Chapter 5: Agremonth

Marc's butt was asleep. He had been sitting on the floor listening to Icelus's story for probably an hour and a half.
“So,” he asked as he unsteadily got to his feet, “you think this Piper guy is the one who's trying to destroy the Nexus?”
“I have no doubt about it,” said Icelus. “Nobody else has ever wanted to destroy it. With that book,” she nodded towards Scary Monster in the Night, “he clearly wanted to chip away at my power in order to break the Shieldwork and try to destroy the Nexus again.”
“Is that what set this whole thing off?”
“No,” she said. “You said so yourself, the man who wrote this book is long-dead. I felt a real tremor in the Shieldwork recently. Whatever this Scary Monster book is, it's a failure.” She kicked it aside for emphasis.
Marc sighed. “So, what are you going to do now?”
Icelus looked around. “I should get you out of here. After that... I don't know.” She cast a furtive glance out the window. “We didn't really get much accomplished when we went into Oniron. Once we get you home, and we part ways... I guess my plan is the same as last time. Find Piper,” she said, “and kill him.”
“You're going to kill him?!”
“I don't see that I have a choice,” said Icelus. “The Nexus isn't moving and the Shieldwork can't hold forever. He has to be removed”
“That's really harsh,” said Marc.
“Being harsh is the least of my concerns any more,” she replied without looking at him. “I've scared people to death. I'm sure my rampage is a legend in Oniron now. The kind of thing parents tell their children to get them to behave. No reason to hold back because I might scare someone any more.” Her voice was full of regret. “I only must do what needs to be done.”

there, across the rooftops; marc leapt, his progress constant & almost easy – he drifted across ceilings, up ladders & grabbing chimneys
it was as if something were collapsing all around him, but he couldn't see, like things were being destroyed when he wasn't looking at them
oh well!
his eyes locked on the highest edifice in the town: some sort of telescope or astronomy tower, very big, & he knew as soon as he saw it that that was his destination, why was he heading there again?
remont is there
ah, yes, of course, he needed to find remont, it was very important that he found remont, he didn't know why he needed to find remont right now, or perhaps he wasn't supposed to know, but he knew it was very important & something VERY VERY BAD would happen if he didn't
so he ran, jumping jumping jumper, he couldn't even feel his muscles & it was really as if he didn't have any to worry about, like this was all just so effortless & breezy & dreamy?
dreamy, ha, wasn't that funny
but anyway he was soon at that tower, the door right in front of him, & he grabbed that handle & it flew open, & he saw as he looked up a spiral staircase, okay, time to run up that too; up up up he went to the uppermost upfloor, where the actual telescope stood and it was an entire floor rather than yet another damn story of this spiral staircase...
& when he was there he found not remont, no, tho he was filled with an odd dread in that regard, no what he found was some sort of... lizard thing? it crawled around the balcony & on the walls, & when it saw me it made a beeline for HIS FACE!!!!!!!
so there marc was, wrestling this kind of weird lizard thing off from him, as it tried to like crush his head in its gaping maw of a mouth, & marc beat it off with all he could muster, & eventually marc rammed through a door outside to a balcony, & there they were, trying to gain the upper-hand
& there they weren't, because they had run up against the railing and in their lack of balance & coordination had both gone tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down
marc felt a sense of weightlessness & even the lizard thing had stopped really fighting against him, really it seemed to be just as surprised & scared & probably freaking out as he was, understandably
but then marc looked down & even though he only caught a glimpse, it was enough, because it was the stone dog statue that he had been so afraid of for so long, it was enormous & it was here
waiting for them
the dog opened its mouth & marc fell in & marc's world went black

Marc jolted up out of bed, sweating. He took a second to remember where he was: in his room in his grandmother's house. It was 9AM. He had gotten maybe two hours of sleep.
After Icelus had broken down the door of the old house and gotten Marc out, they decided to head back to Mary's house. Marc was lucky enough to find a bus that was running at 5AM.
“You know time moves more slowly in Oniron,” Icelus had said. “Those two days or so over there weren't even a full night over here.”
Well, at least he hadn't been reported missing. Marc took the bus in the middle of the night alone, which was sooooooooo fun, with Icelus discreetly following behind it – he no longer had any doubts about her ability to keep herself hidden and trail him, not after what had happened in Oniron.
And then they arrived at the house and Marc immediately crashed on the bed – no shower, no change.
He had had another dream where Icelus attacked him.
Marc looked at the mirror in his room and felt a sharp twinge of guilt. Everything that had happened in the last two days – being woken in the middle of the night, heading to another world, being told about Icelus's past – all of that had dredged up some old and sore memories from him. It was no wonder they were tough for him to get over. But he remembered the bitterness in her voice. I scared a man to death, she'd said.
Well, she still didn't know about his nightmares. And he wasn't going to tell her.
Marc flopped down on his bed and tried to force himself back to sleep. Maybe this time he would actually have a normal dream, or better yet, just some peace and quiet.

