by Kyle West
“Four hundred years. If it’s been nearly that long since the war, then that gives us two years until the Radaskim will return. Give or take a few months. I...remember that. That was Anna’s Prophecy. She wanted people to remember when this would happen, and was afraid that people would forget about it. So, she wrote it down. She told the Seekers to guard it.”
“But the Seekers don’t have it,” Isaru said. “The Shen do, probably.”
“No, not the Shen,” I said. “The real Seekers have it.”
“The real Seekers? What are you talking about? You mean the Seekers in this time period?”
“No, the Priesthood of the Sphere. In the Ruins.”
Isaru was lost. “How do you figure that?”
Everyone else was lost, too, but I was too excited to stop talking. “Don’t you see? The Seekers were tasked to await Anna’s return. I remember her doing that. Do the Seekers of the Sanctum take such a charge seriously, or have they somehow forgotten it?”
“Elder...” Isaru had almost said “Elder Isandru,” but caught himself just in time.
“They’ve forgotten, but the Priesthood hasn’t,” I said. “Remember Markas saying that they and the Seekers had similar roots?”
Isaru nodded. “You know...you might be right. But what’s the point of the Prophecy if you can remember what’s in it?”
“I can just remember that one detail,” I said. “As far as the actual contents...”
“Wait,” Isaru said. “So basically, what you’re telling me is all we had to do was go to the Ruins, for you to reveal who you really were...Markas was practically begging you to say it...and we could have turned around and gone back to Colonia?” Despite himself, Isaru laughed. “We could have been done with this weeks ago!”
“I...could be wrong. But yeah. Probably.”
Mia and Isandru were just staring at us, completely mystified. If the Priesthood and Seekers split sometime during their time period, they might know something about it.
“Have there been any rifts in the Seekerhood of late?” I asked.
Mia shook her head. “No. Nothing at all. Perhaps...perhaps that comes later?”
Maybe she was right. In any case, it was pointless to speculate on that.
“Wait...” she said. “Elder Marius was exiled not just from Hyperborea, but from the Seekers themselves. Even so, he still has quite a following among the Prophets, so perhaps that is the beginning of it.”
“It could very well be,” Isaru said.
“Although, he wouldn’t be too happy to know that the Priest uses Aether, even in a limited way.”
“We’re getting off track,” Shara said. She looked at me. “Tell us what you know of the Prophecy.”
“Right,” I said. “I remember speaking to Quietus, long ago...when Quietus was still Radaskim.”
“What do you mean?” Mia asked. “How could an Elder Dragon be Radaskim?”
“They all were, during the War,” I said. “Alex changed that.”
“Alex?”
Just saying that name seemed to trigger everything...absolutely everything. I couldn’t stop the memories from flooding back, to the point where I didn’t even know who I was anymore.
“It’s...it’s all too much,” I said. I had to get it out of my mouth, despite my own emotions. “Quietus said the Radaskim will return to Earth every four hundred years. Four hundred years from that day...would be two years from now.”
“Are you sure?” Isaru asked. “If that’s true, then we don’t have a lot of time.
“What is Xenofall, and the Radaskim?” Shara asked.
“I’ll...have to explain that later.”
“The Tower is a Beacon, then, to the Radaskim?” Mia asked.
“Yes. It has to be. You said it was yourself.”
“I said it was a Beacon, but saying it’s to the Radaskim...”
“We have to ask the one who created it, then,” Isandru said.
Rakhim Shal. If he had created the Tower, then he had to know who it was communicating with. If the Tower had also been created to merge the Xenofold and the Hyperfold...
“Perhaps this is their way in,” I said. “Perhaps this is the attempt of the Radaskim to control the Xenofold...through the Hyperfold. If the two are fused into one, or if there is some link created between them...it could destroy the Xenofold as we know it.”
But that meant Mia and Isandru could never return to the Xenofold, if what Shal had said about the link was true. No one here could.
