Chapter 2
A/N: I own the computer this was written on and that's about it. Thanks to AriesCelestial for the idea of Yuri beating up the Vending Machine. She used it in her story Shadow Souls, and for last chapter's reference to Halley and Yuri wrestling, pulled wholesale from "I Love You Daddy". That is so Yuri!
Koudelka poured another cup of strong hot tea and handed it to Yuri who simply held the cup in his hands. At least they had stopped shaking, but an hour ago, Koudelka wasn't sure she'd be able to calm him down at all. Yuri had awakened the entire household with his nightmare screams and it had taken Halley and Katie both to get him semi-dressed and downstairs to the kitchen, the whole time Katie talking non-stop about her upcoming fusion trial, and how he had promised to help her: a running soliloquy that he either ignored or didn't hear.
Finally, the kids went back to bed and Koudelka sat at the kitchen table, in her black night dress and white robe, across from the father of her children. His eyes still looked haunted and there was yet pallor to his face, but he did look a bit better.
"Yuri, what happened? Did you have a nightmare again?" she asked softly, one hand reaching out to touch one of his, still holding the cooling cup.
"No – no, yes. I dunno. I – I dreamed about you and Alice and..."
"Alice?" she said and sighed. "Her again," she said softly, straightening up with a shake of her head. Then, "Are you remembering something from the past, Yuri?"
Yuri shook his head, long bangs falling into his almond shaped eyes, and he gazed vacantly into the cooling teacup.
"I don't ... Koudelka, I dunno what's goin' on. I dreamed about you in my bed; and then Alice was there and she was a mummy and then she's not there and ... I don't understand!" he shook his head violently, the teacup spilling over his hands and onto the tabletop.
Koudelka sighed. "You've been sleeping alone for the past month now Yuri; you said these nightmares would stop once Katie had her Trial. But I miss you in our bed. And, sweetie, there never was any Alice. Unless you're remembering the Princess Alice; but that was from before, when we were in Nemeton. Why would that bother you now?"
Yuri looked up suddenly, eyes wide. "What the hell are you sayin'? No Alice? Of course there was an Alice; she was my wife for god's sake!"
Koudelka sighed again. "We've been over this time and again, Yuri. You were never married to anyone; not even me. We live together; you fathered my children, raised them. You were never in China, never in Europe. There never was an Alice."
Yuri scowled and slammed the teacup down on the table, shattering it. "The fuck you say! I'm half-Japanese; how the hell do you think I got here? Alice and Zhuzhen and the others and me - we fought Albert Simon; we killed his fucking god from Outer Mongolia or ..." shuddering, Yuri suddenly stood up. "I gotta get outta here. Where's the car keys. I gotta leave. I gotta go see ... ah hell I don't know what to do!" He slumped back on the chair as quickly as he had risen and lay his head on his arms, tears welling up in his eyes which he screwed shut against the pain.
"What do I do now... oh Alice, what do I do now?" he cried and Koudelka could hear the soft sobs muffled by his arms and the faded brown bathrobe that he wore.
"May – perhaps you should go see Roger. He's... he's a friend of ours from before. You may remember him; from the Monastery?" Koudelka suggested, her heart reaching out to him while her hand gently touched his shoulder.
Yuri sniffled a little, but refused to look up at Koudelka.
The clock in the hall clicked then chimed the hour, and Koudelka waited. Finally, she moved her hand from his shoulder and rapped her knuckles on the table.
"Come on Yuri, snap out of it. Is it the nightmares making you act this way? Is it Katie's Trial that's worrying you? Please, try to be strong; for the children at least."
Yuri brought his head up and stared across the table, seeing Koudelka with salt-stained vision. She looked disheveled and mussed, like she'd been asleep when he started screaming. Well, of course she'd been asleep! They all had; it was the middle of the night. She had slept alone since his nightmares began - she said that; she must have been lonely. He remembered her warmth and her full figure pressed against him, his manhood straining to fill her... He suddenly jumped in his chair, the thoughts in his head slamming him into full awareness. 'I am not sleeping with this woman; I have never slept with this woman. I married Alice.'
"I'm going to see Roger," he said with finality and rose from the chair.
"I'll have Halley get his motorcycle ready. It's faster than the trains," Koudelka offered and caught his arm as he moved away, pulling him close into an embrace, her lips pressed against his, her tongue offering libations to his tortured soul. Yuri felt himself leaning into the kiss, his body reacting without volition, before he shuddered and pushed Koudelka away.
"No, no this is wrong; it's all wrong. I'm getting dressed... now and yes, Halley's motorcycle," he said sounding distracted even as he turned and fled up the stairs.
