Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (54 page)

Still,
there were so many.  So many…

“You
have to go help them!” Wren cried urgently to Toss, forgetting to keep her
voice as a whisper.

Toss
looked at her face, then back to his brothers below.  She touched his shoulder,
and he turned to look into her pleading eyes.  She couldn’t bear to have any of
them die, and if Toss could do something to help, she wanted him to, even if he
had to leave her.  It was a tough decision to make, but he did it quickly.

“Stay
down,” he said firmly, and then he came to his feet.  He pulled the hammer from
his back and rushed forward, disappearing along the cliff edge.

Left
alone, Wren huddled on the ground, now afraid to watch what was happening
below.  The roars and hisses from the smoking creatures made it sound like the
pit of hell was beyond that cliff ledge – and that might have been accurate. 
She lay there, trying to relax, staring up at the amber sky and clenching her
hands together at her chest.  She tried to think of happy things, like
restoring this place, having a family of friends once all this was over, of
lying beside Rifter again while he held her, and of dreaming new dreams.

She
had closed her eyes as she thought of this, and the sounds below had drifted
away from her.  Wren was almost separated from it, almost safe – and then a
flash of light shooting over her head grabbed her attention.

Her
eyes shot open, not because the light had startled her, but because she had
recognized it.  She saw a trail of light dart past, moving down the hill and
into the trees.  She knew exactly what it was, and at that, the thought of the
battle below slipped from Wren’s mind.  Perhaps she was not able to fight, but
there was one thing she had set in her mind to do.

Unable
to help herself, Wren rose up and moved deeper into the trees, following the
trail of light until she had come upon a glowing orb resting on a broken tree. 
What she saw made her bite her lip in anger.

The
hated fairy was in front of her, and Wren did not care that she was crying her
eyes out. Whisper had no idea that Wren was anywhere close, and Wren did not
think of danger.  She only thought of revenge as she crept closer.

From
within the neck of her gown, Wren took a small object into her hand.  It was an
almost imperceptible thing – an object she had stolen but it had not been
missed.  It was a whistle, and though it only played one note, it could reduce
a fairy to ash in a matter of seconds.  She had seen it with her own eyes.

She
had snatched the whistle from Rifter while he’d been sleeping, and he had not
seemed to notice.  He may have been indecisive about what was to be done with
his former companion, but Wren was not.

Whisper… 
You killed those children.  You ruined my life.

Quietly,
Wren crept toward the fairy wisp.  She remained undetected.

3

Rifter
stared up at the face of his former comrade hovering above him, no longer his
brother but a demon.  Behind that flesh-suit was a wretched monster that had caused
this land so much pain.

Rifter
knew what was expected of him.  He knew he was supposed to rise up into the air
and engage the demon in battle, but instead, he remained rooted like some
unthinking statue.  A grinning face looked down at him, anticipating their
fight, but Rifter let his gaze pass to the ground.

“Why
don’t you join me?” the demon asked.  “I thought you wanted this fight.” 
Rifter did not respond, and the demon’s incredulous expression became one of
gleeful mockery.  “Can you not
fly
?”

I
haven’t flown since…

When
he’d become Nix, flying on a whim hadn’t been acceptable anymore.  He’d taken
that advantage away from himself, though he’d always moved so much faster than
anyone else, as if the air helped him regardless.  It had been a while since
the last time, and he had very little faith that he would remember just because
he wanted to –
needed
to.

“Oh
my,” the demon tsk’d. “What a shame.  No flight for the Rifter?  Wren will
never know the real joy of it then, will she?  I suppose I should have taken
her for a ride before I left her.  It’s amazing what humans can do, really.  A
rush of wind, the feel of another’s skin,
grinding
together…  Perhaps
I’ll show her when I’m done with you.”

Rifter
was angry at this assertion, but that rage did not help to lift him up.  His
feet were still on the ground.  He did not leap up into the air to destroy the
imposter, for he simply could not.  The sounds of battle were all around him,
but none of it touched him, as if he were standing in a separate plane of
space.  He watched the demon drift farther away, higher out of his reach to
taunt him.  There had to be some way to–

What
am I thinking?  I have weapons everywhere
.

There
was a gun on his back.  He could bring it around swiftly, and if he had the
good fortune of hitting the demon, it might fall.  Then again, the body it used
was already dead.  A bullet might not make any difference at all.

Rifter
saw as the demon’s face lit up high above him, and it raised a pointing
finger.  He was looking in the direction of the cliff.

“Not
going to join me?  Don’t worry; I understand.  But what is that I spy?  I do
believe it’s Wren on the cliff ledge all alone with no one to protect her?  And
it’s so terrible that no one can keep me from going to her.”

It
shouldn’t have been a surprise that the demon could see Wren on the cliff, but
what did it mean:
there was no one with her
?  Hadn’t he charged Toss
with that?  The demon drifted away leisurely, and Rifter clenched his teeth,
trying to figure out a way to stop this.  If that demon hurt Wren, he would
strangle it with its own intestines.  He would cut out its eyes and then tear
out its tongue.  He would–

Rifter
was feeling light – lighter than he had in a long time.  The world was speaking
to him, reminding him that there were no rules here – not for him.  He clenched
his teeth, growing angry, insistent.

If
you touch her, I’ll rip you to pieces and make you choke on them!

Rifter
shot into the air, ramming into his adversary with the force of a bullet.  Above
the ground, there was no falling over for loss of balance.  That was good as
well as bad, for he could not trip his opponent, but there was more freedom, and
punches were just as hard.

Rifter
gripped the collar of the demon’s pirate coat as they tumbled in the air,
landing a firm blow to his nose.  The strike was true, and a half second later,
Nix’s nose began to gush blood.

