by Justin Sloan
“Shut up,” she said. “If I hadn’t seen what we did in Kyrgyzstan… I don’t know.” She remembered how Daniel had used the shield in the caves of the Throne of Solomon, how he’d put himself in harm’s way to give her time to find her mom, and thought at that moment that if anyone could stand by her side, she wanted it to be him. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”
“You’re stronger than you think,” he said as they began the ascent up the other side of the valley.
The ground rumbled slightly and a flock of birds took off from a nearby tree.
“Come on.” He quickened the pace.
Moments later they crested the valley and saw houses in the distance. Western style houses, but slightly different from those in the U.S. They were older. Some had flat roofs and many were made of brick.
“My dad used to take me to the Highland Games,” Daniel said. “When I was young. I’ll never forget the smell of blood sausage and haggis being prepared.”
She cringed, but if that was the smell carrying in the morning air, maybe she would be up for it. Anything sounded good at the moment. If she could get it down that is. Her stomach felt odd. Empty, yet ready to convulse at any moment and spew everything back out.
They were closer to the tower now, and had reached a dirt road leading up to it from the west. A light layer of sweat covered Allie’s forehead, but not from exertion. She wasn’t scared, simply anxious.
Allie stepped on the road, and the ground shook. It kept moving, and soon the trees were swaying and the rocks grinding as the earth continued to rock.
“Get in the open!” Daniel shouted, reaching for her.
But Allie had seen something he had not. She spun him around and pointed to a spot between the houses and the tower. A dark whirlpool of dirt had formed in the ground. A great nothingness, with everything spiraling down into it.
“Get to the tower!” she said, and they took off running.
A stone tumbled down the hill towards them, then another. One landed two feet from Daniel, and then another came straight for him. He lifted his shield and Allie cringed as the stone clanked down on the metal.
“Under here,” he yelled as he ran to her, holding the shield above both their heads.
They continued for the tower, darting through the narrow entrance. In the shadows, Allie glanced back to see long wisps of darkness emerging from the hole in the ground. The hole widened as she watched, sending the darkness flying into the air, formless shapes that she knew had life to them. Allie pulled Daniel up the first stairs as the entrance caved in behind them. By the glow of her ring they were able to make it up the stairs, two at a time.
The tower swayed, shaking them off balance as they ran. When they reached a window, Allie paused to catch her breath, staring out in disbelief at the approaching forms. Winged shadows, dark and menacing, turned the air and everything around them to blackness.
And then she realized they weren’t just coming out of the hole. They were pulling the world around them into it!
“Move it!” she cried, yanking Daniel up the stairs.
The tower shook, knocking them both to their knees. Daniel yelled and began to crawl up the stairs, the shield slung around the back of his right arm. Allie followed, the inside of her stomach tense with fear and her heart beating wildly. She thought of her mom, and a wave of guilt hit her. How could Allie have been mad every time her mom had left—had this been what she was up to?
The stones walls were collapsing all around them, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the tower, but the stairs remained. Suddenly, the whole wall gave way, and only the interior of the tower remained with them. They clung tightly to the stones.
Bright golden rays of the morning sunrise seemed to be battling the darkness, and losing. But then the yellow of the sun crested a far off hill and glinted off nearby steel—the sword!
“There!” Allie shouted.
Daniel looked where she pointed, across a gap formed by falling stone. He stood, about to leap, when something darted past him, landing on the other side.
“Chris!” Allie yelled.
Only his eyes weren’t Chris’s. They glowed red, their pupils black.
Chapter 12: The Sword
Chris ran past them, an evil smile spreading across his face.
“Come on!” Allie said, watching as Chris closed in on the sword.
She took Daniel’s hand in hers, and they leaped across the gap in the stairs. But Daniel lost his footing and started to slide down the wall. Allie held his hand tight and pulled him back up to safety on the ledge on the other side.
When she looked up, Chris’s hand was wrapped around the sword, which was set deep into a stone altar. Daniel ran for him while Allie lifted her ring, sending a blast of light.
But it was too late. With sword in hand and free from the stone, Chris parried the light back at them. He sneered and rumbled a low, growling howl.
He pulled the sword back again, ready to thrust. Allie remembered that day at the cafeteria, when she had stood up for Daniel, and she hoped he did also. She threw herself behind Chris, calling for Daniel to shove.
Daniel nodded and smiled grimly. With a mighty push of his shield, he collided with Chris before the sword could strike. Chris growled in surprise as he stumbled backwards, over Allie, and toward the open sky. He screamed as the shadow left his eyes and the sword dropped from his hands.
Daniel caught the sword while Allie reached out to catch Chris, but she was too late. She pulled back and cringed at the thud against the ground far below. Turning back to Daniel, she saw the shield glowing a dim green on his right arm, the sword in his left hand held high in the air as if it weighed nothing. For a moment, his eyes held the glory of victory. Then he looked and saw Chris, whimpering on the ground below.
“I tried,” Allie said.
She stood beside Daniel, fighting for balance. The earth still shook as the darkness consumed increasingly more land.