Icelus was waiting downstairs in the kitchen for him. She was looking out the window.
“Here I was almost hoping that whole thing was a weird acid trip,” said Marc, pulling up a chair.
“No,” she said. “But you don't have to be bothered with it anymore. I can get to where I need to go now.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” she turned around. “Between that initial trip and the jump back, I think I have a pretty good idea of how to get to Agremonth and find the Shieldwork.”
“Can you get there on your own?” Marc asked.
“I can now,” she replied. “I'd been dormant for years over here. I suppose my powers needed a little jumpstart. So thank you for that, Marc.”
“No prob-” Marc had it halfway out before he realized it really had been a problem. “You're welcome,” he said instead.
Icelus walked up to Marc and looked up to him. “I think this is where we part. I appreciate your help, Marc. I really do. I can do the rest by myself. Wish me luck with finding Piper. Otherwise the universes might fall apart.”
Marc said nothing.
“What?”
“Are you...” he pointed at her. “Are you trying to guilt trip me?”
“Is it working?”
“Icelus,” said Marc. “What happens if Piper gets what he wants and destroys the Nexus?”
“Like I said,” she began, “the universe will fall apart.”
“But what does that mean?”
“I don't know, the Nexus has never been destroyed before. But-” she said quickly to cut off Marc, who had been about to object. “Best case scenario? Your world's dreams seep over to Oniron, and if they stop doing that, then we'll be cut off from our power source. No telling who or what might gain or lose their powers, but it would be a massive change in the foundations of our society.” Icelus strolled over to the counter with the fish tank on it. “On your side, if the Nexus is destroyed, humans will cease to have dreams.” She looked behind the counter. “Not just 'dreams' like what you see when you sleep, but in every sense – your hopes, ambitions, fears. Your society will stop progressing.” She reached behind the counter and unplugged the fish tank. “Total stasis. You will become stagnant.”
The six goldfish that Mary kept in her fish tank swam around, confused at the sudden lack of power and movement around them. They seemed very distressed.
“Okay, okay,” said Marc, “You don't have to mess with the fish.” He grabbed the power cord from Icelus and plugged it back in.
“So,” said Marc, “fate of two worlds in our hands?”
“Precisely,” said Icelus.
“Well...” Marc looked around at the empty house. “I've got about a week free. I guess I can help you save the universe, or whatever.”

