Bridgeworlds: Deep Flux (3 page)

An Asian child ran past Haylale trying to hide from his sight. She snuck
under the large card table to where Omar was sitting and began tugging at his
sleeve lightly, but Omar didn't notice. Wait… she wasn't Asian, she was a
Yaarma. The child pulled harder and harder at Omar's sleeve but he kept his
eyes on the game. He also kept winning and the more he won, the more crowns
the other players would heap upon his head. Each crown turned Omar's grey
skin a slightly darker shade until it eventually turned black. Omar began to look
almost as evil and powerful as Haylale, who smiled knowingly.

One corner of the room seemed to house the other half, the downers of
the party. They sat, watching silently, as if waiting for something. He recognized
them all. Erestar, with long black hair and dark blue eyes, but instead of being
25 feet tall as the giant ruler of Raphad that Myles had come to know, he was
human sized. He sat with a sword in his lap; the sword Haylale had asked him to
steal the first time they'd met. Kasey sat staring daggers at Haylale and if her
glare was any colder, it would have dropped the temperature in the room.
Sebastian was sitting with them and was giving Omar an equally ominous glare.
Queen Ariana and Prince Seux of the Nepsah were there, too, looking at the
game as if in fear. Queen Elizabeth was calling to the Miyka king, but all he
would do was look at his cards and rub his head. Occasionally he would look
over his shoulder and push away at the air. He would mumble something and in
Myles’ dream he could almost hear something being said back as if someone
was trying to whisper in his ear.

Myles tried to take it all in as everything seemed to move around him at
inconceivable speeds. He was sitting at the bar with a man who had his back to
him... Myles thought about tapping the stranger on the shoulder to ask where
he was, but the man turned around before he touched him. It was Nekar,
servant of the Master from Musterion who had cured the deadly poison that
had been killing Kasey and had cured the curse of the Kalat turning her into the
beautiful Miyka that she was today, but Nekar was taller and more powerful
looking. He was almost scary. Myles didn't want to look at him, he couldn't... he
looked away for a moment but then Nekar spoke with a voice that stopped all of
the gambling and partying.
"MYLES CALLAHAN!"
It shook the very earth. Myles
looked back at him with a mix of fear and guilt as he spoke and saw Nekar's arm
out-stretched and pointing at him. Everything in Myles’ view became warped as
Nekar roared again. "
THIS DREAM IS AS REAL AS YOU ARE!"

Omar and the other players put their hands over their ears and began
yelling profanities. Erestar and his group stood as if this was what they had
been waiting for. Kasey looked at Myles intently, with hope in her eyes. Haylale
was no longer smiling.

Nekar leaned in closer to Myles with his voice still booming, "
MYLES,
YOU'RE GOING TO DIE. AND YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T DIE, SO YOU'D BETTER
DIE TO LIVE
!"

Nekar kept speaking but Myles couldn't understand him anymore.
Haylale had started to laugh hysterically. He was laughing so hard that his
wound opened up, making him cough and choke.

Myles turned back to Nekar, but he was gone. Everything became a blur
with different images coming and going so fast that he could not make them
out. He thought he blinked and then everything was black and silent.

The world started to fade back into existence. Myles knew where he
was now.
Back to the stable dream…
He was on Soterion, laying in the field of
Epher covered with countless pieces of armor of the armies of Soterion. Nothing
moved. All on the field were dead. The Dragon… Myles had seen the Dragon rise
from Mt. Drakonge and slaughter the armies of the good people of Soterion
with a supernatural fire that clung to their bodies once it touched them. Those
poor people were now reduced to ash. Ash itched at the back of Myles neck as
he looked upward.

Two spheres of light were rising from the west, casting light on a new
day. The plain was stained black, a terrible smell of burned flesh hung in the air
and a blanket of thick fog covered the ground as the suns began to peak over
the western horizon. A. Myles was not sure how long he had been unconscious,
or how long he had been awake for that matter, after the Shepherd had healed
Myles for several hours he had slipped in and out of consciousness and at times
he would wake and just lay there when he wasn’t having weird dreams. Myles
was at a turning point in his life and the direction he decided to take would
impact the rest of his life greatly. He did not want to move until he decided
what direction to go.

