Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (55 page)

It
was as if Mach could somehow see his own reflection in the trees before him – a
reflection that had seen better days, of course.  But he saw himself exactly as
he would have looked if he hadn’t colored his fiery hair black with dye or if
he hadn’t cut it in years.

As
if I’d been in a horrible accident that left scars all over me.

He’d
been planning for this reunion for years, going over it in his head many
times.  This meeting had not been unexpected,
ever
, but did it have to
happen now?  Right now in the middle of all this maelstrom?

Mech
stood there, a gaping hole in his torso filled with glowing crystals,
appraising his twin with harsh eyes from beneath long, unruly hair.  Mach kept
his gun pointed forward, though he hardly knew it existed between them.

“Why
are you surprised to see me, brother?” Mech asked, taking a step forward. 
“Didn’t you want to see me again?  That was the whole point of what you did to
me, wasn’t it?”

Their
voices had once sounded the same, but that was no longer true.  Mech’s voice
not only held an air of sinister chiding, but there was also a strange
reverberation in his throat which produced a hollow, echoing sound.  Facing
Mach, he turned out his wrists, revealing two metal bars that were buried in
his skin from his fingers to his elbows.  Mach recognized them – he had put
them there.

“I
still don’t know why you left me,” Mech said, stepping ever closer. “I thought
we’d finally found our calling with the pirates.”

“It
was a façade from the beginning and you know it!” Mach yelled, keeping himself
steady by pressing his back tightly against the tree.  “I did something I
shouldn’t have done, all for the sake of revenge.  I ruined you, Mech.”

Mach
said what he’d always meant to say, and his twin’s response was no surprise. Mech
stopped advancing abruptly, tilting his head.

“And
you would rather have let me be dead like the rest of the fallen? 
That’s
brotherhood for you.”

There
were sounds of conflict behind them only a short distance away in the clearing,
but Mach was not aware of it.

“They
killed me, you know,” Mech reminded him.  “You couldn’t live without me then.  You
wanted revenge.  You did this to me, so that I would live.  You saved my life,
and we should be together.”

Mach
faltered at that.  Mech was not like the rest of them – he and Mach were
brothers by
blood
.  They had the same eyes, the same features, and for a
long while as far as Rifter was concerned, they had been the same person.  Now
they had drifted so far apart that they hardly knew each other.  But Mech was
not human any longer.  He had been infused with the darkness.

“I
understand what I am,” Mech said.  “I know I’m dangerous, and I embrace that. 
And I don’t need Rifter anymore – not like you do.  You were always the weaker
of us.  I doubt the infusion would have worked on you, had it been you instead
of me.  But before you pass down judgment, you have to remember that you have
your own sins.”

“I
didn’t mean for it to happen like this,” Mach protested, his voice wavering
with emotion. “You weren’t supposed to–”

“It’s
a simple matter, Mach,” his twin interrupted. “This isn’t about us anymore. 
It’s about
you
.  Are you a half, or a whole?”

Mech
stared back at him beyond the gun that was pointed squarely in his direction,
and a wicked curve formed on his face.  Mach could hear sounds behind him now –
undead beasts coming to rip me apart
– but he could not move for looking
into his twin’s eyes.

When
the battle rushed in around him with Finn and Toss at the helm of it, Mach
still could not look away, frozen with guilt that not even the glory of revenge
could erase.

2

Finn
and Toss had been battling a fairly large group of the smoldering creatures on
their own, and by gradually moving back into the trees to gain more space, they
had managed to thin the number nicely.  Once they were done with this group,
there were still more of the ghastly man-creatures to be dealt with in the
camp, but that was a distant thought.  They smashed and cut through them one by
one until they were all too battered and torn to rise again.

“Should
we go back?” Toss inquired, not bothering to swing the large hammer over his
shoulder, keeping it in hand.

“I
think there were some trailing behind,” Finn said, breathless. “We’ll wait a
moment to see if they reach us and then–”

It
was then that he noticed they weren’t alone.  Finn turned his head to see that
there were two other boys in their midst – one dark-haired and the other a
flaming red.  One had his back against a tree and his gun in the air, and the
other was locked on his captive with the precision of a veteran jailer.  One of
these young men was Finn’s friend, the other had been lost, but he recognized
them both.

Toss
knew them as well, and he swiftly forgot about the enemies that they were
standing their ground to await battle.  These were two of his brothers that he
hadn’t seen together in a long time, and he almost smiled at the sight of them
until he realized that they were not exactly wrapped in a brotherly embrace.

Finn
let his eyes drift from Mach to Mech, understanding the situation.  He remained
still and took care not to flash his weapons, but after a moment of consideration,
he let his Tikilin eyes rest on the estranged twin.

Mech
had caught sight of them now, but though he had averted his attention, Mach
still did not move.

“Mech,”
Finn tried.  “Long time–”  His response was a hard jolt to his stomach.

A
gun had fired – from
somewhere
– and Finn was certain that its bullet
was what had connected with his gut.  It hurt fiercely, knocking his breath
away, and for a moment, he stood there, cringing.  Then, he slowly withdrew his
hand from where he’d clamped himself.

There
was no blood, only a small dent that the bullet had hammered into his metal
vest.  The bullet itself was resting dully in his hand, hot and dead.

The
others might have been surprised, but they should not have been.  Tikilin and
the corruption had been good to Finn, as far as that was possible.  There was
not much that could penetrate his flesh.

“That’s
going to leave a bruise,” Finn muttered, letting the bullet fall from his
fingers.

Mech
looked impressed.  “Ahhhh, we share a likeness,” he said.  “I, too, am hard to
damage.”

“You
shot me?” Finn asked.  “That’s the welcome I get?”

