by Lynn Veevers
The rest of Kaya’s group had made it all the way down the ledges and were stampeding toward her across the land bridge. Kenneth raced up and stood between Kaya and the gentle Cusith, growling and bearing his teeth.
The Cusith let out a long exaggerated yawn and proceeded to look completely unamused. “Your mate, I assume, Little One?”
Kaya stepped in front of Kenneth, and when he growled at her, she nipped at him.
“Stop it right now, Kenneth. I am fine,” she said in their telepathic way. When Kenneth came across the mental wave length, she could see the blue light from her eyes bouncing off the shiny metal of the cage and could hear the mental awe of surprise from the Cusith. Kenneth must have heard it as well because he turned to look at the Cusith at the same time she did.
The Cusith spoke again in her head and this time it was loud and clear. “You are not a Lycan and you are not just a being of magical core. I suspected and was not sure at first, but now there is no question in my mind. You are something much rarer, much more pure, and far more powerful.”
Kaya rolled her eyes and with adamant purpose thought “I am NOT the Pinnacle. So don’t even think about saying that.”
The Cusith shifted his weight and came to lie on his belly so that they were eye level. Kaya was still standing in Pure Form, so she could attest to just how large these beings actually were.
“You, my dear, are something far rarer and far more powerful than the Pinnacle. Something far more ancient. So ancient in fact, most have forgotten. But not the Cusith. My kind are almost as ancient as you and are internally linked to one another. Technically, your kind is extinct. You are a collaboration of all four magical core races in one being. The Lycan, Natural Mystics, Natural Spiritualists, and Dark Strategists are the four magical core races. It is so exceedingly rare to find one with all four core types—so rare, it next to never happens. Somehow, somewhere in your bloodline, you have harnessed all four ancestral cores. You are an Oblitus, or in words you would understand, The Forgotten. Instead of a single magical core, you have four separate, active magical cores, one representing each of your magical heritages. Together, they form what is known as a Unum Core, a core of unity. This is the most powerful type of core to have ever existed.”
The passage of thought between Kaya and the Cusith was lightning fast and so it only took a few short moments for him to convey his thoughts to her.
Kaya saw Kenneth staring at her in awe.
“You heard, didn’t you?” she asked him.
He just shook his head and whispered, “You are part Lycan. I can’t believe it.” He sounded so happy.
“How did you hear the Cusith?” Kaya questioned and was answered once again by the Cusith.
“I tapped into your thoughts while your mental bond was active so he too could hear me as well, and, Little One, my name is Varek. Please refer to me as such. I must tell you, you have a traitor in your party. I know this because I have seen his face here before many months ago. Long before the girl was taken.”
Kaya tore her gaze from Varek and searched the group until her eyes fell on Eric. She realized Eric’s telepathic nature enabled him to hear her conversations with Varek.
He was backing away and quickly trying to explain. “You don’t understand. Shortly after Noah was killed, Senka sent for me, but I did not heed her summons, so she sent her minions to retrieve me and they brought me here. I was then given an ultimatum, either deliver you and Dahlia to her or watch my family die one by one. Then Mom was murdered and Shannon was taken and I knew she meant business. I’m sorry.”
Varek broke through Kaya’s thoughts once more. “Ready yourself, Little One. She is coming for you.”
From the various tunnels within the lower level of the caves came howling. Afflicted started coming from every direction. They surrounded them from across the water.
The howling ceased once more and Senka and Miguel appeared from the pitch-black cavern they had retreated to earlier. Slowly, steadily, she walked at her mate’s side. They seemed to take forever to cross the bridge.
Kaya felt the familiar shimmer fall across her fur as Josh’s bubble went up around her, and realized he was standing by her side. Kaya resumed her Human Form. It was just him and her in the bubble, she realized, and she reached down to squeeze his hand in a sign of reassurance. When her hand made contact with his, she found it was clammy and shaking. Josh was scared senseless. For whatever reason, he was able to bubble before any Afflicted thought to use wrought.
“You need to stay in Pure Form, Kaya. Just in case my barrier fails.”
