Gates of Eden: Starter Library

by Theophilus Monroe

  I fell too my knees, my face collapsing into my palms.

  “What did I do?”

  You didn’t know… You couldn’t know he’d do that.

  “I saved you. I couldn’t give you to Kalfu, and Pauli had to pay for it. This isn’t right. This isn’t fucking right!”

  I’m sorry, Annabelle…

  I took a deep breath and got to my feet, wiping the tears from my eyes even though they continued to flow. “Now we’re stuck here. We can’t get back. Not through my portals anyway.”

  There has to be a way.

  I nodded. “If there is, we’ll find it. And when we do… I’m killing that fucking Loa.”

  21

  WE’D BEEN WALKING through green fields and grasses for miles. It was a truly beautiful place. The air was clean and pure. It was pristine. But it wasn’t home. It wasn’t the Academy… and now, it seemed that Legba had a dirty secret. He had a dark side—Kalfu was a part of him. He was the one who’d threatened us on the road that night. He was the one who saw Ashley’s memories—no wonder he knew so much. And he was the one, clearly, who’d set this up with Nico. Whatever Messalina’s powers had done to him, it seemed to lock Legba away and held Kalfu in permanent form. Again, all a plan that Kalfu must’ve worked through Legba.

  “I don’t think Legba is Kalfu,” I said out loud.

  I don’t either, Isabelle replied. I think Legba really wanted you to summon the Baron.

  I paused and stared off into the distance. “But why would he want the Baron?” I asked.

  We heard Legba struggling when we came to his door with Oggie last night. I think Legba was struggling to keep control. Kalfu was breaking through. What if Samedi was the key?

  “But Baron Samedi… he’s basically the Grim Reaper, the Loa of death.”

  And Kalfu was supposed to be bound in Samhuinn… in the realm of the dead.

  “So if Baron Samedi was back, he could ensure that Kalfu stayed there, that he would stop breaking through into Legba’s consciousness. You realize what that means we have to do, right?”

  I think so…

  “We have to fulfill our original mission. We have to release Baron Samedi. If only we knew where to find him.”

  I think I know… or at least I know someone here who might know.

  “What are you talking about?”

  You know I’ve been here… I received my powers at the Tree of Life. There’s a Dryad there. He’s the one who showed up when Messalina turned on Baron Samedi. He’s the one who carried him back here. If he is the one who bound Baron Samedi, he’ll know how we can release him.

  “Sounds like as good a plan as any.” I had to admit, it sounded like a good plan. I tried to recall this Dryad from my memories, from my nightmares, even. But everything had happened so quickly, and I was so young.

  “Any clue how we find this Dryad?” I asked.

  None at all… I assume he’s at the Tree of Life, but I don’t know where that is from where we are.

  I sighed. “Well, at least the weather is nice.”

  The weather is always nice here.

  I shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. We need to hurry either way. Pauli might still be alive.”

  If we find a way back, it won’t matter how long it takes us here to find our way back. We’ll end up at whatever time the gateway brings us to.

  “I suppose I could try making a gate,” I said. “I mean, what’s the harm in it?”

  I reached out my hand and focused my will. I could feel the blade form… at least I thought I did. But staring at my hand, nothing happened.

  “I don’t understand…”

  Maybe you can’t summon the blade here?

  “For fuck’s sake!” I shouted into the skies. I looked around desperately for something to throw. I ripped up a hunk of grass and heaved it into the sky, screaming so hard my lungs began to hurt.

  Isabelle wisely gave me a good few seconds to cool off before she spoke. Feel better?

  “No… I need something with more mass. Throwing grass is… dissatisfying.”

  We’ll find a way home.

  I shook my head. “That isn’t even what I’m pissed about.”

  Then what is it?

  “Pauli… he didn’t deserve that. All I did was ask him to help. This wasn’t his fight, but now he’s probably gone.”

  We don’t know for sure that he’s dead.

