Chapter 21: A Host Of Sorrows

"Clear."

"Clear?"

"Clear!"

"Yeesh, all right. Just makin' sure. We'd better call him over. He's gonna be pissed."

"Nothing we could do about it. Sir! Something you need to see here!"

Striding into the room the commander looked around the small space. Pointing his flashlight at the ground he found the tracks made in the dusty floor that lead around to one of the desks. Throwing the chair out of the way he saw what his men had found. Where there should have been the last target was an area of carpet absolutely soaked by water. There was so much moisture that his boot squished some of it out from the pressure of his weight.

"You're sure she came in here?" he asked.

"No other room's been tampered with."

This did not sit well with him. It was bad enough that three attackers could so easily invade their most fortified sanctum but it was worse that one of their number could simply vanish when cornered. "Back upstairs. We have work to do." he intoned gravely.

Even as she got her breathing under control Julia was aware that something was very, very wrong. She could not see a thing in front of her with her eyes wide open. The sound of rain pattering all around her coincided with the light droplets falling on her. It took the pilgrim another few seconds to put together that she was no longer inside a building, much less cowering under a desk. Craning her head upwards she felt the rain hit her directly on the face. Holstering her shaking pistol she reached up and felt nothing above or to the sides of her. The only trace of the world she had just been in was that there was something hard and flat directly behind her.

Bewildered but in no position to sit around and wait for answers she patted herself down to find her flashlight. Pulling it out of her pocket she clicked it on and revealed sights that did not make any sense. She was in a run down shack with its roof simply missing. The walls were barely standing and while there were windows at one point they had all been knocked out. She had been leaning on a heavy block of stone set into the center of the shack for no apparent reason or purpose. Things were abundantly clear something kooky had happened but that didn't give her any clues to where she found herself now.

Looking for an exit she discovered that the front door was gone and simply disappeared into darkness. Pointing the flashlight over the edge Julia learned that it was a drop of some ten feet down to a darkish gravel below her. Sweeping her light around she saw more abandoned buildings outside of hers that looked just as ready to fall. With the soft but persistent rain gradually soaking her clothes she had little choice but to find better shelter. Sitting down on the edge of the building she scooted herself off and landed on the unforgiving rocks below. Instinctively putting out her hands the pilgrim lost her flashlight for a second and scrambled to pick it back up after the fall.

Partially shielded by the buildings around her she turned in a full circle to look for somewhere better to sort everything out. The walls of the other shacks and dilapidated structures were too high to get into and she had to wonder who would build such a place with no ground access. Moving forward with no other options she noisily crunched down the alleys in between the dark buildings. Eventually coming out of the cluster of them she saw that far away there was a faint glow high in the sky. She thought at first it might have been another blank spot but this was a real light source. It was so high that it looked like a star at first but something was off.

Ahead of her was a sloping path cleared of gravel to reveal a cobblestone kind of street. In the gloom miles in front of her she could make out the tiniest bits of light but nothing steady or clear. The shacks and shanties lined the unkempt street and the pilgrim picked her way past them to head towards the object far away. It took her the better part of an hour to get past the labyrinth of buildings and get closer to whatever was ahead. The dirty path grew wider and clearer as the shanties stopped but Julia felt a little exposed walking on the orb-like stones. She was completely soaked now and the warmth of her blood was stolen away with each drop that struck. Her fingers and toes were numb even tucked into pockets and shoes but at least she was making forward progress of some kind.

Above her was suddenly a flash of lightning unlike anything she'd ever seen before and Julia was wholly unprepared for it. It had to be many times thicker than any flash she previously encountered and ran the entire length of the sky. Striking the faint glowing orb in the distance it showed her the lay of the land for almost a full second. Ahead on the path she was on was a long, black bridge leading to an island of dark, stone buildings made of the same material. The faint orb rested on top of a needle-like spire that split the firmament in half with its impossible height. Buzzing around it were hundreds of shapes in the air and Julia realized where she was just before the thunder struck.

Covering her ears she was forced to the ground grimacing in pain from the violent reverberation. It wasn't so much a sound as it was a shaking of everything around her and the interloper was turned dear for a few seconds. As the shock left her ears the pilgrim came to the conclusion that their phantom ally in Silent Hill had indeed come to her aid after all. While initially confusing it was apparent to her now where she was. The area matched Victor's description of Nowhere to the letter. Whereas the knight had the benefit of being on the tower in the distance it seemed like she had some ground to cover.

Starting forward again when she was fully recovered Julia started to slightly jog to warm herself up a little. Knowing now where she was there was little else to do but meet the crazed ruler in this grand monument to himself. Going another fifteen minutes or so – it was impossible to tell time in this place – she slowed as she reached the end of the cobbled road to where the great bridge took over. Something felt wrong and this spot would be a natural bottleneck for foot traffic. She had barely drawn her gun in caution when a number of lights erupted from the nearby darkness. Swinging her barrel of her .45 around she was blinded by the sudden illumination stabbing her adjusted pupils.

