by D. N. Leo
She threw a dart at a shadow behind a large tree at the entrance of the woods. The dart sailed through a small gap between two tree branches.
She heard a chuckle and saw movement. She pulled out her dagger. “I’m more dangerous than I look. You don’t want to test my skills.”
“I mean you no harm,” said a woman’s voice. From behind the tree, a middle-aged woman stepped out. She had an angelic face and beautiful dark eyes. Her hair was long and white as a cloud. She opened her arms wide to show that she was unarmed. “I don’t look dangerous, do I?”
“Creatures in the woods, especially those from the dark magic clan, are often in disguise.”
The woman smiled. “You’re right, but no creature can disguise its heart and soul. Practice enough, and you will be able to see through anyone’s heart and soul.”
She raised her dagger higher, her eyes teary. “That’s what Teacher always said. What did you do to him?”
The woman looked at her with gentle eyes. “I am your teacher.”
She backed away, brandishing the dagger. “But he died. He told me if he didn’t come back to the hut, that meant he had been killed by his enemy, and I should seek revenge for him. That was years ago.”
“Didn’t I say my enemy is Amaraq?”
“Liar! Who are you?”
“You are the only one I told my secrets, Thunder. I asked you to help me kill my enemy’s children. But you refused to kill innocents.”
“Shut up. You’re tricking me.” She wiped away a tear rolling down her face.
“They killed me, but they couldn’t kill my soul. It took me a long time to find this woman’s body, a shell capable of holding my damaged soul.”
“A shell? Did you kill this woman for her body, Teacher?”
“Now you recognize me. No, I didn’t kill her. She was royal. They traded her soul, and her body was going to ruin. I took it before that.”
“Who are they?”
“Her enemy, whoever that is. They were soul traders. That much I know.”
“Who will seek revenge for her?”
“That’s not my problem. It’s not your problem, either. I didn’t know her and didn’t owe her anything.”
“So what do you want from me?”
“How old are you now?”
“Sixteen.”
“And your master is still trying to make the Scorpio key?”
“That’s none of your business!”
“If he has been using the potion I taught you to make to keep the stone in shape, then it’s my business. I hope you didn’t forget that I was the one who taught you how to make the potion to harvest and carve the bloodstone.”
“You’re after profit now?”
The woman laughed. “No, there’s nothing for me to profit from an old Keymaster and a teenage Thunder. I returned to save you.” Her eyebrow arched, and she continued. “There’s a prophecy I heard when I was on my way to a new magical land. The prophecy suggests that if the Scorpio key is successfully made, you will die.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“I have nothing to do with the key business.”
“Child, the prophecy says that when the Scorpio key is made, when the bloodstone is awakened, Thunder will die. Do you think I made that up and traveled all the way to this mountain just to have a leisurely conversation with you that has no basis in fact?”
“But why me?”
“Ask yourself … Ask your Keymaster. I’ve done what I needed to do here. Now I leave it to you.” The woman turned and walked away.
“You can’t just point out an impending disaster and walk away without giving me a solution!”
“I can. And for your information, I do have a solution. But it will cost you. Do you want to hear it?”
She hesitated.
The woman smiled. “It won’t cost you anything just to know what I have to offer. It will only cost you when you act on it. What do you say?”
She nodded. “Only on the condition that you will do no harm to the Keymaster and won’t make me do anything immoral.”
The Teacher laughed. “Morality is subjective and quite overpriced, child. There are other prophecies I heard from the magical land. There was one that seemed interesting. It said that where humans live, there will be an uprising that will overturn the grounds of morality, and it will wipe out their civilization.”
“You mean the humans will all be dead?”
“You know of them? I thought your master wouldn’t want you to go out into the multiverse and meet different kinds of creatures.”
“He just wanted to protect me.”
The Teacher nodded. “Yes, he wanted to protect you—within his capability. You have outgrown the boundaries he set for you, haven’t you? But don’t worry. I’m not going to take advantage of you or the Keymaster’s situation. I will tell you about the prophecy—the one that is relevant to you—and I’ll give you my solution. You will have to do nothing immoral. But I’m sure what you’ll have to do is not entirely virtuous, either. Would you like to hear it?”
