THE ENEMY WITHIN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BY:  CHRIS GANDY

 

 

CHAPTER I:  PROLOGUE

CHAPTER II:  DREAM? OR NIGHTMARE?

CHAPTER III:  MYSTERIES UNVEILED

CHAPTER IV:  RIDDLE ONE

CHAPTER V:  BONES IS THE WORD

 

CHAPTER I:  PROLOGUE

                Ring, Ring... Ring, Ring... Pick up, he thought to himself.  The phone continued to ring.  Ring, Ring…  Come on, pick up.  Ring, Ring...

            "Hello," a female voice greeted as the phone was answered on the fourth ring, just before the answering machine picked it up.  Had the answering machine picked up, he’d have hung up because he was extremely ill at ease leaving a message on one.

            "Hey, my Love," he answered, recognizing the voice immediately.

            "Alec!" she gasped rather surprised.  "I hadn't expected you to call this early."

            "Well, I would have waited till later when I usually call, but I need an answer from you about the party on Friday.  And I couldn’t wait till later to ask."

            “Oh,” she breathed quietly as she exhaled.  “Well, I regretfully have to inform you that I won’t be able to make it to that party.   My father’s on something I think.  He says that Friday night is `Family Night’, so I won’t be able to go out at all.  I don’t know what’s up with it, but…”  She trailed off, not able to find any words to describe what she wanted to say.

"Oh," he replied quietly, his tone hinting at the loss that welled up inside him at such news.  "Well, I was hoping that you’d be able to make it because we don’t get to spend much time together any more and I was really looking forward to spending that night with you, but since you can’t go, I guess I'm not going to make an appearance either because I was only going to go if you were."

            "If that's what you want, Alec,” she replied softly.  “I’m not going to argue with you about it because it’ll just be a waste of my breath,” she continued teasingly.  “Anyway, I hate to have to say this, but I have to be going.  Mother and I are getting ready to go shopping."

            "Okay.”  He sounded extremely sad.  “I love you.”  He spoke more joyfully now, as if those three words spoken to her were enough to brighten any dreary mood.

            "Okay, bye."

            "Bye."   She hung up before he could even get the word out.  He really thought it strange because though he knew she was going out with her mother, she hadn't told him she loved him as well and she usually took the time to do so even when her parents were rushing her.  He didn't stop to put much thought upon the matter though, putting down the re­ceiver and starting to walk away from the phone, towards the front door of the house when it started to ring.  He walked back over to it, picked up the receiver, and greeted, "Hello." in a lot more jovial tone of voice than his actual mood.

            "Hey, Alec," another female voice greeted.  This one didn't sound as surprised that he was on the other line, and he also recognized this one immediately.

            "Hey, Mystic.  How are ya?"

            "Fine.  Are you going to the party Friday?"

            "Nope.  Sorry.  I just got off the phone with Lorri, and she can't go.  In turn I'm not going because I don’t feel like doing so now."

            "Come on, Alec,” she replied immediately, her tone of voice barely mentioning the sore spot he’d just touched.  “Just because she's not going doesn't mean you can't go and have some fun Friday night at that party."

            "Yes, it does.  If she doesn't go and I do, it won't be any fun for me."

            "Because you won't allow it to be.”  She was talking quickly to keep her temper even.  “You need to learn that just because Lorri's not doing it doesn't mean that you don't have to do it also.  You are an independent person, and you can do things without her.  You can have fun just as easily without her as you can with her."  She paused slightly.  “Well, in most cases.”

            "You're one to be talking," he answered, ignoring the joke she just threw out to lighten the conversation.

            "Be quiet.  We're not talking about me here."

            "Are you sure?" he asked sarcastically.  If he hadn’t been talking to his best friend, he’d have thrown a little acid behind the words.  "It sounds to me as though you're trying to talk me into going because you are and you don't think you'll have anyone else there to talk to if I'm not there."

            "Unh unh!" she answered in a high-pitched whine, a whine he knew to mean he was correct but she didn’t want to admit it.   “There will be any number of guys at this party, so I’ll have fun no matter what.”  He knew by the tone in her voice that her statement was supposed to make him laugh though she really meant it.  “So, I’m trying to talk you into going because you’re my best friend and it’s my job to make sure you get out and live a little and have some fun.”

            "Whatever, Mystic."

            "Okay.   So what if I don’t think I’ll have any fun without you being there?  Is it a crime for me to enjoy the company of my best friend when…”  She cut herself short rather quickly. 

            His girlfriend doesn’t seem to any more, he finished for her in his own mind.  He knew without a doubt she was going to say it, and though it hurt to think this was true, he was starting to find himself believing it was as Mystic already did.

“Anyhow, it doesn't matter either way because you're going and you're going to have fun while you're there even if I have to force you to do both."   How is it that I'm so predictable to you, Alec, she thought to herself while she spoke.  If I only knew how you were able to read people so well, I might be able to get you to open up more by giving you a taste of your own medicine.

            “Okay,” he capitulated.  “I'll go as long as you'll quit harassing me about it.”  He tried his best to fake annoyance but came up sounding more amused than anything.

            “Good,” she gloated.  The tone in her voice sounded extremely pleased with herself for actually having won an argument with him.  He couldn’t help but smile because he could just picture the smile he could hear on her face.  It made him want to laugh, but he couldn’t bring himself to laugh for the dark cloud hanging over his head like an omen of bad fortune that was his relationship with Lorri.  “I'll see you there about seven.”

            “I'll see you then and there.  Bye.”

            “Bye.”  And she hung up, as did he.  Alec went to that party Friday as he had told Mystic he would and found her sitting outside on the hood of her car Indian fashion as the cross-legged position had been termed in his childhood.  He parked his car next to hers, opened the door, and turned his body to face her as he continued to sit, half in and half out of his car.  “You waiting for someone?” he asked jovially, trying his best to hide the depressed mood he’d put himself in not having been able to spend any time with Lorri over the week and putting too much thought into it.

            "You of course," she replied just as jovially as he had, though he could see behind the happiness in her dark, compassionate brown eyes her doubts about the sincerity of his happiness.

            "What?" he asked, sounding rather hurt.  "Did you think I’d be a no show?"

            "I wasn’t completely sure you’d show, yes."

            "Well,” he continued trying to feign hurt.  “You should have known I’d be here.  I told you I'd be here, and I do my best to do as I say I’m going too.  Honesty is one of my better traits if I do say so myself."

            "Well, I can never be to sure where you're concerned because you tend to be rather unpredictable most of the time."

            "Do I?"

            "Shut up, smart ass, and quit being sarcastic.  Come on," she retorted dryly, sliding down the hood of her car to a lithe, graceful landing.  "We have a party to attend."

“I’m well aware.  It’s why my arm hurts.”  He smiled as he lightly, jokingly rubbed his shoulder.

“And if you don’t stop being such a smart ass, it’s going to hurt a lot worse.”  She smiled back, trying her best to suppress the laugh his joke had inspired.

            After about an hour of traversing the crowd of people who had attended the party, talking to those he considered friends or at least considered good enough acquaintances to speak to, Alec ran across none other than his girlfriend, Lorri, who lay sprawled out on top of the school’s star quarterback as they made out upon the rather large couch that dominated the center of the living room.

            "Lorri!" he shouted almost at the top of his lungs, recognizing her instantly, as anger, rage, and pain washed over him from the betrayal he now knew she had committed… the betrayal he was now positive she’d been committing the past few weeks that kept him from spending time with her as he desired.  Beholding this one scene proved to him that all his nagging, persistent doubts that he had considered to be nothing more than his over active imagination being a nuisance as it tended to be some times were correct all along and that Lorri was not as concerned about him or cared about their relationship as much as he.  In that one instant of recognition, he felt the weight of his world come crashing down around his ears and could not so much as think of how to go about getting out of the way of the debris much less rebuilding it.  And at that particular point in time he couldn’t have cared less.

