Crystal Core Read online

  “I’m Tarsus. Kind’s brother.”

  They didn’t look much alike but that was fine. All of them could change shape after all.

  “Oh! You should all consider getting with Eve on her show idea, shouldn’t you? You can all change shape, which is a useful skill for work like that, I’d have to think. That sounds like fun, as well as good public relations.” He meant it as an offhand remark, possibly a weak joke but it actually started a real conversation.

  One that kept going until the fireworks started to make the sky glow over the large river in front of them. Willum made the roof of the structure vanish, so as to not obstruct the view of people behind them.

  No one seemed to mind.

  The sky based display was glorious, he had to admit.

  Very much so.

  Chapter nine

  After the celebration was over, about thirty thousand or more people started to walk away from where they’d been sitting all day. It caused a congested and tight feeling to spread over the world, even though there were lights on poles that allowed everyone to see where they were going. More than that, there were tall buildings in the distance that also spread light from them. Like grand palaces, or gems that sparkled with a white shimmering.

  For his part, Willum just worked to clean up the mess they’d made, and then took the magic down, getting things arranged in his little grass bag again. Everyone helped with the work on that. When it was over, and they stood on the flattened grass, with most of the people that had been there being gone, several individuals moved over to him.

  For hugs.

  That included the new folks that he had names for, but didn’t really know.

  One of them, Keeley, stood there for about ten seconds after letting him go, finally speaking. Her voice was mellow, but held a sense of being very young, for some reason. Even if she did look older than he was by a few years.

  “Thanks for having us all in. This… Changing from what I was, it isn’t as easy as you’d think. Especially on the public side of things. People know what we are now, too. It’s making some problems that I didn’t really expect. Even people that knew before… Well, the veil over their minds kind of meant they didn’t really understand. Now they do. I’m losing friends left and right. People that I kind of figured would be with me for life. Even my mom… Anyway, this helped. Thanks.”

  The words got her hugged back. Just lightly. After all, he wasn’t trying to get a date with her. She was too obviously Taman, his aunt.

  The thought got her to roll her eyes. It was playful though, from the feeling she was allowing to flow from her.

  “Oh, sure, when it’s Aunt Taman it’s creepy, but when it comes to your Uncle Tim, it’s take the blonde to pound town time. I see how you are… Besides, you know that I’m a shape shifter, right?”

  That got him to shrug.

  “A real point. I need to learn to do that, sometime. Anyway, you also told me that you have a partner here. That tends to be exclusive, doesn’t it?”

  “Not for Greater Demons. What that means now… Well, probably. That still doesn’t mean I can’t flirt with the cute foreign boy, does it?”

  Her girlfriend, Hally York, moved in next to her, taking her hand gently.

  “Only if you share. Thank you for having us, Will.”

  He bowed a bit then, looking directly into her eyes. Those were light colored, being blue, he thought. Unlike Bridget’s near red. Then, this version of her was, in the end, both part of his friend and totally different. It was hard to keep that in mind, but a real enough thing that it was needed.

  “Thank all of you, for allowing me to be here, as well. I guess I should get back home now?”

  There was actually more to say, and Troy set up a bridge, which was a very interesting connection in space. It linked them to Westfield, but right by a node point, which a lot of them could use to get where they needed to be. Not all of them bothered with that, taking off from where they stood. Ripping holes in space that left bends and ripples after they left. They would, he assumed, eventually repair themselves. There seemed to be a slow closing at least.

  The people doing that were mainly ex-Greater Demons. He could have done something similar, over the course of half an hour or so, but opted to use Troy’s new trick, since it was handy for him. Very easy to use, since all that was needed was to step through the large circle in the air, that showed a nice marble floored room on the other side.

  The walls there were tiled with carved and polished wood. The designs were simple and could have been done slightly better, but most of that was in the finishing work. To fix it now would require taking the panels down, stripping them bare and removing some rough patches. Honestly, it looked fine.

  There was a flurry of activity, as several of the people that had been at the party with them left, being carried through the void by Zack. When he came back, he had a small man with him. The fellow was bald, and had large ears. Also, an affable smile on his face.

  The fellow bowed, before speaking.

  “Hello, Messenger. I am Bey, of the Vampire Council? We were told that you had information for us and perhaps that we might be allowed to have an ear in the room? If that is at issue, I can, of course, leave directly.” He seemed to mean it, as if there was a real reason for him not to be there.

  “I’d be pleased if you’d stay. Let me…” There were six people standing there.

  All of them line walkers, except for the vampires. That left Edom and Bey stuck, if they all wanted to go and camp in the void for fun. At least if they didn’t want to learn how to do that kind of thing for themselves first. Not everyone could pull it off, so he didn’t mention it at the moment.

  What he did was go over everything he knew, including the contradictory parts of it. There were several things he’d been told that couldn’t exist at the same time. Not in the same universe, anyway. When he got to that point, Zack stood up.

