The TWILIGHT OF THE GODS -Chap. 3
A story of Mantra and Black September
By Aladdin and Christopher Leeson
Posted 5-9-2022
Chapter 3
The Dark Shoppe
A young fig tree its form lifts high
Within a beauteous garden;
And see, a goat is sitting by,
As if he were its warden.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Thanks for clearing that up,” I said sarcastically. “But you still haven't told me what you had to do with that crazy things happened to me today.”
Gabriel sighed and nodded. "It’s complex.”
“Tell me or get out of my life!”
“I did what I had to for the best of reasons.”
“I’ve already got the best of reasons to kill you!”
“I’ll try to explain. Your people don't teach the concept of Zero Time, do they?"
"What’s that and what does it have to do with anything?’"
"Zero Time is simply the eternal now. It’s a commonplace thing, really. You have lived in Zero Time all your life because Zero time is what moves each of us along through life at a natural progression. But we can travel through time in other ways. When a person journeys to a previous point in past time, he enters into 'minus time.' Similarly, a passage into the future places that man in what is called 'plus time.'"
"If you say so,” I said with a scowl.
"By exploring minus time, one discovers causation. Plus time is equally important because it allows us to anticipate probable outcomes. Because a crisis is almost upon us, it is absolutely necessary to scout out future hazards. By recruiting you as a scout and placing your point of view into plus time, I learned a great deal.”
“I didn’t volunteer for anything! Why didn’t you do your own scouting yourself?”
“Because to maintain a consciousness in such an unusual location, it required a great deal of support and maintenance. That support could only come from the outside. I had to remain behind in natural time and anticipate the dangers you face so I could help you avoid them.”
“You did a lousy job. Every danger I ran into socked me right in the jaw!” I stated.
“No, no. Those were inconveniences you that so much distracted you were minor things you were well able to address on your own. My eyes were on those things happening behind the scenes. Your life – the one you’re living here and now -- was never at any risk. You were only a virtual participant in that other world. I digitized a copy of your conscientiousness and placed into a host bodies in that other time-reality.
“It seemed damned real to me!”
“To bring about that effect, I injected you with nanites at the restaurant, and those nanites were duplicated in the bodies of your other-worldly counterparts. You only believed that you traveled to another place and time because the other Mantras believed that they were you, but in reality they never were. You would remember nothing of that other time-line if I hadn’t taken the sum-data gathered by the third Mantra and brought it back to this world, to overwrite your mind. Their memories became your memories. You can see that, can’t you.”
I balled my fists. "If I can believe you, you made me into a digital probe, something that you could sacrifice with no grief to anyone!"
His cheeks reddened. "More or less.”
“Tell me this: After I left, what happened to those other Mantras?”
“Alas, they died only seconds after their downloads into my VIGOPS. The worst danger the probe faced was being caught in any of those universe reboots. The reboot is a disconcerting thing, but it is not a bad thing. It is the Main Branch fighting for its life. The time-lines you saw ceased to exist, though a very similar ones at once came into being. But a reboot can be very damaging and I had to rescue the data stored in your nanites before any of them struck.”
“You monster! Don’t you realize that you made all those versions of me think that their own families were strangers!”
“I realize that, but it was necessary. But considering that they were going to cease to exist so very soon, it did not seem to be an adequate reason not to carry on the surveillance."
"What else did you do? Did you brainwash me so I’d be your enthusiastic lackey?"
"Not at all, my dear fel – Mantra. I would not wish to tamper with the optimum functioning of such a highly efficient problem-solver and fighting machine. I want you just the way you are – with clarity of thought, lightning reflexes, and battle readiness."
“Are all Timekeepers like you – taking incredible liberties with other people's lives?”
“I'm truly sorry, Golden Sorceress.
“Don’t call me that!”
“Pardon me. But often one must be cruel to achieve a beneficent end. Think of a doctor. His scalpel is a wicked instrument, but it is one that is necessary for the treatment of bodily infirmities.”
“Maybe you’re so alien you can’t understand simple right and wrong. I’d be crazy to get involved with a person like you.”
“But I need your willing assistance very much. What can I do to win your confidence?” he asked.
“After the way you’ve convicted yourself, I don’t think it’s possible anymore.”
“I told you the truth instead of telling you a lie that would put me into better lights because I respect you. Does that not count for something?”
“I don’t think it sweetens the pie very much.”
