by Sophia Sharp
Nora rushed to him, but not as quickly as Hunter. Already, he was helping Rafael up.
“What happened?” Nora exclaimed as soon as she could. Rafael looked to be all right, if a little shaken, but the way he had just been thrown back, as if by some invisible force…
“I got cocky.” He smiled ruefully. Slowly, he met the eyes of everybody in the room. “I tried to do too much. Whenever you use one of those things…” he motioned at the torrial, “…you feel a type of resonance fighting against you. The more you do, the stronger it gets. Usually, I can handle it, but I guess it just didn’t like having itself shown today.” He shrugged. “That is the danger of it, of course. Of all torrial. When you use one, you become attached to it. A sort of…link…forms between the user and the device. I’m not sure exactly how it works, but it’s what I’ve been able to figure out through years of trial and error. The user becomes attached to the device, and some small part of them is brought out into the chasm that exists between the two planes. Between the two realms.
“The danger, then, if you use too much, or if you use a torrial before knowing what one does, is dropping into the chasm and losing yourself forever. Whenever you attach yourself to one of these artifacts, you leave your mind prone to being lost. And in the chasm, you would lose both your mind and your soul.”
“That sounds horrible,” Nora said.
“It is,” Rafael answered gruffly. He was already up and had pushed Hunter aside. “Only your body would remain. For all intents and purposes, you would be dead, but your body would still be here. And those around you would only see a zombie, a lobotomized version of yourself.”
Nora shivered. What he was explaining with the resonance sounded entirely too familiar to what she had experienced opening that vault door in the mines. She had to speak to Alexander about this. Were they, unknowingly, subjecting themselves to such a horrible fate when they fought to open the door? She knew now that they had been successful, but if they had known the risk back then, would they have done the same thing? Would she have done the same thing? She shook her head. Of course she would have. Alexander’s life had been at stake, and going through the vault was the only way to save him.
“Why show us this, Rafael?” Hunter asked. “What was the point of it? And why endanger yourself by using it in front of us?”
“This one,” Rafael said quietly, “is but a toy compared to the one that you’ll be using.”
Chapter Twelve
~A Better Plan~
“The one that we’ll be using?” Nora asked. “What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
Rafael looked to Madison and Alexander. “You let the young one ask all of the question, but share none of your own?”
“Rafael!” Nora demanded, “You didn’t answer me! What are you talking about?”
He looked at her. Again, she felt his eyes weighing, considering. It was a little unnerving. “You want to fight the elders, child?” he asked.
“Of course! You already know that! We all told you that a dozen times.”
“Well, the only way I know of to change your fight from little more than a suicide mission is to make use of other torrial.”
“Other torrial?” This time, it was Alexander who spoke. “You mean there are more?”
“Oh, yes,” Rafael said. “But not here, of course. Elsewhere. There is a repository of them, hidden away for generations, hidden from all who might know how to use them. I doubt even the elders know of its existence.”
“But you do?” Hunter asked, sounding only a little skeptical. “And pray tell, how did you come across this knowledge of its existence?”
“There are more writings within the sanctuary than those that had been on the now-destroyed wall,” Rafael said. “Some speak of an ancient repository, where the most powerful and most sacred of the torrial were placed before the war erupted between angels and Vassiz. They were hidden away, and lost for millennia.”
“Why?” Nora asked. “Why were they hidden away?”
“It was once thought,” Rafael explained, “that the torrial were the greatest devices created in the history of the world. At a time when the angels and the Vassiz worked together to create such wonders. Knowledge of the torrials’ crafting has been lost since then. Although I suspect it was consciously eradicated from any who held it.”
“…why?” Nora asked again, hesitantly. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to understand why these devices, which seemed to offer such great abilities – in spite of the dangers of using them – had been locked away, and the knowledge of how to make them wiped out.
Rafael looked at her in such a way to say that he did not appreciate being cut off. “Because,” he emphasized harshly, “it was soon found that the dangers of using them was much greater than the benefits they provide.”
“You mean the user losing themselves in the chasm?” Nora asked. “I thought that could only happen if you try to use too much of one, or use one without knowing what it does.”
“That is a danger, yes, but it is not the one I speak of. Rather, there was a much greater danger that emerged. It became apparent only after many had been crafted and were being used simultaneously. You see, there exists a…natural order of things, amongst our world and amongst the dream world. This order, as it were, has been in place since the creation of…well, everything. But the way the torrial function, well – there was never a place for it, in this world or the other. And the resonance that one feels when using a torrial comes from a disruption of that natural order.
“Using only one at a time, as I did just now, seems to be fine. The problems start to creep in when many torrial are being used, all at once. The disturbance that occurs when each one is accessed is amplified, exponentially, depending on the number of other torrial being used at the time. Use too many, and the order is disrupted so much so, that you rip a hole in the fabric of reality.”