Halley was waiting downstairs when Yuri emerged from the old house dressed in his leathers and old trench coat, carrying the small satchel that he always used for his claws. Castle Street was cloaked in fog and the few lights that worked were islands in the grey smoke that was the early morning mist. Halley stood by a gleaming metal cycle, its chrome glistening and a grin of pure pride split his young face from ear to ear.
"Like it?" he asked, showing off the bike to Yuri.
Yuri nodded, scanning the cycle and touching with gloved fingers the leather seat and saddle pouch.
"Nice wheels. You sure you wanna lend to me?" he asked.
"What? Hell, pop; you helped pay for it, so why shouldn't I lend it to ya?" Halley asked, concern warring with pride on the young psychic's face. He didn't understand what was happening to his dad, didn't understand why he and mom weren't sleeping together; didn't understand why Yuri acted so strangely. Koudelka had told him Yuri was having problems with the Malice; that he was preparing for the Fusion Trials for Katie. But even though Halley trusted his mother, his dad was another matter; his dad was a harmonixer and a fusionist and Halley had learned never to trust one thanks to Katie. Still, Yuri had been there most of the time, and he did give money and support the family.
Halley showed Yuri how to start the Triumph cycle, where the light switch was and then handed him a leather helmet with goggles. He already had on leather gloves and his coat so Halley left him to settle onto the bike. Yuri nodded his thanks, put his small satchel into the saddlebags, and gunned the throttle, the putter of the motor igniting into a solid hum as he fed it petrol. Pulling down his goggles, Yuri gunned the bike once more and shot forward, wobbling slightly until he managed to balance the machine and then sped down Castle Street for Whitechapel High Street and the Tower Bridge.
The fog followed him across the bridge, the steady thrum of the Triumph's motor the only sound at this early hour; a few civilian lorries and motor cars sped along the road, and Yuri wove in and out of the sparse traffic, causing not a few horns to blare in his wake, but continuing west out of London. The wind caught him up and pulled at him as he sped down the Slough Road and by sunup, he had traveled as far as Reading. The reddish hues of the sunrise at his back cast long shadows and he hoped he'd make it to Aberystwyth before sunset that day.
He caught the ferry at Chepstow, his feet tapping with frustration against the wooden deck as the slow boat crossed the Bristol Channel. Leaning on the railing, he tried to control his empty stomach that roiled and rumbled against the heaving of the boat. For the life of him, Yuri could not understand why he couldn't cross water without threatening the fish with his stomach's contents; it made no sense to him. But then lately, not a hell of a lot had made sense. The dream this morning with Koudelka in his bed, responding to his lovemaking ... he felt his body responding to the memory, and wondered how the hell things got so messed up.
'There's no way I married her,' he thought. 'Well, no; she said we weren't married. We had kids though. But what about Alice?' and he remembered the other part of the dream with Alice as a cold and desiccated corpse and then being gone completely. 'And what was all that crap Koudelka was sayin' about it hadn't happened yet but was goin' to? What was going to happen?' His thoughts roiled with his stomach and he leaned over the railing, watching the dark water slap against the ferry's hull. By the time the ferry docked, Yuri had lost his battle and was dry heaving, his empty stomach refusing to settle down. With a moan, he mounted the Triumph and gunned the motor, throttling it to full once the tires hit dirt and he shot forward, heading at breakneck speed to Aberystwyth.
The approach to Nemeton Monastery had changed since he was last there. The town of Aberystwyth with its train station was still an hour's ride away but the once accessible dirt road was now ploughed up with deep gouges and runnels from the conduit that tore though the earth upon Neameeto's rising. The rolling grasslands still waved in the wind, their long stalks fluttering and dancing in a constant motion that reminded Yuri of certain dancing girls he'd seen in China, their long scarves an extension of their lithe and supple bodies. Here the grass moved first one way then another, dancing with the play of the wind and Yuri brought his bike to a halt at a deep rip that broke open the earth like a claw gouging through the soil and ripping its way to the sea. Setting the bike down Yuri walked to the edge, looking down into the chasm that was fully a hundred feet down. With a shake of his head, he turned back to the bike.
'Man that is a deep hole,' he thought. Revving up the engine once more, he spun the bike around and ran back down the dirt road spinning back around to face the chasm when he was several hundred feet away.
