This is the last installment of Perpetual. It includes some of the hardest writing I’ve penned to date. Warning: some passages in this entry may seem harsh or a bit emotionally hard to deal with. And for the record, yes, I did cry. A lot. Thank you for reading. NaNoWriMo 09 winner with 50448 words (Scrivener tells me 50462 words however).
When I opened my eyes, I am no longer standing out in the cold. My hair is plastered to my face, wet with the melting snow that had fallen down from the sky. The sky no longer appears above me and I do not see my friends. Instead, I find myself standing out in the middle of the Consortium Chamber Room of the Council. I blinked and wonder if everything I had experienced was a dream, that the Portal had not yet transported me to the other side.
I look down and see humanoid hands in front of me. I am still trapped in the mechanical, which means that the past events were not just a dream, that everything was real. The human hands tightened into a fist and then straightened out once more in the air as my mind tells them to move. They wiggled and waved at every command. I commend them to move the mess of hair out of my eyes and they do so. I lick my lips and feel the smooth plastic surface of the lips that the people put on the skin.
I blink once more and hope that by doing so it will transport me back to the wilds of the world, where the fissure stands before me. But it does not as I was still standing in the center of the room.
“How did I get here?” I asked. I slowly turned around and examined all of the chairs. All but one seemed empty. “This cannot be real. I was outside and across the veil, but now I am here. What is the meaning of this.”
“You called and we heard you,” came a familiar voice from my left.
“Counselor Laiana?” I question as I turn to see her familiar form sitting in the seventh chair of the council. I force the body to kneel in front of her as is customary for the two leggeds to do when they are in front of the ruling class.
She motions for me to stand and I do so, “You seem surprised to see me,” Laiana says.
“I am. I thought that there was no way back and that I have failed in my mission.”
“No my dear, you have not failed. Actually you have succeeded,” she said her voice sounding more motherly than anything. “We have been keeping an eye on you Xep. We know what has happened and what is going to come. We are sorry that you have to do what you are about to do but we also know that it is unavoidable. Tristian will be trapped but I do not think he will be alone no longer. He seems quite enthralled with the human companion.”
I nod, “I do not know if I have it within me to do this. I am scared at what will become of me.”
“You can do this, I know you can. And only you can do this task. It is your destiny, what you have been created to do and what you must do. For all of us. I know it is not easy, giving yourself in to a world that does not seem to know or understand what you are and what you do but you will be saving the lives of your friends. You will also be opening the door up for a new future of communications between them and us. I guarantee it.”
I stay silent, unsure of what to say next.
Laiana moves silently over to me. She places her hand on my shoulder and looks lovingly into my eyes, “Xep, this is not the end. It may seem like that now but when one door closes, another one opens. And that is as such with you and this situation.”
“Will it hurt?” I hear myself asking. I wince as the words escape my lips, knowing that as a Consortium Soldier and a spy that I should be stronger than that, not weak like the body I am trapped inside.
“I am sure it will but as you are trapped in a body that is not yours, you can choose to not feel the pain. Our time is growing short here Xep but I wanted to let you know that everything will be fine. It will soon be over and that you have done exactly what you were supposed to do. I am, we… are very proud of you and this sacrifice that you have to make. Go now, and return to the other side of the veil and do this.”
**********
Her arms fell to the ground as her friends reappear at her sides. They argue amongst themselves. Sardonios shakes his head and folds his arms across his chest, “I am not going to force anyone into anything that they have already made their mind up on.”
Tristian walked up to Xep, his face mere inches from her body, “We can force you not to go,” he started, “We can use that rope over there and the rest of that roll of duct tape and bind you together so that you cannot move or go anywhere. We do have the power to stop this madness, despite what that old windbag says.”
“But you will not do it,” Xep said silently. “You will not do it because you know as well as I do that we need to do something to stop the coneol from escaping. This is what I came here to do. Putting myself down there to stop this world, and possibly our home world, from being destroyed is what I have been asked to do. You know it as well as I do. There is no other alternative. At least not for me. The fissure must be closed and it must be closed now before it is too late. I ask you to take everyone else and go away from here. Please, go back to the car. I do not know what is going to happen once I land inside the core and I would hate to see any explosion or fallout hurt any of you. Please, do it for me. That is all I ask.”