As she squinted to make out targets she saw a squad of men encased in combat armor with guns pointed at her. Suddenly worried that somehow the mercenaries followed her Julia almost fired on them before she realized that the men were not wearing the same kind of armor. They were made of overlapping plates not unlike Victor's heavy mail if more complicated in construction. Standing her ground Julia knew that she was hopelessly outgunned and should have listened to her instincts sooner. Now though was no time to show weakness to whoever these people were.

"What faction?" one of them demanded gruffly.

"Excuse me?" she replied.

"What faction are you with?" he repeated.

"None?" the pilgrim offered.

"Freelancer, eh?" he said. The lights came down out of her face and so did the guns. Julia downed her weapon as well but didn't put it away just yet. Looking at them now she saw that their armor was much more patchwork than she originally thought and only a couple wore helmets. Their faces were dirty, unshaven and some were terribly scarred.

"Ya got stones going in alone this close to the Lightening." he added. This one in charge was the cleanest of the bunch but that didn't mean very much.

"Sure." she shrugged.

"Were you planning on crossing the bridge alone?" he asked as if this was a big deal.

"Yeah. I have to get there." she pointed at the tower invisible in the dark.

"Wha? You got a death wish, freelancer?"

"I need to see the man at the top." she answered honestly.

"The Greatest Evil? The Prime Murderer?" the man in armor asked skeptically. "He'd just as soon rip you in half for daring to speak to Him or set foot in His tower."

"He and I have unfinished business." she informed them. "He will want to talk to me. Needs to, even."

The men looked at each other and then back to her with such dumbfounded stares that for a moment Julia thought she said something to offend them. "You've met Him before?" the man asked reverently.

"I'd say so. Saved his ass once. He owes me." she said.

"Sarge, this is big." one of the other men spoke up.

"I know." the apparent sergeant nodded. "Listen, you're sure we're talking about the same guy?"

"What's the big deal? It's the guy in the black straight jacket right? Black hair, eyes like a dead person, might be Hispanic or something, talks like a crazy person?"

"That's him!" the sergeant said excitedly. "Look lady, we're from the Blackreach faction. We're going to get you to Tower if we can."

"What? Why?" she wrinkled her nose.

"To do a favor for the Lord of Obsidian would do wonders for us. Will you tell Him that we helped you?"

"Uh...yeah, sure."

"All right men! Gear up! We're heading across! RPGs in the back! Widows up front! If we run into trouble I want everyone else on suppressing fire with their Mattocks! Priority is getting the freelancer through!" the man shouted.

The men started organizing themselves and their leader rummaged through his pack to produce a pair of high tech goggles for Julia. "We're going to need to run silent, ma'am." he said as he extended them to her. "These will help you see. Pray we don't get caught on the bridge when lightning striketh."

"Why?"

"The dragons control the bridges leading to the island." he said grimly. "Their tolls are heavy and that's if they even feel like collecting one. Might just eat you. Might collect your toll and then eat you anyway."

None of this seemed particularly agreeable to her but Julia supposed that there was little by way of choice at the moment. The men killed the lights on their guns and Julia pulled the special forces looking head set on. The night vision it granted revealed a couple of startling facts about the area around her. The bridge she was on was one of several that connected to the island ahead. The chunk of land itself was not in water but appeared to be floating above a chasm so deep there was no difference between it and the sky. Lastly, there were fierce battles being waged in the air around the tower. Little dots circled each other and some exploded in a minute twinkles before falling to the island far below. This place wasn't just a monument, it was a mad house.

The troops circled around her in a ring and together they stepped onto the bridge. It had to be a mile long with no supports built in which should have made it fall apart. Deciding not to worry about the architectural irrationalities of Nowhere she kept her eyes open for trouble. Moving quickly along the rough bridge their soft steps were barely audible over the pelting rain. The path was some fifty feet wide but they stuck to the very center for the bridge had no railings. A wrong step over the edge would lead to the endless pit just inches below their feet.

Around the halfway point of the stone path a tall, twenty foot arch was built for them to pass under. Julia could make out some kind of bas relief engravings but not what they were exactly. As they neared the arch something massive came up from behind the structure to perch of top of it. She froze as it lifted a massive claw and stomped down to make light explode all around them. A powerful beam pierced the lenses meant for total darkness and the pilgrim ripped the goggles from her face. Holding her arm up to shield herself from the beam she let her eyes adjust as she got a good look at what stopped them.

Resting atop the arch was a gigantic dragon, a real, moving, living creature of myth with its great leathery wings flapping in its rankled state. Folding them at its sides Julia saw that it had activated a flood light that was lighting up the stretch of bridge they were on like it was daytime.

"Shit!" one of the soldiers whispered. "When did they learn to use those!?"

"Quiet!" the sergeant snapped.

"Hahahaha!" the beast laughed with a voice so deep and resonating that Julia could feel it in her chest. "Zu'u Veydezzul! Hi meyye ni lo! Koraav!"

"What's he saying?" Julia asked softly.

"He's annoyed we tried to cross undetected." the sergeant answered. "Great dovah! We only seek to pass!" he shouted up at the creature.