His thoughts raced on as a morning fog began to cover the ground.

Myles was not sure if he would follow after the man who healed him or
if he would explore the new power that Haylale had shown him. One path
would lead to a change in his life that would make him into a new man. The
kindness, love, and goodness of the Shepherd were all in his eyes, and Myles
had seen and felt it. He felt he could learn a lot from that man. However, it
would require him to give up all the vain pursuits that he so love: cheating,
lying, and my new found love - the power of knowledge.
I could use this new
power in so many fun ways.
He had drifted in and out of sleep but it was time to
come to a decision.

As if to answer these questions, Myles began thinking of all the things
that he could do while being able to shape the environment around him like a
dream. The possibilities were only limited by his imagination, but his thought
process was interrupted by the voices of two men arguing.

“I says we loot the bodies for valuables and leave the armor. There’s
just too much of it to carry,” said a deep voice that rumbled like the moving of a
large boulder.
A Daqad
, thought Myles. Then the other man spoke with a much
more cheery almost melodic voice, “Dear Jasper, don’t let your laziness shine so
blindingly. We could buy a kingdom with the metal from all of this armor.”

Myles was hidden by the blanket of fog. As the argument ensued Myles
snuck a look from under the fog and found the two strangers. They were
walking along as they led two horses pulling a wooden covered wagon. The one
called Jasper was indeed a Daqad and the other was a Gabad giving off a yellow
glow.
I wonder what the color yellow means to that Gabad.
He had learned in
Musterion (the planet made of tunnels) that the glow of a Gabad depended on
their mood, but the color for their mood depended on their taste in colors.

The two strangers stopped for a moment to look through the bodies of
those charred and slain by the fires of the Great Red Dragon. Myles wanted to
get closer to them without being seen. He looked at the coin inlayed in the
metal bracelet on his wrist. As he went to touch it, though, he thought,
Wait. I
might not need this anymore to teleport. I wonder if I can do it with just thought
.

Myles looked at the ground behind the looters’ cart and imagined
himself being there. It was nothing like the teleportation of the coin. With the
coin it was like blinking. For a split second everything would go black and then
he was where he wanted to be. This was entirely different. It was almost like a
camera zooming you in. Myles looked at the spot and suddenly he was there. He
grinned, pleased that it worked.

Myles could hear Jasper lecturing his partner, “Orasmus, we would need
an army just to carry all of this away. Don’t be ridiculous. The change purses and
valuables alone could fill this wagon easily.”

Myles went to activate the invisibility device that Omar had given him,
but he stopped. Instead he just thought about being invisible. Thinking this way
seemed almost silly and childish to Myles. It reminded him of when he was a kid
and would hide under his blanket thinking the monsters lurking in the shadows
could not see him. Myles slowly crept around the wagon. The two horses did
not react to him so he just walked right up to the two strangers as they were
talking.

Orasmus was shaking his head at Jasper. “Have it your way then. I just
think more money could be made from the armor.”

 

Myles spoke, a disembodied voice to the two strangers, “Jasper, you
should listen to Orasmus.”

Jasper whipped around and tried grabbing in the direction Myles’ voice
had come from, missing him by a few inches. Orasmus took flight, flapping his
large, purple, skin-bound wings. “Show yourself!” yelled Jasper as he drew a
dagger. As if in response Orasmus notched an arrow to his bow surveying the
area from 15 feet in the air.

Myles smirked, this time projecting his voice from four different
directions, “Really? With your weapons drawn? Don’t think so.”

As Myles spoke Orasmus landed beside Jasper and said, “Now Jasper, I
do believe that this bodiless voice would have harmed us by now if he intended
to.”

Jasper nodded reluctantly and both of them put their weapons away.
Orasmus then nodded impatiently. “Now, stop fooling with us and show
yourself.”

Myles did appear to them but not without a dramatic flair.
This is too
much fun.
The fog rose up from the ground and, before Jasper and Orasmus’
eyes, took human shape and then dissipated to reveal Myles.

Myles could see goose bumps raise on the purple skin of the Gabad and
the Daqad's eyes widened with a look of fear. They began backing up. Jasper
reached for his knife again and spoke stuttering out some words, "There is only
one kind of creature on Soterion that can change its form and voice in such a
manner. Either you are a wretched Drakoni, or the Dragon himself."