Paige opened her mouth to speak but closed it. Tears began to stream down her face and she turned to walk away. Tristian pulled back and just stared at Xep. He memorized her figure completely, allowing her silver hair, her defiant posture and her unnaturally blinking eyes to burn completely into his eyes. He pulled his jacket closed around him and muttered a final blessing in her honor, “Mater dolorosa, mater memento mori. Beati pacifici. Et benedictio Dei omnipotentis, Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti descendat super vos et maneat semper. May the maker bless you and keep you. Speed be with you Xep. You were a fine friend and I will miss you. I wish I could have talked you out of this one.”
Xep placed an arm on his shoulder and smiled, “I know. But you cannot. No one can. Now go and take care of Paige. Tell her that she is forgiven for what happened yesterday and that I hope she does get the fame and glory she seeks. I shall see you on the other side one day my brother.”
She then clasped his hand around her own and let the two stay connected together for awhile in a traditional elvish embrace. She then let go and watched Tristian move towards Paige. She stared into Sardonios’s deep blue eyes. The man appeared to have aged a little bit in the short time she knew him. He nodded at her and then handed her the remaining elixirs that he had kept on his person. They were tied in a light purple sachet. “Here, you take these. They are of no use to me now and they may help add a bit more metal and power to what you are about to do.”
All Xep could do was smile at the gesture. She smiled and placed them inside her jacket. Bowing one final time towards her friends she turned around and gazed at the tree-line.
Xep pushed off with her left foot and ran towards the trees. She ran just a few yards into the tree-line and surveyed the land. She inhaled deep, allowing the cold winter air to move deep within her. She held the breath inside her for as long as she could and the exhaled slowly. Tears of pure oil formed at the corner of her eyes. She used the back of her hand to remove the blur from blocking her view. Her body trembled in fear and every part of her alive self screamed in terror. But Xep stood her ground and inhaled again. She took in the entire vista of what she could see. Her friends huddled near the barricade between the world and the fissure. Paige had her head buried deep at Tristian’s chest, while Tristian and Sardonios stared towards where Xep was standing, their hands gripping into the wood of the barrier. She could hear their hearts beating rapidly, and the emotion swirling within each body. She saw that they were all just as afraid of what was about to happen as she was herself. Strangely, it gave Xep a bit of comfort knowing her friends were just as worried about this new and wild idea as she was.
“You can do this,” she said to herself, “This is what you came here to do. This is your destiny. By doing what you are doing, you are saving lives. On both sides. And you will have peace. Okay, it is now or never.”
“”Power reserves depleted. Power connection failure, no power can be accepted at this time. Shut down will commence in thirty seconds,” the voice cried out. Xep noted the time and hoped that she had enough power to get herself down and into the core before she blacked out. She paused and looked around at the evergreen trees and longed to explore them. She regretted that she had never got to visit many of the places that this world could have offered her. She also regretted that she would no longer be able to visit the world she grew up in and would not see the tree or the lands that she had called home. She hoped that the war on the other side of the veil would end soon and that no more souls would be lost on either side.
Her body shifted unsteadily, as if it were ready to get it over with. The voice spoke again with an monotone sound that did provide any comfort; just as if cued for the right purpose. It simply said, “Ten.”
And with that, Xep sprinted toward the fissure. She turned her head to face her companions and mouthed, “Thank you” as her body appeared close enough for them to make out the words. A large lump of emotion wedged itself in her throat and she swallowed hard to keep it from overwhelming her as she spread her arms out. She turned her attention back to the hole in the ground and pushed off the edge of the earth with her foot. Her wings opened up and spread themselves out wide, giving her the ability to pause as if she were an angel hovering over the hole to Hell in the earth. She then allowed gravity to pull her feet down past the snowy opening of the fissure. Once she cleared the edge of the world above her, Xep used the metal wings to orient herself horizontally so she could see upwards. She folded her wings and allowed the momentum of gravity to carry her.
