This is a fan translation of Emperors of Illusions (Императоры иллюзий) by the Russian science fiction and fantasy author Sergei Lukyanenko. The novel is a sequel to Lukyanenko's Line of Dreams (Линия грёз) novel and can be considered a fan fiction of the original Master of Orion game.
Chapter 10
"I think he's swimming," Arthur said. Tommy listened and could indeed hear the rhythmic sounds of hands hitting the water through the rushing of the current.
"Not everyone can walk on water. Right, brother?" Tommy kicked a few more branches into the campfire. "Kay isn't us. Just a man, not a messiah. But he can swim, which is also useful."
Arthur didn't laugh.
"Yeah, probably. Will we see him cross the Threshold? Did you and Kay see anything back…"
As if in answer, a rectangle of light cut into the night. The Door into daylight was partly obscured by a dark silhouette.
Then the Door closed.
Tommy looked at Arthur. Gently and sadly, the way old men looked at their childhood photos.
"Kay is going to ask his questions and get answers. Then he's going to come back, he has to, because you're waiting for him. Just don't leave him, Artie. He needs to fight for someone."
"Why are you talking this way?"
"Because I'm not going to wait for Kay. I'll take a stroll across the water and enter the Door."
They stared at one another for some time, then Arthur looked away.
"You have to understand," Tommy said patiently. "This world doesn't need me. I'm just a valuable hostage, a possible successor to Curtis, a trophy."
"I need you!"
"No, Artie. You don't. I may not know a lot, but I've learned to leave when I should. You will always remember that I'm really sixteen, and you're twelve and twenty at the same time. Let's just say goodbye forever."
He mussed Arthur's hair with the involuntary gesture of an adult talking to a very clever child.
"You want the Line of Dreams," Arthur whispered.
"I do. And not like at the aTan Corporation, I want to look into the face of God. I want to look at myself."
"It's scary."
"I know. But you handled it. As did Shegal… You see, I want a life of adventure too. A never-ending game."
Arthur stood, as if trying to give himself maturity and conviction with an extra few inches.
"Tommy, you saw what happened to Shegal!"
"He's an idiot. He always wanted to win. But that's not necessary. You have to live, regardless of who you are: a soldier or an emperor. Kay told me recently that I have a right to leave whenever I want. He didn't mean the Line of Dreams… but what does it matter? Tell him that I've made use of my freedom."
"We won't be there."
"You will, most definitely," Tommy got up too, quickly kissing Arthur on the forehead. "Have a good life, brother. I'm probably just like Shegal. Maybe my Kailis is similar to his world."
He stepped away from the campfire.
"Say hi to Kay for me. I do love him very much."
"Tommy!" Arthur shouted helplessly.
But the night was silent.
Then there was a distinctive splashing of footsteps.
Then there was a flash of light in the darkness.
Arthur Curtis sat at the dying campfire and cried. He believed in only one thing: Kay would return. And by some miracle, they would break through all the barriers.
But first, Kay had to come back.
Kay Dutch was standing on a cliff.
The sky.
A clear sky, without a single cloud, blue and dead.
The ocean, whitish-gray, calm, with lazy waves, as if filled with cooking oil.
Even the horizon couldn't be made out where the air and the water met.
Dry sand under his feet, a hot disc of the sun high above.
Silence.
No one.
No one anywhere.
No one anywhere forever.
Kay Dutch, for whom there was no God, sat down onto the sand. The rustling of his movements seemed as loud as thunder.
"Well," he said. "I've come, haven't it?"
Silence.
"If I go through the Line of Dreams, will I see the same thing? No, don't answer that. I'm just going to sit here for a little while. You know, I'm so tired, as if I'm four hundred years old…"
Dutch scooped up a handful of sand. He slowly opened his fingers, and the gray dust started swirling and settling.
"Strange. You did answer, though. Each gets his own. The Line of Dreams doesn't lead to paradise… if one doesn't exist for you. No one who isn't a god can become God. And no one can become Emperor, even in his dreams, if he's born to be an eternal soldier… and eternal servant."
He lifted his eyes. He wanted to see something alive, even a shadow of movement. To feel the breath of the wind.
Nothing.
"I don't think this is true, though," Dutch said. "Maybe a part of me, but not all of it is true."
He fell silent.
"It's ridiculous to repent when God isn't home… but who cares? I was just being myself. Always. And never expected anything. It's so nice: to make plans, to dream, but it's not for me. I don't like illusions."
Kay rose and bent over the precipice. The sand hissed, streaming down. But even that movement was brief and left no trace.
"You know, I have a lot to do," he said. "Two boys, one of whom can't seem to learn to be an adult. A girl, who wants me to learn how to love. Millions of killers and a hundred planets. Why am I even standing here?.. not sure. You're not going to tell me, ever. You've always been inside me and said nothing… even when I was killing you."
Under the hot sun, frozen in the sky, the man seemed tiny and weak. But he was the only thing capable of living.
"I just need to find my way back," Kay said. "And that's it. I can do it. I have to, as it happens."
He turned and started walking away. Toward the Threshold, beyond which was the one and only world; people who loved life and people who loved death.
Kay Dutch didn't look back.
He thought that if he only turned around, he would see something: a shadow of movement, a spark of life. Maybe just a bird soaring in the sky on distant winds. Watching him leave with the jealous gaze of its predatory yellow eyes…
But Kay Dutch never looked back.