by A. K. DuBoff
Kaiden nodded. “Then you better find some other way to make it say that we won so we can get that artifact.”
Toran rushed up next to me. “We will follow your lead, Elle.”
The crimson dragon roared again and then disappeared into the mist. I gulped as I stared in the direction that the creature had gone; it would undoubtedly return in any second. “Okay, aim to disable.”
Despite giving the order, I had no idea what I meant by it. The dragon was fifteen meters long and breathed fire. I had no clue how to disable a creature of that size without killing it—or even how to kill it, for that matter. But, I couldn’t admit to my friends that I thought we were doomed.
I dropped my backpack on the ground and drew my sword. “Maris, can you figure out some sort of protection spell for us?”
She looked unsure, but nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
The others set down their packs, as well, and held their weapons at the ready.
While I stood poised for the dragon’s return, Maris clutched her crystal pendant in one hand. A shell of purple light appeared around me.
“If that did what I wanted it to, we should now have some fire resistance,” Maris said.
“Hey, I’ll take anything.” I looked to Kaiden next. “Going along with the plan to not kill the dragon, maybe some ice attacks would be helpful against the flames?”
He nodded. “I’ll give it a shot.”
“How would you like me to proceed, Elle?” Toran asked.
“I don’t think punches will be deadly against a creature that size. Hit it as hard as you can, and hopefully we can stun it,” I replied.
He inclined his head. “I’ll try.”
“Say we do stun it. Then what?” questioned Kaiden.
I checked to make sure the dragon wasn’t back in sight, then set down my sword to access my backpack. I retrieved my restocked length of rope.
“Tie it up? Seriously?” Kaiden raised an eyebrow skeptically.
“I know, I know. But if we can demonstrate dominance and mercy, maybe it will declare it a win.”
Kaiden’s gaze alternated between the rope and me. “If you say so.”
A roar drew our attention to the sky overhead. The dragon was diving from above.
“Kaiden, hit it!” I shouted.
A ray of frost streamed from his staff, striking the dragon square in the face. It blinked as the ice made contact, then shook its head slightly like it hadn’t even been bothered. To my horror, the patch on its throat glowed brightly again and it opened its jaws.
The flash of heat was too intense to look at. I was convinced I must be burning alive, but as I diverted my gaze to the stone rooftop, I saw the flames curving around the purple protective bubble.
The onslaught subsided, and the dragon flapped away into the mist to make a loop back toward us.
“Way to go with that shell!” I cheered to Maris.
She grinned. “I think I’m getting the hang of this.”
The brief exposure to the intense heat had wiped me out, but a sparking green wave washed over me and I felt a surge of energy.
Maris smiled. “Figured you could use a pick-me-up.”
“You read my mind.”
Toran and Kaiden also appeared to be recharged.
“We need to lure it in close,” Toran said. “I will try to stun it.”
My mind raced as I thought about how we might be able to get it to land. Suddenly, I wished I’d brought a goat to sacrifice. Dragons liked goats, right?
I returned my thoughts to the present and what I had at my disposal.
“I’m going to offer myself to it,” I stated before I could second-guess the idea. Granted, rethinking the action was probably exactly what I should have been doing.
“Elle, no,” Kaiden said, firm.
The protective barrier is up, I’ll be fine. I really don’t think we’re supposed to slay it. I need to show that I want to work with it.”
“I don’t like that plan, either,” Toran said.
“This is what we’re doing,” I replied. “This is my discipline and you said you’d follow my lead.”
The large man released a slow breath. “Very well.”
“I’m going to have an ice ball ready in the event it tries to eat you,” Kaiden said.
“Thanks.”
Another roar sounded to my right as the dragon returned from the mist. I lowered my sword and ran to the stone railing on the far side of the roof away from my friends, wanting to distance myself to keep them out of danger as much as possible. “What do you want me to do?” I shouted.
The crimson dragon tilted its head. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was smiling at me.
It dove lower, but this time made no sign of breathing fire. Only four meters above me, it broke from its collision course dive, flapping its enormous wings to pull up.
I lost my footing in the gust, falling backward. My back struck the railing, and the momentum carried me over the lip.
My sword hand flailed as my torso dipped over the railing. Time seemed to slow down for me, even without a spell from Maris. I knew I had only a moment to act. I could drop my sword and catch myself, or hold onto the sword and likely fall to my death.
As poor form it seemed for a Valor challenge, I opted to ditch the sword.
In one motion, I released the weapon and managed to snag the inside lip of the stone railing with my index finger—a sole digit keeping me from toppling over the edge. As the sword plummeted down the side of the tower, I tried to secure my grip with my other hand, but the awkward semi-sideways angle had pinned my other arm underneath me.
I was terrified to move. My finger was slipping, and any attempt to swing my legs to shift my weight back toward the roof caused me to slip further.
This wasn’t how I pictured the end.
A strong hand gripped my wrist. “I’ve got you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief as Kaiden pulled me up. I shimmied my hips back to the proper side of the railing and slid to my feet. “Thanks.”
