Dahl and Eve stopped at the edge of the gentle surf, peering out at the distant island jutting over the horizon. It would have been picturesque if everything in the system wasn't trying to kill them. As it was, most of her team was dead.
Dahl waded into the cool surf, holding her boots in one hand as the briny water washed over her aching feet. She closed her eyes and did something wholly out of character. She prayed. On M6-117, there was precious little time for relaxation and none for prayer. But there she stood, broken and humbled and feeling utterly helpless. A single tear trickled down her cheek and she wiped it away with the back of a dirty hand.
Eve stood behind her, watching clouds drift across a pale blue sky that was not sky at all. But rather, an engineered illusion of epic size and scope. Who had made it remained a mystery. Like the myriad of other invaders that had descended on the desolate moon, Eve had her orders. Orders she now knew were just reasons to get her there. But why hadn't Lilith told her the full plan? Then a queer and unsettling thought whispered in her ear. It's because Lilith didn't know what would happen. In the place, Lilith was blind to future events. All time walkers were. And now, the longer Eve remained, the more she questioned who she could trust. If she had ever trusted them? Had they used her? Were they using her right now? The questions further clouded her already murky purpose for coming.
Days earlier, Lilith had vanished in a gust of flapping wings and then Moss had fallen to his death while searching for Lilith. And to make things worse, Eve felt as if those deaths were her fault. Her new body had failed to heal properly, leaving her as helpless as the others.
Dahl let out a long sigh, struggling to fight back tears of both mental and physical exhaustion. She wanted this long nightmare to be over. But most of all, she wanted her teammates back. But that was a child's fantasy. A side effect of grief and guilt, and the closer she came to the cursed island in the distance, the more it became clear. Her first mission would be her last.
After Moss fell from the cliff ledge, the journey back up to the entrance took a whole day. They had stopped halfway up to rest and woke up 12 hours later, buried beneath a mountain of inescapable guilt. The trip down the alternate path took nine hours. Neither woman discussed the earlier events, and by the time the jungle opened onto a pearl-white beach, they were exhausted. After a brief respite on the edge of the jungle, they made their way to the cliff base, searching for Moss and Lilith's bodies. They deserved a proper burial, but neither found any signs of their fallen comrades. They had vanished.
Dahl stretched her arms wide, welcoming the cool breeze and absorbing the light emanating from the miles high dome above. Guilt trickled from the corners of her eyes. "What are we doing?" she asked, no one in particular. "We shouldn't be here."
"This is exactly where we should be," Eve replied, sinking her bare feet into the sand as the smell of sea water mixed with decaying seaweed.
"Something's going to happen," Dahl said to herself. "I can feel it."
"Yes," Eve replied, staring at her hand in mid-transition. "He said he did this to me, so I'd never feel fear again. But he was wrong. I'm always scared. Scared of losing control. Scared of what I might do. But mostly, of what happens if I enjoy being the monster? If I covet the power."
Dahl looked from Eve's bare feet to her deformed hand. "I don't understand how your transformations work. First you're one thing, then you're..."
"Monstrous," Eve finished.
"You're no monster, Eve."
"That's nice to say," Eve said, smiling at her with a mouth full of jagged teeth. "But these suggest otherwise."
"The things you become are tools. Nothing more; nothing less," Dahl said.
"They're weapons," Eve countered.
Dahl nodded in agreement. "Fine. They're weapons. But no weapon has ever killed without its welder making a choice to do so."
"And that's my biggest fear. I have a hard time separating myself from it."
"There is no it. There's only you. Blaming your skin for doing evil, when it's the mind inside your head that's in charge, is ridiculous."
"I came from a rich family. Or so I thought. Even that was a lie. I thought the idea of an education did not apply to me. That I would live a life of privilege. I was a spoiled kid."
Dahl laughed and said, "My parents raised my sister and I to think a great education meant the difference between a life struggling at the bottom and a life at the top."
"So, you're some kind of genius?"
"Hardly," Dahl admitted and laughed. "I'm a pain in the ass. The difference is, we didn't have enough money for a great education. So, I excelled in other areas."
"Like what?"
"Fighting trash talking and getting under people's skin," she said with a smile. "It's a side effect of growing up in a family of mercs." Dahl pointed to Eve's feet. During their conversation, Eve had put her boots on without Dahl noticing. "So, what's up with quick change?"
Eve's boots melted away, becoming bare feet and then transformed back into boots. "It's a perk of being… whatever they made me. I am composed of living machines. The clothes I wear, not clothes at all. They are a biomechanical layer of skin."
"You don't seem happy about it."
"Wasn't a choice."
The thick scent wafting on the breeze reminded Dahl of the far-off sandy beaches on Sol Lucia. She stared up through hundreds of kilometers of solid bedrock, across a million empty light years of space, and saw her friends sitting on a beach back home. Laughing and joking and having a great time. She couldn't tell if it was a memory, a hallucination, or a dream. But it soothed her aching heart the way the water soothed her ankle.
Gliding birds in the distance called out, and Dahl wished she could fly away with them. Oblivious to the approaching danger. "We should have never gone down that trail," she said, eyes glistening. "He'd still be alive if I hadn't insisted on taking that trail." Dahl turned in the direction they had emerged from the dense jungle. The high cliff loomed above it. "It's my fault he's dead. If I hadn't yanked that damn hatch open, maybe the raptors wouldn't have known we were here? Maybe we could have gone in through the front of the ship, taken what we came for and just gone home? Why didn't we just go home?"
