The Dark Materials

by Amanda Churi

  “You gave me a fake one so that they turned against me…” Kevin mumbled. He looked up sharply, squeezing his mark in hatred. “I did come back from the dead, but I wasn’t a true Returned. I kept my original soul, didn’t I? It’s why I don’t look like the others right now; it’s why my jewel is blue and not gold. Reeve forged it with her dark magic.”

  Desmond chuckled. “Good to know that your reasoning skills still work when you want them to.”

  Kevin’s stomach flipped and churned, the pain in his heart increasing as he slammed his eyes shut, chucking his fake mark onto the ground and crushing it under his boot. All of the betrayal… The misery dancing within his very soul… When would it finish having its fun and just leave him alone?!

  “Daddy…” Daisy spoke up, her small, painful voice making Kevin open his eyes as he turned his head to look at her as she came forward on wobbly legs, hardly able to stand as she pressed her dyed hands to her bloody chest. “I’ll go… Ok?”

  Kevin’s heart stopped. “What?” he exclaimed breathlessly.

  Daisy lowered her head in shame. “Desmond is right… I’m probably dead either way. You’ve suffered so much… Y-you should be happy with Lucy… Have another daughter that you can be proud of…” She pressed her eyes into the backs of her hands, gagging on her blood as she cried. “I-I’m sorry…”

  Kevin shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing. “No, no,” he said quickly, dropping to his knees and pulling her hands away, revealing her bloodshot, defeated blue eyes that flickered with pink rays. “Sweetheart, no… Don’t ever think that I’m not proud of you… And never devalue your life to such an extreme. You’re not going to die.”

  “That’s not wise, Kevin,” Desmond warned him, lightly pushing down on Lucy’s throat. She shrieked, the rapier slightly piercing her skin and drawing blood.

  “Kevin!” Lucy screamed pleadingly. “Stop! Just let her, ok?! She’s right! We can have another child—as many as you want! No one is irreplaceable! P-please! Don’t let me die!”

  Kevin’s ears twitched when he heard her reasoning. “Honey… I would never let him kill you… Why would you say such things?”

  “Because of what you’re saying!” she screeched. “I-I don’t deserve to leave! I haven’t done anything wrong! It’s not fair… IT’S NOT FAIR! I already died once! I don’t want to go back! I don’t want to be so lost and alone again! She’s just a stupid supernatural! A stupid girl that tried to take me away from you! If Anna had just killed her like she was supposed to, we would be fine! Y-you can’t just throw all that we have away! You’ll miss my presence; you’ll miss having someone to help you when something goes wrong! You know you will! A damned child is not worth losing me over!”

  She continued to try and argue her case, but Kevin stopped listening.

  The pieces fell into place, Kevin remembering the slumped figure he had so recently slain as the name Anna reignited terrible memories in his head. He molded the aged woman on the ground with his mother, realizing the resemblance before placing her words and actions down accurately on the timeline he was mentally building as everything slowly made sense.

  “You never wanted her…” Kevin whispered, shaking his head as he watched Lucy shiver in Desmond’s arms. “You always resented Daisy… You tried to have her killed…”

  “She was going to tear us apart!” she explained in breaking pockets of speech. “Just forget her! Let her go, and we can start over, right? Have everything we always dreamed of!”

  Kevin’s mind shut down. Silent, he stood up, wrapping an arm around Daisy and keeping her close as he shook his head, placing the other arm behind his back. “No…”

  “Kevin, you’re making a grave error,” Desmond said urgently. “Hand her over!”

  “Listen to him!” Lucy begged.

  Kevin took a deep breath, collecting himself as he clutched the secret weapon behind his back. He hated her… Yes, but he wasn’t about to let Desmond kill her. “I’m sorry, Lucy…” he apologized, his voice low and cold.

  Her eyes almost popped out of her head, the veins finishing their takeover of her face as her skin began to crack like bark. “KEVIN!”

  “But like you said,” he growled. “No one is irreplaceable.”

