Gaze of Fire: Sequel to Veins of Ice

by Melissa Kellogg

  Drum beats continued in the distance. They hammered out a sad, heartfelt peal. An explosion shot upwards and rained down molten ashes. She hoped that Asher was okay.

  Karena climbed down the rope. When her feet landed on the roof of the sky-watching tower and the ladder was reeled up, the airship rose on an invisible wave of air. The engines roared as they sucked air into the ballast tanks. The airship began to double back to the Earth district in the east.

  Chapter 26

  On the roof of the sky-watching tower, Karena lifted up the service door and descended down into the darkness. She flipped a switch and the stairs were flooded with light. The plaster walls, tile flooring, and electricity were a welcome sight.

  When she emerged on the street below, she looked around at the familiar buildings and gave a sigh of relief. She was home. No longer was she up in the air and afraid of crashing in the Markhan Territory. She was back in the Sundarin Nation where law and order and modern technology had created its own type of utopia.

  The streets were empty, which was eerie. People were either inside or sitting on their roofs to look at the burning sky above the Fire district. She heard voices from a radio nearby and traced the sounds to an open window across the street. She darted over to it to listen and pressed her back against the exterior of the house. Rocking chairs creaked and people shuffled in the room. Through the radio, people from the Fire district begged for help. They insisted that they were under attack by vampires and vampiric creatures. Laughter issued from those in the room, and the people inside asserted that it was some kind of elaborate joke.

  Karena gazed at the shadowy streets. Their peace and wellbeing were on the brink of destruction, and no one in the Water and Earth district knew about it because the horrors that had made themselves known in the Fire and Air district hadn’t yet come to their doors. Every last light of hope would be extinguished if she didn’t sound the alarms and get people to fight. It was a tall order, but she had achieved the impossible just last night by rescuing Asher, and perhaps she could do it again that night. Soon, it would be known across the Sundarin Nation that vampires were indeed not as extinct as they had been led to believe.

  She left the window to jog to her parents’ house five blocks away. Her legs screamed in complaint.

  In the front yard of her parents’ house, she put her hands on her knees and panted for breath. Her knees quivered. As she recovered, she listened to the flute from the Air district playing in the distance. It could be heard over the beat of the Fire district’s drums. It lamented and cried as it wobbled, conveying the Air district’s plight.

  “Mom, Dad!” she yelled from the front yard.

  “Karena!” she heard her mom shout.

  Karena looked up to the roof. Her parents stood up and waved to her. Her dad put his arm around her mom, and he hovered down with her by using his magical abilities. They embraced. Her mom stroked her hair and cried. Tears filled her dad’s eyes.

  Her mom said, “They told us that you fled to the swamps, and with an Air.”

  “I had to in order to save Asher, which I did,” Karena said.

  “You shouldn’t have……. I mean….,” but her dad couldn’t finish his sentence and was at a loss for what to say.

  “Was it really worth it?” her mom asked.

  “Yes.”

  Her mom and dad exchanged glances.

  “It was very foolish,” her dad sternly said, giving her that soul-piercing gaze that only a father could give.

  “I’m not here to ask for your forgiveness or your blessings, but for something else entirely. It’s about what’s happening in the Fire and Air district, but mainly in the Fire district.”

  “Oh, that nonsense,” her dad huffed.

  “Dad, the vampires have been here all along and they’re trying to take over the city one district at a time. I saw evidence of them in the Markhan Territory. I was attacked by a swarm of vampiric nargoths. Tell me where they came from and how they knew I was in the swamps? I saw corpses of our people from all the districts on a mud bank. Bodies were dumped in the Ranarra river. When I was helping to empty out a flooded couch crypt under the Oaksvale cemetery, we discovered empty coffins and some had hex locks on them. The Wildlands were opened up for trade. Think about it for just a moment.”

  She continued, “The Council members denied me access to the Ancient Library. They prevented me from researching hex locks. Prices keep going up. There’s new laws and regulations every day. Why is there a need to do that? Think about this feud. It started four centuries ago. There’s only five Chaos elementals in the entire city. There’s supposed to be as many Chaos elementals as there are sorcerers and sorceresses. Chaos elementals are one of the greatest enemies to vampires because vampires are resistant to magical spells. And Fires are the ones they fear most. Look at who’s being attacked right now.”

  She paused for breath. The look in her dad’s eyes troubled her. His jaw had set, and he had crossed his arms.

  “We will fall if we remain divided. We are strong only if we are together. The feud was started by them. They’re back and history is about to repeat itself if we don’t do something. We must come to their aid. The Fires are in trouble, and so are the Airs because they’ve joined the fight,” Karena said. She began to lose her steam. Past arguments with her parents began to emerge like ghosts in her mind. They had clashed many times and about many things before.

  “Please, dad, you’re a district leader, we have to activate one of the main Water statues. We have to come to the aid of the Fires. They’re being attacked,” Karena said. Her eyes searched their faces, praying for a miracle, and that she wouldn’t be met with resistance.