Myles laughed. Then he tipped his hat and winked at the two
gentlemen. The men still looked afraid. Myles spoke with sarcasm, "Sure pal, I
am the Great Red Dragon! Come to torment two mighty looters, cause I've got
nothing better to do." As Myles mentioned the dragon, he fought back a
shudder.

Jasper suspiciously pointed his knife at Myles, "Good, then its settled.
You are no dragon. You can leave now. This is our loot."

Myles shook his head.
Greedy little guy
. Greed was useful and a vice
easily manipulated.
These guys are the only ones out here and smart enough to
see the value of all of this armor. And coin does have its uses even on Soterion.
Myles had grown up with simple people who were always struggling and
working hard for their next meal. The more money Myles had the more distance
he could put himself from that lifestyle he so loathed. "I say we split it. There is
more than you can carry in that wagon. I, however; could move it all pretty
quickly."

Orasmus cocked his head as he looked at Myles, "Are you insane? No
one man can move all of this." Orasmus gestured to the massive amounts of
armor laid out on the field were the fog had begun to dissipate.

Myles clapped his hands in anticipation.
I haven't been able to show this
off yet, this should be fun.
Myles reached into his long coat and pulled out the
collapsible walking stick that Omar had created for him. He tapped his walking
stick on the wagon and armor rose from the ground swirling then landed
clanging in a steaming pile in the bed of the wagon. It formed a teetering tower
as high as it could go without falling over. Myles gave them a knowing smile,
"Go sell that. We will split the rest."

Orasmus looked around, overwhelmed, "There must be millions of
pieces of armor here."

Myles nodded and looked at the field behind him with a smile as the
armor began to assemble itself and became animated. Myles intended to form
it into a marching army all the way to its destination. Then he winced at a sharp
pain in his head. The animated armor began to fall to pieces and lay back on the
ground motionless. Blood began to trickle from Myles’ nose.
So there is a limit
to what I can do.
Myles looked at Orasmus and laughed, “And you thought I was
the dragon?”

Orasmus stepped closer to Myles. “Perhaps something simpler. Can you
create a hole and move the armor there so we can come back and get it?”

I believe so.
Myles thought of a deep hole in the earth before them and
suddenly it was there. Then he moved the armor into it and covered the hole
with a thin layer of ash from the field.

After he was done he collapsed. Orasmus and Jasper helped him up.
They looked at him questioningly. Jasper spoke, “So, what next?”

Myles looked at them and the expressions on their faces. He always
knew when he had won a crowd with a performance and these guys were
thoroughly impressed. They recognized the power he had and looked to him for
guidance.

Myles took the pipe out of his coat pocket, stuffed it with some
Trundleberry tobacco and puffed for a few minutes before he spoke. The leaf of
the Trundleberry always soothed the mind. He needed that with the stench of
burned flesh still in air and the fresh memory of the carnage caused by the
Great Red Dragon burned into his mind. The thought of the dragon inspired
anger and determination in Myles.
Haylale, the deceiver… is he truly dead? I
must know.

He turned his attention back to the waiting men.
“You two take that
armor and sell it on the black market in Philos. With the profit have a manor
built with a storehouse. Occupy the manor, sell armor from time to time to get
by, and wait for my return. If I return and you have not done these things, I will
be angry and you will find the extent of my power.”
A little much but it should
drive the point home. Don’t mess with me.

Jasper cleared his throat. “And where are you off to?”

 

Myles chuckled, “To see a man about a dragon.”

 

They stood there dumbfounded as he walked away toward the barren
waste lands of Drakonge.

As Myles walked he found a place where a rift seemed to have been in
the earth. As he looked around at the markings in the ash on the ground he saw
that this was where the Great Red Dragon had stood when he had been slain.
Most interesting were the markings of what seemed to be a man climbing out of
the rift. There were handprints at the edge, and then the scuffing in the ash of
someone dragging himself over the ground.
The dragon had been defeated, but
returned as Haylale.
The scuff marks lead to footprints that were human-looking
showing that he had pulled himself up. The footprints lead straight toward Mt.