Authors: Rain Oxford
“What do you want?”
“The mage staff.”
“What do you want to do with it?”
“I think it’s pretty. I decided I should decorate my
place since the apples are getting old.”
“I’ll consider it. Send me back.” I barely got the
words out before I was back in the basement of Ronez’s home. There hadn’t even
been a flash.
I went back upstairs to find Edward waiting for me.
“What did you find in the chest?” he asked.
“Ritual items. Candles, potions, and talismans. I
also tried to find Mordon, but it didn’t work. I need sleep. I haven’t slept
since the night we arrived, not for a minute. Do you have anything? Maybe a
sleeping potion?”
“Yes. However, I am worried that will just cover up
your symptoms. Whatever it is causing your insomnia needs to be addressed.”
“I know. Just help me sleep so I have the brain
function to figure it out.”
He pulled a small glass vial out of his bag and
handed it to me. “Lay down before you drink it because it will affect you as
soon as it hits your stomach.”
It was a tea-colored potion, which I knew would taste
horrible. Potions always tasted foul. After thanking him, I went up to my room,
shed my clothes, and crawled under the covers. They were warm, though that was
an oddity I was used to; they were always strangely warm. I popped open the
little bottle, pinched my nose, and drank the lukewarm liquid down. Darkness
flooded my vision before I could even set the bottle down.
* * *
The witch hunter’s chest was lit in the darkened room
as if by a spotlight. I wasn’t in the room, and this wasn’t a vision; it wasn’t
real enough. Yet, it was more than a dream. The lid unexpectedly cracked open,
slowly, and light spilled from inside ominously. Most concerning was that I
wanted to open it, not slam it shut.
* * *
I woke with the sense that I only slept for a few
minutes. The migraine caused by my lack of sleep was only reinforced by the
small sip of the unconscious. I sat up, leaned over, and threw up into the
trashcan by my bed. As soon as my stomach was empty, I stood and made my way unsteadily
downstairs.
Edward and Abigail spotted me from the living room
where they were talking.
“I thought you were going to bed,” Edward said.
“It didn’t work.” I opened the door to the basement
and went into the dark. I tripped over half a dozen boxes on the way to the
magic room. By the time I reached it, Edward was right behind me. Since Abigail
wasn’t with him, I pushed my magic into the wall with the intent to open the
secret magic room, expecting something to be wrong… but everything was as I
left it when the blocks of the wall separated to form an entrance.
I went to the box and opened it to find nothing that
wasn’t there before. “There’s something here.”
“Or you’re tired and you need sleep.”
“I am tired, and I do need to sleep, but that doesn’t
mean I’m wrong. He said to knock.”
“Are you sure he didn’t mean on his coffin?”
“No.” I shut the lid and knocked firmly on it, then
opened it to discover no change at all.
Just as I suspected…
but that
didn’t mean there was nothing hiding. I picked up the mage staff on the altar
and the crystal tethered to the end immediately lit up with a soft blue glow.
Something was very familiar about it.
“Be careful,” Edward warned.
“I always am.” I lifted the staff and tapped the
chest with the bottom end three times.
Show me
. From the crystal, a
powerfully bright light shot into the chest like lightning.
I set the staff aside carefully and crouched in front
of the box, preparing myself to jump back if there was movement inside. When I
opened it, I saw the one thing I couldn’t have expected; my book.
I picked up the thin black book gingerly, just like I
did when I saw it for the very first time. With my right hand, I reached into
the bag that was always at my side and ran my fingers over identical leather.
This was the echo; the fake that Ronez had made which displayed all the names
in my book and had the same magical signature in order to act as a decoy.
“What the hell?” Edward asked.
The echo was the only thing in the chest this time. I
picked it up and turned to the first page. I knew every page by heart after
studying it over the course of nearly two decades. Surprise and hope stopped my
breath as I flipped through every single page. Edward, peering over my
shoulder, was as stunned as me.