She jumped, extremely startled, recognizing his voice immediately, and turned to look at him.  As she opened her mouth to either explain the scene he’d just witnessed or to defend herself, he turned about on his heels and pushed his way through the crowd of people as he stormed out the house with Mystic in close pursuit as she tried her best to catch up with him and calm him down having heard him scream and turned about to find him gazing upon his girl­friend kissing the star quarterback of their school on the couch.  Kissing being quite an understatement from what she could tell.

            "Alec, wait up," she hollered at him as she trailed too far behind him on his way out to his car or so it appeared.  In the back of her mind she was screaming with all her rage, I’m going to strangle that little bitch till she turns shades of purple I’ve never seen and then some! But first Alec needs my attention.

            He paid no heed to her calls although he heard clearly and recognized her voice with no problem, getting into his car with­out so much as acknowledging her, though something way back inside his mind told him he should stop and talk with her.  He started the car, slammed it into reverse, baking out of his spot without hitting another car amazingly; slammed it into drive, and took off away from the house at anywhere from seventy-five to ninety-five miles an hour, spinning out and squealing the tires on the asphalt road.  He was royally pissed, more rage and pain washing through him than he’d ever imagined possible, as would anyone be if they had a brain or feelings or any self-esteem at all and they had witnessed firsthand their girlfriend or boyfriend two timing on them.

            Mystic got into her own car, started it up, and followed after him as fast as she could hoping a cop wouldn’t pull her over for speeding seeing as they’d most likely not catch Alec so she’d be able to catch him before he did something stupid.  She followed him all the way back to his house where she saw him get out of his car, slam the door, and storm into the house.   She got out of her own car, not bothering to even close her door, and followed him right in, not caring if his parents were home or not though hoping they were so they’d stop him so she could talk some sense into him.  Unfortunately they were not home, so she followed him all the way up to the second story of the house and his parents' room where she found him fumbling with a nine-millimeter handgun.

            “Alec!” she screamed as she rushed into the room and he placed the barrel of the gun against his right temple.

            "Mystic," he said turning around and looking at her, knowing her voice without a doubt and having guessed she’d follow him after he heard her screaming for him to stop back at the party.   Lorri! he saw himself screaming at his girlfriend as she lay upon the star quarterback, making out with him.  "Get out of here and leave me to my fate,” he spit acidly, his pain and rage blinding him to the salvation his best friend offered.  He no longer cared if he lived or die.  To hell with the world if it was going to treat him this way he believed.  Why, Lorri?  Why? he pleaded with her in his mind.  What did I do wrong?  Was my love not enough?  Was my heart and my soul not enough?  What more did you want?  The answers would not make themselves evident in his mind, and it made him all the more angry.  WHY!!!!!!! he screamed in his mind.

            "This isn't your fate," she pleaded.  Oh, no!  she thought as she stared as deeply into his eyes as she dared, his pain and anguish, his anger and rage mirrored there almost entirely too much for her to bear.  He’s going to do it.  He’s actually going to do it, and I’m powerless to do anything about it.   "Just put down the gun and let's talk about how you're feeling.  I’m your best friend.  I’m here to talk and help."

            "Ha!" he laughed dementedly, sardonically.  "Talk's cheap, and I'm not in the mood for it.  There's nothing left to talk about!  I've made up my mind, and I'm going to do it.  Now get out of here and leave me be, or be a witness to my death.  It's your choice."  He began to slowly apply pressure to the trigger of the gun.  WHY!!!! he repeated in his mind.  Now it had nothing to do with Lorri’s betrayal.  Why can’t I stop myself?  What am I doing?  Is this really the way it has to be?  Why won’t I allow Mystic to help me?  WHY!!!!  To many emotions… to many memories… to many questions… not enough answers…  He continued to apply pressure to the trigger.

            "No!" she screamed, taking the only option left open to her and jumping towards him as he squeezed the trigger.  She hit the elbow of his right arm just enough and just in time to keep him from actually killing himself.  Instead, the bullet went through the top of his skull, just grazing the top of his brain.  He fell to the floor in a crumpled heap like a rag doll, his father’s gun flying from his hand and sliding across the hard wood floor to strike the wall with a thud and spinning for a few revolutions on the wood floor before coming to rest.  Mystic’s momentum carried her to the phone next to his parents’ bed where she picked up the receiver and called 911 immediately, following the ambulance all the way to the hospital after it started to rush Alec from the house.

CHPATER II: DREAM? OR NIGHTMARE?

                Alec found himself in a world of pain, misery, and suffer­ing.   He found himself back at the party where he was progressing through the guests, talking to those who were his friends, when he walked by the couch and found Lorri and that football player, the star quarter back, making out.  Immediately the pain and anger and rage that had washed over him then flooded through him again, as he tried to scream at her but found he couldn't voice the rage and pain that threatened to overpower him; he tried to run but found that he could not force his legs to move either.  All he could do was stand his ground and watch the scene play out before him as he fought the pain and rage to keep control of his sanity.

            He eventually found himself capable of blocking out the pain and controlling the rage by sheer force of will alone –another of the few traits he possessed he believed worth anything, but then it got worse... a whole lot worse for poor, weary Alec.  The scene became that of these two having sex on that couch right before his eyes, laughing at him and making a mockery of him and his beliefs the entire while.

            "Bring it on, big boy!  Bring it on!"  Lorri screamed.  "Harder!  More!  Come on, more!  Alec would never do this to me."

            "He's to big a puss," the football player returned in short, ragged breathes.

            "Yeah," she answered, and they broke out laughing.

            I’m not either, Alec said in his mind, still unable to bring voice to his pain as he tried –more like fought with everything he could muster—to keep the tears that were fighting to break loose back.  I'm not.   I wouldn't make love to you because we weren't yet married, because I loved you for more than your body, because I wanted you for more than that.  Her words hurt him to the bone, felt like a knife piercing his heart and cutting it to shreds as it was wrenched from side to side and twisted all about.  They did not hurt because they were true; they hurt because he loved her so much, loved her with every ounce of his being.  The pain undermined his will power.  He could no longer keep up the fight, so he broke down crying; and then, as suddenly as it began, the scene before him started to fade and he found himself lying, snuggly tucked in a bed and staring straight up at a ceiling as tears ran down his cheeks and sweat beaded out on his forehead and soaked into his clothing.  His breathes came in short ragged gasps, and his heart was racing faster than he thought it had ever raced before.  It hurt more than it ever had as well, the memories of the dreadful betrayal wounding him so gravely that he thought he’d surely die from the pain, die of the proverbial broken heart.

            He tried to focus his mind away from the memories by examining the ceiling above him to determine were he could possibly be.  He discovered that he was in what appeared to be a small wooden cottage or shack of some sort, and now that he surmised this, he wondered how in the world he had gotten here –and where here was in the first place.  His throat was sore and his muscles stiff.  He felt as though he’d just ended a shouting match and had been motionless for a year or more on top of that.  He turned his head to the right to find something more interesting than the ceiling to gaze upon and found a strange sight:  his best friend, Mystic, sitting in a wooden chair not for from his bed in a beautiful, blue, silk dress.  It was a strange sight, he thought, because he had never known Mystic to wear a dress, or anything dress-upish, unless it was a very special occasion –and even then, like himself, she despised doing so. 

Maybe this is what death is, he thought to himself as he scrutinized Mystic’s still form.  Pictures of those you held dear in life shown to you constantly to drive you insane.  “Mystic?” he said hesitantly, inquisitively.  He was surprised to find that he could speak.

