A Shade of Vampire 75: A Blade of Thieron

by Forrest, Bella

  “There’s no time,” Herakles said. “Forget this fool, and let’s get crackin’!”

  The Soul Crusher had a point. The rules about Eirexis stood, even in this invented reality. I had claimed Eirexis. If I dropped it by accident, I would lose it. I’d given it to Raphael, though. This probably had something to do with certain conditions. I’d willingly loaned it to Raphael, if I were to be technically correct. I hadn’t relinquished it. Therefore, these rules had loopholes in them, and that would help me in the future, for sure—my instinct had yet to fail me on this.

  Of course, I would’ve appreciated more clarifications from Death herself, but, for the time being, I had to make do with this. I slipped Eirexis back in its straps on my thigh and glanced at the crew. Lumi was still smiling, her gaze fixed on me.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “You’re wondering how Eirexis works,” she said, and I nodded slowly. “Don’t get bogged down in too many questions. We function as a group. You claimed Eirexis, but as part of this team. I don’t think you can lose your claim over it if you pass it around. I wondered about it while we were pulling Amelia and Raphael out of that stupid shaft. We’ve been so busy trying to rescue and help each other, we didn’t have time to think about certain things, especially about Eirexis.”

  “It makes sense,” Nethissis murmured, gazing at Eirexis. “It’s part of us, for now, until it’s reunited with Death. Any one of us could carry it, I think. But only you can actually use it, Taeral.”

  “Let’s go,” I said.

  We spread out to cover all four walls. As soon as I pressed two levers at once, the others did the same. One after the other, the clangs and the clicks of internal mechanisms rolled out in layers, and we didn’t stop until all the marked levers were pressed.

  We gathered back in the middle of the room, keeping close to one another. We waited to see which traps would be set off, carefully listening to the increasing plethora of metallic moans and glassy shrieks that emerged from the walls. There had been a hidden logic to this crazy gambit, I realized—pressing all the levers at once could also overload the entire system that the Soul Crusher had put together.

  “Lumi, you are one of the smartest witches I have ever come across,” I declared.

  She sighed. “You give me too much credit.”

  “Is it just me, or did we overload the Soul Crusher’s precious puzzle machine?” Amelia asked, looking around. None of the traps seemed to have been triggered. Wheels kept spinning, cogs kept turning… but nothing happened.

  A monstrous groan erupted above. The ceiling pulled back like a massive sheet of metal and lightbulbs. Water came down in tons, gushing and spreading violently throughout the room. I heard Herakles’s yelp as he was the first to get swept away, quickly followed by Eva and the rest of the crew, myself included.

  The image before me tilted and spun, the cold water tampering with my internal temperature. The water level rose at an alarmingly fast rate, and we were all thoroughly confused, trying to keep our heads above the foaming water.

  “What the hell?!” Amelia croaked.

  “None of them got us out!” Raphael said, trying to swim toward her.

  The current was powerful, and more water came through. The liquid was in perpetual motion, creating a rough whirlpool in the center of the room. I pointed up. “Maybe that’s our way out!”

  As if summoned to prove me wrong, the ceiling slid back into place, but with a series of small circular openings along the middle. The water was pushed through them with jet-like pressure, while the room was once again sealed. There was no way out.

  Lumi gasped, glowering at the ceiling.

  “What now?!” Eira asked, looking at me for guidance. She didn’t have her Water abilities anymore, and panic was clearly threatening to grip her, judging by the terrified look on her face. I couldn’t blame her. I felt the same, if not worse.

  If this was a test of our characters, like the Soul Crusher had said, what would this particular moment prove? Our intelligent ability to drown in a sealed room? The water level continued to rise, leaving only a couple of feet to the ceiling. We had to find a way out of here, and we had to do it fast. I doubted Eirexis would be able to resurrect any of my crew if they drowned. Setting aside my thoughts about whether Widow Maker knew of Eirexis’s healing properties or not, I took a deep breath and held it in.

