Maniacs in The Fourth Dimension (10 page)

Nothing
helps, they won't go away. And I can't find any energy to ascend
and escape from them. It's making me angry. Stupid Mace, why
couldn't he just be with me? The beach. I'm so going to make him
pay for this on paintball. Shit. If the world really ends tonight,
I'm going to spend my last moments with these freaks. Fuck
everything. I'll sit on the sidewalk and have a smoke.

I don't get
it. Why did Abraxas send us all to do this, if there's spot only
for one. And that one spot is taken now. I mean, there's no way
that I can ever obtain any high pulse weapon to shoot at the
medusa. That's pretty unfair of him.

He sat down
next to me.

''If you're going to talk to me,
turn your head away, I don't want to feel your breath on my
face.''

''I can see
that you are in bad mood and that you want to be left alone, but, I
have to tell you that you release the smoke of that cigar
over your lips and through your nostrils, in a
fashion of rarely seen elegance.''

''God, you're really
stupid.''

''And you're really
beautiful.''

''Turn your head away.''

''Could I get
one of those, I haven't lit one since high school'', said some deep
male voice, from behind me.

He sat down
on the curb, all sweated, dripping wet, like he just surfaced out
of water. One of the guys from the convention. I gave him the
cigar.

''What happened to you?''

''Thanks for the tar. My lungs
missed it. I came to ask you, all of you, do you want to go to the
next level.''

''How? I've
been trying to find a way all this time.''

''I'll take you there. I just
came back.''

''In the comic, you need to
reach the ninth realm in order to get the ability to go back
through dimensions.''

''Yeah. You wanna go?''

''How can we
trust you?'', said the… moron, I don't know his name.

He put the
cigar in his mouth and raised his hands, and electricity bursted
from them.

''Convinced?''

''Yeah, we wanna go!'', said the
moron.

''Okay, let's
go in the park, I gathered some more people there.''

He stopped by a store to buy a
pack of cigarettes.

''What it's like out
there?''

''Fuckin'
nightmare. Chaos. But, that's what everybody wanted, right? You
came because you fell in love with that world, and you wanted to
meet its creator, and find out more about it, but instead, you
found out that that world is real, and you got to be a part of
it.''

''Yeah, I guess you're right. I
felt so furious and desperate because I was afraid that it's going
to slip out of my hands. And it would, if you haven't come along.
Thank you. I don't even know your name.''

''My name is Cleitus.''

''Cleitus. Thank you.''

''It's okay.
I knew that I'll found those of you that really want this, still
around, looking for a way, it's only fair that you get
rewarded.''

There's three
more of them in the park. Elves and the guy in the 'Patriots'
shirt. Please God, let this work.

''Okay. Everybody take each
other's hands, and let's close the circuit. I'm going to let my
energy flow through you. Close your eyes and count to three. When
you open them, you won't be here anymore. One…''

Two…

Chapter twenty five

B
ittered by love

W
ings of a dove

N
ow on wings of fiery dragon
!

Forsaken with fools

Cast
down her jewels

To
the waters of slippery salmon !

Out of despair

She whispers a prayer

In wormwood
tears bathed
!

Reigned by hate

Betrayed by her fate

The priestess
of Hekate !

Nifty, isn't it? I wrote it.

''Hekate doesn't rhyme with
bathed.''

''Who is there?!''

One of them!
How did she find me? Promptly, I opened the drawer and gripped the
handle of the pistol, but she made me drop it, without any visible
motion. She pinned my knees to the ground and my hands to my body.
How did she become so strong?!

''Who are you?!''

''Don't you remember me? I'm one
of your 'chosen'.''

''What do you want from
me?''

''I want
answers to many questions you instilled in me. First, there's not
any invisible EM pulse coming this way, is there? And, don't lie to
me, I will be able to see it in your eyes.''

I can feel her grip around my
neck, even though she's not touching me. She is angry, and stronger
than me.

''No… I
invented that.''

''Why?''

''I needed to
give you a strong motif to fight, the will that pushes you
on.''

''Why?!'', I hear bitterness and
rage in her voice, I have to think of a convincing lie fast, or she
will have her revenge on me.

''I know
why'', she said: ''You inserted in us the idea of achievable goal,
by sending one of us on, and leaving the rest stranded, and
powerless, although, you could
have
easily lifted us all from the cursed fourth level, but you didn't,
because you didn't want to waste your energy on us. Your plan was
all along to appear in the convenient moment to those who succeed
in ascension, kill us, and harvest our energy.''

''Please…''

Her grip got stronger.

''Don't lie.
One thing I don't understand. There's nothing special about level
thirteen, what stopped you from entering it, and going
further?''

''You're clever, you connected
all the dots pretty well so far, what do you think why I never
entered the thirteenth realm?''

''Answer me, or I will hurt
you.''

''As long as
Man knew himself, he knew of existence of other worlds, he entered
and exited them. For thousands of years. And the powerful ones kept
existence of those worlds a myth. Nothing has changed today.
Virtually, every person of importance in today's world is multi
dimensional. Not like me, but truly powerful. I am a small fish in
this wide ocean, small enough not to attract attention from big
predators, but if I would cross the line, and that line is level
thirteen for many years already, I would make myself
visible.''

