Elemental Courage

by M. W. McDonald

  “How long has he been out?” The first voice said William found the voice oddly soothing, albeit a little deep to understand from a distance.

  “Three days,” the second more youthful voice told the first. William would guess he was in his late teens or possibly his twenties just by how he spoke.

  “Three days?? What did you do, beat him up yourself?” The first voice replied, annoyed to a great extent. “When you rift with others, you have to shield them from the forces, the energy can’t penetrate our fur. Your passengers aren’t that lucky, you could have killed him.”

  “I know dad, but I shielded him from most of it, but I had to get him out of there fast.”

  “How bad was it when you got to the beacon?”

  “Beacon? What Beacon?” William thought to himself.

  “It looked like it just started; she really brought the house down.” The youthful voice said with amazement.

  “She always did like to make a statement.” The deeper voice replied William could hear the smile in his voice.

  “No I don’t think you understand dad; she really did bring it down. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen; she just destroyed it with a few seconds of concentration. I had to block him from getting hit with the debris.”

  “What was your first impression of her?” the older voice was curious now.

  “I don’t think I have ever met a more intimidating woman; she commanded so much power. Her presence was just huge.” David had to laugh a little; it sounded like Dyaina alright.

  “That’s your mother for you,” David spoke absent-mindedly, apparently looking in William’s direction.

  “My mom?” The younger voice asked. His mom? William was confused, and his skin still stung from the energies he was exposed to. He tried to stifle a groan but failed miserably.

  “We will talk later; I think he is coming around.” William felt a large presence moving towards him but didn’t feel threatened at all by it. He felt safe. The man sat on the edge of the bed and softly patted William’s shoulders.

  “Will…Wake up, Will. William…” William tried to respond; his brain was still foggy, and his mouth and throat were as dry as an Arizona desert. He groaned something incoherent, as the vice-like grip on his eyes seemed to lessen. He found the strength to move his arms a little bit.

  “That’s it… Come on Will, wake up. Look at me.” The deep-voiced man was speaking through the haze.

  William’s eyes struggled to focus; they began adjusting to the dimly lit room. He looked around and saw, for the first time, his surroundings. The furniture was very simple but sturdy and functional. Something you would find in a bachelor’s pad, contemporary furnishings belonging to someone who apparently paid attention to the times. All around the room, there was evidence of far-reaching travels. Totems and masks from ancient cultures adorned the walls, while ageless weapons filled in the gaps between them. His eyes, while focusing a bit better, were still wandering the room uncontrollably. They stopped at a man standing in the doorway of the room; he was about six feet tall and maybe 200 pounds, could be 400 pounds. He just couldn’t shake the haze from his vision.

  “Damn, my eyes hurt,” William said.

  “Don’t worry, the more you use them, the quicker it passes?” said the deep-voiced man as he shot an annoyed glance at the younger man standing in the doorway. The other man shrugged.

  “You have been through your first rift, how do you feel?”

  “Like a TV dinner,” William grumbled hearing the gravel in his own voice.

  “Those will kill you faster than we ever could” the younger man in the doorway laughed smiling a broad, friendly smile. The man on the end of the bed introduced himself.

  “I’m David it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, William.”

  “How do you know my name?” William asked, not scared but not entirely settled either.

  “I know more about you than you probably do son.” David smiled again, relieved William hadn’t permanently damaged something important. “Let me introduce you to your rescuer, Michael.”

  William attempted to sit up but stopped halfway before settling back in place.

  “Wait I was taken by a wolf, a large wolf with metal fur, long ears, and big amber eyes,” William stopped himself suddenly seeing those same amber eyes from that fateful night, present in both David and Michael. William now looked with eyes un-blurred. The similarities between himself and Michael were noticeable immediately. He had the same face, same basic build with muscle advantage going to Michael. Michael did have longer hair where the front was tied back, and rest was down around his shoulders. His hair was streaked with blue and silver. The ends of each strand seemingly finished with a silver-ish metal almost like mercury; the same colors of the wolf from a few nights before.

  “How? Where am I?” William asked looking around again taking in extra details just in case.

  “You’re safe, and for right now, that is all that matters. Can you stand?” David asked as he stood up allowing William more room to adjust.

  “Yeah I think so,” William took a deep breath bracing for residual pain as he sat up but felt none. Instead, he just felt stiffness from limbs unused.

  “Michael, can you round up something for him to eat?” David asked as he put a supportive hand on William’s shoulder.

  “Sure thing pops, I was already cooking anyways.” With that, Michael left to get the food he had been preparing. David leaned in to whisper near William’s ear.

  “I apologize in advance; he only knows how to cook two things. Steak and macaroni and cheese.”

  “I heard that!” Michael yelled from the kitchen.

  “How in the heck did he hear that?” William glanced towards David and was greeted by the brilliant amber eyes. “Oh right… Wolves.”

  “Rift wolves to be exact,” said, Michael, as he entered the room carrying a plate bearing a large t-bone steak and a scoop of macaroni. “I thought I would bless him with both of my specialties actually.” Michael smiled sarcastically at David. William looked at the plate; his mouth was watering. His body went into autopilot. He grabbed the plate and sat down on the floor to eat. He inhaled his food quickly.

