Act 3, Chapter 100: Love for the absent

Day in the story: 29th January (Thursday), past 2 p.m.—13 hours into the time trial

Alexandra May

Nick and I were already waiting on the surface of my Domain when the silence trap was sent back inside. My spider minions swarmed over it at once, wrapping and folding the massive canvas into a manageable bundle before hauling it away to one of the zero-gravity storage spaces for possible future use.

“So that thing killed the bastard?” Nick asked.

About fifteen minutes earlier, I had finished telling him everything I knew about Alex’s encounter with Mason, the very-high possibility that Jason was Malik in part now, and my plan to take down Robbie. Since then, Nick had done little besides pace around the agora while waiting for Sophie to emerge.

“Yes. They should be here shortly,” I replied, watching the situation unfold through my many external eyes.

“And you managed to do all that with only part of yourself, while he steamrolled the rest of us like he planned to before.” He glanced at the spiders moving across the Domain and shuddered.

“Seems proper preparation is the key to overcoming adversity.” I smiled. “Sorry about the spiders. I know you hate them. Ever since I became a mage, though, they’ve grown rather close to me.”

“I don’t hate them,” he protested. “They’re just... unpleasant to look at. And your creations remind me of that feeling.” He paused as another spider skittered across a nearby structure. “I’ll survive.” He was clearly not okay with them, but I appreciated the effort.

A few seconds later, Alex appeared inside my Domain with a hand resting on Mason’s shoulder and Maya perching on his own.

“Nick... I’m sorry. Real sorry. For deceivin’ you back in Paris,” Mason said as soon as he noticed him. He carried his brother’s body, still half-wrapped in silk. He pulled it closer to his chest and lowered his eyes to the ground, then shifted his feet slightly when he noticed he was standing on the liquid-like surface.

“It’s okay. Is that really you?” Nickolas replied, coming closer to the man. Alex, on the other hand, moved away and toward me, with Maya still sitting idly on his shoulder, observing the reunion.

“I—” Alex started in a whisper, his hand covering his mouth so as not to disturb the others.

“I understand,” I replied. I felt like he was about to apologize for bringing Mason here, and while I didn’t love it, it felt necessary to me as well.

“Man, it’s hard to explain right,” Mason continued, unbothered by Alex’s interruption. He still looked at Nick’s feet instead of his face. “I ain’t Malik no more. That much certain. Malik died because of the man I’m holdin’ in my arms.”

“Alexa explained that part to me. I wasn’t asking about specifics, really—just about how you feel, man.” Nick interrupted him and extended his hands toward the amalgam of Jason and Malik. “Here, let me help you with that.”

He took Robbie’s body from Mason’s arms and, cradling it, moved toward the grassy ground between the two buildings. When Mason noticed the other man walking away with the body, he raised his head and looked around the Domain, taking in the sights. He kept his commentary to himself, though, and joined Nickolas in the walk.

Alex lifted me out of my armchair and into his arms, and with Maya still perched on his shoulder, the three of me followed after them.

“I am sorry that I could not be there for you in time.”

“It’s aight, Nick. Feels like this all on me. I should’ve picked up when you called that day. Things would’ve been real different if I had.”

“It’s good that you’ll have at least a partial chance to live a life now.”

“Nick, Malik ain’t here no more. And Jason gone too—they both gone. I’m somebody new now, just carryin’ pieces of they lives and memories with me. But... I appreciate what you sayin’.”

“I feel like that’s all semantics, Mason. We all change throughout our lives. Some of us remember only tiny fragments of our childhoods—singular moments encased in amber produced by, I guess, our souls. I hardly remember what I was doing last Thursday, really, and yet I still think it was me that day, you get that? I’m part of a different Domain than the one I had been preparing for my whole life. Alexa here has split into so many bodies it’s difficult to count, and she’s still herself. To me, Mason, you will always be Malik as well, whether you think that about yourself or not. Even long after you forget this day, or the ones that came before it.”

