Everflame: The Complete Series

by Dylan Lee Peters

  Edgar grabbed Iolana and held her tightly as she bawled into his chest. He didn’t know why he had done it. It had been instinctual. He tried to whisper reassurances to her.

  “You’re not evil. You’re not evil.” But he could not bring himself to lie to her. “You’re with me now. Everything will be different. You’re good. I’ve seen it. We will stop all the evil. We’ll do it together.”

  He held Iolana as close as he could to his breaking heart and she continued to cry, convulsing with each sob. Darkness had fallen over the land and Edgar looked into the sky. The blue wisps of his vision stopped at the tops of the trees, they would not travel any further. Beyond lay a black void that Edgar usually tried not to look at, lest he be reminded of past pain, but tonight he searched its depths and prayed for salvation.

  Please don’t take her away… Please don’t take her away…

  No answer came from the void. Only the pale face of a moon he could not see, as it looked down upon him in silence.

  SHADOW

  Chapter 34: A Mother’s Love

  The tall grass of the fields swayed gently in the wind before the remnants of what was Shein Farm. One solitary wall stood, black and decayed, like a scar upon the face of the earth. The grass had grown over the wooden gate that surrounded the farm, tearing it down in the spirit of mutiny and rebellion. Nature was reclaiming what was once its own. It was a true ruin. One that history would never speak of, but one that held as much importance as any other.

  If the people of Ephanlarea knew that this had been the beginning of the Messenger; the beginning of the man named Edgar Shein, they would make it a memorial. For justice or injustice, only time could tell that tale, but it certainly would have been a place for pilgrimage, a place for reverence and a place for reflection.

  As Edgar Shein walked through the field to the black wall, he let his arms hang at his sides just as he had done when he left. He opened his palms so that the grass would tickle his fingers. He inhaled the air with force, allowing the smell of lavender to, once again, permeate his sense. He allowed the memories to penetrate his defenses and bring what they may. Edgar walked past the crippled, wooden gate and accepted everything that he was. He walked up to the wall and placed his hand upon it, allowing it to blacken his fingers.

  “Are you okay, Edgar?” Iolana placed a hand upon his back.

  “I am,” he said plainly. “I feel new, or freed from something. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s just–”

  “Absolution.”

  Edgar and Iolana turned to see a small, hooded figure coming around the cracked, black wall.

  “Are you the one who was in the forest following us?” asked Edgar.

  “You were always a tough child to fool, Edgar.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Someone who has waited…” Rachael paused to prevent herself from choking up. “So long for this moment.”

  Rachael reached up and pulled her hood back, revealing the mother Edgar had thought was gone forever. Shock ran through Edgar’s body. Rachael looked a bit older, but there was not a day that went by that he did not remember her face. Even as she stood before him, traced in blue ghosts, he still recognized her.

  “R-Rach…Mother?”

  “Yes, baby. Yes.”

  Rachael rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her son. Edgar was gripped by emotions he was unable to escape or control. His eyes streamed freely and he embraced Rachael like a little boy, free, uninhibited.

  “I never thought that I would see you again.”

  “I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t want to leave you, really, I didn’t. I think I went crazy that night. I thought you had left Hammlin. I was searching for you, all over Ephanlarea, for years. I never thought you were still in Hammlin, I swear to you. My mind was playing tricks on me. I never wanted to lose you.”

  Edgar’s lips were trembling. “I believe you.”

  Rachael hugged her son so tight she thought she might crush him. “Please forgive me, Edgar. I’m so sorry…for everything.”

  “I do. I forgive you.”

  “I’m so sorry for all the horrible things that happened to you. I’m sorry for Joe. I should have known that he wasn’t a good man. I’m sorry about Murray and that night. I know that saying sorry can’t make up for all of it, but I don’t know what else to say to you. I’m sorry, Edgar. I’m sorry for what you’ve become.”

  This last statement confused Edgar. “What I’ve become?”

  “I know everything, Edgar. He told me, he came to me.”

