The continuation of the premier anime literature series with the final volume of the trilogy.
Excerpt
Chapter 01
Of Shadow and God
“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Hamlet, Hamlet
“What they are, Mars, is here.”
The dark ocean was covered in a swelling blackness darker than the night sky above. The waves turned into reaching claws that grasped for the vibrant life of the distant shore as if desperate to escape the flooding black. Under the clouds of the starless night, the darkness spread, draping over the sea like a malignant tumor. The sea was devoured as the inky shadow pulsed and flowed over the water, streaming with a fury towards the land.
Mars stoically watched the approaching darkness, a distant and ancient fear running through him. He took a deep breath, half-recalled memories taking hold of him. “How do I stop them?” He asked, the slightest quiver of fear creeping into his powerful voice. He never took his eyes off the flowing darkness, not even to look at the prismatic figure of Htead that stood beyond him on the beach.
“The only way to defeat such darkness is with the light of existence,” Htead said, watching indifferently at the invading darkness. “They are the Shadows. They are the Oblivion. And they are unstoppable.”
“Nothing is unstoppable. Nothing is invincible,” Mars growled, turning exhaustedly towards Htead. “How do I stop them?” He insisted, his hard voice over-exaggerating the words.
“You don’t,” The gray-skinned wisp of a man said emotionlessly as he stared against the sea wind. “They are not, and yet they are. They cannot be undone, for they are not.”
“What are you talking about?” Mars shouted, finally breaking away from the Shadows to glare at Htead. “Don’t give me riddles, Htead. Give me answers.”
“There are no answers to give,” Htead replied coolly, giving Mars only the slightest glance. “They are inaction given form, given motion. How can you fight against the unexplored potential of the dark corners of existence? How can you fight, how can you destroy, that which isn’t there and which isn’t not there?”
Mars gave up on Htead with a dismissive wave of his hand and turned back to the darkness. He steadied himself with a determined breath. “Somewhere,” He whispered, staring at the Shadows. “Somewhere within me, past Ecnilitsep’s brainwashing, past the years as Pihc and S’ram,” He reached behind his thick back, drawing out his black katana. “I remember.” He turned to Htead, staring at the ageless enigma in a basic white robe that’s golden and platinum highlights shifted subtly through the spectrum. “Be gone with you,” He commanded, getting a surprised look from Htead. “If you aren’t going to fight, then what good are you?”
“Ecnilitsep spoke words not unlike those very ones to me once,” Htead said, the slightest hint of anger appearing in his tone.
“And maybe she was right,” Mars barked. “Now either help protect existence or leave.” He turned back to the ocean, mindless of Htead fading from sight.
The knight stepped back from the general, watching to see his actions. “Fall back if you want,” He said, staring at the darkness as it seeped through the corners of the silver walls. “I’m staying.” The reflection of the dying fires dimmed against his blue and silver armor, letting the subtle silver glow of his eyes manifest.
The soldiers behind him looked at one another, then towards the graying general. The old man said nothing. He turned, affording the princess standing behind the knight one last look, then turned towards the final door. All around the soldiers turned as well, fleeing from the darkness that began to overtake the room. They ran, heading down into the lowest levels, leaving behind the last knight and his royal fiancé.
The knight looked about as the ceiling slowly grew dark, the shadows spreading down the walls on every side. He looked back at his fiancé, as she clutched to his back, her silver gown tarnished by the cinders and ash of the dying fires around them. He looked at her, the thought of her disappearing into the endless darkness too much. He looked down at the sword in his hands.
“Vincent!”
Vincent’s eyes snapped open, his breath catching. He looked at Chip and Ben as the two stood over him. “Dude, you okay?” Ben asked. Vincent blinked, but didn’t say a word. Ben knelt down in front of Vincent, taking a tiny pen flashlight out from the pocket of his gaudy overshirt. He took Vincent’s face in his hand, flashing the light into his eyes. “You look messed up, man. I think you’ve got a concussion.”
“A concussion if he’s lucky,” Chip said, his arms crossed over his chest. He turned back to Jessica and Tim as the whole VGM was gathered around in front of the smoldering remains of the destroyed parking deck. “What were you saying?”
