by Jerry Hart
“Because I kept wondering if I was doing the right thing, keeping him locked up.” She turned to Rhys and saw his face, thanks to the moonlight shining through the balcony door.
“And you’re no longer wondering?” he asked.
“No. He said he would kill everyone on the island if it would bring his son back. He’s a dangerous man.”
Rhys kissed her. “Your judgment has never led you astray, My Queen. You should never doubt it.”
She laughed. “Stop calling me your queen. I’m your wife now.”
“Same difference.”
They kissed again, but only for a moment, because the entire room lit up like the sun had suddenly risen.
“What is that?” Aneela asked, shading her eyes with her hand.
They looked toward the balcony as a roar grew louder by the second. Rhys ran to the door and looked out. “A fire in the sky,” he said.
Aneela joined him and saw the fire as it shot toward them. Whatever it was, it left a smoky trail in the sky. The fire shot over their heads with a deafening roar that woke Joshua in his crib.
A moment later, an explosion shook the palace.
Chapter 2: Nature of a Nature Demon
Josh Debelko saw his life flash before his eyes right before died. The vision started with him in the womb with his twin sister, whose name he still didn’t know. She’d died because of him, because he’d drained the life out of her when he had grown too weak to survive on his own.
Then he saw himself at six years old, climbing a tree with his best friend Estevan. Next, he was kissing a girl for the first time at fifteen. He and Maxine were playing laser tag when she’d pulled him into a dark corner. She hadn’t done any more than that, and instead waited for him to kiss her.
Next, he was being sucked into a tornado at nineteen, saving his someone from certain death. He’d died that day as well, but it had only been temporary. The neighbor, Shae, had thanked him by getting him a job on Dargo Island as a security guard for a gated community filled with strange residents: Victor the dwarf, Champagne the empath (she could sense and affect people’s emotions), Astrid the nature demon’s daughter, and…
Well, then there was Rockne the wizard. He was Astrid’s uncle, a man who wanted to dethrone his own brother as nature demon. As far as Josh knew, there could only be one nature demon at a time, and he or she could control everything from the weather to earthquakes. Josh saw how it appealed to Rockne.
But Josh had killed Rockne, and his brother Nalke still ruled as the nature demon. Things were as they should be.
Except now. Josh, who should have been dead for the final time, was now floating inside a cloud. His body had been possessed by another wizard named Dargo, the island’s namesake, and he had sacrificed himself to kill him once and for all before he could destroy the world with a plague.
Josh accepted his fate, his death long overdue. He couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t dead now. He felt like he was floating in a pool full of cool cotton, and he was extremely comfortable. He wondered if he was in heaven. He’d never believed in such a place before, but seeing was believing.
He saw a shadow fly by on his right. He swam toward the edge and peered out, which was like looking through a foggy window.
Astrid. She was flying away like a superhero. He yelled for her, but she didn’t hear. He swam through the cloud, in her direction, and was grateful there was no resistance. The cool cloud felt great against his face.
He kept calling his friend, but she continued to fly away from him. Soon he reached the end of the cloud and found himself trapped. He cursed and tried to punch through the cloud but couldn’t. It was like punching a pillow.
Josh could no longer see Astrid, and found himself drifting to sleep. He was awakened by a thunderclap and saw he was in a gray cloud. Lightning streaked above him. He wondered if he could get struck by it and cowered as far away from it as he could.
He couldn’t tell how much time he spent trapped in the clouds, but he saw Astrid occasionally. Every time she flew by, he screamed her name. She never heard. One time, he grew so frustrated that he swam to the top of the cloud in which he occupied. It was a very large cloud, and he felt like he was swimming a vertical Olympic-sized pool.
Josh saw Astrid approaching from the right. He’d been waiting for her, since she seemed to fly the same pattern often. He screamed for her again.
She heard him this time.
She landed at the bottom of the white, puffy cloud and looked around. He hadn’t expected that and was about to make his way down, but she started to come up. He waited.
When she found him, she pulled him out of the cloud, crying with joy.
Chapter 3: The Island’s Pain
Victor sat just outside the hexl’s crater as it swam around. It was like watching a dog at play. He had been watching it for months, having grown fond of the giant plant creature.
“I’ll get my axe back, yet, you silly monster. You can’t keep it in your belly forever.”
He smiled as he remembered the quest he and Astrid had taken, extracting a poison and its antidote from the hexl’s body. It had been the only way to get rid of Dargo while he possessed Josh. They succeeded, though they’d lost Josh in the process.
“Hey there, Sugar Squash,” a female voice said behind Victor.
He spun around and saw a dark figure across the road, hidden within a shadowy forest. “Who goes there?”
The figure stepped into the dirt road. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize this old face.”
“My gods,” he whispered harshly. “Champagne DuBois?”
The old woman wore the clothes in which she’d been buried: a dark-green dress with a silver necklace. The snow fell on her as if she were real.
“But you’re not real,” Victor said. “You’re dead, dear.”
“Don’t I know it? Something brought me back, though. Something’s wrong with the island and the dead are walking about.”
