Everville: The Rise of Mallory (14 page)

Chesna’s heart fluttered.

“You are the wisest man I know,” Chesna said to Alvaro while leaning over and giving him what would be considered a gentle kiss by human standards.

Alvaro blushed. It was a very rare occurrence of shape shifting that he let slip, allowing color to appear on his otherwise black body. It did not go unnoticed by Chesna.

Two years had passed since Chesna and Alvaro met, and it was the year after their graduation from the university. Their love and deep affection for each other was stronger than it had ever been.

Both of them had settled into their careers and had their own hobbies. Alvaro loved stargazing. Chesna liked to paint. They both attempted to try each other’s hobbies, though Alvaro was less successful at painting than Chesna was at stargazing.

One evening after work, they were together in an open field where they frequented. Alvaro was gazing at the stars and Chesna was gazing at Alvaro.

“Chesna?” Alvaro said after he turned away from the sky and towards her.

“Yes, Alvaro?”

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes, Alvaro! Yes! I will marry you!” she replied without hesitation.

A feeling of joy rushed through them, more joy than either of them had ever experienced. It was a moment Chesna had been anticipating for a long time, and a decision that Alvaro knew he was going to make for quite some time.

Several more years passed, and their relationship continued to deepen.

“Alvaro?” Chesna said.

“Yes, Chesna?”

“We’re going to have a child!” she said with excitement.

“Really? That’s wonderful!” Alvaro exclaimed.

They had wanted a child for a while now, and once her egg hatched they would finally have one.

Several more years passed, and their son was already in school. They had a wonderful life. Their family was strong, and they had jobs they loved. Both Alvaro and Chesna shared friends, most of which were equally happy. They lived a fulfilled life. Up until this point, the only regret that Alvaro had was that he was unable to tell his family about his life as a human and his experiences on Earth and in Everville. Years more passed, and then decades more.

“Dad?”

“Yes, son?” Alvaro replied.

“I’m getting married!”

“That’s wonderful!” Alvaro exclaimed.

“Honey! Come over here! Our son’s getting married!” he shouted.

The passing decades turned into centuries, and then several millennia moved with the unimpeded march of time. Alvaro’s memory of his life as Owen Sage continued to fade, but never completely.

Alvaro found that having a strong foundation of good character was what was most important. He lived his life. He raised his children and his children’s children to be honorable, trustworthy, and to live their life doing what they loved to do most. He encouraged them not to be afraid to dream impossible dreams or to do impossible things.

Time continued to march. A billion years passed, two billion, five billion, and then ten billion years had come and gone. Alvaro and Chesna have lived together for an unimaginable amount of time, but eventually, their universe was coming to an end and so was their time together.

Like the universe where Alvaro lived as Owen Sage, the Alarians’ universe was expanding. In a few short years, the expansion would rip apart all matter in their world, including the Alarians themselves. The trillions of Alarians that were scattered across the galaxies were nearing the end of their existence.

Most Alarians had lived for tens of billions of years and were content to let nature take its course, but several million decided to push on. Chesna was not one of those people. Despite her love for Alvaro, she felt content to die, and he wanted so much to stay with her until the very end.

“Chesna?” Alvaro said

“Yes, Alvaro?” she replied.

“Will you reconsider? Won’t you come with me? I can’t image my life without you. If you stay, I will miss you so much and it will be difficult to live on,” he pleaded.

“Then why don’t you stay with me? You don’t have to go. Let’s stay here together and meet our end naturally, and then it will be all over, but it will be over on our terms, together,” Chesna replied, not understanding why Alvaro wanted to escape to another universe.

Alvaro could not stay. The promise that he’d made to The Third Pillar of Truth prevented him from expressing what he really felt. He was hurt that he could not share that with her.

“I can’t, Chesna. I just can’t. It’s not time for me to die,” he said, barely able to contain his emotion.

Alvaro had never completely let the memory of Earth or Everville fade away. He had been patient all this time. Alvaro had enjoyed his life as an Alarian, but he had been so meticulous, so careful to do the right thing. The moment had come after all these years, and he was going to go with the Alarians to cross over to the other universe, the universe where he had originated in what now was a distant memory.

“Chesna,” Alvaro said, holding her hand for one last time.

“Yes, Alvaro?” she replied.

