Graced (7 page)

“It’s a marvel,” Madison said under her breath.

“It’s how I can keep track of the ones in the maze,” Rafael said. “To make sure they don’t trouble anyone for quite some time.” He barked another laugh. “And if you think that is impressive, take a look at this.”

He moved the levers again, in entirely new positions, and the entire scene on top of the rock wavered and disappeared. In their place stood the same ragged edges as before. And again, the ripples originating from the center of the rock started up. They came and came, growing stronger each time, until Laura thought their speed and size would overwhelm the entire
torrial
. But just as they teetered on the brink of overpowering the device, they stopped completely. And before her lay an al -too-familiar scene. It was them. It was them, in the cramped room. Right in the middle of rock lay a smal er representation of it, and huddled around it were the shapes of Laura and everyone else. But their representations were much more accurate than the
Vassiz
had been in the maze. Laura stared at her own. It was so lifelike. There was her hair, and her limbs, and her entire body. Slowly, she lifted her left arm up, and – in real time –

the representation of herself lifted
its
arm up as wel . It was so real, Laura felt a need to just reach out and touch it…

“AAAHH!” With a strangled yel , Rafael was cut off, and flew back in the air. The entire thing on top of the rock winked out of existence. Rafael hit the far wal hard, and col apsed in a heap on the ground. Laura rushed to him, but not as quickly as Logan. Already, he was helping Rafael up.

“What happened?” Laura exclaimed as soon as she could. Rafael looked to be alright, if a little shaken, but the way he had just been
thrown back
, as if by some invisible force…

“I got cocky,” he smiled rueful y. Slowly, he met the eyes of everybody in the room. “I tried to do too much. Whenever you use one of those things…” he motioned at the
torrial
, “…you feel a type of resonance fighting against you. The more you do, the stronger it gets. Usual y, I can handle it, but I guess it just didn’t like having itself shown today.” He shrugged. “That is the danger of it, of course. Of al
torrial
. When you use it, you become
attached
to it. A sort of… link… forms between the user and the device. I’m not sure exactly how it works, but it’s what I’ve been able to figure out through years of trial and error. The user becomes attached to the device, and some smal part of them is brought out into the chasm that exists between the two planes. Between the two realms.

“The danger, then, if you use too much, or if you use a
torrial
before knowing what one does, is dropping into the chasm and losing yourself forever. Whenever you attach yourself to one of these artifacts, you leave your mind prone to being lost. And in the chasm, you would lose both your mind
and
your soul.”

“That sounds horrible,” Laura said.

“It is,” Rafael answered gruffly. He was already up, and had pushed Logan aside. “Only your body would remain. For al intents and purposes, you would be dead, but your body would stil be here. And those around you would only see a zombie, a lobotomized version of yourself.”

Laura shivered. What he was explaining with the resonance sounded entirely too familiar to what she had experienced opening that vault door in the mines. She had to speak to Alexander about this. Were they, unknowingly, subjecting themselves to such a horrible fate when they fought to open the door? She knew now that they had been successful, but if they had known the risk back then, would they have done the same thing? Would
she
have done the same thing? She shook her head. Of course she would have. Alexander’s life had been at stake, and going through the vault was the only way to save him.

“Why show us this, Rafael?” Logan asked. “What was the point of it? And why endanger yourself by using it in front of us?”

“This one,” Rafael said quietly, “is but a toy compared to the one that you’l be using.”

~A Better Plan~

“The one that we’l be using?” Laura asked. “What do you mean? What are you taking about?”

Rafael looked to Madison and Alexander. “You let the young one ask al the question, but share none of your own?”

“Rafael!” Laura demanded, “You didn’t answer me! What are you talking about?”

He looked at her. Again, she felt his eyes weighing, considering. It was a little unnerving. “You want to fight the elders, child?” he asked.

“Of course! You already know that! We al told you that a dozen times.”

“Wel , the only way I know of to change your
fight
from little more than a suicide mission is to make use of other
torrial
.”

“Other
torrial
?” This time, it was Alexander who spoke. “You mean there are more?”

“Oh, yes,” Rafael said. “But not here, of course. Elsewhere. There is a repository of them, hidden away for generations, hidden from al who may know how to use them. I doubt even the elders know of its existence.”

“But you do?” Logan asked, sounding only a little skeptical. “And pray tel , how did you come across this knowledge of its existence?”

