Eve knelt at the center of the battle, cradling Kearyn's lifeless corpse in her lap. She rocked back and forth, mumbling to herself as tears streamed down her cheeks. Salty droplets spattered Kearyn's mummified face. She did not hear the violence going on all around her. Guilt and grief silenced the chaos.
The Purifier transformed Eve's hatred into an instrument of death, and she threw the killing blow. And now, the results lay in her arms. The unkillable man himself, dead and gone. An empty husk, laying in the dirt.
Eve stared into the abyss, weapons' fire going off all around. How could such an impossible thing have happened? Kearyn assured her he was beyond physical death. But there he lay. She shook him, trying to break his eternal slumber. "Wake up," she sobbed. He did not. "Wake up," she repeated.
A stray gravity round raced past Eve's head, taking her ear with it. Pain tore the shroud of guilt away from her eyes, revealing the battle. Blood splattered the lush greenery, dripped down and a hundred snaking worms wriggled back to Eve. She reached out, and they combined into an eyeless tendril that rose to meet her hand. It coiled up her forearm and seeped through her skin. The inferno of guilt rendering her helpless transformed into a piercing sense of self-preservation.
Eve touched the oozing socket on the side of her head and things best left asleep, woke up and looked around. She examined her slippery, trembling finger tips. Her face became a vacant mask. In an instant, the host had seized control of her mind and Eve became a passenger in her own body.
Every cell in Eve's body turned towards the goal of vengeance. They had all come for one reason. To stop Kearyn. And now he was dead. One thought burned through her guilt. They must pay. All of them.
Eve stood up, discarded Kearyn's body like an unwanted sack of rubbish and turned towards their attacker. Cold black eyes turned chrome and homed in on a Necromonger soldier that shot her. He jerked his rifle up, preparing to shoot a fleeing prisoner. Eve transformed and leapt. The snarling man's last sight was his reflection in the eyes of the creature that cleaved his mountainous body in two.
Kearyn had died. Lilith Hemmingford was missing and Carolyn's mind control tricks had no effect. Eve had transformed into a mindless apex killing machine that saw only red. And no one was there to stop her.
Every eye in the clearing froze on the monstrous figure standing at the center of the fray. Its misshapen eyes reflecting a sea of terror. All caught in its horrible stare, knew what it was thinking. Destroying all things within its grasp.
Time slowed, heartbeats raced and fear laden droplets of sweat spattered the jungle floor. The creature's eyes became accusing slits, demanding vengeance. And the only thing needed to set off the impending carnage was the slightest twitch of muscle. Each target looked around, wondering the same things. Who would run first, who would raise their weapon, and who would be the first to die?
A terrifying grin stretched across the creature's face, exposing long fangs. Its jagged maw dripped sticky intent as the creature sniffed the air, lowered its head and snorted like a bull preparing to charge.
At that moment, a rifle barrel rose to meet the challenge. Bulging eyes saw the movement and Eve dove forward, cleaving her target in two. Unarmed men turned and darted away. The creature sneered in rage as death found its next target.
Eve grabbed the upper half of her first attacker and held it up like a giant shield as the mountainous soldier fired. Gravity distortions struck the half corpse, driving her back 10 yards. Her massive feet furrowed the moist jungle flood. But she did not go down. As a thick horn grew out of its head, it hurled the body at its attacker and jumped after it.
The soldier fired again. The blast struck the twirling corpse and spun it off, missing Eve. He screamed in rage and horror, turning to run. The creature lowered its head, charged at a dizzying speed and drove its horn through the soldier's breastplate. Blood exploded out of his mouth. The creature stood up, lifeless body convulsing and twitching on the horn. It grabbed the man's head and feet and tore the body in two, hurling the two halves away.
_________________________________
Dahl reeled towards the blood-curdling scream, realizing Eve had lost control. "That's not good." She had heard a similar scream when Lilith Hemmingford challenged a massive raptor. "Eve's in trouble. We need to go now."
