Demon Lord VI - Son of Chaos (30 page)

A last,
intrepid vehicle made a heroic dash through the closing Gate, then
the mighty portal slowed as it neared its closing. It glowed with
soft white radiance, and Bane realised that this was caused by the
wards within the stone activating, preparing to seal the Gate when
it closed. Its edges touched, and the Gate rumbled shut, then came
the soft grating as the giant stone lock engaged.

Bane lowered
his gaze to Kayos’ Eye, and Drevarin and Sherinias moved closer to
look into it as well. It showed the night-black outside of the
Gate, and, at its foot, the fire dome. As the sound of the lock
engaging ended with a soft thud, lines of white fire spat from
points all around the Gate, meshing the air with a web of light.
Several struck the fire dome, and pale flames licked over it,
consuming it in a flash of radiance, then explosions ripped through
the buildings that were housed within it. In a few minutes, nothing
remained of the buildings or the dome save rubble, smoke and
settling dust.

Sherinias
turned to beam at Kayos. “I feel much better, Father. We are safe.
No dark god may enter my domain now.”

“
Who left the Gate open, Sherinias?” Bane enquired.

“
The dark god, but I do not know why.”

Bane glanced
up at the Gate, realisation dawning. “I do.”

“
Will you tell me, Brother?”

“
He wanted to hunt Pretarin in the God Realm, so he left the
Gate open to allow him to flee.”

A frown
wrinkled Sherinias’ brow, then a growing brilliance above them made
her glance up. A star formed within a pattern of runes halfway up
the Gate, giving off scintillating light. Sherinias gasped and
pointed at it, her eyes wide with wonder. The star’s light dimmed,
and for a moment it hung shimmering in its nook, then it fell.
Sherinias sprang forward to catch it, cupped it in her hands and
turned to Kayos with a puzzled, amazed expression.

He smiled. “It
is your key, child. It opens the Gate. It seems that Pretarin took
his key with him when he died.”

She gazed at
it. “It is beautiful, Father.”

“
Yes, they are very pretty. Keep it safe.”

Sherinias
tucked it into the folds of her gown, and they followed Kayos back
to the gazebo. The flotilla of vehicles hovered before the Gate,
more joining from the direction of the World Gate. The four of them
sank down on the couches, and Kayos formed another Eye, as did
Sherinias and Drevarin. Bane moved over to Drevarin’s couch and
shared his Eye, and Sherinias cast him a puzzled look, then glanced
at Kayos, who ignored her enquiring gaze.

The image
within Drevarin’s Eye showed a world tainted by darkness, but not
entirely corrupted, and it changed as he searched for something
interesting. In some scenes, dark clouds blocked out the sun as
vast storms raged across grey seas, sending massive waves to ravage
the shores. Two Sources poured dark power into leaden skies, the
land around them blasted and dead. Several nearby mountains belched
ash, lava flowing down their slopes. The domain’s other World Gate,
entrance to the dark realm, stood open in a bleak, stony land
scoured by the shadows that streamed from it, corrupting and
killing everything around it.

The dark
realm’s Gate had been formed at the bottom of a deep canyon, set
into a cliff. Above it, forked tongues of lightning licked a grey
sky. Drevarin shot Bane a dismayed glance as the Eye found more
gloomy areas, where people struggled to scratch a living from
poisonous soil. Vast deserts swallowed distant lands, and brackish
lakes birthed plains of sparkling salt. Dull seas swept rancid
shores caked with rotting filth, and mutilated beasts perished
slowly from vile diseases.

The Eye’s
image changed to a crowd near the tumbled remains of the buildings
Sherinias had cast out of the light realm. Uniformed men marched
around, argued and waved their arms as they inspected the wreckage.
Several men and women stood talking rapidly, each facing another
person who pointed an odd instrument at them.

Drevarin
glanced at Bane. “That looks interesting.”

Bane nodded.
“We should go down and listen to what they are saying.”

“
An excellent idea.” Drevarin beamed, waved the Eye out of
existence and laid his hand on Bane’s shoulder.

Kayos glanced
over at the empty couch with a slight frown, then returned to his
perusal of the scene within his Eye.

Sherinias
turned to him and cried, “May I go too, Father?”

“
No.”

“
But I want to listen to them too, why may I not
go?”

Kayos’ frown
deepened. “You are too young.”

“
Surely I will be safe if you will come with me?”

“
It is not your safety I am concerned about. You are not ready
to walk amongst men. Be still now.”

Sherinias
opened her mouth to protest, but then pouted and turned her
attention back to her Eye.

***

“
What?” Governor Predoran stared at the officer who stood
before him, unable to believe his ears.

“
The Great Gate has closed, Governor.”

“
That’s impossible!”

“
Check the news reports. They have visuals.”

The governor
activated the vidscreen, and the same reporter he had seen earlier
filled it, her face slack with shock.

“
...I repeat, the Great Gate has closed, trapping cars and
people inside and out. This happened only minutes ago, and our
mobile camera team has visuals of this astounding and momentous
event.”

The vidfeed
showed an aerial view of the inside of the Gate as it swung closed,
the lights of the city disappearing behind it. A faint chiming
accompanied the Gate’s stately movement. A destroyer hove into view
just ahead of the news station’s vessel and fired several bursts of
light cannon at the Gate, but the blue fire had no effect. The
reporter continued her monologue.

“
The president is urging people to stay calm, and has
despatched a number of military officers to assess the situation,
along with demolition teams to find a way to re-open the Gate. He
assures us that the situation is only temporary. Civilian traffic
has been banned from the area, which is now considered dangerous,
but as yet no one knows how or why the Gate has closed. Stay tuned
to this station for up to the minute reports on this incredible
event.”

