A Child of Two Worlds

by Mark Cole

  The bottom of the cloud cover came quickly. The ground rushed toward them. Alex saw Caitlyn falling in a spiral not far away. He angled his body toward her as best he could with the glider strapped to his back. She was falling fast, but he was gaining on her.

  “Pull the red strap!” he yelled as loud as he could. “Pull it, open your arms, and fall on your stomach!”

  He would overtake her in a few seconds. Alex eyed the ground as the malfunctioning glider drifted away from Caitlyn. Only enough time to try this once, he thought. He lined himself up straight at her and closed the distance. “Grab me!” he shouted to her.

  Caitlyn flipped around in the air and wrapped her hands around his upper body. “Saved me again, Alex,” she said in his ear.

  “We aren’t down yet.” He pulled the lever for the wings and prayed they were strong enough to support two. “Hold on tight,” he said as he began to ease them out of the dive. There’s not enough room to slow down, he thought as they rocketed toward the Obsidian Tower. He pulled against the wind as hard as he could. The wooden glider creaked and groaned under the pressure.

  “Caitlyn,” he shouted. “We are going to crash. I’m going to try flipping us over just before we hit.”

  “You know how to do that?” A couple seconds passed with no answer from him. She let out a breath. “I trust you,” she said as she tightened her grip.

  With the ground less than fifty feet below them, Alex pulled down to the left and twisted his body around as hard as he could. The glider flipped weirdly, and the left wing caught the ground. They cartwheeled through the air. Only luck had him sliding on his back with his feet toward the Obsidian tower. He did his best to curl up around Caitlyn.

  They stopped sliding only a few feet from the southern door of the tower. Caitlyn stood on shaking legs and helped him up. “How are you?” she asked.

  “A little bruised and battered, but the armor kept me from breaking anything. You?”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Thank you for saving me, Alex.”

  He grinned. “Was I supposed to do something else?” He scanned the sky but didn’t see Brahm. “I hope he’s all right.”

  “I’m sure he’s…” Caitlyn started to say as a glider sailed around the base of the Obsidian tower only ten feet from the ground. Brahm gracefully landed his pristine glider a few feet from them. He pulled up on the red strap, and the wood and canvas device fell from his back.

  “That was fun!” he said cheerily. He took in the ruined mass of straps across Alex’s armor, and the dirt and dust that covered the two of them head to toe. “What happened to the two o’ ye?”

  “A hard landing,” Caitlyn said.

  Brahm snorted a laugh. “Another one?” The changeling rolled her eyes at him.

  Alex nodded. “I’m never getting on or jumping out of a Silverwing ever again,” he said.

  “Where’re all the bloody demons?” the Dwarf asked after glancing around.

  The other two shrugged. “I don’t know,” Alex said. The entire area looked abandoned. “Maybe the distraction worked better than I thought.”

  “I do no’ like it,” Brahm said. “This reeks o’ a trap.”

  The Guardian let out a sigh. “Whether it is or not, we have to go in.” The other two nodded.

  The Obsidian Tower was darker than midnight on a moonless night. The gate in front of them looked like a nightmarish monster’s waiting maw. Defiantly, the three friends strode into the jaws of death.

  Where are all the bloody monsters? Brahm thought. They stood inside of a large open room that all four gates opened into. Support pillars were spaced evenly throughout the massive room, and an enormous gateway arch was in the center. It was inactive. The entire place was void of life save the three people who had simply walked in.

  The Dwarf followed Alex to the massive gateway in the middle of the room. The Guardian placed his hand on the side of it. “Can this be destroyed?” he asked.

  Brahm drew the Hammer of Kings and tapped the obsidian semi-circle. It sounded like stone. He lifted the war hammer and slammed it against the stone with all his might. Not even a flake of the black glossy rock came off. He looked to Caitlyn.

  She shook her head. “I don’t sense any kind of preservation on it. I don’t even sense any magic anywhere in here.”

  “It doesn’t matter right now. It seems to be off,” Alex said as he looked around. “We’ll deal with this after we save Terra and kill Azreal. Maybe she will know what to do about it.” He pointed to the southeast corner of the room. “There are some stairs over there.”

