Chapter 41

Tracy could feel her life ending. She couldn’t explain how or why, but she felt she had come to that point in her existence that she had nothing more to give. Was it God calling to her finally? Or was it Ilias begging for her to come back to him?

The latter seemed more feasible although he wasn’t happy that she left him – she could feel that even if she didn’t see it. In fact, she couldn’t even remember openly expressing to him her plans of leaving him to help her son.

And the thought of leaving Ilias brought back memories of Connor Barker, the boy she had liked a long time ago. He was the one who brought Orion into her world as well as Rick Hopman’s. She doesn’t blame him. It was, after all, her sister Laura that had the procession of the book of the Forbidden Realms.

He was young and didn’t know how to fight off Orion, the Master Dreamkiller. So was she. And now that she thought about it, she too didn’t know how to fight Orion. She still doesn’t. He had defeated her at the top of the tower by throwing her off the side, into the fires.

But all these memories brought with them the revelation that she could remember again. She had told Ilias that her memory was fading but now that she was somewhat mortal again, her memories were becoming clearer.

That wasn’t the only thing becoming clearer. Her mortal age was rearing its ugly fangs. She was twenty-six at the time when she became a Guardian. Twenty years passed when she met up with her son again and another twenty years since then. In mortal time she would be about sixty-six, but now she felt older than that; like God was punishing her for cheating death.

How much longer do I have? She didn’t want to see her son die – no mother should. If there was some way to prevent it, then by God, she’d do it without thinking twice. But it seems that going back to Orion’s fortress means certain death.

Please, she begged, give me just a little more time. Then you can have your way with me.

And still she couldn’t stop thinking about Connor. The guilt she was feeling brought tears to her eyes. “I didn’t give up on you,” she cried.

If she had just read the letter before. If Dave Straub, Connor’s friend who had given her the letter, could have given it to her earlier, then maybe…

… Around ten the next morning, Dave walked to the ball field where he guessed Tracy would be practicing. Once he got there he looked around at the three different fields. He squinted his eyes and found his target in the middle field.

“Hey! You’re Tracy Kingston, right?” Dave yelled as he sprinted his way over to the girl, feeling odd at what he was doing and for whom he was doing it for.

“Yeah,” she replied, turning around. “Why?” She studied Dave up and down. “Do I know you?” Tracy asked – she recognized him from school but knew nothing about him.

“Well,” Dave began and sighed as he held out the paper. “This is from Connor,” he explained his unannounced appearance, ignoring the girl’s question, and handed over the paper.

She broke the seal and opened the paper and began reading. She read it to herself, but once reread, the words found sound.

Tracy,

I know that we can’t even try, but I still love you. We could’ve been happy together – you and I. Love awaited us, but you shut the awaiting door. I’ll miss you. I’ll probably won’t see you anymore, so…Good-bye and thank you for being a friend.

Connor James Barker

She read the complete letter, quietly, and began forming terrifying images within her head. “When did Connor give this to you?” Tracy had to ask.

“Yesterday.”

“Damnit,” she shouted. “I don’t like the sound of this letter. It’ll give him plenty of time to,” she hesitated. “To…Oh my God. No!” Tracy screamed, unaware of her showing emotions toward a person she had only rejected a day ago.

He caught on to where she was heading with the questions and formed a horrible image in his head that involved Connor killing himself. “Come on,” he said and ran toward the main sidewalk. She followed close behind and both were cursing their ages under their breath. One more year and they wouldn’t have to worry about running anywhere.

Once they reached the outside of Connor’s house, they heard a song called Fade to Black coming from Connor’s room, and Dave knew that everything was all wrong.

Time against them, they entered the house without knocking and sprinted through the living room, down the hallway to Connor’s room – where they found the door closed and locked.

“Connor, don’t do anything! Let us in! It’s Tracy,” she screamed, trying to get her voice heard over the music.

Mrs. Barker stormed out of her bedroom with a frightful expression on her confused face. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Tracy Kingston, Mrs. Barker. Connor’s fri…girlfriend,” she answered, hoping Connor would hear.

“I won’t let you kill Tracy – I will stop you.” Connor announced when he met up with the Cloaked One. He almost hated giving Tracy that letter – she may come and try to wake him up just when he was going to stop the creature.

The Cloaked One burst out in laughter. “You and who?” It shook its head and sighed. “You are in my way, Son,” It replied and shoved passed Connor and walked over to the door.

“No!” Connor screamed. He heard his friends screaming from the other side of reality. He must warn them not to step beyond this point of reality – they weren’t ready to face the things he has faced.

