Everville: The City of Worms (13 page)

“Which way is southwest?” Calvin asked.

“Geesh! Really, Calvin? It’s in that direction,” Mallory exclaimed as he pointed southwest.

Felix bolted as Mallory pointed, but Asher yanked him back before he had ran any substantial distance from their current position.

“Pay attention,” Asher said.

They waited a few more minutes as the section of army that had broken off continued moving towards the city with an apparent sense of purpose.

Mallory gave them the signal, and then they bolted. Felix, Faine, and Asher had once again climbed atop Calvin, who was bearing the brunt of the legwork. They were hoping that Mallory would soon follow, but he stayed put in his current position.

“I hope Mallory makes it to the portal before he gets found out by the armies of Them,” Faine said.

“I hope so, too,” Calvin replied.

“How much longer til we reach the portal?” Felix asked.

“All night,” Asher replied.

After widening their distance from the armies, The Ubaloo managed to find comfortable and secure positions atop the shoulders of Calvin, who had continued running for over an hour. Despite his best attempt not to succumb to his fatigue, Felix closed his eyes and fell asleep. Faine soon followed. Asher looked at both of them and just shook his head.

Chapter 22:

Universal Laws

“I’ve called you all in here because the time has come to reveal some very important facts,” Cleophas said.

Next to Cleophas stood Avery and Dante’s Uncle Jack, both of whom had very serious expressions on their faces.

Cleophas continued. “The first thing we need to discuss is your role in the Echo Club and the reason each of you hold that role. And then … and then … wait, there was something else. I was going to say something just now, but what was it?”

Cleophas stood there with his towering, muscular body, head bowed in thought. The deep wrinkles that creased his face hinted at his age, but this was the first time that Cleophas had appeared vulnerable and old to any of the members of the Echo Club.

Avery interrupted. “You were going to talk about the nine.”

“Ah yes, the nine. Well, the thing is that all nine of you are here and the others are not. That was it, wasn’t it? No. Wait. There’s more I think. Yes. I remember now. The nine of you are here and the other members of the Echo Club were not invited, because of your origins. Your lineage comes from your parents, or a single parent in some cases, that have a connection to a very special world.”

Anika, Dante, and Owen knew exactly what Cleophas was talking about and were listening intently to what he was about to say next. The other six that were sitting there didn’t have a clue what Cleophas meant by “a very special world” and their facial expressions indicated that they were quite perplexed.

Cleophas went on. “Earth is in the center of a much broader realm. Well beyond our dimension lies a place called Everville and another place called The Other In Between. Surrounding each of the realms are eight bordering realms. The worlds surrounding Everville are primarily good, with a little bit of evil. The realms surrounding The Other In Between are mostly evil, with a little bit of good. Earth is in between the two, but separated by time and space across dimensions.”

“Wait. What?” one of club members sputtered.

“Awesome!” yet another member said.

“Listen. One of you has a lineage that is connected to Everville, and the other eight of you have lineages that come from the eight lands surrounding it. Your parents don’t have a biological lineage, but instead, they have a connection through a weakness in time and space. This weakness has imparted to your parents a certain essence that linked them to that realm, and as such, it has also linked you as well.

“There’s more. There are borderlands outside of our dimension, and others have connections to those lands, too. Some of you can see into your realm. Others can influence that world, and one of you can transport yourself to that realm.”

As he spoke those words, he turned and looked at Owen, who nodded, acknowledging his understanding.

Cleophas continued. “The other members of the club have connections to one of the borderlands, specifically those lands closest to the eight surrounding lands of Everville. They have not been invited here to this meeting because the measure of good within each of them has yet to be determined, and the power that they possess is not as great as yours.

“You must understand that the greatest power exists at both extremes of the multiverse. Due to the position in the multiverse, Everville and The Other In Between hold the greatest capacity for power. With each level removed, there is an order of magnitude decrease in the capacity to generate and wield such power.”

“This is getting really confusing,” one of the members said.