            She jerked straight up in her chair –almost falling out of it because she had been sleeping sitting up in the chair—and looked over at Alec.   "You've awoken finally," she said, a note of relief in her voice.  Something besides the fact she was dressed up struck Alec as strange and different where his best friend, Mystic, was concerned, but he couldn’t quite place his finger upon what it could possibly be.

            "Mystic, is that you?"

            "How do you know my name?" she asked him in turn, her voice gravely serious.

            "How do I know your name?" he repeated trying to figure out what she was talking about.  His throat ached from the strain of talking, and now his head began to hurt with the confusion that followed her responses.  "I'm your best friend, Mystic.  That's how.  Don't you recognize me?  It's me, Alec."  The pain in his throat only got worse with every word and the pain in his head with every thought running through it, but he persevered still the same, hoping that maybe he could relieve both pains through the conversation and the answers he’d get through it.

            "How can you be my best friend?"  Her voice was still seri­ous.   "I don't even know you.”  Her dark brown eyes where before they contained relief for his awakening now contained the same confusion that he himself felt rampaging through his head like a herd of frightened elephants running from a tiny mouse… a tiny mouse in his head currently going, “WTF, mate?”  “I didn't know your name was Alec until you just said it, but I do like your name.  It's a very lovely name."  Her eyes softened slightly, but the confusion in Alec’s mind wasn’t ready to die just yet.

            "Okay, Mystic, quit joking around because this isn't funny anymore.  I know I'm a little on the crazy side, but I don't need driven any farther down that rode than I already am.  Especially not by my best friend."

            "Joking around?  I see no joke here.  I have told you only the truth." 

            “I have told you only the truth”, he thought.  What’s going on here?  The notion that she was not joking with him stuck him hard.  "Where am I then?"

            "You're in the Province of Corvair, right outside the city of Sorvikal, it's capitol."

            "How did I get here?"  He was talking to himself more than to her, but she heard him and answered still the same.

            "I do not know the answer to that question, Alec.   I can tell you how you came to be lying in that bed, but no more than that.   You came to be lying in that bed because I found you unconscious while I was out on one of my morning walks through the forest.  I brought you back here and have been taking care of you for these past fourteen days."

            "I've been unconscious for fourteen days?"  He sounded very shocked and bewildered.

            "At least.  That's how long you've been in my house, in that bed unconscious.  Who knows how long you were out in the woods unconscious.  There for a while I thought you'd never wake up and instead die lying right there in that bed."

            "Well, from the nightmare I was having while in that uncon­scious state, I feel as though I did and as though I should have if I didn’t, but I thank you for taking care of me.  If you'll help me out of this bed, I'll take my leave of you so I won’t continue to be a burden to you.”  He squirmed slightly.  “Why am I tucked into this bed so snuggly anyhow?"

            "You were tossing and turning rather violently, so it was a precaution to keep you from falling out of the bed and possibly breaking your neck," she answered as she got up from her chair and came over to the bed to help him out of it.  Somewhat the same old Mystic, straightforward and blunt as a baseball bat, he thought to himself as she helped remove the covers.

            "Thank you," he said after sitting up in the bed and stretching his muscles, which had grown rather stiff after fourteen days of his just lying in a bed.

            He stood up, still trying to stretch the stiffness out of his muscles, and Mystic said, "Before you go, I have a few things which you might like to have back."

            "I had things with me when you found me?"

            "Yes.”  She looked at him quizzically.  “You were in a suite of plate mail armor for starters, which made it very tough to bring you back here seeing as how you out weigh me by a good bit in it as well as out of it.   You also had a helmet, shield, bracers, and greaves to go with the armor, and you had an assortment of weapons."

            I wonder where I got all of that, he thought to himself.   I don't recall having all that when I last knew where I was; all I had was a...  He never finished out that thought because his head started to throb rather painfully, filling it with more pain than the confusion had, more pain than he thought his head could bear without bursting.  He raised his right hand to the temple on the right side of his head and started rubbing it gently, hoping to relieve the pain as he would a normal headache.

            "What's wrong?" Mystic asked him.

            "My head just started throbbing," he answered, continuing to rub his temple tenderly.

            "I don't think you should be leaving then."

            "I'm fine.  Really I am.”  He dropped his hand back to his side to emphasize his words though the throbbing persisted.  “I really need to be going because I'm getting the strange feeling I'm needed to do something very soon."  Behind the pain, waiting patiently to be recognized, sat this nagging suspicion that he had not come to find himself stranded in this strange place with familiar yet unfamiliar people for absolutely no reason other than the fact there was no where else to stick him after dying since heaven most likely didn’t want him after committing suicide and hell was most likely afraid he’d take over.

            "Okay, but I really think you should stay and rest so you can rebuild your strength."

            "I'd love to, but I really think I must be going.  Like I said, I just have this funny feeling I must be getting started on something very important.  Not that I can say I have a clue as to what it is."

            "Okay, if that's the way you feel, then come on, and I'll show you to your belongings."  She stood up then and started towards the door, and he obediently followed.

            "Here you are," she said when they arrived in the main room of her little home.  "Over there in those two chairs."   She pointed to the far side of the room where two chairs stood next to each other facing them.  Upon the two chairs was carefully, gingerly laid out a suite of armor like she described him wearing and an assortment of weapons like the ones she said he had been carrying when she found him.

            "Thank you so much, Mystic, for everything you've done for me.   When I'm through with whatever it is that I'm about to start, I'll try to come see you again.  If I can't, I'm sorry.  I feel extremely out of place with no clue as to what’s going on or why, so I fear I can not promise you anything."

            "I'll be waiting."  Alec then got his possessions, putting all of his armor on and strapping each of the weapons he had in their respective places, which was rather strange to him seeing as how he had never worn armor or used such weapons in his entire life or even attempted to do so just for fun, and departed.

            He started east not really knowing why but heading in that direction still the same because his gut feeling told him that he should go that way and having no better ideas himself or anyone to tell him and lead him to wherever it was that he was destined.  I wonder what it is that I'm needed to do so badly here that I was dragged from the world I was familiar with into one with so far one person familiar to me yet unfamiliar and everything else being extremely unfamiliar? he thought to himself as he continued east.

            Turn to you're right, and you shall find your answer, a voice inside his head unexpectedly answered him.

            “What?” he answered that voice aloud, so totally shocked by its unexpected appearance that he couldn’t help but answer it out loud as though someone around him had spoken to him.

Turn to you're right, and you shall find your answer, the voice repeated, still inside his head and not coming from the surrounding forest.

Alec didn't recognize the voice one bit, but he could tell some how by the voice's tone and any number of things underneath it that its owner wasn't an enemy or hostile in any way.  Who are you? he asked the voice, speaking to it mentally as it was him.

Turn to you're right, and you shall find your answer, the voice repeated once again.

Alec obeyed the voice, turning to his right and heading through the forest in that direction though he wasn’t quite sure why he trusted this mysterious voice so much; he placed his right hand on the pommel of one of the two short-swords strapped at his waist, feeling in his heart the owner of the voice wasn't an enemy but still not entirely sure upon the matter and remembering a lesson which his instructor had taught him when he had still been a boy that said to always follow your heart but to also not forget your mind's input and always go into something prepared for the unexpected.

That's strange, he thought to himself as he cautiously proceeded through the woods, scrutinizing everything around him carefully incase enemies were to jump at him from the surrounding woods to ambush him.  I have memories from two lives:  one where I was trained to be the best warrior the world had ever seen and one where I was just an ordinary person living a dull, boring life.  I wonder why that is?  More importantly, who am I?  So many damned questions… I guess this place ain’t that much different from my world.

Come to me, and you shall find your answer, that voice answered.

