Moon stared at Royal, his eyes reflecting the flames. Most of the gaps in his first beard had filled in.

  “Royal, you pushed me.”

  “Still harping on that? For all the rings, Moon. I was fed the fuck up. You were turning into a whiny little cunt.” He imitated a girl. “‘I want to see my family.’ ‘I hate it here.’ ‘Where are we going?’ ‘Why aren’t we there yet?’”

  “I did not sound like that.”

  “It was worse, but I knew a trip to the abyss would set you straight. First time I was killed, I took two flash pegs to the head point-blank. The next day, when I realized nobody could waste me for good, I took charge of my life. I became a man, not a whiny little cunt.”

  “That’s when you started killing all those people. Right?”

  Royal massaged his bushy silver beard. He’d spent much of their journey recounting his many escapades, including his stint as a serial killer in Pinchon. He added more flair to the stories than he did when confessing his sins to the Scroll on Huryo.

  “Got a taste and never looked back, Moon.”

  “Because a real man has the guts to accept what he is.”

  “That’s my mantra. You starting to understand what I mean?”

  “I understand, Royal, but I don’t agree.”

  “How so?”

  “You think humans are just animals pretending to be civilized. You want to fight that lion because you don’t have a pistol or a knife. You think it’d be a fair fight.”

  “Fair or not, it would hurt like fuck. I don’t have that bastard’s claws. But yeah, I wouldn’t mind having a go. Worst case, I’d regen in ten or twelve minutes, no problem.”

  “If it didn’t rip your head off.”

  “Like I’ve said, being immortal elevates risk-reward to another level. Do stupid shit that gets ordinary mortals killed, and you’ll almost always come out the other side feeling like a champ. If I didn’t do stupid shit, you and your family wouldn’t be alive.”

  There it was. The ace in the hole.

  Royal fell back on it during moments like this, when he saw Moon’s pent-up anger bubble to the surface. The kid owed him a colossal debt; an occasional reminder tended to lower the temperature. Royal knew it was a cheap move, but he couldn’t deny success. Moon always settled down when reminded, took stock of his predicament, and appeared to understand the stakes. Royal was the only friend he had; as a rookie immortal, he needed a veteran’s guidance.

  Not to mention the company.

  They’d been walking for weeks (or was it months?) with their destination apparently no closer. They sometimes debated how much time passed. They had no tech; only a few basic supplies in a backpack. The sun neither rose nor fell. Instead, daylight appeared without warning and at some later point vanished, despite a sky full of protostars. Perhaps the entire business was a mind fuck. Perhaps no time had passed at all, and they’d wake from a dream, with that red-haired man standing over them.

  Except their beards, longer hair, and perpetual rumble in their bellies seemed a bit too real for a dreamscape.

  Food and water arrived when needed most. Berries and nuts over here. A freshwater stream over there. And what’s this? A net lying beside a crystal clear river where fish swim in great schools?

  The red-haired man who greeted them upon their arrival in the Origin said little that first day while they cleaned their plates. He never gave his name – Royal later decided to call him Gingerbread – and responded to most questions with “too much information.” He allowed them to nap then handed Moon a backpack and pointed to a nearby range of thick, forested hills.

  “That way,” he said. “You’ll find Bessios on the other side.”

  “What’s Bessios?” Royal asked.

  “Too much inf …”

  “Don’t you say it, asshole.”

  “Information.” The man smiled. “It will be your home, Rider.”

  “My name is Royal. I told you already. His name is Moon. What’s with this Rider crap?”

  “You know. Deep down. Very far down. You should go now.”

  “Why? What’s the rush?”

  “There isn’t one. There never will be. There never was.”

  Royal saw a renewed terror in Moon, whose eyes filled with water.

  “If you’re trying to wind us up, you’re doing a damn good job. Speak like a real fucking person.”

  The man stepped between Royal and Moon and draped a hand on each man’s shoulder.

