Marker of Faith

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 12

Lem stood on the brink of something wondrous, something he was born for. He looked down in awe at the darkness boiling up out of the jagged split in the earth before him.

How did I get here?

The dead priest's crucifix slithered under the skin on his left hand and Lem held it out over the chasm. He spread his fingers wide and let the wound's fluid, not really blood but something darker, seep down into the mist. Underneath the roiling darkness he saw a gate. Somehow he recognized it, and his mind whispered, "The gate to oblivion, the Void Gate."

Lem hated it, wanted to destroy it, smash it down, and the intensity of his feelings shocked him. This was it; his purpose, his reason for being, and everything that had come before in his life meant nothing. Lem's mind expanded and opened, unlocking secrets-in-hiding like unremembered dreams, he felt himself being reborn. A snake shedding its skin, a dark angel spreading its wings for the first time as it rose from the blood and pain and torment of the pit, Lem was more alive and free in this moment than any other time before. All of his loneliness and despair, the suffering and cruelty of his short life, was twisted and reformed to a smoldering core of exquisite hatred.

He would have the world at his feet; there would be no mercy, no love, and no forgiveness. He was to be reborn in the form of his true self. He'd dreamed of this moment, and until now had believed that's all it was -- a dream a fantasy, not the vision of his future.

The Old Ones were real and they had finally come for him.

From the darkness Lem heard his name whispered seductively. Every nerve in his body felt raw and exposed, but the pain was insignificant under the pull of the Old Ones' voices.

"Scion, Bringer of the Chasm," they rasped.

"I am here," Lem cried out in ecstasy.

"You are our vessel."

"I bring the void," Lem shrieked and jumped over the edge. A giant mist-formed hand caught and cradled him, while dark tendrils coiled around him, snaking oily appendages into every opening in his body. A brief flicker of his dying humanity made Lem cry out in terror against the alien intrusion. Lem's mind wandered through his last days, his time with Rattle, the only shining time in his shattered life, and he sobbed.

"I can't do this, please don't make me do this," he moaned. Rattle was the only one in his entire life who had shown him kindness expecting nothing in return. Lem had only known pain and sorrow as a child: beatings from his sadistic father, and neglect and nightmarish abuse from his mother; things that no mother should ever do to her child. That was his life until he'd run away. Rattle found him wandering and hungry, savagely beaten and bruised, and the old man took him in and showed him kindness. That was all. It had been enough, until now.

"You are chosen!" the Old Ones screamed. "Go forth and gather your army. You are the Scion. Gather your army and fight the Guardians...take them, there are three and a guide...take them all!"

An image of Rattle's face, savaged and covered in blood, crowded his vision, and the Old Ones' power filled up the empty places in Lem's soul. It was intoxicating. He twisted and writhed as his humanity was eaten away by the onslaught.

An explosion shot Lem out of the chasm, landing him heavily on the sidewalk underneath the Evanston Bridge in the same spot where he'd found the priest's body and felt the dark pull of the Old Ones. He lifted his head and looked around slowly, but the chasm and the shadows were gone. He blinked, and a black nictitating membrane, like a crocodile's eyelid, settled over his pupils.

The man, Lem, was gone. In his place now stood the Scion, The Bringer of the Chasm. He smelled cinnamon and looked up to see a little girl standing in front of him with a cruel smile on her lips.

"He is mine now." Lem looked at the messenger that had tormented John, and spread his hands wide. "Show him to me...they will all be mine."

She bowed her head and John's face appeared in the shadows next to her. The faces of the others, Rattle and Roddy, blurred together until they were twisted and melded with John's image.

"I see you. I know you now," Lem said to the images. He gathered the darkness into his hands allowing the shadows to crawl up his arms and seep into his body. The guide was still shielded; an unknown, but the Scion would find her. He would enjoy ripping out her heart. She couldn't stay hidden much longer. The Guardians were awakening.

"You have work to do," the girl said impishly and collapsed into a spray of red liquid that splashed over Lem's face and body. He licked his lips, savoring the taste of the void and a slow evil smile spread his lips wide over his blackened teeth.

"Oh yes, I have work to do," he whispered. Lem stood up and stepped into a shadow, disappearing into the darkness like a phantom.