***
“Mr. Dabber.” That cultured voice once more. “Mis-ter Dab-ber.”
Tom sighed, opening his eyes and sitting up, surprised to
find a lack of restraints and beyond that, a lack of pain. Before responding, he took a look at the
where he know found himself. Wherever
this was, it certainly wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen. The immediate surroundings glowed in a
plethora of colors, each item in the room seeming to exude energy. The walls appeared akin to glass, with utter
darkness beyond aside from the odd glow of similar rooms here and there. The figure by his side matched the darkness
beyond the walls, a vaguely humanoid form that appeared to negate the auras of
the room. Other similar figures occupied
various perches throughout.
“Welcome to our sanctuary, Mr. Dabber.”
“Where is this place?”
“An excellent question, and one without a satisfactory
answer, I fear. It exists between life and
death, a realization of sorts of the collective unconscious.”
“Heady.”
The figure guffawed.
“Quite. I find that I like you
despite your stubbornness. Shall we get
to business?” A hand motion summoned a
table and moved them to seats at it.
“Must we? I thought
we were becoming such fast friends.”
“The longer you stay, the harder it will be for you to
return, and if you can’t do that, neither of us gets what we want.”
“I notice you’re referring to yourself in the singular
now. Why? Can you taste victory and plan to betray your
compatriots here?”
“Nice try. I am me,
you are he, and we--” The figure smiled, revealing rows of sharklike
teeth. “Well, we are all together. United in this purpose.”
“A purpose you have yet to reveal, Mr. Lennon.”
“As good a name as any, I suppose. Mine--ours--were lost ages ago.”
“Ancient beings without name? Stuck in a void apart from the world? Makes it pretty clear what your purpose is,
Lennon.”
“You know what they say about assumptions, Mr. Dabber.”
“This seems a safe one to make. I could just stay here, foil your plans.”
“Your wife would die.
You would die.”
“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
“Or the one.” Lennon finished through gritted teeth.
“Or the one.” Tom nodded his head in agreement.
“Wake. Him. Up.”
Lennon turned away, conveying the order with obvious resentment, but
apparently didn’t like what he heard in response. “You let him die? With all that experience, all we’ve gotten
for you, the children of yours we have, and you allowed our best chance to
die? No.
No excuses. You knew the
consequences of failure.” Lennon looked
to Tom. “Bad news, Mr. Dabber, you’re
dead.”
“But now I’ve got eternity in your pleasant company, so
we’re all good.”
Lennon ignored the flippant comment, instead glancing to a
ledge on the other side of the room then appearing there moments later. Tom wished he could see better, then all of a
sudden found himself standing next to Lennon once again and gave a friendly wave.
“You’re remarkably chipper for a dead man, Mr.Dabber.”
“I don’t dwell on what can’t be changed. Besides, I’m clearly not entirely dead by
virtue of being here and talking to you.”
“Your body is.”
The blade slid in as if Lennon’s form had no more substance than a shadow, but it had more of an effect than slashing a shadow would have. Lennon growled in surprise and pain, spinning around and pushing himself off Tom’s sword, holding his clawed hand to his chest. He locked his glowing red eyes on Tom and smiled maliciously, once again exposing those rows of predatory teeth. Behind him, Tom saw the intangible forms of the children dash away only to quickly find themselves surrounded by the other dark forms occupying the room.
“You’re a quick study, Mr. Dabber.”
Rather than responding and potentially whatever edge he’d
gained from the element of surprise, Tom swung the sword quickly while willing
it to have destructive properties beyond cutting and slicing. Lennon had not prepared himself for such a
sudden attack, but still managed to move aside from the main thrust of the
attack and avoid decapitation. Instead,
he took the blow on his arm, and howled in rage when the now-glowing edge of
the sword cleanly severed the limb from his form.
“Now you act? You
seemed so willing to talk before.”
“There are innocents at stake here, and as you’ve been oh so
happy to point out, it’s not like I have much left to lose.”
Tom thrust forwards once more, Lennon only clumsily
shuffling out of the way, his confidence and energy apparently waning. Looking closer, Tom could see a network of barely
perceptible green lines spreading across Lennon’s dark form, the heaviest
concentration at the point where he’d separated the arm from the body. Lennon fell to the ground.