  “He was bit by Kalfu. I don’t know what that does to someone. I can’t imagine. If he’s only dead, it would be a fucking mercy.”

  You can’t give up hope, Annabelle.

  I shook my head. “If I had a reason to hope, maybe…”

  It could be worse…

  “We’re trapped in another world of endless fields of fucking grass. How much worse could it be?”

  We could have ended up in Samhuinn, the land of the dead, the other side of Guinee.

  “At least that place would be honest. This place looks like the Garden of fucking Eden, but there’s nothing here.”

  Wait… what’s that?

  “What’s what?”

  Right in front of us, flying toward us!

  I couldn’t believe I missed it. I was so wrapped up in self-pity I’d become blind. I heard a screech as something flew our direction. Quickly. Its wings were stretched wide as it sailed over our heads, gliding around us like a predator circling its prey.

  “Shit! It’s a dragon!” I leapt to my feet, ready to run… as if running would do any good.

  Isabelle laughed. Don’t run!

  “What do you mean ‘don’t run’? The thing looks ready to make us a snack.”

  That’s not just a dragon. It’s our dragon. It’s Beli.

  I bit my lip. “I don’t understand…”

  I think when you tried to summon your blade…

  I grinned. That was it! My blade wasn’t really a blade, after all. It was a combination of elemental spirits… spirits that came together to form this dragon. I thought my blade summons didn’t work here. I had no idea how well it had worked.

  Beli continued spiraling around us, flying closer. As he flapped his giant wings, the air he pushed away from himself struck me in the face, blowing my hair around as if I were starring in an eighties music video. I’d never seen so much power in a living creature. His body was thick but lean. And more than that, I could sense his power, his magic.

  For a creature his size I was impressed how gracefully he landed, his talons gently grazing across the grass before he lowered himself to the ground. His head alone was about three times my size, and his tail extended beyond his body a good fifty feet or more. I’ve never been good with judging distances, but believe me when I say he was huge… larger than he’d even appeared when I’d first seen him in the ethereal realm.

  “Can you help us?” I asked, speaking as loudly as possible.

  Beli lowered his head toward me, keeping enough distance that he could still see me around his elongated snout. I thought I saw the dragon nod.

  “You can understand me?” I asked.

  I expected another nod. Instead, the dragon opened its mouth. “I can,” he said in a booming voice.

  My jaw dropped as I heard and felt him speak. His voice was so loud, so intense that the sound waves of his words rattled my whole body.

  “Isabelle thinks we need to get to the Tree of Life. We need to find some Dryad…”

  The dragon cocked his head a little.

  “You do know where the Tree of Life is?”

  “I do,” Beli said calmly.

  “And will you be able to take us back home once we’re ready?”

  “I am the original gatekeeper of the immortal realms… the creation of Bondye, the All-Father, Yahweh. I know no limits in time or space, for I alone was created to traverse the void between.”

  The void… Does he mean between worlds? Isabelle asked.

  I almost reiterated her words.

  “Yes,” Beli replied. “The very fabric of space and time itself i
s my domain.”

  “You can hear her?” I asked.

  “I am of you and her combined. It is you and she together who call me out of the void.”

  I scratched my head. “Then you can take us back before… before I summoned you, summoned my blade in the gym, before Pauli was…”

  “I cannot,” Beli said. “My only constraint is that I cannot bring you to a time or place where your body or soul already dwells.”

  “So once we have what we need here, you can at least bring us back to the moment we left?”

  “To the moment immediately after…”

  But we aren’t ready. We can’t stand up to Kalfu unless we have an advantage. And if Legba was really giving us the answer, we need the Baron.

  “But, Isabelle, are you sure we can trust Legba? I mean, Kalfu was a part of him.”

  The first time he called you to his office, his aura was different. When we saw him last night, all out of sorts. And again, in the veve. He was different, he was compromised. What he told us that first time, I’m pretty sure that was just Legba. He was telling us what we had to do.

