Prologue
This was the third time he had died.
His name was Michael Fraser. He was thirty years old—Earth age. When the fire swallowed him and burned his body and his mind, that had been the end of him.
He had traveled the multiverse so much he had lost track of time. But he vividly remembered how many times he had died. Or come close to it.
When he was eight, he had been ready to let his stepfather cut his throat. It was much easier for a street kid like him to die than survive the brutal New York winter without food and warm clothes. But Ciaran LeBlanc, a total stranger back then, hadn’t let him die.
He’d given Michael hope, but then he’d made him wait a long seven years until their paths crossed again. That was when he died for the second time. No human could survive being dragged across dimensions without protection. Again, Ciaran had helped him to stay alive, although not as a human.
And now, fifteen years later, he had died for the third time. This time, Ciaran wasn’t around.
He heard Ciaran’s voice echoing in his mind, “If you die, there’s nothing else you can do. You cannot help anyone any longer, and you will be forever in debt to me and those who love you.”
But he if he died this time, he’d save a lot of people. Wouldn’t that be worth the cost? How many people could one person save? Was that what Ciaran wanted him to do? Act in the interest of a greater cause?
The incredible heat crept closer.
He was too young to die, and he knew it.
Michael scrambled up from the ground and grabbed his gun, and cursed himself. Going into a brooding mode in the middle of life and death action wasn’t a good idea.
He looked at the giant fireball rolling toward him and muttered, “Oh shit!”
Chapter 1
Lyla glared at the giant typo she had made on the computer screen. She glanced around, making sure none of her staff was still lurking around working at this hour. The station was quiet. The ground glass wall was still and calm, opening wide to the outside view of the magnificent Eudaizian landscape.
She was in the Sciphil center, an exclusive area for royals and those in authority. There were no citizens here. No crowds. She liked it that way. If she wanted that kind of atmosphere, she could go down to the districts where billions of beautiful Eudaizians lived. But for now, tranquility was what she needed. It suited her mood.
She returned her attention to the monitor where she was learning to type in English. She really didn’t have to be doing it. Her English was perfect, her Eudaizian was excellent, and she also spoke several languages of different universes. But she liked learning.
This was the age of technology when all she had to do was to press a button and a robot communicated for her in any language. She had helped design the system, and she was proud of it. But she dictated all the time, so when it came to manual typing, she was somewhat clumsy.
She felt the burning sensation in her hands and her fingertips again. It had been happening over the last two weeks. She looked at her hands and found them a bit shaky. It couldn’t be caused by such a simple task as typing, she thought. She shook her head, pushed the thought away, and grabbed a joystick. She planned to do a quick check of the back end of one of her newly developed hologame used for combat training, and then she would call it a day.
She heard the squeaky sound of plastic rubbing on the polished concrete floor behind her and turned around.
“Zin, why in the universe do you look like that?” she exclaimed when she saw her personal robot, one that had a rectangular core metal frame. Zin, at the moment, looked something like a mermaid, a mythical creature she had read about in literature.
“Based on my estimate, there is a fifty percent chance you will be pleased with this outfit.”
“Well, you’ve fallen on the wrong side of the fifty percent. Mermaids aren’t square!”
“That is why I need your help. This plastic costume is thin and needs some padding to create curves.”
“I will not do that for you. Your metal frame is just fine as it is.”
“Lyla, would you prefer me in werewolf form?”
“No.”
“How about a shifting rabbit?”
“Zin, have you been spying in my research files?”
“Observing data I have access to does not constitute spying. You are researching magical Earth creatures. Their paranormal activities. Their supernatural power. Their—”
“I know what I’m researching, Zin. What’s your point?”
“I know you are developing a new program. But I wonder why you left out humans as a major input. Why did you start with the paranormal?”
“I haven’t gotten to the human part yet. That’s the most complicated part.”
“Scientific evidence suggests otherwise. I am speculating that you avoid researching it because your parents were humans.”
She grabbed the joystick. “Hang on.” She gazed at the monitor, which was showing the back end of her program—the engine of the entire robotic system.
