Evil Origins: A Horror & Dark Fantasy Collection (25 page)

“We demand a
happy ending and for shit to make sense. Well, let me tell you something. It
ain’t like that. Sometimes you don’t get to find out why. Sometimes shit
doesn’t belong to you.”

Mara slammed
the glass down on the bar. Samuel looked around and noticed that the bar was
now empty. Even the bartender had disappeared.

“I didn’t
mean to—”

“I know what
you meant to do,” she interrupted him. “I know what your intentions were. But
that doesn’t matter, either. You know what they say about the path to Hell and
how it’s paved. And if you don’t, you know now.”

When Samuel
looked up at her face, he saw the healthy shine of her hair degenerate into the
filthy, sweaty strands lying on her forehead. The eye makeup disappeared, as
did the layer of foundation that accentuated her smooth skin. The sexy, black
dress morphed into the rags that hung from her emaciated frame.

“Wait, Mara.
I don’t understand what you want from me.”

The mirrored
walls slid downward into the pools of mineral water gathering at the base of
the cave wall. Ornate columns and brass poles turned into teeth of rock hanging
from the unseen ceiling of the cavern.

“Nothing,
Samuel. I don’t want anything from you. It’s about what you’re willing to give,
not what is demanded of you.”

***

He blinked once,
and the cavern snapped back into view. Mara stood by him with tears in her eyes
and his hand in hers. The alpha male crouched low, his hunters surrounding him,
with the horde continuing to march into the space until enough appeared that
Samuel could begin to smell their rotting flesh.

If you give
me your neck, I will make it pass quickly.

Samuel shrugged
and shook his head at the alpha male.

“I don’t know
what it is,” he said while casting a confused look at Mara, “but I know that I
can’t lie down for you. If you want me, you’ll have to fight me.”

The hunters
growled and snapped their long teeth into the air. Mara let go of Samuel’s hand
and stepped backward until she felt the wall behind her.

Without
warning, the alpha male lunged at Samuel. The hunters stepped closer while the
horde remained in place, swaying even in the absence of wind. Samuel spun and
raised his hands into a defensive position, using his fingers to grab the alpha
male’s coat while turning to the right. The movement took advantage of the
wolf’s momentum and allowed Samuel to toss him to the side. The alpha male
yelped as he crashed into the stone wall. Samuel reached a hand to the empty
sheath still attached to his leg and cursed the Reversion—Samuel could not
remember losing the knife, and yet it was gone.

Mara stepped to
the side, and the other hunters stayed with her. Samuel nodded and struck at
the alpha male with his foot. The kick connected with bony ribs, which elicited
another cry from the wolf.

You are not
leaving this cave.

Samuel felt the
pain in the wolf’s telepathic communication. He shook his head and lunged
forward. This time, the alpha male anticipated the kick, dodged to the side,
and locked his jaws around Samuel’s ankle. The wolf snapped its head back and
forth while ripping Samuel’s pants below the knee.

Mara cried, and
Samuel turned in time to see the three hunters on top of her. He saw her legs
kicking and arms flailing as the beasts attacked.

“No!” Samuel
screamed while dragging the alpha male across the floor toward Mara.

The alpha male
released his grip on Samuel’s ankle, which brought an immediate wave of relief
followed by the cold burn of torn flesh exposed to the air. Samuel felt blood
pooling in his shoe and fell to the ground when his leg would not obey the
signals sent by his brain.

I must leave
you both to Him.

Samuel sat up,
his left hand clamping around the pant leg now saturated with his own blood,
looking at the shuffling horde.

“What are you
saying?”

The hunters
moved back. The alpha male barked, and they continued past the standing undead
and left the cavern.

We have done
what has been asked of us. We have released her. I would have rather eaten the
flesh, but that command will not be given.

The alpha male
trotted by Samuel and around the undead. The wolf stopped in the tunnel and
looked back at Samuel.

He that
commands will fulfill the contract and release us from the grips of the
Reversion. The other beasts, they seem to be destined to be eaten by the cloud.

