“So, listen… uh. Mr. McMullen…”
“Dad.” The older man corrected. “Call me dad. Please.”
I looked at him. Noting with some humor that, despite him being as monstrously large as Slab, the red-haired man seemed to come across as childish. Almost juvenile, in a way, given how his emerald-green eyes shone in the sunlight.
‘Though that might have to do with my new growth spurt. Hard to feel intimidated by someone when your instincts are telling you they’re a weakling.’
Still, despite what the ability said, my cobweb revealed that he was anything but.
Finn McMullen had fought monsters all his life. From the days of his teenage years to the very day I came here with his kids. His body was covered in a series of nasty, gnarled scars all over the front, to the point where they created a canvas detailing the many battles he’d survived.
Moreover, he’d done it all without a System interface and without reliable access to healing Shifters or Projectors, while the prospect of Telepaths was a distant forlorn hope. On top of that, he and his war band had continued to do their duties against overwhelming odds, never stopping due to the risk to their own persons.
‘But I still can’t get the instinct out of my mind. Not completely anyway. It’s so weird. Like I’m looking at him through two sets of eyes. Or two separate heads.’
There was an odd sense of fragmentation when I assessed him through the lenses of both my Types.
The Shifter in me focused on the relative weakness of the body. The fact he had only one combined ability and the reality that he was likely weaker than the average drones the Blood Queen kept.
The Telepath in me focused on his deeds and the impact that they had on his community. On how much he genuinely loved his people and had a strong sense of self-sacrifice.
On how much of a crazy eugenicist he was.
‘Holy (Gnome) dude. You’re worse that both your kids combined! Which is saying something. Take the hint and let go of me!’
But Finn McMullen, did not let go. Instead, he continued to drag me along the pastures of Ireland. Looking at all the giant mosquito corpses as if they were party balloons filled to bursting with cocaine.
Appropriately, he looked high as (Gnome). Despite me knowing damn well that he wasn’t on anything.
The joy currently coursing through his veins was simply that powerful. Having his kids back alive and well was a factor of course. But more than that, the knowledge that the fight was over, that the whole world belonged to humanity once more, had left the hulking warrior stunned into a state of empty-headed jubilation.
“Dad then.” I acquiesced. “Shouldn’t we go back to the caves? It’s starting to rain.”
“Excellent!” He cried out. His emotions reaching a new zenith.
“I can’t wait for the rain! I can’t wait to feel it on my skin! I can’t wait to feel it on my scars! I can’t wait to stand out here in the middle of the plains with the skies above me!”
He turned to me.
“Don’t you see son? Don’t you see what this means!? We’re free! FREEEEEE!! I don’t have to worry about mutants coming over and eating my intestines! I don’t have to worry about not getting back to safety! I don’t have to worry about what will happen when I’m gone! I’m free to run and leap and climb whenever and wherever I wish! The surface is safe!”
He took a deep breath. His red beard quivering as he sucked in a lungful of air.
“THE SURFACE IS SAFE!!!” He screamed.
Before the air around his imploded, as an Intruder came through.
A six-meter-tall, alabaster minotaur thing. With spider legs erupting from its back and five horns crowing its head.
“MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Tremble mortals! For Gorzanktunack comes! He comes to conquer! He comes to crush! This world is now mine own to do with as I wish! Let your hopes and dreams die as…”
He stopped as he his eyes found me.
I frowned at him. Letting some Psy out and sending him my status information.
“NEVER MIND!!!!” The Intruder yelled. A little too loudly.
The he made a door appear behind him, opened it and slammed it shut on his way out.
The door soon vanished with him. Leaving behind another gust of displaced air.
Father-in-law could only blink in response. Then he turned to me.
“Is that going to happen often?”
I forced my body to shrug.
“Only for the next few days. Everything should be back to normal before we go back to the Labyrinth.”
He nodded with some relief.
“Right, right. Good. Now then… lets talk family.”
‘Oh goodie.’ I thought.
“I’m thinking we have the wedding soon. Two or three days from now. It’ll be the very first one we have out here in the open air in a long, long time. So, we’ll have to make it nice. I’m thinking we build a palisade here, and we have you and Dusty on a raised dais. The field is already filled with flowers, so that makes things easier. All we need is to import some booze from the nearby clans and we can have ourselves a feast!”
