Desolate Horizons: Cosmic Horror

Chapter 1

The peak of the mountain struggled to touch the tarnished golden sun as it slid beneath the horizon. Shimmering waves of heat rippled across the desert, and Samuel put a hand over his eyes and watched as the dark ribbon of night descended from above.

How much faster is it setting? the young man asked Samuel.

It’s never constant. The sun is probably ten degrees lower tonight.

The answer hung in the still air, broken only by a crack from the paltry fire.

Samuel stared through the green flames while the young man ate a nameless, tasteless dinner encased in a steel can. He looked at his shaven scalp, visually examining the stark, white scars that prevented new hair from sprouting. Even with the young man’s head buried inside the meal, Samuel could see the reflection of his blue eyes.

Jack.

He kept eating.

Jack, Samuel said again.

He held the tarnished fork in the air and let the weak sauce drip from it.

I think they’ve found us, Samuel said.

Jack drew a wavy dismissal with his utensil as he plunged it back into the can. The tines struck the side before stabbing the few remaining beans.

Did you hear me? Samuel asked.

Jack tossed the empty can to the ground at Samuel’s feet. I fucking heard you, he said.

Samuel stood. He brushed the desert sand from his pants and used a forearm to clear the grime from his forehead. With callused hands, Samuel pulled the strap of his sheath tight across his right thigh and tapped the hilt out of habit. He slid a thumb underneath the rawhide string that held the quiver on his back.

How far off? Jack asked.

Two, maybe three hours behind us. In old time.

Jack nodded and shook his head. How many?

Samuel closed his eyes and turned his back to the mountain. He spread his feet apart and placed both hands on his hips. The dead air neither moved nor whispered. The starless canopy overhead unfurled its timeless, suffocating blanket of emptiness. Samuel looked down at their undisturbed tracks in the sand, retreating back over the last dune the pair crossed before setting up camp for the night.

All of them.

Jack blinked and opened his eyes wide. He tossed both hands in the air and then sat back down, kicking at the bottom of his scorched tin can.

Samuel vaulted into a mindless, practiced routine. His hands danced across his body, securing and checking the various weapons garnered from his lone voyage through the forest, across the plain and into the expansive desert. He kicked at the fire, the dry dirt extinguishing the flame in a matter of seconds. He grabbed his backpack and spun it over one shoulder. Jack moved at a slower pace, but his hands made the same weapons checks.

Samuel took three strides past the fire and toward the mountain. He looked at the massive peak and felt despair squeeze his heart and shorten his breath before he shrugged the thought away and turned to make sure Jack had fallen into their usual configuration.

Ten paces and—

Turn and report. I know, Jack said.

If you knew, you wouldn’t be here, Samuel said. It was enough to make Jack stop talking and refocus.

You remember the last time we traveled at night?

Samuel stopped and spun. He drew a deep breath, his chin meeting Jack’s forehead. They will not stop. Ever. If we don’t get to the peak before they get to us, it’s all over.

What’s over? Jack asked, unsure if his question was rhetorical. He kicked at a rock that skipped its own thin trail into the unbroken sand. This? Eating shit from cans and running?

Samuel grabbed Jack by his jacket. He could feel the threads in the cotton deteriorating, breaking the fabric down. Any hope for you and your sorry existence, he said.

Jack raised his arms up and pushed outward until he was free of Samuel’s grip. He took a step backward. "Fuck you, and fuck your sorry existence."

Samuel’s hand sliced the air and connected with Jack’s face. The young man stumbled backward and brought a hand up to rub his cheek. He forced an emerging tear away through sheer will.

Let’s go. They’re gaining on us, Samuel said.

Jack kicked at the dirt and bared his teeth through a snarl. He began to say something but decided against it. Samuel turned, and Jack followed. After nine steps, he called out to Samuel with a deepened growl.

Ten and clear.

The boy is disobedient.

The man is willful.

Deva shook his head and stepped back from the glowing orb encased in crystallized amethyst. Ragged shards of the purple mineral snaked around the object like the tail of a comet. Shapes and movement emanated from within the soundless vacuum.

Yes, and it is that stubbornness that will bring him to us, to the peak of the mountain, Deva said. The boy is simply doing what he was preordained to do.

The creature standing next to Deva shrugged. You are the seer, he said, grinding his teeth under the words.

Trust in the mechanisms and they will serve. Deva glanced into the orb again, sensing more movement. When the smoke within cleared, he saw nothing of note and returned his attention to the conversation. The forces did not fail on the previous reversion, and they will not fail on this one, either.

Samuel felt as though the sands were retreating beneath his feet, every step forward a meaningless exercise across a monotonous landscape. He scanned the craggy peak, where tendrils of grey swirled just beneath the cloak of night. The outline of the mountain became visible only through an unseen source of ambient light that softened the space between the sky and the rock. He kept moving, Jack’s verbal report keeping him focused as much as numb with the monotony of the journey.

