“You must seal that,” Shini says, staring up at the rip in strange existence where he finds himself with Maxx. “We are in Kútmómɛ and I am not sure if that means we are dead, but random Fonlanders could fall in after us and I don’t want that to happen.”
The place where Maxx and Shini find themselves is very dark but there is light from the rip in existence. They are in what looks to be a large hole in dirt, a circular clearing with high dirt walls, but the nature of existence itself is hazy, out of focus and shimmering with a light blue glow. Shini recognizes this look of distortion, it is the oblivion he’d existed in before Maxx freed him, but seeing it now transposed over the location on the Disc of Agê where he had been before jumping into the large hole, made him realize that tales of Kútmómɛ were true and Maxx had told him the truth that he’d been sent to Kútmómɛ but to a spot far away from the landmarks he might have recognized.
Maxx stands tall in the hazy existence, face up toward the hole, moving his clawed fingers deliberately and chanting. Before his actions have any impact on the opening between Kútmómɛ and the Disc of Agê, both Shini and Maxx are surprised when two figures land before them inside the hole.
“Pultine!” Shini says with overwhelming surprise and he moves closer to her.
“Maxx,” Zacchaeus says just as Maxx stops the spell with his hands and the opening high above them is now closed.
“Why are you here?” Maxx asks with wonder.
“Where are we that Shini is here?” Pultine asks, distrustful of the dark muthi that stands before her.
“How do you know Shini?” Maxx asks Pultine.
“How do I know Shini?” Pultine asks, angrier than she had been. “How do you know Shini if he was killed so long before you were even manufactured on Bludon?”
“I never died, Pristine,” Shini says. “I’ve been here, in Kútmómɛ.”
“Which is where Fonlanders go in death,” Pultine says. “You were dead.”
“If I was dead, then we all are now,” Shini counters.
“This is not…” Pultine starts but then she is staring at the world around them, the view is familiar but completely new. She walks to the wall of the hole where they find themselves and she pushes at the dirt that is much softer than the Fonlands equivalent. Her hand plunges into the blue-tinted dirt almost up to the shoulder and she removes it easily. “This is not the Fonlands,” she says. “Have we died and gone to Kútmómɛ?”
“We are alive,” Maxx says confidently. “You will know when I die, I reprogrammed my systems to self destruct in the event of my death once I started this journey. Absent that, I believe we are all alive and well, but there is now a timer counting down to our demise.”
“How are we in Kútmómɛ?” Pultine asks, voice on the verge of nervous trembling. “This can’t be.”
“It is, Pristine,” Maxx says and he tries to put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but Pultine shrugs it off. “The magic that I used to arrive here allows me, I guess all of us, to dwell in Kútmómɛ for a limited time that should be sufficient to recover the Blight Maker, and once obtained, the wielder will be protected from the fear of succumbing to death in Kútmómɛ. We should start looking for it now.”
“We are not helping you!” Pultine growls at Maxx. “We are here to stop you! Take us home now, Superguardian, or I will incinerate you.”
Maxx understands the anger that Pultine displays, but rather than feel afraid at her obvious power, he is mesmerized by the way the light at her hand burns in this blue tinted existence, almost like a yellow-white flame rather than the ball of light that he’d seen in the other existence.
“I am sorry, Pristine,” Maxx says dreamily.
“You alright, man?” Zacchaeus asks, obviously worried about Maxx, but also unsettled and readying himself to assist Pultine if Maxx gets out of control.
“I am good,” Maxx says, never taking his eyes from Pultine. “You should realize this as well. There is no leaving Kútmómɛ without the Blight Maker. It is not possible to reenact the spell that brought us here, death magic does not work here. The Blight Maker is the only key back to the Fonlands.”
“So we might as well be fucking dead!” Zacchaeus says angrily and the arcana of the black cloak he wears flares, the black smoke pouring off of it intensifying.
