by Mark Russo
We got a little closer, then the stone worm emerged from underground. “From here, you go on alone. I have no way to get up there.”
“What will happen to you?”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll meet again.”
I said goodbye then transformed in the same fashion and jumped much higher than I had ever before. I landed on the other end of the island in an area we had not explored yet. Not very surprisingly, I found myself in yet another patch of woods.
I conjured a board and ran as far as I could.
21
Vagras
Anya walked a meter in front of me, and I wanted to keep it that way. She stopped and faced me in her oversized fur coat. Her flashlight blinded me before she lowered it. “Look, Milan. This pine is blossoming!”
I shuffled a couple more steps and did all I could to show some interest. I pointed my torch in that direction. “Yes, I see.”
“The sun didn’t come today, but this tree doesn’t care about it.”
“I don’t think trees have feelings, Anya.”
She reached for a small branch then pulled it toward her to smell the pine needles. “Maybe they don’t say anything about those, but they do. This one, for example, thinks this permanent night phenomenon is just an illusion.” She looked at me with much larger eyes than other people have.
I nodded, not knowing how to answer.
We walked again, and I distanced myself from her as fast as I could. She walked for entire minutes without interacting with me, and I did not want to change that. I ignored her for a moment. When I looked at her again, I saw her standing on the edge of a cliff.
Anya turned to face me and smiled.
I froze, unable to read her body language. A few seconds passed, then I stepped forward.
She remained exactly where she was.
“What are you doing up there?”
She kept smiling with warm eyes when she used an inviting voice to say, “Come here, it’s beautiful.”
I took a few more careful steps toward her. When I was by her side, she looked down and invited me to do the same.
“Do you know why I brought you here, Milan?”
“No, I don’t. Please, go ahead.”
She took a deep breath. “This has always been my favorite spot on the island. I can hide here all I want, and nobody ever looks for me here.”
I was ready to catch her if she jumped; my weight was all on my tiptoes.
“And you know who else enjoys hiding?” She made eye contact with me. “You do, Vagras. Do you think you’ll hide forever?”
“I told you they would find out eventually,” that voice whispered inside my head. “What are you talking about? Who’s Vagras?”
She grabbed my face with her soft hands.
I forgot what was happening for a second.
“I know all of it. I know you killed Milan and stole his body. I know you come from another world. The others deserve to know, Vagras. Why don’t we tell them together?”
“They would not believe it,” I said, my voice trembling.
“I’m sure they will. Andrew will. They trust him, you know. We should tell them.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“The truth can’t be hidden forever. Let’s go and tell them.”
I grabbed her hands and smiled at her, then I pushed her with all my strength.
She slipped off the mountain edge and plummeted into the darkness. No sounds left her mouth as she fell.
“What the hell did you do?” a voice cried out behind me.
I only recognized it when I turned to see Andrew jumping at me and then down the precipice. I had no other option but to jump too and followed him. Soon, it became too dark to see anything. I needed light, and fast. He would have found out anyhow, I thought when I conjured three balls of purple light and moved them around to look for him. I found him immediately at the bottom of the pit by the side of what remained of his wife.
He raised his head and glared at me. He studied the spheres of light for a fraction of a second then jumped at me.
I stopped him immediately with a mind blast.
His eyes widened as tears poured from them.
I tightened the grasp on his throat so he couldn’t scream. My mind blast threw him into the air then forced him down again at full speed.
He tried to wriggle from my grasp, to no avail. Andrew was stronger than a regular human, but nothing a mind blast couldn’t handle.
I forced his tense body to impact the ground at a high speed a couple meters from his wife’s. The chances of him surviving that were very slight, but I checked on him anyway. The wide crack on the side of his head confirmed my impression. I flew to the top of the cliff and killed my lights at the bottom of the pit. It did not seem anyone had heard or seen anything, but I checked anyhow. I summoned six invisible doubles and scattered them around the area. The only thing I spotted was a carcass of a deer hidden under a couple tree branches. Either no other people were around, or I had failed finding them.
When it was all over, I walked to the camp. I took a longer route around most of the tents. Still quite a few lamps were on, so I tried not to make any unnecessary noises. I was maybe ten steps from my tent when I saw someone leaning on a tree trunk probably having some food. Going back would have seemed odd, as I was sure they had seen me. I walked straight, not acknowledging him.
He was almost outside of my field of vision when he raised his head and belched. “Milan, are you already back? Where is that nut bag?”
I stepped closer to him.
He smelled like alcohol, and he was not only leaning against the tree; it was supporting him.
“Andrew reached us. They kept walking on their own. I’ll just go to bed.”
“It’s weird, isn’t it?”
I looked over my shoulder. “What is?”
“It’s still dark. Have no clue what time it is.”
“Go to bed. Tomorrow you’ll feel better.”
He said something, but I could not hear him, as I had entered my tent.
