67

The Summons

"Surely, I mused, it was pleasantry

Devised by one who did not truly know

The Elder Sign, bequeathed from long ago,

That sets the fumbling forms of darkness free."

– H. P. Lovecraft, "The Messenger"

The Chosen rushed through the halls of the underground base. No Digimon impeded their progress – with the possible exception of Sato Katsu, the base seemed to be derelict. It had taken them a while to recover sufficiently from the horror of what they had been forced to do in the generator room, but now the search was on for the man who had forced them to do it. The Digimon hadn't yet evolved again. Most of them had already done so many times today, and were feeling the strain.

Instead of Armor evolving and carrying their partners up to the balcony, Hawkmon and Patamon had gone as scouts, hoping to find an alternate route. It hadn't taken long; the only way off the balcony was down a short corridor to a staircase which descended to the base's primary level. Presumably Sato was still on their floor. Regrouping, the twelve interlopers commenced what they hoped was a systematic search of the base.

For the most part, the partner Digimon all felt much the same about the situation. They were sickened by what had transpired, and were determined to find Sato and stop him from committing fresh outrages. They were worried about their partners, of course, but the trauma the Chosen Children had suffered could not begin to heal until Sato Katsu was no longer a threat.

Even the peaceable Wormmon shared that conviction. At the same time, however, his resolve was tempered with unease. On his own, a human like Sato would pose little danger to them, but Wormmon and Ken knew that there was another – a man felt before seen, a smile in the dark. They had only encountered him once, and then only briefly, but the experience remained vivid in their memories.

Of the other Chosen Children, all were understandably shaken, and to some degree angry. There was Daisuke: dogged, done with discussion, prepared to go for the enemy without letting up. There was Takeru: nemesis of darkness, ready to avenge, having pushed questions of restraint to the back of his mind, where they rested uneasily. There was Iori: still in the process of recovering, appalled at himself and the world, propelled forward now by the thought of the girl he had unwittingly exposed to danger. There was Miyako, subconsciously trying to avoid her own fears by wondering at the fear she saw in Ken.

And then there was Hikari. Like the others, she had been overcome with horror at what had been done in the generator room, though at least there was the comfort of knowing that all of those poor Digimon were beyond suffering now, awaiting rebirth into what would hopefully be a better life. Also like the others, she was mentally preparing for the confrontation with Sato Katsu, the man from her nightmares. How could she not? For several nights he had come to her, to enjoy her fear. She had met him now in plain reality, but if anything the terror he inspired had grown now that she and her friends had seen what he was capable of.

But there was something else that was bothering her. Whoever he was and whatever his goals were, Sato Katsu was not the source of the evil they were fighting. He had said so himself, of course, but even if she hadn't believed him, she had seen the black room at the bottom of the stairs. Seen it, heard it, felt it. That room was a gateway to the World of Darkness. It was the place she had tried so hard to forget, only to be reminded by the nightmares, the place where a person's worst fears took form, and shadowy things waited to use her for awful purposes.

Would the Chosen Children's next struggle be with that world? Could they even fight something like that? Under more ordinary circumstances, neither she nor any of her friends would have hesitated to answer yes. After all, they were the Chosen Children. Together they could accomplish anything… couldn't they? But nightmares cannot be fought, and everything was beginning to seem nightmarish now.

She would let it wait. Daisuke seemed to have forgotten about the black room, at least temporarily, and if either of their partners had kept it in mind they didn't mention it. For now, Sato was the priority. Perhaps she was worrying herself unnecessarily. If the Dark World's human and Digimon agents could be stopped, the Chosen Children could bury it here. Maybe this time it wouldn't creep back into their lives…maybe.

The Chosen had not had any expectations about how brief or long the search for Sato would be, but they also hadn't expected it to end as it did: suddenly, as they rounded a corner and saw the circular hole in space. They could only make out a general idea of where the portal led to, since everything beyond the threshold was swirling and wavering, but they seemed to be looking at a large building in the desert. The group slowed its pace and stopped in uncertainty.

"What is that?" Miyako asked.

"It's a gate, isn't it?" said Patamon, "But it looks different…"

"You think that's where that guy went?" Daisuke asked, taking another few steps forward. The others didn't say anything. It could be, but they had no way of knowing until they stepped through, and a few of them were worried that they might not be able to return if they did.

"Something's happening," Takeru said, breaking the silence. It was an understatement. It was clear, even through the portal, that something huge was taking place. There were brilliant flashes of color, some in hues they had never seen before. These were accompanied by strange sounds, muffled as they passed through the rift in space-time, though closer up they must have been a cacophony of rhythmless pounding and screaming musical tones.

"What is that!?" Miyako repeated, and no one could think of an answer for a few moments. Then Tailmon spoke up.

"Nothing good, if it's connected to this place."

"He's gotta be there," Daisuke said, "Come on, V-mon, let's get him!"