  I went underwater and glanced around, while the rest of the crew managed to spread out. Raphael and Herakles were busy banging on the ceiling. I, on the other hand, figured it wouldn’t help. The answer was somewhere down here, maybe among the levers we’d initially marked as neutral, not connected to any mechanisms.

  It was odd how this sudden drowning had been the one trap to be set off. Had the Soul Crusher stopped the others, leaving only this one just to push us to our limits—or our deaths, perhaps? I wouldn’t know until I had him in front of me, to ask him myself. Until then, I needed to make sure we all survived.

  A peculiar glow caught my attention. Eirexis was reacting to something, still strapped to my leg. Its symbols shone white, but their intensity fluctuated as I swam through the water. My brain kicked its gears into motion. The pattern was there. I could see it, deep in the fabric of the universe itself.

  I took Eirexis out and pointed it around. It glowed most brightly in front of a particular lever. One of the neutral ones, completely unremarkable. I would’ve never noticed it myself as being different in any way, because it wasn’t. It looked like the others, pulled halfway down, without any special markings. Yet it was the one that Eirexis was signaling as… special. It had to be. Eirexis had yet to disappoint. It had excelled at surprising me in the best of ways.

  I slipped Thieron’s handle back into the strap on my thigh and made my way toward the lever. Above, Raphael and Herakles had stopped trying to force their way past the ceiling. The water had reached it, and there was no air left to breathe.

  Soon enough, we’d all drown—but only three of us would survive.

  With not a second left to waste, I reached the lever and pulled it all the way down. My Hail Mary. My last shot at saving us all.

  Seconds passed as we all held our breaths and stared at each other.

  Seconds that felt like ages. Long and torturous ages.

  Movement from below startled me. I looked down and stilled, floating in the water, as the floor was pulled away, much like the ceiling before it.

  All the water came down, and we were sucked along with the aqueous mass.

  The drop was steep but relatively short. I heard grunts and splashes. My body hit another floor. Every bone and muscle in it ached, but I was able to breathe again. Wheezing and coughing, I saw the rest of my crew down here, with me, equally baffled but thankful to be alive. The water spread to the sides into blackness.

  Walls rose, stone brick by stone brick. Without giving it much thought, I scrambled back up and made a run for it. The walls came up too fast. I ended up slapping the one I’d hoped to move past… It was too late.

  “I know I say this a lot, but what the hell?” Herakles managed, still flat on the new floor.

  Confusion soared as we all tried to make sense of what had just happened. “I got us out of the room,” I said. “Yet here we are.”

  “This is weird and annoying and everything that is wrong with this world!” Amelia snarled.

  I helped Eira up first, then Lumi and Nethissis. Above us, a ceiling had formed, also covered in white lights. Once more, we were sealed inside a room, from what I could tell. But this one was different.

  “Wait,” I began. “This is something else. Look at the shape of the room.”

  Indeed, the space was now rectangular and elongated. We had fallen into one end of it, with a smooth and empty space between us and the opposite end. The stone bricks were smooth, and, no matter how hard I pushed them, they wouldn’t budge. There was some type of kinetic energy keeping it all together, sealed and unbreakable. The floor was made up of large, square tile
s.

  The Soul Crusher laughed. “Congratulations. You passed the first stage of my puzzle. Took you long enough, but hey, it’s the end result that matters, right?”

  Raphael straightened his back, keeping Amelia close, unwilling to let go of her. “You mean to tell me we’re not done yet? After all you put us through?”

  “Did you really think it would be so easy to get Zetos? Seriously?” the Soul Crusher replied. “You can’t be this naïve.”

  What part of what we’d just survived had been easy? What was “easy” to someone like him? Letting a deep sigh roll out of my chest, I braced myself for the worst that was yet to come—that much was obvious.

  “He’s not done with us,” I said. “This is another challenge.”

  Riza pulled her curly hair back and wrung the water out as best as she could. “I’ve just about had enough of this crap.” She stepped forward across several tiles, until a click made her stop and freeze in that position.

  I could see the tile she’d stilled on. It had sunk slightly, just enough to point out the horrible truth. There was a trap beneath it, and Riza had just armed it. Moving away from it without the proper precautions could result in serious injuries or, worse, death.

