A World To Lose

by Frances Ellen

  “What on earth…” Madeleine whispered. Everyone looking at the map was momentarily dumbstruck; no one had been expecting this. And no one quite knew yet what it meant.

  “Quick, make a note of the coordinates of that whole area,” Axel instructed sharply.

  Nicholas Nelson, the Emissary, leaned over to get a good view of the map in front of Madeleine. All along the edges were numbers and angles. He scribbled them down on a piece of paper and said, “Got it.”

  No sooner had he said so, than Madeleine dropped her hands and blew out the candle. The sparkles vanished the second the flame was gone.

  “What does that mean?” Diallo asked.

  “It can only mean one thing,” Katherine said, answering Matu’s father and looking down at her daughter to see if she knew it as well.

  Sophie did and swallowed. “The bones are not in a single place. They are scattered throughout that area, most likely after the bodies had been cut into pieces.”

  Katherine nodded beside her.

  “Oh no,” Harrison said, horrified. Sky’s grandfather stepped back and took a seat in the desk chair of the corner desk. Sophie caught Madeleine close her eyes in disgust. She was clenching and unclenching her fists by her side.

  “They didn’t deserve that,” Nathan’s mother whispered.

  Sophie felt the deep sadness and growing anger of the Ceders in the room. Like the Asters, they too were like a family to each other, bound by their magic and their duty to Affinites and humans the world over. And they had just lost a brother and sister in the most tragic of circumstances.

  Katherine squeezed Rose’s shoulder. “We will find what is left of them, and give them a proper burning. Even after the Memorial.”

  Rose nodded.

  “This is offensive,” Axel ground out. No one could miss the anger in the Ambassador’s voice. That the two Ceders had been treated with such disrespect was mind blowing. This new King was breaking all known bounds of Dark magic and behaviour. A heavy silence reigned as the enormity of his latest atrocity began to sink in.

  “We need a bigger research team than the one we assembled,” Nicholas pointed out practically, bringing everyone’s thoughts back to the present.

  Axel nodded. “You’re right.” He looked up at Rose and Katherine. “You will get at least triple the people. You will go the day after the Memorial. You need to cover the entire area. It could take weeks, if not months.”

  Katherine nodded. “We will search for as long as it takes.”

  “Agreed,” Rose said.

  Axel turned to Nicholas and Jackson. “I am trusting you to gather a research team of one hundred strong. Make sure you cover all bases and specialities, including soldiers. We don’t want to take any chances. Rose and Katherine, why don’t you join them? Since you will be leading the Bone Recovery mission.”

  Both Rose and Katherine nodded. Sophie remained quiet. She hadn’t known her mother would be in charge of the search. It seemed to have been known and decided before today, though now wasn’t the time to ask about it.

  Axel turned to address the others in the room. “Thank you all for coming. I know it was difficult, but we needed this information. You are all dismissed. Except for Madeleine and Diallo, I would like to have a word with the two of you. Thank you all again.”

  Everybody except for Madeleine and Diallo exited the Board Room. Felix vanished around a corner almost immediately, while Sylvia led the three Elders down the corridor. Sophie remained outside the Board Room. Katherine turned back to her daughter and whispered, “I will see you later, all right?”

  Sophie nodded and smiled at her mother, who then joined Rose, Jackson and Nicholas. The four of them headed down the hallway to the left. She herself stayed by the door a little while longer. She stared sightlessly down the corridor, everything that had occurred in the last few minutes hitting her at once. How had any of this happened? A few weeks ago, she was happily jumping around in anticipation of the Queen arriving on the island. Now they had with all certainty determined that she and her magic were lost. And the focus was merely on gathering information on how the King had done it. Not to mention a whole other research team, one hundred strong, being sent to Brazil since they discovered that Gayle’s parents had been killed and hacked to pieces. How was that possible?

  A chill went up Sophie’s spine and she shivered, suddenly feeling quite alone. She shook her head and headed for the arena, where she had arranged to meet up with Jacob, all the while hoping her brothers would be back soon.