V-mon shouted his assent and the pair of them ran forward. Ken attempted to stop them with an outstretched hand and a cry of "Motomiya!", but by then they were already through the portal.

Takeru was next to step forward.

"Come on," he said to the others. "We can't ignore this, and we have to stay together."

Hikari nodded and prepared to follow. The others hesitated a moment, but not for long. As a group, they followed Daisuke out into the desert.

Two things hit Daisuke immediately as the tingle of the gate faded away and he found himself on the other side. First was the heat. After the chill air of the underground base, the desert seemed impossibly warm and dry, even under the strange hazy darkness that now floated between the sand and the sun. Then there was the noise, grand and jarring. He wasn't sure where it was coming from – it seemed to be all around him. Bursts of color were everywhere as well, but for the most part the phenomena centered on the large gray pyramid before him.

V-mon stood beside him, too much in awe for a moment to do anything but gape at the scene. Daisuke himself was just coming out of his own shock when he had a sudden odd sensation. For a moment he was certain that he had left his friends behind him, and that they would not come after him, but were standing back and smiling as the gate closed on him, glad to finally be cut off from the idiot who masqueraded as their leader.

The impression was so strong that at first he couldn't bring himself to look back over his shoulder, but when he did so with a jerk he could see them coming forward, into the chaotic desert. Ken ran up to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"This is bad, Daisuke! This is…" He stopped. Because he wasn't sure what it was. A strange conviction passed momentarily through his mind that if he only waited, and watched what was unfolding, he would recover everything he had forgotten since his infection by the Dark Seed. His old life would force its way back into his head, and it would hurt, it would be a flood of painful memory. Then the thought passed as quickly as it had come, leaving him unsure of what to say.

The others had just as much trouble processing what was happening. Odd thoughts and odd feelings flitted through their minds as they heard the terrible sourceless music and watched the play of the colored light.

No, not light, Takeru thought. Whoever is causing this doesn't have anything to do with light. Those are just colors. They don't have any brightness to them.

"There's something up there!" Hikari said, shouting over the noise and pointing to the top of the pyramid. Squinting against the glare they could all see it: a figure in midair. Someone or something was hovering above the pyramid. Bolts of strange force seemed to be arcing out of the pyramid's roof, dancing around the figure before dispersing in different directions. As the group watched, a change began to occur. It was like looking through the portal again – solid things began to waver or stretch, as if the fabric of reality was coming slowly loose, drawn towards the pyramid. There was something else, too. Maybe it was just an illusion, but it looked to the observers on the ground that the sky above the pyramid had taken on a subtle pattern, a distortion of the air which gave the impression – only half visual – of a vast five-pointed star with a symbol at its center, like a great, glaring eye.

Anubimon stood in the squared-off arch which served as one of the entrances to the temple where he had once lived in peace. He kept his feet planted on the ground, his arms pointed stiffly at a downward angle, and his wings closed. Something like wind whipped around him, but he had the feeling that it was not really wind, that instead little ribbons of space were flying by him as they were sucked in by the looming something in the sky. It was as if the force above the pyramid was in the process of slurping up the world like a bowl of noodles.

He could sense Sato behind him. The human's teeth were clenched and his eyes were wide with an incredulous anger – a much different picture than that presented by the Dark Man. Of the three, he was the only one who stood unfazed by the pull from above and the riot of sound and color. He wore a wide, unmoving grin of anticipation, but still it seemed to Anubimon that he could hear the Dark One's voice screaming excitedly above the noise.

He's found it! He's found it! The Elder Sign will open the gate! Watch what will happen! Watch! Watch!

They watched. It was a hard thing to tear one's attention away from. But for a while there seemed to be no change, only the continuance of the sounds and colors. The impression of the Dark One's shouts faded, though Anubimon could see that his expression didn't change. Were things not going as anticipated? Anubimon shifted his gaze back to Wisemon, knowing that the Dark One never gave any indication of its real emotions, if it had real emotions. The hooded Digimon still floated above the pyramid and the black lens, hanging amid the flashes and bolts of color now emerging not only from the lens but the great Sign in the air. But…

Something was wrong. Wisemon didn't know what, but he knew that there was a problem. He tried to focus, to hold on to his waning energy. The Book was still below him, and he was still reading it aloud, though his words were drowned out by the cosmic din that surrounded him. Below the Book's pages he could see the massive lens, and with it could look through the Dark World and the worlds beyond to the last world, the world of the Dark One, but it was still dim, and not growing any clearer.

Was the Book not enough? Was there a still higher level that he hadn't yet reached? Secrets that he had yet to master? If so, what would happen now? He had come so close to the ultimate, to knowing who he was, and the answer to every question that had plagued sentient beings since the birth of time. What would happen instead? That was the question before him now, perhaps the last he would ever ask. But it gave him some comfort, now at the end, to know that this question, at least, was about to be answered.