Seven

Anna looked at the handful of filthy pitiful people they’d managed to rescue, out of the twenty three doors opened only ten had survived, excluding Femnik or Diavach, she’d noticed different people calling him different things. They were all sitting on the filthy ground or leaning on the walls as Conundrum worked on the bricks with the metal bar.

“The mortar they used is strong and the bricks are of solid stone.” He stopped to take a break. “I do not know if I can clear it.”

“That’s okay, trying is what’s important, I think.” Anna arranged some fallen stones to be able to see into the hole. Reaching in she felt around as best she could and felt no hinges.

“Hey feather boy-”

“Femnik.” The creature gave her an annoyed look.

“Different people are calling you different things, and I’m tired, sorry. This door, did it swing in or out?”

His head tilted. “I told you, it was sealed.”

“I can’t feel hinges. I’m trying to figure out if it can be pushed open or if that would be wasted effort.”

“It was sealed.”

“What the f**k does that mean? You say the same thing over and over like I’m supposed to suddenly understand. That’s like speaking slower if someone doesn’t speak your language, it doesn’t f*****g work.”

“Calm yourself.” Conundrum huffed a laugh. “It means that the door did not swing. It was placed, cemented into position and warded so that the wood could not be broken, not by man or magic.”

“I refuse to accept that. Nothing else has held on to whatever they put on it; this is no different. It’s the layers. It’s dream logic again, things pile up and make dealing with them harder. But where there’s a will there’s a way.” Anna took a deep breath and glared at the door. “I bet a cannon would get through that. Do they have cannons here? Like in an armory or something?”

“What is it?”

“A cannon?” Her brow furrowed.

“Yes. What is it?”

“Ok, um, so do you have fireworks here?”

The blank looks made her sigh. “Alright, here’s a quick and dirty, super incomplete history on modern warfare where I’m from. Some guy invented fireworks, mixing powders that exploded when ignited. BOOM, sparkle sparkle.” She made wiggling motions with her fingers like a firework cascading down. “People thought that was really awesome, very pretty, and that boom is something you can feel in your bones, it’s awe inspiring. 

“So another guy looked at that, felt that boom and said, what happens if I take that and aim it at another person? So they stripped the sparkle out and intensified the boom to use it for weapons. You can move a cannonball, a big heavy metal ball, with incredible force and speed, taking down walls of stone that stood for hundreds of years. Or you can move little metal pieces with speed and send them directly through people and other relatively soft things. You get a small hole in the front and a big hole in the back where it comes out.

“The powder, like a lot of other accelerants, in an enclosed space, right, given an ignition source, will explode. That’s the principle. If you don’t already have them, we could make something like a cannon if we had some tubes and a smallish chamber full of accelerant, it doesn’t need to be black powder.”

Conundrum gripped her shoulder and turned her so that she could see his impressive scowl. “You will not spread such knowledge and you will not make a ‘cannon’. This world does not need such a thing. As you spoke I could see an image of a world in ruins.”

Anna nodded slowly, “Yeah. It’s done a lot of damage and brought a lot of pain and suffering to where I’m from but… at the same time it's really useful. It has uses not only as weapons but in clearing things away, like, you can blow apart mountains if you use it right.”

“No.”

She sighed and scratched her head. “Well, I mean, do you have any ideas?”

Femnik tilted his head, “You moved stone earlier.”

Blinking, she started to laugh. “I did! I forgot! How did I do that? I got mad and I just wanted it to move.”

“Our vision guides our power.” One of the more human looking people offered with a small smile. “You have to see what you wish to happen and then put forth your will.”

“Let me give it a go. Hopefully, I won’t bring the ceiling down. When I moved the stones before it was like… a sensation that pulling it down on top of us was absolutely a thing I could do.”

“I would like to not be here when she makes her attempt.” One of the other human looking people got slowly to his feet.

“Me too,” Anna grimaced, “but either we all leave here or none of us do. I’m not risking anybody who’s still alive getting left behind. Maybe you all can work on imagining that the roof over us doesn’t come down when I do this?”

“Be precise with your vision.” The one who’d explained things said dryly. “And put your will behind it with strict focus. We require priests to be able to use what we have. The link you have with Yvenalyn allows you both to wield her power.”

“I’ll do my best.” Anna faced the partially broken down wall with the solid stone door behind it. “Vision and focus.” 

Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine moving the stone. She imagined the way Conundrum had been chipping it away and then a thought occurred to her. If she couldn't make a cannon she could be the cannon. Opening her eyes she went and picked up one of the bricks and took it back several paces.

