Keys of Candor: Trilogy

by Casey Eanes

  “How dare you!” Seam tried to raise his arm to morph into a blade, only to find both arms bound in heavy, locked gauntlets. “You will pay for this! You will p—” Seam’s violent rampage was cut off mid-sentence, his lungs seizing within him, exploding with pain.

  “That’s enough out of you, dog. You will speak when I will it. Now it is time for you to listen.” The harsh overhead lights dimmed, and Dyrn stepped forward, leaning down to lock his blood-colored eyes to Seam’s.

  “We are running out of time. Isphet grows more powerful each day, and you must be ready to strike him down. Elum is bent under his will. If he destroys Lotte then nothing will be able to stop him. Not even you. It is essential that you consolidate your power now, or you will die…”

  Seam stared deep into Dyrn’s horrible face, reading the underlying truth. He is afraid. Yes...he is afraid. Seam opened his mouth, and somehow a whisper escaped. “Dyrn...there is another…”

  “What?” Dyrn’s eyes flickered, half-surprised that Seam could still speak.

  “There...is…”

  Dyrn snapped his fingers and Seam’s voice came roaring back, as if nothing had ever happened.

  “There is another Key, Dyrn. A Key that Isphet does not yet have.”

  Dyrn’s face twisted with both surprise and revulsion. “What are you talking about?”

  “You heard me. There is another Key that is more powerful than the other five.”

  A wave of electric current rolled over Seam like a lightning bolt, the force of the current pinning him to the ground. The wave went on for what seemed like an eternity, and Seam thought he saw a dark abyss creep in around his peripheral vision, only then to disappear. The smell of burned flesh and hair filled the room, and Seam realized that the arc of electricity had been suspended.

  “Don’t lie to me, Seam. All of the Keys were forged by the Benefactors, specifically for their intended purposes—controlling and manipulating the Serubs. You will pay for lies,” he growled.

  Seam pressed on, “I’m telling you the truth, Dyrn. You don’t have to believe me, but it is the only thing that stands a chance against Isphet. I know who carries it. Release me, and I will get it.”

  Dyrn stared at Seam, his dark crimson pupils unblinking.

  “Release me, Dyrn! If you want me to hunt Isphet down, you must allow me to be equipped! Release me!”

  “No.” The response was rapid as Dyrn turned and took four paces from Seam. “I am no fool, Seam Panderean, and I am not a pawn to be played. I saved you, created you, and now I own you. Your thoughts, your actions, your path—it is all mine and you will fulfill your purpose...” Dyrn pressed a button on a control panel and a solid iron door slid up into the ceiling, revealing Abtren standing behind a wall of glass, her kaleidoscope eyes glaring straight at Seam. “…or else she will fulfill it for you.”

  Dyrn slowly lifted himself up a spiraling metal staircase and seated himself along a catwalk that hung over the room. He flipped a switch and the staircase collapsed into itself, folding into the floor as a clear barrier once again separated him from his prisoners.

  Seam rose to his feet and glanced up at Dyrn before turning his attention back to Abtren. Her face was frozen in a panther-like scowl, her eyes locked on Seam. Dyrn’s voice once again invaded Seam’s skull. “You and your sister aren’t so different, Seam. I had my hopes set on you, but Abtren can serve me just as well should you fail me one last time. Now, you know what to do.”

  The glass barrier between Seam and Abtren lifted and Abtren lunged forward, leaping for his jugular. Her speed was uncanny as she cleared the distance of the entire room in less than a second. Seam’s arm shot forward out of instinct, his fist crashing against Abtren’s skull. A loud crack announced contact, but Abtren barely flinched, her left arm grasping for Seam’s throat, just missing its mark. Seam squared himself and morphed his arm into an obsidian blade.

  Abtren opened her mouth, revealing wolf fangs, and her fingers sharpened into razor-sharp daggers. Seam threw his bladed arm sideways, swiping for Abtren’s chest, but she slashed away at the advance before spinning and lunging for him again. On her second attempt Abtren pinned Seam against the metallic wall, her razor talons digging deep into the soft tissue of Seam’s shoulder as she pulled back to strike again.