  “Do you know where the Baron is, Beli?”

  “I do not,” Beli said, his voice dropping at least an octave. “The ways of the Loa are not my domain, and it has been so long since I’ve been here… so long…”

  A part of me wanted to probe Beli for more information. There was a fascinating story to hear, but it was one we’d have to content ourselves to consider at another time. I had a singular focus—to get out of here, find a way to defeat Kalfu, deal with Nico, and hopefully save Pauli, if he was even still alive.

  “For now, we need to get to the Tree of Life. Can you take us there?”

  Beli simply lowered his head. Was I really going to ride this beast? If Legba’s staircase made me a little woozy, how in the world would I be able to handle riding on the back of a dragon?

  I gulped.

  Think of it like riding the Treants… once the thrill takes over, you forget about the distance between the top of the tree and the ground.

  I nodded and leapt, barely able to pull myself up over Beli’s neck. Straddling him required some flexibility—thank God I’d done my share of yoga through the years.

  I looked around, and short of hugging his neck for dear life, there really wasn’t anything I could grip. “Excuse me, Beli…”

  “Yes, madam?”

  “What should I hold on to?”

  “Press your hands under my scales.”

  “Won’t that hurt?”

  Beli laughed. “My hide is several layers thick. I won’t even feel it.”

  “All right…” I hesitated a moment before slipping my hands beneath Beli’s scales. It was warm underneath, and not at all slimy or sticky as I’d suspected it might be.

  “Are you ready?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever—”

  Before I could finish speaking, Beli’s wings extended and with a single thrust we were in the air. Our ascent was so quick I felt the pressure immediately build in my ears. Looking around, I was struck by how gorgeous the land was. Nothing was barren, nothing brown or dead. The whole place was full of life… except in the distance, to my left, it was as though all life ceased suddenly in one spot. A border between the land of life and someplace else.

  The land of the dead, Isabelle said.

  Samhuinn… it was basically hell. At least that’s what I’d come to understand about it. Roger had been taken there once, but his experience was super traumatic. He didn’t like to talk about it. Any time Ashley or I would bring it up, he’d invariably change the subject. Some places, some memories, are so horrible that even talking about them is terrifying. I could certainly relate.

  I turned to my right. Several bodies of water—small pools or springs—flooded across the land. The light of the sky glistened off them, but it struck me as I looked around that there wasn’t a sun here. Something like sunlight filled the sky, but it didn’t seem to be coming from any specific celestial body. The light felt warm, even as the cool breeze struck my face as Beli picked up this pace.

  Riding this high on a dragon… it was thrilling, but also peaceful. Beli was strong. He flew with such confidence and stability that I almost forgot how high I really was.

  I think that’s it, Isabelle said.

  The Tree of Life was unlike any tree I’d ever seen. It had the majesty of an oak, its branches spread wide. The sheer girth of its trunk was like one of those California redwoods. The foliage was thick, its leaves broad and full of color.

  From a distance it was difficult to tell exactly how large the Tree of Life might be, but as we flew nearer and Beli descended toward its base, it was beyond question the largest tree I’d ever seen.

  Beli landed so gracefully I could barely feel it when his talons hit the ground. Lifting one leg over the arch of his neck, I slid down the best I could to the ground below.

  Something about this tree, beyond its impressive size and appearance, drew me in. I felt myself walking toward it with the sort of care a two-year-old just learning to walk might exercise when taking his first steps into his mother’s arms. My feet quaked as I desperately reached for the tree’s trunk.

  There was a warmth about the tree. It was magical—but more than that. It was life itself. With a single touch it felt as though every worry, every pain, every insecurity and fear I’d ever felt melted away, siphoned from my soul into the tree’s essence.

  “It’s incredible…”

  I almost forgot how much it felt like home.

  I nodded, drawing in a deep breath of the pure air that surrounded the tree. “How do we reach this Dryad?”