“I love you. I love you with all my heart,” he said as his entire body changed colors.

They held each other’s hands for as long as they could, not wanting to let go.

Alvaro and the other Alarians could wait no longer. The molecules of everything within the universe were about to be ripped apart. In that instant, they departed.

Seconds later, the Alarians’ universe died. All the particles that existed in it were ripped apart by the force that was making their universe expand. Their memories, society, and culture would live on, though.

Alvaro, as did many other Alarians, felt a great loss. He felt the greatest pain that he had ever felt. His love of tens of billions of years was gone. There was now a great void within his heart.

It was not the tens of billions of years that tested Alvaro, it was the tens of thousands of years to come that would be the greatest test. It was not lost on Alvaro that he was forced to live out the tens of billions of years as an Alarian after having initiated the destruction of The City of Worms, even though it was not his actions that gave the worms sentience, requiring their destruction.

Now, though, with the loss of his wife and most of his progeny, Alvaro shared in what he imagined the Alarians in the future might feel with the destruction of their offspring, and it was unfathomable.

Thousands of more years passed in the new universe. The Alarians lived out their lives on the large moon that orbited an ice planet.

Alvaro did the only thing he knew to ease the pain of his loss; he spent time with the descendants of his offspring. Though the pain never completely faded, the passage of time slowly made it better. He wondered what the moment would be like when the time came for the memory of his life to be taken. He was torn as to whether the burden that would be lifted would be greater than losing the memory of his life and his love. Only time would tell.

The day that Alvaro waited for had finally come. Rathlar and Mallory were about to transport to the land of the giants and destroy Everville and the entire realm once and for all, but The Third Pillar of Truth pulled Alvaro from the second city on the large moon. He brought Rathlar and Alvaro together. Alvaro would now have to convince the dragon to freely give up the element or else Everville would be destroyed.

Chapter 15

Alliances

T
he remnant armies of Them that surrounded The Other In Between possessed a connection to the Alarians. Them were alerted to the Alarians the instant the worms were given sentience. That connection brought awareness of the Alarians’ impending attack.

From the time Mallory stole the juvenile worm, they knew exactly who had murdered the vast majority of their species. It was no longer a question of what race was responsible. They knew exactly who they were, where the came from, and what they were about to do.

While Them thought as once cohesive unit, they were able to divest themselves partially from the whole when possessing the body of another, the body of a willing host, like those creatures who were generally loyal in the surrounding lands of The Other In Between, lands like The Dark Forest and The Valley of Darkness. It was most often done for the sole purpose of creating physical armies, as non-corporeal forms could not kill. It was also necessary, though quite rare, to take possession of another body when Them could not come to a decision on the best possible course of action.

Them took the bodies of three creatures from the same species. Them called each other by the names from which they originated before the merging: Milrod, Lax, and Samil. Each of the three represented the current main competing thoughts of Them, which were the source of indecision.

Samil spoke first. The creature whose body he possessed was the most wretched thing he had ever encountered. It was a dull grey covered in snot and mucous. It had boils and scabs all over its skin with long pointy ears and a long thick nose that rounded on the tip.

Strangely, Samil was happy to take his current physical form. After his death at Easton Falls and new existence in The Other In Between, he had forgotten what it felt like to be solid.

“Listen,” Samil said while clearing his throat and coughing up the mucous that blocked it.

“We must form a temporary alliance with The Keepers. If the Alarians succeed in defeating the armies of giants and of Everville, we may lose our chance forever to defeat them. Now that they are in possession of the element, thanks to the artifacts provided by Mallory, their strength will soon grow beyond what we can defeat. They must be stopped now. If we hesitate, we will lose that chance,” Samil said firmly.

“Oh. No. No. No. We will not join or align ourselves with The Keepers. We should let Mallory betray them first. That way, we can kill two birds with one stone. The Alarians will destroy the giants and the armies of Everville, and then Mallory will destroy the Alarians,” Milrod said.

“Listen you idiot! First of all, we want the pleasure of killing the Alarians ourselves. They murdered our people and nearly made us extinct. More importantly, if Mallory succeeds in killing the Alarians, his power will be unstoppable,” Samil added.

Lax jumped in. “Why don’t we team up with Mallory?”

