by Noëlie Frix
“There’s already three of us,” countered Electra. “And I have an idea where we can find at least one more ally. We need to go see an old friend.”
“Who?” inquired Heka.
Electra cryptically replied, “You’ll see when we get there.”
“If you’re not telling me, it’s probably not someone I want to see.”
“You want a clue, sis? He’s not your friend,” she winked.
“That helps so much, what with me and my countless enemies.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself,” Jason joked halfheartedly. “I bet you can count them, especially given that most are dead.”
“Hahaha! Hilarious!”
“Let’s focus! We need to leave today. My friend will be able to help us greatly, but he lives in an isolated area, so we need to take a boat. Follow me.”
Electra, or Storm as she was also known, walked to one side of the room and pressed on a panel. It revealed a lift that would take them all the way down. No stairs this time.
“And the reason you forgot to mention the easy way up is…?” accused Heka, glaring enviously at the pulley system.
“I like my privacy and stairs usually keep most people at bay. You’re a tough girl though, you made it. Congrats sis, I’m proud of you!”
“How long until we reach your friend’s place?” Jason inquired, diverting the conversation away from the snarky confrontational banter.
“Seeing as the winds are greatly favorable and my ship is designed for speed, we should be there by tomorrow afternoon.”
“Very favorable winds, eh? And I’m guessing the storm will spare us too?” Jason smiled.
“Course it will!”
They quickly reached the harbor. Electra did not need to pay anyone or explain anything. She just walked up to her ship, untied it from the deck, and the three of them were on their way to Electra’s mysterious friend.
“Let’s get ourselves below deck before the wind pushes us overboard,” Electra warned.
“Shouldn’t someone steer?” Jason worried.
“No. The winds are pushing us southeast. Perfect…coincidence,” she smirked.
The next morning, the storm had finally died down, and in the distance, their destination appeared.
Chapter 5: Nature’s Haven
The island was big, yet it seemed devoid of human life. From the ship, all they could see was a lush green paradise. Early in the afternoon, they finally set foot on the small white sand beach. It was beautiful. Hundreds of thousands of wildflowers and trees sprawled everywhere, covering the vast majority of the island, in the center of which rose a volcano.
“Electra, I hope this is not the home of whom I think it is,” Heka said menacingly.
“We should go. He lives in the center of the island.” she replied, ignoring her sister’s comment.
“This is not going to help us develop a good sister relationship. It’s him, isn’t it?! I hate him!”
“Come on,” Storm retorted and walked into the dense forest of millions of exotic plants.
Heka was fuming. Normally, such beauty would make anyone happy and peaceful. That’s how Jason and Electra felt. But Heka stomped on ahead, ignoring her gorgeous surroundings. She felt like screaming and punching someone. As a matter of fact, as they got closer to the volcano and the vegetation became less dense, she punched a tree, surprising the other two. The tree cracked, but the fissures that had appeared closed up as quickly as they had formed. Now she was certain whose lair this was and the rage boiling inside her threatened to overflow. Plus her knuckles were bloodied and hurt, though the wounds were already healing.
“Didn’t you say something about self-control?” Jason asked, partly amused and slightly shocked.
“Would you please not do that!? We need him! If you go around killing his creations, he’s not going to want to help us.”
“If you think his assistance is so critical, then he will. Whether he wants to or not,” her voice was full of menace.
“Jason, how about you two stay here and I go talk to him?” Electra suggested.
“Good idea,” he agreed just as they walked into the clearing surrounding the volcano. At its base, there was a small opening that led into a cave. While Heka and Jason stood outside, Electra ventured in.
The sun shone brightly up above, the air was pleasantly cool. Yet Heka’s mood seemed to bring the storm her sister was supposed to embody.
“You know, when you said that a warrior’s blood boils, I didn’t think you meant it literally,” Jason joked as he half-expected smoke to shoot from her ears.
Heka tried for a smile but failed miserably. “Sorry,” she said. “I try, but I just can’t stand him.”
“Who is he? What did he do?”
“One of the most secretive and enigmatic Immortals, though he is everywhere. Less so in cities, which he probably hates. He’s Nature. His name is Trélig.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of him,” Jason sounded surprised. “So what happened between the two of you?”
“It’s a long story. I saved his life a long time ago.”
“His life?”
Jason’s surprise was understandable. Immortals were…well, immortal. They could lose their powers in some incredibly extreme cases—that had only happened twice. The first had gotten decapitated dozens of times, and the last time it happened his hands had put his head on backwards. The other one had slowly bled all his blood out and drowned, then been crushed by a rock. He lived, but lost his powers. Both had also lost their companions, which had contributed to their demise. Out of hundreds of Immortals, two wasn’t many. But dying was even harder. Immortals chose the one way they could die. Usually, it was something they would not be faced with. Something random, exceedingly specific and unrealistic. And they never revealed what it was. So saying you saved an Immortal’s life was very unlikely.
“Maybe not his life,” she admitted grudgingly, “but I am ninety nine percent sure I saved his powers. I expected him to thank me, but he just walked away. I thought it was alright. He was shocked after all, so I just let him go. A couple years later, I saw him in the city. I meant to say hi.”
