Chapter 80 The Keeper
The figure with the black lantern was moving away from us.
It did not walk fast. It moved with a slow, steady rhythm, like a pendulum. But every time we blinked, it seemed further away.
"We must follow it," I whispered to the group.
We were completely huddled up inside the giant ribs of the dead dragon. It was freezing inside. Ryker stood next to me, shaking. Pale of skin, lips tinged with blue. Without wolf magic, the cold was devouring him alive.
"If we leave the shelter, we freeze," the Commander said, rubbing his arms to help keep the warmth in. "We should wait for daylight."
"There is no daylight here," Kael reminded him. Pointing at the sky, he said, "And that thing, whatever it is, is heading toward the mountain. Toward the Stone."
Ryker rose to his feet and used the bone wall for support.
"We go," Ryker rasped. "I am not dying in a pile of bones."
We packed our things, and out we went into the ash.
The wind had picked up. It blew grey dust into our eyes and tasted like metal and old age.
We followed the black lantern's light. It was funny, instead of illuminating the surroundings, the lantern just seemed to swallow all other light around it, creating a bubble of darkness in a grey world.
We walked for hours through deep ash, almost like walking through dry snow. My legs burned.
Ryker fell often. Every time, I caught him just in time.
"I'm heavy," Ryker mumbled. "Leave me, Elara."
"Never," I said. "You carried me when I was weak. I will carry you when you are human."
At last, we seemed to be going downhill. We reached the base of the Black Mountain at last.
It didn't resemble solid rock but rather an enormous black glass. Cragged and serrated. At the bottom opened a cave mouth waiting to bite.
The figure with the lantern stood at the mouth of the cave.
It was expecting us.
We stopped ten paces from each other. Van stood with his hand on his pistol but did not unsnap it. A gun felt useless here.
"Is there anybody?" I called. The voice gave small sound in its return of silence.
The figure turned around.
It was tall and thin, wearing a cloak of rag grey just like the ash around him. When he lowered his hood, we gasped.
He was not a monster. He was not a ghost.
He was a man. But he was incomprehensibly old. Paper-thin skin. Incredibly white eyes, as if staring over snow for a thousand years.
"You are loud," the man murmured. His voice was like dry leaves scraping on stone.
"We don't mean to intrude," I said, "but we are merely travelers."
"Travelers go somewhere," the man said. "This is nowhere. This is the End."
He then looked up and raised the lantern. I saw that no flame ignited inside the lantern; instead, there was merely a swirling ball of shadow.
"I am the Keeper," he declared. "I watch over the Silence. Why have you brought noise into my garden?"
"You know where the Stone is, Ryker said as he stood taller, trying to keep himself from being too small. The Void Heart. Here, we know it's here."
The Keeper took sole cognizance of Ryker. His attention rested on the shaking hands, followed by dull eyes pooling with defeat.
"Ah," the Keeper sadly smiled. "A Wolf without a howl. A King without a crown."
"The world burns," I cried. "We have released too much magic. We need the Void Heart to balance it. If we don't take it, everything dies."
The Keeper did not seem surprised at all. He simply nodded slowly.
"The balance was broken," he agreed. "It was much anticipated. The Giver gives too much. The Taker takes too little."
He turned around and walked into the cave.
"Come," he said.
We looked at each other. Then we followed him.
It wasn't dark in the cave. The walls glowed with pale light, and the air was much warmer but quite heavy; it was like walking underwater again.
In the middle of the cavern, there was a white bone pedestal.
Above the pedestal was floating the Stone.
It was about the size of a fist, perfectly round, darker than the darkest night, not reflecting the light but swallowing it. It made me dizzy just from looking at it; it was like standing on the edge of the worlds.
"The Void Heart," Kael whispered. He then pulled out a scanner, but the screen just showed static. "It's a black hole of energy."
"It is beautiful," the Keeper said softly. "It is the only thing that is truly quiet."
I stepped out hesitatingly. The Origin Stone in my chest throbbed sharply. It recognized its twin.
"We need to take it," I said to the Keeper. "Please."
"You can take it," the Keeper said. He sat on a rock nearby. "It belongs to no one. But you cannot carry it for free."
"We have nothing to trade," the Commander said. "Our ship wrecked. No food. No money."
"I do not want your trinkets," the Keeper waved his hand. "To carry the Void, you must make room for it."
He pointed a long, bony finger at me.
"The Origin Stone fills you," he said. "Power. Light. Connection."
He pointed at the black stone.
"This stone is the opposite. It is emptiness. If you touch it, it will require space."
