The Umbral Gate, Part VI - FINAL

“Jesus Christ,” I stammered. Guided by fear, I inserted the key into the lock and opened the little hatch that protected the innocuous button that would detonate the five separate C4 blocks of explosives positioned inside the building at key junctures. The building itself was not the Umbral Gate, the building was just a manifestation of the gate. Torrance had explained that to me when he was in the process of buying it. If it were destroyed, something else would replace it as a gate between the two worlds. The explosives would be a temporary measure, used to slow down the cabal, hopefully slow them down long enough for the Night Coven to stop them on their end.

Torrance had spent quite a lot of time, going back and forth between this world and theirs, learning the Artes from Dame Elsbeth, performing feats of magic that scared the hell out of me. I had grown accustomed to it, though I still found it unnerving. The tattoos that were marked upon his skin gave him abilities no person could naturally have: the ability to see in the dark, increased strength and speed, and amazing endurance. My time with Torrance taught me all sorts of things about the world on the other side of the gate, though I had never seen it. He had told me about dragons and the different kinds of people that existed over there, never did he mention anything that related to this thing stalking down the halls toward him.

Torrance now held off both stickspinners with his shadowstaff. Though he was able to keep them at bay, he seemed unable to make any progress in beating them back. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the monitor. I sensed Rex moving, but I figured it was restless anxiety at being stuck in the midst of a fight that wasn’t his.

“Torrance will be destroyed shortly,” Rex said. I was shocked at his callous prediction and spun around to face him. He had rolled up the sleeves of his work shirt and I could now see a band of black tattoos inked around his biceps. Strength markings, similar to Torrance’s.

“What in the hell…,” was all I could say before Rex lunged at me.

“I cannot let you detonate those explosives,” he said, grabbing me by the shoulders and lifting me away from the control panel. With little effort he tossed me out of the tailer and stomped after me.

I was caught be surprised and the rough landing knocked the wind out of me. I struggled to my feet and pulled out my club. “Who are you, Rex?”

He stared at me, contempt written all over his face. “Rex. You called me that because you thought I followed you around like a puppy. Rex. It means king, you know, and it is suitable for what I’ll become when a permanent path is created through the gate.”

I was flabbergasted but I was now trying to circle him, to get closer to the door of the trailer. He seemed to be aware of my goal and stepped to block my path.

“We’ve known about you and Torrance for awhile, Ross. It was quite the scandal in the Night Coven when Dame Elsbeth announced she had trained one of your world to act as a warden on this side of the Gate. It was after we found out about Torrance that we decided we needed our own person on this side of the Gate as well. I slipped through two years ago, waiting for this moment. It was I who put up the beacon, the markings on the wall.” Rex was moving slowly forward, pushing me further away from the trailer as I attempted to keep a safe distance.

He continued, enjoying his moment of betrayal, “Right now, Torrance is not only engaged in combat with two of our finest warriors, but the Baron of the Cabal himself is surely now upon him. If the Baron made it through, that only means Dame Elsbeth and her group have been destroyed or disabled. Hope for your world is lost this night.”

“Hope is never lost!” I shouted back irrationally. I had no idea what I was saying. I just had that sinking feeling that I was the last defense we had against the Cabal and I wasn’t going to be able to fulfill that function with Rex standing between the detonator button and me.

He laughed at me and stepped forward to swing his fist at me. I ducked low and swung the club out, catching him in the side, right below his ribcage. I heard the grimace and then felt his magically empowered arms come crashing down against my spine. The pain was intense and I fell to the ground. My attempt to roll away was thwarted by Rex’s boot being kicked into my abdomen.

Summoning my strength, I grabbed hold of Rex’s leg like an annoying kid brother. I held on for dear life as he attempted to kick me with his other foot. That was what I was hoping for. As he lifted his other leg, I pulled hard on the one I was holding. Rex was thrown off balance and fell to the ground with me. It was my chance to make a break for the trailer. Scrambling on all fours until I could get to my feet, I dropped my club and held my stomach, running stooped over.

Rex was right behind me. As I reached the trailer, he caught me. His fist pummeled my back, throwing me forward with my momentum. My head crashed into the steps to the security trailer. All I could see was red and blood filled my mouth. My body ignored the pain and I still tried to move forward. I had to see how Torrance was doing.

I was able to get into the trailer before Rex grabbed hold of my ankle and tried to drag me back out. I kicked hard at his hands, probably doing my damage to myself than him, but one of my kicks loosened his grip enough that I was able to slip away. I had seconds to look over the monitors.

Torrance was fighting the Baron. The spinners were on the screen knocked out or dead on the floor, I wasn’t sure which. Torrance looked hellish, blood streaked across his face, his clothing torn, and his shadowstaff no where to be seen. The Baron stood easily a foot taller than Torrance and the Baron’s hand with their unearthly long gray fingers were lashing out at Torrance like whips.

Rex had come back into the trailer and I had to make a split second decision. I hit the detonator button with my hand.

The entire site shook as the C4 charges exploded. All the camera feeds to the monitors went dead. Plumes of dust and debris shot out of windows and openings in the building. Rex grabbed me and beat my head against the console until I passed out.

The Varek construction site was abandoned as the developer disappeared. The building was taken over by squatters again and rumors of ghosts and ghouls living inside the building became popular street talk in the area.

I quit my job with Varek and now sell newspapers at a newsstand across the street from the Warren. I never saw Rex again, but I know he’s out there. I hope Torrance is okay, but I haven’t heard from him since that night. I do know that the Gate was not destroyed. The Gate can’t be destroyed. It is just a labyrinth and sometimes the walls of a labyrinth move and a new path needs to be found. If that day comes, I will be here, doing what I can to stop them, because that is what Torrance would have wanted.