Black Crystal

by R A Oakes

  “Are you always this argumentative?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry, but we don’t have time for tantrums,” Grandma Risella said shoving the black crystal warrior into a river of molten magma. At the same time, another lava woman tossed Marcheto into the river.

  Bobbing to the surface, Chen was burning hot in more ways than one. As she climbed out of the river, she was furious with her grandmother. The warrior woman, now made of lava, shouted, “Don’t ever do anything like that again!”

  “Sweetheart, you can yell later. Our window of opportunity is narrow. The longer you stay down here, the harder it will be to get you out.”

  “I won’t accept your excuses,” Chen fumed.

  “Honey, a grandmother doesn’t need excuses.”

  Looking over at Marcheto, who was also made of lava, Chen saw he was still wearing his wizard’s robe and held the crystal-clear prism staff, both of which were indestructible.

  “So, when do I leave?” Chen asked impatiently.

  “As soon as everyone arrives.”

  “Who’s everyone?”

  Looking up at the passageway once more, Grandma Risella pointed at the flaming lava women escorting Aerylln, Baelfire, Zorya and Pensgraft, but Eldwyn was nowhere to be seen. Without preamble, Grandma Risella had the lava women toss all but Baelfire into the river of fire.

  “I’m surprised they let you do that to them,” Chen said disdainfully.

  “Before we brought them here, they were told what to expect.”

  “I’d never have done it voluntarily.”

  “They didn’t feel like doing it either,” Grandma said. “But from what my friend just told me, Pensgraft gave them an ultimatum. To cooperate fully, or they’d have to answer to him. And did you see the look on Pensgraft’s face when he arrived? Why, I’ve never seen a man so distraught. If I weren’t already made of lava, I’d have jumped into the river myself. He was really worried about you.”

  When Pensgraft climbed out of the river, he was a roaring bonfire of lava and flames. Heading directly for Chen, the warrior woman pressed herself up against him, turned to Grandma Risella and asked, “Do you think this big guy and I could have some time alone?”

  “First things first,” Grandma said smiling. “The Crystal Medallion and the dark sword need to be neutralized.”

  Putting her hand to her chest, Chen was surprised to find the medallion was still there.

  “It’ll never come off, at least while you’re this far down inside the pit,” Grandma Risella said. “We have to get you closer to the surface. However, even then, we’re going to need help.”

  Walking over to Marcheto, Grandma stood in front of his prism staff and said, “Eldwyn, I need your assistance, and it’s urgent.”

  When the elderly wizard stepped out of the staff, he was already made of lava. And directly behind him were a dozen more wizards also made of lava and engulfed in flames. Each of these fiery mystics had once worn the robe Marcheto was now wearing, and they had all wielded the prism staff. These were but a few of the young wizard’s predecessors, all belonging to the College of Wizards, a band of warrior mystics stretching back for thousands of years. The College was comprised of over 100 wizards inhabiting a parallel universe, and the prism staff was the gateway between the two worlds.

  For the wizards, succession wasn’t based on bloodline but on a unique, intuitive ability enabling them to sense the presence of the Creative Light. In a way, like bats flying in darkness, all the wizards were gifted with inner radar. But where bats could detect physical objects, wizards could sense the energy of everything and everyone around them. And an invisible thread of energy emanating from the Creative Light served to unite them, guide them and coordinate their actions.

  However, even for the wizards, the Creative Light was a mystery, and its workings difficult to discern. At times, the Creative Light’s power seemed undeniable. Yet, at other times, it seemed nonexistent. At best, wizardry was an imperfect science. It was risky and sometimes outright dangerous.

  And now, the College of Wizards knew it was facing another unpredictable and perilous situation. Opening the prism staff gateway wasn’t something they took lightly. In order to allow the good from their parallel universe to enter this world, they also ran the risk of giving evil the opportunity to enter theirs. But the College was not unfamiliar with Balzekior’s volcanic pit of fire. They’d been here before, and all the wizards knew Risella, having worked with her previously as part of a resistance movement.

  “Grandma, you have a dozen lava women with you, and Eldwyn just showed up with a dozen of his fellow wizards. What’s going on?” Chen asked.