“Anything unusual, Lyla? I detected nothing abnormal.”
“I thought I saw something.”
“Please define something.”
“Shut up, Zin.”
“That expression violates the courtesy codes, Lyla.”
“I designed your codes. I can violate them if I wish.” She inched up closer to the screen. She could have sworn she saw a shadow, a dark flying cloud moving across the screen as if a ghost had infiltrated the central computing facilities and physically worked its way into the mechanics of the robotic brain.
She shuddered. She must have been researching the paranormal for too long. She couldn’t scientifically explain a ghost, and even if such entities existed, they didn’t have the tangible form necessary to have an effect on anything—and they certainly couldn’t live in a computer.
She felt the odd sensation in her hands again, and then a sharp pain stabbed in her head. She yelped and let go of the joystick. Maybe it was time to go home for dinner. As soon as the thought of dinner crossed her mind, her stomach let out a small growl and did a somersault.
Good food was her weakness.
“Lyla?”
“I’m heading home, Zin. And the answer is no to any of your costume-related requests.”
“You have a visitor.”
She whirled around, pressing a button on her wrist unit at the same time. On the top of her hand, under the sleeve of her right arm, three laser muzzles emerged. They were small but lethal. She always held out hope she’d never have to use them.
Visitors could not come here without an invitation. No one. Never.
In front of her was a tall, gorgeous, masculine, formidable human lookalike. She was sure he was not Eudaizian because he didn’t have that angelic look. There was something about him that touched her secret craving for human beauty, a craving that was of an even higher priority than her food addiction.
“Don’t shoot. I have a Pass.”
What a voice! she thought. Calm. Easy. Teasing.
He was earthly!
“Show me your Pass, or I’ll shoot. And keep your distance.”
He displayed a shiny rectangular e-pad on which his credentials were printed. Michael Fraser. Citizen of Iilos. Commander in Chief—Border Security. Access granted to all stations in Eudaiz Sciphil Central.
“Your Pass looks old. Who issued it?”
“Old technology was used to issue it, but it’s real. Now can you please stop pointing those weapons at me? It’s not a very good way to show hospitality, unless that’s what your courtesy codes in Eudaiz state. Isn’t that right, Mermaid?”
“You misconstrued my identity. I am not a mermaid. This is just a costume.”
“It was a joke. I know you’re a robot, idiot.”
“Lyla, I detect that his phrase contains humor. I need a humor program installed. Perhaps I can get that instead of the shifting rabbit?”
“Shut up, Zin.” Lyla withdrew her gun.
“How can I help you, Michael?’
“I was sent here from the past in Iilos. Our simulation program forecast that one of your AI programs will create unstoppable creatures that will break through our borders.”
“A simulation? As in a guess?”
“Your sarcasm is noted. I don’t like guessing, either. Especially when I have to bust my ass to time travel on a mechanistic hunch.”
“There is nothing mechanistic or systematic about a hunch. But I do appreciate your effort. In what form was the destructive program detected?”
Michael shrugged. “I’m not a technology geek, but I was told it’s a shadow. Whatever that means.”
Chapter 2
Cayson pulled out a tray of freshly baked bagels from the oven. He had made them specifically for Lyla, with all the fresh and exotic herbs and spices he could gather from merchant cargo coming from Earth. Earth spices were rare stock, but Lyla could afford it. A girl of her caliber could have whatever she wanted—she was the daughter of Ciaran LeBlanc, king of Eudaiz. Her mother wasn’t queen because they didn’t have such a system in Eudaiz. But she was the first Sciphil—and sometimes Cayson heard she made tougher decisions than her husband.
Well, he supposed that was just rumor because Cayson had never had a chance to meet those who had said it. In addition, Lyla’s identity was top secret in the multiverse. He only knew who she was because he was her best friend, and his father took care of Lyla’s residence.
The fact that the king let his children live with the common citizens so that they could learn respect for them made him love their king even more. He worshiped the Eudaizian monarchy, and if he could do anything to be of service to the royals, he would. There was nothing in this multiverse that would make him reveal Lyla’s identity to anyone.