  Seam threw his arm forward, crashing it through Abtren’s belly. The attack stunned Abtren for a moment, as she gasped for breath. Seam used his free hand to wrench Abtren’s grasp free and hurl her across the room, smashing her through a nearby gurney and some of Dyrn’s medical equipment.

  “Abtren!” Seam screamed, but her raging face revealed the truth. The Abtren he knew was gone. Dyrn had managed to wipe her mind clean. A fresh and horrible start. Seam readied himself as Abtren flipped back to her feet and locked her gaze back on her target. The floor around Seam burst into flames and the walls undulated as Abtren stalked forward.

  “Ha.” Seam chuckled as he drew in a breath and stepped forward into the flames, fighting back the roaring heat. “I know this trick.” The fires intensified and Abtren’s eyes glowed with an undulating intensity as she continued to move forward.

  “I thought you could do more than that,” Seam gloated as he puffed his chest and felt his faculties normalize for the first time since entering the Warren. Seam grasped the broken leg of the smashed gurney and slid his open arm into the shape of a shield. Abtren leapt for Seam, her claws wrapping around the shielded arm, their razor edges flashing madly in the firelight. Seam smashed the steel table leg against Abtren’s skull. It landed with heavy crack. He pulled back and struck again. Abtren fell off the shield, stunned just as Seam used his shield-arm to slam her against the wall. He leaned in, pressing all his weight against her body, pinning her to the wall. Slowly, he lifted her off the floor.

  The Serub screamed like a demented animal, slashing her right arm wildly as she tried to free herself, but with each motion Seam secured his footing. He pressed in hard, ratcheting up his pressure over his enemy before striking her with unrelenting fury. The crude heavy table leg bent beneath each hit.

  “Do it!” Dyrn’s voice crashed against Seam’s brain, distracting him just enough for Abtren to slash his face, flaying his left cheek, her swipe just missing his throat. Abtren pressed herself against the metal wall of the Warren and lunged again, this time wrapping her claws around Seam’s throat with titanic strength. Seam let out a silent cry of both pain and panic as Abtren’s blade-like fingers surrounded his neck, threatening to decapitate him where he stood.

  Seam could feel Dyrn prodding him, growing impatient as he battled to free himself from the Serub’s clutches. Seam shifted his arm once again into the obsidian blade, and with all his might threw an uppercut, smashing the blade through the soft skin of Abtren’s chin, his arm knocking Abtren’s head back, allowing him to wrench her neck to the side and free her hands from his throat. As he gasped for fresh air, Seam could feel his body working to repair itself. He took a cautious step away from Abtren, who growled on the floor beside him, knowing she had the same self-regenerative abilities.

  As Abtren got up and circled the room around him, Seam had a realization. He could feel the answer, and he moved his mechanical arm back into the familiar form of a human arm. It was inexplicable but the answer had been there all along, just like his abilities with the Keys, but it was now part of him. Seam turned his back to Abtren and threw his hands out to the side as he looked up at Dyrn. “Is this what you want? Two evenly matched insects fighting in your cage for all of eternity?”

  Seam heard Abtren sprint behind him and he spun on his heels, catching her by the throat. A smirk flew over Seam’s face as he leaned in next to Abtren’s ear. “It looks like we will work together after all.”

  Seam pulled her in and crushed her throat with his teeth. A river of hot, dark blood poured out over his face and he gorged himself on her, feeling her raging life become an intoxicating source of power within him. All of her power rushed within him like a roaring river. It
only took seconds, and soon Abtren was gone. Her voice echoed in Seam’s mind, flaying his thoughts as she wailed through the grisly scene, begging for mercy and freedom, but after a matter of seconds her presence had diminished like a faded memory.

  Abtren’s physical body collapsed into a brittle, empty frame that Seam cast aside like litter. The energy that coursed through his veins felt as if he had harnessed a hurricane; remarkably intense and dangerous. Now all her power was at his disposal.

  A slow clap came from overhead and Dyrn laughed, “Now that you have finally realized your potential, I am ready for you to do the same to Isphet and return to my side. We have much more work to be done.”

  “I said there was another Key,” Seam calmly countered.

  “Don’t lie to me,” Dyrn scolded as a wave of electricity rushed back over him, forcing him to the ground. “You will do as I say.”

  “No,” Seam groaned through gritted teeth. His mind working, searching, and finding the source of the pain. “I won’t.”

