Gates Read online

  Book Two

  PLANAR WARS:

  GATES

  EDMUND A.M. BATARA

  First Published

  March 2019

  ASIN: B07LCSZKZR

  Imprint: Independently published

  This book is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, places, interactions, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, unless otherwise indicated. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. All Rights Reserved by the Author. 2018.

  To my family.

  My wife, Julette-Marie, and my daughters, Amina Francesca, Katrina Fae, and Ana Bettina -

  for all the support and joy you have given me.

  To my sisters -

  for being so supportive.

  To readers of the series and those at the website where the first draft of this continuing story was posted -

  for the encouragement and constructive feedback.

  Copy Editor: Annie Jenkinson at just-copyeditors.com

  (Spelling for some terms follow fantasy and gaming norms)

  Image Credits:

  Cover: Base image by darksouls1 from Pixabay.com under a Creative Commons CC0 license. Alterations by the Author.

  Illustrations: Title Page image by ipicgr from Pixabay.com under a Creative Commons CC0 license; Chapter End image (infinity symbol) is from publicdomainvectors.org. Public domain; pen image from openclipart.org. Public domain.

  Quotes:

  Lamashtu incantation translation courtesy of http://www.ancientneareast.net/mesopotamian-religion/lamastu-lamashtu/

  Pazuzu mantra courtesy of http://www.academia.edu/2922372/Evil_against_evil._The_Demon_Pazuzu

  Author's Notes on the Series

  and Book Two

  Hello.

  I have several fantasy books on Amazon, some of which have reached the bestseller status in their particular genre (mythology). However, I noticed that most of the fantasy books today deal with a human from this world going to another reality or the world and the characters found in such wonderful stories all sprung from the writer's fertile imagination. Which in turn got me thinking—what if fantasy instead comes to our reality? Of course, there has to be a plausible reason for its occurrence and the fantasy world or worlds must have some basis in Earth's myths and legends. Not that I am averse to writing a fantasy totally unrelated to our reality. But right now, I believe our ancient stories of magic and fantastic creatures are rich enough to explore as a basis for writing fantasy and science fiction stories.

  This book is the second of a series of stories exploring that possibility. And I say possibility because who knows? It might actually happen.

  This is the second book of the flight of Eric and Jen, seeking a safe refuge in a world gone mad. Eric has found himself suddenly burdened with a dangerous gift—or curse, which some might deem it to be. Unfortunately, in a world starting to be filled with perilous magical energy, Eric has also discovered that what he had was starting to attract the attention of powerful beings, some lethally polite and others capable of wanton, massive destruction.

  In this installment, a second dimensional reality, with multiple worlds, started to be drawn into Earth and added to the chaos engulfing it. With the world now turning into a full-scale battleground, what chance is there for humanity’s survival?

  Enjoy and thanks for reading.

  The Author.

  February 2019

  Kyoto, Japan.

  Theoclymenus:

  “Ah, wretched men, what evil is this that you suffer? Shrouded in night are your heads and your faces and your knees beneath you; kindled is the sound of wailing, bathed in tears are your cheeks, and sprinkled with blood are the walls and the fair rafters. And full of ghosts is the porch and full the court, of ghosts that hasten down to Erebus beneath the darkness, and the sun has perished out of heaven and an evil mist hovers over all.”

  - Homer, The Odyssey, Book Twenty

  SERIES PROLOGUE

  Diary Entry

  December 2019

  Hello. I am Eric Weber. I am 26 years old at the time of this writing. I am with my girlfriend, Jen Stuart. It’s now December 2019. I have no idea about the date. Running for your life makes you forget those things. Not that digital watches and cell phones are of any help in our situation. The assault on the town’s defensive grid also brought with it that bizarre energy field which rendered modern gadgets useless. The weather outside is freezing so we’re holed up in this abandoned hunting cabin and I decided to make the most of our time here by writing these notes. Or do we call them memoirs? A diary?

  We intend to reach another reported safe area across the border in Saskatchewan, Canada. There are other safe zones mentioned in the last report we heard but they’re all too far. Hopefully, we’ll make it to an existing safe zone. The list of sites was shrinking day-by-day. But the report we had was now a week old, a day before the Great Falls Defense Area fell. That’s in Montana, by the way. We’re lucky we got away. I really don’t know if it’s still valid but what other option did we have?

  I am human, by the way (in case some other entity gets hold of this record). We were the dominant species on this planet until what we call the Event happened. Now, we don’t know who’s the top dog on this planet we call Earth.

  1

  Mounted Pursuit

  "Come on, lovebirds. Escape and evasion time," Henry's light-hearted voice informed us after several minutes. I have to say the man was considerate given the circumstances—bizarre predators around us and a significant battle between competing monster hordes a few miles away. Other people might be freaked out and would have immediately pushed for continuing our escape, whatever my mental or emotional condition may be.