Thoughts of Mara, Kole and Major entered his mind, but Samuel dismissed them. This was not the time to reflect. He had to get to the summit. Samuel’s mind wandered again, deeper into the cellular memory of what had once been his real life, that time of intense pain and longing. He brought a hand up to his neck and felt the tender skin where the noose bit into his flesh.

Something.

Samuel heard the different cadence in Jack’s report, but his brain had not yet processed it.

Samuel, I said there’s something on the horizon. Something I can see even in the dark.

Samuel shook himself from his thoughts. He spun and pushed past Jack until he had an unobstructed view of their trail. He felt the mountain behind him, mocking his insignificance in such a monstrous, immense place.

See it? Jack asked.

Samuel did. He felt as though his blood were thickening from the inside out. We need to run.

Jack shook his head and waited for Samuel’s next move. He obeyed without so much as a mumble.

Samuel turned and trotted forward, faster but not quite into a full run. Distance and time were not the same here. The pursuers could be days in the distance, or a quick wrinkle in the time fabric could bring them to his heels in a matter of minutes.

Except for the mountain, Samuel thought. The mountain never gets closer.

He heard Jack’s heavy breathing and the clanging of their rude cooking utensils in the bottom of his rucksack. Samuel hoped he would not have to ask Jack to jettison that pack during the chase. He turned again and saw plumes of dust rising from the horizon. Samuel put his head down and turned the jog into a sprint. He could hear Jack push as well, and imagined it would not be long before the youthful legs accelerated beyond his own pace.

Samuel scanned the land as best as he could without daylight. His eyes had adjusted to the environment, although he never quite trusted what they saw. The mountain held its place, rooted in the earth for eternity. The peak looked down on them with disdain. As far as Samuel could see, the north and south were an expanse of windswept dunes. An occasional boulder dotted the empty expanse, and the sand melted into the horizon at the place where the sky met the earth. Samuel did not see a cactus, a shrub, or evidence of any life in this realm other than the mass now chasing them toward the peak.

What is it?

The question jolted Samuel from his thoughts. He turned to his left, where Jack was now matching him stride for stride.

Alpha male. And his pack.

Jack turned over his shoulder and then back to Samuel. All I see is dust.

It’s them. I know it is.

Why are they chasing us?

Samuel took a gulp of air into his lungs, which began to smolder deep in his chest. He could feel the reversion here, stealing any semblance of life from this world. Samuel inhaled again, even though the air felt empty and void of oxygen.

I’m not sure. I think they want to keep us from reaching the mountain. The peak.

Jack looked at Samuel, and then decided to keep running.

They crested a dune, where a field of man-sized boulders lay sprawled in various stages of burial. Ancient sands had swept up the west side of many, while others lay bare. Samuel scanned the area and decided it might be their only opportunity to fend off the pack and buy some time.

Follow me.

Samuel sprinted around the largest boulder until the mountain was at his back. He dropped his hands to his knees and bent at the waist, close to collapsing completely into the sand. Jack put his hands on his hips and kept both eyes on the advancing horizon.

We just gonna let them catch us? he asked.

Samuel looked up between ragged breaths and smirked. Draw your bow, he said.

Before Jack could draw the arrow from his quiver, he could see the dust on the horizon giving way to physical forms. Wolves.

They’re so fast, he said.

Hard to say, Samuel said. The reversion, it warps as well as deadens. Get your bow up.

The men stood shoulder to shoulder, each with an arrow nocked and bow strung. Samuel held it behind his ear, steady and level, while Jack struggled to keep good form. A howl broke the piercing silence. Jack shifted on his feet while Samuel kept his weapon aimed.

A wave of sand floated through the field of boulders, much like a sandstorm powered by the atmosphere. When it settled, the alpha male stood in front of Samuel. His legion of four-legged warriors spread out behind him. Samuel mentally counted dozens of rows in the pack before he shook his head in futility.

We need him.

So do I, Samuel said.

Jack looked at Samuel, startled.

The elders demand his blood. We tire of the cycle.

He must come with me.

The alpha male growled and snapped at one of his nearby warriors. Jack started to speak again before Samuel glared at him. The nonverbal message sent and received, Jack nodded and held his ground.

We cannot have it both ways.

The bows. They’re much more efficient than the weapons we used last time. We can kill from a distance and in greater numbers.

Before the alpha male could reply, Samuel let his arrow fly. It parted the dead air without a sound until it struck the paw of a wolf several feet to the right of the alpha male. The creature whined and yelped before dropping on its hind legs to lick the wound.

Just a scrape. But know that I could have punctured his heart, Samuel said.

In response, the alpha male barked. A dozen beasts drew up on both sides of him and circled the men. They ignored the boulder and the sanctity Samuel thought it would provide.

It is my turn to demonstrate?

Shoot at the first one that steps toward us, Samuel said.

Jack nodded and dug his right heel into the sand. His lean biceps twitched, and a bead of sweat dropped from his nose. The alpha male stood his ground while his warriors bent low, ready to lunge.

