Into the Abyss (The Nightslayer Trilogy, Part 2) - Chapter Nine

It felt good for all of them to be together, again, especially considering that Thaddeus had been afraid that, the next time he saw Aylander, he would have to kill him. At first, right after they’d witnessed Aylander’s killing of the dragon, Father Alvarem – it was still impossible for Thaddeus to think of him as Horace – had been convinced that they would have no other choice. According to him, once someone gave into the temptations of the Abyss as Aylander had done, there was no turning back. The Demon Lords had given in to those temptations, after all, and it had corrupted them utterly, their corruption spreading to Atraxos the Black and all of his followers. But what if, Thaddeus had asked then, one of those followers had had his soul cleansed by a Scourger, as had happened to Aylander when Thaddeus had killed his original body?

Father Alvarem had admitted, then, that he hadn’t considered that possibility. Because the majority of souls cleansed by Scourgers were never given the chance to inhabit a new body – Aylander’s soul had been the first soul that Father Alvarem could remember such a chance being given to, and, Thaddeus knew, there was no one with a better knowledge of lore than Horace Alvarem – there had been very little to indicate what might happen to Aylander once he gave in to the Abyss’s temptations. There had, of course, still been a high likelihood he would become corrupted, but Father Alvarem had also felt that, because of his all but unique situation, there was a chance Aylander might turn out differently, that giving in to the powers the Abyss offered him might turn him in to something new. Or, as Father Alvarem had said, then, something that hadn’t been seen in millennia.

Thaddeus glanced over at Aylander, eyeing, again, the sigil that had appeared on his tabard. Of course, it reminded him of the staff Adarion had been carrying when they’d faced the Demon Lords, which, he figured, was the point. Why would Adarion’s sign be anything else? Thaddeus was also familiar with the myths about the Sign Unknowable – the part of him that had been the Wanderer had learned a lot of lore, himself, during the twenty years of his existence – and knew that the Sign Unknowable was supposed to have a companion sign, the Sign Universal. Like the Sign Unknowable, none of the myths described the Sign Universal, but they did say it would appear as a rune, and that that rune would be inscribed on a powerful weapon. There are runes on my sword, Thaddeus thought. Adarion recognized them. Could one of them be the Sign Universal?

If Aylander had been marked with the Sign Unknowable, and Thaddeus carried the Sign Universal on his sword, what did that mean? Were they to become the forces that reshaped creation? Were they to become gods? Thaddeus was still trying to get used to be the Nightslayer. He wasn’t sure if he was ready, yet, to take up the mantle of a god. And, besides, the trinity was still incomplete. The Eltaran myths also spoke of the Nurturer, someone – presumably female, but the myths were vague on that point – who carried no sign of their own, but who provided the spark that made the other two signs work together. Unless . . .

“You’re brooding, again,” Zoe said.

Thaddeus looked at her. Could she be the Nurturer? “Sorry,” he said, then smirked. “We are in the middle of something serious, however.”

“True,” she said, then matched his smirk with one of her own. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, though.”

Thaddeus chuckled. “That sounds like some kind of proverb. Where’d you hear it?”

“Indeed,” Father Alvarem said, appearing as a ball of light hovering between them. “I’d like to know that, too.”

Zoe frowned, then shook her head. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard it, before. It just seemed like the right thing to say.”

“Fascinating,” Father Alvarem said, then winked out, only to appear, again, in the air in front of them, leading the way to the ruined city that, it seemed, only he was capable of leading them to.

“Reality is very thin, here,” Aylander said.

“Do you think things are bleeding through?” Zoe asked him.

“It’s possible. Though where they’re bleeding through from is anyone’s guess.”

“The Abyss lies between all the different planes of reality,” Thaddeus said. “It’s everywhere and nowhere all at once. There’s something, though – just a sense I have, really – that, once, eons ago, it was the only plane of reality, and that something fractured it.”

“I get that sense, too,” Aylander said. “I think the city we’re headed to used to belong to the people who used to live here.”

“The people who used to live here?” Zoe asked. “Who do you think they were?”

“I don’t know,” Thaddeus said. “They’re the ones who made the Creatures of the Abyss, though. They were their constructs.”

“The Gods Beyond the Gods,” Aylander said. “That’s what my people called them. That, or the Old Ones. The stories we used to tell of them were mainly just used to frighten unruly children, however. No one actually believed they existed.”