“Nine,” the voice said continuing the count down.
Xep managed to spin her body around so that she could see the sky above. Her eyes took in the colors and lights of the aurora as they continued to dance their strange patterns across the sky. The aurora obscured the sky as if it were a blanket of gauze. She struggled to make out a few constellations that formed high in the heavens above. Stars twinkled and blinked as they bore witness to her descent into the core. Her eyes frantically searched out for the familiar forms of Aquarius, Pisces and Orion. Finally she saw a bit of the Major Bear, the Ursa Major, and focused her sight on that for a little while, reminding herself that this was just the end of the first stage in the long journey of her soul.
“Eight,” it ticked.
Just out of the corners of her eye, she could see the white steams of coneol as they made their way out past the lithosphere of the earth. The sides of the crust were made of mostly igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rock. Her eyes reported that most of the rock was granite but there were hints of crystals sparkling as they were trapped inside the rock. Xep thought about how Sardonios would appreciate seeing the vast spectrum of rocks and minerals. She could also see fossils embedded in bits of the crust. “Core temperature rising. Heat is now at one hundred twenty degrees,” the voice alerted Xep as the heat of the planet rose and grew hotter as she fell deeper and deeper down into the crust.
“Seven,” the voice said, as it continued to note the final seconds of her life.
The rock grew lighter and more dense as her body continued to drop down the shaft. Soon she found herself in the first strata of the mantle of the earth, known as Asthenosphere. The rock composing the sides seemed smoother and very viscous. Her eyes immediately informed her that the rock was made of mostly magnesium but there were bits of iron in it as well. She also was able to identify silicon and aluminum as well. White hot veins of magma criss crossed through out the mantle and pour out into the sides of the fissure, freezing into new lines as it came into contact with the cooler air.
“Six.”
Her body continued descending deeper down into the womb of the earth. She could no longer see the aurora nor the night skies, as the warmth of the world consumed her sight and blurred it. She smelled burning and rotated her head so that it could see her arm. The leather jacket and all her clothing started to burn away, as it was unable to take the heat. “Core temperature rising to critical levels,” the voice notified Xep.
“Five.”
Xep watched the computer read out in her eyes show the temperature grow warmer and warmer. She was thankful that she could not feel the heat as it consumed the various parts of the non-metal portions on the body. She said a silent prayer to herself, and both worlds that her actions were saving.
“Four.”
Xep continued to descend deeper. She hoped that her friends had heeded her words and left the site. The smell of burnt fibers hit her nose and she figured that the fiber hairs on her head and face had been consumed by the mantle. “Core temperature critical. Shutdown imminent,” the voice said as it started breaking up.
“Three.”
Her body touched something wet. Xep could make out the splashing sounds. In her mind, she could see that she had reached the outer core of the world which was solid liquid. The liquid slowed down her movement somewhat and began eating away at the outer layers of metal that made her body.
“Two.”
Her body continued to descend past the liquid core and into the inner core. Things got very bright here and Xep saw that she was in a world of colors and movement. “The coneol core,” she gaped. “It is so beautiful.” The coneol core was the birthplace for all dreams, magic, and imagination of the world. She looked to her right and saw where the coneol had burst free in the form of a jagged crack. “If only they did not abandon the old ways,” she thought, “If only the remembered to combine their technology in with magic and never abandoned it. Then perhaps none of this would have had to happen.”
“One. Shutdown process commencing,” The voice said.
Xep closed her eyes and exhaled, “Please work,” Xep simply said to herself. Then the world around her went black.
The heat flared up all around the body of the mechanical as the core consumed the metal endo skeletal structure of the body. A hole formed near a weak spot in the metal skull. As the metal around this hole metaled deep into the center, past the cogs and the wires that held the central brain system together, coneol flooded in. The coneol carved a stream down to where it touched the space that the wisp was living. The second that the coneol touched the wisps body a chain reaction started.
