Other Worlds Than These

by Cor Tenebrae

A young dark haired woman with electric blue eyes wakes up in the middle of the desert. She should be dead, but is not. She should not have a body, but does. She is at the way station, the stop between this world and the next, and she is not alone. An ageless stranger is watching, and he has plans of his own.

38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Let There be Light

1900 Hours, February 26th, 2560 (Military Calendar) UNSC High Command Facility, Sydney Australia, Earth

Subject: Casualty List for Operation Discordia

Fred 104: MIA

Linda 058: MIA

Kelly 087: MIA

Naomi 010: MIA

Tom B292: MIA

Lucy B091: MIA

Note: No bodies have yet been recovered from the failed operation. It is now believed that Colonel Richard Fannin, chief army advisor to Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood, and the Insurrectionist leader Randall Flagg are the same person. It is the recommendation of this committee that Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood immediately resign his commission, and that the position of Commander and Chief of UNSC Armed Forces be replaced by Fleet Admiral Raymond Fielger…

…

3:45 P.M., June 10th 1977 (Gregorian Calendar) Turtle Back Road, Lovell, Maine

John pressed the accelerator all the way to the dirt incrusted floor of the army green Jeep and Eddie found himself praying once again to a god that he did not necessarily believe in. He would have even prayed to a few of Gilead's gods if he could remember any of their names; would have made sacrifices to Zeus and Thor if he had a lamb on him and it meant getting out of the death machine, being driven by a man he was becoming increasingly sure had never actually owned a driver's license, in once piece. Eddie Dean was a least partially right; the Master Chief had never owned a civilian drivers license. He turned to make a comment to Roland, the gunslinger turning a particularly harsh shade of green which contrasted well with his white knuckles, when another bump sent him into the roof of the Jeep and then back down hard onto the seat. You would think after the first two times of experiencing the Master Chief drive I would have learned to put on a seatbelt.

Shifting gears again, his right eye wincing at the grinding sound the failing clutch made as he down shifted, John ignored the plight of both Eddie and Roland and focused on getting them to their destination. The heart of the walk-in activity according to John Cullum, and a possible way to travel to the year 1999. They were less than two kilometers from their intended destination, when the road in front of him seemed to stretch forward, until the black top road seemed to disappear into a tunnel of infinite length. The trees stretched until their branches seemed to bend over the top of the road, creating an arch of leaves and bark. John blinked, attempting to get his vision back to normal, when he began to feel the vibrations. The same vibrations they had felt during the Beamquake in the Calla, when one of the foundations supporting The Dark Tower had collapsed. It shook the entirety of the Jeep, lifting the vehicle up off the road and into the air. When they landed, John struggled to maintain control of the car, but the steering wheel was yanked from his hands and it appeared as if the Jeep was driving itself. He popped the clutched into neutral and was reaching for the ignition when he felt a force, like the grip of hands dipped in ice water, wrap around his mind and pull his consciousness from his body.

…

He strained his eyes, attempting to pierce through the darkness, but not even his augmented vision could penetrate the Todash void. He had been in this place twice before, the cracks between realities, and John instinctively reached for his pistol half expecting for it not to be there. When his hand felt the metallic grip he allowed himself to feel slightly comforted. A voice reached out to him from the blackness. A voice that he remembered hearing at the way station.

"A little dark don't you think?" The man in black clapped his hands twice, "Let there be light." And there was, a pale light that seemed to emanate from beneath both John and the dark man, giving off just enough illumination to show the features of the two men, with the exception of the man in black's hooded eyes. The Master Chief's hand which had been at his waist gripping the pistol, reappeared after a blur of motion with the gun aimed at the dark man's chest. John fired, and although the two men were only meters away, the bullet missed its mark and ricocheted somewhere in the distance. The dark man shook his head and made a tisking sound. He reached his hands up slowly to grip the front of his hood, "Hile John 117. The last gunslinger of the UNSC." John's eyes widened and he pulled the trigger three more times, his motions so fast that the sounds of the shots melted together into one seamless tune. Still he missed. "You don't believe me do you? That all your Spartans are dead," the dark man said, taking a step closer to the Master Chief.

"You lie," John said. They were close enough now to where the muzzle of the pistol was mere inches from the dark man's face.

"No. I do not." The man in black pulled back his hood, revealing his eyes to John. The Master Chief was struck by an enormous migraine, worse than he had felt when he had first read the title of Eric Nylund's book, and pain flared in sharp spikes against the joints of his hip, knee, and now his right wrist. John was compelled with the sudden urge to curl up in a ball and never get up. Feeling his knees begin to bend down, ready to give into the insanity that poured out of the dark man's eyes, John bit into his cheek, and he tasted iron as blood poured into his mouth. His knee's steadied and the pain in his heads and joints faded. Steadying his grip on the pistol, John leveled it again at the dark man's head.