“Thank you,” Mason replied while Nick slowly lowered the body onto the fresh grass.

“I hate this man.” Nick said, and still did everything with enough reverence for a man of faith during an ordeal.

“I love him.”

“Do you want him buried?” Leben asked, standing up and turning around. His eyes flicked toward the Weaver’s Tree in the distant center of the agora before returning to Mason.

“You buried Malik’s body anywhere? If so… I’d like him to rest there too.”

Nick sighed, then looked toward me, forcing Mason to turn as well so he faced all of us.

“This… I think I need to speak with Dad about it.”

“I can sneak us in,” I interjected, speaking through my own mouth again. Somehow, the freeze that had held me passed. My throat still felt raw, and each syllable came with its own edge of pain. “And by sneak, I mean put us right in front of Malik’s grave-tree.”

“Grave-tree?” Mason asked.

“You’re much more emotional than you usually allow yourself to be,” Nick said.

“Fuck off, Leben.”

“That only proves my point.”

“Grave-tree?” Mason asked again.

“Sorry,” Nick sighed. “As per Guild tradition, Malik was buried in the temple grounds, and a tree was grown from his resting place as a symbol of his legacy continuing long after his death. That makes it more difficult to officially bury the Rhythm there, since he’s still a fugitive under Guild law. But with the shitstorm going on right now, I guess it would be easy enough to conveniently forget convention and bury him next to Malik when no one is looking.”

“Do you think I could maybe take a part of his body to show the Guild he’s been killed?” I added, realizing I could probably gain something out of a successful mission in their eyes. Nickolas gave me a look of disapproval. Mason’s eyes went wide, his mouth hanging open in shock.

“Alexa, this is wildly inappropriate, and exactly what I was referring to when we had our falling out around Christmas. This is just fucking immoral,” Mason replied, after he mentally grabbed his jaw and reattached it to the rest of his face.

“You were fine with killing him, but dismembering him is where you draw the line? He’s already dead. You and Alex watched his rotten soul leave his body. What is it to you if I take his heart?”

“Heart? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mason snapped. “Why not a fucking hand? You got some kind of corpse-splitting fetish or something? Wouldn’t be surprised, really.”

“Fuck you, Jason,” I shot back before I could stop myself. “Normally I’d ask for the head, just to make the Guild one hundred percent sure he’s dead. But out of courtesy for Malik—and not to completely desecrate his brother’s body—I asked for the next best thing. I’m pretty sure most people, no matter how regenerative, would struggle to survive without the pump in their chest. You get me?” He opened his mouth to reply, but Maya conveniently flew up beside his face, put both hands on her hips, and stuck out her tongue. “I will not rip him apart. I planned on painting a hole and taking the heart that way, so the cursed wonderboy can still be presented properly for the funeral.”

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“I…” Mason started, then ran both hands over his face. “Fine. Do whatever you have to.” He turned to Nick, who had been shaking his head the entire time. “Why do you want to speak with Damien?”

“Firstly, both he and Mother and Bonnie too for that matter—she is still living with us, we even took her to France—they would all appreciate to know that… you are not entirely gone. Secondly he’d appreciate that your,” Nick sighed then corrected himself. “Malik’s killer is dealt with and I bet he’d love to help with the funeral, however illegal it is.”

“I think so too.” I said and my minions were already on their way with the armchair.

**********

Few minutes later, Alex went with Nick and Mason to grab Dam from his home. Nickolas was hesitant to leave, fearing he might miss Sophie’s arrival, but out of obligation to Malik, he went anyway.

I took the time to observe Anansi as she moved closer, along with her little swarm of art-crafters, toward Robbie’s body.

“I shouldn’t have mentioned the heart to them at all. I could have just stolen it like the thief I am, but no—my evil twin and her stupid predisposition for righteousness forced me to ask,” I said to my Anima’s physical avatar.

