“Ebony is beautiful,” Ella said, with her eyes on the waterfall. “She never really talked to me, but I can remember when I was first allowed to play with magic, Ebony came and played with me in the lands I created. That was the only time she ever acknowledged me.” She shrugged her shoulders. “After that, she stayed in the shadows, but I could always feel her eyes on me.”
Ella looked away wrapping her arms around stomach and gently stroking her arms as if trying to comfort herself.
I touched her on the shoulder. “Ella, do you think you can break Eveie’s barrier on us?”
Ella smiled with confidence.
We ran through Ella’s enchanted land that mimicked the Borderlands in a haunting way to me. The forests and streams that forked the land divided the grassy landscape into pie shapes. If the stream was too wide, Ella simply made a bridge so we could cross. When we reached the barrier, it wasn’t what I expected. The barrier was actually an invisible shield, kind of like a bubble that was flexible. Grey, rocky landscape could be seen through it, but was blurry.
“Watch,” Ella said with a half-smile and a twinkle in her eye.
Sliding her finger along the waving shield, a thin line was cut from her glowing fingertip. A rush of the hot air from outside rushed in as we slipped through the small opening and into barren landscape. Ella resealed our escape hatch with a quick swipe of her finger.
“Eveie uses the element of air too much and too often that I know how to work with it as well. I wished she’d use something else. I would like to learn how to use the other elements as well.”
I looked down at Ella with her dark hair and blue eyes. She looked too innocent to have the knowledge of demon magic.
“You mean you can bend the element of air?” I asked with a confused look from her.
“Bend? I don’t bend it. I kind of swirl it around like leaves on the surface of water.”
“No, I mean you can make it do what you want.”
She smiled a sly smile with a nod of her head. “Yeah, I can make it do what I want.”
Though I had just met Ella, I could see that something had sparked in her—the demon spell, or whatever Eveie had put on her, was gone.
“Now, what way to go,” I said gazing at the vast and monotone landscape surrounding us. “We have got to get away from here before Eveie come back.” Ella stood beside me. “Any suggestions as to where they would be keeping my friends?”
She peered into the distance, and then off to our right, she pointed. “There,” she looked at me. “They had another demon make them a palace. If they’d be anywhere, that’s where they’d be.” Ella was already walking in the direction she had pointed. I could see nothing but grey rocks and lavender sky.
“Wait, another demon?” I questioned catching up with her.
“Yeah, they had another demon—an architect designed it. Eos ate him though, so he isn’t around anymore.” Ella walked very fast for a little person. “Come on, Seth, or we’ll be too late!”
11
April
Ebony stood in front of me with her grey eyes fixed on me as if she was a living sculpture. I felt the sweat trickle down my back as my eyes transfixed with hers. They were like entering a grey, depthless sky of winter. Cold and calm with tiny sparks of ice that pricked at my skin. I was slowly being drawn into Ebony—she was forcing me to do a Taking. I tried to resist as she pushed her way in like a large foot being crammed into a shoe that was way too small.
“Stop!” Malachi’s voice broke through. “You’re killing her!”
I felt something hit the side of my body hard like a car had smacked into me. I gasped for air as I pushed myself up to see Malachi standing in front of me with Ebony glaring at him.
“You are an ignorant little monster that doesn’t understand the way things are. You like April, and will protect her, but you can’t protect her from everything.” Ebony’s voice was calm as she stood gazing at Malachi with her head tilted to the side. “How are you going to fend off the demons, angels, and other countless beings that would love to have a slice of her and watch for them every hour, minute and second of time?” She began to pace the floor as Malachi stood over me with knees bent, and arms in front of him ready to fight.
Ebony’s footsteps clicked on the floor as her grey skin sparkled with flecks of gold.