“What?” Nora demanded. She couldn’t grasp what she was hearing. First learning of these devices, then of their danger, and then of their real danger…
“That’s right,” Rafael continued. “If too many are used at once, neither dream nor human world can handle the disruptions. There is a limit. Bypass that limit, and…poof. You rip a hole in reality, a black hole, as it were. And it can engulf the entirety of both planes, destroying everything that exists, or ever had existed.”
A shiver ran through her. “That’s terrifying,” Nora said. “Are you saying that through the use of these devices, somebody can theoretically…destroy the entire world?”
“Not just the world, child, but the entire galaxy. The entire universe. Everything that has ever been, or ever will be, would disappear into a contracting abyss.
“And that is precisely why they were put away. Hidden from all, so that their use might never again threaten the existence of our worlds.”
“Why were they not destroyed?” Alexander asked. “If the risk is so great…?”
Rafael smiled at him. “That, dear friend, I cannot answer. My suspicion is that once made, the torrial become impossible to destroy. Although perhaps, simply because they are such treasures, the caretakers did not have it in them to break them down.”
“So they are like allurvai,” Nora whispered, half to herself.
“What did you mean about the one we’ll need to use?” Hunter asked.
“Ah. Well, the repository contains many different torrial. For you to take your fight to the elders, you will need some advantage…and these artifacts can give you just that. If you find them, you can use them to help you navigate the dream, to arm yourselves against the elders. They will be the weapons you must use should you be successful.”
“What can they do?” Nora asked.
“Many things. Things I do not know of. Perhaps none of them will be of use.” He shrugged. “But I have a feeling you will find something that will aid you. For example. You two.” He pointed at Nora and Hunter. “You have fed recently, but on a different type of blood. You are
still unable to sleep, and who knows how long the effect will last? But the fight will not wait for you. The elders will not wait for you. So how will you enter the dream realm?”
Nora looked to Hunter. What Rafael brought up was something she hadn’t thought of yet, something she hadn’t even considered. She just assumed the effects of the feeding would wear off before it came time to fight the elders…but now, she wasn’t so sure. Hunter met her gaze, but he looked equally unsure.
“I will tell you how,” Rafael continued. “You will use a special torrial to do so. I am certain, that amongst all the ones that have been locked away, there is at least one that allows the user to come into the dream realm without falling asleep. And not in the same way you did inside the archive. So there is one reason you need to find this repository.”
“What about the danger of using too many at once?” Madison asked.
Rafael looked at her. “I do not think you should worry about that. There are but four of you, and using four torrial at a time pales in comparison to how many were being used at the peak of their distribution.”
“Alright then,” Nora said. “If you think these torrial can help us in our fight, we’ll find them.” She looked to her companions to see if anyone had any objections, but, seeing none, continued. “You spoke as if you know where they are. Tell us. Where are they stowed?”
Rafael met her gaze squarely. “In the Middle East.”
Chapter Thirteen
~A Promise~
Nora sat across from Hunter, who was pacing the floor in front of her. They were back in the grand cavern marking the entrance of the sanctuary. Alexander and Madison had taken Rafael to meet the angels in the dream realm, and their still bodies were lying only a few dozen feet away from her.
After Rafael had shown them the torrial, they had come back here. As agreed upon before, Madison and Alexander went into the dream world with Rafael, soon after, to introduce him to the angels. Before that happened, though, Nora had a chance to take Alexander aside.
“He spoke of a reverberance,” she told him. “Like what we felt when we were opening the door to the archive. Do you think – I mean, is that how…?”
“I do,” Alexander nodded, before she could finish her sentence. “The vault door and the figurine we got from Selaine. Both were torrial. We fought against the same reverberance that Rafael mentioned. The question is, then, how did Selaine know to give the figurine to you?”
Nora thought for a second. “Well, she told me that her…tribe…was entrusted with safekeeping the vault. She said it was a legend of their past. Perhaps the figurine was just something they had passed down, generation after generation, in keeping with that responsibility.”
“Even still,” Alexander replied, “why would she give it to you? If they are supposed to safeguard it, I assume some part of that means to prevent entry by just anyone. Why would she trust you with the key, if she knew what it were?”
“I…don’t know,” Nora admitted. “Maybe she saw my concern for you. The other ways into the mines were blocked, and if she hadn’t given me the figurine, there would have been no way to get you the mushroom that was vital to your survival.”
“Maybe,” Alexander said slowly. “But then again, why would she just disappear like that? You were as surprised as I to find her shop completely empty.”
“I was,” Nora conceded. “That was not something I was expecting.”
“And if she left like that,” Alexander continued, “why would she give you the precious figurine? She must have known you would not be able to find her, no matter what, after.”
“You mean even if we didn’t figure out how to open that bizarre box?” Nora asked.
“Exactly. If she knew it was the key to the vault, and she knew she wouldn’t be there when you returned, why would she just give it up like that?”
“I don’t know.”
“I have a feeling,” Alexander replied quietly, “that before all this is over, we will find there is much more to Selaine than either of us thinks we know.”