  The three kept a wary watch as they moved to the stairs. “I can’t shake the feeling like I’m being watched,” Caitlyn said.

  The wizened Dwarf knew they were being watched. No sense lettin’ every flamin’ thing in this bloody tower know we’re here. He whispered as softly as he could. “Do no’ doubt that fer one second. Bloody Azreal knew we were here the second we landed.”

  They made it to the stairs and saw it was a spiral staircase that lead up and down. Brahm watched as Alex drew the Guardian’s Blade. “Up or down?” the Guardian asked. He waited for a second before starting up the stairs. “It seems there is a large amount of energy above us,” he said. “I bet that is where Azreal has Terra.”

  Brahm brought up the end with Caitlyn between him and Alex. They walked up the stairs making as little noise as they could.

  Alex hissed as he glanced into a room at the first landing they came to. He shook his head angrily and kept walking up the stairs. Caitlyn averted her gaze from the sight. Brahm’s anger rose when he glanced in.

  Bodies hung from meat hooks, and a gore encrusted grate covered the floor. Severed arms and legs were piled in a corner. A long table had large knives driven into it. Bloody butchers…

  They passed three more landings without so much as a glance. The stairs ended at a fourth. Heat poured from the long room. Bright orange glows were spaced evenly along each side. “A forge?” Brahm said curiously. “Why have a forge a third of the way up the bleedin’ tower?”

  Alex shrugged. “We’ve no choice but to go through.” He crept into the room, checking the corners. The lack of life in the entire tower raised goosebumps on their necks. Even though there were no demons to be seen, the fires in the forges burned high. The three spun about at the sound of crazed laughter from behind them, but they saw nothing.

  Alex and Brahm changed places as they walked backward through the room. The grizzled Dwarf did his best to look every direction at once as they crossed the room. They were nearing the opposite end of the long forge. He heard a clicking sound behind him and spun to see an obsidian portcullis begin to fall from the top of the doorway. He lifted up his arms and caught the dropping gate. One of the spikes in the bottom punched through his left palm between the second and third knuckles. Bloody, flamin’ Hell that hurts!

  “Get through,” Brahm yelled as the mad laughter started up behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see fire imps climbing out of the forges. The little, red demons had flames licking up from their bodies and leathery wings. Small horns like those from a ram bent around their head. They cackled with maniacal glee as they came forward.

  Alex and Caitlyn attacked the two-foot-tall monsters. The gate was too heavy for him to hold up for long, and Brahm’s thickly muscled arms screamed in protest. He strained to hold the gate above his shoulders. “Burn the two o’ ye. I can no’ hold this long. Get through now!” he shouted through gritted teeth. Blood dripped from his elbow.

  The two with him darted under the stone spikes. Alex grabbed the portcullis and braced himself. “Your turn,” he said. The Dwarf eased his push against the gate, and it began to slide down.

  “It’s too heavy fer ye, boy. Move yer feet back.” Brahm let go of the gate. It ripped through the flesh of his left hand and slammed down. The Dwarf spun and swung his heavy war hammer backhanded with his right arm, killing two of the burning imps.

  “Brahm!” Caitlyn shouted. “W
e can’t leave you!”

  “Ye have to, Caitlyn. Do no’ worry ‘bout me.” Brahm laughed as wildly as the imps. Another swing and two more of the innumerable imps died. “It’ll no’ be me first long day in the forge!” he shouted, laughing at his own joke.

  “We’ll come get you,” Alex yelled. “We can find another way around.”

  “No,” the stalwart Dwarf said. “Me hand’s no good. I’ll slow ye down.” Brahm slew another imp and risked a look over his shoulder. His two friends stood there still. They both pulled on the gate with all their might, but it would not budge. “Do no’ worry ‘bout me,” he said again. “I’ll make me way down from here. I’ll no let some flamin’ imps do me in.”

  Alex looked into his friend’s eyes. “Let’s go,” he said pulling Caitlyn away from the gate.