  “There’s no cause for anger. You will live forever in peace. You are among the luckiest few. Please. I need you to leave now. Follow my instructions. I’ll see you again when you near Bessios.”

  The man walked back behind them as they exited the cabin and told them to follow the uneven, rocky path into the nearby woods. The rest they’d find through instinct. Royal looked behind to see the creature dissolve top-down into silver raindrops which rose toward the sky.

  “They’re screwing with us, Moon.”

  “Who, Royal?”

  “Dunno. They seem to enjoy it.” He pointed. “Give me that.”

  Moon handed over the backpack, which appeared fresh off a store shelf but stuffed with goodies. Royal opened the main pouch and found the Splinter stained with Moon’s dried blood. The singularity at the center no longer glowed.

  “So much for that harebrained idea. I figured they wouldn’t let us tether out of here.”

  He rummaged through the supplies, all of which seemed geared for survival. Royal shoved the Splinter to the bottom.

  “Why bother?” Moon said. “It’s worthless now.”

  “I like to keep my options open.” He scanned the topography, which he might have found awe-inspiring under better circumstances. “Shit. Guess they want us to walk. Let’s move.”

  Moon wiped his tears.

  “I don’t understand any of this, Royal.”

  “Look, kid. We’re alive. That’s Point A. Now we look for Point B. Maybe it’s this place he mentioned. Bessios. Time for a little hike.”

  That little hike turned into a journey across many horizons. Bessios was not, as ‘Gingerbread’ promised, on the other side of the hills. They found no evidence of civilization. Yet the occasional bread crumbs – such as the fishing net adjacent to the river – suggested they weren’t off course.

  Five days had passed since Royal spotted the mountain lion’s tracks, and three since they heard its nighttime growl. Tonight, as they sat around the campfire, the lion stalked its closest yet, its sleek movements sometimes caught in the fire’s glow. If it was ready to pounce, shouldn’t they have a plan? Who would it come after first? How would they take it down before it mauled either immortal? Instead of setting a strategy, they bickered, and Royal used his “I saved you and your family” trump card.

  Moon tossed his stick into the fire and retreated into himself. He brought his knees in close to his chest and made a nest with his arms. He lowered his head inside.

  Shit. Here we go again.

  The last time he saw Moon take this position, the Hokki held it for a couple of hours and did not say a word. Royal did, however, have to listen to sobs. The kid was up one day and bitter the next. He alternated between a budding young survivalist with some mean skills for adapting to nature and a self-pitying crybaby who wished he'd been killed for good above Hokkaido.

  Royal wasn’t going to put up with another round of this nonsense. He took a seat next to Moon.

  “Hey, look. I’m sorry I used the F-word. Every time I mention them, you go into a funk. I’ll try to be more careful, but you gotta work with me, Moon. I reckon that’s the whole damn point: It’s you and me in this together. Whatever this is.

  “And listen, I know I play up my one big turn as a hero, and act like you ought to spend your life paying me back for it. Truth is, I’m a walking, talking piece of shit who did one good deed. I got no right to make it out as more than it was. I guess I’m proud of myself because I never saw it coming.”

  Moon mumbled with his head down.

  “You did other good deeds, too.”

  “Nah. Not as I can recall. I mean, I did some shit that had good outcomes, but not because I’m a nice guy.”

  “My brothers and sisters liked you.”

  “Come again?”

  Moon raised his head and sniffled.

  “After you came to dinner at our house, the little ones couldn’t stop talking about you. Liu and Lin wanted you back for breakfast. Little kids see a person’s heart. If you were a bad man, they’d have known.”

  “Huh. I appreciate that, Moon. That’s nice. But those kids are five. They don’t know the world, and they don’t know shit about me. Think they’d feel the same if they knew how many people I’ve killed?”

  Moon stared at Royal.

  “If they did, they’d beg you to stop.”

  “And if I told them I can’t?”

  “They’d feel sorry for you, but they wouldn’t hate you.”

  “Bet they wouldn’t invite me back to dinner.”

  Moon cracked a smile.

