Shift - 02

by M. R. Merrick

  “Great, how the hell are we supposed to get in now?” Rayna asked.

  “We’ll send Vincent; he loves fire.” I smirked.

  Vincent’s cool and unfriendly gaze met mine. “I think this is more your area of expertise.”

  I turned my focus to the flames and cast my own element over them. Water exploded from my hands and showered the heat in a wash of cool liquid. The sizzle of boiling water was loud as it hit the stones, but the flames didn’t react. I pushed harder and a single wave of ice blue power rushed over the fire. The flames hissed and the steam thickened, but the fire crackled higher, responding to the water like an accelerant. I tried a different approach and channeled the fire element. Magic reached into the flames, trying to extinguish them. They wavered against the magic but didn’t recede. They only swayed like a soft breeze had blown through.

  “Magnificent. Our brave hero is sterile.” Vincent rolled his eyes.

  I wanted to unleash my fire on him, but I didn’t lose focus. I kept a hold of my element and let it retreat just beneath the surface. I reached my hand into the flames. I couldn’t control this fire, but just as I could survive my own, this flame didn’t burn me.

  “I have to go alone.”

  “Absolutely not,” Marcus responded.

  “Do you have another way?”

  “Yes, we return home. Together we can keep the ring safe.”

  “No, we can’t. Deep down inside you know that. Riley gets stronger every day and we haven’t seen a sliver of his true power. Don’t you see? Destroying the ring is the only way and the weapon to do it is down there.”

  Marcus sighed.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I said, and I stepped towards the staircase.

  “Wait,” Rayna said. “Maybe Marcus is right. We could try and keep the ring safe. If all of us–”

  “Rayna, stop. We need to destroy it. If we don’t, sooner or later, Riley will find a way to get it. We’ve come this far; we can’t turn back now.”

  “But the dagger might not even be down there. It could just be a trap.”

  “It could be, but I have to try.”

  Rayna watched me and sadness shone in her eyes. “Just come back in one piece.”

  I turned back to the staircase and faced the flames. They danced and rolled inside themselves, and I called my element to the surface before taking the first step.

  The smell of burning rubber was instant as my shoes hit the steps. They stuck to each stone as I walked down the staircase. I descended quickly as the flames nipped at my clothes, jumping down two at a time.

  When I reached the bottom, I patted the ankles of my pants and parts of my shirt to extinguish the embers that crawled up them. The soles of my shoes were soft, and with each step, the bottoms became more uneven.

  I reached the bottom and stepped through the entranceway into a corridor. The passageway was a long, stone hallway, twisting and turning as I moved. The further I went in, the darker it became as I left the burning staircase behind. The air was cold and damp with the smell of rotting flesh lingering around me. The light from the flames faded as I made a second turn, and darkness took over the hall. The sound of my footsteps echoed off the walls and I ran my hand over the cool stone as a guide. I’d only made it a few steps around the corner when the sound of screams sounded behind me. Hissing followed and panic set it. My body moved back towards the staircase, but the bricks began shifting again. I pushed myself faster and the stale death that rode the air whipped past me.

  I summoned my element to protect me and jumped out of the corridor and into the flames. The bricks moved and folded back up into the air. The stairs vanished and I could hear screaming and fighting as I tried to scale the wall.

  “Marcus!” I screamed, but there was no answer. “Rayna!”

  “Chase!” Rayna’s voice sounded distant.

  I scaled up the wall and the bricks were hot, but I kept my element just beneath the surface, trying to protect my skin. The stones continued to move, making each inch more difficult to climb than the last. As I neared the top, I was hanging at an angle, only holding on by the tips of my fingers. Bricks began sliding as the top of the pyramid formed, and at the angle they were at, I could no longer climb. I strained to listen for any hint of my friends, but there was nothing. The last level began sliding into place and the bricks pushed my fingers, breaking my grip.