The
beast stared at him for another second before turning and disappearing into the
darkness of the cave.

Samuel looked
at the horde. The creatures inside the cavern remained in their animated sway,
and no new ones entered. He clawed at the dirt, dragging his injured leg behind
as he crawled next to Mara, whose breathing came in ragged gasps. The wolves had
torn ragged chunks from her arms and legs, which bled openly.

“I’m going to
save you,” he said to her.

Mara smiled. He
recoiled at the sight of her wounds.

“I’ll last
longer than you think. The Reversion. It slows even death.”

Samuel smiled,
his face contorting between sadness and pity.

“Deal with the
horde.”

Samuel took her
hand and looked up at the sentinels standing in the cavern, their lifeless orbs
staring back at them both.

“I don’t know
what to do.”

“You’ll figure
it out.” Mara winced, trying to staunch the flow of blood with strips of fabric
ripped from her pants.

“I need help. You
know things about this locality, this place.”

“It is time,”
she said as the creatures came toward them.

***

Samuel
slid his left arm underneath Mara’s as they both hobbled on injured legs. With
his right, he grabbed a crooked stick from the ground to use as a club. Samuel
took a deep breath as he felt the blood pulsing in his ears.

“This
is the only way,” he said to her.

“Go
on,” she replied, gritting through the pain.

The
first thirty feet through the passage proved to be the most difficult as Samuel
tried to keep his balance. A creature appeared occasionally, arms outstretched,
until Samuel would strike it with the club. He struggled to climb while
supporting Mara, making his pace slow. Samuel shifted as best he could, but the
rising incline of the passageway made things slow as well.

When
he reached the first intersection inside the mountain, Samuel glanced back at
the horde behind him. The new arrivals came through the tunnels at a trickle,
giving him time to strike and then step over them.

“Hurry,”
Mara said. “Not much time left.”

Samuel
moved forward into the tunnel that led upward toward the surface of the
locality. Samuel thought about that, and wondered what good it would do to race
to the surface of a world about to be demolished by the Reversion. Before his
rational mind could answer, he took more steps toward the surface to do what he
thought he had to.

He
let the club swing next to his right leg as he climbed through the tight
passages. Samuel turned several times, Mara slowing with each step. When he
reached the tunnel leading into the rear of the main cavern, Samuel stopped. He
let Mara slide to the ground, careful to keep a hand near the back of her head
to prevent it from striking the stone wall. He placed his hands on his knees
and drew as much of the soiled air into his lungs as he could. Before Samuel
stood, he heard a rotten voice speaking as if from the grave.

“Our
last stand is here. We cannot let you pass.”

***

Samuel gazed at
the form slathered in darkness. The voice felt different, and yet it retained a
familiar timbre. With another glance at Mara, he stepped forward, gripping the makeshift
weapon in his hand. The color fell from her face as more of her life bled from
the wounds. The entity stepped to the side and into the glow cast by the cave. Samuel
shook his head and wondered how long the ambient light would last as the Reversion
bore down on the locality and everything in it. With a quick glance, he looked
at Mara’s wounds, which appeared deeper and more serious than his own.

“You remember?”
the form asked.

“We spoke of
ahimsa
,
moksha
, and rebirth. On the edge of the marsh,” Samuel replied.

The creature
nodded and stepped closer.

“The Reversion
has exhausted them, broken them down. You will not need that any longer.”

Samuel looked
to his hand holding the club and then back over his shoulder at Mara.

“Nothing will
attack her,” said the creature, following Samuel’s eyes.

“You’re
different.”

“Than you?”

“Yes. But
different from the horde, too. You speak with more authority in your voice,
more experience.”

“Maybe you hear
that as less threatening. I came to you in the marsh to try to explain the
universe, or as much of it as you could comprehend. The others,” the creature
waved a hand in the air, “the others are bound by their duty, their
dharma
.”

