Dagger - The Light at the End of the World (34 page)
Read Dagger - The Light at the End of the World Online
Authors: Walt Popester
Tags: #horror, #fantasy, #heavy metal, #dagger, #walt popester
“
You will soon discover the
meaning of these words,” Karkenos went on. “Memory. We were talking
about memory, right? It will be back. Because bringing you back to
their goddamn Fortress, the Guardians have made the last mistake
they could commit. They think they are smart, but they are not.
They’re just desperate and desperate people make stupid choices.
Soon my true servants will find you and it will be
Them
to show you the
way.”
“
Them
? Don’t tell me the umpteenth dark knights in search of the
predestined boy?”
Karkenos laughed. “I’m
afraid not. It’s a promise, the promise of a god, that you can
write in stars. I think
Them
will amaze you.”
Dagger knew that his time in
the middle earth was again at an end, when the light at the end of
the world enveloped him. He saw again the terrible face of Skyrgal
framed by deformed goat horns. But this time he saw, reflected in
his father’s eyes, even his own true appearance. His
real
appearance. He was
not a Burzum like Skyrgal, nor as a Mastodon like Angra.
that reflected in those eyes was the malicious grin of Ktisis.
Then everything disappeared and the big
blind was the premise of his next resurrection.
* * * * *
‘
However, we have clear
evidence that the first real meeting between Dagger and those who,
out of respect for the reader, I will keep on defining ‘Them’,
happened that night when the boy, or god, or vector of Skyrgal’s
blood or whatever you agreed to call him, went to his mother’s
grave in the Glade, to pay homage. We don’t know all the details of
the story, but thanks to my inquiries I can safely declare at least
two details. One. Dagger had already met one of ‘Them’ before then,
in particular during the difficult journey that took him from the
world Beyond to Candehel-mas. Only that he still did not know.
Second, everyone had lied about his true nature, some willingly,
some not willingly. And this is a matter so delicate that it cannot
be dealt so openly on a written text. Especially if you do not want
to incur some inconvenience such as, for example, happened to my
distinguished colleagues, the Guardians Reali and Popester, who
have recently disappeared in mysterious circumstances after having
argued that Dagger was the reincarnation of the god
Ktisis.
charges. I’ve never made enemies, I’ve always found it stupid and
useless. But that freedom of expression in which I have always
believed, and for which I have always fought forces me to report
this thesis of theirs.’
published post-mortem.
Note from the author and boring thanks
page.
characters and places have a double reference. Some refer to demons
or evil forces belonging to different cultures (Adramelech, Angra,
Marduk), others are inspired by characters from the sinister
reputation (Crowley). At the same time, they are also the names,
often deliberately maimed to improve readability (Candehel-mas,
Melekesh, Tankar, Messhuggah) of heavy metal bands or songs that
inspired the writing of this.
In fact, I think this is a work of heavy
metal.
Finally, the shopping list
that everybody put at the beginning of their work, but that
out of respect
for the
reader I prefer to insert at the end, so those who do not want to
put up with them can already close the book.
The
thanks
.
punctuation and enormous-pain-in-the-ass of a critic, Salvatore.
With the benefit of hindsight, you must have the balls to have your
best friend read your book and tell him to be sincere, with fear
that he will hurt you, kill you, or set your house on fire
depending on the quality of the novel. Balls that you must also
have to criticize every conjunction used as a Kalashnikov in the
book of your best friend, for that matter. Well, anyway, thank you.
Thank you for being a friend, a drinking fellow, traveling
companion, third or fourth reader, first editor and kamikaze press
agent. Thanks also to his wife Sonia that somewhere, at some point,
must have surely told him not to break so relentlessly my balls,
mitigating the invectives of her husband on semicolons.
Thank you Daniel, equal pain in the ass and
equal fervent blunder hunter, who has saved my career from untimely
death in at least a couple of occasions.
Thanks Amanda at
Progressive Edits for making the hell of a work with the
editing.
Thank you Wirton, Wally
and Ant for the last minute beta-reading, concy d’orazio for the
informatics help, Vera for the graphic help.
And thanks to you, reader, whoever you are.
If you arrived until here, there must surely be something wrong
with you too, so I’m afraid we’ll get along well. You will find my
e-mail address at the beginning of the novel for critical
appreciation, death threats, marriage proposals, reflections on the
meaning of Redemption and light for the various characters of the
novel. Usually I don’t deny friendship on facebook, and in real
life, to anyone who does not abuse of my unfortunately limited
stock of patience for the human kind, moments of drunkenness
apart.
The saga continues with ‘Dagger-Blood
Brothers’. Currently under revision.
I hope to see you again, otherwise it was a
pleasure to meet you.
That’s all folks.
Good night.
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