Silence (19 page)

Dream’s face fizzed with shock. Then
he let out a gasp of laughter. Sheikoh watched nonplussed, while
the Celestial snorted into his hand. He really wished he was as
funny as this dude thought.

After a few long seconds, the laughter
subsided.

“
Silence,” Dream giggled,
wearing a heady smile.

Sheikoh met his glance without
expression. The Celestial took a deep breath.

“
If I
wanted to be the Supreme Centaurai of
any
of the eight regions, I could
simply buy the position,” Dream smiled, wiggling his gem encrusted
fingers for proof. “Ghost is doing me a favor, and, in return, I am
doing one for him.”

Dream cleared his throat.

“
Firstly, I wanted to
apologize for forcing you and Indigo inside earlier. Suffice to
say, I sympathize with the pain at having your will wrenched from
you. There aren’t words to describe it, but it was the easiest way
to demonstrate the truth,” Dream murmured. Sheikoh met the
Celestial’s sincere eyes.

“
Yeah, I get that. In fact,
hire me to break a dude’s nose and I’ll leave you here with proof I
have no problem handling,” Sheikoh shot back with a smile of mock
innocence.

“
Oh, I believe you,” Dream
confessed. His tone sounded patronizing.

“
Here, how about we just
get on with whatever it is you want from me,” Sheikoh told the
Celestial impatiently.

“
Have you ever heard of
something called the Mark of Imperial Restraint?” Dream asked
him.

“
I don’t know, but I could
probably get my hands on one,” Sheikoh hinted.

Dream laughed lightly.

“
If I never see another one
of those in my life then I will die happily,” Dream murmured, the
words at odds with his pleasant smile.

“
The Mark of Imperial
Restraint is the Intrasentient Empire’s means of enslaving the
Celestial,” Dream went on to explain. “It burrows into the chest,
ripping its way through our skin until its feelers snake into the
essence of our very soul. It forces imperial loyalty into the
Celestial, and makes lying or any resistance to the orders of the
Intrasentient Emperor or any of the eight Centaurai
impossible.

“
They limit our birthright.
A marked Celestial is forced to spell in the interminable language
of the third dimension, and risk destroying oneself over a
mispronounced syllable. It stops peaceful resolutions to conflicts,
limiting us from overriding ill wills.”

“
The only reason that the
emperor doesn’t mark everyone in Octasia is because any
non-Celestial that a mark is put on dies instantly. Even an
immature Celestial, one too young to access the energies of the
Celestial Plane can’t handle the corrosive presence of it,” Dream
told Sheikoh.

Sheikoh nodded mechanically, wondering
where this was heading.

“
The Celestial are born
different. At first, the only quality that sets us apart from the
other children is our eyes. In times of extreme emotion they
would…” Dream’s eyes suddenly overflowed with a burning blue light
that engulfed even the whites of his eyes. Sheikoh flinched back at
the sudden display. The instant of power died down to the natural
deep blue of the Celestial’s eyes that were sparkling with
amusement.

“
Sometime within our
adolescence, we start catching glimpses of the Celestial Plane. The
swirling dancing lights of magic are the most beautiful thing you
could ever imagine,” Dream went on slowly, deep in his
memories.

“
And that’s when the empire
marks us,” Dream spat in a voice of sudden vehemence. “They enslave
us to that mark. Only our beloved Intrasentient Emperor may release
one of the slaves with appointments to the Celestial Council. By
then the old Celestial are so used to serving the Emperor that
they’re like Purmynxs, fighting for the scraps that fall off the
man’s table. They mark the next generation and stifle and gag them,
all in the name of their own greed for power.”

Sounds like Dream was rather sensitive
about those marks of his. Sheikoh made a mental note of it before
he spoke.

“
Like that one time,
remember? You controlled me and Indigo? Good times, huh? That make
you one of those Council Celestial?” Sheikoh retorted, winnowing a
glitter of guilt and something else from the man’s blue eyes. “So
why didn’t you change things from the top?”