  Chapter 5

  For the past two days the four Aster boys had spent most of their time walking through every single street of the town casting the exact same spell to expel the remnant particles of Dark magic. Matu had been right when he said it’d take them a full two days to get rid of all of it.

  On the evening of the third day, the four of them stood at the edge of the town in front of what remained of the veil. The sun had already set and darkness had fallen over the town. The only light came from the street lamps a few feet away from them, and the small blue shining orbs that Sky had called up with his magic.

  The veil wasn’t like a physical wall; it was more like a slightly darkened sheet. As if Sky was looking through sunglasses to the cultivated fields surrounding the town. And it was moving in the wind, like a curtain would if a breeze blew in softly through an open window.

  “Karla couldn’t see it,” Matu said. “She said she could only sense its presence on the brightest days.”

  “Sense it? You mean like Eileen can?” Sky asked, referencing Josephine’s mother, whose affinity was for sensing Light and Darkness.

  “Hmm-mm,” Matu replied. “Though Eileen’s affinity is much stronger. She would have known the veil was still here the second she encountered it.”

  Sky stepped forward and raised his hand. If the local Affinites couldn’t see the veil, he doubted the humans in the town could either. Perhaps it was the magic in it that made it only visible to those who possessed magic themselves. When Sky’s hand touched the veil, he half expected it to send a shock through his body, but it didn’t. Instead, the veil moved slightly at his touch and felt extremely cold. The feeling of cold in the warmth of the Brazilian afternoon sun was utterly contradictory, and Sky pulled his hand back in surprise.

  “Strange, right?” Lian said, who’d done the exact same thing seconds earlier.

  Sky nodded. “Yeah.”

  “It’s not like any veil we’ve seen before,” Matu stated.

  “Seen… heard of, read about,” Sky added.

  Lian snorted. “When would you have ever read about veils?”

  Before Sky could come back with a comment, Matu said, “I called Sophie. She said veils usually disappear the second they’ve been broken.” They all stared at the undeniably still present veil. “It shouldn’t be too hard to get down. It’s been weakened by my father.”

  “Looks like I’m not the only one who used Sophie,” Sky smirked.

  Matu cast him a glance. “Just because she’s not here, doesn’t mean we can’t use her for what she’s best at.”

  “I’m sure Axel would disagree. Why else would he give us all those books?” Lian said.

  “Axel isn’t here. And calling Sophie just saved us a lot of time,” Matu said.

  “Well, well, would you look at that. Disobeying Axel’s orders to get a job done quicker.” Sky grinned and slapped Matu on his shoulder.

  “Axel didn’t specifically say don’t call her,” Matu said in his defence.

  “Whatever technicality works for you, brother.”

  “You said calling Sophie saved us a lot of time. Did she tell you what spell to use?” Lian asked.

  Matu nodded. “There are multiple ones we can try. Most of them come with a pretty big explosion at the end, which we need to try and avoid.”

  “Mum said there was a big red flash when your father broke through it. How are we going to hide that from the locals?” Sky asked.

  “We’re
not. The spell we’re using won’t lead to a big bang, just a bright flash. That’s why we’re starting now that it’s dark. It will take us a few hours to break the whole thing down. We have to cast it at multiple places in the veil to weaken it further, until it is so weak that it will disappear on its own. By that time all the locals will be asleep in their homes and won’t notice the flash,” Matu explained.

  “A few hours? Seriously?” Sky moaned.

  Matu glared at him.

  “We’ve been casting a single spell for the past two days,” Lian pointed out. “I’m sure you can handle another spell for just a few hours.”

  Something mischievous sparkled in Sky’s eyes. “How are you so sure? Those other spells really took their toll, you know… Maybe I’ll just sit this one out.”

  Lian raised his eyebrows. “Nice try, brother.”

  “Here,” Matu interrupted, handing each of them a piece of paper with two sentences scribbled on them. “It’s the spell we’ll be using. Place your hand against the veil and cast it. Do the same thing again every thirty feet.”

