Chapter 6

Vance stumbled down the stairs, trying to regain his equilibrium after his close encounter with the wall.

"Director Vance, are you all right?"

He looked up and saw Gibbs and Abby. He sat down on the stairs.

"Would you like to tell me more about what's going on, Agent Gibbs?" he asked. "Your phone call didn't give me much to go on."

"What happened?" Gibbs asked.

"Tim walked into my office, blew out the back wall and then threw me against another wall...all without even touching anything. He just waved his hands and it happened. He said he was evil and he was going to destroy everything."

"That fits."

"With what?" Vance asked.

"With what we've seen so far. We got the building evacuated except for the MCRT and Abby and Jimmy."

"And Ducky," Vance said.

"Jimmy said Ducky wasn't willing to try to leave Tim."

"He wants to save him," Abby said. "It's obvious. He can't do anything if he's not there. He thinks that he might be able to save Tim somehow and so he'll stay until he decides it won't work."

Vance nodded.

"That makes sense. The question is what do we do now? How can I call for help or try to tell SECNAV that one of my agents has been possessed by evil and is about to destroy the world? How did this even happen?"

"We don't know," Gibbs said. "Tim was acting a little strange yesterday, but he seemed fine today until all this started happening."

"Okay. I guess at this point, it's less important to know how it started. How do we end it?"

"Don't know that, either," Gibbs said.

"Great. Gibbs, you're supposed to be the omniscient one around here."

Gibbs smiled a little. "Wasn't aware that was in my job description."

Tony, Ellie and Jimmy came running over, but Tony looked more than a little wigged out.

"Boss...uh...we got the building emptied out, but..."

"But what?"

Tony looked at Jimmy and Ellie and then back. "Uh...I'm wondering if I'm starting to go nuts, too."

"Why?"

"Because he heard a voice and he thought it was coming from the dog."

They all looked around, searching for the source of the sound.

"Who spoke just now?" Vance asked. He looked at the dog. "What dog is this?"

"Tim found it at an old house a few days ago," Tony said. "He decided to take it home."

"And then, he is apparently possessed? That's a strange coincidence," Vance said, getting to his feet.

Vardr barked twice and then whined.

"The dog is innocent, although it is very special. I have never found it so easy to live within an animal as it was with this one. It is here because I forced it to bring me here. It is hard to travel in my noncorporeal form. I had been sheltering inside the dog for months before you came to the house. Would that I could have stopped you."

"Can you...be visible?" Abby asked. "It's really weirding me out to hear your voice without something to look at."

"I can, but only in a limited fashion. If you could go to a place with less light, it would be easier."

Vance considered where would be best to go, but then, he decided it wouldn't matter so much. He gestured for them to go to a conference room. They could close the curtains and turn off the lights. That would do.

They all gathered together, with Vardr.

"Okay, we're ready," Tony said.

"Very well."

Vardr whimpered and crouched down and then, a mist came out of his eyes, gathered above him and coalesced into a vaguely human shape. All that seemed solid were the bright blue eyes. There were a few details. He obviously had hands, feet, and there were hints of details on his face, but only his eyes were easily seen. The figure looked down at the dog and then leaned over and ran his translucent hand over Vardr.

"I am sorry for that pain."

The voice was human and male.

"I did not wish to cause suffering in you. I thank you for your service to me. I will not use you again."

Vardr whined once more and then ran to Tony and rubbed his head on Tony's leg. Vance found that somewhat amusing as Tony bent down and scratched its ears, almost absentmindedly. His attention was all on this...ghost?

"Who or what are you? Tim said that he was evil. What are you?"

"I am not evil. I was a man...so many years ago that I hardly remember how it felt to be just a man."

"If you were a man, then, you had a name," Ellie said. "What was it?"

"A crazy mouthful that my father gave to me. Porphyrogene. It was both a name and a symbol of my role as heir."

"Heir? To what?"

"To the throne of a small kingdom in what you now call Europe. It mattered little to the rest of the world, but we were happy. We loved our valley, the green fields, the blue sky, the mountains stretching up toward heaven. It seemed to be full of song all day. The Traveler even told me once that he could see the spirits celebrating the goodness of our small realm. We fought no one and welcomed all as friends. We were innocents, kept away from a world of corruption. ...but corruption found us, at last. That evil thing came to our valley, possessed my father and destroyed all he could reach. Destruction upon destruction until all who could had run away and all who could not were dead. Only my father's body, the Traveler and myself remained. I thought I could stop him. Kill him. Destroy him as he had destroyed my world."

