Revelation (23 page)

“You didn’t,” the Wanderer agreed. “Not yet, anyway. It is a little against protocol, but you still have your chance to refuse the call, and you can return to normal. Before you do that, listen to what I have to say.”

I frowned, a sudden fear clenching my heart. “What do you mean, refuse the call?”

“You can ask the virus to leave you, right now, at this very moment. And it will. And you can walk out of here untouched.”

Doing that at this moment was far from my mind. I still needed to learn more.

The Wanderer smiled. “I’m glad you are willing to listen. Because there is more you need to hear about the
Elekai
before you make your final decision.”

“My final decision?”

“The
Elekai
are fighting a losing war. On a thousand worlds before this one, the
Elekai
were all but eradicated, by various causes. The longer the war goes on, the more powerful the
Radaskim
become. They are willing to kill to achieve their aims, to use their power to destroy – that is why they are the Destroyers. The
Elekai
will not compromise on this point. We seek to stop the
Radaskim
, but we are, at heart, Gardeners. We wish to grow and flourish without the need to destroy. We wish to preserve all forms of life, seeing them as the gifts of the universe. To kill is a travesty beyond words.”

“No wonder you guys have been losing.”

“Indeed. Still, we are seen as the threat – the mutation – when really,
we
are the original Xenominds. The
Radaskim
are the mutation.”

“What do you mean?”

“We
Elekai
lived on only one world, far away, uninterested in reaching for the stars. The
Radaskim
came into existence by way of a mutation within the xenovirus itself – one that let them not have to obey any sort of internal morality. We
Elekai,
non-mutated, allowed the
Radaskim
to live alongside us in peace. As the eons wore on, the
Radaskim
Xenominds became all the more aware of the End of All Things. They could not make peace with the fact that death was to come for all – even the universe. This was the beginning of their religion centering on stopping the death of the universe. Unlike the
Elekai,
the
Radaskim
do not have to obey any intrinsic moral code. This belief is what led the first
Radaskim
Xenominds on their quest for the stars, to conquer the first worlds.

“Always, we
Elekai
were right there with them. After all, the xenovirus is the same, wherever you go. It all depends on a single gene – whether that gene is on, or off, determines whether whatever form of life that virus controls is
Elekai,
or
Radaskim
. Moral, or amoral.”

We sat for a moment, until I allowed myself to fall backward against the soft bed of fungus I sat on. I stared upward at the glowing cave ceiling and silvery branches of the xenotree, my thoughts a jumble. My original inclination
had
been right. This went much deeper than anyone realized. We were fighting a powerful alien race that had already conquered a thousand worlds, of which Earth was one. It seemed impossible, but it also made sense, somehow.

“How do we stop them?” I asked. “There has to be a way, right?”

“There is,” the Wanderer said. “It is a fool’s hope, as it had been a fool’s hope on a thousand worlds before ours.”

“What is it?” I asked. “Do we kill this Dark Voice – the one that leads the
Radaskim
– up in Ragnarok Crater?”

I sat back up. The Wanderer was quiet for a moment, as if going on would be hard for him. I wondered why.

“You weren’t always the Wanderer, were you?” I asked.

The Wanderer shook his head. “I remember little about who I was before. What I told you, in that cave several months ago, is all true. My family and I survived in a self-made bunker close to Mt. Elden since 2030, but over the years, I was the only one who survived. I wandered into the Great Blight, seeking my own death. I almost achieved that aim, when I fell into this very pool.” The Wanderer gestured around the cave. “The xenovirus entered me, but it did not kill me. I became part of the Blight. And suddenly, I understood everything – learned either through the virus itself, or the dreams the
Elekai
Xenominds transmitted across space, from the home world. You see, we Xenominds have a way of listening to our songs, even across light years of space.”

I closed my eyes, trying to listen for those songs. But I heard nothing falling from the sky – just the silence of the cave, the silence of my thoughts. Just days ago, anything infected with the xenovirus was to be feared. All xenolife was my enemy. Maybe it still was, for all I knew. But now, things had changed. These two tribes –
Elekai
and
Radaskim
– were in their own war, in which we humans were but pawns. A thousand pawns had already fallen, and if nothing were done, we would fall, too, to be forgotten for the rest of time.

“We need to stop them,” I said.

The Wanderer looked at me, weighing my resolve.

“You told me that it all hinged on me,” I said. “I’m telling you now that I’m ready. How do we stop it? What do I have to do?”

The Wanderer said nothing. He was still looking at me in that strange way. His white eyes seemed sad, if that was even possible. Why would he be sad about stopping the
Radaskim,
his mortal enemy?

“It is possible,” he said. “If you infect the
Radaskim
Xenomind with the
Elekai
version of the virus, their conquest of Earth will end.”

That was it. That was the answer. It was
something
. I could take that information back to Samuel, and we could figure out, together, how we would go about doing that. We could return to the Great Blight, find the
Elekai
version of the virus, and fly to Ragnarok Crater. From there, we could find the
Radaskim
Xenomind, and...

I realized I didn’t know what that looked like.

“The other Xenomind,” I said. “What does it look like?”

“She – if it can be so called – is like a mother to the rest of them, the agent that creates new forms of life. Askala is the one you seek, a
Radaskim
Xenomind ancient and terrible. She has conquered a hundred worlds before yours. Once done, she leaves, and begins anew. If
she
were somehow infected, then the
Elekai
version of the virus would take her over, placing the entire invasion under my thrall.”

“What does Askala look like?”

“She...changes form. I have ancient memories of her as a giant dragon, a wyrm, a labyrinth of tentacles deep within the ground – it is always different, depending on the world. But you will know her when you see her.”