  “No!” she shouted.

  “Ye have a job to do, Cat. Go see it done!” Brahm shouted. Caitlyn hesitated just a moment more before she nodded and followed Alex up the stairs.

  Good. Time to be gettin’ to work. Brahm knew there would be no making it down from here, but he was determined to take as many of the lesser demons with him as he could. He began to sing the funeral song of the Hammer Legion. A song he had had the misfortune and honor of singing many times in his life.

  “The Hammer falls,

  and all things end.

  Forge the blade,

  and start again.”

  I’ll see ye soon, me wife.

  Brahm’s singing followed them up the stairs as they ran. It was some time before they were out of earshot. You better not die, Dwarf, Caitlyn thought as they sprinted up the stairs. She couldn’t imagine the stout Dwarf she had come to call friend falling in combat. He’s as strong as thorium and as stubborn as a mountain. He won’t let a bunch of imps kill him, she thought.

  They ran up the stairs heedless of how much noise they made. Both of them became winded from the exertion. “I think, we’re close, to the top,” Alex gasped. The staircase ended in another landing. He studied the room carefully before entering. Caitlyn stayed as close to him as she could, refusing to be separated.

  The big dining room they entered was made of the same glossy black stone as the rest of the tower. A large table spanned the length of the room. A blood red cloth that hung to the floor covered the table. The cloth rippled as something moved beneath the table. Each of the four corners of the room held a small gateway arch. A sickly green glow shown from up the stairs on the far side of the room.

  Covered plates and dishes lay on the table. “Let’s stay away from the table,” Alex said as they edged slowly around the sides of the room. They walked back to back.

  A familiar smell filled the air. Caitlyn sniffed. I know that scent, she thought as she struggled to identify it. “Something doesn’t smell right.”

  “Yeah,” Alex said. “But if we move with care, maybe we can get through here without springing whatever trap is in here waiting on us.”

  The tablecloth rippled again. It seemed to bulge out in their direction. Good call on staying away from the table, she thought. The smell grew stronger. It was familiar, but she still couldn’t quite place it.

  “I hate the smell of sulfur,” Alex muttered.

  The smell clicked in her head. Hellhounds, she thought. The portals in the corners of the room lit up a muddy brown color. She grabbed his hand and sprinted across the room. Hellhounds sprang from underneath the table and poured through the portals. She flung spells at them, but the attacks unraveled before they struck.

  “They have some kind of magical protection,” Caitlyn said as she changed into her primal form. Alex’s sword flared to life, and he carved through the hellhounds. She batted one from the air. Another impaled itself on her spines when it dove at her. She shook it free in a rain of blood and gore.

  Dozens of the demonic dogs blocked the twenty feet to the stairs. The Guardian and his protector were quickly surrounded by the flood of Hellspawn. Yelps of pain and roars of rage filled the air as they cut their way to the stairs. An hour-long minute passed as they cleaved the monsters down. They made the stairs, and Caitlyn put herself between Alex and the hellhounds.

  “Go,” she said as she clawed the throat from one of the demonspawn. “I’ll hold them down here.” One of the hellhounds tried to leap over her at Alex. She caught it in her razor-sharp maw and wrung the life from it.

  “I can help you,” Alex said.

  Caitlyn yelped as a claw scratched her nose. Her claws took the beast’s life. “I’ll be fine. I’m not the same little panther that faced these things last time.”

  “I don’t want to leave you,” he shouted over the din of barks and yips.

  “I’ll catch up. They can’t come forever.” Tell him, she thought as he turned to run up the steps. “I love you, Alex.”

  He smiled down at her from two steps up. The light seemed to be brighter still above him. “Love you too.” Caitlyn’s heart fluttered in her chest. “I’ll see you soon, little sister.” He turned and charged up the stairs toward the green glow.

  And that’s all I’ll ever be, she thought, seething with anger. She tore into the hellhounds before her with wild abandon.

  The yelps of pain and screeches of death faded behind Alex unnaturally fast. What is going on in here? he thought. Glowing green cylinders stood in row after row. Bundles of black tubes ran down into the nearest of them.