“Ouch!” he yelped as he accidentally touched the hot surface of the oven. He couldn’t seem to concentrate at all today.
He pulled out his tablet and looked again at a disposable e-message delivered to him that morning via the multiversal express communication system. The shiny surface of his tablet glared up at him.
“Dear Cayson, we regret to inform you that the wedding between you and Fifi will not happen. After giving it much consideration, we have decided that would be best for the future of our daughter. Regards, Liam Anton.”
Cayson shook his head. They wouldn’t take calls from him, so he couldn’t even ask for the true reason behind the decision. Their marriage arrangement hadn’t come easy. They’d had to sustain their inter-universe relationship for months. He had promised to bring Fifi to Eudaiz, and he was going to do so—with or without help from those in authority. He wished there was some way to discuss this with Fifi, but he was on his own.
He grabbed the bagels, put them in a sealed container, and left the kitchen of the large food station he managed.
A short while later, Cayson pressed his palm print on the control panel to verify himself at Lyla’s residence. His father, Ryan, answered the door. He took the container of bagels from Cayson and gestured for him to come inside. This was their weekly routine.
Ryan normally walked straight into the kitchen, but today, he looked at Cayson and frowned. “What’s wrong, son?”
* * *
At the station, Lyla sat down on her chair. Michael loved the way her hair softly touched her shoulders and curled into an ocean of magnificent sandy waves. Her eyes were a striking gray with thick lashes that made every blink a dream. He knew her eyes came from her father. But they were not her strongest asset. The brain inside her pretty head was.
If he didn’t have an association with Ciaran, he wouldn’t have known Lyla’s true identity. That wasn’t the reason he was here. He was on a mission with an intention to finish it quickly and then return to Iilos. But judging by the information Lyla had—or didn’t have—there was no quick way of solving the problem. He had an odd feeling that his mission was going to be a long haul.
“I’ll stay here tonight.”
“Here? You mean on the floor?”
“I know how to make do in difficult situations.”
“I’m not concerned about your comfort. I can’t let you stay here by yourself with my equipment.”
“Well, I thought I’d come to tell you about the shadow…and ask you to stop it. You have no idea what it is, but you do believe that there one—”
“I didn’t say I believed you!”
“Your eyes betrayed you. Ever play poker?”
“Is that a hologame?”
“Apparently not.” He chuckled. “So you’d rather I go into the district for shelter?”
“No, you can stay my place.” She smiled. “It’s more comfortable.”
He laughed. “You definitely haven’t played poker before. All right, you want to keep me at bay and run some background checks before you figure out what to do with me. Having me roaming the streets of Eudaiz poses potential security risks.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Oh, bunny, do I have to tell you again that your eyes betray you?”
“Don’t call me bunny.”
Michael raised his hands in surrender. “Even Mr. Robot here offered you a bunny shapeshifter.”
“My name is Zin, and I think you misinterpreted my intention. I offered a rabbit shifter. Rabbits and bunnies are the same kind of animals, but the words have different semantics.”
“How long have you been here?” Lyla asked.
“I just got here. And you were quite loud.”
“That’s not possible. What I said was spoken before you came in.”
“I said you were loud. The conversion echoed out into the corridor.”
She stopped talking. Michael could see the horror in her eyes. He knew why she had stopped talking. She thought she had been heard. And because she lacked a poker face, she couldn’t pretend nothing had happened.
“Okay, sorry. I planted a bug. It recorded everything, and I heard your conversation.” He grinned and mimed “don’t talk” to her. She nodded.
“I’ll take your offer and stay at your residence tonight. Let’s go,” said Michael
He approached, sliding his arm around her waist. It surprised him that she took the guide from his arm without objection. She was smart enough to know what was best for them in the current situation. As they walked out of the room, Zin scurried after them with difficulty because of the mermaid tail that dragged on the floor behind him. “I’m confused,” Zin said.
Michael made a note to himself to tell Lyla that the robot might need a brain upgrade.
