Chapter Fifteen: Darkened Halls

Part 1

The station was several miles away from the crashed plane. A normal man, walking in normal conditions, might have been able to cover the distance in two days. That same man, walking in the frigid temperatures of the antarctic, might not even make it the first. That same man, escorting his unconscious associates might not even make it the first few hours.

Antarctica was not intended for mankind. Just so that mankind would find itself at a severe disadvantage. Not so for me. It took me some effort to adjust to the slippery, shifting snow and ice beneath my feet, but eventually I got it and the way became easier. I wonder, though at what I might have looked like, running across the ocean of white without massive furs or protection.

But something tugged at my mind. I looked back at the speck on the horizon where the plane had crashed. Smoke from the crash curled upwards into the sky, visible even from this distance. I couldn’t see the storm beyond the horizon, but I knew it was there. Time was of the essence, certainly, but I could not simply leave them. I headed back, my feet churning up ice and snow from my speed.

Felix glanced up at me, surprised as I re-entered the plane. He seemed confused, as if not really expecting me to come back for him and the others. “You came back. Why?”

“Well, I’m not in the habit of abandoning my teammates.” I shrugged as I moved through the wreckage. “Or anyone for that matter. Here, help me get them warm and set.”

The process went quickly. With the threat of the storm looming over us, we acted with efficiency and urgency. I could feel the plan juttering, buffeted by the winds and when I looked out of the windows, I saw snow swirling, obscuring the world beyond. A few minutes later I had a rope tied across my shoulders as I stood just outside of the wreckage.

Adam’s voice came through on the radio at my ear. “We’d better get going before much more of that snow gets kicked up. We won’t be able to see anything in a few minutes.”

I glanced back at Adam who gave me a thumbs up which was obscured by a massive amount of cloth. Then, he ducked beneath the plastic covering of the makeshift sled. “Alright, let’s go.”

I pulled Adam, William and Elena on a piece of the broken wing across the open white desert of Antarctic. Around us, the wind pushed and pulled at me and the sled. I could feel the tension of the sled pulling me off course every now and again, but I kept forward, dragging the sled through both force of will and my speed.

We were only a few hundred feet from the station when disaster struck. We passed over a short incline just as a gust of wind kicked up. The rope went slack suddenly and I heard Adam gasp over the radio as the sled caught the air and was flung upward. I wrapped my arm around the rope and tugged it back down to the ground. It landed with a great thud and a cry.

The friction from my running and the intense cold from the snow and ice and the storm caused the restraints we’d used to secure William and Elena to come free. The two unconscious agents slid from beneath the protective plastic sheet covering and came to a rest several feet meters away.

I rushed over and collected one of the bundled bodies, then went to do the same with the other when another gust of wind pushed it out of my reach.

“The storm is getting stronger!” Adam yelled into the mouthpiece beneath his hood.

“Don’t move and stay down.” I warned him as I chased after the bundled form sliding out of view.

For a moment, grey filled my vision. The bright moon above pierced through the clouds and suffused the area round me with a gentle white glow, but it was steadily getting darker as the storm discended upon our location. And we were so very close to the station.

There was a gentle lull in the wind and i made out the dark form on the ground a few yards away. I pushed against the wind as I made my way to its side. As I’ve stated before, I have significant strength, but there is little use for strength when one has no leverage. I was there when Pappus of Alexandria said of Archimedes’ work: “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth.” The opposite principle is true. Even with all the strength in the world, without the counter leverage afforded by size and weight, that strength was nothing.

So my feet slipped and slid along the ground against the wind, I leaned into its forces, squinting against the icy flakes that tried to cloud my vision, my clothing whipping against the gale. A few seconds later I reached the bundle and, keeping low, began to drag it back towards where I’d come.

Panic gripped me when I came back to where I’d started off. There was nothing butt white. Adam and his charge had disappeared. And in this growing darkness, in this storm and cold, they would not last the night. “Adam?!” I called into the radio receiver.

