by Oxford, Rain
* * *
I woke with the sense that I only slept for a few minutes. The migraine caused by my lack of sleep was only reinforced by the small sip of the unconscious. I sat up, leaned over, and threw up into the trashcan by my bed. As soon as my stomach was empty, I stood and made my way unsteadily downstairs.
Edward and Abigail spotted me from the living room where they were talking.
“I thought you were going to bed,” Edward said.
“It didn’t work.” I opened the door to the basement and went into the dark. I tripped over half a dozen boxes on the way to the magic room. By the time I reached it, Edward was right behind me. Since Abigail wasn’t with him, I pushed my magic into the wall with the intent to open the secret magic room, expecting something to be wrong… but everything was as I left it when the blocks of the wall separated to form an entrance.
I went to the box and opened it to find nothing that wasn’t there before. “There’s something here.”
“Or you’re tired and you need sleep.”
“I am tired, and I do need to sleep, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong. He said to knock.”
“Are you sure he didn’t mean on his coffin?”
“No.” I shut the lid and knocked firmly on it, then opened it to discover no change at all. Just as I suspected… but that didn’t mean there was nothing hiding. I picked up the mage staff on the altar and the crystal tethered to the end immediately lit up with a soft blue glow. Something was very familiar about it.
“Be careful,” Edward warned.
“I always am.” I lifted the staff and tapped the chest with the bottom end three times. Show me. From the crystal, a powerfully bright light shot into the chest like lightning.
I set the staff aside carefully and crouched in front of the box, preparing myself to jump back if there was movement inside. When I opened it, I saw the one thing I couldn’t have expected; my book.
I picked up the thin black book gingerly, just like I did when I saw it for the very first time. With my right hand, I reached into the bag that was always at my side and ran my fingers over identical leather. This was the echo; the fake that Ronez had made which displayed all the names in my book and had the same magical signature in order to act as a decoy.
“What the hell?” Edward asked.
The echo was the only thing in the chest this time. I picked it up and turned to the first page. I knew every page by heart after studying it over the course of nearly two decades. Surprise and hope stopped my breath as I flipped through every single page. Edward, peering over my shoulder, was as stunned as me.
Apparently, if someone signed the real book, their name appeared in the echo, but it didn’t work the other way around. When I gave an Ancient the decoy to save Mordon’s life, I had no idea that I was going to get it back as one of the greatest advantages I could get.
Demons protected their true names because someone could control them if they had it. Every inch of every page was covered with demon names. They were not just any demons either; they were those who the Ancients deemed worthy.
“Well, how in the world did that get in there if it has been buried for three hundred years?” Sydney asked.
I was no longer just hearing her voice; Sydney stood as clear as day behind the wooden chest. Her brown hair was braided and hung over her right shoulder. She wore a long-sleeved, fitted burgundy shirt that made her emerald eyes appear brighter. Her blue-jeans tight enough to show off her figure without looking slutty.
I looked at Edward behind me, but he was studying the book still open in my hands. “I need to see Phoenix and Blue Jay. I’ll be back in a minute,” I said, passing the book to Edward.
He backed away as I let my energy become a wild mess fueled by my frustration and exhaustion. Then, reaching into the core of Earth’s magic, I tore into the void.
A jagged, vertical crack just barely large enough to walk through opened in the middle of the magic room. The nominal energy that swirled around us either shied away or was absorbed into the void and destroyed. Iadnah energy was better at containing the destruction of the void than void energy itself was, so that was what I used.
The blinding light was more ominous than anything I could fear from death, for any death was better than being trapped in the void. Staring into the abyss, I felt pity for the demons who desperately wanted out… if only they didn’t try to conquer the universe to escape the void. I would offer them peace until the very end, but the moment they resort to bloodshed, I would obliterate them to protect life.
I never entered the void myself, not even the neutral area that Divina told me was relatively safe. Instead, I focused my mind and called to Blue Jay and Phoenix, letting just a tiny amount of my magic carry the call into the light. I knew the two demons would hear it and recognize it before the void destroyed the energy.
The light broke apart, allowing a dark shadow to pass from the abyss into the realm. A second shape followed before all the shadows in the room spread to embrace the figures before me. They lightened and grew opaque until they were two recognizable demons.
“Phoenix… you cut your hair,” I observed.
“No, master, I just didn’t make it as long.”
“I don’t like it.” Both demons laughed. Other than Phoenix’s shorter hair, they looked the same every time I saw them down to their black, nearly incorporeal robes. “What is going on with the gates?”
They glanced at each other, clearly confused. “Nothing. Everything has been quiet,” Blue Jay insisted.
“The gates are still closed and none of the Ancients have tried anything on it,” Phoenix added.
“And the demons?”
“Nothing unusual. We do everything Ronez says and we have not had any problems.”
I looked around, but didn’t see Sydney anywhere. “What about the dragoness? Have you found Sydney yet?”
“No. The void is endless, but souls cannot exactly blend in. If she did not make it to the spirit world, her soul has been destroyed. Ronez has had demons searching the spirit world, but there are too many souls there. I am sorry, Dylan, but we have found no way to save her.”
