Chapter 47

Vince couldn’t believe how well they were fighting – especially Chris, who was limping around on her good foot while her broken foot lay helpless. They did succeed in clearing a path for Steve to pick up a fallen soldier’s sword and they went their separate ways immediately after.

Steve fought his way over to the far side of the room, cutting down any Dreamkiller that came within the length of his blade so that he stood near the other entrance into the Great Hall. He was making sure no new creature came into the battle – no one knew what Orion was capable of (he could create monsters just by thinking about them, he was sure of that).

Chris stayed nearest the doorway they had come from; she also had the same idea as Steve; making sure no one else joined the fight.

And Vince found himself next to a large stone throne covered with celestial carvings. He stopped fighting long enough to take a ten-second glance at some of the carvings. He recognized some (such as the constellation Orion, the Big Dipper, and several other star formations) but most he had never seen, or at least remembered.

There were carvings of what looked like men and women and things that looked like spears, although Vince knew that they were supposed to be Orion’s trusty spikes. There was also a carving of a winged man who he thought could have been Ilias.

Then it hit him as he stopped fighting altogether. This was Orion’s life etched in stone. But one carving frightened him. It wasn’t Mykella he saw on the throne; it was Orion, dead, and he, Vincent Hopman, that sat upon the throne. Chills ran down his back and he shook his head saying, “no” several times.

No matter what the outcome of this war, there was no way in hell he would take Orion’s place. Never in a million years.

Moments later, Vince didn’t know how long he was staring at the carvings, but everything changed.

First, Mykella walked through the door that he had come through with Chris and Steve – how she managed to have gotten past Chris, he didn’t know. He saw that she was looking around the room, apparently confused. She seemed to be looking for someone or something. And when she found his eyes and his relieved smile, he realized it wasn’t he who she sought; her eyes moved around the room once again.

She took several steps further into the room and he became frightened for her safety. He was about to go to her, but he stopped dead before he could move. Another figure had entered the room behind her, several paces back. He knew the cloak so well he could almost taste it.

Vince knew it would be pointless to scream to her to watch out because the roar from the Dreamkillers and humans was thunderous; she’d never be able to hear him. All he could do was to go to her and try not to get killed in the process.

He reached her in more time than he would have liked (he had to dodge lethal limbs and swords) but when he reached her he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind him. He looked in his other hand and saw the bladed boomerang, knew it wouldn’t work on Orion, and picked up a sword that lay by his foot and next to its dead owner.

He pointed at Orion as best he could with the sword; he still had Mykella’s arm and trying to keep a sword level with one arm was more difficult than the old films had made it out to be (Arnold Schwarzenegger made it look so easy in the Conan films his father used to watch).

Orion stared at Vince, trying to keep his own rage in check. There was a part of him that wanted to end Vincent Hopman’s life – he knew he could do it in a second – but there was also that want for a coexistence. He knew that if he killed Vince, then there would be no chance to live among the humans in peace. Peace; such an alien word which he wasn’t used to.

“Please, Vincent,” he said and raised his hands, palms out. “Don’t make me destroy you. I need to talk to Mykella – I have to tell her something.”

Vince shook his head, horrified by the thought that the Master Dreamkiller wanted to talk to Mykella. “No,” he screamed and raised his sword in an attempt to throw it at Orion, hoping to pierce him through his heart. “You lying sack of,”

“Dad!” shouted Mykella.

“What?” asked Vince as he turned to look at her with annoyance on his face.

“What?” asked Orion at the same time as Vince, who quickly turned back around to look at him in complete confusion.

Vince turned back to Mykella and wanted to ask her what was going on, but she looked not at him, rather at Orion instead.

“You wanted to tell me something,” she said to Orion before Vince could ask his question. “So tell me; what did you feel?”

Orion lowered his head, removed his hood, and began to weep. “It must stop,” he said at last with a heavy heart. He was struggling; with so many centuries of killing or having others kill in his name, it was difficult (perhaps the hardest conclusion he’s ever come to) to make a change. He could say what he wanted to say and do what he said, but to feel that this was the right way was a different thing altogether.

Mykella knew what he meant, but she wanted to hear it from his lips. “What must stop?” she asked, looking into his face and trying to ignore Vince – the man she had called Dad for twenty years.

“Everything,” said Orion. “The war. Me.”

She nodded but felt there was more to be said from him. She took several steps forward, shoving off Vince’s arm in protest. “So where do we go from here?”

It was now or never, he thought and looked up with pleading eyes. “I would like to live among the people once again.”

