DARK FAÏZ Book 2: Nothing will ever be the same again

by Sandra L. Kiss

  11

  The presence of Ray and Min by our side gave me no comfort. Quite the contrary. The urge to turn back at full speed crossed my mind. The air had cooled down due to the altitude we were at. The breeze made the steel grid of the charged energy sanctuary creak slightly. Numerous fruit trees surrounded this place and a sweet scent of lime tree floated in the air. It was here, outside the entrance, at the end of a green alley of perfectly manicured lawns, that Ray and Min stopped.

  "We can't accompany you further," said Ayame, who was swallowing a sigh to hide her indescribable anguish.

  "Hopefully, the costume ball will be fun," Asarys tried to joke to lighten the mood.

  Lexy, Min, and I decided to move away from the couple to leave them alone for a few moments. I took the opportunity to whisper a request to the Minister of Armies in a low voice.

  "If… Could you tell Faïz that he must continue to fight against evil, against The Maestro? Everything we have done so far shouldn't be for nothing."

  Min nodded with a kind look. Talking wasn't helpful, and no one wanted tearful farewells.

  "For breakfast tomorrow? Will it be as usual?"

  Lexy and I looked at each other, unable to contain a little laugh since the situation was so special to ask such questions.

  "Yes, tea and coffee please," replied Lexy with humor.

  My two friends and I watched Ray and Min disappear at the end of the road. I put a reassuring hand on Asarys's shoulder, who grabbed it and squeezed as tight as she could.

  "The Brotherhood will meet soon. We have to put on our headsets and disperse. We will meet as expected around the lake."

  "Let's go!" exclaimed Lexy.

  The three of us hugged to encourage each other, then took off our gravitational bracelets, making sure to put them inside our clothes. I arranged my big bun so that my hair held correctly under my hood, and we went into the cemetery, separating at the entrance.

  "David?" I whispered. "Are you there?"

  "I hear you."

  "The girls?"

  "Zoe, don't start! They're fine."

  "Okay. Where are you?"

  "At the temple of the Seventh Earth with Julio and Kayla. Don't worry, we're with you."

  Around me stood a multitude of small chapels that filled this place, as mysterious as threatening. Before each of them were placed one or more offerings. Objects, fruit, or just flowers. These small stone buildings were perfectly maintained, a way of respecting the last home of the deceased. With my compass in hand, I left the aisle to return to the interior of a charming spruce garden, also full of chapels as far as the eye could see. The balmy smell caused by the blossoming trees gave the place a certain tranquility. Suddenly, shuffling steps alerted me to the imminent arrival of the first members of the Brotherhood. Bile suddenly rose in my throat.

  "They're here," I whispered in panic, hiding behind one of the little chapels.

  "Don't move!"

  It felt like it was suddenly ridiculously hot under my heavy tunic. Petrified, I blocked my breath as if it might betray me. Frightened and on the lookout for the slightest noise, my gaze quickly swept the surroundings while my heart threatened to explode. It was then that I saw big shadows dancing on the ground, moving on the main path of the cemetery. The thick grass dampened each of their steps, making it difficult to analyze the actual distance of these individuals from me.

  "Zoe, you have to join them and mix with them. Follow them!"

  I looked away from the group and pressed my back and my head against the cold, damp stones of the building, trying to calm my pulse. Panic paralyzed me entirely.

  "Listen only to my voice," David tried to reassure me, guessing my fear. "You aren't alone. Julio, Kayla, and I are with you, and we are in constant contact with Barthey's team, who will be there ASAP in case of problems."

  A small sneer escaped me. I knew very well that the team outside these walls wouldn't intervene if the mission went wrong, as it was top secret. Eros didn't want to hear about a diplomatic incident, and we'd all known that from the start.

  "The girls did it! They infiltrated the Brotherhood."

