Izikiel

by Thomas Fay

  Izikiel decided it was best if he just told her. Lifting his head up, he looked at her.

  ‘You know how I can’t really remember anything about my past life?’

  ‘Yes’

  ‘Well...I really can’t remember much about anything.’

  Te’Anne’s eyes opened wider for a moment as she pulled back slightly. Then a smile spread across her face as she laughed.

  ‘You mean you can’t remember how to...?’ her voice trailed off as she held a finger playfully up to her lips.

  ‘No, I can’t.’

  She took his hands in hers and pulled him towards her until his face was centimetres from hers.

  ‘I think we can figure out what to do,’ she said. Then she kissed him.

  FORTY SIX

  Dawn broke over the arctic landscape with a blinding flash. The blizzard had subsided sometime during the night to be replaced by a howling wind. Even that fell away to a faint gust by morning. The pale light of the previous day returned as Aurora rotated to face its distant star. The two small tents had been partially covered by snow but remained intact and warm. Inside, Izikiel was staring up at the white fabric of the tent’s roof. Te’Anne lay next to him, her head resting on his chest. He looked down at her. She looked at peace as she slept.

  His thoughts turned to the previous night even as the memory brought a smile to his face. As usual, she had been right. His memories had returned at the most convenient of times and they had spent much of the night entwined underneath a synthetic blanket.

  Now, as the walls of the tent grew brighter, Izikiel’s attention turned to the task at hand. He had sensed a true believer deep within the mountain. Not only that but whoever it was had power. Almost as much as Da’Amo, he guessed. And even he could not stand against the Void Lords. What chance do I have?

  Te’Anne stirred. Yawning, she opened her eyes and stretched.

  ‘Good morning,’ she said.

  ‘It certainly is,’ Izikiel replied, smiling.

  He kissed her. She moved up into a sitting position and pulled out a packet of their supplies. Opening it, she offered him a piece of what looked like some sort of dried fruit. Taking a piece, Izikiel bit into it. It tasted sweet with just a hint of cinnamon.

  ‘Come on. We should get going,’ Te’Anne said as she finished her second piece. Standing up, she began to put on her snow suit. Izikiel also picked up his and put it on. Once they were both fully clothed, Te’Anne leaned down and readjusted the controls on the tent. Then she opened the flap. The hot air trapped inside steamed as it came into contact with the outside. Within moments, the inside of the tent was as cold as the outside. Stepping out, Izikiel saw that Xavier and Jonas were already waiting for them. Both wore their snow suits and there was no sign of their tent.

  ‘What took you so long?’ Jonas asked.

  ‘Oh, grow up,’ Te’Anne said as she finished folding their tent. Izikiel picked it up and placed it inside his backpack. Donning it, he stood up.

  ‘Everyone ready?’ he asked.

  ‘Lead the way,’ Xavier replied.

  They set off across the snow. Izikiel marvelled at the frozen landscape stretching out in front of him as his feet sank into the soft snow underfoot. They made good time and reached the first of the foothills around midday. Stopping to rest, Izikiel was surprised to see a pair of birds circling high overhead. They appeared to be little more than misshaped dots such was their altitude.

  As he watched, one of them folded its wings and hurtled towards the ground. Just as it was about to hit, the bird’s wings unfolded halting its momentum. Opening its beak, Izikiel was surprised when a pair of razor sharp teeth was revealed. The gigantic bird of prey snapped something up from the ground. Tossing its head back, it moved its beak up and down and then visibly swallowed. Ruffling its light grey feathers it turned its head towards them. Letting out a loud screeching sound, it pushed off with its powerful legs and soared into the air to rejoin its companion.

  Izikiel turned his attention back to the mountain that was their destination. The snow covered peak had grown steadily larger as they moved towards it. Now, it rose up out of the ground like some ancient monolith. Surrounded on either side by similar albeit lower peaks, it was a formidable natural phenomenon. Izikiel found himself wondering if it truly was a natural occurrence. Perhaps the Eternal Flame had forged the landscape in order to create a stronghold for the true believers on this world as it had on Vesta. Dismissing the thought, Izikiel moved to where the others stood waiting.

  ‘Do you need to rest?’ Xavier asked.

