Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) Page 9

  It was a thing that Zack had heard before from the being. That things from other places had forgotten that there was a gatekeeper, to prevent their plans from taking place. It had been so long before that it took a while for the memory to come back, but it was there, in the perfect clarity that was the norm of this empty, non-existent, landscape.

  They, one of them, called me the Gate.

  His large friend did something that wasn't a laugh, but that gave a sense that something was humorous anyway. A pleased thing, rather than a worried one. Zack felt nothing much about the encounter, but knew that on some level he'd felt his doom there, in those long moments.

  Big Shadow didn't seem upset at all.

  Truth! You are, in this time and space, the potential gate they seek. To allow purchase into the world of the physical. This will happen or not, soon. At that time, you will... Change, little friend. I cannot tell you into what, but it will either be what they, the Adversaries, and minions of the darkest things wish, or you will become something very different than that. That choice is now, and always will be, yours. It will not be easy for you.

  Zack was about to ask for clarification on that one, since it was a bit cryptic, but the being moved back, turned, and threw a thought to him.

  Go now. Prepare, and ready your people. All things end. Then... Nothing ends. This is not a thing to fear, simply one to face.

  The being left then, dropping away much like the other things had, only without leaving a mess behind. It happened faster than Zack could track, however. Sighing, or at least wanting to, lacking a body, he moved back home.

  It took a bit to collect everyone up, but he didn't mention what had happened in particular. So far at any rate, it seemed to be about him, and once inside the mall, going to collect his wives, Zack put things together well enough.

  As a child he'd been sold as a sex slave, tortured and abused by an arch-demon. A creature named Cruxias. That being had inhabited his own father's body, and had done awful things to him, so long ago that his mind could hardly credit it as real any longer.

  Later Zack, with the help of a demoness, Beatrice, had worked out that there was a plan in place to try and break the minds of a human child, in order to create a bridge from a place that didn't exist, into the real world. Now, thinking about it, he had to wonder if it had worked.

  Those things had said outright that he, Zack, was the Gate. They were just waiting for him to be ready. It didn't take a vast mastermind to get that he was a bit different from most people. Sure, Troy was a human that could walk the lines now, so would be creative enough, perhaps, as well as holding the right sort of power. So were Don and Chris. The thing there was that none of them were broken enough to make it happen. As far as he could tell, the only being in all of existence that fit the bill was, in the end, him.

  So, it seemed that he was going to be pushed into being that gateway somehow. The traction in the absolute nothingness that would allow true horrors into his world. Walking to the food court, he had to hide a smile.

  After all, he was old. So ancient that even the passing of thousands of years in the void weren't important to him now. Yes, in the world of men and woman he'd lived only an eye blink. That was a simple truth. The thing there was that he didn't fear not existing, and he would cease to be before he allowed himself to be used to harm others.

  So, in a way, it seemed that he'd already won.

  Even better, he had time still to get his people prepared. To set up the nation of line walkers, and get them ready to go on without him if it came to that. There were worse things that could happen to a being than simply having lived a long life. So, smiling, he went to the Chinese Food store at the food court. That was where Merry was working that day. At least she normally did, but this time she was in charge of the whole thing, her brother, Mac, not being there for some reason.

  He, it seemed, was down the way, running the Italian Food, location. The lack of imagination as to the names was a thing that Zack had understood for a long time now. Creativity was the human power. The special magic that set them apart from any other being. Others were stronger, faster, harder to hurt. Some had powers of the mind that were truly impressive. Many were even great artists, after a fashion. They held to their traditions, and did the same thing over and over, nearly perfectly. Things changed for them, but slowly. Those people were pushed from the outside to alter, which was different.

  Human beings ripped at the very fabric of reality with their imaginings. Warping and shifting the world around them greedily. Their very thoughts were, perhaps, the most dangerous tool that existed. In them was the power to dream. To make things that didn't exist at all.

  Which, was the point.

  A child broken well enough that even space and time itself couldn't bind him, if pressed in the right way, might allow a passage of sorts to come into being. Through his imagination, mixed with a mastery of space and time that no one currently held. Zack could see the basic outline of that road inside of him. Walking to the front of the glass counter, that showed off the food that was available, he stopped. Merry was helping actual people, it being the busy part of the year now.

  So he got in line, standing behind a young man who was both very hungry and who kind of wanted to have sex with Merry. His shadow went on about it, yammering about clever sexual positions, interspersed with a desire for fried rice, eggs rolls, and General Tso's Chicken. Not at the same time, thankfully.

  That would have been messy.

  Still, he was polite to Merry, not even asking if she was single, being a little bit shy like he was. After paying for the food, Merry smiled at him, her inner self having been aware of him the whole time.

  "Husband! Go, sit, I'll bring you something to eat..." She worried that her performance, and even having a job, was going to stress their relationship. Her inner glowing self worried about it constantly around him, but Zack smiled at her and shook his head.

  "Or, I don't know, I could just get a tray like everyone else? Are you working late tonight?"