The dirt road between the town of Zamasea and the giant, ancient castle of Agremonth was flat and featureless and very, very exposed. It was the last place that two people who were trying to hide would have chosen to be. Naturally, this was where Icelus and Marc appeared when they crossed into Oniron.
Icelus ducked behind Marc and gestured toward Zamasea. “Is there anyone who could see us?”
Marc peered at the town. It was a ways away. “No,” he said. “We're good. Let's put some distance between us and the town regardless.”
“Agreed,” she said, and they began their trek towards Agremonth.
“That's where you lived?” Marc gaped. This castle was enormous – and maybe more accurately described as a fortress. A vast wall surrounded it, but even then the sheer hugeness of the spires and towers awed him.
“Yes,” said Icelus. “I haven't seen it in so long.”
“Who built this?”
“I did,” she answered simply.
“You?!”
“Well, it was a long time ago,” she muttered. “I was more powerful then. Early days. Primal forces of existence clashing, beating out the shape of the world with the rhythms of their battles. I forget most of it.”
Marc didn't say much else after that, because he really couldn't tell if she was messing with him anymore.
Icelus had indeed managed to warp them pretty close to Agremonth, but it was still a good hike to get to it – forty-five minutes or so just to reach the base of the castle. The steps loomed over them, leading to a grand entranceway.
“We need to be careful once we're inside,” she said. “I may have moved out, but others may have moved in.”
So when they finished their (tiring) journey up the steps, Marc pushed the large, heavy wooden door open and peered inside. “Nothing,” he said, turning back to Icelus.
“Still,” she said, “don't let your guard down.”
The doorway lead into a vast main foyer. The entire castle, it seemed, was constructed out of ancient stone and nothing but – no decorations, carpets, chandeliers, paintings... nothing.
“Jeez, Icelus,” Marc remarked as they crossed the foyer, “Get an interior decorator.”
“Well, my magic powers don't quite cover knick-knacks, so I j – hide!” she hissed, and ran to take cover behind a nearby doorway.
Marc was thrown off, and scrambled after her. He managed to get behind the doorway not a second before a creaking sound was heard and two voices came through the foyer.
“-up at this castle for two days, I can't wait to get back home.”
“I dunno, maybe I'll volunteer and do it again soon.”
“What, you liked the patrolling? No one ever finds anyone.”
“I know, I just liked the peace and quiet...”
“Heh, clearly you don't have anybody waiting at home for you.”
“Aw, shut up.” The two voices laughed together.
“Wait, why is the front door open?”
I left it open, Marc thought with a jolt. Damn it. Damn it damn it, stupid idiot -
“The other guys must've already shown up for their shifts,” the unseen voices resumed their conversation.
“Yeah, maybe we missed 'em. They're awfully early.”
“Probably new, heh. Haven't learned how to cut corners right.”
Marc and Icelus listened intently as the front door swung open wider, the footsteps and voices of the two patrolmen fading.
All was silent. Marc let out a deep breath.
“We can't be that careless in the future,” whispered Icelus. “There may be more guards elsewhere.”
“Okay,” said Marc. “Lead the way.”
Icelus took point as they got out from the doorway, zipped up the stairs and clambered through.
Agremonth was a large castle of seemingly endless hallways – there were uncountable twists and turns into identical-looking rooms. The whole thing seemed structured more like a maze than any kind of building Marc had ever been in. The only thing he was really sure of was that they were moving up; every so often they would find a staircase, spiraling or otherwise, and head up.
The décor of the place didn't get any better as they made their way through – everything was spare and unadorned. No paintings on the hallways, no rugs, not even torches. The whole place was lit with whatever natural light happened to pour in through the windows. When they got deep into a twisty maze of passages, it was very hard to see.
On top of all that, Agremonth was nearly falling apart. It was ancient and crumbling – every step kicked up dust and every brush against the brick wall seemed to make them give way. Marc felt claustrophobic and paranoid being in here.
“Stop,” he said to Icelus. They had arrived in some kind of lobby that branched into two paths. So far Icelus seemed like she knew where she was going, but her rapid pace had exhausted Marc. He had to sit down.
“Marc, what are you doing? Someone could walk in right this minute.”
“I need to catch my breath,” he said.
“Come on, we don't have any time to spare!”
He said nothing, just tried to breathe.
“Marc!”
Just then a voice rang down the hallway. “Who's there?!”
Someone had heard Icelus!
Marc scrambled to his feet and Icelus turned around, but it was too late – out of one of the hallways emerged a man wearing armor and carrying what looked like a rifle. His jaw dropped in shock.
“Oh my god!” the man shouted in terror, and began to fumble with his rifle.
“Go!” Icelus shouted, and Marc made to run.
“Hold it!” the man said, and whipped around his rifle at them. “You're not going anywhere!”
Marc acted out of pure instinct – he crouched, jumped forward, and grabbed Icelus...
It happened in an instant – suddenly all he could see was a blur of light and sound, and then they were somewhere else.
Marc looked up. The room was larger than all the others, and it actually had a decoration – a large, plain throne at one end. That was less interesting than what was in front of it, though: a shimmering wall of translucent energy.
“Icelus,” he said, “is that the Shieldwork?”
She scrambled out from under him and stood up. “Marc, what did you just do?!”
“What?” he blanked momentarily. “Oh. Uh... I don't know?”
“What do you mean, you don't know?”
“What do you think I mean?”