  ‘No, I’m fine,’ Izikiel replied. ‘Can we make it by nightfall?’

  Xavier turned his hooded head towards the mountain range. After a moment, he replied, ‘I’d say so, unless we get hit by another one of those snow storms.’

  ‘I’m sure that Izikiel won’t mind that too much,’ Jonas insinuated with a laugh.

  ‘Honestly, what is wrong with you? Were you dropped on your head as a child?’ Te’Anne asked as she punched him in the arm. Given the heavy padding of the snow suits it was a futile gesture which only made Jonas laugh more.

  ‘Alright, that’s enough,’ Xavier said. ‘We’d better get moving if we want to get to the mountain before nightfall.’

  They set off once more. After an hour, Izikiel realised that he was getting tired. His movements became slower as his leg muscles began to throb with a dull ache. Gritting his teeth, he pushed on. They were now travelling through the foothills of the mountains and the hills were getting progressively higher. Soon they were walking up at nearly forty five degree angles. Scaling a particularly steep slope, Izikiel found himself falling behind. Pausing for a moment, he tried to catch his breath. His heart was beating quickly as it pumped blood to his tired muscles. Adjusting his visor, Izikiel looked up. Jonas and Xavier stood at the edge of the hill looking down at something. Jonas turned back towards him and Te’Anne and activated his com channel.

  ‘You two better take a look at this.’

  Izikiel took a deep breath and continued up the slope. Soon, he and Te’Anne had reached the top. Straightening up, Izikiel moved towards the edge. Looking down, his mouth opened wide in surprise. The base of the mountain they were trying to reach was only a couple of hundred metres away. Under ordinary circumstances they would have definitely made it by nightfall. Except that these were definitely not ordinary circumstances.

  Stretching out between them and the mountain was a frozen lake. Large sections of the ice had separated and now floated in the dark blue waters of the lake. There appeared to be no clear path across to the other side. Gigantic ice blocks crashed against one another, sending up jets of freezing cold water high into the air. Izikiel sank down to his knees as exhaustion overtook him.

  ‘How are we ever going to get across that?’ he asked.

  FORTY SEVEN

  The clouds had cleared by late afternoon allowing the distant sun to shine through. Ice and snow became whiter as the light intensified away from the refracted blue spectrum they had experienced the previous day. The temperature had also risen marginally as they made their way carefully down the slope to the edge of the frozen lake. Reaching the beginning of the ice, Izikiel stopped. The frozen lake seemed even more intimidating up close. Gigantic pieces of ice slammed into each other with considerable force on a regular basis as they floated around in the dark waters. The dull thud from the impacts echoed around the valley formed by the foothills on one side and the mountains on the other.

  ‘Any ideas?’ Jonas asked over the com.

  ‘We could try to walk across the ice,’ Xavier said.

  The ground shook beneath their feet as another sizeable ice floe impacted with the edge of the lake. The collision sent up a wave of water onto the snow covered edge.

  ‘Ok, you go first,’ Jonas replied.

  Te’Anne turned to Izikiel as she asked, ‘Is there anything you can do?’

  ‘Not really. I can control the water but not the ice,’ Izikiel re
plied, shaking his head. ‘If I melt the ice then the valley will be flooded and I don’t think that I can control that much water.’

  ‘What about the air? The way you used it back on New Babylon?’

  Izikiel thought for a moment. Slowly, he shook his head again.

  ‘That won’t work either. I can’t stabilise it enough to form a bridge across the lake.’

  ‘Then I guess we’ll need to head back and find a way around the lake,’ Jonas said.

  ‘But it’s huge! It could take us days to get around it in this terrain,’ Te’Anne said.

  ‘Do you have a better idea?’

  ‘No, not really,’ Te’Anne replied. ‘Izikiel?’

  ‘I tend to agree with Jonas. There just isn’t any way that we can -’ Izikiel stopped in mid-sentence as the burning touch of the Eternal Flame ignited within him. Someone was approaching. Looking around the base of the cliff they had scaled down, Izikiel was unable to see anything other than rocks and snow.

  ‘What is it?’ Xavier asked. He had already drawn his weapon from his backpack. Holding it at the ready, he scanned the rocks from side to side.