She nodded her head and heeded his advice. Senka made her way across the island and stopped right in front Josh and Kaya.
“So you are the Pinnacle. I can’t tell you how nice it is going to be to not have to depend on magical absorption just to remain healthy. Your core will make me what I was supposed to be all along, a Natural Lycan! Finally I will be able to have my own cubs,” she said, eyes glistening with delight.
Her eyes briefly shifted to Josh, then returned to Kaya.
“I felt your presence the moment you set foot on the rock of my caves.”
She raised a hand in Josh’s direction and seemed to concentrate, but whatever she was trying to achieve, she failed at. Senka took a step back from Josh and Kaya.
“So, I see your friend here can make barriers. I can smell his core, but it is weak and frail compared to yours. Your scent is euphoric to my senses,” she said as she turned her back on both Josh and Kaya to face Eric.
“I told you to bring me the Pinnacle and this wench!” she said, signaling out Dahlia with a dismissive wave. She then stood before Eric and he immediately hit his knees. “You have brought me what I sought and so many more I didn’t. You brought a hunting party bent on ending me,” she said to him in a cool voice that oozed with the undertones of rage.
“No! Senka, I did not form this group. I did not expect so many to be here. I promise I have been a loyal servant. Please set Shannon free. Let us leave in peace. I have brought you what you’ve asked,” Eric pleaded.
Kaya couldn’t believe it. He was willing to leave the rest of them at her mercy while he and his sister went free. Senka reached down, lifted Eric off the ground by his neck, and walked toward the water, where she dangled him over it.
“What’s wrong, nephew? Can’t change to Pure Form? You see, my brand of wrought, like so many other things, is different from your typical Afflicted. I have Natural Lycan blood running through my veins, so my transformation was…different from that of your run-of-the-mill Afflicted.” Senka was so absorbed in toying with Eric she hadn’t noticed Anissa had snuck up until the last second.
Anissa brandished her Tessen and slashed a gaping gash into the side of Senka’s face, causing her to howl in pain and drop Eric into the water.
Senka spun around and struck Anissa with such force that she went flying to the other side of the island. She hit her head on the bottom of the platform, then crumbled to the ground. Eric’s screams yanked Kaya’s attention back to where he was now floundering in the water half on, half off the island’s shore. Senka was a raging mess and stalked over to where Eric was struggling and picked him up by his shirt, effectively ripping his lower legs from his body as the crocodiles tore the limbs to shreds. Eric was screaming and writhing in pain.
Senka brought his face within inches of her own and said, “Shannon is dead. I have already drained her, and you have failed!”
She threw Eric into the water and Kaya watched in horror as the crocodiles fought and tore at his screaming form until one got a good hold and silenced his cries by dragging him under.
Senka turned on Anissa, intent on finishing what she’d started. The group jumped into action and the Afflicted bounded from the opposing shores to the island. Most were in their kind’s favored Hybrid Form with teeth bared, ready for the fight. Kenneth barreled into Senka and she slid across the smooth rock of the island floor. She came to a stop inches from the water’s ed
ge in Pure Form. Kenneth stood his ground as she charged him, snarling, just to be broadsided and struck down again by Owen.
Kaya took on Human Form just long enough to say, “Let me out. Bubble yourself only.”
He nodded and she felt the bubble shimmer off her fur as she completed her morph to Pure Form. Kaya surveyed the scene around her. This fight was in full swing as the Afflicted were picked off one by one by Quinn, Samantha, and Cole. Art was single-handedly finalizing each kill the other three made. No sooner was Kaya out of the protective bubble than an Afflicted jumped on her back and dug his claws deep into her right shoulder. She yelped in pain and out of nowhere, Kenneth was there, pulling her assailant from her and smashing its skull with the weight of his massive paw. The Afflicted just kept coming from every tunnel, every crevice. Kenneth charged the newest group and Kaya was about to follow suit when Varek’s voice boomed in her head.
“Free me! Have your boundary friend break our chains and free us. We will even your odds. Do this! If you don’t, your friends and you will die, Little One!”
