Reality Falling (The Book Wielder Saga 2) (27 page)

“I’ll have you flown back on a private jet,” Azalea said. “It will get you there quicker than airship. Just remember that it is Fate’s will that the two worlds should be returned back into one, so follow your instincts and your heart, and everything will turn out exactly as it must.”

“Thank you, Azalea. I really do hope that we meet again,” Winston said sincerely.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Azalea said pointing to her eyes. “We will definitely meet again, Winston Reynolds.”

- - -

Alice and Veronica had finally arrived at the port city of Tidussex on the western most point of the continent of Rura. Despite their differences, the two had actually got on quite well during their hasty journey, as they both had the same shared goal.

The thick forest had eventually thinned and led to vast fields of crops, as the pair had headed down from the hills and mountains in the north to the southern coastal region. They kept themselves to themselves as they had walked extremely quickly to their destination, barely stopping for a rest. The two determined heroines had kept themselves going with plentiful amounts of energy potion, which Alice had stocked up on from the mansion before their departure, along with blood and Sunshield Potion for Veronica. The feisty Vampire femme fatale had asked Alice if she’d brought some ‘Rushdust’ along too, saying that she preferred it to bland energy potions, but the Lord Inquisitor didn’t even know what it was. When Veronica explained that it was a ‘really good’ drug, Alice had given her a filthy look and was glad that she didn’t pack any by mistake.

On the journey, Alice and Veronica had noticed that the vein-like purple clouds that originated from the Capital’s sky had grown considerably. The strange thin cloud formations now spread far into the horizon, and occasionally, if they were quick enough to notice it, the entire sky would flicker for a split second showing the dark purple misty Gloom sky. The pair already knew that Tropica had fallen, even before Jonathan had contacted Alice via the communication stone.

Apart from being very concerned and apologetic to Alice, Jonathan had told them of Azalea’s apparent betrayal and how Winston had successfully merged Tropica City with its Gloom reflection. Alice had almost crushed the stone in her hand when he told her the news, but she did her best to keep a level head and react in an appropriate manner. She had ordered all civilian and non-essential military personnel off of Central Isle and into the Catacombs. If Winston made it to the Isle before they did then there wouldn’t be an Isle left anymore.

Veronica had taken the news quite badly, and she assumed that Winston was being forced to do the Omniosis’ bidding, or that Lewis and the Archmage had him believing that her safety depended on it. Although Veronica was convinced that whatever mysterious instinct she followed was telling her that the merger was the right thing to do, the Vampire Bloodmage was afraid that her husband was in dire peril and wanted to be reunited with him as soon as possible. The news about Tropica had only exacerbated the feeling.

As they reached the edge of Tidussex, the pair of travellers slowed their pace to a casual walk and tried to look inconspicuous as they walked down the streets towards the harbour. There were more trucks on the roads than cars, and the vast majority were carrying supplies straight to the harbour. The town had sustained no damage over the course of the unusual war, but most of the residents were still sticking to their homes and only venturing out when they absolutely needed to. Instead, there were Alternatives from the Gloom, Supernaturals and Military Peace Keepers dawdling around the city, but they all looked so bored from an extreme lack of action that they barely took any notice of Alice and Veronica as they casually strolled by. Just to be extra cautious, Veronica swiped two pairs of sunglasses from outside a deserted clothes shop to help conceal their Supernatural eyes.

When Alice and Veronica got to the harbour, there was only one ship large enough to make the journey to Central Isle. It was a medium-sized tanker being loaded up with metal cargo containers by a dock crane and large crates by fork trucks. The Captain was not hard to find; it was an old rough looking grey-haired man, wearing a shabby dark grey overcoat and red and black Imperian military captain’s cap from the Great War. He was standing at the harbour smoking a cigarette as he watched his ship being loaded up.

Veronica unzipped her leather jacket, to Alice’s disdain. “Trust me,” she said to her Inquisitor companion as she was buffeted by the strong coastal winds.

Alice tutted but carried on towards the old man regardless. “Are you the Captain of that vessel?” she inquired.

The old man laughed. “I thought the hat made it obvious,” he said in a chesty coarse voice.

Veronica butted in, and stood in way that made her extremely obvious and exposed chest even more obvious and exposed. “I’m Vera and this is my friend Ali, it’s ever so nice to meet you. I bet a man like you has got quite a lot of experience with the ocean… and other things,” she said flirtatiously and with a sexy wink.

