“The elders can’t be that powerful,” Sitra remarked, flicking her clawed fingers against the hull. “The council is a bunch of Wisdom Walkers, each one a Master of the school. There’s one for each of the local planets right?”
“Twenty-one in all,” Lileth replied. “They are a force worthy of pause, of that there is no doubt. However, Chiron fought during the last war while the council hid in the temple. He was one of the Unbound, trained by Varka himself. Alvani has worked under Chiron ever since.”
“The Unbound?” Cole asked. “The old storyteller lady talked about them at the theater. They were the only ones who stood a chance against The Three right?”
“That old storyteller lady’s name is Ka Reine, and you would do yourself a service to address her properly,” Valen scolded him. “She is most revered throughout the Dark Side. Her age is greater than any other, as is her gift for memory. But you are correct, the Unbound were the only ones who had any sort of effect on The Three. The council, being Masters of Wisdom, were perfect prey for those adept with Fear. Even if they all gathered as one, a single minion of Decreath could devastate their numbers. Decreath himself would lay waste to the lot of them, the city included. Alvani is a master of Passion and expert of Wisdom, and Chiron is master of both. They will have no trouble protecting you from the council.”
“I think I get it,” Cole said, glancing at Lileth. The memory of her kiss played before his mind’s eye. “Even though I was fully engulfed in Rage you were able to lift me into the air no sweat. My Rage was useless with the simplest of Wisdom spells. The council’s Wisdom would be similarly crippled by strong Passion.”
Lileth locked eyes with him, smirking with a look of playful guile that was meant for him alone. “That is also why Kreed, or I should say Decreath in Kreed’s body, fled Costas. Decreath is not only a master of Fear, he is Fear. But as powerful as his putrid magic is, he would have been no match for your Rage.”
Cole felt a surge of pride, though his guilt quickly stifled it. His Rage was perfect against Decreath and his Fear, but it only made him more vulnerable to Grotton and his Hunger. Not even a week ago Hunger was used on him, and he fell right for it. If not for Roth he would have fed on that soul fly just as Kreed had fed on Storn.
“And to think,” Cole murmured. “As powerful as our Masters are, not even they can stand up to The Three. In Costas Roth was easy prey for Decreath and now trying to fight Sorronis’s Colossus.”
No one spoke. They had all seen the shape Roth was in before he flew at the Alpha Colossus. A somber mood fell over the patio. Losing Roth was hard to accept; it didn’t even make sense in Cole’s mind. It was as if a mountain he had seen every day had suddenly vanished.
Sitra sprang to her feet. “And on that cheery note, I’m going to bed.” Without another word she left through the deck door.
“I am tired as well,” Eliza sighed, rising to her feet and following Sitra.
Eliza’s bell rang in Cole’s mind: “I have more to tell you. Come find me in the crow’s nest if you want to talk.” She gave him a warm, comforting mental hug before reducing their link to a single strand. It was a gesture of etiquette; the thin link would allow them to find each other in the dark while allowing for privacy in their thoughts.
Cole sat in silence for a moment, pondering over what he could have done to save Roth. He hoped Lileth was likewise engaged and that Valen would be the next to leave.
“The ship is slowing.” Valen strode across the patio, taking another bowl of soup before stepping to the door. “The gratia stone may need another charge. I should go talk with the captain.”
The door slammed shut as Valen disappeared through it, leaving Cole alone with Lileth and a very sleepy Goran. The mirak had eaten himself into a stupor. He swayed on the spot as his ruby eyes rolled with drowsiness.
Lileth strode to the edge of the patio, placing her elbows on the railing and gazing out into the White Sands. “You know, I’ve seen almost all that Aeneria has to offer, and in moments like this it still takes my breath away. I always thought the sands a harsh and unforgiving land. But now, looking out from the comfort of a Morthainian ship, I find it captivating.”
“Aeneria is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Cole said, leaning awkwardly against the railing, which was just a bit too high for him. He felt close to her. Drawn to her. It was as if in that moment Lileth understood him better than anyone else. “Just about everywhere I look I find something beautiful.” He didn’t realize he was gawking at Lileth until her eyes locked onto his, startling him.