Vince couldn’t help the sarcastic snort he let out. “What about your monsters? Where do they fit in?” he asked.

“If they could live as you live,”

Vince cut him off before Orion could finish. “They’re nightmares,” he brought up. “They need people to live. You know that.”

Orion sighed; he was losing what he had hoped to gain. “Yes,” he said. “But they’re also the only ones I can call a family. You can’t tell me that I would be welcomed into a society I destroyed.”

“You got that right.”

“I swear no one will be killed from now on.” He saw the hateful look in Vince’s eyes so he said this to Mykella. He knew Vince would never let him live.

Tears fell from her green eyes and she knew that Orion meant what he said. She knew it would be hard for him, but she knew he would keep his word. She turned her back on both her fathers and looked at the battle raging on. She looked into the eyes of the Dreamkillers and the humans and new tears fell from her eyes. There was no way they could live as one; there was too much hate from both sides. The humans have been either enslaved for the Net, or else in hiding or being hunted. She really didn’t know why the Dreamkillers hated humans so much – she guessed it was because Orion made them that way.

Even if the Dreamkillers tried to live in peace, there was no way that would ever happen. They would be hunted down and killed and the war would start all over again; except this time, it would be a large-scale civil war.

“Stop!” She didn’t know why she was screaming, but she felt that she wanted to be heard over the roars of the war going on. “You have to stop the fighting.”

One by one the swords stopped and whatever weapons the Dreamkillers had (usually lethal body parts) stopped piercing their enemies. Everyone turned and looked at Mykella as she walked over to the throne.

She climbed up onto it and stood up. “Can’t you see what you’re doing?” She was looking at every face in the room. “Orion has called for a truce. The war is over.” She saw heads turn in the direction of Orion. “We must drop our weapons,” she said and was looking at the humans, knowing that there was no way a Dreamkiller could possibly “drop their weapons.”

As she had already guessed, no one let go of their swords. In fact, no one let their grips slacken any. She could sense no trust with the truce. She knew this would never work. “Come on, we have to make this work.”

“Make him turn the world back the way it was before He took over,” someone shouted, looking at Orion behind fiery eyes.

“I don’t think I can do that,” said Orion behind an embarrassed expression. “When I was fighting the angel that had given me my powers, he must have taken back some of his powers. I cannot change Time anymore. I wish I could.”

“You lie,” grunted Vince and he inched his way to Orion. “You are the God-King Orion; remember? You can do anything you want. I don’t think you really want to end this war; you want to wipe us all out while we are unaware of your schemes. It’ll end up becoming another game to you, won’t it?”

Mykella shook her head. She felt pity for Vince because he couldn’t see the good in what might come of the truce. She looked back at the warriors. “Orion is my father,” she said.

A silence the kind that no one has ever heard had fallen through the Great Hall as all eyes, demon and human alike, fell upon Mykella Brown. The Dreamkillers faithful to Orion formed one scenario in their dark minds: If she is truly who she says she is, then she is the Princess of Dreamkillers and must be turned into one of them. But they weren’t so quick to accept what they had heard as truth.

And neither were the humans. They gawked at her and thought her totally repulsive for even suggesting such a thing. Although she said it, there was no way this beautiful young woman could be the offspring of such an evil entity.

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“You tell us lies,” someone shouted. “Why?”

“I would not lie to you,” said Mykella while looking in the general direction of the voice; the acoustics in the Hall made it near impossible to pinpoint the exact location of the voice.

Orion walked past Vince and stood next to his daughter. A new feeling found its way inside him and he didn’t want it to go away. He didn’t know where it came from, but he began to love Mykella. Along with the new feeling of love came a sudden feeling of sorrow. He knew that they, he and Mykella, could never be a part of each other's lives, no matter how much he wished for it.

“Listen to me,” he shouted above the shouting of the nonbelievers. “I didn’t believe her at first either. But it is true – she is my daughter. And I am begging for peace. I am ordering my Dreamkillers to step down, cease your fighting. We shall live together as one society.”

Mykella found herself smiling despite her feelings. She knew this was only a first step. There was more work to be done; the gates of Heaven are still locked and she knew that it was her burden to save mankind – as it was from the beginning of time. She, alone, had to unlock the gates. But could she do it?

“There’s no way we can live together,” said Vince loud enough to be heard by the entire room. He looked at Orion with hate in his eyes. “You’ve killed my kind for, I don’t know how long – and I really don’t care. Everyone in this room hates you.”

Orion lowered his head in shame.

Mykella watched Vince and was worried by what he was doing. Why couldn’t he just accept a new way of life? And then she saw everyone else nodding their heads in agreement with him. She closed her eyes and sighed. There will be no peace, she thought.