“The dead walk?” Victor could barely get the words out. He imagined the dead walking around this very night and shivered. “Are you really here, dear lady?”
She walked up to him and touched his face gently. “I am, Sugar Bunny.”
He smiled and laid his face on her palm. “I was always fond of your cute nicknames.”
She pulled her hand away. “You must help the island.”
“The island?”
“The island’s soul. She’s dying. If she dies, the island will be destroyed.”
“What do you mean?”
Champagne shook her head. “Whatever magic brought me here also helps me understand what the island feels. She’s in so much pain.”
Victor thought Champagne’s words over. “How do we help her?”
“I don’t know.”
Victor shook his head. “I’ll speak with Aneela. She should know this.”
“Good luck, Sugar Dwarf. I love and miss you.” She backed away, toward the woods.
“Where are you going? I thought you said you were back.”
Champagne gave him a sad smile. “I’m back, but not alive. I have no heartbeat. I am a walking corpse. I found you in order to warn you of the danger.”
“Why didn’t you warn Aneela?”
“I tried, but I was drawn to you instead. I think it has to do with my connection to you. Now you must go to Aneela for me.”
He nodded. “It will be done, cherished lady.”
She smiled and disappeared into the woods once again. Victor stared at the footprints she left behind. He was convinced she had really been there. He turned back to the crater and saw the hexl staring at him. The floral creature sneezed and something shiny shot out of its petal-mouth. The object landed right in front of Victor.
He picked the long-lost axe out of the ground. “Thank you, silly beast.”
* * *
Aneela and Rhys ran out into the courtyard, where most of the soldiers met them. Everyone was in a panic, but Aneela commanded their attention. “Some
thing has fallen from the sky and struck the island. Everything is all right.”
“But what was it?” a soldier asked, more panicked than the rest.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like it before.”
“It was a meteor,” a female voice said.
Aneela saw a short woman approach from the palace gate. “Shae. You know what it was?”
“Yes. It was a piece of rock that fell from space. They’re not uncommon in the rest of the world, but this appears to be Dargo’s first encounter with one.”
“Is it dangerous?” Rhys asked.
“Only if it crashed on or near any islanders.”
“We should search for it,” Aneela said. “Shae, I’ll need your help adding this meteor to the school’s curriculum.”
Shae smiled. “Gladly.”
Aneela, having dressed before leaving her room, gathered her horse. Six soldiers followed her and Rhys while Shae agreed to watch Joshua in the palace. The smoke trail still lingered in the sky, so the group didn’t have trouble locating the crash site.
“It appears to have shot through the giants’ realm,” Rhys said as they approached a cluster of mountains.
“I guess it’s a good thing Rockne killed all the giants,” Aneela said sadly. “Otherwise, there’s no telling how many would have died tonight.”
They followed a trail into the mountains until they reached a clearing. A frozen lake rested in the exact center. Aneela and the others got off their horses and approached the lake.
It had a large hole bored through.
“It must have shot through like a bullet,” Aneela said, looking through from the safety of the grass. She couldn’t see much, but the meteor had gone through at an angle.
“How do we get down there?” Rhys asked his wife.
“I don’t think Rockne ever disabled the lift system that allowed the giants to get in and out of their kingdom. He had no reason to, since all the giants died that night.” She paused, remembering why they died. Rockne had manipulated her father, who was then king, into thinking the giants had sided with his “evil” nature-demon brother Nalke. The giants had been under Rockne’s spell, causing them to attack the islanders. They’d been innocent.
Aneela stepped onto the frozen lake, next to the hole. Nothing happened.
“Perhaps Rockne’s magic has completely left this island,” Rhys said. “Everything he created no longer works—”
Aneela suddenly began lowering into the ice. She smiled at her husband. “Or perhaps you’re mistaken.” She completely disappeared as the lift took her down into the giants’ world.
Everything was covered in ice. Aneela faced toward the village, filled with white, round houses. A large bridge was set over a dark-blue river that flowed around the village. She looked up to see the icy ceiling high above. She waited until she reached the bottom to look behind her, where she saw a large ice wall a mile away.
The meteor had crashed in the field between the village and the wall.
Aneela waited for the rest of the group to join her. When they did, Rhys looked unhappy. “It goes even farther?” he asked, looking at the impact hole.
“I suppose so,” Aneela said. “At least we don’t have to worry about anyone being hurt by—”
The ground shook and she braced herself against Rhys. Ice rained down from the ceiling. The only place to take cover was in the village. They ran over the large bridge and into the closest hut. The ground quaked for at least a minute, and the group listened to the thuds of large blocks of ice rain down around them. After the quake ended, they left the hut.
The ice lift began to lower and on it sat a twenty-foot-tall sentient weed. Victor, the dwarf, stood next to it. “Aneela!” he shouted as the lift reached the ground. “I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“The island is in danger. Something has happened.”
“Danger?” She grabbed his round shoulders. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw…well, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But I was told something has injured the island. I saw you heading this way, so I’m guessing you saw something?”