  As the words left Seam’s lips the switch at Dyrn’s fingertips flipped back and the electricity shut off again.

  Seam growled, “I am no one’s puppet, especially not you.” Seam felt for Dyrn’s presence in his mind and threw a vivid memory into the mind of his tormentor. “You see the boy, Dyrn?” Seam stared at his enemy, locking his mind on Dyrn’s like a sniper targeting his quarry projecting an image of Kull Shepherd holding the Sovereign Key.

  “Look and see for yourself!” Seam called. “You’ve watched me through all of this. Then you must have seen Kull Shepherd by my side. Like a fool you missed the Key all along. You were too worried over your prized creations, your puppets.”

  Dyrn shook as images of Kull flashed within his mind, the alien blue Key enveloped in white lightning dangling around the boy’s neck as he battled Isphet, answering his attacks blow for blow as the two clashed in the pinnacle of the Spire.

  “Impossible,” Dyrn mumbled to himself. “How can this be? Why did I not see this before?”

  Seam could feel the disbelief and grinned as he felt the ribbon of fear wrapping itself within Dyrn’s mind. “You aren’t the only great power in Candor, Dyrn. The boy and the Key stand in your way. This proves it. Your children hid this truth from you, but I will not.”

  “No. This can’t. It had to be—”

  Dyrn went silent, distracted as his mechanical mind tried to assimilate these new truths. Seam took his chance, lashing his consciousness through Dyrn, plunging his essence deep into his enemy’s mind, looking for any vulnerability that he could find. He only had seconds to do what needed to be done.

  Dyrn’s mind was arranged in an infinite hallway of dark black doors. Each of them was locked and bolted. Seam raced down the corridor, his eyes scanning for even the hint of a cracked door. He found one, so slightly open, that one could have easily assumed it was shut, just like the others. The seconds seemed to linger, and Seam had to bury the panic that threatened to overtake him.

  Go fast. Go fast!

  He flung himself against the portal, pressing every ounce of his consciousness into breaking through the door. Seam slammed himself against the threshold, throwing all he had at moving the door even one single inch. The iron hinge creaked and clattered until finally it began to swing. Seam could feel Dyrn’s presence, his enemy's awareness rushing down the dark hall for him.

  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SEAM?!” the ancient Benefactor roared. Seam ignored the clamor barreling toward him like a freight train and pressed in one last time. The door swung open, and ancient memories and images flooded over Seam’s mind like water from a broken dam. He screamed as the door exploded under the pressure of five thousand years of memories that were not his own, seeing in only a few seconds both the pinnacle and desolation of the ancient civilization of Predecessors. Seam’s mind shook under the weight of an immortal soul’s wealth of knowledge as Dyrn’s consciousness roared through him like a tidal wave.

  Seam blinked, finding himself back in the Warren. He glanced up, only to see the hollow eyes of Dyrn staring back at him, his mouth dumbly agape. Blood freely flowed from his nose and ears as he screamed, his fingernails digging into the metal arms of his chair.

  “Enough,” Seam whispered, cocking his head slightly.

  A horrifying snap cracked through the metallic room, and Dyrn’s limp body fell from its perch, flailing like a rag doll, only to smash against the concrete underneath. A pool of blood flowed from Dyrn’s mouth as he lay motionless overhead.

  Seam closed his eyes, allowing the adrenaline of all that had happened to flow freely through him. I’m free, he thought. The collective memories of both Abtren and Dyrn roared within him. He could feel them, like two massive frigates floating on the top of his consciousness, connected and separate, each riding on the sea of his mind.

  He wanted to wander, to explore all that he now possessed, but he refused. His body was shaking as if he had consumed some heady drink too fast. The euphoria and adrenaline from his victory quickly faded, leaving him numb and trembling. Seam sank to his knees and braced himself with one arm, drawing in deep breaths as his body realized the true cost of his mental exertion. The feat had been incredible but demanding, and he struggled to hold himself upright. Exhaustion mixed with exhilaration but eventually the fatigue won. Seam collapsed to the floor and drifted in and out of a dark fog.

  For the first time since bearing the Keys, Seam finally found rest.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Isphet sat in a hollowed stone ruin on the edge of Lotte’s and Elum’s border. He looked like a statue and sat as still as a spider waiting in its web. His eyes were closed, but his mind was elsewhere, probing the unknown depths of a place not known by mortal men.