"Jorre aal ni lahney voth nid dovath kogaan! Kos bonaar!" the razor-mawed monster rumbled ominously. "Aav dii lahvu uv dir!"

"He wants us to work for him and his dragon faction." the human translated under his breath.

"Or what?"

"Or he kills us."

"Whoa! Rock, hard place. Why don't you tell him about me?" she offered.

"No, no," the sergeant shook his head, "he'll kill you for sure."

"What? Why wouldn't he want to help like you?"

"The dragons would openly defy the Highest Power just so He would respect their impudence." the soldier explained.

"I don't get this place." Julia shrugged.

"We're going to open fire. Get ready to make a run for it."

"Can you beat that thing?" she asked.

"I don't know." he said and turned back to the winged lizard. "Honored friend! We make of this an offering!"

"Geh? Kora-"

The sergeant lifted his gun and shot not at the dragon but at the floodlight keeping them all lit up. It flickered and died as Julia charged forward across the dark again bridge. The dragon let out a screeching roar as the men behind her opened machine gun fire on the beast.

"Go! Remember the name Blackreach!" the sergeant yelled over the din. Missiles from the RPGs streaked overhead and lit up the slick bridge with tiny, glowing reflections of the muzzle flashes. The creature ducked down behind the arch and jumped down off the bridge into the gloom as Julia sprinted under where it had been sitting a moment ago. She wasn't particularly happy to leave her new friends but she'd been given a chance to escape she could not pass up. Running headlong into darkness she hoped she was staying straight and wasn't about to go flying off the bridge at any moment.

From behind her she heard the terrible wings of the dragon beating just before it let out a pealing screech that sounded like a jet turbine screaming in pain. It coincided with orange light and Julia turned to see the dragon expelling a thirty foot long gout of flame as it strafed the bridge. At least one of the soldiers was burned alive by the beast's dread breath and Julia was spurred deeper into the Dark Man's home in the hopes that she would not be next.

Kneeling before him were two of the three people whom had caused Hulme so many headaches. Hooded and cuffed they were no longer a threat but he needed to interrogate them anyway.

"You three have been a pain in my ass since you came here." he started. "But I am not an unreasonable man. Many times you could have killed my men but you didn't. We could have worked something out before but now you have CU blood on your hands."

Pacing around the prisoners he added, "But I'm pragmatic. We'll let you live – at one cost. We want to go home. Get us out of this hell and we'll call it even."

"You're wasting your time, Commander." one of them piped up. "You can kill us but you'll be no closer to leaving. Stone can't free you any more than we can."

"You must be Victor." Hulme said. "Stone was your mentor, your employer once. Tell me about his operation."

"Their drugs pay your salary but they don't care about wealth. It's just a means to an end for most of them. The religion is much more important and they'll sacrifice every last one of you just to be a little closer to their gods."

"You've left before. They have to leave after they've gathered their flowers in order to sell them back in the real world. How does it work?" the mercenary captain demanded.

"You don't understand, Commander." the hooded man shook his head sadly. "They can leave because each of them has enacted the ritual to be allowed to leave. They ask the town for forgiveness and make their escape by its permission, not the other way around. It is not a door to open or shut for all. Had you and your men pure hearts you could come and go as you please. It is your darkness the town craves and it will not let you go so easily."

The hardened soldier had to think on this. It was in direct contradiction to what his employer promised him. One of them was lying and his gut feeling was that it was not the captive before him. Men close to death rarely told lies of that magnitude. "What do you suggest we do then? If we're as doomed as you say then perhaps we can work together."

"Call Stone and get him to us. My friend will make him talk and we can finish our business here. For your help my friend may be able to get you out."

"Your friend? The woman?"

"No, not her." he said and chose to say the next words slowly. "The one in the straight jacket. The Fater. The greatest evil."

"That guy?" Hulme scoffed. "The one who sliced thirty of my men into body bags? You think we'd rely on him after what he did to us?"

"He's pragmatic, like you. All he wants is the Order out of Silent Hill and Stone's head on a plate. Your people aren't a threat to him. Never were."

"We beat him once." the commander snarled.

"You had the Order's help along with their equal resonance. Without them he would have slaughtered you to a man." the prisoner said without guile.

"And I'm supposed to trust the lot of you? Morale is barely hanging on by a thread as is. I've got seven men in the infirmary along with two bagged and tagged thanks to you. That's just from this latest skirmish." Hulme recounted.

"You shot my friend in the head." the second captive spoke for the first time. "What would you have done?"

"Look Commander, you have two options." Victor interjected. "Trust us and get your best shot for walking out of here. Or believe the lies your employer has fed you only to find out too late you chose poorly."

Hulme sincerely hoped that these were not truly his options as he didn't care for either one of them. He could not bring himself to go out on a limb here despite was his heart was telling him. "I'm sorry, I can't." he answered with finality.

"Then you have chosen oblivion for yourself and your men, Commander. Don't bother praying to your gods though. They can't hear you, here."