“I have nothing further to say to you,” they had heard. “Leave while you still can! Don’t step beyond the point of Eternity! You’re not ready yet! Turn back while you still have the chance,” they heard Connor yell, apparently addressing Tracy.

The Cloaked One turned around and faced Connor. It was now looking down the barrel of the same pistol it was shot with last night. It only grunted.

“No matter how many times,” Connor glared at the beast. “I will shoot you dead, I swear it,” he spat out as fire erupted in his hazel eyes.

A pause filled the room. “I like your spunk, Kid. I’ll make you a deal,” the Cloaked One began. “I’ll let her go if you’ll become one of us.” The sweet deal was dealt, it thought.

Connor stared, hypnotized into the beast's hood and felt numb as it lifted Connor’s trigger hand up to his own head. “Turn back while you still can!” he screamed, in hopes of reaching his friends.

Connor never felt the dry bony fingers wrap around his numb finger. He did not feel the push as it forced him to pull the trigger. Connor never felt the bullet scream into his mouth and up as it lodged itself up in his brain.

“What the hell is going on around here?” Mrs. Barker asked, hysterics erupting in her soul.

Dave tried to knock the door in but failed the first time with just his shoulder. Picking up his strength and his right leg, he managed to have kicked the door off its hinges.

It crashed open and just as the door crashed against the wall, they saw Connor fall over the side of his well-made bed.

Blood splattered throughout his room, covering three walls and giving his Doors poster a new look. Not much of the room – or its contents – remained their natural colors. His face was blown apart beyond recognition; his bottom lip seemed to have been the only thing that survived the atrocity.

Just as they crashed through the door, Connor’s hand fell to the floor, revealing a small pistol – the nose was still hot and smoking.

After a short series of screams, Mrs. Barker ran from the room screaming and throwing curses at invisible people and Tracy fell, face first, into Dave’s chest as he placed his arms around the weeping young woman.

All he could do was to stare at his deformed lifeless friend…

…But maybe not. She shook her head and realized that no matter when she read the letter, he would have died anyway. Orion was too strong.

She would try to find a way to make it up to him. It still didn’t change the way she felt, though.

Vince didn’t know where to look for Mykella. He didn’t know how to get into the stronghold even if he did know where she was – and there was that voice of reason in his head that screamed to him that he didn’t want to go in there anyway.

It was the sound of someone approaching that made him turn around. Although he looked worried, he was relieved to see Chris emerge from the forest. He wanted to run to her and wrap his arms around her and hold her tight for eternity. But he knew she was a widow now and his yearnings for love would have to wait.

“Is everything all right?” she asked when she reached him. She looked and saw the rest of their army behind her, looking confused as to why they were here.

She had told them that they were going to storm the castle, but let’s have a reality check – there was no way in hell they could even get in.

“What’s going on?” asked someone as he made his way over to them.

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She shrugged and turned to Vince. “Well?” She was also curious to know why he had abandoned his post. “I’d like to know that, too.”

Vince shook his head in confusion. “I,” he began, searching for the words to convey his true feelings. “I felt that Mykella was in danger.” The fatherly instinct finally emerged and she smiled.

“Vince, you know what she has to do. None of us can help her.”

He stared at her for a moment. He knew she was right – there was nothing they could do for her. Deep down, he didn’t want her to go through anything alone. He had raised her to be ignorant to the evils of the world (he will never forgive himself for that).

When she was only a few days old, just after leaving the hospital with Samantha, he had moved her from place to place, always in fear of her discovery. He had made sure that she was born (but was it really his help, or was it the help of a higher power?) and then he had to see to it that she survived long enough to fulfill her prophecy.

Vince didn’t care about the prophecy anymore; all that he cared for was Mykella. He didn’t want to see her die. And that was the feeling he was getting. Dying just to fulfill a prophecy wasn’t a good way to go, he thought.

He was grateful for Chris showing up, but he also felt as if he had sentenced her to death. He knew that she was prepared to die – had even expected it – but now she was sure to die. It was bringing the lamb to slaughter; which was what Orion always wanted.

He felt horrible that Chris had to watch Karl die, he would take it back (all of it) if he could.

As he looked around he was wondering where Orion was. He should have been on top of them by now. And where were his Dreamkillers? They must have followed Chris.

“Where is everybody?” he finally asked and Chris looked around. She had just realized that the monsters weren’t chasing after them at all.

Why not?

Orion had called his army back to his fortress instead of pursuing what remained of the human army. He had sent word telepathically, hoping that they would obey. Things haven’t been going his way today, after all.

He was relieved when he saw his army coming toward their castle and he had to instruct them to use the side entrance, to avoid the situation at hand. He really didn’t know why he had called them back; it wasn’t like he called for a retreat. And he really didn’t expect these few Dreamkillers to be able to take back their home.