Alexander’s questions had started to worm their way into Nora’s mind. Just who was Selaine? What he said was right. It didn’t make any sense that Selaine would give up the key to the vault, just like that, if she knew what it was. Or would she? Maybe she had her own reasons for doing so. Yet what she said, about the legend of her tribe and their need to keep watch over the archive…did she go against it by giving Nora the key? And what about that mysterious disappearance right after Alexander had gotten better? Her entire shop had been wiped clean overnight. None of it made any sense.
“I don’t like this.” Hunter’s voice jarred Nora out of her thoughts. She looked at him. His forehead was creased with worry, crinkling up that flawless skin he possessed. His hair was swept up and back, reminding Nora of the first time she saw him with his confidence returned, that time he walked into class a new man. He was so handsome. Her heart fluttered as he looked back at her.
She felt her cheeks turn red and turned away from his gaze. That’s what she got for letting unruly thoughts into her head with him staring right at her. Taking a deep breath, she looked back at him and noticed the barest hint of a very suggestive smile on his lips. It was like he could read her mind. Not that she very much objected to that, at the moment.
All of it evaporated when Hunter creased his forehead again. And Nora was back to playing devil’s advocate.
“Why don’t you like this?” she asked. But she knew his answer before he even spoke. They had gone through this half a dozen times already while the others were asleep.
“It’s too dangerous,” he said. “Going to the Middle East, to Egypt of all places, to search for some supposed repository of ancient artifacts? We don’t even know if it exists! You heard him. He was just as uncertain about its existence as we are!”
“It’s something we have to try,” Nora said, starting to feel like a broken record. They had gone over this argument so many times it made her head hurt.
Hunter didn’t want to go to the Middle East to look for the torrial artifacts, because he believed it was too dangerous for them to be out in public. Nora ended up telling him again and again that the torrial they might find would make their fight against the elders infinitely more manageable. Then Hunter would disagree, saying their use could prove just as dangerous as facing the elders unarmed. And Nora would circle back to say the risk they had to take was well justified by the reward it would grant them.
The reward of freedom, of not having to look over their shoulder every time they heard something move, of not living their lives in fear of being caught. Of taking the fight back to the elders as she had promised the angels, and of making them pay for what they did to their brothers.
“And what if they catch us?” Hunter asked. “What if the elders know we’re coming? It’s completely possible they know of the torrial as well and are safeguarding the repository right now!”
“Don’t you think they would already be using them if they knew of them? From what little I know of the elders, they don’t seem to put much stock in the wellbeing of others. Anything that might increase their strength, their rule of power, they would grab as quickly as they could. No?”
Hunter nodded, somewhat reluctantly. “You’re right.”
“So if they knew of the repository, don’t you think they would have opened it up by now? And then found the most powerful torrials and started making use of them? Who knows what the devices can do. Besides,” she continued, getting up slowly and walking to Hunter, “both of us are incapable of entering the dream world in our current state, and we don’t know how long that will last.”
“I know,” Hunter admitted, taking her hands in his. “I just… I don’t want to risk you.” There was such sincerity in his voice, such pure, unadulterated concern, that all Nora could do was sigh dreamily.
“I know you don’t,” she told him quietly, squeezing his hands back, “but there are some things I have to face. And I know if I were by m
yself, I would be scared. I would be terrified of all of this.” She motioned all around her. “But I’m not. And you know why? You know what keeps me strong? It’s knowing you’re right there beside me. That no matter what I do, no matter how many stupid decisions I might make, no matter where I stick my head without looking, you’ll be right there to keep me safe.”
He smiled at her sadly. “That’s what I’m trying to do, Nora. All I want is to keep you safe. But I can’t… I can’t do it forever.”
“I know,” she said, “nobody can. The only way for me to be safe – the only way for us to be safe – is to fight for what was once ours. To fight for our freedom. That’s what all this is about, I think. It’s us – me and you, Alexander and Madison, even Rafael and Gray – fighting, struggling, to be set free. To stop living in fear of the shadows and to break out of the shackles the elders want to throw us in. You saw what they did to the angels.” He nodded gently. “I don’t want to imagine what they would do to us if we were caught.”
“Which is why we can’t go to the Middle East,” Hunter said.
“No,” Nora shook her head. “That’s why we need to go there. It’s why we need to take the fight right to the elders. You know this. Because if we don’t, they’ll chase after us, forever, and sooner or later – they will find us. I’m sure of it. And then, neither of us can protect the other. If we go to Egy—”
She cut off as Hunter wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. She let her eyes drift shut. In his arms, she felt so small and so very vulnerable. But it also felt so right.
She also felt strength, something that told her nothing could ever come between them. She laid her head on his chest and felt the faint beating of his heart underneath the hard muscle. When Hunter held her like that, it was like somebody just turned the lights off to the rest of the world. There was only him, and her – and that’s how she wanted it to be.