“There is much to appreciate here.” She unfolded her arms, laying a hand on the railing, close to Cole’s.
“There certainly is.” Cole swallowed back the butterflies that tried climbing out from his chest. His heart and mind were a flutter of activity, swirling with elation and longing. He had felt these things before, but not like this. It was as if his recently developed Passion had amplified his yearning to an unbearable level. He didn’t know if he should throw himself at her or run away before his desire made the choice for him. He felt hot. His skin was wet. Things stirred in him in places he wished she would help him explore.
“Are you well, Cole? You look flushed.” Her brow mushed with concern as her lips pouted, looking full and inviting. If only he could reach them. She traced a finger alongside his face. “I could inspect you. I’m not as adept with the medicinal facets of Passion as Eliza, but I will do what I can.” There was a hint of bitterness in the way she moved her lips when she said Eliza’s name. Was it jealousy?
“No, no, I’m good.” Cole wiped his forehead with a tablecloth. “Just a little warm out here, you know?”
She placed her hand back on the railing. Was it even closer than before? Cole leaned towards her until his arm touched hers. He could feel her taut skin on his.
“I’m here if you need me, Cole,” she said, her voice rich and sweet to his ears. “Your life has not been an easy one, yet you keep moving where others would have given up. You are special.”
Cole felt her eyes on him, looking down and raking over his face. For some reason he couldn’t bring himself to meet her gaze. His heart thumped so loudly he worried she would hear it. His eyes remained glued to the White Sands, studying the craggy teeth of the distant mountains.
“I don’t…” His voice tapered off. He was about to say that he didn’t feel special at all, but in truth he had never felt more important, more a part of something than he did right now. “Thank you, Lileth. You have been…very important to me since I came to The Sill. Before that even. I still remember the dream in the meadow. Or at least it was a dream to me.”
“I remember the meadow as well.” Her eyes smiled, but her lips quivered with sorrow. “I don’t know how to thank you for that. I am embarrassed to admit what I went to that meadow to do. I’ve told no one.” Her eyes darted about, stricken with panic and pain. “I would not be here if the aethers had not brought you to me.”
Cole’s hand fell over her white knuckles. The tips of her fingers had hardened into little munisica. “I don’t know what brought me to you, but I’m glad I found you. Don’t forget, I wouldn’t be here either if you hadn’t saved me in the lagoon.” Cole gripped her hand and her claws receded. “Lileth, why was it that you were able to heal me when Alvani wasn’t? She is a master of Passion. If she couldn’t fix me then why could you?”
A heavy silence filled the air between them. Her hand stiffened under his little fingers. A splinter of Fear snuck in between the hammer blows of his Passion-fueled heart.
She brought her gaze to Cole, making his legs wobble. “I was able to heal you for the same reason you were able to save me from my doom in the meadow. There is something in you. The same thing is in me as well. It is potent, yet invisible. It is profound, yet it transcends both worlds and time. Do you know of what I speak?”
Cole’s thumping heart clanged like a machine gun. He knew what she meant, but there was no way he could put words to it. He had to try,
however. She was staring at him, her eyes yearning for a response.
“I know what you mean,” he breathed. “I…don’t know how to describe it. But I feel as if I knew you all along, and you knew me. Like we were old friends before we even met.”
“That is as fine a point as I could describe.” She smiled, placing her other hand over his. It was so warm and comforting. Cole only wished he was taller. He was sick of being smaller than everyone. Especially Lileth.
From the other side of the patio Goran’s barking snarls shattered their moment.
“What’s wrong with him?” Lileth asked, her eyes wide.
Cole dug into Goran’s link. He felt teeth gnashing and claws tearing into enemies unknown, somewhere high on a mountain.
“He’s dreaming.” Cole smiled as Goran’s misty visions switched to fantasies of triumph and feasting. “I forgot he was out here.”
Lileth sighed with relief. “I didn’t know animals could dream. Then again, Goran is unlike any other animal I have ever seen. Just as like you are unlike any other person I have ever met.”