  ‘Someone’s coming,’ Izikiel replied.

  ‘Human?’ Jonas asked.

  Izikiel opened his mind to the Eternal Flame. As his body temperature increased, he became aware of his surroundings. He could feel the tremendous force of the ice floes pushing against each other in the lake behind him. Casting around, he saw a faint shape materialise in his vision. Focusing on it, he saw what appeared to be a part of the snow moving towards them. Only it was shaped like a man with a long hood and a white robe.

  ‘There, next to the twin rock formation.’

  ‘Where? I don’t see...hang on. There they are,’ Jonas replied as he too brought his weapon to bear on the white robed stranger approaching them.

  The stranger’s clothing mirrored the snow almost perfectly. Too perfectly, Izikiel though. He was detecting considerable power emanating from them. It was either the true believer that he had sensed the day before or another void spawn in disguise. Izikiel braced himself as the figure approached.

  ‘Hello there!’ Jonas called out.

  The figure made no indication that they had heard him as they continued to approach.

  ‘I don’t like this,’ Xavier said.

  ‘Me neither,’ Te’Anne replied as she too drew her weapons.

  The stranger was now less than a hundred metres from them. Jonas called out again. Again, the stranger failed to respond. Lifting their weapons to a firing position, the two ex-security officers prepared to fire. Jonas called out a third time, warning the figure to stop. Nothing changed as the white robed stranger was now less than fifty metres from them.

  ‘No good, Jonas. Prepare to fire,’ Xavier said. They both hefted their weapons and braced their fingers on the triggers.

  ‘Now!’

  As Xavier gave the order, the stranger reacted. Moving faster than Izikiel’s eyes could follow, he stepped aside as two azure bolts of energy shot past him. Lifting his arms up, he called out a single word.

  ‘Algor’

  Izikiel was surprised to hear the ancient language. He was not familiar with the word and braced himself for its effect. Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. Two streams of liquid ice shot out of the white robed stranger’s outstretched arms. Hitting Xavier and Jonas squarely, they coated them in an icy layer. Within moments they were entombed within a solid block of ice.

  ‘No!’ Te’Anne screamed as she moved towards her brother.

  Izikiel held her back as the white robe turned towards them. Having recovered from his initial surprise, Izikiel called upon the power of the Eternal Flame. Just as the white robe unleashed another stream of ice, Izikiel uttered the ancient language.

  ‘Aduro’

  Sheets of blue flame erupted from Izikiel’s hands. Streaking towards the white robed figure, they collided with the ice streams. For a brief instant the two fought each other as ice froze fire and fire melted ice. Then they dissipated as Izikiel felt his connection to the Eternal Flame vanish. Faltering slightly, he managed to remain standing as the heat subsided. The white robe approached them and spoke in a heavily accented voice.

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘I am Izikiel. Who are you?’

  The white robe lowered his hood revealing an older man’s face. His dark brown eyes looked out over a broad nose framed by a flowing moustache. The numerous lines on his face clearly denoted his age as did the white colour of his hair. He was at least as tall as Izikiel and of moderate build. Looking at the two of them intently, the man finally answered.

  ‘I am Baron Stefan, Guardian of the Eternal Flame,’ the white robed man said. ‘I also have the dubious honour of being the last inhabitant of Aurora.’

  FORTY EIGHT

  A sudden gust of wind blew a thin layer of snow into the air. It fell slowly back down, spiralling on invisible currents of air as it did. The ice floes continued their relentless assault on one another as the dark waters of the frozen lake splashed around them. None of it registered on Izikiel as he considered what the white robed stranger had just told him. He was clearly a true believer and a powerful one at that. But he seemed somehow different. Izikiel couldn’t figure out what it was.

  His thoughts were interrupted by Te’Anne.

  ‘What have you done to my brother!’ she demanded.

  Stepping forward, she raised her weapon. The man calling himself the Baron looked over at the two entombed figures. Furrowing his brow, he said, ‘Please accept my sincerest apologies, dear lady. I judged you to be an enemy and reacted accordingly.’

  ‘Do something then!’ Te’Anne exclaimed.

  The Baron turned his hooded head towards Izikiel.