  "I think so. My brother is in charge of Mae's location. She was needed by Riley, the Trickster, to go and perform a service for him. We decided it was better for her to simply do it, than to fight against what must be anyway." She looked at him, her inner being looking at him closely.

  Is it time?

  The thought carried a lot of weight with it, and information that Zack had always ignored before. She had always hinted that she had a duty to perform for him, at the right time. One ordered by her king. Something to tell him, as well. Or, at any rate, say at the right time.

  Now, given what he'd figured out, he knew what both of those things were. The duty, in the end, would be to kill him. To prevent him from faltering, and letting the darkness into reality. She might not have to do that now, thankfully. After all, she truly loved him, in her own way. If Zack could keep that from happening, then it was all to the good.

  The message, a thing she was supposed to whisper to him as he died, to the air over him, as he moved into the void itself, for the last time, was expected too.

  That he was the Gatekeeper. More exactly, she was to say 'you are the Gatekeeper', which could mean something else, but was kind of telling, given the time that had to take place, right after he died.

  Big Shadow was that being, though she didn't know to call him that in particular.

  If she, or really, Zack, failed at any point, then the world and all reality would be destroyed. If on the other hand, he succeeded, then he would live horrors that no one ever should have too. A dead woman had explained that to him once. Now he thought he understood.

  So he tilted his head.

  "I... Think we get a bit of time. I need to get everyone ready, and of course, make sure that it all goes correctly. So, spring rolls, rice, sweat and sour?" He didn't eat meat, the life of the being it once was always handing off the pain of its death to him like it did. The fear of its passing, too.

  Merry didn't even pretend not to understand, h
er eyes going wide, and then becoming worried.

  "Husband? What will we do?"

  It was a bit strange, but he had some things that were needed first. Before anything else could be done. One of them was saving Claire. As it stood, at that moment, they were tied together. In a way that meant if either of them ever died, the other would too. It wouldn't be right to take her with him, if he had to go soon.

  Then, thinking about it, if he were Big Shadow, then that might be enough. She lived, with him being off in the void now, even if he were gone for days at a time. In other realities, as well. It needed to be tested, but that might be all right. Other than that, it was all about making sure his friends were cared for and safe. As much as he could make them. No one ever got to be perfectly safe, but he could do his best for them.

  "I need to make certain that we can train more line walkers. If I have it right, then I won't be around to do that part of things. Not dead, just gone?"

  That got her to stop for a second, then start making up three large plates of food for him. He ate a lot now.

  "If you do not fail... Again. This isn't the first time this has happened, and cannot be the last. In this part of reality there is always a Hartley to either fail, or protect us all. No one can know what will be, until it happens. Mae told me that." She made a face, one that was actually angry, and shook her tiny head. She looked taller than normal, standing on a raised platform behind the counter like she was. It made her slightly over four feet tall at the moment. She had on an apron, and her hair was held up in a complicated style on top of her head. The red from it gleamed in the lights from the mall.

  "It is always different, or so the legends go. Each place has its own version of what will be. Soon though, or maybe never, there will be a coming together. Mae told me this. It is a true telling, but also a confused thing. Even to one such as her. You met a different you already, so that fits. It is why I must worry about you now." She shrugged, feeling bad, and angry that her life was going to change so soon.

  Even though it had always been going to have been that way for her.

  The food was passed over, and she didn't give him a drink, since to her way of thinking good food didn't need to be washed down like some kind of foul tasting medicine. Then, as he watched, her, she changed inside. Her inner self smiled at him, and removed what they'd spoken of from her mind very neatly, so she could go on with her work.

  It is not yet time.

  That surprised Zack, but he nodded, inside, understanding that he was being told something very special. Not that he wasn't going to have to see to protecting reality, but that he had a luxury that wasn't expected. Time.

  Smiling he took his tray, which was well loaded down, and moved to one of the glass topped tables. He ate in silence for a while, not looking up until a familiar black man sat with him. Riley, the Trickster. The man was wearing his Fun Zone shirt, and gave him a grin. He had a plate of steamed rice and some fried vegetables, which weren't things offered at the mall.

  Zack pointed at the plate, and grinned.

  "Special order? That looks more Japanese."

  That got a laugh, since Riley did that kind of thing a lot.

  "It is, at that. I need you to do something for me, if you will?" It was a question, which was odd. Normally Tricksters just assumed you weren't going to help them out. It was a bit hazy, but the idea was that they knew, innately, how to keep reality together. It was their power, and if others wouldn't help them, they tended to find ways to get it done anyway. Lying and trickery, for the most part.

  Which given what he'd just been thinking made sense.

  "Sure. Now, or can we finish eating first?" It could be that important, and if he had to miss a few meals, Zack would live.

  Riley waved at the food and used chopsticks to shovel seasoned vegetables into his mouth, chewing carefully before speaking.

