Arthur ran after Pellonia down the mountain, stepping over rocks and roots. Pellonia was quick, but Arthur and Moog managed to keep pace. Pellonia turned and slid down a steep slope. Arthur followed without hesitation. Pellonia slid on her feet while Arthur and Moog tumbled head over heels. In a few moments, they were at the bottom. Pellonia ran off into the trees, while Arthur and Moog lay there, recovering from the fall.

Arthur stood up and pulled Moog to his feet. They walked in the direction Pellonia had gone. After a time, Arthur heard her sobbing and followed the sound until he found her. She was sitting, leaning with her back against a tree, knees bent with her arms around them. Her head was against her legs, and she was rocking. 

Arthur sat down next to her and put an arm around her. Moog studied some branches off to the side. Arthur didn't say anything. The orbs circled over his head. Pellonia leaned into Arthur and cried. Eventually, she tapered off and sniffled. 

"I don't want to go, Arthur," she said. "But I think I should."

Arthur nodded. "I think that you should, as well. I'll be here, Pellonia. You can always come back later."

"Everything will be different, Arthur. Melody told me we'd be back in five years, but a century will have passed for me. I don't want to be away from you for that long. Or from Gurken, or even Moog. I love it here. I… I'm happy you're here."

"I'm happy you're here, too." Arthur said. They sat for a time, holding each other. Finally, Arthur said, "There might be a way for you to stay with us and undergo the Awakening."

Melody watched as the ball of fire flew into the valley, thick, roiling waves of black smoke streaming behind. It hurled toward the surface at enormous speed. The mountain rumbled and shook as the fireball collided with the ground, gouging an enormous trail, miles long. Dirt flew hundreds of feet into the air, piling into a small mountain range in front of it. 

The fire puffed out as it came to rest less than a mile in front of them. Melody could feel the heat from it wash over her. It had the appearance of a blackened walnut, as big as the mountain on which they stood. Smoke streamed off the blackened surface and dust billowed into the air, pooling around its top and spreading outwards, obscuring the sun.

"The Phage have arrived," Melody said.

Episode Sixteen

The Berserker and the Elves

"Are you sure you want to do this? It's irreversible. Once we do it, there's no going back," Arthur said.

"I'm sure," Pellonia said, nodding.

Arthur faced Pellonia. They stood in the forest, surrounded by tall pine trees. Moog stood next to Arthur, watching with a curious look on his face. Arthur took the orb of light and fiddled with it, then pointed it at Pellonia. A red horizontal beam shot out and ran up and down her.

"Very well," Arthur said. He pointed at Pellonia and said, "You've decided to stay with us, so you…" Arthur looked two feet to Pellonia's right and stabbed a finger at the orb, then pointed at the empty spot. Three beams of light shot out of the orb, connecting with the other orbs revolving around his head. Arthur's eyes opened wide and four beams of light descended from the heavens, each with a speck in the middle that grew from a fetus to adulthood.

"… you will go on the Awakening," Arthur finished feebly, dropping his hand. "Oh, no."

Five Pellonias put their hands on their hips and cocked their head to one side. "Hey! What did you just do?" they said in unison. "You were only supposed to make one more of me. Hey, stop saying what I'm saying. No, you stop it. Ugh." Pellonia glared at herself… herselves… theirselves?

"I… uh, clearly the orbs interacted in a way I didn't anticipate… yes." Arthur bit his lip while tapping on the orb of light with a finger.

Moog smiled. "Moog can mend." Moog picked up a sizable rock.

"No, no, Moog, that's not necessary. I don't believe your services will be required," Arthur said. Moog shrugged, dropping the rock.

Melody watched as the enormous Phage ship trembled. The sound of hard, heavy blows echoed through the valley. A crack formed in the top of the ship, accompanied by the sound of thunder. An enormous spike on the end of a huge tentacle punched through the surface of the ship. It was covered in circular folds of flesh that sucked at the air. The tentacle shot up hundreds of feet, whipping around violently.

"Keep it together," Melody said aloud. She'd been told to expect the unexpected, but this was beyond anything for which she was prepared. This thing shouldn't - couldn't - exist. It shouldn't be possible, yet there it was, plain to see. The mind is, under most circumstances, capable of making sense of the world, to compare what it now experiences to things it's experienced in the past. But how could the mind compare this? How could it make sense of the horror before her? It wasn't the tendril of an octopus that writhed and twisted in the valley before her, but that is all her mind could comprehend, so that is what she saw. 