I raised a hand to stop him.
“Uh, sorry dad. But I’m not sure me and Dusty are at the point of getting married yet. Also, this field is filled with corpses. Particularly, the corpse of the Blood-Queen over there inside the crater and the corpse of the whale thing that washed up dead on the beach. The air is rancid, and the ground is muddy from all the spilled blood. Even the beach is tinted red. I’m not sure it has the romantic vibe you might be thinking of.”
“Nonsense!” He laughed. “The field being filled with corpses is the whole point! It is a victory celebration! A celebration of our auspicious savior! The greatest Shepherd to ever live! That, and a celebration of him choosing my daughter of all people! Of the children you will have! You..!”
He pointed at me.
“You’re the best thing that has ever happened to this world! The best thing that ever happened to my family! The best thing that ever happened to me! You’re like the son I never had!”
‘Holy (Gnome). Sorry Slab.’
Thankfully, my apparent brother-in-law was currently busy clearing out barricades so that the Clan could move their whole host of belongings to the surface. The idea was to get everything close to the surface, before they could then disperse to gather materials and start re-building proper human housing.
‘Thank goodness he didn’t hear what Finn said. I have a feeling there’s some lingering tension there.’
Finn had, of course, been ecstatic when his son came back with multiple Types, one of them being Telepath. That joy had lasted about as long as it had taken me to step into view and now, anyone could be forgiven for thinking Slab was but a distant relation.
Slab himself didn’t seem to care over much, but the difference in reactions had startled me nonetheless.
I paused to regard Finn once more.
In any other occasion, the sentiment would have been heartening.
Now that I was inside his brain and therefore privy to his whole, selective breeding perspective, it made me somewhat queasy.
‘Well, I guess I should say something. No point in dragging things out.’
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Look, dad. We need to talk.”
“Of course, son! What would you like to talk about!?”
“Me and Dusty have, had our share of differences. I really do like her and respect her and I want to make things work. That is, I want to have a normal relationship. I want to take it slow and get to know her over the course of…”
Finn laughed even harder.
“Oh, son! You kill me! What do you mean get to know her? You like her and she likes you! And your children will be mighty enough to safeguard humanity for generations to come! What’s the issue!? That you don’t know everything about her? Yes you do! You’ve seen most of her memories and you knew what you were getting into when you asked her to be your girlfriend, right? So, what’s keeping you now?”
“Time.” I answered. Frustration mounting inside of me as I realized that this man was not stupid.
He knew full well what kind of world I came from due to his own studies of history, and he knew this arrangement was anything but normal. That more time was usually needed.
He knew that and kept pushing anyway.
His mind already filled with thoughts of grandchildren. No, not grandchildren. But the power those children would command.
He saw it, in all the corpses strewn around us. The prospect made him salivate.
I sighed internally.
‘I guess things are never as easy as they seem.’
----------------------------------------
The house was nearly immaculate, as my agents had left it.
They had followed my orders to leave the place alone, after they had failed to turn up any information as to my family’s whereabouts. My heart still holding on to hope that my son and his wife could find their way back. That Sully could somehow find his way back.
Now, the couches were still as comfortable as I remembered, and, though there was some dust on the floor, it wasn’t anywhere near enough to be off-putting. At least, not after the events of the past week.
Across from me, sat my son, Reggie, his wife and the odd mutant girl they’d chosen to adopt in their Tutorial instance.
‘Though why they did that is anybody’s guess.’ I mused. ‘I certainly wouldn’t have taken such a risk if a warlord was hunting her. Especially if I had a wife to look out for.’
Then again, Reggie had always been different from me. Never able to stomach the darker shades of moral greys in the world. It was… an odd distinction between us.
On the one hand, I felt angry at him. Angry that he would miss out on having real control over his own life, and instead opting for the illusion of it. All while knowing full well that the backroom deals he wasn’t privy to were still happening and having real, visible consequences on the world around him. I was angry that, despite all my sacrifices, he just didn’t have what it took to follow through. On what needed to be done in order to keep his own family, and the world, safe.
