COMPENDIUM 2020
STORY 18
VEILWALKER
By Andrew Hawnt
We are not like the
others here. We are Veilwalkers, tasked with protecting the weakest
parts of reality. We are called by wraiths beyond the physical realms
to the locations in time and space that we are needed when there is a
risk to the multiversal continuum.
My name is Paige. I was
born Fae, but as most of my Veilwalker duties focus on earth and the
human cities, I have taken the form of a human woman. I have seen
many ages there, fought through wars alongside humans good and bad,
protected the veil from attack on many occasions, and I have seen
many lovers die.
I am here in the time
designated 2020, sent by my wraith guide, to seal a potential breach
in the veil which has been caused by an intruder from another realm.
I did not expect that
intruder to be one of our own.
Nottingham city centre
was heavy with rain that night, its streets shimmering with street
lights reflected in the rivers of rainwater. The city was still
beautiful, an amalgam of old fashioned and contemporary architecture
that – for once – did not clash against one another. A rarity in
a British city. The centre was overlooked by the ominous form of
Nottingham castle, which was lit from below and acted like a beacon
in the darkness.
It wasn't the castle I
had to go to that night. It was the caves beneath the city. While the
city above ground is vibrant, the labyrinth beneath it is like
visiting another world.
The scrying gem set
into my wrist guard – the only thing I wear that gives away my true
nature – began to throb with the rhythmic purple light of an alert.
The objective was close. I pulled the cylinder of finely etched steel
from its sheath inside my jacket and twisted it in both fists. My
Veilwalker blade sprang forth from the hilt, becoming solid and
bathing me in the soft blue glow of its alien steel.
He did not notice me at
first.
The anomaly yawned
before him, and he conjoured sigils in the air to stretch it further.
The symbols coalesced from glowing lights that danced from his
fingers. He was clearly skilled in the dark arts of manipulating the
Veil. As the anomaly moved, its edges clawing at the air, I could see
that he was absorbing the strange forces that moved within it. He was
stealing Veil energy to feed his own power.
I should have taken his
head there and then, but I hesitated. That was a mistake.
“Paige. I'm
disappointed.”
That voice. It froze my
heart.
“Dalton,” I said,
forcing emotion out of my voice. It wasn't easy.
He turned and I saw the
full extent of the Veil on his body. His shirt was open, and the
musculature I had known every inch of was visible, but it was
different. The veins stood out from the skin, pulsing like worms.
His skin was multiple colours, turquoise mixing into orange and
sickly greens, like a patchwork of bruises. His eyes swirled with the
colours of the Veil itself. He was addicted.
He had reached for his
own blade, and its length erupted into shimmering life before me. The
steel gave off a green pulse. Even its steel had been perverted by
the warp beyond this realm.
“I understand now,”
I heard myself say. “Why you left. I know you wanted more from the
Veil, but not this. Is this really all that matters to you?”
“What else is there?”
came his blunt reply. “What does the physical world matter? What do
people matter? What does matter itself matter when we have the
ability to ascend in the Veil? I know you've felt it, Paige. I know
you use your powers sometimes to create wings and fly amongst the
clouds as you did when you were full Fae. It feels good doesn't it?
To be the gods we were made to be.”
“We're not gods,
Dalton. We're soldiers, and we're supposed to do the duty that goes
with our gifts.”
Dalton grinned. “March
on, brave soldier. March for your god.”
He attacked me and I
had no choice but to fight back. The caves rang out with the sound of
steel against steel. He laughed, and as he did so, the anomaly did as
well. It cracked and shook like a toothless mouth, its throat an
abyss of madness our physical forms could never deal with.
“Stop this! I can
help you! We can seal the anomaly together and get you clean!”
He thrashed at me with
his sword and it took all of my strength to hold him back. The Veil
had pushed his body into new realms of power.
If the hole wasn't
closed soon, it would consume the city above. I thought of those
streets, watched over by their castle, the grand town hall in the
centre of the city sprawl, its stone lions forever keeping guard. I
thought of the people who would be ripped away from life.
I pushed with
everything I had, and Dalton was sent tumbling through the gaping maw
of the hole. He screamed in rage as he fell into what would be
oblivion. I called the sigils of closure up in my mind, my scrying
gem humming with light as I did so. I had to make things safe again.
Before I could, a
sickeningly elongated arm burst forth from the Veil portal. Dalton's
horrifying limb was a twisted mass of bones, bulbous growths and
sinew. Teeth lined the knuckles that had sprouted in the wrong
places. Eyes opened along its fleshy stalk, their pupils also lined
with tiny teeth. Veins slithered around me before the jagged, angular
fingers found me.
Dalton dragged me into
the abyss. My sword fell from my hand as I tried to fight against
being pulled through into the Veil itself, but Dalton's supercharged,
void-warped form was far too strong.
I saw what the Veil was
doing to my former lover now he was fully immersed. I saw a thing of
nightmares. A thing that was wrong. A thing that should never exist.
Within moments, the gargantuan force of it would take me as well.
Instead of binding
sigils, I called upon my original form. The power of the Veil sang
back to me, and silver wings burst forth from my back. Fae wings may
be thin, shimmering things, but by the hidden gods they are strong.
Their force wrenched me free of Dalton's slimy grip and I flew. A
moment of perfect flight where there was no sky above me, no ground
below. Just the Veil and its children.
I hit the ground in the
cave hard, but had to right myself. I pulled myself upright as the
wings fell away in glittering shards.
In the distance of the
Veil, I saw the monstrosity that I had loved hurtling towards me
again, giant, seeping, clawed and insane.
The sigils were drawn
in the air with speed, my fingers calling forth their forms in lines
of purple light. The symbols turned, locked into each other and
became a new form. The binding. It spread over the opening and sealed
it. I could still hear Dalton's screams as it vanished.
I fell to the ground,
exhausted, and listened to my breathing as I stared at the cave roof.
Minutes passed. I
called to my wraith guide.
“The Veil... it's
cracking.”
Then we will fight
harder to protect it, came the reply from across realms.
I pulled myself to my
feet, sheathed my sword back in its casing and twisted the beacon on
the side of my wrist guard. It sent my multiversal coordinates to my
guide, and she would send me where I needed to be.
There was work to do.
“Where next?”
*
©
Andrew Hawnt 2020
About
Compendium 2020:
Compendium
2020 is a project from author Andrew Hawnt that consists of 52 weekly
stories encompassing science fiction, fantasy and horror. They are a
mix of short stories and flash fiction, 100% original and written
throughout 2020. Why is he doing this? To keep the words flowing. To
keep the ideas coming. To dance in worlds that are his and his alone.
To prove that he can.
About
Andrew Hawnt:
You
can find Andrew on Facebook at facebook.com/andrewhawntauthor and on
Twitter and Instagram as @andrewhawnt. Formerly a musician and DJ,
Andrew is known for his books, comic book writing, music journalism
and more, including fiction in Doctor Who Adventures, the Judge Dredd
Megazine and others. His film 'The Demon and I', which was made 100%
in lockdown, is out now on YouTube.
Comments