"Nothing for it but to jump," he said aloud and throttled the Triumph's motor, revving it up to its highest point before releasing the brake. The bike leapt forward, the front wheel raised off the ground for a moment before touching down and he powered forward, hunched over the handlebars, teeth grit in a feral grin and his eyes glowing with excitement. This was living, this was taking chances; this would drive Alice nuts if she were to see him. Hitting the edge of the chasm Yuri yanked hard on the handlebar, leaping the bike up and out, and over the deep gorge. Air was around him; air was beneath him as the motor thrummed full throttle between his legs, and his life was on the cutting edge just as the rear wheel came down, skittering scree and dirt across the broken roadway and the bike sped forward towards Nemeton Monastery and Roger Bacon.
Old Roger's house still looked like it had just landed from Mars; the central structure being tall and rounded with an observatory in the roof. A few additional outbuildings were under construction, with legs reminiscent of a red spider and Yuri shook his head, frowning at the odd conglomeration as he pulled up to the path and parked the Triumph. Dropping the helmet onto the cycle seat, he climbed up the walkway and banged on the door just as it started to open.
"Hey Rog!" he called out. He stepped onto the dimly lit landing and looked down over the railing. Below was the spiral stairs, winding around the perimeter of the house with the library off to one side, it's walls lined floor to ceiling with books; and just before that the small kitchen with its table and chair. Just past that was the vending machine that Yuri always used, and he remembered the last time with a grin; he'd put in the coin and it had stuck and rather than wait for Roger to give it a tweaking, he had given it a good swift kick. Alice had been rightly miffed at him for that as it damaged the machine, which would then neither return the coin nor give up the item they wanted. In the center of the house stood the observatory and Roger's latest invention – whatever that was. With a shrug Yuri checked that the floor below was clear before leaping over the railing. He landed with a thud, his boots making a loud clack as he hit the ceramic flooring and he looked around. Roger was bent over a machine console; his sandaled feet in the air while his monk's robes were...
"Roger, you really ought to wear pants when you do that sorta thing," Yuri said with a grin. The old monk started and slammed his head on the console as he stood up.
"Ouch ouch ouch – inconsiderate brats," he muttered and then turned to scold the intruder, but then changed his mind at sight of Yuri. "Ah, oh, Yuri! I am so glad you are here; you can help me," the old man said waiving him over. "In all my years I have yet to find a way to clone myself to give myself an excellent assistant; but then I would probably be more trouble than I am worth and I wonder if I would then have twice the intelligence or only half!" he said and indicated a large treadmill set off to the side.
Yuri sighed. "Oh not again," he groaned. "Look Roger, I've got a problem needs fixing and you're the only one I think can help."
"Now, now, this won't take but a few minutes; here, climb up and give me some power, will you?" the elder monk and scholar indicated the treadmill again and Yuri shrugged, climbing up and putting his hands against the support bar. Looking down he saw that the tread bore scuffmarks, like many booted feet had been pushing on it.
"Hey Rog –"
"Not now, start running!" Roger instructed and climbed back on top of the console, poking his head beneath the machinery. "I just need to make some adjustments."
Yuri shrugged inelegantly and began to push, the heavy gears of the treadmill slowly coming to life as he pushed. In a few moments Yuri was running, his legs pumping hard as he kept the treadmill generator sparking with energy. Looking over he saw Roger climb out of the console. Panting, he called to the old man.
"You should get an electric or wind generator for this thing, Roger. How do you do this without help?"
Roger straightened his robe before responding. "Oh, I have the young boys from Aberystwyth come and help. That's right; keep I steady now..."
Yuri kept running, his breath coming in gulps now as he had been running for over five minutes. The machine at the center of the room, next to the observatory, was beginning to hum, sparks of electrical energy igniting inside and giving off multicolored rainbows of light. Yuri turned back to his running, wondering why the hell he let himself get roped into this kind of thing, but then, with a mental shrug, settled in to enjoy the exercise; he'd been entirely too sedentary lately with Alice getting pregnant and all. He needed a bit of exercise, a bit of fighting to hone his skills; a little running would have to suffice.
The machine continued to glow and spark and hum, a deep thrumming sound coming from its confines and Yuri continued to run, powering the generator. Old Roger Bacon, poking his head back inside the console and fiddling with the insides, called out for Yuri to stop running, but he didn't hear, the noise of the machinery louder than Roger's voice. Yuri was in a space all his own now, running on the treadmill, feeling the air as it filled his lungs, the muscles in his legs as they flexed and relaxed with each stride. Yuri felt at home in his head and in his body, remembering all those days, weeks, and months that he and Alice had traveled through Asia and Europe and the many times they had done just this – run. He had a steady lope, and his long legs could carry him for miles if need be. No, he wasn't the greatest runner, Halley could run better and faster sometimes, especially if something was chasing him, but Yuri could endure. He had endured all those years alone, surviving on his wits ... yeah, sometimes he did dumb things, and Margarete was forever telling him he was stupid, but he wasn't. He didn't get much schooling but he wasn't stupid. Stupid monster hunters were dead monster hunters. He smiled at that thought and let his mind wander.