The question earned a long pause from
the Celestial.

“
Things within the
Celestial Enclave are rarely as they seem,” Dream said in a slow
and deliberate voice. Sheikoh waited for more, but Dream wasn’t
forthcoming.

“
Is there any way I can
keep myself safe from mind control magic?" Sheikoh asked. His voice
was carefully neutral.

The Celestial's eyes
glittered

"That comes in tandem with your job,"
Dream told him.

"So all I have to do is steal this
codex?" Sheikoh asked uncertainly.

The Celestial cleared his throat
uncomfortably.

"Ah... No, actually. That is a just a
part," Dream said slowly.

Okay...

"Though I wouldn't classify it as
such, in regards to installing Ghost as Arch Centaurai, obtaining
the codex is a secondary objective."

“
The reason I asked for you
specifically is because you're our best chance of eliminating
Randel Sanatous, the Arch Centaurai’s pet Celestial."

"Prince of hell!" Sheikoh exclaimed
bitterly. "Why is that lately everyone wants to kill
someone?”

Dream watched him
appraisingly.

“
40 million glow..?” Dream
reminded him gently.

Sheikoh bit his lip and
considered.

"Sanatous is stationed here. And, with
your unique... augmentation, you're the best candidate to- what did
you say earlier? Hit him?” Dream said matter-of-factly.

Sheikoh's eyes widened at
'augmentation.'

"How did you find out about that?" He
demanded.

"I have my sources," Dream answered
with a mysterious smile.  Sheikoh narrowed his eyes
fiercely.

“
How am I supposed to kill
your Celestial if he can control my mind?” Sheikoh shot at
him.

“
He’s marked, so he can’t”
Dream retorted. “Still, I’m not going to send you up against him
alone. I want to offer you something to make up for controlling
you, no strings attached. It’s one of a kind in the entire world,
and you’ll most likely find it useful on your mission.”

Dream gestured at the floor
just beside the door. Sheikoh followed the Celestial’s motion to
the silversteel box that reflected the dreamy blue light like a
pool. He shot a suspicious glance at the man; he knew how easy it
was to booby trap something like that. Then he shook
himself.
If the Celestial wanted to kill
him, the dude would turn him inside out with a snap of his fingers
or something.

He walked over to the box
and flipped its lid open.
Inside was a
small, bottle-cap-sized medallion strung through a chain of beaten
silver. The metal at the end seemed silver as well, though with
dark indents of age outlining the strange inscription. The archaic
text wound around in a crude, angular pentacle. He picked up the
tiny thing, and then turned to look at Dream, wearing an
incredulous expression.

The Celestial’s sharp, blue gaze held
the amulet with both a reverence and a hunger. Sheikoh glanced back
down at the amulet. It reminded him of the sapphire against the
Celestial’s bare chest.

“
In all of the world, that
right there is a thoroughly unique amulet,” Dream confessed, eyes
gleaming with unsettling reverence.

“
It was the only reason I
was able to escape the watchful eyes of the council members. To put
it on is to render one untouchable and invisible to the Celestial
plane. No Celestial energy can ever touch the wearer of the
Transcendental Amulet. You’ll need it to survive Randel Sanatous.
Even though he’s marked, Sanatous is intelligent as well as overly
fond of dangerous experiments.”

Sheikoh stared at the amulet
uncertainly. What if it turned him into Dream’s mind slave or
something? For all he knew, it could steal his soul.

A second later, he reminded himself
that Dream didn’t need an amulet to make him a mind slave; the
Celestial had had no problem controlling him. If the amulet was
anything other than what Dream said, the Celestial could have just
forced the thing on him.

Still, he looked at the pendant
strangely for a few moments. Then with the slightest trepidation,
he threw it over his neck. His mind cast throughout his body
for some new sensation, without success. He looked back up at the
Celestial suspiciously.

