The First Ark: Deathless Prequel (6 page)

"You are right," Osiris said, picking up the necklace and sliding it around his neck. "As long as I have the will, I shall continue to fight. I will return with you to this...rejuvenator. Isis, my love, you will find a way to cleanse me."

Isis rushed forward, throwing her arms around Osiris. She didn't care about the blood or about the strange green glow. After all, she was different now too. Together a way could be found. They could be happy, could rebuild their tribe.
 

There was hope.

There is still a matter to tend to, Ka-Ken.

Isis disengaged from Osiris, unsure what the voice meant.

We must be certain that the mutagen has not spread. Look to the bodies of the fallen, ensure they do not rise as your Dun rose.

She raised her staff, commanding the sapphire to glow with the brilliance of the sun. It illuminated the bodies below: Set and his final companion. The scene was ghastly, but the bodies were still.

Chapter 11- Despair

The creature's eyes snapped open and it rose slowly to its feet. Snow fell all about it, yet curiously it did not feel the cold. It felt nothing, save hunger. The creature knew that it was a walking corpse, a dead thing that should not be. Such things were unnatural. Evil. Cursed. How was this possible?

When you were slain, the mutagen spread to your body, as it will in turn spread to those you kill,
a voice whispered, dark with malice. The creature accepted its presence without question.

It gazed around, licking its lips as it saw the pool of blood drenching the snow all around it. The creature fell to its knees and lapped eagerly at the blood. The tangy liquid tasted of life, of power. The blood was gone all too soon, and the creature looked around for more. Its gaze fell on a figure in the snow only a little ways away. That figure had begun to stir and even now was rising to its feet. It was familiar somehow, this figure. It was short and male, with a graying beard and dull lifeless eyes.
 

Your former companion
, the voice whispered in the back of its mind.
Feed upon him and your strength will grow
.

So the creature did. It charged the smaller figure, bearing it to the ground and smashing its head against a rock again and again until it stopped moving. Then the creature began to feed. The flesh was cold, but each mouthful filled it with strength, though it did nothing to sate the awful hunger.

Yes, feed and grow strong,
the voice said, a proud father.
Find others of your species. Consume them.

The creature fed, but as it feasted a troubling thought flittered through its mind. It had a name but could not remember it. What was it called? This lack of identity was troubling.

You are called Set, my host.
 

Set smiled grimly, for with knowledge of his name memory came flooding back. The world would pay a furious price for the wrongs it had heaped upon him. He would slay them all, and as they died, they would rise again. A glorious army of the dead, united in their service to him.

He rose and wiped blood from his chin, smiling as he walked away from the Black Mountain and into the storm.

Epilogue

Ka was more satisfied than she'd been in nearly three eons. Her plan had two segments, a primary way to seed the world with new Ark Lords, and a backup plan, should the first fail. Both had succeeded.

She watched as the new Ka-Ken led her companions back into the central chamber, pausing by the central obelisk. The woman slammed the primary access key against the floor, then called out to the air around her. "Show yourself, Ka. I would have words."

Her anger was clear, as was the reason. The mutagen had transformed her mate in ways she, no doubt, found disquieting. They ran contrary to nearly every life form that had graced the planet.

"I am here," Ka said, willing a holographic representation to shimmer into existence not far from the Ka-Ken. "Ask your questions and I will answer as I am able."

"What have you set in motion?" she asked, eyes hard. She gestured at the Dun. "This mutagen you had me craft, tell me exactly what it has done to Osiris."

Her fiery-haired companion lurked behind her, standing on the balls of her feet as if she might attack. It would be fruitless, of course. Ka's current representation had no substance.

"The mutagen combined helixes from many species, primarily primate and simian. However, those alone would not have been sufficient to restore your Dun to life. That required a cellular activator, one that could restore necrotic flesh. Such a creature lived during the warmer epoch that preceded this one, approximately seven million years ago. Its body adapted to process a special band of solar radiation that could restart mitosis even if the body had been inert for years."

"What of the voice in my head?" Osiris roared, taking a step closer to Ka. His eyes flared green, clear proof that his body had been infused with the proper radiation. Excellent. He would be even stronger than she'd anticipated.

"Just as I gifted your Ken with a shard of my own existence so to do you possess one," Ka explained, experiencing another surge of satisfaction. Such an unexpected victory. "It contains a part of my knowledge and will guide you as I would guide you, even if you stray far from the Ark."

"This voice," Osiris said, grip tightening on his spear. "Tells me to feed on the flesh of my mate, to slay Sekhmet and feast on her corpse. It. Is.
Evil
."

"That is unexpected, yet the concept of good and evil are arbitrary and defined by your own morality," Ka countered. "Ultimately your own mind should retain control and your shard should serve as nothing more than an advisor. It seeks your preservation, and the mutagen ensures that your strength will grow as you feed. This is why it recommends such seemingly harsh actions. They are merely a means of ensuring your continued survival."

"Is there no way he can be rid of it?" Sekhmet asked, venturing a little closer. She seemed afraid of Ka, but mastered that fear. Impressive.

"It is a part of him now. The mutagen has permanently altered his genetic structure. Even if it were possible to remove doing so would kill him," Ka offered, understanding that her words did not please the hominids, but also understanding that their approval meant little. What she'd set in motion would echo across millennia, transforming their entire species regardless of what they chose here. It was too late for them to interfere.