  Closing his eyes and severing the string, Kevin squeezed his fist as hard as he could, crushing the small bone that he always kept close.

  Her life wasn’t Desmond’s to take—it was his.

  Desmond screamed in agony, his hand losing control as his second body reacted to the breakage of his original bone. “NO! KEVIN!” Lucy screamed at the top of her lungs before Desmond’s arm whipped across her neck, the rapier slitting her throat.

  Immediately, Kevin swung Daisy into his arms, forcing his legs to break from their position as he kept his back on his old lover and dashed towards the stairs.

  Desmond continued to roar like a fallen beast, crashing to his knees as he tried to control his insane hand. Lucy crumpled beside him, her open throat gurgling with her pumping blood as she became lost in the sea of her own wrongdoings.

  Kevin’s tears let loose the moment he heard her body collapse onto the stone of the castle they had rebuilt together, but he did not turn back; he couldn’t. He pushed past his guards, who immediately charged forward to end Desmond before he could go any farther.

  The Elite grabbed the portcullis the moment that Kevin made his decision between the two girls, squeezing the iron with as much force as he could as the ice from his fingers infiltrated the very core of the metal, freezing it beyond natural temperatures and fracturing its makeup. The corrupted ice spread from its source and turned the gate a blinding blue before with one massive push forward, the iron caved in on itself, and the middle of the portcullis shattered like glass, the Returned swamping the foyer and taking out the last of Kevin’s knights.

  The Elite gave no concern to those loyal to the king as their blood combined with that of Queen Lucy’s. He watched through frozen eyes as Kevin raced up the stairwell, the Elite wailing like a ghost as he resumed his quest for blood. He ran up the stairs with heavy, determined steps, spinning his chains as he gained ground on the king and princess.

  Kevin did not stop running. His tears of grief nearly blinded him as he fought both an internal and external battle, but he would let neither be his downfall as he tried to carry his little girl to safety. He had given up so much for her—many had. The loss of her life would be the greatest tragedy that the world had ever known, and he would not let the noble actions of so many people go to waste: Eero’s, his, Cecil’s, and anyone else’s who had ever stood in harm’s way to protect the small ball of flickering sunshine left in his arms, groping for anything to hang on to.

  Knowing what he had to do, Kevin enacted the only plan that remained open, hoping that it would be enough.

  Thirty-six

  And Down Will Come All

  The snow would not fall back; their commander in chief had ordered that they conquer the Earth from every corner, freezing every place, every person, and every creature that they could. The reach of their army grew; it continued to spread in the clouds, flying over the trees, the deserts, and the oceans. The only way that she could have every fraction of power was if everyone was forced to submit to her. She could never keep a watchful eye over the vast Earth; it was impossible. She could, however, evaluate a certain area and those within it. Those who were out of her reach…? Well, their options were simple; they could come join her land and live, or they could remain in the lands far beyond her stretch and await the inevitable death to come.

  The snow was now over a foot high, the temperatures dropping into the single digits and continuing to plummet at drastic rates. Reeve ran through the snow as though there was none. Her neon blue eyes granted a wide range of vision to her, splitting the night and providing the only light around for miles. She dragged Tah behind her, a cone of ice around both the spirit and child’s wrist to hold them together, ensuring that her Deceiver could not f
lee. Her second-half could hardly control her shivers, her toes and nose shifting from a stinging red to a tainted purple as her blood froze and flesh died.

  Reeve could feel Tah’s pain, but she ignored it the best she could, hoping that the child could hold on for just a bit longer. She didn’t inform Desmond of the latter half of her plan; she only told him that Daisy needed to be taken care of, which she was quite confident that both he and Orione could do without her help. With the child gone, the world would be theirs, and they could rule alongside one another.

  …But to do that, she needed to make sure that there was no way that anyone could ever rise up again. If she told Desmond about her plans, she knew that he most certainly would have tried to fight her because it was so risky. She had to give him props for helping her get as far as they did, but this was not only about Desmond’s redemption; she deserved her own piece of the pie—the slice that she wanted.

