Volumes 9 and 10 - Dark Calling/Hell’s Heroes

“Is that a chess board?” I ask. It’s much bigger than any board I’ve ever seen, but it’s the right shape, with the usual arrangement of black and white squares.

“There are Boards like this on almost all the worlds where we have had an influence,” Art says. “The Boards are central to the development of intelligence. Some species forget about them as they evolve, but most remember in one way or another.”

“I don’t get it. What’s the big deal about chess?”

“The game means nothing,” Art answers. “The Board is everything.”

Something about the way he stresses the word sparks a memory. I recall a visit I paid to Lord Loss’s kingdom several years ago. The demon master loves chess. One of the rooms in his web-based castle was full of sets. He produced a board which he referred to as the Original Board. Each square was a self-contained universe of its own, filled with an array of demons.

“Yes,” Art says before I can form a question. “That was the Board we used on your world.”

“I still don’t understand,” I frown. “The Board was just a toy.”

“The Boards are not toys,” Art says. “Each is a map of the original universe, a link to the past before time.”

“You’re talking gibberish,” I scowl.

“It will become clear soon,” Art assures me, then pushes through a gap that the sea creatures have created. “Come. I am fully rested, and the dance has moved into its final arc. It is time for us to depart.”

TAKING TO THE SKIES (#ulink_cad0a31f-e6ff-56e7-95d5-07d2e2d591ad)

→We skip from one world to another, chamber to chamber, through the sub-universe of strange lights. I try to figure out how the windows are being opened, hoping to use the information to break free and make my way back home. But I don’t know how Art gets the panels to pulse and merge.

“Tell me about yourself,” I suggest, partly to break the monotony, partly to learn more about my mysterious guide.

“What do you wish to know?” he replies.

“Where are you from? Beranabus only said that the Old Creatures were beings of ancient, powerful magic, who left our world long ago.”

“We leave every planet eventually,” Art sighs. “We are nomads, moving from one world to another, never settling.”

“But you must have a home,” I press. “Everyone comes from somewhere.”

“Not us,” Art says. “We are of the original universe. We had no beginning.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” I grunt.

“It will –” Art begins.

“– soon,” I finish sarcastically.

“Sorry,” Art says. “I know this is hard. But there is much we have to tell you and it is complicated.”

“Let’s try something simpler then.” I think about the sort of things I’d ask any stranger. “How old are you?”

Art makes a sound like someone clearing their throat.

“Oh, come on!” I shout. “Surely you can tell me that much.”

“There is no easy answer,” Art says. “We are as old as this universe but we existed before it. In the original universe, there was no such thing as time. We were not born. We did not age. We simply were.”

“You can’t be as old as the universe,” I challenge him. “It’s billions of years old. Nothing lives for that long.”

“We do,” Art insists. “We exist as spheres of light, and light is almost ageless.”

“Almost? You’re not immortal?”

“Not any more,” Art says.

“This is crazy,” I mutter.

“Be patient,” Art urges. “By the end of this journey we’ll reveal the secrets of the universe, the origins of life and the cause of the Big Bang.”

“What’s the Big Bang?”

Art is silent for a long time. Then, in a dejected tone, he says, “This is going to be harder than we thought.”

→More worlds and chambers. I doze during some of the journey. In the demon universe I can go weeks or months without sleep, but here I grow tired, just as I do on Earth. I start to wonder how long we’ve been travelling.

“This is the fourth day,” Art answers.

“How much longer will it take?”

“I cannot say.”

“A week?” I snap. “A month? Years?” I lick my lips and ask quietly, “You will take me back, won’t you?”

There’s a pause. “If you choose to return, we –”

“What do you mean?” I roar. “Of course I’ll return! Why shouldn’t I? Are you going to try to –”

“Peace,” Art hushes me. “The choice will be yours. I don’t think you’ll want to go back, but we will not prevent you from following your destiny.”

“I’ll definitely want to go back,” I growl.

“You should not make such sweeping statements,” Art says. “When you went in search of the demon masquerading as your brother, you were certain you’d return home when you found him, but you didn’t. There are no certainties except death. And even that –”

Whatever he was about to say is lost, because we pass through a window into a chamber made of moss-covered stones. And the place is crawling with demons.

They’re foul beasts, shaped like horses, but their flesh is rotting away and their bones poke through. Yellow blood drips down their legs from their rib cages. The heads are larger than on any horse I’ve seen, and each has two sets of mouths, one above the other. There are no teeth—instead, human-looking fingernails jut out of their gums, blood and drool dribbling between the cracks.

The demons had been fighting or playing with each other – hard to tell with these monsters – but they stop when we pop out in the middle of them. Then, with howls of hunger and delight, they hurl themselves at us.

I react automatically and fire a ball of energy at the nearest beast, then leap clear, on to one of the higher stones of the chamber. The roof caved in long ago and I can see out. A quick survey of the land beyond reveals a scorched, ruined world teeming with monsters. A massive demon is rising into the air a few miles away. Hundreds of beasts are clinging to it, or settled on its back in rows. Fleshy strands dangle from its stomach. Large rocks are attached to the lower ends.

A horse-demon jumps, rears its hooves and slashes at my throat. I duck, slam my shoulder into its face and knock it back. “Art!” I scream as others come pounding closer.

“Cover your eyes,” Art says. “Use magic as well as your hands.”