One of the transformed rides laughed, sending a wave of bristling anger up Dahl's forearms. Her hands balled into fists, heat raced through her veins. She walked to the creature, eyeing its chin.
The mighty creature towered over her, studying her face with a growing sense of amusement. It leaned down, pushing its chin out as if daring her to throw a punch. When Dahl didn't meet the challenge, the creature stood upright, looked at the Queen and nodded toward the scream.
The Queen, quite unimpressed by the growing commotion in the distance, shook her head. "Boron, you always have favored playing the hero."
"My Queen." Boron said. The mock tone of respect was palpable. "Coming from someone who weighs every move on a scale of what's in it for me. I take that as high praise."
"Take it any way you like. We wait here. I have a prior engagement that I cannot ignore."
"Down here," Dahl blurted, gesturing around at the cavernous world. "In a super secret lair cloaked in the center of a murder moon? You set up a meeting… here?"
The Queen turned to Dahl with a foreboding raised brow, and Dahl stepped back. The air between them stilled in the heat of the moment and the Queen stepped forward. Boron stepped in front of Dahl. "This meeting is billions of years in the making and I no little shit will keep me from it." The real Lilith. Dahl's Lilith would have never talked to her that way. "No matter what the cost," she added, letting out a frustrated exhale as she stepped into the surf. The queen turned back to Dahl and Carolyn with a sympathetic smile. "If it eases your minds, you need not worry about Eve. She is in no danger."
"Agreed," Boron said, turning towards the rabid snarls in the distance. Everyone listened to the shouts and gunfire. "But everyone else in that clearing is in danger."
"If I do not remain here, the whole universe shall be in danger."
"We should help." Carolyn said, siding with Dahl. She wanted to get to the clearing for her own reason. Kearyn had told her to meet him in the jungle before going into the mountain..
The Queen sighed at the sky, shook her head in disgust and stepped out further. "When did the fates of everyone in that clearing become my responsibility? Must I fret over every soul in this universe?"
"Yes," Boron answered, gesturing towards the building chaos.
The sky above the beach turned an ominous shade of brewing trouble. The ancient jungle undulated in the growing winds and the surf churned up white sands.
Boron moved to the edge of the water, beckoning her back, but she did not return. He shouted over the building din, "When you choose to alter this timeline for your own ends, this chaos became your responsibility… my queen."
She walked back to him, close enough that the others would not hear. And for a moment, he thought she would follow him. But she only offered a smile that did not reach her eyes. "I do not appreciate the way you address me. It sounds distasteful to your tongue."
He stared into her ancient eyes, realizing there was no dissuading her. She meant to see her plan through. "I don't give a shit about your approval. You treat me like I'm an asshole, an enemy, every time you speak to me. And have since…"
A look of shock contorted the Queen's face. "You dare speak to me in such a manner? I am your Queen."
Boron was a head shorter than the willowy queen, but he outweighed her by 300 pounds. He stepped forward, leaving inches between them. Boron's companion stepped closer, sensing the brewing trouble. "Do not forget who you speak to, my queen. Even though it was Lilith who placed you on your pedestal of lies, it is you who turn us into your slaves."
She lifted Dahl's knife, placed it in Boron's hand, and forced the blade against her own throat. "What I did was for the good of our people."
He flung the knife away. It stabbed the sand at Dahl's feet and she jumped back. "Pacing a blade at the throat of an immortal is not a grand gesture. Besides, the venom dripping from your lips every time you speak, my name tells a different story."
"You wound me, Boron."
His gaze struck her like a meteorite. "Oh, my lady. If only I could. Then we could finally put this nightmare behind us."
"I am not a monster."
His head jerked back in shock, and his jaw dropped. "You made a mistake letting me keep my memories."
"I made no mistake. I left your memories for a reason."
"What reason?"
"When I become the Dark Athena, it falls to you to protect them."
"from who?"