There was genuine concern in his eyes—the kind I’d seen from my father while my mom talked about a particularly bad day at work. Even with a dragon looping back toward us, he set me at ease.
“That didn’t look like it went to plan,” he said.
“Yeah, no, not really.”
“Maybe more working together and less using yourself as bait?”
“Yeah, we’ve got this.” I gave him a confident smile and he nodded back.
Together, we turned to face the dragon as it came for another pass.
With my hands empty, I’d be next to useless in a fight. But, I was still determined to end the engagement peacefully.
“There is no honor in senseless killing,” I shouted, stepping forward with my hands held wide. “I wish to protect others, not take the lives of innocents.”
The dragon halted its descent, flapping its wings to hover above me.
“There are times to fight, but this isn’t it,” I continued. “We have bigger concerns.” I pointed in the direction of the plains below which I knew were being consumed by the Darkness. “I’d rather help save you and the rest of your kind.”
The dragon planted its taloned feet on the rooftop, crumbling the stones beneath it. It gazed at me with its brilliant green eyes, somehow seeming to see inside and through me.
Twenty intense seconds passed in silence as it stared at me unblinkingly. It took all of my willpower to stand with my hands at my sides, completely at its mercy.
Just when I felt like I could take it no more, the dragon bowed its head. As quickly as it had taken shape, the dragon dissolved into red mist. It swirled in the air for a moment and then reformed as the regal woman.
“You have shown both duty and humility in your actions today. A virtuous leader knows what the true fight is.” She bowed her head.
“How can we help you and your babies?” I aske
d.
“Do not worry about us,” the woman replied. “Our magic is more ancient than even the crystals. We have withstood greater calamities. All will be restored in due time.”
I hesitated. “What of us and our worlds?”
“You will soon have what you need to face the menace. But that is something you must discover for yourself. Good fortune until we meet again.” The woman faded into mist.
A tingling wave passed through me, and I was left with a renewed sense of strength and focus. The call of the crystal at the center of the roof was even stronger.
I turned toward it. “Is that it? Is that all I had to do?”
Toran nodded. “Not every victory requires a fight. You proved that today.”
“Final artifact, Elle. It’s yours,” Kaiden said.
I stepped forward. A pace from the crystal, I stretched out my hand.
An electric tingle spread from my fingertips up my arm and throughout my entire body. The crystal shattered into glassy sand and fell to the ground. Before me, the sword hovered in the air for a second before slowly drifting onto the mound of crystal fragments.
I bent down and gripped the hilt in my hand. Another tingle ran up my arm, almost like the sword was an extension of myself. When it was fully in my grasp, a blue flame ignited along the length of the blade.
“Whoa!” I almost dropped it in surprise.
Maris crossed her arms. “Gotta say, guys, Elle gets the award for the coolest artifact.”
I grinned. “No argument here.”
Kaiden adjusted his circlet. “Yeah, whatever.”
“We should get back,” Toran advised.
“Yes, we got what we came for.” I tested the blade in the scabbard from my old sword and found that it was a close enough fit to work temporarily, though it would be better to get one custom made once we got back to the Evangiel.
“I’ll call the shuttle to come pick us up,” Kaiden said.
With my sword stowed, I retrieved my backpack from where I’d dropped it and headed for the stairwell while the others gathered their gear.
When Kaiden had completed the call, we jogged down the steps to the bottom of the tower. As we rounded the final curve to the ground floor, it seemed far darker than it should. I slowed my pace.
“Does anyone else feel that?” I asked.
“Yeah, and I don’t like it,” Maris replied.
Toran nodded. “We shouldn’t be on the world any longer.”
We reached the ground and headed for the door.
I froze the moment I caught my first glimpse of the world beyond the tower. Gone was the orange-tinted landscape of rolling foothills. Now, there was only black—and something was moving within the Darkness.
21
“Stars! What’s down there?” My heart pounded in my ears as I stepped outside on the windy hilltop outside the tower.
“I don’t know, but it’s standing between us and our pickup point.” Kaiden’s eyes were hard and his face was lined with worry.
The Darkness had almost reached the hill’s summit and was continuing to advance. The strange movements in the shadow were still at a distance beyond the base of the hill, but it was headed in our direction.
Toran took a slow breath. “I had hoped we wouldn’t need to test our supposed immunity to the Darkness.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” I sighed, then tapped behind my ear. The comm chirped, and I opened the link with my team and Central Command. “Commander, we have the artifact, but this area has been overtaken by the Darkness.”
He didn’t reply at first. “The shuttle is already on its way.”
“What do we—”
“Get to the pickup point.”
“But—”
“Fight your way out if you have to. Just get there.” He ended the commlink.
“That wasn’t the least bit helpful,” I said.
“No, it wasn’t.” Toran evaluated the Darkness swirling below.
“We only need to make it twenty minutes,” Kaiden encouraged. “We can do this.”
I nodded. “Okay.” I took off down the slope and the others followed my lead.
