Age of War

Chapter 35

“But it wasn’t difficult at all…our road was almost straight…”

“It’s easy to find a path when you already know the way.” The disembodied voice sounded amused.

“What does that mean?”

He didn’t answer, but carried on with his story. “I found my way into the city, as you did, and began exploring. I saw the same strange artefacts left behind, saw similar fragmented visions, and resolved to unlock these ancient secrets. It took me many, many months, and too late I made the most important discovery of all.”

“What?” Jonis demanded, now growing impatient.

“That I could never complete this alone. Each day, I woke up with new holes in my memory, with a mind more prone to wandering. I was descending into madness. I had enough wit to see it, thank the fates, and so I resolved to leave. That took more time, for I somehow became lost in the labyrinth above us, even though I thought I knew it so well. When I finally stumbled into the daylight, there was very little of the man I had been left. I found my way back to Atlas, where I tried to explain to the Matriarch what I had found. It was too late. I was lost. Not knowing the irony, they sent me to into the deeps to live out my days in darkness, where I would be unable to spread word of a history that had been forgotten by the world.”

Jonis swallowed. A sad tale, to be sure, if any of it was true. “How is it you’re speaking to me now then?”

“This place,” Malick said heavily, “is steeped in memory. Soon, you will understand why. But know this now: as in Atlas, the effluence of a city falls into this pit, but here it is not filth and sewage, but the lives and dreams of all those who lived here for so many millennia. I joined that chaotic river of consciousness in my time here, and everything I lost still exists – I am still Keeper Malick, simply split in two. Strange, that after so long, I should get my dearest wish and become two people…”

“So…I’m speaking to Malick as you were…how long ago?”

“I came here forty years ago.”

“Right. So how do you know me? I only met the crazy Malick. No offence.”

“You carried the memory of that shell with you to Omega. When you arrived here and joined your memories with those locked in these stones, I was reborn, whole. I am Malick.”

“You were guiding me,” she guessed, “showing me the way, although I didn’t realise. And you…you sent the others away?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Because they’d have heard you?”

“Only you can hear me. No, I sent them away for their own safety. This place is dangerous. Less so for Keepers, but nonetheless…”

“I understand. Can I have some light now?” She was conscious of the looming space around her, and the skeletons that she now imagined staring at her with their empty eye sockets.

“That would not be wise.”

“Why not?”

“There is a dark power here, and I must use it to speak with you. It’s best you not see the form I have been obliged to take.”

“All right…” That hardly filled her with confidence, and she pulled her arms in a little, wrapping herself up tightly. Her legs ached and she wanted to sit down, but she remembered the jagged carpet of bones beneath her feet, so she remained standing.

“I knew I’d never completely understand the meaning of these ruins, Jonis. I don’t know if I did what I did consciously, or if it was an accident, or some still further will was guiding me, but in any case I can now pass the mantle to you. You must complete this task.”