I got some water and sat, waiting for something to happen, for someone to raise the alarm, but nobody noticed Andrew and Anya were missing at that point. I heard some voices in the distance. The fire was still roaring, and some people were still gathered around it, probably drunk.
“You really think this happened for no reason?” a female voice said in my tent, but I could not see her face, as she stood in the shadows.
I reached for my knife. “Who are you?”
An unfamiliar face that reminded me of someone emerged from the darkest part of my tent.
“Again, who are you? You should not be here.”
She cackled at me.
I unsheathed my knife and was about to point it her, but something stopped me. My hand and forearm bent toward me; I could not resist it. My resistance proved futile, and soon my knife lingered near my neck. I wanted to say something, but my mouth and jaw were as heavy as marble.
The lean and tall girl approached me, looked me in the eye and placed her hand on the knife. She dabbed it, letting it scratch the skin on my Adam’s apple. “I asked you a question. Do you think this happened for no reason?”
Again, I could not talk, but I tried.
“Sorry. I forgot your lips are glued. I can help with that if you promise to behave.” She softly stroked my right cheek as the side of her mouth tried to lift. “I’ll need you to do a little something for me, Vagras. We’re getting closer to the end.”
I had seen those eyes before somewhere, but I just didn’t know where. I knew a very limited number of things at that moment.
“Find James. You must keep him from their base for a couple hours. I’ll deal with him separately.”
The blade of my knife moved from my throat. I tried, and I could move my arm.
“Yes, you can move your arms. Don’t do anything stupid. There isn’t another human body you can steal here.”
“Who are you?”
I rapidly gasped for air, and my body trembled. When the invisible vise released, I dropped to my knees and inhaled all the air I could.
“I dislike stupid questions, Vagras. Ask James to follow you somewhere. A surprise awaits for him on the third island, the smallest one, the one you guys have not explored yet.”
“Okay.” I did not say more, and judging by me still being capable of breathing, that was a good answer.
“Now go. Everyone is drunk enough for you to leave unnoticed.”
I snuck out of the tent and walked away from the bonfire then jumped into the sky as fast as I could. Bearing in mind someone might see me, I went the long way around before heading for the other island. The complete darkness made me doubt I was going in the right direction. I got lower—almost crashing into the top of a large tree—and still couldn’t see anything.
I landed on soft ground covered in tall grass. After looking left and right, I realized I had no clue where I was. There were no lights in any direction to show me the way. Then, out of complete luck, I heard a noise that couldn’t have been more familiar—rocks being smashed and ground into powder. I summoned a couple balls of light and signaled my position, like a poorly skilled cheerleader.
He reached me less than thirty seconds later, wearing a quizzical face. “What the heck are you doing on this side of our island?”
“I got lost, James. How do you manage to get around? I have these.” I generated another shining thing.
“Yes, I remember those. The most useless skill on the Path of Mind is suddenly useful.”
“Listen. It’s a good thing I met you. I must talk to you. You might want to see something on the third island, the one we have not fully explored yet.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “Why did you go there alone?”
“I’m not getting much sleep. I think you know what I mean.”
He nodded as he looked down, holding a tiny lamp in his left hand. “How do we go there?”
“If you let me lift you, we can get there. Mind skills.”
“I assumed we’d use more of those gleaming spheres of light.”
“That is actually a good idea. I don’t know why I didn’t do it before.”
“Are you bringing me somewhere nice?”
“The best. You’ll see.”
“It’d better be fast. I have to talk to Emma as soon as possible.”
“We’ll be back in no time.”
22
Emma
Akko helped me gather all my students in front of our house. It should have been around eight in the morning, but the sun hadn’t risen yet. On our left-hand side, where that giant yellow ball should have been, a long line of energy balls brightened the sky somewhere in the middle of the woods on the other end of the island.
“Emma, should we go check that?” Paul asked.
“It’s too far away, and we have nothing that shines light. How would we go there?”
“Well, look there—” His voice became inaudible as he pointed at something behind me.
I turned to see the woods behind us gleaming as if their sap had become fluorescent. “Wait here,” I told him, maybe too harshly. I ran to Akko on the other side of the house courtyard, his eyes wider than I’d ever seen. “Do you know what all this is?”
“Emma, we have to be careful. I’m confusing what is real and what is not.”
“What should we do?”
I could not hear his answer, as someone behind us screamed in pure terror. We turned to look at the girl laying on the ground, belly up, with her hands and arms bent toward her face. It seemed she was trying to defend herself from something, but none of us could see what she did.
“Go by her side and counter the vision she is having!” Akko yelled above the other confused voices.
“How do I do that?”
“Just try, Emma. None of us can manage that. Where the hell is Vagras?”
I jostled toward her. She was so loud my ears hurt when I approached her. I kneeled by her side and wrapped her in my arms. I expected her to push me away, but she did not; she hid between my arms and cried.
