by J E Mueller
“That’s all sorts of messed up,” Lydia finally decided. “And the brat won’t give you answers?”
“I think he will,” I replied. “I just don’t know when.”
“Well, let’s see what this chest thing is all about!” Lydia said excitedly.
I shook my head. As much as I wanted to know what else was in there, I needed to know what was going on with other things. “First, what the heck is going on with your new mission? Kegan made it sound like a guts and glory mission while you didn’t argue against that part, I get why it could be necessary.”
Lydia sighed dramatically before throwing her pillow at me. “All right, so plain and simple, it’s to keep the area around Saltmire from being overrun by demons. Ashgrove is as good as dead. Every couple of months a bunch of Blessed from everywhere get selected to cut down as many of those nasty demons in a week as possible. That’s it. That’s the entire mission. There’s nothing exciting about it, but without the extra efforts they’re just going to absorb the surrounding area into their hive of evil.”
“Hive of evil?” I threw the pillow back at her choice of words.
“They are a swarm! As annoying as wasps.” She mimicked flying creatures with her hands.
“Okay, fine. Swarm of evil,” I relented. “So, how did they gain this area in the first place?”
She sat up, surprised. “Oh wait, I guess you wouldn’t know.” Lydia considered her words for a moment. “So a very long time ago, before any towns or anything were established, the realms were much closer together. There were less definite differences among them. It’s said that accidentally changing realms was harder to notice. Only the increase or decrease in magic alerted people to what had happened.
“Back then, the strongest gods and demons from both sides roamed the realms. They clashed most heavily in the middle. At that time, the warring made it nearly impossible for the humans to keep up. They did their best to avoid the clashes, but both good and evil needed the humans. Their praise and belief in them was said to give the different sides extra powers.
“True or not, the realms were beaten to the point of breaking down. The strongest on both sides agreed to withdraw to the furthest realms. Their powers were too much for the weakened middle ground to handle. However, both sides kept their minions. Neither wanted to lose ground just because they couldn’t exist there. The generals set up bases, disguised in various ways. As the world slowly healed and evolved, the disguises had to change. Our side chose to stay as demon hunters, currently disguised as simple bards.
“We have the ease and freedom of travel, but so do they. As we locked down and refused to give up locations, so did they. Expanding is difficult for either group, but we have the most freedom. We can live out in the w
orld. The demons need to sneak in and out of realms to gain any ground.”
She paused for a moment and I considered the history lesson she had given me.
“They don’t have their own version of the Black Violets? I mean, of course we’ve met plenty of humans who have fallen into bargains or sold their soul, but do they have a location where such humans can meet?” I asked curiously.
“No. Those were all destroyed,” Lydia replied proudly, sitting up straight. “Ashgrove is just one of the weakest areas between the realms. Even the weakest of demons can spawn from there.”
“How did you destroy all their locations?” It seemed impossible that one side could gain so much ground, but it was exciting to hear it was the good side that was winning.
Lydia thought for a moment. “I don’t exactly know. I know it was during the time of the Great Hunt. A few centuries ago we hunted down and took out nearly all the generals of darkness, and the rest went into hiding.”
“How?” I sat up and leaned against the footboard. “I mean, sure, we’ve slain some demons, but I imagine these were much much stronger.”
“Oh, with the help of the Light Warriors,” she replied simply. Seeing my confusion, she sighed. “Blessed bedtime stories really need a farther reach. Right. Okay, the Light Warriors were basically the strongest of the angels. The top tier! They were the first, the creators of all the good the world has seen. Then it goes down the line until you get to normal angels.”
“Angels are the lowest?” I didn’t know why I was surprised. They seemed to have all the annoying rules to follow.
“Yeah.” Lydia shrugged. “Anyway, they may have been a little much for this realm, but they got a plan together. The angels, Light Warriors, and the humans got together and tracked down all the demonic lairs until they found the worst of the generals. With the locations found, the Light Warriors briefly entered the realm and brought down nearly all the darkness. The remaining generals went into hiding. None have resurfaced.”
“It is believed that they are still lurking nearby though. With every push from the lower scum, there could be an opportunity for them to rebuild their hold. With how swiftly we respond to every whisper we hear, hopefully we will never see that day come.”
Marella came to mind, but I didn’t bring her up. She was in hiding for some reason, that much seemed obvious, but until I knew why I wasn’t going to send her to the slaughter. Could I, even after I knew her story? While she endlessly annoyed me the older I got, she had been there for me through my family’s disaster more than any other being.
I pushed the thoughts out of my mind. “This sounds incredibly dangerous. What’s to protect the Blessed from this hell spawn point?”
“I won’t lie to you. It is crazy dangerous,” Lydia confirmed, expression serious. “There are different tricks we can do in large groups that will keep us safe, even when we need rest. It’s harder to explain, and since we’ve never been in a group big enough, you’ve never seen it. It’s like…” she fumbled for the right words, “An extra strong barrier. Just trust me, it’ll be fine. No one has died there in at least a decade.”
“Yeah, but what about the way there and back?” Lliam asked, popping in.