  “The Holy? He came to you? He told you?”

  “Yes, baby. I know what living in this horrible house turned you into.”

  Edgar still didn’t understand. “So, you know of our journey? You know why we’re here? You know that we are here to receive his message?”

  “Yes, baby. That is why I’m here. I’m here to deliver that message.”

  Edgar was beaming. He was so happy. Everything was working out. His mother was back and now, the Holy would return to him. Everything would make sense again.

  “This is all so amazing,” he said.

  But his joy was quickly cut short as Rachael began to bawl. The tears washed her dirty and weatherworn face.

  “I need you to understand,” said Rachael between sobs, “this isn’t easy for me, but it’s the right thing to do. He told me that it’s what I must do. He told me it’s the only way I can be saved.”

  Edgar looked at Rachael in confusion. “What are you talking about, Mom? What do you have to do?”

  Edgar watched in horror as his mother slowly pulled her knife out and held it pointed at him.

  “It’s the only way to make it right, Edgar. Please know that I love you.”

  With that, Rachael lunged at Edgar, gripping her knife tightly and gritting her teeth. Edgar was still in shock at what was happening and was slow to react. He moved just enough so that the blade did not inflict a fatal wound. The knife’s edge sliced him just below the arm, at the ribs. Blood began to stain his clothes.

  “Run, Iolana,” shouted Edgar. “Get out of here.”

  Iolana backed away from the fight, in complete panic and shock. The scene was maddening to her. Edgar’s mother had returned to him, after years, to…kill him.

  Rachael lunged at Edgar again, but he had shaken himself to his senses and he dodged her attack easily.

  “Why are you doing this?” Edgar yelled.

  Rachael didn’t respond. She had become vacant. It was the only way that she could complete her task. Rachael closed her mind, cut off her emotion, and let herself be taken by primal nature. She had become a fiend. Edgar again dodged her attack.

  “Please,” begged Edgar. “Stop. Mother, please.”

  Rachael was giving no reprieve. Edgar could not escape her. He drew out Densa’s sword to defend himself as Rachael’s knife came down upon it, in a clash of metal. He refused to attack her. He couldn’t bring himself to do it, but she could not penetrate his defenses. Edgar was faster and stronger than Rachael, but she had determination on her side.

  Across the field and from the sky, came the travelers who had made their way from Gray Mountain. Tenturo and Riverpaw landed at the edge of the field and their passengers jumped to the ground.

  “Who are they?” asked Riverpaw as he squinted his eyes from across the field.

  “It’s the man from the White Mountains,” said Tomas using the ocular gift he received from Tenturo. “The one who killed father.”

  “The Messenger,” said Riverpaw.

  “He’s fighting some woman,” continued Tomas, “and Iolana is close to them. Let’s go.”

  “Advance slowly,” cautioned Tenturo. “We don’t want to provoke an attack upon Iolana before we are within striking distance.”

  Back across the field, Rachael’s unrelenting attack continued.

  I need to help him, thought Iolana.

  Iolana had no weapon, so she scoured the ground for anything that she could use to help E
dgar. Her eyes came across a round stone and she picked it up. Gazing back toward the fight, Iolana aimed for Rachael and threw the stone as hard as she could. The stone struck Rachael in the back and she stumbled, losing her balance. Rachael spun violently toward Iolana to see who had attacked her. A rage filled Rachael and she changed her target, now seeking to end Iolana.

  “Noooo!” yelled Edgar.

  Rachael charged at Iolana with amazing speed, but Edgar was still faster, and just before Rachael reached Iolana, she stopped. Rachael looked down to see the white tip of the Sword of Densa as it pierced through her body. Edgar pulled the sword out of his mother and dropped it to the ground as Rachael fell on her back. Edgar fell to his knees and crawled to his mother as she lay dying on the ground.

  “Why?” Edgar cried, with tears dropping onto Rachael’s blood-stained clothes. “Why did you make me do this? Why?”