  She came to a halt, looking around as the blizzard howled across the land. They stood in a large field not too far away from Phantome but one at a distance great enough so that her plans could go through without being interrupted.

  She smiled in excitement, the ice connecting her and Tah shattering as Reeve raised her arms out wide to the sky, taking in the petrified air and relishing in the land that would now be hers after several millennia. “This is perfect,” she announced airily, spinning around to take in the lovely, destroyed scenery. Her scheming eyes rested on Tah, who seemed small and weak as she stood only a foot from her master, holding her hands in her stomach and keeping her shoulders hunched forward as she stared up at Reeve with eyes that kept her locked out of the child’s head. Whatever it was, Reeve certainly knew one emotion that Tah was feeling: resentment.

  “Oh, come, don’t be like that,” Reeve chuckled, crouching and resting her crooked hands on Tah’s shoulders. “You will love it in time, watch!”

  Tah huffed, rolling her eyes.

  Reeve tisked her tongue, not caring what Tah thought of her at this point. “And if you don’t,” she continued smugly, “then that’s your problem.”

  She pushed off of Tah’s shoulders, rising to her full height once more. She moved a few paces back, her dress of ice beginning to crack as it shifted form. As though it was alive, the length grew, clicking and snapping like glass as shards of ice were born from one another until her mythical gown touched the ground. Her dress grew sleeves as well, a single strand of ice stretching past her wrist and diverging around her middle finger before crawling back across her palm. The air around her head shimmered and sparkled with crystals and bursts of starlight. Beautiful swirls and braids were formed out of frozen water, molding into the elaborate shape of a tiara with an ever-moving ice crystal floating in the center as Reeve crowned herself not Queen of Phantome but Queen of the World.

  A fraudulent cackle parted from her icicle teeth that sharpened at the tips, the color of fresh blood beaming out from her mouth. She bunched her hand into a bone-crushing fist, thrusting it into the air and holding it there. Her knuckles pulsed a bright blue, chants encoded in the language of the Devil breaking the atmosphere as deadly words from the Underworld entwined with the magic originally born from below. The swirling blizzard began to congregate around her fist, pulling all energy from the surrounding storm into her poisoned bones. The ground trembled as the air pressurized around them, the roar of the winter storm reaching dangerous decibels and causing Tah’s ears to almost implode.

  “You banished me…” Reeve whispered, her voice whisked away by the tempest before anyone besides herself could hear her words. “You did not let me come home because I failed to kill Maeve. You never spoke to me since… But You sure as hell spoke to Master Eero after he betrayed me!”

  She brought her head in close to her neck, her body slightly distorting with hatred as she kept her fist raised, allowing the magic to reach dangerous levels. “Now, let’s see how You like not having a place to be free in! You underestimated me, just as You do all of Your creations! Now, I will be the one laughing as I sit upon my throne, and You will be the one begging for the mercy that I will never give You!”

  Fueled by vengeance, Reeve brought her fist down into the snow as hard as she could. The entire Earth quaked violently, Tah falling to her knees and holding onto the dense snow for dear life as the plates below the crust shifted with the powerful burst of magic that was channeled into the soil, turning the earth around them an ice-shattering blue as the energy raced through the infrastructure of the planet.

  The magic from her abandoned soul flew forth with the might of a legendary army. They traveled from their stronghold with spears held high and blood pooling in their hearts, each making a journey of approximately one hundred miles from where they were summoned, creating a diameter double the length that Reeve could keep an eye over.

  Some ran under the oceans, digging their weapons into the deep stone and bracing their arms as they prepared to pull their area of dominance away from the rest of the world. Others landed in fields—some hit the hearts of villages and towns.

  And the adventures of a mere few came to a close in a mystical location that only a select few had ever found.