Across the room, Roger climbed from the console, his shrill voice rose to get Yuri's attention, but when the young man didn't respond, he ran as quickly as his ancient body would allow, getting to the machine in the center of the house. But by then it was too late; energy was sparking rapidly back and forth from diodes in the machine and a final pulse of light sent an arc of energy shooting out from the machine toward anything metal in the room: the observatory, the console, the generator. Yuri suddenly found himself surrounded by arcing electrical energy and his surprise was quickly followed by pain as that energy used him for a ground.
Yuri found himself lying on his back, looking up at a cloud tattered sky; a full moon peeked out briefly before pulling the shreds of clouds back around her naked face and the air was redolent with mist, cold and the smell of death and decay. Quickly Yuri jumped to his feet, brushing off moisture and debris from his backside even as he looked around. He was outside, standing in the dark next to... was that the old arbor? He looked up at the surrounding buildings, two stories tall, very old, with signs that they had once been inhabited and someone had made repairs, but for the most part still dilapidated. On his right was a huge house, two stories tall, painted and decorated and he could see bars on the windows. Next to that was a chapel and then, across the grounds from him stood an old church, the front showing signs of severe damage, while above, the spire and bell tower stood straight and tall, striking skyward like a spear, and Yuri felt a cold fist settle in his stomach.
"This is Nemeton, the way it was before the fire," he muttered to himself. "Holy shit, what did I do now?" he moaned.
Unsure what to do or where to go, Yuri walked around the arbor; he quickly realized that was not a good idea. He had brought his fighting claws with him, putting them in the satchel and strapping them to the motorcycle and he'd even brought the satchel inside and put it down when he started running on the treadmill. But his claws were not with him and the first thing he ran into was a brutish giant bat; it was almost as big as a man, black, with claws and it wasn't alone. With it was – Yuri blinked thinking his eyes had gone bad. A corpse walked upright, its female form still lovely to behold until his eyes got to where the head should be. Shoulders, neck, and head were gone, ripped from the torso like so much rotted meat and there appeared to be both rotten flesh and rancid blood accumulating in the cavity, for the upper torso had been hollowed out as well.
'Damn, good thing Alice isn't here; she'd lose her lunch,' Yuri thought irreverently before he leapt at the torso. He gave the body a good fist to the gut then a side-kick from the left, pushing it into the black bat like creature; it wasn't fazed. Instead it took three careless steps forward, quivered strangely and then suddenly bent forward, the cavity aimed at Yuri just as a gusher of blood and body fluids sprayed out, exploding in the cold night air and covering Yuri. With a moue of distaste, Yuri jumped right, slamming his booted heel into the bat creature and, hearing a satisfying crunch, watched in satisfaction as it crumpled to the pavement, quivering near death.
'Well that's one. Now for you, whatever you are,' and he turned to confront the exploding female corpse. After a couple of punches and a boot to the gut, Yuri realized this corpse, whatever it was, was tougher than he had thought. Looking around for something to use as a weapon, he spotted the now dead bat. He reached down and grabbed its hooked claw, and with a vicious punch, snapped it off of the wingtip pulling a piece of bone with it.
"All right you dead bitch," he growled. "Come to poppa."
Claw in hand he now approached the stinking corpse, offering his left side to the creature's attack while holding the sharp claw in his right. The corpse sidled closer, offering its stinking maw, preparing to disgorge its putrid contents once more and Yuri brought up the claw, holding it by the extended bone, and slashed downward, cutting across the chest, opening up a deep gash in the already damaged torso. He followed that with a side kick, knocking it down to the cold pavement. Then with a leap, he slammed his heel into the creature's back, breaking the remaining backbone and then came down with a knee, crushing the remains. He shoved the claw in for good measure, sending blood and fluids splattering across the pavement.
"Die bitch die," he growled.
Panting, he watched as the exploding corpse quivered at his feet for a moment then went still. Looking around he didn't see any more enemies and was considering dropping the claw when the ground rumbled beneath him and the echoes of an explosion filled the courtyard, the sound bouncing from the stone walls. Yuri quickly looked up at the church; there was no sign of life, but that didn't mean no one was there. Gripping the Brute's claw, he sprinted across the courtyard toward the dark church; the entrance lay open, the doors ajar and Yuri entered, his hackles raised in the chill air and the close silence that followed the explosion.