Anna hefted it onto her shoulder and imagined a bazooka that would launch it through the stone and the wood of the door. 

“Fire in the hole.” She imagined the ignition and stumbled with the recoil but there was a loud boom and the sound of falling stone. 

The stone wall had crumbled but the door was only dented.

“Once more, with feeling.” She picked up another stone brick and walked back to set up the image in her mind again of the stone blowing through the wood. “Fire in the hole.” 

The recoil sent her to her knees and she coughed from the dust around her. Again, the door was dented but not broken. Anna licked her lips and got up to get another brick.

“Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.” She muttered to herself, staring at the door and then she noticed the damage to the walls on the sides. “If you can’t go through, go around.”

She aimed her imaginary bazooka to the side of the door imagining the brick blowing a hole in the stone work. Taking a deep breath she shouted, “Fire in the hole!”

The recoil knocked her flat and the air was filled with dust and the sound of falling stone. She covered her face with the cloth of her dress and coughed, trying to breathe shallowly as the dust settled.

A broad shouldered man who reminded her of two-face if he’d been half ugly and half zombie stepped out of the hole in the wall.

“Gnir!” Femnik hurried forward and the man’s face contorted.

“What the f**k are you?”

The feathered creature stopped and blinked. “Who are you?”

“I asked first, you feathered freak.”

Femnik puffed up angrily.

The accent sounded familiar and Anna got to her feet moving forward with her hands up. “Everybody take a breath, Femnik, back up.” She took a breath and coughed again, “Sorry. The dust.”

The half zombie looking man stepped forward and patted her firmly on the back. “Catch your breath. Why are you dressed like a greek statue, gorgeous.”

“That’s how people here dress as far as I know. Do you know where Broad River University is, in Indiana?”

“Why the f**k would I know where a University in some shithole fly over state is?”

“You’re not staring at me blankly asking what country that’s in so, odds are we’re from the same place. You have an accent, where are you from? New York?”

“Yeah.” His brow furrowed.

“My family has a few houses and apartments there. I’ve never stayed in one place long enough to pick up much of an accent but, this whole thing is some kind of dream. The last thing I remember before I woke up here in a cell naked and terrified was falling backwards into an old well, at least I think that’s what it was. I was at a kegger.”

“The last thing I remember before I woke up in that cell was getting shot.”

Anna nodded and asked with a small frown, “What’s your name? I’m Anna, Annabella Isabeau Fitzroy-Grenfell.”

He gave a small snort, “That’s a rich b***h kind of name.”

“It is.”

“You connected?”

“If you want my family history and the who’s who you need to at least give me a name.” Anna tilted her head, “I guess though, if you’re just another character in this dream I’m having while dying you may not have one. Half of these people don’t have names and at least one has inconsistent name usage. Let’s relocate, I guess. The doors are all open and that was the important thing.”

“What are you talking about?” The half zombie narrowed his eyes. “If this is a f*****g dream it’s my dream.”

“Right, right, I just need to figure out why you’re here and what you represent. Come on,” she sighed, “For a minute I was doubting things and thinking you might be real too.”

“I’m f*****g real.” 

“You don’t even have a name, my guy. We can sort this out later, I’m feeling tired and hungry and I would like to not be-”

He grabbed by the back of the head and then changed his grip to under her jaw, looking her in the eye. Something about his anger felt extremely real.

“I’m not going to put up with some rich b***h mouthing off to me in my own f*****g dream. I should bust your f*****g head open.”

“Calm yourself.” Conundrum said firmly, “You are both travelers. Things must be explained to you both. All of us have names. Anna has not yet learned them. She has been very focused on what she felt was a task, opening all of the doors. Including yours.”

The half zombie grunted and let her go. 

Rubbing her jaw she asked, “I just imagined a bazooka and blew a hole in a wall, how is this not my dream?”

“Maybe I just imagined a stuck up b***h getting me out of a cell?” He glowered and she gave an annoyed laugh.

“Don’t call me a b***h. You must be representative of all the people who heard my name or saw the money my family, not me, has and made assumptions about my character. Whatever. I don’t listen to those people and I’m not listening to you because I know who I am.”

She turned and started marching toward the place the ladder had been and found it to be empty. The grate was still there though.

“Not my dream?” Anna muttered to herself, “A figment of my f*****g imagination is what you are.” 

