Revelation (22 page)

I paused for a moment at the unfamiliar world.
“Elekai?”

The Wanderer nodded. “And when you and your friends destroyed the Xenolith, you dealt us
Elekai
a mortal blow.”

“The Xenolith?” I frowned. “You mean the spire?”

“I imagine you thought you were helping. But it’s just another setback. We will rebuild, somewhere else. We will run, before
they
come.”

I had no idea what, or who, the Wanderer was talking about.

“You mean, the Xenos? Samuel calls them that.
Are
they coming? And if they are, when?”

The Wanderer looked at me quizzically. He and I were talking about completely different things.

“They are already here,” the Wanderer finally said. “The Xenominds. The first is in Ragnarok Crater. The second...”

The Wanderer paused, looking at me. I was confused for a moment, until I realized who the second one was.

“You are the second,” I said. “You are the New Voice.”

The Wanderer smiled, nodding. “I am not
the
New Voice. Merely
a
Voice, because we are many.”

My mind spun as I thought of the implications. The Wanderer had told me that he was not just a Voice, but that there were more of them. If that was true, then we could never find them all. And even if we did, more would rise in their place. We couldn’t just kill these spires – these Xenoliths, as the Wanderer called them – and be done with it. This invasion would
always
have direction if there were more Voices to contend with.

Worse, I was an unwilling participant in it – infected, but not completely turned. It made no sense.

“You mentioned the
Elekai,”
I said. “What does that even mean?”

“Alex,
that
is the crux of this whole thing. When you understand what it means to be
Elekai,
then you will know everything you need to know to stop this. To save this doomed planet from its timeless fate.”

I sat, listening, and the Wanderer began to explain.

This was going to be a long story.

Chapter 19

“For millions of years, on hundreds of worlds, there was war – a war very much like the one playing out now, on this world. A war that has happened ever since the rise of the Xenominds, three hundred million years ago.”

Three hundred million? How could this be
that
old? Nothing existed that long. It seemed impossible, ridiculous on its face. But I decided to listen, all the same.

“There were always two sides of the Xenominds. There were the
Elekai,
the Gardeners. And then there were the
Radaskim,
the Destroyers.”

I stared at the Wanderer, blankly, not comprehending anything he had just told me. I didn’t even pretend to understand.

“You’re going to have to repeat that. What is a Xenomind, exactly? You’ve mentioned it a few times now.”

“Forgive me,” the Wanderer said. “A Xenomind is what you would call a Voice. It is a higher consciousness that acts as a communication hub for all the xenolife under its thrall.”

“So, it
is
real,” I said. “Ashton and Samuel were right. If we can take out this Voice...”

The Wanderer held up a hand. “Let me continue. There is more to it than that.”

I nodded. I supposed that was probably true.

The Wanderer continued. “Think of the
Elekai
and
Radaskim
as alien tribes. Each side has its own Xenominds, who in turn have their own goals and motivations. The Xenominds would be like gods to your eyes. The xenolife under their control follows their directives without question. Some Xenominds allow their xenolife a great deal of latitude, allowing even sentience. This is all beside the point I’m trying to make. I’m only trying to illustrate that there is great diversity of values and goals among all Xenominds. Not all of us are bad, and in fact, many of us are good, and do not want this to happen to Earth.” The Wanderer paused. “We
Elekai
want to save it.”

“Okay, let me get this straight,” I said. “There are lots of Xenominds, and they are at war with each other? Even on Earth?”

The Wanderer nodded. “There are two Xenominds on Earth. I am the
Elekai
Xenomind. And to the north – in Ragnarok Crater – is the Xenomind called Askala, who leads the
Radaskim
. This is the one you call the Dark Voice. This is who you are fighting.”

I had to pause a moment to think. It was difficult for me to comprehend that there were two sides of this. I had always thought of the xenovirus as a single entity, trying to conquer the world, as Samuel and Ashton had always said. That in itself was confusing enough: we were being colonized, so that when the aliens came, they would find us gone, and a world ready to receive them, shaped to their specific needs.

The Wanderer was saying the opposite was true. There were no “aliens,” no equivalent of humans coming in their starships to colonize this world. The aliens were already here, and they have been fighting their own war against each other for millions upon millions of years across the cosmos.

“You said there were two sides,” I said.
“Elekai,
and
Radaskim
. Can you explain the difference?”

The Wanderer nodded. “It is key that you understand both sides, and what they want. That said, one side cannot exist without the other. Both are encoded into the xenovirus, which infects
all
xenolife, regardless of its allegiance. However, one day there will only be one side. And this is a war the
Radaskim
are winning. Probably
will
win, in the end.”

This was a lot to take in, but I did my best to follow. “So, there are two alien sides. The
Radaskim
are the ones who are killing everything, spreading the Blights, trying to take over the world? And the
Elekai
are trying to stop the
Radaskim
from doing that?”

The Wanderer nodded gravely. I had a feeling that I had only scratched the surface, even after everything the Wanderer had just told me.

“The
Radaskim
seek perfection in all things,” the Wanderer went on. “They kill in order to attain that perfection. Their xenofungal networks contain genetic information of a thousand races, all now dead, across hundreds of worlds. They live in perversity, creating new monsters in their pools. When you see crawlers, or the dragons, or the birds turned by the virus, you see the creatures of a thousand worlds, evolved and perfected by the xenovirus. If genes are incompatible, the xenovirus finds a way to make them work. The Warrens, in Ragnarok Crater, is where most of this is done, where most of these creatures are birthed and evolved. The
Radaskim’s
goal is to create an unstoppable army, using the genes of the worlds they conquer, against unconquered worlds. And they only get more powerful over time. So far, no one has been able to stop them, on any world. Not even the
Elekai.”