“Yeah?” Adam replied softly. The mound of snow just ahead of me shifted and I saw the red hood of his coat appear. His voice sounded tired, distant. Even with all of their equipment and bundling, it was dangerous out here for them.

“I got him”

“Good.”

I nodded and took a quick assessment of the sled. There was nothing to be done. It was demolished. I took a useless glance up at the sky and it was just as indistinguishable as the world more than five feet away from us was. I knelt down and grabbed the strappings of both of the the bundled pilots. “Get on my back.”

“What?” Adam asked, confused.

“Get on my back, I’m carrying us the rest of the way.”

I couldn’t see his face, obscured as it was beneath his garments, but I suspected he was looking at me with suspicion. Or, at the very least dubiousness. Still, he slowly, painfully slowly, got to his feet and clambered onto my back. Once I felt him secured on my back, I began running, stooping low as I powered against the wind and ice and snow, racing the darkness and time and destiny.

The lights of the station appeared as a diffuse glow amidst the growing white-out. As we drew closer, I could make out dark structures around me. Without hesitation, I sped up one of the ramps leading into one off the modular buildings. I slipped an arm through the bindings of one of the pilots’ warm gear freeing a hand to manipulate the door. The metal door would have ripped off the skin of my hand had I not been what I was. Still, I felt the cold shoot through my hand and up into my arm. Apparently, even with a lot of my resilience returned to me since Shambahla, I was still somewhat weakened.

The door slipped open with a hiss, releasing the warm air from within the intermediate chamber – an airlock that prevented all of the warm air from sucking out of the entire structure when the outer door opened. I piled everyone in and pulled the door closed, then turned to open the inner door. It hissed open and I dragged all three into the building.

The interior walls of the building were mostly glass so i could see right away that the building i had walked into was the one building I absolutely needed. Medical.

“Adam,” I said, turning to him. He moved extremely slowly and I had to help him getting off his clothing. I couldn’t move too quickly around him. Beside the fact that the human body cannot tolerate the speeds at which I move, I knew that the stiffness caused by the cold would make any quick movements cause tearing in ligaments, muscle and other tissue.

It took me two hours to unwrap and settle Elena and William. My heart sank as I saw signs of frostbite in their fingers and toes, but I was relieved to see no additional damage. There was no indication as to which of them took the tumble and slide out into the darkness just a short time before.

“You need to go,” Adam said. He sat quietly in one of the chairs, nursing a cup of coffee I’d set to brewing when I retrieved the blanket he now wore. “I can take care of them.”

“I must make sure they are alright.”

“Mr. Valentine,” Adam said. When I didn’t acknowledge him. “Elijah.” I turned to regard him. “We are only three people. I’m… I’m glad you came back for us. I’m glad you saved us. But your responsibility is not to us, but to the entire world. We came down here knowing there was danger to get you to where you needed to be. Go.”

“I can-”

“I swear to god,” Adam began slowly, “If you saved us and the rest of the world goes down in flames, I will kill you.”

I regarded Adam quietly. It was then that I felt the echoes rushing down the line of reality. Deep sorrow welling within me so deep and consuming that my vision swam for the briefest moment. There was a decision that I would need to make that would shake me to my very foundation. And the worse of it was that it was these words Adam spoke that brought them forth. These words, so plainly spoken and so powerful as to reach through all of space and through interdimensional walls to affect all of the alternate versions of me where they stood at that exact moment.

So I left. They were as safe as they would be in the Antarctica station. And I… I needed to go save the world.

Part 2

I left behind the station without looking back. I figured that Adam, William and Elena would be fine without me now that they were not subject to the elements and safe within the abandoned modular buildings of the Antarctic science station.

“You know,” Adam said over the radio as I walked though the whiteout blizzard. I had an idea of where exactly the pedestal was but it had been millennia since I’d last seen it. “I think I might be able to get the communications system here working. I’ll need to wait until the storm is over but I think i can do it.”