Apparently, if someone signed the real book, their
name appeared in the echo, but it didn’t work the other way around. When I gave
an Ancient the decoy to save Mordon’s life, I had no idea that I was going to
get it back as one of the greatest advantages I could get.
Demons protected their true names because someone
could control them if they had it. Every inch of every page was covered with
demon names. They were not just any demons either; they were those who the
Ancients deemed worthy.
“Well, how in the world did that get in there if it
has been buried for three hundred years?” Sydney asked.
I was no longer just hearing her voice; Sydney stood
as clear as day behind the wooden chest. Her brown hair was braided and hung
over her right shoulder. She wore a long-sleeved, fitted burgundy shirt that
made her emerald eyes appear brighter. Her blue-jeans tight enough to show off
her figure without looking slutty.
I looked at Edward behind me, but he was studying the
book still open in my hands. “I need to see Phoenix and Blue Jay. I’ll be back
in a minute,” I said, passing the book to Edward.
He backed away as I let my energy become a wild mess
fueled by my frustration and exhaustion. Then, reaching into the core of
Earth’s magic, I tore into the void.
A jagged, vertical crack just barely large enough to
walk through opened in the middle of the magic room. The nominal energy that
swirled around us either shied away or was absorbed into the void and
destroyed. Iadnah energy was better at containing the destruction of the void
than void energy itself was, so that was what I used.
The blinding light was more ominous than anything I
could fear from death, for any death was better than being trapped in the void.
Staring into the abyss, I felt pity for the demons who desperately wanted out…
if only they didn’t try to conquer the universe to escape the void. I would
offer them peace until the very end, but the moment they resort to bloodshed, I
would obliterate them to protect life.
I never entered the void myself, not even the neutral
area that Divina told me was relatively safe. Instead, I focused my mind and
called to Blue Jay and Phoenix, letting just a tiny amount of my magic carry
the call into the light. I knew the two demons would hear it and recognize it
before the void destroyed the energy.
The light broke apart, allowing a dark shadow to pass
from the abyss into the realm. A second shape followed before all the shadows
in the room spread to embrace the figures before me. They lightened and grew
opaque until they were two recognizable demons.
“Phoenix… you cut your hair,” I observed.
“No, master, I just didn’t make it as long.”
“I don’t like it.” Both demons laughed. Other than
Phoenix’s shorter hair, they looked the same every time I saw them down to
their black, nearly incorporeal robes. “What is going on with the gates?”
They glanced at each other, clearly confused.
“Nothing. Everything has been quiet,” Blue Jay insisted.
“The gates are still closed and none of the Ancients
have tried anything on it,” Phoenix added.
“And the demons?”
“Nothing unusual. We do everything Ronez says and we
have not had any problems.”
I looked around, but didn’t see Sydney anywhere.
“What about the dragoness? Have you found Sydney yet?”
“No. The void is endless, but souls cannot exactly
blend in. If she did not make it to the spirit world, her soul has been
destroyed. Ronez has had demons searching the spirit world, but there are too
many souls there. I am sorry, Dylan, but we have found no way to save her.”
“Keep trying.”
They both nodded with resigned expressions and walked
back into the light. I closed the void behind them and turned to Edward.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Are we alone?”
“Yes.”
Behind him, Sydney sat on the small desk that was
covered in potions and notes. “Then no, I’m not okay.”
Vretial flashed me back to Dayo, right between Sen
and Drake. “Where are Zeb and Mordon?” I asked, seeing that we were alone.
“We got here just as you disappeared,” Drake said.
“Zeb and Mordon drove off the crowd of people that the noise attracted with a
huge display of magic, and then they left. Is that the dagger?”
I held up my hand that still clutched the dagger,
reminded of an Earth play that Hail and I once read. “I need to apologize to
them. Put this in the bag,” I said, handing handed the dagger to Drake, who
slipped it into the bag. Then I reached inside the neck of my shirt to grasp
the demon charm. “Tell me what’s next.”
