The Dream Snatcher Chronicles - Chapter 10

432

approach the Black Satellite. Its rules and regulations took
priority over physics.

The structure came closer, although I doubt the movement
of our legs had anything to do with that. It went out to
greet all visitors, ready and willing to deliver its message.
Grated steps led up to a raised walkway, about two stories
off the ground. The walkway extended for about fifty
meters and terminated at a square tower that appeared to
be made of plain, unmarked cement.

A single rectangle was cut into the wall of the square
tower and affixed to the roof of the tower was a satellite
dish. The satellite dish spun in slow rotation, beaming its
message in every direction. I doubted it was a real
satellite or a real cement building. The Black Satellite
simply took a form we could comprehend, a form that our
infantile minds could grasp and say, Ah! So this is it. This
is what it is.

I led the way up the steps to the catwalk with Jacob and
Gretchen trailing behind. At the top of the steps I gazed
down the length of the walkway through the doorway cut
into the tower. In front of a panel of blinking lights stood
the Dream Snatcher, and a taller, dominate figure—
General Kobetz.

They did not turn at the sound of my footsteps. I
suspected I could have shouted and screamed and elicited
much the same response. They were in the process of

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433

accessing whatever message the Black Satellite contained,
lost in the hypnotic melody the Black Satellite promised
to all patrons who sought it. And the idea flashed through
my head, a burning, angry red spark.

This is your chance to destroy them!

I could channel that anger, using the emotion to open a
fracture to places the Stedgates and Helstgates could not
reach. Somewhere... Somewhere to trap them. What is the
one place they can't leave without your aid? The World
Between. Send them to the World Between for all eternity.
Let them wait there for their precious first monument!
They made it this far, but they don't have the message yet.

The idea so mad, yet so right, clawed its way to the
surface that I actually spoke the words. "I'm opening a
fracture to the World Between."

Jake looked at me. "Say again?"

"I'm going to open a fracture into the World Between, and
they'll be imprisoned there. They can't escape without me.
They'll remain there forever. The General will never
sacrifice himself for the Dream Snatcher. And the Dream
Snatcher will never sacrifice himself for the General." The
perfect balance for all eternity.

Before he or Gretchen could reply I moved forward and
ran down the walkway. The grating clanged underneath
my feet, but they remained wrapped in worship. I placed

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434

my hand on the floor near them and the fracture ripped
through the grating, flashing into existence without effort.
My proximity to the Black Satellite made the blood thud
against my skull, filling my body with its essence. It
permeated the Universe, belching forth its message with
all those with an ear to hear!

Wanderer of worlds, we have waited for you. Let the
message bring you to the truth. See the mesh! See the
fabric of the worlds you have roamed! Evil, good, light,
dark. They are only words. The knowledge we give
transcends all. We are. We are from the time of the first
spark. Together we can control the atom. Split cells.
Divide bodies. Feel the galaxies whirl into being within
our grasp. We have that knowledge. We are that
knowledge. We wait only for the catalyst to seize us and
make it their own. The only power that matters. The
power to create and destroy out of nothing. Nothing. The
message is repeated. Repeated. The message is repeated...
Repeated....

I channeled my fear and anger into the fracture, the
message amplifying my power, and the pit widened under
the feet of my victims until they both fell through and
disappeared into the blood red world that awaited them. I
forced the fracture shut and it retreated, shrinking down to
a point until the metal grate returned.

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435

My hand trembled as I lifted it off the floor. I laughed,
loudly, and it echoed through the empty world of the
Black Satellite.

It was that easy. It was that easy to win.

I turned to Gretchen and Jacob, an idiotic smile plastered
on my face.

"I did it!" I said. "We won."

Gretchen opened her mouth to speak, but she closed her
lips again and continued to watch me.

She doesn’t understand you. She doesn’t understand why
you had to do it.

Jacob and Gretchen remained on the far side of the
walkway and the distance between us now seemed
comparable to the emptiness between galaxies. Did they
think I’d done something wrong?

You had to send them away. They can’t come back. They
can’t.

A lingering doubt sprouted in my thoughts, outside my
control. What if they can? No. Don’t think it. Don’t allow
them. The doubt began taking on a life of its own, a
corruption that demanded a response as it converted my
resolve bit by bit, allowing the drop of uncertainty to
become a cesspool.

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436

Perhaps someone else could stop the wave of despair that
hung suspended over me. Jacob. He lifted a hand to wave
me closer. My legs refused to move, already paralyzed by
the fear. By the thought. You did not destroy them.

WHAM!

The platform shook beneath my feet. Metal bars twisted
and bent as the walkway in front of me disappeared under
the onslaught of a massive body. Gretchen and Jacob
were on the far side of the gap, gray figures in the
distance. An enormous, winged beast floundered madly
through the wreckage, making no pretense of
gracefulness. Its wing beat the air, transparent black silk
waving in the calm, still air of the Black Satellite.

Thick scales covered the beast's body. Each movement
sends the scales into a discordant clanking and grinding—
rusted gears of a monstrous machine. The beast’s legs
were massive pillars of black marble. It stepped towards
me, its hindquarters wobbling. Wounded? I wondered.
Three eyes as big as dinner plates stared at me, wreathed
in fire.