  Alex walked to the closest and peered into it. A tiny two-foot-tall man floated in the middle of the cylinder. Small tubes ran from his all over his naked body. It was hard to tell in the light, but Alex thought his hair was green.

  What are these things? he thought. He moved on to the next and looked into it. A naked woman with a hooked nose was suspended inside. Tubes ran to the same places on her as they did the little man. Both of them looked as if they had not eaten in days. Their features were sunken and hollow.

  “Are you the Nexus’s husband?” a male voice asked.

  Alex spun to see a man wearing a white lab coat and pants. His left arm was made of metal and had a computer screen on it. The Guardian held the Wrathblade between them. The scientist studied the sword and looked back at his face.

  “I can see that you are,” he said. “I am the Architect, the Paragon of Science, and I mean you no harm.”

  “Where is Terra?” Alex demanded. He could barely feel her at all. The Wrathblade flared.

  The Architect held his hands out in a calming gesture. “She is still alive,” he said softly. “I will take you to her.” The man led the way between rows of the glowing cylinders.

  “What are these things?” Alex asked.

  “They are Extraction Pods. They are filled with a biostatic gel that, when combined with a special serum, renders their occupant unconscious. The effects fade quickly after the subject is removed. One of the Council of Fyr designed them to suck the life force from anyone placed in them.”

  “Why?” Alex asked, keeping a tight rein on his anger.

  “Doctor Moore approached Azreal with the idea. The Overlord ordered them built once he heard the plans. Moore finished this installation and has moved on to build more in the other Obsidian Towers. I came here to observe and remain aloof of the war. To be a passive bystander while others fought the battle I should have joined long ago. I chose what I thought was going to be the less painful path.” The Architect was silent for a moment. “As it turns out, I was wrong. Doesn’t happen very often…”

  Alex took deep breaths trying to keep from flying into a rage. “Where is Terra?” he demanded again.

  “Here,” the Architect said as he stopped in front of a pod that glowed brighter than the others. Terra wore a simple white shift. Her wings were wrapped around herself. They glowed with a faint light. “Now listen to me.” Alex stared at his wife. She looked so tired and frail.

  “Listen!” the man snapped. Alex tore his gaze from his wife and looked at the scientist. “Azreal will know when I remove the tubes from her. I plan on being far awa
y from here when that happens. You plan on killing Azreal, correct?” Alex nodded. “He is on the floor above seated on the Obsidian Throne. There is a gateway arch in the throne room. You can use it to travel anywhere in the Nine Realms. Kill him and flee this place. Do you understand?”

  “Get Terra out of that gel, and I’ll do what I came here for.”

  The Architect nodded. He pushed a few buttons on his arm computer. A lift zipped across the ceiling and stopped above the pod with a hiss. It reached into the gel and pulled Terra out. “Stand back,” the man hissed as Alex stepped forward. The lift deposited her on a chair with the center part of the back cut away for the hoses. It pulled the breathing tube from her mouth. She coughed but still did not awaken.

  The lift sprayed water on her. All of the gel streamed from her body. Something else happened that Alex didn’t understand, but he felt the air became charged with electricity. The water ran from her body and clothing. She moaned as she started to awaken. The man looked at him. “Are you ready? Once I do this, it will be absolute chaos.”

  Alex nodded. “Do it.”

  The man punched a few commands on his arm. Clicking sounds came as the hoses disconnected from her and fell away. Alarms began to scream. “Tell her that I appreciated her logic,” the man shouted over the screaming sirens. He pushed a few more buttons on his arm and disappeared in a flash of static electricity.

  Alex reverted his sword back to its passive state and sheathed it at his waist. He removed the piece of obsidian that hung from a chain around her neck. When he did, the link was completely restored. There was no longer a block to being able to sense her location. A lot of good that does me now, he thought.

  Her wings were so faint he could hardly see them. Her hazel eyes fluttered open. “Alex,” Terra rasped almost too softly to hear over the sirens. She smiled at him weakly.