“Feel better,” Kari asked.
“Yes ma’am,” he looked stuffed to the point of bursting, and a little queasy
beside, but he already seemed less emaciated for it.
“Now,” Kari gestured to the ruins. “Could you tell us what happened here? Why is this city all in ruins? What happened to all of the—“
Cutting off abruptly, Kari stared at the bloody sun in the burnt orange sky.
“Hey sis, what is it,” Michael asked.
“What are you looking at,” Jonathan asked.
“The sun,” Kari said.
Turning to look, the twins shrugged in unison.
“We don’t get it,” they said, turning back to her.
“We’ve been here for hours,” Kari explained. “The sun hasn’t moved an inch.
It’s exactly where it was when we got here.”
Sighing deeply, Keir looked down at his shredded clothing. “The sun hasn’t set since the fall of Alkazier. It stays right there in the same place, day and night.”
“Will you tell us what happened,” Kari asked. “Please?”
Considering the sun for a long moment, Keir turned back to Kari.
“It was a revolution,” he whispered, as if afraid to even say it aloud. “It started before I was even born, when my grandfather was king. The Apostle of Cain started teaching about the one true God. The royal family ignored him at first and soon he converted most of the land, and the Obsidian Empire too.”
Hissing at the name, Kari shared looks with her brothers. The Apostle again!
How many other worlds had the Apostle converted already! He must have gone to Marce’s world straight from here. How many more innocents had been murdered to wet the altar of the dark god Cain?
“The Obsidian Empire went to war against Alkazier, calling us heathens for
believing in the old gods. The Apostle decreed all unbelievers had to die, so those still faithful to the old gods gathered in this city behind our invincible shield, Aegis. I was born during the ten-year siege after my father ascended the throne.
“When our food started to run out, and sickness spread through the city, everyone got really mad at my father, saying his pride was killing us all. People outside started firing their weapons on the shield, pounding on it day and night for months until it started to crack. Everyone able took up weapons to defend the city and when the shield broke the Apostle’s army flooded in. The battle lasted for weeks, but then father—father died in battle and I was crowned king.”
Fighting visibly with his emotions, Keir looked away a single tear streaming
down his dirty cheek, making a line in the grime and ash. Taking a deep, calming breath, he continued his story.
“My armies fought bravely to hold back the Obsidian Empire, the Apostle’s
fanatics, and the Alkazieran traitors. In the end, there were too many. People tried to flee and were cut to ribbons. My advisors locked me inside the castle’s treasure vault as the Apostle’s armies fell on us. I tried so hard to get out, but I couldn’t. The ground shook with explosions, and people were screaming all day long, every day for weeks.
“Then everything got really quiet. I banged on the door, and yelled for someone to let me out. When the door opened, the Apostle was on the other side. I was so afraid I couldn’t move. He ignored me, and started rummaging around in my family’s treasures.”
Trembling with remembrance of the Apostle, Keir hugged himself tightly. He
obviously did not want to continue.
“He wears all black, a long cloak with the hood up, and black armor that shines in the light. He has a black mask and his voice sounds like stone grinding against stone.
When he looks at you, you can feel him inside your head.
“He found a huge piece of crystal with a man that’s kind of like you, with a tail, frozen inside. He looked at it for a very long time and started pacing and grumbling to himself under his breath. Then he grabbed onto something around his neck and
disappeared.”
“He was looking for the Gate!” the twins exclaimed.
Keir eyed them suspiciously.
“He can already jump to other worlds,” Kari pointed out. “Why would he start a war to take something he already has? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well,” Jonathan said, “he obviously thought it was something else.”
“Something similar to the Gate, but not the Gate,” Michael added.
“Just like at the World Tower.”
Kari’s breath caught. “You’re right! Marce’s people were trying to copy the
Gate, but it exploded and made her into a goddess. But why would he want a doorway to other worlds when he can already move to other worlds at will? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I guess not,” Michael shrugged. “Weird.”
Spreading confused looks all around, Keir scratched his head. “Do you know the Apostle?”
“We’ve had difficulties with him before,” Kari explained. “He’s an evil man that serves an evil god.”
Keir nodded, satisfied. “What is this Gate?”
“Well, that’s easy,” Michael said with an expansive gesture to the sky. “You see, there’s a billion different worlds out there.”
“Yup,” Jonathan agreed. “And one world between them all, touching all of them, but not part of any.”
“It connects this life to the afterlife, and it’s ruled by our father the Northern Sage.”
“Past, present and future meet, and time stands still there.”
“There is a Gate like a big piece of crystal connecting every world to that place, existing in all worlds.”
“When people die their souls pass through the Gate, and then our father’s realm on the way to the afterlife.”
“But living people can use the Gate to speak with the Sage too. He can answer any question and grant any wish for a price of equal value.”
“Something else happened here,” Kari said, looking at Keir when her brothers
finished explaining. “Something to do with the sun, and why everyone in the city except you is a little pile of ash?”
“A weapon,” Keir said hesitantly, “invented before Aegis shattered. When they brought it to him, my father ordered it destroyed. But after he died my advisors rebuilt it.
When the Apostle’s armies stormed the castle they used it. It wiped all life from the entire planet except for me and him. The sky turned orange and the sun turned red, and that awful smell filled he air.”
Staring gloomily into his lap, Keir brightened. “But if you survived, there may be others too! Maybe it just destroyed the city!”
Kari shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry Keir, but we weren’t on this world when the weapon was used.”
“Oh,” Keir said darkly and his shoulders slumped.
“How long has it been,” Michael asked.
“Since the war ended and you saw the Apostle disappear,” Jonathan added.
“I don’t know,” Keir sounded on the edge of despair. “Clocks don’t work
anymore. Every time my weight changes and the ground shakes, they go crazy. And the sun stopped moving. I don’t even know when it’s night and day anymore. Months probably.”
“You’ve been alone that long,” Kari asked. “How have you survived so long
without any food, you poor thing?”
“There was food in the vault, but it ran out,” Keir said. “I’ve been looking for food in the city, but any I find turns to ash when I touch it. Then I heard you shouting, but I was too afraid to come near, so I followed you.”
“Keir my boy,” Michael said. “How would you like to go to a different world?”
“One with people, and food, and all sorts of life,” Jonathan added.