Chapter 3
In front of a residential house that looked three times grander than the presidential condo in his Iilos district, Michael tugged at Lyla’s elbow. “Okay, I guess this is your house. Do you feel safe enough to talk to me here?”
Silence.
“Come on, I wouldn’t have access to your real identity if I weren't trustworthy.” He knew she was still shaking because of the incident in her control station, but silence was never his best friend, so he had to push.
“It’s not you.”
“That’s it?”
“We’ve been listened to.”
“Yes, I gathered that much. We were bugged. But I thought that was common in your intelligence business.”
“We bug people. Not the other way around, and not in my control center.”
“You can’t say there’s zero possibility that you are ever spied on.”
She turned and looked into his eyes. “The possibility of us being listened to by an adversary is zero. We can’t afford anything other than that. We have a traitor.”
“Right in your backyard?”
“No, right in our brain. I saw a shadow just before you came.”
The door of the house slid open, and a calm and collected man stood there, smiling at them. Michael had known what a butler was since the day he was on Earth, but even then, he’d only seen them in movies.
“Lyla,” the man said and smiled. “And this is your guest, Michael. Welcome.”
“Yes, Ryan, this is Michael.” Lyla gave him her coat. “Thank you,” she said absently and walked into the grand hall.
Ryan caught the look on her face and turned to look at Michael. Michael shrugged. “Tough day at the office,” he said and then followed Lyla inside.
A man stepped out from the darkness of a hallway. Lyla turned. “Cayson, what are you doing here?” she asked.
“It’s bagels night, Lyla.”
“Oh, that’s right. Thanks. Sorry, I totally forgot. This is Michael.”
Ryan approached. “Dinner is ready, Lyla.”
“Actually, I won’t be staying for dinner tonight, Lyla,” Cayson said. “I’ve got to go. Nice to meet you, Michael.” He scurried toward the door.
“You’re not doing anything silly, are you, Cayson?” Ryan asked.
“No, Dad,” he said and kept walking.
“What’s up, Ryan?” Lyla asked.
“Fifi’s parents rejected the wedding this morning,” he said.
“Cayson, talk to me! Don’t walk away!” Lyla commanded.
“It’s my problem, Lyla. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“You didn’t come here tonight just to bring me bagels, Cayson. What do you intend to do?” she asked.
Cayson waved his hand absently. “Forget about it. I’ve changed my mind.”
“You’re not going to Xiilok by yourself. You still have a contract hanging over your head. If they get you again, they won’t just break your leg this time.”
“They won’t take my calls. We were so close to getting married. Aren’t we entitled to at least a conversation?”
“I’ll go speak to the in-laws,” Ryan said.
“Wouldn’t those that have a contract on Cayson get you to lure him out if you go to Xiilok?” Michael asked.
“No, Xiilok contractors don’t work that way. They have their codes,” Lyla said.
Michael chuckled. “That’s the first I heard of criminals having codes of conduct.”
“Why did they reject you? Why now?” Lyla asked.
“They didn’t give a specific reason. They just said it’s best for Fifi.” Cayson paced back and forth. “How can it be best for her living in Xiilok? I promised I would bring her to Eudaiz, and I will. Why reject me? Why refuse us a life together? What have we done to deserve this?” Cayson pushed the door open.
“There has to be a reason, Cayson. What haven’t you told me?” Lyla followed him out to the front yard.
“Now even you doubt me, Lyla!”
“I don’t doubt your intentions toward Fifi. I don’t know much about her family, but I know you too well to know you’re not telling me everything.”
“Look out!” Michael pushed Cayson aside. A laser beam hit the wall behind Cayson. In the distance, the shadow of a man darted down a nearby street.
Ryan grabbed Lyla and pulled her inside.
Michael started to give chase, but Cayson caught him from behind.
“Let go! He’s getting away!”
“No, it’s a hater. Go inside.”
“Get off me. What if he wants to get Lyla?”
“No, he wants me dead.”
Cayson all but dragged Michael inside. He slammed the door closed, and Ryan engaged the secure lock.