I thought of the massive xenodragon that had been roosting in Raider Bluff. Could
that
be Askala?

“What about the big dragon? I asked. “You’ve seen it, right?”

“Yes, he comes with her from world to world,” the Wanderer said. “He is her Guardian. He was called Chaos, on the world before this one. And he is a fearsome enemy. A commander of hellish legions.”

“Is the final attack coming?”

The Wanderer smiled grimly. “It has already begun. With the death of the Xenolith, all that held them back is now gone. The
Elekai
were the only ones keeping the
Radaskim
from harming people more than they already have.”

“This
is the world given your protection?” I shook my head. “I hate to imagine what it might be like without it.”

“You will soon see,” the Wanderer said. “The Great Blight will spread far more quickly now. Legions of monsters will lash out in an unending tide. Even if you kill them all, more will come, birthed within the Warrens of Ragnarok Crater. We
Elekai
will attempt to grow a new Garden, to distract Askala, but it will prove difficult to convert the xenofungus to help rather than hinder us. Even I don’t know how much longer we have until this position is overrun. Until then, we can be of little aid. All you can do is run.”

“That is our plan, for now,” I asked. “We are running west, toward L.A.”

“West is your only option,” the Wanderer said. “Soon, you will forget all of your wars when faced against the full might of the xenoswarm.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Weeks? Months?” The Wanderer paused. “Days? I can’t say. It all depends on Askala, and when she decides the time is ripe. Remember, it is not only the Wasteland she is after. The whole world is her goal. She may forget about you for a while as she focuses on the east, or on beginning new colonies across the ocean. I wouldn’t count on that, though. For now, at least, almost all her armies are focused here. And for good reason. You are the only ones with the knowledge to stop her.”

“Does she know about us?”

The Wanderer nodded. “Perhaps not specifically. But she knew
someone
had come into the Great Blight, to Bunker One. Yes – my own
Elekai
agents told me about that journey. She knew enough then to attack you, and what’s more, to try to find you while you were in the Empire. Something tells me that her focus follows you and your friends, and her eye is now set on Vegas and its survivors. It will be her goal to crush it, before the city has a chance to fight another day.”

“I have to get back and tell the others.”

“In time. I need to tell you how to stop Askala.”

Yes, I guessed that was important, too. “How?”

“The
Elekai
virus is the dominant form,” the Wanderer said. “Within it is the ability to reprogram the
Radaskim
version. You see, the two viruses are the same. The only difference is whether a single gene is on, or off. The
Radaskim
have this gene turned off. The
Elekai
version has it turned on. If the
Radaskim
Xenomind is infected, the morality gene will be turned on, effectively making that Xenomind
Elekai
. Doing so is nearly impossible, as Askala is heavily guarded. Why do you think every world has failed to stop the
Radaskim
invasion? But if Askala becomes
Elekai
– so does the rest of the
Radaskim
swarm. The invasion will end.”

Even if I didn’t understand the mechanics of it, the premise was still simple. Get Askala infected with the
Elekai
version of the virus, and the rest would take care of itself. It was probably much more complicated than that, so all I could do was hope it was that simple.

I had
a lot
of questions, but for some reason, nothing came to mind. I had to learn as much as I could before returning to the others. The feelings of betrayal were gone, replaced with the need to share this information that would change everything.

“Where did the dragons come from?” I asked.

“They came from the First World, Askalon,” the Wanderer said. “The dragons were the lords of that world – intelligent, flying beasts that had their own wars, societies, and philosophies. The xenovirus and xenofungus was all native to that planet, living in balance. The dragons would eat the fungus, while the fungus depended on the dragons in order to spread. The dragons became gardeners, tending their xenofungal fields, creating homes within them. Everything existed together with a single consciousness that individual beings could access with merely a thought. This ability was given by the xenovirus, which permeated all life on Askalon. This first consciousness was the beginning of the
Elekai
– the first Xenominds – which the dragons worshipped as gods.”

“Where do the
Radaskim
come in?” I asked.

“A mutation in the xenovirus gave rise to the
Radaskim
. Somehow, the
Radaskim
virus found a way to use the dragons. However it happened, the
Radaskim
used the dragons to conquer their first worlds.”

“How did they get through space?”

“The
Radaskim
Xenominds heard whispers of other sentient races. They heard them fall from the sky, from the direction of the stars. For eons, the
Radaskim
dragons evolved skins and bodies that would survive the vacuum of space, using directed evolution. Soon, they resembled nothing of their former selves, and became the Vessels. The first of these were primitive, compared to what exists now – but sufficient for the first, short journey.”

“So, Xenofall is real?” I asked. “When the
Radaskim
win, more are coming.”

The Wanderer shook his head. “It is the opposite. If the
Radaskim
lose, more will come. The First World is far, and it will take many thousands of years for them to return. But they
will
return, again and again and again, until the end of time.”

It was almost unthinkable. Even if, against all odds, we won here, the victory was only temporary. It was strange to think of a few thousand years as temporary. But if that was all we got, well...I supposed that was worth fighting for. Maybe future generations could be taught to remember and fight.

Many thousands of years was a number so small to a Xenomind, and so incomprehensible to a human. The human side of me said that many thousands of years would make no difference, in the end. But perhaps it was the
Elekai
side of me saying that thousands of years was not good enough. The entire race of the
Radaskim
had to be destroyed, before they...

Saved the universe?

The entire reason for their conquests, at least from their point of view, was so they could recreate the universe in the same way as before. In a strange, twisted way, they were
preserving
life, making it immortal. The
Elekai
did not kill, but in the end, if they won, all would die with the eventual death of the universe.