“Keep trying.”
They both nodded with resigned expressions and walked back into the light. I closed the void behind them and turned to Edward.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Are we alone?”
“Yes.”
Behind him, Sydney sat on the small desk that was covered in potions and notes. “Then no, I’m not okay.”
Chapter 6
Ron
Vretial flashed me back to Dayo, right between Sen and Drake. “Where are Zeb and Mordon?” I asked, seeing that we were alone.
“We got here just as you disappeared,” Drake said. “Zeb and Mordon drove off the crowd of people that the noise attracted with a huge display of magic, and then they left. Is that the dagger?”
I held up my hand that still clutched the dagger, reminded of an Earth play that Hail and I once read. “I need to apologize to them. Put this in the bag,” I said, handing handed the dagger to Drake, who slipped it into the bag. Then I reached inside the neck of my shirt to grasp the demon charm. “Tell me what’s next.”
“Why did you deny the balance?” Alice asked, appearing before me.
“I am stronger than the balance.”
She laughed. “Your father is stronger than the balance. The next item is the bow, which you can find on Enep. I cannot tell you how to attain it because that is up to you. The bow is heavily guarded.”
“I need an image to flash to.”
My vision grew bright like when Hail had a vision, then faded to a building that could have rivaled Nila’s underground castle for elegance. The symmetry of the lines, the silver décor, the rich, dark red brick… I was impressed.
The scene faded, returning me to Dayo with Sen and Drake. “Okay. The next weapon is the bow, which is on Enep. It’s a world where everyone lives underground. Also, every person is nearly
four thousand years old.”
“Um… run that by us again,” Drake said.
“The citizens of Enep destroyed their surface in war, just like those of Dios did, but instead of leaving them to clean up their own messes like Zer, Regivus punished his people. They are forced to live a hundred generations, where instead of dying, they regenerate into children. Another part of their punishment was that they couldn’t have children. It was originally a two hundred generation sentence, but when Samorde was born to be the Guardian of Enep, he agreed to take half of the penalty. Until the sentence is over, Samorde will age ridiculously slowly. He looks our age, but he’s as old as Nano.”
“Why was he born on another world?” Sen asked.
“Because Regivus needed Samorde to be strong, and Zer was a master of strong. Samorde, the Noquodi of Enep, is dile.”
“Which I assume by your… scattered explanation, that dile is what people of Dios are called,” Drake inferred.
“Yeah. Hail is half dile, which is why he’s so damn strong. If we meet Samorde, don’t underestimate him. Dad doesn’t like him very much, which means that we can’t trust him completely. However, everyone who isn’t my dad’s enemy is our possible ally.”
“So… the dark god is our ally?” Sen asked.
“What dark god?” Drake asked.
Instead of answering the fae, I flashed us to the place I saw. The gravity was heavy, like Duran’s, but not as heavy as Raktusha’s, and the air was murky. Of course, we were underground.
I would never tell Hail, but I hated Dios. I hated the people, the magic, the goblins, and the fact that it was underground. Now that the population moved aboveground, it may have offered better living to the inhabitants, but the people were still sour apples. The only person I halfway liked from Dios, excluding my brother of course, was Dleso Nila.
The building was majestic and reached the ceiling of the huge cavern. Fortunately, we were alone, or we would have had a lot more to explain.
“We’re underground…” Drake said with a shudder.
I was about to say something sarcastic to the guy, but I stopped myself in time when I saw his face. He had the same expression Hail did when he had to be in the dark. This was a true problem for him. “Do fae have a problem with being underground?” I asked.
“We get our power from solar energy, so we feel better on sunny days and can’t stand to stay inside for long periods of time. Don’t worry about me; I can handle it.”
“Then I guess we need to walk through the front door,” I suggested. With Drake on my right and Sen on my left, I approached the front door, which was huge, dark wood, and rounded at the top.
I pulled the heavy metal handle of the door, which opened easily. Inside was as extravagant as the outside; the ceilings were high, the floor was hardwood, everything was clean, and the room was well lit. It was immediately obvious to me by the crowd and the items carefully placed along the wall that this was a display room. Aside from the exit, there were two doors.
Everyone here wore simple clothes that resembled fitted scrubs, which ranged from dirty white to dingy beige. Their appearances were simple, too; everyone had either black or brown hair, which both men and women alike kept long. No one was very skinny or overweight, particularly tall or short, or displayed any sign of personal expression, such as with tattoos or jewelry. It was boring and made me want to wear even flashier clothes than I already wore.
There were several objects I recognized, including a Vincent van Gogh painting, a bright red brick phone from Earth, a primitive Duran form of typewriter, and a statue of Moradoga, which was a Duran mythical seven-armed creature that, according to the stories, saved thousands of people from a horrible earthquake on Mokii.
“It’s like a museum, but there are no signs,” Drake noted.