Inside, the church was a shambles, the pews strewn left and right like a giant hand had swept them aside. Here and there candelabra stood dark or leaned against a broken pew, and the nave was covered in dust and dirt. Yuri looked up the central isle, peering into the gloom toward the main entrance to the sanctuary. It was blocked, but he could see movement beyond. At a sprint he ran across the nave and up the steps, and as his feet hit the upper stair he felt a presence behind him. A chill ran down his spine and he felt an answering shiver with his fusions; something was resonating with a sense of power and evil. Raising the claw, Yuri turned. Above him and descending rapidly from the rafters of the old church, was a grey figure, huge and with bat-like wings. It had a long, sharp beak of a nose with a mouth full of pointy razor sharp teeth and it hovered over the church floor on great grey wings that, fully extended, would have topped ten feet each. Yuri swallowed, his eyes and mouth falling open in shock.
'It's the gargoyle,' he thought, not daring to breathe. 'It's that fucking gargoyle …' He recalled Koudelka's quiet voice telling him of her confrontation with the creature - and how it was impervious to all weapons. 'But I thought she defeated it, sealed it away. Isn't Amon ...' he thought then chased it all away as the being made of stone and malice suddenly dove down to strike him with solid blows of fists and wings. Yuri staggered under the blows, hunching down to avoid the deeper wounds he knew that thing could issue by its mere size and strength alone. When it moved back, Yuri lowered himself to one knee and considered his options; looking around he could see no way to escape that would not lead directly into the creature's clutches. Furthermore, the opening behind him, where he had seen movement before, was blocked by something large. He would not be able to get through there without turning his back on the gargoyle. Without medicines or weapons, he was limited and he knew it.
"Why is it never easy?" he said through gritted teeth, then reached in for a fusion soul, preferably one with strong magic that could render the gargoyle helpless with little cost to himself. His first choice, the Seraphic Radiance he immediately tossed aside for the amount of magical energy it would siphon from his system. Amon fell into the same category, although Yuri had to grin at the thought of Amon facing the gargoyle. It was a creature of air and stone, and Yuri doubted his air class or earth class fusions would be able to handle it; that left light, darkness, water and fire. With a grunt, he reached for Forron the most powerful of his fire class fusions; Forron's magic was powerful and he greatly enhanced Yuri's physical strength and endurance so that the battering blows of the gargoyle would do little damage. A heartbeat later Yuri's physical form was replaced by the nearly seven foot tall Forron, his heavily scaled hide like that of armor and with a grin, and a growled challenge, he summoned his first fire attack.
The church floor trembled at the summoning, the Gates of Hell opening in the once holy place, filling the air with sulfur and smoke before disgorging a wall of fire that melted the floor even as it engulfed the hovering gargoyle. Yuri doubted that one blow would fell the creature he believed had become Amon, so he stepped back after the raging flames died down, waiting to assess the damage. The church floor smoked in ruination, and black streaks climbed wall and column where the flaming magma had struck; but the gargoyle yet hovered in the air, his eyes glowing a feral red and Yuri growled in frustration.
'You just don't know when to die, do you?' the young harmonixer thought then summoned a further barrage of fire, engulfing the flying stone manifestation of malice and hate. Magma surged upward like a flaming fountain and Yuri heard a squeal coming from the gargoyle; had he hurt it? Squinting, the fusionist waited less than patiently for the Hell Fire to clear, sulfuric smoke rising like fog from the floor and the floor, walls and nearby columns blacked like pitch. But the gargoyle remained, its stone body blackened only a little; it had furled its wings around itself and was spinning in place. Yuri puzzled a moment before realizing the thing had protected itself from his attack and was now preparing to return the compliment.
'Oh shit,' was his last thought as the gargoyle's wings suddenly snapped open and a spiral of wind suddenly thrust its way across the floor, picking Forron up off his feet and slamming him into the rear wall. Yuri shook his head and looked in surprise at the stony flying menace. 'He's stronger than I thought. I – I hate to have to do this but...' Yuri climbed to his feet and released his fusion, letting the fire and fury that was Forron retreat to the back of his mind. Instead, he reached again for a fusion; this one he knew could destroy the gargoyle; but without any supplies, he only hoped he could do it before he ran out of time, for he was feeling the effects of energy deprivation from the use of Forron's magic.