“Mark,” it whispered, its voice piteous but deep, welling
up from a dark spring. Even its scaled face looked
plaintive, anxious. Thick, ivory horns rose in jagged
ridges and spirals from its head. “You did it. The Dream
Snatcher is destroyed.”

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437

The beast scattered the doubt in my mind. I crossed my
arms, to appear calm, and stared directly into the beast's
three eyes. "I did, didn’t I?”

“You and your siblings became a threat that he
underestimated, Mark.” The beast wagged its head to
emphasize the point. “He is gone, so the message passes
to you. The message of the Black Satellite. Walk with
me.”

I jumped off the platform and landed in between the
beast's massive claws. The top of its talons came up to my
knees, the pointed ends sticking into the mesh beneath us.
The beast moved with precision, each step measured. Its
wings twitched, a reaction beyond its control, but they
folded down when we got clear of the wreckage of its
crash landing. Gretchen waved to me from the edge of the
teetering platform. Jacob looked at me, a puzzled
expression on his face.

"I’m going to get the last message!" I called out,
reassuring him. I waved back at Gretchen, letting her
know I was fine as I continued walking next to the beast.

"Oh, bring them with you," the beast urged. I beckoned
Jacob and Gretchen to follow me.

I cupped my hands and shouted. "Let's go!" They moved
sluggishly down the steps and I grew impatient.

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438

"Try to catch up." I turned to the beast. "We can keep
walking."

"As you will," it responded.

We left the Black Satellite building and its spinning dish
behind us. We walked together out into the featureless
expanse. The clawed feet left long fractals in the mesh,
each step looking like it had shattered a window. I
expected the beast to continue our conversation, but we
walked in silence. I glanced at it and the beast grinned. Its
mouth slid open, exposing a forest of needle like teeth.
The beast, already the size of a grown elephant when it
crashed into the walkway, now appeared even more
colossal—from tail to snout I estimated the beast to be the
length of a football field. Its presence filled my
imagination with promises of power and supremacy. I
would never be weak again.

"Are you ready for the final message?” it said. The beast
seemed more at ease now that the wreckage of the
walkway was behind us.

“I am.”

I heard a shout behind us. I stopped and looked. The beast
craned its head around.

“Hey!” the voice called. It was Jacob. He ran to catch up
with us, his brown hair floating, as if statically charged, in
the serene atmosphere of the Black Satellite. “One of your

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439

scales got ripped off when you crashed into the walkway.
I thought I’d return it to you.”

He smiled up at the beast like an eager child. The scale
tucked under his arm was the size of garbage can lid. He
took it out from under his arm and held it above his head.
Gloomy letters and symbols were etched into the scale’s
surface.

“Yes, I’ll need that.” The beast sounded annoyed.

“It has letters I can read carved into it… E... N... D...
Does that mean anything?” Jacob asked.

His statement triggered a thought deep inside me. A word
or thought from long ago that someone had mentioned.
Someone I didn't even know anymore. Someone who
didn't matter. The beast swung its head around, studying
me, knowing I’d have to be deaf not to hear Jacob's
statement. It had to check, hoping the minor flaw in its
plan would go unnoticed. It did.

I briefly gazed into the three fire-flecked eyes, and I
smiled at the beast. The letters meant nothing to me. I
must be mistaken about their significance. They spelled
end. The end. The beast noted my reaction and then
stooped its head to speak to Jacob.

“The E.N.D. stands for something very special.
Something that survives between the dreams. It's nothing

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440

to concern yourself with." The beast's reassuring voice
calmed that last trickling stream of thought in my mind.

"Ok," he whispered. "I'll forget about it."

Gretchen, a few steps behind Jacob, looked up sharply,
recognition in her face. "No. That's not true. I saw what it
stood for in the Necromancer's World." The beast craned
its head back further to look at her. She pointed her finger
at it. "Eternal."

"Excuse me?" It studied her.

"Nameless." Gretchen said firmly.

The beast gnashed its teeth together. "Don't say it," it
growled.

"Demigod," she whispered. I paused as the dam built
against all thought cracked. In the windless world of the
Black Satellite her words punctured the perfect illusion,
sending a hairline fracture along its glossy surface. How
annoying she could be.

"It's the Dream Snatcher!" Jacob said with sudden
realization. "The end! That's what he..."

The beast's tail snapped like a whip, snaking up the length
of its body. It flicked back and knocked Jacob and
Gretchen off into the gray expanse. They landed fifty
yards from me, bodies tumbling and bouncing over the
mesh like rocks off a trampoline. The veil drifted away

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441

from my eyes and all I wanted to do was pull it back over
my face.

I was so afraid of losing that I did not want to admit my
failure. It was them. The three of them. The Dream
Snatcher already had the message. My mind clawed to
seize any emotion besides fear and despair. Rage.

I crouched down and then launched myself at the beast’s
head.

“You monster!” I shouted.

I threw everything into that blow. The terror of my
childhood, the anger over my helplessness in protecting
those I loved. The corruption I felt invading my world
inch by inch. Let the beast take it back. Let it smash the
coal black skull and spill its blood on the ground. The
punch landed beneath its fire-flecked eye and the E.N.D.
showed no reaction. It didn't even blink.

The E.N.D. lifted up one of its massive paws and
smacked me away, a king dismissing a pestering subject. I
spun through the air and crashed down into the platform.