Envisioning stones pulling out of the wall and making a staircase, she made a yanking gesture and the dream bent to her will, pulling them from the stone. As she stalked up them, she imagined explosives around the edge of the grate and said firmly, “Fire in the hole.” 

The grate launched itself into the air with a deafening BOOM, sending stones and dirt in all directions, including down around her. The area was deserted as it had been before and she marched purposefully toward what she was fairly certain was the alley she’d been led down before.

“Wait!” One of the human looking people shouted after her, “Anna!”

“What?! I’m tired, I’m hungry and I’m so pissed off I’m vibrating! What?!”

“We need you. Come with us to the temple.” He beckoned, “After that the task will be done and we may all go our separate ways.”

Something about his expression made her dubious. “I can go my own way now. You do what you need to do. I wish you luck in getting yourselves straightened out. I'm finding food.”

“You are too destructive to allow you to remain-” The man came out of the hole and the grate fell from the sky taking him to the ground.

“What goes up must come down,” she offered in a flippant tone as Femnik peeked out. “I’m not a violent or destructive person. I’m a harpist for f**k’s sake! I felt and still feel it was important to right the wrong that Osros was so proud of but I’m not going to allow figments of my imagination to bully or harm me. I liked some of you and I don’t want to hurt you. But if you try to hurt me I will f**k your s**t up six ways from Sunday. Make your decisions accordingly.”

Turning on her heel, she started down the alley. It wasn’t long before she realized that it must have been the wrong one. It let her out onto a street she hadn’t crossed before, there was however the smell of meat roasting. Anna followed her nose to a food stall where a rheumy eyed old man was sitting and slowly turning a hand crank.

“Lady.” 

“That’s debatable but I appreciate it. I don’t have any money on me, or anything to barter with, not even an instrument I can offer to play for you, but I’m ravenously hungry. Do you need anything heavy moved or, I’m honestly not sure what I’m capable of at the moment, but if you need something done I can barter some labor for some food.”

“Come sit and turn the handle, I’ll prepare a meal for you.”

“I appreciate that.” 

She traded places with him and began turning the hand crank, trying to keep it slow and steady as he had. Her stomach growled as he filled a wooden bowl with meat cut from some of the finished chunks sitting in broth over a low flame. He brought a small stool that he set the bowl on just out of reach and wandered into the canvased off space behind her.

Anna sighed and waited patiently. At the point she began to wonder if he was coming back, he returned with another stool, pushing the first one closer to her and taking a seat facing her.

“Eat, eat.” He chuckled. “Very polite of you to wait.”

“I try to be polite. Sometimes I fail, but in general…” She took a piece of meat from the bowl and tried not to wolf it down. “This is good.”

They sat quietly, both eating from the bowl as she turned the crank.

Eventually she broke the silence, “This is kind of hard work. Do you do this all day?”

“Most of it.” The old man smiled warmly. “It gets easier with time.”

“Someone once told me tasks never get easier, we just get stronger.”

He wagged a finger at her with a smile, “Six of one, half a dozen of the other.”

She gave a small laugh. “I suppose it is.” After another moment she offered, “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of customers.”

“No. After the explosions and the shaking of the ground everyone fled. Some fled the city, some to the temple, and some into their homes to pray.”

“Ah.” Anna sighed.

“You’re the one who caused them.” His tone was vaguely amused.

“Yeah. I didn’t think about how it might affect other people, I was focused on opening the final door and then I was mad and I blasted the grate open.”

“Why were you opening the doors? They’ve been closed for so long the world has gotten used to it.” He smiled wryly.

“This is a dream and it feels like,” she paused and took a breath, “like I’m trying to figure out who I am. Part of that is figuring out if I’m the kind of person who, when they hear about something that’s just deeply wrong, will they turn a blind eye or try to fix it? I was told about the doors, and the guy was kind of low key bragging about how he’d tricked them and was stealing their power.

“It just clicked. I needed to open those doors to put it right as much as possible. There was a-a sense of urgency. The dream helped me out, it’s been giving me help since I got here, helping me see things about myself and accomplish the things that I feel need to be accomplished.”

“Because you believe this is a dream you didn’t consider the people who might be frightened by the explosions?”

“No, well, maybe. I was focused on what I was doing and I forgot that there might be other people to take into consideration. Even though this is a dream I don’t want bad things to happen to people. I’d rather have a good dream than a bad one. But I did get mad, I was so tired and so hungry. No one is nice when they’re tired and hungry.”

The old man chuckled again. “I see.”