“But I have way to persuade you of the honorableness and importance of my mission. Would you be willing to take a journey with me.”
“No journeys,” I said. “I've got sleeping kids! I have to watch over them.”
"What is the difference between stepping out briefly and going away to work, or to a meeting with friends? Do you not employ babysitters for such contingencies? I anticipated your familial needs and so have brought along a highly qualified babysitter. She is waiting outside your door at this moment."
“She’s there now?”
He nodded.
I regarded the man with incredulity. "I’m pretty sure that whatever lackey you’ve got lined up to scare my kids, she won’t be acceptable to me."
"Oh, she has a frightening side, I grant, but if it is disqualifying quality you will have to decide for yourself. I’ve already sent her a message to come to your portal. Go and have a look."
I glanced to the door and used my mystic scene to confirm that there really was a lifeform beyond it. "No thanks. You let her in. I don’t want to get myself into a crossfire between a pair of Godwheel scoundrels.”
Gabriel obligingly rose from the easy chair and went to the door. When it opened, I saw Eden Blake standing there on the welcome mat.
Eden Blake?
The woman stepped past him, her glittering eyes fixed on me.
"It’s like looking into a mirror,” my doppelganger remarked to Gabriel.
The little man scurried up and place himself between us. "Lukasz -- this is, ah, Lukasz. She’s a temporal clone of yours from one of your possible future timelines."
“She's from the future?” I muttered. My double was dressed in “suburban casual” and didn't appear to be any older than I was. I shifted toward the Timekeeper. "So, you've had a copy of me in your hip pocket all this time!"
“Is that a bad thing?” he asked.
“Its a bad thing if you’re planning to deep-six me and put a ringer in my place.”
"I have no such plan. I recruited Mrs. Blake just today -- as your people reckon calendar dates, I mean. She has all your qualities as a child-rearer. I had to take a few precautions, however, so that her arrival into the Main Bough from a minor timeline would not split us all off into an alternate reality outside the Main Bough."
"If you already have a pet Mantra of your own, why do you need me?"
"Because the coming disaster aimed at the Main Bough can only be effectively dealt with by natural residents of this universe. I’m of this time and universe, and so are you.”
The other Lukasz shook her head, saying, “Look, bro, the little guy is weird, but he’s shown me things to make me a believer. He can do the same for you just as easily. I only wish that I could do the job he wants you to do, since your life hasn’t been already wrecked the way mine has. I’ve got little to lose, but my head is probably too messed up to bring off the kind of delicate operation he’s aiming at."
“What do you mean ‘messed up?’” I asked. “Does it have anything to do with her coming here instead of looking out for her own family?”
"Don’t talk over me as if I'm not here?" my double growled. "My kids -- my own Evie and Gus -- are dead. There! You made me say it. Are you happy?"
That set me back on my heels. "Dead? How?"
She paused long enough to gather strength enough to say the words. "Rune!" Her voice grated with bitterness. "He wanted the Sword of Fangs and took Gus and Evie hostage to coerce me into a trade. I didn't trust he’d play fair, so I gathered a gang of ultras to help me take him on. But he saw us coming and killed the children before giving us one hell of a fight."
I knew about Rune – an alien creature with incredible power and vampiric habits. I’d met him more than once and barely survived the encounters.
"I’m pretty sure you did the right thing,” I told my double, sensible of her pain. “Rune would have killed the kids no matter what you did. He relishes killing."
She looked away. "I know he would have. Or at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself every day since I made the losing move."
I knew how she felt. I’d seen a version of my son Gus dying right before my eyes because of my “losing choice.”
"When does Rune strike?" I asked through a tight throat.
"For me, it was October 17, two years from now,” she said. “It happened because of a stupid mistake I’d made on the Godwheel. I called Eden Blake by her own name in front of some 'friends.' But one of them was Rune. The devil was standing there along with us in disguise. With information enough to track me down once we returned to Earth, he was able to take me surprise.”
A shiver ran through me. I had made that exact same mistake. But in my reality Rune had flown through a gate into another universe – hopefully never to return.
Gabriel touched my sleeve. "It probably won't happen in this world, Mrs. Blake. That dreadful event occurs in only a very few of Mantra’s many possible futures."
I clenched my fists. "Well, I’m going to make sure it won’t occur in this future. One way or another, I'm going to kill that blood-sucking bastard – just as soon as I know that he’s shown up in this universe again!"