“Yes. It’s a lot of information to take in, but stay with me. You’ll get it soon enough. Now, like I was saying before. Like I was saying before. Wait a second. What was I saying before?”

“You were talking about the levels of power in each realm of the multiverse,” Avery replied.

“Ah, yes. That was it. All those realms are like the skin or shell of a sphere, and Earth is in the middle of that sphere, but Earth is special. There are roughly a hundred realms that have connections to Earth from the shell of that giant sphere that composes our multiverse. Each realm has a connection to at least one person, but some realms have more than one connection. As such, some of you are connected to more than one realm. The level of evil or good varies with each world and so does the power. That means some of you have tremendous potential for good or evil and tremendous amounts of power to different degrees.

“Earth is special because it’s the only borderland within the sphere of our multiverse that has a connection to the shell. Earth lies in a universe that is in the center of the multiverse. Its universe occupies its own dimension, with its own laws of physics and time. There are an infinite number of universes within our multiverse, like a bubble in an infinite pot of boiling water.

“The connection between Earth and the shell goes both ways. This means if the balance of power shifts on the shell of our multiverse, Earth is the barometer that can measure that change, but there is more. Because the connection goes both ways, Earth acts like a hologram to the shell of our multiverse. If the balance of evil increases on Earth it will impact the balance of evil on the shell. Think of it as a feedback loop. To make it more complicated—”

“No. Please don’t,” one of the seated students wailed.

“I’m almost done. Stay with me. Wait. What was I saying, stay with what? Oh, yes. I remember now.

“Our multiverse is just one multiverse in an infinite number of multiverses, and our multiverse acts as Earth does to an even larger multiverse. This continues ad infinitum, an infinite number of holograms in an ever complex series of multiverses with a never-ending shift of good and evil in an infinite ocean of time and space.”

“Okay, I was there with you for most of the way, but you lost me on that last part,” Anika said, shaking her head.

“The important thing to remember about that last part, Anika, is that the access to good and evil, as well as power, may seem like it has settled to a certain level, but that is just an illusion. It may appear that evil has won out over good or that good has won out over evil, but it has not. It’s a constant struggle, a never-ending battle, which is why your understanding of what good and evil are is the most important thing for you to understand.

“I have said before that there are certain truths that you know are true within your own heart. Your level of good or evil is in large part dependent upon your willingness to accept or reject those truths. Your connections within the multiverse and the realms to which you are connected only provide you with a certain level of innate knowledge and power. It’s what you do with that knowledge and power that’s important.”

“Okay. I think I get it,” Owen said.

“There is just a bit more. While good or evil can never be completely destroyed within the greater multiverse, it is possible for a single multiverse, a single universe, a single realm, or a single planet and species to be destroyed. That is why it is so terribly important for you to choose your friends wisely. You are the average of your friends in many respects, and the eventual fate of the universe may someday be dependent upon those with whom you choose to consort. You must be true to yourself, trust your instincts, and don’t allow yourself to succumb to the groupthink that can rob you of your own ingenuity and efficiency.”

“All right,” Anika said. “So what you’re basically saying is that truth exists, to thine own self be true, trust your own heart, there is virtue in selfishness, and choose your friends wisely….”

“Exactly, and don’t forget, the fate of your universe may hang in the balance,” Cleophas replied.

“I knew my English Lit would come in handy someday,” Anika retorted.

“Not to mention physics,” Dante added.

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, there is something else I need to tell you.”

Cleophas started to choke up. He tried to open his mouth, but the words could not escape his lips regardless of how hard he tried to enunciate the syllables. His face turned red, and his eyes started to water. He was moving his head up and down as if he were trying to shake the words free from his mouth. Avery and Jack came close and put their hands on his shoulders to comfort him. Despite his best attempt, Cleophas remained unable to speak, so Avery spoke for him.

“What Cleophas is trying to say is that he has been suffering from the onset of dementia for the last few years. Great advancements in medicine have enabled him to continue functioning at a high enough level. For the last few years he has been taking a medicine called Cognex to stave off the symptoms of memory loss and confusion, but he has reached an advanced stage of the illness and his ability to continue functioning at a normal level will decline rapidly over the next year or so.”