A hundred meters down the hill from the tower, we reached the first patch of ground tainted by the Darkness.
I hesitated. “I really don’t want to touch this stuff.”
“We don’t have a choice. There’s nowhere for the shuttle to retrieve us up here,” Kaiden said. He continued forward, though his movements were cautious.
Watching his steps, he passed over the threshold to the tainted ground. The blacked grass crunched underfoot, the blades disintegrating into black dust when disturbed.
“I don’t understand how it could have advanced so quickly,” Maris said. “We weren’t in there for long at all.”
“There was some strange magic in that place. Maybe time perception was different,” I hypothesized.
“Yes, whatever was going on with the pathways and rooftop, I do not believe we were perceiving the reality that we experience out here,” Toran agreed.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to a place that isn’t infected like this world.” Kaiden continued forward. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah, sorry.” I jogged forward, trying not to think about what I was walking on.
Seeing it in person, I realized that the moniker of ‘Darkness’ was more a term of convenience than an accurate description of what it had done to the world. Everything had turned black in color, but it wasn’t pitch black in the sense of there being a lack of light. Rather, it was like smoke blanketed the land and mini cyclones had ravaged trees and other once-living things that now looked like they had been turned to charcoal in a fire.
The upper expanse of the hill was only short grass, but I cringed when I saw up close what the Darkness had done to larger foliage. Bushes that had been covered in orange leaves on our way up were now black, and the slightest brush up against them caused the entire structure to fall apart into what looked like a pile of soot.
My stomach turned over. “Is this what happened to our worlds?”
Despite his tough exterior, Toran appeared to be on the verge of tears. “That’s why protecting the Master Archive is so important.”
I hadn’t really understood until that moment. In my head, my family was frozen in time—Colren had been careful in his phrasing to give that impression. I had pictured them standing in the town square right where I’d left them, concerned expressions on their faces and the members of our town around them. If I’d visited, I’d imagined I could walk around them and give my parents a hug, even if they didn’t know I was there.
But now, seeing what happened to a world that had been consumed, I realized the truth was very different. The planet was lost—as destroyed as it would be if it had been hit by an asteroid. The inhabitants and all other life were dead, but their backups lived on in storage. What that meant for their consciousness, I didn’t know. Resets were only supposed to take a moment. Were all the people who had been on those worlds now floating in perpetual darkness, their consciousness searching for a physical form that no longer existed? Or was their hyperdimensional consciousness roaming freely outside of spacetime unaware of the body they once had?
No matter the case, I hoped they were at peace. If anyone had awareness of what was happening to their world, I couldn’t imagine they’d ever be able to psychologically recover. I had a feeling my mom would agree if she’d been there to comment.
The pressure in my chest swelled, making it difficult to breathe. I just wanted to know they were going to be okay—that when we could restore our world, things could go back to how they were.
But I knew that was impossible. I’d already been through too much. Even if they were all the same, I wouldn’t be.
I caught Kaiden’s gaze as I ran up next to him on the journey down the hill. He was off somewhere distant in his own mind, even though he looked right at me.
“I know
,” I murmured. “I didn’t get it until now, either.”
There wasn’t a family for me to go back to—as of right now, they were gone. The only hope was to perform a global reset to restore the world.
He nodded solemnly. “We’ll figure out what’s causing this and stop it. We’ll get them back.”
“I won’t stop trying until we do,” I affirmed.
We were almost to the cave where we’d encountered the baby dragons. I braced myself for the horrific sight of their tiny bodies turned to black soot, but instead, a perfect dome surrounded the cave and everything within it was like we’d seen it before—the grass still vibrant orange and it even seemed to be lighter inside the dome.
The baby dragons stood on the stone outcropping outside the cave mouth, concern in their mesmerizing green eyes. When they caught sight of us, the red one bound across the grass toward the perimeter, stopping half a meter short from the invisible barrier. It tilted its head questioningly.
“We’ll get you your world back,” I told it as we rushed by. “I don’t know how, but we’ll figure it out.”
I couldn’t tell if it understood me, or maybe it just picked up on my positive intentions, but it bounded back toward its siblings while making a chittering sound.
The other baby dragons joined in the chittering, and the blue one flapped its wings as it started hopping.
I wished we could stay to watch them, but we had to keep moving. I tore my gaze away so I could watch my footing.
“I think they like you,” Kaiden said.
“I’m glad their mom decided to cooperate.”
“Assuming they’re even related.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. “You think there might be other dragons on this world?”
“If there are, I hope they’ve been able to make other sanctuaries like this—” Kaiden cut off. “What was that?”
“What was what?” I’d been looking down at where I was stepping, but I snapped my head up to look ahead.
“That movement we saw when we were up above,” he said. “I think the creatures are almost here.”
The shadows had only seemed like tiny specks from our previous vantage, but the top of the hill was a long way away. Up close, the creatures coming into view through the dark, approaching mist were two meters tall and three long. I couldn’t get a clear view of the dark beasts against the black backdrop, but they seemed to slink like a cat despite being sized like a horse.