I glared at him, standing by the door. “Rude.”
“What?” Lydia asked, confused. “Oh, ghost chat.” She nodded quickly, catching on.
“Yeah, and someone decided to jump in on a conversation they weren’t invited to.” I turned my attention away from him.
“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good point,” Lliam butted in again. He casually leaned on the door and smirked at me.
“Fine.” I threw up my hands. “So, annoying ghost has a point that I now need to ask about.”
“This can’t be good.” Lydia sighed, leaning back against the bed.
“What about the journey there and back?” I questioned a little more harshly than I meant to. “Sorry, I’m not annoyed at you.”
Lydia eyed the door, as if she could see him. “Oh for heaven's sakes, Lliam!” She turned her attention back toward me. “All right, so here’s the process. When we are nearly there we meet up with several other teams. Far enough away from the trouble that it’s fine. These added teams make the journey safer. It just happened that Lliam’s team met a clash of demons much earlier than ever before. The extra help they were meeting arrived a little too late.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “The rest of the team made it.”
“So, anything can happen even without the extra precautions,” Lliam added smugly. “I didn’t die so that fact could be omitted. Yes, it was a terrible accident. No one saw it coming. They’re getting trickier. Something big is coming.”
I considered his words before speaking to Lydia. “He wants his story to be used as a tale of caution. Even with the best planning, bad things can happen.”
“It is,” Lydia grumbled. “He’s right, though. There’s no knowing what else is going to happen. Some of their larger scale plans have gotten too far before we could figure out who was running the show.”
She didn’t need to remind me about the whole fiasco back from our hometown five years ago. It was how I had found out about the Blessed, how Key defeated her curse, and where this journ
ey began for me. In some ways, the end of Key’s main quest was the very beginning of mine.
“I guess this is the perfect time to see what’s in that chest. Maybe somehow this will give us the upper hand.” I shrugged, pulling the pocket-sized chest out. It looked like a children's toy, but I could feel the magic pulsing softly in my hand.
“Oh yes!” Lydia exclaimed excitedly.
“About time,” Lliam chimed in, coming around the other side of the bed to take a look.
“Or we can wait until Lliam’s gone. He’s taking all the fun out of everything,” I muttered.
“That also sounds fun,” Lydia agreed, grinning evilly. She glanced at the door again before glancing around. “Where is he, anyway?”
I nodded toward the opposite side of the room. “There, being a nosy nanny.”
“You know, when I was human I could zap you for that. A few bolts more than a static shock is a great way to get people back,” he said drily.
“Guess it’s good you’re not an annoying human then and are just a ghost.” I smirked, pocketing the chest.
He grumbled for a moment before glancing at Lydia. “Fine, I’ll leave you two be but I won’t be far away. There’s no way I’m not going to tag along on that nonsense journey. Even one warning will be great revenge on those jerks.”
I watched him vanish before shrugging. “I suppose we can finally look at things in peace. Well, I can finally. You’re lucky you can’t hear them. Spirits get so noisy.”
“Actually, let’s switch gears for a minute,” Lydia said carefully, her voice much softer than it was moments ago.
Her caution got my attention more than anything. “Okay, what’s going on?” I asked.
“Let’s have some real talk,” Lydia said while fiddling with the sheets on her bed. It was weird seeing her act so nervous when there were no demons involved.
I sat with my knees pulled in tight to my chest. “All ears.”
She looked at me then quickly looked toward the floor before mumbling, “I’ve got a confession to make.”
6
I had no idea what she could mean. “Okay, what sort of confession? I don’t feel like you’ve wronged me at all recently. Though you did trip me pretty hard the other day.”
“That was totally an accident!” She rolled her eyes, quickly switching from defensive and joking back to nervous. “Actually, Lliam has a point. We’ve no idea what’s coming. The future is weird and crazy for most people, but in our lives, it’s even stranger with the added demons and angels and… and…” She stumbled over her words. “I like you, okay?”
My eyes went wide. “Oh, um, I had no idea.” What did I miss? How long was this going on? I felt my cheeks turning bright red as I mentally scrambled to put my thoughts back together.
Lydia blushed deeply. “I know you may not feel the same, and we’ve been just friends for so long, but yeah, better to not hold it back. Who knows what this week will bring?” So, I was hearing her correctly. She did like me more than as just a friend.
My heart was pounding fast. I really did have zero idea how she felt, and I’m sure there were at least a dozen signs I had missed. I raked my hands through my hair as I quickly thought about where all of this could have begun. We had always been close, and I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
As little girls we’d have sleepovers and did all the normal kid things. We’d sneak out of town, try and push chores aside, hide under the table giggling over the snacks we managed to convince her mother we’d earned. We had played card games, told ghost stories and - it dawned on me.
As we got older we went from skipping around town holding hands to constantly holding on to one another. Our stories went from loud announcements to secrets we’d whisper to one another. I had enjoyed the closeness and how natural everything was between us. How had I not seen this? This really was where things should be.
