Project Twin Fires 002

 Chapter 1 Bad Timing

The man who had once been Zacharias Lockwood was drifting in darkness, no thoughts or feelings, he just was. No that wasn’t right. He noted the absence of feeling, the drifting though infinite space. That meant… “I’m waking up.”, he thought. “Still in a dream…?” He tried to remember. He had just lain down in bed, the covers which at first had been uncomfortably cold against his bare skin had soon warmed, so embraced he had drifted into the long sleep and now… he was here. It was cold. Not the freezing cold of winter, it was more insidious than that, this was a creeping cold that was slowly leeching away all the energy of a body. This was the chill one felt when, returning home from the cold, huddled under blankets in front of the hearth fire was still inside the body. This cold would be hard to shake. This was a cold that meant death was close.

He opened his eyes. Darkness. Floating. Cold.

This was not right, he tried to feel his way around. But there was nothing to grab hold of. He was suspended in a void, he could not see, hear,touch anything. “This is a dream.”, he said. He heard nothing. “This is a dream and I have to wake up.”, he focused his thoughts. The darkness changed, becoming mundane. He started feeling his body, the blankets covering him the mattress below. His mind that one second ago had felt focused and alert was suddenly sluggish. Waking up. He felt horrible, the cold from his dream had followed him into the waking world, but faint smile bloomed on his lips. “I knew that was a dream.” He intended to say, but everything that escaped his lips was a mumbled croak. He forced his eyes open. To bright! He closed them again. He heard a pained gurgle. Was that him? He took a deep breath, he failed miserably, he felt him self gasp, air rattling into his lungs in stuttering gasps.

“Don’t be alarmed.”, it was the voice of Lady Alania, it was very calm and soothing. Which was deeply alarming.

Another failed attempt at inhaling deeply. He squinted through one eye. The light was not that overwhelming. Everything was blurred. He lay in a bed, under several covers, why was he so cold, the room was large, flooded with daylight. Damned daylight. And a warm breeze a bit to humid to be truly pleasant was making the heavy curtains, the colour of something between violent and red, flutter. It smelled of the sea. The lady Alania stepped into his field of view, he recognised here figure, her long hair, the flowing blue summer dress and of course her voice. The voice which was to smooth, to soothing and most alarming to warm for the old dragon.

The lady sighed. “I mean it. Do not be alarmed.” He could her the patience draining from her voice, what had started as a mellow suggestion had turned into a frosty command. This calmed the man that wasn’t Zacharias anymore.
“I feel horrible.” He heard himself say with a voice so brittle and old, it reminded him of something made of old, crumbling paper, that once touched would instantly turn to dust.

“I know.”, said lady Alania, again trying to be comforting.

“Am I dying?”,  he asked, “Did something go wrong.”

“No you are not dying, as long as I watch over you you will live.”, this was a declaration that dared heaven and earth to stand in her way, “Even if you don’t feel that way, you are perfectly OK. All things considered”, she paused for a moment, “The world however is wrong. Everything changes so fast, but your kind remains the same. The higher you soar, the more your limitations hold you back.”

“Wh…”, he tried to ask a question and then thought better of it. He tried to move. His body responded, with all the grace of a long jilted lover who had had a long time to cultivate his misgivings now suddenly called after years for a personal favour.

“It’s to early to bring you back…”, lady Alania started, “It is also to late.” A moment of angry silence followed.

Not Zacharias, managed to drag one of his hands out from under his covers trying to move them away. A herculean task. As the covers slowly moved it was like mountains where being moved off his chest. Another rattling breath. He forced his eyes fully open. He still could not focus on the lady. Hard as he tried.

“How long…” he asked with his crumbling to dust voice.

“Ninety-one years.”

Even shock and surprise came with a deep lack of enthusiasm. He felt his breath kind of catch, his heart not quite giving a fuck thought about skipping a beat or two and then thought better of it and just want into a random rhythm it thought was a decent enough approximation and his blood vessels gave a pantomime impression of constriction. His mind however, came fully back to live, started racing, running around sounding an alarm to which all the parts of his body reacted with a worn out smile to.

“Too long.”, he said. “Why?!”

“Because the world has gone crazy. Everything is happening at an incredible speed. The American Empire is breaking apart.”, said lady Alania. “The European empire is already back to its usual infighting, trying on the one hand to pretend that everything is business as usual while at the same time they are trying to passive aggressively stare each other into compliance. The Chinese empire has awakened  again, now standing tall in new clothes hiding its old body, getting ready to take on the rest of the world. So is the Russian empire. I have no idea what Australia is doing, I don’t think they know either. Japan… is being Japan. Right now I can’t quite decide which version of it, it is turning into right now. The mercantile robber merchants, have manged to elevate themselves into the new world religion and have somehow manged to destroy themselves as individuals but at the same time turned their ideas into the new gods.”