“Alvani mentioned how Goran and I were growing together.” Cole watched the rapid rise and fall of Goran’s ribs as steamy air rushed from his snout. “He dreams all the time now. He’s grown a lot too. When I first met him he was no taller than my shin, and I was way smaller than I am now. He was my first friend on Aeneria, the first person I could trust. He taught me how to survive in the woods, showed me how to adapt. Then Domina attacked us and he just went off like a bomb. Practically exploded! The next time I saw him he was the giant furball that we have now.”
Lileth gave Goran a look of adoration, before returning her eyes to Cole. Oberon’s light trickled through the loose strands of her black hair, revealing a sheen of blue. “He had no choice but to grow, just as you had no choice. We have all grown since you joined us. I’ve been with the unit for quite some time, and with The Sill even longer. Though I knew you were something else, you were just an Underkin to the rest of them. You were as weak and inept as we all expected, but only at first. Soon you grew faster than any of us had. It pushed us, drove us harder. We took our lessons more seriously. You elevated us.”
To this, Cole had no response. His unit had always been on a higher level than he could comprehend. They were practically superheroes from movies. The fact that Lileth looked up to him, even as he had to crane his neck to meet her eyes, was paradoxical to the extreme.
Lileth’s head snapped out towards the sands. Oberon’s fickle hues painted a violent rainbow on her sharp features. Cole followed her gaze to the sky, where he beheld swirling droves of soul flies far above them. The orbs danced in unseen tunnels, racing and twirling their way down. Cole recognized the rivers, for he had led them in his dreams. The veins twisted and joined, forming a funnel of color and lights that coalesced into a single torrent of lights. Though the spinning tower was miles away, Cole still felt their warmth on his cheeks.
The sight was too beautiful for words. Cole’s head fell against Lileth’s shoulder just as her head fell against his. They watched in serenity as the bleak sands turned into a roiling ocean of life and fire.
Chapter 10
Sin Blossom
He had found peace within the heart of the enemy. Talin was no longer Talin, but something else entirely. He was no longer in his cell, but deep within what was left of his consciousness. A barren wasteland of echoed Despair and smoldered Hatred was all that remained of his mind. Somewhere in the furthest reaches of his worthlessness was a pit, deep and decayed. The pit became Talin’s new home, for in his waking hours he could feel the phantoms of his memories calling to him, begging that he dive back in. The phantoms demanded payment for what he had done.
The pit was where Talin lay now, at the very bottom. The phantoms swirled about him, closing and calling to him. A ghostly figure of a much younger Pineah swam forth, taking him back to the beautiful shallows of The Sill’s lagoon. Images flashed before his mind’s eyes with increasing lucidity. He was running down the beach in search of a more intimate location for the two of them. The azure moonlight painted the curves of Pineah’s body. Pearly sand scratched in between his toes as they waded out in the warm water. Her legs wrapped around his waist as their fingers wove together. Her unbridled laughter filled him as they spun about. Her lips were a conduit of raw Passion.
The phantom howled as the memory curdled in Talin’s mouth like soured milk. Sinking its claws deep, the phantom latched onto Talin’s soul and with indulgent slowness, tore its payment from him. Talin curled into a ball, his scream rising with the phantom’s wails. The wraith drifted away, taking with it the final piece of his sense of comfort.
Talin heaved his lungs empty, shaking and sweating. He didn’t have time to catch his breath before the next phantom was on him, dragging him flailing and screaming to another treasured memory. His first month at The Sill was trying to the extreme. Talin was lost, depressed, and tired. Most of all he felt a sense of severe isolation, a profound loneliness that smothered him like a heavy blanket. Sneaking out on the night of a sunrise, he broke into a pub down in the markets and made off with a bottle of iced moonwine. Retreating to an isolated pine, he climbed to the very top, where he planned on watching the birth of the new sky. At the uppermost platform he was surprised to discover his Pineah. They spent the entire sunrise chasing the bottom of the bottle while captivated by the new constellations. For the first time in far too long, Talin felt at home.