“It’s over, Mark!” The E.N.D. roared, moving towards
me. “You sent me into the fiery furnace and behold! I am
reborn! The only being that remains after the dream
ceases to exist. When the last star is snuffed out of
existence I will remain, the ruler of a world without rules.
I took on the most hideous form possible and you did not

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442

recognize the enemy before your eyes. That is the kind of
power the message gives.”

The beast opened its mouth and roared, its breath blowing
over me and scalding my skin.

"Do you recognize me now?" It asked as it moved closer,
head lowered so its eyes could continue to monitor me.

“Yes,” I wheezed, trying to regain my breath. I came to a
crouching position, attempting to ignore the pain across
my lower back. "But I sent you into the World
Between..."

"That you did. I proclaimed the message of the Black
Satellite to Selene! She's waited so long and we finally
opened the door! Now you can understand why I had to
make you suffer all these years. This is the crevice
between heaven and hell. Between earth and sky, life and
death. This is what the three of us were meant to be.”

The beast charged toward me, the mesh bending under its
enormous weight like gravity giving way to a dying star.
Foul, hot breath washed over me. A set of razor claws
swiped sideways and I leapt backwards.

“Dodge, run, it makes no difference to me! It ends
tonight. You will end tonight," the beast roared.

I ran towards the Black Satellite structure, the solitary
defensive position in any direction. Jacob and Gretchen

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443

had recovered from the beast's tail lash and took my cue
as I sprinted towards them.

"Run!" I shouted at Gretchen as I closed the distance
between us.

The three of us sprinted but the Black Satellite drew no
closer.

"There are others to free!" the beast bellowed. "And
behold! All that has been and all that will be are only so
many pages in a book. I can flip it to anywhere I choose!"

The meld shifted underfoot. The black expanded and the
gray retreated and for one terrifying moment I thought the
beast planned on dropping us into the abyss. I took the
next step, unable to stop my momentum. We stood on
solid ground, black onyx. I pulled Gretchen and Jacob to a
halt trying to get my bearings. Ahead of us the floor fell
away and beyond it the horizon turned crimson. We spun
around in a complete circle, seeking an escape route.
There were none. We stood on top the scaffold in the
World Between.

Below us the crowds chanted in their strange tongue and
the noise rose into the multihued galactic clouds and star
strewn sky. The voices merged, streams joining together
into a mighty river until they flowed as one, the echo of
the Universe.

"Hail the first monument!"

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444

The E.N.D. stood at the beginning of the walkway, near
the Temple of the Speaker. It moved one leg and crushed
a group of hooded figures underfoot. The crowd did not
care; they chanted to their molten god and rushed towards
it.

Dad had once shown me a chicken whose leg was
infected with mites. The mites were too tiny to see, but
the scales on the chicken's leg were raised and jagged as
calluses had formed against the invasion. Watching the
crowd surge forward reminded me of that.

They crawled up the beast's four legs, clambering,
clawing, digging into the crevices. They pried thick, giant
scales upward just enough so they could slip their body
into the opening and huddled under them. The E.N.D.
roared in satisfaction, the ones who waited for the return
of the first monument latching onto its body. They hid
within their host, giving it strength.

"Take us with you!" They cried out. The great expanse
below us emptied until the last person perched on top a
talon and a voice boomed out.

"Now it is complete!" The Speaker for the Many
announced. "The World Between is laid at your feet.
Judge the first subjects under your rule!"

We clutched at each other. I stood in the center, one arm
around each of my siblings. The insignificance of my

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445

existence swept over me. You cannot stand against the
Dream Snatcher. The crowd had waited here for eons.
Are they not more worthy than you? Do they not
outnumber you like the sands on the sea shore? What
makes you and those you love so special? Why do you
fight? I no longer knew the answer. We waited on the
scaffold, hypnotized by the beast's three eyes.

A rumble shook the scaffold as the beast spoke and
stalked closer. The bodies attached to the beast swayed
with its movement, clusters of rotted grapes.

"Ah, Gretchen," the E.N.D. whispered. "The first to be
judged, but you shall see that I am not without mercy." Its
body snaked closer to the scaffold. Gretchen pushed my
arm away and took a stepped forward. The beast spoke
leisurely as if a barrier had come down and severed any
ties of loyalty we had for each other. "In many ways you
were the most dangerous. It suited all our needs that part
of you disappeared through that Stedgate into the
Necromancer's world."

It padded closer and lowered its head, fixing its eyes onto
Gretchen's upturned face. She remained transfixed, back
towards us. "Each of you brings a gift to the Dreams. One
with power over the Stedgates. One with the power of
mind-sight. One with power over the Underlay. The
manipulator. You were so dangerous and never knew it. I
needed you out of the way while your brothers muddled

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446

around trying to find you. But that time is over. Let me
usher in the age we were meant to rule. The tremors you
experience in your life as you move from budding youth
to blossoming womanhood are only the false trappings of
the Waking World. Death is the final road post that awaits
you, no matter what path you follow. That body in the
hospital bed is not you. I can share the message with
anyone and I choose to share it with you."

Gretchen answered, but her voice shook. "No!"

"Don't answer so hastily," the beast said, its voice smooth
and as soothing as a mother cradling a baby. "We are
many and can become more. Your physical self is in a
coma. Don't let your real self follow the same path. I've
seen your fate, spread out, each thread a different path.
One of those threads leads you to us. Follow it."

