by Kyle West
Before I could say anything, Fiona was off. We watched as she spoke with Harrow, somewhat heatedly, for the next few minutes. Finally, she nodded and flew back toward us.
“He’s sending someone else,” she said.
I nodded. “Let’s go get a closer look. We need to let the men see us.”
I watched the field in the distance, where men fought and died for their future. For the entire world’s future. The crawlers were packed tightly in the killing zone, with more of them still pouring in from the pass. There were so many dead monsters now, and as Harrow had said, that it was tempering down the ferocity of their assault. Was his plan working?
But then, there was a change. As one, all the crawlers began scuttling backward, including the ones still in the pass. It was jarring to see them move like that. Such a movement would have been impossible to do with a human force, but it caused, in the space of seconds, for the entire swarm to be concentrated on breaking our lines, and in the next moment, to be retreating.
Men were cheering at the crawlers’ withdrawal, but I didn’t feel like celebrating. I knew this was far from over.
The cheering soon came to an end, and an eerie silence hung over the battlefield. I wondered what could be going on, when hundreds of small . . . things . . . began to fly over the rim of the canyon above. They were aimed downward, their long, sleek bodies going into a dive, their beaks as long and sharp as any sword.
It was the same monster that had tried to assassinate me, only this time, there were hundreds.
Chapter 29
There was no way to warn them in time. The birds dove at breakneck speed, and within seconds would crash as one into the central formation. The men readied themselves, however, raising their pikes for at least some measure of protection, but I knew that despite that, hundreds would die if those birds reached their marks.
I couldn’t sit by and let that happen. It was time.
Bond with me!
I felt my friends’ minds connect to my own as we collectively entered Silence. Everything came into sharp focus, and the falling birds seemed to fall in slow motion. This would hurt. A lot. And I didn’t even know if it was possible, with Odium not far away influencing things.
Nonetheless, we had to try.
We need to stop them, I said. Draw from the Xenofold. Draw all that you can. We will strike quickly and suddenly, before they know what’s happening.
At least, that was the plan. Time would only tell if it would work.
I felt my connection deepen, my mind seeming to float outside itself. I became aware of other minds connected to the Xenofold, of the Elekai dragons fighting above us, of my friends fighting beside me, even of the soldiers on the ground, many of whom had Elekai blood strong enough to use the Xenofold for extra focus or to dampen their fears. The sensory input of all those minds would have been overwhelming, but through the Xenofold, I was able to handle it.
I could see the diving birds falling in slow motion. They were already halfway toward the pikes.
I directed every bit of concentration I had toward ensnaring those monsters. I easily seized control of one of them, tethering its mind to my own. There was little time to wonder at how I’d done it. I used that monster as a springboard for tethering others. More of the birds fell under my control, and I only felt real resistance once the number of tethered creatures grew to about twenty. I felt a sudden pushback, and control slipping away. But I held, my entire body feeling as if it were burning from the effort. I pushed back, and the previous resistance was broken. I was pushing myself beyond what was good for me, but did that matter? If enough of these creatures were allowed through, it might weaken the line enough for the crawlers to break it.
I was screaming, such was the pain. But more and more of the birds came under my control. My friends were screaming as well, going through the same hell as me. I couldn’t hold this forever. I directed them to veer out of the way of our troops, and instead shot them, like a flight of arrows, toward the Radaskim dragons above. In that chaos, it was difficult to tell friend from foe, so I was guided by feeling alone. The connections were severed, one by one, as the living weapons found their marks. Black dragons rained from the sky, many of them with multiple birds embedded in their sides.
I was only content to let go when it was truly over, when there were no more birds, when our own dragons were mopping up what was left of the black Radaskim. I felt as if I were floating, as if my mind hadn’t completely returned to my body.
The real world fell away, until there was nothing but emptiness, an emptiness that was filled again by the Grand Canyon, only this time, there was no battle. Not even Haven stood there, as it had for over two centuries. I recognized the curves of the canyon to be Haven’s location, but the tree itself was gone. I stood on the ground, none of my friends in sight, and neither was Flame. The river flowed as it had for eons, but it was through emptiness. The wind blew, bleak and lonesome, the sky above a dull gray.
I had sent my mind somewhere else. I had drawn too much power, had pushed myself beyond even my limits as Elekim. I was merely consciousness, floating in this place alone. I had no hands, feet, or even the semblance of a body.
I simply existed.
I had trouble remembering even where I came from, or how I got here. There had been a battle, I remembered that much. Had I died? Was this the Xenofold?
The world’s colors turned even grayer, the opacity of the scenery itself thinning. There was nothing but blackness beyond it. This place was fading before my eyes.
Except for one point where there was a bright light, in the shape of a door.
I pulled myself forward, concentrating all my energy upon reaching it. As I got closer to the door, however, my own speed decreased, no matter how hard I concentrated. The door seemed to be eternally out of reach.
This reality was now barely visible. Within moments, I would be floating alone in the darkness.
Just like me, came a sinister voice in my mind.
I couldn’t recall who that voice belonged to.