“The sword is ours,” Daniel shouted into the sky, waiting to see if the darkness would stop its onslaught. It did not, but continued to suck the world around them into a whirlpool of black nothingness. He lowered the sword, his expression defeated.
The shadows reached the base of the tower, and then Chris.
“What now?” Daniel shouted, as Chris disappeared into the darkness.
Allie grabbed hold of him and moved close to be heard over the roaring of the whirlpool and the thundering of the earth. “We can escape, return home and hope this is all over. Or we can jump, go find Samyaza in his world, stop this once and for all. Maybe save Chris, even Paulette. The entire world.”
Daniel looked at her, eyes wide with fright. The tower began to sink, more stones breaking off and swirling around in the darkness, spiraling inward. A terrible sucking sound filled the air.
“I need you with me,” she said.
He looked down at the darkness, then to the sword and shield in his hands. “We jump, together.”
He nodded as if to convince himself, looked at her, then ran and sprang from the stone. The darkness took him at once, pulling him into its depths.
Allie followed close behind, hoping she wasn’t making a terrible mistake. The darkness felt like a cold lake, enveloping her. She felt it pulling at her, as if to rip her apart, but then she focused on their mission—a world without the darkness, without Samyaza. The beast that had overcome her fellow students and almost taken her mom.
She would not let it take Daniel.
The ring glowed brightly as she descended, enveloping her in a circle of intense light. Daniel swirled before her, and she focused her trajectory toward him. He held firm to the sword and shield, a dim glow of his own surrounding him, and she realized that he looked so much older than his twelve years at that moment. Maybe he didn’t need her as badly as she thought.
When he saw her coming, he moved toward her, joining the circle of light with his own glow. The glow grew around them, yellow and green and blue brillianc
e. They no longer swirled with the darkness, but moved along their own path towards the center of the spiral as if floating in water.
They felt ground beneath their feet as they landed. Beyond their circle of light, everything was pitch black, the ground shaking and the darkness roaring around them.
“We’re in his world now,” Allie said. “Let's make this worth it.”
Daniel set his jaw and lifted the sword above his head. He stuck out his chest and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Show yourself, Samyaza!”
The noise stopped. The swirling and the shaking stopped. All was silent and black.
Then a barely audible noise came from nearby, almost a whisper. Daniel swung his sword in the direction, the glow of the sword illuminating the form of Chris lying on the black ground.
“Wait!” Allie lunged for Chris. She held his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. They were light blue, the black and red gone. He stared back, pupils dilated, pulsating, terrified. “I think it’s really him.”
Daniel stepped forward and assessed his longtime friend. Finally, he nodded and knelt down. “Are you okay?”
Chris whimpered. “I… I didn’t mean to…."
Daniel shook his head. “We know. Are you okay?”
“I’m so sorry,” Chris said. “I never meant for this to happen. I didn’t know.”
Allie stood and touched the ring to his forehead, closing her eyes and focusing on her living room. The light filled her mind, swirling around and then engulfing Chris. She opened her eyes to see the light fade and along with it, Chris.
“What’d you do to him?” Daniel said.
“I sent him home, to my mom. They’ll know how to take care of him. We have to focus on finding Samyaza.”
A laugh echoed through the darkness. A deep, guttural laugh.
“Find me?” a voice said from all around them. “Why, I am everywhere! I envelop all that is, all that ever will be.”
“Show yourself!” Daniel said.
“Why, can’t you see me?” the voice said. “Open your eyes and look around, or close them and see me there too. For I am the darkness!” The voice laughed again, a laugh that pierced their very souls.
Allie moved to Daniel’s side, holding her ring and concentrating on keeping the light around them. But it took all her energy, and she felt she couldn’t make it last forever.
She looked to Daniel, relieved to see his shoulders rolled back, his jaw clenched in determination. He was so brave—but was she? She didn’t feel it at the moment.
“This way,” a soft voice said.
The darkness pulsed, angry, swirling. “Quiet!” Samyaza said. “You cannot defy me!”
“Over here,” the voice said again.
Allie felt the power of her ring weakening, her concentration waning. She took a step toward the soft voice, recognizing it from somewhere. By the glow of green and blue light beside her, she knew Daniel followed.
“Allie,” the voice urged. “Allie!”
Paulette!
Allie came closer to the voice, and sure enough, there in the darkness was the girl she had met at orientation day. Her hands were chained to the darkness, wisps of shadow covered her eyes and moved around her.
“Paulette?” Allie moved in with caution. When she drew close, Paulette’s face contorted, as if she was fighting for control of her own voice.
“Run! Run from here, now!” Paulette screamed, herself for a moment. “Get out while you can!”
The darkness strengthened and Allie felt her spirit being crushed. Her will weakened, as did the light from her ring. She felt herself growing dizzy, and began to sink to the floor.
A loud noise filled the darkness. Daniel stood beside her, shouting as he swung the sword at the air. He yelled and lunged at the nothingness, pulled back and struck again.
With each strike, the darkness retreated, twisting and shrieking. Following its path, Allie saw the form above Paulette, almost like the shadow of a large man, wings sprouting from its shoulder blades and long claws on its hands.