  The magic fell in Maeve’s frozen stronghold, looking around for a moment as they searched for the exact point to create their massive rift. They discovered the desired location, the arms of ice sprinting across the frozen lake of blood and placing their spears in the center of the conquered pool. They lined up in a perfect arch, twisting their spears into the thick ice as they marked the path of separation.

  Maeve stared up through the petrified cells of blood in disbelief. To have come to this… She could only imagine how it happened.

  A pulse of horrendous energy straight from Reeve’s pained heart exploded down into the Earth like a bolt of lightning. Immediately, Maeve’s stronghold began to collapse, Reeve’s magical soldiers dispersing now that their master’s plan was in a full, unstoppable swing. Maeve cowered as she watched the red ice crumble above her, the rock ceilings and stalactites giving way to the violent tremors and turning to rubble as the caverns groaned and roared, tumbling down.

  The stone beneath Maeve opened, two formidable slabs of rock saying their goodbyes and pulling hundreds of feet apart. The caverns heaved their last breath in one, surprised gasp, the ice, rock, and crystals exploding as the boundary between worlds was torn apart, sending all that was in the chasm’s path into a nearly endless spiral below.

  The Sword of Maeve fell first, absorbed by the impenetrable darkness in a second tops as a vortex of energy pulled all free, unlatched items down into its starved stomach.

  But Maeve would not stop fighting the gusts, her determination reaching its highest level in thousands of years as she tried to fight her way back up to the open skies.

  The crevice circled around the piece of land that Reeve desired, creating a distance so wide between the two masses that no one could possibly cross it. Waters of the sea poured down into the abyss as a waterfall; entire forests and cities were swallowed by an avalanche of stone and soil, uncountable victims caught in Reeve’s broken fist as the world came crumbling down.

  The demons in the feared land below stared up through the reigning fires, curious when a single ray of light permeated their world, along with the screams of people, the wails of animals, and the grinding, thundering whoosh as an entire planet collapsed. They screamed cries of battle, holding their arms high and trying to form a barrier of fire to protect their sinful home, but it was too late; the boundary was gone, and nothing could stop the two words from clashing and merging into one.

  The dimension above looked on in horror, terrified for their own survival as they watched those banished from their realm fall. The archangels raced to the Creator as mortals lined the beautiful gates of gold, prepared to enter eternal salvation, asking Him frantically what could be done to save themselves.

  He did not like it, but the future was unclear at the moment, as was the destiny of the ever-shifting c
ourse of time. With a firm voice and a clear mind, He ordered the gates to be locked until further notice—no one would be allowed in or out. Those outside of paradise fell back to Earth as Eyla as the beautiful bridge of metals and pearls broke under them, the link between the realms cut off to ensure that no one could reach and, furthermore, destroy them.

  Reeve held her knuckles to the Earth that had never been in more peril, waiting patiently as she saw, in her mind, the rift grow and trap millions outside, giving Reeve her own land that she could rule and do whatever she so pleased with.

  The chasms, born from opposite poles on the ring of death, eventually met, and once they did, the ground stopped shaking. There was a subtle moan as the ground tried to settle in place, a light vibration touching the soil at all times, but it was small enough to allow Tah to stand up without falling over.

  She stared at Reeve, terrified. She watched her kneel in the snow, her shoulders heaving as a twisted, victorious smile rested on her lips. The light in her eyes held more depth and power than ever before, twinkling at the core as she processed just what she had done. Thousands of years had come and went, and yet, in the end, she did it. She did not have to be tormented by Satan any longer with what could have been; He would now have His own battles to fight for the rest of His existence.

  She no longer had to listen to anyone besides herself.

  Tah could not breathe. Shaking all over, she placed her thin hand over her heart, her lungs struggling to work properly. “What did you do…?”

  Reeve raised her head, snickering contently when she took note of the fear on her Deceiver’s face. She rose to her full height, the winds that would now follow her orders caressing her very spirit as the snow continued to pour around them like confetti in celebration of her triumph. “I gained my revenge,” she whispered, hardly believing what she had done. “I proved my worth.”