"I hope you can do that,” the other Lukasz said. “But if you want to live past tomorrow evening, take very seriously what Gabriel has to say."
This was too absurd! Now I was being told what to do by myself! The strangeness of this conversation was giving me a headache.
I threw a frown Gabriel’s way. “What, exactly, is this journey that you were talking about?” I demanded.
Suddenly, the world spun.
#
Everything went blank, but then quickly rematerialized around me. When it did, I wasn't in Canoga Park anymore.
I was flabbergasted to realize where I was.
It was a medieval-style alehouse, built from study timber and stone. Tart smoke filled the air, along with the bouquet of fermented beverages and repulsive odors that had part and parcel of the Middle Ages. When my daze wore off, I noticed that the people filling the chairs roundabout the plank tables were wearing costumes that hadn't been fashionable since the Tenth Century.
Incredible! I knew that this wasn't just any alehouse; it was the Dark Shoppe. Centuries ago, it had served as a clearing house for arcane information. In those days, it had been run by a prophetess.
And quite an effective prophetess.
What had been her name? Diana.
Just then, a raucous male voice sounded off:
"'God's Blood, wench! From whence hast thou appeared in the wink of an eye? Were I elsewhere than in Ye Dark Shoppe, I would be damning myself for a drunken sot. But this e’er hath been place of miracles. Tell me, lass, hail ye from Faery or art thou of mortal kind?"
I turned to behold a large knight seated at a table and clutching a tankard in his oversized fist. I thought it was a face that I should know. Beside him sat a younger blade wearing an embroiled tabard over a mail shirt. This one, too, looked familiar.
"Your name, sir knight?" I asked cautiously, addressing him in the same dialect of Old French that he’d used.
"Sir Lukasz at thy service," he said cheerily. Then, nudging the youth, he added, "And this callow good-for-nothing be my squire, Thanasi."
I was staggered. But, yet, why should it surprise me to be confronting Lukasz and Thanasi centuries in the past? Hadn't I just come from interviewing Eden Blake about a babysitting job?
"Cry mercy! What costume be’eth that, milady?" my mail-clad doppelganger inquired. "Art thou pursued by villains and compelled to travel in male attire? Faith, madam. Not e’en the most cracked-brained varlet could e’re mistaketh thee for any sort of boy."
When I failed to reply, he persisted: "Fair one, tarriest a while. Thy beauty hath the vintage bouquet of Helen of Troy and I would fain know thee better."
I’s been taken off balance by being accosted by myself, but I wondered whether I shouldn’t in fact pause and speak to him. By pretending to be a prophet friend of Diana, I might alert my counterpart to bad things coming down the chute. I could even warn him about Thanasi. But should I? Wasn't it dangerous to meddle with history? By trying to help him, I might get him killed before his time, like I had not long before intervened to help Lauren Sherwood’s doppleganger with fatal results. If I simply let him go his own way, I could count on him surviving for another thousand years.
As I vacillated, Gabriel took me by the arm. "Come," he whispered.
"Lady!" the knight called after us -- but I didn’t look back. The Lukasz of this era would be immersed in his contemporary concerns. Those concerns meant little in perspective of the Twenty-first century.
"Gabriel," I said to the little man at my side, "this is nuts. What’s it all for? I’m impressed, but it’s more likely an illusion than anything real. Take home – now."
"Not yet. You need to learn more. The person whom I most wish you to meet in the Dark Shoppe is not Sir Lukasz. You remember Diana the Mystic, I presume?"
"Of course. Is she here?"
I glanced from side to side, scanning for the woman. Through the lamp smoky lamplight, I saw her standing by a plank table, watching us attentively.
As we drew nearer, the Mystic addressed me."So, you are the Eden whom I've been hearing about." If she already knew my name, it had to mean that Gabriel had briefed her in advance.
"I suppose I am," I answered guardedly. "Tell me something I don't know."
The raven-haired beauty looked me over with what I took for mild amusement. That caused me to wonder if she knew that I was a future version of Lukasz – an embarrassing thought, one can imagine. But she sent her next words to Gabriel. "The bull-in-the-china-shop way you've come barging into my timeline tells me that I've just been cloned again," she said.
The little man smiled as one would to a friend. "It's all in a good cause. The creation of a new copy of yourself will in part make up for the two excellent clones of yours who died recently in Zero Time."