“Then the Hyperfold must be destroyed,” Isandru said.
“That would mean we would no longer exist,” Mia said. “Not even as memories. Not even in the Xenofold.”
What was worse, if all of this was true, then Shal was the only means of escape.
“Shal told me that if I gave him the Orb, he would give me the Prophecy.”
“Where is this Orb?” Isandru asked.
“It’s in my cloak,” I said.
“I don’t know what that Orb is,” Isandru said, “not exactly. But I do know Shal is trying to develop an easier means of passage between this world and the Hyperfold.” He paused. “Or I suppose, to the Hyperfold within this world.” He looked at me. “It’s possible that the Orb is developed in our future, but it was already available in your world.”
I hardly knew what to make of that. “What does it mean?”
“If you have the Orb with you, then it should be possible for all three of you to travel back whenever you wish. You don’t need Shal.”
“He’s tricking you,” Mia said.
The truth was, Mia and Isandru couldn’t stay here in this false reality. They deserved to be in the Xenofold, and if it was possible, to come back to the real world. Even if we could leave right now and get the Prophecy, it wasn’t right to leave them here, especially now that they knew the truth.
If there was a way to get them out, too, we needed to find it.
The problem was, they didn’t have bodies to return to.
But even with all that...we needed to learn the truth from Shal. If he was trying to merge the Xenofold and Hyperfold, then he had to be stopped. For all I knew, the second I used the Orb in this place, it would seal the connection.
So, I told the others my thoughts. In the end, they agreed that confronting Shal was necessary, as hard as that would be.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
“SHAL IS FAR MORE DANGEROUS than I ever believed,” Mia said.
“We have to face him,” I said.
“The only reason he has such a position of power is because of Aether, and what he’s done to get everyone addicted to it. Because of that, he practically rules the city.”
“Even without that, he would rule this place,” Shara said. “He does rule it.”
“I think we have more power here than we realize,” I said.
“What do we do, then?” Isandru asked. “How do we confront Shal when he holds all the cards?”
It was a good question, and one I didn’t have an answer to. He had to have a weakness, but I had no idea what. The only thing that made any sort of sense was that I could be his weakness, somehow. After all, Shal had needed me to come here for some reason, saying that I was the only one who could reverse his mistake.
“I have to talk to him,” I said.
“Not alone,” Shara said. “You’ll need us to have your back and I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“Whatever Shal says, whatever he’s planning...I believe he needs me for it. If he needs me, he can’t kill me.”
“Until he’s done with whatever he’s planning,” Isandru said.
“There’s no way around it. It’s something I have to face.”
“Shal is powerful,” Isandru said. “Even not counting everything you’ve told us about him running this...” Isandru trailed off, still not wanting to admit the truth. “This place. He is strong and skilled with the blade.”
“So am I,” I said.
“I don’t doubt it,” Isandru sa
id. “But Aether makes him something else. Everyone refuses to challenge him in tournaments. Aether has an effect on him that goes beyond what anyone else is capable of.”
“He becomes like a man possessed,” Mia said. “I’m sure he’s killed before.”
“Most powerful men have,” Shara said.
“All the same...” I said, “I have to face him.”
“I know I can’t stop you,” Mia said. “All I can tell you is to be careful. Within him is an indefinable darkness. What you were saying about the Beacon and the Radaskim – he is the one behind that. He is lost, and all he desires is power at any cost.”
I nodded, knowing just how serious Mia was being.
I stood, and with that movement, everyone else followed. Mia and Isandru were both looking at me – it was hard to tell if they were conveying respect, sorrow, or even fear. Maybe all three.
“What will happen if this all ends?” Isandru asked. “Will we truly be gone, forever?”
There was only one honest answer.
“I don’t know, Isandru. I don’t know whether you will be reborn, or whether you’ll go to the Xenofold. But whatever it is, it will be better than this.”
