Chapter 13. The Shadow's Truth

Gulliver hadn’t been able to get a moment alone with Andromeda to discuss their plans, and he was pretty sure that it was by design more than coincidence. Koko had agreed to give Gulliver his leather pouch back, free of wards, if Gulliver agreed to make one for Koko. Gulliver had spent the first part of the evening with Koko, showing him exactly how to make one. Gulliver got the feeling that Koko cared more about watching Gulliver enchant a small leather pouch than about learning how to do it. Koko squealed with delight when Gulliver was finished, then produced his original pouch and returned it. As promised, it was empty.

Gulliver spent the remainder of the evening working on refilling his pouch. He sat in his room and created ward after ward: magic dampeners, illuminations, and a small handful of wards which granted invisibility.

He finished, pouch filled with wards again, and pulled a pocket watch from his left pant pocket. It was almost three in the morning, no wonder he was so tired. His head hit the pillow, mind shutting down as reality faded.

Gulliver was running, he had to keep it chasing him, keep it occupied. He could hear a scream. Was it Finnigan? He pointed his wand high and bellowed, “Rebus!” He shot like a rocket high into the air. His cloak wouldn’t spread, in fact, it seemed to be missing altogether. He was soaring high over a small village; below he could see Finnigan sprinting. Behind him was the phantom, moving from shadow to shadow. It was gaining on his brother. Gulliver willed his cloak into existence and it flapped like a giant set of wings. When he looked over at them, he wasn’t surprised to see that the cloak wasn’t a cloak at all, but huge wings which had sprouted from his back. He dived, moving faster than either the phantom or Finnigan.

The wind rushed in his ears, blocking out the sound of his brothers frantic screaming; but he could still see what was happening down below. Even with his speed, he wasn’t going to make it. The Phantom jumped into the moonlight shadow of a nearby tree and Finnigan’s own shadow began to grow. It lengthened, then stood upright, grabbing Finnigan and hoisting him into the air. Finnigan pointed his wand, which glowed vibrantly and blasted the phantom. The light was blinding, making Gulliver avert his eyes. When it cleared, both Finnigan and the Phantom were gone.

Gulliver landed hard on the ground where his brother had stood, a small crater forming at his feet. He heard another scream, this time it was Andromeda. He lifted off, flying high into the air. On the outskirts of the village was a creek, and running towards it was Andromeda. He pounded his giant wings harder than ever and flew to her as quickly as he could. He grabbed her and lifted her high into the air.

From below he heard a familiar voice yell, “Rebus!” Gulliver flew harder, knowing that the spell would launch whoever cast it much faster than he was flying. A blast of light shot through the night air and hit Gulliver in the middle of his back, sending Andromeda plummeting for the earth.

“Gulliver!” she screamed. Both of Gulliver's wings had been paralyzed, and a dark shape crashed past him. It was a man, dressed in a trench coat and Gulliver’s own magic cap. The man shot to Andromeda and wrapped his arms around her. His coat spread wide, slowing his descent. He landed on the other side of the creek and Andromeda held herself to his chest. He bent his neck and kissed her gently.

“Get off her!” Gulliver roared. He could feel the rage take over. He lept into the small creek and began sprinting across it. The water resisted his movement. The man set Andromeda down, her wand broken and dangling from her hand. He turned to Gulliver and pulled back the sides of his trench coat. Gulliver's own leather pouch was anchored to the man's belt.

The man pointed his...he had Gulliver's wand! Not Gullivers inherited wand, but his blasting cone; his personal wand. Gulliver stopped in his tracks, water flowing gently around him. The imposter pointed ia and Gullivers own wards shot out. They floated into the air and hovered around Gulliver. One by one they shot down at him. He dodged one, only to get hit in the back with another. It exploded painfully and he fell hard into the creek, face hitting the bottom of the creekbed. He pushed himself to his hands and knees, and saw the reflections on the rippling water of more wards circling above him.

The more the water cleared, the more his reflection sharpened. His mouth opened in silent protest at what he saw. It wasn’t his own face he was wearing, it was the face of his father. Gulliver looked in shock at the man on the bank of the creek. He could see now, it was Gulliver.

“What am I?” Gulliver said as he sat in the creek.