Gretchen lifted her head and stared the beast in the face.

"We are meant to be as one," the beast promised.

"I will never betray my brothers,” she vowed.

The beast snorted as if disappointed, but not surprised.
"Betrayal? You are guiding them. Lead and they will
follow. You are the eldest sister. Do not allow them to be
destroyed. Contemplate what we offer you."

The beast turned its head and called forth, its voice
rumbling through the World Between. "Jacob!"

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447

Jacob stepped out of my grasp and, despite only a few feet
separating us, I stood alone.

"The boy who can see thoughts and construct majestic
revelations. You only joined against us because of your
brother. Don't you see the lies now? The fear? He offers
only quiet despair and we offer all creation as it was
meant to be. He waits for his final destruction and we
offer new life."

I knelt down and touched the scaffold, trying to form a
Helstgate, trying to send us somewhere, anywhere to get
away from the beast that held them captive. Too late did I
remember that I could not make Helstgates in the World
Between. There was no glowing fracture above my head
to take us home. The adrenaline pumped in my fingertips
and pulsed against the cold, black stone but no gateway
formed.

It turned its full attention to me.

The beast's head reared into to the sky and it laughed.
"Trying to flee our presence? We no longer require the
Helstgates or the Stedgates. Send us any place or time and
we'll return to you."

The beast's voice dropped as if sharing a secret with me.
"You are alone. Everyone you love has abandoned you,
Mark. Your defiance brings penalties, but I am not
without benevolence. Choose how best to serve us—as all

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448

beings within the Universe will choose. You have the
honor and privilege of being the first. Perhaps you fancy
being a dark splatter of blood underneath my foot.
Perhaps you wish to be a faint wisp of heat from a solar
wind. But don't pick anything with thought or feeling. We
are the only one with the strength to carry those. You
humans fight so hard to keep them alive. Stop the
foolishness and choose how you will serve."

With Gretchen and Jacob mesmerized I stood up straight
and gazed into the beast's eyes. "I'll never serve you."

"The defiant angel.” The beast bellowed. “You have no
one left. It's time for you go, to feel the searing fire that
you so eagerly sent me into. Choose your final resting
place."

"Home," I whispered. The only place that matters with the
approaching footfalls of Death.

"Suitable. I will destroy it before I destroy you. Home it
is."

The shift occurred again, perfection—unlike anything
Adrienne or I had ever been able to perform. In that split
second between ambiguity and certainty, before the world
became frighteningly real, I pulled Jacob closer to me.

I hugged him, letting the thoughts tumble from my mind,
hoping that he could see it through the beast's promises.
Even if he understood me, I did not know what I sent him

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449

to do. It might kill him. I was afraid to give him the
complete thought. It was our last chance and it rested on
him understanding the meaning behind my words.

Let the beast win.

I released him and pushed him away as the new world
came into focus.

The scaffold became the porch and grass sprouted out of
the ground, covering a back yard that sloped down a hill
to a quiet country road. The sun beat down from on high
and I realized that this was no shift. The E.N.D. had
opened a door into my past, to the same drowsy summer
day that I'd found Adrienne in the lilac bushes and Emily
had been taken to the Operations building.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the sliding glass door
and then the rest of the farmhouse flashed into existence.
Jacob stumbled away from me. Keep going! I prayed. It
all depended on him. He tumbled over the porch railing
and onto the ground. He staggered away and disappeared
around the corner of the garage. Had I made it through to
him? I glanced at the beast, but it paid Jacob no mind.

The beast stood on the hill that sloped down to the road.
Its hind legs were planted in the fields across the road, its
front legs rested on the road and its massive neck and
head stretched up the hill so we were almost eye level.

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450

The worshippers from the World Between appeared
calcified, an extension of the beast.

"We can take it back further if you wish," the beast said.
"To the basement perhaps, when the nightmares began.
We can feel your skull collapsing under our grasp for all
eternity."

I grabbed Gretchen's arm and pulled her towards the
sliding glass door. I reached for the latch and tried to open
it without taking my eyes off the beast. Gretchen
remained mesmerized, studying the E.N.D. as if trying to
find a chink in its armor.

"We never left..." She muttered. "We never left..."

"Gretchen!" I yelled. "We have to get inside!" She took
one step backwards and the latch on the sliding glass door
clicked up and I shoved it open.

We fell onto the kitchen floor and I kicked the sliding
glass door shut with my foot.

As if that is really going to stop it.

The E.N.D. pushed its ugly maw up against the glass and
breathed through its nostrils, coating the glass with mucus
and vapor.

"Hello there," the beast said. "Won't you invite me in?"

"No!" I shouted. "Leave us!"

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451

The beast chuckled and pounded its head into the glass,
shattering it into fragments. Plaster and drywall rained
down on us as the beast's horned head raked through the
ceiling.

"I am terribly hungry!" the beast called out, its jaw
clacking up and down above my prostrate form. I scooted
backwards, dragging Gretchen with me until I pressed
into the basement door. I gripped her hand, but received
no response.

The beast's head recoiled slightly until its three eyes
locked on us. "Ah, there they are. Two wee scared
rabbits." The beast lowered its head, examining us. "Let
us consummate the meal!"

