~Abraham of Enoch, in a speech countering General Adaoniz de Charrique’s criticism of the Communist philosophy
Vincent was smiling. He was also intact – there was no gash across his stomach, though his face was still cut and bruised. Mikhail looked happy to see him, Michaela slightly worried, and Fineas slightly confused. If I could have seen my own face, I probably would have described it as terrified.
Vincent had died – him and Psy, who I assumed had been possessing him, had been burned into nothingness by the strange black silhouette. He couldn’t still be alive.
I backed away slowly as everyone else greeted him with smiles and laughter. Vincent turned to face me. “Jak! You survived too!” He broke out from the group and walked towards me. I stopped backing up.
“Stay away from me!” I snarled, shaking.
Vincent stopped, and a look of confusion crossed his face. “Jak? What’s wrong?”
I glared at him, not moving, and I said nothing. Vincent hesitantly took another step forward. “Stay away from me!” I said again, and took a step back.
Everyone else had gathered behind Vincent. “Jak? What’s the matter with you?” Michaela sounded concerned.
Vincent half-smiled. “Maybe he thinks I’m a ghost come to haunt him.” Everyone else laughed nervously.
I did not laugh. I was terrified of this thing before me – I didn’t even know if it was Vincent. “Who are you?”
Vincent again looked confused. “I’m Vincent? Don’t you remember me?”
“What’s your real name?” I wondered if he would say Andrea.
“Vincent. Vincent Cellitti Magritto. Or technically, Vinzetti Cellitti Magritto, but I prefer Vincent.”
I stood there for a few more moments, staring at Vincent. He looked normal, he sounded normal – his eyes had that same life that they had always had. As I inspected him, I gradually became convinced that this really was Vincent standing before me. Maybe the Vincent I had seen earlier had been an illusion created by Psy, telling me a fake life story invented by the psychic being. I was still uneasy, though – if it had been an illusion, why did Psy include the massive gash, the unnatural eyes, and the changing voice?
Gradually, I forced myself to relax. I lowered my head. “My apologies. I – just had a rather vivid nightmare where you returned from the dead to kill us at the whim of some psychic thing.”
Everyone laughed softly. “Is that what that headache was?” Michaela asked. “Were you half-asleep on watch?”
I nodded. “Sorry.”
Michaela laughed. “It’s okay. None of us died. And this really is Vincent. I promise.” I nodded, and walked over to everyone else. I shook Vincent’s hand, apologized again to him, and talked with him for a few moments. I still wasn’t completely comfortable.
Then we all sat down in a circle and began to fill in Vincent on all that had happened since the mysterious explosion of the ship. I remained silent throughout most of it, watching Vincent, as well as Michaela and Adam. I was pretty sure that Michaela had been sleeping with Vincent before the explosion, and had rather quickly hooked up with Adam shortly afterwards. I felt a small pang of sympathy for Michaela, as she was in a rather awkward situation now. I wondered who she would choose.
After a few minutes, everyone present save Vincent had explained how they had escaped (Michaela had explained how I had as part of her story). Michaela turned to Vincent.
“Not that I’m not happy that you’re alive, but how did you manage to survive? I saw the beast shatter your skull! Your brains were all over the floor!”
Vincent smiled. “I’m not entirely sure. Perhaps Gerald came back after the beast had run off, and fixed me. I honestly don’t know. I remember the thing having my head in its jaws, then a burst of pain, and then… nothing. Then, the next thing I knew, I was awake, in the middle of the forest. I have no idea how I got there.”
Everyone looked rather unnerved at this. I was, too – he had clearly been very dead before, and was now clearly very much alive.
Once our reunion was over, Michaela, Mikhail and I set out for our turn of searching. We went in the opposite direction of the plains, towards where the trees became extremely dense. The trees soon became a wall that none of us could slip through. We walked along the wall for several minutes, finding nothing, until Mikhail spotted a tiny gap in the trees.
As we approached the gap, I saw that it was the result of one of the trees in the wall having gone missing. There was a very short stump where the tree should have been. We all peered down the gap that it made. There was a single-file line of stumps extending back as far as we could see. In the distance, the path appeared to dip downwards.
“Alright, let’s go.” Michaela turned sideways and tried to squeeze through the gap, but couldn’t fit through after she took two steps. Her breasts got in the way, much to my amusement. She cursed and stepped back out. “It’s too narrow for me – Mikhail, can you fit?”
Mikhail shrugged and tried. He got about six steps in before he could advance no further. Smiling sadly, he came back. “Nope. I think Jak might be able to make it through though – the path widens again a few more stumps in.”
They both looked at me expectantly. I looked at both of them, then swallowed. “All right.” I turned sideways and squeezed in between the trees. It was a tight fit, but I did manage to get past the point where Adam had been forced to stop. He was right; a few steps later, I was actually able to walk forwards.
“I’m through!” I called back.
“Good! What do you see?”
“Nothing. I’m going to keep going.”
“Be careful!”