  “They’d have to draw the line somewhere.”

  “There you go. Some of that dark Moon humor. I wanna hear more. Work hard at it; you might be able to keep pace with my zingers.”

  Royal took pride in salvaging the moment. The tactic of ‘sitting down and talking it out’ wasn’t his speed, but he was learning. Early in their journey, when Moon’s emotions fluctuated wildly, Royal considered another avenue to keep the unstable teen happy. However, one touch in the right spot told Royal all he needed to know about the kid’s sexuality. They would never be intimate. Maybe it was for the best; no one satisfied him since Exeter.

  Moon rubbed his stomach.

  “I think I’m funnier when I’m not hungry all the time.”

  “Yeah, well. I figure our luck’s about to change on that score.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Hear that mountain lion?”

  “Yes.”

  “It ain’t a mountain lion. I started to suspect a couple days ago. A real beast would have tried to take us out by now. What I said before about it not attacking because we’re immortal? Well, that’s true. It knows us from way back.”

  Moon sat up straight.

  “Wait. Are you saying it’s …?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “I had the same suspicion, but I thought I was paranoid.”

  “Yeah, no. What do you say we end this shit?”

  “Please.”

  “Hey, Gingerbread! Come on out and join us. Two legs, if you don’t mind.”

  A tall shadow advanced from the edge of the firelight, its predatory eyes glowing amber. When the red-haired man emerged, his eyes settled into a soft hazel. He wore a khaki tunic.

  “How did you know it was me, Rider?” He asked.

  “Because I’m not a fucking dumbass, and the name is Royal.”

  “Habit. My apologies.”

  “Does this mean we’re close to Bessios?” Moon said.

  “You’ve always been close, Moon.”

  “We’ve been walking forever.”

  “You weren’t ready to make the necessary turn.”

  Royal waved their exchange to a halt.

  “OK, two things, Gingerbread. One: How about you sit your ass down? Two: How about you speak straight to us this time? No more obtuse bullshit like you handed out back at the start.”

  “This I can do, to a point.” Gingerbread sat on the far side of the fire, legs crossed. “What would you like to know?”

  “You’re not human, so what are you?”

  “I belong to a collective intelligence known as the Overseer. We are tasked to maintain order and balance within the Origin.”

  “Who tasked you?”

  “Too much information.”

  “Oh, you asshole. I can’t make it through two questions.”

  Moon raised his hand.

  “How long have we been here?”

  “In relation to the Origin, you’ve always been here, and always will be. However, I believe your question demands an answer founded in the human construct of linear time.”

  “Yes. How long?”

  “Linear time does not actually exist, although it is the subject of much debate, as you will discover. I will avoid being obtuse: You have been walking for five standard months, as defined by humans in the Alpha, or foundation, universe.”

  “Fuck me,” Royal whispered.

  “It can’t be,” Moon said. “It hasn’t been long enough. We should be exhausted and we should have lost much more weight.”

  Gingerbread tilted his head in machine-like fashion.

  “Your beard did not grow overnight.”

  “I never had one before. I don’t know how long it takes to …”

  “This is not a matter that should concern you. The fixation on time is beside the point. It does not exist here. It never did. One day soon, you will awake refreshed. Your minds will align with the Continuum and accept the non-existence of linear time. Then you will truly be at peace forever in Bessios.”

  Royal snapped his fingers.

  “I know that word. Continuum. That’s what Amayas called the energy field surrounding The Hold. He said it kept us in balance.”

  “More than he realized. More than the Jewels of Eternity before him. Your mentor exceeded his grasp.”

  “He’s been here, too.”

  “A brief but necessary incursion. He’s not important. Only you, Rider.” Gingerbread turned to Moon. “And you, Rider.”

  Moon and Royal shared a glance. Moon spoke for them both.

  “Who is this Rider?”

  “I’ve watched you closely, as is my purpose. I have come to the conclusion, as have the entire Overseer, that you are genuinely in the dark. We can’t be sure if we have reached the Prelude or the Deception, but you will be tested. We must be certain.”

