by Jerry Hart
“What does?” Astrid asked.
Nalke looked at Josh. “Even in death, Mr. Debelko, you have the ability to leach life.”
Chapter 5: The Heart of Dargo Island
Somehow, Aneela convinced Rhys and her men to follow the meteor’s path through the ice even farther. Victor came along, leaving the hexl in the giants’ kingdom. The meteor had shot through at such an angle that it created a tunnel that was fairly easy to walk through, though the group practically walked down it. Soon, the ice became warm purple crystals.
After walking for nearly five minutes, the group found itself in a large cavern made entirely of purple and green crystals. What remained of the meteor lay before Aneela, though it looked like it exploded upon impact, sending shards in all directions. One such shard stuck out of a large green source of light that rested between a humungous stalactite and stalagmite at the center of the cavern.
“What in the world is that?” Rhys asked in awe.
Aneela made her way toward the green light, following paths in the crystal garden that separated them.
“Help me,” a female voice said.
“I’m coming,” Aneela replied. When she finally reached the light, she didn’t know what to do. The light was so high up she couldn’t hope to reach it from the ground.
The cavern trembled, raining a few crystals from the ceiling.
“I need help,” the voice said, clearly in pain.
“How do we help you?” Aneela asked.
“Who is that?” Rhys asked her.
“The heart of the island,” Victor replied. “Just like Champagne said.”
“We have to pull that shard from the light,” Aneela said.
Rhys looked up. “Only a giant could hope to reach that high, let alone have the strength to pull the shard free. But they’re all gone from this island.”
“There has to be another way,” Aneela said, helpless. And then an idea came to her. “We need the hexl.”
“I’m on it,” Victor said. He returned to the icy kingdom above to retrieve the hexl. “Gang way!” he shouted from the tunnel as he rode the giant weed down.
Rhys pulled Aneela out of the way as the hexl shot out of the tunnel and slithered through the crystal garden. Victor rode it like he would a horse, with a rope attached to the pink-and-orange petals that acted as the hexl’s head. When they reached the stalagmite, he reared back, causing the hexl to straighten upward toward the green light. Something that looked like a tongue shot out of the stamen and attached itself to the shard. Victor pulled on the reins and the hexl pulled the shard out of the light.
The cavern shook violently, raining more crystals upon the group. Victor just managed to escape becoming impaled by one as he rode the hexl away from the light and toward Aneela.
“Will you be requiring anything more, Your Highness?” Victor asked sarcastically, twirling a finger through his pointy red mustache.
“No, Victor. Thank you.”
“Thank you, Aneela,” the voice said, though it still sounded like it was in pain.
“Who are you?” she asked the voice.
“My name is Rapatha. I am the heart and soul of the island.”
Chapter 6: Speaking with Ghosts
Josh’s world spun before him. He had so much thrown at him in such short amount of time that he couldn’t make sense of it. He didn’t even know if any of this was real. Maybe he was still dead, or still being possessed by Dargo. Maybe this was all a dream.
Nalke still read from his handbook, but he didn’t learn anything new. Astrid stood by her father’s side, helping him to stay on his feet. Nalke visibly shook as he tried to stand on his own. No matter what form Josh appeared in, he still hurt those around him.
“If I go away,” he said to Nalke, “will that stop the leaching?”
“I doubt it. It has nothing to do with proximity. The mere fact you exist as a nature demon is what’s draining my energy.”
“There has to be a way to change me back or…unmake me.”
Nalke looked thoughtful as he turned around. “Away? You just gave me an idea. There is a way to speak with the past nature demons. They may know something that will help.”
“How do we do that?” Astrid asked, sounding hopeful.
“They are gathered in a nexus far from here.”
“Let’s go,” she said next, her excitement apparent in her eyes. “They have to know what’s going on. Are they ghosts or something?”
Nalke sighed. “They’re spirits, yes. But, honey, you can’t go. Only Josh and I can.”
“Why?”
“Because we’ve been reborn as nature demons. We’re technically already spirits and can make the journey.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “I understand. How long will you be gone?”
“It’s difficult to say. I’ve only visited them once before. It’s painful to be in their presence, so we can’t stay for long.”
“Painful?” Josh asked nervously.
“Yes. It’s an assault on the senses. Your sight, hearing and sense of touch will be heightened, so be prepared for that.”
“Will you be okay going there in your condition?”
“My boy, I’ll be fine.”
“I guess I’ll visit Mom while you’re gone,” Astrid said while Josh replaced her as Nalke’s crutch.
“Astrid,” her father said over his shoulder, “the transporter may start malfunctioning due to my weakened state, so you should learn to travel to and from the island naturally.”
She nodded as she backed away. Josh knew she had the ability to travel from cloud to cloud without flying, but traveling to the island would be trickier because it was hidden with magic. Traveling from the island was probably easier, however.
“Okay,” Josh said to Nalke as Astrid left, “what do we do now?”
Nalke walked slowly toward a desk off to the side and retrieved a bottle of silver dust. “These are the ashes of the last reigning nature demon—my father. After a nature demon dies for the final time, his or her body is cremated, the ashes passed to the next nature demon. We can use them to establish a link to the predecessor, in case we need to speak with him.