Alright already, he answered the voice, growing rather irritated at its insistence and more than that irritated at its intrusion into his mind in the first place.  I'm coming, but it’s going to take me...  His reply was cut short there as he found himself entering a clearing in the woods where one lone man sat upon an old tree stump, unarmed and evidently waiting for someone.  As he neared the man, Alec's hand fell away from the pommel of his sword, the air… the aura around him commanding more than anything respect, trust, and compassion.

"Well met, Alec," the man greeted in the same voice that had been talking to him inside his head, urging him to turn to his right to find his answers.  Alec was speechless, stopping in mid stride as he entered the clearing, completely awestruck by the man who sat alone on an old tree stump as though, among other things, he was the most important, influential, awe-inspiring being to have ever graced the earth.  "This is a very fortunate meeting.   Please, come have a seat," he said as he waved his hand before him and another stump like the one he sat upon appeared.

Alec came over and took a seat on the stump before the man as he was bidden and asked, fighting through his initial speechlessness, "Who are you?  How do you know my name?  Where am I?  What’s going on?  How did I…"

"We're just full of questions today, aren't we, Alec?" the man answered, raising his hand and cutting off one of the many questions Alec was about to give voice to from his mind.  "But, I guess that's to be expected, isn't it?  No matter.   To answer your question, I'm Darbain, your God, and I know your name because I brought you here on top of being your God."

"What are you talking about?  My God?  I’m Agnostic, and what do you mean brought me here?"  He felt the headache from confusion that he had felt with Mystic starting to build strength again.

"Of course you are," Darbain answered.  He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  "But just because you’re Agnostic does not mean that you do not have a god.  It just means that you have not acknowledged one.  Let me explain before you ask any more questions," he said hold­ing up the hand he had been rubbing his chin with to quiet Alec who was getting ready to ask a ton more questions no doubt.  "You're two different Alecs right now:  one of your world, Earth, whose is in fact Agnostic and does not acknowledge a god though does not say we do not exist, and one of this alternate reality of your Earth whose God is me, Darbain.  Since I am this reality’s Alec’s god that also makes me your god as an Agnostic.  It’s tedious how the whole thing works, but suffice it to say that I am in fact your patron god despite your being Agnostic.  Now as you have already figured out, your mind has memories of two different lives, yours in your reality of Earth and memories of the Alec of this reality of Earth.  When I say ‘brought you here’, I mean that I brought your spirit here from your reality of Earth to reside in this Alec's body for a time, until I believe you can go back to your reality."

“Where's my body then?" Alec asked before Darbain could continue or silence him.

"Your body's still back in your reality of Earth lying in a hospital bed in a comma."

"What!"

"What?” he asked almost sarcastically.  “Don't you remember trying to commit suicide with your father's nine-millimeter, Alec?"

Alec's hands went straight to the temples on either side of his head when Darbain said this, the memories of that horrifying Friday night playing through his mind once again upon Darbain's saying  ‘suicide’; Alec didn't hear anything after suicide due to the pain that erupted so suddenly he didn’t have the chance to fight it and the memories that went along with it causing even more pain.   He fell to the ground convulsing as the pain and an­guish washed through his mind, body, and soul.  He was once again at that party moving through the guests and talking to those whom he considered friends; he once again walked past that couch and found Lorri making out with that football player.  He once again screamed her name; she once again jumped, recognizing his voice instantly, and turned to face him.  She once again opened her mouth to say something, and he turned about on his heels without giving her the chance to explain, pushing people out of his path as he stormed out of the house; Mystic was once again hollering at him to hold up as she followed him out to his car.  He once again jumped into his car, cranked it up, slammed it into reverse, backed it out of its spot, slammed it into drive, and sped away towards his house.

He then found himself jumping out of his car and slamming the door as hard as he could, running up to the front door of his house, unlocking it, and running up the stairs towards his parents' room where this flight would finally end and he'd finally meet his fate.  He once again found his father's nine-millimeter pistol, loaded it, and placed the barrel of the gun against his right temple.  He once again turned at Mystic's voice.  He conversed with her for a few moments before going to pull the trigger on his father's gun.  He saw Mystic jump at him as he squeezed the trigger, felt her hit his elbow, and then saw the world go black before him.

His convulsions subsided after the world went black before his eyes in his memory, the horrendous pain of it all subsiding slowly as it was replaced by a dull throb, and he found himself lying on the ground staring up at Darbain.  "Okay, I believe you," Alec said to Darbain who was looking down at him, a worried and pained look upon his face.  He levered himself to his hands and knees, fighting the dull throb that made him want to continue lying there to catch a quick nap, and then stood up to take his seat again.  "So why did you bring my spirit here and place it in this Alec's body along with his?"

"I'm glad you asked that question because it's the main reason why I'm here on the mortal plane talking with you.  I need you for a kind of quest, Alec.  An important one that must not fail."

"Why didn't you just get this Alec to do it?  His memories show me this is what he's been training for since he was five years old.  I think he'll have better luck than I at suc­ceeding in this quest.  He’s worked extremely hard for this quest and is prepared to undertake it."

"Because I need the both of you for this quest.  The Alec of this reality has been being trained for this since he was five, true, but no matter how strong, well trained, and determined he may be, he can't successfully finish this quest because he hasn't the insight in certain areas to do so.  This is why I brought your spirit here and put it in this Alec's body with his own spirit.   You have the insight needed to help him accomplish this quest.

"There is another reason for my bringing you here.   I've known since the birth of both of you that you'd try to commit suicide because of Lorri and that you'd need to be shown a reason to live for when you woke from your comma or else you'd try it again and again till you succeeded or were stuck in a mental institute.   Upon this quest you'll be shown the future of your­self in your own reality if you choose to accept it and if you can figure it out in the first place using the insight that is the main reason for my bringing you here.  Anyhow, that's enough on that subject.  You're probably wondering about what exactly it is you have to do upon this quest."

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

"Okay then.   What you're to do is go to Sorvikal and the palace therein.  When the guards at the palace doors stop you and ask you your business, you are to tell them you wish to see the King because you wish to take up the quest he needs someone to accomplish before his death so this Province doesn't fall into an everlasting period of horrendous strife."

"What is the quest though?  That is what I want to know."

"You'll find that out from the King of Sorvikal.  Now it is time for you to be on your way, but first, I have a gift for you that'll make your quest a bit easier.  Please stand," he said as he stood himself.  Alec did so without hesitation, and Darbain reached out and tapped Alec's breastplate five times before taking his hand and squeezing it in a brotherly fashion.  "There," he said as he released Alec's hand.  "I have endowed your armor with a protective magic.  When you are confronted with an enemy of powerful magic, the magic I have put into you armor shall negate any magical attacks from it.  I shall help you whenever it looks as though you're in need of it, but until then, good bye and good luck."  He then vanished, no puff of smoke, no flash of light, just vanished, and Alec started upon his way towards Sorvikal to discover the exact nature of this quest he had evidently been brought to this reality to help accomplish, wondering if this was perhaps just some sort of screwed up dream he was having or if he indeed had been brought to another world.

 

*****

While all of this went on in the alternate reality of Earth Alec now found himself in, Mystic kept a vigilant watch over him while he lie in the hospital bed back in his own reality of Earth.  "Why did you have to go and do this, Alec?" she asked his comatose form while she sat next to his bed in one of the room's two chairs, hoping that maybe her voice would be enough to rouse him from it.  "You didn't have to go and do this.  I could have helped you, talked to you.  We could have solved this problem together, and you wouldn't have had to be cooped up in this creepy hospi­tal.  Why didn't you just stop and listen?"

As she finished talking, the door to the room opened, and she turned to see whom it was that was coming to visit Alec.  Before she saw anyone, she heard:

"Don’t even think about going in there,” screamed someone at the top of their lungs.  “It’s your fault that he’s in that room," she heard the person continue, and she finally recognized the person screaming as Kari, a friend of hers and Alec’s; and recognized the person who had opened the door as none other than Lorri, her best friend’s soon to be ex-girlfriend… provided she didn’t become a corpse first within the next few moments.