“Are you sure he wasn’t after Lyla?” Ryan asked.
“Do you think I leaked her identity, Dad?”
“If not, why would someone be shooting at us?” Michael said.
“They were after me. They’re haters, and I’m a half-caste.”
“Cayson, I can’t believe you said that!” Lyla exclaimed.
“You’re embarrassed about your family?” Ryan asked.
“No, Dad, but I can’t stop people from hating me…from hating us because you married a human. I love you. I love Mom. But I can’t stop people—”
“True Eudaizians don’t hate. You know that, Cayson,” Lyla growled. “My parents are human.”
“No, Lyla. Your parents lived on Earth. But that didn’t make them human.”
“I’m a hundred percent human turned Iilos, so what does that make me?” Michael asked. “And for your information, I was a street kid, doing everything I could to survive, criminal or not. Ciaran turned me around, and now I’m in one of the highest ranks of border security in Iilos. True Eudaizians worship their royals. I know that for a fact. Eudaiz has a lot of enemies, but there aren’t any haters here.”
“You’re not from here. What do you know?” Cayson pushed the door open once again and walked out.
“That’s just a lame excuse. He’s hiding something,” Michael said.
“Ryan?” Lyla asked.
“It must come from Fifi’s family,” said Ryan. “Cayson never talked about their origins, apart from the fact they live in Xiilok. He never even mentioned where in Xiilok. He got upset whenever I asked.”
Michael shook his head. “So they might live in the shady part of Xiilok? Only the outlaws of the multiverse live there, and that means they would have drunk the water at the Well of Second Chances…and have those wormy eyes.”
“I’ve seen Fifi’s picture, though. She looks normal, but I can look her up,” Lyla said and entered her private computer room at the end of the corridor.
Michael followed. “Xiilok is independent of any system in the multiverse,” he said. “If you have records on their citizens, you’re the greatest data thief of them all, Lyla.”
“I don’t have Xillok’s information, but if Cayson wanted to bring Fifi to Eudaiz, he must have filed an application in the Eudaizian and the Daimon Gate system. And that migrant application is extensive. My best guess is that Cayson wanted me to check the system to see if there was anything wrong with the application.”
Michael nodded. “Judging by his reaction, I think he knows things have gone wrong. He might need you to do more than just check.”
Ryan shook his head. “I can’t believe my son even thought about asking you for that, Lyla. It will compromise the integrity of your system.”
“That’s why he changed his mind and didn’t ask,” Michael said.
Lyla narrowed her eyes. “There are only two possibilities that could cause his application to go wrong. One, our system is compromised. Two, he falsified information. I’m leaning toward the first explanation.”
“The shadow.” Michael nodded. “So someone is toying with your computer system, and that person messed up his fiancée’s migration application. Then just now, they shot at him. On the surface, it looked like a personal attack, but I have a feeling if they really wanted him dead, he would be.”
Ryan started to pace the room. “A decoy? Do you think they were trying to provoke something? Does it have anything to do with Lyla’s security? Because I’m going to report back to Central right now, and Lyla, you need to move back to the Sciphil zone.”
“Give me some time, Ryan. I’ll look up the file first, and then I’ll make a decision. Please don’t report back to Central yet. I might be used as a decoy to cause a distraction for something bigger and more important.”
Chapter 4
Fifi peeked through a little hole in the door to the basement where she was being held captive to make sure the dark corridor was empty. She knew the routine of the guards by now—they would have gone for late drinks, thinking she was asleep. She pulled out a small spoon she had hidden, climbed on the bed, and worked on the screws around the small ventilation door to the room upstairs. She had loosened up two out of five screws the other day. She would finish the rest today. She was sure of it.
The thought that her family was out there, not knowing where she was, ripped through her like a tidal wave. She thought of Cayson. He would have had a heart attack if her family had told him she was missing. She hoped they hadn’t. She knew Cayson wouldn’t hold up well with no communication from her.
