The Dream Sanctum: The Eternal World (20 page)

T
he door clanged shut loudly
behind him, but Kai was too distracted to notice. His attention had been taken
completely by what he saw inside.

What he had at first thought was glass was
instead the reverse side of thousands of screens. The entire building’s ceiling
from floor to top was made of them, placed border to border. The effect caught
him by surprise at first; his vision blurred and he felt slightly dizzy, but
the longer he looked, the more he became used to the sight.

Every screen showed something different, from
images of forests to views into each individual town and city. Every so often
one screen would change, and in a mesmerizing ripple effect, every screen
touching it on outward changed as well, showing a completely different area of
the Sanctum.

It took a few minutes before Kai even realized
that there was anything else in the room. Though the structure was truly
immense, the space inside was still cluttered. Tables and desks littered the
room, and they were all covered with books, papers, maps and a plethora of
models. Kai walked over to a nearby table to look at what appeared to be a
model of a nearly completed city that he didn’t recognize.

“Isn’t it great?” a voice said from
immediately behind him.

Kai whirled around to see a young woman
standing there, looking down at the model with an expression of adoration. She
was dressed in comfortable slacks and a pinstriped button shirt that was
partially untucked, and over it all she wore an open white lab coat. Dark and
curly, slightly frizzled hair framed her round face and wide, brown eyes. She
met Kai’s eye and smiled, then looked back at the model.

“Look! I never came up with a name for it, but
I knew exactly how I wanted it to be, down to the last detail. I was so
excited! I was going to put this at the bottom of Lake Sythis, make it a real
treat for anyone who wanted to go exploring. I figured, hey, there’s a Sky
Capital, why not an Aqua Capital? No, hang on, we’ve got one of those. I was
going to think of something better, I promise. Ah, look at it though! Isn’t it
great?”

Kai nodded, completely lost. The way she
talked, she must have been…

“Are you… are you one of the Creators?” Kai
asked as the others gathered behind him.

“One of them? Are there more?” the woman asked
politely.

“‘Creators’ is plural, so that was our
assumption,” Kwin said, though despite her confident tone, she appeared to be
struggling to take in everything she was seeing, too.

“Oh! Yes. Well, you’re not wrong, not
exactly,” the woman explained. “See, I am the Creators. Or rather, I am me, but
with the memories and experiences of all of them. As every Creator comes into
this world, they take over for the one before them and obtain all their
knowledge! It’s pretty great.”

Kai didn’t know what to say. He had so many
questions, and they flooded his mind so quickly that he couldn’t think of where
to start.

Luckily, Kwin jumped in.

“What do you mean, ‘as every Creator comes
into this world’? Are you saying there can be new Creators?”

“Yes!” the woman exclaimed happily. “The
Sanctum can’t live without one. This is our mind, you see? But yes, new
Creators do come along every so often. Every few decades, give or take. That’s
the safe time frame. What did you think keepers were for?”

Kwin gaped, and Kai would have laughed were he
not doing the same thing.

 
“I
don’t mean to interrupt,” Lindsay started, looking genuinely afraid of
interrupting the woman, “but do you know what has been going on lately? Out
there?”

“Oh, yes… yes, I know, and I am sad,” the
woman replied. “I had so many plans, so many things I wanted to do, but I
suppose it wasn’t meant to be.”

“Well, actually, we were hoping we could talk
to you… about…” Lindsay trailed off as the woman suddenly walked away,
beckoning at them all to follow.

“Not much time, not much time. I want to show
you everything. All of my unfinished work, all of the cool things you can do
from up in here. Look here, I was planning on adding islands.
Islands
! Practically unheard of, I don’t
even remember the last time islands were added. Just think of the potential.”

Kai opened his mouth to speak, but the woman
had already swept off again.

“And here, look! I was going to renovate that
little shack in Anathor where everyone shows up. I didn’t want them to think
they were in a nightmare when they first arrived. Bad design. I admit it. I
just never got around to changing it, there’s so much to do!”

She turned to move on again, but Kwin stepped
in her way.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but we are very
short on time,” Kwin said quietly. In her voice was a plea for understanding.
“We wanted to talk to you about your keeper.”

“Yes, Semyaza and Dumar told me all about
that. Oh, that’s right – names! I completely forgot. My name is Hayel. At
least, that’s what it was once. Long, long ago. You can call me that. Now,
let’s sit!”

A set of chairs appeared from nowhere and
swept everyone off their feet, zooming off to a corner of the room that was
slightly less cluttered.

“Okay. Keeper. Let’s talk,” Hayel exclaimed.

“We were wondering if there was anything we
could do to save the Sanctum now that the keeper won’t be joining us,” Alastor
said, getting right to the point. “We were told by your angels that you either
get your keeper or you’re doomed, but I don’t think any of us want to believe
that’s our only option.”

Hayel looked thoughtful.

“Technically it is possible, but only
technically. I don’t have enough strength to choose another keeper. Of course,
the keeper has to be strong too. See, choosing a keeper isn’t just a random
choice. The reason they are so important is that when a keeper is chosen, he or
she gets a special bond with the Sanctum. It’s like… it’s like they are an
organ
in a body. Now, imagine that you
needed an organ transplant, yes? And your donor suddenly goes missing while
you’re on your deathbed. What to do? You can’t just find a new one so quickly,
there’s a
process
. If we had known
the keeper was gone even just a few months ago we could have chosen a new one,
but we didn’t know.”

“How could you not know he died?” Kai asked,
gesturing at the screens all around them. “Can’t you see everything?”