“Good, as soon as you can, get in contact with Williams and let her know everyone’s status. I’ll be gone for a while and unable to contact you.”

“Got it. Good luck.”

I reached up and touched the radio at my ear, silencing it. Then, fighting against the gale once more, I ran out into the blizzard.

“Why Valentine?”

The Mage nodded slowly, stirring his cold tea idly. “That’s a good question. As I said , I have lived for a very long time. After spending a great deal of time as one person, I find it helpful to assume a different persona.”

“How do you mean? Aren’t you the same person each time?”

“Yes, but consider the power of a name. How much a man might invest in his name?” At the Writer’s blank expression, the Mage continued. “You are aware of the legend of Paul Bunyan?”

“Don’t tell me you’re Paul Bunyan.”

“Oh heavens, no. But the man who was Paul Bunyan went on to change his name because of the legend that cropped up around his name, his persona.”

“He changed his name? To what?”

“That does t really make my point here. The answer to your question is that I change my name often to avoid legend to develop and surround me.”

“But you haven’t told me the reason why you chose the name Elijah valentine.”

The Mage pursed his lips slightly, this was one of the only questions he seemed hesitant to answer. But after a moment he continued “Valentine was the family name of the last person I loved.”

Antarctica is a desert. Many people hear the word desert and think of the sahara or the gobi, great vast tracts of land covered in sand and suffused with heat. Parched as the surface of the sun. But it is a desert, so classified because of the lack of precipitation along it’s surface. And, generally, this is to be expected because of the coriolis effect.

But, despite the fact that it is in fact a desert, Antarctica is frigid and filled with tiny particles of ice. Some might call it snow, but to call it so would diminish the horrors of what the substance is. The fine powder of white that covers the vast expanse of the continent has time to solidify. This means that the snow located there is very different than the large, joyous flakes of temperate regions. In Antarctica, snow is evil.

Despite this classification, I had to make my way along the surface, effectively sandblasted by ever increasing gale force winds that sent hard ice crystals scouring along my skin.

Beyond human memory, along the time of the War that tore apart my kind a temple stood in the center of Antarctica. Within it, the Gardener she tended to a land lush and green, protected from the elements by her own power and will for millenia. When the War finally came, the Gardener set herself apart from the conflict, unwilling to take a side. In this, she valued the safety of her Garden above that of humanity. It was her life’s work was to tend to the health of the planet and its plant and animal life. Humanity, for all its effect on the world, did not concern her.

Still, the conflict came to her and, when she died, so too did her garden. It grew cold and lifeless. The columns and walls, subjected to the elements without her protective power, fell and were buried beneath thousands of years of ice and snow, becoming yet another secret in the history of this planet.

I stood where once the Garden stood and recalled how it had once been flush with life and warmth, an oasis in the center of the great frozen desert. Secluded from the eyes of humanity and inconvenient to the other Mages. I remember her smile and laughter as she moved through her garden, tending to the plants and animals there. Feeding the young lambs and watering the seedlings. Guiding the great trees to their heights and encouraging the horses to run.

For a moment I saw it, just as it appeared to me in that past. All stone columns wrapped with ivy and rich, earthy soil. There is legend of a place called Eden. I have never been there, but near as I can imagine, it was much like what this place had been.

A gale of white obscured my sight and my vision returned to the desolation. But even still, I could see the outline of the temple, covered as it was by ice and snow. I took steps forward. Here, where the great archway had been. And there, along this hallway, past the great rooms filled with food for the animals. Past the tools. And here, stairs led downward to the great aquarium below.

I closed my eyes briefly, allowing the sensations of wind and cold and history to flow over me. Beneath the Temple, the Aquarium. Beneath the Aquarium, the Pedestal device. Within the device, the control crystal.