They didn’t live in wartime, but the multiverse wasn’t exactly at peace, and it never would be. She and Cayson’s inter-universal relationship didn’t help things, either. She wished things had turned out better, but they hadn’t. They had no choice but to be who they were.
She pushed harder at the screw. “Come on!” she muttered. Soon, the screw loosened, and the vent cover dropped down. She caught it, but at the same time, she heard the footsteps of the guards coming back.
She grabbed a bucket from the corner of the room and pulled the blanket over of it. Then she climbed up to the ventilation doorway and sat still. She could see the guard’s eyes peeking in through the cell’s tiny window. It was dark inside, and from his vantage point, she knew he wouldn’t notice the hole in the ceiling. When he closed the window, she started crawling through the narrow pipe.
After a while, she saw a dim light. She crawled out to a dark, muddy field—and then she recognized the place. She was on the outskirts of her own village. She needed only to cross a thin wedge of forest, and she would be home with her parents.
She squatted down and crawled along a low stone fence.
Then she saw a dim light on the ground. It must be coming from another cell.
Ignore it and go! her inner voice told her.
She sighed inwardly and returned to the light. A quick dig revealed a shallow basement, shallower than hers had been. At the bottom of the hole sat Linx, a five-year-old girl who lived next to her in the village.
“Fifi!” Linx called up to her, and the little girl’s tears started to fall.
“No, no…don’t cry. Shss!”
Linx nodded and kept silent.
Fifi looked more carefully at the bottom of the hole. It wasn’t a room. More like a shallow well. There was no door out from the bottom. They had just dug a hole and imprisoned the girl there. Linx was too small to climb up and out, and it was quite a distance from the village, so nobody would hear her even if she cried out.
“Cowards!” Fifi swore to herself. She didn’t even know who had captured Linx and her, or why.
Fifi tugged at the tree branches and tough vines nearby and lowered them down into the well.
“Can you grab on and hold tight?” she asked.
Linx obeyed instantly, and Fifi pulled her up. The girl clung to her, holding tight, and wouldn’t let go. Linx’s body shook with fear, but she didn’t dare cry.
“Don’t make a noise. I’ll take you home, okay?”
Linx nodded.
Fifi dashed through the forest in the dark with Linx in her arms, heading home. She went to Linx’s house first. The sooner the little girl was back with her family, the better. She put the girl down next to a small bush. “You wait here. Be a good girl, and don’t make a sound. I’ll go get your parents.”
Linx nodded.
Fifi looked at the sleeping village. She knew two families who wouldn’t be sleeping—hers and Linx’s. She followed the fence and rapped lightly on the door. It pushed open at her knock, and she let herself in. As soon as she set foot inside the living room, the stench of fresh blood engulfed her.
She didn’t need a light to know it was the smell of death. Her eyes adjusted, and in the dim light that leaked into the house via a small window, she saw the bodies, lying in a pool of blood.
She backed out and stepped on a small pile of fur—their dog.
She scrambled back to the front yard and ran back to Linx. She picked up the girl and ran. Reaching her own home, she rushed through the back door, not bothering to turn on the light.
There was no smell of blood here. She walked into the living room and then rushed toward her parents’ room.
There weren’t there.
Had they been captured at the same time as she? Were they still in the bush?
She rushed around. Linx was dead quiet. She hadn’t even asked Fifi about her parents. Maybe somehow she knew what had happened.
She rushed out of the back of the house.
This was Xiilok—a residential area. It wasn’t the part where the multiversal outlaws resided, but still, there was no authority here. There was nobody for her to call. She could maybe run to the brotherhood in the village. They had guarded the village for a long time. But what if they were the ones who had captured her and killed Linx’s parents?
She had been to places where they could have just asked for help and protection. But not here.
Linx started to cry, but she still didn’t ask Fifi what had happened.
Fifi ran until she was exhausted and then flopped down next to a large tree.
Linx looked at her. “Are my parents dead?” she asked.
Before she could come up with an answer for the girl, she saw some light flashing from the woods from where she had just come. They had started searching for her and Linx. She wasn’t sure she had the energy left to run.