Free Beyond the Veil by Tim Marquitz

the aliens you foresaw, master,”
she said, motioning to us with a wave as if the old cooter could see the gesture.
    “Thank you, Rala. Bring me closer.”
    Longinus stared down at the aliens,
splitting his attention between them and the buildings. He shifted to put me in
front as the two shuffled a step nearer. The old man sniffed the air right
before me.
    “There is darkness inside your heart,
stranger. What do they call you?”
    Tell
me something I don’t know, grandpa. Longinus chuckled and
shook his head to let me know he thought we were wasting our time. I was
beginning to agree.
    “Yeah, I cheated on my taxes once,” I told
him. “The name’s Frank. Now tell me who you are.”
    “I am Vol—”
    “Is your last name Vo ?”
    His eyes narrowed, the hairy brows slumping
down like caterpillars.
    “Never mind.” It’s hard to be me sometimes.
“Why is your pet following us?”
    “Rala? She searched for you at my behest.”
    Longinus sighed, the sound like glass
shards tumbling through a sifter. “Why did you bring us here, creature?”
    The old man’s blind eyes snapped toward
Longinus. “You have come to destroy the other alien, the one who preys upon the
magic of our world, have you not?”
    “We have,” I cut in quick. “What can you
tell us about him?”
    “You must beware the pieces of the puzzle
buried within the puzzle. There can be no trust. A dagger glistens in the
darkness…”
    My head involuntarily shifted sideways on
my neck as the alien droned on. I can haz crazy?
    “The Eidolon have come to devour us all.
They lurk in the shadows, the dark phoenix arisen from the ashes of what once
was,” he went on. “The enemies of friends are enemies no more, the circle
coming about to encircle…”
    I raised my hand to wave him off and
realized I was doing the same dumb shit the girl had. “Whoa there, gramps,
you’re losing me.” Longinus huffed and turned away, clearly not amused. I
tapped the spot where the translator worm had crawled into my arm, thinking it
had gone haywire. “Maybe stream of consciousness is a valid form of
communication here on your planet, but I don’t have the slightest idea as to what
you’re rambling on about. I’ve had acid trips that were more coherent.”
    “He warns of the beings who claim to war
for the sake of the universe but whose true desires are far more dangerous,
whose machinations are disastrous for the whole of existence.”
    “Couldn’t he have just said that ?” I sighed, looking at Vol. “Do you
mean God?”
    “Who is this…God you speak of?”
    I glanced at Longinus and shrugged, turning
back to the old man. “You know, the big guy in the sky who created this world
and all the rest of the ones floating around in space, the leader of the army
that has come to free Feluris?”
    Vol shook his head. “I know of no such
being. There is only the darkness in the light, the assassin in the--”
    I groaned, cutting off his tangent. “Since
we’re not talking about the same thing, do you have names, buddy? Addresses of
the Eidolon bad guys, maybe?” Having dealt with Chatterbox, I was fairly used
to incoherent rambling. The zombie head only had a couple of interests—porn and
sex—so we had enough in common we could understand each other. This talking
head, however, was on a whole other level of out there. If he’d have tossed
some tits into the mix, I might have something to latch onto, but no such luck.
    I stiffened at a metallic clang and the sudden buzz of a wasp
zipping past my ear. For a second there, I thought I’d blown a gasket. My head
swiveled around to see Longinus’ sword hovering just inches behind me, my face
reflected in the wavering steel. Wisps of smoke cast tiny ripples of distortion
in the image. Beyond the blade, I spied a couple dozen aliens charging toward
us. Each wore a mismatched set of riot-type armor over their clothes, helmets
with clear facemasks and thick plates draped down their torsos. Spears and
swords