I cannot guarantee we will part ways in the same manner.

Neither can I, Samuel said, his arrow leveled at the alpha male’s skull.

A low growl came from Samuel’s left. He heard Jack’s bow snap before he could stop it. A low thud broke the silence, followed by a dark pool spreading beneath a wolf lying on its side, an arrow protruding from its chest.

Jack, Samuel screamed.

Before Jack could reply, the alpha male howled. The rest of the pack joined. Within seconds both men had to drop their weapons and cover their ears. In a world of dead air, the beasts’ cries threatened to split their skulls.

Remember the boy took the first life. He drew first blood.

With a final roar, the alpha male turned and sprinted back toward the west. His pack followed, except for the dead wolf now lying in the cold, untouched sands.

Chapter 2

Samuel staggered through the silent forest of another reversion. Each pass through a portal brought him closer to redemption. However, what appeared to be a forest was nothing more than a copse of trees on the edge of a vast desert. He allowed his body to go through the process of adjustment. In each reversion Samuel kept a little more of his memories and experiences from past reversions. He became better at discovering weapons as his intuition sharpened with experience.

He thought often of Mara, Kole and Major. He did not know if he would ever see Mara again—it felt as though she completed the cycle. But as for the others, Samuel believed he would see them again based on what they told him. Major and Kole were tied to his fate as was Deva. Samuel needed to get to the portal before the reversion swallowed the land. Even without a guarantee he would be released from the cycle, Samuel would have to try. Beating the cloud to the final portal didn’t mean he would be free but it did mean he’d at least get another chance.

Samuel could not remember finding Jack. The boy appeared in his camp the same way he discovered Major’s camp in the last reversion. Jack arrived much like the others, disoriented and unsure of where he was. The place was vast and Jack took solace in finding another human and a bit of hope.

He has drawn blood from the pack.

Deva sighed and stepped toward the pedestal. Has the alpha male shown restraint? he asked.

Yes, Shallna said. He withdrew from the fight.

Deva looked at his apprentice and smiled. You are beginning to see the orb as more than the ancient crystal it seems to be.

Shallna looked to the floor in a mixture of pride and embarrassment. What next, my lord?

Deva stepped away from the orb, crossing the room to sit upon a stone chair. A petrified skull, its jaw propped into an eternal scream, sat on each post. Gleaming white bones were intertwined with red-veined marble beneath a robe of red velvet. He drew a chalice to his mouth.

Do you need to appear to Samuel again?

Deva looked down at his skin, holding his right hand up until the gems on his rings glistened. He slid his fingers through his finely manicured beard.

I cannot say I am eager to wear the mask of the dead again so soon. However, there could be value in what you propose, Shallna. I may let the reversion take its course and push him to us.

But we were not able to get to him last time, my lord.

Deva grimaced and threw his chalice to the floor, where it clanged and echoed throughout the empty chamber.

I’m sorry, Shallna said before Deva could speak.

You speak the truth, Deva said, straightening his robe and sighing. And I do not want to consider what will happen to our plans if he regains the ability to slip.

Is that possible?

Surely, Deva said. One always comes through the cycle with resonant thoughts and memories. And the more times he cycles, the more of those residual thoughts will materialize.

How many? Shallna asked.

For Samuel? At least six. This could be our last chance with him.

Deva felt his obligation coming to an end. He grew tired of the endless cycle of reversions and the energy it took to manage them. Shallna came to him so long ago, Deva could not remember a time without his apprentice. The man stumbled through the suicide forest alone and disoriented like all the rest. But Deva heard an inner voice that told him Shallna was different, that Shallna’s duty was to serve the lord of the reversion and so Deva taught him the ways of the new world. He showed Shallna the orb and explained what happened to the old world and how the new one, the reversion, functioned. While Shallna did not always assist in every reversion, Deva knew he would be bound to a future master, the cycle’s watchman.

What about the young man?

Jack is a fool, and I’m not sure I have the patience to see him through the number of cycles it would take him to be of use.

Shallna nodded and placed his hands back on the orb, leaving Deva time to consider his options.

Samuel trudged through the shifting sands, which pulsed with a faint glow compared to the consuming darkness above. The mountain stood in the distance, its peak towering over the sprawling desert. With the debris field of boulders and spilled wolf blood disappearing over the horizon, Samuel was adrift on a waterless ocean. Each step felt futile, as if the peak would keep its safe distance for an eternity.

The air hung lifelessly over dunes that had not moved in eons. The lack of any scrub or cacti provided no hope for weary travelers traversing the empty waste. Samuel drew a deep breath and caught the faintest scent of burnt sandalwood, which he attributed to memory rather than reality. He looked over his shoulder at Jack, the young man keeping a pace or two behind and staring into the distance toward the summit.

I need to stop soon, Jack said.

I’ve got, what, fifteen years on you?

Jack didn’t bother answering, and Samuel let it hang. He stopped to face Jack.

I know what’s going through your head.