"Suppose I should have expected that to not work on you," the man in black said with a shrug. He smiled, "You know Fred fought bravely even at the end. He was the last to die, and was determined to get the bodies of the rest of the Spartans home. He might have escaped if it wasn't for that."

"I don't believe you," John said. His finger compressed against the trigger again, and again he missed, the shockwave of the bullet ruffling the fabric of the man in black's hood.

"I already told you John, only misfires against me," the dark man raised his right hand. "I deal in magic," he thrusted his hand forward and John was propelled to the ground, his head landing with a sickening crack. He refocused his blurred vision within a fraction of a second, just in time to see the man in black close the remaining distance between them and slam his boot onto John's chest, forcing the air to escape from his lungs. "And you deal in lead." The dark man cocked his head at the Spartan, "Does Cortana know that you use to have feelings for Kelly, back before the doctors gave you your," he made the cutting motion of scissors with his middle and index finger, "augmentations and took away that pesky teenage libido? She surely must have." He leaned forward and his voice lowered to a whisper, as if he wanted to tell the Master Chief a personal secret. "And do you know how cursed the Intellect is? For here is a fundamental truth that escapes all the pursuits of science; with more knowledge comes less understanding. That is why she is and will always be a fool, and that is why not even she with all her vast wealth of knowledge will be able to guess as to the real reason why you two were stranded on the Forward Unto Dawn for nearly five years." He raised his hand above his head, "As for me, I have a promise I made to Cortana to keep."

John brought his pistol up again, focusing with his mind where he wanted the bullet to go, no longer trusting what the gun's sight picture told him. He fired, and for a brief moment thought he had missed again, that it was all over. Then a trickle of warm blood ran down the dark man's cheek, the round having just grazed his skin. The man in black brought a hand up and wiped the blood away, frowning. "I slightly underestimated you gunslinger, but no matter."

He raised his hand again and John closed his eyes, concentrating on her, on the face he was sure he would never see again. He focused his mind on this one chance, that he could get this information out to her. Cortana he can be killed. The dark man can be killed. John opened his eyes again and saw the whiteness of the man in black's teeth, the impossibly large grin focusing John's attention away from his eyes.

Crimson Red light filled the darkness above them and a voice spoke, harsh and cruel, with eons of unknown malice hidden within. It was the voice of The Crimson King. (Let him live)

The dark man lowered his hand and looked up into the red light, "I can kill him now."

(Let him live. Let her hope kindle, and then let me crush it)

The man in black scowled, "But my lord…"

(Do as I command)

The man in black looked back down at John, and then stepped backwards into the darkness. He clapped his hands twice more.

…

He felt as if his brain had been slammed against his skull as his consciousness flooded back into his body. The Jeep was swerving out of control, barely missing a large oak tree on the side of the road. John had just enough time to register that both Roland and Eddie were unconscious, their bodies floating a few inches above the seats, before another hand wrapped around his mind, warm as cold fire this time, and he was once again pulled from his body.

…

He was back in the Todash Taken, the dark void, and John once again reached for his pistol, but it was not there. He spread his feet and raised his fists into a fighting position, ready for the man in black to show himself again, to disobey the order of The Crimson King. The Master Chief knew better than most that sometimes even the most loyal soldiers refused to obey their commander. A voice seemed to drift out of the darkness, with none of the ferocity that he had associated with The Crimson King.

(Reclaimer) The word was spoken with deliberate slowness, barely above a whisper although perfectly annunciated.

In the back of John's memory he smelled the faint scent of soap, and a soft feminine voice, the voice of his mother, singing a verse of an old nursery rhyme to him. (His thoughts are slow but always kind. He holds everyone within his mind.)

The voice continued (You will not go to the New York of 1999. Return to John Cullum, your twim, and give him guardianship of the rose)

No! John thought. I am not leaving her again. I won't abandon the others.

Though still just a whisper, the tone of the voice became stern (Have you forgotten who you are Reclaimer?)

The voice of Dr. Halsey entered John's mind, (You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies)

The voice of the Librarian came next (You are the culmination of a thousand lifetimes of planning)

The voice that came from the void reasserted itself and said; fully audible now (You and Roland are children of Arthur Eld. Heirs to The Mantel, the guardianship of The Dark Tower. Dinhs of All-World)

I don't care, John thought. I saw the book. My entire life is a lie. Why should I believe you now? He waited for the voice to answer, but it remained silent. John clenched his fists and shouted, "Who are you?"