The beast drew in a breath and the air rushed past my ears
and flew into its open maw. I sat staring down the great,
swollen gullet that prepared to gush forth an inferno. I
rolled to my left, dragging Gretchen to her feet and we
fled down the side hallway where Dad kept his barn
boots. Behind us the kitchen erupted in flame.

Underneath me the ground shook as the E.N.D. took one
step forward and thrust its head further into the house,
knocking out the second story and the roof, smashing
through the staircase that lead to the front door. Splinter
beams and wood particles flashed through the smoky
haze, stabbing at us as I fumbled with the door that
opened to the front porch.

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452

"Don't run little tidbit!" the beast called out. I slammed
the door off its hinges with my shoulder and pulled
Gretchen onto the front porch. We staggered to the base
of the giant oak.

The beast grinned down on us, head posed between the
severed sections of the house. Above the beast's head, I
spotted a slender form low-crawling across the farm
house shingles towards the jagged gap the beast had
created. Jacob's almost there. The thought renewed my
hope until I heard the beast's next statement.

"Time to cook the food!"

Jacob only needed a few more seconds to get into
position. I turned my head towards Gretchen. "Get behind
me."

Gretchen didn't listen so I sidestepped in front of her as
fire spewed from the beast's throat, rushing down,
consuming us. I mounted a weak defense, throwing up
both hands to block the flames, imagining a thousand
shields rising up to protect us, but no shield withstood
those flames.

I skidded backwards inch by inch, giving way to the
immutable force of the beast's breath until I pressed into
Gretchen. Her hands and the side of her faced rested
against my back, keeping me from falling. For a fleeting
moment I sensed the strength that surged through her,

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453

untapped, unrefined. The manipulator. I was no longer
certain which of us protected the other. The smell of my
burning flesh extinguished the moment and I watched as
the skin on my hands bubbled red, blistered black and
then turned to cinder.

It's over.

The palpable aura of repulsion and terror the E.N.D.
emitted crippled me and I sank to one knee, keeping my
hands raised in front of me as the flames from the beast's
mouth turned into a trickle and then stopped. A torrent of
pain flowed up my arms and my vision turned red, blood
red, the red that led to the darkness and the darkness that
led to death. The trunk of the giant oak tree saved me
from toppling over onto my back. I slouched against the
massive trunk, my forearms resting on my knees to keep
the burnt hands from touching anything.

"Well, aren't you a sturdy one?" The beast said. "You
should be a crispy critter by now."

Above our heads the giant oak crackled with fire, the
leaves turned to ash and the branches burnt black. I tried
to call forth my anger, but there was nothing left. No
anger, no hatred left for the Dream Snatcher, only a
longing for the life with Gretchen and Jacob before this
madness consumed us. The emaciated memories waited,
an old woman in the wind, ready to be swept away by the
next great gust. I grasped at the one I believed most

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454

important, the one of a fierce teenage girl who had
sacrificed herself to protect me from the Dream Snatcher.
A realization dawned on me, despite the beast's decadent
din that sought to pry us apart.

Gretchen wouldn’t let me die.

"Gretchen." I called her name. No response and I couldn't
see her, I couldn't see anything—the pain seemed to have
melted my eyelids together. I managed to force one blurry
eye open, everything more than a few feet in front of me
turned into a hodgepodge of gray with a dark splotch in
the center.

The beast. Was Jacob still unscathed or had he perished
in the flames? Gretchen stood to my left, the ends of her
blonde hair scorched black by the fire. Soot dusted her
cheekbones and nose, but other than that she appeared
unharmed. Her eyes focused and she saw me. She reached
out an unsteady hand and touched my shoulder.

"We never left... We never left the Black Satellite," she
said, voice hoarse with smoke.

I peered at her through the one partially opened eye, not
comprehending. We never left the Black Satellite. The
E.N.D. never took us to the World Between. Or… Or it
brought the World Between to the Black Satellite. I am
still on that gray mesh somewhere... nowhere. Why does it
matter? The pain kept any clue of meaning from me.

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

455

The beast moved closer, butting its snout against my
crippled hand. I screamed in agony.

"Mark," the beast said. "You'll never open another
Stedgate or create another Helstgate. The tools of your
trade are destroyed. It seems your sister wants to toss her
fate in with you—that's fine. Now you shall be my
nourishment."

"No," Gretchen spoke. She stood up tall and unafraid in
front of the beast. "We never left!"

The E.N.D. retracted its head into the destroyed house and
the three eyes blinked in unison. "Oh? Parting the veil in
time to see the blade cut you down isn't practically useful.
It doesn't matter anymore, dearest."

As the beast tensed to seize us, Jacob jumped, flinging
himself off the roof and into the gap, landing among the
beast's horns.

Its head snapped forward, the maw with razor teeth
opened to swallow us whole. They stopped inches away.
The E.N.D. froze, mouth open, lips sneered back, ready to
devour us, but it beheld some wonderful vision. A vision
of a world where it ruled without question or defiance. In
the world that filled its mind Gretchen and I were long
dead and gone.

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

456

Through my hazy vision I spied Jacob clinging to the
beast's head, his eyes closed in focused concentration as
he fed the beast everything it desired.

"He did it," I said. "He did just as I told him."

Gretchen stared in awe at the immobile monster. "But we
don't know how long he can hold it. What do we do
now?"