“Like I said earlier, traveling to the nexus in which the nature demons’ spirits reside is overwhelming, so we can’t stay for long. I’ve only been once, early in my reign. I did it to speak with Father again; I was scared of the responsibility thrust upon me and needed reassuring.”
He poured some of the remaining ashes on the floor in a circle big enough for Josh and him. Josh joined him within the circle as Nalke studied the empty bottle and sighed. “After this, I will never be able to speak with my father again. Well, unless I pass into the nexus to join him.”
“I’m sorry for what I’m doing to you,” Josh said quietly.
“Think nothing of it. Again, everything that’s happening is my fault alone. I am the one who’s sorry. Nature demons reign for a thousand years before passing the rule to another. My time will come eventually, no matter what.”
“How long have you reigned?”
Nalke smiled at him as the silver circle lit up. “A long time.”
And then they were gone, transported from the tower to a realm far away.
Chapter 7: Discovered
Astrid knew something was wrong with the transporter after she stepped out of the closet of her house on Dargo Island. It had taken longer to get from her father’s cloud to the house, so long in fact that she thought she was stuck. She’d stood in the windy, bright world between worlds long enough to think, which was a first. She’d even grown afraid that she would be trapped forever.
As she walked to the living room, she decided not to use the transporter until her father was well again. If he got well again, that was. Though she’d only known him for nearly a year, she realized she loved him. She loved Josh as well, and didn’t blame him for what he was doing to Nalke.
It was night, and Astrid wondered where the day had gone. It had been day when she found Jos
h in the large cloud. She felt like she’d been away for days rather than hours. “Mom?” she called, but the house seemed empty.
She called the palace from the wall phone but didn’t get an answer, so she jumped on her horse Pace and rode up there. She found her mom in the palace courtyard, holding little Joshua. Mom was staring at something in the sky. Astrid hopped off of Pace and joined her mother.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Mom looked at her with a distant look on her face. “See that light in the sky?”
Astrid looked. “What is that?” The light was small but not too far away. It must’ve been hovering over the large waterfall that separated Dargo Island from the rest of the world.
“I think it’s a helicopter,” Mom said.
“A helicopter?” Astrid remembered seeing one during one of her trips to Dad’s realm. She’d also seen a few airplanes—machines that gave regular people the ability to fly. What a concept. “Has there ever been a helicopter this close before?”
“Never. Even if one did come this way, it wouldn’t see us. At least, that’s the way it used to be. I can’t help but feel that helicopter can sense us, though.”
“That’s impossible,” Astrid said nervously. The light did seem to hover, though. “Maybe the pilot’s being driven back by the magic that hides us.”
Mom looked at her. “Something happened while you were gone. A meteor crashed on the island. I think it was being tracked, and seeing as it landed on an island that can’t be seen, the outside world is curious as to what happened to it.”
“A meteor? Was anyone hurt?”
“Not that we know.” She looked past her daughter, to a group of horse riders approaching the palace gate. It was Aneela and a few soldiers.
“Astrid,” Aneela said as she got off her horse, “welcome back. You missed all the action.”
“Mom just told me. Look.” She pointed to the helicopter.
Aneela gasped. “Another meteor?”
“No. Something worse: the outside world,” Mom said.
“They can’t see us, though,” Astrid said. “Right?”
Aneela looked at them. “I’m not so sure anymore. We just discovered the meteor crashed into the core of the island. It injured…the heart of the island. It’s a living spirit.”
Astrid tried to process this. “The island’s spirit?”
“Yes. It’s an intelligent being named Rapatha. I spoke with her. Now that she’s injured, her ability to hide us may be dwindling.”
“Wow,” Mom said. “What can we do to help her?”
“She said only a magical being can heal her, but she believes few to none exist anymore.”
“What will happen if she isn’t healed?” Astrid asked, and then her question was answered a second later.
The ground quaked so violently that everyone was nearly knocked off his and her feet. Mom barely managed to hold onto Joshua. He started to cry, and Aneela took him into her arms.
“I don’t think we can afford to let Rapatha die,” Aneela said. “If she does, the whole island may break apart. And then we all die.”
A soldier ran up to them. “Queen Aneela, Andor has escaped from his cell.”
She spun around, her eyes wide. “How?”
“His cell broke apart during the first quake. He escaped and killed Malax.”
Astrid remembered the handsome young guard. How could he be dead?
“He may still be in the palace,” Aneela said. “I want you and a team of soldiers to search every room.” She looked about nervously. “I think it best to go into hiding until he is found. I left two soldiers to guard Rapatha until I returned.” She looked at the helicopter again, which turned around and headed back to the mainland. “Goddess help us, we are facing more threats than ever before.”
Astrid smiled. “Well, there is some good news. Josh is back.”
That news had the desired effect. Mom’s and Aneela’s eyes were wide.