"It's not your fault, Dahl. None of it. And going home without completing your mission was never an option. You know that." Eve touched her shoulder. "It's Lilith's fault. She knew you'd follow through no matter what the cost. She used her knowledge of you to coerce you. It's her fault. Not ours. If you need to blame someone. Blame Lilith."
"Moss didn't."
"And you see what his loyalty cost him." Eve jabbed an angry finger towards the bodies lying somewhere out in the jungle. "He wasn't paying attention. The idea Lilith's death was his fault consumed him. But you know what that feels like." Eve said, turning to Dahl. "Moss could have refused. Could have gone another way. He was the one pushing to get down. He knew your ankle was bad. My leg wasn't healing. And still, he raced ahead." Eve kicked sand into the surf. "And Lilith could have prevented all of this by telling us what's going on. By telling us where we were going. What we were doing. Why we're fucking here? But no. She couldn't do that. She sent us into the middle of this shit-storm blind. So, stop blaming yourself, because we're almost out of time and now we're on our own. If we're going to survive this, we can't focus on shoulda/coulda. We need to stay focused on having each other's backs."
"Every time I think we're going to get through this. Our plans go to shit. "
"Fraid so," Eve agreed, staring at the Island. "I thought I knew the plan. But now. After everything that's happened. I think Lilith may not have trusted me. Trusted any of us. And now she's gone, and no one knows what's coming next."
"Should we try looking again?" Dahl asked, turning back to the dense jungle.
"Waist of time." Eve replied, turning to Dahl with a look of empathy. "The undergrowth is too thick. We could stand on their corpses and not even know they were beneath our feet."
"Corpses," Dahl replied. "What corpses? It's like they vanished. We should have found some signs of them by now. But there's nothing in there."
Eve watched Dahl stare up at the cliff, heart heavy. She could have said no to the deadly trip down. Why hadn't she? She knew the steep trail wasn't safe. But she remained silent. How many times had she wanted to speak out and how many times had the little voice in her head prevented her from doing so? Then the truth struck her. Lilith had placed a block in her mind. She had known this would happen. And wanted to make certain it did. But why?
"Have you ever wondered?"
"What?"
"We didn't find their bodies," Dahl said.
"Don't do that to yourself. They're gone," Eve said, sounding doubtful. She wouldn't tell Dahl she had suspected this may be part of Lilith's plan. How could she? Nothing happening made sense. "We have to move. There's no telling what's down here. And this place doesn't want us here."
"Where do we go? Back to the surface?"
Eve turned to the cliff and stared up in silence. Time passed as each woman listened to their own thoughts. "No." Eve answered, gesturing towards the island. "The only way is-"
"Please," Dahl blurted, cutting her off. "Don't say it."
Eve shrugged. "He's over there."
"Who?"
"The Purifier."
"Why didn't you tell me we were here to meet someone?" Eve shrugged and smiled, and Dahl scowled at her. "Can I trust anything either of you has told me?"
"We are not here to meet him. We're here to stop him."
"And why couldn't you tell me that?"
White sands spread along endless beaches, trailing over the Eastern and Western horizons. Dahl stared at the shrinking beaches, mesmerized by the massive thousand foot tall palm trees holding back a billion year old jungle. They lined the edge of the beach for as far as the eye could see. An ancient row of gigantic timbers with thirty-foot diameter trunks held down by countless thick roots, each the size of a compact car. The palm fronds sagging at their tops hung down 75 feet. They were tropical redwoods in a world never intended for human eyes.
Dahl closed her eyes, breathed in the salty sea air, and remembered hot summers spent sitting beside a faraway ocean. A safe and peaceful ocean. The sound of endless waves licking gritty sand filled her ears, and drew her back to those earlier days. Days spent with high school friends. Days without a care in the world. A smile crossed her face as those easier times wafted through her mind's eye like ghosts dancing across a silver screen. God, how she wanted to be home, listening to Moss and Lockspur tease each other and her.
The picturesque view in front of Dahl drew out a longing for the rickety old beach chair she had found washed up on a Sol Lucia beach. She'd knocked off the encrusted sand, taped up its broken leg and kept it in her closet, waiting for further adventures. The beach back home was a refuge where she felt safe. But there was no safety here. That far-off beach had been the only place where Dahl could go to forget what had happened to her. What they had tried to do to her sister and what she had done to them in return. She thought about how the tiny chair was there, in her closet, waiting for her to take it to the beach. How her friends had always laughed and teased her when she sat in it around the late night bonfires. It leaned to one side. One sad leg forever shorter than the others. But Dahl didn't care. She imagined her friends were laughing at her now.
Eve sighed and breathed in the momentary calm. "What I wouldn't give for one of those ice-cold drinks? The one's some ridiculously tanned cabana boy delivers on a tiny tray." She turned to Dahl with a smile. "You know, the kind with a silly name and a little paper umbrella. Your basic overpriced neon liquid crafted by the Gods of summer sun and parties."
Dah melted into the memories, a wide smile chasing away the tension in her aching body. But her peace was short-lived as an eerie thunder clap rose just beyond the horizon. The ear-splitting report chased away the scent of smoky bonfires and alcohol laden drinks. She looked to the horizon and saw the sky turn from pale blue to an ominous, murky gray. "Storm's coming," she said.
The vibrant green jungle living on the Island's wide base climbed the gentle slopes until being cut off by the sheer granite cliffs overhead. From Eve and Dahl's vantage, the island appeared small, but the long dormant volcano at its center was massive, and so too was the dangerous jungle concealing whatever secrets lay buried within. Even from a distance, Dahl could sense a whispering threat: keep out. She didn't want to go, but she knew they had to. The answers they were searching for lay buried there beneath a billion year old jungle canopy, hiding untold creatures.