“Why did you deny the balance?” Alice asked,
appearing before me.
“I am stronger than the balance.”
She laughed. “Your father is stronger than the
balance. The next item is the bow, which you can find on Enep. I cannot tell
you how to attain it because that is up to you. The bow is heavily guarded.”
“I need an image to flash to.”
My vision grew bright like when Hail had a vision,
then faded to a building that could have rivaled Nila’s underground castle for
elegance. The symmetry of the lines, the silver décor, the rich, dark red
brick… I was impressed.
The scene faded, returning me to Dayo with Sen and
Drake. “Okay. The next weapon is the bow, which is on Enep. It’s a world where
everyone lives underground. Also, every person is nearly four thousand years
old.”
“Um… run that by us again,” Drake said.
“The citizens of Enep destroyed their surface in war,
just like those of Dios did, but instead of leaving them to clean up their own
messes like Zer, Regivus punished his people. They are forced to live a hundred
generations, where instead of dying, they regenerate into children. Another
part of their punishment was that they couldn’t have children. It was
originally a two hundred generation sentence, but when Samorde was born to be
the Guardian of Enep, he agreed to take half of the penalty. Until the sentence
is over, Samorde will age ridiculously slowly. He looks our age, but he’s as
old as Nano.”
“Why was he born on another world?” Sen asked.
“Because Regivus needed Samorde to be strong, and Zer
was a master of strong. Samorde, the Noquodi of Enep, is dile.”
“Which I assume by your… scattered explanation, that
dile is what people of Dios are called,” Drake inferred.
“Yeah. Hail is half dile, which is why he’s so damn
strong. If we meet Samorde, don’t underestimate him. Dad doesn’t like him very
much, which means that we can’t trust him completely. However, everyone who
isn’t my dad’s enemy is our possible ally.”
“So… the dark god is our ally?” Sen asked.
“What dark god?” Drake asked.
Instead of answering the fae, I flashed us to the
place I saw. The gravity was heavy, like Duran’s, but not as heavy as
Raktusha’s, and the air was murky. Of course, we were underground.
I would never tell Hail, but I hated Dios. I hated
the people, the magic, the goblins, and the fact that it was underground. Now
that the population moved aboveground, it may have offered better living to the
inhabitants, but the people were still sour apples. The only person I halfway
liked from Dios, excluding my brother of course, was Dleso Nila.
The building was majestic and reached the ceiling of
the huge cavern. Fortunately, we were alone, or we would have had a lot more to
explain.
“We’re underground…” Drake said with a shudder.
I was about to say something sarcastic to the guy,
but I stopped myself in time when I saw his face. He had the same expression
Hail did when he had to be in the dark. This was a true problem for him. “Do
fae have a problem with being underground?” I asked.
“We get our power from solar energy, so we feel
better on sunny days and can’t stand to stay inside for long periods of time.
Don’t worry about me; I can handle it.”
“Then I guess we need to walk through the front
door,” I suggested. With Drake on my right and Sen on my left, I approached the
front door, which was huge, dark wood, and rounded at the top.
I pulled the heavy metal handle of the door, which
opened easily. Inside was as extravagant as the outside; the ceilings were
high, the floor was hardwood, everything was clean, and the room was well lit.
It was immediately obvious to me by the crowd and the items carefully placed
along the wall that this was a display room. Aside from the exit, there were
two doors.
Everyone here wore simple clothes that resembled
fitted scrubs, which ranged from dirty white to dingy beige. Their appearances
were simple, too; everyone had either black or brown hair, which both men and women
alike kept long. No one was very skinny or overweight, particularly tall or
short, or displayed any sign of personal expression, such as with tattoos or
jewelry. It was boring and made me want to wear even flashier clothes than I
already wore.
