by Noëlie Frix
“Of course,” Jason answered. Both of their voices, cold and calculating, threw a chill in the room; despite the fire burning in the chimney, it seemed like the temperature kept falling. “As my name clearly indicates, I can control shadows. I can make them move, shape them, weave them, etc. I can instill fear in people. And I can turn myself into shadow, effectively rendering myself nearly invisible and untouchable. Generally speaking, I thrive in darkness.”
“That all sounds very good. You could make yourself very useful around here. Would you care to demonstrate?”
He nodded and was replaced by a dark outline that moved out of the chair and into the surrounding darkness. All that was left behind was the characteristic wisp of black smoke. Death looked around but was unable to find him.
“It even allows me to walk through items, walls, and people,” his voice came from behind Death who used all his willpower not to jump. Shadow grinned behind his back and then, his face once again impassive, he came to sit in front of Death.
“Impressive,” he admitted. “What about the others?”
“Electra can create storms and control them. Nature can use and create all sorts of plants which obey every command he gives.”
“Hmm, we had expected as much. Is there anything not obvious, anything that could endanger our success?”
“Not that I know of,” Jason said. “I only met them about a week ago.”
“That’s alright. You know about Heka.”
Jason bit his lip. He did know about her and her powers. But betraying her that completely wasn’t easy. War stepped through the door and answered for him.
“My niece is very powerful. She is the best warrior the world has ever seen. She is also the best trainer, the patron of all soldiers,” War sat down next to Jason, crossing his legs, looking smug. “She can use and control all weapons that exist, though she prefers to use her body instead of her power to fight. Her favored weapons are her double swords. She is an excellent strategist, a gifted General, unbeatable soldier.”
“Even by you?”
“No, perhaps not. I can battle with her, but even I am not sure of the outcome. I have power over battles, armies, war overall. She, on the other hand, has control over the individuals that fight. We are alike in our abilities, but, quite unfortunately, at polar opposites in ideologies. As you have seen already, she also has incredible regenerative abilities. Heka has unbelievable endurance, strength, agility, flexibility, and sarcasm, though I am not sure that last one is one of her Immortal powers or just an annoying talent of hers,” he added, well, sarcastically. “And I have always suspected she could control metal.”
“Good. I am glad to know my opponents. She seems like a powerful enemy. We have battles to discuss,” he said standing up, followed by Shadow then Marcus. “We can do so over dinner.”
“I cannot join you, I am afraid,” War apologized. “I have business to tend to myself. I will be back tomorrow morning.”
“Very well. Will you show Jason to the dining room on the way?”
“Sure. Come,” he gestured him to the door and walked out, following Jason closely. They walked in awkward silence until they came up to the room. “Here it is. You made the right decision by joining us. Changing your mind now, however, would be a cruel mistake on your part. I know you are a good fighter, after all, you were Heka’s boyfriend, and your powers will be useful to me in war. Enjoy your evening,” War said, turned away and left Jason standing alone in the dining room. The latter sighed heavily and closed the door behind him. After making sure no one else was watching, he turned to a dark corner and said, “We’re alone now.”
Electra stepped out of the shadows. “That felt really weird,” she said, shivering.
“I wasn’t sure I could keep it up this long,” Jason admitted. “You stayed hidden the whole time?”
“Mostly,” she glared accusingly. “But about fifteen minutes ago, I suddenly reappeared which freaked me out and cost a guard a few bones and his consciousness.”
“I had to demonstrate for Death and couldn’t keep both of us in shadow-form,” he apologized.
“Are you alright?” she asked, noticing his stricken face.
“What do you think? I watched Heka get tortured and didn’t do anything to stop it,” he said guiltily.
“I know. But it was the only way. You want the good news?”
“You did it?” he asked hopeful.
“Yep, the death brew is—” she stopped suddenly when they heard footsteps outside the door.