“Don’t be stupid. Mallory has no reason to join forces with us. If he did, he would have already done it. It’s clear he has no purpose in the collection of power other than to collect it. A plan with no purpose is no plan at all.

“It will not benefit our end to join with Mallory. He is as much the enemy as the Alarians. He may not be responsible for the genocide of our people, but it was precisely to stop those who would seek our eventual destruction that we decided to slough off the physical in the first place,” Samil replied.

A consensus was beginning to form. Ahead of the Alarians’ arrival, the armies of Them had already begun to take offensive positions in the border realms. Them had amassed large contingents of soldiers near the entrance to the portals. The possessed soldiers, however, would not be able to pass through the portals without creating a breach through Everville or being allowed to pass by The Keepers.

Once the element had been cut off, the portals would not be useable until the final collector was constructed in Brackenbone behind the walls of Vermogen. If the armies of Them were to pass through the portals, they would have to strike an alliance.

However, Them would be able to travel in non-corporeal form to the land of the giants by way of The Valley of Darkness. Them decided it was time to seek an alliance with The Keepers. Before the portals had been cut off and before the arrival of the Alarians, the possessed creature Samil appeared to The Keeper, Carwyn.

“Keeper,” Samil spoke.

“Who are you, and what do you want? We are busy here,” The Keeper replied.

“I am Them. I am Samil,” he replied.

“Samil. I thought it might be you. Now tell me what you want,” The Keeper added skeptically.

“We have decided that we want to form a temporary alliance with the armies of the giants and of Everville. It serves our interest to defeat the Alarians since they are responsible for the genocide of our people,” Samil stated.

“And what would you want from us in this temporary alliance?” The Keeper asked.

“We need a passage through the portals in the surrounding realms of Everville and in the monoliths. We also need unimpeded access to the land of the giants by way of The Valley of Darkness. In return, we will pledge you our armies as well as those unaligned, including the Mountain Dwellers and the Fwaylan. We will lay in wait until after they attack. When they are lulled into a false sense of security then we will strike,” Samil replied.

“There is one more thing,” Samil said.

“What’s that,” The Keeper asked.

“Being connected to the Alarians allows us not only the ability to read their thoughts, but we also possess the ability to prevent them from shape shifting once they choose their form. We will need to be in close proximity in order to be able to force them to hold their form, and we will wait until the moment of our choosing,” Samil replied.

“I will present your proposal to the other Keepers. If we agree, there may be some modification that we will need to make if you go along with your alliance,” The Keeper responded.

“Understood,” Samil replied.

After Them had contacted The Keeper by way of Samil and before the portal had been cut off, The Keeper called another meeting with the other Keepers. Time was running out, and The Keeper would need to make a decision soon.

“Them have approached me through a creature possessed by Samil. Them have proposed a temporary alliance in order to defeat the Alarians. Them have asked for an access to our portals and to the monoliths in the land of the giants. Them would also need free access to the land of the giants by way of passage through The Valley of Darkness,” The Keeper said.

One of the other Keepers spoke up. “How can we trust that Them and the armies of Them will leave once we have defeated the Alarians? The portals are the only thing that prevents the evil in Them’s heart from invading our lands. Once Them have a foothold, what motive do Them have to leave? Have we not forgotten that Them became evil through a noble end? It was not their end but rather their means by which there were transformed”

A few other Keepers spoke up in agreement.

“Yes, I agree,” said one.

“Me, too,” said yet another.

The Keeper, formerly known as Carwyn, interjected. “Listen, our means are not evil. Forming an alliance with an enemy is not evil so long as you hold true to what is right and just. More importantly, if we reject the notion that working with someone that has done evil in the past is itself evil, then what about redemption? Any evil deed can be forgiven. While it may not be forgotten, the deed is not the doer, and we must be willing to forgive, else we risk exposing ourselves to the same evil.

“We must be willing to accept the possibility that Them may still change in the future. Even though darkness permeates Them’s essence, there is still a remote possibility that the light will eventually break through the darkness.

“Let us not forget that Them were once much more amenable to good. I am not suggesting that we move forward with a blind eye. Them have certainly not earned our trust, but if we ensure that measures are taken for every eventuality, then this alliance may yet prove fruitful,” The Keeper said.