With an almost feral grin, Yuri reached within and summoned his most powerful fusion, the God who was defeated at Shanghai: Seraphic Radiance. The power of the god filled him, threatening to burst through every organ and blood vessel of his body, but at the same time sending arcs of power surging through those arteries, veins and capillaries until his body thrummed with power. Great black wings sprang from his back and with one gentle down stroke, elevated him from the sullied floor. With red-flecked black eyes, Seraphic Radiance beheld the hate-created creature mere yards from him and sneered. Yuri felt the power forming even as he thought it, pulling the very fabric of the universe down into his pale hands; like a weaver with a loom, he pulled and threaded the power and formed it into a weave of brilliant light. Then he let it go, sending it out toward the gargoyle, encompassing it, surrounding it with scintillating energy before that very energy collapsed like a black star. Energy exploded from the gargoyle, magic and power leeched away and returned to Yuri's god-like hands, filling him with health and a renewed sense of purpose; he could kill this thing with but a thought.
That thought became reality as Yuri, the Seraphic Radiance, and the protector god of the earth, reached out and offered a prayer to the gargoyle. The prayer went up to the heavens, and was answered with a blessing as the gift of the god, the gift of death touched the gargoyle and shattered it in a million tiny dust motes scattered along the church floor. Yuri released the fusion, shaking his head to bring back his own thoughts, and shuddered. He liked the fusion, but this one always shook his soul a bit, and he could easily lose himself in the power of the Seraphic Radiance - power and near omniscience. At odd moments, he wondered just how he had fused to such a creature, and then he would shake it off, accepting that there were some things he would never understand about his power and this was one of them.
With a sigh, he turned toward the opening in the church wall and climbed through into the Sanctuary chamber. This area was vast, opening up and rising to a tall ceiling; a stained glass window, looked out over the ocean, and a huge pipe organ stood to his far right. The room was destroyed, what furnishings there were had been shattered and crushed by the huge roots that seemed to have taken over the interior. In the center of the Sanctuary lay a burial crypt, its casket pushed aside and stairs led down into darkness. The whole room smelled of fuel oil. Before he could think about what that meant, the room exploded in flame; the roots and tentacles of the giant plant coming out of the floor crashed through the stained glass window and Yuri, standing near the far wall, ducked to avoid being incinerated.
He heard a woman's voice yell, telling someone to run. He squinted up through the wall of fire and spotted a young woman and two men fleeing through the broken glass window. Pulling his shirt up to cover his mouth, Yuri jumped up and sprinted across the burning Sanctuary floor, leaping for the shattered glass even as the roots tried to trip him up. His leap carried him out the window and into a roll that brought him to his feet, coughing. He rubbed soot from his eyes and looked around. The window had opened up onto a ledge which fell away precipitously toward the crashing Irish Sea below. Above him was scaffolding that showed where repairs to the church had begun, but ceased as nails lay rusting and boards were warped with rain and age. A clattering sound above caught Yuri's attention and he squinted up into the dark scaffolding. There was movement and he could just make out three figures climbing onto the fourth floor above. With a grunt, he followed.
The first floor scaffolding had stairs that Yuri could sprint up quickly, but once he made a switch-back and crawled under a buttress, he found he had to climb up warped boards lying across the bare scaffold. His first leap up had the board bouncing and creaking under his weight and he silently cursed as he slowed down, making the turn onto the next scaffold platform on his hands and knees. He continued this slow climb until he reached the third floor platform and then was able to run up the more securely set stairs. He stopped at the fourth floor, scanning the walkway that, oddly, surrounded the church at that level. He was unfamiliar with churches and thought a walkway up that high was ridiculous, but shrugged diffidently until he saw the remains of several large root-like tentacles and one body, its mummified remains charred and burned beyond recognition. There had been a fight here, and Yuri could smell the use of fire magic. Quickly he entered the open window onto the fourth floor.
The fourth floor was the choir loft for the church, a balcony really, that overlooked the Sanctuary and the organ far below. Open on one side, there was a stair well leading both down to the church and up to the bell tower. But up through the floor the large plant had grown, coming up from the crypt below the Sanctuary level to overgrow the Sanctuary itself and climb, like a giant tree up to the choir loft. There it blossomed into one huge flower, its petals pink, delicate, and open. Yuri looked at the floor and domed ceiling, seeing the pockmarks of gunfire. He'd just missed a combat again. He checked the stairwell and discovered that the stairs leading back down to the Sanctuary were blocked with rubbish, so that left only up. He climbed the narrow winding stair quickly, hearing as he did so the sounds of fighting.