  “You’re right, that will take us hours,” Sky grumbled.

  Lian held up the piece of paper. “You know what, I think this is one of the spells I already knew.”

  Sky snorted. “Yeah right.”

  Lian snickered.

  “While we’re working on the veil, Nate will be working on the gorge in the main street. Right, Nate?”

  After a few seconds, Sky and Lian also turned to their youngest brother to see why he hadn’t responded to Matu. There was something about him today that Sky couldn’t quite put his finger on. He’d noticed it first in the Mendosa’s house. There seemed to be a crack in that frozen façade he always had during missions. His mind was somewhere else. Now again, he was staring in the direction of the Amazon Rainforest, at the back of the town. He had a hand on his stomach and a thoughtful look on his face, as if his gut was trying to tell him something. His Band wasn’t glowing, so he wasn’t in contact with the nature around him. So, what was it?

  “Nate?” Matu repeated.

  Nathan seemed to shake out of the state he was in and turned to his eldest brother.

  “What’s going on?” Matu asked.

  Nathan shook his head. “Nothing. It’s the feel of this place, that’s all. The nature’s calling me.”

  Sky slapped his brother on the back. “Well, tell the nature to call back later. We have work to do.”

  Nathan shook his head again. “You’re right.”

  “You work on the main street, while we work on the veil, all right?” Matu said.

  Nathan nodded.

  Sky glanced at his brother one last time. He still hadn’t put whatever it was out of his head, Sky could tell. But at least his attention was on the task at hand again. Nathan turned on his heel and headed back into town towards the main street. Sky dug into his magic and flew into the air to start casting the spells higher up. Matu and Lian separated as well. From his height, Sky looked out over the town. None of these inhabitants had any idea what Darkness had happened in their town. There was something peaceful about that. Somehow, luckily, no humans had been hurt the night Gayle was killed.

  Sky found himself smiling slightly with relief as he raised the piece of paper in his hand and got to work.

  While his brothers were casting their spells at various places along the veil to weaken it, Nathan’s focus was the destruction running all the way up and down the main street. Every now and again, he caught a flash of blue light as Sky flew overhead.

  Nathan crouched next to the shallow chasm in the main street. He was the only one there; even the local Affinites had gone to bed already. Not a single light shone from a window. The entire town was asleep.

  Nathan placed his hand on the ground and closed his eyes. He shut out the calling of the Amazon Rainforest behind him. The Band on his wrist started prickling as his magic started to work. He sent his magic into the earth. He forced it to race through the ground, along the insides of the chasm and report back to him. He wanted to know what had happened here. He wouldn’t be able to get a clear picture, but he should be able to feel what the ground had experienced and what sort of people had been near it when it happened.

  As his magic swept through the chasm, Nathan opened his eyes. Tiny streaks of glowing green were shooting from his hand and snaking away across the earth. More and more shot out of his hand, lighting up the chasm from end to end.

  The glowing streaks of light shot through the chasm, moving faster and faster, until suddenly they all turned and raced back to Nathan’s hand. The magic he’d sent out crashed back into him so hard that he almost toppled over backwards. The second his magic returned his head was overrun by a hundred different impressions at the same time. Nathan held both hands to the side of his head, keeping his eyes firmly closed as he tried to handle the chaos unfolding in his head. There was screaming and the sound of rain crashing down. The bright white light of lightning flashed behind his eyes. There was the clashing of metal on metal. Another deathly scream. And then the sensation of Darkness swept through his body with such force that Nathan heaved and threw his dinner up onto the street.

  But the magic wasn’t done. The sound of thunder crashed through his head. Nathan dug his nails into the skin of his head. Another flash of bright light blinded him from behind his eyes. Then came another clash of metal, but this time on rock. And a tearing noise unlike anything he had ever heard before. He couldn’t see it, but he could hear and feel the earth being torn apart. Like an earthquake shattering the very foundation of the ground and ripping it open. He could feel it like it was his own skin, his own life. And another scream. Another wave of Darkness. A ferocious roar that had Nathan clap his hands across his ears.

