by brett hicks
Vivi said and she appeared from the shadow of a tree nearby. Atlas was close behind her, pulling that same shadow movement act. For a being of over eight-feet of height, he was certainly graceful and silent.
“Ok, I’m going to get to work now.”
I announced to no one in particular. I stepped forward and I elbowed Liam one last time for good measure before he was out of reach. He made an obligatory “uff” sound of faux-pain to satisfy my bloodlust.
I stepped up and I extended my hand and my green-blue magic surged from my left hand and with it my sizzling green-blue katana. Green fire danced along the blade and I noticed Ariel suddenly eyeing my sword with a new level of curiosity.
“Yes, this is the first and second states of alchemy made manifest.”
She murmured to herself and I waved my right hand in her direction.
“A little room here, I’m cutting into rock and multiple layers of spells. Who knows how that could possibly affect you?!”
Ariel snorted but she stepped back, if very reluctantly. I stepped up and I looked at the fifteen-foot bolder and I thrust my glowing blade into the center. Green fires began to eat away at the stone and the flames felt cold as they brushed against my flesh. This was what the others had called the deconstruction process. I knew from my reading that alchemy had three steps, deconstruction, purification and then transmutation.
Somehow, I had awakened the first step in my touch with the katana. The sword had become something that seemed to help me channel these instinctive powers. The bolder began to glow with the green of my alchemical magic and it began to dissolve at my feet. Paper seals and sealing ropes burned up into nothingness. I knew that this was a much larger deal than just burning some stone and paper. The magic of the seals should have made them nearly impossible to just destroy with brute force. My magic seemed to consume even the spells attached to the objects.
I felt the magic and the sealing powers like a blueprint in my mind’s eye now. I could replicate them, I was sure of this. I could copy anything I broke down, that was for sure. This both excited and terrified me at the same time. This was an awful power to be able to wield over nature. Destruction and rebirth forever intertwined in the stroke of a sword.
“Make something with them.”
Ariel whispered next to me. I spared her a glance and noticed she had inched back to my side and now stood peering at the crumbling stone as it became a green glowing mass in front of me.
“How?”
“How do you produce your sword from your flesh and bone?”
She asked almost enigmatically and I gave her a cross look.
“I don’t know, I just do it.”
I said through grit teeth and she shrugged and said, “The just focus on these raw materials and do something with them.”
I closed my eyes and I began to feel the materials in front of me. I could feel raw iron and many small gemstones. I cleared away all the other raw materials and I focused on the neat square block of iron and the gemstones. Mostly emeralds, a few were palm-sized diamonds. I willed them the same way I will my sword to exist when I need it.
I heard several loud intakes of breath and I opened my eyes. Sitting in front of me was a large stack of nearly forged iron cubes and stacked neatly on top was a small catch of gems of green and glinting clear diamonds.
“Shit, you do realize that she could probably rule the world of the wealth her powers can amass alone, right?”
Liam said from behind me and I had a pretty good idea that this question had been directed at Seri. Mainly as a jab at her almost incalculable wealth, he was implying that I could transmute raw valuables and far exceed her wealth.
“Wow, this is nuts!”
Skylar said as he stepped forward and inspected the stones.
“Shit, these things are perfect, like fancy museum perfect!”
“Amazing, can I touch them, Thea?”
Ariel asked and she looked like Christmas had come early. I shrugged and seemed to come back to the here and now. She bent over and picked up one of the larger emeralds and she held it close to her eye.
“Flawless, this stone is not just precious in value; it is also a magical conduit. I could store power inside this for later use. I have seen a few such stones in my life, but they are very few and far between. I guess we know why now because there haven’t been any alchemists to transmute them in three-thousand-years.”
Bix and Vivi looked completely bored and more than ready to punch something, anything. I looked into Bix’s eyes and I smiled brightly.
“Who’s ready for a daemon hollowing raid?!”
Vivi and Bix both grinned wickedly at this and nodded in support.
Seri stepped forward and she handed me a pouch made of simple but sturdy leather.
“Why don’t you store these in my little safe in the SUV? You wouldn’t want something to happen to your loot.”
I nodded in agreement and Ariel tried to hand me the large emerald hexagon but I shook my head and pressed it back into her hand.
“Keep it; I couldn’t imagine a better witch to give such a magical stone to.”
She beamed and said, “I’d kiss you, but then I’d have to answer to your kin. Thank you, Thea!”
I shrugged and I let my sword dissolve back into my flesh and bone. I gathered up the other gems and Liam even carried the iron into the back of his SUV. We were unsure of any magical properties of the stones, so we were not leaving them out in the open.
Eight:
Darkness greeted us as we crossed the sealed area. We were moving on foot right now with Seri and Liam driving into the deeper Hollowing behind us. Ariel chanted a few words in Gaelic and a yellow orb of light floated above our heads.
Many glowing feral eyes peered at us from the shadows. A girl could lose her mind staring into this abyss of darkness and sure death. The light seemed to be completely void in this Hollowing.
“How did they make the entire Hollowing dark?”