My burnt hand fell onto the scorched earth beneath me.
"You said we never left the Black Satellite." Flakes of
charred flesh fell off with the singular movement.

"I can sense it all around me," Gretchen said. "But I don't
know how to control it like the Dream Snatcher does."

"You don't have to control it like he does. It gave us the
answer. If I send it any time or place it will return to us.
That thing must go where there is no time or place. I need
you to clear the mesh away. Whatever... Whatever is
underneath is where I will make the Helstgate and send
the E.N.D. into it." No place. I struggled to sit up. "Now
knock the ash off my hands."

Gretchen grimaced at the sight of them. "You won't have
hands left if I do that."

I twitched my head in disagreement. "Something is left,
something you saved. Help me." Gretchen obeyed and
pried the ash from my hands. The cinder, like a

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

457

malformed cast, broke off in pieces and fell onto the
ground. Underneath pale, new flesh waited. I flexed my
fingers painfully, knocking the last ash away.

"Tear at the fabric of the Black Satellite." I said.

Gretchen knelt, legs folded underneath her in front of the
inanimate beast. She placed her hands on the Black
Satellite's platform, the drawing board of the Universe.
The earth writhed beneath her grasp and the grating
appeared and under that, darkness. A gloomy pit formed
under the E.N.D., expanding slowly, engulfing the front
porch and then the house. The mesh rose in a perimeter
around the beast, maintaining its amorphous form and the
boundaries Gretchen forced upon it, as if the beast was a
rock plunging slowly into deep dark waters.

I knelt next to Gretchen, pushed my hand through the
mesh and touched the darkness that lay beneath the reality
of the Black Satellite. I opened a Helstgate to whatever
lay beyond. The Universe is a bubble. Part the seamless
wall and let the E.N.D. stay in the void until the last star
winks out of existence. Let it rule the abyss. And whatever
lay on the other side of everything accepted the beast,
drawing it in. Its hind quarters sank into the Helstgate and
then its front legs.

"Jacob!" Gretchen screamed.

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

458

With the Helstgate in existence under the massive form of
the E.N.D. I'd forgotten how I was going to save Jacob.
He'd plunge through into whatever lay beyond, the beast’s
sole companion. Jacob's concentration never faltered. He
had committed to the decision, even if it meant he
perished. Inch by inch the beast sank into the Helstgate
and Jacob didn't waver.

"I can't let go of the Helstgate!" I shouted. "You have to
get him!"

Gretchen stood and the mesh immediately began to flow
back into its default form, covering the Helstgate,
weaving up the legs of the E.N.D. like vines, branching
and spreading. Jacob must have felt the threads since he
flinched, but kept his grip and scrunched his eyes tighter.
The threads covered his legs and crept up his torso and
encircled his neck.

Gretchen ran towards him over the reformed mesh. She
reached Jacob and pried one of his hands loose from the
beast's horns. The silver threads almost completely
covered his body.

"Let go!" Gretchen commanded. "You'll go under."

"If... I let go... the E.N.D. is free."

"The Helstgate is already in place. If you go through we
can't get you back."

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

459

The beast shuddered and its open jaw closed, sensing
Jacob's faltering focus. I compensated by pouring more
energy into the Helstgate. It sank faster, the pit rising over
its neck and head and approaching the point where Jacob
perched among its horns.

"Don't give him a choice!" I shouted at Gretchen. "Pull
him free!"

Gretchen locked both her hands around his wrist and
yanked on him as his head slipped beneath the surface of
the Helstgate. She pulled him out of the gray threads and
as soon as his hand left the beast's head its movement
returned. Gretchen and Jacob ran towards me, and the
beast lashed out with one entangled claw, causing them to
stumble. The beast's blow shook the Black Satellite to its
foundation and I lost my concentration, thinking Gretchen
would slip through the flimsy mesh and fall into the
Helstgate. She took an unsteady step towards me, keeping
Jacob close. Another swipe of the claws barely missed
them.

Gretchen reached me and as soon as I knew they were
safe, I channeled all my remaining strength into the
Helstgate. It was no longer a gateway, it was a cesspool
drawing all things into itself. The vacuum of space could
not compare to the lack of existence I felt consuming the
E.N.D., myself and the Black Satellite.

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

460

The E.N.D. floundered, muscles bulging and talons
reaching out of the Helstgate. The mesh that covered it
snapped and twisted, forming ghastly shapes, as if the
souls of those from the World Between united to save
their master. They reached their hands into the Helstgate
to raise the beast on high.

"Gretchen!" I looked behind me. She staggered to her
feet. "It's breaking free!"

She ran towards me and hesitated when she saw the
forms. "What... What are those things?"

"I don't know. I can't stop them though. They are above
the Helstgate!"

Gretchen’s hands hovered over the mesh. Her face went
slack, all the color draining away as she accessed the
hideous power of the Black Satellite.

Her hands shook and massive chains rose from the
ground, the links as thick as my waist. One after another,
they sprouted, soaring above our heads like a metallic
forest. At their peak, hundreds of feet above the wrecked
farmhouse, they wavered and then fell over the Helstgate,
falling down on the figures, smashing them into the mesh,
casting them into the dark pit. The chains snaked over the
beast's great wings and pinned them down, keeping it
from escaping. The head wreathed in horns disappeared
into the Helstgate and I lifted my hand off the ground,

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

461

relinquishing my control. One claw punched through the
chains as the E.N.D. struggled ferociously. I grabbed
Gretchen out of harm’s way and the Helstgate shrank
back into itself and severed the beast's searching claws. It
flopped on the gray mesh and then lay still. Jacob
collapsed on the ground next to me.