“See? You managed. I knew you would,” Akko said.
“We need to leave. Open a portal, and let’s go somewhere else. Just, anywhere else.”
He nodded as his eyes returned to be almost invisible under his thick eyebrows.
The Grand Master on the Path of Time walked a few steps and extended his right, tiny arm. A portal should have appeared, but it didn’t. He turned to face me.
“I need to let go of you, okay?” I told the girl.
“Okay,” she whispered in her broken voice.
I reached for Akko and, finally, managed to see Vaim through all the commotion. “Where were you?” I almost yelled at him.
“I finished my updates. I should be fine now.” Something seemed different with him.
“We need to leave now,” I told both my senior colleagues.
“Something is blocking my portals. Why don’t you guys try?” Akko asked us.
Both Vaim and I did, to no avail.
“Emma, a few Path of Mind marchers are capable of this. Vihkan is not dead,” Akko said somberly and eyed me.
“If it’s war she wants, we’ll give it to her. We won once; we’ll do it again. She’s trying to break us. We won’t let that happen. We’ll find her.”
“If we do, we have to stick together. No recklessness. She must be near to control all this,” Akko said in a different tone.
“Probably, the gleaming of the trees means something,” Vaim interjected. “Let me see if I can get it.”
We remained silent as he ran through complicated calculations.
The students huddled behind us, minding our every move.
“There seems to be a path among the trees blinking in a pattern,” Vaim said, watching the rare, natural spectacle.
“Could you guide us through it?” I asked.
“Yes, it won’t be difficult. I assume Vihkan wants us to go that way.”
“So be it. We’ll kick her ass once again,” I said with a grunt.
We informed the students of our decision and lined up behind Vaim as he guided us through the depths of the fluorescent tangle of lights.
After a few steps, my ears buzzed mildly. Judging by the facial expressions and gestures of the people around me, I assumed I was not the only one experiencing it. The more we pushed forward, the more the trees opened, clearing a wider path for us to walk through. Occasionally, I would check on the students behind me, and they seemed to trudge forward, getting closer and closer to one another.
They surveyed the surroundings, their faces tense and expressionless at the same time.
Paul closed the line but was too far from me to check on him.
Vaim stopped and turned to face us.
We rapidly gathered around him.
“We’re walking in circles. If there is a path to be followed, we didn’t find it,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The bright trees are placed in a wide circle. Am I the only one who noticed this?”
We eyed each other, then nodded simultaneously, as we had been practicing that.
“She thinks she’s smarter than us. Let me try something,” I said as everyone regarded me, wide-eyed. I closed my eyes and focused on finding her, on finding Vihkan. My energy was strong, and my body reacted to it. Despite my eyes being shut, I still saw everyone around me stepping backward. My feet left the ground, and I floated a few centimeters above it; the purple radiation I remembered from years before returned and wrapped me. “I feel her. We are close.”
The students kept a safe distance, but one asked, “Where do we go then?”
“Stay back. Akko, Vaim, and I will take care of her. Remain behind us at all times.”
My senior colleagues came by my side; Akko grabbed his blade, and Vaim summoned an energy shield.
We stood there for a moment as I imbued my energies in locating our enemy.
A burst of light erupted from the middle of the woods and hit Paul in his chest. He dropped to the ground like a ton of bricks. What remained of him burned in ember flames amid the general dismay.
The students scattered.
I yelled at them multiple times, but they would not listen.
Lightning hailed on us, and thunder rumbled like a thousand simultaneous storms.
Vaim raised the shield to protect Akko and me, but the students found themselves in the middle of the electric hell.
It lasted but a second, and when it was gone, it shined brighter and blinded me. When my vision returned, I saw my students laying lifeless on the pathway. All my blood flowed to my head as my face became warmer. “Bring down the shield, Vaim,” I said with a growl.
“It can be risky. We don’t know what she’s capable of.”
“Bring it down. Now!”
When he did, I focused my energy on finding her. I did almost immediately, but someone was with her. During another short moment of peace, I heard my breathing.
Something shining in purple and blue shades jumped from the woods and changed form rapidly. It disappeared for a fraction of a second, then it was before me. The flames engulfing the weird creature opened and revealed a human face—Maria’s face.
I was about to say something and had almost smiled when she hit me with a punch straight to my jaw. Something cracked in my skull before my body flew meters away. I landed on my back and skidded across the hard ground. Despite the dizziness, I raised my head. “What did you do?” I yelled, as most of my body hurt.
She did not answer. She hid her face again and jumped at Vaim and Akko.
The robot created yet another layer of his transparent barrier. He stepped forward and used it as protection from whatever monster Maria had turned into.
She dashed toward it, and a loud crash shook everything around us.
I covered my face as fast as I could, but that proved too slow. When my hands stopped obstructing my sight, I saw the dazzling creature dancing in its ethereal body. It was very close to my friends. I tried standing but could not manage.