Beyond the Shroud of the Universe Read Online Free PDF Page B

“When I first met you, I told you I knew two others who had been given progenitor’s rods, and that both died before accomplishing their task,” he added. “That much was true. What I didn’t tell you was how they died. I killed them.” He held out the rod so Calvin could see it. “You only had two of the symbols, but I need one of them. I imagine it was the one for the Psiclopes’ home world.”
    “You didn’t have Olympos?” Calvin asked. “I would have thought getting the Olympos symbol would have been easy. They were your allies, after all.”
    “Yes, I could have gone there on several occasions, but I could never stand the little twerps. They’re always spying and trying to find out your secrets so they can use them against you. Go to their planet and let them inspect all my belongings? No thanks. I nearly left your planet when I found out there was a Psiclopes outpost on it; however, by then I had the Efreeti control rod. Since it let me turn invisible and change my appearance, I decided to see how long I could outwit them. That was my mistake, as Arges eventually caught me.”
    “What did he want for not turning you in?” Calvin asked.
    Nightsong shuddered. “Victims, usually.”
    “What do you mean, ‘victims?’”
    “Arges is, and always has been, a sick and twisted creature. The reason he was always trying to cause international conflicts was he loved finding hero spirits’ helpers. He would happily follow a hero spirit around for days…but what he enjoyed even more was seeing how long the hero spirit’s helpers would last while he tortured them to death.”
    “You mean, like what you were doing to me?” Father Zuhlsdorf asked. “Coming from you, that’s really saying something.”
    “Sticks and stones,” Nightsong said with a smile. “Unlike his experiments, mine have a purpose. I am trying to advance the science of sword-making; Arges just does it because he likes it.”
    The group paused as Calvin switched Father Zuhlsdorf from his left side to his right. “I digress,” Nightsong said as the group started forward again. “You asked about Nightsong. He didn’t know I was a functional Eco Warrior, and took me for granted. Nightsong was already an Eco Warrior and should have killed me with his fire. He could easily have done it; however, it wouldn’t have been a good way for me to go. Instead, he decided to go for the clean kill of a laser. When Nightsong flipped me over to see if I was dead, I shot him through the head.” He sighed. “Salvan Nightsong and I really were best friends when we were young. Still, when Arges told me Nightsong was coming to kill me, I knew I only had one choice. Believe it or not, killing him really was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do…but then again, it was either him or me.”
    “So you killed your best friend.”
    “I did,” Nightsong agreed. “The irony of it all was the real Nightsong was a hero spirit himself, and I was one of his helpers. Nightsong never realized it, and I didn’t figure it out until it was too late. I spent all that time trying to find a hero spirit and then killed the first one I met without being ready to catch his soul. The gods must have been laughing at me that day.”
    “And you’ve been impersonating him ever since?”
    “Indeed.” He chuckled. “People were amazed at how quickly I advanced as an Eco Warrior. With several hundred years’ of nanobot experience at that point, advancement was trivial; I had to intentionally make mistakes so I wouldn’t be found out.”
    As they topped a hill, Calvin looked down to see a ship sitting in the valley. Although the ship was bigger than the space fighter Calvin flew, it was much smaller than a combatant. The ship’s silver skin was shapely, and it was obviously intended for atmospheric flight. “What is that?” Calvin asked.
    “It’s my ship,” Nightsong replied. “We’re going to go for a ride.”
    As they started moving toward the ship, Father