There were several objects I recognized, including a
Vincent van Gogh painting, a bright red brick phone from Earth, a primitive
Duran form of typewriter, and a statue of Moradoga, which was a Duran mythical
seven-armed creature that, according to the stories, saved thousands of people
from a horrible earthquake on Mokii.
“It’s like a museum, but there are no signs,” Drake
noted.
“These people are suffering a punishment of living a
hundred generations; they’re not going to forget their history. Unfortunately,
I don’t see a bow.” I reached out to the nearest woman and gently touched her
hand. “Excuse me, ma’am.” She turned to me. “I’m new to Enep, and I’m looking
for a very special bow.” I trusted my powers to translate my words.
She was a pretty woman about my mother’s height. She
wasn’t athletic, like Mom, but she also wasn’t overweight. Her hair was light
brown, shoulder-length, and not very clean, while her eyes were a gorgeous
orange color.
Obviously startled, she gaped at me for a moment
before forcing herself to be polite. “Through that door, we there is the bow of
the Arcani.”
“What is the Arcani?”
“The Arcani are priests. The bow was brought to us by
Samorde. We welcome visitors, we just do not get many. What world are you
from?”
“Duran. Why do you have a museum if you are all
thousands of years old?”
“Our memories are not like yours. If we remembered
everything we had ever experienced for over four thousand years, we would all
be insane. Instead, after we die and regenerate into young children, those memories
are archived, but the lessons we learned are with us forever.
“For example, in my first life before we were cursed,
I was just two years old when I tried to pull a star stone from the cooking
fire. Star stones are clear and glow amazing colors when they are heated. Now
every time I see one in the fire, I know not to touch it. On the other hand, I
cannot remember what my favorite color was in my last life.
“Things change when we regenerate, like our
interests, tastes, and even our personalities. In my last life, I was allergic
to a root that we use as a staple in our diet, but in this life, I love it. In
a few generations, I will forget that I was ever allergic to it, but I will
remember to be cautious with them.”
“So the museum is a reminder?” I asked, not
impressed. They were all older than Edward; they should have been wise,
interesting people, so I was expecting more than this.
“Our people have three monuments; one for the gods,
one for the war, and one for our ancestors. Every generation, we are required
to visit each of them when we are regenerated and again before we die. Most of
us visit these places because they are reminders of peace, and that the curse
is ending soon.”
“When does the curse end?”
“The curse will end slowly. Each person must live a
hundred lives. We have records of our lives, so everyone knows when the curse
is nearing. Vorskel Denash has just begun his last life. The rest of us are
within ten lives. I have one more after this one before my last. When the last
person reaches their last life, the land will regenerate as we have so many
times. Also, in our final life, we can have children again.”
“I can’t understand her,” Sen said in English.
“She’s just telling me about their curse. One of
their people has reached his last life.”
“If the curse ends when they lived a hundred lives,
why not shoot a man in the head a hundred times?” Drake asked.
“Um… I guess we could try it… It might be more fun
than T.V.,” I answered, purposely misunderstanding. He blushed. “What about
suicide?” I asked the woman. “Does that speed up your sentence?”
“No. We were punished for destroying our world in
war. To kill ourselves would lengthen the penalty. If anyone were to try to
break our rules, the Arcani would imprison them for the safety of everyone else.”
“Are the Arcani special?”
“They are the ones who interpret our punishment and
rules. When the curse fell over our people, there were pregnant women. The
unborn infants from this time were protected from the curse, so they could age,
have children, and die. They are the Arcani.”
“Ask her what the story is behind the bow,” Drake
suggested.
“Not a good idea,” I disagreed in English,
intentionally not allowing my magic to translate. “We need that bow, and we
know they’re not just going to hand it over. If we know what it means to them,
we could hesitate in the middle of stealing it.”
“You want to steal it?” Drake asked.
“We need it,” Sen told him.
“But if you told them we need it, maybe they will
lend it to us.”
