The libram of fate, p.24
The Libram of Fate, page 24
part #2 of The Nine Realms Series
--4:31.00--
“Who are you?” a man wearing furs and holding a five foot long sledgehammer demanded.
“I’m, Alex,” he gasped out between breaths. “Looking, for, Nexus. Her husband,” he finished poking himself in the chest.
“What’s going on over there?” a man’s voice called.
--4:32.00--
“A naked man says he’s the Nexus’s wife,” the furred man shouted back.
Alex watched as Caitlyn pushed her way through the army in her primal form. She reached the edge of the group and saw him. The Guardian winced as he listened to her bones crack as she changed into her human form.
--4:33.00--
“How?” was all she said.
“I didn’t make it,” the Guardian said. He knew from the look on Caitlyn’s face that he was too late. “Take me to her.” The changeling turned, and the Guardian followed her through the ranks of the army. A few of the faces and their arms and armor were familiar to Alex, but he couldn’t focus enough to try figuring out why they seemed that way.
--4:34.00--
“How is this possible?” Caitlyn asked.
“The Life Wardens brought me back. I’ll explain the rest later.”
There was a clear pocket in the center of the army around the base of the one-eyed man’s statue. Alex saw a black plated Brahm kneeling next to some feet. The rest of the dwarf’s body blocked his view. Alex and Caitlyn pushed through the last few people and stepped into the gap.
--4:35.00--
Alex stood beside Brahm and looked down at his wife’s ruined form. Someone had covered her from the shoulders down with a horse blanket, but Alex could see where the laser had vaporized her stomach. The blanket sagged from the middle of her ribs to just above her hips. The Guardian dropped to his knees in the bloody mud.
Brahm looked over at him and gasped. The dwarf held the Guardian’s Blade in his lap. Brahm’s cheeks were damp with tears. He wrapped his hands around the wooden sword and held it out to Alex.
The Guardian touched his sword, and it immediately changed into the silver stopwatch. None of the hands or dials moved. The ratcheting noise came, and the button rose on the top.
“Click.”
--0:00.00--
Alex’s eyes shot open with a gasp. The stone bed he lay on was warm under his naked body. He leapt from the bed.
“I do not have time to explain. I need you to listen and do what I say as fast as possible. I need you to open this door and the one to leave the Soul Foundry and get Melody to bring me some clothes and shoes I can run in,” Alex said. “Have her bring them to me at the lake of fire.”
The door slid open.
“The white Life Warden. Please hurry,” Alex said as he ran out of the room. He saw the door ahead of him already sliding up. He caught the edge of the opening with his hand and spun to the left. He sprinted to his mother at the fiery lake.
“Mother, I have no time to explain,” he said. “My wife’s life is in danger, and I need to get to Bara so I can save her.” Odessa stared at him wide-eyed for a second before she pulled out the Traveler’s Pendant and opened the gateway to Bara.
“Alex, I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for letting you go, but it’s something I had to do,” she said.
“I know, Mother. You did it to protect me.” The Guardian looked up at the Traveler’s Amulet Odessa held in her hand. “Can I use that to open a portal?” Alex asked.
His mother shook her head. “No, Alex. It has to be attuned to the person using it, and that takes hours.”
Alex nodded and saw Melody leaving a trail of white light behind her as she zipped toward him.
The Guardian threw the clothes on. “Thank you both,” he said as he tied the shoes. Alex ran through the portal onto Bara.
--0:14.12--
He ran toward the City of Spires as fast as he could. In less than a half-hour’s time, Alex was beating on the Gate of Faith. “Ureon, open up! I have to see Eternius!” The gate swung open, and Alex saw the female angel looking at him curiously. “Before you ask,” he said before she could say anything, “I don’t have time to explain. I need to get to Eternius at the top of the Grand Spire, now.”
Ureon didn’t hesitate or ask questions. She lifted him from the ground and flew toward the Amphitheater of the High Seats as fast as she could. The angel set him down next to the Libram of Fate and faded into the floor. She was back with Eternius in seconds.
The Keeper looked at Alex with a narrowed eyes. “Yes, Guardian?” he asked.
“Your daughter’s life is in danger,” Alex said. Eternius’s eyes widened, but Alex couldn’t tell if it was alarm or surprise that caused it. “I need you to use your Traveler’s Amulet to take me to Caine.”
“Where on that Realm?” Eternius asked him again.
Alex put his fingers to his temples. Where on the damn Realm? He scoured his memories of the last time he tried for some landmark. “A statue!” he said when it came to him. “A statue of a one-eyed man holding a spear with a bird on his shoulder. Can you take me there?”
Eternius nodded. “I have been to Odin’s statue before.” The red portal opened, and Alex dove through it.
--0:59.31--
Screams of pain and explosions came from all around him. For a few seconds, Alex thought he was in the middle of a battlefield on Earth until he saw a man run past with a broadsword. He looked about for a Battlesuit and saw three.
--1:00.00--
The nearest fired a laser into a group of people. A man screamed, “No!” and charged the Battlesuit. The blond man flew into the air and destroyed the cockpit of the machine with a single blow of his warhammer. Alex ran to the group that had been fired upon.