“That whatever that big thing was that we all felt, that made the hairs stand up and all,” Tim explained, pushing the edges of his short blonde hair away from the rims of his glasses. “It’s gone now. Not gone in the good ‘oh it stopped’ kind of way, but gone in the bad ‘we can’t feel it anymore’ kind of way.”
Chip breathed out, his mind racing. He looked around, fixing his gaze on the smoldering remains of the bus just down the street. “Okay,” Chip stopped. “Remind me again, whose idea was it to load that thing with explosives?”
All hands immediately pointed at Ben. The sniper looked at his accusers. “Tattle-tails.” He grumbled, bending over Vincent again as the dark Vgm leaned dazed p against some of the rubble. “Hey, while you guys are busy pointing fingers, why don’t one of you Final Fantasy whores come over her and heal him.”
Michelle came over and knelt down next to Ben. “You don’t need video game magic for this one,” She said, taking Ben’s hand. She bit into the side of it, making him wince in pain. A dribble of blood came down her chin and Michelle pushed Ben’s hand away. She turned to Vincent, about to say something, but then she looked back at Ben. “You taste terrible. Eat more vegetables.” He made a face at her, but she held her hands over Vincent’s chest, a dark red glow forming around his body. Along his arms and face, a host of his superficial wounds closed up. “That helping?” Michelle asked. Vincent just nodded, still zoned out. She patted him on the head, then stood.
“We’ve also lost track of the generals and Mars,” Jessica added, her attention divided between Chip and Vincent.
“They need to be our priority, specifically Mars,” Chip began to muse, starting to pace amongst the small crowd of college teens. He took out a small silver pocket watch from his pocket, checking the time. “We don’t have too long before . . .”
“Um, Chip,” Came Sophia’s voice. The others all turned to her. “Is, Is Vincent going to be okay? He looks really, like, messed up.”
“He’ll be fine, he just needs to walk it off,” Chip dismissed callously. “We need to find Mars and we need to find him fast before he can escape.”
“Assuming he hasn’t already,” Michelle tossed in, taking a drink from Dan’s Dr Pepper. Standing next to her, he was startled to see it in her hands, gawking at the sight of his hand still in position to be holding the bottle.
“We’d have felt it,” Jared maintained confidently. “If Mars was to crossover back to his castle, the magical disturbance would have been very noticeable and unmistakable.”
“Yeah, yeah. Mars, people,” Chip insisted aggressively. “Teams of three. Spread out and find him.” Without saying another word, Chip turned to leave.
“Uh, Chip,” Tim called. The Vgm stopped with a frustrated sigh. “Look, I’m sorry to seem less than overjoyed at the thought of running headlong into a fight with a demi-god, but I don’t think we can go a second round with him. Doubly so against him AND the generals. Livic and Eminaf are tough. And Yerrbmot’s magic, granted we haven’t seen a lot of it yet, but I’m willing to wager we don’t have anything that can . . .”
“We can take Mars if we deal with him alone,” Chip maintained. “But that hinges on finding him before the generals do.”
“What in the world makes you think they haven’t?” Vincent grumbled from the pile of rubble he was lying against. Everyone turned to him, as if startled that he was strong enough to speak. “Not that I’m not down for round two with that son of a bitch, but these guys aren’t like Pihc’s alternates, Chip. They’re organized and smart.”
“Look, fine,” Chip said with a shrug. He pointed at Tim and Michelle. “You two stay here with anyone who’s too injured to save the world.”
“No pressure, though, right?” Jon complained from the back of the group.
Chip didn’t respond. He simply turned and started into the night. The group looked at each other, then Beth rushed off after Chip. Jessica sighed, then stepped over to Vincent, offering him a smile as the rest of the VGM broke into teams. “Want to go looking for trouble with me?”
Vincent smiled back at her with fragile lucidity. “Help me up and I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth.”
Ben looked between the two, then rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m not that dedicated,” He tossed in. “But I’m with you.”
Yerrbmot drew a circle in the sand on the edge of the beach line, his eyes closed. He stuck his finger into the loose silt and began to chant softly under his breath while he formed an elaborate design inside the circle.
Behind him, Livic and Eminaf stood guard, staring back into the remains of Wilmington. “You’d think finding a seven foot something behemoth of unbridled power and magical energy in golden and crimson armor would be easier,” Livic confessed with half a laugh.