Up the spiral stairwell he went, running as quickly as he could in the narrow confines. Ahead he heard the sounds of combat cease and running feet. He pushed himself a little further to catch up. After another minute, he broached the bell tower, the stone stairs opening up to a large lookout over the valley and ocean below. Above was the bell tower, its dozen bells swaying slightly in the sea breeze. A sound to his right caught his attention and he froze; climbing over the outer wall was a monster, long articulated legs spread wide as its insect like body climbed up the side wall and entered the bell tower. Yuri stood his mouth agape as the insect stood erect, human head raised high and opened its mouth. A sound like a scream from hell issued from the human female lips and an answering lightening bolt shot from the heavens, the clouds parting briefly to illumine the scene below the bell tower just as the lightening struck the tower. The stone and metal tower suddenly collapsed in on itself, bells peeling in wild cacophony and crashing down on the four humans below it. Yuri was suddenly galvanized to action, running to get out of the way, yelling as he did so.
"Hey get going! Lady move yer ass!" he yelled and barreled through the falling debris. But too late he realized his mistake as the woman turned, distracted at his sudden appearance and called warning, and was crushed by the falling tower even as Yuri leapt aside. Almost instantly the insectoid monster climbing over the side of the railing attacked, and Yuri and the two other men found themselves defending.
"Who the hell are you?" a blond man demanded, his look of ire at Yuri only adding to Yuri's trepidation. He had the feeling he'd just made a bad mistake.
"Yuri. I'm Yuri, and what is that thing?" he asked, indicating the monster even as he bent down to pick up the discarded sword by the woman's corpse; the woman, young, beautiful with blonde-red hair and wearing black lace.
"That is Elaine; or what she has become," the other man said and Yuri looked up to see Elaine standing nearly twelve feet tall with an elongated insect body, and two sets of legs running from her middle torso and two more from the upper torso, all of them sharp with claws. Her body seemed suspended from an insect like casing, and her head rose proudly tall, with protrusions on either side. Her face and eyes were still human, but showed no signs of cognizance. "She must be defeated; can you fight?" the priest asked, a deep sadness in his weathered face.
Yuri stared at the older man, his amber eyes blinking. 'My god, it's that priest, James,' he thought and then a quick glance to his left at the blond male, 'and Halley's dad, Edward. Shit, oh shit I just killed Koudelka!' Yuri felt his blood settle in his feet as the realization sunk in and he hesitated as the monstrous Elaine moved in for the attack.
"Don't just stand there, stupid!" Edward yelled at Yuri as he leapt forward, swinging a wicked looking sword at the giant monster. He sliced down and then up, scoring a deep wound on the thorax of the insectoid Elaine before jumping back and being rewarded with a renewal of his own strength. "Use Sacnoth; kill it!" [1]
"Sa-Sacnoth? What – this?" Yuri hefted the huge, oddly wrought sword and then shrugged. "I'm no sword swinger," he said then grinned. "But I can sure as hell hack!" With that he leapt forward, swinging the huge sword with both hands, slicing through one jointed leg and then bringing it back up to add more damage to the thorax. Behind him, he heard James muttering a spell and he moved back just as a fountain of flames gysered over the monster.
"You'll have to do better than that, James. Got any of those scrolls left?" Edward asked as he moved in for another attack.
"I believe so. You two keep her distracted while I look," the elder priest said and moved away from the combatants to check in his pouch.
Meanwhile Edward and Yuri combined their attacks, one from the left, the other from the right, managing to sever a couple of limbs and Yuri got in one good stab at the creature's belly, sending spouts of ichor and a string of internal organs slithering to the floor. Finally, James called out and the two men moved off, allowing James to step forward with the first scroll. He removed the binding cord from the magical scroll and carefully intoned the brief spell. The scroll burst into flames, vanishing from James's hands and instantly a wall of flame engulfed the monstrous Elaine. The creature screamed in pain, and with angry movements of her remaining legs, sent out a wall of magical darkness to strike like lightening. The three men went down, James breathing heavily. Yuri scowled.
"This is no good. She doesn't like fire. I can give her fire; but you gotta watch my back, eh?" he said to the blond next to him. Edward looked at him puzzled. "Trust me," Yuri said with a feral grin. "I've got her number."
Yuri assessed his fusions and chose Forron; he didn't have much magical strength left after the fight with the gargoyle and unless...
"Say you wouldn't happen to have some Mana, would you"? he asked James.
"Mana?"
"Yeah, replenishes magical energies. I could use some."
"You're a magic user?" Edward asked even as James pulled a small bottle from his pouch.
"High Listel; alcoholic but pleasant," the priest said offering the bottle to Yuri. With one thumb Yuri popped open the bottle and drank the contents in a single gulp, tossing aside the little glass bottle and summoning his fusion. Both Edward and James moved back, startled that now they had two monsters to deal with. But the red-skinned giant, Forron, waved them back. Forron was one of Yuri's personal favorites when it came to both using fire as a weapon and out and out body bashing. This would be fun. He stepped up to the monster and with four flying fists, hammered onto the insect body, pummeling the creature until it took a step back, screaming in anger and pain. Then he jumped back and summoned magic. The floor rumbled beneath their feet and the fusion gestured, opening a doorway in the stones that suddenly spewed forth a wall of hellfire; thick, burning magma rushed over the stones and quickly engulfed the injured monster and with a scream, the insectoid woman collapsed, falling back down the bell tower to crash into the burning church below.