“The answer to my question is one that I know you know without it even being brought up—you can’t.” She stopped and stood with her arms at her side and eyes fixed on Malachi. “She doesn’t need your protection, Malachi Stelhollow.” Her lips curled into a smile. “You will die, she will die, and countless other will die,” she said with a slight raise of her voice. “Malachi, I know she has two other’s energies in her, and I can’t destroy Eos by myself and April can’t destroy Eos by herself.” Her voice was filled with compassionate understanding. “But we can as one.”
“You’re a demon—you trick whoever you want into doing whatever you want!” Like lightning, Malachi snatched a silver disk from his belt and threw in towards Ebony.
It hissed through the air towards Ebony who raised her hands expelling a ball of light that shattered the disk into fragments that fell to the floor like marbles.
Ebony knelt to the ground with her arm outstretched towards the pieces of shattered disk, and twisted and turned her hand as if tuning an invisible knob. Slowly, the fragments rolled towards her and one by one, joined and melted until the disk was whole again.
Ebony picked it up as Malachi took a step back. She held it between her pinched fingers and slowly stood up.
“I could kill you if I wanted, you know that, but I don’t wish to kill you. Killing is reserved for other purposes and as a last resort. I want things different for demons and monsters and even angels. There is no need to fight and pull each other’s hair all the time. I’ve been around for a long time, and from the shadows, I’ve witnessed many things.” Her words were soft and she slightly smiled at Malachi as she dropped the disk to the floor.
It made a clanking sound that reverberated through the air, and then skidded towards Malachi, stopping at his feet.
“I don’t trick monsters or anyone. I desire trust and respect and I intend to give respect and trust to those who wish to join me.”
Malachi looked down at the disk as Ebony followed his gaze.
“I don’t trust demons—any of them,” he replied sternly.
She nodded her head. “I understand, but if I wasn’t true to my word, and didn’t present my intentions clearly, I wouldn’t take the time to tell you them. I’d kill you rather than explain myself.”
Malachi snatched the disk and held it in his hand. Ebony’s eyes flickered to me for just a moment.
“You have a sister that lived with you in the Borderlands of Iethia,” Ebony tilted her chin upward as her grey eyes glistened in the dim light of the orillions.
“Had a sister—demons destroyed the Borderlands—you know that.” He twirled the disk between his fingers as if he was contemplating about throwing it again.
“No, you have a sister, and she’s with Seth as we speak,” Ebony smiled. “I’m telling you this because I want to see them make it here, but they won’t. Eos will stop them and kill her along with Seth, Nessa and the archangel, Edan. Even with the abilities of an archangel, Seth is not strong enough, and neither is Edan.”
Listen to the demon. Her words are not tainted, but ring with purity.
Ezra spoke to me, but I think Ebony could sense it as her eyes flicked to me then back to Malachi.
I stood up and walked towards Malachi.
“Listen to her Malachi,” I said, looking up at him as he looked at me with horrified confusion. “Remember when I told you that I could see two Stelhollow hearts beating instead of one. Myra is alive.”
“Your eyes…Ezra,” he said, switching between Ebony and me. “Back off demon!”
Malachi threw the disk as Ebony twisted out of the way like a quickly moving storm cloud. Mist surrounded her, an
d slowly dissolved as she crouched to the floor.
“Malachi!” She yelled but was too late as a light exploded beside him hurling him through the air and smacking into the wall. He slumped to the floor as shattered orillions covered him. I pressed my hands to my ringing ears and tried to focus on everything as I stood up trying to reach Malachi.
“Sister,” Eos said, standing and gazing at Ebony. “What is this we are doing? A little venture of our own?” she asked.
Do it now! Take the demon—take her energy!
Ezra demanded.
“Malachi,” I said falling to my knees as my wobbly legs gave out.
Malachi will live only if you take Ebony’s energy!
I didn’t listen to Ezra’s voice and continued to crawl towards his lifeless body. I had to make sure he was alright and fighting off the effects from the blast, I focused solely on him.
April!
Ezra’s voice echoed in my head, and suddenly, my limbs were not my own. I stood up and turned towards the two demon-sisters. Ebony and Eos both looked at me.