Alice tried not to grimace.

The old captain laughed, wheezed and coughed before replying. “Two attractive young ladies would only come onto me if they wanted something, so unless you did just come here to show me your giant tits and impressive nips through that tight t-shirt of yours, drop the bullshit and just tell me what you want.”

Veronica shrugged and put her hands on her hips, making no attempt to regain her modesty. She would let Alice do the talking.

“We need a ride to Central Isle,” Alice said, cutting to the chase, “and we want to keep a low profile.”

“You want to go to the Orphan Isle?” the captain asked shocked. “Are you barmy or something? Those Inquisitors will blow me sky-high if I go anywhere near their waters. Besides, the Omni are paying me to take this stuff to Beachhead One.”

“Oh, we can pay you,” Veronica said eagerly. “Can’t we?” she asked Alice concerned.

Alice rummaged around the duffle bag of supplies that they’d brought, trying not to reveal the two spell-forged weapons that they’d only just managed to hide within it. She pulled out several wads of Imperial Credit notes and showed them to the Captain. “There’s more where that came from, and even more when you get us to the Isle. They won’t attack. They’re… expecting us.”

The captain looked critically at the pile of paper notes in Alice’s hands. “That stuff’s not going to be worth fuck-all in a few weeks. I only work for precious metals now, same as anyone else with a bit of sense.” The old man eyed Veronica up quickly, and surprisingly his eyes settled somewhere other than her breasts. “That ring of yours looks pretty valuable. I’ll take that as a down payment if you can promise me a bit extra on the other end?”

Veronica looked down at her beautiful diamond and ruby encrusted golden wedding ring remorsefully. She looked at Alice who gazed pityingly towards her, before finally the Lord Inquisitor shook her head and approached her.

“I have an idea,” Alice whispered.

“Good, because apart from trading my ring or using a little mind-altering Blood Magic, I’m clean out of ideas,” Veronica whispered back. “And to be fair, I doubt he’ll be able to sail very well under the influence of my magic,”

The captain coughed loudly, partly deliberate and partly from a lifetime of heavy smoking. “That’s rude, you know. Do we have a deal or not?”

“You were in the Imperian Navy, I take it?” Alice asked abruptly.

“What’s it to you?” He replied back tersely.

“I had the honour of serving under the last Autocrat,” Alice began, “the proud son of the man who conquered the world. Both Edgar’s were highly respected by the vast majority of the men and women that served under them. I take it that it was the same for you. You still have your pride as an Imperian, don’t you?”

The captain’s eyes went wide. “Who the hell are you?”

“I am Lord Inquisitor Alice Eve of the Central Isle,” she admitted proudly. “Autocrat Edgar II left me in charge of his affairs before he was assassinated by the same people you are now indirectly serving.”

Veronica looked around nervously to see if anyone else had heard Alice’s confession, but luckily enough it looked like they were still incognito.

The captain looked deep in thought for a while before he finally coughed up some phlegm, spat it into the nearby waters, and then held his hand out to Alice. “I’m Captain Reginald Harris of the Imperian Merchant Navy Fleet. I supplied the Industrian and Tropican front lines during the Great War and throughout the Tropican resistance.”

“Nice to meet you, Captain Harris,” Alice said shaking his hand. “As the leader of the Inquisition, there really is no limit to what I can give you once I return to Central Isle. I know you need to make a living, after all.”

Captain Harris laughed. “Fine, you’ve successfully played me on my Imperian pride, Lord Inquisitor Eve. I’ll take you back home, but let’s wait for these Omni pricks to finish loading me up first. To avoid, suspicion of course.”

“Of course,” Alice said with a smile, knowing full well he intended to sell the cargo on to another buyer at a later date.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you so much!” Veronica said, squeezing the old man tightly with a very chesty hug.

Captain Harris went bright red and struggled to breath. “Are you trying to give an old man a heart attack, titanic-tits?” He wheezed.

“Oops, sorry!” Veronica said, releasing him quickly.

“Let’s get you on board,” the old captain said after he’d regained his composure. “I’ll give you a tour of the ship.”

“Does she have a name?” Alice asked as they followed him onto his vessel.

“I call her the Destiny’s End,” the captain said proudly. “After I watched the Industrian battleship Destiny get done-in by our U-boats during the war, I’ve called all my ships that. It was a close call, too. All of us in the convoy thought we were goners until our forces turned up to show the Industrians who was boss.”