Kaya stopped and debated how wise that was, then made a split-second decision. Kaya ran up to Josh, who was left alone by the Afflicted, and rammed against his barrier. She felt his bubble shimmer over her and returned to Human Form.
She looked Josh in the eye and said, “I know you are going to think I am crazy, but I need you to trust me. Do you understand?”
He nodded his head and stared at Kaya, wide-eyed. In that moment her whole world slowed and the reality of the nightmare she was living became undeniably clear. She saw all those she loved fighting and as she watched three Afflicted dogpile onto Art, realized the Afflicted were starting to prevail. Blood gushed from the huge bear’s back and she swung around to face Josh. Her words seemed to come out in slow motion as she explained what she needed him to do. Josh gave Kaya a look like she had lost her mind and as he did, Kaya caught a glimpse of Senka dragging Dahlia toward the water and Miguel pinning Owen.
Kaya faced Josh again and said in a frantic voice, “Josh, please! You have to trust me! We are all going to die if you don’t”
She watched as Josh contemplated what to do, then saw the certainty cross his features. She felt the bubble shimmer off and Josh took on a soft glow as he drew the barriers into himself. By the time the Afflicted noticed, it was too late. The barriers were down and Josh had bubbled himself again, but was just barely able to maintain his barrier. The doors of the cages flew open. Varek and his sister sounded a long, hollow howl in unison, before they turned into black vapor. It swirled around the cavern, shrouding everything in darkness. It wasn’t long before silence fell and the sounds of battle ceased.
When the swirling vapors rematerialized, Varek and his sister stood on either side of Senka. Their paws where spread wide in a perfect four-point rectangle, and their massive snouts were turned toward the ground. They stood there, still as stone and silent as death. Kaya saw how the Afflicted littered the island floor, apparently dead. Senka got to her feet and ran to where Miguel lay dying on the ground and wailed in heartfelt grief as she stroked his fur.
“My love, this was not supposed to end like this. I am paying for my sins against the natural balance. I truly love you, my dark angel, but I should not have been so selfish all those years ago,” Miguel said to Senka.
He reached up to touch her face, but the life fled from his eyes before he could complete the gesture. Senka knelt there, a single tear hitting the ground, before her features hardened and she stood.
Varek and his sister moved to either side of Senka once more and she laughed manically at Kaya. Kenneth had just brought over an unconscious Anissa in his mouth and laid her on the floor next to Josh. A quick glance over her revealed no broken skin or bleeding, just some nasty bruising. Kaya let out a relieved breath. Senka was still laughing insanely and when she stopped, she sent a pointed look to Kaya.
“These Cusith serve me I am their creator, and now you will die”
Varek’s blood-red eyes swirled with activity that turned them black, and when Kaya focused on his sister, she saw her eyes were doing the same thing. Both had turned toward each other and in one swift, unified motion, each Cusith grabbed hold of one of Senka’s hips and ripped her apart clear up to the sternum, then dropped her to the ground. Varek then engulfed her head with his mouth, effectively muffling the indescribable sound released from Senka’s throat, and yanked it from her body. Parts of her spine dangled from her head, a gory, dripping mass.
With a toss of his head, Varek launched Senka’s head into the crocodile-infested waters. Varek’s sister followed suit with the remaining pieces. When the deed was done, the pair walked to Kaya. She could feel everyone’s tension at the presence of these unbound and otherwise mythical creatures.
Varek opened his mouth and this time verbally spoke, and to Kaya’s surprise, everyone understood.
“Thank you, to all of you. My sister, Valkyrie, and I owe you a sincere debt of gratitude.”
Varek got down low and Kaya took up Pure Form so they could once again be on an eye to eye level.
“You and your family have freed us from our bonds, and for that, I am going to give you some of the answers you didn’t know you were seeking. You, Little One, are destined for great things in this lifetime and on this plane...and others”
The cavern was silent except for the occasional splash of the huge reptiles that swam in the waters not so far from where she stood. She couldn’t believe it was over, it was finally over.