There was no way I would be able to hammer through the ice to reach the stairs below. Even with my strength, I could only manage a few hundred pounds of force. If I jumped, I could manage more force, but the winds would push me far away from my target, making the idea, at best, unfeasible. Despite my intelligence, I could not possibly guess at when a gale would push me off course.

But there was another way, I thought.

I made my way to the east to where I thought the great landing pad was.

I spoke. The words in my native tongue… are fairly powerful, but essentially what I said into the wind was: “I am mage, open.”

“So you said Open, Sesame.”

“If you want to think of it that way, yes.”

“What do you mean your native tongue is powerful?”

“We’ll come to that later.”

Beneath meters of compacted ice, the great massive doors to the landing pad swung upwards toward the sky. The ground beneath me rumbled and shook. The ice bent briefly as a single point along the sheet of solid matter raised. The force from the rest of the ice placed stress on the area until the stress forces erupted through area, the sound like continuous thunder rushing across the sky.

The ice snapped upwards and a massive slab of ice, nearly one hundred meters in diameter swung upwards and to the side, sliding along the ground like a unfathomably large, white hockey puck.

I leaned over and peered down into the hole and watched as the great doors continued to swing upward and strike the sides of the rent they’d opened in the ice. Originally, they were supposes to continue to open outward until they lay flat on the ground, but with the surrounding ice, I heard the machinery finally beginning to have trouble with the ice.

“Stop doors,” I commanded. They halted immediately. “Lights.” Light erupted upwards into the storm. I jumped down into the ancient underground halls of the Garden.

There, the distinct sensation of familiarity. As I turned to look about me in the great, kilometer square room, the massive walls and great floor were still covered with the Gardener’s carvings. Of animals and plants and their descriptions and properties. And, not just their physical properties. The meter square portion of the floor beneath me described a sparrow in microscopic writing. From its physical biological properties down to its genetic code. The Gardener had spent millenia cataloging as much as she could.

Snow and chunks of ice fell through the hole above me as I turned still further and spotted one of the Gardener’s vehicles. I gave silent thanks to the long dead mage, then, accelerating quickly, I rushed through the rest of the underground chambers.

Here, the Gardener did genetic research and testing alongside her study, gaining knowledge and understanding of the world we inhabited through research. While the rest of us were concerned with the dominate species on the planet, she dedicated herself to every other.

Though, while I understood that most of the underground was intended to be clean, I felt that there was something fundamentally wrong with the air. It tasted old. Not as a long sealed cave or tomb, but of a time period distinctively ancient. Of a time when the Gardener herself was alive. I put the thought to the back of my mind and continued on.

Finally, I reached the relatively small room in which the Tower was located. It stood, as ever silent, pulsing with energy that few other beings could discern. I stepped forward and pressed a hand against it, absorbing the information it had to give.

And then recoiled in horror.

“So,” Rhianna said, appearing as a ghostly form, leaning against the Tower, smiling. “I wonder… just how long will it take you.” She watched me, as if I was some sort of show she’d been anticipating. “Oh, this is priceless.”

I rushed forward and lifted the Tower and pelted through the halls of the underground temple.

Time was the great destroyer of knowledge. When she died, the Gardener had locked her research into a slower timescale using the Tower. As far as any particle or atom was concerned within the confines of the underground Temple complex, only five years had passed since the death of the Gardener.

Part 3

I knew before I left the pedestal room what I would find in the hallway. Rhianna had known that I would come for the last Tower as I had gone for each of the others. And she must have known that there was some sort of time effect within the underground of the Garden. And so she would have placed barriers to my escape. That barrier appeared as I stepped into the connecting hall.

From the pale shadows along the crevices created by the carved writings that covered the walls, a single dark creature appeared, coalescing into a solid humanoid figure. Unlike the other dark creatures, this one moved with an easy grace, with a sort of confidence that I’d only seen few times before. It was the easy stance of a human completely at ease with her body and surroundings. The sheer weight of presence of a championship fighter-of non presence of the deadly ninja.

