Destiny's Kingdom: Legend of the Chosen (22 page)

Not disappearing Quade…

But feeding on itself, on it own essence.

“Feeding on itself?" Quade puzzled, watched as the entity continued to diminish. "So then what’s to stop it from feeding on itself till….”

Before Quade could finish his thought the SanFear shot into one of the bodies it had been hovering near. Quade recoiled as he watched the woman bolt from her lover's embrace and writhe in pain. A blood-curdling scream escaped her lips as her body aged before him. In Quade's ears there was a throbbing, the sound of the teeming entity as it sucked away the woman's life force, as it leached her dry of her breath and her life, then of her very physical body. The whole world seemed to go silent but for the pulsing swell, and all of Quade’s senses became overwhelmed, saturated by the sound of the infection. The woman's body once young, became withered and emaciated within seconds seemed to be a pale reflection of what it once was. Soon all that was left of the body was ash in the form of a human shape that crumpled in the wind and blew away leaving only the SanFear in its place. It was larger and more erratic in movements, obviously given strength from its assault on the woman, but it was still as shadowy and unnatural as before. Quade quickly looked as everyone flocked to where their fallen friend had been, ignoring the SanFear that still hovered there.

“No! Run!" Quade shouted, waving his arms at the people, but he was just as invisible to them as was the SanFear. Though he stood and walked among them, he had no effect on their world.

The one nearest to the tragedy that had just occurred was the next victim. The young man who had only moments ago held his lover in his arms, suffered the same fate as his paramour, within seconds aged and withered and fell as ash in the breeze. This time the people nearby did not run toward but instead ran away, recoiling in horror at what once was a friend to what now seemed to be a plague. Quade watched as the one SanFear went from person to person; young, old, man, woman it made no difference. They scurried away, screaming in panic and terror at a force that they could not see as it overcame them, ran for their lives, ran in vain. The outcome was the same from one to the next, charred bodies left for the wind to scatter.

Quade looked to the distance and with growing horror he watched as two more SanFear came. The other two pursued and caught those that had escaped the first SanFear.
 

Quade closed his eyes to avert the horror that he was witnessing.
 

Quade, now more than ever you must watch! All that happens is important.

Quade opened his eyes and saw that there was nothing left to see, but ashes and char rained all around him. All the people that had been in the campground were gone, destroyed, annihilated. The thing that he could still see, though he wished he couldn't, was the three SanFear. When outside of a body they expanded to great heights, spread as inky clouds to the tops of trees, but as they had shot effortlessly into each person to kill them, the SanFear had been little more than a dark outline that emanated from the affected person's skin. Now they came together, each one larger then before but still shrinking in size, losing some density. They swarmed around each other as if in some way communicating. Then the entities moved apart and settled into the ground. At first nothing happened, then suddenly the surrounding grass began to brown and harden, breaking off in the wind. In all directions the effect spread like wildfire, like a spilling blanket of destruction as the SanFear leached the life out of the very planet, killing the surrounding foliage, spreading to the flowers and plants and vegetation. As the inky blackness spread across the land and over the distant hills, a forest crumpled and crackled, mighty trees uprooted and fell. Quade watched the SanFear's effect travel over the land, and although they were still shrinking in size, they were shrinking at a far-diminished rate.

Being not of this world they must take the energy, the very essence of this world to sustain themselves. Echo's voice sounded gently in his mind, hushed as though she didn't want to startle him too abruptly. They search for the place where they belong, a place where they fit and have harmony.

No such place exists.
Mimic's voice was in his head as well and only then did Quade realize that the emissaries had disappeared from view.
They were never meant to have a place…the gods did not make one
 
for them so the SanFear continue to search.

But this is only part of what we have to show you.

Come; there are other events that need to be seen.