  “Whatever you do, don’t move,” I said to her.

  Herakles was ashen, unable to say anything. He just stared at Riza, likely struggling to formulate a coherent thought.

  “I kind of figured that one out already,” Riza murmured, staring back at me with wide eyes filled with amethyst-colored horror.

  We’d gotten out of one mess, and we’d stumbled into another. This was different. And much worse. None of us dared to move, our gazes fixed on Riza and our minds galloping through multiple scenarios as we tried to figure out a way to survive this next part of the Soul Crusher’s challenge.

  We’d come out of that first room stronger together, and all the wiser.

  But Zetos was yet to be within our reach. More traps awaited, instead.

  Sofia

  We reached Pax smoothly, and Kafei was able to perform the second interplanetary spell. Yahwen’s solar system glimmered in the distance, clearly visible in the black night sky. Pax was a barren world which lacked an atmosphere, reminding me mostly of Mars in terms of terrain and overall appearance.

  Life had once thrived here, but that was part of a chapter long-since closed. Civilizations had called this place home, but something had happened to destroy it all. Ramin’s guess seemed closest to the truth. “It must’ve died during one of the ritual attempts,” he said, as Kafei was helped back into the shuttle after finishing the interplanetary spell’s pentagram.

  Mona, Kiev, Corrine, and Ibrahim had already brought out the serium batteries, connecting them to the shuttle’s pilot system. The control panel had been fitted with two palm-shaped screens linked to the batteries, and Kafei would use it in order to steer the ship and the spell from here to Yahwen.

  “Death must’ve annihilated one or more of Pax’s Hermessi,” I said, gazing out into the streaks of red-and-white desert. “It’s sad…”

  “She must’ve thought it was best,” Ramin replied. “Otherwise, she would’ve… I don’t know, made new Hermessi, like me.”

  “Without understanding her selective reasoning on these previously affected planets, we can’t really tell what she was thinking,” Derek said. “Maybe the people here were evil, or maybe they were bound to die out, eventually. Pax could’ve been headed for its own demise already, before Death’s intervention against the Hermessi. But, then again, they’re all speculations.”

  “It doesn’t really matter, if you think about it,” Ramin mused. “Not everything gets to exist forever. Where there’s a beginning, there should be an end. I know it normally applies to you living creatures, but I’ve often believed that all the entities of this universe should be subject to the same rules. Immortality can lead to… madness, sometimes.”

  “Are you, perhaps, referring to Brendel?” Claudia asked him.

  The Fire Hermessi of Neraka nodded. “She’s been around for longer than any of us. Kabbah, too. Though he was able to step away from the ritual fantasy. I’m not sure when that happened. Maybe he helped her during the first few tries, every other four or five million years.”

  “But, then again, madness is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results each time,” Claudia said, bitterly amused. “Kabbah learned that the ritual would never work, while Brendel found a way to make it happen by depriving Death of Thieron.”

  “We’re about to take off,” Kafei interjected, positioning herself in front of the control panel. Corrine and Ibrahim flanked her, eager to help if she required additional energy. She began whispering her spell chant, and the light bubble expanded outside and all around our shuttle.

  Derek and I resumed our seats and strapped ourselves in, as did Claudia, Yuri, Mona, Kiev, and the other members of our crew. Ramin stood in the middle as the light bubble took off along with our shuttle. The ride was bound to get bumpy without a destination—Kafei was a strong swamp witch apprentice, but not a full swamp witch. Nevertheless, we trusted her, and so did Kailani, who’d urged her to assist us.

  I would’ve been perfectly happy with Kailani helping us, but she was needed on Calliope, where the first affected fae had died, putting the others at risk. I was more comfortable knowing that Corrine and Ibrahim’s granddaughter was working with the Reapers to keep the remaining fae in the sanctuary safe—their efforts were limited, but better than nothing.