“I can, but they passed out of my sight. They
went beyond the edge of the world. I was concerned, but really, what’s out
there but a bunch of sea monsters? I made a few of them myself.” Hayel giggled,
then continued, looking completely serious. “I knew the woman was expecting, so
I assumed they were both taking some time off to take care of their child – of
you! But then, some years later, I felt what I thought was his presence once
again. I had been worried, but then I thought he had returned… except… I
suppose he never did come back, did he? I thought we were safe, which is why I
never looked for a new keeper. Whoops.”

“You can’t see beyond the edge of the world?”
Alastor asked, intrigued.

“Not exactly. Not unless I am looking for something
specific. It takes a lot of energy, see, to look that far. I didn’t think I had
any reason to look, so I didn’t. Not for a long time.”

“Are you aware there’s an entire world out
there?” Kwin asked, and now she sounded slightly angry. “There’s a whole second
Sanctum down there, but it’s in bad shape. People are suffering.”

“Oh, yes, I know, terrible business,” Hayel
said sadly. “I thought about doing something with it. Erasing the whole thing,
maybe, but then I thought, I can’t do that. Those people are alive, I can’t do
that. But how do I fix it? That world was broken, that’s why I left it alone.
Never thought anyone would appear there. Fixing it all up and making it new
again would take so much time and energy. Beyond my capabilities. Even if I could,
I don’t have the time anymore. Can’t do anything when I’m dead.”

“Right, let’s focus,” Kai reminded them.
“Hayel, you said it was technically possible to fix this. What would we need to
do? Could one of us take the other keeper’s place?”

Hayel thought for a moment.

“Not exactly. Maybe. I think it could be done
if I found the strength. See, a new keeper
can
be chosen, it just has to be the right one. Oh but it’s so
complicated
, you see. Whoever becomes the new keeper can never come
back! That’s because – well, details, details. I need to think. Need quiet.”

“What does she mean, we can’t come back?” Kai
murmured to Kwin, but the girl only shrugged.

“Your guess is as good as mine. But remember,
there have been hundreds of other keepers in the Sanctum’s history… and none of
them ever came back.”

A silence fell over the room, and Kai lapsed
into thought. He wondered who among them could become the next keeper – able to
save the Sanctum, but facing unknown, perhaps terrifying, consequences. A
single thought kept nagging at the back of his mind, one that he was trying
very hard to ignore, but one that gradually made itself heard.

You
could do it
.

He struggled with the idea. It was almost
painful to even consider. He could probably do it. He was directly related to
the last keeper, which might make things easier, but his mind kept drifting
back to the one thing he didn’t want to think about. If he went through with
it, he would never be able to return.

And yet, as he looked around as his friends,
he realized he could never ask such a thing from any of them. If by his
sacrifice he saved the world and made it somewhere they could all enjoy for the
rest of their lives, he would do it. It would hurt, probably more than he could
imagine right now, but that didn’t matter in the end. This was bigger than him.
And even if he wasn’t, even if the rest of the world didn’t exist, he would do
it just for the people sitting in this room.

“I’ll do it,” he said firmly. There was no
going back now.

The others stared at him with a mix of
expressions, but when he glanced at Lindsay, the look on her face instantly
made him regret what he had just said. She stared at him with fear in her eyes
– the fear of being left behind.

“Are you sure?” Hayel asked. “There’s a lot
involved! Do you know what you’d be getting yourself into?”

“I… I do. But it has to be done, and it might
as well be me.”

“Hold on just a minute.” Kwin stood up and
walked over to him, staring him straight in the face. “You have some nerve
making this decision for all of us.”

“I know! Everyone knows I would totally be
first pick,” Alastor said in a mock offended voice.

“Quiet,” Kwin said over her shoulder, then
turned back to face him. “Kai… think about this. You’re still new and you have
so many things to do yet. Don’t give this world up now. Let me do it. I spent
more time in here than all of you, I’ve had my fun.”

For a moment, Kai was tempted. He remembered
what he had thought about Kwin the other night, thinking that she among them
had the most passion and drive by far.

But it was for that reason that the world
still needed her, Kai realized. She had incredible influence, and used that
influence for good. She had managed to unite an entire world and fight off the
invasion of the Nightmares even as she lay dying in the real world, and her
passion and love for the Sanctum was unlike any he had ever encountered, even
in himself.

“You should stay,” Kai protested. “The world
needs you, especially you. Think of all the good you could do. More than any of
us you’ve proven how much you love this world.”

“Which is exactly why such a sacrifice would
make so much sense,” Kwin continued without missing a beat. “Logically it makes
sense to–”

“Kwin, leave it. Please,” Kai said quietly. “Let
me do this one thing. My dad was supposed to and never got to. It might be
selfish, but… I feel like this is something I need to do.”

Kwin didn’t look like she could think of
anything to say to that, so after another moment, her gaze faltered and she relented,
taking a step back.

Kai looked over at Lindsay and almost took
back everything he said as he caught the look on her face. Sadness, confusion…
fear. But she said nothing.

“Great! Decisions!” Hayel said joyfully. “You
are the best choice. You are similar to your father; it’ll be easiest to bond
with you. At least I hope so. Let’s do this, before time runs out. Oh…”

Hayel, who had stood up to join Kai, swayed on
her feet. She would have fallen had Semyaza not come to her side in an instant
to catch her. Semyaza gently carried her to a nearby couch and lay her upon it.

“I… sorry about that,” Hayel murmured after a
moment. “Happening more often lately. Need to finish this quickly while I can
still stay awake. But first, I need to explain what is going to happen. Come
here, Kai.”

Kai walked slowly to the sofa and knelt down
in front of Hayel, who had managed to sit up.