by D. N. Leo
"Effectively, yes."
"If she really wants to be his true queen, shouldn't she be down in the subconscious levels looking for him? Wouldn't the whole deal of marriage and consummation involve a little thing called love?"
“Love?"
Madeline rolled her eyes. “Great. It’s not even in your dictionary.”
"If you mean that to have love, my sister has to go down there looking for him, then she couldn’t do that. Spiritually, they’re not connected. She might not be able to find him, and she might not be able to come back herself. It's dangerous down there."
The prince emphasized the word ‘love’ by stretching its pronunciation.
"What kind of danger?"
"It's a mind maze. The only right path is the path where you stay true to yourself. Any moment of doubt or faint waver in belief will send you in the wrong direction. Lost people will stay in oblivion forever. Those who pass this stage will have the highest level of consciousness."
Madeline manufactured a concerned look. “I can go down and find Ciaran for your sister. All you want is for him to return so he can marry your sister and have sex with her? Is that correct?"
"Such a vulgar term."
"That's essentially what she wants."
"You would do that? Go down and bring him back? Why?"
"We entered the Daimon Gate as a group, and we will leave as a group. That's what we call loyalty. I wager you don't have that term in your dictionary, either."
"Indeed, we don't. But it sounds intriguing."
The guards led Zach and Tadgh into the room. They glanced at the prince.
"We passed the Daimon Gate, guys, according to the prince,” Madeline said before Tadgh and Zach speculated. "The only person who had to dive deep into this level was Ciaran, and he is currently still diving."
"But we—” Tadgh said.
"As friends," Madeline emphasized her pronunciation of friends and hoped Tadgh got the hint, "we promised to enter and leave this gate together. Ciaran is stuck somewhere in his subconscious, and I need to retrieve him."
"But how?" Zach said.
"Oh, they've done this before. They know what to do." Tadgh brushed it off.
"Really? You do this often?" the prince asked.
"This is routine on Earth,” Madeline said, thinking about the nights Ciaran and she had spent together. "And the most important thing is that while I am down there, no one can interrupt us, including your sister. You don't want us to get lost, do you?"
"Of course not."
Zach stood puzzled.
Tadgh approached Madeline. "Let's get him out of here,” he whispered.
The prince led the way to a chamber via a wide corridor. He knocked on the door and entered. Madeline, Tadgh, and Zach followed him inside.
On an enormous bed on a raised platform covered in velvet, Ciaran lay sleeping. Next to the bed stood a beautiful mermaid walking on two legs. Her dreamy blue eyes were filled with tears. She ran toward the prince.
"Brother, he wouldn't wake. I can't wake him. I might have killed him."
Zach shifted at the statement. Tadgh whispered very softly to him, "He's like that with sedatives. He won’t wake up." Zach didn’t nod but stopped shifting and showed signs of agitation.
"I brought you these warriors. They are his friends. They will help him return, my princess,” the prince said.
Madeline spoke between her teeth to Zach and Tadgh. “Hooray, we’ve been promoted to warrior status.”
"Really? What do you need? Tell me what to do," the mermaid princess said to Madeline.
"Just give me what you gave him and then leave us alone. Don't come in until we call you. Understood?" Madeline said.
The princess didn’t seem to understand. The prince grabbed the drug, gave it to Madeline, and took the princess out of the room.
Madeline went to the bed and looked at Ciaran sleeping peacefully. Then she looked at the drug. "I'm going down with him. I think this is the same as the training he had before."
"That's purely speculation, Madeline. We don't have any support here. No Doctor Thomas, no Jo, no George. What do you suggest we do if you don't come back up? Pick you both up and run away?" Tadgh asked.
"Can you brief me on the plans, please, whatever they might be?" Zach asked.
"Whenever Ciaran is in a comatose state, he generally can't come out of it quickly or without assistance. Last time, I had to go in and yank him out,” Madeline said.
Zach's jaw dropped.
"What if it doesn’t work this time?" Tadgh asked.
"I don't have any other solutions. Do you?"
Silence.
"Guess not. So please guard us, and don't let these people near us. I'll see what I can do."
Tadgh nodded.
"Zach?"
"Okay. Sure." Zach nodded.
Madeline quickly got onto the bed. She kissed Ciaran. No response. She took the drug and lay down next to him.
Chapter 27
The room greeted Ciaran with a blast of light. A web of tangled robes flew at him. Before he could react, he was tied up, arms and legs stretched toward four corners of the room. Torture chamber? he wondered.
The door swung open, and a group of women sauntered in. Their beauty exceeded all standards across the cosmos. Sexuality oozed from every pore of their skin.
“Coming down here without a chosen queen, Ciaran? Let us help you,” one of them said. He didn’t know which one it was as he kept his eyes closed.
He had yanked at the rope many times and had given up the idea that he could break himself loose.
They could tie him up, but they couldn’t force him to open his eyes. Thus, their beauty wasn’t working as effectively as it might. He knew if he gave in to the pleasure, he would have to choose a queen right here. If it was the wrong queen, it would lead to death. If it was the right queen, then he would consummate.