Varek brought his massive head to Kaya’s and the mental transfer began. She could hear his voice in her head talking while images of times forgotten flitted through her mind.
“Your kind were among the first to grace the earth. They were also some of the first who ceased to exist, only ceasing to exist is not what truly happened. Your people were the Principium a mystical and superior race that lived in a paradise raised and tucked away from the rest of this corrupted world. It was one of your own kind that sundered the Unum Core of every Principium to form the four core races. Malum believed he was the only one worthy of an Unum Core and so he casted the individuals that had survived The Sundering into the Gnath world. There had been sixteen and through his dark magic he had created sixty-four single cored individuals. Sixteen of each of the four single cored races were dumped into a less than perfect world to fend for themselves. He effectively committed genocide on his own race leaving just him as the sole one remaining. What he had not foreseen was the cross breeding of those four races would one day produce an individual who would once again posses all four quarters of the Unum Core, the Oblitus…You.” Varek told her.
She remained quiet and still as she saw the history play out in her mind’s eye, memories of a forgotten past that she was helpless to shut it out but craved the knowledge all the same.
“Malum’s essence and core was imprisoned long ago by my kind. He’d become seriously ill with a magically-induced illness and his magical abilities had waned temporarily making him frail and weak. This was our only opportunity to rid the world of his delirious evil nature, and we had taken it. But it wasn’t and isn’t the permanent solution. It is said that a time will come when there is a shift in the natural balance of the world, so sever, that Malum will break free of his imprisonment and return. Only four cored Exceptionals, one from each cored race, and the Oblitus will be able to put him down for good,” Varek finished explaining.
Kaya looked into Varek’s eyes and asked, “The Pinnacle is this one of the Exceptionals you are talking about?”
Varek nodded his massive head, “Yes, as is the Eximius, which I sense you already know about.”
Varek stood and the link was broken, the mental pictures faded as did his voice, so much more had been transferred. Lifetimes of histories the world had forgotten. She now knew exactly what she was and why her kind had become mostly extinct. Kaya also learned that because of superstition and fear of the unknown, that all Cusith, were grossly misunderstood. They ha
d a purpose and reason to their existence, an immensely noble one.
Valkyrie spoke to her brother, clearly ready to leave. “Come, brother. I tire of this dreadful place. We shall lead you mortals out to the open air and there we will part our ways.”
Anissa had been right. There was another way out, and it was in the most unlikely of places. They had all had no choice but to assume human form to fit through the narrowing twists and turns of the caverns.
Along their way out, in a small chamber, they found a young woman barely alive and tethered to the wall with thick rope. Art sniffed at her and confirmed it was Shannon. When Dahlia came forward, she seconded his confirmation, for she recognized her sister-in-law. Art freed Shannon from the wall and carried her out of the caverns like Kenneth still carried the unconscious Anissa. They climbed up until they’d emerged from a series of boulders that sat on a low cliff. The boulders were huge and the entrance to the caverns was a tight squeeze, completely obscured by trees and undergrowth. You had to know it was there to see it.
When they all stood on the summit of the cliff, Varek spoke. “This is where we go our separate ways.”
Then without another word, he and his sister disappeared into the early morning sky in a vanishing cloud of black vapor.
Kaya and her group were about halfway through their hike back to the vehicles when Anissa came to…swinging and screaming. She made contact with Kenneth’s nose and it instantly started to bleed. He dropped her and his hands flew to his face. He yelped in pain as the blood flowed through his fingers, while Josh calmed an aggressive and confused Anissa. On the way back to the trucks, Josh told Anissa what she had missed and Kenneth glared at her with contempt.
They went back to Branson and checked out of their hotel the next day with one lost, but another gained. Shannon had been somewhat revived by Quinn on the way back and was completely distraught over the news of how Eric had met his end. As they drove back to Tangent, Kaya explained as much as she could about what she’d learned in the mental transfer Varek had done. It was impossible to impart everything in the amount of time they were driving, but nonetheless, Kenneth, Cole, Samantha, Quinn, and Anissa were completely riveted and immersed in every word Kaya said.