  ‘If Izikiel would care to invoke the power of the Flame?’

  ‘What do you need me to do?’ Izikiel asked.

  ‘Judging from what I saw earlier you have the power to command the element of fire. If you would be so kind as to melt the ice around your companions then I will do the rest,’ the Baron said. ‘Unless of course you’d rather wait for the ice to melt?’

  ‘How long will that take?’

  ‘Forever, I imagine. It never climbs above minus twenty.’

  ‘Alright, give me a moment.’

  Izikiel centred his thoughts and called forth the power once more.

  ‘Ignis’

  A small ball of fire sprang to life in front of him. He willed it towards where Xavier and Jonas were entombed in the ice. The fire obeyed his thoughts and hovered just above the two figures. Slowly, the ice began to melt. At first only small drops of water formed on the surface of the ice. Then, as Izikiel increased the heat, the ice began to dissolve. Soon, it was gone. Xavier and Jonas slumped forward. They hit the ground with a soft thump as their faces sank into the snow.

  ‘Xavier!’ Te’Anne cried out.

  She ran towards her brother. The white robed figure of the Baron held up his hand as he said, ‘Please, stand back. Your companions are suffering from extreme hypothermia after being encased in the ice.’

  ‘You’ve killed them! I’ll...’

  Te’Anne aimed her weapon at the Baron and prepared to fire. Izikiel managed to move in front of her just in time. Holding up his hands, he pleaded with her to put her weapon down.

  ‘Te’Anne, give him a chance.’

  ‘No, we have to -’

  ‘Please Te’Anne. Trust me.’

  She reluctantly lowered her weapon. Izikiel turned to the Baron.

  ‘Help them, please.’

  The true believer knelt next to the immobile form of Xavier. Turning him over, the Baron placed the palm of his hand on Xavier’s chest. Izikiel realised that the Baron seemed unaffected by the cold. Before he had time to consider this further, the Baron spoke another unfamiliar word in the ancient language.

  ‘Curatio’

  The face shield on Izikiel’s snow suit darkened automatically as the Baron’s hand lit
up with the intensity of a distant star. Just as quickly, the light subsided and Xavier stirred. At first the large scavenger appeared to be confused. Looking around, he seemed to regain his bearings as he slowly rolled to a standing position and aimed his weapon at the white robed figure kneeling next to Jonas.

  ‘Wait!’ Izikiel called out. ‘He’s trying to help us.’

  Xavier lowered his weapon. The Baron healed Jonas. Moments after the second blinding flash of light, Jonas stood up. Looking around, he turned towards Izikiel.

  ‘So I take it that we’ve found what we were looking for?’

  ‘I believe so,’ Izikiel replied. ‘This is Baron Stefan, a true believer.’

  The white robed man bowed as he was introduced to the two former security officers. Then his face broke out in a smile.

  ‘No hard feelings I trust, gentlemen?’

  ‘Well, I don’t know what you did to us but I’ve never felt better,’ Jonas replied. Lifting his leg up, he flexed it back and forth. ‘Even the pain from an old training accident seems to have gone.’

  ‘The power of the Eternal Flame can not only destroy but it can heal also.’

  ‘Well I’m just glad that the two of you are alright,’ Te’Anne said.

  ‘So what do we do now?’ Xavier asked as he holstered his weapon.

  ‘Now, I invite you all to my home. Young Izikiel and I have much to discuss and I fear that there are some harsh truths which won’t be easy for him to hear. Now, if you’ll follow me.’

  The Baron moved towards the frozen lake. The others followed him. Standing on the edge of the lake, they watched as two particularly sizeable ice floes collided. The impact sent a tremor through the ground. Unphased, the Baron raised his arms up and spoke a single word in the ancient language.

  ‘Algor’

  Sheets of dense ice erupted from the Baron’s hands. Pulsing outwards in waves across the lake, they quickly reached the other side. Moving from side to side, the Baron lowered his hands after a few moments. Izikiel marvelled at the true believer’s power. The ice floes stood locked in place as the lake beneath them had been completely frozen over. Even the water which had sprayed upwards from the various impacts had been frozen in place. The Baron turned his hooded head back towards them.