  Rachael looked up into her son’s milky, white eyes.

  “I love you, Edgar.”

  “I love you too, Mom.”

  Chapter 35: Suffering

  Edgar stared down at his mother as wisps of blue traced over her vacant eyes. She had left this world; she had left Edgar. He stared at her as the tears fell from his scarred face. He reached up to wipe his eyes and that’s when he felt it. The scars on his face were moving. He sat up on his knees and touched his face with both hands. The scars weren’t moving, they were receding; they were…healing.

  “Edgar…” cried Iolana. “Edgar, I’m sorry.”

  Edgar looked at Iolana, and slowly, the blue ghosts of his vision moved away to be replaced with blurs of color. The blurs slowly took shape and form, and then detail.

  “Edgar, your eyes,” said Iolana.

  Edgar rose to his feet, and for the first time since his childhood accident, he could see the world as others do. His sight had returned. He smiled at Iolana and she smiled back. It was the single most beautiful thing that Edgar had ever seen in his life. His heart welled with happiness as he gazed at the woman he loved, and then… Edgar learned the definition of suffering.

  An explosion of memory entered his mind, filling him up and stretching him to his limits. He remembered everything and he couldn’t take the torture of knowing. He fell to the ground and wretched into the grass. It felt as if every joint and muscle in his body would tear apart. A thousand years of pain, happiness, anger and sadness flashed a million miles per hour through his mind’s eye. It was relentless and didn’t stop until he could see himself in a room where everyone was dancing. It was a beautiful room and there was a wonderful party. Everyone was there to celebrate him and then she arrived. He loved her, wanted her and needed her. He told her how he felt, he poured himself out and exposed every vulnerability of his being…and she rejected it. She rejected him.

  “NOOOOOO!!!” screamed Edgar as he writhed in agony upon the ground. “AAAAAHHHH!!!”

  Iolana rushed to him and bent down by his side, placing her hands upon him. “What’s wrong, Edgar? What’s wrong?”

  But the screaming didn’t stop and neither did the memories. It had all returned to him. There was no more mystery. There was no more hope. There was only Densa.

  The Tyrant had enchanted him long ago. So many different lives he had lived since then. So many friends he had seen die. So many lives he had taken from those he had loved. The cycle would never stop. He would kill and remember everything, and then the Tyrant would return and start the process all over again. The Tyrant would start the torture all over again. He had been so many Edgar Sheins; he had killed so many Rachaels. There had been so much pain that would never ever leave him; could never leave him because he was immortal. He was the beginning. He was the end. He was Densa.

  Huddled in a ball, amidst the tall grass, he had gone numb. Iolana cried and cried. She didn’t know what had happened, she didn’t understand any of it.

  “Edgar. Come back to me. Edgar, I need you. What’s happening?”

  And then she heard the shouts.

  “Quickly, take Iolana.”

  “Finish the Messenger before he can harm her.”

  Iolana spun around to find a group of men and beasts rushing toward her and Edgar. At the front of the pack, came a large and ferocious dog, bounding straight for Edgar. Iolana quickly grabbed the Sword of Densa and held it in defense, just as the animal lunged for his target. Iolana screamed and the dog came down upon the blade. He rolled onto his back, impaled by the ancient weapon. Iolana looked at the dog. His eyes were filled with a profound sadness.

  “Why?” breathed the dog.

  Iolana stumbled backward in confusion and shock. She tripped on a stone and fell onto her back with a single name echoing through her mind.

  Charles.

  And then the memories flooded her consciousness as they had done to Edgar. Iolana rolled upon the ground while the others gathered around her.

  “Iolana!” cried Ben. “Speak to us.”

  Tenturo and Evercloud rushed to Captain Nesbitt’s side. Evercloud slowly removed the sword from the dog’s body and threw it onto the ground.

  “Captain,” said Evercloud. “Stay with us, Captain. Just a little longer and we’ll have Iolana heal you.”

  “No,” said Nesbitt in a low and fading voice. “I have waited…too long…for my freedom.”