“Yeah, maybe I could have given the people I helped free a little more grace. They were tired and hungry too, they just… no, that’s not right, I just wasn’t considering things as carefully as I should have been. I feel like I can think more clearly with a full stomach.”

Nodding he stood up and put some more meat in the bowl. “Have some more, Lady. This will help to keep you full.”

She gave a small laugh, “Thanks.” 

Anna ate a bit more, continually moving the crank, and the old man asked curiously, “Which one is the real you, do you think? The angry one or the polite one?”

Considering it for a moment she offered, “They say who you are when things are hard is who you really are. All of this has been hard, I’m having a dream while I’m dying and that’s-that’s a lot to process. I’ve been mostly polite, I genuinely wish the best for people I haven't even met, but I’ve been angry too. I’ve fallen back on politeness easily, and I fell back on the violence I’ve seen and been forced to become acquainted with in the real world too. 

“I think I’m a mixed bag. Both things are a part of me.” She tilted her head. “I didn’t get violent until people got violent with me, so there’s that too. And I think maybe sometimes anger is justified but I really should have handled mine better. I don’t have a lot of experience with it. Which, I mean, isn’t an excuse but it’s an explanation.”

“Ahhh.” The old man smiled warmly.

“So is the dream openly acknowledging that it’s a dream now? Has this moved into the realm of lucid dreaming?” Anna asked, looking at him curiously. “You’re aware of things that, you, a random person who’d spent all day turning a hand crank and staying put wouldn’t reasonably be aware of.”

He started to laugh and shook his head. “No, Lady. This is not a dream. But perhaps I can explain since you’ve been helping me to put things closer to right.” The old man took the knife and sliced into his hand.

To her surprise there was no blood, just a little bit of light and then the wound was healed as if it had never been.

“You’re right and wrong about the gods. These beings are not truly gods but they are descended from them. The gods are immortal and not all are kind. We exist outside of things and we have all agreed not to meddle directly. But, we birthed creatures to do our will and influence the worlds that grow like entwined vines. The fruit borne gives us sustenance, we cultivate worlds like crops.

“We can speak more directly to those we have birthed for our purposes, which is why I can speak so directly to you now, you are inhabiting the body of one of my children.”

He reached out and touched her face. “This is not a dream and you should be warned that the more power you spend the less can be given to her to help you survive. It is seen as recompense for the trade to grant you more life but the more you spend here…”

“The less is owed there. Got it.” Anna shivered and stopped moving the handle. “What is this place? Like, I mean is it a kind of purgatory to give you closure or to sort yourself out or-”

“The crank-”

“Sorry.” Anna started the crank again. “I just kind of…”

“I know.” He chuckled. “I’ve done this before and answered these questions many times. You’ve spoken of a ‘soul soup’. This is a sieve, one of many, that determines which world’s ‘soup’ you’ll be poured into. Similar to balancing nutrients and adding or taking from the soil if a plant is not doing well. We cultivate the worlds similarly. You are only expected to be yourself.”

“You can’t know if you’ll be poured into a better one or a worse one just that you’re going to be poured.” Anna murmured to herself and he tapped her on the nose. 

“I may have spoken to you like this in another of your lives, you grasp this well. It would be a poor sieve if it was only made for one single thing, yes?”

“You’re saying that guy was from my world?”

“There are many and time holds little meaning in a sieve. Some here may be from your world or one similar to it, or they may be from another time or culture. Here, you can understand each other regardless of the when or where.

“You did well in opening the doors but-”

“I need to go back and apologize for acting like the main character.” She made a face and he laughed.

“If you feel you should, yes, but I was going to suggest that there was more that both you and the ones you freed need to do. I cannot tell you what that is, you will either choose it or not, but you should know that your purpose and theirs in being here has not yet been fulfilled.”

“Got it. Okay, um, so-”

“Have you finished your food?”

“Oh! Um, could I take some to go? Some of the others might be hangry too and it’s usually easier to apologize when you bring a peace offering.”

Chuckling, he took over the hand crank again and she picked up the bowl. Between blinks she was standing in the temple that Morcaryn had taken her through. Priests were posturing, defending an altar and those she’d helped to free were glowering at them. The one who’d had the grate dropped on him looked a little mangled but was certainly not dead.

“Hey, so apparently-”

The mangled looking man gave a startled shriek but Conundrum barked a laugh as he saw her.

“I owe at least one apology. Are any of you hungry?”

“Yes.” Femnik cracked a smile. “You met one of the kind ones.”

“He did seem kind, yes. I was under the mistaken impression that this was a dream. But apparently it’s more like a sieve for the soul soup.”