The last word
hung in the air, and Samuel felt the familiar twinge of memory. He thought back
to his conversation with this entity.

“Aren’t you, as
well?”

“Yes, but not
the same
dharma
.”

The creature
stepped closer and motioned for Samuel to sit on a wide, flat rock near the
wall of the cave. He looked at the opening and then back to the rock.

“It is
swallowing what’s left as we speak. You are free to run into that if you so
desire.”

Samuel shook
his head and sat down.

“Some call it
the path of righteousness, but I find that misleading. It has nothing to do
with right or wrong, only duty.”

“What can I
call you?”

A smile burst
upon the creature’s face, contorting it into a grin reserved for Halloween
jack-o’-lanterns.

“You may call
me Deva.”

Samuel nodded,
waiting for Deva to continue.

“The Buddhists,
the Hindus, the Jains, they all incorporated
dharma
into their belief
systems, but it is much more ancient than that. Those in the West liked to call
it fate, but even that is a misnomer.”

Mara groaned
and turned her head. She was sitting, but her eyes were now closed. Samuel
stood, looking at her and then back at Deva.

“She will not
worsen while we speak.”

“What about her
condition after?” Samuel asked.

“That is why
we’re speaking,” replied Deva. “Please sit back down.”

Samuel did so while
wringing his hands.

“There is a
natural order of things, an
ŗta
. Your
dharma
corresponds to
this order. In your case, and in hers,” said Deva while nodding toward Mara, “you
must answer to it.”

“Of course the
Hindus used
moksha
to reinforce the caste system, which put thousands of
people into the gutters of their cities, but the idea behind
moksha
was
that you would be rewarded for pursuing your own
dharma
.

“In the Rig
Veda, the teachings claim that
dharma
is not just law or harmony, but it
is pure reality. ‘Verily, that which is
dharma
is truth’.”

Samuel watched
Deva smile again, as if his own words began to reawaken a lost humanity inside.

“What does this
have to do with me? With the Reversion?”

Deva nodded, feeling
chastised from his own intellectual indulgence. “Your
dharma
includes
the woman, as well as the man you sent through the portal. Until you deal with
both of these souls, your
dharma
will not be fulfilled.”

“I don’t know
how I’m supposed to deal with either of them,” said Samuel.

“Neither do I,”
replied Deva.

Samuel stood
and kicked at the limestone powder coating the cavern floor. He put his hands
over his head and rested them on top.

“Major’s gone,”
he said.

“He’s coming
back” replied Deva.

“What about the
horde?”

“They were to
bring you to this moment, this place. That is why they no longer serve the
locality.”

“The alpha male
and his hunters too?”

Deva shook his
head but did not elaborate.

“When the
moment arrives, you will fulfill your
dharmic
responsibility, or you will
be reborn in the cycle that is tied to your fate. It is how the universe will
be. It is how it has always been.”

Samuel felt the
blood rush to his face. He dug his nails into his palms.

“That doesn’t
explain shit!”

“Who owes you
an explanation?”

The question
knocked Samuel askew, like a punch to the jaw.

“Then there
doesn’t seem to be much of a reason for you and me to be talking.”

Samuel turned
his back on Deva and walked toward Mara.

“There is one
more thing.”

Samuel stopped
and looked over one shoulder. Deva waited, unmoving. Samuel turned and came
back to stand in front of the undead creature.

“The old man. Major.
He will return soon, and if you do not defeat him, your soul will be lost to
this locality, destroyed by this Reversion.”

“I thought I
already did that. I dropped him through the portal and shut it.”

Deva shook his
head back and forth.

“His
dharma
binds him to this locality, like you. He is coming back, and you must face
him.”

Samuel spotted
the club on the ground and reached for it. Deva kicked at it, the stick
clanking off the rocks as it skittered into a dark recess.

“You’ll need a
weapon with
dharmic
power. That will not suffice against the man.”

Samuel waited,
anticipating more from Deva.

“We are bound,
Samuel. Our forces have unresolved energy that will carry through this cycle.”