“Darn it, magic usually does the thinking for me,” he said, “And I am all out of gemstones.”
Already he heard the hissing of the reptile above. I must survive, he thought, I cannot die here.
The colossal body of the snake wrapped around the trees that were frozen around the waterfall. Its white scales blended in with the ice and snow.
“How many of these reptiles are around here?” Akielas said. “Once I kill this one I am sure his whole family is going to come after me.”
The giant snake cast a shadow over him. Its long body had already reached the bottom of the waterfall. He raised his sword, yet before the snake could strike, an ice missile flew over him and pierced the body of the snake. It was like a spear forged of ice and crystals. As the snake flailed another ice spear pierced through its head and nailed it into the wall of ice.
Akielas was speechless and when he looked back at the one responsible for saving him, he saw a woman standing on a water spout ten feet high. At first he thought he knew who it was but the woman looked too old to be whom he thinking of.
She descended as the water returned to the river and she released control of her water spell. She walked on the water and stepped onto the river bank. As he gazed at the woman he wanted to ask himself, For how long have I been here?
“Are you hurt?” she asked.
Akielas swallowed a lump in his throat and answered, “Uh, no, I have been in worse situations.”
“Then why didn’t you fight back?” she asked and stared at him with those small icy blue eyes.
Serena? He thought. But no, he remembered the last time he saw her, she did not look so…mature. Serena was much younger than this woman that stood before him. And yet, they both looked identical. Serena had thick dreadlocks in many shades of blue and so did this woman. Serena had fish scale tattoos on her arms and legs. She wore a short skirt and small top. A snake bangle on her wrist and most importantly the family emblem, a diamond spiral tattooed on her forehead. The eye liner and the piercings were in the exact same location as Serena. An older version of the water princess.
“Who…are you?” he asked in awe.
“My name is Zarviack,” she said. “It has been a long time since anyone stepped into my frozen domain and survived.”
Ember
It was almost complete. The great pinnacle that would absorb the energy of the tri-eclipse. Her masterpiece, her ultimate weapon and her dream maker. Ember orbited the great needle at the very top of her skyscraper. It had been made from omnithium, the same powerful material they had used to make the staffs that helped them to control the cosmo jewels. From the top of her tower it stood fifty feet higher. The rod held the platform shaped like a disc and the platform had sculpted teeth the size of swords at its edges. From the center of the round platform there was a shaft that held a chamber where the cosmo jewels were kept. Above the chamber was the unfinished piece, the unfinished needle that could absorb an endless amount of cosmo and maju.
She called it The Needle of Odiamus. Ember was excited to see it near completion but something was bothering her. A part of her was unsatisfied. She had three cosmo jewels in her possession and a large supply of omnithium, and yet she felt as if she could lose it all very soon. It was intolerable to her, the thought that it could all vanish as if blown away by the wind after all that hard work.
“There is still a possibility that we might lose and I cannot let that happen,” Ember said as she stared at her masterpiece. “I won’t feel victorious until the final cosmo jewel is in my hands. I know Akielas is searching for it right now. And then there is that redhead. I wonder, can I really trust him?”
“If you are having any doubts, then why don’t you kill him?” Naunet asked as he approached her from behind.
“Leave me alone. I need solitude,” Ember replied without looking back.
“My dear Ember, we live in solitude all the time,” Naunet said and placed his hands on her shoulders.
She realized that he was not wearing his mask and his Omiack eye glowed.
“He willingly gave us his Valiarmos,” Naunet said. “He has made himself vulnerable enough to gain our trust but I think we should kill him anyway. We do not want him on our side.”
“Would you kill a student of Akielas?” Ember asked looking over her shoulder.
Between the silence the wind howled in the high altitude and thunder roared above. There was no rain today but the skies never ceased to be angry.
“We are his students, we are the ones he raised to rid the world of magic,” Naunet whispered into her ear. “I do not consider Auron a brother, even if he was raised by Akielas.”
“We had many chances to kill him,” Ember reminded.
“Same goes for Akielas. There were countless times when we could have finished him,” Naunet replied. “Countless times when you let us down.”
Ember shoved his hands away and ascended slowly into the sky.
“What are you complaining about? Just look at all we have done,” Ember said, gazing at the dark skies, her cloak billowing. “We have three of the cosmo jewels, we stripped Akielas of his magic. He is no longer a threat.”
“Your attachment to him will be the end of us,” Naunet stated.
Ember seethed with anger, she spun and shot a purple beam of cosmic energy at Naunet below her. Naunet quickly dodged the attack, vanishing into black smoke and reappearing in front of her.
“How dare you?” he rasped.
“Don’t forget that I am in charge here,” Ember said. “We have come this far and you still doubt me. I should kill you myself, Naunet. You are breaking my heart. You speak as if you no longer believe in me.”