Vivi murmured from beside me, “These are from the former Shadow Dimension. They are darkness-aligned and shadow aligned beings. They prefer the night, besides they can see perfectly clear now. We are at a grave disadvantage if they decide to attack.
As if her words had rallied their courage, dark shadows shot forward and my green-blue blade erupted to life almost on its own and I parried three massive talons. I swore vividly and I kicked out and smashed my boot-clad foot through a soft nose of a nearly human-looking pale figure. It flew back and made a gurgling sound of distress.
Dark and deep-purple sliced through the air and I barely managed to throw out my right hand to match the pure dark energy with bright green bolts of crackling energy. I didn’t have enough time to ponder what I was doing with my energy, because I couldn’t tell you what this power was if you offered me a room filled with Playboy models.
Vivi was flashing around and dispersing into the night like the creatures we were locked in combat with. Bix was deathly silent and she seemed to just materialize in thin-air striking down a dark being.
Some of the beings were human-like and others were some of the darkest grotesque horrors you could never imagine come to life. You might never want to look under your bed again after this, or you might just forget how to close your eyes in the darkness. I could see why these beings were being kept the hell away from humans. It was a good thing that we sealed off the entrance to the outer hollowing when we came through. In doing so, we had also cut off our only avenue of retreat. So, we were literally between a rock and a daemon right now!
Purple energy cracked to life again and I slammed my green blade into it and I rushed forward while the alchemist’s blade diverted the flow of pure dark energy.
A grey woman in grey robes with silver-grey hair stared at me with a grim-faced determination. Her eyes held the hardness of a warrior, but I did not see the soulless battle frenzy one would expect from supposed ravenous daemons.
I could end her in a flash of green, I knew it. I ha
d closed the gap and I had the advantage of completely diverting her offense. I still had my right hand free; she was using both hands to channel that dark blast.
No
I slammed my right hand into the ground and I envisioned a localized sinkhole. I felt the elements and my magic merge, rushing to obey their master. Her legs were ripped from under her as the ground gave way and she fell into the dark pit of my creation. I closed it up tightly to restrain her, but not tight enough to kill her.
“Stop!”
My voice cut through the endless night like a foghorn. I held my blade to the daemon woman’s throat. She stared at me unblinking and she said nothing. Her eyes flicked to my blade and then to the earth she was now pinned inside.
“What are you, certainly not what you appear to be.”
Her voice was harsh like she smoked a dozen packs of cigarettes a day.
“I am Thea, daughter of Morrigan and Nox. I am an Old-Blood and I did not come here to harm you or yours.”
Her eyes widened a fraction at my declaration and she nodded towards the SUV’s.
“How is it an Old-Blood travel with the blood of the deceiver? If he knows of you, then how are you alive little Old-Blood?”
Despite her English being slightly accented, she spoke fluidly and her speech patterns were surprisingly modern. It dawned on me, the implications.
“You weren’t trapped in here where you? You’ve been outside and recently judging by how you talk.”
Her eyes narrowed and she looked angry with me and her emotional spike told me I had hit the nail on the head.
“How are you with that little girl, the child of the deceiver?”
I huffed and I shrugged.
“She’s my kin and neither of us is particularly fond of her father, or his psychotic ways. Seraphina is not an enemy if that is what worries you.”
She didn’t respond for a long moment. She was slow to speak and quick to think. This woman was a seasoned immortal of many years. Judging by her expressive comprehension of what I am, she had to be well over three-thousand-years old. Her behavior spoke of experience dealing with my parent’s kind, the Old-Bloods.
After she had come to some decision she finally spoke.
“Everyone, stop and we talk. If these little ones care to cause more trouble, then we fight again.”
All the dark monsters stopped and retreated. I licked my lips and I let go of my sword and let it return to my body.
“I’m going to pull you out, give me your word that you won’t try anything.”
He lips twitched in amusement.
“I am a daemon, you would take my word?”
I shrugged and spread my arms widely.
“Sure, why wouldn’t I? I have daemon subjects in my domain.”
She seemed to look at me with a new evaluation and she nodded stiffly after a moment.
“I give me word; you shall come to no harm as long as you do not seek to harm one of mine.”
I nodded and I reached down and I pulled the ground willing the alchemy that made the sink-hole to open wider and I clasped her wrist with my hand and jerked her up with all my strength.
The grey woman landed in front of me and she brushed herself off and stood to her imposing six-foot height. Her eye burned with cold cobalt that seemed to glimmer like a flame in the night.
“I can see her in you now. Morrigan, she was pale like the Celts, but you have her look and Nox’s color and hair-tone. Interesting, I have never before witnessed a being born of two females, even if one of them was a shape-changer.”
She spoke very laxly and her posture was almost regal. I bit back the pangs of grief that seemed creep up in me every time I thought about my parents. I had to keep my cool and not show any weakness. I tilted my chin up and I met her hard and somehow chilly gaze with my own, undaunted by her words.
“I believe some introductions are in order since we did just crash through your home. I am Thea Salvo and these are my friends and colleagues if the Manhattan domains. We needed to pass through your land to reach Boston in a timely manner.”