I nodded, then realized that Michaela couldn’t see that. “I will!” I walked forward, being careful not to trip over the stumps. As I advanced, the stumps began to grow shorter, until they had vanished altogether, leaving only dirt beneath my feet. The path began to slope downwards, slightly at first, and then rather steeply. I struggled to keep my footing as the path grew almost impossibly steep. I wondered how I was going to get back up.
Moments later, I slipped, and fell on my back. Yelping in pain and surprise, I slid and rolled all the way down the rest of the slope, rolling to a halt at the bottom. I slowly stood up, wincing at the pain in my back and joints. I rubbed my elbow and looked around me. In my mad slide to the bottom of the hill, the path had widened around me, until it was the width of six or seven trees. Unlike our current shelter, the trees here did not stay level, but remained buried under the ground. I was grateful.
As I continued walking, the path began to curve to the right. Shortly after that, it curved back to the left, and then made a sharp right, before sloping gently upwards in a short hill. Sighing, I decided that I would go to the top of the hill, then go back, so that Mikhail and Michaela didn’t worry about me.
I reached the top of the hill in less than a minute, and stood on its crest, looking down.
Ahead of me was a large clearing, surrounded on all sides by an impenetrable wall of trees, save for a narrowing path from where I stood down to the clearing. In the center of the clearing stood the green-cloaked man.
Startled, I took a step back. The man shouted. “Run, Jak! You should not be–” He vanished, his sentence remaining unfinished. Worried, I took another step back, then stopped as the image before my eyes changed. I saw before me three gently swaying palm trees, scattered around the edges of a large pool of crystal clear water. On the fringes of the clearing were various types of berry bushes, and melons and squashes were scattered across the ground. A cool breeze flowed across my brow. I slowly began to walk forward, not really thinking about what I was doing. Everything around me seemed to slow down. Before I knew it, I was standing on the shores of the pool.
See what could be yours, Jak? All you need to do is join me. I leapt back at the sound of Psy’s voice echoing in my head. I thought that the silhouette had killed him! Apparently I was wrong.
“Go away!” I shouted at him. “Get out of my mind!??
? My head began to grow cold, and the slimy sensation again entered my mind. My will to resist him diminished, and my affection for him returned.
Imagine it, Jak. This could be yours whenever you wanted. More food than you could imagine – go ahead, try some! I did as I was told, walking over to a nearby watermelon. I jumped on top of it to break open its rind, then reached inside to take out the fleshy insides. I shoved a handful of it into my mouth. It was the most delicious food I had ever had, and it tasted like so much more than just watermelon – it tasted of happiness. I ate more.
Somewhere in the depths of my mind, I knew that what I was eating wasn’t real, just an illusion created by Psy in my mind. Don’t be silly. Psy’s voice was soothing. Of course it’s real. Reality is relative – it is what we make it. The tiny voice in the back of my mind vanished, and I reveled in Psy’s presence.
We must go now, Jak, before Lord Yttrios returns again to banish us. I fooled him, him and Loriel, the first time, but we might not be able to do the same a second time – they are immune to my mind games. We must depart!
I began to float again, up towards the sky, moving quickly. I lifted my face upwards, and closed my eyes for a few seconds. When I opened them, the landscape below me had changed. Instead of the red dirt and grey trees I was used to, I was greeted with a grey, dusty surface, covered in strange red fungal growths. I turned in the air, and could see Michaela and Mikhail, as well as Stephen, Vincent, and Fineas below me. A moment later, the landscape returned to being red dirt and gray trees.
What just happened? I asked Psy. Nothing to worry about – my attention was elsewhere. Was that this planet? I felt Psy pause for a split second. That would have been what you would have seen had we not altered your perception of it. But what you saw when you landed was just as real as that glimpse you just received.
That glimpse of the real planet, and Psy’s cool explanation of his manipulation of my mind shocked me, even through the haze he had over me, into resistance. His presence lessened in my mind, and the voice in the back of my head asserted itself.
I won’t go with you! I said. Let me free! A sadness filled my mind. But we could be such good friends, Jak! You and us, together for an eternity of paradise! Instead of floating above a cold planet, I suddenly found myself standing on a beautiful stone balcony, looking down over a glittering sea. I smiled despite myself.
“Jak?” I blinked, and turned around, startled at the sound of a voice I had never expected to hear again. My hands began to shake.
“Ezekiel? But… you’re dead…”
My lover laughed. “No I’m not, Jak. See? I’m very much alive!” He walked up to me and kissed me passionately. My initial resistance soon gave way to the warmth of his mouth.
We broke apart after several minutes. I pulled away from his embrace. “What happened? Where are we? How did we get here? What happened to the ship, and the planet, and–”
Ezekiel stepped forward and kissed me again, more lightly this time. “Don’t worry, my love, everything will be revealed in time.”
I tried to stammer something, but I couldn’t. Despite my earlier reasoning that I didn’t love him, I found myself wanting, more than anything, to spend eternity with him. He smiled at me and took my hand, leading me towards a door at the other end of the balcony. I followed without saying another word.