“I haven’t thought about it,” I confessed, but even my heart knew there was a connection. “I do like you. I don’t know if you really want to deal with the crazy girl who hears ghosts, though.” Might as well get that last part out there too.
Lydia laughed for a moment, clearly relieved by what I had said. “And I spent how long hiding my lifestyle from you? I mean, yeah, there’s likely to be some odd kinks to work out. My missions, and your listening to a seemingly empty room, but if that’s the worst of it, we’re probably off to a good start. We’ve already been dealing with each other’s nonsense with no problem, right?”
That was true. Very true. Still, I didn’t know what to say to that. We awkwardly sat in silence for several moments.
Lydia finally nudged me with her foot. “So, will you go out with me?”
I nudged her back. “Only if we can agree to no more secrets.”
“Deal.” She smiled widely and tackled me with a hug.
Morning came too soon. While Lydia went to get the details of the mission, I decided to open the chest privately once more. I pulled out the first book, the one that claimed to be the beginning, and read the first page.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Lliam’s voice sounded from behind me.
Annoyed, I glanced behind me. “It’s rude to drop in on people like this!” I scolded him.
“So, kill me.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ve done some digging. You won’t like what’s in book one at all. It may be best to read it with a clean head after this mission. If you survive.” He glanced at his nails nonchalantly.
I was screaming inside. Answers were sitting in the palm of my hand. The book didn’t even look that big. I could probably read it all in a day with the help of my magic. “Any reason why would you say that?”
He looked me in the eyes, his gaze intense. “Because you’ll understand why you have this magic. It will pull the past out from the grave. Do you really want to relive all of that when lives are on the line?”
The intensity of his gaze pierced through me, but I didn’t back down. “When did I stop reliving it? A night here or there? During a week of good sleep? You get just comfortable enough that maybe, finally, your mind has stopped torturing itself, stopped tearing itself apart, and then there it is,” I scoffed. There were plenty of hints about what had started all of this. That event would never truly leave my mind. How could it? Instead of a simple reply back I said in the most demonic voice I could muster, “Don’t you worry, child, everything is going to be all right.” I made sure to stretch the last two words longer than necessary. I knew this wasn’t going to end well, but the answers in my hands seemed too promising to continue to ignore.
Victory was mine, and Lliam’s gaze turned toward the floor. “You seem too happy for that.”
“We all hide shadows. I just kept mine from eating me alive.” I shrugged. I had enough support when I needed it, even if it was from unexpected places. “Anyway…” I paused, shook my head, and met his gaze once more. “Thank you for the warning. Who knows what all this information will reveal? Even with some digging, I’m sure you don’t know everything.”
“Enough. More than I expected, and more than I wanted.” He didn't bother to look up.
Silence overtook the room as I stared at the book. In a way, Lliam was right, but not in the way he thought. Now wasn’t a good time since I needed to repack things in order to leave. While I could pack quickly, I didn’t want to forget anything. My magic lent me speed, but I was still human and capable of forgetting things. So, I put the book away.
“Tonight then,” I decided aloud.
Lliam sighed and finally met my gaze once more. “There’s no talking you out of it?”
“We’ve got quite a long journey. We’ll be meeting up with the first team soon, but we’ll still be a week without horses, I think. Having the horses will cut the overall time down, but it’s still a long journey so I’ve got time to adjust.” I reassured him.
“And you think it’ll be enough?” He eyed me skeptically.
“I don’t know what to expect, so I cannot say.
” I shook my head. “But I do know quickness has always been my thing. I will not doubt myself in this.” Standing up, I went to pack.
We covered a lot of distance in one day. The weather was on our side and much to my surprise, we were given horses to ride after all. I was grateful they had given us two. Sometimes there just weren’t extra to spare for non-Blessed.
It was already starting to get dark when we finally set up camp. An abundance of different things were on my mind after all the odd events that had just occurred. It must have shown because I was quickly called out on it as we went about our tasks.
“What’s wrong?” Lydia asked curiously as we set up camp for the night.
I dropped the small collection of wood I had managed to gather. “Just thinking about angels and their stupid contracts.”
Lydia raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Okay. What about the stupid contracts?”
“Well, I never explained that in full,” I said, trying to find the words I was looking for.
“You’re not one to keep secrets. Minus the whole ghost thing, I don’t think you’ve ever kept another secret,” Lydia said, collecting the wood I had dropped and setting it to make a fire.
“Not really a secret, more of a confusing mess I never got around to trying to explain.” I sat down next to her and watched her work.
“Well, you’ve got my full attention,” Lydia stated, mildly engrossed in her task.
“I can’t make a contract,” I replied simply. Better to just get it out, or so I hoped, anyway.
“Can’t is an interesting choice of words.” Lydia glanced up at me. “I’m sure this is the confusing mess part.”
“Of course. Who but the already damned can’t offer up their soul for a contract right?” I asked rhetorically. Lydia nodded and I continued, “Apparently, there’s actually some gray area there and that’s where I fall. I’m not cursed, I still have a soul, but it cannot be offered up for anything. It’s like it’s locked somehow. Not sure what could be strong enough to do that.”