"Me."
"Hold it," Carolyn cut in, standing just behind Boron. "Why?"
Boron turned to Carolyn, shaking his massive, toothy head as if she were being obtuse. "As Queen Athena and Lady Hemmingford are the same person, it is difficult to say which one covets power the most or would kill anyone who gets in her way."
"Does it matter?" the Queen replied. "This timeline is beyond repair. Even now, with my. Interventions, it still teeters on the brink of certain disaster. If we are to have any chance of stopping the coming disaster, one more sacrifice is required."
"And when might this sacrifice take place?" Dahl asked. "Because the rest of us would like to go."
The Queen looked out to sea. "This situation will resolve itself in its own time."
"We don't have time to wait around here for your mystery meeting. We need to go now." Carolyn said. "You can stay, but we're going."
"Go if you must, but return, you will not." Queen Athena said, riveting Dahl to the beach with a dark stare. "You, and whoever goes with you, will die. You are unprepared for what awaits you in that clearing. And nothing you say or do will change that. You will die. I cannot tell you how this day will end. But I know how your day will end if you leave now."
"What have you done to trap us on this beach?" Boron demanded.
"What was necessary at the moment?"
"You mean you did what suits you? And you did it in pursuit of your master plan."
"At least I have a plan. You talk with your fists and look where that has gotten us?"
"Are you saying I don't know how to play nice?"
"Who cares about your old grudges? We need to go." Dahl cut in. "Leave her to her meeting."
Boron shook his head. "I can't leave her."
"You act like you don't even like her."
"And where do you suggest you go? Do any of you have the slightest inkling of how to escape your fates?" Queen Athena asked and waited for an answer she knew would never come. "No," she said. "I thought as much. Sometimes running in guns blazing isn't the answer. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Tale the hard road."
"Listening to your friends die isn't a sacrifice. It's cowardice."
"It is too late to run from the disaster that engulfs us even as we speak. We wait on this beach because we must. And we listen to their screams because it is our curse to do so." Queen Athena turned to Boron. "But I must say this unexpected self-serving streak is a rather welcome relief from the old you. Worrying about your own hide. Wanting to run away. I rather like this new you."
"There's no new me." Boron replied, glaring at her. "My aim remains the same. The survival of Father. And if abandoning this universe is required to achieve that end. So be it."
"You could do that?" Queen Athena asked. "Let trillions die to save one being."
"You know as well as I, there is only one being. Without Father, the trillions do not exist."
The Queen sneered, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth. "And there you are. The consummate do-gooder. I had hoped that pesky trait would vanish during your latest transformation. But here you are. The same old Boron. As predictable and infuriating as ever."
"Happy to disappoint."
"Sorry to be disappointed." Queen Athena replied, stepping further into the surf. Blood spread out around her. Its enticing aroma wafted out to sea. Something large and dark sensed chum in the water and turned to the beach.
Boron walked to the edge of the water, but stepped back to not let the water touch him. "You like to forget the sacrifices I've made on your behalf. What I have given up in the service of you. To protect you."
The Queen shot him an accusatory glare. "And you like to omit the fact that those same sacrifices led us down this eternal path of damnation. A path we have traveled countless times before. A path without end or hope or mercy. And still, you choose to blame me for all of it. As if I am any less of a victim here than you."
"It doesn't have to end the same way. We can change our paths. There is still hope."
"Hope!" she shouted and laughed. "Perhaps there is. If one creates their own. But for you and I, and all like us, there is only endless turmoil." She turned to Boron, angst filling her expression. "You should have let him kill me when you had the chance, or at the very least, left me in Purgatory. It was a prison of my doing. No more than I deserved. Even you must admit that."
"Neither of us are free of wrongdoing."
She squinted at the horizon as if looking for something far-off and stepped deeper into the surf. "True. But you know I am beyond redemption. And yet you keep trying to save me. Why? If you just stop, all this could be over. Is not death preferable to this endless insanity? He created me for one purpose. And I am compelled to do as he commands."