As soon as Lorri walked into the room, the electrocardiograph monitoring Alec’s heart rate started going berserk showing that his heart was more than racing.  Mystic jumped up from her chair and hollered, "Kari, get a nurse in here while I handle this situation."  Bitch, she was thinking to herself as she eyed Lorri threateningly.

Kari ran out of the room screaming for the nurse, and Mystic advanced on Lorri who was coming towards the bed and Alec therein.   "Get out," Mystic growled through clinched teeth, trying her best to keep her temper under control and not shout.

"I have just as much right to be in here as you do,” Lorri answered almost innocently, as though she had no clue as to why Alec were lying in the hospital in a comma… as though she had already forgotten about the incident at the party.

Mystic could no longer hold her temper in check as Lorri’s play at innocence and attitude that none of this was of any fault of her own became to much for her to bear.   "You..." she didn't finish out her statement (as though she really needed to for us to figure out what she was thinking and was going to say, no?) as she brought her right hand back and then forward in that very moment, slapping Lorri so hard that she fell to the floor in a heap, the sound of her hand connecting with Lorri’s face echoing loud enough to be heard over the infernal beeping of the electrocardiograph.  The electrocardiograph started to come back to normal then, slowing its beeping down rather significantly from where it had gone upon Lorri's entering the room.

"You are no longer Alec's girlfriend and no longer welcome near him or me.  It's your fault he's lying in that hospi­tal bed in the first place," Mystic hollered at Lorri through the blind rage flowing through her veins at the insolence Lorri had just displayed, showing up in Alec’s hospital room knowing full well she was solely responsible for driving Alec to this point, possibly the point of no return.  "Get out of here!  Now!  Before you actually feel my wrath!"

Kari and two nurses came into the room then, one of the nurses asking, "What's wrong?"

"Alec's heart rate started racing just a minute ago when she came into the room."  She pointed at Lorri's stunned form on the floor, loathing and hatred in her voice.  "Please get someone in here to check on Alec's condition, and get her off the floor and out of here," she concluded, a mixture of despise and total hatred for Lorri, her best friend’s now ex-girlfriend (as though that conclusion was so hard to draw to begin with), and concern for Alec’s well being fighting in her voice.

CHAPTER III:  MYSTERIES UNVEILED

Alec arrived in Sorvikal two days later and arrived at the palace with relative ease; it really wasn't all that hard to find the palace since it was the biggest building in Sorvikal.   Two guards bearing six and a half foot long spears and shields with the emblem of a great red lion upon a total black background stood at silent attention at the front doors of the palace, heads turned straight forward as were their eyes.   The two guards lowered their spears as Alec walked up the steps to the palace doors so as they crisscrossed across the doors.

"What brings you to the palace, Sir Warrior?" one of the guards asked without moving his head, the spears criss­crossed across the doors barring him entry to the palace.

"I have come to see your King," Alec answered.  "I wish to take up the quest which he needs accomplished."

"What is your name, Sir Warrior, so as we may be able to tell a messenger to tell our King of you?"

"I am Alec," he answered without elaborating as the guards had expected him to.

One of the guards raised his spear and tapped its end upon one of the two doors that made up the entrance to the palace.  The door opened almost instantly, and a young boy of no more than thirteen years of age walked out.  The guard told him Alec's name and his business and then told him to find the King and give him the message.  The boy went back into the palace to full-fill his errand.

Five minutes later the boy returned with a detachment of five palace guards dressed similarly to the two at the doors but bearing broadswords instead of spears and an official of some sort.   The official walked out to Alec.  "An absolute pleasure, Sir Alec," he said as he offered his hand to Alec.  Alec took it, and they shook in greeting.  "Hopefully you're the one the kingdom has waited for for these eighteen years.  Come on in.  The King will see you in his council room."

"Thank you," Alec answered bowing to the official.

"A Knight are you?" the official asked.

"No.   I was trained by one, though, and hope to become one eventually," Alec answered.

"That’s just as well because you'll need every bit of that training and discipline for this quest.  Enough of that subject, though, because it's for the King to tell you, not I."  He then started back into the palace, and Alec obediently followed though he was not told or asked to.

The official and the five palace guards led Alec to the council room mentioned previously by the official, which was dominated by a great round table that sat directly in the middle of the room with twenty chairs around its perimeter.  Seated in one of the chairs at the table was a man who appeared neither old, as Alec had expected from this King, nor young.

The man was probably in his middle thirties to early for­ties; he had a full head of jet-black hair and a full, jet-black beard.   His eyes were almost the same color as his hair, and he looked to be a very physically fit person; he might have easily been a match for any of his guards and any assassin sent to kill him.

"Welcome to my home, Alec," the man said after Alec was shown to a seat directly before him, he had sat in it, and the five guards had taken their positions around the room.   "I am Ravain, the King of Corvair."

"Pleased to meet you, your Highness," Alec answered.

"You may call me Ravain if you wish.  This is a private council."

"Still the same, if it doesn't offend you, I shall call you by one of your many titles because it's more respectful for a man of your rank and position.  You have earned them."

"As you wish.  My messenger tells me you wish to take up the quest I'm in need of someone accomplishing before my own death."

"Yes, Sire, I do wish to take up your quest."

"Why?   From what the boy has told me and what I see and hear, you're a stranger to this kingdom and thus do not even know what this quest is or what it will take to accomplish it or what it will accomplish for that matter."

"Since all of this is true, Sire, wouldn’t that usually imply to you I couldn't have ulterior motives for wanting to take up the quest?"

"Yes, I guess you have yourself a very legitimate point."

"But I wish to take up the quest because I really haven’t a choice in the matter.  Darbain has sent me here to you to take up the quest, and he really didn't leave much room for argument."  He smiled slightly as though what he was saying was supposed to be a sort of joke.

"You’ve been chosen by our God?"  He sounded as though he was totally reverent of Alec now, and Alec found it rather strange.

"Yes.  I have been.  He told me not even three days ago that I must come here to Sorvikal and take up the quest because I have the best chance of accomplishing it out of everyone else anywhere in the world."

"Well then, I guess that more than answers my question.  Anyhow, this is what the quest is, why it is, and what it is for."  He took from within a pocket of his shirt a neatly folded piece of parchment and held it out to Alec.  Alec took the parch­ment, and Ravain continued.  "That is a list of eight riddles which you must solve in the order which they are written."   He paused again.  This time he stood up and walked across the room to a small table, which had one drawer.  He opened the drawer and took out what appeared to be another piece of parchment.  He came back over and laid this one before Alec.

"This is a map of my kingdom.  Every time you solve a riddle correctly, a number will appear somewhere on the map.   I don't know how it works; I just know that it's supposed to do so be­cause the Gods have told me so.  Anyhow, when the number appears on the map, you must travel there and confront the enemy you have named.  Each time you defeat an enemy, you move onto the next riddle.  You can't solve a riddle unless you have gotten to it in numerical order because they're supposed to appear after each enemy you defeat.  I don't know how it works either, but it's supposed to.  Do you understand all of this thus far?"

"Yes, although I still don't see what it's all for, what it's supposed to accomplish should I be able to defeat each enemy," Alec answered.

"I'll get there in due time.  Just be patient.   Eighteen years ago my wife and I were blessed with the gift of another life:  my wife was pregnant.  Neither of us knew how truly spe­cial this child was to be with the right decisions.  Just before my wife gave birth to our child, Darbain and a number of other Gods came to me.  They said the child my wife carried would die upon birth unless I assented to what they had planned for her; she had been the chosen of the Gods, as you seem to be.  They had told me her because they knew the child would be a girl.  Anyhow, I asked what it was I must assent to and they told me this:  `This child which thy wife carries is thine kingdom's only chance at survival after thine death because thou shalt not have another child before thine death.  To keep this child alive and save thine kingdom, thou must consent to allow us Gods to put her under a powerful sleep spell that can only be broken when a man can accomplish, before thine death, the quest which I'm about to give thee.'"