As I watched, it continued to solidify from its default state in which it balanced on the razor points where it’s feet would be. Hands and feet formed. Its too-long neck retracted and shadowy grey features that approximated a human face pushed out from the inky blackness that made up its form.

I held the two meter tall, half-meter diameter Tower in hand as I watched more shadows beyond the figure shift and coalesce.

The first figure took several quick, shuffling steps that devoured the space between us with such speed that I found I needed to adjust my perception to follow it. I worked to increase my own speed and found that it would not come to me. The quantum forces exerted by the Tower upon me and the surrounding area was such that it forced all beings to conform to one, single time flow. And that meant that, while the Tower still functioned, I would be restricted to the natural capabilities of my body — such as they were.

The creature spun, partially liquefying with its speed. I barely had time to bring the Tower up as the hand of the creature, once empty, then propelled a swordlike manifestation towards me. I deflected the blow and the creature stepped back. The blade sparked, sending arcs of electricity off of its surface and along the walls around us. Where the energy struck, gouges scoured into the stone. I hazarded a glance at the tower in my hands and grimaced. There was a notch there. These creatures, which had been sent to stop, or at the very least delay me, we’re carrying weapons that could manipulate the material of a Tower.

They wanted the control crystal. And they wanted me dead.

I’d thwarted Rhianna several times before and now they would take no chances. More than that, she wanted me out of the way while she acted, unopposed, on the world above.

Here at the bottom of the world, I was a prisoner of time and Earth was defenseless.

I slapped my hand against the Tower, hoping to disable the quantum lock, but before I could begin to interface with it, the grey face shuffled forward again. I swung it around to intercept its blow and then the battle was on.

As I fought the creature, exchanging blows, I mentally counted off the seconds that passed. It was taking too long to defeat the creature and at this rate, days would pass before I made it out. The last, dying act of preservation by the Gardener was now a curse upon the human race.

We spun, flipped, swayed and dodged in a deadly dance. The creature was swift and brutal but for a time I managed to hold it off, giving up ground as it pressed its attack. But it had one major advantage over me. At key moments, the creature would partially liquefy, shifting its momentum or angle of attack at the last moment. Its arms became dagger tipped whips or its legs massive hooks.

And then, when it leapt, dodged and spun, it re-distributed its weight. Like a half-filled water balloon it would thrust forward in mid air to add additional force to its attacks or to the sides to sidestep an attack. I felt as if I was fighting a floating, deadly mass of water. Which, in a sense I was.

I spun, kicking low and, when the creature jumped over my attack, I brought the Tower forward, crushing the grey face between the base of the pedestal and the wall. It melted into a pool of shadow. Though, as I watched, it began to pull itself together into a humanoid shape. Beyond, I saw several more advancing, swords in hand.

I only had a split second as they shuffled forward, each moving with fluid efficiency. I placed my hand on the Tower and focused, navigating through its interface as quickly as I could manage. And there, there within the controls of the device I reset the quantum lock. I opened my eyes and watched as the creatures slowed to a crawl in my perception. And now, my body could retract with the same speed.

With quick ease, I destroyed the other creatures, but as I fell back into the normal flow of time, I could see that they were reforming. The first creature was very nearly so.

And so, I ran.

I made my way back to the landing dock and was just about to jump back up into the frigid wastes of Antarctica when my eyes caught sight of the vehicle again. That would be my way out.

“…Valentine, come in. Please come in. This is the Office of Extra Normal Affairs, please come in.” Came a tired, haggard voice over the radio.

Now that I was beneath the hole that led up to the outside world, I could receive the radio transmissions, “This is Valentine.”

There was a pause. “Elijah Valentine. You are to report to-”

“How long have I been out of radio contact?”

Another pause. “Seven days.”

“When…”

“Four days ago, sir. Rhianna’s portals opened up four days ago. Earth has been invaded.”