“We need to leave, he’s done, you have to let it go,” Andromeda pleaded with the Gulliver on the bank. “He can’t hurt us anymore, we just have to leave.” The Gulliver on the bank turned and walked away with Andromeda, the pair of them intertwining their fingers. Gulliver collapsed into the water, breathing deep. The water filled his lungs, drowning wasn’t so bad. It just felt like breathing air.

“Gulliver!” Andromeda said, “We have to go! Get up!” Gulliver woke and wrapped his arms around Andromeda. He didn’t know why, but he felt as though he’d just lost her. “Are you okay?” she asked, embracing him.

“Yeah,” he said. “I think so. Just out of it.” He let go of Andromeda and stood.

Andromeda was already dressed, wearing her same outfit from before. Gulliver grabbed his shirt, coat, and wards, then followed. He put on his shirt and fastened his pouch to his belt, readying himself for whatever happened.

“I didn’t expect it to happen this soon,” Koko said as he entered the room. “Bokamoso was a force for stabilization, and we didn't think it would happen this fast after he was taken. He must have been transferred to Castra Nocte. He was worried this would happen, but the damn Courtier forced our hand!” he finished in more of a shout.

“Where are we going?” Gulliver asked.

“Arizona,” Koko said. “Look, I needed more time to teach you how to make a proper protective enchantment, traditional barriers are too rigid to do what we are doing. It’s almost identical to a barrier charm, just with no energy.” He snapped his fingers, and Gulliver felt a cool but invisible fluid surround him. He looked at Andromeda, who was inspecting herself. Apparently, Koko had put it around her as well. “This will have to do in the meantime. Lucy is already there with Pip, do you know whip snare charms?”

“Yes,” Andromeda and Gulliver said in unison, eyeing each other. Gulliver put on his trench coat, which had his magic cap concealed within it. He donned that as well.

“Good, you’re going to be functioning as what we call anchors. We’re heading to a rift in spacetime. They’ve been growing in appearance, frequency, and size exponentially over the past few years. Whatever happens, don’t go through the rift! Without Bokamoso there’s literally no chance of getting your body back. Thank God we had him here for Bif.” Koko looked down, if Gulliver didn’t know better he’d say Koko actually cared about Bif.

“What does an anchor do?” Andromeda asked, changing the subject.

“Exactly that. You anchor the rift. You each attach to the side of the rift with the whip snare charms and pull it shut,” Koko said.

“It doesn’t sound complicated, how come it’s dangerous?” Gulliver asked.

“The rift doesn’t want to close. It wants to rip open entirely. If it does, we die,” Koko said, his voice shaking.

“You said The Shadow was a force of stabilization, have you done this without him before?” Andromeda asked. Gulliver didn’t know why, but when she mentioned The Shadow, he felt lightheaded. He caught Andromeda looking at him, he didn’t mind. He just wished she’d hide the worry from her face.

“Once,” Koko said, looking expressly away.

“When?” Gulliver demanded.

“It doesn’t matter,” Koko said.

“It does!” Gulliver snapped, grabbing the man and holding him by his white jacket. “When?”

“When Bif died!” Koko yelled into Gulliver's face. “And it doesn’t matter, because Bokamoso is in Castra Nocte and we have no other choice but to try, or this thing will rip the world to shreds. Now let’s get into the grounds so we can make a portal!”

“Why did you go without Bokamoso?” Andromeda asked as they walked.

“We didn’t. The Courtier stepped out of the rift, from the other side. Only Bokamoso could do that, but he walked out of it like it was nothing. He looked at Bokamoso, smirked, then Bokamoso lost his power,” Koko said. “The rift opened faster than we could react, and it consumed Bif. There was a light, then Bokamoso was gone. The Courtier took him. That’s why we had to get him into Castra Nocte.”

“How did you get him back?” Gulliver asked.

“The Courtier wanted to give him a proposition. He let Bokamoso go as long as he swore the vow of constitution that he would never help seal another rift. That’s why he had to go,”

“Where are all of The Shadow’s men?” Andromeda asked.

“Left when he got arrested,” Koko said, walking through a side door onto the grounds. “We’ll leave from here.” He opened a pocket watch and pressed the face of it. Light flashed from the watch, creating a green edged portal. From the other side came an odd silence, as though all the sound was being drained from the air.

“We are all that’s left. Shall we?” Without another word he stepped through. Andromeda went first, and Gulliver followed closely behind.