And when he thought this, he suddenly understood that he had let in the notion that his kingdom was falling; that the rebels were taking control of everything he had created.

With this new notion, a feeling of fright entered his soul. It was a feeling he often had when he was a child being whipped by his loving father, King Darvon. He was terrified whenever he saw his father walking in his general direction. His father loved to give him his lessons. But the lesson Orion learned was not discipline or respect; it was the satisfaction of torture.

It was the letter he found written by his mother that changed everything. He found it in Master Whitaker’s room under a stack of papers inside his desk. It looked as if it were kept hidden. He tossed several papers aside, uninterested in the sketches of some red-haired young woman, and found the letter. It was written to Orion.

Why hadn’t Barbus given me this letter?

That was when he discovered the Forbidden Realms and when he began researching the possibilities of its existence. It was a relatively easy task. Those he sought who knew anything about the Forbidden Realms held their faith in that it did exist.

Then Barbus took the book (it was during his research that Orion came to realize that the only thing handed down from his dead mother was the lost book of the Forbidden Realms) and fled to God knew where. And still that did not stop him in his quest; in fact, it made it that much more interesting.

What Barbus did not know was that Orion was given divine powers by an angel named Ilias. Barbus Whitaker would pay dearly for his treason.

But the ironic thing about all this was that when he finally discovered that the book was nothing but a code of letters, it really had not much to do with the Forbidden Realms. He thought that the book was a key to enter the gate. But it was merely the location of the key.

He really didn’t need the book after all – he followed Vince like an obsessed stalker. And then, when they were separated for a short while, Vince literally fell into his lap when the plane crashed.

But all that was ancient history. He had to look to his future – his frightened future.

What was I doing whenever Father would whip me?

He lowered his head and sighed.

Using the secret stairwell, Orion hurried down the steps and met his army just outside when he opened the side door. “There is a revolt happening right now,” he called out as he approached the hideous mob.

They were silent and watched their God-King with sincere interest in their red and black eyes. There were several who liked the idea of battling revolutionaries. It has been a very long time since they actually fought anyone who had something worth dying for – it made their enemies fight that much stronger.

Orion moved through his minions, reading their thoughts (Why were they having thoughts? Their sole purpose is to serve me – not to think!). He grinned as he made his way to what could be seen as a front line.

“You may be surprised when you see who you will be fighting,” he said behind a malicious smile. “Your foes will look like you, my friends.” Now he saw their confused expressions and he fought back the urge to laugh at them for their stupidity for thinking. “That’s right – you’ll be fighting traitorous Dreamkillers.”

Hearing this made several of his Dreamkillers wince. Human enemies were easy to conquer; their flesh is easy to cut through. But to have to fight someone equal to you in strength – that was something entirely different to them.

He could see their hesitation and he cursed himself for going wrong somewhere when he created them. Even the second wave were conveying their own thoughts and concerns – hell, Klaus was even married to Xan.

“Your only concern is to see to it that they don’t win. I don’t care if they destroy the castle – I can make a new one by tomorrow. I don’t care how you do it.”

They shared a similar argument as to what winning meant. Sure, the castle can be destroyed, but don’t let the rebels win. They didn’t understand.

“Right now, Mykella Brown is outside.” He saw the shocked expressions on their faces. They knew what that meant. They were familiar with the final prophecy as well. She was to fight Orion in the final battle. She is the last Dream Crusader.

“Yes, you all know the bedtime tale – very good,” called Orion behind annoyance. “You are to make sure the rebels don’t get her. I have my suspicions that they would take her before I could kill her properly. If you must, lock her in my chamber.”

A tingling was felt beneath his hood and he looked back at his minions. “Yes, lock her in my chamber. But I should warn you, she is being guarded by our human prisoners; they won’t give her up without a fight.”

“And where will you be going, My Lord?”

He turned and looked at the one who had spoken out of turn. He wanted dearly to end his life, but he knew that he actually needed every one of his monstrosities. “If you must know,” he said and then turned, back facing them, “I must make a journey to the Forbidden Realms one last time, I think.”

He didn’t need to see their questionable faces. He didn’t need to dig deep to know that they felt hurt and abandoned. He didn’t care about them – he created them to serve him, not to ask questions about ethics.

“I shall not be gone long,” he said to them and walked back into his fortress, leaving the door open for them and they followed him in.

He led the way to the Great Hall where they could hear the battle raging long before they even neared the doorway. He stepped aside to allow his army to head into battle, and he could feel the hesitation as his Dreamkillers were surveying the war at hand.