No wonder he sounded so reverent when I said Darbain had sent me.  Darbain and a number of his fellow Gods created this quest, and from the way Darbain spoke to me, it was probably in the hopes that I would learn what was taught me well enough to be able to confront the enemies of this quest, Alec thought to himself.

"`But,’ they told me, `the spell can only be broken by he who is destined to marry her for the final awakening of thine daughter will be a kiss from true love.'"

God, it sounds like a deadly spin off of Sleeping Beauty.  This is so screwed up...  Can this actually be happening, or is this some sort of really screwed up dream?

"Then they handed me that piece of parchment and the map which I gave you before telling me the specifics of the quest and what it was that I was supposed to tell the brave men who wished to take up the quest.  You're the first man who's asked to take up the quest that hadn't done so in the hopes of being the hus­band of my daughter and thus coming to rule this kingdom with my daughter after my death.  Anyhow, after taking in everything they told me and taking into account everything which the decision might affect, I decided to consent, and thus they put my daughter under that sleep spell before her birth where she has been peace­fully resting these eighteen years.  Do you still whish to take up the quest?" he asked, finishing his explanation.

"I do.  It's a congenital trait of mine to be stubborn.   I said I wished to take up the quest, and I'm not going to back down now.  It's not in my blood to back down."

"You're definitely the bravest one yet.  Maybe you shall be the one.  When do you propose to start, Alec?"

"In the morning once I've eaten a bit for breakfast."

*****

Meanwhile, back in Alec's actual reality of Earth, Mystic is still at her constant vigil over Alec's comatose from.  On this night, the fourth night of Alec's comatose state, KariKari_ walks into Alec's room at fifteen minutes till midnight to find Mystic still awake as was previously stated.

"Mystic,” she said, "you've been awake for the past four days straight."  She stated this more matter of fact than as a question.  "It's time you got some rest."

"I’m fine,” Mystic answered without even turning to face KariKari_.

"No, you’re not.  You need to get some rest.  I’m ordering you to go out into the waiting room and get some sleep.   I'll take over watch here.  Now get up and get some sleep before I get some of the male nurses in here to physically make you."

Mystic turned and looked at KariKari_.  She saw the serious­ness mirrored in her eyes and gave a great sigh.  "Alright,” she ceded.   "I’ll go just as long as you promise to notify me if any, and I do many any, change in his condition occurs."

"No problem.  Just go get some sleep.  None of us are any good to him if we're close to the point of needing to be in the hospital ourselves for lack of sleep, now are we?" she asked rhetorically.

Mystic slowly rose to her feet and started towards the door.  KariKari_ went and took Mystic's place when she was gone and took Alec's hand as Mystic had. "I knew from the moment I met you and Lorri that I could love you more than she could."  Alec was as unresponsive as ever.

CHAPTER IV:  RIDDLE ONE

He who could be and still can be but never will be, Alec read the first riddle on the piece of parchment.  So what do you think about that, Alec? he asked his alternate self.   He had finally learned how to talk to this alternate reality's Alec over the night.

I was just about to ask you the same thing, his alternate self answered.

Well, we might as well put down what we already know.   The answer is an enemy and is evil.  So, what kind of ideas does that give you?

Not many.  The riddle implies that the person has the chance to be a great something but won't be because he won't change from the ways he currently follows.  The question is, what kind of something is it that he could become.

True, true.  That is the question, but what is the answer?  I have only one guess, and myself, I think it's too obvious to be the correct answer.

And what would that be?  One guess, no matter how obvious, is more than I have at this point in time.

Well, this person is evil and is an enemy as we have already figured, and to include what you said, the person is to be a great something if he'd change his ways.  The only guess I have is a Dark Knight because a person could be a great warrior if they followed the right path, but a Dark Knight won't be great because he doesn't follow the path of chivalry.

Check the map because I think you just hit the jackpot, my friend.

Alec took the map out of the pouch he had placed it in prior to his departure from Sorvikal and unfolded it to examine its surface.   He examined the map for a few moments before finding what he had been looking for.  Here it is, he said to his alter­nate self, placing his finger on a section of the map, which showed an area not far from his current location.  There’s a Roman numeral one right here on a small keep called Fazkayr.

You’re a genus, Alec.  What says we go to Fazkayr and teach this Dark Knight the path of Chivalry?

Let's, Alec answered folding the map back up and placing it back in its pouch before starting towards Fazkayr Keep.

Alec arrived at Fazkayr Keep two days later.  What do you think about our chances of getting in, he asked his alternate personality.

Well, we see two guards at the gate, and the battlements are patrolled rather heavily; but I still think we can get in rather easily even if the guards at the gate decide they don't want to let us in.  I think we can take out the two gate guards easily enough without alarming all of the guards patrolling the battle­ments.

You have a point, but it really doesn’t matter what our chances are because we have to get in no matter what, right?

True.   Since we've gotten all of that out of the way, what kind of an approach do you plan to take with the two gate guards?

Well, we’re going to try the subtle approach first, and if that doesn’t work, we have this right here to fall back on, he replied tapping the pommel of a dagger he had at his waist.  Alec then nonchalantly started towards the gate into the keep.  "Ho there," one of the guards said reaching out and plac­ing his hand on Alec's shoulder as he tried to pass between them.

"Yes,” Alec answered, turning to face the guard who had hailed him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Who are you, and what is your business here at Fazkayr Keep?" the guard asked him.

“I’m here to see the Lord of this keep, my cousin,” Alec answered.

“And who is the Lord of this keep?” the guard returned.

Oh, this is just great!  Now what are we going to do?  Discovered before we even got started.

Drop the subtle approach.  Attack! And he did.  He drew the dagger with a lightning quick flip of his wrist, jamming it home into the guard's throat, blood squirting every which way.  The other guard went to draw his sword, and Alec kicked him full in the face with the bottom of his booted right foot, breaking his nose and ramming the cartilage of his nose up into his brain, thus killing him.

Squatting down, he withdrew his dagger from the guard’s throat and wiped the blade clean upon the guard’s corpse, sheathing it as he stood back up and started back upon his path into the keep as nonchalantly as before, despite having just killed two men.  Those are some awesome reflexes and skills you got there, Alec, he complimented his alternate self.

I was taught by one of the best knights the land has ever seen.  We need to stay alert.  We didn’t rouse an alarm there because it happened too quickly, but it’s only a matter of time before they find those two corpses.   Besides that, I’m sure the interior is just as heavily patrolled, and it’ll be a whole lot more difficult to elude them or dispatch them without making as much of a ruckus. 

Drawing one of the short swords at his waist and a war axe –a slightly larger version of a hand axe designed for the killing of men rather than trees, he proceeded to enter the keeps main structure.  He hadn’t gotten very far before he heard numerous armored bodies running throughout the keep both behind him and around him, most likely on the battlements, and he thought to himself, Well, it didn’t take long for them to find the two corpses, eh?  Need to find this Dark Knight and quick before we run into too much opposition, or he flees.

Don’t dwell on it.  Just keep moving.  I doubt any of his guard will pose much of a threat if the two at the gate were anything to go by.  He hurriedly took a right at the next intersection he came across, and as he neared the next intersection, he saw a guard standing at silent attention with his back turned in his direction, quietly humming some unknown melody to himself.  Moving silently, Alec made his way up behind the guard where in one quick, fluid movement he placed his left arm around the guard’s throat and the tip of the short sword in his right hand firmly against the man’s back.  “Make any sound at all, and I promise it’ll be the very last you ever make,” he whispered quietly into the man’s ear.  “Now I need some information and directions from you.  Where is your Lord currently occupied, and how do I find my way there?  And do try to be honest.  Remember, I have a sword blade at your back with your name on it if you aren’t.”