Garen pounded hard on Gulliver's front door. There were no lights on, but Garen was sure they were here. The enchantments on this place didn’t allow the Wizen to track any stewards that came here, and right now Gulliver and Andromeda were both untrackable. Garen had convinced the old fool Zedekiah that these two may be privy to more information about the Premier's abduction than they let on. Garen had his sources though and knew it wasn’t true. He just didn’t want them interfering with his plans.

“I know you’re in there Higginbotham! You and Andromeda! Put on your clothes and come out!” Garen yelled. He pulled out his wand, ready to demolish the door when his silver steward wings vibrated three times in rapid succession. He tapped them, stopping the vibrations. “Not here then,” he mumbled. “Damn, I was looking forward to trashing the place.”

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Garen walked from the cabin, through the tree’s at the perimeter of the property and out of the protective shield Gulliver had put into effect. He opened a portal and stepped through, into the realm of the Wizen.

“They’re in Arizona, the Sonoran desert,” Zedekiah said. “They both have their wings, but look here.” The old man was standing by his desk, that stupid thing always looked so out of place to Garen. Garen stepped forward and looked into Zedekiah’s crystal ball, light emanating from it.

“It’s just a cloud,” Garen said.

“Oh, I grant you all my access,” Zedekiah said.

The fog within the crystal ball cleared, revealing Andromeda and Gulliver hiking across a ridge. With them was a man in a white suit, another man in a pair of cargo pants and a jacket, and a humanoid so large that Garen found himself doing a double take.

“That’s The Shadow’s team! They’re with his team!” Zedekiah said, panic in his voice.

Garen fought back a smile, this couldn’t have worked better if he’d planned it himself. Garen said.

“We don’t know what happened yet, you’re jumping to conclusions,” Zedekiah said.

“No, you’re letting your bias dictate the investigation. Here are the facts. One, Gulliver's partner Biff disappeared, and The Shadow himself said that Bif was helping him. Two, Gulliver knows The Shadow almost on a personal level.”

“It can’t be,” Zedekiah stammered.

“Three,” Garen continued, Zedekiah's eyes widening as he spoke. “After speaking to The Shadow, they disappear, only to be found with these people. The Inquisition is no longer in charge of this case Zedekiah, this is a matter of The Imposition. As head of The Imposition, I’d like to take over completely.”

Zedekiah’s mouth moved, but no sounds emitted. Finally, he seemed able to summon words. “The Imposition is brutal; effective, yet brutal. We’ve never had a time where a High Marshal was ever investigated, let alone pursued by The Imposition!”

“I’ll be delicate with her, she’s likely under an enchantment,” Garen said, appeasing the old man. I’ll kill her if I have the chance he thought to himself.

“Very well Garen, but bring them both to me. Intact.” Zedekiah said.

“Yes, sir. So you know, I intend to use Raepax to detain Gulliver. With Gulliver's wards we need something extra. He could claim the lives of an entire squadron of my finest imposition; he knows how they work,” Garen said. He turned and walked from the Realm of the Wizen, leaving the old man sitting with a blank face.

Gulliver walked through the desert, dark of night still masking the landscape. He could see the silhouettes of gigantic cacti towering all around. He followed closely behind Andromeda with Koko in front of her. The sound of their boots crunching on the ground sounded like a distant echo.

“The sound’s distorted,” Koko yelled from far off. Gulliver looked up, how far ahead was Koko? The white suite shone in the moonlight no more than four paces ahead of him. “The closer we get, the less we will be able to hear. You stewards have your hand signals. Bif taught them to us and that’s how we communicate. When we are in there, you snare the opposite edge of the rift, halfway up, and pull with everything you’re worth. That simple, that’s all you do. However, when you start to hear again, break your whips, don’t try to pull. That’ll get you killed.” He stared at them for a few moments, then nodded and kept walking.

Andromeda flashed several hand signals to Gulliver saying, “This is suspicious.”

Gulliver signaled back, “Watch where you’re walking, there are cacti.”

Andromeda gave Gulliver a universally accepted signal which was less than friendly, accompanied by a smirk. Gulliver grinned back and kept walking.

The three of them marched forward for several more minutes before Koko said, voice less audible than a whisper, “This is the last time you will be able to hear me until after the rift is closed. Lucy and Pip are on the top of the next ridge waiting for us, after that it’s about five minutes to the rift.” Watching Koko talk, Gulliver realized that there was a delay between when he was speaking and when Gulliver heard the words.