“We are not,” Shini says and he tries to get Pultine’s attention. “Listen, Pultine, I did not die and I was stuck in this place for a long time, but I was brought back to the Fonlands. I think it is impossible for truly dead Fonlanders to leave here, and your friend Zaccacheus would not be here if he were dead, nor would Maxx despite all of his arcane enhancements. Even though I have been here for a long time, I was far away from anything else, floating in nothing. I am sure that we can find other means to return to the Fonlands without the Blight Maker…”
Maxx interrupts him with a fist to the face.
“We are here for Blight Maker and it is the only sure way that we know how to return to the Fonlands. If you don’t want to aid me, then you are welcome to enjoy the rest of your existence here in Kútmómɛ. Let’s go.”
Maxx pushes into the wall of dirt and disappears. Shini steps in front of Pultine who seems frozen in place staring at the hole in the dirt that Maxx had left.
“Pristine, do not believe him,” Shini says earnestly. “He is mad and only cares about his weapon. If Kútmómɛ is real, if the stories are real, this is the place of our forebears and they must know how the living can leave this place.”
“But what if they don’t?” Pultine says, finally looking Shini in the eyes. She puts a hand to his cheek. “You look just as I remember you. I never liked you, but Ahdis loved you and she mourned for a long time when you forced her to kill you.” Pultine grabbed his pointed chin and squeezed until Shini was obviously uncomfortable. “I would be her revenge, you destroyed her home and made her kill her own companion, but it seems you have been truly suffering.” She lets go of him and crosses her arms at her chest. “I can’t risk Zacchaeus’s life on a gamble that we will find a way to avoid being stranded here. Maxx may be mad, but he is right, Shini. If the Blight Maker is our only known way to return to the Fonlands, then we will find it before Maxx so he can’t do anything reckless with it.”
“Do I get a say?” Zacchaeus asks. “I’m with Shini, Maxx don’t need anything with blight in the name. And I heard you and Ahdis talking about this place. He’s right, there should be a lot of really smart Fonlanders here who can help us out.”
Pultine is thoughtful for a moment.
“Lets follow him for now,” she says eventually, “keep an eye on him. I’m sure we’ll run into someone on the way and we can ask around.”
They agree and then follow Maxx into the dirt.
“You know Ahdis?” Shini asks as he and Zacchaeus trail Pultine who lights the way in the dirt tunnel with the power at her hand. “You spoke to her? How is she?”
“She’s fine,” Zacchaeus says apprehensively. “You used to be Ahdis’s companion? Musta been hard as hell being separated from her for so long. Them Mmoatia hard to forget.”
“You talk like a muthi with experience,” Shini says with a chuckle.
“I hope Coffey will make me her companion. She’s magnificent. Ahdis is doing good. I bet she’ll be happy to know that you survived after so long. We’ll get back to the Fonlands.”
“We have to. We have to get Maxx back without the Blight Maker. He cannot unleash its power onto the Fonlands. The weapon is old and tales of its origin have been lost to history. The Blight Maker is truly arcane and its powers are no longer harmonious with the powers of the Fonlands. Gu created it when he was practically a child after a dispute with an equally young Owuo. According to legend, Gu was unaware that Owuo couldn’t be killed, but he tried to kill him, landed a killing blow, and realized that Owuo knew he couldn’t be killed. Gu was humiliated and vowed to do exactly what Maxx is doing and it is uncanny how similar their journeys to this, to Blight Maker, actually are. The young Gu consulted with Death Witches who by that point had been banished from the Disc of Jo and were known to haunt the dark corners of the Fonlands. To create the Blight Maker, Gu paid a grim price, one that Apedemak the Legendary General is still bitter over.”
Pultine stops and turns to look at Shini.
“Are you saying that Gu sacrificed Apedemak’s twin, Maahes, to create Blight Maker? Are you saying that the Twin Massacre of his Disc was orchestrated by Gu to create Blight Maker?”
Shini nods gravely. “There were many Fonlanders sacrificed to create Blight Maker and the worst tragedy is that they would not even be able to dwell this place because as long as Blight Maker exists they are not technically dead, but frozen in suspension at the moment just before death and forged into the weapon. The Blight Maker is a weapon of corpses and it is purgatory to be part of it.”
