Chapter 80 OCEAN OF ASH
The roar of the engine had become inaudible after a while. That mechanical hum, deafening at first, was now just a part of their minds. The Goliath moved not on wheels but on tracks, traversing a valley that resembled a dried-up riverbed under a purple sky.
There was no snow outside. There was none of the whiteness, the innocence of snow. What fell from the sky was the residue of a burnt civilization. Grey, sticky, throat-burning ash.
Dorian sat in the dimly lit rear section of the vehicle, his back resting against the cold metal. His eyes were closed, but he wasn't sleeping. He couldn't sleep. The concept of sleep had been erased for him ever since he returned from that mirror. There was only "standby mode." His mind crackled like a broken radio trying to tune into thousands of channels at once.
Lyra was in a deep sleep in her stroller. But even in her sleep, her tiny fingers tightly gripped the hem of Dorian’s jacket. Everyone in the vehicle knew, though no one voiced it, that if that contact was broken, Dorian’s plug would be pulled.
"He's not eating," Serra said. Her voice seemed to come out not to drown the engine noise, but to break the silence.
Dorian opened his eyes. In his grey irises, there was no trace of the old Dorian’s warmth. His gaze locked not on Serra, but on the bulging black vein on her neck.
"I'm not hungry," Dorian said. His voice was rusty.
"It's not you," Serra said, holding the can of food out to him. "It’s him. The void inside. If you don't feed it, it will start drawing more from Lyra."
Dorian took the can. He didn't even look at what was inside. He just brought it to his mouth like he was refueling. It had no taste. Nothing had any taste. Even Serra’s scent... That smell of vanilla and earth that used to make his head spin had now given way to that metallic sickness resembling rotting leaves.
From the front, Lukas’s curse was heard. The vehicle jerked to a halt.
"What happened?" Kael shouted, instantly grabbing his rifle. He had sprung from the corner where he was dozing like a coiled spring.
"The road ended," Lukas said. His voice came crackling through the intercom. "Or rather... the road lifted up."
Dorian stood up, careful not to jostle Lyra. He moved to the front cockpit, next to Lukas.
The scene before them was the suicide of the laws of physics.
The highway ahead hung suspended in the air as if ripped up by a giant hand. Chunks of asphalt, concrete blocks, and old-world cars floated about twenty meters off the ground in an invisible zero-gravity field.
"Gravity anomaly," Valeria said. She sat in the back, hands cuffed. Although the bruises on her face had started to heal, that mocking smile was still on her lips. "Your father’s ritual punctured the earth’s magnetic field, Dorian. In some zones, gravity has reversed. If we enter that field, we’ll float right out of the atmosphere along with this pile of scrap."
"Can we go around it?" Serra asked.
Lukas tapped the map panel. The screen was static. "What 'around'? It’s like this everywhere. The compass is spinning. We’ve lost our sense of direction."
Dorian approached the glass. Inside the purple fog outside, he sensed movement among the floating rocks. Shadows. But not ordinary shadows. These were fluid.
"Kill the lights," Dorian said suddenly.
"What?"
"Kill the lights, Lukas! Now!"
Lukas flipped the switch without hesitation. Goliath was plunged into pitch darkness. Only the sickly glow of the purple sky outside seeped in.
"Why did we stop?" Serra whispered. Atlas had started to stir in her arms.
"Listen," Dorian said.
First came the sound of the wind. Then, the sound of metal scraping against metal. And then, that sound.
Click... Click... Click...
Something was jumping over the floating rocks. Something landed on Goliath’s roof. Something heavy.
Kael silently flicked the safety off his rifle. Everyone held their breath. The sound on the roof turned into a high-pitched screech, like claws raking against the vehicle's armor.
"What are those?" Lukas whispered, gripping the steering wheel.
"Scavengers," Valeria said. Her voice held fear for the first time. "Failed experiments of the Shadow Council. They were released when the palace collapsed. They are sensitive to light, but they can smell... they can smell fear from miles away."
The screeching on the roof stopped. There was a moment of silence.
Then, a face appeared at the reinforced glass on Goliath’s left side.
It looked human, but its skin was transparent. The muscle fibers and black blood vessels underneath were visible. It had no eyes; just two slits where its nose should be, and a mouth full of needle-like teeth.
The creature banged on the glass. Then again. No crack formed on the glass, but that impact made everyone’s heart inside skip a beat.
Dorian reached his hand toward the glass.
"Don't," Serra said. "You'll wake Lyra."
"I have to scare them off," Dorian said. "Or they'll call the pack."
Dorian pressed his palm against the glass. The grey smoke in his eyes darkened. That "void" inside him focused on the creature on the other side of the glass. A sort of telepathic scream, a silent command.
VANISH.
The creature flinched. It paused as if looking at Dorian with eyes it didn't have. Then, letting out a pained hissing sound, it threw itself backward and disappeared into the purple fog.
But when Dorian pulled his hand back, he stumbled. He fell to his knees.
"Dorian!" Serra rushed to him.
In the stroller, Lyra suddenly started crying. Her scream was so loud that the glass inside the vehicle vibrated.
"Her energy is dropping," Valeria said coolly. "Making mental contact with that thing drained his battery. Silence the baby or she'll announce our location to the entire valley."
"Don't call her a battery!" Serra shouted, turning to Valeria. Her eyes were teary, but her glare was as fierce as a tiger's.
Kael picked Lyra up. The big man made strange, rhythmic movements to calm that tiny body. "Shh, okay princess. Okay, daddy's here. Daddy just got tired."
Lukas started the engine again. "We can't stay here. That creature is gone, but it will come back. We have to go through the anomaly. There is no other way."
"So we're going to fly?" Kael said, resting Lyra on his shoulder.
"Better than falling," Lukas said, and floored the gas.
Goliath roared and plunged into that invisible wall, the point where gravity ended.
A nauseating sensation. It felt like an elevator cable had snapped; their internal organs rose to their mouths. As its tracks left the ground, the massive armored vehicle lifted off. The tons of metal began to spin like a feather among the floating rocks.
"Atlas!" Dorian shouted, trying to get up from the floor. "Hold Atlas!"
Atlas had already slipped from Serra’s lap and started floating toward the ceiling. The baby was laughing. This chaos was a playground for him.
"I can't steer!" Lukas yelled. The wheel was spinning uselessly. The tracks were churning air.
The vehicle was hurtling toward a massive floating concrete block. A collision was inevitable.
"Brace yourselves!"
Just then, Atlas clapped his tiny hands together.
CLAP.
A ring of purple energy formed around the Goliath. Millimeters before impact, the vehicle slowed down as if it had hit an invisible cushion and floated around the concrete block.
Lukas checked the panel, breathless. "Engaging thrusters. We have to swim through the air."
Dorian looked at his son, who was hanging upside down on the ceiling. Atlas waved at his father as if he were doing the most normal thing in the world.
"We're going," Dorian said, taking Serra’s hand. He strapped himself into the seat. "North. By air."
Below, the pack of those creatures had gathered, howling at the sky. But Goliath was moving away now, out of their reach, swimming like a metal whale in the ocean of zero gravity.
Dorian looked out the window at the endless rain of ash. The void inside him was still there. But Serra’s hand was warm. And for now, that was enough.