  I flailed back and a hand grabbed me from what was left of the opening. Relief washed through me, but as I looked up to see a hissing Visceratti, that feeling vanished.

  “I told you you’d pay hunter. Ithreal will give us many blessings for our sssacrifice.” The Visceratti lashed out at me and grinned, revealing a mouthful of jagged little teeth.

  I tried to pull myself free of its grasp, but I didn’t have anything to use as a foundation. I was hanging above a pit of shadows by the hand of a demon.

  “Your friendsss will pay for your choicesss and you will watch them die!” She hissed, and sharp nails dug into my wrist before she let go.

  I fell through the darkness, my limbs flailing, trying to grasp onto anything that could slow my fall. Nothing but shadows hung around me and the last flicker of light that the night sky provided vanished as the final bricks closed into place. I screamed through the shadows, waiting for my body to hit bottom. I tried to focus my power and bring my air element to life. I wanted the shadows to reach out and grab me, to save me from the impact.

  The power surged and the air became thick. I thought I felt my body slow, the shadows ready to break my fall, but it wasn’t enough. I hit rock bottom. Literally.

  My body crashed into the bottom of the pit and my head smacked the ground. A flash of light exploded, and the pain was sharp, shooting through me like a bullet before the darkness claimed me.

  Chapter 29

  My eyes opened and panic filled me. My entire body felt broken. I tried to sit up, but even in pure darkness the world felt fuzzy. I reached inside and the water came with ease. It soaked my body from the inside out, sliding through me as it closed my wounds.

  A tingle moved at the back of my head, and as the pain receded, my stomach tensed. I pushed myself to my feet, carefully feeling around me. Blue flame filled my hand as I called the element, allowing myself to observe my surroundings.

  I sat at the bottom of a pit, the smell of rotting corpses alive on the air. I turned in a circle until I found the corridor and I walked along it, using my hand to brace myself. Objects jutted from the wall; a long metal rod was embedded in the stone, and as I brought my flame up to it, it caught fire and flickered to life. Torches that lined both sides of the corridor ignited one by one.

  Light and shadow danced in the cool tunnel air. They were still far enough apart that I had to walk in darkness every few feet until I reached the next blue flame. I followed the winding path, my nerves rattling inside me each time I entered a section of shadows. My senses strained in the eerie silence, begging to hear anything, but all there was, was my own breathing.

  I stopped in the next segment of light and leaned up against the wall. My body ached. Adrenaline and fear tore through my veins. The sounds of Rayna screaming echoed in my mind and guilt cut through me. Images of my friends’ dead bodies played through my head, blood and flesh hanging from the lips of the Visceratti that stood over them. I shuddered and shook the images away.

  The rotting smell that lived in the air was briefly lifted as a sweet scent passed by me. It was foreign and familiar and filled me with a new wave of hope. I pushed off the wall and continued, quickening my pace. I didn’t know if they were dead and I couldn’t assume. The sooner I got out of here, the faster I could find them. There might still be time to save them.

  I moved down the corridor until I was running, row after row of torches blew past me and I followed the winding walls until they came to an end. A set of three short staircases stood before me, each leading to a single door with a knocker on it.

  The first was black with soot, and the k
nocker’s ring was held in the mouth of a dragon. Red jewels sat where its eyes should’ve been and they gleamed as if freshly polished.

  The second door was the largest, covered in flakes of brown rust. The knocker was gold– although tarnished with dirt–and made to look like a creature I didn’t recognize. It had a horse’s body, a wolf’s legs, the wings of a bat, the tail of a tiger, and the head of a snake. Blue sapphires occupied its eyes and the knocker weaved through its legs.

  The last door was plain. The steel was cold and dark, and in the center, the warped imprint of a hand reached through. The fingers pushed out of the steel and gripped a round black knocker.

  My gaze flickered between the three doors. Which was the right door? Where did they each lead? The thoughts reminded me of Elyas’ words. “In the Underworld, only true darkness allows one to see,” I whispered.