''And you though that under the
right circumstances, that is, if many of us succeed and you kill us
all, you might become a big fish.''

''Touché. So
what do we do now?''

''Now you will tell me what else
is out there, everything you know.''

''I don't
really know much, I've only heard stories. Stories of disembodied
powerful entities that the Great Men battled. Someone once told me
that on very high levels people change radically, physically, and
in mind, some even say that those disembodied entities are humans
on very high levels.''

''What's on the last
level?''

''Stories say that the last few
levels are the realms of Archons. And the last realm is the realm
of Metatron, their leader, the most powerful of all.''

''God?''

''Maybe Metatron is God, I don't
know.''

She mused for
a couple of moments, then she picked up my pistol.

''I gained my
access to other worlds by killing a man, decades ago. If you do
this, you will be no better than me.''

''Maybe this
will be poetic justice then. In this last moments I want you to
feel dispair and horror that I felt for hours, after you left me in
fear, bereft of any hope. Your blood won't be the first on my
hands, old man.''

''Wait-''

_

Chapter twenty six

World has
changed radically. Wide branches of tall trees have closed above
me. I can't see the sky. It should be daytime still, I think. I
hope sun is still out there, hidden from my eyes. Lempo, Jove and
Emily are here, waiting for me in front of the building.

''Hey, you're
all here!''

''Jove and I
followed you all the way, then Emily joined us, and now you,
finally. There was no way we could tell you we're here, we can see
people from dimensions bellow, but they can't see us.''

Oh,
shit.

''You followed me all the
way?''

''Yeah, we
waited for you down here, Emily appeared first, than us three
followed you to the next building, and then you finally came down,
it's so good to be able to talk to you man!''

If they
waited in front of the building, then they didn't see me in a
quickie with Emily. Good.

''Good to see you guys. Fifth
dimension… looks scary.''

''It fuckin' is, man, place is
swarmin' with gwangis!'', said hockey clad Jove.

''What's a
'gwangi'?'', asked Emily.

''It's a word
we use for dinosaurs'', also, we use that word for any stop-motion
creature that was animated by Ray Harryhausen, or anything that
looks like the work of Ray Harryhausen.

''Let's go to
the park so you can see iguanodons'', said Lempo, and I followed
him.

Him and Emily went little ahead
of Jove and me.

''She kinda looks like
Rabbithead's sister'', said Jove.

Why did he
say that? Rabbithead is this dope pusher that Jove buys hemp from,
and he has a sister that Jove and I once voted the best looking
female that we ever saw in real life, couple of points above
Goldzahn's - producer's - wife. While Goldzahn's wife is an
expensive whore, Rabithead's sister is a normal girl that shares
her brother's spliffs with everyday dorks like Jove and me. An
incredibly attractive normal girl that shares her brother's spliffs
with everyday dorks like Jove and me. And although, back there on
the roof, Emily and I, maybe, got into something, Rabbithead's
sister is still… well, Rabbithead's sister.

''She looks nothing like
Rabbithead's sister, where'd you get that idea from?''

''I don't know… She reminds me
of her, a little.''

''Every girl with blond hair and
blue eyes reminds you of Rabbithead's sister?''

''No, of course not.''

''Well what
then? Nothing else on Emily resembles her. We voted Rabbithead's
sister a ten, remember? Emily's a… not ten.''

Feels utterly barbaric to rate a
girl you just had sex with.

Wait a minute.

''Jove, were
you on the rooftop back there watching me bone Emily?''

''What?! Nah, man.''

''Were you?!''

''No!''

''Why are you smiling?''

''I'm not smiling.''

I knew it.
That fuckin' vandal, fuckin' Somali pirate. You know what? I don't
care. Why would I have to stress about absurd human inventions like
Shame, when everything that's happening is fuckin' insane. Shame is
an abstract
concept. It's not material,
it exists only in the minds of people and nowhere else. I don't
care if the whole world, all seven billions of them watched. I
wonder did Lempo watch too. Fuck it, I don't care!

''Cleit! Iguanodon! Do you see
it?! And another one over there!''

Wow.
Gwangis.

''I see them,
Lempo.''

''Are they dangerous?'', said
Emily.

''No. They're
a… vegetarians.''

''Herbivores'', said Lempo.

''Yeah, that.''

''Shit! Shit! Fuckin'
shit!''

Something's happened to
Jove.

''What is it, Jove?!''

''I tripped over a corpse, I
fuckin' touched the unholy thing!''

''Where?!''

''In the
grass! I went there to take a piss and I tripped on something, I
almost fell down and when I looked at it I saw jeans! Somebody's
legs in jeans!''

''OK, just calm down, I'm going
there to take a look.''

Shit, indeed. There's a half of
someone's body here, from waist down, jeans and red 'allstars'. And
blood. Lempo and Emily are here now, looking down at it.