  Master, he called out in the darkness. In this place he could feel the weight of a thousand dead worlds wrap around him. The depths of the Sea were incalculable, an abyss that went on for an eternity. Isphet held out his arm in the darkness, the five Keys of Candor igniting uncannily beneath the waters, casting a pale golden light. Isphet recoiled, his mind filling with fear. Three lifeless faces floated just in front of him, faces he recognized instantly.

  “Abtren...Bastion...Arakiel,” he whispered. Abtren’s presence in the Sea was unexpected. “Who could have destroyed her?”

  Isphet floated closer toward Abtren’s essence, eager to understand how this was possible, when suddenly the pallid corpse opened its eyes.

  Unflinching, Isphet stared deep into them, only to realize that now Arakiel and Bastion’s eyes followed suit. They opened their mouths in unison, and his three twisted siblings spoke.

  “Tell me, Isphet, what separates you from these?”

  Isphet blinked, his mind filling with confusion. The voice of Ma’et was speaking through the essences of his fallen kin. “I am Isphet, Lord of Chaos, right hand servant to the Master. I have followed the commandments of the Master since my imprisonment in Dyrn’s mirror.” Isphet snarled at his dead kin, rage running through his veins. “These before me were loyal only to themselves.”

  A dark rolling shape flew through the waters. Isphet could see Ma’et’s titanic mass approaching. He readied himself.

  The face of the leviathan came and hung over him now, as big as an iceberg. It stared at him with a cold glare and opened its mouth to speak. “Tell me then, Isphet, why did you not seek out the other Key?”

  Isphet’s face twisted with confusion. “What other Key, my lord?”

  Ma’et’s face twisted with rage, and he projected the face of Kull into the Serub’s mind. THE BOY. THE ESSENCE THAT THE ENEMY STOLE FROM ME BEARS ANOTHER KEY! DID YOU THINK I WOULD NOT FIND OUT? WHY HAVE YOU NOT BOTHERED TO RETRIEVE IT!?

  Isphet’s body erupted into an indescribable pain as his Master delivered a cruel and terrible punishment over him from the other side. Through the pain, all Isphet could see was the boy from the Spire. The boy...that was why he had been so powerful. He had a secret Key. Why had he not noticed until now?

&nb
sp; “You wanted to see me?” Kull stepped into one of the canvas tents the Grogans had set up beside their fleet of rooks. The inside of the humble structure glowed with a light blue tint from the screens and datalinks being monitored by several of Willyn’s commanders.

  Willyn lifted her eyes from the datalink on her wrist and flicked away the topographical projection it was emitting. “Yes. Walk with me.”

  Kull followed Willyn from the tent and walked a hundred meters from the closest structure or sentry. Willyn stopped and stared out over the final charred remains of Cotswold, the few buildings her team hadn’t been able to clear before the Lottians arrived.

  “I’m sorry,” Willyn whispered. The words were awkward on her lips, yet sincere. “For this. I wish I had known.”

  Kull nodded and turned his eyes away from the smoldering reminders of the past. “I wish we all had known. It seems like the only one who had any real idea of what was coming was Wael—” Kull’s voice trailed off. He cleared his throat and continued as he glanced at Willyn. “And from what Adley tells me, Luken, too.”

  Luken’s name brought a wave of nausea to Willyn’s gut, and she tried to hide the grimace she could feel creeping over her face. “I don’t know...I’m not sure even they knew the true scope of this threat. We lost them both as they tried to protect us from this.”

  The pair stood in silence, staring out over the southern horizon as a chilling wind blew over the hillside. “Is that all?” Kull asked.

  Willyn shot a sideways glance at Kull. “What do you mean is that all? They gave everything for us!”

  “I’m sorry, that came out wrong.” Kull chuckled and waved his hand in the air between them. “I meant did you bring me out here just to apologize? Or did you wish to speak about something else?”

  Willyn offered a smile and nodded. “Yes, the main reason I wanted to step away was to ask you if you truly know any more...about our enemy. About Isphet?” Willyn’s jaw clenched and a steely gaze came over her as she watched Kull. “I know how powerful he is, how deceptive. Yet you…something allowed you to fight him, and win.”