  With a tender smile, her mom’s shoulders rose and fell on a motherly sigh. Her mom said, “When you left without asking for our help or opinion, we knew that we had failed you. We’re your family, and if you feel like you can’t come to us for help, then something is wrong, and we realized that it had to do with us treating you like a child.”

  Her dad said, “We wanted to protect you, and we have ever since we realized that you were a Chaos elemental. So many of them have been the target of this feud, including my brother, and we felt that you would be next. And you are right, there should be as many Chaos elementals as there are sorcerers and sorceresses. I never realized that.”

  In disbelief, Karena looked at them, from her dad to her mom and back again. Ever since she had been little, they had suffocated her with their parental authority. Her leaving had shaken them up and been the catalyst for them to change. But she was still skeptical though. She had only been gone for a day.

  “Karena, I don’t want to lose you again, or drive you away. Tell me what you want me to do,” her dad said. “Though I don’t have kind feelings for the Fires or Airs, you can see past the feud, whereas I can’t.”

  “We must activate the primary statue to start the call and mobilize everyone to fight. And Mom, I want you to get to the radio station and request that everyone in the Water and Earth district get ready and to make sure that the vulnerable are protected inside of their own homes. Everyone on this side is listening,” Karena said.

  Her mom gave her another hug. “I’ll talk to Adam and Nadine and try to get them to come with me. They have access to the radio station, but they won’t want to help until the statues activate and see that it’s for real,” her mom said, and then to her dad, “Take good care of our baby.”

  “Of course I will,” her dad said and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  Karena watched her mom hurry down the sidewalk. Her dad’s car keys flew into his hands, and the doors of his sedan opened up for them. They got in.

  “So you’re really helping me? No tricks or anything?” she asked.

  “No tricks,” he said and backed the car out. “I would rather be at your side, than for you to go alone because I wouldn’t help. I thought long and hard about you leaving, and didn’t understand why you left, except that you love that man, Asher, enough t
o try to save him.” He pressed the gas pedal hard, and Karena felt her back press into the seat’s cushion. Her dad asked, “So you saved him? They said it would be impossible.”

  “Yes. I pulled him out of the spiritual realm. We had a lot of help from Garth, a master gearcrafter. He made a ship fly. It’s called an airship.”

  “An airship?”

  “Yeah. Evelyn, an Air elemental, helped us. Evelyn and Hadrian like each other.”

  Her dad fell silent and then finally said, “Well, times are changing because of you, and I guess we will need to let go of the old ways. It won’t be easy.”

  “It’s easy if you realize how we were played like puppets. All those deaths, including your brother, were caused by vampires.”

  “Why haven’t we seen this? It’s obvious that something is amiss.”

  “Because everyone is so distracted by the feud,” she said.

  Her dad drove faster, heading for the southeastern part of the Water district. He pulled to a stop next to a park. The playground was like a sleeping, shadowy beast of metal. Swings twitched in the slight breeze. Vacant trails meandered around the park. Lamp posts created halos of light, but for some reason, the park still seemed spooky.

  With her dad at her side, they strode into the park.

  “Something is here. I can feel its presence,” her dad said.

  He watched what was to their right, which was a lonely bench and part of one of the paths that weaved around the playground. Karena couldn’t spot anything that was out of place. Her dad sensed something, and it unnerved her because as a sorcerer, he was rarely wrong about what he sensed.

  Her dad said in a low voice, “The statue is ahead of us, in the center of the park.”

  When they rounded a slight bend on the main path of the park, she spotted it. It was awash in the golden glow of the lamp post nearby.

  Before she could study it, her dad whirled around. She turned to see a man on the path behind them. She put a hand to her chest to calm her pounding heart. He hadn’t made a sound. The closest trees to which he could’ve been hiding behind were at least a hundred feet away. It was like he had just appeared there.

  Upon being spotted, the entire body language of this man changed from being stealthy-tense to being loose and casual.

  “Ian, what are you doing here?” the man said with a cheerful voice and approached them.

  “Mark! Nice to see you. What’s a Council man doing here?”

  “I saw you driving with Karena and followed you here. She needs to be arrested for violating a house arrest order and harming an innocent man who is now dead,” Mark said. He stopped at a distance from them, but he was still close enough for her to see that something was wrong with his face and that he was carrying something on his back.

  Karena sweated. As a Council man, he was highly respected. She said, “Asher isn’t dead. I pulled him out of the dark spiritual realm.”

  “So you’re a liar as well? The police will be showing up at any moment. Perhaps you would like to get a head start in running away from the consequences of your actions,” Mark said to her.

  “I don’t believe you, or that you followed us. You’re guarding this area,” her dad said. He surprised her with his loyalty and trust in her.

  Mark’s eyes narrowed into slits and then opened.

  “Me?” he said. His lips upturned into a cruel smile. As he faked a laugh, he turned his head, revealing four, long gashes across the left side of his face. It was as though someone had raked their nails across it.

  “What happened to your face?” Karena said.

  Mark’s lips pursed together. “I’m no longer the one to fear, nor the other Council members,” Mark said.

  From history class and her own knowledge, Karena knew what this meant.

  “So you found some vampire Elders and woke them up?” Karena asked.