  “Okay. I understand that one. Most of those people probably weren’t even lying to you. Not any more than people normally do, at least. My guess is that they really just don’t know any more than we do, for certain. People tend to confuse what they think must be, with what actually is. They aren’t the same thing at all.”

  The words, finally, spelled out what he’d been feeling for days.

  “That!” He yelled the word, getting most of the people to look at him like he was insane. Zack simply nodded, gently. “That’s what’s been ripping around the back of my skull. I haven’t been able to make real sense of things for… A long time now. Knowing why is a lot better.”

  He started to laugh, but stopped before anyone sent him off to a special spa in order to relax. That was what happened to crazy people in Noram, if they couldn’t be controlled at home. It was a topic that he didn’t really know much about, but feared, from his personal experience that such places tended to be more like prisons than a place to truly let go of worries.

  Proving she was smarter than most would bother to credit her with, Eve moved in and slapped him on the arm.

  “Which doesn’t really get you the answers you need. That we all need, does it? How should we get that done?” She glanced at Kaitlyn, the Alede line walker.

  If she had an idea, it was locked inside of her pretty well.

  Still, Troy and Zack both spoke at the same time.

  “Simple.” The word came out at once, as if it were a planned thing. Everyone smiled at it.

  Rather than argue about who was going to go first, the former demon waved at his friend.

  Troy looked at the air, almost like Cin did when she was reading about the life of someone not in the room with her. The eye movements were a bit more chaotic seeming, but after a few seconds, the man winked at him. It was a small thing. One that almost went without being noticed.

  “Write a letter? To the being or person that has the answers. Then go and ask them. It’s been part of your plan, all along.”

  The slightly Vagish looking owner of the operation t
hey were standing in, Zack, moved back to a small office space and sat at his desk. It was plain, but seemed sturdy enough. Made of wood. It looked like polished oak. That reminded him that he should make one like that, or a bit nicer, for Marcia Turner, of the IPB. The desk she had was fine, but not as grand as her station by even half.

  There was writing for about a minute, then the paper was folded, very evenly, in thirds. After that, it was stuck in an envelope and addressed.

  The man hopped up from the desk, smoothly, and with a good bit of energy, handing the letter off to him.

  “We can trade for the delivery?”

  Everyone else seemed to think that was fine enough. Which was wrong.

  “I don’t think we have to? We’re friends and your rules have changed, right? So, we can go by the ones from home. Besides, this is for all of us, if it goes well. Also, it should be safe enough for me. I mean, it turns out that I can’t die, for some reason. Something about being the core of a giant creature that spans many worlds?” The idea struck him then.

  A picture formed in his mind that was, in the end, a bit different than he would have considered before that moment. It was of a crystal that seemed solid, but was in millions or more places at one time. In the center of the thing was a dark smudge. With a single fleck of light inside of that part. Him. Very near the center of the whole thing. Not perfectly, but that didn’t matter.

  He was still the crystal core that held the whole thing together. If he were removed, then the whole being would fall apart, except that, as it turned out, he probably couldn’t be taken away from his spot there. Not really.

  Coming back to himself, he felt something on his shoulder. A hand, as it turned out when he looked down. A pale one that looked soft, at least. Eve was holding him there.

  “Hey, don’t get cocky. After all, you can be trapped forever still. That’s nearly as horrible as dying. Worse really. Which is kind of the point of the bad guys in this, isn’t it?”

  There were a few soft nods, as people considered things. Kaitlyn moved over to him and gave him a kiss. It felt formal.

  “Normally I’d say, don’t die, about now. Instead… Well, try to come back to us?”

  “Got it. Let me just…” Really, he had no clue what to say. Part of him wanted to make a grand speech, but the words didn’t come. Fighting for them would simply leave him looking stilted and foolish, so he stepped into the node, which was only three large steps away.

  Then he focused on the idea of the letter in his hand. The line left by Zack was, naturally, strong and very clear. More so than any message he’d ever taken before. It led off to a place that felt very far away, really. Almost to the very edge of where he could go.

  It took a while for him to work that out, and longer to open the space up properly. So long that he kind of thought it was in the thousands of years, instead of the few minutes he normally took to do things like that now. When space warped enough to allow him to pass, he moved. Gently inserting himself in a place that his mind refused to comprehend at first.

  There was no air, for one thing. Before he could trigger his shield and sacrifice some of his magical amulets as mass to make that kind of thing, walls formed all around him. They were a translucent and nearly glowing black. If anything, there was a light-yellow tinge to the whole thing, but looking through the walls, he could tell that there was an endless plain around him. Made up of the same material. Whatever it was.

  Before he could start passing out from lack of oxygen, or even truly become concerned that way, a loud hissing started. It came from all sides, and pressed in on him, moments later. Taking a breath, it smelled and tasted like air. The kind he was used to. Even being slightly pine scented. Like he’d grown up with.

  “Well, that’s nice of you, whoever you are. I do like breathing. One of my favorite things, to be truthful.” The words weren’t loud, but got a response.

  After a fashion.