“Hide,” Jason said hurriedly. Electra quickly slipped behind a cupboard just as Death entered. The table was already set and the two of them sat on opposite sides.
“You enjoy wine?” Death asked.
“Yes, every once in a while I enjoy a glass.”
“Well then, you are in luck, I have a delicious red waiting to be savored,” someone brought in a bottle, poured its red content into their glasses, then left. “A toast,” Death said, “to our victory and the shattering of human civilization.”
He brought the glass to his lips and took a sip.
“To treason,” Jason said, putting the glass down, not drinking.
Death looked at him quizzically. Then his body went rigid; he made a strangled sound, tried to reach across the table, his hand went stiff, and he slumped into his chair.
*****
Heka screamed in pain and fell to the ground panting. Suddenly her wounds had started burning, the poison once again flowed through her veins and her head pounded so hard, it felt like it was about to explode. A guard turned the corner and saw her writhing on the ground, moaning. He neared her cautiously. All of a sudden, the pain vanished. She jumped up to her feet, surprising the guard whose legs were snapped out from under him. She took his knife and used the handle to knock him out. Now she was armed. It wasn’t like she felt wonderful all of a sudden, she was still weak, but the pain was gone. She smiled snidely, “Now, I am coming for you Death…unless you have already been taken care of.”
*****
Electra stepped out of her hiding place, eyeing Death warily. He stirred and both she and Shadow jumped, surprised.
“What…what?” he mumbled.
“Guess it was the second of the two options,” Electra said to Jason lightly.
“What did you do to me?” Death stood up facing the two of them.
“We gave you a little bit to drink,” Electra explained.
“Huh?”
“Have you ever heard of poison?” asked Jason.
“I am a master of poisons. But, they cannot affect me.”
“Seems to me they can,” she noticed. “Or at least this one can. Have you ever heard of the Moonlight and Sunlight flowers?” From the look on Death’s face, he had.
“Of course, but they are inaccessible. Protected by Spirits.”
“You know about Spirits?” Electra asked. “We didn’t until we faced them.”
“I do know about them, and I know they are unbeatable.”
“You’d be right about that, but cooperation is possible and works fine.” Well, maybe it hadn’t exactly been cooperation, but something like it.
“What happened to me?” Death narrowed his eyes. He had tried to send a discharge of excruciating pain to them, but they hadn’t budged. And now he was worriedly infuriated.
“We had hoped it would kill you. But Nature warned us it might produce a different result,” Jason began.
“You are still sort of immortal, but not entirely. You see, now you can be killed like a normal mortal. And you have lost your powers,” Electra added after a pause.
“You have made a terrible mistake,” he snarled. “Death is necessary to keep the world in balance. Without it, the planet will rapidly overpopulate.”
“You lost your power,” Jason began, “that doesn’t mean it’s gone.”
“The Spirits of the Sun and Moon now possess it. And as you said, they are unbeatable, therefore you will never get it back.”
“And as they are neutral individuals—well mostly—they will strive to keep the balance. They will not, however, try to kill off the human population.”
“So what now? You kill me?” he asked bitterly.
“No!” Heka appeared in the door, looking frail but mad. The knife she held in her hand, plus three that lay on the table, flew towards him without Heka touching a single one of them. Using her power drained away all her remaining energy, but she would worry about that later. The knives impaled themselves in the wall, piercing Death’s flesh, holding him firmly against the wall. “That would be too nice. So I’ll let you live. Live in fear of being killed, live without your power. But don’t ever cross my path again!” she warned. “Or else.” She used her power to throw one of the metal pans at Death’s face, breaking his nose and knocking him unconscious.
Heka slowly turned to face her sister and Jason. In a very calm and reasonable tone, which was much scarier than if she had yelled, she said, “I am going to kill you, Jason.” He turned pale and quickly started spewing out the truth.
“Woah, woah, woah, wait! I was never a traitor, I promise. I wasn’t a double agent, but a…triple agent, I guess. I wanted to tell you, but Electra convinced me that it was better to let you think I had betrayed you.”