“They both escaped your little cage, and I caught them.” Ebony gazed at me with her steady grey eyes.
“Really?” Eos laughed. “I don’t believe you, and don’t have time to discuss this.” Eos snatched my wrist, but quickly let go as her parchment-like skin singed from her barely touching me.
A look of awe filled her eyes as her mouth curled into a growl.
“What have you done to her?” Eos demanded from her sister.
“I’ve done nothing.” Ebony replied glancing between me and Eos. “The monster has more power in her than you realize, and she isn’t going down without a battle.”
Ebony raised her arms releasing two balls of light towards her sister. Eos was thrown backwards through the air landing with a thud to the ground.
As old and fragile as Eos looked, she was as strong as iron. She bounced up and glared at her sister. Ebony’s hands and feet swirled with a fine grey mist that curled around her arms and legs. She stared at Eos, waiting for her sister to make a move. But Eos didn’t move, and simply stood gazing at Ebony.
“Have you forgotten what it was like in the shadows?” Eos asked rhetorically. “Has the light blinded you to what the angels have done to us?”
“Nothing has blinded me, sister, but it is you who have been blinded for many years. You couldn’t see past the hate and evil you held in your heart. Demons have been deemed to have nothing but these qualities; I intend to prove them different.”
Eos let out a laugh. “You have been blinded, and I feel no pity to destroy you, my sister.” She released two balls of light towards Ebony, who in her quick movements, twisted with a swirl of grey mist out of the way.
The two balls of light exploded on the ceiling as they skidded up the wall, bouncing as they did. Sparks cascaded down on us as I tried to reach Malachi. But Ezra wouldn’t let me. Instead, I moved closer to Ebony. She looked at me with her grey eyes and reached out her hand.
Eos let out a grunt as another ball of light exploded from her hand. It hissed through the air like a bottle rocket, and hit Ebony on her arm. She was tossed through the air and skidded across the floor with a trail of mist in her path.
“Where are your angels and demon friends—the ones you wish to make alliances with, huh sister? Where?!” She barked at Ebony as Eos charged towards me and grabbed me by the hair.
“Let her go!” A demanding voice echoed through the room. Eos let go of my hair. “I said let her go, demon.”
Seth stood just under the arched passageway. It framed him like he was standing in a painting. He looked like a warrior with tense muscles, glaring eyes, and hand clenched around his weapon— the lightstone that glowed illuminating the flesh of his hand with curling tendrils of light. He looked like a masterpiece—a portrait of a bygone hero to me with his blonde hair sticking to his forehead with sweat, the way he set his jaw and his eyes so powerful…
Ezra.
She was close to me, and no longer sitting on the shelf inside of me. She loved Seth, no doubt, and her feelings were blending with mine. I had to push her emotions down and internally, I felt a quick apology from her.
Take Ebony’s energy…you are the final piece to win this battle.
I looked at her and she flicked her eyes at me as if she had heard Ezra’s words as well.
“The mutant monster,” Eos said, gleefully. “My, my, my you are a specimen…one-of-a-kind.” She gazed at Seth and then turned her attention to the lightstone. “And bearing gifts—nice,” she flicked a ball of light at him with one outstretched hand and a ball of light towards Ebony with the other.
“Seth!” I yelled, but it was Ezra forcing his name out of me.
Seth held up the stone and before it could hit him, a slender blade cut in front of him blocking the ball of light that exploded into a blast of sparks. Ebony twirled out of the way in one quick motion with a fluid cape of grey rolling off her body. Both escaped the blow from Eos.
Once the sparks faded, I could see Edan standing beside Seth with a broad blade held protectively in front of Seth shielding him from Eos. They both looked like two warriors caught in moment of battle on canvas.
“Ah, another archangel, or what I like to call an appetizer.” Eos chuckled as she expelled a slender thread from her hand that wrapped around Edan’s blade rendering it to dust that sifted through his hands like sand.
