Mother
Alternate
Finality
Chapter Seven: Fallen
It was almost like a dream, for a moment.
The light…the voices. It was hard to believe that anything could have been done about it. Still, there it was, alive and vivid, baffling yet enticing.
The images swam around, fading in and out, almost like a game. Perhaps they wanted to confuse…or maybe they just wanted to enlighten, but were obscured by some unknown, higher purpose.
They weren’t familiar, from the little that could be remembered…well, except for that last one. It was difficult to try and think about it; first there was orange, then purple, and then a glint of green…after that, nothing. Or everything. It depends on what side you’re coming from.
Suddenly things cleared up, at least a little. The visions stopped, the colors focused, and the uncertainty dissolved itself in small, smoke-like tendrils. Solidity, complexity, and meaning made themselves known. There was a shuffle, and then there was a groan. Footsteps…creaking…
“Chris? Honey, is that you?”
A yawn, followed by some stretching.
“I had a weird dream…about Julian, I think.”
More footsteps. A hug, then the feeling of warm, moist lips on the forehead.
“Honey, it’s alright…it’s only dawn, go back to sleep.”
“Then…why are you up?”
“…I had a dream too.”
“Oh.”
Two feelings stood there, silently, drinking in the moment while sunlight began to creep in through the windows. Suddenly, vision…shapes could be made out. Faces could be seen.
“Do you think he’s alright?”
“Of course he is, sweetie…you just wait…he’ll come back. I promise.”
“Really? I didn’t like that dream. I think Julian was afraid.”
“Oh, honey…just go back to sleep. I’m sure Julian’s fine…”
***
Diva slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to face the beings in front of her. Her ebony skin contrasted with her long, flowing hair, eyes, and robe, which were all a stark, uncaring white. For an endless moment, there was silence.
She was tall, more so than any human being on this planet. She was also larger than life, so to speak; her mere presence was provocative, terrifying, beautiful, and horrible at the same time. If it weren’t for the fact that she was just exactly who she was, she could have been considered the most beautiful woman alive.
Irony, it seems, was having a field day.
“My Lady, you have arrived.” Diva’s eyes were pulled downward by the voice of Dual Proghauser, who knelt prostrate before her. Her head was bowed out of respect, for she dared not make eye contact with her sovereign. Her forehead barely reached Diva’s knee.
“Dual Proghauser…” Diva’s voice was just as terrifying as it was imagined to be. It sounded like a chorus of a thousand voices, all screaming in pain. The sound she made when she spoke reverberated off the walls of the observatory, sending chills down everyone’s backs and nearly coagulating the blood in their veins simultaneously.
Slowly, she extended her hand and placed it on Proghauser’s head, eliciting a shiver of rapture from the knight. “You have been defeated.”
Proghauser’s eyes bulged. “Buy, my lady…I have done as you requested…the [key] is here…”
“Silence!” suddenly Diva’s grip on her paladin’s head grew tighter, and Dual gasped as Diva’s fingertips dug into her skull. She futilely tried to grab at her mistress’ hand, to try and make her let go, but the pressure was too great; Dual was incapacitated.
“You are of no more use to me, Dual Proghauser. Begone.”
The demi-goddess was thrown with such force that she didn’t even have time to gasp in pain. She clattered against the stony walls of the observatory like a rag doll, head first, and then quickly fell to the floor, unconscious. There was no struggle at all.
Julian suddenly found it terrifying that someone could actually do that to Dual Proghauser so easily.
There was another moment of tense silence as Diva turned from her fallen warrior to the four other humans standing in front of her. They were terrified—she could sense it. Still, it was odd how, despite the terror that flooded them to their very cores, they managed to face her, to draw their weapons and curl up their fists, ready to fight.
Julian’s breathing became an andante of short breaths as he and Diva suddenly locked eyes. This was the first time either of them had met or seen each other, despite the circumstances. The two of them had been playing a game of cat-and-mouse for what seemed like an eternity now, and their plight had set the entire world at the center of a scale, where the forces of the Earth and the forces of Beyond fought desperately for control. It was no surprise then, that the only thing Julian felt when he saw Diva was pure, unadulterated hatred.