She looked at him, then at the Shieldwork, then back at him. “Marc, that was... something. I don't know what it was, but it was something. And we'll have to figure it out what it was, because there's only one person I've seen who's done anything like it.”
“Who?”
“Piper. When he tried to destroy the Nexus.”
Marc's heart leapt.
“But... he's a nightmare.”
“I know. But he had to use a sigil to do the spell. You did that all by yourself.”
“So...” Marc looked down at his hands. “What does that mean?”
“I don't know, Marc. I've never seen anything like it before. But it helped, so... thank you.” Icelus turned to the Shieldwork. “Now let's see what's been done to my baby.”
Marc got up and followed her to the Shieldwork. The closer he got to it, the harder it seemed to push him away, like a magnet. Icelus didn't seem to have any problems, though.
Not without some difficulty on his part, they finally reached the Shieldwork. Icelus put a paw up to it and felt it. “I see,” she said.
“See what?” Marc asked. He had to shield his eyes from the spell's brightness.
“There are marks here. Scars. Most of them are fresh. And broad.”
“Broad?”
“It looks like... whatever magickal spell he did to try to de-power my sigil, he managed to expose a lot of people to it.”
“How can that be?” Marc asked. “Nobody knows anything about magic or Oniron or you.”
“It would be just like that book we saw, Marc. Sneak it in. Covertly show it to a lot of people. Maybe it was on the news and you didn't realize it. Or better yet,” she mused, “a story. That's the most likely thing. Stories can trick humans. None of them know how powerful they really are. Give them a big propaganda movie and won't even think twice about it.”
“So we're stupid, then?” Marc said.
“No, Marc,” she responded flatly. “You just need to start looking around and being aware.”
Marc thought back to Remont's words. You see our world every time you go to sleep... whenever you close your eyes... and you thought we weren't real? Well, if it wasn't meant to be an insult, Marc still felt condescended to.
“Wait!” shouted Icelus. “What are these?”
“I still can't see anything,” he said.
“They're different scars. Over here. They're much deeper and much older.”
Marc fumbled over to where Icelus had moved. “Okay,” he said. “What does that mean?”
“Hush,” she whispered, and put her paw to the pinhole-sized indentations in the Shieldwork. “I'm tracing their source.”
“Why?”
“Because these scars come from a different place than the other ones. Someone who fears or hates me much more profoundly. It might even be Piper. We could see where he is.”
Icelus closed her eyes and gave a soft hum, and a thin trail of dust appeared out of the holes and floated in space. She nodded to it, and the dust took off.
Icelus gasped.
“What?” Marc said. He still couldn't see much, but he risked a glance.
The dust had settled around him.
Marc looked at Icelus, and Icelus at Marc. Her mouth was open in shock, or sadness, or some combination of both.
“Marc,” she said, “why?”
“Why what?” he asked. “What does this mean?”
“It means you were the one who did this damage to the Shieldwork,” she said. “Long ago. Before Piper even tried whatever he's trying now. Marc,” she hesitated, “were you scared of me?”
Marc covered his eyes again and looked away. “Y...yeah.” The word slipped out of his mouth and flopped to the floor. He was ashamed to admit it.
“But... you were the one who dreamed about me,” she said. “That's the only reason you could have helped me. There was a psychic link.”
“They weren't dreams,” he said.
Icelus paused. “Oh,” she said quietly. Looking over at the marks once again, she remarked, “they're deep. You... must have dreamed about me a lot.”
“I did,” said Marc. “You always ate me, and then I'd wake up.”
“That can't be easy to get over.”
“Not really.”
“Marc. Are you still scared?”
He said nothing.
Icelus shivered and groaned, and it looked for all the world like she was crying. Nothing came out of her, but Marc could tell she was hurt.
“I'm sorry, Icelus. I'm so sorry,” he said.
“It's not your fault,” she replied, choked up. “I scared a friend to death. Exiled myself because the people I was supposed to protect were too scared of me to want my protection. Of course I scared you. Of course.”
They sat like that for a while, in the most awkward and painful silence of their lives. Icelus gathered the dust back up and silently directed it back into the holes.
Suddenly a voice from the far end of the hall broke their mood.
“It's them!” it shouted.
They both looked up. It was the man who had seen them in the lower castle! And three men were with him – all carrying rifles and readying them.
“Oh, no,” said Icelus.
The men were advancing toward them.
“Marc!” she said. “We have to go. Can you do that thing again?”
“Uh, um...” Marc hesitated. He crouched down and grabbed Icelus and screwed his face up and concentrated.
Come on, he thought. Teleport or something.
Nothing. He opened his eyes and everything was exactly the same.
He shut his eyes and thought harder.
It's not coming.
“I can't,” he said. “It's not working. Why isn't it working?”
The men had their rifles at the ready. The magnetic effect of the Shieldwork was hampering their progress, but only a bit. “Come with us and we won't have to hurt you!” the one in the lead shouted.
Icelus eyed them solemnly and then looked at Marc. “It's okay, Marc,” she said. “You were right. I was wrong to put you here.”
“No... no, it's -”
“It's okay, Marc. You did a good job.”
The back of his neck prickled.
“Goodbye,” said Icelus.
And then Marc disappeared.

He was downtown. It was the middle of the afternoon.
Marc hacked and coughed and sputtered once again, breathing the new air. He was used to it by now, so it wasn't so bad this time.
He got up and looked around. Some people were looking at him. Pedestrians and businessmen side-eyed Marc, but they weren't freaking out. Had they seen him appear? He was back in his own world. But...
Icelus wasn't here. She was nowhere to be found.
“No,” he whispered. “No...”
Icelus was still in Oniron. She had warped him back here, and now she was trapped over there.


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