The two women rose and along the wide beach, separating at the edge of the sand from the dense jungle. They peered up at wispy clouds hanging motionless in the windless sky overhead. Dahl bent down, rubbing her ankle. The ache had come back.
"Wait," Eve warned. "Put your boot on before your ankle swells again?"
"I'm fine," Dahl replied, loosening the laces and pulling the boot over her aching ankle. A wince contorted her face as she laced the boots.
"I don't like that dark patch on the horizon." Eve said, lounging back, arms above her head, clasped her hands behind her head and studied the motionless clouds above. The once puffy white clouds in front of the island had grayed and begun twisting around as if the island had become the eye of a huge cyclone. "Do those clouds look different to you?" she asked.
Dahl watched as the clouds darkened and said, "They're circling the island. Do you think there are hurricanes down here?"
"If there is," Eve replied, squinting at the darkening island. "It won't do us any good if we get caught in it and your ankle is out of commission. You should try soaking it again."
Twenty minutes earlier, the relentless breeze had vanished as if someone had flicked off an overhead ceiling fan. A short while after, a half million rustling trees with their creaking talking timbers fell still, and an entire jungle full of squawking birds and hooting monkey-like creatures vanished into the foreboding silence. It was as if the whole jungle held its breath, expecting what came next.
"Is it getting hot?" Dahl asked, looking at the dimming horizon. "It feels like the temperature has gone up 20 degrees in the last 5 minutes."
"More like 40," Eve replied. "And it's getting harder to breathe." She looked from the darkening skyline to the disappearing area above the island's jungle canopy and sat up.
Seeing her alarm, Dahl said, "Maybe we should take shelter until this blows over?"
"If it's going to get any darker, we're not going into the jungle." Eve replied, shaking her head. "There's no telling what might come out when it gets dark."
"It's not like you can't defend yourself."
"I can't defend myself and you, too."
"You did last time."
"We got lucky last time," Eve replied. "And don't forget. Lilith did most of the fighting before I got there."
"Maybe it will pass us by."
Eve's eyebrow went up, and she shook her head. She pointed up at a black line pouring out of a single black spot about a mile above the island. The eerie line seemed to come out of nowhere, twisted down through the air like a plummeting column of black smoke, and veered off before striking the water. It wrapped around itself as it rose like a coiling snake. It hung a half mile off the eastern shore of the island, like a growing ball that hung in the sky. "I've never seen storm clouds do that before." Eve leapt to her feet.
"It looks alive." Dahl said, as the storm spread outward. The blaring squall coming out of it reverberated through the dense, hot air and Dahl covered her ears, trying to blot out the painful sound. "What kind of storm-front sounds like that?" she shouted over the approaching din. Dahl jumped up, squinting at the roiling black mass on the horizon, and watched a large section break away. The eerie storm front changed course and headed straight towards them. Whatever it was, it knew they were there, and it was coming on fast.
"None," Eve said, yanking Dahl to her feet, mouth falling agape and face turning a ghostly white. She gestured to the largest palm tree in the near distance. "We need to get up there. It's not safe out in the open anymore."
"What is it?" Dahl cried out, as the sound of shock in Eve's voice made her heart skip a beat. If Eve saw only terror in the coming storm, it must be bad.
"Flying raptors," Eve bellowed over the building noise. "Thousands of them." She turned towards the gigantic palm tree and vaulted into the air. When Eve's feet hit the ground again, she was running at a flat out sprint. A 400 hundred pound apex predator rampaging away at 75 miles an hour. Dahl followed as fast as her tiny human legs could propel her. But Eve took gigantic bounding strides over 15 times the distance Dahl could muster, leaving her far behind.
"Wait, dammit!" Dahl blared as Eve shrank away in a cloud of kicked up sand.
Eve slid to a halt, slammed against the base of a gigantic palm, and felt her way around the wide base. The smooth bark offered a few handholds. When she found one, Eve drove an enormous taloned fist into the deep crack and beckoned Dahl towards her.
Dahl darted up, panting hard, and managed a winded, "Thanks for waiting."
"Run faster." Eve snatched her up by the waistband and threw Dahl over her shoulder in a firefighter's carry. Dahl shrieked as Eve squatted low and kicked off the ground hard. The ground fell away, threatening to take the contents of Dahl's stomach with it as Eve clawed her way up the bark. And all the while, the screeching storm drew closer. Once in the safety of the thick canopy, Eve flopped Dahl on an enormous branch, collapsing on another and transforming into a much smaller, much more winded human.
Dahl teetered on a thick branch, grabbed a nearby palm frond, knotted the long coarse leaf around her forearm, and shoved her back against the tree trunk. In the nearing distance, the coming storm raged louder and flapped towards them. Dahl covered her ears and shouted, "They're here!"
The screeching darkness descended around them, brought an unnatural wind that bent the giant tree back and forth. It felt as though it were about to snap off its base, sending them crashing to their deaths and thousand feet below.
Eve dug a set of shiny new talons into the thick bark and held fast while Dahl clung to her improvised tether, struggling in the unnatural gale. Several loose palm fronds tore away in a violent blast, leaving the duo exposed to the gnashing chaos. Teeth and rending claws tore at Dahl's clothing as a ravenous storm of screeching raptors circled the tree. Each of them lunging and biting as dozens of giant palm fronds swatted them away.