Gulliver signaled to Koko, “Lead on.”

Koko watched his hands, and thought for a minute, then signaled back, “Don’t know how one.”

Gulliver's eyes widened, and he signaled to Andromeda, “I thought they knew the signals, if they don’t, we can’t communicate well with them.”

“It means to lead on,” Andromeda shouted, the sound barely audible.

Koko smiled, bowed slightly, then signaled back, “Thank you, ma’am.”

“At least he got that right,” Gulliver muttered, completely unable to hear his own voice.

Koko led them up the next rise, sounds of his footsteps wholly gone. Atop the ridge were two silhouettes, one dwarfing the other, both looking the other direction. Gulliver crouched low and quickly weaved together one of his advanced illumination wards, which rapidly spread to create a sphere above the heads of each member of their peculiar party. Koko and Andromeda both had a blue orb as magicians. Pip’s sphere was a vibrant yellow, so he was a human. Gulliver looked at Lucy, expecting the black light of a demon, but instead saw a grass green sphere.

So you’re not a demon Gulliver thought to himself. What are you giant? Gulliver knew of course that the being wasn’t a giant, giants were much larger than Lucy. He had to be a golem! Gulliver kept walking, trying to puzzle out what Lucy could be when the enigma of his new large friend was pushed from his mind.

He saw a... well... this had to be the rift. It was black in the center, fading to the darkest purple Gulliver had ever seen on the edges. Small pieces of the sides wicked from the center and would quickly disintegrate as a small piece of paper to a flame. As the tiny fragments broke, they became transparent and magnified the view of whatever was behind them, but made it appear doubled. The dark portion of the rift seemed to draw Gulliver in and familiarly absorbed light. Gulliver slipped to a knee, feeling nauseous. The world around him seemed to spin as his legs slid precariously back down the ridge. He was sure he was slipping, in moments he would fall.

Andromeda glanced back at him, concern marring the awe that had painted her smooth face. She rushed to his side, rocks tumbling down the ridge they had climbed and grabbed Gulliver, hoisting him further onto the ridge. She sat him down, then pulled a flask from her chest pocket and put it to his lips.

Gulliver drank, it was alcohol. A really stiff drink. Vodka maybe? He didn’t normally drink vodka, but suspected this may be just that. As he choked it down, he could feel the effects on his mind almost instantly. What felt like a lubricant coated his thoughts, not intoxicating him, but holding him in place. Was it a lubricant, an anchor, or both? The view of the rift no longer produced nausea or lightheadedness, so Gulliver was able to regain his feet.

“Thanks,” he signaled to Andromeda. She nodded back at him, but gave him a concerned stare. “I’m good now,” he signed, giving her his best reassuring stare. He couldn’t help but hope that she believed it, because he didn’t. Pushing his thoughts to the side, Gulliver moved forward, Andromeda keeping pace beside him. The rest of the party didn’t hear anything, so they didn’t look back to see them.

Ahead, Koko was with Lucy and Pip, and from his white suit jacket, he pulled four shrunken heads. He handed two of them to Pip, keeping the others for himself. They held one head in each hand by the hair and began to descend the ridge toward the rift. They reached the bottom of the slope, and the size of the rift finally started to come to scale to Gulliver. It was tremendous, easily several times the size of his own home, which made the fragments anywhere from the size of a large dog to a horse.

Lucy stopped and turned to face the rest of the group. A deep voice emanated from beneath his covering, “The fragments will kill you, no amount of healing can reverse what damage they can cause.” Gulliver's eyes widened as he and Andromeda exchanged sidelong glances. The sound of the creature's voice shook Gulliver, vibrating him to his core. As powerful as it was, it was somehow gentle and kind at the same time. Gulliver felt scared and safe, threatened and loved at the same time. How could they even hear Lucy when every other sound had been nullified by the rift?

“You heard it too?” Andromeda signaled to Gulliver.

“You all can hear me,” Lucy said simply, understanding their signals completely. “I am not of your world, so all of your world’s rules do not apply to me. They will show you where to stand Stewards, do not allow yourselves to be killed. We need your influence within your guild to help with these rifts on the global scale.” With that, the enigma turned and walked toward the rift.

The closer the party got, the more unsettled Gulliver felt. The lightheadedness began to return so Gulliver took another long pull from Andromeda’s flask to keep it at bay.