“He didn’t thank you, did he?”
“No. He seemed angry to see me. You know what he did?” she still sounded incredulous to remember it. “He challenged me to a duel!”
“Uh, hello! Can we say ‘crazy’?”
“Yeah, no one in his right mind would willingly duel with me.”
“Even I wouldn’t.” Jason admitted.
“Anyways, he said I had no business meddling with his life. I tried to stay calm, reminded him I had saved him. He stayed silent for a while which is why I am almost certain he would have lost his powers.”
“So what happened?”
“He said he wanted a challenge without using our powers. That does not make much of a difference for me, since I do not need to use my powers to be the greatest warrior ever.”
“Not very modest, but true,” Shadow smiled.
“I was kicking his butt when a vine grabbed me from the ground by my ankle.”
“So on top of being an insane ingrate he’s a cheater,” Jason frowned, starting to question Electra’s reasoning and friendships.
Heka nodded, “I cut the vines down with my sword. He made them wrap around me. Just as I was about to get away, a thorn pricked my finger, and I fell unconscious.”
“So not only did he lie, but he poisoned you as well?!” Shadow knit his brow.
“Yep.”
“Makes sense why you don’t like him.”
“That is not the end of it.”
“What?”
She shook her head, “Uh huh. I woke up in a room, tied at the foot of a makeshift throne. I look up and who do I see? Some old cranky warlord I once fought and almost killed. Next to him, Trélig is standing, looking smug. I escaped of course, but before I could drive my sword through his lying, wretched heart, the earth had swallowed him up. Literally.”
“What happened to the warlord?”
“Oh, he mysteriously lost all his wealth and ended up working as a poor peasant. Shame, really,” Heka said innocently.
“I…” Jason did not have time to finish.
“Aah, Warrior! It is good to see you!”
The boy who had walked out of the cave looked young. His eyes were a true rainbow, swirling with colors—apple green, deep purple, sky blue, some golden orange…It was unsettling. He only looked about fourteen years old. His wavy hair was light blond and stopped below his ears. He was tan, almost as dark as Shadow, and slightly shorter than the others.
Heka narrowed her eyes at him as he walked up to them.
“And you must be Shadow. Jason, right? I hear you need help. Heka,” he said, as he stepped closer to her, “you look as beautiful as ever.”
“Do. Not. Take. Another. Step. Towards. Me!” she warned.
“Or what?” he taunted, as he took one more step in her direction. Just one.
Heka’s leg shot forward.
“Or that!” The blade of her foot caught Trélig in the chest and sent him flying through the air. He barely had time to summon a bush beneath him to soften his fall and Heka heard a satisfying ‘Ooof’. Electra happened to come out of the cave just as her sister hit their new ally.
“Are you mad?” she yelled. “We need him on our side.”
“He earned it. I warned him!”
“Yes, she did,” Jason concurred.
“I don’t care! He agreed to help us. Behave yourself!”
“Tell that to him,” Heka grumbled.
Nature hobbled up towards them, breathing with some difficulty.
He cringed, “Haven’t lost your touch, I see.”
“There are plenty in store for you if you don’t help. And I know you’re keen to changing sides. Another warning that I recommend you take seriously: Don’t! If you help the others out, I will find you, crush you, and maybe even kill you.”
“Good luck with that last bit. But you don’t have to worry about that. If they had their ways, War, Disease and Death would kill everything in their path, including nature. So there is no chance I will join them. And I apologize for what I may have done in the past. I have grown now. I sincerely regret those things,” he looked her straight in the eye as he sought forgiveness.
“Really?” she said highly doubtful.
“Yes. Thank you for helping me out too. The first time we met.”
Heka shrugged grudgingly, “You are welcome. Time to prove you and your sorry ass were worth saving. Let’s get on with it.”
Chapter 6: A Plan Somewhat Insane
(Kill Death, Cure Disease, Fight War)
Night had fallen quickly. The fire burned high and bright, keeping the darkness and cold at bay. They sat around it, looking expectantly at Trélig who leafed through a rather thick volume bound in twine and covered with leaves.
“The three of them will coordinate their attacks,” he said, and Heka bit back the sarcastic obviously which burned her tongue. “But they work very differently. Death will just go around killing systematically,” Nature’s near omnipresence throughout the world made him a very knowledgeable Immortal. As much as Warrior hated to admit it, his insights would be crucial to their strategy and their odds of winning. “His Touch of Death is his most powerful weapon. It’s a pretty self-explanatory power: all he needs to do is touch people and they die.”
“Cheerful,” Heka grimaced.
“Disease will also kill but through—”
“—let me guess, diseases?”
“Yes, Heka. But nothing like we have ever seen. She is preparing something terrible.”
“How do we deal with her?” Electra asked.
“I have a pretty good idea of how to handle Sciana,” Trélig confidently asserted. “She’ll probably attack from the cities. That’s where most people live. It’s crowded which is perfect for spreading a nasty virus, and lots of rodents live there too. They are amazing carriers for diseases.”
“And I am guessing she will not stick to one city,” sighed Jason.