The branch beneath Dahl cracked, and her eyes bulged as gravity reached up and pulled her feet out. She slid towards the tip of the branch and the palm frond tied around her wrist wrenched her arm upward at a painful angle. She cried out in pain, swung out into the chaos, as tiny sharp claws tore at her clothes. A gale force wind caught her, yanked her out like a flapping flag. And as fast as the wind came, it vanished, bouncing Dahl off the tree trunk with a dull thwack. Air exploded from her lungs as darkness drew her into its embrace. She struggled to right herself, but before Dahl could pull herself to safety, the dried palm leaf cutting the blood flow off to her prickling wrist let out a loud crack.
"Dahl." Eve shouted.
Time slowed to a crawl as realization flooded Dahl's already pounding heart. Her mouth fell open as her unfocused eyes met Eve's. Eve lunged forward, throwing out a clawed hand. Dahl spotted the blurry hand, stretched outward as far as her free arm could reach, and the weight of the heavy palm frond pulled her down. Their eyes met; fingertips skimmed, but Dahl felt nothing but the downward pull of her own imminent demise. She was about to join Moss. Eve watched helplessly as Dahl dropped away.
Something roared on the other side of the tree and a gigantic humanoid creature smashed through the exploding vegetation. Palm fronds spread in every direction. Eve twisted around in utter dismay, shielding her face as the creature erupted through a storm of splintered branches and shredded leaves. The violent commotion startled the circling creatures, most of whom screamed in anger and flew away toward the safety of open water.
The massive creature leaned out, grabbed Dahl by the wrist, and drew her back into the safety of the palm fronds. It pressed her limp, unconscious body against the tree trunk and used its mass to shield her from the rending claws on the other side of the fronds. The rest of the small raptors pecked and tore at its back. Blood poured down and then reversed course as the long serrations healed. The birds screeched and flew away. The creature stood up, deposited Dahl on a large limb, and backed away to a safe distance.
Eve transformed and coiled up like a snake, ready to strike. The massive creature standing over Dahl dwarfed Eve in size and ferocity. It was a 9 foot tall, pale-skinned goliath, half man/half reptilian with a jutting triangular face with a strong chiseled jawline. It weighed twice as much as her. Its large black shark eyes peered straight through her. It wore thick leather trousers, heavy boots and carried an enormous broadsword hanging from a wide belt around its waist. Its massive, unprotected chest bore a thick layer of scaly hide tanned to a bronzed perfection.
Dahl's eyelids flicked apart. She looked around, drew a shaking knife, and pointed it in the creature's direction. It looked at the blade with a mixture of mild indifference and scoffed at it as if it were more an insult than a threat. Its right eyebrow raised up, pulling its lip into an infuriating sneer. Then it laughed.
"Who are you?" Eve demanded, poised to leap on the strange creature. She couldn't be certain if it understood her or if it was even looking at her. Its blacked out eyes seemed to look in every direction at once.
"Really?" Dahl said, turning to Eve. "You're talking to the lizard man?" Dahl turned to the massive figure, eyeing it up and down. "You don't think it can speak, do you?"
The man-beast peered down at Dahl, as a faint shadow of irritation slipped across its face. "It," the creature began, "has a name." Dahl and Eve's mouths fell open. "I am Prince Belial." The power of his thundering voice passed through Dahl's chest as if his words carried the force of an oncoming avalanche. Whatever or whoever he was, he had an unnatural power. "The first-born son of the royal court of Mannom. And rightful heir to the Dark Athena."
"The Dark Athena," Dahl said to herself. "Does she exist?"
"Yes," Belial replied. "She exists here. There. Everywhere."
Dahl looked at the way Belial carried himself and felt swallowed by an instant sense of distrust. He seemed to have an ego only equaled by the length of its long broadsword. "Is this place, Mannom?"
"Hardly," Belial said and scowled. "This insignificant world is of little consequence. Its only significance is that it is the birthplace of Mannom."
"Never heard of the place," Dahl cut in before he could continue. "I take it from your oversized ego. You're not from here?" Dahl asked, turning to Eve with a covert look of suspicion.
"They tore my mother from her home. My siblings and I were born in Mannom."
"We all come from somewhere else," Dahl began, trying to sound as cordial as possible. "I should thank you. I'd be dead if not for you."
Belial tilted his chin in an haute gesture that made the tiny hairs on the back of Dahl's neck bristle in anger. The dark voice on Dahl's left shoulder whispered in her ear. He saves your ass and the first thing you do is get pissed. And for god's sake, smile before he thinks you're an ass. Dahl closed her eyes, took a deep calming breath, and opened them. "It's a lucky coincidence that you found us in this tree at the very moment we needed you most." Dahl turned to Eve, feigning shock, and asked, "What are the odds?"
Eve returned a covert look that said, be careful.
Unabated by the warning, Dahl continued, "Of him finding us in this system, on this planet, hundreds of kilometers beneath the surface of a seldom visited moon, in a hidden world no one has seen in… forever?" Dahl turned back to Belial and added, "I know… you called the raptor hotline and asked, Hey, do you have two women trapped in a tree?"
Ignoring her intent, Belial said, "These creatures did not ask to be monsters." He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and added, "It was your kind that did this to them. Your kind did this to me. To my mother; my people; yourselves."
"My kind." Dahl replied in disbelief. "My kind have done nothing to these poor, dumb creatures."
Belial leaned in close enough to make her shift position. "But you did. It was humans who created this place, engineered us to protect your secrets. To guard your power." He paused and looked around. "What did you call them? Poor. Dumb. Creatures. I'm not blind to the irony of those words coming from the people responsible for all this."