Mia nodded, accepting that much at least. “I can speak to the Xenofold, even in this place. I consider that much a miracle. Perhaps...perhaps you were that connection. Even if I’m one of the rare ones who can sense it, I know that something about this world isn’t right. I’ve felt it all my life.”
I swallowed the lump that forced its way to my throat. I didn’t want Mia making me emotional, not when I still had work to do.
“Both of you need to stay here,” I said. “I promise to do everything I can to make things right.”
Mia wiped her eyes, even as Isandru looked at us with steely determination. “I’ll keep my sister safe,” he said. “Go. Do what you need to do. I...don’t think it’s possible, to be honest. But if there’s anyone who can stop the evil Rakhim has done...it is you.”
With Isandru saying that, it was impossible not to feel the pressure. Where I had been at least somewhat confident before, now my heart was throbbing with fear. At that moment, Shara touched my arm.
“I’ll be right there with you,” she said. “Even if things go back to how they were, should we get out of this, I want you to know that I’m still there. I was lying. There is still hope.”
I nodded. “I knew that, Shara. And if you are back to how you were, I promise not to give up on you. Not ever.”
“I’ve got your back, too,” Isaru said. “As I always do.”
“All right, stop it. I need to focus here.”
Mia offered a smile. “I will be praying for you. Remember that the Xenofold can reach even here. Draw on its power. That is something even Shal cannot deny you.”
“I’ll do that,” I said.
With a final look, I turned and walked away, with Shara and Isaru by my side.
I didn’t let myself look back.
THE JOURNEY BACK TO the trail and through the rock tunnel was a long one. I felt almost exactly as I had when I was marched out to Red Cliff to be dashed on Traitors’ Rock.
Going up the endless flights of stairs wasn’t easy; even if this was the Hyperfold, it still had the physical limitations of real life. At least, this version of the Hyperfold did. We paused for breath every few minutes before continuing on, until we found ourselves in the lower reaches of the Cloud Palace. It was quiet here, and even as we ascended, passing windows revealing the towers of the city – first the bottoms of them, and then the tops, it remained forebodingly empty.
“Something’s not right,” Shara said.
I had to agree. Given the Cloud Palace’s size, we should have seen someone by now.
But then, unbidden in my mind, came a premonition. An image of the throne room came into my head, empty save for Shal, who stood facing the doors.
“He knows we’re coming,” I said. “He’s in the throne room.”
“How do you know that?” Isaru asked.
“I can sense him. And he can sense me.”
I led the way, simply guided by feeling. The corridors were completely empty, of nobles, of guards, and even of servants, despite the fact it was early evening. Shara was definitely correct in that something wasn’t right. And still, there was a strange tension in the air, a heavy sense of foreboding.
Before long, we found ourselves at the top of a long, marble stairway – the final steps until the doors of the throne room. Those doors were closed now, where before they had been wide open.
I stepped forward and pressed softly on the door. To my surprise, it swung open easily. The throne room was completely empty save for its rich trappings – the red carpet stretching all the way to the ichorstone thrones, shining under the brightness of the dazzling xen chandeliers. Those thrones were empty, and of Shal himself, there was no sign. Only dead silence.
“Show yourself, Shal,” I called out. To my surprise, my voice was loud and commanding. I felt anything but that.
Shara and Isaru both unsheathed their blades, but I decided not to do the same.
“Welcome to Hyperborea,” a sonorous tone called. It seemed to come from every direction at once. I looked in every direction, but there was nothing.
“Show yourself!” I said again. “We know that you’re the stronger one here, but I would speak to you as an equal.”
There was a deep, throaty chuckle that resonated within the air. I resisted the urge to draw my sword, but Shara assumed a fighting stance.
“Please, put the weapons away,” Shal said. “Weapons will not avail you here. We have little time, if we are to succeed.”