  “We’re going to have to fight our way out of here.”

  Chen smiled.

  “I knew you’d like that,” Grandma Risella said. “But first, we have to pack both the dark sword and the medallion in cooled, solidified magma. That will help neutralize them.”

  Several of Grandma’s friends began scooping lava out of a river and poured it onto the cavern floor. After packing Crystal in flaming magma, the lava cooled and solidified becoming hard as rock. Then, kneeling down, Chen dangled the medallion into more molten magma and waited till it cooled as well.

  “All right, let’s go,” Grandma said leaping into the air and flying towards the cavern entrance. Discovering that her own lava body enabled her to fly, Chen launched herself at the passageway speeding after Risella. Everyone followed close behind.

  Upon reaching the entrance, Grandma stopped and gave a quick warning. “The higher up we go, the more resistance we’ll have. And it’s likely, as we near the surface, that Balzekior herself will show up and try to stop us.”

  “If we’re fighting our way out, what’s your plan?” Chen asked.

  “After entering the main volcanic pit, let Marcheto be in front with his prism staff. The other wizards will be directly behind him, and then I want you, Pensgraft, Aerylln, Zorya and Baelfire in the middle. My lava women will guard your back. Shoot to the surface as quickly as possible. Don’t stop for any reason. If there’s trouble, and there will be, let my lava women and the other wizards handle it.”

  Chen started to object, but Grandma cut her off saying, “I’m serious, don’t get involved. The evil forces inhabiting this underworld are way bigger than you are.” However, Grandma Risella realized trying to reason with Chen was like talking to a stone wall. Shaking her head in resignation, Grandma realized she’d once been the same way.

  After leading the group back through the narrow passageway, they arrived at the edge of the main pit of flames, and Grandma gathered Marcheto, Eldwyn and the other wizards together.

  “Marcheto, I’ll be flying next to you most of the way. But once we get closer to the surface, you’ll be on your own.”

  “Where will you be?”

  For a moment, Grandma Risella said nothing, but the young wizard saw the fear and foreboding in her eyes. “Just don’t stop, no matter what!” she shouted grabbing his right arm and flying into the volcanic pit.

  Quickly positioning themselves into a “V” formation, Grandma Risella, Marcheto, Eldwyn and the other wizards hurtled towards the surface. Risella was on the young wizard’s right while Eldwyn flew on his left, that is until Aerylln leapt from behind bumping her boyfriend’s mentor back a space. The young woman unsheathed Baelfire stretching out her arm and holding the sword high above her head. Marcheto followed suit gripping the prism staff and thrusting it over his head into the roaring inferno. Immediately, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red light shot out from the end with vibrant intensity.

  Wide bands of individual colors split into dozens of thin, straight lines looking like strokes of a brush with spaces between the bristles. Some bands of a single color splintered yet stayed together in clusters, while other bands of light split into rays that began intermingling with different colors.

  “What are they for? Why’s this happening?” Eldwyn asked having never seen anything like it.<
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  “They’re not just lines of light. They’re thin shafts, like arrows,” Grandma Risella said guessing their purpose.

  As Marcheto and everyone behind him propelled themselves up through the volcanic pit, the inferno became blisteringly intense with thick smoke and flames everywhere and red-hot lava streaming down the walls on all sides.

  Then the battle for freedom began in earnest.

  Dozens of humanoid creatures made of black, volcanic rocks with thin seams of molten magma descended upon them.

  Grandma Risella’s lava women quickly moved to the front taking thicker shafts of light and making them into bows, while using the thinnest rays of light for bowstrings. Soon, a dozen angry, lava women were shooting light arrows at their attackers.

  At the same time, the jewels in Baelfire’s hilt began shining brightly, and the good sword called to Zorya who flew over with Pensgraft on her back. The jewel-encrusted necklace hanging around the warhorse’s neck, made with gemstones like the ones in Baelfire’s handle, was also shining brightly.

  “Zorya, I need you to ride out in front of us,” the good sword said without explanation.