"I thought I was a goner," he gasped.

"I did too. I thought we were all finished," I said.

"We did it." Gretchen said quietly. Tears appeared in her
eyes. Her body shook and I reached out for her. Without
the beast to sustain the illusion, the world around us
changed into the featureless mesh, extending to infinity in
all directions. Somehow, the oak tree remained and
Gretchen leaned against it wearily.

"Do you really think we did it?" Jacob said.

He rolled over on his back and stared up at the void above
us.

"Yes," Gretchen said. "It won't come back from that."

"Give me a hand, eh?" Jacob said, addressing me. "I want
to get away from that creepy thing." He nodded his head
toward the severed limb of the beast. It twitched once and
then lay unmoving.

I helped him up and we hobbled together to the resolute
guardian of our childhood, the giant oak. Jacob sat down

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

462

and placed his back against its trunk. I sat down between
him and Gretchen, feeling the strength and certainty of
this living thing continuing long after we ceased to be. I
did not begrudge it at all.
"Things aren't going to be the same," I said.
"You mean they'll go back to normal?" Gretchen said.
I stared up at the burnt branches, spotting a single green
leaf that hung unmoving in the uppermost branches of the
tree.
"Yes." I sighed deeply and closed my eyes. "Things will
go back to normal."

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

463

The Waking World
Eyelids moved up and down, but I didn't see anything.
Arms and legs replied slow and sluggish, like wading
through a river of molasses. I sat up on the edge of the
bunk, an old man, spent and frail. Perhaps the Dream
Snatcher got the last laugh after all and the drug had made
us sleep for a hundred years. I raised a trembling hand to
my neck, searching for the spot where the Dream
Snatcher had stuck me. Nothing. The room was dark and
the house was silent.

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

464

I slid down from the bunk, carefully lowering myself until
I felt Jacob's bed under my foot.

"We made it back?" he whispered.

"Seems that way."

"Ugh, I can barely move."

I sat down on his bed. "Same here. I still feel exhausted."

"How long do you think we slept?"

"No idea. Let's go upstairs. I think the power is out, but
we can check the clock above Dad's coat rack." That
clock ran on batteries. The usual noises such as the hum
of the furnace or the chug-chug of the sump pump were
gone.

We moved out of the bedroom, avoiding obstacles by
memory rather than sight until we reached the foot of the
basement stairs. A ringing noise sounded out of the dark,
startling us. Some of the fog cleared out of my brain,
making room for fear.

"It's just the phone." Jake said. The phone ran on different
wires than the electricity. "Should we answer it?" The
phone rang a second time. Pondering the question wasted
enough time for someone else in the house to answer it. It
stopped after the third ring.

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

465

We padded up the staircase and into the kitchen. The
clock above Dad's coat rack glowed a faint green from the
backlight. Outside the slow tide of the rising sun made the
snow glow and the trees stand out in sharp relief.

"7 o'clock?" Jake whistled. "We slept for fifteen hours."

A creak on the staircase made us both turn towards the
basement door. I half expected the Dream Snatcher's
smiling face and streaked teeth to be peering over the lip
of the step. The origin of the noise proved deceptive. It
was Dad, coming down the second floor staircase.

He halted in the living room, looking at us.

"Oh, you boys are up." His usual deep voice quivered
slightly. "Gretchen's awake. I just got the call."

Dad wasn't overly affectionate, but he took a step forward
and we took a step forward him and the next thing I knew
Jacob and I were both caught up in a bear hug so tight that
I actually felt Dad's beard scrape my face.

He released us. "Get Emily up, we'll go in together."

+++

Gretchen, Jacob and I stood at the base of the ruined
windmill a week later. The stormy weather broke and an
unseasonable thaw visited us in the middle of January.
The Sun glowed down from a cloudless sky and streams
of water cascaded through the brown fields. I knew it

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

466

wouldn't last, but for a few precious days the weather was
mild enough to roam outdoors with only a jacket on.
Maybe, with any luck, the water pipes in the barn would
melt so Jacob and I could stop lugging buckets out there
for the pigs.

Best not to ask for too much though.

Jacob pulled on a cable that ran up one of the legs, just as
he had in the dream. The wire ran all the way to the top of
the windmill, its loose end dangling beneath the few
blades that remained.

"So it was real," Gretchen said. "At least as real as it
could be." Her awakening and recovery continued to
mystify the doctors at the hospital. She was due for a
checkup the next day.

She took the wire out of Jacob's hand and tugged on it. It
rose out of the ground a few inches and then stopped.
Gretchen tried pulling on it again, but it didn't budge.
"And it's going in the direction of the house. So what do
you want to do now?"

Jacob pointed at the axe and the red jug of gasoline he had
lugged up the hill. "I didn't bring them for show."

"It needs to be destroyed," I said. "My dreams have
changed, but I don't think I'll be comfortable if it remains
standing." I put my hand against it. "It's the last
monument. A physical monument—and the only one left

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

467

from all the others that Dr. Meyer and the Dream
Snatcher built."

