A Thousand Shades Of Black

Chapter Three – The Threshold

They reached the Threshold five days later. Riddick was impressed by the huge structure floating in space that held open the rift in the continuum. The same dreary gray as the rest of the Necromonger archiure,ure, it twisted and arched over a section of space that seemed somehow subtly different than the rest. However, it was the sheer size of it that made him have to reevaluate the word “big”.

Alia and Aereon stood flanking him on the bridge of the ship. Vaako, Toal and the other Necromonger commanders stood huddled nearby looking in awe and fear at this thing they had been promised for so long. Alia, when confronted with something utterly mind boggling, still managed to look bored by the whole trip. He could tell though, by the way her shoulders tensed, that she was ill at ease.

“Now what?” Riddick asked his commanders.

“There is a Guardian set to defend the Threshold from the unbelievers.” Vaako answered him with an expression of awe and longing on his face as he gazed at the Threshold.

“Right, let’s give a shout to this Guardian.” Riddick murmured and one of the bridge crew pointed to a button on the console before him. He tapped it and a flare shot from the front of the Basilica and raced towards the Threshold. The light impacted something that hung invisible in space and then a ship materialized from the darkness. It was huge and black, breathing out menace, and Riddick raised an eyebrow. It looked rather like one of the big three headed spikes that the Necromongers used to destroy planets but it was chased in gold instead of the ubiquitous silver.

“Who comes before the Guardian of the Threshold?” boomed a voice over the loudspeaker. Riddick glanced at Alia and saw that her expression of not-impressed matched his own perfectly.

“Riddick, seventh Lord Marshall.” He shot back into the pickup. If his tone was slightly sarcastic, well he didn’t give a fuck.

“Come you for what purpose, Riddick, seventh Lord Marshall?” Intoned the booming voice again, still filled with pomposity.

“We’re done out here, we’re going in.” He told the disembodied voice.

“Oh, well then…” The voice suddenly sounded unsure. “So soon?” It queried.

“Yeah, so open up.” Riddick watched in as close to awe as he ever got as the Guardian complied. It sure was a pretty light show.

“Lord Marshall?” Vaako had moved up beside him sometime during the discussion.

“Vaako?”

“Are you going to go in and stay?”

“Nope, I’m just passing through.” He replied. “Got too much to do out there.” He jerked a thumb back at the rest of the Universe.

Riddick watched as the last ships moved past the Basilica and across the Threshold, then turned to look at Alia. She nodded and left the bridge. He had a small fighter set up for them and she had to get it prepared.

“You’re really going in there?” Aereon asked him in surprise. She was completely solid beside him and her face was filled with genuine concern.

“You knew that. I have to at least try to get Kyra back.” He snapped impatiently; he had enough on his plate without adding a nervy Elemental.

“How will we return to Helion Prime once all the ships have gone across?” Her blue eyes were shadowed ae woe wondered what her real concern was.

“There is a ship prepped for us; you can go there now and take off. We’ll be back soon.” He caught her troubled expression and gave her the stare. “Wait for us.” He commanded and stalked away. “Elemental, you fuck this up and you know that I’ll come back from the dead just to piss all over you.”

“Furyans -- defiant to the last.” He caught her muttered comment and grinned. How right she was.

Crossing over in the flesh was very different than astral walking, Alia decided. For one thing, it was far less comfortable. The ship bucked underneath them, fighting the currents that dragged them in and the cryo locker behind them containing Kyra’s dead body banged against the wall in violent counterpart to the alarming creaking of the ship.

Alia shifted in the seat, touching the harness that held her secure and wondered, not for the first time, if she was completely sane. A glance at her companion made her sigh. He had asked it of her and she found herself unable to refuse him. There was something about Riddick that kept her following after him like a dog at his heels. She wanted to curse aloud and maybe scream a little but kept her mouth closed and her eyes fixed on the plot.

Soon they would cross over and then he would need a guide. She had to be ready. She wondered if it was because he was an alpha and it was hardwired into her psyche to obey. Was it really so simple? Was that why she followed him halfway across a galaxy and into the realms of death? She shot him a sideways glance. His jaw was set, his eyes focused on the board in the darkened cabin, his hands on the controls steady. No, she thought, she didn’t follow him because he was an alpha, she knew that was a just a convenient excuse.

So why? The answer crept into her brain and she clenched her teeth in annoyance. Damn it, she liked him and she hardly liked anyone. She hated losing the people she cared about and the only way to be sure he didn’t die was to go in with him. Damn Furyans, she thought to herself, we’re all fuck-ups. She had finally found a friend, someone she trusted and respected and he had to be insane enough to pull a stunt like this.

“We’re crossing, Alia.” Riddick’s voice shook her from her reverie and she nodded.

“I hear you.” She replied and went deep into the Void.

Riddick felt something shift and then he was standing in a city. Alia stood beside him and the place was filled with people, laughing, talking and pushing past them. Bells rang somewhere in the distance and children giggled and chased each other, playing games through the crowded throng. The city was a strange mish-mash of architectural styles from a thousand worlds and times but nothing seemed out of place or wrong; it all synthesized perfectly.

The place was light and glowing but he felt no discomfort, despite the fact his eyes were unshielded. He looked down and he was dressed in loose black clothes of an unfamiliar design. Beside him Alia was dressed the same as he was. The rainbued ued garb of the people around him brushed him as they passed and he realized that Alia and he were the only two in black.

He was in awe as he stared about. He was seeing in a strange amalgam of how he normally saw and how he had seen before the shine job. Able to see colors and light as he once had, but also seeing the patterns of energy and heat that underlay all life.

“Where are we?” Riddick asked in shock.