“I…”, he interjected, just to stop that stream of words, “I don’t understand anything of what you are saying. Falling empires? Merchant gods? Is… am I still dreaming?”

“I wish, then we could both wake up together.”, she said, “That is also the reason why I woke you up now. It is a bad time. Again. It is always a bad time. I try to time it well. Cultivate your horde. Keep an eye on your and find a good stable place and moment to bring you back.”, she inhaled deeply slowly shaking her head, she turned around walked over to the window looking out side, the sunlight making her outline sparkle as if  covered by a thin layer of frost. “There just never was a good time. The Second World War was a disaster of an unimaginable scale.”, she turned back to him her gaze more reptilian than he had ever seen before, “And I can imagine horrors far beyond your apeish minds.”, her expression broke leaving behind a subtle, deep rooted terror, “At least I thought I could. But you went to far, as always but this time… Your kind has now sun-fire bombs. I have cousins of fire aspect who laugh at them. Nervously. After that… everything just went faster and faster. It’s not that the nature of your species changed, but somehow you managed to break free from nature in all the wrong places while your minds did not keep up with it.”, she turned back to him, “The worst of both worlds. The first basic tools of creation in the hands of animals not fit by nature with minds to grasp neither their nature nor the consequences of their actions.”

“Second world war?” he was used to being told that he was part of a species that had just falen from the trees and had hit their head once reaching the ground, but another world war…? “Like a second Great War?”

Lady Alania turned back to him and blinked, she had to walk back in her mind to the point where that had been a topic. “Yes. Another ‘Great War’, this one was actually far worse than the last.”

He tried to blanch, his body was still not up to the task and decided to just let gravity have its way with his blood. The effect was similar enough. “But… After the Great War. How was that possible…? Where did it start?” , maybe in Asia? Africa? South America? Places remote enough to not have seen the real terror.

“In Europe.” Said lady Alania very carefully, like a doctor lancing a boil.

“Again?”

She just nodded.

“But… How… We all saw how that ended…” he was at a loss of words and thoughts and feelings. “Never again…”

To his great surprise lady Alania started laughing. A great clear laugh that would wash over the nearby streets making people stop trying to make out its source, smiling at the deep mirth of it and their smiles then breaking when they heard the malicious edge underneath it.

“Never again.”, Alania managed to press out, between two bouts of laughter. She wiped away a tear from her eye. “Never again… You have no idea how often I have heard that one while you were sleeping. Back in the day it took you a hundred years or so to forget, three generations maybe? Now you can count yourself lucky if you idiots manage to remember for three years.”, she chuckled, “By the Great Mother and the Eternal Ice, the old Emperors would have loved this time.”

“Old Emperors?” he had lost track of the conversation again. “Which ones? The romans?” Alania started laughing again. ”The Chinese?”, he ventured trying to think of emperors even older than them. Egypt perhaps?

“No much, much older, before your time.”, Alania said, she lifted a finger to stop him before he could say anything more, “Before the rise of the ape-men.”, she said. “That is you, your species.”, she added with a bright smile radiating enough condescension to make the stones in the walls feel offended.

“Yeah. I know. Ugh… ugh… Me ape-man, you great dragon queen…” at least now they were on familiar territory again. Deeply annoying, but this at least felt normal.
“So, what is waiting outside for me? A barren wasteland? How many humans are left? What level of civilisation can I expect.”, he saw that Alania was shaking again, fighting very hard not to start laughing again. “Renaissance at least?”, pretty please. Oh and running water would be great. one really got used to running water. And flushing toilets! Those where the best. Seeing the lady shaking her head he thought that it may be better not to get his hopes up.

She chuckled and a wide smile grew on her face filled with childlike fun framed by a thin layer of madness. “Oh, my friend Za…”, she paused remembering not to use his dead name, “er… my friend the… dark stranger?” she snorted amused this time without any questionable qualities. “No. You have returned into a golden age that in your history has no rivals and, if I do say so myself, is among the greatest that has ever exited.”

“I don’t understand.”, he said growing tired of the confusion.

“I don’t either. I wish I had listened to my father and taken philosophy seriously…” she sighed. “I really don’t.”, she thought for a while. The man who was not Zacharias knew better than to interrupt her. “Hmmm… Imagine all the best qualities of your kind and all the worst.”

