Nouvelle-Amsterdam
Région Nouvelle-Amsterdam , Nouvelle-France
6 janvier, 1939
You can never destroy me
The empty, snow-laden streets of Nouvelle-Amsterdam did not echo as she ran. The unswept snow dampened her footfalls, unswept because the city had been abandoned for a week, ever since the owner of that voice that spoke into her head began to grow very worried, indeed, that his destruction might come after all. The two running men beside her, German and French, could not hear that voice. They could not see the invisible wall, either.
You may have destroyed my body...
"Wall!" she cried, and a blast of psychic energy surged past her. In her mind's eye she could see the lattices of supernatural force shatter, lose cohesion, and disappear.
You may have destroyed my empire...
"Got it!" yelled Joachim, in his German-accented French as they passed where the barrier had been. It was far from the first time they encountered such obstacles, and it was also far from the strongest such they had defeated. He had grown mighty weak, indeed.
But you cannot destroy me
Another taunt, another flash, another hint at the location of the disembodied spirit they were hunting.
"Skyscraper, at the corner!"
"Got it-"
"No! Julian, teleport us. Fourth floor."
Right before the transition, she managed to get a good look at the name of the building. Sibil Industries. Of course. In the next instant they were a block farther and fifty feet up.
Even if you banish me from this world, I will find another...
"Back! Back!"
He didn't need to be told twice. Before the second word, they were once again on the streets, just in time to watch the very fourth floor they were so briefly on disappear in a ball of orange flame.
"That...was close..."
"Thanks for that, Julian," grunted Joachim. The teleport, on the other hand, was still shaken. "It wasn't the first time you've saved us from one of his tricks. I can't believe we fell for-"
"He's gone."
The interruption from the psychic puzzled him, the words specifically. The instance? It was far from the first time.
"He's incorporeal. That wouldn't have hurt the bastard a damn bit," the German growled in restrained incredulousness.
"No, it wouldn't have been the blast. But he's really gone. I can't feel a trace of his presence."
"What if it was like the last time this happened? What if he's still-"
"No, it's different this time. It's-"
She paused. A shimmer, in the corner of her mind's eye.
"A portal!" she blurted, as the information flooded through her head. "A strong one, but not through time, or space... That must be what he meant! It's to another world!"
"Another world?"
"Another timeline, a parallel one. Just as he came to our world from his."
"But that means that once the portal is sealed, he can't come back?"
"We won't have to worry about that. He must have been planning this. He must have also been weaker than we thought." Uncomprehending silence followed. She turned to the other two to explain. "He must have created the portal on the Checagou Nexus, then pulled it here along a ley line some time ago, holding it as an escape route. He must have known that by the time he needed it he would be far too weak to create one on his own. Now that his hold is gone, it's starting to snap back to Checagou, where it will simply be absorbed and disappear. Which means that if I hadn't caught it, we would never have been able to follow him. A clever measure, as usual for him."
The bustling metropolis of Checagou in the province of Nicolet was notable for many things, including being the site of the bloodiest siege in North American history, during the Second Louisiana War. All those lives, taken in malice, made for the easy creation of a nexus of power by their then-embodied adversary.
"Wait, follow him? We're done! We saved the world! Isn't this the point of the story where we all go home and live happily ever after?"
"We can't let him run loose on a whole world full of innocents! Besides, you know as well as I that we have no home to go back to. Destroying him was our lives, and as long as he remains out there, even in another world, we-"
She could easily tell when Joachim was not being convinced. This was one of those times.
"And Sofia would have died for nothing."
He cringed, as if stabbed. "Dammit, Marie..." He sighed wearily. "You're right. We must go on."
"So let's go. Julian, the portal is now forty kilometers from us, straight line to Checagou. Can you hit it?"
"Along a ley line? Of course. But... I just..."
His hesitation startled her.
"But what, Julian? The portal is accelerating, we don't have much time!"
"I just have a bad feeling about this."
"Well, you're not the clairvoyant here. Marie is. So quit whining and get us a teleport." Joachim was back.
"Julian... If need be, Joachim can jury rig a way to get us through the portal. It will be messy, and once we're on the other side you'll never see us again, and without you we'll have that less of a chance of succeeding."
"But I-"
"But if we go through together, we can all face this new world together, like we always have. Please... Brother..."
The silence seemed to last forever. In that eternity, a thousand thoughts and anxieties flitted through her head. Just what could be causing him to hesitate? Not a single likely possibility entered her mind. Just what could-
"All right, I'll come. Where is the portal now?"
"It's moving too fast now. Just aim for Checagou and hope."
"Huh. And you said that Joachim could have done this?"
"I was bluffing."
"Hey, I bet I could've-"
The rest of his sentence would never be heard in the world they left behind. It was already a timeline away.