“Really, and why is that?”
“Because you were surrounded by two very powerful Immortals, and they would have known if you had,” Electra explained. “It was the only way we could sneak in the death brew.”
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” said Jason. “Watching you suffer…”
“I…” Her eyes rolled back and she started falling, Jason barely had time to catch her before she hit the ground.
“What’s wrong with her?” Electra asked, worried.
“She’s exhausted,” he looked down at Heka’s tired face, and heard her breathing deeply. “Death weakened her really badly, and she used all the energy she had left to escape.”
“We should go.”
“Yeah, but first, we should lock him up,” he pointed to Death. “And I know just the perfect place for him,” he said with a sly grin.
When Death woke up, his nose still hurt and felt broken, his face was caked with dry blood. His wrists and ankles were shackled down to a cold granite table. A torch burned dimly on the wall opposite him and a thick black marble door barred the way to his left. Atos groaned and yelled in frustration. After a while, a guard came to check up on the prisoner and realized it was his own Lord who was tied up. He freed Death who, for the first time in his life, felt nearly powerless and immeasurably enraged.
“Keep on schedule,” he told the guard. I may have lost my Immortal abilities but not my knowledge, he thought. And I can still contribute and participate in this war. “Ready the troops,” he barked. “We leave in three days’ time.” And as he stood, he felt some power trickle back down into his fingertips.
Chapter 20: A New Strain
Heka woke to a gentle swaying motion. I’m on a boat, she realized as she tried to open her eyes. It was too bright and it hurt. Her head felt like it was being ripped open, and she felt sore. Every muscle in her body ached; a feeling not unknown to her—after all, she was the Warrior, and training took its toll—but somehow this was a little different, like the pain was deeper than usual.
“How’s she doing?”
“I think she’s awake,” she heard a boy whisper.
The voices were familiar, and Heka forced her eyes open again, this time the light wasn’t as bright, the ache in her head receded a bit.
“What’s goin’ on?” she mumbled groggily.
“Shh,” the boy soothed. “It’s okay. You’re back on the ship. We’re taking care of you. You’re safe now.” The voice belonged to Jason. She slowly sat up, looking into his worried face and her sister’s frowning eyes.
“I’m okay,” she croaked. “Thirsty.”
“I’ll bring you something right away,” Electra disappeared, leaving the two of them alone.
“So…” Jason began nervously. “Do you feel better?”
“Yeah, it would be hard to feel worse,” she tried to smile. “Though I feel like I might regret letting him live. He can still cause trouble.”
Electra walked back in and helped Heka sip some water.
“If you felt that’s what you needed to do, then you did the right thing. It was brave of you to do so. Braver to let him live than to kill him.”
“Well, I’ve got a reputation to maintain,” she smiled.
“Soon, you’ll be back to your old annoying self,” Electra said, but she was relieved, Heka could tell by the way the lines around her face smoothed. “We’ve got some new recruits for you to torture when we get back.”
Heka flinched at the word torture. I can’t let it get to me, she thought. Back to my old self. “I do not torture people, I train them…even if it might feel like torture, it’s not. I would know. And by the way, you’ll be one of those recruits that needs training.”
“Maybe you’ll go easy on me?”
Jason snorted. “She won’t go easy on anybody, and you know it, Electra. Especially not for her sister. If anything, you’ll likely get special treatment. Unless she’s drastically changed in the past five days, which I doubt since 572 years of life have not managed to make her softer.”
“Nope. I’m still me! And being my sister will not help. Being my no-longer-ex-boyfriend will not help either. Quite the contrary, actually.”
“So you and I are still…” Jason asked, beaming.
“What do you think?” She stood up, “I need to get some fresh air.”
She walked cautiously, holding on to Jason’s arm for support.