“I have a suggestion,” a third Keeper added. “If we allow Them access only to Brackenbone and the land of the giants we can limit the potential spread of their evil should Them betray us. We will not grant Them access to Everville and the land of the Fron or any of the other surrounding realms except for Brackenbone. We can protect Everville and The Land of The Fron, but we cannot protect the land of the giants,” the third Keeper stated.

“If we are to defeat the Alarians, a limited and temporary alliance with Them is the only possible solution. Further, Them possess the ability to prevent the Alarians from shape shifting when Them are in close proximity. That is the only way they can be held off. As it stands, we have no choice if we are to be victorious. Even then, the Alarians can only be defeated if Owen Sage is successful in finding The Third Pillar of Truth, thereby eliminating the element that exists inside the dragon. Until then, we must hold the line and prevent them from destroying us,” said The Keeper.

Several of them began nodding in agreement.

“We should find agreement with both the Ubaloo and General Varrick. If we are to allow the armies of Them to enter their land, we all should be in agreement,” The Keeper continued.

“Agreed,” said several Keepers simultaneously.

A short time later, The Keeper made contact with General Varrick to discuss the meeting and the alliance.

“General, I have a matter of deep importance that we need to discuss, and you may not like what I have to say.”

“What is it Keeper?” General Varrick asked with trepidation.

“The Keepers have been approached by Them with the possibility of a limited and temporary alliance. I know that Them are very much responsible for scores of your dead soldiers, but I fear that if we fail to reach this temporary alliance, the Alarians will wipe out our realm in its entirety,” The Keeper said.

General Varrick fell into his seat, shaken by the magnitude of what The Keeper was asking.

“Keeper, I have never known you to utter something that was unwise, but this comes as close as I can remember. What possible reason could Them have to form an alliance other than to betray us at the last moment and join with the Alarians in our destruction?” the General asked.

“General, the Alarians are responsible for the eradication of those who became Them. The Alarians nearly wiped out Them’s entire race in the seeding of the worms. It was the actions of the Alarians that led to the great chasm that now separates all our kind.

“Them have very much a vested interest in aligning with us to stop the Alarians, if only for their revenge. More than that, though, it is my hope that this alliance and defeating the Alarians will lead to a change in the heart of Them. While I understand your emotion and I agree that the loss of your men can never be forgotten, we must search for the best course of action for our people and we must not let our anger keep us from doing what is best,” The Keeper replied.

After thinking quietly for many moments, the General spoke.

“Alright, Keeper. I see the logic in what you speak, but this will be the most difficult choice I have ever had to make, and I think my soldiers will feel the same. Nevertheless, if what you say is true, then let’s move forward with this alliance and destroy the invading army of the Alarians,” General Varrick finished.

The Keeper then discussed the situation with the Ubaloo, who were also reluctant but willing to move forward with the alliance.

Both the Ubaloo and the giants started working on plans to allow entry by the armies of Them. Them’s armies would be held back until the first few waves of attack. General Varrick hoped that it would be better if the armies of Them could be sacrificed before his soldiers, but to ensure maximum destruction of the Alarians, they would need to be drawn in by a false sense of security.

The Ubaloo would hide the soldiers of Them from behind the walls of Vermogen. The giants would have the armies of Them fight on two fronts. The first would be hidden within the monoliths. The second would be from behind by way of The Valley of Darkness. The Mountain Dwellers and the Fwaylan would then join the armies of Them on the front coming from The Valley of Darkness.

Back at Easton Falls University, the time had run out for the other six of the nine members of the Echo Club to show up. Avery had just filed police reports on all of them.

“Avery, do you really think it’s best to continue waiting now that the other members are officially missing? Maybe it’s time we take a closer look at Jacob’s place,” Anika said.

“Yeah. Maybe we should pay Jacob a visit, or what about the artifacts?” Dante replied

“Yeah, what about the artifacts? We’ve used them before, why don’t we use them again. If they might give use a clue as to the whereabouts of the other members, I think it would be worth it,” Anika added.

“Before we start using any of the artifacts or objects, I want to talk it over with Cleophas. You heard what he said regarding the eventual impact of the objects and artifacts on those that use them. If he agrees, then we can give it a try. In the meantime, let’s just continue what we’ve been doing,” Avery finished.