Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

T he man lay on the burning sand, barely conscious, reddened by the sun to where Bel couldn't tell the natural color of his skin. His hair was nearly as black as Errante's, and his eyes a deep brown. Dried blood covered his clothing and skin, with healing wounds showing down his arms and through the many rips in his clothing.

Bel and his fellow roustabout had gotten here just in time. The injured man's temperature might be soaring dangerously high in this extreme heat. Bel nodded to his coworker and lifted the unfortunate man, trying his best not to cause further pain. He carried the tortured soul in his arms to the Carnival. Were humans supposed to be this light and thin? Blood and grime hid parts of the stranger's face, but from what Bel saw, the man was likely beautiful for a human, with his straight nose and high cheekbones.

Cooler air might be helpful. No sooner had the thought left Bel's mind than a cool breeze passed over him. It seemed his desires even controlled the air. Some Domusian abilities must've followed him here, as he'd willed a door to unlock at the hospital and sensors to continue working. He'd never had to unlock a door in Domus and took certain skills for granted, but he'd been told humans didn't have such abilities.

One thing he'd learned about humans and Domusians alike was life's fragility. If he could save someone in either realm, he would.

He hurried as best he could without harming his burden toward where Errante waited beneath the "Welcome Traveler" sign.

Errante approached and spoke to the injured man too softly for Bel to hear. Then, to Bel, he said, "Take him to Madame Persephone. I'll join you momentarily."

A few Carnival workers watched as Bel rushed down the main corridor to the tent of the resident medium.

"Lay him here." Madam Persephone pointed to a pile of silk cushions as Bel entered her tent. The heat from outside dissipated once the tent flap fell back into place.

Bel gently placed the man on the cushions and stepped back to watch. He stayed, even though Madame Persephone made him nervous as if perhaps she knew more about him than he did himself. However, an affinity for the poor soul on the cushions kept him in place.

Fatigue pulled at him, forcing a yawn. He sat on the cushions next to the injured man, careful not to touch and cause more pain. If he were of the healer class, he might be able to heal the stranger on his own.

Madame Persephone gently unwrapped the man from the tattered clothes he'd tangled around himself, and then she cut away the ripped and stained cloth, her many bangles and rings chiming as she worked. She frowned as she took in what looked like a bullet wound. Healing gashes marred the man's torso, but the worst injury seemed to be the darkness Bel sensed within his soul.

Bel said nothing. Within a few days of his arrival here, he'd learned that reading souls and auras wasn't something the average roustabout could do, though Errante seemed to turn the darkest away—except for this poor soul. Even Udeall said Bel would only see the darkness if the Tenebris allowed it. Had this man let his guard drop? Was it because of his unconscious state?

Bel recalled his dream, in which darkness coalesced into a man—no, not a man— this man.

"How unexpected. I've never seen his like before," Madame Persephone whispered, a furrow between her sleek brows.

Bel broke his normal habit of remaining quiet in her presence. "What do you mean?"

"These injuries killed this man."

"But he's alive."

She nodded and gave Bel a knowing glance. "The presence animating this body is something else, not human, nor from any familiar realm. But there is darkness here—such darkness. Such tragedy, he's suffered."

A presence animating a body? Like Bel? How much of his origins had Errante shared with Madame Persephone?

Madam Persephone rested her hand on the wounded man's shoulder. "What is your name?"

The man answered without opening his eyes. "I'm not sure."

"Rest now," Madam said, rising to her feet.

The man's body relaxed, and he released a soft snore. Madam must have some Domusian-like abilities of her own.

Errante swept aside the silk hangings and entered the tent. Bel's attempts to shrink into the floor were in vain. "I came as soon as I could," Errante said in his richly accented voice. He stopped and stared down at the man on the pallet. "Oh, dear. Perhaps matters are worse than I feared."

"Yes," Madame Persephone said, hands clutched together before her. "My thoughts exactly."

The unconscious man muttered something too faint to understand.