“The Underverse.” Alia replied and her eyes were scanning the area. Well, that was obvious, he thought with a snort. This place was like nowhere he had ever been before, all filled with light and peace. It couldn’t be anywhere else, could it? He concentrated on his purpose here, trying to keep himself from being distracted by the colors and scents.

“Where’s Kyra?” That was a more rational question but he was still rather disoriented. How would they get back to the ship?

“We’ll have to find her.” Alia extended a hand to him and he took it. It was the first real touch between them he realized; they had always kept their distance before. Her hand was strong and warm in his and if he hadn’t been so focused on getting Kyra and getting out he would have enjoyed it a great deal more. “I need to use your thoughts of her to guide our search.” She explained as her hand tightened arouis. is. “This place is far more malleable than our own universe; thought shapes it.”

The landscape shifted and Riddick watched as Alia concentrated, searching for the dead girl. With her brow furrowed and her eyes distant, she seemed a stranger to him; he wondered how he had come to trust her. It was not his usual habit.

“Riddick!” A familiar voice shrieked and a long lithe body flung itself at him. He wrapped Kyra up in his arms. She felt solid and real to him and he held her tightly.

“Kyra.” It was an exhalation of relief. “Come on. Let’s go.” He set her on her feet and she looked up at him in puzzlement, stepping back and away from him.

“Go where?” Her voice was just as he remembered it but without the thread of rage in it. She was clean and well-fed and she was dressed in the colorful garments of this place. darkdark hair was braided and coiled on her head and she looked far better than he had ever seen her.

“Back home.” He bit out. Seeing her was so wonderful, he wanted to stay in the moment forever but Alia had warned him that the longer they stayed the harder it was to leave.

“I’m dead.” She replied with the obvious and her tone was accepting rather than resigned.

“We brought your body; you can get back into it if we take you.” He was looking into her eyes -- joyful and peaceful and full of good humor. The joy began to fall away and she was watching him with concern now.

“Riddick…you can’t leave this place. You can’t come here and be alive.” She didn’t understand; how to make her get a move on?

“We’re still alive and we’re here.” Alia broke in and Kyra looked at her with some suspicion.

“Who are you?”

“This is Sturm, she’s a friend.” Riddick was getting worried. “We don’t have much time -- there’s a ship waiting.

“Riddick.” He turned to hear another old familiar voice and Imam was there, his three boys trailing behind him like the tail of a comet. They were staring at Riddick with wide eyes; Alia waved shyly at him. Imam looked younger and healthier.

“Holy man.” He replied and there was a roughness in his voice; he wasn’t sure if it was guilt or grief and he didn’t really want to know. “Your wife and daughter are fine.” He added and the other man merely nodded.

“I know they are. I never doubted that you would protect them.” The calm peaceful acceptance of his words was right for Imam; he seemedhanghanged by death and still very much who he had always been.

“We’re running out of time.” Alia pointed out with a strained tone, she was holding them between universes by sheer willpower and it was wearing on her.

“Riddick.” He turned slowly to the new voice and saw his biggest failure.

“Caroline.” She was lovely, golden and shining. His heart ached. “I’m so sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for, Riddick.” She smiled at him with blinding joy. She looked entirely different from the woman he had watched die on that damn mud ball five years ago. “I’m glad to see you.” Clean and dressed in soft pants and a flowing shirt, she looked as though she had never known pain or sorrow in her life. Something in him that had been bleeding for five years began to heal just looking at her happy face. Caroline turned and looked at Kyra with a small smile. “Kyra go on with him.” To his surprise, she shooed the younger girl towards him.

“Kyra, come on.” He reached a hand out to her, his eyes still on Caroline and Imam, wishing he could bring them back as well, but knowing that they belonged here in some indefinable way. They thrummed in tune to this dimension. Still Kyra hesitated, indecision on her face. She was looking at Caroline and Imam with her confusion writ large.

“There’s no pain here, only joy.” She whispered, as though pleading with them.

“Child, your life was only just beginning. It was not your time yet.” Imam’s words were blurring a little in Riddick’s ears as he strained towards Kyra. He was fading back to the other universe and he knew it; Alia couldn’t hold them there much longer.

“Kyra, you have so much to do yet.” Caroline’s voice was almost a whisper as she faded from sight. “Besides, he needs you.”

“Are you with me, Kyra?” He called out, repeating the question he’d asked her in the Necropolis. Kyra’s eyes narrowed and she grabbed at his hand. He pulled her tight against him and trusting Alia to get them back.

“Always was, Riddick.” She repeated her answer and clung back hard.

Alia felt the universe stretching; sharp pain went through her as she wrenched Riddick and Kyra back out and up. She felt for the ship, for her own form and screamed as hot agony burned her brain. She flung Riddick and Kyra into their own bodies but could feer hor hold on her own fading. She wouldn’t make she she realized sadly.

“Shirah!” She heard Riddick’s voice, angry and demanding and then she blacked out.

Riddick called for the one power he knew to be outside himself and she responded. He felt a tug in his midriff and then he was on board the fighter and speeding away from the Threshold. Beside him, Alia lay still and pale and unmoving but breathing. He was worried about her, buyhe didn’t have time to deal with that right now. A quick glance over his shoulder told him that the cryo tube behind him now had green telltales on it rather than red. He grinned fiercely and turned back to the controls.

His eyes searched the area around him and he saw that the Basilica had already made its transition across the Threshold; only the smaller ship Aereon was waiting in remained.

He banked the sleek fighter craft and released the bombs that were strapped to its undercarriage. They sped towards the Threshold and detonated in brilliant flashes of light, spewing out unfathomable amouof eof energy, collapsing the gate and then disrupting that area of space so badly that the portal between universes was closed.

“And stay out, you fuckers.”