The woman seemed to take my words in and weigh them on her mental scales. She seemed to determine this to be truthful because I noted her posture change slightly and her back became less rigid.
“I am Mother of the Darkness of Abzu, Reyline. These are the children of the eternal night. Rather than fight you daughter of Nox, I will allow you to pass unmolested and I will show you to the best exit inside Boston if you tell me your destination.”
I looked to Seri and I arched my brow in silent question. She gave me a slight shrug as she lipped at her pink lips. That must have been her version of “it’s up to you,” because I suddenly felt the weight of this choice fully.
This daemoness woman could potentially become a real threat if I told her where we were going. She could also become an asset, or just not care one way or the other.
I gave a slight shrug of my shoulder and I opted to trust that my father had not been a complete monster, that he—she—would not have dealt with such a daemon if she were impossible to reason with.
“We are headed to Atlantis; it has been infiltrated by a necro-witch named Henry Jefferson. He seems to be attempting to dislodge Atlantis from the earth and it is causing massive north-eastern earthquakes.”
She bared her teeth and hissed a long sound and I felt my spine stiffen and chill. I began to wonder if I had made a terrible mistake, but she finally looked at me and huffed out a deep breath.
“I am coming with you, child. If it is as you say, then he will destroy my home and the homes of my children.”
I looked at her with wide eyes.
“No offense, but who the hell can I know if I can trust you with the safety of Atlantis? My track-record with daemons is not so great. Most of them would rather kill me than help me.”
She snorted in deep amusement at my confession.
“Just because you busted down the old market in Manhattan does not mean daemons everywhere hate you, child. Honestly, your perspective on this matter is vastly limited. Your arrests were but a minor nuisance to any of the less scrupulous players and those like me who just live-and-let-live only found it amusing.”
My eyes widened fractionally.
“You knew who I was when we entered this Hollowing, didn’t you?!”
She snorted and gave me a coy look.
“Whatever makes you say that dear?”
I nodded to the SUV’s.
“Because you didn’t once make a pass at our transportation or the daughter of your sworn enemy. You knew who we were; all of us and none of yours are dead, are they? What did you tell them, retreat if you get wounded?”
She threw her head back and roared in a raspy laughter so rich and pungent that it caused me to laugh too. Her cobalt gaze danced like blue flames of amusement.
“Yes, daughter of Nox, I could smell the darkness in your blood. I knew you before you were even born child. I will always know that which is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. I am, after all, your aunt. This is my remaining kingdom. The deceiver destroyed most of the Old-Blood Hollowings, but he missed this one, and perhaps a few others.”
Seri stepped forward and she studied the being now claiming to be an Old-Blood. Come to think of it, the purple energy she had fired at me was potent and somehow nostalgic at the same time. I could not place any memories of the tall grey woman, but she felt somehow familiar to me. Those of us with perfect recall have a gift for pulling up memories further back than most in our distant past, she must have held me at least once when I was a tiny infant. That would explain why I feel like I have met her before, but cannot remember her. His was frustrating; I couldn’t imagine how other people without my mental gifts dealt with this nagging feeling of vague recollection.
“Fine, but you’ll forgive me for not immediately taking your word.”
She chortled in amusement.
“We shall see once we reach Atlantis, I am after all, as they say, on the g
uest list. If I had wished to confiscate your birthright, I could have done so any number of times child.”
With that last bit, she waved us to our SUV’s and she seemed to come out with black motorcycles from the shadows. I wasn’t sure if she had just performed some sort of magic or if they had truly been sitting nearby this whole time. As it was, we could barely see beyond our glowing orb of light.
We followed Reyline and about a dozen of her “children” on their sleek Japanese motorcycles.
Nine:
As it turned out, the world was not void of light in this Hollowing. While we were classified as “intruders” the domain had simply refused to supply us with any help navigating the dark world that ran beneath the earth plane of existence.
The light was subdued and deeply purple-tinted. The Hollowing had a moon that illuminated the night sky lightly through feint purple-blue rays off a dying star of some sort. The look was extreme and alien in comparison to the other Hollowings I had been in before. This was more like another world and less like a pocket reality.
My eyes adjusted to the deep shadows and the low lit world as if it were my natural habitat. I guess in some ways, it was my natural habitat. Nox was one of the darkness, shadow, and death goddesses according to my mythology studies. She appeared in many culture’s lore and she almost always had a twin sister, even if some myths failed to mention her, most of the antiquated histories recorded two darkness and death aligned siblings.
Reyline referred to herself in what was far-eastern mythology, the Mother of Abzu. This was something or someone who ruled the darkness in some Mandarin and Japanese mythos.
“Here we thought you were the only remaining Old-Blood. What are the chances that your paternal aunt was so close, yet so far from you all this time?”
Liam said lightly, but I could read between the lines.
“I know it’s unlikely that her presence is a coincidence. If I had to guess, she could be here to safeguard Atlantis or possibly to intercept me once I became of age and self-aware.”
Liam frowned and shrugged casually.