Alice and Veronica both listened politely to Captain Harris as he regaled them with more details about his close encounter during the Great War. In truth though, both heroines had shivers and chills running down their spines from the moment he had uttered the words ‘Destiny’s End’.

- - -

The Archmage’s many faces smiled beneath their respected white masks. Not only was he now three-quarters of the way back to full strength, but he had also found the new pair of meddling witches. To make matters even better, they were sailing right where he wanted them to go.

His blonde haired puppet Lewis Thorne scuttled into the throne room. “We have them now.”

Omniosis liked how Lewis’ mind was almost completely his own, but still took the time and effort to put on the show of speaking. The Archmage assumed that was how life after his ascension would be like. He would be the puppeteer of the whole world, pulling all the strings however he pleased, putting on a good show for himself.

“Yes, my puppet?” Omniosis replied pointlessly. It seemed only right to give the glorious occasion a dramatic flair. “Make sure they get as close as they can to Central Isle first. When they’ve stopped, we will go and pay them all a visit.”

“Winston is on the way back here too,” Lewis said strangely. “I think he’s going to be mad…”

For a moment, the Archmage thought he detected a glimmer of genuine emotion from his puppet, but then dismissed the idea as pure folly. The recently deceased Mortissa Aluniana had purged the last ounces of humanity from Lewis right after the first merger.

“We will be gone by the time he is back,” the Archmage said sinisterly. “Make sure his ‘friends’ are ready to bring him as soon as he arrives here.”

Lewis grinned evilly. “I’ll tell them at once, boss-man.”

The tour of the Destiny’s End hadn’t taken that long. Alice and Veronica had seen the storage space beneath deck, the storage space above deck, and the main crew section at the rear of the boat, which Alice and Veronica had completely to themselves as Captain Harris’ crew had quit shortly after the war for reality had started. They had also seen the captain’s cabin on the floor above, and the bridge that overlooked the whole front of the main deck.

The pair had taken it in turns to a treat themselves to a hot shower. Afterwards they had changed into a fresh set of clothes and then Captain Harris had made them something to eat in the ship’s galley. They both ate the food gratefully, as it had been their first hot meal in a long time; especially for Veronica, who had been on the run for a lot longer than Alice.

For the rest of the voyage Veronica had kept mostly to herself. She stood near the front of the ship, watching the waves and the calm blue sky that occasionally flickered to that of the Gloom’s. Alice could respect her wish for distance. When Veronica got to the Isle, she’d have to firstly attempt to reach Winston, and secondly, if she succeeded, she would have to reveal to her husband just how much he’d been lied to and used by the Archmage (if he hadn’t already figured that out). Thirdly and finally, she would have to find some way for them to be reunited with each other.

How to deal with an empowered Archmage was Alice’s personal dilemma. If Veronica could get Winston on side, then maybe the resistance would be in some position to ambush Omniosis and put an end to him once and for all, what with all the Sanctium they had at their disposal. At that current moment in time, though, it was hard to lay the foundation of a solid plan. There were just far too many uncalculatable variables for Alice to put something concrete into play. She would just have to see how things played out after the voyage across the waves.

As the tip of Central Tower began to rise out of the horizon, Alice went to the bridge to see the captain.

“We’re almost there, Lord Inquisitor Eve,” Captain Harris said merrily.

“Good, thank you,” Alice said politely. “I’ll need you to radio the Isle or the fleet, whoever picks up first. Tell them that I’m on board, and give them security code; zero, one, one, nine, six, seven, eight, two, zero, justiciar defensive.”

Captain Harris scribbled the code onto a notepad to make sure that he repeated correctly.

“Please tell them to get the fleet here as soon as possible to escort us in.”

“Aye, aye,” he said, saluting happily. The old captain was enjoying a slightly more action filled journey than his usual shipping routes.

Alice heard a metallic rattle that made her look around the bridge. “What was that?” she asked, on guard.

Captain Harris casually lit up a cigarette. “Oh, don’t worry about that; it’s just my equipment lockers. They rattle like a bitch out here on the open seas.”

She looked suspiciously at his lime green metal equipment lockers opposite the captain’s chair and controls. They were old and uncared for, and big bits of paint had chipped off revealing liberal amounts of rust. “If you’re sure,” Alice said, partially unconvinced. Maybe she was just getting paranoid due to the insanely unbelievable events that were now considered normal day-to-day events in her life.