“I don’t think any of us would be here if they didn’t,” Thaddeus said. “I think we’re their descendants.”

“That isn’t exactly a comforting thought, brother. The Old Ones were supposed to be unimaginably powerful and cruel.”

“Of course they were. Why would they be frightening, otherwise?”

“Well, it sure seems the unimaginably powerful part was true,” Zoe said. “You only need to look at this place if you want proof of that.” She looked at Thaddeus. “What do you think happened?”

Thaddeus shook his head. “I don’t know. Whatever it was, though, I think they caused it. I also get the impression that it was an accident.”

“They overextended themselves,” Aylander said. “Just as my people did.”

“The only difference was,” Father Alvarem said from in front of them, “they did it on their own, without any kind of outside influence. Makes me feel sad for them, in a way.”

“My people did it to themselves, too,” Aylander said. “We just refused to acknowledge it.”

“Pride has a tendency to be blinding, sometimes,” Father Alvarem said.

Aylander’s voice dropped until it was almost a whisper. “Indeed.”

“We’re such a cheerful bunch,” Zoe said after a few moments of silence.

“We sure are,” Thaddeus agreed with her, keeping his voice flat and deadpan. That caused them all – even Father Alvarem – to laugh.

It didn’t take them much longer – so it seemed – to reach the ruined city. The light began to fade from the sky as soon as they did – night fell even here, in the Abyss – and they decided to make camp just inside one of the ruined buildings. Aylander conjured a fire and they all sat around it, staring into the flames silently, Zoe scooting close to Thaddeus so that the could put his arm around her, which he did. Having her beside him made Thaddeus realize how much he’d missed her, and he hugged her tight – which, without warning, made him see and feel what she’d gone through since arriving in the Abyss. He gasped, but Zoe didn’t say anything, and just snuggled closer, hugging him as tight as he hugged her.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to find you,” Thaddeus whispered into her hair.

“Don’t be, my love,” Zoe murmured into his neck. “You’re here, now, and that’s all that matters.”

A short time later, just as Thaddeus was about to drift off to sleep – Zoe had already fallen asleep, Thaddeus laying her down gently beside him – something stirred from deeper inside the building. Standing slowly and pulling his sword out of its scabbard, Thaddeus faced the direction the sound had come from. Aylander came up beside him, his own sword – no longer inky black, as it had been before, but now a silver blade that glowed with a faint, blue light – in his hand.

“You heard it, too?” Aylander asked, keeping his voice low.

Thaddeus nodded. “Can you see anything?”

Aylander stared into the dark depths of the building for a moment, then shook his head. “No. There is something there, however.” He looked at Thaddeus. “And, whatever it is, it’s scared.”

“You can show yourself,” Thaddeus said, lowering his sword. “We won’t harm you.”

“Who – or what – are you talking to, Thaddeus?”

Father Alvarem had assumed human form and come up to stand with them. Thaddeus looked at him. “You mean you can’t sense it?” he asked.

“I don’t sense anything. I didn’t hear anything, either.” Father Alvarem looked back at Thaddeus. “Are you sure there’s something there?”

“There is,” Aylander said. Then he frowned, and looked once again into the darkness. “Or, at least, there was.”

“You can’t sense it, anymore?” Thaddeus asked.

“No. Whatever it was, it’s gone, now.”

Thaddeus continued to look into the building’s darkness for a moment, then turned back to the fire and sat, putting his sword back in its scabbard. Zoe still slept peacefully beside him – like Father Alvarem, it seemed she had neither heard, nor sensed anything. Thaddeus looked across the fire at Aylander. “Do you think we’re being watched?” he asked.

“I’m certain of it,” Aylander said. He looked at Father Alvarem. “And you have no idea what it could be?”

“None, though, in a place like this, I’m sure there are still things even I don’t know about. You said it was afraid?”

“Yes.” Aylander paused for a moment, staring thoughtfully into the flames. “But I don’t think it was afraid of us.”

“What, then?” Thaddeus asked.

Aylander looked at him. “I think it was afraid of whoever sent it,” he said. “Terrified of them, even.”

A spy more afraid of its masters than it was of the people it had been sent to spy on. And, whatever it was, Father Alvarem and Zoe seemed completely blind to it. What kind of creatures, he wondered, were they about to face? It was a long time after Thaddeus settled down before he was able to get to sleep.