* * *
Andor watched the man from an alley in Dargo Plaza, between a bookstore and a salon. He was a mile from the palace, and he saw the queen and a few soldiers trot away on horses. The man he watched was an old friend. Andor had tried getting this man to go along with him during his plan to overthrow Aneela and release Dargo from his prison so that he could undo the plague ravaging the island.
The friend, Markiza, had backed out at the last minute.
Markiza walked into a bar across from the bookstore. Andor knew the man owned it and always locked up at this time. He made his way toward the bar and slipped around to the back, where he also knew a broken door awaited him. If he knew Markiza, he knew the man was slow to fix things.
Andor slipped into the bar from the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and walked up to Markiza.
The chubby bar owner’s jaw dropped when he saw Andor. “What are you doing here?”
Andor smiled through his paint-smeared face. “I’ve come to thank you for what you did to me.”
“I didn’t do nothin’, Andor. I had nothing to do with your arrest.”
“But you did abandon me when I needed you the most. When all of our friends and family were dying around us.”
“You broke the law and released the man who created the plague in the first place. Your loyalty lay in the wrong person, Andor. You should’ve trusted Aneela. She pulled through in the end.”
Andor chuckled as he approached his “friend.” “And, in the end, so will I.” He lunged at Markiza and stabbed him in the heart. “For my son,” he whispered.
The blinds had been pulled on the windows, so no one saw Andor kill the man. He pulled the knife from the man’s chest, wiped off the blood with the bar owner’s shirt, and then turned to leave the same way he came in.
Only, when he got outside, he saw something he didn’t expect to see.
A little boy stood in the alley next to the bookstore, the same alley Andor had watched from only moments ago.
“Son?” he called quietly.
Chapter 8: Nexus
Josh couldn’t see or hear anything around him. He could barely open his eyes due to the blinding brightness, and he heard a loud hum in the air. He pressed his palms to his ears, but that only dulled the sound a little. All of his skin felt really sensitive, so much so that even his clothes felt like they were scraping him.
“Just relax,” he barely heard a voice say to him. “Try to relax and your senses will adjust.”
Josh did as told and the sound grew less intense. He was able to open his teary eyes to slits as the light dimmed.
“Is that better?” Nalke asked.
“Yes.”
Josh looked in front of him and saw a large, lumpy cloud-wall that stretched up at least a hundred feet. Above the wall was a light-blue sky. He looked around him and saw more of the same. He felt like he was inside a large canyon made entirely of clouds.
“Where are the nature-god spirits?” he asked Nalke.
“Here!” multiple voices replied.
Josh jumped at the sound as it echoed in the canyon. When he looked back at the lumpy clouds he saw faces form. Dozens of them. They reminded him of Mount Rushmore, only creepier.
“Why have you come here?” one of the faces asked. Josh stared at it; it was close to the top.
“Something has happened, Father,” Nalke replied. “The boy next to me has been reborn as a nature demon.”
“Impossible!” another face said, this one in the middle. “There cannot be two.”
“I am aware of that, Crenos. That doesn’t change the fact that it happened. But the boy is unusual. He is a sort of incubus. In life, he had the ability to leach the life out of someone else. In rebirth, it appears, his ability is slowly sucking the life out of me without his conscious effort. I am dying.”
“Perhaps it is your time,” Crenos said. Josh didn’t like the tone in his voice.
“Is he trained to take over?” Nalke’s father asked.
“No. He became a nature demon through my neglige
nce and is not the least bit prepared. I have, in fact, been training your granddaughter Astrid to take my place hundreds of years from now. I am not ready to give up my position.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To find a way to undo this,” Josh spoke up. “I don’t want to be a nature demon, and I don’t want to kill Nalke. Is there some way to take my power away?”
“Do you wish to die, little incubus?” Crenos asked. Josh was starting to hate that face and his attitude.
“Yes. I should’ve died a long time ago, and I didn’t ask to come back.”
“How did you come back, anyway?”
“It was my fault,” Nalke said. “I cursed Astrid’s mother when she was pregnant. Josh tried to leach the curse from Astrid but ended up being cursed as well. I used a lot of my energy in the spell, which somehow mutated through Astrid. When Josh’s body died, he was reconstituted in the clouds. Not the same way I was when I was reborn, but he is a nature demon.”
“Foolish wizards!” Crenos yelled, causing Josh to cover his ears. “We should’ve never chosen them to replace us.”
More faces appeared in the lumpy clouds. The sight was horrifying. The faces all cried agreement.
“Silence!” Nalke’s father screamed, and the faces shut up. “My son may have acted foolishly, but he had no reason to believe his actions would result in this.”
“Perhaps if his father had been more responsible in his training,” Crenos said, “he would’ve been more careful with his powers.”
“And I suppose you’re the perfect father? Didn’t your daughter run away from you?”
“Rapatha refused to follow the path of the nature demon. I raised her to be independent, not foolish. She chose her own way and I respect that.”
“Getting back to the matter at hand,” Nalke’s father continued, “the only thing I can think for you to do, Josh, is to forfeit your right to live.”
“How do I do that?”
“Give your life energy to someone else.”
Josh looked at Nalke. “Can I give it to him?” he asked Nalke’s father.