He nodded.

“At the same time.”

His face scrunched moving a sea of wrinkles into the thinking configuration. It was very expressive and dry and old. He thought he could hear a crumpling sound.

“Think of Italy in the Medici era.”

Oh god, yes. His face origamied into an expression that represented the understanding of the most ancient sages.

“And now turn that up to eleven.”

More shifting of old creaking skin, now into confusion. This was a lot of work but also fun in a strange way.
“Up to eleven?” he asked.

“Is that a new expression?” she wondered tilting her head. “Well, good sir, imagine all those qualities, dark and light, amplified”, she snickered here for a reason he didn’t understand, “a thousand fold, nay by many myriads, the fire that bold Prometheus stole from the gods, so carefully cultivated by noble man, so great in reason, so moved by the deepest passion into a conflagration that,” she now pointed out into the sky her voice becoming more and more melodramatic, “shines so bright, that it rivals the fire of Helios, Mithras, Inti, the Sun itself. Behold oh mortal, your brethren not happy to fly soaring into the sky, and reaching to the stars, have created with their fire a sun of their own. Down here on this very earth.”, she thundered, having way to much fun. “Like Icarus. But lazy.”

He nodded in a way that he hoped would calm the dragon, her eyes had shifted into their original form, slit pupils in giant pale blue pupils, her breath pure frost making it snow every time she exhaled. “So a now golden age. But also the end of the world.”

Her eyes returned to normal, she waved a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Not the world. Just your greatest civilisation. I am soo looking forward to Xalnithia waking up from her nap. Knowing her by the time she wakes up this will be long gone. Her face, when she realises that she slept trough a golden age that will live in the myths for millennia to come.”, she smiled with childish glee. “Really, I haven’t seen anything like this, ever before. So in a way, you came back just right. You’ll get to live through these most interesting of times and you won’t believe your eyes when you see what strange fruit you science has born.”

“Is that why you brought me back?” he asked, trying to find anything that made a lick of sense to him. Everything he had heard so far was just disorienting him. “So that I could see this golden age?”

“No. I should have brought you back earlier. But everything that is happening is happening to fast. Whenever I think I can see the forces that mould the world, everything changes, just like this”, she snapped her fingers, “And suddenly everything changes. Looking back everything makes sense, I guess. But it is all so very, very impulsive, irrational and often stupid. Well…”, she shrugged. “I had to bring you back now, because as it turns out your long sleep will kill you in the end. Either that or it will drain you so much that you’d better be dead.”

He shivered at that. His long sleep was what kept him ‘alive’, refreshing his mind, his nature. Giving him time to rest, to become a new man in a new time. The thought that it was also a way to lose control over his body and waste away in a manner that he was desperately trying to prevent.

“Relax.”, lady Alania said, her voice calm but commanding, “Your mind is still sharp as ever. It is just your body that has grown old, very, very old, while you were sleeping. Which brings us back to the point. I brought you back now because I couldn’t wait any longer. Not long and you’d have been unable to move on your own. No idea what would have happened to you then… And look at you”, she said with an encouraging smile, “you look a year younger already. Maybe even two! And your eyes are clearing up.”

Oh right. The focus was still horrible both near and far, but in the middle about where lady Alania was standing and the window, he could see clearly again.

“Judging from experience it will take you only some months to become your old self again. Right now I would advice against leaving the house. You will have some very good personnel, taking care of you for at least the next four weeks. They will get you back up and running.”, she eyed him up, “up and walking at least. It might take a bit longer. However, because it was my fault that you are in this condition, I will cover the costs of the staff. As you get better you can decide if you want to keep them or prefer to do things yourself. At which point you will take over the costs as usual. Also the house will be paid through your estate. It is larger than than what we had planned, so I gave you a discount of 10% as a courtesy. It is yours, so your expenses are reasonable.”

“That sounds fair.”, he said. Now it was his turn to study her, something wasn’t quite right. “What are you not telling me? How is my estate looking anyway?”

She locked eyes with him, looking at him without blinking. He resisted the urge to look away. No matter how human she looked, staring into her eyes made it impossible not to see the dragon. He swallowed.

“You estate is doing well all things considered. Depending how you treat it… You will be OK for over a hundred years as long as you live a normal, comfortable human life.”, she said her eyes still locked with his.

“And if I go crazy?”

She shrugged, “If you go crazy? Knowing you and your talents I’d say, once you find something suitably decadent to do. You’ll be broke within 24 hours.”, she smiled.