  Taking a bow and quiver of light arrows offered to him by one of the lava women, Pensgraft began firing at any volcanic-rock creatures foolish enough to get near him. Zorya, for her part, obeyed Baelfire without hesitation shooting upward through the blazing inferno.

  “Ready?” Baelfire shouted.

  “Ready!” Zorya shouted having no idea what the good sword had in mind.

  Immediately, Baelfire shot a blast of white-hot, plasma energy directly at the warhorse striking her in the backside. And although this must have hurt, it also had another major effect transforming Zorya into a clear-crystal warhorse with flames of prism light shooting from the back half of her body. That included part of her saddle, so Pensgraft had to lean forward to avoid being consumed by the multicolored fire. Purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red flames propelled the warhorse upward with incredible velocity punching a hole in the raging inferno and creating a path for the others to follow. Pensgraft shot the remaining black-rock creatures with his light arrows and the group of freedom fighters soared up through the opening.

  Grandma Risella had predicted that Balzekior would appear once they got nearer the surface, and she was right. Hovering in the center of the pit, the 30-foot tall demon was blocking their way. Undaunted, Eldwyn flew up to Marcheto shouting, “Here’s where you earn that robe you’re wearing!”

  Dropping back to the other wizards, Eldwyn explained what he wanted, and the mystics became very determined, their eyes glittering like diamonds. Bright, yet hard.

  The College of Wizards changed from the “V” formation into a new one. They flew in pairs, one pair behind the other in a straight line following Marcheto, the newest member of their elite squad of fighting mystics. And with the prism staff propelling them upward, they were regrouped into a living battering ram.

  Suddenly, Chen flew ahead, and Grandma Risella wondered what kind of mischief she was up to now. Grandma hoped it was something really bad. She thought, After all, what’s the point of putting up with a violent, temperamental, young woman if you can’t count on her to be highly destructive when it really matters?

  Chen didn’t let her down.

  The unpredictable, hostile, young woman looked at Balzekior and found a target for her rage. A big one.

  Baelfire gave Chen an assist bumping her forward with a jolt of pure, white, plasma energy catapulting the warrior woman towards Zorya and Pensgraft. Landing on the saddle behind the huge warrior, Chen grabbed Pensgraft around the waist, reached up with her mouth to his ear and bit into it.

  “Ouch, that hurts!” Pensgraft said looking around at the only woman he knew who had the brass to voluntarily take a front-row seat while charging a 30-foot tall monster.

  “Cut right through her!” Chen yelled trying to be heard over the roaring inferno. “Plow right into the center of her chest!”

  As they shot upward, Pensgraft glanced at Chen and saw she was smiling. Taken completely by surprise at her audacity, he yelled back, “I’m glad someone’s having a good time.”

  “Do you consider this a date? You know, us being out together for a ride?” she teased.

  “Only you could joke at a time like this.”

  “The trick is putting your mind on something even more frightening than what you’re facing,” Chen yelled into his ear.

  “What could possibly be more frightening than this?”

  “I want to have a baby! Yours!”

  Pensgraft was stunned. He thought about the problems involved in bringing a child into a violent, troubled world. He thought about the sleepless nights caring for a helpless, newborn infant. Finally, he thought about being married to Chen.

  Suddenly, facing Balzekior didn’t seem so bad.

  Gritting his teeth, Pensgraft braced himself for the impact while Chen shouted encouragement to Zorya and began screaming a battle cry. The demonic monster tried knocking Zorya and her riders away with a huge hand, but they ducked under it and slammed into the flaming, lava creature. Following close on their heels, the wizards’ battering ram, with Aerylln and Marcheto at its point, plowed into the monster’s chest with such velocity they penetrated the beast coming out the other side. Grabbing hold of Marcheto’s arm as they raced by, Pensgraft, Chen and Zorya flew along with the others.

  After passing through the evil demon, Pensgraft looked back and saw Grandma Risella’s lava women either standing on Balzekior or flying around the creature and attacking from every direction. They used their bows to shoot a barrage of light arrows into the beast.

  Pensgraft watched Grandma Risella standing on the demon’s shoulder and firing arrows into the creature’s neck. Grandma was doing an incredible job of keeping Balzekior busy so Chen and the others could try to escape.