Porphyrogene stopped speaking and it was surprising to hear the emotion in his voice. When his whole being seemed almost not to exist, hearing the very real despair didn't seem to fit

"But the Traveler was right. That evil could not be killed. I tried, and I failed. The Traveler must have done something to me because when that evil thing came at me, I fled, but I left my body behind. All he had was the empty husk. Since then, I have tried to go where he has gone, tried to stop the destruction when it came. And came it did, over and over, through the unending centuries. He does not destroy everything, only what he can easily reach. He chooses a central spot and the destruction reaches outward from him there."

"What makes him stop?" Vance asked.

"Death. Death of the body he possesses. The body cannot live long with him inside it. It dies and the evil thing moves on, weakened, but still alive. It bides its time until another opportunity arises and he does it again. I fear that the Traveler was right."

"About what?"

"That the only thing that could destroy corruption is something infinitely pure because corruption spreads. It is a disease. One bit of it in something pure changes that pure thing into corruption and evil. Perhaps not a lot, but a little. It is evil and if it has any purchase, it will survive. It has always survived. I did not believe in the evil thing until I saw its deadly power. Life fights back. Evil never wins permanently, but these small victories are devastating to those in its path."

"Who is this Traveler?" Vance asked.

"A stranger to our land. He came when I was a child and he knew so much. Some said that he had strange powers, but if he did, they were only used for good. He fled to keep the evil thing from using him and whatever powers he might have had. I assume he has been dead for centuries, but perhaps he lives on as I do. What a burden to never be able to stop, to never sleep, just to exist forever. It is a pain all its own."

"Can't you stop?" Abby asked.

"If I can I have not yet figured out how. I suppose it is better to live as I do than to have had my very soul destroyed as my father's was."

"Destroyed?" Abby repeated. "Do you mean that... that Tim is...?" She trailed off.

"I do not know if your friend's soul lives on in his body, but if it does it will not for long. The evil thing delights in pain and destruction. It is what he wants, and he will do it to all around him and he will do it to the very body he possesses until that body dies. I can only pray that my father was dead, that he did not live to see what his body had done. What torment that would be, to know that one's body was used for such evil."

Vance could see that was no comfort to anyone else. Was Tim alive or was he dead? Which would be better?

"Can he be stopped by us?" Tony asked. "Even if he is evil, he's only one."

"One who is powerful, one who may be older than all existence. He knows every trick there is."

"How long has it been since he did this before?" Ellie asked.

"It has been...many years. It is hard for me to separate them out and know how many there have been. It was far away from here. I believe the explanation given for the destruction was a comet or asteroid exploding in the air. Few people were killed, but there were some and much destruction."

"Tunguska," Abby said, almost whispering. "In 1908. They've never known exactly what caused it, but almost 1000 square miles of trees were flattened. People felt the force, some heard it, but no one was there to see."

"No one who survived," Porphyrogene said.

"What does he do in between?" Ellie asked.

Vance could see that she was thinking of something, so he let her continue on her train of thought.

"Regains his power. It is a difficult thing to both possess a body and manipulate it to use powers it does not normally use. It takes his strength. He hides long enough to recover. That destruction weakened him and it took me many years to find him again. In that house."

"Then, he doesn't know everything," Ellie said. "Maybe he knows what Tim knows and I know that Tim knows a lot, but will he realize all that he knows? Can he understand it? He doesn't know about a lot of things we use now. Surely, we can come up with something."

"It's a place to start," Vance said.

Then, suddenly, there was a shaking deep inside the building.

"You all should get out," Porphyrogene said. "It has begun."

"What has?" Vance asked.

"Destruction."

Vardr left Tony's side and ran to the door, scratching at it and whining. Vance nodded. Yes, it was time to get out, even if he didn't really understand what was happening or why. He hated that he felt so powerless, but it was enough to know that something was endangering their lives right at this moment. The rest could wait.

They all stood and made a run for it, getting out of the building just in time to see the madness begin.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The being stood motionless with his eyes closed. Ducky wanted to test his awareness, but he wasn't sure how to do it. Then, a thought crossed his mind.

I have my phone. I could send a text message to Jimmy if I could manage it.