He was at the command central of a starship, a huge, expansive area flanked with mega computers that glowed with light and activity, status reports and readouts of the enormous vessels' status. Quade had never been on a starship of this size before, and this bridge was larger than even the gigantic traveling cities that he knew in his world. The bridge was quiet and oddly deserted to accommodate a craft of this caliber, and just from looks alone Quade knew the bridge crew probably consisted of at least two dozen officers. Standing on the opposite end of the bridge was a man in a stiff white jacket that hung past his knees, and in his hand was an instrument of some sort. He looked to Quade like a scientist, and from what he could tell he seemed to be examining something near his feet. Only then did Quade realize that the floor of the bridge was thick with dark dust, the grey powder flecked with tiny shimmerings of copper and silvery yellow. A strange sense of doomy suspicion crept into his subconscious at the sight of the ash on the floor.
 

Quade walked slowly to stand behind the scientist's shoulder as the man analyzed what lay before him on the floor. Peering over his shoulder, Quade gazed upon the readout of the machine that the scientist held in his hand, the display panel flashing from screen to screen as information came in from the analysis. Symbols poured across the instrument's face, numbers and letters that were familiar to Quade.

"I recognize those," he whispered even though he'd been told he didn't have to. He looked up and saw Echo and Mimic hovering over the shoulder of the scientist, facing Quade. "I know what those symbols mean. He looked back down to the display. "Nitrogen, aluminum, carbon. That's what they stand for, that's what he's analyzing, what the dust is on the floor."

"Does that mean anything to you, Quade, these elements?"

"Nitrogen, aluminum, carbon…yes. I know what it means."

"Common elements basic to life. And all that is left in the wake of the SanFear."

Quade looked at the pile of smudged char on the floor in front of the scientist who now bent down to get a closer look. He shook his head, obviously puzzled, then looked about the area of the bridge. Quade looked around too, saw dozens upon dozens of similar piles, but what he knew that the scientist did not was that each of these piles represented what once had been a living being.

"They take all it is that they need and leave little behind. The richest power comes first from the soul, and the body deteriorates quickly once they begin to feed upon it."

"The soul can maintain them for a much longer time but once it is gone…"

"I understand," said Quade and he turned from the scientist and the nauseating sight of the remains on the floor of this starship's bridge.

Quade's sight began to dim and fade away leaving only darkness in its wake. He seemed to float and could see nothing again though he didn't remember closing his eyes, but he had a picture of what he deemed to be himself in the window of his memory, could somehow sense how he appeared as he continued to float.
 

The SanFear do not come from a planet. They have no parent to nurture them, to show them right from wrong. They have no concept of life save for their own. All they see is the essence of the things around them, and all they see is an eternity of worlds where the have no place. They do not think as you do. Their consciousness is different.

“Are they intelligent?” Quade asked, his voice sounding hollow and strange.

How does one measure a thing such as that? Does intelligence have weight? Does it have size and depth? Can you look at it and compare it one to another?

“That’s not what I meant.”

Mimic knows what you mean. She just grows tired of things time and again unfolding the same.
 
Are they intelligent? That depends on what you mean by intelligent. Are they capable of independent thought? Not as you know it. Are they able to conceive new concepts and ideas? Certainly not. Can they retain knowledge and use it at a later time? Most certainly yes. That is most likely their most dangerous strength.

The SanFear retain the knowledge of every being they have ever entered. They know now what the Keystone knows, as well as countless others. This knowledge however, means nothing to them. From their contact with others, they learned…

It. That would be a better name for it than them.

Just as well. It learned that it could dominate other minds. In time it would learn other traits.
 

"Other traits?"

All in due time, Quade. Behold…

Quade was out of breath, but he knew he hadn't been moving. He glanced about the place where he stood, and everything about it was wrong, felt different, felt foreign. The position of the sun in the sky was wrong, the quality of the air he breathed was different. Yet another world that wasn't his own. He moved his arms and shoulders, straightened his back to be sure that his body was unharmed from what felt to be the passage of time and travel. And then he looked around.