The
demon, however, was not finished by that.  In fact, it did not even lose its
grin.  The demon retaliated, and its punch to Rifter’s stomach was enough to knock
the breath out of him.  His lung flared with searing pain, but still, Rifter
was able to continue on.

They
grappled up above the heads of everyone else.  The demon struck at Rifter viciously
with a blade.  Perhaps its skill had come from watching Rifter’s memories, for
it was a formidable foe.  Rifter dodged the attacks, defending first with his
sword and then with his gun before losing his grip on them so that they
plummeted down below, lost.

He
needed a plan.  He wasn’t sure how the demon could be killed, but he assumed
that it couldn’t be done while it was in a human body.  He could batter the
corpse to pieces and not do any real damage to the demon.  He had to think of
some way to get the creature to retreat and show its true self.

The
efforts with the blade were annoying him greatly.  The metal caught the sun’s
rays, gleaming each time it swiped at him.  Rifter was avoiding it well enough,
but if he was to have an idea, he would have to rid himself of the nuisance.

Enough!

Seizing
the best opportunity, Rifter gripped the demon’s wrist as the blade came at him. 
He twisted the arm, at the same time bringing it backward around the shoulder. 
There was a loud snap as the joint popped, but Rifter did not stop there.  Was
the demon hurting?  He certainly hoped it was.  By the way it yelled out with
Nix’s voice, he was sure that the pain was tremendous.  Rifter continued to
twist the arm, and the flesh began to rip satisfyingly.  If it was possible for
the demon to scream any louder, it did now.  Its eyes bulged; its veins
appeared beneath the human flesh.  Muscles and tendons tore free around the
broken bone, and with a firm jerk, the arm came free.

Rifter
was not horrified by what he had done, but the demon appeared to be.  Through
its roars of rage, it managed to focus on Rifter once again in just enough time
to watch him drop the arm.  What happened after that was a thick blur.

The
demon drew out a short dagger, and with swiftness that was hardly conceivable,
it twisted its body through the air and dug the sharp blade into Rifter’s chest,
burying to the hilt.

Cold
steel ripped through his flesh, pressing farther into his body.  Tears came up,
and Rifter found that he could hardly breathe.  All he knew was unmistakable,
throbbing
pain
.

He
had known a similar pain once before, long ago.  It was the pain of death.

When
his back slammed into the rocky edge of the cliff, he couldn’t say he felt his
discomfort increase beyond what it already was. He was growing numb.

The
demon grinned into Rifter’s face, withdrawing the dagger roughly and jabbing it
back into his chest.  The Tikilin did little to protect Rifter from the demon’s
strength and the blade cut in fully, piercing his lung.

“A
fitting death for you,” said the white-haired demon, wincing through its own
pain.  “It is how you were destined to go.  Here at the Beginning, looking into
a face so familiar!”

“I
was
never
meant to go this way,” Rifter snarled, and he clenched his
teeth together.

Taking
a breath to ready himself, Rifter gripped the demon’s wrist and forced the
dagger free of his flesh.  Muscle and skin tore, and blood flowed out like a
cork bursting from a swollen barrel of wine.  The demon grinned, even as Rifter
gripped the raw wound of its mutilated shoulder, digging his fingers into the flesh. 
But something happened that the demon had not expected.  Rifter’s broken skin
began to grow back together, even within his heart, sealing to form large, red
scars.

“W-what?”
the demon stammered. “How could you…?”

The
demon was aware that Rifter was a swift healer.  It had been inside him when
he’d lost his eye, and it had been only a few days before the skin was revealed
to be whole again, but the demon had suspected that the skin had healed long
before Rifter had removed the bandages.  Could it have healed
instantly
?

Terrified
now, the demon tried to fly away, but the protruding bone of its shoulder was
caught in Rifter’s grip.  Rifter took hold of the imposter’s throat and pulled
the demon’s face closer to his.  When it was sufficiently near, Rifter spoke
words in a whisper.

“Haven’t
you heard the stories?  I’m the Rifter,” he said, as blood oozed from the
corner of his mouth and down his chin. “I’m
immortal
!”

1

Mach
had slipped into the trees, hiding behind a massive trunk in order to reload
his gun.  Even though he’d been shooting from a stationary position within the
group of undead creatures, he was out of breath.  He had no time to waste now.

Get
this done!
he urged himself, aptly pressing the bullets into place.

Like
the others from their positions, he had seen the fire rush over the pirates,
and he had witnessed what had emerged.  These were men no longer.  The demon’s
fire had touched them, and they were hell creatures now.

The
unique gun in Mach’s hand held a great many bullets, but he’d used all of his
cartridges shooting the humanoid beasts – and then shooting them again when
they got back up.  He couldn’t understand it.  Were they impossible to kill? 
Impossible to kill with
bullets
?  He’d been so busy gunning down the
ones that came close that he hadn’t stopped to see if anything had made them
stay down, or if the others had figured out a way to stop them for keeps.  But
he had to keep knocking them down.  He would knock them down until they
couldn’t get back up!

Mach
spent several moments huddled behind the tree, loading his gun with shaking
hands before he realized that he was being watched.

Two
more bullets to load.

One
more bullet and he could look up to the one watching him with enough time to
put a shot right between the–

Mach
raised his eyes and his gun in unison, and what he saw there made him pull his
breath back in quickly.  The eyes he looked into were very much like his own –
identical in fact, save for a strong amber glow in the eyes of the other.  It
had been ages since they had been standing face to face, and for the first time
in such a long while, Mach’s aim wavered.

“Mech…” 
The name was hardly more than a whisper.