You’ll be with me for eternity, he said. I’m not mad yet! Not yet. But I’m fast approaching the point of no return . . . how would you like to join me, Elekim?
Then, I remembered who that voice belonged to. Rakhim?
I pulled myself toward the door, that voice giving me renewed determination. If I didn’t reach it, then I would be stuck here forever. I knew that deep down inside. Stuck here with only Rakhim Shal for company, in the void beyond worlds, beyond Xenofolds. The great nothing.
You won’t make it, he whispered. It always disappears right before you can get to it. It’s madness.
It’ll stay there, I thought. It must stay there.
You’re tired, Elekim, his voice said, placatingly. Why not rest and try again later?
I couldn’t rest. If I gave up, even for a second, then all would be lost.
I must make it back. Make it back to the battle.
Another voice entered my mind, not Rakhim’s. Reach now, Shanti. Reach with everything you have.
I knew that if I gave everything, truly everything, it would not be enough, and the door would slip away forever. Nevertheless, I had to obey the voice. What other hope did I have?
So, I reached . . . with everything. The door rushed forward, and within my mind, I could hear Shal hissing his displeasure. He was somewhere close by, perhaps trying to reach the door himself.
I was just a few feet away and Shal’s presence was terribly close. If he reached me, I knew that something terrible would happen. Somehow, I knew it would mean my total annihilation, as well as his.
Help me! I called to the voice who had used my name. Help me out of here!
Push more! We are giving everything!
It was one of my friends, then. I screamed and pushed harder, and the door came closer, but only by an inch.
But it was the inch I needed. I reached for the plane of brilliance, the only thing that existed in the darkness. It suddenly burst o
pen, revealing a blinding light. From next to me, I could hear Shal’s screams.
Go through, the voice said.
I slipped through the door, pulled from nothingness into the world once again.
Chapter 30
When my eyes opened, I inhaled a deep breath. My heart pounded quickly, and I felt as if it would beat out of my chest. Around me roared the din of battle, but the full volume of it hadn’t completely returned, as if my ears had been stuffed with cotton. I tried to get my eyes to focus, but everything was blurry.
My entire back throbbed. As my vision sharpened, I recognized a dragon circling above me.
Flame . . .
Elekim. We must leave this place.
I forced myself to my knees. A quick glance around me revealed that, somehow, I was at the bottom of the canyon. There was no sign of Isaru, who had been riding with me.
There was no time to wonder just how things had turned out like this. The ground thundered as Flame landed to my right and towered over me protectively. Above him, in the gray sky, black dragons circled and dove on dark wings, interlocking with Elekai dragons in battle. The din of cannon fire, together with the screams of battling dragons, formed a constant, horrifying backdrop. Several of the great beasts fell from both sides, plummeting to their doom in the canyon below. The haze had thickened, intermixing with the smoke of the cannons. The air tasted acrid, and it stung my lungs to breathe.
Flame moved aside, kneeling his head down. His teeth picked me up by my cloak, and he rotated his long neck to place me on my back.
Hold fast, Elekim.
Where’s Isaru? The others?
They were taken back to the Roots to recuperate, Flame said. I was attacked in midair. I had to place you here while I fought the attacker off.
Are you okay?
Yes, Flame said. I won, thankfully. Some of the other dragons helped.
I wanted to ask more, but I still felt weak. I was content just to be alive. That had been too close.
We flew away from the chaos of the battlefield. From where I sat, holding myself close to Flame, I could easily see the fight. The men were holding the entrance to the pass, though the formation was no longer as straight as it had been. The crawlers were pushing against the pikes. There were as many dead ones as living, but it didn’t seem to matter. The pass was still completely full of crawlers, thousands upon thousands of them. The sunlight was dimmer, telling me that it had been hours since the bird attack. It was either that, or the fact that the haze and smoke of battle had thickened.
Many Elekai have joined the Xenofold today, Flame said.
It wasn’t enough to save them, then, I said.
You saved many, at great risk to yourself, Flame said. You went under before your friends did, but in pulling you out, they, too, succumbed from drawing too much power. They couldn’t handle it without you.
If they were in the same place I was, then I couldn’t get back to Haven soon enough.
Fear not, Flame said, as if reading my mind. You were controlling more power than all of them together, so you took the brunt of the backlash. They should be waking soon, if they haven’t already. You need rest, Elekim, more than anything else.
I couldn’t think anymore. The exhaustion ran deep inside me. It would have been so easy to sleep, even now, despite my maddening thirst and voracious hunger. Even I couldn’t argue with a rest.
I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms halfway around Flame’s neck, so that I wouldn’t fall.
* * *
Flame set me down on the High Veranda not too long after, where my friends joined me, seeming to have woken already. The canyon was filled with the shrieks of crawlers, the screams of men, and the din of cannons. The Radaskim dragons had backed off for now, leaving what dragons we had left to retreat for the respite of the tree. Shen’s airships floated above, casting their elongated shadows over the canyon floor. Sunset was not far away, and the bottom of the canyon was mostly obscured by shadow.