Koko held his shrunken heads under his arms and signaled, “Man here,” to Gulliver. His hand movements were uncoordinated, but the message was clear. Gulliver stood in the position which was slightly to the left of the rift, and far enough away that none of the fragments lasted long enough to reach him, completely evaporating within ten feet of him. He watched as Koko took Andromeda to the right of the rift on a parallel line with Gulliver.

Pip stood slightly in front of Gulliver, shrunken heads held out in front of him as he watched Koko get into position. Lucy walked directly in front of the rift, his back to the four of them when his voice resonated again. “Our side is prepared, on your signal, we will begin.”

Gulliver gripped his wand with both hands and aimed it at the far side of the rift, then Glanced at Andromeda who had taken her aim as well. Did Lucy just communicate with beings from the other side? Several moments passed with nothing happening when a small bulge pressed through the center of the rift.

“Begin,” said Lucy.

“Flagellum Laqueum!” Gulliver bellowed, or at least he felt himself yell despite no sound coming out. It seemed magic didn’t mind not being able to hear him, and the blue snare shot from the end of his wand like a rocket. He aimed slightly lower, his whip passing under Andromeda’s in the air. His aim was true, and it wrapped around the edge of the rift, blue wrapping around deep purple. On impact, the snare broke a large fragment which shot rapidly towards Andromeda. Gulliver was on the verge of abandoning his whip when a pair of white figures crashed through the particle, tearing it into thousands of tiny fragments. He watched the couple of them fly high and fast and loop back around, stopping in front of the two shrunken heads Pip was holding. When they stopped moving Gulliver could see their opaque white figures in detail. They were people, well, ghostly skeletons of people, each wrapped in a thin white piece of linen.

“Pull,” Lucy said. Gulliver heaved with all his might, prying the rift toward him. The edge moved mere inches directly where the whip was fastened. He held it in place, and the side of the rift slowly followed, almost imperceptibly reducing the overall mass. He pulled harder, indenting the snare deep within the edge of the rift. The harder Gulliver pulled, the deeper the indentation became; his snare charm almost engulfed as the sides of the rift touched. The moment the rift sealed itself around the snare it sent a wave of darkness through the whip. It shot through Gulliver's wand and hit him in the chest, sending him back through the air. He looked down at his chest where there was a layer of floating sludge inches from him. Koko’s barrier seemed to have done its job. He created another barrier under the surface of the tar and flung it to the side.

Gulliver stood and ran back to his position. He shot another whip which wrapped itself around the edge of the rift like the first charm had done. He heaved and got the indent deep, but not so deep as to let the rift wrap itself around his snare completely. He pulled at a constant rate, indent moving slowly with the edge of the rift moving slowly behind it. The rift was shrinking, and as it did large fragments would shoot off. Koko and Pip used the disembodied spirits to intercept them before any harm could be done.

“If we continue at this pace, the event shall conclude with no foreseeable difficulties,” Lucy said.

Garen stepped through the portal, for some reason he wasn’t able to create it any closer than this. If he couldn’t produce one closer to apprehend them, they couldn’t use one to escape. He smiled at the thought. They really were trapped. Behind him a squadron of stewards stepped through the portal, Garen had created this group of men himself. He had bribed and even threatened other stewards to make certain crimes disappear, crimes that would have disqualified them from being stewards.

Behind them, walked through a man in form-fitting black attire, a muscular frame showing through. His outfit wrapped his entire body, including his head, with not even slits for vision. As the man moved, the color of his clothing seemed to shift, making him almost blend into the background before Garen’s eyes. His hands had gems embedded on their backs, fingertips brown. Garen had heard he had acquired gemstones from the orient, turns out it was true.

“Raepax, your job is to capture Gulliver by any means necessary. Alive if you can so I can see his face inside a cell, dead if needed,” Garen said. “The rest of us are to eliminate the threat that is The Shadow’s followers. Andromeda is to be included in that.”

“Rebus!” growled a voice from beneath the black cowl. Raepax shot into the sky with a boom, almost faster than a spell and disappeared into the low hanging clouds which were rolling in.

Garen looked at his men and saw the wicked smiles spread across their faces. It was all but done, Gulliver and Andromeda would be eliminated once and for all. Garen relished the thought of taking Andromeda’s life and watching Gulliver squirm when he did it.