The guard hesitated only momentarily, most likely debating on whether or not to call for help, just lie to Alec and hope he believed, or tell him the truth, before he answered, “He’s currently in his private study, which you’ll find if you go left down this corridor until you reach the double doors at the end of the hall.  Are you going to kill me?”

“Are you telling me the truth?”

“I swear it.”

He shook his head, not that the guard could see, and replied, “Then, no, I’m not going to kill you, but I can’t just turn you loose and give you the chance to go get help, so sorry, Fella, but good night.”  He applied more pressure to the man’s throat, squeezing till the man passed out from oxygen loss to his brain.  He then released him, bound and gagged him, leaned his still form against the nearby wall, and unarmed him before starting down the hall towards the Dark Knight’s private study.  It didn’t take long for him to reach the double doors of the private library –somehow making it without running into any more guards, which he found extremely strange—before which he stopped only long enough to sheath the short sword in his hand and draw the long sword across his back.  When he entered, the Dark Knight had his back to the doors, appearing the intently study a map of some sort laid across the large table at the far side of the room, but the man turned to him immediately upon hearing the door close behind Alec.  “I thought I already told you incompetent…” he trailed off realizing quite quickly that the man standing before him was not one of his guard.  The man cocked what Alec could only call a very bemused grin before he continued, “Well, so it appears you’ve finally found your way to me, Alec.  I’ve been waiting for this day for many long years.”  As he spoke, he unsheathed the bastard sword at his waist and lifted a shield off the table, readying it.

Alec answered in turn, “How could you be expecting me for years when I didn’t know I’d be here but two days ago, and how do you know me?”

The man cocked that bemused grin again answering whimsically, “It’s the Gods’ will.  Shall we start this then?” he asked, placing the hilt of his sword against his forehead and bowing in salute to his adversary.

Alec mirrored the Dark Knight’s salute responding, “We shall.”  And the battle began, both men charging the other and meeting in the center of the room with the sound of steel clashing against steel sounding out and a brilliant display of sparks as their swords clashed together.  As they went round and round, Alec could still hear the guards running through the halls all around them which made him wonder why they had not yet come into this room when they could most assuredly hear the sounds of their combat, so he asked, “Why do your guards not burst in here to help you?  They must surely hear our combat if we can hear them running through the hall like angered ants.”

The Dark Knight flashed that bemused grin again –Alec was really starting to dislike that grin—and commented, “The room is sound proof to a certain extent.  We can hear some of what goes on outside the room.”  The Dark Knight thrust at Alec, and he parried the attack with his long sword before countering with the war axe, which was deflected in turn by the Dark Knight’s shield.  “But they can not hear a thing that goes on in here.  Precaution set up for this day I knew would come and for other days that I would make happen one way or another.”

“I got the picture,” Alec intoned, keeping his mind free of images the Dark Knight intended to have him see in his mind, a ploy this reality’s Alec knew well was meant to take some of his attention and concentration from the battle in order to give the Dark Knight a small advantage.  “Not that I have any interest in seeing it.”  He mad a weak, half heated slash at his adversary with his war axe that was easily blocked with the Dark Knight’s shield, as he continued, “Nice try, but no cigar, man.  Mind games aren’t gonna work.”

The Dark Knight shrugged slightly as he deflected the axe blow, returning another thrust with his bastard sword that Alec easily parried.  “Well, it was worth a try.   You never know what will and won’t work if you don’t try, no?”  Obviously meant to be a rhetorical question, Alec saw a chance to attempt to throw his adversary’s concentration off just slightly in return and took it.

“So is that why you chose the path of evil?  To see if it ‘worked’ for you or not?”  He used the most sarcastic tone he could muster when he said the word work, and sure enough the Dark Knight took the bait, though he appeared far calmer than expected at first.

“Actually, no.  I chose the path I travel to see if there was anyone who followed the path of righteousness capable of defeating me… to see if the path of righteousness could prove to me that it was indeed the true path to greatness as a warrior.  Thus far it has been unable to do so.”

“Because you haven’t faced me until today.”

“Ha!” came the Dark Knight’s response, genuinely amused by that statement.  “You haven’t the skill or stamina to defeat me, boy.”

Alec grinned slightly, replying, “Think what you will, but you’ll find yourself quite wrong when this battle is over.  If you did not walk the path of evil, you might be capable of defeating me, but since you do walk that path, you can not stop me because I fight for a true and noble cause and shall not be swayed, hindered, or stopped by an horror.”

“Pretty words, but you should start preparing to be stopped by this horror!” the Dark Knight exclaimed, redoubling his efforts as he hammered away at Alec’s defense with ferocious stroke after ferocious stroke of his bastard sword.  Alec merely parried or dodged every attack, making only half hearted attempts to harm his opponent in return as if he himself was either already tired or unable to do anything but remain defensive. 

Poor bastard doesn’t even realize that we’re playing his own little trick on him.  Mind games are so not fair when your opponent comes to the battle unarmed, his alternate self proclaimed gleefully.

 High and mighty fool is all he is.  Egotism shall be the death of him, as it is for many men on the road to greatness, he replied.  The two combatants went round and round, circling the private study numerous times in their continuing dance of death, the sounds of singing and clashing steel their melody and the sounds of their breathing and heartbeats their cadence.  After thirty minutes of combat, as they made to make another circle of the private study, a victor was finally found when the Dark Knight in his feverish drive to kill Alec made to skewer him with a mighty lunge tripped upon the carpet the two combatants were crossing over and instead skewered himself upon Alec’s well placed blade.  “You know,” he told the Dark Knight as the realization flitted across his adversary’s face looking down at the sword now protruding from his chest, “I hate to say this, but I told you so.”  He smirked slightly as the man’s sword and shield clattered to the floor from hands going cold with death.  “No horror will stop me from accomplishing this quest because it is noble, and I must not fail.”  He tore his blade from his adversary’s chest, splattering blood across the private study, and watched the man pass from the world of living to that of the dead and whatever punishment awaited him for his crimes.  As he wiped his blade clean on the carpet, Alec queried of his alternate self, Now what?  We killed him as required, but we can’t get out of here with all those guards roaming the keep looking for us.

Well, we have no choice in that one.  We must leave this place to continue the quest, no matter the difficulty in doing so.

Then what do you propose? I mean, you’re the one trained for this sort of thing, not me.  I’m here because I had some really screwed up problems in my life, and Darbain brought me here because he believed I could help you complete this quest and find a reason for me to continue with my own life.

And your help has been undeniable thus far.  What we’re going to do is nonchalantly walk out of here and find our way back to the gates as quickly as we can, hoping that we don’t run into too many guards.  If we do, we fight, and if we get outnumber, well let’s hope we can take a bunch of them down with us.

Now that sounds reassuring, man.

Come now, where’s your sense of humor?  We will make it out of here alive, trust me.  Have faith in the Gods, and have faith in us.

            After a moment’s hesitation Alec responded, My faith was all but run over by a semi in my reality, but let’s do this.  If we can manage this, my faith will be reborn, and I’ll no longer be Agnostic.  My faith in Darbain shall be born.

Now that’s the spirit, this reality’s Alec cheered.  If a fight is what they want, then a fight is what they’ll get, and we’ll make them regret in numbers making that foolish decision.

Amen, brother!  Sword and axe still in hand, Alec left the private study, quietly picking his way back down the corridors in the direction he had come and came across the guard he had bound and gagged earlier, now conscious and trying his best to free himself from his bonds.  He went completely motionless as he saw Alec come up to him, and Alec squatted down next to the man, placing his sword across his knee in such a fashion as to make sure the man knew that if he tried anything funny Alec would not hesitate to kill him.  “Would you like some help?” he asked of him in a low hiss.