  And then nothing.

  From one split second to the next it was all gone. No pain, no Darkness, no sound. Nathan could no longer hear the rain clattering down, or the thunder, or the screaming. The bright light of the lightning had gone, too. As if none of it had been in his head to begin with.

  It was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. Any time he’d asked the earth for its memories, Nathan was like a passive spectator. He couldn’t physically feel anything, yet a second ago he definitely felt the rain coming down on top of him and his clothes sticking to his skin.

  He tried to piece together the things he’d experienced, but as quickly as they had come, they were also vanishing from his memory. Only vague and indescribable feelings and sensations remained. He still remembered the storm and there was still a remnant of the sensation of the earth being torn open. But for the life of him he couldn’t remember what had preceded it; what had been done to be able to destroy the fabric of the earth like that and break it open. He also couldn’t sense who had been in the main street when all of it had happened. He couldn’t tell if it was Tomas and Cara, or if it had been Gayle. The magic memory was fading ever faster.

  Nathan only then realised how heavy his breathing had become. He closed his eyes for a moment and raked a hand through his wavy brown hair. He took a moment to bring his breathing back to normal.

  He opened his eyes again and stared down at the shallow chasm in front of him. From what he could vaguely remember, he knew that the chasm had been much deeper. When the earth had been torn open before, it must have led straight down into the Underworld. The King had put in some effort to close it back up, but it was up to Nathan to finish the job.

  The earth felt cold as he placed both his hands on the inside of the chasm again. He looked down the main street on both sides and put his magic to work. The Band on his wrist glowed a bright green once again and Nathan threw his magic into the earth around him.

  Nathan was surprised at how quickly the earth responded to him. The ground morphed and moved under his knees, and the two tall lines of rubble started breaking apart and floating up into the air. Soon he was completely surrounded by earth and rock and stone as all the loose pieces hovered in mid-air before coming do
wn and fitting into the chasm perfectly. The cracks in the pavement on either side started to vanish and, quicker than Nathan had thought possible, the chasm began filling up.

  Nathan looked up and down the main street. His magic was coming to him quicker and faster than he had expected. He looked up to his right. He couldn’t see the Amazon Rainforest in the darkness, but he knew it loomed over the town like a mighty guardian. He could feel the power in that jungle, and he could feel it feeding him. There was something otherworldly about it that he couldn’t explain. But at this moment he didn’t care. He loved the extra strength surging through his body as his magic worked all around him. His cold state softened slightly as he took in the wonder of the completely destroyed street rebuilding itself, until there was absolutely nothing left of the earlier destruction but a single piece of rock that couldn’t find its place.

  Nathan’s magic wasn’t hard to miss from above the town. Sky even hovered for a while, as he watched his brother control all the earth and rock around him and fill the chasm up completely. Sky had seen Nathan morph the earth before. He’d made a whole earthen staircase right down into the South American Underworld not so long ago. But Sky had never seen his brother work as fast as this. The main street of the town wasn’t a short road, and the chasm had stretched all along it. This was one of the more powerful pieces of magic that Nathan had performed. Or maybe he could always morph the earth like this; Sky had just never seen him do it this fast before.

  Sky smiled as he watched his brother get up from a crouched position and look up and down the main street. There was nothing left of the chasm. There was not a single crack in the street to be seen.

  Looking around the town from above, Sky found it strange to think that Gayle had lived here all her life. It was a simple town, not too big. Nothing like where a Queen should live, that was for sure. Sky looked over to his left. Lian and Matu had finished on the western side of the village and they had each gone north and south respectively to tackle the rest of the veil. He himself had already done what he could with the veil. He didn’t know how many times and at how many places they would have to place their hand on the veil and recite the spell to get it to finally disappear, but from what Sophie had told them he knew they should be close.