“No luxuries then?”

“Depends on the luxuries. You are well off. You can indulge yourself. You will get a healthy monthly stipend and as I said. Live a comfortable normal”, she stressed that word, “life and you will be fine for a century. But you are no Edmond Dantes.”

“I could have been the count of Montecristo” he grinned.

“He is a fictional character, man with no name…”

“Based on a true story!”

“No. He isn’t”

“He could have been.”, he said.

“He isn’t real. Just like Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.”

“Who is James Bond?” he asked.

“Another man who never existed. Anyway. You are not fabulously rich. Depending on how soon you want to go back into the long sleep, you can live a life of reasonable luxury.”, she snorted, “Reasonable luxury.”, she said shacking her head. “But you know what I mean. Also who knows, your estate might still grow.”

There it was. That was the glinting of a truth that had remained unsaid.

“How so.”, he asked, shifting his focus from her eyes to her entire person.

“Because,” she said, “I’m still taking care of it.”, her eyes dared him to question her integrity.

“I usually take care of my estate when I am awake.”, he said with his voice now turning cold.

“Well these are exceptional circumstances. I would not have brought you back if your body wasn’t failing you and I’m bound by duty to fulfil our contract.”, no one would ever out-ice her voice.

“It is my estate. I am perfectly able to take care of it myself. I am as far from a child as humanly possible.”

“Oh yes, dear old Mr.Lockwood, may he rest in peace was a real genius when it came to finances.”, she said. “And…” she thought better of it and did not finish that sentence.

“Were you going to tell me that in your eyes I am still a child? Yes is that it?” he asked his face drifting into a configuration of reproachful anger.

“No. It would not help and it would be unprofessional to do so.”, as she said that her teeth remained very close ot each other, it was clear that it was taking her enormous amounts of effort to remain calm.

That was strange. He had never seen the lady Alania being anything but the utmost professional. This was her work and her work was holy to the ancient dragon.
His expression softened, slowly melting into concern.

“There is something wrong, I can see it my lady. We have been working together for many centuries. Hell for over a millennium now. You are, if I may be so bold, among my very few friends, who still live. I know my body is old, it feels older than I actually am and yes I’m an ape who only recently fell from a tree.”

“Head first.”, she added her posture relaxing slightly.

“Right. An ape who fell head first from a tree. But if there is any trouble or problem, let me know and if there is anything, no matter how big or small I will help you.”

She looked at him, conflicting emotions passing below the surface of her carefully maintained neutral expression. She raised her hand massaging her eyes, looking incredibly tired. “There is nothing really wrong. It really is mostly because I owe you this…”, her expression grew pained.

“And that tiny little rest you are not telling me about?” he asked.

“Alright, human!” she roared, almost scaring him into over the threshold to the land of the dead, this time his body reacted. This time it was confronted with the rage of a dragon, not holding back at all. Millions of years of primal fear that had kept his species and many, many of his his ancestor species alive, would only be denied by death itself. The woman had disappeared, there was the reptilian head of light blue dragon, impossible large in the room, both giant eyes burning with a primal hunger focused on him. “It is Gold, precious, wonderful Gold. It is a time of crisis. Your stupid game of stocks is everywhere like a fungal infection, I hate it, it is so incredibly stupid; but I also love it because in times of crisis, in times like these, your kind remembers the most noble of all matter! The value of Gold rises and soars. And right now most of your estate is in Gold. Precious, noble and holy Gold! It is mine. It is part of my horde. And I will not give it up!” By now all he could see where those eyes, he did not feel anything but the psychic shock-wave of a type of greed that was burning like the most base of instincts. This was like food, water, sleep, sex, survival.
The dragon inhaled, the breath it drew was like a storm, inside the nostrils, he could see the crackling of primal ice and… the storm started to calm, the monster in front of him slowly faded away back into the the shape of the woman he had known for most of his life, who look at him with wide open crazed eyes. She exhaled, as she exhaled the madness also left her eyes.