Errante crouched and leaned in, but the man said nothing more. Errante straightened to his full six feet of height. "He has a difficult Path ahead."

"Yes." Pity marred Madam Persephone's face, wrinkling her brow and pulling her lips down at the corners.

Path. Bel had heard Errante use the word before but somehow didn't think he meant the path from Madam Persephone's to the Big Top.

"I have little knowledge of this place called Domus, except that, sadly, it has ceased to exist." Errante glanced at Bel before turning back to Madame Persephone.

Domus? Had this man been thrown through a portal with no memory of who he'd been? Bel had heard stories of such, but he'd never had a reason before to believe them.

"But he's from this place called Las Vegas, right?" Bel offered. He'd grown accustomed to Errante and some of the other Carnival folks speaking in riddles and the Carnival being in a different place some mornings. Joe had told him not to ask too many questions. Bel now felt a soul-deep need to find out about this man. He inched closer, expecting to see angry red skin. Instead, he saw the tanned complexion of someone who spent much time in the sun. All the burns had disappeared.

The man's aura remained dark. Bel couldn't sense more from him. Could this be the one he sought?

Madame Persephone tutted. "Remarkable healing powers on a human body, even given the Carnival's power."

"Yes, though I am certain there are limits." Errante strode around the pallet, his gaze never leaving the injured man. "These wounds were not gained on Carnival grounds, so they shouldn't heal so quickly,"

The lines creasing Madam Persephone's brow deepened. "Why have you brought him among us?"

"Why does anyone else come to us? We must help him find his Path. While we have assisted others over the millennia, we must handle this with great care."

"Why?" While Bel felt something special for the stranger, surely Errante, with all his wisdom, didn't.

"He's darkness incarnate," Madame Persephone said. "If he is allowed to stay, he can bring about death and destruction."

"Can't you send him back to where he came from?" The council would take care of the darkness. Even the mere thought tugged at Bel's heartstrings until he realized the futility of the notion. There was no Domus now and no council. For some reason, the thought of banishing this poor man seemed unbearable. Bel's mind wouldn't accept that this innocent-looking, frail, injured man might be the horrifying creature he sought.

Madame Persephone shook her head. "We cannot. His realm no longer exists, and you cannot simply kill a being such as this. We must banish him, but we can only take such a step after we exhaust other options."

"To put matters simply," Errante said with his characteristic calm. "What you see before you is no man, but as they say in this world, a ticking bomb."

Bel's stomach clenched. He had found his Tenebris.

"A word, please," Errante said.

"Me?" Bel pointed a finger toward himself. Mr. Ame—Errante—had spoken little to him before today, except in polite greetings since Bel arrived and an office meeting to explain Bel's role with the Carnival.

"Yes, please." Errante gestured for Bel to follow him out of Madame Persephone's garish purple tent. For all that Bel loved the color purple, the tent was a bit much.

He fell into step beside Errante but then decreased his stride. As tall as Errante was, Bel was taller and used to moving quickly in his new job as a roustabout. Besides, Errante never hurried, always appearing elegant and nonplussed. Bel couldn't help glancing over his shoulder toward the tent they'd just left.

Errante led the way to his office. "Have a seat, Bel Am'I." This time, Errante pronounced the name the Domusian way. Bel took a seat before the massive desk while Errante sat behind it.

He considered Bel at length before beginning. "I suppose apologies are in order."

"Apologies? Why?"

"I know the people of your former home have their own theories of how the realm collapsed. However, I have another, though it is more than theory. My enemy went to great lengths to destroy my family until I was the only one left. In his quest, he destroyed many worlds, many realms."

Bel shook his head. "According to our teachings, our world failed because our elders killed the Tenebris, and we needed a pairing of Tenebris and Lux to maintain balance." Although they hadn't killed Luxes, that anyone knew, Bel's parents still kept Bel's status quiet.

"Who gave them the idea of killing all the Tenebris and introducing the imbalance?" Errante's steely gaze made Bel want to squirm.