We had survived the day. Now, we’d see what the night would bring.
The crawlers hadn’t let up yet. More and more poured down the pass, replacing those that fell. It seemed that our reserves had been sent to bolster the line several times by now.
Fiona was the first to approach me, her gray eyes filled with concern. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Lucky to be alive.”
“All of us are,” Isaru said, gathering round. “Each of us dropped out of the bond, one by one . . .”
“It was too much to handle,” I said. “Even for me.”
“We stopped the birds from falling, at least,” Fiona said.
There had been something else battling against our minds, which had made tethering the birds even more dangerous. It could be nothing other than Odium’s presence.
Something told me that my power as Elekim would be limited if he was near.
But of Odium, there was no sign. The monstrous dragon we had seen by Dragonspire had not made his presence known. Though I couldn’t see him, I had no doubt that he was here. I could feel the gloomy pall he cast over the battlefield.
It was clear that we needed to deal with him somehow. We needed to find a way to attack the mental force he was exerting over the battlefield.
“We need to target Odium,” I said. “If we can cripple him, the rest of his army will crumble.”
“That would mean flying behind enemy lines,” Shara said. “And not being detected by the swarm.”
That didn’t seem likely, and circumventing the entire swarm would take time we didn’t have. By the time we reached Odium, the battle would most likely be over, and not in our favor. Even if we made it as far as Odium, facing him directly was dangerous and probably suicidal.
“We can only hold here,” I said. “Kill everything that comes into this canyon.”
“We are holding,” Isaru said, looking over the railing at the pike formations. “The question is, for how long? There’s still no end to it.”
“As long as they don’t break through,” Isa said, quietly. She stared down at the canyon floor, as if trying to make herself believe that holding was possible.
We needed a way to push back . . . but how? I could see nothing, no matter how hard I thought about it. If there was something more we could be doing, we would have thought of it by now. The crawlers would continue to get slaughtered in the meatgrinder. But for every ten of them that fell, one of ours fell, too. With the coming dusk and the haze which refused to lift, it was impossible to tell just how many more reinforcements Odium had.
Either they ran out of crawlers first, or we ran out of men first. Worse, I had worn down my strength before I even had a chance to get started. I felt a sense of foreboding. Some of that had to do with how the battle was going, but it also went beyond that. It was the same feeling I had when the reversion had opened next to the Sanctum, the same feeling in the Forest of Mazes in the Northern Wild, along with the gloomy atmosphere of Hyperborea itself, before the destruction of the Hyperfold.
“There’s a reversion nearby,” I said, in realization. “That has to be it. That has to be why I can’t fight with my usual strength.”
“It would have to be a big one,” Isaru said. “I can feel it too, now that you mention it.”
Its presence was so obvious that it was a wonder I hadn’t noticed it before. The feeling of despondency and despair permeated all. Though not all the soldiers below were Elekai, there were enough that it would make a noticeable difference in the way they fought.
“Wouldn’t a reversion be an opening to the Xenofold?” Isa asked. “A reversion is supposed to make it easier to connect to the Xenofold, not harder.”
“Odium must be putting a stop to that somehow,” Fiona said. “He’s turning the land to his side. Perhaps that requires creating a reversion, so that he, too, can draw the energy and use it as he wills.”
“Can you tell where it is?” Shara asked me.
I pointed to the top of the canyon. “Somewhere south.
Beyond reach.”
All of us gazed in that direction, where dozens of black dragons patrolled the blood-red sky, protecting the pass against our own dragons.
“Trying to get past that would be suicidal,” Fiona said.
“The direct route may not even be necessary,” I said. “So long as I can enter the Xenofold from somewhere, I can reach that particular reversion. And maybe close it.”
“You’re not ready,” Shara said. “You literally just woke up from pushing yourself too hard.”
“Yes,” I said. “I know that. But every second that passes, the reversion grows stronger. And as it grows, Odium’s army will only get stronger, and ours weaker. This is a battle of wills and morale as much as it is a physical battle.”
Shara was silent as she considered this point. She didn’t seem convinced.
“I agree that something should be done about the reversion,” Isaru said. “But can you handle it, after giving so much already?”
Even all of us bonded together had barely been enough to take control of the diving birds and throw them back at the enemy. As monumental a task as that was, it shouldn’t have knocked us out like it did, especially given that we were bonded together.
“We have a new role in this battle,” I said. “Let Harrow and the soldiers fight the ground battle, let the Dragonguard command the dragons, let Guardian Mian control the airships. Our job is to stop that reversion.”
“That’s all very well and good, but how do we get there?” Fiona said.
That was the only part I didn’t know. The first step was finding another reversion, one that wasn’t under Odium’s control. There could be one a few miles from here, or hundreds of miles. Unfortunately, dissolving the Hyperfold would make finding a reversion harder, but surely not all of them had closed yet. The worst case would be us still searching long after the battle was over.
“This will take all of us,” I said. “I don’t even know if it’s possible to find a reversion north of us, but it might be our only chance.”
It sounded far-fetched, even to me. But what choice did we have? We wouldn’t know unless we tried.