“There are more writings within the sanctuary than those that had been on the now-destroyed wal ,”

Rafael said. “Some speak of an ancient repository, where the most powerful and most sacred of the
torrial
were placed before the war erupted between angels and
Vassiz
. They were hidden away, and lost for mil ennia.”

“Why?” Laura asked. “Why were they hidden away?”

“It was once thought,” Rafael explained, “that the
torrial
were the greatest devices created in the history of the world. At a time when the angels and the
Vassiz
worked together to create such wonders. Knowledge of the
torrials
’ crafting has been lost since then. Although I suspect it was consciously
eradicated
from any who held it.”

“…why?” Laura asked again, hesitantly. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to understand why these devices, which seemed to offer such great abilities – in spite of the dangers of using them – had been locked away, and the knowledge of how to make them wiped out.

Rafael looked at her in such a way to say that he did not appreciate being cut off. “
Because
,” he emphasized harshly, “it was soon found that the dangers of using them was much greater than the benefits they provide.”

“You mean the user losing themselves in the chasm?” Laura asked. “I thought that could only happen if you try to use too much of one, or use one without knowing what it does.”

“That is a danger, yes, but it is not the one that I speak of. Rather, there was a much greater danger that emerged . It became apparent only after many had been crafted, and were being used simultaneously. You see, there exists a… natural
order
of things. Amongst our world, and amongst the dream world. This order, as it were, has been in place since the creation of…wel , everything. But the way the
torrial
function, wel – there was never a place for it, in this world or the other. And the resonance that one feels when using a
torrial
, it comes from a disruption of that natural order.

“Using only one at a time, as I had just now, seems to be fine. The problems start to creep in when many
torrial
are being used, al at once. The disturbance that occurs when each one is accessed is amplified, exponential y, depending on the number of other
torrial
being used at the time. Use too many, and the order is disrupted so much so, that you rip a hole in the fabric of reality.”

“What?” Laura demanded. She couldn’t grasp what she was hearing. First learning of these devices, then of their danger, and then of their
real
danger…

“That’s right,” Rafael continued. “If too many are used at once, neither dream nor human world can handle the disruptions. There is a limit. Bypass that limit, and…
poof
. You rip a hole in reality, a black hole, as it were. And it can engulf the entirety of both planes, destroying everything that exists, or ever had existed.”

“That’s
terrifying
,” Laura said. “Are you saying that through the use of these devices, somebody can theoretical y…
destroy
the entire world?”

“Not just the world, child, but the entire galaxy. The entire universe. Everything that has ever been, or ever wil be, would disappear into a contracting abyss.

“And that is precisely why they were put away. Hidden from al , so that their use may never again threaten the existence of our worlds.”

“Why were they not destroyed?” Alexander asked. “If the risk is so great…?”

Rafael smiled at him. “That, dear friend, I cannot answer. My suspicion is that once made, the
torrial
become impossible to destroy. Although perhaps, simply because they are such treasures, the caretakers did not have it in them to break them down.”

“So they are like
allurvai
,” Laura whispered half to herself.

“What did you mean about the one we’l need to use?” Logan asked.

“Ah. Wel , the repository contains many different
torrial
. For you to take the fight to the elders, you wil need some advantage… and these artifacts can give you just that. If you find them, you can use them to help you navigate the dream, to arm yourselves against the elders. They wil be the weapons that you must use should you be successful.”

“What can they do?” Laura asked.

“Many things. Things I do not know of. Perhaps none of them wil be of use.” He shrugged. “But I have a feeling you wil find something that wil aid you. For example. You two.” He pointed at Laura and Logan.

“You have fed recently, but on a
different
type of blood. You are stil unable to sleep, and who knows how long the effect wil last? But the fight wil not wait for you. The elders wil not wait for you. So how wil you enter the dream realm?”

Laura looked to Logan. What Rafael brought up was something she hadn’t thought of yet, something she hadn’t even considered. She just assumed the effects of the feeding would wear off before it came time to fight the elders… but now, she was not so sure. Logan met her gaze, but he looked equal y unsure.

“I wil tel you how,” Rafael continued. “You wil use a special
torrial
to do so. I am certain, that amongst al the ones that have been locked away, there is at least one that al ows the user to come into the dream realm without fal ing asleep. And
not
in the same way you did inside the archive. So there is one reason you need to find this repository.”