"Are you insane?" she asked, standing up and jabbing a finger at him. "This place was like this when we got here." Dahl said, gesturing around. "I didn't cause any of this bullshit. None of us did. We're just trying to get out alive."
"And yet, here you are, at the center of it all." He regarded with a long unreadable stare and then sighed. "Perhaps you are not lying. Perhaps you are just a tool, a puppet of the false master," he said. "But that makes you and your companions no less responsible. Your efforts here allowed others to do this to my siblings, my mother, and me. You placed this curse on us." He pounded his chest and the angry strike resonated through her body. "And when others realized what they had created, they took us from our homeworld and exiled us to a hellish existence in another universe."
"What are you talking about?" Dahl demanded and stood up. "This moon has been here for millions… probably billions of years. It predates humans. It predates Earth. We just want to get the fuck out and forget this place even exists."
"And what about those who can never forget this place? What of my people? Those whom this place will forever haunt? Where can we go to hide from the things staring back at us in the mirror? Things your masters put inside us." Belial jammed his arm outward. The motion happened in an instant, and the tip of his enormous finger was an inch from Eve's nose. Eve fell backward in shock. "Ask your tiny friend here how she feels when she looks in a mirror. Ask her why they did this to her." He regarded her, black eyes drawing ice from her veins. "Did they ask you before they changed you?" His eyebrow rose as if he already knew the answer.
Dahl looked at Eve in horror, shaking her head. "What's he talking about?"
"I was dying," Eve said, looking at Belial. "They did what they had to."
Belial let out a sarcastic exhale. "People often cloak self-serving acts in benevolence. Evil disguised as good."
"They had to."
"As you say."
"Is she a half-breed?" Dahl asked.
Belial gave Eve a courteous nod. "Someone has gifted my lady with the blood of Mannom. Although, I cannot imagine why anyone would create such a horrible thing as this."
"Fuck you, asshole." Eve blurted, looking at Dahl with an expression that said get ready to run or fight.
"Forgiveness, my lady." Belial said, bowing low. "I meant no offense. I, too, understand what it feels like to have served others. To feel the burning desire for battle and blood. To be a tool."
"You don't know shit about me," Eve replied.
"I meant no harm."
"Harm taken."
"Fool yourself if you must, but I see the shadow of darkness in your eyes, smell it in your breath and hear it in your racing heart. If I may offer a lesson learned. If control is what we seek, then let our journey not begin in lies. Especially the ones we tell ourselves."
Dahl sat down on a limb, letting her feet swing out over the side. There was nowhere to run. She watched Belial wipe beads of sweat off his pallid face. "So, all of this is our fault, right?"
"If it's not yours, then whose fault is it?" he asked, peering out in the direction the raptors had flown. Neither woman could pinpoint where his solid black eyes were looking as he searched for something in particular. "The blame for this nightmare lies not only at your feet. It belongs to my people, as well. In all their forms."
"What did you mean by the blood of Mannom?" Dahl asked.
"You mock me?" Belial said, staring at Dahl. "Your master sent you here to create the blood of Mannom. To place it in my mother. And yet you feign ignorance. Your companion delivered the device that did this to us. To my brothers, my sisters and you claim no knowledge of what you did." He rolled his jet-black eyes, and they flashed from solid black to milky bloodshot whites and then back to bottomless black pools. The quick change sent an icy shiver up Dahl's spine, although she refused to show it.
"Stop saying I did this to you," she screamed at him, and he stepped back. "You're wrong. I don't care what you think or what you've heard. You're wrong. Get over it."
"There is no getting over an act that changes one forever.," he said, locking Dahl in his eerie gaze for an uncomfortably long time. When Dahl looked away, he continued, "I sense the shadow of truth in your mind."
"Fuck," she said to herself. "Of course you can read minds. Because why not? You're a half raptor/Half human, mind reader from an alternate Universe." she said, shaking her head at him. "Is there anything else you can do? Like juggling chainsaws or flying."
"I cannot juggle," he replied. "And I am not from an alternate universe. There are no such things as multiverses. What you are referring to is the time stream. And there is but one. A single cosmic thread connecting everyone everywhere."
"What's the difference?"
"There are a trillion universes outside this one. And you can reach them all. If you can just figure out how to travel through time. Space is far too big to traverse. But time travel negates the need for FTL travel. Now, imagine the infinite amount of life outside this tiny galaxy and here you come, trying to fuck it up for everyone."
"And just how did we… fuck it up?"
"Simple," he explained. "One of you figured out how to travel through time and now, one bad decision later, there are an infinite number of outcomes in a steadily unraveling thread."
"You didn't come here to save us, did you?" Dahl asked.
Belial looked away from her, staring at his feet, and shook his head. "I escaped my homeworld where they imprisoned me. Amongst my people, I am an anomaly. I stand on the side of light." he turned to Dahl and a single tear trickled down his face. "I hate the people who made me do this."
"Then why are you here?" Eve asked. "You could have let me fall."
"I came to end this madness the only way I know how," he replied, looking at the island. "I came to kill my mother before she transforms into a monster. Before she teaches her children to be monsters. It's the only way. I must destroy the Dark Athena."
"But that means you die too." Eve said.
"If it means this world goes away and everything bad that ever happened here goes away with it. And I'm fine with that. And more importantly, there is a chance you may go back to normal," he said, turning back to Eve. "You want to know why I saved you? Simple. I need you to help me kill my mother and anyone else who gets in our way."
"You want us to murder your mom and unborn siblings? And, I might add, you."