  Tenturo bent down to the old dog. “We will miss you, old friend.”

  “Tenturo,” said Nesbitt slowly. “I always wanted to fly…like the bear…I wanted to ask…could you…”

  “Close your eyes,” said Tenturo. “You will soon be flying forevermore.”

  “Thank you,” said Nesbitt.

  “No, Charles, thank you.”

  Captain Charles Nesbitt closed his weary eyes and flew. He flew far away from the world of the living, never to return again.

  Chapter 36: Blister, Crackle and Burn

  “Ben? Tomas?” Iolana was beginning to open her eyes.

  “Yes, Iolana. We’re here,” said Ben.

  Iolana stood to her feet slowly and gathered herself. She hugged the two men as hard as she could.

  “Do you remember–,” started Tomas.

  “Everything,” finished Iolana. “I know who I am, and everything that you and your family have done for me. Thank you.”

  “Is the Messenger dead?” asked Tomas.

  Iolana’s eyes were filled with sadness as she watched Densa raise himself off of the ground. “That’s not a messenger.”

  Densa looked around, taking in his surroundings. He looked into the sky and saw it turn from a pale blue to a deep, violent shade. And then he was there.

  Lightning tore across the sky from four separate directions and converged in an explosion above their heads. The streams of violent light played with each other in the air until they formed a man, a faceless form of evil and malice, crackling in the sky. His fiery, electric body floated slowly downward, until it met the grass a few yards away from Densa, singeing and destroying all around it. The Great Tyrant had arrived.

  He cackled with an evil, metallic hum as he looked down over Densa. The Tyrant stood taller than even Tenturo, like a monstrous skeleton of light and disdain. Everyone moved back in fear, everyone with the exception of Densa.

  The Tyrant cackled again. “Hello, Father.” Densa did not answer. “Don’t feel like speaking, hmm? Well, that’s no fun.”

  The Tyrant shot a stream of electricity that enveloped Densa. He screamed in pain while the Tyrant laughed maniacally. The electricity faded and Densa fell to the ground, drenched in sweat and shaking.

  “What do you want from me?” said Densa.

  “You know what I want. Don’t tell me that you don’t remember these conversations from the past. Have my spells permanently damaged you?”

  “I remember,” said Densa. “When will this stop?”

  “Never,” uttered the Tyrant. He raised his arms into the air, and between his hands grew a ball of light that pulsed and screamed. “I will never be done repaying you for what you have don
e to me.”

  The Tyrant threw his spell at Densa, just as he rolled on the ground toward his ancient sword. Densa lifted it in time to deflect the spell that would again sap his memory and leave him vulnerable.

  “NO!” roared the Tyrant. “Where did you find the sword?”

  “Right where I left it,” said Densa. “You’ll never take my mind from me again.” Densa raised himself up and pointed the sword at the Tyrant. “You’ll never be inside of my head again. I have felt enough suffering.”

  The Tyrant lowered his head down to Densa so that Densa could feel the heat coming from the Tyrant as he crackled with electricity and seethed with a thousand years of hatred.

  “Now… you know. This is what it feels like.” The Tyrant clenched his fists and his metallic voice hummed with animosity. “I’m going to kill every single living thing on earth. I will squeeze every ounce of pain that I can from this wretched rock and you will feel every last pang. You will stand witness to every life as it crumbles into nothing, and when there is nothing…but you…and me. Then, I will kill you.”

  Densa gazed, unflinching, up at the Great Tyrant and spoke through gritted teeth. “You have taken everything from me, every hope, every dream, every single person I have ever loved. I won’t let you continue.”

  The Great Tyrant raised his head and laughed. “I am more powerful now than I have ever been before. You can’t stop me.”

  “You left a void in me…and filled it with rage. It was I who stained this world with your filth and it will be I who will throw you away, forever.”

  Densa raised his sword and closed his eyes, and in a flash, disappeared, leaving the Tyrant to burn in frustration.