Gretchen smiled and picked up the axe. "I'm game."

We took turns cutting at the legs on one side until the
windmill groaned on its foundations and fell over with a
crash. Jacob poured gasoline up and down its length and
lit a match. The fire ran along its frame, reminding me of
the beast's horrible breath and my burnt hands.

"You know," Gretchen said, staring at the flames. "You
said you were a coward that morning we drove out to the
scrap yard."

"I was," I said, indifferent. "Maybe I still am."

"You mean you're still afraid," Gretchen said. "I'd be
afraid, too, if I'd dealt with the dreams you had all those
years. But that didn't stop you from trying to save me."

I chuckled. "I think you did most of the saving."

"Hey, now," Jacob said. "We all know who the real hero
is here."

Our laughter rang out and drifted away on the tendrils of
smoke that rose into the blue sky. As our mirth died down
Gretchen moved over to me and hugged me.

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

468

"Thank you. Thank you for coming to get me. Dream
Snatcher or not I've been a real witch this past year. Even
before that escapade to the operations building."

"I try," I said. "At times I thought I was going to lose you.
Both of you."

Jake looked at her aghast. "What did you say? Oh, witch.
Right. Yeah, that about sums it up. Maybe you can start
taking us out to eat more often." He patted his stomach.
"You are the only one with a driver's license."

"I'll consider," she said. "Some things I considered
important seem very trivial now. High school for instance,
but Mom says I go back on Monday. At times I'm sure
you both ended up on that list of trivial things. That was a
mistake. Not every girl has brothers like you."

With the warm sun shining on us, my closest siblings on
either side of me, and the final monument turning to ash,
my heart finally leapt free of the bonds that caged it since
Gretchen's journey through the Stedgate. We lingered and
talked as the flames died down. The sun sank lower in the
sky, drifting towards the pine forest. Gretchen and Jacob
gathered up the gasoline jug and the axe and Gretchen
took a piece of wire that had twisted and curled in on
itself from the heat of the fire.

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

469

"A reminder," she said when Jacob asked her about it.
They headed towards home. I stood by the remnants of
the windmill, pondering.

"Joining us?" Jacob called before heading down the hill
and across the road to our farm house.

"Go ahead," I said. "I'll catch up."

He waved and disappeared from view. I strolled towards
the pine forest and stopped on the edge of the long
shadows they cast over the drab fields. Somewhere in
there was the clearing that contained the Corpus Stedgate.
But it isn't there. It isn't even part of your Underlay
anymore. A figure stood under the branches of the forest.
I squinted, making sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.

The figure moved towards me. The dark, delicate curls
and smooth, sun tanned skin made me freeze in disbelief.

"Mark," she said.

"Yes," I replied automatically.

Adrienne approached me. I towered over her now, but her
calm demeanor and hazel eyes still made me feel like the
lost child she'd guided through the snares of the Dream
Snatcher. She reached a hand towards me and I touched
her fingertips. Real.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there at the end. They took precautions
to make sure I wouldn't intervene."

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

470

Adrienne apologizing to me? I almost laughed. "No...
that... it’s fine. I'm..."

I gathered my thoughts. "You actually exist." I pointed
out.

"Yes," she laughed. "Although the doubt is
understandable."

"So the Dream Snatcher is gone?"

"Yes. And Selene." She hesitated. "And my grandfather."

"I'm sorry. Doctor Meyer left behind a hidden monument.
That’s how we made it to the Black Satellite." My voice
choked. “I destroyed them Adrienne. They are gone
because of me.”

“No, it is not your fault.” Adrienne gently touched my
cheek. "I lost my grandfather long ago, I just didn’t
realize it.” She paused and looked into the distance.
“Novalis said, 'Life is no dream, but it may and will
perhaps become one.'"

"Novalis?"

"A writer from long ago. I made a variant of that quote.
'Life and Dreams alike hold darkness. It is our duty to
shine a light in those dark places.' As we conquer the
darkness within ourselves, we must aid those around us in
doing the same."

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

471

I resisted the urge to pry deeper and failed.

"You're moving on, aren't you?"

"Yes. But that's not to say I won't be around. You
probably won't see me much, at least in the Waking
World."

"The dreams?"

She squeezed my hand. "It's a way to keep in contact.
Some memories of me might slip through. No one dreams
in isolation."

We parted ways. I headed towards the house while she
disappeared into the shadows of the forest. Looking back
from where the windmill used to stand, I found it hard to
believe she'd ever been there at all. I took a deep breath of
the cool air and sprinted down the hill and across the road.
I caught up with Jacob and Gretchen in the farmhouse
kitchen. Mom had supper almost ready.

"So," Jacob said. "Mike called while you were gone. I
asked him if we could keep the basement room as our
own. He said he didn't care."

He gave me a devilish grin. "What do you say?"

I smiled in return. "Well, it sounds ok, but I think it needs
some serious cleaning."

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.

472

After dinner we headed downstairs and got to work. We
rearranged the room, swept down the cobwebs and
washed the dingy windows—letting light shine in the dark
places.
Original
October 28, 2004
Steubenville, OH
Final
October 28, 2013
FOB Airborne, Afghanistan

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. T. Blackthorne
All rights reserved.