  I’m not sure…

  “But you know he’s here?”

  I think so… I mean, yes. He has to be. I don’t know where else…

  I gnawed on my cheek a little before lifting my hand and knocking on the tree’s trunk.

  My knock had no resonance—the tree was solid. “Anyone home?”

  I heard a grunt. It was Beli, who’d been watching my attempt to speak to the tree with some amusement.

  “Do you have an idea?” I asked.

  “Let Isabelle try,” Beli said, speaking calmly but surely.

  I ran my fingers through my hair, taking a deep breath. “I suppose it’s worth a try…”

  All I could think about was the inevitable headache that would follow. There wasn’t any guarantee this would work—but who was I to question an ancient dragon?

  Unfortunately, I hadn’t brought any of Mikah’s magic chill pills. Those things seemed to do the trick in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. I’d have to do this the old-fashioned way.

  “You ready, Isabelle?”

  I am…

  I lowered my body beside the tree, assuming a cross-legged pose. Criss-cross applesauce. That’s what I called it as a girl. Turning my palms upward, I rested my arms on my knees and took a deep breath. Typically, I suck at meditating… and this approach was never a guarantee to work. It usually didn’t. Not unless I was pretty tired. This time, though, it seemed to happen naturally. I simply felt Isabelle gently take over, her will now exerting itself through my body.

  This place, I thought. Everything just seems so natural, so easy…

  “This is incredible,” Isabelle said as she stood. I could feel the warmth of the tree, just as I had before, as she reached out and touched it.

  This time, I felt the magica course through my body. I couldn’t tell if the magica was going out of my body, if Isabelle was casting it, or if the tree itself was sending magica into us.

  A green glow illuminated the tree’s trunk in front of us—our eyes, filled with the magica of life, shining upon it.

  “Lugh…” Isabelle said. “I come in need of your aid.”

  I heard a crack, and the ground beneath my feet shifted. Isabelle instinctively stepped away from the unsettled ground beneath us. A creature emerged from the broken soil. I couldn’t tell if he had been under there all the wh
ile or if he was literally taking shape in front of us, growing up as if he were a tree himself. He looked something like one. He was distinctly human in shape, but his whole body was covered in bark and moss—the kind that one often sees on trees on Earth. Most of his proportions were typically human—except for his head. His skull was narrow and probably twice the length of a typical head.

  “Isabelle and Annabelle,” the Dryad said, his voice rich in tenor, with a subtle hint of gravel.

  “We are both here,” Isabelle said. “But Annabelle has given me control so that we might contact you.”

  “I did not expect to see you, not here… not until you were ready to become one of us.”

  Ready? I thought. What does he mean by ready?

  “He means when you die,” Isabelle said. “When our souls are untangled.”

  Lugh offered a slight nod. “So I presume what brings you to us is a matter of some importance.”

  “It is,” Isabelle said. “There’s a Loa… Kalfu.”

  Lugh’s eyes narrowed. “How did you end up tangled with such an insidious one as he?”

  “Purely by accident,” Isabelle said. “But he possessed Annabelle’s sister, learned about me. He’s come after some of our friends. He intends to claim my spirit, says he can separate us.”

  “He wants your power,” Lugh said. “It would unrestrain him.”

  Isabelle nodded.

  “It cannot happen,” Lugh said. “If he acquires your spirit, he might cross into the garden groves from Samhuinn.”

  “He already has, in a way,” Isabelle said. “It’s like he possessed another Loa… Papa Legba.”

  Lugh cocked his head. “He does not possess Legba… not strictly speaking. He is and always has been Legba’s opposite. When one rests, the other emerges. One by day, the other by night.”

  “So when Legba speaks, he isn’t deceiving us?”

  “Legba is as trustworthy as any decent Loa might be,” Lugh said. “But Kalfu, not a word of his can be believed. He has never exacted a bargain without a catch, one that did not work disproportionately to his advantage.”