“I still think we could have searched the old-fashioned way,” Eminaf returned humorlessly, her purple armor glinting in the sparse light of the Wilmington shoreline.
“As small as this city is compared to most we’ve been to in our time, if Yerrbmot’s paranoia is right,” Livic cautioned her. “We don’t have time to waste seeking out Mars. We need to find where the Shadows are manifesting.”
“But finding them, and combating them, will only make matters worse,” She sent back, her hand resting on the pommel of her saber.
“Found them!” Yerrbmot suddenly yelled.
Livic and Eminaf both turned back to him. “The spell worked?” Livic asked.
“No,” The wizard exclaimed, staring into the ocean. “I looked up to yell at you two for talking and I saw them.”
“Saw them?” Eminaf exclaimed. But Yerrbmot pointed and the two standing generals looked out into the distance, to see Mars standing his ground at the edge of the crashing waves of the beach. They looked beyond him, following his rage-filled eyes to the darkness that was spreading from the horizon over the ocean towards the land.
Chip slid to a halt, immediately turning to his left. Down between the beachfront houses, he saw Mars standing at the edge of the ocean, his long black katana drawn and ready. “There he is!” He said, whipping out his own katana. “All Vgms, on-line!” He yelled into his headset.
“Wait!” Jon yelled in his own headset just before grabbing Chip’s shoulder and pulling him back a step.
“What the hell are you doing?” Chip barked at his brother.
“Chip, look!” Jon insisted, pointing between the houses.
“I am,” Chip argued quickly. “I see Mars. I want to kill Mars. Killing Mars involves a short walk. What’s the hold up?”
“Not Mars,” Beth said, her soft, but fearful voice stopping Chip. “Beyond Mars.”
Chip looked passed Mars, for the first time seeing the darkness spreading over the ocean. “What the hell is that?” He breathed.
“I know those things,” Came Dan’s voice in through the headsets.
“I know those things, too,” Added Jim sarcastically. “They’re bad news. Can we move on with the plan now? Hopefully one that doesn’t involve . . .”
“Shut up, Jim!” Came a cacophony of voices over the headsets.
“I fought one when we first went to Crossworld,” Dan continued, ignoring Jim. “When we first arrived. Beth and I ended up in a cave and there was something just like that in there with us.”
“Are you sure, Dan? Absolutely sure?” Came Vincent’s voice.
“Why?” Asked Emily.
“Yeah, okay, there’s way too much chatter over the headsets,” Chip barked into his mouth piece. “All Vgms, on-line!” He called again.
“Jessica, on-line,”
“Tim, on-line,”
“Vincent, on-line.”
“Alright, everybody make for the beach and head between the two piers,” Chip explained. “We will regroup between them and then we’ll coordinate an attack.”
“Attack what?” Asked Ben. “Mars or Dan’s monsters?”
“Whichever one looks worse,” Chip said with a stoic sigh.
Mars popped his neck as the Shadows finally reached the edge of the city lights. “Here we go,” He whispered to himself as he cracked his knuckles beneath the golden highlights of his crimson gloves. He tossed his sword from hand to hand, his eyes never leaving the Shadows.
When the darkness first made landfall before him, it seemed to change. The strange absence that was the Shadows suddenly morphed, like water running backwards up a drain. It shifted from a darkness into an opaque pillar-like mass. It wavered between being solid and not there at all, halfway between an illusion and a terrible, painful dream.
As the darkness formed, rising up, the Shadow pause before Mars. The shapeless mass had no face, no eyes, no discernable features, but yet as it grew before the warrior, he could tell it was staring at him like a sin watching its prey.
Drawing back like a giant snake, the foremost of the Shadow snapped forward at Mars. The warrior leapt back, slicing horizontally with the long black blade of his sword. The blade whipped through the air with ease, passing just as easily through the darkness as it did the light.
The Shadow, disrupted but unabated by Mars’ attack, surged forward again, this time from the left. Moving faster than Mars could react; the darkness collided with him, knocking him back against the sand. But rather than recoil after the impact, the darkness spread over him like an ink stain spreading over blood.