"It is the only way to stop this madness. To stop the cycle of violence."
"More violence to end violence," Eve replied. "I see your mother taught you well."
"Lady Hemmingford sent us here." Dahl said. "You wanted to know who sent us here. It was my boss. Lilith Hemmingford."
Belial went rigid and his face became an unspoken threat. "That is not possible."
"Big shocker," Eve said, glaring at Belial.
"What is?"
"How a being born in another universe knows the name Lilith Hemmingford. Or anything she would or would not do?"
"I know Lady Hemmingford as well as I know my mother. Because Lilith Hemmingford is my mother. To end the cycle, she created the cycle."
Dahl shook her head at him. "Because that makes perfect sense."
"She created a Paradox."
Dahl stared at the island on the horizon, watching tiny dots glide on the hot thermals. "Before I came to this godforsaken hellhole, I would have said that's nuts. I would have never believed Lilith would do the things she's done. But come on, you expect us to believe she's your mother."
Belial stepped forward with mutiny in his eyes, and Eve leapt between him and Dahl with her arm outstretched. "Back off, big man," she warned. "This is new to us."
"I do not believe you. You are not from this time-stream. You are from the future. The modifications you possess are not possible in this timeline. You know where she is. You are part of this. She created you."
"She did not," Eve replied. "My creator was my father. And no matter what you say. He did this because he loves me."
"How much evil has blossomed under the guise of love?"
"You say she's your mom," Dahl interrupted. "So, I'll use her words. Your belief is not required." Dahl stepped around Eve and walked straight to Belial. "I hate when people think they need to defend me, don't you?" She looked at Eve over her shoulder.
The giant leaned forward, nose to nose with Dahl, and said, "You are indeed foolish to approach a prince of Mannom."
"Here's the thing, pumpkin." Dahl said, smiling up at Belial without a care in the world. "Guys like you think you're…" she looked him over like a piece of meat. "Untouchable. That's why you were dumb enough to let me get this close."
"And what are you going to do?"
"Didn't you just ask me to kill your mommy because you weren't up to the task?" Eve replied, watching his face flush. She could hear his teeth grinding.
"Another man with mommy issues," "Dahl said, flicking the tip of his enormous nose. Belial stepped back. His eyes bulged and then became slits of rage. Dahl stepped forward. "As for what I'm going to do, I'm going to braid your testicles."
"If he has testicles?" Eve added, provoking him with a smirk.
Belial grabbed the hilt of his sword and said, "You dare."
"Oh, honey," Dahl said, smiling at Belial. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Belial felt something hard pressed against the crotch of his trousers and looked down to find Dahl's combat knife pressed into his groin. He glared as if daring her to do it, and the grin made his face flush with fury. He pulled his sword part way out of the scabbard and waited for her next move.
"Oh," Dahl said. "Did you think I was just going to tremble before the might of the first-born son of Mannom? Sorry, but that's never gonna happen. Maybe next time, think before you ask someone what they are going to do to you. And before you ask, I don't think I can win. This is about clarity. It's about you taking me at my word. I am not taking shit from you or anyone else again. But- even though I can't win. I can make sure you'll never forget me. So, never accuse me of shit I didn't do again. And don't call me a liar. Ever. Understood?" She glared up at him and added, "Do the words coming out of my mouth translate into Mannom? Are you having any difficulties reading my emotional state? Or my mind? And no. I bear no illusion that if I cut your dangly bits off, they won't just grow right back. But I also know the sudden gender change will remain with you for a long while."
Belial broke into laughter and said, "You live up to everything I have heard about you, Dahlia Johns."
Eve laughed, not because she felt any of the absurd interactions funny, but the sheer insanity of what was taking place left only one other option. Scream in madness. At the time, laughter seemed the best option. Although she fully expected to lose her mind when they reached the island. "You know, Dahl., when people from another Universe are aware of your temper. That should tell you need a course in anger management."
"Just doing my part to keep men all over on their guard."
"This was my homeworld long ago," he said, peering out at the lush jungle. "But they forbade even this paradise to us."
He turned back to them and said, "I never guessed it would be this beautiful."
"If you were born here. You would have never seen this place. Your world… these creatures' world… is a tortured feeding frenzy where only the strongest survive."
"I blame your kind for that. Your kind has twisted us repeatedly."
"Blame whoever you want," Eve cut in. "As long as it isn't us. Whatever was done here happened long before we arrived. And if it just happened, it wasn't us."
"That's where you're wrong." Belial replied, shaking his head. "Your present is Mannom's past." Belial pointed at the island. "She is over there- right now. Transforming. And if you help me, we can prevent everything. We can correct the time stream."
"You're asking us to murder an innocent woman and her unborn babies."
"When did this poor, dumb creature become a woman?"
"Now who's mocking who?" Dahl asked.
"When?"
"The day I met her son. And he saved my life," Dahl answered, "And when you made me realize there are no poor, dumb creatures. That we're all just trying to survive in whatever shithole we're plunked down in."
"Fair enough," Belial said, nodding. "But be aware, of all my siblings, I am the only one who embraces the light. Long has my family embraced the darkness in their hearts. A darkness that was born on this day and many will suffer because of it. So, if you refuse my plea, then realize you are condemning our people to an eternal cycle of suffering."
"Why should I believe you? Believe any of this? It could all be a dream. I could still be in stasis. Maybe all this results from long-term stasis. Maybe I'm lying in the auto-doc, having an embolism."