  “Prelude? Deception? Test? Seriously? Asshole, the kid asked a valid question. Why didn’t you just say ‘too much information’ if the answer was gonna be a shit-ton of word salad?”

  Gingerbread frowned, the first sign of any distress.

  “Perhaps if I put it to you this way, you will have a greater appreciation of what lies ahead. At the moment, you are the two most important beings in the nine universes. You hold their fate in your hands. You always have.”

  Royal didn’t want to admit Gingerbread sounded sincere.

  “Now I know you’re full of shit. Us two? Nine universes? Why can’t you be straight with us?”

  “I apologize. I articulated with clarity. Is there a word you don’t understand? I thought by now Rider would hear me.”

  “I don’t know what Rider’s up to, but Royal hears just fine, and he’s pissed. So’s Moon. Right, Moon?”

  “I’m fed the fuck up. You had us walking for five months, and you still won’t tell us what’s going on.”

  Gingerbread rose to his feet.

  “I’m afraid that’s as far as I can proceed. Now the Destroyers will have to test you. It will be a fair test.”

  Royal rose to meet him.

  “Destroyers?”

  Night turned to day in a blink.

  “More of your kind are waiting, Royal. I wish you good fortune.”

  6

  R OYAL DID NOT ALLOW Gingerbread to walk away. He grabbed the red-haired man and spun him about. Those soft hazel eyes flashed like beacons. Royal expected him to dissolve into silver raindrops, but Gingerbread studied Royal with down-turned lips which signaled pity.

  “You got some explaining to do. What are these Destroyers? What are they planning for us?”

  “They’re men and women just like you, Royal. Most from humble beginnings, but bound by a common talent.”

  “Which is?”

  Gingerbread answered with a stare. Royal didn’t need to look deep to find the right words.

  “They’re killers, too. Right?”

  “We prefer Destroyers. If this is the Prelude, and you are also a Destroyer, then he is the Observant.” Gingerbread glanced at Moon. “I trust you’ll know what that entails before the fight begins. Now, I must go. If the test succeeds, I’ll meet you again outside Bessios.”

  “Where do we go now?”

  “Any direction you choose. The Destroyers will find you. Don’t try to elude them.”

  Gingerbread pulled away seconds before he dissolved into rain.

  “What did he mean, Royal? He called me the Observant.”

  “I can guess. He’s saying I’m a killer and you’re not. Observers stand on the sidelines. This is my fight.”

  “No. I won’t accept that. I killed people. I can do it again.”

  “You had nothing to lose on that Swarm ship. It was you or them. People change when instinct takes over. We shut off distractions and give in to the need to survive. That’s not the same as walking toward a fight. You got time to think about dying. That fucks with your mind – especially an amateur like you.”

  Moon balled his fists. Royal saw the hurt in his eyes.

  “Amateur? I killed Aunt Hoija because I wanted to. She deserved it. I’m stronger than you think. Father never believed I could make the hard choices, either.”

  “Bullshit. If Bonju didn’t believe in you, he’d have kept you out of his business. Look, Moon. I don’t know what we’re facing, but I need to take point on this.”

  “I’m immortal now. I don’t fear death.”

  “That right there’s your first mistake, kid. An immortal can be killed. A sharp blade through your neck. A burn pit. An eternity in the fucking abyss. Listen, Moon. I think about death. What you see is a cocky jackass doing stupid shit when he ought to know better. Truth is, I don’t walk into a situation where I know I’m gonna die, unless I’m also pretty sure I’ll come out the other side intact. I don’t know what to think about this deal.”

  Moon grabbed the backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

  “We’re partners, Royal. We survived together and we’ll fight together. You’re not going to push me aside. And I’m no kid.”

  Royal thought he delivered a compelling speech about death, yet it made no impression on Moon. He saw a familiar light in the young man’s eyes. He remembered what it felt like to be a newly-minted, teenage immortal.