The fae’s face was so sincere that I scrutinized the
woman. Her aura was trustworthy. Dad’s alliance was growing every day because
he acted with his heart, used his powers to help people, and treated everyone
as his friend until they proved otherwise.
I can do this.
I could convince anyone to help
me by reasoning with them. I considered what my mother would say and what my
dad would say, rolled my words around in my head, decided on an appropriate
tone, and opened my mouth.
An explosion shook the structure, provoking startled
screams throughout the museum. I started in the direction everyone was running
from, but Sen grabbed me by the arm. “You can’t just run towards danger without
knowing what you’re getting into.”
“There is nothing that can defeat me,” I argued.
“You think that because you have always had Hail
there to protect you,” Drake said.
I could only stand there, staring at him with shock.
To the gods, I was only Dylan’s son, but no one ever discounted my power. Even Zherneboh,
who could destroy a god without a thought, said that I had potential. “I can do
anything,” I said, jerking my arm from Sen’s grasp. Before they could argue, I
headed for the doorway.
The bow was immediately across from me on the far
wall, but getting to it was going to be a problem because six demons blocked my
path. They were all in person form with black clothes. Every citizen of Enep
had already fled the threat, so we were alone.
One of the demons spotted me and they all turned in
unison. After a split second pause, two of the demons formed spheres of energy
and one threw a shield over the bow. The entire building around us shook
violently. As Sen burst through the doorway behind me, one of the demons aimed
his sphere of energy at the dragon-mage. Barely in time, I formed a shield
around Sen that the attack glanced off of and struck the nearest demon, causing
the unlucky victim to burst into ash.
They are not Ancients then.
I let my energy fill the room to test their power and
discovered were all minor demons, but even minor demons were nothing to scoff
at. The barrier over the bow was powerful enough that I knew this was not going
to be an easy victory.
Another demon prepared to attack me, so I readied
myself to take it. It wasn’t that I wanted to be hurt; I just knew he wasn’t
powerful enough to kill me. The balance was far greater than any demon, let
alone this one.
“Stop!” Drake demanded beside me. The demon froze and
his energy dispersed harmlessly.
Fire burst from Sen into one of the demons,
incapacitating the enemy, but not destroying him. The demon still under Drake’s
control remained immobile as his comrades created defensive shields around
themselves.
The darkness inside me finally responded to the
attack by drawing on my power, yet not actually doing anything else. Two of the
demons dropped to their knees in an unwilling bow, one demon vanished, the
demon under Drake’s control remained frozen, and the one that Sen attacked was
still on the ground.
My shield over Drake disintegrated. “Cover your ears,
Sen,” Drake said. Sen did as he was told, but I created a sound-proof shield
around him to be safe. “Go back to where you came from,” the fae demanded. All
of the demons disappeared.
“That wasn’t too bad,” Sen said as I let the shield
over him disintegrate.
“It isn’t over,” I said, pointing to the wall where
the bow was conspicuous in its absence.
“Shit!” Drake cursed. “I didn’t even see them take
it. I sent them back where they came from… but those were demons, right? Did I
send them back to Hell?”
“Worse. Demons are creatures of the void.” I could
survive a few minutes in the outer “safe membrane” of the void, but not even
the gods would survive further in.
“So what do we do?” Sen asked.
“We give up on the bow and find the rest of the
weapons.” They both gaped at me. “There is no point in dying for it, and the
balance has no power over the abyss.”
“What about Zeb? Can’t he go get it?” Drake asked.
I shook my head. That was something I would never ask
of the Ancient.
Before I could ask the talisman where the next weapon
was, people flooded into the room. These people differentiated themselves from
others by wearing ceremonial white robes, which missed its intended effect of
grandeur and instead made them appear two batons short of goofy. Then they
pulled swords from the white sheaths at their sides, I reconsidered my first
impression, for the swords were twice the length of practicality. These men
were not fighters.