"And maybe if you tell yourself that enough, you believe it," Belial said, leaning forward, pinching her forearm. When she let out a shrill cry of pain, he said, "Seems pretty real to me."
"Ouch, goddammit. You big jerk."
Eve let out a stifled laugh.
"Fine," Dahl shouted. "But none of what you've told us explains how you knew we'd be in this tree." Dahl replied.
"Simple. You can attribute my presence here to your teammate. Carlos Lockspur is the reason I am here."
"Carlos," Dahl screeched. "He's okay? Where is he?"
"When my mother's ascension took place, they used his mind as a framework to uplift her mind. They did it to control her engineered tendencies for violence. In the beginning, it worked well enough. But as the transition took hold of her body, it also unlocked the violent tendencies in all humans." He laughed and added, "Who knew humans were the real threat? You see, in the end. Her true evil didn't come from her reptilian side, it came from her human side."
Eve shot him a dark look and said, "I take it you have read a few history books?"
"No need. The Creator wove your animalistic natures into your DNA. Evil is not just what you do, it is who you are. Who we are," he said, gesturing at himself. "You are the actual monsters here. Not these poor, dumb creatures. You think everything and everyone is beneath you. You see yourselves as having more worth than others and, therefore, value no others. Because of the overlaying of Lockspur's mind, each of my mother's offspring has random bits of his memories. Some were happy; some were not. Either way, we all received his technical abilities. His understanding of electronics, math, science, space travel and those skills allowed my mother to seize an entire universe. And the next; and the next. We became a cancer that spread through space/time. When they spirited her away to Mannom, she went back in time 3.6 trillion years. But what your people did not realize was that she took a part of all of you with her." He turned to Dahl with a sad expression and said, "Imagine what your people will become after that amount of time? How far could you reach? What technologies will you develop?"
"Your people are that old?"
"Our people," he corrected. "Let's not forget. I am half human."
"Half human," she repeated to herself.
"Are you beginning to understand?" he asked. "When you said this moon predates humans. You were wrong. Thanks to what happens here. Humans predate Earth. And this is the paradox you and your comrades helped create when you came under false pretenses. You created the paradox of who came first, humans or half breeds? If my people predate you by trillions of years, how did you create us? Or perhaps, if you could see the wheel of time, you would realize it was us who created you."
Dahl laughed at him, and said, "Now who's bullshitting?"
"For billions of years, my people sent automated ships to this galaxy. They seeded the primordial oceans of countless worlds with our DNA. Your DNA. It is no coincidence that the poor, dumb creatures that crawled out of Earth's oceans became humans? Because you made us and we made you."
"That's not possible."
"Because it doesn't fit into your people's tidy definition of evolution. Even your scientists say there was an unexplained burst of life in your oceans billions of years ago."
"If what you say is true." Eve said, sitting forward with furrowed brows. "Killing your Lilith could kill us all."
"It is a gamble." Belial said. "One could extrapolate that my mother's untimely demise may lead to the destruction of all humanity and its half-breed children. But doing nothing could-"
"What?" Dahl cut in, reeling towards the horizon. In the distance, the faint sounds of frantic gunfire erupted from the island. The sky above had gone a sickly greenish/gray and the once silvery waves in the distance were murky and dangerous.
"The sound of inevitability," Belial said, looking toward the gunfire. "Your people crave power above all things and there is a hidden power source on that island unlike anything you can imagine. It calls to those who seek power. And now, because of what you have done, they are here seeking its power."
"What power is worth going to all this trouble to hide it here?" Dahl asked, ashed gesturing around at the enormous man made cavern.
"The power to create a living God."
"How did you get here?" Dahl demanded, reeling towards him. "Who has the power to bring you that far and back again?"
"A better question may be," Eve said, "Why would someone with that kind of power not see this coming? Unless this was supposed to happen."
"I thought Lilith caused this."
"Did she?" Belial asked.
"You lying bastard," Eve snapped.
"There are many plans. Killing my mother is mine, not there's."
"Is killing yourself one of them?" Dahl asked.
Belial ignored her question with a shrug and Eve said, "What are the odds of surprising someone who can live through the future and then travel back to alter it?"
"Less than zero."
"Your master knew someone reached the power source and sent you here to prevent that from happening. You came to protect the obelisk."
"I came to end this nightmare no matter what the cost."
"Who placed it here?" Dahl asked.
"Your master's master. The Creator."
"Lilith has a boss?" Dahl asked, staring at Eve as if she didn't understand. "You mean God? The creator of humankind?"
Belial laughed, and Dahl felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She didn't appreciate being laughed at by anyone, including an 850 pound lizard prince exchange student. "How human-centric of you," he said with a frown. "Our creator is not the one true God. But that being who created him. And therefore, he is both godly in appearance and abilities. It was he who brought us to Mannom. He comes for us even now. And when he gets here, I intend to be ready to stop him."
"You intend to do battle with the son of a god," Dahl replied, raising a doubtful brow.
"The Creator used us to create humans and used humans to create us." When he saw the look of doubt on their faces, he added, "My people say: A circle has no beginning or end. It simply is and always has been. Our peoples are the same people at different points on the same cosmic circle. We exist because we have always existed."
"And always will," Eve said, lowering head as if in prayer.
"We shall see," Belial said. "But paradoxes are difficult to break."
"Perhaps impossible," Eve added.
"Can we reset it?"
"One can hope it's that simple. But this paradox has multiplied over time, weaving itself into several strands. And the thicker the cord grows, the harder it has proven to erase."
"And what about us?" Dahl asked. "You'd kill us all to see your crazy plan succeed."