Yuri released his fusion and stood at the edge of the bell tower, looking down on the burning church, his thoughts in turmoil. Finally, with a shrug, he turned to James and Edward, taking a few steps back toward the pile of the belltower and the crushed body of Koudelka, his lover.
"We better get lost from here; the whole place is burning."
Edward nodded, kneeling for a brief moment at the side of the dead woman, a look of mixed regret and grief passing for a moment in his eyes.
"She saved my life," he said softly. "I wish this hadn't happened."
"Me too," Yuri agreed. "It complicates things," and his mind flashed on Koudelka, standing in the kitchen, her robe falling open as she kissed him, her lips full and inviting, her… he shook his head, turning back toward the others again.
The priest, James, sat on the edge of the tower and looked over the sunset beyond; the once cloud studded and wind swept sky was now calm and clear, the light of sunrise painting the horizon in pastel hues. He shook his head.
"This whole time, a waste. Such a waste," he said to no one.
Yuri moved to the edge of the tower and looked down at the buttresses below. With a nod, he jumped, landing in a roll on the hard packed soil below. Just beyond was a graveyard and, standing at one gravestone was a wizened old man dressed in a ratty brown monk's robes. Yuri instantly recognized Roger Bacon.
"Hey Rog!" he called and ran toward the old man. "I need yer help."
Roger Bacon, the aged monk whom Koudelka and the others had awakened from his long slumbers in the monastery, turned sparkling brown eyes onto Yuri. He leaned on a crook, waiting as the young fusionist approached, his beady eyes crinkled in humor.
"Always rushing, rushing, rushing. You young people push yourselves way too much," the old man said with a gap-toothed grin.
Yuri scowled, wondering what the hell the old man was on about now, but then shook it off.
"Roger, I need yer help; I need to get back. Oh damn! I've really messed things up," Yuri said and went to one knee in order to look Bacon in the eye.
"Now speak sensibly," Bacon said.
"I - I killed Koudelka. I didn't mean to, it was an accident. She – she got killed by the bell tower fallin' on her," and Yuri waved in the general direction of the church tower. "Oh damn! Now she can't help me save Alice or stop Simon or god or nothing!" Yuri was babbling.
For long minutes Bacon looked at the young man kneeling in front of him, babbling in accented English, Russian and who knew what else, before finally rapping him on the head with his crook.
For a moment Bacon's mind flashed with the image of the vibrant young woman who had awakened him from his long slumber as well as bringing him Patrick Heyworth's notebook. With a sigh he looked down at the young man kneeling in front of him. "Did you say Simon? And what's this about killing Koudelka?" he asked.
Yuri sighed, trying to redirect his addled thoughts. He looked back at James and Edward as they packed up the gear onto Koudelka's splay-legged horse. How could he tell Roger… he didn't understand it either. He somehow ended up back at Nemeton Monastery sixteen years ago, when Koudelka and Edward and James defeated Elaine. But Koudelka was dead. That meant…
"I think – I think yer machine brought me here, Roger," he finally said.
"My machine? What machine? I have not built anything in over a hundred years," the old monk said, his voice quavering. He looked back at the burning monastery and moaned. "All those books gone – gone! Phileus, Landsbric, Sophocles and Archimedes. All gone." Bacon looked sadly at the burning building.
"No, you'll rescue lots of them, old Rog. I know; I saw them - at your house!" Yuri said.
"My - my house? I have no house; I lived here, at Nemeton."
"No, you built a house just down the road. It was there sixteen years ago … I mean - sixteen years from now. Oh - I don't know what the hell I mean!"
Roger looked down at the frustrated young man and nodded.
"Obviously something has happened. Why don't we take a little walk down the road to where you say I have a house, and you tell me all about it, eh?" Roger began to walk down the dirt road, his crook in one hand and a dusty tome in another and his bowed and skinny legs poking out from his tattered robe. Yuri rose and followed behind, not bothering to say goodbye to Edward or James; after all, if things worked out right, he might see them again anyway. He had to convince Roger to build that time machine.
[1] Ok - ok, as anyone knows who has played Koudelka the game, you wouldn't have Sacnoth unless you defeated the Gargoyle. Consider it creative license.