  "Thanks, Henry," I told him. What else could I say? But I meant it. Hats off to the man.

  I squatted on the ground, with my map laid out between us. I meant between Henry and me. Jen did security. Our options were to follow Stan and Cooper's route or make our own. The problem was the soldiers' course was plotted before the area became monster central. Not that we expected it—the subdivision looked clear for a while, and it would, out of the way of any rampaging bizarre creatures. There were no weird beasties after the visit of that floating entity. We really thought that after claiming the territory, they'd leave the subdivision alone. How were we to know they'd even build one of their temples there? Not only a simple ziggurat, but a transfer point from their dimension to ours. Shit.

  "What do you think?" asked Henry.

  I examined the map again. Apparently, the man already had his answer or assumptions, if you want to put it that way. Following in the tracks of Stan and Cooper would expose us to danger. I remembered seeing Stan's finger tracing the plot line of their way back to town on the map. It was on this side of the highway—the subdivision side—where we saw masses of creatures being sent. Their number might have been reduced given the ongoing battle, but there still would be remnants there. Or sentries. Or those dumb enough not to hear the call to return and fight the new claimants.

  "I guess our only option is to cross the highway and approach the town from that side," I replied and then gave the reason for my suggestion.

  "I also had the same idea. Though to be safe, we might have to proceed a bit more before turning toward the town. No telling if there's an overflow of the horde holding this territory," said Henry.

  "Uh, guys? Something’s coming this way," whispered Jen urgently. She pointed down the path we used.

 
; "Damn," Henry said. The man quickly clambered up a tree and just as promptly got down.

  "One of those mounted things. Possibly a tracker. Either the battle is over and they won, or they lost and this guy got hold of our scent as he was escaping. Either way, it's going to be a problem in around five minutes. His mount is still sniffing its way around. The stream might delay it for a minute more, but it will easily pick up our trail after that. I suggest we move deeper into the forest. Thicker foliage will give us an advantage upon a mounted pursuer," quickly said Henry. He picked up his pack and spear, moving swiftly. We followed.

  The man adopted a twisting and turning path as he moved through the undergrowth. I noticed he didn't break off small branches as he passed, no matter how they delayed his movements. Then I realized the tree limbs would be of greater worth delaying the creature as well as not making it easier for the bastard to track us.

  I noticed the woods had become deathly quiet and the sound of something making its way through the tree growth reached my ears.

  Shit. It's close, I thought. Even forest animals had the sense to get away.

  Henry evidently heard it too as he stopped and looked around. He quickly turned to us.

  "No choice but to fight it out. We’ll probably end up burning the forest. But it might help the town if the fire can delay their movements. Jen, move forward about several meters and sit under that large tree. Make sure it sees you. Worst case, you can clamber up its branches. In the meantime, we'll ambush the bastard. Eric, take that flank, and I take this side. Find good cover. Wait until I use my Molotov. It will be forced to move back and confront me. While its back is turned, hit it. There's a pair of them—the rider and his mount. We'll wing it from there. More firebombs as needed," came the rapid-fire instructions from Henry.

  It sounded like a good plan, though it was also the only one we could come up with at that moment. It had all the elements—surprise, adequate destructive power, positioning, and in this particular instance, a bait.

  But as with most plans, things didn't go as expected.

  We waited, tense moments giving rise to clammy hands and the strange sensation of hearing one’s thudding heartbeats. But I think that was just Jen and me. It’s odd when one is in that situation. You feel alive like never before, keenly aware of all that’s around you—the slight breeze, the smell of the forest, even the solitary leaf in front of your eyes. Right at the moment when your life hung in the balance. Why the fuck does it have to be like that, happening in such dangerous and life-threatening instances? Can’t every day of our lives be as wondrous as those moments? Of course, it comes complete with shaking knees and breathing issues.

  But the bastard had other ideas. I have no idea why it deviated from following our track and instead moved right into the forest undergrowth. Maybe it intended to cut us off, the zigzag pattern of our movements fairly discernible, I have to admit. Or it sensed its quarry had stopped, indicating a possible ambush. The scientists could probably tell us if it had other senses unknown to modern science—if they ever manage to get a corpse instead of a small pile of black soil.

  I was waiting for the rider to show up, a Molotov in my hand, when suddenly a loud racket came from Henry’s position, followed by several vulgar expletives and the sight of a fireball. Immediately, I lighted the fuse on my bottle and rushed to the other side of the trail. The rider was on fire and the mount, a scaly reptilian thing, had Henry’s spear piercing its mouth. I threw the glass bottle at the lizard-like frame, and as it spilled its fiery content on the body, I noticed it had unfortunately also set on fire the thick bush around it. That was in addition to the flames which Henry’s Molotov had already set off. The shaking and twisting body of the rider, as it futilely tried to brush off the flames, spread the coverage of the blaze even further. I knew that the sticky composition of the improvised bomb rendered inutile any effort on our part to stop the spread of the conflagration, even if we had the time.