Edan quickly rolled to the floor as more of the black threads came out of Eos’s hand towards him. She laughed as Seth kept the curling tentacles away by touching the ends with the lightstone. They spewed out tiny sparks that didn’t seem to hurt Eos’s as she laughed like someone was tickling her.
“You have to take my energy and Eos’s energy at one time.” Ebony swooped beside me and took me by the wrist.
“She’ll kill us before we can.”
Ebony shook her head. “She won’t kill you, but she will kill me.”
Ebony pushed me in front of her and pressed as close to me as possible as she held my arms up and laced her fingers through mine. Just like the cool color of her skin, so was her body. I felt like I was pressed against a stone sculpture.
“They can’t fight her much longer—take our energy now!”
My feet left the floor like a giant bird had latched onto me and lifted me into the air in one quick motion. I didn’t have time to think and I could hear Ezra’s voice inside of me, calming me and telling me to take the demon’s energy.
We levitated into the air and hovered behind Eos just as Seth let a blast of light from the lightstone. Knocked off her feet, Eos never seen her demise coming.
I was ready to take her energy as I closed my eyes and let the sparks fly around me. Everything was in a mixture of colors. Greys, silver, white…I controlled it all. The demon’s energy was just that—energy…life…magic that ran through me.
I felt myself floating on a river of light that was mine. Everything was serene as I thought I heard the distant sound of voices calling, but I didn’t listen—I didn’t want to—didn’t have to. I was in my own world of starry skies that melted with colors, and for the first time, I felt strong and alive with unlimited strength and time.
The voices called again, but I pushed them away. I didn’t want to go back to where I was…wherever that was, I couldn’t remember, and didn’t care to.
“April,” said a voice that rippled the golden light that surrounded me.
“No,” I said to it.
Suddenly two hands twirled me around and made me stare into their grey eyes. “You can’t stay here. The power is yours, but you cannot stay locked in it forever.”
I looked at the woman with grey skin, grey eyes, and hair piled high on her head with golden ribbons curling through her grey strands. She looked like a marbled statue.
“Ebony?”
She nodded her head. “Go back to the realm of the living. You are needed there…Malachi needs you, April,” Ebony’s image faded into that of a girl with long
, dark hair and eyes to match.
“Ezra?”
She smiled as a ghost-like image of Ebony formed behind Ezra and both smiled at me.
“We are with you…always guiding…protecting…” I could hear the mingling of both of their voices just as a faint image of Eos curled up behind them.
Ebony turned and with her hand, pushed her sister away as the swirling grey mist engulfed her.
Seth
“You should have never done what you did,” Uncle Hes paced in front of me as I sat on a bench surrounded by tall shrubs. The sky overhead was rumbling with storm clouds and looked as angry as Uncle Hes. “You not only risked everything, and I mean everything,” he waved his hands through the air. “I mean countless worlds, races, realms…and I don’t know what I would do if something would have happened to you.” He looked away and continued to pace like a guard dog.
“Yeah, but we didn’t lose everything. And the realms are none the wiser of what happened.” I stood up and placed my hand on Uncle Hes’s shoulder. “What has happened has happened.”
He looked up at me with a look of uneasiness. “You are young, and very lucky to have things come out this way. I’ll give you that. But,” he raised his finger in a way a person does to make a point. “There will come a time and place that things will not work out in your favor. You’ve never experienced that, and I hope you never do. But you mustn’t get too comfortable with happy endings, because sometimes you never reach the happiness in the end of things.”
Uncle Hes tapped me on the shoulder as drops of rain began to fall from the sky.
“It’s going to rain. Imagine us being here just in time of Shangri-La’s rainy season.” He laughed as the rain came down harder.
“The demon must be destroyed.” Rusul stated as he looked at April. “She is a threat as long as she is out of the shadows. You must understand this, April.”
“Even though Eveie has been nothing but cooperative since we left the Shadowlands, doesn’t make her trustworthy.” Yolanda sat next to Rusul and both looked at April across the table.
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