"I wish harm upon no one." Belial replied. "I just want this endless cycle of madness to go away."
She glared at him in disbelief and said, "What about our lives? You may not give a shit about dying, but we don't want to."
"I did not ask to be trapped in this loop. One of your kind did this to my family. You are the monsters here."
"You dare call us monsters? When you are one of us," she said, sneering at him red faced. "You came here to kill. We came to learn what's going on?"
Belial leaned in close, baring a mouthful of long, jagged teeth Dahl had seen in countless nightmares. "Before this is over, I will introduce you to the monster inside you." She drew her knife with lightning speed and slashed out involuntarily. Belial did not back away from her strike. As the blade skimmed his face, he did not bat an eye or flinch away as the razor sharp steel split the soft tissue of his right cheek. He stared at her and watched as a donning sense of realization crossed her face. Belial wasn't just half human. He was half raptor, as well. "That took far less time than I expected. You see, the violence you placed in us, we returned to you."
An angry straight line formed where Dahl's blade slashed his face and large blue beads of blood welled up along the line. Individual droplets trickled down his cheek and then, as the deep cut opened revealing bloody teeth below, the blood poured over his triangular chin and dripped off, coating Belail's muscular chest in a sticky blue shirt. To Dahl and Eve's astonishment, the blood slowed to a stop, then reversed direction and began running back towards the now healing wound. Dahl looked from Belail's self-knitting facial injury to Eve's calf and marveled as his injury sealed itself, leaving no trace of injury behind. The duo understood what he had meant by the blood of Mannom and where Eve had received her gifts.
"Shit…" Dahl stammered, still holding out a knife that held little hope of protecting her from a creature capable of regeneration.
"Who created the blood of Mannom, my kind or yours?" Belial asked, turning to Eve. "A raptor conceived me, but a human gave birth to me. Neither raptor nor human, but both," he explained, gesturing at himself. "Long before humans walked on your homeworld, the old ones genetically engineered my people using the genes of thousands of different species taken throughout this galaxy. Our creators needed monsters to protect this world, and its hidden treasure. So they imprisoned us here as mindless eating machines incapable of growing into higher life forms. In that way, they could ensure we would never escape our confines. So here my people are billions of years later, an imprisoned race created so long ago, no one remembers who made us." He laughed and Eve thought he had sarcasm down. "But the old ones never considered the possibility of outside forces breaching this place. Or perhaps they did. Who knows anymore? Because everything changed the day humans altered our DNA a second time. That day was the day Carlos Lockspur brought Lilith's gift."
"Are you saying we did this to you?"
"In part."
"Which part?"
"The human parts." He answered, gesturing from his hand to Eve's hand. Dahl saw that other than the color and size, they looked interchangeable. He studied her hand for a quick moment and said, "I see the old ones have visited your world, my lady."
"That timeline doesn't work." Dahl said, realizing humans were new to M6-117. "How could we do any of this? When could we?" she asked.
"The ascension occurred 11 days ago."
"Wait," Dahl said, "What do you mean… their ascension?"
"I have never been like them. I have always been an outsider. It was only recently that I learned I am not one of them. My mother is not my mother. She is my jailor. My keeper. The Creator exiled me to Mannom. But not them. To them he gave freedom."
"Why would anyone exile you to Mannom?"
"That is why I came," he admitted. "To learn the truth from the creator? I am owed the truth."
An enormous blast, like the trumpets in the heavens, exploded over the island and a surge of wind raced outward, almost knocking them out of the tree. "What was that?" Eve shouted, pulling herself back up onto her branch as Belial deposited a dazed Dahl back on the branch she had just fallen off.
"That…" Belial said, stepping back to cloak himself behind a giant palm frond, "was the Queen Mother. And she cannot know I'm here."
Dahl and Eve looked at one another with raised brows and Eve said, "Is there something you want to tell us?"
"Yeah. Like, why don't you want her to see you?" Dahl asked.
"She cannot see me because I have not been born yet."
"Not born yet?"
"She is still in transition. She does not know who or what she will become. And neither do you. That woman will become a monster unlike anything you can imagine… and her children will be even worse. If we act now. There is still time to prevent the coming cataclysm. You must end her before they… before we become monsters."
The air around Dahl shook. Eve fell backwards as a blurry bubble encircled Dahl and Belial. Dahl felt weak. Her heart thudded in his chest and the world outside exploded into a dizzying array of infinite possibilities. It was as if Dahl were untethered by time and space. Past, present, and future tenses collided in her mind. Intense sensations of loss and love and longing overwhelmed her. Tears poured down her face like rivers. She looked down, saw two creatures in the same place at the same time. One human; one half-breed. Both the same man at different times. Dahl leaned down, wrapped her arms around them both, hoping if she held on, it would all go away. But not wanting him to go away.
He reached up with a giant, trembling hand and caressed her hair. In a soft, familiar voice she knew and loved with all her heart, he said, "I need you to do something for me."
"What?" Dahl said, laying against his chest listening to the heartbeat deep inside.
He placed his mouth by her ear and whispered, "What happened to Tahlia was not your fault. Do not blame yourself."
"How can you know that?" she said, looking up at him to find he was a man.
"It's this place. Our minds have connected. He's here."
"Who is here?"
"The Creator."
"What can I do? How can I stop this?"
"When you find me in the future. Promise me you'll tear it out before it takes control. Before I become like them. Before I'm a monster, too."
"What's happening?"
"He's sending me back." Belial said and vanished into the winds of time.
"I will," she whispered to herself, wiping tears from her face. "I promise."