  “You know? You might be part wolf after all” David said amused, now sitting in bed that William just vacated, watching him devour his meal.

  William was eating happily; it was good, and he felt he could trust these men. They did, after all, save his life. As he ate, he tried to recall the events of the other night. Then he noticed something. He had on two bracelets similar to the ones his mom put on that night.

  “What are these?” William asked the men, shaking his wrists at David. “My mom had these on, didn’t she?” Worry flooded him.

  “Where is she?” William asked a little too angrily. David stood up quickly, looming over him.

  “You will calm down before you get us all killed.” He put a very deliberate emphasis on the will.

  “What are you talking about? I wouldn’t hurt anyone.” William stammered in David’s shadow.

  “Those bracelets are similar to your mother’s, but they are not the same. Dyaina’s were a gift, foci to concentrate her powers faster and they were to be used only in emergencies. Your bracelets are limiters. They consume your excess essence to hide your abilities from others, most of all your hooded assailants from the other night. We aren’t nearly as powerful as your mother, so I suggest you keep those on for all of our safety. All of this will be explained in greater detail when you are done eating.”

  “Why? What happens when I’m done eating?” William asked, suddenly fearful of a potential threat.

  “Once you are done, we are going to go and see your mother.” David smiled broadly.

  “Is she ok?” William asked.

  “I left her in capable hands to check on you. I can’t say how she is right now, but I’m sure she would want you there regardless. So try and be quick,” William shoved the remaining steak into his mouth and left the remaining mac
aroni.

  David and Michael walked to the broad expanse some would call a living room, as William followed behind, still chewing. David raised his frame to its full height, stretched taught, then hunched forward onto all fours. His body rippled and crackled violently as it shifted almost instantly into the form of a wolf. Michael did the same. William did notice a few differences between the two. David was tattooed, or instead, his fur was. Tribal designs, Celtic designs, even some hieroglyphics were present on his coat. David’s coat read like a passport full of places he had ever been. David was much larger and more powerfully built than Michael, but Michael was sleeker and looked faster. Both wolves had the exceptionally long ears and long tails that seemed to go on forever. The wolves turned to William for a moment and gazed at him expectantly.

  “Don’t look at me; I would probably turn into a chipmunk or something.” A low rumble that sounded like laughter came from Michael.

  “How about you experience a rift the right way?” David said. His voice was even more dominant being projected from the wolf’s frame. It seemed to fill every recess of his mind. William remembered the pain from his first trip. William hesitantly grabbed a handful of fur. He wanted to see his mother and that want outweighed everything else.

  With his passenger in position, David howled, and a rift tore open the air as William held fast to the wolf now dashing across time.

  6

  “How could they have failed?” The thought hung in the air of the obsidian hall, as the two remaining assassins reported their failure to their master. Once a target was chosen it was killed. Not just killed, but obliterated from the passages of time. To have an entire rank of the ebon blade assassin guild devoted to only one target, seemed excessive. One ebon blade could typically erase two or 3 shamans at a time. The maelstrom that was summoned had plenty of assassins for the contract and then some. Now, their fates sealed, the survivors answered the questions asked of them in the debriefing in emotionless voices.

  “Did you accomplish your mission?” A booming, genderless voice asked. It came from a figure adorned with a black cowl and robe embroidered with runes of flowing magic. It wore a blood ruby pendant around its neck that glowed like an electric heartbeat. The runes on the robe pulsated like blood in an artery. The voice commanded respect in every word, and every word spoken had trailing echoes from new voices contained under its hood.

  “No,” both survivors spoke in unison as they knelt before the figure with their foreheads to the ground.

  “How many casualties were sustained?” The voice asked control reined in unmistakable fury.

  “Two hundred and ninety-eight” replied the first.

  “How many bodies were recovered for blood essence re-animation?” The eyes of the hooded figure glowed white-hot. They narrowed at each man.

  “None.”

  The robed figure came to its feet in a rage. The runes on its robe pulsed faster and faster, changing from silver to red, and then to a black that blended with the rest of the mantle. It descended the steps in a fluid motion dragging the shadows of the room with it. It moved with reserved grace and agility as it stopped in front of the second survivor.

  “Explain!” The question was directed at the second survivor. He hesitated, unwilling to look up at his master. The gaze of the hooded figure penetrated the very soul of the man. Within the blink of an eye, the cowled apparition raged again, the runes on its robe where a bright glowing red now.

  “Explain!” Shadowy arms and claws erupted from beneath its robe at every angle. They enveloped the man like a thousand grasping hands. They reached through his skin and tore the survivor’s essence from his body. A scream of agony filled the hall and then it was silenced as quickly as it started. The shadows consumed his spirit feeding it to their host. The hollowed husk of the second man was now sprawled across the floor as the hungry darkness withdrew back underneath the robe. The figure returned its attention to the last survivor.

  “Explain or die as I consume you,” it said menacingly.

  “She unmade them.” The first man answered quickly. He was obviously afraid of this rarely seen example of his master’s power.