"As am I." Boron replied. "I can no more go against our father's will than I can abandon you to that place, or abandon the champion to this one. But, you are right. This fruitless cycle of bloodshed must end. We must find a new path or father will die."
"I have tried to correct this nightmare more times than there are stars in the heavens, and still Kearyn remains beyond my grasp. We have but one option left to us. The original paradox must be restored or the champion cannot rise." Queen Athena looked at the waves. "If we are to succeed, one more sacrifice remains."
"And just what sacrifice is that?"
"Mine," she replied. "I have replaced one broken paradox with another. And yet, even those sacrifices are not enough to correct what has happened in that clearing. I cannot allow him to destroy the paradox of fathers and sons. All my efforts have led to a temporary patch in the space/time continuum. A means of re-establishing the primary paradox. But nothing I do after the collapse solves our problem."
"What have you done?" Boron demanded.
"I like to think of it as my personal little fuck you to the Purifier's master."
"That's nice," Boron said. "But at the moment, it feels more like a fuck you to all of us."
The Queen shrugged and walked further out. "Perhaps. But not my intent."
"What is she doing?" Carolyn asked, eyeing Boron with a scowl. "We don't have time for her to play in the surf. And I doubt her mysterious guest is coming. Besides, Kearyn and Eve are over there. And they need our help."
"You heard her," he whispered. "If we go there; we die."
"Bullshit. She's lying."
"She is many things. Evil, conniving and manipulative. But she cannot lie. It is not in her nature." Carolyn turned to run into the jungle and Boron grabbed her shoulder. "It's too late to help anyone in that clearing."
"No, it isn't. Not if we go now." Dahl blurted.
The Queen spun towards her and said, "Eve is no longer in control of her body. She will kill you or anyone else on sight."
"How could you know that?"
"Because I have seen her do so with my own eyes. And I have seen it many times. This is not the first time we have been here. Although, I pray to the father, it will be the last." She turned to Carolyn and added, "As for Kearyn, it pains me to say he is dead. You cannot help him. As it stands, they have won the day."
"That's a lie," Carolyn blared at her.
"Is it?" The Queen asked Dahl.
Dahl shook her head. "It's not.. I saw him fall. Eve killed the Purifier and Kearyn died, too."
"That's impossible," Carolyn replied, shaking her head doubtfully. "He is beyond physical death."
"There are always exceptions to any rule."
Carolyn glared, but said nothing.
"Perhaps you would allow me to explain," the Queen said. "To weaponise Eve's hatred, the Purifier returned to a point in time before he became the thing you know as Kearyn. He sent that earlier version of himself forward in time. Then, the future Purifier returned to his own timeline, where he took shelter in the underverse."
"Why would he do that?"
"Simple. The underverse is outside the space/time continuum. It is a protected region of sub-space." The Queen explained, regarding Carolyn with a sad sort of empathetic stare. "When Eve killed the earliest version of the Purifier, she prevented him from becoming Kearyn. Eve erased both the Purifier and Kearyn's futures. Ensuring Kearyn never existed. And that's what Dahl saw in the clearing. He did not die. He simply never was."
"But doesn't that mean the future Purifier died, too?"
"It should have. But entering the underverse meant the effect never reached the Purifier. And now, he can return to his timeline free from the fear of erasure. A most excellent loophole, wouldn't you say?"
Boron shook his head in disbelief. "And without Kearyn's presence, the champion will never rise. We lose. Control of the obelisk is irrelevant."
"Or so he and his master would have us believe," the Queen replied. "What actually happened was quite different. Fortunately, for us, I- the Lady Hemmingford version of myself- sent her mind back in time before getting caught in the collapse."
"To where?" Carolyn asked, stepping away from the rising tide.
"The beginning of time. When I was a girl. Lilith found me and we became one. And that joining is how Lilith knew she could create a paradox."