“There’s still the rest of us, and we are far more familiar
with this place than you, Mr. Dabber.”
“Well, you’re a start, at least.”
Tom stabbed the blade downwards into the now-prone form and
head of Lennon. A bright flash of light
accompanied the action, and Tom found the sword now remained firmly embedded in
the glasslike floor, immovable, with cracks beginning to spread outwards from
its position. Raising his gaze from his
now-inaccessible weapon, he saw that Lennon’s counterparts had all focused
their attention upon him. In their absence,
the children had rushed to a depression in the floor and worked to pry
something loose to the best of their ability.
Before he could head over to help, the other dark forms
appeared around him, most looking upon him with their red eyes, but a more than
a few of the others examining the cracks in the walls and floor. Seizing upon the latter fact, Tom himself
knelt down and willed a small block to affix itself to the already-cracked
surface. He proceeded shifting around
the room as he’d done before, affixing a similar block at each point before he
appeared by the children.
“If I’ve picked up on this quick enough, those are
explosives and it looks like these glass walls are something you guys don’t
want shattered.”
The forms huddled together.
Not wanting to have to call his own bluff, he returned to where Lennon
had brought forth the children, but couldn’t get Lisa’s form to appear despite
duplicating the motions Lennon had made earlier. He glanced over at the forms, saw one of them
reach for the explosive and jerk their hand back then glare at him. Tom knew he probably didn’t have a lot of
time left, so returned to the depression, seeing a plug of sorts there. He tried willing it open, but unlike his
other actions here, it seemed to resist.
The pressure he’d felt in his head upon summoning the sword returned,
greater this time. Clenching his eyes
and fists tightly, he pushed as hard as he could against it, then felt release.
He fell to the glassy surface and gasped in pain, a headache
worse than any he’d ever felt before raging through his skull. Forcing his eyes open, he saw the plug had
vanished, leaving only a multicolored pool below it, which the children’s forms
jumped into without hesitation. Tom
allowed himself a small smile, then closed his eyes once more, using his
multiple years of experience with Lisa to try and discern her location.
Through the pain, he felt a warmth off to the side and
opened his eyes as he turned in that direction.
The dark forms met his gaze, and in their center rested Lisa, eyes wide
and full of fear. With good reason,
given the sharp claws poised around her and the explosive they’d managed to
loosen from the floor and affix to her.
He unsteadily rose to his feet as they addressed him.
“Stalemate again, Mr. Dabber.”
“Just let her go.”
“You killed one of us.
Why should we not kill one of yours?”
“What’s in the darkness outside?”
No response came, bar one of them raising a hand and Tom
finding himself flung backwards with a tearing pain in his right shoulder. He tried to sit up, but felt himself now
impaled by a dark spine binding him to the floor. Body throbbing with pain, he cast his focus
to one of the more remote explosives and willed it to detonate
individually. A satisfying crunch filled
the air even as his vision blurred. Tom
jerked himself upright, again exerting his willpower to do so. The spike dissolved into nonexistence, but
the pain in his head grew more excruciating.
“You should see yourself, Mr. Dabber. You might not have a physical form any
longer, but there are limits even here.
Limits you are right at the boundaries of, if not beyond them already.”
“Hey, you’re...the ones...that brought me...here. You have only...yourselves...to blame.”
“Even now you think you can triumph?”
“I know it.”
Tom summoned the last of his energy and jumped forwards,
extricating Lisa from their clutches but receiving numerous deep gashes in the
process and his foot inadvertently touching some of the darkness seeping in
from the shattered floor. The foot almost
immediately went numb, and a coldness spread through him even as he jumped back
to the colorful pool. He lowered Lisa
within and took comfort in seeing her relieved smile as she fell below the
surface. Lowering himself to follow, he
did not expect to be propelled forcefully away and back into the midst of the
shadow men.
“That route is closed to you, Mr. Dabber. There’s no physical form waiting for you on
the other side, after all.”
“Well, I guess...there’s no...need for any...further fighting,
then.”
“Yes, for all intents and purposes, you’re one of us now.”
“Why would...you assume that? All I said...was that…there was no need for
fighting.”
Tom willed the last of the explosives to go off, enjoying
the panicked reactions of the dark forms before the darkness flooded and
blacked out the chamber, and his awareness along with it.
***
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