“These people are suffering a punishment of living a hundred generations; they’re not going to forget their history. Unfortunately, I don’t see a bow.” I reached out to the nearest woman and gently touched her hand. “Excuse me, ma’am.” She turned to me. “I’m new to Enep, and I’m looking for a very special bow.” I trusted my powers to translate my words.
She was a pretty woman about my mother’s height. She wasn’t athletic, like Mom, but she also wasn’t overweight. Her hair was light brown, shoulder-length, and not very clean, while her eyes were a gorgeous orange color.
Obviously startled, she gaped at me for a moment before forcing herself to be polite. “Through that door, we there is the bow of the Arcani.”
“What is the Arcani?”
“The Arcani are priests. The bow was brought to us by Samorde. We welcome visitors, we just do not get many. What world are you from?”
“Duran. Why do you have a museum if you are all thousands of years old?”
“Our memories are not like yours. If we remembered everything we had ever experienced for over four thousand years, we would all be insane. Instead, after we die and regenerate into young children, those memories are archived, but the lessons we learned are with us forever.
“For example, in my first life before we were cursed, I was just two years old when I tried to pull a star stone from the cooking fire. Star stones are clear and glow amazing colors when they are heated. Now every time I see one in the fire, I know not to touch it. On the other hand, I cannot remember what my favorite color was in my last life.
“Things change when we regenerate, like our interests, tastes, and even our personalities. In my last life, I was allergic to a root that we use as a staple in our diet, but in this life, I love it. In a few generations, I will forget that I was ever allergic to it, but I will remember to be cautious with them.”
“So the museum is a reminder?” I asked, not impressed. They were all older than Edward; they should have been wise, interesting people, so I was expecting more than this.
“Our people have three monuments; one for the gods, one for the war, and one for our ancestors. Every generation, we are required to visit each of them when we are regenerated and again before we die. Most of us visit these places because they are reminders of peace, and that the curse is ending soon.”
“When does the curse end?”
“The curse will end slowly. Each person must live a hundred lives. We have records of our lives, so everyone knows when the curse is nearing. Vorskel Denash has just begun his last life. The rest of us are within ten lives. I have one more after this one before my last. When the last person reaches their last life, the land will regenerate as we have so many times. Also, in our final life, we can have children again.”
“I can’t understand her,” Sen said in English.
“She’s just telling me about their curse. One of their people has reached his last life.”
“If the curse ends when they lived a hundred lives, why not shoot a man in the head a hundred times?” Drake asked.
“Um… I guess we could try it… It might be more fun than T.V.,” I answered, purposely misunderstanding. He blushed. “What about suicide?” I asked the woman. “Does that speed up your sentence?”
“No. We were punished for destroying our world in war. To kill ourselves would lengthen the penalty. If anyone were to try to break our rules, the Arcani would imprison them for the safety of everyone else.”
“Are the Arcani special?”
“They are the ones who interpret our punishment and rules. When the curse fell over our people, there were pregnant women. The unborn infants from this time were protected from the curse, so they could age, have children, and die. They are the Arcani.”
“Ask her what the story is behind the bow,” Drake suggested.
“Not a good idea,” I disagreed in English, intentionally not allowing my magic to translate. “We need that bow, and we know they’re not just going to hand it over. If we know what it means to them, we could hesitate in the middle of stealing it.”
“You want to steal it?” Drake asked.
“We need it,” Sen told him.
�
�But if you told them we need it, maybe they will lend it to us.”
The fae’s face was so sincere that I scrutinized the woman. Her aura was trustworthy. Dad’s alliance was growing every day because he acted with his heart, used his powers to help people, and treated everyone as his friend until they proved otherwise.
I can do this. I could convince anyone to help me by reasoning with them. I considered what my mother would say and what my dad would say, rolled my words around in my head, decided on an appropriate tone, and opened my mouth.
An explosion shook the structure, provoking startled screams throughout the museum. I started in the direction everyone was running from, but Sen grabbed me by the arm. “You can’t just run towards danger without knowing what you’re getting into.”
“There is nothing that can defeat me,” I argued.
“You think that because you have always had Hail there to protect you,” Drake said.
I could only stand there, staring at him with shock. To the gods, I was only Dylan’s son, but no one ever discounted my power. Even Zherneboh, who could destroy a god without a thought, said that I had potential. “I can do anything,” I said, jerking my arm from Sen’s grasp. Before they could argue, I headed for the doorway.
The bow was immediately across from me on the far wall, but getting to it was going to be a problem because six demons blocked my path. They were all in person form with black clothes. Every citizen of Enep had already fled the threat, so we were alone.
One of the demons spotted me and they all turned in unison. After a split second pause, two of the demons formed spheres of energy and one threw a shield over the bow. The entire building around us shook violently. As Sen burst through the doorway behind me, one of the demons aimed his sphere of energy at the dragon-mage. Barely in time, I formed a shield around Sen that the attack glanced off of and struck the nearest demon, causing the unlucky victim to burst into ash.
They are not Ancients then.
I let my energy fill the room to test their power and discovered were all minor demons, but even minor demons were nothing to scoff at. The barrier over the bow was powerful enough that I knew this was not going to be an easy victory.