“Why are they here, then?” I asked. “Why are they killing us? You said they want genetic perfection.
Why
do they want that?”

I remembered asking the Wanderer why we were being attacked, over two months ago when we had run across him in the Wasteland. I hadn’t even known the xenovirus
was
alien, then. The Wanderer had not given me a direct answer to that question, then, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to give me a direct answer now.

“You speak of the Eternal War.”

I didn’t realize I’d spoken of the Eternal War. I waited for the Wanderer to explain.

“The Xenominds are ancient beyond compare,” the Wanderer said. “They are old – older even than many stars. They can exist for so long because they are not bound by a single body. They are comprised of many elements of life, elements that can replace themselves as they wear down. By this definition, they might not even
be
alive by human reckoning. They grow and evolve themselves over the eons, albeit slowly. As long as xenolife persists, they do, too. Any information they acquire is stored in the fungus.

“But even as old as the Xenominds are, they are in a race against time. You see, because they
are
so old, the Xenominds experience time much differently. A hundred years is but a breath to them. Communicating over the vast light years between star systems, which would take many human lifetimes, is just a thought to them. All this means that the End, for them, comes much more quickly.”

“The End?” I asked. “The end of what? I thought
we
were the ones coming to an end.”

“The Xenominds do not see it that way. They can only see the grand picture, and the
Radaskim
in particular see opposing life forms – aliens, in their eyes – as insects that must be brushed aside, or made useful, to pursue their goals.”

“You said the Xenominds were in a race against time. Are they coming to an end? You said they’ve existed for three hundred million years.”

The Wanderer gazed at me, so piercingly that I knew what he was about to say was the crux of everything. Why we were being invaded. And, maybe, how we could stop it.

“The
Radaskim
are trying to stop the End of All Things.”

I stared at the Wanderer, dumbly, not sure if I had heard him right. What he had just told me was so unreal, so unfathomable, that I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.

“All things? You mean...the death of the universe?”

The Wanderer didn’t respond, and his lack of response was my answer.

“I’m sorry, but the end of the
universe?
That’s not supposed to happen for, what, billions of years? Trillions?”

“An eternity for humans,” the Wanderer said. “A lifetime for the Xenominds. You see, in the grand scope of things, they still see themselves in their infancy. They still believe they have a chance to stop the End, before the stars expand so far apart that they will never have that chance again. ‘Catching the stars,’ they call it. They intend to catch them all, if possible, but it may be an exercise in futility. The cosmos is so vast that even with all the time the universe has to offer, it won’t be enough. This does not stop them from trying, however. They are even seeking ways to invade other galaxies, with technology so advanced that it will surely seem as magic to you...”

The Wanderer paused, giving me time to process what I had heard. I didn’t even know if I could process it. He was speaking of things I had never thought of before.

“The
Elekai
believe this race against time is futile, not to mention evil. Regardless, the
Radaskim
are interested in discovering what they call the Secrets of Creation – secrets that will allow the
Radaskim
to reset the universe, before it fades to cold, eternal death. The Xenominds have time – billions of years, in fact – and the knowledge of a thousand advanced races, now dead, locked in their networks. Whether this knowledge is of any use in attaining their goals – no one, least of all me, can say.”

“Who are the
Elekai,
then?”

“The
Elekai
seek to end the violence and wanton destruction of the
Radaskim
. And this is not without its own sense of irony. The
Radaskim
seek to stop the disintegration of the universe, but in order to do that, they must destroy it. The
Elekai
seek to save the diversity of life throughout the cosmos, but by saving life, they doom the universe itself to die, in the end – thereby ending the Universal Cycle.”

I frowned, my brow furrowing. This information about Xenominds, the end of the universe, and the Secrets of Creation was breaking my mind, if only just a little bit. I wished Samuel were here, because he would understand this better than I did. If I ever saw him again, I was going to have a hell of a time trying to explain this.

I was about to ask what this Universal Cycle was, but the Wanderer resumed by answering this question before I could even ask it.

“The Universal Cycle is
Radaskim
prophecy. They believe the universe died, and was reborn, an infinite number of times, both ahead and behind, or alongside, or however you want to envision it. They believe it is their victory, their immortality, to discover the Secrets of Creation, before it is too late. Using this knowledge, they are able to reprogram the universe to obey their will – to ‘reset’ it to the state it was in before it expanded – only to repeat the same thing over and over again. They claim to remember this happening an infinite number of times already, through their most ancient Xenomind, who endures even the infinite deaths and rebirths of the universe. They claim this Xenomind is God. They believe, given these premises, that their winning the Eternal War is inevitable.”

“Is any of that real, though?” I asked. “It just seems so remote.”

“The
Elekai
believe as you do. As far as we know, this is the only universe ever to have existed. The Universal Cycle could just be the
Radaskim
Xenominds’ religion that fuels their expansion – an expansion that serves no end but to kill.”

“Tell me more about the
Elekai
Xenominds, then,” I said.

“The
Elekai
Xenominds are older even than the
Radaskim
Xenominds. We do not conquer or kill other creatures, as the
Radaskim
do, and we do not utilize the genes of other races unless they are volunteered.” The Wanderer smiled. “I am an example of that. Or, rather, the one I used to be is.”

It made sense. This was why I was not a Howler. I had the
Elekai
version of the xenovirus inside of me, not the violent
Radaskim
version.

“Wait...”

The Wanderer raised his eyebrows. It was a curious expression, when coupled with his eyes.

“You said the
Elekai
don’t take genes, unless they are volunteered.” I looked at him pointedly.
“I
didn’t volunteer for this.”