The Artifact of Dissium (Demona Book 2)

by Megan A. Hepler

  “Sorry,” Ileana said. She rubbed her eyes. “I do that when I wake up sometimes.”

  “We’re getting ready to leave. Do you want to see us to the portal?”

  “Absolutely!” Ileana said. She threw the wool blanket from her body and jumped up from the cot.

  The three of them left the quarters after Felix and Demona had gathered their belongings. They walked out of the quarters to find that the sky had begun to grow dimmer. They descended the mountain and made their way across the unstable docking system to the Gleann Tower.

  Madam Elder and the other six elders stood on the dock that wrapped around the tower’s base. They wore their pure white robes and watched the sun sinking below the mountains. A few of the town residents stood waiting with them with instruments in hand. Demona saw several bagpipes and fiddles in the hands of a few of the townsfolk. One woman held a hand over her throat and proceeded to hum a series of vocal exercises.

  Demona heard the sound of feet pounding wood and before she knew it a little boy ran into her with his arms spread wide. Demona almost fell backwards with the impact. She looked down to find Benen clinging to her with a look of sadness on his face.

  “You’re leaving,” Benen whined.

  “Yes, I have to,” Demona replied. She pulled the little boy from her waist.

  “I don’t want you to leave,” Benen said. He looked up at Demona. His bottom lip protruded farther than the top as he pouted.

  “Listen, little one. Remember, I made a promise to you earlier that I would try to make sure that nobody else would die?”

  Benen nodded.

  “Well, I have to go now, so that I can keep that promise. I have to go on a journey to find something that can help all of the people from my hometown,” Demona said.

  “Okay,” Benen said. He still looked unhappy with the thought.

  “Will you promise me something?” Demona asked.

  Benen nodded his head. “Promise me that you will play with the other kids while I’m gone?”

  Benen continued to pout. “Okay, I will.”

  Oakley had walked up behind Benen and placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “We need to go stand back there, so we don’t interfere with the summoning.”

  Benen gave Demona one last squeeze around the waist and she patted him on the back. Then, he quickly darted around her and did the same with Felix before following Oakley down the dock.

  The sun’s rays turned the clouds pink and the blue sky grew deeper. One of the bagpipers started blowing a long whining tune. The other bagpipers and the fiddlers jumped in, and before long the drummers added a beat to the rhythm.

  Ileana hugged both Demona and Felix before stepping back. She seemed lost as she stood away from her friends. Demona was worried that Ileana’s journey to Gleannbroch had been too much for her and that a second flight would be impossible. Demona turned to wave to her once more before focusing her attention to Madam Elder.

  The seven elders stood in a line with Madam Elder centered among them. They bowed their heads. Then, with their pointer fingers they tapped their foreheads, their breast above their hearts and joined hands. She noticed their mouths moving as they muttered some kind of prayer. Demona could not hear the words the elders spoke, because the surrounding music muffled their voices. The sounds around them seemed to be sucked up into the song so that the only thing that was heard was the constant pulsing of the bagpipes.

  The elders unclasped their hands and knelt with their right knee on the wooden surface below. They tapped their forehead and heart as they continued in their soundless chant. From out of nothing, two feet in front of the elders, a strange oblong shape began to take form. The oblong form grew into a brilliant white ball, like a swirling light. As it became more solidified, Demona thought she saw feathers.

  The elders rose to their feet with their heads still bowed. The glowing ball began to shift awkwardly. Demona could make out the distinct shape of folded wings as they began to stretch outwards. The feathered wings unfolded to reveal a man in his natural form. He stood as still as a statue, with wings outstretched. His hair was as bright and pure as his white wings.

  Madam Elder approached the figure and spoke to him. The Power did not move. Madam Elder turned and beckoned to Demona and Felix to approach her.

  “Are you prepared?” Madam Elder asked over the humming bagpipes.

  Demona crossed her arms over her chest. “As ready as ever.”

  “Give him your hand before you enter the portal,” Madam Elder said. “Your intentions for crossing into Dissium must be understood. When you appear in Dissium you will be in a remote location; the safest place to appear in the hostile land. Your guide will meet you.” She placed a hand on Demona’s shoulder for a moment, bowed her head, and mouthed some words. She released Demona and took her place among the other elders.

  “What port—”

  Before Demona could finish her sentence a swirling mass of fog grew out of nothing behind the Power. Demona stepped towards the angel slowly. The Power raised its arm in her direction and turned his hand so that his palm was facing upwards.

  Demona trembled as she watched the intimidating figure. She felt Felix’s hand rest on her shoulder reassuringly. Demona’s confidence grew and his touch eased her fears. She stretched out her own hand and rested her palm on top of the waiting hand.