  I turned back to the corridor and extended my hand, pulling at the flames that lit the way. The fire wavered as I reached out with an invisible hand of magic. The torches flickered and the flames bit at the air, leaning towards me. I pushed my power down the hall and closed my fist. One by one, each flame vanished and the scent of smoke surrounded me.

  Surrounded by silent darkness, I slowed my breathing and stepped forward until I found the first door. My hand slid up the smooth, metal surface to the knocker. The cold steel vibrated along my skin and I pulled it back in my hand. I opened my mind, reaching out past the door with my senses, and an assault of images raged through my mind.

  I was surrounded by bright red flames. Black and blue scales towered in front of me, leading up to the massive form of an incredible dragon. Even with its mouth closed, long black teeth jutted from its lips. The dark green eyes glowed beneath a rough and jagged brow. Its neck snapped to the side and the ground rumbled as it lowered its head. The dragon looked straight at me, clouds of smoke shooting from its gaping nostrils. Its mouth opened and an earth shattering roar shot through my body.

  I closed off my mind and the images vanished. I took a long, deep breath. My head throbbed with the resonating sound of the dragon’s roar and I stepped back, feeling through the shadows until I found the second door.

  The rust was rough beneath my fingers and I followed it up to the handle. I wrapped my fingers around it and hesitated before opening my mind and reaching forward. Instead of images filling my mind, something tore through me and pulled me into another reality.

  I was walking deep in a cave. Moist air rolled over my skin and it amplified the scent of decaying bodies. Everywhere I looked there was death. The corpses of animals and people scattered around me. Some were bare skeletons while the others were fresh kills. I walked further into the cave, and the creature I’d seen on the knocker was there. Blue blood surrounded it and its eyes stared at me, filled with a lifeless gloss. I stepped back as the blood trickled towards me; whatever this was had died only moments ago.

  The cave shook and a growl unlike any I’d ever heard came from the shadows. It was deep like a wolf, but managed to have the hiss of a snake. I reached for my daggers but the sheath was empty. My stomach clenched and my pulse sped. I tried to close off my mind but nothing happened. This was different.

  I searched the cave, looking for an escape, when an odd feeling moved through me. A shiver ran down my spine and the world around me wavered. The reality shifted and the roars faded. This wasn’t real.

  “Sorry to interrupt.” A voice said. It was a man’s voice: deep and masculine.

  My eyes followed it through the shadows until I found the glowing red eyes of a wolf staring at me.

  “Who are you?” I asked, trying not to let the fear that pounded through my body come out in my voice.

  The wolf’s eyes shifted, morphing into the eyes of a snake. “I’m a friend of your father’s here to deliver a warning; forget the dagger.”

  “Get out of my head!” I yelled.

  The eyes shifted again, this time into bright yellow cat eyes. The man laughed. “Get out? I just got here.” The creature paced in the darkness, following me with its eyes.

  “Well, you’re not staying,” I said. I reached out with my other senses, touching the world around me and searching for his energy.

  “Your father is very disappointed in you, Chase. You should have taken his offer and joined our cause.”

  I didn’t reply. I kept my focus on finding the invader, straining my senses through the cave.

  “Isn’t it ironic that your father has enlisted the help of a demon to gain your cooperation?”

  I stopped searching and stared into the beast’s eyes. “Nothing will make me help him.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure. As a master…I can be very convincing.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Whether you like it or not, you’re a part of this now. Take this offering.”

  The reality wavered and a door appeared. It was an old wooden door. It creaked open, and the world on the other side kept changing. First it was a dark and empty desert. Then it was a beautiful world, full of the greenest water and the lushest plants. A warm breeze pushed through the door and wrapped around me, enticing me to follow it.

  “This is your way out, Chase. I’m doing you a favor. Forget the dagger. This door is a gift, from us to you. It will take you wherever you wish to go. All you have to do is walk through it.”