Our hostess reacted with only a flutter of her eyelids. "I hope they didn't suffer," she sighed, "at least not like some of the others have."
I looked askance. That was a very low-keyed reaction to the deaths of persons who were, essentially, her identical sisters.
The Timekeeper beside me clicked his tongue commiseratively. "Their attacker was a possessed demigoddess. Such power! Their suffering must have lasted less than a second. On the other hand, your original is still well and thriving."
Diana shook her head. “Wonderful! A few minutes ago, I was the original. I sometimes wonder what possessed me to agree to live this kind of life!” Then, with a grim smile, she asked, “Can I offer you two a platter with a tankard?"
I demurred. "I don't think my Twentieth Century body could survive the microbes of the Tenth Century. Anyway, I just ate at the mall."
She smiled slightly. "You'd probably be safe. I've trained my cook staff to prepare food according to Twentieth Century standards.”
For the first time, I had cause to wonder whether Diana had originally been a Twentieth or Twenty-first Century human. Of course! Her accent, which I had always found so unplaceable, had been Norman French spoken with the cadence of American English.
Suddenly, I saw the Mystic freeze in place with her glance fixed and staring right through me. I looked bemusedly toward Gabriel.
“She's fine,” said the man. “She's merely receiving her latest VIGOPS update, one I that set up for her just before bringing us here. All Timekeeper agents need to be kept well informed.”
"All this is as strange as hell,” I told him, “but it hasn’t made me believe in real gods and doomsdays."
The scientist shook his head. “It is strange that you should mention real gods. Our most dangerous foe will be a being whom even the Timekeepers would not hesitate to call a true god.”
Gabriel had conveyed that bit of information with uncharacteristic solemnity and gravity. A god? What in hell was he asking me to get involved in?
“If there’s a god in the woodpile,” I replied, “why not bring in another hundred ultras and give me a fighting chance against him?”
“I assure you, in a test of strength against strength, a hundred ultras, even if all had the power of Loki and Thor, could not prevail against such an adversary.”
I threw up my hands. "If that’s so, what in hell do you expect me to accomplish? Loki by himself was strong enough to eat me for supper. And I don’t think Thor would have been any less formidable.”
The Timekeeper grimaced. "There is much you do not know, and the story is neither short nor simple."
"Then be less stingy with the information you’re giving out!” I told him.
"That’s the Timekeepers for you," put in Diana. "Their control of Time’s flow tends to rob them of any sense of urgency.”
I looked at her and smiled. "I’m glad to see you again, Diana. Gabriel thought you’d be able to tell me something that would make me believe the wacky story he’s been feeding me. Is he right?”
Her expression became thoughtful and then seated herself. Her movements had always been notable for their grace. I now had caused to wonder if she hadn’t been a fashion model back in the States. If I hadn’t been haunted by the memory of my late wife, Marinna back in those days, I would have made a better effort to get to know her.
"Well, one thing I’ve been told,” Diana said, “is that you are, in spirit at least, the same person as that knight who is sitting across the room."
"You don’t seem surprised."
She gave a resigned smile. “I’ve been living with time paradoxes for so long that I don’t find very much that can still surprise me. But I understand that you’ve become an ultra and have a family. That's good."
"It’s not so great being an ultra."
"I mean having a family. I have never had time for one. After I was recruited by the Timekeepers, I realized that I couldn’t give a husband and children – well, time enough. The work I do is important, but all along I’ve been wondering whether it wouldn’t be even more fulfilling if it could directly benefit people that I love."
“I suppose it might, but love hurts, too.”
She nodded. "So I’ve heard. Many details about your current activities were in my latest download.”
I frowned. “Do you ever worry that these Timekeepers might be feeding you a pack of lies?”
"You really sound like someone from the early Twenty-first Century.”
“Where you come from?”
“Exactly.”
“Here’s something I always wondered about. You’ve always seemed to be the same age every time I’ve met you. How does that work?”
“Advanced science. I do age very slowly, but when I start slowing down a different technology is able to rejuvenate me, cell by cell. You'll have the option to gain similar longevity if you become a time agent for the long-term."
"My old master Archimage never aged as long as I knew him, and he told me that my magic was going to keep me young, too.”
"That may be, but to answer your main question is a tall order. It's hard to decide where to begin.”
“A person seldom goes wrong if he starts at the beginning,” I advised her.
TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 4
