The Forsaken Call

by Jamie Murray

  Sure enough, when he looked at her over his shoulder, she was slowly making her way towards him. When he turned, she paused for only a second, and then continued on her way, softly sitting down next to him and placing her feet on the green grass as well.

  "Did Jameson tell you?" she asked.

  "He told me everything," he answered.

  "He said you wanted to be alone," Louisa continued.

  "And you didn't listen, of course."

  "Of course," Louisa said with a smile. "You want to talk about anything?"

  "No," Baloric said.

  "You know I don't really care about your feelings anyway," Louisa said jokingly. Baloric tried not to smile, but he couldn't help it, so he looked away so she couldn't feel as though she won.

  Louisa knew she had won before the contest had even begun, so she leaned over and hugged him. With playful reluctance, Baloric shook her off and told her not to worry about him.

  "Worrying is too much work," Louisa said, letting go of him and putting her hands on her own cheeks. "Besides, it will give me worry lines. I don't want to look old."

  "You are so charming," Baloric laughed.

  "I do what I can," Louisa said with delight in her expression. "Hey, I'm glad you're not dead."

  "Me too," Baloric said. "I'm also glad I'm not dead."

  "Now come on. We have a lot to do today." She stood up and stretched, then climbed up on the pathway and reached out for him.

  "I don't need help standing," he said.

  "But I want to help," she said, sounding somewhat whiny.

  "Why is it that when you say the wrong thing, it comes out sounding right?" Baloric questioned, taking both her hands and allowing her to pull him to his feet.

  "I think you know the answer to that one," Louisa said proudly.

  The smile fell from his face when he turned around and saw someone he didn't particularly expect to see. She naturally looked different after eleven years had passed, but he knew right away that the young woman who stood before him was Raven, his little sister.

  "Oh right," Louisa said in a somewhat rehearsed tone. "This girl says she knows you and she wanted to talk to you."

  Louisa stepped backwards and leaned against the wall of one of the buildings as Baloric faced his sister. Raven's hair was still long and just as unkempt as when she was a girl. Her clothes were too big for her and she was dirty everywhere from the dust of the wastelands, completely unconcerned about her appearance. She wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, maybe she was even ugly, but that was one of the last things which Baloric found important at that moment.

  "She doesn't look eighteen, does she?" Louisa mused.

  "Eighteen?" Baloric repeated, looking at Raven. "Wow. You're eighteen?"

  Her shoulders hesitated and she produced a nervous almost-shrug. "I'm almost nineteen," she stuttered. Her voice did not match the commanding one she had originally used while addressing them outside the Angel's territory. She was noticeably shaken, yet still incredibly excited.

  "She looks young for her age," Louisa said. "Just like you, Baloric. You look young for your age. Is that something that runs in the family?"

  "Mother always looked young for her age," Raven agreed.

  "So you look like your mother, Baloric?" Louisa said.

  "My mother?" Baloric repeated absentmindedly. "No, not really. I looked much more like Father."

  "Oh," Louisa said, looking somewhat disappointed.

  "You should see William," said Raven, putting her hands together in front of her. "He looks just like Mother. If he had a ponytail, I swear, he would be Mother. Their faces are the same. And, judging by how you've grown up, I'll bet William will just be so average in height and size too. I worry he might end up looking too much like a girl, because he can be pretty soft and feminine a lot, and it makes him feel inadequate sometimes even though I tell him…"

  Raven raised her hands so they covered her mouth. She shook her head.

  "I keep talking," she said.

  "It's all right," Baloric said. "I like it when you talk."

  "You do?"

  "I haven't heard you talk in a long time," said Baloric. "I want to hear everything. I want to just listen to every little thing. And…William. I want to meet him too. Will he meet me?"

  "Yes," said Raven. "I think he'd really like to meet you, but give me some time to have you for myself for now. I can hardly remember your face. Honestly, I had stopped thinking about you."

  "It's been a long time," Baloric admitted.

  "Yes," said Raven. "For now, you're mine."

  She reached out for him and pulled him into a hug, one which was much more substantial that the halfhearted one Louisa had given him. He returned her gesture gladly and, within a few seconds, she was weeping, pulling the cloth of his shirt together in clumps to catch her falling tears.

  Louisa finally felt confident enough to move away from the scene and around the corner where Jameson was standing and waiting eagerly.

  "Well?" Jameson asked.

  "Well, turns out Baloric looks like his father, not his mother, so you win," Louisa said with a frown.

  "That's obviously not what I'm talking about," Jameson said. "How did it go?"

  "I think it's going really well," Louisa said. "Raven wanted to meet her brother, she just didn't know how to do it. I think this worked out well and whatever you had planned was probably going to be awful."

  "I didn't have any plan," Jameson reminded her. "That's why I asked you to think of something. You really know how to talk to him. You had him laughing and smiling and joking even after only just a few minutes."