I motioned for Shara and Isaru to sheathe their swords. As they did, the air seemed to shimmer between the two thrones, before becoming solid. Slowly, Shal materialized from the thin air, standing garbed in rich robes. He did not look as he had in my dreams with Mia. While still bald, his formerly pudgy features were now hard lines. The eyes, however, were the same: blue, shining, and cruel.
He stepped forward calmly. I thought about telling him not to come any closer, before he stopped at the bottom of the steps leading up to the dais. There was a distance of some thirty feet between us. “It is time we came to our agreement, Anna. Give me the Orb, and the Prophecy will be yours.”
“And this agreement would end the Hyperfold, and allow all trapped here to return to the Xenofold?”
Shal nodded solemnly. “You, Anna, are the only one who can form the connection between this place and the Xenofold. Only you can take Aether without succumbing to any of its side effects. When the Hyperfold fades, the Sea of Creation will be reborn.”
“Without the Hyperfold, it can’t sustain itself,” Shara said.
“Indeed. This reality I’ve created is different from what happened in actuality. Only slightly. It is...a kinder place. Not perfect, but there is no Shen War here. Even so...my power has limits, and to some extent, the Hyperfold must always reflect reality. The Sea drains here, just as it would in the real world. When we reach the point of no return...” Shal snapped his fingers. “I reset the simulation, and it begins anew. Everyone forgets. Everyone...but me.”
That answered some of the questions I had of this place. Some of the things didn’t line up with what Elder Isandru had told me – such as the fact that he said that he was born in the middle of the Shen War, and was fifteen when the city finally fell to them.
In this reality, there were no Shen, and quite a few other things seemed to be different. But one thing still had to be a lie on Elder Isandru’s part: he had pretended that Mia wasn’t his sister, to the point where he’d said she lived in a different time period. That was one thing I couldn’t make sense of: why mention her at all?
“What happened in the real world?” I asked. “The Shen destroyed the city, but...how did the people come to be trapped in this place?”
“Aether bound their memories here,” Shal said. “Even if their bodies were destroyed.”
“None escaped?”
“The Shen were very...thorough.” Shal gave a bitter smile, but there was something else behind it. Something I couldn’t quite place.
“You betrayed them,” Isaru said. “You knew exactly what you were doing.”
“It is true that I believed I did,” Shal said. “However...”
“Save it,” Isaru said. “The Tower of Shal is a Beacon communicating with the Radaskim. Mia has seen it in prophecy. Shanti has seen it as well.”
Here, Shal’s smile became genuine. The façade had been dropped. “Ah,” he said. “You have learned that which I hoped you would not. Well. That makes things easier.”
Here, I drew my sword. “Why? What are you saying to them? Are you giving away secrets? Are you telling them how to kill us?”
“They will kill us all, dear Anna. I am merely preparing the way. Such power, you do not realize. Even if you had your full memory – which I know you do not – even then you could not comprehend. The Ragnarok War was an anomaly. The Radaskim had never known defeat otherwise. And until Earth is theirs, they will come, in their thousands, in their millions, until every last Elekai is destroyed.” Shal’s smiled widened. “For you see...I have had my own prophecies.”
“They are lies,” I said. “Whoever you’re talking to, they have poisoned your mind.”
“My place in the new world is guaranteed. In two years in the outside world...it will all be over, Anna. You see...I have already won, because time flows differently, here. The Hyperfold has access to any time in which it has existed. From the first day of its existence...until present time...all times are available to those who leave it.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said.
“You need me,” Shal continued. “Without me, you cannot control the time of your return.” At each word, he looked from one of us, to the other. “This will be fun!”
“I’m not giving you the Orb,” I said. “I will destroy it if have to.”
Shal’s sick smile evaporated. “Then none of us can leave this place. The Orb is the key, without which all will remain trapped here until the Sea itself is destroyed by the Radaskim Reapers.” The smile returned. “Which is not long from now. What will it be, then? Give me the Orb, and you can leave this place. The bargain has already been struck. I may not be able to kill you, but you guarantee the deaths of us all, should the Orb be destroyed.”