  Looking up at her granddaughter, Risella saw the Crystal Medallion packed in lava rock and still hanging from Chen’s neck. “If we’re going to defeat Balzekior, that medallion has got to come off,” she shouted to the lava women around her.

  Hoping to use Balzekior’s own energy against her, Grandma grasped a light arrow and rammed it into the lava monster’s right eye shoving it in deeply. Keeping hold of the arrow, Grandma Risella felt the monster’s energy flowing into her. Then, gripping another light arrow with her other hand, she aimed its tip at the Crystal Medallion’s thin chain, and a red laser beam burst from the arrow.

  The beam struck so hard that Chen almost fell off Zorya, but the white-gold chain broke, and the medallion slipped from her neck. With incredible reflexes, Pensgraft caught the medallion preventing it from falling deeper into the pit and into Balzekior’s grasp. As for Chen, now that she was free of the medallion, a cloak of darkness that had been clouding her mind and emotions seemed to be lifted from her. However, the effect on Balzekior was even more dramatic.

  Looking back over his shoulder, Pensgraft saw the giant, lava monster beginning to crumble. Then Balzekior, Grandma Risella and her lava women disappeared from view as they dropped deeper into the blazing inferno.

  But breaking the connection between Balzekior and Chen had an unforeseen consequence. The width of the volcanic pit began narrowing, and the opening on the surface was shrinking. The pit was closing.

  Eldwyn and his fellow wizards realized what was happening. So, one by one, they approached Marcheto and reentered the prism staff gateway to their parallel universe. The last to leave, Eldwyn flew up to his apprentice and began disappearing into the staff.

  “It’s up to you now! It’s all up to you!” the old wizard shouted before vanishing completely.

  Proud that Eldwyn trusted Marcheto so fully, Aerylln put an arm around the young mystic and shouted, “We can do this!”

  Chen and Pensgraft held on tightly gripping Zorya’s sides with their legs while Marcheto took hold of the pommel of the warhorse’s saddle. Aerylln wrapped both of her arms around her boyfriend but also kept a firm
grip on Baelfire. And Crystal, packed in solidified lava, was being pulled along behind them. Attached to the base of Marcheto’s wizard’s staff was a chain made of prism light, and the other end was attached to the dark sword. Crystal, already feeling humiliated at being imprisoned in lava rock, was being dragged through the flames in a most undignified manner.

  At the same time, the entire College of Wizards met inside the prism-staff gateway standing in a large circle, linking arms and projecting their force of will through the staff and into the volcanic pit of flames.

  A powerful cloud of purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red light flooded the raging inferno extinguishing the flames nearest the surface. Then, the prism light began radiating enormous energy and pressed hard against the walls of the pit forcing it to remain open as Chen, Pensgraft, Marcheto, Aerylln, Zorya, Baelfire and Crystal shot up towards the early-morning sunrise.

  Reaching the surface, they catapulted out of the volcano, and it closed behind them with a thunderous crash of the earth’s crust slamming together.

  The energy from the College of Wizards continued pouring from Marcheto’s prism staff. It swept through Crystal Valley flowing over the black crystal shards that were blanketing the land. In a matter of moments, the vast acreage surrounding the castle was transformed back into rolling fields of fresh, green grass.

  Chen, Pensgraft, Marcheto, Aerylln, Zorya, Baelfire and Crystal had all been thrown clear of the crushing force of the collapsing pit, and they landed with a thud by the entrance to Crystal Castle. No longer made of flaming lava or crystal, the prism light had turned their bodies back to normal.

  Wanting to survey her domain, Chen leapt to her feet and watched as the remnants of Lord Daegal’s army made its way over the mountain and headed back to The Rock, Lord Daegal’s castle. Well, not his anymore, he was dead. Chen had shattered him along with his dream of dominating her.

  Marcheto’s father and brothers came running to him, and Chen’s warrior women sprinted towards their leader. Reaching Pensgraft, Gwendylln said, “It’s a good thing you brought her back, or you’d really be in trouble.”