--1:03.38--
As soon as Alex drew near, he knew he had found Terra. Her red hair was splayed out around her, and she had a smoking hole where her stomach should be. Darren was on his knees next to her. “No, no, no,” the captain said.
Alex slammed his fist against his leg. “Damn it!” the Guardian shouted. His sword lay on the ground not far away, and Alex picked it up. It changed into the stopwatch.
“Click.”
--0:00.00--
Alex’s eyes shot open with a gasp. The stone bed he lay on was warm under his naked body. He leaped from the bed.
“I do not have time to explain. I need you to listen and do what I say as fast as possible. I need you to open this door and the one to leave the Soul Foundry and get the white Life Warden to bring me some clothes and shoes I can run in,” Alex said. “Have her bring them to me at the lake of fire.”
--0:56.17--
Alex stood before Eternius. The angel glared at him. “I need you to open a portal to Odin’s statue on Caine so I can save Terra’s life.”
The red portal opened, and Alex ran through it.
--0:56.34--
The Guardian didn’t hesitate. As soon as his feet hit Cainen soil, he flew across the battlefield as fast as his legs would propel him. He drew near the group Terra was in and shouted as loud as he could. She couldn’t hear him over the sound of a rippling explosion. Alex sprinted past Darren.
--1:00.00--
The laser fired a few seconds before Alex reached Terra. He slid to a stop just before Michael yelled, “No!” and rushed at the Battlesuit. Alex roared in rage. I only need to be a few seconds faster next time. He picked up the Guardian’s Blade from where it lay.
“Click.”
--0:56.17--
“I need you to open a portal to Odin’s statue on Caine so I can save Terra,” Alex told the Keeper. Eternius stared at him with wide eyes and pursed lips.
--0:56.30--
Alex sprinted a bee line toward Terra. He screamed in his mind to go faster as he closed the distance.
--1:00.00--
The laser tore through Terra at the exact same instant Alex slammed into her. His wife’s legs lay beneath him, but her torso had torn free and was several feet away. The Guardian dry heaved next to half of his wife’s corpse.
He lurched to his feet and stumbled over to the Guardian’s Blade. Only a second faster.
“Click.”
--0:56.16--
“I need a portal to Odin’s statue on Caine to save Terra,” Alex said. Eternius had a glare fixed on the Guardian’s face and his fists were clenched.
--0:56.29--
I can make it, he thought as he ran.
--0:59.59--
Alex tackled Terra to the ground just before the laser fired.
--1:00.00--
It was so close that the beam seared the flesh on his back. The Guardian laughed victoriously. He looked down at his wife.
Her head was twisted around at an impossible angle, and she didn’t move. Alex jumped back from her dead body. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking as he looked for the Guardian’s Blade. I killed her, ran through his mind without stopping.
“Click.”
--0:59.58--
Alex pulled Terra back. The Guardian smiled at his triumph. Terra looked at him in complete bafflement.
“Alex?” she said.
--1:00.00--
Bits of brain and bone spattered Alex’s face as the sniper’s round tore through his wife’s skull. Alex let go of her body in shock.
“Click.”
--0:56.15--
“I need a portal to Odin’s statue to save Terra,” Alex said as fast as he could.
Eternius’s look of anger turned to one of confusion. “The statue to Odin on Earth or Caine?”
“Caine!” Alex roared.
--1:00.00--
The laser fired just before Alex could get to his wife.
“Click.”
--0:59.58--
Alex grabbed his wife and kept running. Terra stumbled a few steps, but he helped her steady herself.
--1:00.00--
An explosion blew them apart. The stump of Alex’s right arm spurted blood. He looked around for Terra, but he could only find her armor plated leg.
“Click.”
--0:59.58--
Alex pulled her away from the explosion but was careful to keep his balance. He ran back the way he had come with Terra in tow. Alex glanced back at her; she stared at him in wide-eyed shock. He turned his eyes back forward just as two daemen attacked.
--1:00.00--
A black sword bit deep into Alex’s stomach as he was run through. Terra was unarmed and surprised, and the other daemon’s sword separated the top third of her skull from her head. The daemon pulled its sword from Alex’s stomach and beheaded him.
“Click.”
--0:00.00--
Alex’s slowly opened his eyes and drew in a deep breath. He lifted his head and slammed it back against the warm stone of the bed. I just died… There has to be something I’m missing. Why can’t I use my demonic powers?
Alex knew he had already wasted too much time to save Terra. He let out a slow breath and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. “I need this open,” Alex said. “The one to the outside, too.”
The Progenitor argued with him and told Alex to get back on the bed lest he injure himself. Alex stood in front of where the door was and didn’t move or speak. Eventually, the Life Warden gave up, and the doorway opened. “Could you have the white Life Warden bring me some clothes and shoes at the lake of fire? I need to speak with my mother.”
It’s too late. She may as well have already died… The white Life Warden caught up to him at the same time he reached Odessa. The demoness looked at him with a ponderous blend of sadness, hope, and confusion as he dressed. Alex tied the Earth-style running shoes and stood. “Hello, Mother,” he said.