  From the floor of the room, in the same color of translucent black, a bulge started to move upward from the floor. Slowly, taking it’s time. Then, when it got to be about six feet high, matching him, more or less that way, a form appeared out of it. It was attached at the floor, but the face was clearly his. The color didn’t alter at all.

  The mouth didn’t move as it spoke, either. He could hear it, but other than waving side to side, slowly, the thing didn’t move.

  “It’s not a problem. You’re Willum. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. That or you dying, removing me from existence. Either one would have worked.”

  The sound was a little strange, being layers of voices, instead of just one. The being kept moving slightly, from side to side, as Will examined it. Not too closely, since being rude wasn’t going to help anything.

  “Oh? So, you’re the leader of the evil people trying to destroy all reality? For some reason I figured that this would… I don’t know, be me facing off with an old man version of myself. This… You seem a bit different than that. It’s what I get for making assumptions, isn’t it?” His voice was remarkably calm, as he spoke. Eve’s words about being trapped suddenly made a lot more sense.

  Everything around him felt to be made of the same material. The being in front of him, from the feeling, was also all around him. Under him, all the way down, as well. Worse, he wasn’t on a space ship or anything. No, from the sense he was getting, it was a planet. Earth. At least it probably had been, once.

  That didn’t seem true, any longer. Now it was all just him. The version in front of him.

  The face of the thing moved then, blinking. Willum tried to focus on it specifically, but that didn’t tell him anything at all. It was like he was all alone. There was air around him, and a mass of something, but not a human being at all. The sense of being was incredibly strong though.

  The creature answered, after less time than was really normal, when talking to someone.

  “Evil? Not really. That can’t exist here. Not for me. I suppose you could pull that off still. You sort of need others around you for that to be valid. I’ve not had close contact with another living being in a very long time. Longer than I can explain, I fear. I see what happens in other, far off realities and can influence things a tiny bit, at times, but no more than that. Still, you are correct in part. It was my plan, to destroy everything. That… Hasn’t worked well. I don’t know that it can at all.”

  Willum stood his ground. It would have been nice to sit, feeling overwhelmed by the being there but that wasn’t an option, at the moment.

  “That’s what I keep coming to as well. I don’t know enough about how it all works to say. I don’t think. Oh, I have a message for you? It’s from Zack.” Which couldn’t really mean anything to the strange being. It was very nearly impossible to hold what it was in mind, even as they spoke.

  Like he was in a dream.

  Still, he had a job to do there, afraid or not, so held the letter out. For all he knew what was inside would get him killed. That or trapped forever. A slick looking tendril moved from the other being, grasping the paper carefully. Then, producing smaller tendrils, to act as fingers, while looking a bit more like the tail of a squid the thing opened it. If it read, Willum wasn’t able to discern.

  There was a low laugh after that. A rumble that came from the entire world around him. It was like thunder, but the sense of it spoke of mirth, for all it wrenched at the innermost part of his being.

  “It is simply a request that I tell you the truth, as best I know it. I shall do that. I would have anyway. There is no reason not to. I do try not to lie to myself. What would you like to know, Willum Baker of Noram? I have watched you and your people, as well as all the worlds that you have gone to or dreamed of, for far longer than I can begin to count in years. Ask, and I shall tell you what I can.”

  Naturally, Will felt his mind go blank. It was hardly fair, so he grinned.

  Then he scrambled for something good, in case he had limited time or the being was going to become bored with him soon
. Anything could happen.

  “Do we all really become a single being, at the end of time, floating alone in the void of space? Or is that wrong?”

  The one tendril arm that existed, on the right, gestured. A sweeping thing, carrying the letter with it. Getting Willum to look through the walls of where he was.

  “I make up about one third of this entire reality. The living beings that once existed here are long dead. As time passes, my form consumes mass and energy. I have tried to end that, to allow myself to sink into the heat death of my universe, but it is to no avail. Yes, to answer you. All that keeps me sane is my viewing of other parts of the whole. One day, in billions of years, even that will be gone. Then I will be floating here, existing and without anything at all, except my memories.”

  The words seemed to be genuine enough. Instead of claiming he understood how the being could be growing if it didn’t want to, he nodded and accepted that part. There was simply no reason to lie about it.

  “Won’t you be able to connect with the others like you, once that happens? Not perfect, but it should be something at least.”

  There was a soft sound, like a roar then. Only one from miles away. It came from all around them.

  “Perhaps. There exist some like myself, or what I will become. Already at the end, due to the passage of time in their universes. This form, me, is made of nanomachines. In other realities, it is different. Some are of biological material. Others start as pure energy. In others there are things that would make no sense to you. Each thing that can be, exists. In all of its forms. Until the end. There is a point where each being becomes only one. Then all of them I have seen have gone mad. Utterly and without comfort or peace. Connecting with such a thing is very distressing. On this, I can say little more. Or rather, I could, but I do not have a better answer for you. Near endless data, if you’re interested? I do not think it will aid you, at this time.”

  That was tempting, but not enough to stay there with the being forever. The place was a bit boring to look at, if nothing else.