“We’re going back to Nature’s island first,” Electra said, walking close behind them. “A couple of recruits are there helping Trélig with some new problem, because god knows we don’t have enough of those already,” she sighed. “Then we’re going to King Damien’s court.”
“Damien?”
“Jason’s idea. He remembered you talking about him, saying he was an old friend you’d fought with. Before he headed for the pole, Jason went to talk to him and the king is willing to help us.”
“News of the war have reached him—Marcus is already on the move, and Damien knows he’ll need all the help he can get,” Jason added. “I figured it wouldn’t take much to convince him, even if I’d never met him.”
“That was a good idea. He fights for the right cause and has all the proper resources. Not only will he be able to amass a huge army, but he also has powerful allies who will fight on our side. Good.” Heka reached the prow of the ship and breathed in the cool, salty air. “We’ll have plenty of room to train, and I can finalize and improve my plans.”
“So you do have a plan?” Electra asked, curious.
“Always.”
“Like you’re always careful?” Jason teased.
“Hrrmm. Whatever!” Heka stumbled a little and he added, “You need to rest. In this state, you’ll barely manage to bruise your trainees.”
“Quick then, let me sleep,” she said hurriedly and turned back toward the stairs that led below deck. The others followed her, laughing.
The next day, after a long night’s rest, the island came into view, beautiful in the pinkish orange light of dawn.
“Who are the two Immortals here?” Heka wondered.
“I’ll let you find out for yourself.”
“You said the same thing about Nature. That didn’t go over too well,” she reminded her sister.
“Don’t worry. You might not like them, but they’re not old enemies or anything. Just a little…wild, I guess.”
“O—kay. But why are they here?”
“Not sure. Trélig said there was something wrong with the cure. That it wasn’t working quite as effectively anymore,” Shadow explained. “We had to leave before we found out what it was exactly.”
The ship soon reached the shore, the white sand grinding under its
hull. Electra jumped out first. Jason followed, nimbly passing over the railing, then Warrior jumped out after him. She managed to land on her feet, staggered and regained her balance.
“That was not graceful,” she groaned.
“At least you’ll have a day to get back into shape before we get to Damien’s castle.”
“That’s a relief,” she joked. “Come on. Let’s go see my favorite Immortal.”
Now that Heka wasn’t completely enraged and was okay with Nature, she could appreciate the beauty of her surroundings. This was the first time she felt peaceful since her capture. She felt good, calm, ready to face whatever challenge would come next. Okay, she admitted to herself, though she would never say this to Trélig, Nature’s got some nice properties. I actually do feel better, like the last traces of Death’s touch are leaving me. She found herself smiling, despite the circumstances.
They encountered Trélig outside meditating. Some noise came from inside the cave, sounds of explosions and whooping.
“Hey Trélig!” Electra called, surprising him.
“What’s going on?” Jason asked looking at the cave where he could now see lights shining every now and then.
“Well, if you want to know what was wrong with the cure,” he started getting up, “nothing.” He looked weary, like he hadn’t gotten enough sleep in a few days, “The problem wasn’t with it, it was with the disease itself. I knew something was wrong. The first cure was too easy to figure out. I mean, it wasn’t easy, but easier than I expected.”
“So what was wrong?”
“Disease must have expected us to riposte, she developed a new strain of the virus, it mutated in response to the genetic threat posed by my first concoction. It’s barely changed, but just enough so the first cure doesn’t work.”
“Ouch. Have you found a new one?” Electra asked concerned.
“Almost. Just a couple of ingredients to add to it and we’ll be done. But this new strain was so hard to unravel.”
“Who’d you ask for help? I’m guessing they’re the reason you look so beat up,” Heka said tactlessly.
“I wouldn’t talk if I were you,” he bit back, looking at her still pale face and bloodshot eyes, the dark rings under them. “They’re part of the reason why I’m tired yes. But they really assisted me. I got substantial help from the first one who decided to bring his friend over.” Trélig cringed at the sound of broken glass coming from inside the cave.