She looked at the beautiful woman whose form her Teacher had taken, and she nodded.
Chapter 4
Alyna put Lazi on the bed and stared at him. “I don’t have time for a staring competition with you. I need to talk to Teacher, and you have to help me.”
Lazi glared at her, saying nothing, which didn’t surprise her. The cat flicked its tail from one side to the other, making thudding noises on the bed with each movement.
“You saw what happened, Lazi. I asked Teacher to turn Caedmon without his consent. I understand there’s no way to undo what has been done. But I need more information.” She sighed. “I need a solution other than killing him—in case he gets out of control.”
The cat looked bored and started washing himself.
“Can you give me a spell? Where’s his off button?” She grabbed for the cat, but he hissed, jumped away, and his hair stood up. “Oh, there you go. You’re sensing Teacher. Take me. We’re going. Come on.” She gestured toward the room’s door.
The cat kept hissing. She felt something warm brush against her skin. Teacher is coming to me! she thought. Good!
Before she could finish her thought, a beam of light appeared, and Lorcan and Orla stepped out. At first, she didn’t believe them when they told her about their relationship with Caedmon, but then she remembered Caedmon mentioning Lorcan was a werefox. She knew they were telling the truth.
“Just about damn time!” she said.
“Nice to see you again!” Lorcan said.
“At least we don’t have to pick up Caedmon’s body,” Orla said.
Alyna shook her head. “I’m not sure about that.”
“What do you mean? My system tracked his internal microchip. It detected that his vitals are healthy and strong.”
“Too healthy and too strong?” Alyna asked.
Lorcan narrowed his eyes. “Yes, but why isn’t that good?” he asked. He pulled a wrist unit from his pocket. “We’ve come here to give him a new wrist unit. He can return to Eudaiz, and we can conduct further tests to get a full picture of his condition.”
Alyna sat down on her bed. She wanted to put her head in her hands but thought that would show defeat, something she didn’t want to admit to. Instead, she stared at the wall, saying nothing. Orla approached. Alyna figured Orla’s womanly instincts had detected something wrong.
“If you two have come for Caedmon, why didn’t you beam straight downstairs to talk to him? Why are you here with me?”
Orla shook her head. “We want to be sure we understand the situation. I can’t see how he survived without my dark magic. We want to know what you did to save him.”
She shrugged. “I thought I knew.”
“What do you mean?” Lorcan asked.
Alyna stood and began to pace the floor of her small bedroom. “I asked someone with supernatural powers to turn me into a paranormal creature so I could lead a mage tribe. The conditio
n was that I wouldn’t know what I would be turned into. It depended on my make. At least that’s what I was told. Because Caedmon couldn’t speak for himself at that point, I asked for him to be turned into something similar to me. I figured that because there was nothing wrong with me after I was turned, it should be okay for him to be made the way I was.”
“And you have no idea what kind of creature you were turned into? Even general information would help,” said Orla.
“All I know is that I’m a special kind of shapeshifter.”
“Well, that’s insightful!”
“What choice did I have? Would he be better off dead?”
Lorcan approached, and his voice was so low it sounded like a growl. “Lady, have you shifted since you were turned?”
She shook her head.
“Then you don’t know a thing. You can’t draw the conclusion that it’s better than being dead.”
“Death is the worst scenario, only because there’s nothing you can do after you die. When I lay in the ruins of that car crash waiting to die, and I was offered a second chance to live, I took it. I knew that whatever came later, I could always sort it out. I wanted to survive.”
“But you can’t speak for Caedmon,” Lorcan growled.
Alyna glared at Lorcan. “Well, you can’t speak for him, either. How can you be so sure he wouldn’t accept this change?”
Lorcan paced. “You know nothing about shapeshifting, Alyna. I’m not worried anymore about whether he’d accept it. I’m scared shitless of whether or not it will take him over.”