“There!” Allie yelled, pointing.
Daniel lunged, striking at the spot where the shadow figure had been. Light burst from the tip of his sword, a flow of pure, ethereal blues and greens. The shadow pulled back, hissing, and the darkness lifted. All that remained was a barren wasteland with a massive fortress before them, a dull red glow over it all. Paulette sat on the ground, whimpering.
“You must find the helmet,” Paulette managed. “Within the fortress. Find it, and with that sword destroy the evil that protects it. Only then can you bind him from this world, only then can you fulfill your destiny.”
With her last words, Paulette collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Allie approached and, as she had done with Chris, she touched the ring to Paulette’s forehead. A moment later the girl was gone.
Allie turned to Daniel and waited.
“We have no other choice, right?” he said.
“Not if we want to win, to be done with this thing.”
“Lead the way,” he said, his hand firm on the hilt of his sword and his eyes set upon the fortress in the distance.
She nodded and took the first step.
Chapter 13: The Fortress
The fortress stood tall above Allie and Daniel’s approaching forms. Thick stone walls spread for miles in each direction and reached high into the sky. As they grew closer, the entrance appeared more menacing, with carvings of tortured souls and huge beasts, and gargoyles hanging from parapets and lurking in dark corners. From the overhangs, stalactites hung like myriad teeth, and in the garden (if it could be called that), black withered flowers rose out of the red soil, their scent like forgotten swamps.
Rust covered the massive door, streaked with long lines of green sludge. A constant drip sounded from somewhere, unending and maddening. Allie remembered days at the fort on Whidbey Island, where her brother and she had joyously ran along the dark tunnels. They had giggled and hid in corners to scare each other. But a giggle was the furthest thing from her mind now. She had really enjoyed those days, and wished with all her heart that this was a simple game with her brother.
Instead, it was the fight of her life, the moment that would decide whether other children throughout the world would ever feel the joy she had once felt. It was time to destroy Samyaza.
She assessed the massive door, then turned to Daniel. “This is it.”
He gripped the sword tight, and she could see the muscles in his hand clenching and unclenching, red blotches around his fingers.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“You heard Paulette. This is our destiny. It’s time we accept it.”
She nodded, turned to the door and held out her ring. She concentrated all her will, but nothing happened. She looked at the stone, shook it several times, then tried again with the same effect.
“We didn’t come here to turn away now!” Daniel shouted as he kicked the door, startling Allie. “Open up!”
To their surprise, the door creaked open.
“Huh,” Daniel said.
They peeked past the door into darkness. A musty, rank air seeped from inside. Daniel strode forward, sword held at the ready. At that moment, Allie saw him as an archangel come to wreak havoc on all that was evil. She followed him in, feeling almost safe in spite of the insurmountable odds before them. Together, they could do this.
They entered an immense foyer, completely dark now but for the glow of Daniel’s shield and sword and the faint glimmer from Allie’s ring. As they walked, the glow illuminated massive stone carvings of beasts in armor, fanged and horned, carrying axes, spears, and halberds. The floor beneath their feet echoed with each step. On one wall they found frames where pictures may have hung, but instead pure darkness swirled within, each one like its own pool of midnight-black water.
Allie felt a chill run down her back. Without thinking, she walked closer to Daniel as they explored deeper. They moved forward, down a passage with thirty-foot ceilings an
d chandeliers of spikes. At the end of the passage, they found the door to a second room.
When they entered the room, even their combined glow didn’t reveal what lay behind the ocean of darkness. A heavy breathing echoed off the walls, growing deeper with each moment, vibrating through their bones.
“What is it?” Daniel whispered, startling Allie with the sound of his voice so close.
Then something brushed against her, followed by the sound of wings. She took a step forward, holding out her ring, but the dim glow did nothing against the immense darkness.
She was wondering what they should do next—just head into the dark?—when a raspy voice filled the room.
“Welcommmme,” it said.
“Show yourself!” Daniel called, and took a step forward.
“With pleasure!” the deep vibration was accompanied by flames of purple and black rising along the walls, casting an eerie glow on hundreds of bent forms across the floor. Allie took a step toward one, then pulled back in horror at the form huddled on the floor. It wore torn black rags, its eyes sunken and skin pulled tight across its face. She saw Chester, and other faces from the Strayers she had encountered. And Yuko, the Japanese girl from training?
“Was Yuko…?”
“What’s happened to them?” Allie whispered, pulling close to Daniel.
A movement came from the back of the room, from a raised ledge with draperies hanging behind it. It was the form they’d seen outside, its massive shadow wings spread to cover the breadth of the room. It hovered in the air, the blank darkness where its eyes would have been staring into her.
“They are mine,” Samyaza’s voice shook them. “Through their shadows I have taken their souls, while their shells of bodies fight on for my cause. As they have become mine, so too shall the rest of the world.” Samyaza flapped his wings and sent a putrid smell of death through the room, met by the whimpers of the helpless beings that had once been Strayers.
“It won’t happen,” Daniel said. “We have come to destroy you!”