She hopped closer to the minions that were carefully lifting Robbie’s hoodie to expose his chest’s skin.

“Stealing a dead man’s heart is hardly righteous, no matter how you spin it,” the smartass spiderbunny replied. The art-crafters were already applying paint from their black legs onto the canvas of the Rhythm’s skin.

“Me being rewarded for something that cost me a leg is at least some consolation, when all I have to do is put some paper in his chest. Don’t you agree?”

“You should be—I don’t know—resting, or meditating, or doing something that helps you recover. Instead, you fight Nazis, musical killers, take their hearts out, spy on powers that could destroy you, and reality knows what else Gertrude is doing. When was the last time you painted anything just for fun?”

“It’s difficult to—”

“No, it isn’t. You know that, and so do I by extension. You could do it through the minions if not by your own hand. Even Alex isn't training music for the fun of it—he's doing it because he wants to master the craft and put it to use. Just do something for the sake of doing it. No goal. No ulterior motive.” Her ears twitched with every word and she looked utterly ridiculous while doing it, but she was right. Worse still, through our connection, she knew I thought so too. So I stayed silent.

Instead, I watched her apply my power to the hole painted onto Robbie's chest. Shadowlight poured into the depiction of looney tunes hole, settling within it in a shimmer of rainbow hues. The painted blackness vanished instantly, revealing a cavity beneath—a glimpse of lungs and a stopped heart.

The first spider crawled inside and used its paper mandibles to chew through an artery. A second followed, severing a vein. Then another and another.

They worked steadily to the relentless rhythm of their own chewing.

**********

Dam’s fingers changed into tentacles that stretched nearly four feet long, their tips transforming into massive hooves. Nick’s fusion was simpler—he grabbed a shovel, pushed it into his soulspace, and used it to turn his hands into the tools.

Both of them worked quickly, digging a grave beside Malik’s tree while Mason stayed back with his brother’s body. Under Anansi’s guidance, after she finished removing the heart—which the minions promptly carried off to cold storage—they spun a cocoon of silk around Robbie, leaving only his head exposed.

“Funny thing is, he seem a whole lot smaller lyin’ there on the ground,” Mason mused aloud.

Dam turned toward him while his appendages continued plowing through the soil.

“I share a similar sentiment, my boy.” He was clearly moved by what he had learned about Mason. He tried to keep it together and mostly to himself, but every time he spoke, his voice trembled and his shoulders slumped. “A lifeless body always seems smaller to me. The eyes are duller. There is no presence inside anymore—just a shell emptied of everything that makes us people.”

“Thank y’all again for doin’ this. For me. I know everybody hate Rob, but... I still want him close to Malik. He really loved him, even after all that happened. This just seems right, you know?”

“Don’t mention it,” Nick replied, throwing another load of dirt aside. The grave had to be at least five feet deep already.

“They’ll notice it’s been disturbed,” Alex noted.

I stood next to him with my arm draped over his shoulder for support. I wore a prosthesis adjusted to the current length of my leg, but with the possibility of losing control at any moment, this felt safer.

“Maybe. There are hundreds of trees here, and with everything that happened, there are bound to be dozens of new ceremonies. We might get lucky,” Nickolas said.

“Or not,” Alex replied.

I saw it too through the eyes of the birds we had released above the grounds. The same caretaker we had met before was making his way toward us.

“We’ve been noticed. Should we abandon this pursuit?”

“No.” Dam exhaled as he climbed out of the grave and onto the grass. His arms shifted back to normal, and he brushed the dirt from his clothes.

Somehow the air smelled of lavender and clover despite neither being anywhere in sight. It seemed the trees released a fragrance of their own, and I had never noticed it before.

“I’ll speak with him,” Dam added and started toward the caretaker.

“I’d like to join you,” I said.

Letting go of Alex’s support, I took a few careful steps toward the gentle giant. Seeing me approach, Dam stopped, slouched slightly, and extended his arms. I slipped my arm through the one he offered, and he guided me forward.