“Are you okay?” the Captain wheezed.

“Yeah,” Alice said, shaking herself out of her reverie. “I’m just going to tell my friend that we’re almost home free, thanks to your help.”

“Then I’ll get on the radio sharpish to try and stop us from being disintegrated by your own people,” he said, before he began coughing violently.

“You should really quit that habit,” Alice said pointing to his cigarette. “They’re bad for you.”

He chuckled and coughed. “No one’s ever proved that. They just give you a bit of a cough, that’s all.”

Alice smiled and left. The old man was right; no one had ever linked smoking to poor health, even though it seemed rather obvious. Maybe it was due to the fact that the vast majority of the world’s technological prioritisation revolved around warfare. Even her own forces were guilty of that fact, and if she ever survived the war for reality she would look into changing that.

As she mused the point, she didn’t notice that one of the equipment lockers slowly creaked open as she left.

Veronica was standing at the prow of the ship, lost deep in thought. When Alice approached, she put a hand on her shoulder to shake the Vampire from her daydream.

“Hey,” Veronica said dozily. “Looks like we’re almost there.”

“Yeah,” Alice said with a smile. “I just came to tell you that the fleet’s on its way to guide us in.”

The Vampire forced a smile. “Good, good. I’m glad they’re not going to blow us to bits.”

The two stayed together at the prow of the ship and watched as more of Central Isle appeared from over the horizon. The Isle got closer and closer, and Veronica looked to Alice with a concerned expression on her face.

“Wasn’t your fleet supposed to meet us?” Veronica asked.

“Yes. Yes, they were…” Alice said fearfully.

The Isle was drawing closer and there was still not a sign of her defence fleet. Even if the radio call hadn’t gone through or been misinterpreted, they should have arrived to deny them entry into Central Isle’s secure waters. She looked up at the window to the bridge and saw the silhouette of Captain Harris’s head and captain’s hat, but something definitely wasn’t right.

Alice pulled out the communication stone but spoke to Veronica first. “Go and get our weapons, quickly.”

Veronica nodded and quickly made her way to the crew quarters, where they had left their duffle bag of supplies and concealed weaponry.

Alice brought the stone close to her mouth and spoke to it. “Jonathan, Jonathan, are you there? It’s important!”

The stone began to broadcast Jonathan’s voice. “Alice? Yeah I’m here, what’s wrong?”

“I need you to contact Commander Stein on Central Isle. I need you to tell him that I’m on the way-”

Jonathan interrupted. “Yeah, on a cargo tanker, he radioed our people to let us know. A Captain Harris passed on the message, along with the one where you wanted the fleet as close to the Isle as possible. I would have thought you would want an escort…”

Alice looked fearfully towards the bridge window. The silhouette of the Captain was still visible but somehow she could sense something
wrong
up there, and her blood went cold. Now it was her turn to interrupt. “Jonathan, listen to me carefully, I don’t have much time. Get Stein to evacuate the Isle
completely
. Even the detention centre. If you won’t have them in the Catacombs, just put them on a boat back to their people.”

“Alice?”

“Listen, please,” she pleaded. She didn’t have the time for a debate. “Get the fleet to go anywhere they’ll be safe for the meantime. If what I’m afraid of happens then there won’t be a Central Isle left anymore.” She remembered the gigantic mountain of half-rotted flesh and exposed muscle from her first visit to the Gloom, the merged and corrupted remains of the evil Archmages that Omniosis had abandoned and left to their fate. If Winston got close to the Isle, that’s what would be appearing on top of her home. She saw Veronica returning with the spell-forged sword, war hammer, and Alice’s plasma submachine-gun. Now Winston had more than enough reason to complete the Archmage’s bidding.

“You’re worrying me,” Jonathan said hastily. “Are you okay?”

“Just get it done, Jonathan!” she snapped back. Veronica passed her weapons over to Alice, and she hesitated before speaking again. “Jonathan?”

“Yes?” he asked guardedly.

“I love you,” Alice said as the stone began to crack. It quickly fell to pieces, and she turned to see the Archmage and Lewis standing in the middle of the vessel. An Alt in Captain Harris’ hat dragged the poor old man’s body out of the bridge cabin and tossed it overboard, before plodding down to join them.

Veronica went to cast some magic but Lewis was already cancelling it out.