On the other hand, I could not be more proud of him. Of the moral fibre he’d managed to hold on to, despite knowing what was going on behind the scenes. Of the way he kept his head down in his mundane job, when he could have taken the easy way into power. Like I had.
‘I should be more thankful that he was always this way.’ I mused quietly. ‘Sully ended up like that, in the end. But he’s got some semblance of self control, at least. I can’t imagine what the world would look like if he didn’t.’
I shivered slightly, but then went back to the conversation.
“It’s okay son.” I repeated. Keeping my voice calm and steady as I heard him out.
“Nothing bad will happen. Everything is under control. Don’t lose your cool and try to focus on the present. Focus on my voice.”
“(Mittens) your voice dad!” My son bellowed.
His sharp features coloring as he heaved huge gulps of air. His eyes maintaining that all-too familiar mania that the dissidents I went after all sported.
‘Though I suppose that isn’t very fair. I’m fairly certain I had that same look when he and the rest of my family went missing, and then again when Sully came back.’
My eyes wandered over to the scene outside the window. Noting the crowd making its way down the block with starstruck eyes and drooling mouths.
“What do we want!?”
“DEAD GNOMES!!”
“When do we want them!?”
“RIGHT NOW!!”
“Eyes for the Coffin! Scalps for the scalp rug!” One called out from the front.
“Eyes for the Coffin! Scalps for the scalp rug!” The crowd echoed.
“Eyes for the Coffin! Scalps for the scalp rug!”
“Eyes for the Coffin! Scalps for the scalp rug!”
“Eyes for the Coffin! Scalps for the scalp rug!”
Half a hundred went by, before they turned to singing.
“Righteous father! Loose your fury! There are gnomes to kill today! Crush their spirits! Bind their bodies! Help us find a better way!”
“Gentle father! Raise your banners! There are foes we have to slay! Scourge their flesh! Sunder their bones! Burn their horrid sins away!”
“Wizened father! Font of mercy! Call upon us on this day! We shall tear down, all their falsehoods! Make the unbelievers pay!”
“Humble father! In the Coffin! Let our fury blaze away! Singe their flesh and gouge their eyes out! Let no faithful go astray!”
I blinked, and noticed an Intruder following them from the back.
A lone Solomonling giggling all by itself. It’s juvenile semblance contrasting heavily with the conical polished skull in its hands.
“See! You see that!!” Reggie wailed. “The demon is here too! It has control over them! Over all of them! None of us are safe! My son isn’t safe!”
I said nothing, but moved to close the blinds.
“Listen Reggie.” I turned back to my son. My eyes still glued to the road.
“It isn’t really that bad. Like I said. We have everything under control.”
Reggie reddened further.
“Were you not listening to anything I said!? We were hunted! Literally, hunted! For a week! By an actual, literal (Mittens)ing demon!”
‘Join the club.’ I thought bitterly.
“She… it…” Reggie’s face scrunched up. “It’s got Sully! The monsters took him! We have to save him!”
I schooled my features to stifle the laugh that wanted to erupt from my lips.
‘Reggie, Sully isn’t locked away with the monsters. The monsters are locked away with him.’
“Sully is fine.” I repeated. “I’ve told you this over a hundred different times by now. Why can’t you trust me?”
“Because you’re a government spook that disappears people!” Reggie bit back. “And because you aren’t listening! You aren’t getting what we went through!”
Bonnie broke out in tears at that. Making it so that Puffin, my new horned, green-haired granddaughter, snuggled closer to her on the couch.
Reggie started pacing, and I realized that nothing would get to him until he finished his story.
“That first night and all throughout the following day, it rained blood. Non-stop. For hours upon hours upon hours. Warm, sticky droplets that hardened and congealed whenever they touched the ground. They painted the islands, all of them into a red, messy pile of slop. We his as best we could, taking shelter under trees and in what was left of our old camp, but the blood still got through. All the time. Pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter.”
Reggie’s face looked haunted, as he recalled the deluge.
“It never stopped. Never. Not once. Throughout the week. It rained blood all day and all night. Do you know what that does? What that ends in?”
He barked out a nervous, disturbed laugh.