“No, she will hit the biggest, most crowded ones simultaneously. From there the disease will spread on its own. So, the proliferation will not require much effort from her. But she will need time and energy to prepare the virus. Probably something that causes a slow and painful death.”
“So what can we do?” Heka asked impatiently.
“I have started to prepare a basic antidote that will help relieve the most common pain and symptoms. But I will need to examine the disease before I am able to concoct a real cure. The antidote should also help slow down the spread of the virus.”
“How are you going to examine the disease,” wondered Shadow.
“By examining a dead body. It is unfortunate, but some will have to die before we can save others.”
Curious about the extent and application of Nature’s powers, which she had only observed on those couple occasions she’d mentioned to Jason, Heka further inquired, “How will you get the body?”
“Easy enough, I’ll just get some plants to bring someone here. Many places still have earthen floors through which my plants can pass.”
“And how will you distribute the antidote?” she pressed.
“I’ll need your help on this one, Electra,” Nature turned to face her. “It’s liquid, so you could disperse it through clouds and make a few storms rain over the main cities so it gets into their water supplies.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard. A little tiring maybe, but I would only need a day’s rest to make up for it.”
“Good.”
“What about Death? Any ideas on how to get him?” Warrior worried, mindlessly twirling one of her daggers between her slender fingers.
“Yes, but it is not going to be easy and it might, well no, it will be dangerous.” Trélig hesitated, furtively glancing down at his book, as though he wrestled with whether to actually share the information. “There are two plants that can be brewed together to form a poison potent enough to harm Death. The Moonlight and the Sunlight flowers; each formed from a drop of moon and sun light, respectively. They are hard to get, their existence one of the best-kept secrets in our world. The Sunlight one is in the middle of a burning sand desert. The other is buried in an icy wasteland. From my understanding,” his eyes skimmed over the words again, “not only are both hidden, but also protected by traps.” He continued, “If we can obtain them, then they must be made into a potion that is very complicated. If I made a single mistake, it would be ruined.”
“And once made, how do we use it?” Heka didn’t seem phased by the difficulty Nature implied this flower-picking adventure would entail.
“Death has to drink it,” Nature grimaced.
“Well,” Heka started after a short stunned silence, her expression completely changed, “That’ll be a breeze. How long would all the things you have to prepare take you?”
“I already started working on the antidote. It’s only a matter of hours now. The cure would be harder to figure out, but once I make it, I should be able to mass-produce it easily and quickly. The death brew would take me a while, though. A few days, maybe a week once I have the flowers? And we might have another problem with Death.”
“It gets worse?” Electra asked bewildered.
“Unfortunately so,” he cringed. “Death does not only create the dead, he also controls them.”
“Yeah. I remember hearing about something like that,” Heka started. “Let me guess! Death kills a bunch of people, Disease and War do too, and what are they going to do with all these corpses?”
“Use them,” Trélig finished with a wary nod. “Death can control them, like a…puppet-master.”
“Any weakness we could exploit?” Jason asked.
“It’s not his strongest power. The dead won’t be good fighters, nor will they be smart. But they will be numerous.”
“Rule of war. If you do not have quality, then turn to quantity
,” Heka muttered. “Stupid, if you ask me. Does anyone have suggestions on how we could counter that?”
“I think I can help,” Jason put in. “Not too long ago, I discovered a new and strange aspect of my power. You know how some people believe that the shadow is an important part of you? Of your soul? Well, I think that it is still alive after a person has died. And, as the one and only Shadow, I can…how do I put this? I put the shadow back into the body, and then I can control that person.”
“Creepy, but cool. And convenient,” Heka smiled, feeling a bit more optimistic.
“So the corpses you control are as good as you are?” Trélig guessed.
Jason nodded.
“Where do we start?” Electra wondered.
“Jason, I would recommend you go get the Moonlight Flower. Perfect your ‘raising-of-the-dead’ technique so you can use it when the time comes. Electra, as Storm, you could get the Sunlight one. If you need to, you can easily summon some rain clouds.” They both nodded their approval. “I will stay here. Prepare to fight Disease and call on other Immortals to help us. Maybe it’s time for me to abandon secrecy. We might need our own army soon.”
Heka already knew the task she was left with. But since Nature seemed to have a gift for at least some aspects of strategizing, she prodded, “What about me?”
“Well, Warrior, as War’s niece, I was hoping you could figure something out to eliminate the threat he poses. I do not know much about the art of war, and you would be the best placed to find out information. Try to change his mind, perhaps.”
Changing his mind wasn’t what she’d first gone to, but they were in agreement as to where she should head next, then. “I can try,” Warrior considered, “but I know he will not budge. He is incredibly stubborn and loves a good fight.”
“A family trait, I guess,” Jason whispered.
“However,” she continued, ignoring the comment, “I can find out some information about his plans of attack. It’s been a long time since I last saw my dearest uncle.”
“I can see the family resemblance,” Electra snickered.
“You don’t get to pick your family,” Heka replied, ticked off. Despite Electra being War’s niece as well, the two had seldom interacted. “Believe me,” she added, “even if we manage to thwart Death and Disease, we will have to deal with war. Both my uncle and the actual thing.”