Predoran gaped
at the screen, where the Great Gate, glowing with soft light, was
about to close, then the reporter reappeared and began her spiel
again. He touched the mute button, silencing her.

“
There’s more, sir,” the officer said.

“
What?”

“
When the Gate closed, a number of ancient and extremely
powerful weapons were activated outside it. The Dorilan Dome is
gone, destroyed, and casualties are estimated in the hundreds. The
weapons used the white power, and are located in artefacts our
archaeologists examined years ago, but could never figure out what
they were for. It’s all ancient stuff. We don’t even know how old
it is, but it predates civilisation. We sent some ships to see
what’s going on, and they say the weapons are still active, so they
can’t get close to the Gate. They’re like light guns that use the
white power, and the power source that sustains them must be
massive.”

Predoran sank
into his chair while the officer spoke, his mind blank with shock.
“The white light can’t be used. There’s no way to store it.”

“
We can’t use it, but whoever built the Gate could.”

“
The Gate was built by an advanced ancient civilisation. That’s
what the scholars have always told us. Whoever built it left or
died out, so why has it become active again all of a
sudden?”

The officer
shook his head. “Perhaps it has something to do with that woman who
appeared in Cloud World and evicted everyone, and everything. A
tourist took a holo-image of her, which is quite amazing, I’m
told.”

“
Do you have a copy?”

“
I could probably get one for you, sir.”

Predoran
nodded. “She must be a dra’voren, and she’s going to destroy our
world while we’re trapped out here. Find out what they’re doing
inside to open the Gate.”

“
Sir, we have no communication with Bayona, everything was cut
off when the Gate closed.”

“
But...” Predoran gestured at the screen, where the reporter
continued to talk.

“
That’s a local news station, and the visuals were sent out as
the Gate closed. We’ve had no contact since then.”

“
We have to get a stealth ship in there and destroy that woman.
Keep trying to find a way to open the Gate.”

“
Yes, sir.”

The officer
saluted and marched out, and Predoran stared at the vidscreen,
where the closing Gate was being shown again. After watching it
twice more, he rose and left his office, heading for the
prison.

Chapter Thirteen

Realm Gate

Bane and
Drevarin wandered through the crowd, watched the hubbub and
listened to the people who addressed the odd instruments. The dazed
tourists had been taken away, and crowds of curious onlookers had
arrived to gawp at the crushed buildings. Invisibility would have
been a problem amongst so many people, so they had donned
illusions. Bane had made his face more ordinary, and his clothes
were similar to the men around him, as were Drevarin’s, although he
had not bothered to change his face.

“
They do not appear to have received your harbinger’s message,”
Drevarin said.

“
Perhaps we should send another. Those people who talk so much
seem to be spreading the news. I could use one of them.”

“
Good idea.”

Bane turned to
a man who talked to one of the machines, and he halted in
mid-sentence, looked blank for a moment, then said, “The Gate will
reopen tomorrow, and everyone from the city outside must return.
The outer city is to be abandoned, and when the Great Gate closes
again, so will the Golden Gate, after which time, no one will be
able to leave this world. Your goddess, Sherinias, has been born.
You should rejoice and pray to her for guidance, and praise her
name. You must give up your evil ways and repent.”

Bane released
the man, who looked stunned, while the man holding the instrument
frowned at him, perplexed. The first man shook his head. “Why did I
say that? I don’t know what made me do it. I sounded like a
lunatic.”

Bane snorted
and walked on.

Drevarin
chuckled. “Perhaps that last part was a bit much.”

“
It will give them something to ponder.”

“
If anyone heeds it.”

A uniformed
man stepped in front of them. “You can’t be here. This area is
restricted. Get back behind the lines.”

Bane glanced
at him, and the man’s face went slack. He wandered off, looking
confused.

“
There are a lot of demons here,” Bane said. “I have been
thinking, this world is an ideal place for a dark god to dwell. No
religion, a surplus of tainted people, and the dark realm must be
full of damned, considering how many there are still alive. The
Realm Gate has been standing open for centuries. There could be
more than one dark god in this domain.”

“
Surely the Oracle would have told Sherinias if one had
entered?”

“
Only if it knew. If a dark god came in with that flying
traffic, disguised as an ordinary man, it might not have seen him.
Nikira told me that her ship defeated three dark gods. If this was
the closest domain, they would have entered the dark realm unknown
to the Oracle.”

Drevarin
nodded. “But then they would have destroyed this domain.”

“
Not necessarily. Not every dark god wants to destroy domains.
Most would rather rule one, since once they destroy it, there is
nothing to do. Many do not even want that, they just use it as a
playground. They would have preferred to have enslaved Sherinias,
but, since they could not, they might be content to amuse
themselves amongst her people, which could be why they are so
tainted.”

“
How could we find out?”

Bane shrugged.
“I could summon a demon and ask it, but it would only know if a god
had gone into the dark realm, or if it had encountered one in the
mid realm, or perhaps heard of one, but it will not know
everything.”

“
It is worth trying.”

“
But once I summon one and dismiss it, it will know about me,
and then it might be questioned by the other dark god, if there is
one.”

Drevarin
caught Bane’s sleeve and stopped him, his brow furrowed with
concern. “But if there is one, or more, Sherinias is in grave
danger. The World Gate is open. She is defenceless.”

“
Kayos is with her, and he is more than capable of defending
her until I get there. If, however, they find out about me, they
may choose to conceal themselves until we leave, then breach the
World Gate when she is alone.”

“
You are right,” Drevarin agreed. “What if you do not dismiss
the demon, but order it to find out how many dark gods there are in
this domain, if any?”

“
I could do that. And I will be surprised if there are none
here.”

“
If there are several, they could band together against you.
Will they know about Sherinias’ birth?”

“
Probably. They will know about you and Kayos too.”