Pultine seems overwhelmed by the information and the three stand in silence until they hear Maxx scream loudly in the distance. They run to catch up to him and when they do, they emerge into what looks like an underground city that is dark, pale, light blue with a weak fluorescence. There is an elaborate castle with light blue, opaque walls in the distance and they emerge onto neon blue walkways that lead to various structures of opaque, light blue walls. There are beings moving about the space but not in the vicinity of Maxx, and they look like light blue ghosts in the full grown bodies they enjoyed in the Fonlands before some of them began to shrink. When they see Maxx, he is attacking the humanoid form of a being of this realm. It is formidable, like a guard of considerable size but hazy blue like a ghost. Maxx is covered in the yellow energy of the Superconsciousness that is the source of his powers that allows him to fly and gives him amazing strength. Lately, before entering Kútmómɛ, there has also been an additional layer of power, a deep violet that smolders just outside the yellow of the Superconsciousness, but it is not present now and Maxx has used the Superconsciousness to seize the guard who floats in midair, surrounded in a yellow layer.
“You are a sentry!” Maxx growls angrily. “Shini described you. Tell me where to find the Blight Maker.”
“You are not worthy of such power,” the sentry says with a ghostly wail of a voice, like a loud exhale or moan. “You will never find the Blight Maker!”
“Really?” Maxx asks as a twisted smile spreads his face. “I may not have Death Magic here, but I assure you I do not need it to rip the information I need from your being. Where is the Blight Maker!”
“Maxx!” Shini says as he, Pultine, and Zacchaeus approach, “you will never succeed in torturing a sentry. They do not feel pain.”
“I’m not intending to torture it, I will find its consciousness and rip it out for analysis.”
The sentry is immobile in the yellow energy and its eyes that are balls of gray in its humanoid face seem lifeless. After a moment, Maxx is puzzled and looks to his companions.
“The Superconsciousness should be capable of a deep brain scan of this being,” he says to Shini. “Why isn’t it working?”
“You don’t get it, Maxx. We are in Kútmómɛ!” Shini said with exasperation. “Whatever magic or tools that worked on the living will not work here. I understand that you are not a being native to the Fonlands and you have visited many planets, but you have never been to a place like Kútmómɛ, no living thing has. Whatever plan you have to exert your will while we are here is moot. No one, not me, not the Pristine here, knows how things work here, no living thing does. And whatever knowledge we have is based on myth, like Bludonian myths of the Fonlands if they exist; maybe based on a shred of reality but impossible to be accurate because they aren’t verified or corroborated. Let the sentry go so that we can devise a plan to navigate this space safely. Or don’t and be surprised when the unexpected deals you consequences you can’t begin to comprehend.”
Maxx hurls the Sentry using his yellow energy and the rest watch with unease as the ghostly body flies away.
“You really don’t know nothing about this place?” Zacchaeus asks Pultine with a wide-eyed look of concern on his face.
“Just what you Earthers would call pleasantries said to the surviving family of lost loved ones. I’ve never heard of a sentry of Kútmómɛ. Apparently, Shini is the most knowledgeable of this place. Don’t worry, Zacchaeus, we will figure this out. We are all formidable, even if one of us is unstable.”
“If what I know is true,” Shini says, “it is bad news that we have encountered a sentry. They are wraiths that protect this land against hostile inhabitants who might try to escape or cause trouble. They keep order. If we can get one of them to talk to us, they would be our best bet to learn more, but they don’t know the Bight Maker,” he says to Maxx. “Don’t you know where it is? You did the spell that got us here, where does the magic tell us to go?”
“The magic is vague, you know that!” Maxx shouts. “Kútmómɛ was the destination, there were no specifics, but something like that can’t be easily hidden here. It must stick out with the red and purple energy that it exudes. Something here knows where it is!”
“If we stand a chance of figuring this out,” Pultine says to Maxx, “you need to reign it in. Be quiet and let us talk to the next thing we encounter.”
“Fine Pristine,” Maxx says with a bow. “My way was unsuccessful. Let’s see what your way yields.”
PRL Serials 