The tentacle exploded into countless small pieces that each moved on their own. Tiny creatures fell to the ground. They were small, visible only because there were so many of them. Melody held both hands up to the rectangular image in front of her and pulled her hands quickly apart. The image of the ship got bigger until she could no longer see all of it, then it centered on the hole and continued to get closer until the creatures were clearly visible. 

Each creature was a mass of tentacles, balled up and rolling, spreading out in all directions.

"I'm not going on the Awakening. I'm staying with Arthur," said Pellonia.

"You can't make me go. You said she would go," said Pellonia.

"I've already said that I'm staying. I'm the original. That was decided before any of you were even here," said Pellonia.

"You can't trick me. I said that I - that you - were going!" said Pellonia.

"Well, you all figure out who is going. I'm staying," said Pellonia.

The Pellonias had all dug into her… their… into Pellonia's pack, and fought over which particular outfit each was going to wear. Pellonia was quite happy, because she happened to be wearing her favorite outfit already. Besides, she had the only pair of shoes. Pellonia was happy because she'd been closest to the pack and obtained a clean set of travel gear and some slippers. Pellonia was upset because she'd only managed to obtain the backup outfit, to be worn in case the others became soiled. Pellonia was very upset because she'd been left with only soiled, wrinkled clothing from which to choose. Pellonia was furious, all she had was a sleep sack to hold around her.

Arthur threw up his hands. "I'm afraid that I'm at a loss. The five of you are going to have to decide what to do."

The Pellonias glared at each other. Simultaneously, they pointed at the Pellonia on their left and said, "You. You're going to the Awakening. Ugh." They all crossed their arms in disgust.

There was a terrible screeching from deep in the forest, then another, closer. The Pellonias looked at each other nervously, remembering their world was about to be invaded. There was movement in the trees, shadows darting too quick to make out. The Pellonias ran behind Arthur, huddling against each other and looking into the forest. Arthur plucked one of the small orbs from the air and handed it to Moog. The other three orbs stopped spinning around his head and oriented towards the things coming toward them.

The forest cast a great many shadows for the creatures to hide within, so they approached while seen only at the edges of perception, scurrying through the forest as fast as a man could run. One leapt from the trees, tentacles spread and erect as it leapt for Arthur's head. A beam of frost shot from one of the orbs, freezing the creature in a solid chunk of ice. It fell to the ground and shattered.

Two more leapt at them, one freezing and shattering as before, another engulfed in a torrent of flame from a second orb. It burned, withered and died.

Moog shot another with a bolt of lightning from the orb he'd been handed. Then the forest was alight with bolts, rays, torrents and beams. The air was thick with color. Orange silhouettes danced along the mountainside. Blue flashes flickered through the forest with epileptic fits. The sky grew dark, sunlight flowing into the orb of light. The repulsive scent of fried flesh filled the air. They kept coming, their numbers multiplying. They started to dodge the incoming blasts, some even resisted multiple shots, absorbing the ice but burning by fire, ignoring the flames but pierced by light.

The Pellonias scrambled up the side of the mountain. Arthur turned and watched them run. They were too slow; they would never make it up the mountain before being overrun. Flashes of color thrummed behind him, hot pink tentacles writhed and squirmed and died. Arthur snatched the orb of ice from the air, pointing it at a spot between him and the Pellonias and said, "Obice glaciem." A blue-tinged beam shot from the orb, striking the ground and spreading horizontally in either direction. Huge spears of ice splintered out of the ground, rising thirty feet into the air and closing off the path between them.

A pink tentacle wrapped around Arthur's head, greedily sucking at his flesh. Five more tentacles wrapped around his face and head, leaving only one eye uncovered. The eye wrinkled and stretched wide in horror, as if the eye itself were screaming. Arthur tried to shout, but a tentacle slid into his open mouth. The creature began to pulse and its flesh writhed as Arthur clawed and bit at it, desperately trying to pull it off.

"Kill them," Arthur heard. He strained his uncovered eye, looking around for the source of the voice. It was a malevolent sound. An evil sound. Terror dripped off the words. 

"Kill 'em all," the voice said again. 

Arthur realized he had never before known fear. He realized it wasn't him speaking and yet, somehow, it was his voice.

Then, Arthur stopped. He stood still. The tentacles slid off his face with slurp-pop, slurp-pop sucking sounds and the creature half-slid, half-fell to the ground. Arthur's blue eyes gazed off into the distance, then turned green. Arthur slowly grinned, then he laughed, the evil, maniacal sounding laugh of a madman. His tongue had been replaced by a tentacle, writhing in his open mouth. He turned, plucking the orb of light out of the air, pointing it toward Moog and saying, his voice gravelly, hoarse and low, "Intentoque lux trabem!"