  My friend's words made me regain my self-confidence. Lexy and Asarys were unharmed, thank goodness. It didn't take much to find that boost of energy and courage I lacked. I glanced behind the little chapel. The procession, made up of about fifteen tunics of a mixture of white and ochre colors, was moving away from me. I checked that my hood was correctly placed on my head and then hurried to catch up with the group.

  "I'm there," I whispered to David.

  My three friends celebrated in my ear, encouraged by this first small victory.

  We joined a larger group already at the meeting place after having covered a journey of almost twenty minutes in silence. Despite my hood over my eyes, I discreetly managed to look briefly at what was going on around me. The place was large and completely open. In the foreground appeared an extraordinary and magnificent vastness of eight large cascading lakes at the edge of the cliffs and with translucent blue waters. The reflections of the stars seemed to dance on the surface of the waves. The light breeze stirred the grass and made the cherry blossoms swirl, which covered a good part of the soil, giving it a color with purple and pinkish hues. The many plants that filled this place were simply exceptional. In the background, much further, mountains majestically overlooked this peaceful kingdom where only the sound of waterfalls broke the Olympian calm. The crowd rushed abruptly around a particular lake, giving me an opportunity to subtly whisper a few words to David.

  "Where are the girls? I'm not far from the entrance to the clearing."

  "You and Asarys must join Lexy, who is under the bear-shaped rock. Do you see it?"

  The hoods all around me prevented me from finding the said rock. I followed the crowd, trying not to get noticed.

  "I can't see it! Besides, I don't see anything with all these people."

  "Move to the left."

  I did so by jostling a few people in my path in spite of myself because my balance wasn't completely assured. A little on the sidelines, I desperately looked for a heap of stones representing the animal. After several minutes of anxiety, the bear-shaped rock finally appeared a few meters from me. In a hurry to find the girls, I unfortunately ran headlong into another tunic. Under the badly positioned hood, I recognized Lexy's still ringed face. Distraught, she tried to recover from the shock with difficulty.

  "It's me, it's me," I reassured her in a low voice, throwing myself in her arms, happy to find her.

  "Zoe!" she exclaimed, relieved. "I just had the fear of my life. Where are all these people going?"

  "We will soon find out. Let's hurry to find Asarys."

  We then hurried on, taking care not to hit anyone in our path. Asarys shook our hands, trembling, when we finally managed to find her. Without letting go of each other, we continued to follow the members of the Brotherhood around the lake.

  "We're together, David."

  Now, there were over a hundred of us around these transparent waves where dead silence reigned. The anguish deep inside me grew more and more with the passing minutes. Suddenly, a shadow moved over a small wooden pontoon built above the lake, which served as a platform to better address the faithful. Nobody spoke or moved from what I perceived under my hood. There was silence. It was then that the person on the pontoon uncovered his head, revealing a man with long and fine hair, and thick eyebrows whose curves were extremely arched, which accentuated the frightening features of his face. He was too far away to be able to fully identify him. The man, with his massive and impressive build, observed his followers for a long time, then began his speech in a language which was unknown to me.

  "Ainu is an ancient language," David said. "The guru welcomes his entire community under this new moon, as well as the spirits of the lower astral."

  "Lower astral?" Lexy repeated in a barely audible whisper.

  "Yes. To put it simply, he's talking about Hell."

  At that mome
nt I felt Lexy's hand closing tightly on mine.

  "He congratulates each of you," David continued, speeding up his words. "The Queen Mother can be proud of each member gathered here this evening. Remember that she accompanies you and gives you the necessary strength to carry out all the projects you undertake in this life, as long as you are ready to sacrifice yours for her. You must comply with the strict discipline imposed by our fatal Goddess. My brothers, my sisters, by following this path, you will be all powerful, devoid of all fears, of all chains. Give her the necessary strength so that she can continue to reign over Eros. Travel the remote lands, the oceans, in search of these precious souls so that she can continue to feed on celestial power and dance in front of your bloody trophies. She will then weaken the all-powerful to bring to light her valiant warriors, YOU, my brothers!"

  Male growling broke out in the assembly to endorse the chief's words.