"What kind of space?" I asked, feeling a knot of fear in my stomach.
"It eats connection," the Keeper said. "It eats all the things that bind you to the world. To carry it out of the Deadlands, you must sacrifice a Memory."
"A memory?" Vane asked. "Like... what I had for breakfast?"
"No," the Keeper shook his head. "A Core Memory. Something that defines who you are. Something that anchors you."
He looked at Ryker.
"For a Wolf, the anchor is the Pack. The Mate."
He looked at me.
"For the Vessel, the anchor is the Love."
The silence in the cave became suffocating.
"You mean...," Ryker started, voice quaking. "If I take the stone... I forget her?"
"You will not forget her name," the Keeper said gently. "You will know she exists. But the feeling? The love? The bond? The Void will eat it. It will leave a hole where the emotion used to be."
Ryker took an involuntary step backward. He looked horrified.
"No," Ryker said. "No deal."
"Then the world burns," the Keeper said simply. "And you die here in the ash. And she dies with you."
"I have to find another way," I begged. "Take something else! Take my magic! Take my arm!"
"The Void does not want flesh," the Keeper said. "It wants what is real. Magic is borrowed. Flesh rots. Only Memory is real."
I looked at the black stone, hover there, silent and hungry.
We were trapped. If we didn't take the stone, the Overcharge would destroy the world. The neon jungle would consume everything.
But if we took it... we lost us.
Ryker looked at me. Tears poured from his golden eyes.
"I can't do it, Elara," he whispered. "I can't lose you. Not again. I survived the arena. I survived the war. I survived the poison. I did it all because I knew you were there."
"Ryker," I said, tears spilling down my own face.
"If I forget you," Ryker said, "then who am I? I'm just... a monster."
"You are a good man," I said.
I looked at the stone. I looked at Commander, Kael, and Vane. They were watching us. They knew they couldn't make this choice for us.
I moved closer to Ryker. I grabbed the front of his shirt.
"Ryker, listen to me," I said fiercely. "The world needs you. It needs the King."
"I don't want to be King!" he shouted. The echo bounced off the cave walls. "I just want to be your husband!"
"We don't get what we want," I whispered. "We get what we have to do."
I looked at the Keeper.
"Does it have to be him?" I asked. "Can I carry it?"
"You carry the Origin," the Keeper said. "You are full. If you touch the Void, you will explode. Matter and Anti-Matter cannot touch directly. It must be carried by a neutral party."
He looked at the others.
"The Cyborg is half-machine; he has no soul to carve. The Commander is human; his mind is too weak, it will shatter. The Clone is a copy; his memories are not his own."
The Keeper pointed at Ryker.
"Only the Wolf is strong enough to lose a piece of his soul and keep walking."
Ryker went down to his knees and punched the ground. The ash flew up.
"It’s not fair," Ryker sobbed. "Not fair!"
I went down with him. I cupped his face in my hands.
"Ryker," I said softly. "Look at me."
He looked up. He looked so broken.
"It's just a memory," I lied. My heart was breaking. "We can make new ones."
"But I won't feel them," Ryker said. "I won't feel this." He touched my cheek. "I will look at you and see a stranger."
"Then I will make you fall in love with me again," I promised. "I did it once. I was your enemy. I was the girl in the attic. You hated me. And you still fell in love with me. We can do it again."
Ryker gazed at me. He was searching my face, trying to memorize every inch of it.
"You promise?" he whispered.
"I promise," I said. "I will chase you. I will annoy you. I will fight you. Until you remember."
Ryker took a deep, shuddering breath. He stood up.
He walked to the pedestal.
He reached out his hand toward the Void Heart.
The Keeper stood up.
"Prepare yourself, Wolf," the Keeper said. "The silence is loud."
Ryker looked back at me one last time.
"I love you, Elara," he said. "Remember that for me."
"I love you too," I whispered.
Ryker grabbed the Stone.
SCREEEEEEE.
The sound was not in the room; it was in his head.
Ryker screamed. He threw his head back. His eyes went wide.
I watched the black stone pulse. I saw a silver mist pulled out of Ryker's chest. It swirled into the stone. It looked like smoke.
It was his love.
Ryker fell to the floor. He held on to the black stone in his hand.
He lay there for a long time. Again the cave was silent.
"Ryker?" I whispered.
He slowly sat up.
He looked at the stone in his hand. Then he looked at the wall. Then he looked at Kael.
Finally, he looked at me.
His eyes were cold.
There was no warmth. No spark. No recognition.
"Who are you?" Ryker asked.