“I want to make the world a better place,” said Orion, his head still down. When he lifted it, he was surprised to see that Vince had run up to him. “What,”

Vince grabbed the neck of Orion’s cloak and balled it into his fist. With his other hand, he pushed the point of the blade up against Orion’s chest. “I don’t care how long you live,” he grunted. “I will never let you live among humans. You gave up that part of yourself a long time ago. I’m going to make you pay for everything you’ve ever done.” He had prayed for a time like this – knowing that Orion’s power was fading.

Mykella looked down at them with fright in her eyes. “Please,” she said, looking at Vince. “Don’t do this. You have to let go of your anger; see past it.”

“No,” cried Vince. “After what he’s done to your mother and everyone else I’ve known,”

Chris limped her way over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. “We have to let it go,” she said and he looked at her with tears in his eyes. “Listen to what Mykella is saying. Since her birth, haven’t we been trying to protect her life so that she could save ours?”

He looked up into Mykella’s eyes, not removing the blade from Orion’s chest.

“We have to do what she says without questioning her,” said Chris. “It’s her turn to save us.”

Mykella looked down at Chris. She had known her all her life, but it felt that she was looking down at her for the first time. She couldn’t understand it. Maybe it was because she was looking at her with a new understanding of her own prophecy. She smiled at Chris anyway. “I’m not here to save your lives,” she said. “I’m here to open the gate of Heaven.”

It was as if Vince hadn’t heard what she had just said because he turned back to Orion, tightening his grip on both cloak and hilt. The fire in his eyes didn’t die away as Mykella had hoped (she thought the idea of opening the gates of Heaven would be enough to make them listen to her), but his grip only intensified ten-fold. “I hate you with every ounce of my being,” he grunted. The scars where his numbers were began to itch.

Orion stared into his eyes for a moment and knew that, whatever Mykella said or will say, there will be no coexistence as he had hoped. Instead he merely smiled his dark ominous smile. It would be the last time that that particular smile graced his lips. “I know,” he finally said. “That is why I’ve always admired you – for your strength.”

A sadistic chuckle escaped Vince. “Is that why you tried to kill me?”

“Only once, if you remember,” Orion replied; his smile never leaving his face. “And then I realized I had made a mistake. When I tried to have you killed, I didn’t know where the Forbidden Realms was. And to think that I almost forfeited everything.”

“You son of a bitch,” Vince grunted and inched the blade closer, to the point where Orion could feel the tip of it poke his flesh.

“You watch what you call Mykella’s mother,” laughed Orion. He was trying his damnedest to throw Vince over the edge of reason. “I think I should warn you, Vincent: If you run me through, all my power will enter that sword and its owner who wielded it.”

Mykella looked down at them and saw Vince’s hand tighten. “No, don’t do it,” she cried out. But it was too late.

Either Vince hadn’t heard Mykella or else he was ignoring her; but with one deep inhale, he ran the blade through Orion’s cloak, through his heart, and out his back where the tip of the sword, bloodied with the Master Dreamkillers blood, stuck into the side of the stone throne. “There will be no peace. I want you to die and go to hell,” whispered Vince.

Several things happened simultaneously once Orion’s heart was impaled. A bright yellow light went from Orion’s body and into both the sword and Vince’s hands, just as Orion had warned him. Orion, after centuries of traveling through the Time Circuits, died with that smile on his face.

And Mykella let out a scream as blood saturated her shirt.

Chris looked up and saw that Mykella’s chest was bleeding. Mykella, shocked, fell down from the throne and was caught by Chris and she laid her shaking body on the floor. She looked over at Vince with contempt in her eyes. “What have you done?”

Vince dropped his sword and went over to them and knelt down beside Mykella and cradled her head in the crook of his arm. “I didn’t,”

Mykella opened her eyes and she smiled up at Vince. “If I die, he dies. If he dies, I die,” she explained and tears of guilt fell from his eyes. “It’s a bitch, ain’t it?”

There was still a chance to redeem himself and save her at the same time. “Wait,” he said in a panic. “I have his powers now – I can feel it. I can save you; you don’t have to die. I won’t let you.”

Mykella smiled and took his hand and brought it to her chest, where he could feel the puncture that was created by an invisible sword. At first, he felt a sorrowful joy overcome him as he thought she wanted him to save her. But then she removed his hand and grinned up at him.

“Help me up,” she said and Chris and Vince helped her to her feet. She turned to Vince and gestured to the throne. “I think you’d better take your place in your new kingdom,” she suggested. She turned to face the crowd and gestured to Vince. “Here’s your new King now.”