  "You just have to know the right tone," Louisa said. "If I had to give tell him what you had to give him last night, I doubt there would be as much laughing and joking, you know?"

  Jameson was surprised that Louisa quelled the credit and was about to point this out to her as something which had changed over the years, but the ground begun to shake. On its own, it likely would have gone unnoticed, yet when it was accompanied by a sound in the distance with unsettling familiarity, there was reason for concern. Jameson knew if he heard it up close, it would sound just like the rumble of the creature in the maze's roar.

  "That's impossible," Jameson said, looking off in the distance.

  "What is?" Louisa asked, pointing her eyes in the same direction as his. "What was that shaking?"

  Almost on cue, the ground shook a second time so Louisa had to grab onto Jameson's arm to keep herself steady. When they both stepped around the building, Baloric and Raven were both staring at the horizon as a large form came into view, towering up against the darkness of the Gislan sky.

  "This is it," Raven said, grabbing onto Baloric's arm. "Forces have been coming in drove from the Shrine over the past week or so. They fight through the barrier and come directly here. Joy Angel can't hold them back anymore."

  "Then we have to evacuate," Jameson reasoned as he approached them. Baloric gave him a look which indicated there would be a talk later, so Jameson only nodded.

  "We can't evacuate," Raven said. "Joy Angel can't leave the barrier or she'll die."

  "Why would we protect her?" Baloric said sharply to his sister.

  "I could hate you for that," Raven responded in a tone which mirrored his. "But we don't have time."

  There was another rumbling in the distance. Jameson looked out at whatever was approaching and, although it didn't look much closer, he could tell it was only a matter of time.

  "It's coming for me," Jameson said, turning back to the others. "Everywhere I go, the Forces follow. I'm drawing them out. Wherever I stay is in danger."

  "Joy Angel predicted your arrival, Jameson," Raven said. "She knew you were coming. That's why William and I knew to take you back here when we saw you in the wastelands. She wanted to make sure you got what you were looking for." Her eyes fell on Baloric, but then back to Jameson. "With any luck, you've accomplished at least that."

  "We could
go to the Shrine now," Louisa said. "Lead it away from here."

  "The Angel promised the names and locations of the Resurrected Spirits," Jameson reminded her. "Going to the Shrine without the Resurrected Shadow Spirit would be pointless."

  "Don't you get it, Jameson?" Raven demanded impatiently, sounding irritated. "I would think something so simple would be so obvious. Joy Angel is the Resurrected Shadow Spirit."

  Jameson stared at the girl, unable to articulate an intelligent response. He looked back at the Forces steadily approaching and drew his sword, hoping for input from the others.

  "We have to protect her then," he evaluated. "We're on the same team now."

  Baloric looked at the floor; Jameson knew this was a reality he did not want to acknowledge. "But if the Angel can't leave this place, then how can we get her to the Shrine?" Louisa inquired.

  "She'll have an answer," Jameson said, gesturing for the others to follow as he made his way back inside the complex.

  He knew the Angel was not partial to revealing her insight of the future, preferring the others to figure it out in their own time. However, if it was a matter of life and death coupled with saving the world, he imagined she would bend her own rules just this once. Though, if Raven was telling the truth and the Angel really couldn't leave, then he couldn't imagine a possible positive outcome.

  As he ran down the hallways, Raven called out to him that he was going the wrong way so he had to turn around and begin to follow her. Somehow, he lost track of Baloric and Louisa, though he assumed he would encounter them sooner or later so he tried to focus on just one problem for the moment.

  The hallway became familiar to him so he ran past Raven and burst through the doorway to the Angel's throne room. Unsurprisingly, there she sat, acting as though nothing was amiss, and even smiled upon Jameson's entrance, looking over at Roth who also remained seated. William was in the room, standing in front of the Angel, clearly shocked at Jameson's sudden entrance as he whipped around like he was ready for battle.

  The ash on the floor made more sense; it was the Forces which the Angel had been fending off. It was difficult to believe they had made their way all the way into the room where he now stood, but he imagined they must have been smaller and weaker, and most of her magic went towards repairing the damage caused.

  She slid her long finger under her chin and then rested on her hand, waiting for Jameson to speak first. Her movements were so fluid, it looked almost as though she was in slow motion and, as Jameson bypassed William and approached the throne, it didn't look like she was a dying woman.

  "You have to leave here right away," Jameson said.

  "Do I?" the Angel said, actually sounding somewhat surprised, though she might have been mocking him.

  "There's another Forces on its way, Angel," Raven said more tenderly.

  "And you think this is the one which will finally do me in?" the Angel questioned.

  "No, Angel, of course not," Raven said hesitantly.

  "Raven told me you're the Resurrected Spirit," Jameson said.

  "Then she must have also told you why it's impossible for me to go to the Shrine with you," said the Angel, resting both arms on the rests and tensing up slightly.