“It’s
what we pirates do,” Mech said easily.  “Isn’t that right, Mach?  But you’ve
gone soft.  Turned out to be a
little bitch
after all.”

Finn
studied Mech for a moment, noting the scars and the crystalline growths across
his skin.  If he’d not known it before, he realized it now: this one was not
one of their own anymore.

“You
came here with those others,” Finn accused. “Following. The Scourge?”

“Oh
no, I was wandering the world,” Mech explained tolerantly.  “All alone,
deserted by my own twin until Whisper found me.  She urged me to come here and
I just
knew
that if I did, I’d get the reunion I’d been longing for.”

Nearby,
Toss was feeling antsy.  He had confidence in his strength, and if he could
only get close enough, he was certain that he could knock Mech aside until they
determined what his intent was.  But was that the right thing to do?  It was
one thing to attack a monster or a pirate, but Mech had been one of them once. 
As far as Toss was concerned his Vow to his leader and his brothers still
held.  If they could not give each other second chances, how could they hope to
be any better than this darkness?

While
Toss contemplated, Finn became decisive.  He drew his gun but just as he’d
raised it, a bullet seemed to come from nowhere, knocking the pistol from his
hand.

“Mach! 
Shoot him
!” Finn growled, clenching his aching wrist.

Mech
turned lustrous eyes to his twin, daring him with a superior smile.  “Are you
going to kill me, Mach?”

Mach’s
finger wavered over the trigger, but he could not manage to pull it back.  He
was shaking, for not only was he looking his brother in the face, he was
looking at the other half of
himself
.  How could he hurt himself?  He
took a few steps back at Mech’s allowance, away from the tree – away from his
own face.

“You
don’t have to do this,” Mach tried to remind his brother, but it did little
good.  The bloodlust had already set in. 

“Why
not?” Mech asked unfeelingly.  “So we can go back to our old life?  You know
that there’s no going back.  So I’m going to make you proud.  I’m going to do
exactly what you intended when you brought me back!”

Smiling,
Mech raised his arms.

No…

The
metal bars embedded within his arms slid outward effortlessly, splitting his
hands and bending the portions of his wrists back against his forearms. 
Revealed in the metal-lined openings were two gun barrels, sticking out in the
place his bones should have been.

The
smoldering pirates were still coming, but they were not aware of Mech – just as
Finn, Toss, and Mach were not aware of
them
.  Mach managed to shake his
head slightly in protest, just as a hail of bullets spread over the area,
striking down all in their path.

3

Rifter’s
pain had faded along with his wounds.  The darkness had changed them all in
many ways, and this skin and life regeneration had been Rifter’s gift.  He may
have aged, but he was not any closer to death.

Despite
how helpful it was, it had not renewed his eye; only sealed the skin around
it.  Still, the ability had been useful to him.  It had allowed him to do
things that others couldn’t possibly do – like wrestle a Vork and live to tell
the tale.  And now, his abilities would allow him to kill this demon.

The
demon behind Nix’s bloody face stared at Rifter disbelievingly, hardly seeming
to realize that it had a bloody nub for an arm or that Rifter was digging his
fingers into it.  It was baffled for a moment, and then the demon chortled
shortly, finishing with a burst of laughter.

Rifter
wondered what it was thinking about, and why it found this so hilarious, but
now that Rifter’s body had healed, he wasn’t going to hesitate long before
forcing the demon out of Nix’s body to take it on in its true form.  In that
form, Rifter had met the creature all those years ago, and he was not afraid to
face it now.

“I’m
impressed,” the demon hissed, managing to hold down its laughter. “I’m even
more impressed that you managed to keep this secret from me, even though I was
housed within you.  It was foolish of me not to have recognized it.  Even so…”

The
creature stopped, watching the pain retreat from Rifter’s expression.

“I’m
glad to have found this out about you,” the demon said.  “I actually didn’t
want you to
die
.  I didn’t know if you were still alive after all these
years, but I had hoped to draw you out.  You’d be the perfect body to house
myself in if you didn’t like to fight so much.  But that time has passed.  Now,
you’ll do well to
protect
me.”

Rifter
nearly wanted to laugh at the sound of that, but he did not.  “Why would I do
that?”

The
smile that answered him was like jagged glass.  “Because I’ll be inside
Wren
.”

Rifter
froze, and everything he’d ever known seemed to pass away from him.  Nothing
existed except those words that the demon had just uttered.  He couldn’t speak,
and the dagger might as well have been back inside him, because he could not breathe
either.

“Why
do you think I brought her here?” the demon inquired with pleasure.  “She drew
all of you out, that’s true, but my plan for her has always been more than
that.  I put my fire into her, preparing a place for myself within her from the
beginning!  She’s been so innocent, but the darkness has come into her heart
now as well.  I could smell it on her.  She’s weakened by thoughts of revenge. 
Wren will be the one to save this place – through me, of course.  Everyone will
worship her!”

Rifter
didn’t expect that the demon would allow the land to be healed, even after this
war, but he could not allow the demon to use Wren as it had used him.

“I’ll
die before I let that happen!” Rifter spat through bloody teeth.

The
demon shook its head in disagreement, its eyes lighting.  “Oh, is that so?”

The
demon’s next action was so abrupt – so unanticipated – that Rifter could not
think of any way to counter it.  Thick black smoke began to billow from the
eyes, ears, and mouth of Nix’s head just in front of Rifter, filling the air. 
The stench of it was too vile to speak of, assaulting him so that he felt
nauseous.  As a thick cloud of the smoke rose into the air, Nix’s body fell
limply in Rifter’s arms, and he knew it was only a corpse now, empty in death.