“What?”
“The animal. And that’s worse than being dead because he’ll know he’s being taken, and there will be nothing he can do about it. It will suffocate him—being stuck in the form of an animal and seeing it do the unthinkable. Now what do you say? Still thinking about survival at all costs? I don’t think so!”
“Stop it, you two!” Orla had her hands on her hips. “We have to find a solution now, and quickly.”
Alyna strode toward a small cabinet in the corner of her bedroom and pulled out a small box. She opened it and pulled out a gun. “Don’t worry, this is a tranq gun. We use it in competition when things get out of control. I’ve never had to use it because I can always control things. And I hope I won’t have to use it this time.”
“Who changed you? What kind of creature was it?” Orla asked.
“An immortal. That’s all I can say. Not because I’m trying to hide information. But because I just don’t know. I don’t remember anything from the car crash except a soothing female voice. And sometimes the voice sounded male. I never saw a material person. The voice asked to be called Teacher.”
“If you don’t know what kind of creature she or he is, then how can you be so sure Teacher didn’t use dark magic on you—or on Caedmon?” Orla asked.
“I know … but I promised not to tell. That’s the only secret.”
Orla nodded.
“You’re saying as long as it’s not dark magic, you can deal with shapeshifting?” Lorcan asked Orla.
She smiled. “I’ve been handling you my whole life,” she said.
“I’m not a magical kind of shapeshifter. You know that, Orla. Don’t joke about it.”
“How can a shapeshifter not be magical?” Alyna asked.
Orla glanced at Lorcan then at Alyna. “Lorcan’s shapeshifting is artificial. He was made by someone—or a group of people—in Eudaiz. And in our time, whenever it is in your past from now, we’re still looking for them. The kind that artificially manipulate magic are the evilest of all things. Ciaran was going to kill them all.”
“Who’s Ciaran?”
“Ah, sorry, you wouldn’t know that. Ciaran is Caedmon’s father.” Orla smiled. “And if we can’t figure out this issue soon, Ciaran is going to climb out of his sickbed and travel here.”
“Oh, come on, Orla. Can’t we do anything without Ciaran being involved?” Lorcan exclaimed.
Orla rolled her eyes. “Well, suggest a solution then, Lorcan. You don’t want me to use magic. You don’t want to use excessive force. You don’t know what creature he’s going to turn into …”
They heard a low hum and then a roar from downstairs.
“What was that?” Orla asked.
The building shook slightly.
Lazi hissed and ran around the room, tail pointed straight to the ceiling and all his hair on end.
Alyna grabbed the tranq gun. Before she got to the door, they heard a roar that made their veins vibrate. There was a loud bang downstairs, followed by the sound of bricks and mortar collapsing.
Chapter 5
Alyna stormed into the training room—or what was left of it. Orla and Lorcan trailed right behind her. A far wall which had led to the courtyard had collapsed, revealing the dark sky outside. In the middle of the room, a magnificent giant lion stood looking at them, teeth bared and eyes still reflecting the adrenaline from the destruction he had wreaked on the room. But he didn’t lunge at them. He just watched them with caution.
“Caedmon, calm down!” Lorcan said.
The lion roared in response.
“Oh no, I don’t think he’s in there!” Orla said.
Alyna stepped forward. “Calm down, Caedmon. It’s okay. Give me a sign that you understand me.”
The lion made rumbling noise in his throat, growled, and then roared. He approached her.
“No, stay still, Caedmon.” Alyna took a step backward. The lion continued to move toward her. She raised the tranq gun. “One more step, and I’ll shoot you. You understand me?”
The growling lion continued to approach.
Alyna pulled the trigger. A dart pumped out from the gun into the lion’s chest. He stopped.
“It works,” Orla said.
“I don’t think so,” Lorcan said as the lion looked up, the fire in his eyes telling them the tranq hadn’t worked on him. He roared, hunched down, and leaped at Alyna.