  "YOU, my sisters!"

  The female voices of the Brotherhood were also heard. The chief continued his speech. Asarys leaned towards Lexy and me.

  "We have all the necessary information now. The authorities can dissolve this group of crazy people, right?"

  "Wait," I replied. "They haven't finished—"

  "Shit!" David interrupted me, alarmed. "The chief is talking about divine sacrifice tonight."

  "What do you mean?" whispered Lexy.

  A thud, which progressed on the ground, caught our attention. Immediately, a few gray tunics shifted to form an alley to the pontoon. A deep hymn sung by all the faithful rose gradually, accompanying the continuation of this somber ceremony. We started around the lake, which stopped short after a few moments, as did the song itself. The thumping noise came closer, with the sound of metal chains slamming. Suddenly, in the aisle, a woman with long blonde hair appeared, dragged to the ground by two members of the Brotherhood. This young woman with ebony skin and closed eyes seemed to be sleeping deeply. My gaze fell on the two rings that hindered her bruised body, reminding me of the links that had held Faïz prisoner in the cave. Her lifeless body was brought to the chief's feet. A feeling of dread seized me in front of this unbearable scene. The girls next to me were no less horrified. That was when the songs started again.

  "What can we do?" exclaimed Asarys, panicked. "We can't leave this woman to her fate!"

  "She's probably already dead. We can't do anything!" choked Lexy.

  The memory of the violent attack in the cave made my heart ache. Staggered, I lacked air and almost collapsed to my knees.

  "Zoe, Zoe!"

  The voices of my two friends forced me to pull myself together.

  "A Sylphid. They captured a Sylphid," I said with difficulty.

  Lying down, the woman trapped in the brilliant rings was now exposed to everyone's eyes on the floating structure. The ripples of her hair, with golden reflections, fell on her dark skin with such a magnificent complexion. A small streak of blood flowed under her body to mix with the waters of the lake.

  "I want to leave. I want to go right now!" gasped Asarys.

  Lexy discreetly held her by the arm to prevent her from collapsing and replied,

  "We have to finish this ceremony first. After that, I swear, we will all leave together."

  Lexy stared at me, desperately waiting for my help to convince our friend not to run away at full speed.

  "Lexy is right," I added, "we're almost there. Listen to me, Asarys, soon we will all be back in L.A. We will go back to our lives and all this will be behind us."

  My words had the desired effect. Asarys straightened up gently and sighed deeply to regain her calm. Lexy communicated the details to David in a low voice so that he could understand what was going on. At the end of the hymns, the guru resumed his speech with his strong and hoarse voice. As for David, he hastened to translate it for us.

  "Through this rite in this full pink moon, we give to darkness this divine offering. May the blood of this creature please the soul of our Queen Mother so that she will continue to guide us in our quest for power."

  The chief leaned over the woman lying at his feet and continued.

  "The fate of your soul is now in the hands of the Goddess Kushisake. You are hers. Be mercy, be Banshee, and deliver the message of death all around you."

  The man knelt down to grab the young woman. Once standing, he carried her at arm's length above him, like a trophy. The cries of the faithful and the cheers resounded on both sides. The songs resumed even louder as well as around the lake. The guru displayed a demonic smile accentuated by his ceremonial makeup. Taking its momentum, he threw the blood-covered body of the Sylphid effortlessly into the depths of the lake. I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to stifle a cry of dread. Lexy and I managed to hold back Asarys in time, who wanted to jump into the water to help the young woman.

  "She's dead. It's over!" Lexy growled.

  "Put your hoods back up properly!" I ordered my two friends. "We'll end up being discovered."

  Fortunately, at that moment, the crowd was agitated. The euphoria of the members around us after this sacrifice was at its peak. Suddenly, the lake changed color before our eyes. The crystal-clear waters were tinged with red and seemed to stifle a blinding light that came from the depths of the earth. The chief then began to yell at the top of his lungs and David hurried to interpret.