  “Yes. And soon they’ll be your masters as well.”

  “Karena, run. I’ll deal with him.”

  “Vampires are resistant to magic,” Karena replied, not about to leave him to fight a creature that he would be at a disadvantage against.

  “That statue responds to intention and telepathic thought. There’s a staircase underneath it. Only those with pure intentions can activate it, therefore I can’t, but you can. My thoughts are too jumbled, and my heart is still confused and needs time to align with my primary judgement that we should help the Fires. I have over a decade of rage due to my brother’s death, whereas you don’t.”

  Mark smirked and withdrew what he had strapped to his back. They were two scimitars of blood-red metal. Vampiric weaponry were always infused with spells and dark magic. Like the parasites that they were, vampires couldn’t make such weaponry for themselves, and therefore, forced others to do it for them. Consequently, the weaponry could be of any make, dwarf or elf or human, and had unknown power to its metal.

  Her dad reacted by calling upon his sorcerer abilities. His aura swept forward like a tsunami as his mind reached for every ounce of energy in the environment to use. She could feel it like an electric pulse against her skin. He was ready for battle, even though the odds weren’t in his favor.

  Her love for her dad pulled on her, but Karena understood his anger and his need to face off with Mark alone, at least for now. She sprinted away, and she heard a loud snap and crackle as magic collided with magic. It sizzled close to her ears as Mark attempted to stop her, but her dad wouldn’t let him. They clashed behind her, and the ground heaved under her feet.

  Karena skidded to a stop in front of the tall statue in the park. The marble statue of the Water elemental was even more stunning up close. She was clothed in kelp and seashells, and balanced on her fish’s tail that she had tucked under herself. Her salty, curly hair cascaded past her shoulders. A crown adorned her head. An ocarina and erhu lay next to her tail. They were instruments of the water that had been made specifically for those who resided on land but still had that lineage that belonged to that element.

  In the distance, the Air district’s flute and the Fire district’s drums pounded out their urgent need for help. When the Earth district answered, the entire city would be at war with the vampires, but the Water district had to set the example first by showing that they were stepping up to help.

  Karena looked back at her dad and Mark. Her dad struggled against the weaponry that Mark wielded. It resisted being torn away from Mark’s hands and was absorbing her dad’s spells. Mark sliced his scimitars’ blades against each other, creating a red, glowing X of lethal energy. It flew over her dad and headed towards her at a wicked speed. Her dad wasn’t quick enough to stop it. She ducked just in time. The red X crashed into the mermaid statue. The marble fractured upon impact and toppled over in pieces.

  “Noooo!” Karena shouted.

  The statue now lay in large chunks on the ground. It had been destroyed. A piece of the mermaid’s face stared up at her with solemnness. Mark laughed as he fought off her dad. Karena’s head whirled. Hopelessness and sadness crushed her, but determination still burned in her. The statue was gone, but maybe the magic of it wasn’t. She had confidence in the builders of the statues. The statues had been made to survive. She placed her hands on the platform where the statue had once stood on her tail.

  She directed her focus onto the platform and in her mind said, “I ask for permission to enter and to gain access to the activation center. The Fire district is in need of help.”

  She conjured up the images of the Fire district burning and the sound of their drums beating out a distress call, followed by the Air’s flute. She thought about the dire circumstances that they were all in. If the Fire district fell, then in a domino-like effect, the city would be taken over. Out of all the elementals, the Fires were the most effective against vampires, for obvious reasons. Without them, the rest of them wouldn’t stand a chance against the vampires.

  The platform shook under her hands, and scooted back in groans. It revealed a tight, spiral staircase hiding un
derneath it, which it had been protecting. Without hesitation, she jumped down into it and pattered down the steps. Much to her surprise, her feet splashed in water after descending just a little ways. She jumped back. It was too dark to see. As though in anticipation, behind her and under the water, light fixtures sparked to life.

  She looked at the shiny surface of the water. The water was crystal-clear, like glass, and she could see that it was at least twenty feet deep. Her heart seemed to freeze in her chest and everything inside of her went still. A venomous serpent cruised the waters. Its multiple fins broke the tranquil water. Its eyes constricted and dilated as it looked for prey. Its gills flared outwards.

  The activation area was underneath the water, and she wasn’t a true Water elemental. She could only create and manipulate ice. A venomous serpent and an unknown amount of water stood in her way.

  Karena gathered her thoughts. Ice was simply frozen water. She was still a Water elemental. And the magic of the Water statue above her, though it was in pieces now, had recognized her as such because it had responded to her intentions. Therefore, she had to have faith that she wouldn’t drown or die from a venomous bite from that serpent.

  Karena lowered herself down into the water, took a deep breath, and entered it. The serpent whirled on her and faded away. It had only been an illusion to scare her. After dealing with that mimecat, she was thoroughly tired of illusions.

  She kicked and used her arms to help navigate down the tricky staircase. Her lungs began to ache as she ran out of oxygen. Her dad had failed to mention that this would be part of activating the statue. Perhaps that crucial piece of information had been lost to history, so that’s why he hadn’t known. This would be the first time in history that the statues had been activated.