“What about the danger of using too many at once?” Madison asked.

Rafael looked at her. “I do not think you should worry about that. There are but four of you, and using four
torrial
at a time pales in comparison to how many were being used at the peak of their distribution.”

“Alright then,” Laura said. “If you think these
torrial
can help us in our fight, we wil find them.” She looked to her companions to see if any had any objections, but, seeing none, continued. “You spoke as if you know of where they are. Tel us. Where are they stowed?”

Rafael met her gaze squarely. “In the Middle East.”

~A Promise~

Laura sat across from Logan, who was pacing the floor in front of her. They were back in the grand cavern marking the entrance of the sanctuary. Alexander and Madison had taken Rafael to meet the angels in the dream realm, and their stil bodies were lying only a few dozen feet away from her. After Rafael had shown them the
torrial
, they had come back here. As agreed upon before, Madison and Alexander went into the dream world with Rafael soon after to introduce him to the angels. Before that happened, though, Laura had a chance to take Alexander aside.

“He spoke of a reverberance,” she told him. “Like what we felt when we were opening the door to the
archive. Do you think – I mean, is that how…?”

“I do,” Alexander nodded before she could finish her sentence. “The vault door, and the figurine we
got from Selaine. Both were
torrial
. We fought against the same reverberance that Rafael mentioned.
The question is, then, how did Selaine know to give the figurine to you?”

Laura thought for a second. “Well, she told me that her… tribe… was entrusted with safekeeping the
vault. She said it was a legend of their past. Perhaps the figurine was just something that they had
passed down, generation after generation, in keeping with that responsibility.”

“Even still,” Alexander replied, “why would she give it to
you
? If they are supposed to safeguard it, I
assume some part of that means to prevent entry by just anyone. Why would she trust you with the key, if
she knew what it were?”

“I… don’t know,” Laura admitted. “Maybe she saw my concern for you. The other ways into the
mines were blocked, and if she hadn’t given me the figurine, there would have been no way to get you the
mushroom that was vital to your survival.”

“Maybe,” Alexander slowly. “But then again, why would she just disappear like that? You were as
surprised as I to find her shop completely empty.”

“I was,” Laura conceded. “That was not something I was expecting.”

“And if she left like that,” Alexander continued, “why would she give you the precious figurine? She
must have known you would not be able to find her, no matter what, after.”

“You mean even if we didn’t figure out how to open that bizarre box?” Laura asked.

“Exactly. If she knew it was the key to the vault, and she knew she wouldn’t be there for when you
returned, why would she just give it up like that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I have a feeling,” Alexander replied quietly, “that before all this is over, we will find that there is much
more to Selaine than either of us thinks we know.”

Alexander’s questions had started to worm into Laura’s mind. Just who
was
Selaine, after al ? What he said was right. It
didn’t
make any sense that Selaine would give up the key to the vault, just like that, if she knew what it was. Or would she? Maybe she had her own reasons for doing so. Yet what she said, about the legend of her tribe, and their need to keep watch over the archive… did she go against it by giving Laura the key? And what about that mysterious disappearance, right after Alexander had gotten better?

Her entire shop had been wiped clean overnight. None of it made any sense.

“I don’t like this.” Logan’s voice jarred Laura out of her thoughts. She looked at him. His forehead was creased with worry, crinkling up that flawless skin he possessed. His hair was swept up and back, reminding Laura of the first time she saw him with his confidence returned, that time he walked into class a new man. He was so handsome. Her heart fluttered as he looked back at her. There haven’t been many moments where the two of them had just been alone, since reuniting, and she wished they had been given more opportunity to find that time. But it would never come, not unless she upturned the elders’ rule and in doing so halted al the
Vassiz
chasing after them. Only then would they have some real time in private, time that they sorely lacked so far…

She felt her cheeks turn red, and turned away from his gaze.
That’s
what she got for letting unruly thoughts into her head with him staring right at her. Taking a deep breath, she looked back at him, and noticed the barest hint of a
very
suggestive smile on his lips. It was like he could read her mind. Not that she very much objected to that, at the moment…

Al of it evaporated when Logan creased his forehead again. And Laura was back to playing devil’s advocate with him.