"I thought you said you were Lilith."
"In a manner of speaking, I am."
"Speak plainly," Dahl cut in.
The Queen turned to her but spoke to Carolyn. "Because of the corrupted delivery system, much of the information Lilith sent deteriorated in transit. Not gone, but fragmented. It's all here, but I needed time to… to sort it out. To re-learn the plan."
"Well, that's great," Carolyn replied. "And just what is the plan?"
"Contrary to your beliefs, Lilith was not trying to recreate herself. She had already traveled back and forth in time and never come close to saving Kearyn. Recreating herself would only continue the same cycle. So, she took Boron's advice. She needed a fresh path. And that meant turning herself into the being that created the paradox of fathers and sons. She needed to become the patch that gave us time to fix the original paradox. So she invented the Dark Athena."
"What did she do?"
The Queen looked at Boron and said, "Lilith devised a new strategy. She came up with a new DNA.. So, this time, when she went back in time, she inserted thousands of markers mimicking junk DNA into each raptor. After billions of years of feeding on one another and rising again, the markers combined into a new matrix. A hybrid framework. A new DNA. And that is why you chose me. Of all my kin, I was the only one with the complete DNA sequence. The hybrid DNA. But without Lilith's complete DNA sequence, I am but a pale facsimile of the being I was supposed to become. Therefore, there are missing gaps. Those gaps are what we wait for now."
"What were you supposed to become?" Dahl asked.
"Lilith, let her ego get the best of her. She believed she could control the Dark Athena. But she is wrong. If allowed to come to fruition, the Dark Athena will either conquer or devour all in her path. She is a malevolent being bent on total domination. In essence, the Dark Athena is all of humanity's worst traits given life."
"So get off this beach."
"And if I do… if Kearyn is never born, the paradox breaks and the entire universe blinks out of existence."
"No one noticed the clever gene splicing young, Lilith included. The deceptions were subtle. But they didn't need to be. No one suspected a girl hanging around her father's lab was capable of such a thing. She combined a copy of her younger self, her older self and raptor DNA and sent it all ahead to patch the broken paradox."
"You said paradoxes are unbreakable."
"Paradoxes are based on pre-established rules in the space/time continuum. But if one is lucky enough or stupid enough to find a loophole, they can unravel the very fabric of space/time. If that happens, poof. We're all gone."
"If that's what happened," Dahl asked, "why are we still here?"
"When faced with an impossible challenge, Lilith thought outside the box. She created a multi-layered paradox. A 2nd loophole that only she knew about. And she did so at the dawn of time. Before the Purifier destroyed the existing paradox. That way, when the first loophole tightened and the paradox of fathers and sons crumbled, the 2nd paradox was already in place to protect us against erasure. Two paradoxes running simultaneously."
"That's why you did all of this?" Carolyn asked. "To protect us."
"To protect the universe. It was the only way. But the plan only stabilized the time continuum. It could not bring back Kearyn. Without his sacrifice, we are still in danger."
"Still," Boron said, and let out a big belly laugh. "I would have loved to see the Purifier's face when he got back and found out nothing changed."
"As it stands, erasing Kearyn didn't have quite the devastating effect the Purifier and his master thought it would. And silver lining, the Purifier cannot return to this location. Ever. If he does, he risks getting too close to the epicenter of Kearyn's erasure and suffering the same fate. Even in victory, he is still subject to the same rules that allowed him to use the loophole against Kearyn. The open wound in space/time can still swallow him, too."
"But if Kearyn is still missing from this time-stream, who will prepare the Champion?"
"I will." Carolyn replied.
The Queen laughed at her as if she were an arrogant child. "You're just like Kearyn? He had a scrappy, little, can-do attitude. And you see where that got him." Before Carolyn spoke, the Queen threw up a giant hand and cut her off. "That power is beyond your particular gifts. Kearyn and the champion bear a close connection."
"Has anyone ever told you to go to hell?"