However, their feelings towards each other notwithstanding, Fate had decided that their differences would not be settled that day…for at that very moment, the World Device’s main screen went blank, only to be replaced by a few lines of programming…
10
run prog*mgcnt
20
Continue? Y/N
30
Y_
The World Device began to whirr and moan as each and every one of its circuits was set to overdrive. The observatory trembled under the force of the gargantuan computer, which was now reaching its final moments, for its role had already been completed. When it spoke, its voice was garbled and spiked with a repetitive stutter.
“Ini-initiating primary progra-gram,” it bellowed. The
foundations of the
“What the hell’s going on?!”screamed Vee, her voice barely managing to get past the noise. “What’s happening to the World Device?!”
“I don’t know!!” replied Peel, who fell to the floor on her hands and knees. “I just finished activating it! It’s doing this by itself!”
Joshua stirred up enough telekinetic energy to propel himself off the floor and hold his body aloft just above Julian’s head. By now bits and pieces of metal were flying from the World Device like shrapnel, and the boy had to shield himself with his arms to prevent the razor-like shards from tearing away at his face and chest. He shot a tentative look at Julian, and saw that he was still staring at Diva; his fist was held out and glowing green, while Diva expelled a faint, purple aura. Then there was something else…something that nearly escaped his gaze, but still managed to grab his attention.
Quickly he dropped back to the rapidly crumbling floor and ran over to Peel, whose sleeve he tugged while pointing to something in the far corner of the room.
“Peel! We have to go over to that doorway now!”
“What?!” Peel looked to where Joshua was pointing, and saw that, indeed, a small opening had formed in the wall. It wasn’t a doorway really, as much as it was a portal—it wavered and faded while its boundaries quivered. It seemed like someone had merely ripped that part of reality away, leaving the solid matter around it interrupted.
If there was one thing Peel had learned from her travels, it was that jumping into the unknown was generally a Bad Thing. Nothing good ever came from rushing head-first into doors that could lead you anywhere, especially if those doors weren’t even solid, or real. Yet, somehow, Peel felt that, if only just once, this door was the only place to go.
“Joshua…grab Vee, and get through that door! I’ll be right behind you!”
Joshua nodded and ran over to Vee, briefly explaining the situation to her, and then helping her over to the portal. In the meantime, Peel stumbled up to Julian and grabbed at his arm. “Julian! We have to go!”
“Go on without me!” snapped Julian as he snatched his arm away from Peel. “I’ll be fine!”
“What?! No!!”
“Don’t worry about me, just save yourse—”
“NO! Do as she says!”
There was a loud cracking sound as a beam from above tumbled to the floor and the ground fragmented. Julian and Peel were thrown forcefully to the stony floor as the observatory finally lost its integrity and began to crumble.
Julian pulled himself to his feet and faced the World Device, which had suffered just as much damage. Its casing had been torn away, revealing the circuitry beneath, which was sparking and whirring like mad. “What do you mean? What do you want from me?!”
“I ha-have finally fulfilled the purpose-pose for which I was built,” said the World Device. “The strain of running the main program has caused the destruction of thi-this observa-va-vatory, and myself. Please, do not let all of this go-go to wa-waste!”
The machine groaned once more, and another beam fell. The portal wavered, but by some miracle remained open. Peel took the opportunity and grabbed Julian’s arm, then hauled him over to the portal, which had already been crossed by Joshua and Vee. They stepped through the portal and prepared to leave the place forever. Julian, however, soon remembered one thing…
He turned to face Diva who, in all this time, hadn’t even moved a muscle. She stood there, unfeeling, while the observatory around her disintegrated. Julian tried to step back through the portal, but it had somehow solidified, creating a transparent barrier that separated him and all that was real. Frantically he pounded away at the wall, but to no avail.
Then, as quickly as it formed, the portal closed, shutting Julian and the EarthBound ones off from the rest of the world.
“Goo-good...bye...Ju-Julian. Peel, Josh-oshua,
Mari-ia Francisc-c-ca...” The World Device’s voice
was nothing more than a faint warble now, barely audible through the now
nearly-collapsed
*ALERT*
*IRREPARABLE
DAMAGE—SYSTEM UNDER HEAVY DURESS*
*IMMINENT
SYSTEM FAILURE*
*ALERT*
*IRREPARABLE
DAMAGE—SYSTEM UNDER HEAVY DURESS*
*IMMINENT
SYSTEM FAILURE*
*ALE-
***
“…Mom?”
“Yes, Chris? Sweetie, what is it?”
“I don’t think
Julian’s going to be all right anymore.”