“Of course.”

“Are you a High Mage, Damien? I never asked.” We moved through the taller grass now. It felt strange and pleasant to experience a meadow in the middle of winter.

“Yes.”

“Are you close to becoming an Archmage? Do you know what soulmark your Domain has prepared for you?”

“I don’t know.” He sighed. “Maybe. We keep records of the marks within the Domain, but I try not to think about them these days. I’m just trying to enjoy life whenever I can. Why are you asking?”

“I wanted to think about something other than death and falling apart.”

“You’re thinking about Peter because of Malik and Robbie?”

“That’s exactly what I didn’t want to talk about. But yes. A little. What we’re doing here reminded me of him, and I have no idea how I feel. I love him like a brother, and yet I feel as though he changed more than I did when I received my powers. I don’t understand why he chose to abandon Zoe…”

“Domains so powerful such as his change people, and they do it quickly, Alexa. There is so much influence and character stored within those cores that they begin to overwhelm a person. Water is… difficult to judge. What traits would it even want from the people who become its masters?”

“That’s what I wonder too. I fear that the longer he stays away, the less I’ll recognize him when he comes back.”

“Alexa.” He stopped and turned toward me, placing both of his hands on my forearms and smiling. “If you want to avoid the fate that befell poor Malik, you will find a way. I am certain of that. And if you need help doing it, let me know. Worrying in advance won’t change anything.”

“I feel like instead of worrying, I should be preparing. Just in case. To deal with him and his powers. As much as I hate the idea, I already fought him once—a fight where he didn’t want to hurt me and held back. In a direct confrontation, power like his could end me, even if his resonance is lower.”

“You should do that.”

“What?” I asked, raising my brows.

“You expected me to steer you away from the idea?” He laughed, his deep voice carrying through the strange place and mixing with the rustling leaves.

The approaching man paused in his steps. He was close enough to hear us now.

“I think it would be good for you. You have a mind that requires a challenge—a riddle, a task to solve. Do it for the sake of occupying it and training it to deal with whatever vile mage might require a similar approach in the future. I hope you’ll never need this particular plan, but it’s not a bad thing to have in the first place.”

“Better to have a plan and never need it than to need one and not have it.”

“Exactly.” He turned toward the approaching caretaker. “Do-yun! My friend! How do you say it? Ah! Lovely to see you!”

“Damien.” The handsome Asian warlock replied with a slight bow. “You and your friends are committing a blasphemy against the Guild.”

“Yes. For good reason.”

“Good intentions are the building blocks of hell, my friend. Better to have bad ones and do good than the other way around.” He turned his face toward me, and those black eyes of his unmade me. There was something strange about his gaze. Magnetic and unsettling at the same time, as if by simply looking at me he knew me more deeply than I could ever understand myself. He held my gaze, and I felt as though every breath I had ever taken was remembered by him, every beat of my heart was felt by him, and every word I would ever speak had already been noted. “You look worn down, love.”

“You...” I started, suddenly realizing something about our last meeting. I pointed a finger at him. “You wished me to break my leg when we parted last time. And guess what the hell happened?”

“That was merely a figure of speech.”

“No, it wasn’t. It couldn’t have been.”

“Are you accusing me of seeing the future? You don’t believe that’s possible yourself.”

“Dam.” I turned toward my friend instead. “This guy is a warlock. Do you know to whom he’s bound?” Dam’s eyes widened, and his lips parted for a split second.

“That’s very rude,” the other man interrupted. “And not why I came to see you.”

“No, I don’t,” Damien replied, then turned back to Jeon. “I know we transgressed, but I hoped you’d keep it to yourself.”

“If I found out about it.”

“Better to apologize than ask for permission,” Damien replied.

“Don’t change the subject,” I interrupted them, but the other man didn’t even flinch, as if he expected as much from me. “What power do you wield? Why do you care about the dead? Is it you who did something to me? Have you cursed me somehow?”