"Oh, I've been there, little girl. And I can tell you, hell is a much worse place than any triple max prison. The power needed to straighten out this shitshow is beyond any of us. One would need to see everything happening in every timeline, all while calculating how each tiny event affects every other tiny event. One would need the power of God. The ability to see the beginning and the end of all things, and weave them into a perfect, never ending paradox. Can you do that? Because I know I can't. It took me 35 billion years just to cobble together this insane plan. And it will most likely get us all killed."
Insane plan is an epic understatement, Carolyn thought.
"I heard that." Queen Athena said.
"How is it you can read my mind, but I can't read yours or Lilith's?"
"The ability to read minds increases with time, and I am ancient."
"You're not old?"
"They created me shortly after the big bang. And then imprisoned me and my kin here billions of years ago."
"You're saying you're immortal?"
"I'm saying Lilith engineered raptors to feed on each other and then rise again like Phoenixes. Haven't you noticed there is no food or water here? And the only life on this planet is raptor life. We are cannibals."
"There's an endless supply of both down here."
"And yet you find this sanctuary devoid of my kind. That is because it is a refuge for your kind. For the people who constructed this cursed hellhole."
"Humans," Dahl said. "You said it's billions of years old."
"Lilith imbued with insatiable appetites and heightened senses of smell. That, coupled with no fear of death, and you can see why we're eating machines, drawn to the stench of death, and each other. We hunt each other, kill each other and devour each other. Those eaten arise from the excrement of their attackers. Those who arise absorb the DNA sequences of their attackers. It was an ingenious way of combining the hidden gene strands into one apex raptor. Me."
"If you say so. Personally, I think it's disgusting," Carolyn replied.
"And you did it to yourself?" Dahl added.
"Paradoxes have rules; loopholes have more. You asked me what I did, I told you. I'm sorry it doesn't meet with your approval."
"You're not still like that, are you?"
"Very much so. With one exception, if enough of my tissues are ingested, I can absorb my attacker from the inside out. I can repurpose their cells to recreate myself."
"Still disgusting," Dahl said.
"That, as you say, disgusting ability ensures the paradox cannot fail. I will always rise again. No matter what form I take or the time-stream I live in. My DNA will endure."
"It's still disgusting." Dahl said.
"Nor is it pleasant for my enemies."
"I can't imagine it's pleasant for you either." Dahl added.
"No. But it is a necessary discomfort to ensure the survival of our people."
"And who are our people?" Dahl asked.
"Our ancestors were born far from this tomb. On a planet called Furya."
The tide came in, forcing everyone to the edge of the jungle. The Queen stood hip deep in the cool surf, soothing her transforming feet. Blood trailed out to sea.
Carolyn made to go after her. But Boron gripped her shoulder, holding her from reaching the water. "That would not be wise."
"Let go," she said, struggling to wrench her shoulder out of Boron's massive grip. She looked like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
A 45' shark thrust upward through the surface of the water, sending a geyser of briny water 100 feet into the air. Sparkling water shed off its glistening black body, raining down Queen Athena. She held her ground. The creature's upward trajectory slowed, stopped and arced over, rocketing downward. building speed as it fell. The creature's jaws sprang open, and the Queen disappeared in an exploding blast of water that surged up the beach like the coming of a tsunami.
When the water receded, the giant shark lay beached in front of them, writhing and flopping. The sounds coming from its maw sounded like a whale song mixed with a galactic air horn. All who heard it fell upon their knees and covered their ears as the relentless sound drilled through their minds.
Gushing torrents of steaming black ichor exploded from its mouth and gills, covering the white sand. Everyone gagged in its stench.
As Carolyn rose, the creature exploded, sending out a sprat of steaming guts. What remained of the creature roiled in the gentle surf, like lava spilling into the sea.
Boron grabbed Carolyn's shoulder, and she screamed. "Run now," he bellowed over the din. "And take her with you," he added, running towards the geysering surf.