As to what constituted a right or wrong choice, he had no clue. His knowledge of alchemy wasn’t that extensive.
He could hear the women peeling their clothes off. He heard them whispering about what would trigger sexual urges. That, he could handle easily. He just ignored what they said.
“Why don’t we take turns? Then all you have to do is say which one of us you like best,” a voice suggested.
Then he felt their hands all over him. They knew how to physically work a man to get what they wanted. He was only human. He knew that. Regardless of how strong his mental capacity was, he knew these women—or creatures—would work him until they got what they needed.
He could let it get to that point.
Creatures?
Yes! They were creatures! Not humans. Not women.
“I will not choose any of you. Don’t waste your time,” he said.
“Oh, you can’t be so sure.”
“Get off me, or you will regret it. I’ve given you fair warning.”
“We only want to pleasure you.”
They were all over him again.
“Last warning. Get off me.”
They kept coming.
“You’ve forced me to do this,” he growled and wielded the blade in his mind.
And his fury came forth. He could feel the force of the blade spinning in the room. It slashed, stabbed, cut, and tore at anything in its flying path.
He opened his eyes and saw body parts, blood, and flesh raining down on him.
The ropes were cut.
He freed himself and stood up, tucking his weapons in place.
On the floor, what looked like might have been human body parts had turned into robotic parts. The blood had changed into an oily black liquid which had pooled on the floor and now evaporated into thin air.
Ciaran stepped around the room, avoiding the puddles, and approached the door to the next room. As he pushed the door open, the room exploded with colors and shapes which flew directly at him.
Chapter 28
Madeline drifted down. And down. She swam in a dark space. Then
she landed on firm ground inside a very plain chapel. The place looked familiar—long hall, arched pillars, and altar at the far end.
She approached a door, the only door in the room, and pushed it open.
She was immediately pulled into the room and surrounded by several Madelines. The door slammed behind her—there was no way out.
At the other end of the room stood Ciaran, covered in blood, gripping his daggers. He looked at her like she was a stranger.
Hundreds of creatures in the room in female form flew at him. He slaughtered them before they touched him. But that wasn’t the problem.
She could see the deadly problem.
There were hundreds of creature taking her likeness. They looked identical to her. They approached Ciaran slowly in small groups. When they got close, and if he didn’t kill them, they clawed at him. That explained why he was covered in blood.
He slashed at most of them with his daggers. There must be something in them that made him realize they weren’t her. But he let a few slip too close before he killed them.
Even she couldn’t tell the difference between herself and the row of creatures standing next to her right now, waiting for their turn to approach Ciaran.
She could attack them now and kill them, and then Ciaran would be able to tell it was her. She grabbed her daggers but realized they were no longer with her.
No weapons for Madeline.
She could see Ciaran grow angrier as more and more Madeline lookalikes clawed at him and bit him. He began to slash at them indiscriminately.
She knew he would get to a point where he sent out the blade of fury from his mind, and that would kill all creatures in the room—including her.
Doing that meant he would kill his true queen and lose this round of the test. But if he didn’t do something, they would eat him alive. It was already starting to look like that was going to happen.
Madeline left the row of pretenders and started to approach Ciaran, like the other look-alike. She focused and tried to connect with his mind.
She knew it wouldn’t work. But she had to try.
“Ciaran! It’s me!” she called out to him in her mind.
No reaction from him. He kept stabbing and slashing at the lookalikes. Hundreds of Madelines.
Their attacks grew fiercer as they got closer. He slaughtered harder and harder.
A chill ran up her spine when she looked into his eyes.
He had grown used to slaughtering her image. The more he killed, the fewer injuries he had to suffer.
She approached him. Closer. Closer.
She had nothing with which to defend herself. Her psychic connection to him wasn’t working.
All she had was herself and her love for him. She came even closer. So close she could smell the violence coming from him in waves.
He swung his daggers left, right, and in all directions. The bodies of her lookalikes fell like tree trunks to the floor.
He didn’t even look to see if they evaporated or lay on the floor in a heap of blood, flesh, and bones, meaning he had just killed the real Madeline.
He just slaughtered.
One creature after another.
She approached. It was now her turn. She stood right in front of him.
She saw a dagger swing at her, aimed at her chest. He was going to stab her in the heart.
She did nothing. She just looked at him.
Then the dagger stopped right in front of her. The sharp point of the blade had sneaked into her flesh and cut loose a drop of blood.
Ciaran looked into her eyes.
“It’s you!” he whispered in disbelief. “My queen.” He dropped the daggers and pulled her into his arms. He squeezed her so hard it knocked the breath out of her.
He didn’t care what was happening around him. If this was the wrong choice, if she was a creature, she could have turned around and ripped out his throat.
He didn’t seem to care. His body vibrated with emotion. He buried his head in the crook of her neck. The he lifted her face up and kissed her.
And then it was her turn to not care what was happening around them in the room.
When the best kiss in the cosmos had finished, Ciaran released her. They looked around the room and saw that all the creatures—dead and alive—had vanished.
He had made the right choice.
He held her hand and led her to the next room where she had seen the altar before.