“Oh my god!” Anika exclaimed.

Dante and Owen immediately stood up from their chairs and hugged Cleophas. The other members followed suit.

“Maybe there is something we can do,” Anika said.

“Yeah. Maybe Owen can use his connection with Everville and The Keeper to heal Cleophas somehow,” Dante said.

At last, Cleophas was able to speak.

“I wish it were that simple, but it doesn’t work that way. The Keeper is not a magician. We are constrained by the laws of the universe. What seems like magic is just a superior understanding of how those laws work. Yes, it’s true that what you have seen over the last couple of months may seem fantastical. For that matter, though, you haven’t seen anything yet, really. What you are about to see in the near future will absolutely blow your mind, but back to my main point. I am constrained by the laws of this universe. Perhaps in Everville there are realms where such a thing exists. The problem is, I don’t possess a connection to Everville.”

“But I do,” Owen said.

“Yes, Owen, but you don’t possess the power to transport others to Everville, only yourself.”

“Maybe so, but I’m not ready to give up on you just yet. There might be a way, and if there is, then I’m going to find it.”

“I appreciate your concern and desire to help Owen, but as I have previously said, I’m not dead yet. It’s true that I may not be as sharp as I once was, but my mental faculties haven’t completely left me. Not just yet anyway.

“Now, we have a few points of business. As a result of my current condition, I am stepping down from my title and turning over all of my responsibilities to Avery. Jack will take over Avery’s former position, and I’ll remain to assist in an advisory role for as long as I’m able. My relationship with you won’t change. I’ll be here when you need me. I just need to extricate myself from some of the more bureaucratic nonsense that has no relevance to what really matters.”

“Wait. You don’t need to make any sudden decisions. I mean, this is just a club. Why don’t you wait a little bit?” Anika said in a visible state of concern.

“Listen, Anika. You know as well as I that this is more than just a club. I cannot allow my arrogance to interfere with what is best for me or what is best for all of you. I must humble myself to the known truth, which is not as dire as you are making it out to be. I have no intention of giving up, no intentions of locking myself away in a box never to be seen again, and no intentions of whatever it is that is floating around in your well-intentioned heads. I’m not going anywhere, so there is no need to be so melodramatic. You can leave that to the soap operas.

“If there aren’t any more objections, I say we move on to some of the more instructive aspects of this meeting. As I have mentioned before, each one of you has a connection to Everville or one of its eight surrounding realms. What Avery, Jack, and I have done is bring out every piece of information we have about each of these realms: the symbols, the notes, the objects, and any other information we’ve been able to find.

“Now that you know how to use the objects as a connection to the memory of its owner based on your prior training, and now that you have a better understanding of who you are and what these objects mean, we want you to search for answers — not just answers to your own history and purpose, but answers to a current problem in Everville. It’s the problem of the breach. The breach was created as a result of those in and around Everville who succumbed to the darkness and let the darkness invade their land. It was also created, in part, through planning by those who would seek to concentrate power for their own purposes, be it good or bad,” Cleophas said, drying his eyes.

“More to the point, I have been able to use my own connection to discover that there is a battle, of which Owen and a few others are aware, which has now engulfed one of the surrounding realms of The Other In Between. It’s a land known as The City of Worms. It is a great storehouse of power that was used to transfer and equally distribute power and energy across our multiverse in attempt to prevent the corruption of those who might gain access to too large a concentration of power.

“There is a substance called the element that is created through the natural operations of the universe. Think of it as the inverse of entropy. As the universe expands and expends its energy, there must be an equal energy created that maintains balance. Just as the universe has zero total matter when one takes into account the equal amount of matter and antimatter, so too does the universe have an equal amount of entropy and anti-entropy. This anti-entropy is what we know as the element. It’s the opposite of ordered chaos. It’s ordered anti-chaos. In other words, if you have the element, you can do whatever you want with it. Those who seek the element seek to become gods of their own realms and universes.