“It is gold.”, she said her voice now tiny, a smile flickering on her lips but never quite igniting. “It is very, very, very hard for me to let go of it now that it is valued so highly and that it is increasing in worth. Usually,” she said slowly getting her self back under control smoothing out her dress, no, her actual human form, “this isn’t a problem. Crisis is high, sweet, sweet gold increases in worth. The world is alright, for me and my kind. You are better off sleeping. Then things get better. The price of gold tumbles because you apes are idiots and you return to your games of fetch the stock. My heart bleeds a bit, I see the decay of all that is good and sacred. I sell the gold. I drink a cup of tea. The most spectacular I can find. The profits are usually still very good. That soothes my wounded soul. I invest in your crazy ape things. Your estate turns utterly human, I bring you back everyone is happy.”, she smiled, the corner of her mouth twitching only very slightly. “But not this time. This time I had to bring you back. Turns out you, my little pet ape, are also my friend. Beyond even the oath I gave to you, I don’t want to see you die. So I brought you back. And it is a very hard time for me. So, you’ll get your monthly stipend. You also are the proud owner of shiny stones and lesser metals that you kind loves to trade for ridiculous sums, so that you can at least go a bit Montecristo every once in a while. While I take care of our precious gold until the time is right again. OK?”

The man who was not Zacharias anymore, nodded very carefully, in the back of his head he noted that the proudest moment in his life had just happened, that when confronted with the unbridled fury of a dragon older than the human species he had remained under control of all his bodily function. And he would never, ever tell that to anybody. Life is unfair. He blinked. Lady Alania was calm and professional again, the wind still blowing, curtains still flapping behind her. As if nothing had happened.

He was still looking for words, while his mind was still concentrating on the little things around him to make the world normal again. Like how the topmost of his covers was made from a light cotton cloth, smooth to the touch almost like silk. It had a flower print on it. Lilies. Symbol of death. Ha ha… How fitting. And his pyjamas where cream coloured but with little red hearts all over. How whimsical.
Lady Alania had been having a lot of fun preparing for him to come back to his sense it seemed. She had really taken care of him. Enough to go through all the trouble of preparing these silly jokes for him. He looked back at her. She did not meet his eyes, now reminding him of Antoiné, a cat he had during the French revolution who looked the same way when he had scolded him. ‘And I am the mouse.’, he thought. ‘My god, you snivelling milksop, you are the mouse that has a tiger as a friend.’, he nodded to himself.

“That was intense.”, he said with pushing a winning smile on his unwilling face. “But I understand now. Sorry. I was inconsiderate.”

“You couldn’t know.”

“Maybe, but that does not change the effect it had on you. I am very sorry for the situation I brought onto you and I understand. I will be careful with my stipend. I now know that there are gems and precious metals that I can liquidate when ever I am in a Montecristo frame of mind and for everything else, I am glad to have you watching over my estate. For I know that it could not be in better hands.”

“Thank you…” she looked vaguely annoyed, “have you decided on your new name yet? I can’t keep calling you dark stranger.”

He nodded. “Yes I think I know. I was not sure about my last name. But you helped me. This time I will be Adrian McDougall.”

“How did anything that I said turn you into a Scotsman?”

“You keep calling me dark stranger. Dougall comes from an old Gaelic word which means just that, if I remember correctly.”, Adrian said.

“Mac means ‘son of’.”, lady Alania said.

Adrian blinked. “Well, my father also hard black hair and brown eyes and so did my mother, so that works out well?”

“And Adrian?”

“That is the name my mother chose for me.”

“That’s the first time I hear you using that name.”

“She chose that name, but I was given another.”

“I see.”, said Alania. “Well I will go and tell the^staff that the new master of the house has woken up, you are looking way better now I’d say not a year over 100 and once you immerse yourself into the strange new world you have woken up into you will be back into prime shape in no time.”

“I sure hope so.”, said Adrian as he tried to carefully get up. It was, not painful really, just a lot of work, his body was still getting used to the idea of never having to move ever again and still liked that idea more than getting up for a walk or god forbid a run.

Lady Alania had arrived at the door and was about to leave the room when Adrian asked, “Lady Alania, where are we anyway?”

“We are in Lima, Peru, Adrian McDougall.”, she was still getting used to the new name.

“Why? Are we in Peru?”, Adrian asked.

“Because, when a man named Zacharias went into the long sleep he insisted on South America, because there was something he needed to check here.”

“Oh, dear Lord.” Adrian said covering his face with his hand. “Do you remember why he wanted that?”

“No. He never did. Why, have you forgotten?”

“Lamentably not.”, Adrian said.

“That bad?”, Alania asked with a grin.

“Yep.”, Adrian nodded.

“Oh,” Alania said, “I had almost forgotten. There is another reason that I didn’t want to wake you just yet.”

“OK?” he said wondering what else this new golden age had in store for him.

“There is a new plague that has spread all over the world at so far it isn’t under control.”, she said her smile turning apologetic. With that she left the room, closing the door behind her.

“What?”