Pure blinding white light flooded the void, pushing the darkness away from it as if the light itself were the passing of water over a mound of sand. John squinted, attempted to peer into the very depths of the light's brightness. He saw a flash of green and purple within the center of the light before at last he covered his eyes with his right hand, shielding himself from the truth that the light offered. A truth that was too great for his mind to grasp. He looked down and saw a small black dot rising up towards him. The Dark Tower ascended before him, its turrets and parapets twisting mere inches from his exposed face. Existence itself shook as the foundations of the Tower settled, and from the pylon itself the voice once more spoke, rising to a shout that permeated all things before it. It spoke in the High Speech.

(CAM-A-CAMMAL PRIA-TOI GAN DELAH)

With a rush of wind the night sky formed above John's head, billions of years passing in an instant as the stars bloomed like flowers and the constellations formed. The moon and sun arched over the sky faster than John's eyes could track, before finally the yellow orb paused at its apex. Dark rain soaked clouds gathered in twelve straight lines and rushed towards The Dark Tower, the beams as they once were. The clouds reached the pylon and swarmed around it, from the Tower's base to its highest peak. The voice shouted again in the High Speech.

(CAN-KA NO RAY)

Roses spread forth like a weed from the base of The Dark Tower, washing John in a sea of blood red. The red fields of none stretched on into the distance towards where the sky met the earth. A trumpet sounded, followed by six others and the sun resumed its march across the sky.

John stared at The Dark Tower, marveling at its height which seemed both finite and infinite. This was the point where all realities converged, here at the very edge of mid-world. It was then that John remembered what Callahan had said about the rose, how it was the most beautiful thing in existence. John shook his head, No, even this is only second. He raised his head again towards the Tower, I'm sorry, but I can't leave her.

(John) his name was spoken with a sigh, like the rustling of leaves in the autumn breeze. With his name the wind itself swirled around him and John was lifted into the air. The petals of the roses blossomed, each flower containing a small yellow sun. It was then that he saw them. He saw the faces of his Spartans; Fred, Linda, Kelly, Kurt, James, Jai, Li, Naomi, Daisy, Joshua, Vinh, Sam, Isaac, Douglas, Will, Anton, Keiichi, Jorge, Malcolm, Maria, Solomon, Arthur, Jerome, Grace, Victor, Adriana, Joseph, Alice, Carris, Cal, Mike, Randall, Sheila…

He saw the faces of Avery Johnson, Miranda Keys, Jacob Keys, Franklin Mendez, Catherine Halsey, Terrance Hood, Thomas Lasky, Sarah Palmer, and the faces of countless marines he had seen die throughout his lifetime of near constant war. He saw them all.

(You will see her again, for there are other worlds than these) and as John felt himself fall away back into his physical body the voice spoke one last time (I promise)

…

The Jeep was idling in a ditch when John awoke, his forehead pressed into the steering wheel. Next to and behind him Eddie and Roland stirred. Eddie gripped his head and turned back to the gunslinger who was rubbing his temples. "Roland what was that? Was that another Beamquake?"

Roland shook his head, "No. Ves-ka Gan. The Dark Tower itself just spoke to us."

"What did you see?" John asked, and Eddie answered him.

"Jake and Callahan. They were about to storm a place called the Dixie Pig to try and rescue Cortana and Susannah."

"How many of the enemy are there?" John asked, forcing himself to sit up straighter in the seat.

"Delah," Roland said and shook his head. "Too many. Far too many. Vampires, low men, and taheen.

John gripped the steering wheel, "What else did you see?" There was silence and John was about to ask again when Eddie spoke.

"White light, and a voice. It said that we have to go back to John Cullum."

"We can't." It was Roland who said this and John turned to look at him. "I cannot let Jake die again. I already betrayed him once." And I can't let Susannah and Cortana die either, the gunslinger thought. After Susan Delgado had died they were the only two women of any note in his life. He doubted that Eddie and John had any idea how much he cared about both of them, especially Cortana.

"Roland, that is my wife they have in the Dixie Pig," Eddie said. "You know I would do anything to be in 1999 trying to find her."

"I know," the gunslinger said.

"And I'm saying that we have to go see John Cullum again." Eddie turned to the Master Chief. "John?"

The Spartan stiffened at the use of his first name, but nodded his head in agreement, "We go to John Cullum."

The gunslinger sighed and stared at the floor of the Jeep, "Turn it around."

John popped the clutch into first gear and spun the wheel, moving away from a chance to rescue Cortana and towards where the voice had sent them. You promised that I would see her again, he thought. Don't break it.