The body blasted apart, freeing the corpse of a purely magical creature from the metals that held it captive. The chemical reaction sent a wave of magnetized vibrations all throughout the core of the earth. The vibrations hummed as it came into contact with every aspect of the coneol, forcing it to gel into a viscous stream of surging lava. The coneol reacted to the vibrations by changing colors from brilliant white to blue to silver to purple and then to red before returning back to a gunmetal metallic color once more. The blast of color waves surged out as a shock wave rumbled deep within the planet.
Freed from the center of the core the coneol surged forward as if it were a beast been held captive for centuries without being allowed a glimpse of air or allowed to run free under the sun and the stars. A wave of brilliant blue and silver surged at amazing speeds towards the open fissures around all the corners of the world. It spewed up and out from the earth as if it were a geyser of colored water. Once it touched the atmosphere, it merged with the coneol that had escaped. The magnetic draw was so strong that it pulled the coneol particles out from the air and yanked them back to the main geyser. When all of the coneol was drawn back together it gathered itself in upon itself and then dropped back down, retreating back down to the core, dragging the sides of the earth down along with it, as it sealed up the long and deep gashes in the earth.
The sky above was no longer obscured by the spread of aurora and coneol. Paige, Tristian, and Sardonios all looked up into a cloudless, clear winter sky and saw the stars hanging high into the sky sparking brightly. All that was left of the event, in Washington State, was a crack in the earth about five feet long and two meters deep.
Epilogue
The weather outside was warm for even Portland. People spilled out onto the streets, laughing as they carried on about their business. A couple held hands as they licked the tops of their ice cream cones. They wandered off towards a nearby park to enjoy the heat. A person wearing khaki shorts wanders around the edges of the city blocks with a blonde Labrador on a leash.
Three people gather their possessions and toss them into the back of a faded grey Nissan Sentra. They all looked sorrowful at one another as they climb into the car and make the journey north. The highway was relatively clear and they made good time getting to their location. Wildflowers grew along side the logging road as the car slowly rolled towards its destination. The scent of fresh air and pine fills the sky and there are only a few clouds in the air.
The car pulls to a stop and the passengers get out of the car. An old man looks out towards a barrier that had once been erected but has now rotted from the decay of the winter weather. A sign post stands tall but is tattered with shot gun holes from people who came out to see but left feeling gypped.
A young man steps out of the car and holds the back door open for a small, lithe young lady wearing a light colored linen skirt and t-shirt. She smiles and pats his cheek as she reaches in and grabs a bundle of flowers that rested at her side. The three meet up and walk side by side towards the barrier, unsure of what awaits them at the other side. They cross the dilapidated fence and walk out into the clearing. There is no sign that anyone has stood at this location for a long time.
The young woman walks up to meet a dark dusty scar in the earth. In her hands she has a bundle of yellow and white daffodils. She pauses at the scar in the earth and recalls a darker time, a time that still wears fresh memories in her mind.
She recalls the events that happened in the past winter months and the news reports on the aftermath and the confusion that occurred.
“Around the world the holes that had opened up were now all closed, leaving behind small rocky scars that would heal only in time. There was no traces of the mysterious minerals that caused so many aurora borealis to appear all over the world. It was like it had come as quickly as it left. The strange incidents have the scientific community all but confused. The new question floating around is that have we born witness to a new type of geological and natural incident? And more importantly, will this happen again? Stay tuned to the special broadcast of Science as we talk about what happened, what we found out and whether or not we can expect this to happen again.”
She recalls that the newscasts made no mention of anything, anyone, reappearing from one of the fissures. There was no information about a small, winged creature, nor of a tiny wispy creature, having been spotted near one of the scars. It is as if she had never existed at all.
“Good bye Xep. I hope you have found peace,” the young girl says as she lets the daffodils drop down to the dirt. She turns to meet the sad, solemn eyes of her companions, “and thank you.”
********************
Deep within the dark, black muddy swamp forests in a land far across the other side of the veil, down under the roots of a tall tree with long slim branches that swayed in a gentle breeze, a wisp with a soft silvery blue glow was born.