Alice raised her submachine gun and sprayed a torrent of plasma bolts at the Archmage, but Omniosis simply levitated the Alternative stowaway into the path of the fiery blue energy bolts. He then tossed its burning remains to the side, before sealing both Alice and Veronica in cylindrical energised magical prisons.

Lewis laughed as Veronica and Alice banged on the sides of their translucent prisons with their spell-forged weapons. Vicious sparks of energy flashed with every impact, but their efforts of escape were futile.

“It looks like you two are in a mime act,” Lewis said cheerily.

“Fuck you, Lewis,” Veronica spat. “I should’ve stuck around long enough to kill you.”

“Yes, you probably should have,” the Archmage said in his pleasant distorted voice, “but ultimately it would have made little difference.”

“You won’t succeed,” Alice said defiantly.

“Oh, I think I will, good servant of the twin witches,” Omniosis replied cheerfully. “Winston will be on his way soon enough to merge the worlds, and then the source of magic will be ready for me to gorge myself on. As risky as it is, I will leave you both alive to watch. I want to see the despair and hopelessness blossom in your eyes as I become a god.”

“You son of a bitch,” Veronica said through gritted teeth.

The Archmage tutted from beneath his main mask. “Language, Veronica. That’s no way for a lady to speak, and certainly not to a god in the making, is it now?” He turned to Lewis. “Get us a little bit closer to shore, my puppet. I want this over with as soon as Winston arrives.”

Lewis nodded frantically and scurried off to figure out the boat’s controls.

- - -

The private jet had dropped Winston off on one of the highways outside of Imperia City’s walls. As he arrived back into the main city underneath the dark miserable blanket of clouds, he expected some kind of reception, even if it was a bad one, but there was nothing. Instead, he walked uneventfully to the Hotel Noir, and on his way he noticed that the civilians in the city were beginning to look tired and rundown. Some of them looked at him with angry feral eyes. On the other hand, the Alternatives, who were mostly camped out in tents along the roads and in alleyways due to a lack of space, waved to him and greeted him pleasantly. Winston had yet another reason to complete the merger, for if he didn’t, it looked like the only people left with any civility in the major cities of the world would be Alts.

When he got to the hotel, he went to reception and asked them to call the Archmage and then Lewis, but neither of them were available. So instead he went to his room, had a quick bath, and changed into a fresh suit. Then he just sat alone in his room, waiting for something to happen. For a short time he looked out of his window, out to the unmerged sky just beyond Imperia City’s walls, until the randomly occurring strange flicker from real sky to Gloom sky bothered him too much to watch any more.

After a while he poured himself a glass of whiskey, downed it in one go, and then took the whole bottle back with him to the sofa. For the first time, he could honestly admit to missing his boring old life at home with his parents before he’d found his book, or before his book had found him. Everything was such a mess, and he only had his gut instinct and the cryptic words of a seer to guide him. All of his close friends were gone, or were secretly his enemy, and he had no one to help share his massive burden.

Before he knew it, he had made his way through most of the bottle, but he was so depressed and anxious that it hardly seemed to have an effect. It was only after he’d gotten up to get his book and his quill that he noticed just how drunk he was. He put the bottle back into his kitchen and sank into the sofa with his book, hoping that somewhere within its mysterious pages he’d find the answers he was seeking. Or at least a momentary distraction from the pain in his busy mind and the dull aching sensation in his stomach.

Winston opened the book and watched the ink race across the pages, until they formed the words: ‘Don’t worry Winston, everything will work out for the best. Your real friends are coming to help’. The fateful Book Wielder stared at the words until they faded away, and he wondered if he’d actually seen them, or if he was just so drunk and in pain that he’d imagined what he wanted to see. He wondered, after everything that had happened, if his mind was finally at breaking point. Then someone started hammering at his door.

“Hold on a moment,” Winston said as calmly as possible.

He closed his book, rooted around his drawers, and found his trusty old lighter and a low calibre pistol. He quickly checked that the lighter still had gas and that the gun was loaded before he hesitantly went to the door. Winston unlocked it and slowly opened it.

“Winston, my boy!” the Mayor said with a beaming gold plated smile. Just like always, he was in his black and white striped suit, broken monocle, old dusty top hat, and carrying his metal cane.

“Hi Winston, we came to see you!” The Deputy Vice Assistant to the Foreman said excitedly. DVAF was wearing a dirty old brown overcoat, had his glowing green goggles on, his necklace of gears and cogs, and steam routinely sprouted from the joints in his copper and brass clockwork and steam powered arms.