The Ka-Ken cocked her head as if listening, then her eyes narrowed. "The voice in my head claims that the mutagen spreads like a sickness. That those killed by Osiris could rise just as he did. Is that true?"

"It is," Ka admitted, nodding.

"Why?" the Ka-Ken asked. "You've created a plague. One that could wipe out the few of us left."

"You are incorrect on two points," Ka countered. "First, I did not create the mutagen. You did. I merely guided you, but the act itself was yours. Second, it will not wipe out anyone. Merely reshape them into a form much more adept at surviving the harsh environment outside the Ark. This glaciation has lasted for eleven hundred years and could persist for several more millennia. The mutagen provides an unparalleled genetic adaptation that may allow your species to survive where it would otherwise perish."

"It turns our people into walking corpses," Osiris said, eyes flaring green. His hands trembled and Ka had no doubt that if she possessed a throat this hominid would attempt to choke her. Then his eyes widened in sudden realization. "By the gods. You say that any slain in this way will rise. That means that Set..."

"Yes," Ka said as the Dun trailed off. "Even now the hominid once called Set has risen and makes his way south. His shard will guide him to the Ark of the Cradle, a place like this one. When Set reaches it, he will become an Ark Lord, just as your Ka-Ken has become one. The lands he will control are much warmer, and he is likely to find more of your kind there. He should be able to convert them, thus spreading his influence and beginning the process of building a global empire."

"That's not possible," the Ka-Ken protested, eyes large. "We watched the bodies. They didn't rise."

"Your interval of observation was too short," Ka explained. "The original mutagen acted very quickly, but the virus will take longer to infect a new host. This process occurred in both the hominids that your Dun struck down, though hominid Set has already devoured his companion."

All three hominids were silent for a long interval. Then Osiris turned to the Ka-Ken. "We have to stop him. We must reach this Ark of the Cradle before he does."

"I agree," Sekhmet said. She turned to face Ka. "Can any of us be one of these Ark Lords?"
 

"Not as you are," Ka replied. "The one you call Isis has been bonded to a conduit and possesses the ability to shape. While the mutagen has shaped Osiris differently, he too possesses a kind of shaping and thus could serve as an Ark Lord. Your own helixes would have to be shaped as well in order for you to seize control of an Ark. Do you wish this change?"

"Gods no," Sekhmet answered, without even the slightest hesitation. "Let Isis be the Lord of this place, and Osiris claim this Ark of the Cradle. I want nothing to do with your foul touch. I've already seen what it does."

"Very well. If your desire changes it will be a simple matter for Osiris to spread the mutagen, or for Isis to use her shaping to alter your helixes," Ka explained. It found the hominid's limited view quite amusing. They saw time in years, or perhaps decades.
 

She measured time in eons, had watched as millions of years had passed. She understood the rise and extinction of entire species in a way they never could. Right now this Sekhmet might find the concept horrifying, but soon the idea of being as her companions were would become familiar. Then comfortable. And then desirable.

The Ka-Ken cocked her head again, then focused on Ka. Alarming. Part of the shaping that had created the shard dictated that it must enable the host to survive at all costs. Only now did Ka realize that meant the shard could see
her
as a threat. It's own creator. She may have created her own adversary, one armed with many of her own capabilities.

"The voice says that this place can be sealed," Isis said, a grim smile spreading across her face. Her eyes glittered maliciously. "It says that when we leave I can will this place to sink into the ground, and that it obey. That this act will send you into hibernation, like a cave bear in deepest winter."

"This is true," Ka began cautiously, struggling to conjure a way to forestall her fate. "So doing will rob you of much of the power offered by the Ark. Your own strength will diminish. This will make it possible for Set to best you. If he does so, there will be nothing preventing him from spreading the mutagen to your entire species."

"There is one thing," Osiris snarled, his entire visage twisted until it no longer resembled the other two hominids. No wonder they found the change disquieting. "I will stop Set, no matter the cost. Isis doesn't need the witchery this place offers."

"He's right," the Ka-Ken broke in. "The voice says that you cannot take away my ability to shape, just some of the energy I would gain from this place. It tells me I can gain more from the sun and that Osiris can do the same."

Ka was trapped and she knew it. The shard had betrayed her. She had made a gross miscalculation, and only now was she beginning to see the extent of that error. If the Ka-Ken's shard was seeking preservation of the host even at the expense of Ka and the First Ark, what would this Set's shard prompt him to do? What had she unleashed?

"Do as you will with me, but know that if you do not stop Set it is possible for him to remake your species in his own image. If he gains the second access key he can use the Ark of the Cradle to shape helixes just as you have done here," Ka explained. Perhaps it wasn't too late for the damage to be mitigated. "If you can reach the Ark first and stop him, then you can seize control of it. You can guide the growth of your own species, helping them to adapt to this world until the great warming begins."

"Very well," Isis said. She turned to her companions. "Let us go from this place. The voice in my head says we must go south, that there is a great land there. A continent it calls the Cradle. If we reach this place, we can stop Set and help rebuild our tribe."

Osiris gave a nod and strode from the central chamber. The others followed. Ka hoped for their success, for if they failed its actions could shape the world into something that would horrify the builders.

<<<<>>>>

Note to the Reader

I hope you enjoyed The First Ark, a prequel novella for
No Such Thing As Werewolves
, the first novel in the Deathless Trilogy.
 

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