In a heartbeat, Lorcan shifted into a magnificent fox with glowing blue fur. He bounded forward, meeting the lion in the air. They both dropped to the floor after a bone-crushing clash in the air. There was a whirl of blue and golden fur on the floor and the roaring sounds of animals fighting.
Orla pulled Alyna backward. “If he’s going to harm Lorcan, I’ll have to put a curse on him.”
“What kind of damage will your curse do?”
“That depends on the intention of the attacker. It’s dark magic. It’s a curse to protect, so it bounces the intended harm right back to the attacker.”
“Does that mean a life for a life? If Caedmon wants to kill, then the curse will take his life?”
Orla nodded. “But my plan is to not let him get to that stage.”
“How?”
“When Lorcan weakens him, I’ll cast a spell to sort of sedate him.”
“But the tranq gun didn’t work. You think a spell will?”
Orla looked at her. “All right, young lady, you need to know exactly how everything is done, do you? The spell doesn’t sedate. It possesses. I’ll ask the dark spirit to possess him. It’s obvious that Caedmon isn’t in control of this animal body he’s in. The dark spirit can easily possess and take control of the animal’s spirit.”
“Can we take back what’s being possessed later?”
“In theory, yes. But it’s just a theory. That’s a risk we must take.”
They heard a loud howl. The lion had the fox by the neck. He whipped him back and forth and threw him against the wall. The blue fox slid to the floor and lay motionless.
“Lorcan!” Orla ran to him.
The lion stood still. He was badly injured but didn’t appear to be weakened much. Alyna pulled a combat knife from the weapon rack in the corner of the room and stood in front of Orla and Lorcan as the lion approached.
“Is Lorcan okay?” she asked.
“Injured but alive. He’ll have to stay in an unconscious state to heal his injuries.”
“All right.” Aly
na stepped sideways, away from Orla and Lorcan. “Look at me. Want a fight?” she said to the animal, which turned and followed her movement. When the lion turned his back on Orla, she saw Orla nod at her. She was ready to cast the spell.
The lion approached her slowly, a rumbling coming from his throat. She wasn’t sure if he was going to attack, so she continued to brandish the knife. When the lion closed the distance, she saw his eyes. They were Caedmon’s eyes, and he was terrified and helpless. He could feel what the animal was doing, but he couldn’t stop it from happening.
Lorcan had been right all along. What had she done to Caedmon?
Orla raised her arms. Her palms were glowing.
“Stop, he’s in there. Orla, stop!”
“What?” Orla asked but stopped the motion of her hands.
Alyna gazed into the eyes of the animal. “Caedmon, I know you’re in there. You’re trapped, but you understand what I’m saying.”
The lion kept approaching.
“Are you sure, Alyna?” Orla asked.
She locked eyes with the animal. “You don’t want to harm me, Caedmon. You don’t want to harm anyone. I locked your gentle soul into this violent body, and I’m sorry for that. But you must be strong and take control of it. You’re stronger than you think. You can control it.”
The lion’s face was right in front of hers. It was so close its hot breath hit her face. She could see Caedmon’s eyes in the animal’s. Then they faded away as the dark eyes of the lion came to the surface. His teeth bared, and he let out a quick growl. Before she knew it, the giant jaws had wrapped around her right shoulder. Turning left or right would cause the lion to tear her body in half. The sharp teeth sunk into her flesh. Her brain was on fire with the searing pain.
Orla raised her arms as if determined to cast the spell.
Alyna raised her free arm. “I’ve got this. Give me one more chance.” She used her arm to embrace the mane on top of the gigantic head. She could feel the vibration of the lion’s body against hers. She gently pushed the warm energy of her light into the lion, the way she had given him energy before. “Do you feel me, Caedmon? I know you do. Don’t let the animal kill me. You saved me from the ice creature. You fought with me against the mercenaries. You killed an advanced robot in the frozen lake for me. There’s nothing you can’t do. This is just an animal’s body. You can control him, Caedmon. Don’t let him kill me.”