“Why don’t you like this?” she asked. But she knew his answer before he even spoke. They had gone through this half a dozen times already, while the others were asleep.

“It’s too dangerous,” he said. “Going to Middle East, to
Egypt
of al places, to search for some supposed repository of ancient artifacts? We don’t even know if it exists! And you heard him, too – he was just as uncertain about its existence as we are!”

“It’s something we have to try,” Laura said, starting to feel like a broken record. They had gone over this argument so many times that it made her head hurt.

Logan didn’t want to go to Middle East to look for the
torrial
artifacts because he believed it was too dangerous for them to be out in public. Which made Laura end up tel ing him again and again that the
torrial
that they might find would make their fight against the elders infinitely more manageable. Then Logan would disagree, saying that their use could prove just as dangerous as facing the elders unarmed. And Laura would come circling back to say that the risk they had to take was wel justified by the reward it would grant them.

The reward of
freedom
, of not having to look over their shoulder every time they heard something move, of not living their lives in fear of being caught. Of taking the fight back to the elders as she had promised the angels, and of making them pay for what they did to their brothers.

“And what if they catch us?” Logan asked. “What if the elders know we’re coming? It’s completely possible that they know of the
torrial
as wel , and are safeguarding the repository right now!”

“But don’t you think,” Laura said, “that if they knew of them, they would already be using them? From what little I know of the elders – although I think I’ve had more of a crash course than any newborn
Vassiz
might expect – they don’t seem to be the kind to put much stock in the wel being of others. Anything that might increase their strength, their rule of power, they would grab as quickly as they can. No?”

Logan nodded somewhat reluctantly. “You’re right.”

“So if they knew of the repository, don’t you think they would have opened it up by now? And then found the most powerful
torrials
, and started making use of them? Who knows what the devices can do. Besides,” she continued, getting up slowly and walking to Logan, “both of us are incapable of entering the dream world in our current state, and we don’t know how long that wil last.”

“I know,” Logan admitted, taking her hands in his. “I just… I just don’t want to risk
you
.” There was such sincerity in his voice, such pure, unadulterated concern, that al Laura could do was sigh dreamily.

“I know you don’t,” she told him quietly, squeezing his hands back, “but there are some things that I have to face. And I know if I were by myself, I would be scared. I would be terrified. Of al of this.” She motioned al around her. “But I’m not. And you know why? You know what keeps me strong? It’s knowing that you’re right there beside me. That no matter what I do, no matter how many stupid decisions I might make, no matter where I stick my head without looking, you’l be right there to keep me safe.”

He smiled at her sadly. “That’s what I’m trying to do, Laura. Al I want is to keep you safe. But I can’t…

I can’t do it forever.”

“I know,” she said, “and there is nobody who
can
. The only way for me to be safe – the only way for
us
to be safe – is to fight for what was once ours. To fight for our freedom. That is what al this is about, I think. It’s us – me and you, Alexander and Madison, even Rafael and Gray – fighting,
struggling
, to be set free. To stop living in fear of the shadows, and to break out of the shackles the elders want to throw us in. You saw what they did to the angels.” He nodded gently. “I don’t want to imagine what they would do to us, if we were caught.”

“Which is why we
can’t
go to Middle East,” Logan said.

“No,” Laura shook her head, “that is why we
need
to go there. It’s why we need to take the fight right to the elders. You know this. Because if we don’t, they’l chase after us, forever, and sooner or later – we wil be found. I’m sure of it. And then, neither I can protect you, nor you can protect me. If we go to Egy—”

She cut off as Logan wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. She let her eyes drift shut. In his arms, she felt so smal , and so very vulnerable. But it also felt so
right
. She also felt strength, something that told her that nothing could ever come between them. She laid her head on his chest, and felt the faint beating of his heart underneath the hard muscle. When Logan held her like that, she realized, it was like somebody just turned the lights off to the rest of the world. There was only him, and her – and that’s how she wanted it to be.

“Fine,” he said into her hair. “We can go there. But you have to promise me – you must! – that if I say it gets too dangerous, or if I see something I don’t like, we turn back. There can’t be any protests out of you, either. I know you’re strong-wil ed, and it’s what I love about you so much. We wil go, and seek out this repository, but I need the peace of mind to know that I can pul you out of danger if things get too risky.”

“Ok,” Laura mumbled into his chest. “I promise.”