  “How?” It asked simply.

  “Something I have never seen before, tendrils of water spread out in all directions grabbing our men like glue. She collected and then crushed them in a massive sphere that compressed their essences into oblivion.”

  “The water blossom,” the figure said, trying to search its countless memories for instances where it was seen. It couldn’t recall a single moment. Only one person was supposed to be able to manipulate it, but she was destroyed long, long ago.

  “She said that we would feel the true power of an enchanter of water as she rushed a boy into a rift with a wolf.” Underneath the cowl, the face darkened even more as the eyes flashed bright white in contrast.

  “There has only been one enchanter of water, and she was destroyed 5000 years ago.” The hauntingly strong voice trailed off for a moment before turning its back to the man. It ascended the stairs in the same fluid motion.

  “You are telling us a ghost destroyed the unit?” A multitude of voices howled from beneath the cowl. Glancing back quickly, the figure raised a clawed hand. The shadow blade at the hip of the lone survivor lost its corporeal form rapidly seeping into the body that bore it previous and began devouring its owner from the inside out. The assassin’s cry was replaced by a guttural gurgle before falling forward in a heap. The shadows exited the corpse and sought refuge in the robes of its master.

  The shade sat down on its obsidian throne sinking deep into thought. Its blazing white eyes narrowing in thought as the shadows from its robe blacked out all light within the room. It had just one thing in mind. The contract was a trap. Not necessarily to bring out the woman, but whoever it was wanted the boy.

  “Who is the boy?” The blood ruby pendant flickered as if in response.

  7

  Inside the rift was a world unlike any other. William saw currents of energy, in a multitude of colors, swirling and sweeping across immense distances. He thought it resembled some type of electric brain. The hair on his arms would stand on end as human-sized sparks of energy raced passed. He clung tighter to David’s fur. David sensed William’s curiosity and fear. He wanted to put him at ease.

  “As descendants of the creators of these pathways, we are charged with keeping things running smoothly. As a perk, we get to use the rifts for instant travel to other areas of the world.” David seemed to have no trouble speaking while he ran. Michael was easily keeping pace just behind and to the left of them.

  “This doesn’t feel instant” William replied. It seems like they have been in the rift for twenty minutes at least.

  “Too true,” David had to laugh at how simple it was put. “It’s a bit more complicated than that,” David said. “We run parallel to time on the most commonly used pathways. What seems like minutes or hours in here, has only been seconds outside. Other pathways crisscross time and veer off to events in the past and future. Those darkened pathways leading to the past from the present were sealed off before I was born. It was determined that to have control over time itself was too great a risk for anyone to have. So our ancestors capped those pathways off.”

  “Can anyone open a rift anywhere?” William asked, staring intently ahead of them as a much more substantial spark flew at them. David never stopped running; the electric orb split in half around them only to reform behind the wolves.

  “Very few others, the art was lost centuries ago. The only beings who retain any working knowledge of these pathways were the rift wolf clans, and perhaps a select few others. Michael and I are the last of our kind that I have seen in over 500 years. There are, however, a couple of areas on earth where the energies of this realm break through the thin barrier between worlds. These tears occasionally act up and drag things through them.”

  “Like where?” William asked, intrigued.

  “Well,” David said thoughtfully. “
The Bermuda Triangle is actually a rift that has grown large enough to consume ships, planes, and other random things. It only acts up when heavy storms pass over it. The Amazon has more than a few tears in it, I have sealed most of them off now, but there are a few resilient stragglers. The mountains of the west coast of the U.S. contain a small network of rifts. Those rifts can only be opened with direct interaction. So they aren’t created per se but rather simply opened. That’s how Bigfoot gets around so fast and seems to disappear so suddenly.”

  “Bigfoot? You have got to be kidding me.” He realized as he was riding on the back of a giant talking blue-silver wolf, maybe Bigfoot wasn’t such a stretch.

  “Just because they are everywhere, or that we can create them anywhere doesn’t mean the process is easy. Otherwise, Michael wouldn’t have taken a hundred years to figure it out.”

  “Yeah, yeah” Michael growled, his jowls rolled out the words as he strode effortlessly behind them. “I know how to do it now.”

  “You don’t know everything yet, and the only thing that will fix that is time.” David was proud of Michael, but he needed to be occasionally reminded that he didn’t know it all.

  “Wait, it took you a hundred years to learn to do this Michael?” William asked, absolutely amazed. “Just how old are you?”

  “By normal measurements, I’m 124” William’s eyes must have been enormous because Michael quickly responded.

  “But I’m still young by our standards.”

  “And you?” William said as he jabbed David in the shoulder.

  “I’m old enough to be wise, and wise enough not to answer that question.” David chuckled.

  “He’s 1040 years old” Michael chided, not letting his father off that easy.

  “Damn that’s old,” William said before he could catch himself. Michael began laughing; his wolf form struggling to accommodate the foreign emotion.

  “Besides,” David continued. “If you think that’s old, try asking your mother--.”David suddenly remembering the anger Dyaina was capable of in her “younger” days, David stopped himself. “On second thought you are probably smart to leave that one alone.”