"Throughout the ages the SanFear evolved and learned to master many things." Echo appeared before Quade's eyes and hovered, then gently began to spin.

"Unfortunately, one of the things they learned to do was breed."

"Breed?" Quade leaned over the balcony and stared down at the swimming woman as she rose from the pool, the inky darkness of the SanFear emanating from her skin. She seemed unaware that she was fully encompassed by the black, teeming shadow which ebbed and rippled around her as she walked.

"Yes Quade, breed. Perhaps not in the conventional way that is familiar to you. But they discovered how to take the soul from the being they inhabit and split it into pieces. Over time, each of those pieces become corrupt. The longer they stay in any one body, the more pieces they can break the soul into. And from that, they create their spawn."

Mimic had been circling around Echo but she stopped then and looked gravely at Quade. "And the spawn are a truly horrible thing." There was a sweeping sound of a hiss and a wave of dizziness passed through Quade for a split second and then again, all went black.

When he could see again Quade found himself standing in the corner of a room, the clamor of conversation all around him. People mingled, chimes of glasses tinkling and lilting laughter carried above the sound of festive, elegant music. Women all around were dressed in decorated gowns and men strode gallantly in formal attire, many in what appeared to be military uniforms. Quade skirted along the wall, still feeling the need to be discreet, when the feedback of a loudspeaker cut through the room and someone began to speak.

"Those who make the best breeding hosts are those of strong character, of great intelligence and spirit or those of superior galactic power. The SanFear can inhabit these bodies for a long period of time, slowly feeding off their soul and essence, growing in power until the time is right…"

Quade hadn't been listening to the words of the speaker, only of what Mimic had been saying inside his mind, but when he took a moment to notice he saw that the woman who was at the podium speaking to the crowd was the same woman from earlier in the pool. A large fountain took up a corner of the rear of the auditorium, and he slipped behind it, then stood atop its edge and looked over the crowd from his slightly elevated perch.
 

"The first that you showed me," he said, voice hushed, "died very quickly, were in horrible pain. Now here, this woman… she seems unaware that anything is wrong."

"Much like the Keystone, Quade."

"No, not like the Keystone." Quade felt defensive then, scowled and turned to Mimic who had appeared over his shoulder. "The Keystone was acting abnormal. He was… intense and abrupt in his manner. Not at all like the Keystone I've known all my life."

"To you Quade, he seemed out of sorts. To a common observer not so."
 

Quade turned back around to look at the woman who spoke, pressing his lips together. It's true, he didn't know her, wouldn't recognize the subtle nuances that immediately had stood out to him in the Keystone's study.

"A host might act more indifferent, perhaps less concerned about what goes on around he or she. That is because his soul is being controlled by the SanFear who inhabits his body."

Quade didn't want to think about what the Keystone was going through that he had no power to fix at this point, so he focused on the woman. "What happens when they breed?"

"Watch now and you shall see."
 

He could see the blurry, inky blackness outlining her, its shadow covering her every curve and her every move as she addressed the crowd. It seemed somehow more intense, seething with an energy which immediately sent a wave of dread through Quade as he watched.

The woman stopped suddenly, and a silence fell over the crowd. She looked up, as if she wanted to say something, but no words came from her lips. Even from the distance, Quade could see her labored breath, and the panic on her face. She dropped something that was in her hand and a murmur spread through the crowd. As Quade watched in horror, he saw the outline of her body swell and begin to convulse. Somewhere, a woman screamed. And at that same instant, a hundred shadows of pitch black erupted from the woman's body, which reeled back and stiffened, bent back in mid-air as the apparitions spilled forth.
 

Screams echoed throughout the room and there was the sound of breaking glass, the din of panic and the frantic stomping of footfalls as everyone in the room ran to escape. For one more second, Quade was mesmerized, watching the black demons continue to erupt from the now broken woman's body, devouring all that they came into contact with, people, furniture, decorations, even structural elements of the building.