  "There must be some way you can leave this place," said Jameson.

  The Angel looked amused as if nothing Jameson could ever say would delight her more. She also didn't look as though she wanted to respond anytime soon and, just when Jameson was about to repeat his request, Louisa came through the doorway, followed soon after by Baloric who appeared like he was ready to double over and collapse from exhaustion.

  Instead of looking at Jameson now, the Angel stared right past him and her eyes fell on Baloric, lighting up as if she didn't expect him to enter. He rested his hands on his knees and gazed up at her somewhat reluctantly as the ground rumbled from the approaching Forces.

  The Angel got to her feet and motioned for Jameson to step to the side. He looked to Baloric for confirmation, but Baloric didn't appear to be paying attention to him. As the Angel walked right past Jameson, Louisa stood by Baloric as if she was ready to throw herself in front of him if the Angel attempted to get close.

  Baloric stood up straight and raised his hand towards Louisa, a subtle way to ask her to stay away. She didn't move far, but she did detach herself from him and kept her eyes solidly on the Angel, along with everyone else in the room who was watching her deliberate steps. When she was within arms length of Baloric, she finally stopped and reached her hand out, palm up, as if she were cupping something in it.

  "In all my time," she said quietly, barely audible past Baloric's ears. "I have never longed for one as deeply as I have longed for you over the past ten years."

  Baloric did not answer her with a word and, instead, raised his arm towards hers. As soon as their palms touched, the Angel began to emit a sort of strange light which stemmed from inside her. Louisa covered her eyes and turned away, while William stepped forward as if he was going to attempt to stop it, but then stayed still. Roth did not appear to have any outward reaction, only squinting his eyes slightly in response to the light, though not otherwise affected.

  Jameson only watched, wondering what was happening. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Raven suddenly begin to emit a similar glow as the Angel from the very center of herself. She swelled up with fear at first, looking to the Angel's turned back for answers.

  "You," the Angel said, her voice sounding muffled as if she were covered by a sheet as she spoke. "Were always my favorite."

  Despite being so close to the light, Baloric kept his gaze locked on her. Something began to form in his eyes but, as Louisa quickly realized, the liquid was not tears. It was dark and thick, building up on the ends of his eyelids before finally overflowing down his cheeks, creating red stains as it dripped off his chin and onto his collar.

  "Stop it!" Louisa commanded of the Angel as she strode forward to try to sever the connection, but an invisible force hit her and knocked her right off her feet. She attempted to raise a barrier in between the two of them, though that attempt was just as easily dissipated as well. She called out to Jameson to do something as blood began to drip out of Baloric's nose as well.

  Jameson abandoned his position and ran towards Baloric and the Angel who remained stationary. He raised his sword to do the only thing he could think of: strike the Angel down. William yelled for him to stop, but he was already mid-swing by the time William could even recognize the danger his mistress was in. Jameson swung the sword at her turned back and expected to be throne back as Louisa had so he was surprised when his sword followed through completely and made contact with the floor.

  The Angel was no longer there, however. There was a pile of fabric on top of Jameson's sword where she once stood, and Baloric was still standing upright with blood on his face as if he was still holding onto her. Jameson did not bother wondering where the Angel had gone because Baloric began to fall over, so he dropped his sword and caught the older man before he hit the floor.

  He guided Baloric down to the floor and used his sleeve to crudely wipe away the blood. Louisa was immediately by his side, calling his name to wake him up. Jameson was almost too distracted to hear something fall behind him, and turned his head briefly to see that Raven had also hit the floor and William had rushed to her side.

  "You killed her!" William shouted at Jameson. At first, Jameson thought he was referring to Raven, but he soon realized that he was addressing the Angel's questionable fate. "Raven? Say something!"

  "Is he alive?" Louisa asked Jameson, ignoring William entirely.

  "He's breathing," Jameson answered and, as soon as he said it, Baloric twitched slightly and his eyes opened up dimly. His pupils had changed; there was now a white pin center amidst the blackness like the point of light at the end of a dark hallway, and he blinked several times as if he was unsure of where he was. "Baloric, what happened? Are you all right?"

  Baloric looked at Jameson if he had just noticed he wa
s sitting right over him. "Jameson," he said, reaching out for the floor to support his own weight. "I wasn't gone long this time, was I?"

  "No, you weren't gone at all," Louisa interjected.

  He sat up on his own, but Jameson remained cautious just in case. "We have to go to the Shrine," he said.

  "Where's the Angel?" said Jameson, gesturing towards the pile of clothing.

  "She's dead," Baloric said knowingly.

  "Dead?" Louisa repeated, devastated. "How are we supposed to resurrect the Spirit if she's dead?"

  Jameson followed Baloric's changed eyes, turning around to see Raven had also sat up with William's help. She seemed disoriented but unharmed as she tried to get William to back away from her.