"But the killing has been going on for generations. Surely, your enemy didn't live so long." Bel wouldn't suggest Errante might be old. He looked young for a human.

Errante didn't answer.

"Are you telling me your enemy is ancient?"

"My enemy was ancient. He has paid the price for his misdeeds. I deeply wish that your world had not become a casualty of his quest for power."

Could the destruction of Domus really be the fault of a single man, or rather, a single being?

Before Bel could ask, Errante continued. "Our new guest will need a friend. As you saw, he has suffered grievous injuries and does not know where he has been or where he is going. Can I depend upon you to guide him?"

"Why not someone who knows the Carnival better?" Many roustabouts had been there a long time. How much did Errante know about Bel and his mission? Finding the Tenebris surely couldn't be so easy. Also, how could he befriend someone his realm considered evil?

Did darkness and light really call to each other?

"Because I sense in you a kindred spirit, and he is from your world, whether or not he knows it. Besides, this task fits you. Would you ask a shorter person to fetch something from the highest shelf?"

Excellent point. Carnival folk frequently called upon Bel to lift heavy equipment or retrieve something out of another's reach, and he had to make sure the item didn't simply fly into his hand since no others here showed such abilities.

"If you say I'm the one for the job, I believe you."

Everyone else did. No one questioned Errante's words.

"I sense a light in you to offset our new arrival's darkness," Errante said. "There are others from your world who cling to the old ways and would destroy him if given the opportunity. Can I count on you to protect him?"

Protect him? Bel had always been told Tenebris were evil, yet he'd been sent here to balance one. Errante implied there was more to the destruction than a Tenebris.

Light. Darkness. Udeall said to find and balance the Tenebris but didn't explain how or what to do then. Bel expected an evil creature, not some unfortunate who'd been beaten, shot, and stabbed. "Yes, sir," he finally answered.

Errante chuckled. "A simple yes would suffice. I'll have him taken to your trailer as soon as Madame Persephone is through with him. You have the extra room, correct?" He spoke in a manner that implied he already knew. He should. Others said nothing happened at the Carnival without Errante's knowledge.

"Yes, sir. Joe left a few days ago and didn't come back." He didn't even say goodbye. The first friend Bel had made here had gone without a backward glance. Maybe he returned to the lover he spoke of, but he still could have said something.

"He'll be back one day, and he won't be alone," Errante assured Bel. "Which is why he didn't say goodbye. In his culture, one only says goodbye if they don't intend to return. Until then, we need a place to put our guest."

Bel couldn't say no when Errante had graciously taken him in only a week ago. It had been a week, right?

"I'd be happy to oblige," Bel said, realizing the truth in the words as they left his mouth.

"You must handle him gently and allow his memories to return in their own time. His nature could prove… volatile if given too much of a shock."

"And telling him, ‘Hey, you're from another world' would be a big shock."

Errante inclined his head, a slight smile teasing his lips. "I see you understand. However, if he broaches the subject, be honest. Tell him about yourself and your situation. What needs to happen most between you is building trust."

"I'll do whatever I can. But I was told his darkness must be balanced by my light. Do you know how I can balance him?" Stories only told of the destructive nature of a Tenebris or how a Tenebris and a Lux once bonded to create Domus. Nothing was ever mentioned about how the process took place. Bel would make the Tenebris bond with him if necessary.

Errante shook his head. "I fear that is for the two of you to figure out. Now, if you will excuse me, I am needed elsewhere. Oh, and you cannot force a bond. Like love, it grows where it will."

Scary how Errante seemed to know Bel's thoughts.

Bel followed Errante out of the office, and then Errante left for the front of the Carnival just as people waiting at the gates came pouring in. Technically, Bel had the freedom to do as he pleased until the Carnival closed when he'd help to secure the rides and concessions before the next move.

Errante seemed to know everything and had accepted Bel without question. Did he really trust Bel not to make the same mistakes in Terra that others made in Domus?

If only this task fell to someone more experienced in saving worlds.