  The rider and his mount took some time to die, if that’s the proper description, quite the difference from the monster dogs. The flaming lizard was running around in place as its passenger continued its efforts to put the clinging fire out. But where the rider was silent, the scaly charger was loudly hissing. Then the instinct to roll over came over it, squashing its suffering passenger.

  As it took to the ground, its belly was exposed for a moment and I, with all my strength, thrust the spear into the smooth yet burning skin. Fortunately, the improvised weapon penetrated about a foot but then broke off. The creature and its crushed master lay still in a circle of flames within a growing forest fire. The rider appeared to be of a similar kind, also full of rough scales which looked like dark bones. It could have been osteodermic, but the pile of flames engulfing it covered most of its features, preventing any further examination. The shape did look humanoid. I didn’t see any weapons, but it could have been armed with an extension of its body similar to those bony creatures we saw, though with a spear variant.

  I looked at Henry. The man was on his back and busy trying to move away from an approaching and fast-moving small fire. I didn’t see any blood on him, but I hurried over and pulled him to his feet.

  “Thanks, that was a close one. The blasted thing tried to sneak up on me. Let’s move first. This fire is spreading fast. At least the breeze is not blowing toward the direction we’re headed,” he said through clenched teeth. The man was limping, favoring one leg.

  “You hurt?” I asked as I offered my shoulder.

  “A bit. Damn reptile’s snout hit me on the chest, and one of its legs caught me on the knee. Good thing it wasn’t the clawed part. But it still hurts like hell. Don’t worry, it’s bound to clear up later. Let’s go.”

  “Good thing the rider didn’t have a spear,” I said, as we dragged ourselves away.

  “Oh, it did. Something long, barbed, and sharp attached to the arm. Only I think its mount got excited and thankfully rushed me. I heard it, turned, and was just able to stick that spear into its gaping mouth. But the SOB continued attacking despite having a wooden stick plunged into its maw. The spear served to deflect the beast, hitting me with a glancing blow instead; otherwise, my chest would have been mush.”

  “At least you got to use your bomb.”

  “The second one. My reserve. I dropped the Molotov I was holding. I think even the rider was surprised by the reaction of its mount. It wasn’t even raising its spear, lance or whatever its weapon is called. Gave me the few precious seconds I needed to hit it with the bottle,” he answered with a painful laugh.

  We reached Jen. She carried Henry’s pack while I continued helping the limping man. We continued on without a break until we reached the edge of the forest. The ground dipped into a small but manageable gully before it rose again. Before us was the highway with guardrails broken in some sections. Abandoned vehicles stood still in places. Some cars appeared to be in running condition though others were in the same state we had seen before—rusted, dilapidated hulks. Surprisingly, I couldn’t see any bodies, bones, or mounds of flesh. I looked back and saw a lot of smoke from the area we came from. The fire was indeed growing.

  “Let’s take a break,” said Henry. “We all need it. Also gives me the time to check the damage against my warranty.”

  Jen and I flopped wearily to the ground. But our position was a few feet inside the trees. No point in letting ourselves be seen, especially when that part of the highway was on a slightly raised embankment. At least we had an overlooking position. Abruptly a massive blast of hot air knocked us all flat into the ground. As we looked up, we saw on the distant horizon a familiar mushroom-shaped cloud.

  2

  A Parade

  “Take cover and grab onto anything!” shouted Henry, his loud voice barely discernible through the howling hot wind. Accompanying the unholy cacophony was a lot of flying debris. The professor already had his arms around a large tree trunk.

  We gripped the body of the tree in front of us, praying it would
hold. I tried to shelter Jen with my frame. I looked at her through the swirling dust cloud sweeping through the area. She looked badly frightened, and her eyes were closed. I was scared too. It’s not every day you see a nuclear explosion.

  “Hold on! I think there’s two more!” shouted Henry again.

  More? My stunned brain shrieked. No, not like a little girl. A manly scream. Who was I kidding? Even the sight of one nuclear firestorm was bound to shrivel those two little round things below my waist.

  Two more waves of hot air swept through us, though weaker compared to the first. We waited for a considerable time until the dust settled and some form of visibility returned. Then, we heard Henry cursing.

  “Those stupid assholes! Dumb shirts!”

  I glanced at him. The man was sitting on the ground, his back braced against the tree and he was looking in the direction of the explosions over his right shoulder. Like us, he was covered with dust and twigs. Henry noticed me staring at him.