  "We, keepers of the soul of Kushisake, we swear to protect the red stone at the risk of our lives."

  Amazed, my friends and I observed the waters of the lake, then our eyes met.

  "David?" I hastened to ask. "We found it! We know where the ruby is."

  The waves sparkled for a few seconds in scarlet, then the lake gradually recovered its original color.

  The ceremony was coming to an end. The faithful collected themselves one last time in silence before dispersing to the cemetery.

  "Stay together," David insisted.

  We, too, moved away from the lake, relieved that this night was over.

  "I can't wait to take this off," said Lexy in a low voice.

  "Me too. I don't know if I can ever forget what I saw tonight. Asarys? Are you okay?"

  My question, left unanswered, forced me to turn around. Asarys wasn't with us. The anxiety then took me by the throat and my pulse raced. I looked for her everywhere in vain. We had to face the facts: we had lost our friend. Panic instantly won us over.

  "David? Where is Asarys? She…she isn't with us!" I exclaimed in a panic.

  "She's not answering me!"

  "Try to locate her," Lexy asked. "Zoe and I are going to retrace our steps."

  I carefully looked around the lake, hoping to find my friend, but all these tunics of identical colors made the task more complicated.

  We were again posted at the very place where we had watched the ceremony moments before. The place was now almost deserted, the last faithful returning to the cemetery behind us. We took off our hoods for more visibility.

  "Do you see her?" David asked, getting impatient.

  Despite the lack of light, our eyes could make out a silhouette that was moving slowly in the dark across the lake.

  "She's over there!" I cried.

  "Bring her back!" David insisted.

  Lexy and I rushed towards her, circling the lake from both sides. The extreme speed at which we traveled didn't destabilize us. I finished my run by throwing myself on the grass in order to slide more quickly towards my friend, who had started to enter the water. I grabbed the bottom of her tunic to prevent Asarys from escaping once more.

  "What are you doing, damn it?" cried Lexy, mad with rage, who arrived just after me.

  She helped me contain Asarys who was struggling with all her might at the edge of the water, making the cherry blossoms spin around us.

  "We have to save her, we have to save her," Asarys kept repeating, her voice full of sobs. "She might have a family, she has—"

  "She had accepted her fate," I tried to calm her. "We can do nothing more for her, but we can still save others."
<
br />   "Zoe is right! We aren't equipped to dive in there, and who knows what is in this lake. You can't change the mission without involving our lives, too."

  Asarys stopped struggling, aware of the truth of Lexy's words. She dropped in tears in our arms. I sat behind her, continuing to squeeze her to comfort her better while Lexy crouched right in front of her. Her moans broke our hearts. Seeing her in this state was emotionally intolerable.

  "I'm sorry," I said, my voice trembling softly. "I'm sincerely sorry."

  Lexy wrapped us both in her arms and we stayed like that for a while.

  When we got up, the weight of our clothes was even greater because they were partly soaked.

  "Ray and Min are waiting for you," David finally said. He'd respected our time of silence. "It's time to go back."

  "Yes, we're going, David?"

  "Yes, Zoe?"

  "Thank you."

  My friend's long sigh made me realize how relieved he was to know we were safe. In reality, this evening had been as tiring for him as for us.

  FAÏZ

  Although Ray was alone with the young man in the courtyard of the inn, he carefully avoided speaking out loud.

  "Kiss?" Ray repeated, visibly surprised.

  Faïz remained there, sitting on the small wall without adding anything more.

  "You had forbidden any form of relationship with Zoe. Why now?"

  Without waiting for his friend's response, Ray looked up at the sky, skeptical of the turn of events. Then he put his hands in his pockets and looked again at the young man who was standing, head down, visibly lost in thought.

  "You haven't told her yet? Right?" Ray guessed. "What a mess!"

  Faïz pursed his lips and threw a furious glance at his friend.

  "I will!"

  "When? Everything can end tomorrow and you know it!"

  "Exactly, think about it! Telling her such a thing would make her vulnerable. She doesn't need that now."