“Soul soup?” The half man half zombie took a piece of meat as did the others as she took the bowl over.

“Yeah, like, when we’re born we’re poured out of the soul soup into a body and when we die we go back into it. Except to make sure things keep the balance they’re supposed to we get put through a sieve to see where we’d be most useful next time. Worlds growing like vines need certain things to get certain fruits from them? Make sense? It made sense to me.

“Oh! And apparently, the more power we use here the less there is for the demigod occupying your body to use in healing you and setting up your recovery. That would have been good to know, by the way.” She gave a pointed look to the man who’d half a*s explained things. “Anyway, I need to apologize for acting like the main character of this dream, when I am apparently one of many getting sieved to see what I’m made of. I was a little rude, but I think everyone here has been so can we call it even?”

The one who’d been flattened by the grate looked much more like himself after having eaten the piece of meat and he gave a furious huff. 

“Even? You struck me with-”

“Nope. What goes up must come down. I blasted the grate up,” she tossed the empty bowl up and caught it as it came back down, “anyone who was in that exact spot would have gotten hit with it, that includes me. That’s just basic gravity. I will confess that I wasn’t unhappy about it. I was angry, hungry, and tired. And what were you doing?”

He blinked.

“Yeah. Me and this guy both have at least one more thing we’re supposed to do while we’re in the sieve. And the rest of you also have things you’re supposed to be doing. He said either we’ll all choose to do what we’re supposed to or we won’t.” Anna directed her attention back to the half-zombie, “From what I understand, choices are a big thing here, an overarching theme to this sieve. Choosing who we are, who we want to be, what we’ll do when presented with various circumstances.”

Conundrum chuckled, a low gravelly sound. “Yes. He fed you and gave you food for us? Asking nothing in return?”

“I asked him if I could trade labor for food since I didn’t have anything else to offer. He was turning a hand crank that rotated the meat over the coals so I turned the hand crank for a bit in exchange. I asked him if I could take some to go because it’s generally easier to apologize with a peace offering in hand.”

“You should say clearly if it is a peace offering.” The vine woman frowned sternly.

“It’s not like I would have told you that you couldn't have it if you decide you’d rather stay mad. How you feel is how you feel. I brought it because if I was hangry and easy to set off all of you might be too. I’ve been acting like the main character and not taking other people’s needs into account as much as I should have. ”

“He told you that?” the pale creature with stringy hair asked curiously.

“No, he asked questions that made me think about my actions. The only things he said straightforwardly were about the sieve and about us all still having choices we need to make.” Anna glanced around at the priests who looked nervous and dubious. “Why are we here by the way? They don’t look friendly.”

“We need to access the altar.” The now much healthier looking man who’d been hit with the grate eyed her coolly.

“No.” Conundrum said firmly, “You wished to send them directly back and one of the fathers has said that they still have a purpose here. We will not shorten-”

“We need Gnir!” Femnik said in an annoyed tone.

“What are they talking about?” Half-zombie asked with a frown.

“I was told that killing me would send me back, the woman this body belongs to is in mine right now and she’s working on getting me to a point where I might survive. The guy whose body you’re in is doing the same. They want to kill us to make us swap back faster.”

“You die in a dream, you die for real.” He leveled a coldly furious look at Femnik. “These freaks-”

“Aht! Aht!” Anna gave him a pointed look, “These are demigods and they look the way they’re supposed to. Name calling not only isn’t productive it’s f*****g rude. Did you not learn the golden rule?”

He huffed a small laugh. “I never paid much attention to that. No one treats me nice so…”

“Maybe, and this is just a suggestion, you might consider not treating people like they’re going to be mean to you and see if that changes the way they act toward you. Mercenary nice is a place to start at least.”

“I can try it. You, ah, you’re planning to be nice to me?”

“Considering it seems like we’re from the same place? Friendships have been formed over less. Do you want to get out of here?” She glanced around at the priests and the sour looking man not far away. “I’m not keen on the idea of dying right now.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled, “Where to?”

“Well, I mean, we can always clean up and get some clothes in Osros’ apartment. It’s not far. I just need to figure out how to get pure water because I don’t think they’re willing to make it for me right now. Oh, that’s another thing, the water here is weird. Drinking straight well water was like drinking acid with glass powder in it. I don’t know if your mileage will vary but just be aware that some things we take for granted are not things you can take for granted here.”

“We can help.” The pale thing smiled unpleasantly. “Take us to Osros’ apartment.”