It’s the end of them, he thought as he was disgusted by their feelings. An army with a conscience is a dead one.

“All right,” he shouted finally and looked at his army. “Half of you look for Mykella (she’ll be somewhere outside) and the rest of you fight your asses off.”

Still, he could feel their reluctance. “God damned hell-beasts! Go or I shall enjoy killing you right now!”

And go they did. As ordered, half of the army ran through the battle and out the front door which had been busted in from what looked like a giant tree. The rest of them ran into the battle and engaged in war against the rebels. As they fought, two things went through their minds: Their war against the humans was going to be a victory for them. They were pulled away just a dozen humans short of total victory. And, who the hell were they fighting? The rebels looked exactly like they did; red or black eyes, gray-green bodies, and various other body formations. But all in all they looked the same.

Orion stood in the doorway for a moment, watching the battle. He thought about striking at them like he had done earlier, but he knew that he must return to Eden. He had pressing issues that needed to be taken care of.

He bowed his head to them and then gave them a small salute. At this point, he really didn’t care how this part of the battle played out; his primary concern was Mykella. If she managed to find her way into the fortress, he was sure she would get the upper hand. He didn’t know why he thought this – was there something hiding in his castle that could put an end to him? (He didn’t even know about the secret passage made by Agnes and Beth until it was too late to do anything about it.)

He turned after a moment, feeling pity for this battle. None of these creatures were fighting for what was right – His way. They were fighting with a conscience. He would have to find out why. When he gets to Eden he would take from the tree every last morsel – he would even eat the bark if he had to until the answer comes to him.

He needed to know why this was happening. Orion would never allow the idea that, perhaps, he had gone wrong somewhere. And once he had his answer, he would destroy the entire race of Dreamkillers and start afresh. It would take some time, but he controlled Time now.

The journey to Eden was all in his mind.

He had gone out the Great Hall and found his sacred room where he closed the door behind him. He turned and looked at the relatively small room – it was small compared to his own chambers.

The fireplace had been kept cold in order for him to feel that beautiful cold sting when he touched one of his beloved steel spikes.

It has been a very long time since he had been in this room; there was no need for it. The last human he brought in here was just some putrid man he had thought knew the whereabouts of Mykella Brown. The victim confessed that he didn’t know who that was and so Orion impaled him in the next second.

That was such a long time ago.

The chair next to the fireplace had never been sat upon; the shackles on the mantelpiece never used. Even the door that led up to his garden had only once been opened.

He looked around and a lonely feeling crept its way into what heart he had. He often wondered why he even made this room – it was full of memories of his past; a past he wished to forget.

This was where his father would take him to watch the important sacrifices. Queen Nanaac’s death was the only one he really ever enjoyed. He would watch his father kneel before the stone altar and pray to their god Orion. Then he would impale his victims, lay them on the altar, and fill a chalice with their blood. He would drink only a little of the blood and then pour the rest over the faces of his victims.

Orion sighed and went over to the altar. Like his father, he knelt down before it on the hard stone floor and closed his eyes, hood covering his face.

In his mind's eye he pictured the wondrous garden as he had seen it countless times before – so full of life. Trees of every kind stood tall for eternity. Shrubs and flowers of every hue shot up from the ground. Animals ran in all directions (or they slithered) whenever he appeared.

And then he would see the Tree of Knowledge, hidden between a giant oak and a sycamore tree.

When Orion opened his eyes, the altar and the room had gone. In its place were the thing’s he knew would have appeared. He no longer knelt on the stone floor, rather on the plush grass greener than any he had ever seen – except for here, of course.

He took a deep breath, taking in the pureness of the garden.

There was a strange foulness he detected when he exhaled. Something was wrong, yet everything looked all right when he first looked around. Everything was in their original locations. He stood up and could not shake the feeling that something was different. He walked cautiously through the garden in the direction of the tree. No matter how many times he pictured the tree in his mind, he never arrived at the location. This was a mystery he didn’t understand – even the mysteries of the universe were open to him except this one. He always had to go in search of the tree.

He walked for what felt like hours, he was beginning to panic. And then his eyes fell upon the most grotesque sight he has ever seen.

The Tree of Knowledge was no longer alive and flourishing. There were no more apples hanging from its branches. There were no more green leaves. There was nothing except a blackened cavity that was once a living vessel. It had been burnt to death from the ground up.

At first, Orion just stood there staring at the destruction, not really believing in what he was seeing. There was nothing that could destroy one of God’s gifts.

And that wasn’t all that he saw.

From behind the tree came Tracy Kingston, walking toward Orion with an icy look. There was no telling what her eyes were conveying. There was no way he could detect what she was feeling; her body looked as cool as her icy look.