  The Power’s fingers wrapped around her hand and a moment later released her. The magnificent creature’s left wing folded and allowed Demona access to the portal.

  Demona turned to look at Felix and he nodded to her in reassurance. Demona stepped toward the portal. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, reopened her eyes, and stepped inside the mysterious fog. Demona had expected to instantaneously be transported to another place, but instead something else happened.

  ****

  Demona sat at a picnic table in a park. Gray clouds that floated above her continued to grow darker. They billowed upward and threatened to release a pouring rain. A gust swept through the trees that made the atmosphere cool quickly. Demona watched the trees sway in the wind. She watched a few joggers pick up their pace with the sight of the ominous sky above.

  A man came from around one of the large oak tree trunks and began walking in her direction.

  He looks familiar.

  The man grew nearer. Demona did recognize the bald head and the cold calculating eyes. He was too well dressed to be strolling through the park on such a dreary day. He was the man who kept coming to see her, but she could not remember why.

  Brennan. The thought startled her. Demona quickly stood from the table and began to back away. She pointed her finger at him. “You!”

  “Me?” the man said. He continued to approach her.

  “You make me forget...I’m not a Bower, I’m a Brennan. Where are my parents?” Demona demanded.

  “I see that I need to increase my visits,” the man said. He gave no indication of an emotion.

  “Stay away from me!” Demona said.

  Lightning flashed through the sky and the atmosphere filled with static. The pounding boom of the thunder echoed around them.

  “You can’t make me forget forever. I know it was you. What have you done to them?” Demona continued to back away. She was terrified to turn her back to this man. She knew it was better to look on to whatever came her way, but her heart pounded in her chest.

  “Come dear, let’s not make it difficult this time,” the man said. He was only feet from her.

  Demona bumped into a tree trunk and could not back away any farther from the man. “Help!” Demona looked around frantically in hopes that there was someone she could call out to, but no one was there. The oncoming storm had driven everyone from the park.

  “Look at me Demona,” the man demanded.

  Demona resisted with all of her will.

  “Look at me,” the man said.

  Demona’s eyes disobeyed her heart and mind. They turned to meet the eyes that seemed to bring an end to everyt
hing she once knew. Her mind slowed and all thoughts ceased to flow. Then, her mind was silent.

  ****

  Demona came back to the present to find herself on her hands and knees in the dirt. It was too dark to see anything around her. Felix tripped on her legs and almost fell beside her. Demona tried to crawl to her feet, but the darkness disoriented her.

  After gaining his balance, Felix turned to her. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, fine. I had a flashback as we came through the portal,” Demona said.

  Felix grasped her arm and helped pull her up. After, Demona brushed the dirt from her clothes and bent to pick up her backpack.

  Demona was about to ask Felix a question, when someone knocked into the two of them almost causing them to crash back to the ground. After steadying themselves they turned to see who the third person was in the dim moonlit night that poured through the surrounding trees.

  “Ileana is that you?” Felix asked. He squinted in an effort to see through the darkness.

  “None other.”

  “What are you doing here?” Demona asked.

  “I couldn’t let you go on a quest without me,” Ileana replied. “Where are we?”

  A strange voice echoed in Demona’s head. You are in Dissium.

  “I think I’m going crazy,” Felix said.

  “If you just heard a voice too, you’re not,” Ileana said.

  “Who’s there?” Felix asked.

  Come into the clearing, the voice said.

  Demona looked around in the darkness, but only found the outlines of trees and shrubs that seemed to dissolve into the darkness around them. “What clearing?” Demona asked. “Should we even be listening to a voice inside our heads?”

  “I think I found it,” Ileana said. She grabbed Demona’s hand and pulled her forward.

  They emerged through brush into a treeless field. The moon glowed, bright, and full above. It cast enough light to see their way through the sea of blacks and grays towards an open field. A figure emerged from the forest across the field from them and reflected the moon’s glow. The illuminated figure of a horse trotted through the tall grasses. It seemed to turn to look at the moon.

  “Is that a horse?” Demona asked.

  Felix gasped. “No! That’s a unicorn.”

  Demona narrowed her eyes enough and could make out the singular horn that protruded from the animal’s head. She marveled at the creature’s stature from the distance. The profile of such a strong, muscular animal was something Demona never thought her eyes would see. She almost thought she was dreaming, but quickly remembered what she was and all that she had been through.

  It really is a unicorn. “I didn’t think they existed,” Demona said.

  “Not outside of Dissium,” Felix replied. “I’m not sure but I think that is where the voice came from.”

  Felix and Ileana walked in the unicorn’s direction. The unicorn did not turn to run away, but walked through the grass towards them. They met in the center of the grassy field and waited for the animal to speak once more.