  "Eat. This isn't something that pressing. I need you to deliver a letter for me? A couple of them. The trick here is that they're all in different realities. You can do that kind of thing now though, so it won't be that huge of an issue, right?" There was a tricky seeming grin, and the shadow of the man turned from a large rabbit into something very strange indeed.

  He turned into... Zack.

  Blinking Zack looked away, not knowing what that was about. He was nearly certain that he was himself, at least for the universe they were in.

  Then the Trickster explained. If the words held truth, it was impossible to know.

  "The people we need to get the letters, all of them are you. Only not. You'll see. They won't be that hard to find, for you, but you'll want to be careful. You're kind of high strung, after all. Well, you know how you are. On the good side you can send one of them back with my new girlfriend Eve."

  Zack nodded, understanding.

  "I didn't know you were dating. Fast work there."

  Riley smiled, his dark skin contrasting with his very white teeth nicely.

  "Neither does she. It will probably make date night awkward, but that isn't my problem. That other me is dealing with it, in her world. There will be more than that, but that's why the letters need to go out. In a few days?"

  Eating, he nodded.

  "Sure. I might be running out of time here, so we should get right on that." He didn't let himself sound worried about it, but Riley nodded at him, his face more serious now.

  "Yeah. One of you has to do it, and you're the old one. Ancient. You'll be much older in the end, too. You can't shuffle that duty off onto the kids. That never works out. On the good side, I hear tell that being you can be kind of interesting at times. Boring too, but that's why I'm not you." Then the man ate quickly, smiling occasionally.

  When most of the steamed rice was gone, Riley winked at him.

  "I'm almost certain you get a few weeks. Longer than that really, with all the time in the void. This isn't the end. It never is."

  He was being cagey on purpose, so Zack just looked at him, and waited. For once that actually worked for him and someone just explained what they meant.

  "Look. It's hard to tell most people this, because reality is so big and complex, but... You're all immortal. We all are. As you die in one place, you mind consolidates to another reality where you didn't die. Even better, there are trillions of versions of all of us! Millions and millions of lines. Places that have you and I, exactly like we are here, or close enough no one would be able to tell any different. Each of those will end up with just one of us at the end." He took another bite of his strange food and locked eyes with Zack.

  Then he went on, after he wiped his mouth, politely.

  "So there are infinite worlds, and unlimited things will happen, but in the end they all distill down into main lines. You, your consciousness, will be in one of them, alive and well, and I'll be there too, with you. Even if I see you die here, now or later, in the end there is only the line of people that never died. You won't know the difference really. It's a neat effect that way. To you, in the end you'll have always been alive. Even if it means dying nearly an infinite amount of times to get there."

  Zack had to focus to follow the words, and stopped eating, so he could do it.

  "I see? So really, in the end, each reality ends up being a person? A being?"

  "Right! Two, really. One of them will be on the side here, the good one, and the other will be in the darkness. Tortured and punished for all eternity. See, that part is what we have to try and prevent. It all hinges on you, for everyone. Either you open that gate, or you don't. The thing there is that there are a lot of you, and people that are nearly you. Your part in the whole thing is to lock out the bad things. If you ever fail, then in the end, everyone suffers. It's a coin toss that way. So no pressure."

  Then the man wrinkled his nose.

  "Confused yet? I've lived this my entire life and barely get it. The real point is that you have to win, or I suffer forever. So, if you need my help doing that, I'm in. I'll have those letters for you? Call it tomorrow, though
you won't have to leave for a while. Just whenever you get time."

  Then the man stood, cleaned up the space where he'd dropped a few bits of rice, and left. He just walked away, but Zack couldn't track him after a moment. How that was done he couldn't figure out at all.

  For a moment he wondered if Riley had told him all he just had to trick him somehow, that being how the man normally worked his magic. It really could have been that, but after a moment, thinking about what he probably had to do, he got that it didn't really matter. Either he was going to do the right thing, or not, and even if it was hard, that path, the good one, was the road he wanted.

  That the end stakes of everything were being left on his shoulders was less than fun, but it probably had to go somewhere. So for his reality, he was needed to do his part, or so it seemed.

  His head hurt a bit from trying to keep it all in place. Every unique being was immortal. He thought that one made sense. When they died they would simply skip to a reality where they hadn't, to their own perspective. That was a theory that had come up before. He didn't know if it was true, but it might be. Even some scientists thought so. Fringe ones that the others scoffed at and mocked, but they did exist.

  So he was one being, and the other Zack Hartley, the greater demon, he was one, too. Separate and different enough that their lines would never meet up, even if they were kind of the same person for their own worlds. The same would be true for Lyn and Kate then, too. They were identical, but also so different that they were separate that way.

  As the options collapsed for each person, they would all keep going on, surviving until only they lived in their own reality. That sounded lonely to him, but it would be a ways off, so he decided not to worry too much about it. Not until he was about to be the last thing in his own reality.

  Then, at any time before that the dark beings could invade, and taint that end point. So there was a bad option at the end too, not just whatever would happen if they did nothing.