“The monster! The monsters ran! Into the ocean and away from the islands! All of them drowned by the tens of thousands! None of them made it out! And the things… that came afterwards. Oh father. The things…”
“The winged children and the lacerated man-things with barbed wires sticking out of them, saws and blades in their hands, black leather covering them and black wings on the back.” I told him. “I know. Believe you me. I am more than familiar with them.”
“Then how can you be so calm!” He roared.
“They, and the toad-faced man, kept talking about Sully! All the time! Saying all sorts of vile, disgusting things about him!”
‘All of which are probably true.’ I mused, though I decided to keep my cynicism to myself.
“Then, on the second day, came the sandcastles.”
“The sandcastles?” I asked quizzically. Not recalling anything like that in my time with Sully.
“Yes! The sandcastles! They started springing up when the blood had completely covered the beaches in a thin, coagulating film. They rose up, like people covered under heavy blankets and started shaping themselves out of sand! They turned into house-sized golems made of red bricks. Having the rough shape of humans, but none of the identifying features. Instead, they had masks fused to their faces. All of whom cried golden tears that dispelled when coming into contact with the earth. They wore heavy chains that looked as if they were made from streams of blood having solidified into steel and large wheels were strapped to their chest and arms. Their backs having pairs of rust-colored wings. Stiff things that resembled blades more than anything else. But the weirdest thing, is how they shone. How they seemed to have an outline that calmed us and even made us stronger. They were corrupting us somehow, I’m sure of it! They hunted us. For the entire second day.”
Puffin started crying then.
Reggie paid her no heed.
“They were relentless! Never stopping for breath or food or water! Instead, they always chased us. Speaking with three or four voices at once. Sometimes, I could hear them in my sleep. The voices of some guy called Randall and something called the Seeking Drake. They were pleading! Begging for their suffering to end. But I knew it wasn’t really them. I knew this was just an echo of their suffering! The few bits and pieces that remained in that place!”
“What place?” I asked him.
“That Lakehouse mansion! I saw it on the third day! When we had run out of water in our canteens and the only liquid that remained was the blood all around us! I was dying. We were all dying. I gave what I had to Bonnie and Puffin and waited for the end. I was so thirsty then. So thirsty. But I didn’t dare drink from the brooks or the ponds of the few rivers that criss-crossed the islands. There was more blood than water in all of them and I would have died, rather than find out what would happen to me if I drank. But then, I saw it. A house that had never been there before. It was full of opulent furniture, like an early 20th century palace, but it also had a fountain. A clean fountain. I… I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. I knew it was a trap, but I was so thirsty and I knew Bonnie and Puffin and all the others were thirsty too. I crawled to it. On instinct and felt the water rising up to meet my lips before I even kneeled on the side of the fountain. I tried to shut it out. To shut my mouth, but it forced its way into my throat. Then I saw the others there, beside me. Red-robed things holding their heads to the fountain too. Making them drink alongside me. I heard it then. Its voice. Its terrible, raspy voice.”
“Mittens?” I inquired.
“Worse! The Tall Man! The fiend that controlled us all those years ago! I think it’s some kind of predator! It’s fixated on Sully!”
‘Yeah, you could say that.’
“Look, Reggie. Like I keep trying to tell you, it isn’t a big….”
“Then, on the fourth day! That Mittens woman started hounding us again! Calling me by name and demanding belly-rubs and head pats and catnip! All while hauling around three disfigured human corpses! She chased us around and around the island! Never letting up! Screaming about how much she loved us and Sully! About how much she wanted to be a family with us again!”
In all honesty, that was almost endearing. At least, compared to what it had done to Desmond. Granted, Desmond had absolutely had it coming, but still…
“Then, on the fifth day…!”
“Reggie. Stop.” I spoke.
Keeping my voice firm and speaking to him in the same business-like tone I used for people I was about to disappear.
It had the expected effect and Reggie paused.
“I know it’s hard to hear. But all of this, was an unfortunate side-effect of Sully rescuing you.”
I brought up my hand to forestall him.
“You don’t need to hear it from me though. I got an ability that will explain everything. Just relax for now, and let my memories flow into your minds.”