“Yes. A meteor struck the island.”
“A meteor! That must be what she was talking about.”
Aneela shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who told you the island was in pain?”
Victor stood silently for a moment before saying, “Champagne. I swear I saw her, but I don’t know how it’s possible.”
“Champagne?” Champagne DuBois, a beloved elderly empath, had died not long ago. “Victor, are you feeling all right?”
He smiled, his eyes shining through his bushy red beard. “I’m fine, Aneela. Thank you for asking. I know Champagne is dead, but I know what I saw. The beast saw her too.” He indicated the hexl next to him. The hexl didn’t speak, of course.
“Well,” Aneela said, “the meteor crashed through here. Let’s follow it and see where it takes us. Then we’ll talk more about what you saw.”
Chapter 4: Two Nature Demons
Josh floated past Astrid, laughing. She rolled her eyes and laughed with him. He’d fashioned a pair of shorts from a puff of clouds, and it looked like a diaper. They were taking a scenic route back to her father’s cloud palace, though Astrid chose to walk.
“Walk with me,” she said, though she knew it wouldn’t do any good.
“Why walk when you can float?” he asked, circling her. She taught him how to do it, and he picked it up very quickly. Flying was the first thing her father taught her.
She hoped Nalke could figure out what happened to Josh. Before Josh sacrificed himself to destroy Dargonius, Nalke had said he didn’t know what would happen to Josh if he died. Astrid had only recognized what Josh had become because he’d been reborn from the clouds.
Nalke had told her about that process when he recounted how he, in turn, became a nature demon. You had to die to be reborn. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, and she feared having to do the same thing if it ever became her turn to take her father’s place.
As they grew closer to the palace, Astrid grew uneasy. The palace, as well as the cloud on which it resided, was a darker gray. The clouds around it were lighter, but this one looked…sick. Astrid flew away, leaving Josh behind.
“Dad?” she called after opening the grand door. She stood in a hall that branched in different directions.
From the outside, and from far away, the castle looked like a giant, puffy cloud. Inside, however, it looked like a regular castle made of brick and stone. On most days, she had to search for her father, but today he stood at the end of the hall, directly in front of her. He wore a long blue-and-gray robe, with a light-blue beard that reached down to his stomach. He looked like what you would expect a wizard to look like, which was appropriate since he used to be one.
Today, he looked like a sick wizard.
“Astrid,” he managed to say just before he collapsed.
She ran up to him, Josh right behind her. She helped Nalke sit up a little before saying, “What’s happening?”
Nalke looked wide-eyed at Josh. “Am I seeing a ghost before me?”
“No, sir,” Josh said, attempting to be formal, Astrid figured. “Well, maybe. Astrid thinks I came back as a nature demon.”
“Oh, dear,” Nalke said. “I think she’s right. That would explain my current state.”
“What do you mean?” Astrid asked.
“Help me to the tower.”
Josh and Astrid helped him up, and Astrid teleported them all to the tower. The room was small and round, with tiny square holes cut into the walls to act as windows. Wind blew through with a whistle.
In the center of the room was a pedestal holding a large brown book. Nalke stumbled up to it and flipped through the pages.
“What is that?” Josh asked.
“Think of it as a nature-demon handbook. I’ve gone through it at least once since taking over as nature de
mon after my father’s death, but I sometimes forget things. I believe there is a clause in here about two nature demons existing at the same time.”
Astrid helped him stand; she’d never seen her father so weak before, though she’d only met him a year ago. “What about the original nature demons?” she asked. “Before you guys took over. Weren’t they all nature demons at the same time?”
“Only by name. Only one had gone through the rebirth and ruled as king while the others waited their turns. But something happened to their bloodline that caused them to start dying out. Those in waiting were unable to survive the rebirth, leaving the king alone and dying as well.
“That’s when they ‘outsourced’ the position, so to speak. They sought out other creatures to which they could pass on their own magic. As far as I can tell, whatever afflicted them doesn’t affect me.”
“And then I came along and screwed everything up,” Josh said, looking at the floor.
Nalke weakly patted him on the shoulder. “It’s not your fault; it’s mine. If I hadn’t cursed Astrid’s mother while she was pregnant with our daughter, you wouldn’t have heroically taken it upon yourself to try and lift the curse, thereby taking on some of my magic. It’s all on me, my boy, not you.”
Josh grinned. “Thanks.”
“Well, what do we do to fix this?” Astrid asked, breaking up the bonding moment. “I feel like we’re wasting time talking.”
Nalke looked at her. “It warms my heart to know you’re worried about me, but I’m certain we can find a way to reverse what’s happening.”
He found the page he was looking for and read the words. They were written in weird, swirling shapes Astrid couldn’t understand. “You’re going to have to teach me how to read this one day,” she said.
“Noted,” her father replied, though he didn’t appear to like what he read. “Oh, dear, it appears I was correct about one thing: There can only be one ruling nature demon at a time, but that seems to only be a formality. It has nothing to do with my illness.”