Decision made, he reached furtively into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Moving slowly but still casually as he could, he opened up a window to send a message. He typed it as quickly as he could, although that wasn't quickly at all. He didn't tend to send text messages often.

J. Get antibiotics. Brad spectrum. ASAP. Injectable. Hi dose. Leave in Autopy if possible. Or use dog.

Then, he sent it, even though he noticed and grimaced at the typos. He didn't want to go back and fix them. It was more important to get the message sent.

Then, he put his phone back into his pocket.

The being had not moved or indicated any awareness at all. How much more could he try? Would an attempt to restrain him be of any use? Likely not. He had power. That much was obvious, and Ducky wasn't sure that it would be a good idea to test its limits. Not right now while he was alone.

He was glad that he'd made that decision because suddenly, with a deep breath, the being opened his eyes and looked around. A cruel smile curled the lips and he seemed to savor every moment.

"Why do you need me here?" Ducky asked. "Surely, there will be witnesses enough."

"But none close to hand," the being said. "None to watch and ache as you will."

"What makes you think so?"

"Because you are human," he said with a sneer. "I have always wondered why it is that humans fear death so and yet suffer more from emotional pain than physical. It makes no sense, but humans are like that. Why would you not fear an end to existence more than a simple ripple in your life?"

"Physical pain can be eased. Mental pain often cannot."

"Exactly. You will feel pain for those who are about to die. You will feel pain as this body dies, knowing that it takes the soul with it. But you will also die and you will have both pains. I will see them in you and it will give me pleasure."

Indeed, he seemed almost hungry for it.

"And my pleasure is all that matters."

"You claimed to be evil," Ducky said, hoping to forestall the destruction.

"I do not claim. I am."

"Then, are you the devil?"

The evil thing laughed. "Devil? I am older than any devil. Where do you think he learned it?"

"Do you have a name?"

"I am evil."

"I need to call you something."

"Why? To make me seem more human? You can call me the name of this body."

Ducky forced himself to laugh. "No. You are not human. I know that, and I refuse to dignify you with Timothy's name."

The being stepped closer to Ducky, walking slowly and certainly. He tilted his head to one side and then the other as he came closer and closer. It gave him an almost animal-like appearance. He leaned in close to Ducky's face, forcing him to make eye contact with those red, flaming eyes that should be Tim's but weren't in the worst way.

"It pains you to see this. Does it not?"

"I will not call you Timothy, no matter what you do."

"Then, you may call me Idalu."

"What is that?"

Again, that smile.

"Evil. In a very old language, one no longer spoken."

"Fitting," Ducky said, but that was all.

Idalu stayed close for far too long. However, this gave Ducky a chance to analyze the state of Tim's body, and it was not good. How long could it survive with this level of weakness? He would guess that it was only the power that this Idalu had that was keeping the body from complete collapse. Perhaps that was what he meant by destroying the body last of all. He would keep using it until it died.

Well, that won't happen this time.

Suddenly, Idalu pulled back and his smile widened.

"It is time. You will not delay me any longer."

He raised his hands and Ducky felt a strange rumbling. It seemed to be such a low frequency that he couldn't hear it, only feel it. The intensity of it increased until it was a sound he could hear.

"I hope your friends all left," Idalu said.

He raised the hands higher, the fingers curled into claws, the arms shaking with some kind of immense effort. Then, he clapped his hands together and Ducky had an experience he would never forget.

The building exploded all around him. The bricks, mortar, windows, everything exploded outward all at once and began to swirl in a kind of tornado around Idalu and himself. The sound was now a roaring. Ducky felt the floor beneath him begin to shake and then, he realized that the two of them were being raised up into the air, higher and higher. Forcing himself not to close his eyes, Ducky watched, and he saw that it was not only NCIS that was being affected. The other buildings on the Yard were also disintegrating and being added to the swirl of debris. He could hear screams and see people running for their lives. Yes, it did cause him pain, but he said nothing about it.

Idalu was focused on the debris, but then, Ducky noticed that it wasn't just swirling around at random. As they moved higher, there was a tower being built.

A palace.

Built out of the destruction of NCIS and rest of the Yard.

Finally, the swirling stopped and Ducky found himself standing with Idalu on the top of a tower, looking down over the Anacostia, the ruined remains of the Yard. How far would his reach go?

"And now, I have a palace, and now, the death will begin."