  I stared through the doorway as the world inside it changed, and I was tempted. I was tempted to leave and forget it all, but the moment I thought it, frustration filled me. I had to save them. I refocused my mind and reached out through the cave. My senses strained until I found his energy. His aura was dark, foreign, and filled with rage. I pushed at it and it wavered.

  “Don’t do that,” he growled.

  “Stay out of my head,” I said again, and this time I put all my focus into pushing him out.

  His aura broke and the cat eyes faded. I stood alone in the cave and the cold air sent goose bumps down my arm. I shut my eyes and focused on closing my mind. The reality shook and vanished, and when I opened them, I was back in the corridor, surrounded by darkness. Sweat was running down the inside of my arms and dripping off my hands. I slid my fingers out of the knocker and let the water element soothe me, clearing my head before I reached for the last door.

  I didn’t need to open my mind this time. I could feel power coming off the surface and drawing me closer. I reached forward and the dark steel was warm to the touch. I found the metal handprint and locked my fingers around the knocker. My knuckles rubbed the steel fingers that jutted from the door, and I shuddered as a pulse of magic moved through me. I pulled back on the silver ring and slammed it into the door. The knock boomed through the other side and the temple started to shake.

  Dust and small bits of rock shook from the ceiling before the door unlatched and squeaked inward. I pushed through the opening and into a room where the smell of death was thicker than before. Skeletons were scattered over the floor, their legs broken and no longer attached to the bodies that lay across the room. Swords and battle axes lay rusted and forgotten along the floor, and an archer’s bow that once wrapped around his chest was now broken, splinters of wood sticking between his skinless ribs. The walls were painted red with dried blood and the torches were alight with flames, reflecting gold flakes embedded in the walls. Tall columns ran along each side of the room, and massive stalactites hung from the ceiling like giant icicles waiting to fall on an unsuspecting victim. In the center, the dagger floated on the air, bathed in a ray of golden light that came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It shone from the solid ground and into the ceiling, existing completely on its own. The dagger had a blade on either side of its black leather handle. Both blades curled at malicious angles with small, jagged teeth chiseled from the base, an ideal feature for gutting its victims.

  “And the hero arrives.” A man’s voice swirled around me. It came from the dead bodies, echoed off the walls, and it rode the stale air that lived in the cave. I searched the cave
rn with my eyes but couldn’t see anything.

  “Who’s there?” My voice bounced off the cave walls and came back to me, as though I’d asked the question to myself.

  “Come now, do you really need to ask?” Thick black smoke swirled through the room and into the golden light. As the black tornado slowed, a man appeared.

  His gray skin sparkled in the light and it made his dark eyes unforgettable. Long dark hair fell against his back, matching the black cloak that covered his body. The cloak dragged along the floor behind him with blood red thread lining the edges. He crossed his arms in front of him, his hands disappearing into the opposite sleeve as he moved towards me, unaccompanied by the sound of footsteps. The intensity of his gaze made me want to turn away, but I couldn’t. His face and body looked young, but his eyes were full of horror.

  “You’re the soul piece,” I said.

  “Correction: the dagger is the soul piece. I am Salvatore, the portion of Ithreal’s soul that is bound to the blade.” He floated around me and I couldn’t resist following his eyes. “You hunters are an interesting breed. Sad to think it was this pitiful creature that defeated my master’s army. I can feel your magic; it is weak by comparison.”

  “It was strong enough to win the war.”

  “Silence!” Salvatore screamed from every direction. His voice was dark, laced with the deep rumble of ancient magic that vibrated along my skin. “You are not in your pretty dimension, hunter. In Ithreal’s world, you show the master respect. Your insolence will not be tolerated. This is your only warning.”

  “I’m not here to pay my respects. I’m here for the dagger.”

  “I’m quite aware as to why you are here. You think destroying the ring will stop the second coming, but it won’t. My master has followers everywhere. They will not cease until he has been freed.”

  “I won’t let that happen.”