“Hello, Son,” Odessa answered. The Life Warden that Alex had once called Melody floated away from them.
Terra’s dead, and I can’t save her. Alex shook his head. No! I’m not going to give up yet. “Why can’t I use my demonic powers?” he asked his mother.
Her brows drew down over her solid green eyes. “You only just came back to life. They will take some time to build within you. The process is similar to how a sorcerer gathers magical energy, except we convert that energy to demonic power. Also, while we are in good health, our own body supplies a measure of power that also accumulates over time.”
It all comes down to needing more time. It’s always time. He rubbed his hand down his face, and it came away wet. Alex looked at the hand for a moment before he realized he was crying.
Odessa stepped over to him and wrapped him in a comforting embrace. “Oh, my son,” she whispered. “What’s wrong?”
Alex put his arms around his mother and placed his forehead on her shoulder. “I’m trying to save her, Mother, but I can’t. There just isn’t enough time.”
“Who are you trying to save?” she asked.
“My wife, Terra Zane,” he explained. Alex lifted his head, and Odessa released him.
His mother sat on the ground with her legs tucked beneath her. She patted the ground across from her, and Alex joined her. “How are you trying to save her?”
She won’t remember any of this after I start over again, but she may know something. “I used the Guardian’s Blade to create a time loop. I start it back over every time I fail to save her, or if I die it starts over on its own. But I don’t have enough time to get to her and save her. Every time I do get to her before the laser kills her, she’s killed by something else.”
Odessa stared at him with wide eyes. “How many times have you tried?”
“This is my tenth time I’ve reawakened here,” Alex said. He felt dead inside. “I’ve watched Terra die nine times. I tried a few different ways to try getting to her faster, but every time I try to shave off a second here, or a second there, it still doesn’t work.”
“I’m sorry, Alex. I wish there was something I could do to help you, but I can’t leave here. Any Realm I end up on would be a death sentence for me.”
Alex nodded as he stood. “It’s all right. Don’t worry about it. I’m too late now anyway.” He looked at the lake of roiling fire. “This really is hot,” he said.
“That it is,” Odessa said as she rose to her feet. “Underneath the outer flames is what is called elemental fire. It’s the purest essence of flame. The Life Wardens use it to create new souls, but anything else that touches it would be destroyed.”
“Good,” Alex said. He dove into the flames. The pain only lasted for an instant.
“Click.”
Chapter Twenty – Light and Dark
Alex lost track of how many times he tried to save Terra somewhere around one hundred and seventeen. No matter what he did or tried, Terra died an hour after he awoke on Aria. He convinced his mother to try attuning the Traveler’s Pendant to him, but the process took far too long, and there was no way to make it faster. He had discovered that if he waited for three days the loop would start back over from the beginning.
That’s how long it took me to use the stopwatch the first time around. Alex spent a few weeks lying on the bed in Aria, trying to come up with some way to save his wife. The Guardian had tried every possible thing he could think of. He had tried to get the Guardian’s Blade from Terra and use it to protect her, but the only form he could unleash was Regret.
Alex knew there was no way he could rescue Terra and their child from this, but he knew as soon as he stopped the time loop they would be forever lost to him. The Guardian lay on the warm bed of stone and stared at the rainbow-hued ceiling.
How many months have I been lying here? Alex wondered. The three days played out the same so many times that he had grown accustomed to ignoring whatever was going on around him. Or has it been years? His mother slept in a chair the Progenitor had raised from the floor. I don’t know, but this one is almost over.
“Click.”
Alex opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. The Paragon of the Realm of Life was droning on, but Alex turned him down to a buzz in his mind. The buzzing’s tone shifted to concern then the Progenitor zipped through the hole in the wall and disappeared.
There was a thump in the air, and a yellow light suffused the room. What? Alex lifted his head and saw a portal to Bara at the foot of the bed. Eternius stepped through the portal, and it shut behind him. “Why are you here?” the Guardian asked. “And how?”
“I have lived through your last three days more times that I care to think about, Alex Zane,” Eternius snapped. “I predate the Guardian’s Blade and the Source that was used to create it. I am the only one that does, and I am the only one that knows what you are doing. It is not your place to interfere with Fate.”
Alex balled up his fist and punched the Keeper of Fate in his jaw. The angel wasn’t expecting the sudden attack and was set back a step. “You’ve known this entire time and done nothing?” Alex shouted. “You could have been helping me, and you’ve done nothing!”
Eternius wiped the corner of his mouth, and his fingers came away bloody. “I could take you to her right now,” the Keeper said, “then I could take you to the safest place you can imagine, and Terra will still die in an hour’s time. Except this time, she would just drop dead with no provocation.”
“Why?” Alex yelled.
“Because it is written in the Libram of Fate.”
The Guardian’s fists quaked with barely restrained rage. “That’s why you didn’t want Terra to read it when she was on Bara,” he said. “Wait. You wrote that damn book, didn’t you? That’s your responsibility as Keeper, isn’t it?”