The man shook his head that he did, making a gagged “Un hun.” Sound.

“Alright, what says we make a little deal?” he asked, not yet making a move to help the man free of his bonds.  “I’ll untie you and allow you to live provided that you don’t try anything funny as in calling for help and you help me get out of this place.  You no longer have a job as is, seeing as your Lord is now dead, so I figure this deal should be fair.  How about you?”  The guarded nodded consent.  “Now you won’t call for help when I remove that gag, and you won’t attempt to kill me when I untie you, correct?”  The guarded nodded agreement.  “Good.  Just remember, that if you go back on your word, I will not hesitate to kill you.  I am undertaking an important quest, and I will do what must be done to make sure it is accomplished successfully.”  He set his axe down on the floor at his side and pulled his dagger free of its sheath, commenting, “Now be still.  You move, and I’m liable to slit one or both of your wrists.  That would be messy, and neither of us would want that, now would we?”  The guard shook his head no, moving so that Alec could cut the ropes that bound his hands behind his back.  With two quick flips of his wrist, Alec cut through the ropes that secured the guard’s hands and feet, and then the man slowly reached up to remove the gag from his mouth.

“Sorry for that uncomfortable situation,” he told the guard, “but you know, I couldn’t just let you wander freely with the information that I was in this keep looking for you Lord so I could kill him.”

The guard shrugged as they both stood, “I understand.  He was a prick anyway, and I’m actually glad to see the man dead.” 

“Well then, looks like my luck ain’t so bad after all.  I fond the only disgruntled guard in his service and had the foresight to knock him out rather than kill him.  Shall we then?  It’d be really unfortunate to be stumbled upon by a detachment of guards right here.  Confined spaces are not much fun to wage war in.”  He stepped back around the corner, retrieving the man’s weapons and shield and handing them to him.  “You might want these before we do get started though.”

“True.  It’d be even more unfortunate to get stumbled upon by the others without being armed.”  He smiled slightly, strapping the weaponry in place before the two men quietly started back towards the entrance.  As they drew near the building’s entrance, Alec heard the sounds of jingling metal armor as men in chain mail shifted on their feet and immediately stopped, turning to his new comrade.

In a low whisper he commented, “They’re waiting for us right outside the doors.”

“You heard ‘em, to eh?  Probably waiting for you to come fleeing for your life or something.  Too many of them think he was the best swordsman in the land.”

He smirked slightly, “It’s how I stay alive, and he wasn’t that good, let me tell you.  Well, are you ready to test your luck against fate?”

The guard nodded, sliding his sword free of its scabbard and replying, “As ready as ever I was.”

“Good.  This is how we’re going to do this.  I’m going to out first –hopefully they don’t have any crossbowmen—and hopefully spook them a little as I try to occupy their attention.  When you hear the battle start raging, count to twenty and come charging out yourself.  You should be able to surprise them by tearing into their rear then as they’ll all be occupied trying to get a piece of me.  You got me?”

“Yup.  Count to twenty when the racket begins, and then come charging out to help ya.  Easy enough.”

“Good.  Let’s get this show started then.”  He quietly started towards the entrance before he suddenly broke out into a run, armor clanking as he screamed something barely intelligible about death and sharp steel, the noise echoing throughout the entire keep to seem like it was coming from all directions at once.  The guards were startled into motion, believing for the first time that there was more than one adversary to dispatch, and though they were all ready for him, Alec managed to avoid the volley of crossbow bolts that came flying through the doorway as he ducked and rolled through the door, popping up to blind side one of the guards with a crossbow, his axe taking one of the man’s legs off as he came up from his roll.  Gliding away from the screaming, falling guard, he thrust his word into the chest of another guard in the middle of dropping his crossbow and trying to pull his sword free of his scabbard, and parried a thrusting pike, cutting the tip and the top two feet off the weapon as it went harmlessly sailing in front of him due to mistiming on the part of the guard.

Though they now had the advantage of seeing him, the remaining guards still had as little luck as their two dying compatriots in striking Alec, his skill and reflexes far outstripping anything they could muster.  He fluidly glided from spot to spot, dodging and parrying attacks as he maimed and killed indiscriminately.  “Is this the best you can manage with such numbers?” he taunted  “Your Lord gave me a better fight, and he was but one man… though he is as dead as those of your ranks lying around you on the ground.”

“One… Two…” Meanwhile the guard was quietly counting to twenty as instructed.  “Three… Four…  Please, oh Great Darbain, don’t let me die here.  Five… Six… I will serve this man loyally and faithfully if you will but spare us both this day.  Seven… Eight… I swear it.  Nine… Ten…”  He continued to count quietly to twenty.

And Alec continued to lay waste to the guards trying their best to avenge their Lord, all the while taunting them, “Such a pathetic excuse for a guard detachment you are.  How did you ever survive in service to that man?”    Just then, the guard came charging out, cutting down two guards as he tore into the rear of the group.  “Glad you could join us,” Alec called to him.

“Had to ask for Darbain’s favor, and I never had any intention of going back on our bargain.”

“Glad to hear it.”  The two men made short work of the detachment, routing a handful of survivors after dispatching nearly eighty percent of their numbers, and then continued their flight from the keep, cutting down any stragglers that jumped in the path of their flight.  When Alec felt they had traveled far enough into the woods surrounding Fazkayr, he called his companion to a halt and asked, “You injured.”

“Nah.  Winded, but not hurt.  You?

He smirked, “Ha!  They could barely get past my guard to hit my armor, much less actually hurt me in any manner.  It was sad really.  The name’s Alec.  You?”

“Gaeril.  Faeril Zoraze, First Tier Sergeant, at your service.”

“Not my service.  You can choose to freely aid me on this quest if it is your wish, but you do not serve me.  I hold no rank, no title.”

“But serve you I must still the same.  I swore an oath to Darbain that I would serve you loyally should he show us favor and let us live through that battle.  Well here we are, so I must hold to that oath.”

“Well, I suppose I understand that one.  There are going to be a few ground rules though if you are going to be serving me while I accomplish this quest.  First, you can help me all you like while we travel to the next destination and up until we reach the enemy I am hunting, but secondly, you can not help me defeat that enemy.  I accepted this quest under the stipulation that I would defeat these enemies with my own skill.  Third, don’t second-guess me.  I do know what I’m doing.  Oh, and fourth –this one may sound weird, but still—if you see me talking to myself, just ignore it.  I have a problem with that, but I still get the job done.  We clear?”

“Aye.”

“Good.”

*****

            Meanwhile, back in Alec’s reality, Mystic and Kari were still watching over his comatose form.  Lorri evidently had some brains left in her head –miraculously after the way Mystic handled her the last time—because they had had no further confrontations with her.  They sat in silence mostly, the only sound the beeping of the electrocardiograph monitoring Alec’s heart rate, neither really able to voice any thoughts, but at one point Kari broke the silence, calling quietly, “Mystic?”

            “Yes?” Mystic answered, to tired to look over at her at that point in time.

            “Is Alec going to be alright?”

            “I don’t know, but I certainly hope so.  He’s my best friend, the only person I can honestly say has at all cared about me in my entire life.  Hell, he knows me better than I do myself most days.  He means a lot to me, so I hope he makes it through alright.”

            “I do too,” she replied to Mystic, continuing even more quietly than she’d first started speaking, “because I think I’m in love with him, and I couldn’t stand to lose him without first even having the chance to be with him.”  Through the haze of her sleep deprivation, Mystic heard that whisper crystal clear, and turned to stare at Kari, a look of complete shock on her face.