The phantom’s howl echoed throughout the pit as it dug into the raw flesh of his inner-self, ripping and jerking its payment from him. Talin couldn’t catch his breath, let alone brace himself for the mutilation of his soul. The phantom wept as it faded back into the shadows of the pit, taking with it Talin’s capacity for joy.
Pineah’s phantoms came and went. With each passing Talin lost another part of himself; desire, curiosity, pride, empathy, conviction, self-preservation. He had nothing left of his core self, yet still the phantoms came, ripping and raking over raw wounds, greedy claws searching and scraping. Talin willingly thrust it all upon them, for he had no use for these parts of himself outside the pit. There was no point to any of it.
The cries of the phantoms died away as they slipped back into the crags of his mind. He knew they would come calling again, but for now they were sated. Talin lay at the very bottom of the pit, bathing in the nothingness. He had crawled in and out of the pit more times than he could recall, each time emerging with less of himself. Soon he knew there would be nothing left to give. He would emerge an empty husk. Perhaps he already was.
Talin rose to his feet, wincing. It was time to crawl out again. Eyes sunken and heavy, he reached from foothold to handhold as he prepared himself for the harsh, ripping winds of his wasteland.
Opening his eye, Talin found himself back in his body. Back in the doorless cell. As bleak as it had been, his prison had lost what little color and light it had. Even the sour decay of Pineah’s body had failed to rouse his disgust. He had no urge or desire to speak of. He only vaguely registered Kreed’s white suit in the corner of the room.
Kreed leaned forward in his chair. His eyes lit with vicious intrigue as he looked Talin over. “Aethers take me, that was marvelous. Truly spectacular. How does it feel?”
Talin did not move.
Kreed giggled, clapping his hands together as if they were on fire. “Oh I think we’re nearly there! Scraping the bottom of the barrel indeed! It’s a shame young Habbad was tied up with an appointment. He practically begged me to see you do it.”
A wet snapping sound came from the corner of the cell. Kreed’s lip curled in revulsion as he glanced over at Pineah’s corpse. “Ugh, disgusting. I hope you don’t mind if Baedine indulges. She hasn’t fed in some time and has taken to nipping at her own hide again. Fucking repulsive I know, but she wasn’t my idea. Decreath pulled her from my sister and now I’m stuck with the beast. But that’s all blood under the bridge now. I assumed you were quite finished with y
our darling Pineah anyhow. I do hope Baedine’s actions are not a touch indelicate?”
Talin was still as stone as he slumped in the chair he was only now aware of sitting in. His hands, Pineah’s hands, fell from his lap and hung by his sides.
“Not a damn thing?” Kreed’s voice was ablaze with accusation. “You just murdered your wife and now my dog is eating her corpse. Does that not upset you? Don’t you have anything to say? What kind of monster can live such horror without so much as a twinge of guilt? For heaven’s sake man, at least look at what you’ve done.”
Kreed’s scowl twisted with annoyance as he jumped to his feet. Baedine paused in her feeding, looking up at her Master with wet, lidless eyes. Kreed stormed across the cell and grasped the cuff of Talin’s shirt, dragging him over to Pineah. Baedine folded her wings and skittered off.
“Behold her!” Kreed spat, shoving Talin’s face into the decaying folds. “Look at her, look at what you’ve wrought you piece of shit!”
Talin hung limply, choking on Pineah’s remains.
Kreed planted his feet and threw Talin across the cell, where he crashed into a cot. Gasping, Kreed ran his fingers through his hair and circled the room.
“You truly are ready.” Tears welled as Kreed’s lip quivered. “I hope you are, because I certainly am not.”
Kreed straightened his lapels and sighed through pursed lips before stepping to the wall. He took his little finger to his mouth and pulled it across his broken teeth. He removed the finger, which now wore a jagged gash that bled freely. He smeared the blood on the wall with careful strokes as if he were working a canvas. The blood bubbled and crawled of its own accord, spreading into a disk the size of a large serving platter. The disk changed from a ruddy crimson to a dark plum as Kreed waved his hands over it.
Saving The Dark Side Book 2: The Harbingers Page 19