Dream rolled his eyes and raised a
hand. The Celestial’s eyes flared with a sharp, blue glow, and his
hand crackled with sudden power.

Tendrils of aqua-tinted explosion
raced towards Sheikoh. His feet were rooted to the floor in a
second of shock. His wide eyes took the massive blue-white fire,
opening its maw to consume the boy. The moment froze, as if the
Celestial had also cast a spell to slow time. He threw himself to
the side as hard as he could, but he could tell it wasn’t fast
enough. He wasn’t going to make it.

The explosive wave passed straight
through his waist like a gentle breeze. A quarter second later, his
desperate leap slammed him into the bookcase on the left wall and
furious a scream of wind ripped the front wall of the blue-lit
house outwards.

A wave of splinters rolled over the
dirty street Sheikoh had come from. Books fell around him like
raindrops. As he pushed himself to his feet, the Celestial’s eyes
fired with blue again. Sheikoh tensed, but his worries were
groundless. He watched wide-eyed as the pieces of the demolished
wall flew together and patched itself up in a seamless, warping
movement. His head throbbed.

“
I told you what the amulet
did,” Dream stated lightly, pointing his finger at pieces of the
wall to perform a few minute, finishing touches.

Sheikoh looked down at the legs that
he knew hid his prosthetics. There wasn’t a single burn mark on the
synthetic skin showing through his torn, black pants. He reached up
to finger the amulet in awe.

“
Why don’t you wear the
amulet then?” Sheikoh demanded in a shock-scarred voice.

Dream laughed a short laugh. The sound
echoed off the newly repaired walls of the blue, hazy room. Sheikoh
noticed that the blue flamed candles had flickered on time with the
Celestial’s laughter. Suddenly the blue atmosphere felt more icy
than dreamy.

“
When I wear that amulet, I
can’t cast spells,” Dream explained with a quick smile.

Sheikoh nodded. It made sense. He
turned and his fingers found the octagon shape of the Deputy
Century badge in his pocket. He resolved to throw it away the first
chance he got

“
So if I take out this
Sanatous guy then that’s it? You’ll make me rich and powerful, with
a mansion on the East Side and everything?” Sheikoh
asked.

With this amulet it seemed almost too
good to be true.

“
I promise, but…” the
Celestial told him gravely, and Sheikoh’s eyebrows shot up at the
‘but’.

Of course. There was always a
'but'.

”…
I would be most curious
to know whether you’d be interested in working with me further
afterwards?” Dream finished, eyeing him searchingly.

Sheikoh’s face broke into a surprised
smile. He couldn’t see what need he’d have for any more work after
having attained his and Dorothi’s own mansion, but at the moment he
felt rather close to the Celestial who was offering him a way out
of the desperate hand to mouth life he’d lived for what had felt
like forever.

“
It’s a deal, Old Man”
promised Sheikoh. Dream proffered a hand and Sheikoh shook it.
‘Whew, firm grip! What a man!’ Sheikoh laughed to himself happily.
Dream met his gaze with a satisfied nod of his head as the two
broke apart. Sheikoh turned to leave, but the Celestial had one
more offer.

“
But don’t forget the
Transcendent Codex. It’s a black, leather-bound book with the
amulet’s indentation in its center,” Dream reminded him. “Bring it
to me and I’ll add another zero to your
reward.”   

Sheikoh squinted against the glare of the late afternoon
sunrise. It was peculiar to leave Dream’s dramatic, little charade
to a world of daylight. Those flickering blue torches, the
rune-burned table, the ambient shroud of magic and mystery… To him,
it was the kind of atmosphere that belonged exclusively to the
night. Celestial weren’t supposed to move within the rhythms of
ordinary.

They certainly weren’t supposed to
spend their afternoons with criminals.

Sheikoh stalked along the right
sidewalk, beside the clamor of merchants heaving their wagons
through the city. His fingers crept up to the amulet Dream had
given him yet again. Questions weaved themselves into his
thoughts.

Was he following the right course, or
screwing things up?