  Kafei didn’t speak much, but she was focused. On top of that, she had a sister to avenge. Acantha had died to get Eirexis, and Kafei had a massive bone to pick with Brendel and the other Hermessi over this. If our endeavor got us any closer to disrupting the ritual, then Kafei was totally on board.

  “I must leave you now,” Ramin said, surprising us all.

  “Wait. I thought you were coming with us. To help us,” Derek replied, his brow furrowed.

  “I am of no use on board this ship,” Ramin explained. “I’ve summoned the remaining rebels to meet me outside Yahwen’s solar system. We’ll help you from there.”

  I understood then what he and the others were planning. Yahwen was bound to be tighter on security, and we’d discussed this already as a clear possibility. Ramin and his rebel Hermessi were going to tackle the ritual Hermessi, giving us a better shot at a smooth and safe landing on Yahwen.

  “You are brave and crazy to do this,” I said. “You know Brendel will want you all captured or killed.”

  “I’m aware. She won’t kill me, though. I’ve stripped Ledar of his succession powers, and Neraka is of logistical importance to Brendel,” Ramin replied. “She won’t risk losing it by killing me.”

  “How so, I wonder?” Corrine asked. “I thought she wanted all living creatures gone. Why does Neraka need to still be alive from that point of view, for Brendel to use it? She’ll still be able to work with the three remaining Hermessi once you’re dead, right?”

  “I often wondered about this, but I only got my answer recently, after some serious thought.” Ramin sighed. “Brendel doesn’t just want a new dawn with fresh life forms. She wants to control them. She wants to be a supreme god among the Hermessi and the people they will bring to life.”

  “Oh, wow, that’s taking micromanagement to a whole new level,” Claudia muttered, shaking her head with disgust.

  “It’s probably why Death has stopped her before,” Ramin said.

  “Hold on, I’m a little confused. I thought Death killed most, if not all, of the Hermessi who tried the ritual before. I get that Brendel was too close to Death the last time around, but what about the previous attempts?” Kiev asked. “Why wasn’t she destroyed and replaced, like the others?”

  “I’m afraid that’s something that only Death can answer,” Ramin replied. “If I’m to follow my reasoning, I’d be inclined to assume that Brendel and Death once had a slightly more amiable relationship. Or maybe Brendel operated from t
he shadows and pushed other Hermessi to the front as fodder for Death to punish. It could be that it wasn’t until the previous attempt that Death was able to pin this ritual obsession on Brendel.”

  The spell took off and shot through the vast space of the In-Between once more, humming as it gained speed. We pierced clouds of pink-and-purple stardust, as Kafei steered the light bubble toward Yahwen.

  The complexity of everything that had happened before our time and all that would come to pass if we didn’t stop Brendel made me shudder. There was so much at stake, it hurt to even think about it.

  “I’ll go and gather the others, now,” Ramin said. “Fortunately, I am not compelled to stay inside the spell bubble. I might not be able to get back in, though. So I may not see you again. I’ve already told you what side to go through and where the old temple is on Yahwen. I trust you’ll head that way.”

  “He’s right,” Kafei replied, her eyes on the cosmic road ahead. “Normally, a Hermessi wouldn’t be able to break into an interplanetary spell—not straightaway, at least. That might no longer be the case for every Hermessi out there, given their power increase. Some might succeed, which would obviously be deadly for us. But Ramin can still get out of here… Good luck, Ramin,” she added. “You’ll need it.”

  “You too, young witch. Keep your focus on the destination and nothing else. My friends and I will handle the rest,” Ramin advised her. “Derek, Sofia. I wish you all the best.”

  “I do hope we’ll see you again,” I said to him. Harper had gone through so much trouble to get him back to his old self, to help him survive. It would’ve been a shame and a terrible blow to lose Ramin now.

  “This is your opportunity to throw Brendel for a loop. Do whatever it takes,” he replied. “Get the children away from her, and more Hermessi will join your side against her.”

  Ramin lost his humanoid form as the flames slipped through the tiny grates on the shuttle’s floor. I could hear him swooshing through the pipe system. Moments later, a fireball split from our spell bubble and darted across the incoming asteroid field.