The room was now lit up with thousands of candles. Soft ceremonial music chanted from somewhere in the air. He looked at her.
His face, the face of a dark angel, was looking at her with love. She would trade anything to remain in that world and hold that look for the rest of her life.
They kissed again.
After a while, he asked, "Can you ever forgive me for what I did to Juliette? Will it ever come between us?"
Madeline cupped his face and immersed herself in his intense gray eyes. "Juliette was a part of your life. You will always carry the guilt of her natural death. We can't forget that. But she has never—and will never—come between us."
He kissed her again.
"I killed an innocent man. Will you be able to live with that?"
Ciaran looked at her. He rubbed his thumb on the dimple on her left cheek. "You'll kill more men. Whether good or evil, innocent or guilty, you will make a just decision of whether a life is worth preserving. You have an important role right now. People depend on you. You don’t have to ask me that anymore. I’ll answer it, once and for all. I love you, and I respect your decisions. Nothing else matters."
Madeline smiled.
They held each other for a long moment, swaying with the flow of the air. They swam in pleasant thoughts and happiness. Madeline did not know that happiness flowed like a current. It had frequency and rhythm. When she paid attention and reached out for it, she could actually feel it.
In that quietness, they heard each other's heartbeats.
"Will you marry me?" Ciaran asked.
She looked him in the face so that he could see her eyes.
"Yes,” she said.
There were no tears on her face, not even happy ones. She was entitled to this happiness. She loved him. At this moment, she made a vow to herself that she would do whatever it took to protect her happiness and the love they had for each other.
Ciaran took her to the altar where a fire was burning on a reddened stone.
"This is the eternal fire, the fire of purity."
Ciaran pulled out his dagger and rested the blade in the flame.
"By the fire of God, I, Ciaran LeBlanc, ask Madeline Kelley to be my soul mate. I ask her to be my wife. I am the Red King, and she is my Queen. I vow to love and protect her for the rest of my life.”
He used the blade to cut a ring line around her ring finger. Then he gave her the dagger.
"By the fire of God, I, Madeline Kelley, vow to be Ciaran LeBlanc's soul mate. I vow to be his wife and take him as my husband. He is my Red King and I am his Queen. I vow to love and protect him for the rest of my life.”
She cut a blood ring on his ring finger.
They were now husband and wife.
In the absolute quietness, surrounded by nothingness, at this astronomical moment, all the dust in their minds was wiped away, and love enlightened them.
Their experience was complete. They were one. They had unified.
They consummated their vows. Their bodies, their souls, and their life forces entwined into one perfect essence of purified love.
Then and there, they heard a cooing sound. They looked up and saw a magnificent phoenix flapping its wings, flying away.
"My Queen, I'm glad to announce that we have passed the Red stage and the Daimon Gate test,” Ciaran said.
Chapter 29
Madeline resurfaced in the castle first. Tadgh and Zach darted to the bed.
"You got him?" Tadgh asked.
Madeline put on a smile Tadgh had never seen before.
"What�
�s with the smile?" he asked.
She revealed the blood ring.
"Holy . . .”
Madeline gestured for silence. She kissed Ciaran and shook his shoulders. "Ciaran, darling. You need to get up."
Ciaran opened his eyes. He was groggy, but he registered the reality instantly. He grabbed Madeline’s hand and kissed her blood ring finger.
"Thanks for sharing,” Tadgh mumbled.
"Great stuff." Zach grinned.
Ciaran flew out of the bed and slumped to the floor, vomiting in the corner of the room.
Zach jumped aside. "What's the . . .”
"He does that all the time. Keep it in mind before you feed him sedatives,” Tadgh told Zach.
The prince and the princess rushed into the room. The princess darted over to Ciaran. "Are you sick? I'm so sorry? The inducer was too strong."
Ciaran shrugged away from the princess's supportive arms and stood up. Madeline came over and stood next to Ciaran.
"Thank you for your hospitality. But I'm afraid that we have to leave now,” Ciaran said.
"You don't remember me at all, do you?" The princess's eyes filled with tears.
"No, I don't. Please refresh my memory."
"She is the princess of this castle. She saved you when you were half dead on the beach,” the prince said.
"We're supposed to get married." The princess started crying.
"I beg your pardon?” Ciaran nearly jumped out of his skin.
"You're supposed to marry me. You are the Red King, and I am your Queen. To pass the Red stage of the Daimon Gate, you have to connect with your Queen. I am she. How can you not remember?" the princess wailed.
Ciaran shifted. Madeline sensed his movements, and they stepped closer to the door where Tadgh and Zach were standing.
Ciaran held up Madeline's hand.
"This is my Queen. We have married and consummated. And we have passed the gate. I am sorry if there was anything I did that caused you to misconstrue my intentions. We are only passengers here. We are not supposed to engage with the gatekeepers."
The princess wailed more.
"Gatekeepers!" the prince growled. "You Eudaiz passengers. You used us. You were supposed to fight for the Inducer. A fight for your life. Very few pass it. But my sister just gave it to you. So you passed through the transmutation process the easy way and married another queen. What sort of king does that make you?"