  Ileana tried to pet the unicorn’s muzzle, but it stepped back from her and snorted. Ileana withdrew her hand. “How amazing!”

  I am Aero, the voice said. I am no pet.

  Demona looked at the unicorn. “You are the voice we’ve been hearing?”

  Yes. I was sent to guide you, Aero said.

  “How did you know we were coming?” Felix asked.

  Secrets are not meant to be known. Aero tilted his head in Ileana’s direction and he snorted at her. There was only to be two of you.

  Ileana stood with her hands on her hips. She cocked her head to one side. “What can I say? I couldn’t resist an adventure.”

  An owl hooted from the forest and drew the attention of the group away from the conversation. Demona looked at the bordering forest around the field and wondered what other creatures lived in Dissium. She heard Aero stomp his hoof and turned her attention back to him.

  “I’m Demona. This is Felix and Ileana.”

  Come, we must leave this clearing in search of safer land. The magnificent beast turned and trotted in the direction it had come. Aero whipped his head back at them. Do not waste time.

  Demona, Felix, and Ileana picked up the pace and jogged behind their four legged guide. They entered the forest and continued to follow him on a narrow trail that wound through the trees. The cleared path made it easy to follow the unicorn without running into brush.

  “How did you get through the portal without anyone noticing?” Felix asked.

  “Easy, I asked. I ran up and placed my hand in the Power’s outstretched hand. He unfolded his wing for me, just like he did with you,” Ileana said.

  “I’m surprised. Powers only let people into Dissium if they have good intentions,” Felix said.

  “What can I say? It must be because I am a fellow feathered friend,” Ileana replied. “Or maybe I’m just that awesome.”

  “Here we go with the bird jokes,” Demona replied.

  They could not make out much of their surroundings other than the towering trees above. It seemed like they had been jogging through the forest for hours without pause, until Aero began to steadily decrease his trot, to a stroll. Demona’s nose caught the scent of fire as they trailed along behind the unicorn.

  “What was that?” Felix whispered in response to a noise nearby.

  Aero stopped a moment. We are near a dark being camp. Be silent as we pass by. Keep your eyes on my rear. Do not get separated if something should happen. Aero seemed to resume a slow pace. He deliberately lifted each leg high and gently stepped downward to keep from kicking any rocks across the forest floor.

  The rest of them tiptoed as quietly as possible behind the four legged animal. Demona could hear the heavy breathing of her two companions and how they tried to steady their breath, despite the adrenaline that rushed through their veins. Soon, they heard voices and laughter ahead. The forest seemed to glow from a roaring bonfire in the center of the dark being’s camp.

  “Washi Xun, kill that fool!” a woman screamed.

  Cackling laughter filled the air and was joined by a chorus of laughter.

  “As you command Queen Yuriko,” a man’s voice responded

  Demona turned in the direction of the voice, taking her eyes off of Aero in the process. She saw nothing other than shadows that danced across the tree trunks that had been cast from the roaring fire. She did not like the sound of these dark beings. Snap! Demona froze and the rest of her group stopped mid-step. She looked down to see that she had wondered off of the path in her distraction and in the process she had stepped on a dry twig. Demona grimaced.

  The sound of metal scraping metal could be heard above the raised voices from the camp. The dark beings jeered and looked at one another murderously. A chilling scream echoed under the tree canopy. Then, there was a moment of silence before voices rose in a cheer.

  Some poor soul has lost their life, Aero said.

  Felix breathed a sigh of relief as the ruckus in the camp continued. Demona’s mistake had not drawn the attention of the dark beings. They had been too preoccupied to notice the four beings that made their way cautiously away from the camp. Aero continued down the trail and it took a moment for Demona to shake off the guilt before taking another step.

  I will not make that mistake again.

  They drew away from the camp and the voices grew fainter.

  Aero returned to a steady pace on their current path. We must remain quite awhile longer. The smoke of the camp will draw others in. Do not misstep, Aero said.

  They followed Aero through the forest. Other beings scuttled through the forest as they carefully made their way from the camp. The sound of snapping twigs was too close for comfort.

  Aero raised his muzzle into the air and let out a long neigh. We must hurry. A werewolf has picked up our scent. He began to gallop down the path leaving Demona, Felix, and Ileana struggling to keep up.

  As their pace increased a ho
wl ricocheted through the forest. Several other howls joined in the chorus. They cried in unison as a way to warn the other predators they had laid claim to their prey. The hunt was on.

  Aero whinnied. Run faster!

  The four of them flew through the forest as quickly as possible. At times Demona was certain that they would lose their four legged guide in the chaos. He was farther down the trail and their legs struggled to keep up. If it had not been for the moonlight illuminating his brilliant coat as he passed through the streams of light that flowed through the tree tops, Demona knew they would never have been able to follow like that much longer.