Vince had forgotten everything he had seen on Orion’s throne, especially the engraving of a man who resembled himself, gaining both power and the throne.

Vince knew that he could never talk Mykella out of whatever she was doing (he never could when she was younger either). So, like she suggested, Vince took a seat on the throne and looked out among the Dreamkillers and humans, who in turn were staring back at him like they had just awakened from some strange dream. Was a King allowed to weep as much as he was doing? His soul felt like it was being torn in two.

“Your King’s advisor, Christene,” Mykella announced as she nodded to Chris.

Like Vince, Chris didn’t know what Mykella was doing but went along with it just as Vince was doing.

Mykella took a small step back and found herself losing her balance and she stumbled back onto the floor. She caught herself by using the bottom of the throne and she saw that Vince had jumped down to help her, but she raised her arm in protest. “Get away from me,” she shouted.

Vince stopped, shocked and hurt by her response.

“I have a job to finish, just as you do. I will not abandon the souls of the dead and you’d better not abandon your subjects who live. They will look up to you as I have all my life.” She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek.

“Let me save you,” he pleaded one last time but she smiled up at him. There was an evil likeness in that innocent smile that belonged to the sadistic smile of Orion. He took several steps back, not sure what he was feeling.

Mykella placed her hand on her chest and winced. “I have my true father inside me,” she said, reading his fearful face. “When…” she gasped for breath. When she was able to stabilize her breathing once again she continued. “When you killed Orion, his soul became one with mine. He knew, in the end, that by having you kill him, he might have one final chance of redemption. I will plead his case before God.”

He stared into her green eyes and shook his head in pity. “Why did you let that happen? You could have let his soul go to the devil.”

“I am dying for mankind,” she said. “Don’t you see that even Orion was a man? In the end, it wasn’t his fault that he was given the powers. He was a tortured boy. Anyone would have done the same if they were in his place. He just let ambition control him. He needed to be in control of everything, but it was the power that was controlling him. Only in the end did he understand. That’s why he passed those powers on to you; with the hopes that you won’t abuse them.”

“Wait, he said that his powers were fading,” Vince said and she smiled.

“He said that because people were questioning whether or not he could go back and make everything better. But he knew that nothing would have been better; there would still be wars and people killing people. But here we all are, in a vortex of time. Right now they have the chance to change their future – to make it better for everyone.”

Chris’ heart sank into the pit of her stomach as she listened to Mykella. She had always thought that Mykella would be the savior of the human race; and instead she was to reopen the gates of Heaven so that every soul could enter. Deep down, she never thought God would have locked them – even if Orion had tainted Eden. But he had and now Mykella must die for humanity. And on top of that, Mykella felt it was her purpose to take Orion into Heaven and ask God for his forgiveness.

Mykella was stronger than she had ever thought. It takes the strongest soul to know they’re going to have to die and to actually let it happen is a divine strength not everyone has.

Chris was prepared to die both in battle and in the underground tunnel below the fortress; but it’s an entirely different reality knowing you have to die. How long did Mykella know this truth, she wondered as tears fell from her eyes. She also wondered how many people in the fortress now understood Mykella’s situation. Probably not many, she reckoned.

And there was no way she was going to try and change Mykella’s mind (not that she had any choice – Mykella was dying anyway). She also saw Mykella as noble for wanting to take Orion’s soul to God.

She looked over at the dead body of Orion lying on the floor with that smile on his lips for eternity. Right now she couldn’t find it in her heart to forgive him for everything that he had done (although her anger was not as severe as Vince’s had been), but she felt that, given enough time, she could grow to accept what had happened.

“You’re a very lucky person,” she whispered while staring at Orion.

After her lengthy speech, Mykella was out of breath and had slunk down to the floor. By now everyone had gathered around her. Almost all of the humans had felt guilt for doubting her when she told them who she was. She was dying for peace. The Dreamkillers who had gathered stared down at her with confusion in their minds. Their master was dead and he had called for a truce before he died. They were lost without orders.

“Teach them new things,” said Mykella once she regained enough breath.

Vince knelt down and cradled her head in the crook of his arm. She closed her eyes, her heart breaking and tears rolled down her cheeks through her eyelashes.

“I hope,”

But Mykella never said that she hoped she would succeed in opening the gates and that God would allow her true father entrance into Heaven.

The last Dream Crusader stopped breathing. Her chest stopped moving up and down. Mykella Brown died in Vince’s arms as he held her as tight as he could, not wanting to let her go.