Mars opened his eyes from the rough landing to find the darkness trying to devour him. As the sick blackness flowed, it reached inside of him. His senses flared and receded as the cold from the darkness burned deep into him. Within the endless nothingness, Mars was lost in a black infinity. All indications of existence were gone. No color, no light, no sound, nothing that would allow him to orientate himself in any way.
Mars grabbed at the blackness, reaching to get a hold of whatever held him in the darkness, but there was nothing. He grabbed desperately, feeling little more than a dark mist. There was nothing to hold onto, nothing to attack. But that nothing was devouring him.
Mars swung his katana, his eyes glowing with a red hate. The blade swept the darkness and he could see the Shadow disrupted by the swing. He drew back again, against the burning that reached deep inside of him. His blade began to glow with a red fury that matched his eyes. He poured his anger and madness into his sword, ready to strike.
A blade of light severed the blackness. Mars barely had time to gasp before he was spilt back out into existence. The giant landed hard on the dusty sand of the beach, disorientated by the sudden rush back into being. Familiar voices echoed in his ears as his vision stumbled to return.
“Get down!” Came the roar of Livic’s voice. Mars unconsciously ducked down low, a black tentacle sweeping over where his head had been. He stood up, once again fully aware. Eminaf and Livic stood between him and the Shadow, their weapons’ blades glowing vividly with their own energy. Eminaf’s thin saber glowed along its razor edge while Livic’s massive double-bladed axe surged with violent power, crackling like lightning.
“We’ll deal with the Shadows, Mars,” Came a voice from behind. The giant turned to Yerrbmot as the wizard beckoned him away from the battle. “You must escape. Flee to the castle. We’ll be right behind you.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Mars asked, his casual tone stunning the wizard. “There’s no way I’m leaving in the middle of a fight! Especially not against these monstrosities!” He barked, turning back to the Shadow.
“You have to!” Yelled Eminaf she backed away from the darkness, in step with Livic. “If the Shadows make it there, then all of this war will have been for nothing. You have to go before the barrier of reality becomes even weaker.”
Mars looked back at the Shadow and his two generals then to Yerrbmot. He glanced down, then returned his gaze to Yerrbmot. “You realize I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he admitted under his breath.
“Our presence here is what’s been weakening the barrier of reality around the earth,” Yerrbmot explained as he tried to hurry Mars away from the beach. “Our attacks under Ecnilitsep’s orders have alerted the Shadows to this realm’s existence. In order for them to leave, we must let the damage recover, we all must retreat. But YOU must go first!”
“But wasn’t there something about not letting them reach this planet, this one in particular?” Mars struggled. “I remember . . . but I don’t. Something about . . .”
“The Shadows won’t stay if we leave,” Yerrbmot insisted. “They will do damage and fracture reality further, perhaps, but they will search out other magic once there is no more here to call to them. It is the Nation we cannot allow them to find and they are now dangerously close. We must escape!”
Mars looked back over his shoulder at the dark Shadow that stalked the light of the world, simmering with potential, but not attacking. Meanwhile, Livic and Eminaf did their best to stand guard between them and the world beyond. Mars’ eyes narrowed in anger. “We will have our chance, my lord,” Yerrbmot whispered to Mars, looking into the giant’s eyes with the utmost earnest. “We will no doubt meet the Shadows on the battlefield again. And it will be soon, rest assured.”
Mars stared into the darkness once more, then roared. But as quickly as the scream of fury echoed across the beach, the giant disappeared, fading away like a mist. “He’s gone,” Yerrbmot yelled to his two comrades. “Now let’s get out of here.”
“I’m with Mars,” Livic yelled, the energy surge on his axe sizzling the anxious air between him and the Shadow. “I hate to cut out in the middle of a fight.”
“What is it with you two?!” Yerrbmot shrieked.
“He who fights and runs away,” Eminaf quoted to answer to Livic, sliding her narrow sword into its metal sheath. As the sword clicked into the secure scabbard, she slowly disappeared as Mars had.
“Go!” Livic yelled back to Yerrbmot as the Shadow began to move. But before he could even turn back to the Shadow, the wizard was gone. Livic smiled at the Shadow, the knowing grin turning into a small laugh. “I’ll be seeing you soon,” he seethed as he faded away into the night.
Read more about CrossWorld book III and Robert V. Aldrich HERE.
Copyright 2008 Robert V. Aldrich. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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