“I am asking you to stay focused,” he rasped. “You made a deal with Auron and I know it is not because you believe in that devious redhead. You need to detach from our old master so that the four of us can move on and became the rulers of Odealeous as Arkana foresaw. You consider Auron family because Akielas raised him…just like us. You have been manipulated by the Amaranth. You don’t think he will stab you in the back when he has the chance then snatch the jewels.”
“Not unless we stab him first,” Ember implied.
Naunet did not answer and turned his back on her. “I sure hope I won’t take the lead.”
Naunet descended into the tower and left her in solitude as she had wished. As soon he vanished from sight Ember balled her hand into a fist and shook.
“The future is mine. I can control the future,” she whispered to herself. “Everything will be fine. I have everything under control. I have already won. No one can destroy me.” She shivered with every affirmation, becoming nervous.
She flew back down to the tower towards the chamber where she kept all the omnithium. When she reached the bottom of the tower she flew through a window and paused in the hallway. Her feet lightly touched the floor and she strode to a chamber just down the dark hall. There was nothing inside. It was all empty like a cave or a dungeon. At the end of the hall she pushed open the steel door and a wave of heat was released from within. Ember closed the door shut then took off her white mask for even she could not handle the temperature.
“How much omnithium can I make?” she asked Hertha.
The girl hovered over a pool of melted metal like lava. She used the Crimson Cosmo Jewel to melt all the metal they had collected with a beam of fire. There were fiends in the room tossing kaminyte, zeustoss and mythium into the pool of lava. Fifteen-foot trolls assisted them by hauling piles of metal.
“The remaining metal should be enough,” Hertha answered. “Once we are done with this pile we should be finished. I hope that we won’t need to search Odealeous for more rare metals. I am sick and tired of being in this chamber. How in Necros do you survive in here? I can barely breathe.”
“Pyromancy is my specialty,” Ember said. “Where is the emerald jewel?”
“On the pedestal to your right,” Hertha answered and pointed at the jewel.
It was strang
e that Ember had not noticed the jewel, then again she could not sense cosmo. She went and picked up the emerald jewel from the pedestal. When she held it in her hands she could feel the earth maju within it but there was something else. Ah, yes, she is still in there. That forest girl, what was her name again? Ah, Willow, from Verday on the eastern continent. Had it not been for Willow’s soul, Ember would not be able to use the emerald jewel to control the minerals she had gathered. With both the crimson and emerald jewels she was able to compress all the melted metal then convert it to omnithium. “Pretty little Willow, your soul was so worth the catch. You are probably still in there struggling to escape. Don’t worry, one day you shall be free.”
Ember got closer to the pit of molten metal. “Hertha, give me the crimson jewel,” she commanded. The young Specter ceased her beam of fire then threw the jewel at Ember. Hertha then walked away putting her white mask back on.
“I am out of here. I will leave the rest to you,” Hertha said.
Hertha locked the door and left Ember alone in the chamber. Now with both cosmo jewels in her hands Ember decided to finish the last piece of her weapon. She used the two jewels and began to control the metals. The fiends around her tossed in the last pile of kaminyte and mythium that remained. With the Emerald Cosmo Jewel Ember compressed the metals and with the Crimson Cosmo Jewel she controlled the temperature to bend the metals at will. She shrank all the lava in the pit until it was turned into the desired shape. It was a long shaft about twenty feet long. She then absorbed all the heat with the crimson jewel. Rather than using water to cool down the metal the red jewel would absorb all the heat. The smoke and fire streamed into the jewel and it shone, painting the chamber red. When she looked at the final piece of her weapon, she saw that it was good and yet…
“It looks wonderful, it looks deadly but…it is not enough,” she told herself.
“Why so dissatisfied?” Arkana’s voice echoed in the chamber.
“My goddess,” Ember murmured and spun around to find Arkana’s spirit floating in the chamber. Ember knelt placing both cosmo jewels on the ground. “My goddess Arkana, the eclipse needle has been completed.”
“Yes, I see, but why are thou so dissatisfied?” the goddess said. “I hath seen thine future and it is as promised, so long as thou do not steer from thine goal.”
“I am not sure but I feel apprehensive, even with all the success we have had so far,” Ember confessed.
“Thine doubt will be thine fall. Stay faithful and the world will be yours,” Arkana said, her voice echoing in the chamber. “Thine brothers and sister will rule by thine side and I shall claim Caim’s body and walk in this physical world once more. Humanity and all its magic users will be under our heel. Thine master is no longer a threat and victory is near, so what is this apprehension thou is feeling?”
“I am not sure, my goddess. I just need some time alone with my thoughts to make it go away,” Ember replied.
“As thou wish,” Arkana responded. “Sleep and find confidence in thine dreams.”
Arkana’s spirit disappeared. Ember shed a tear and clutched her chest. She was sad and did not know why. She grabbed an omnithium staff that was leaning against the wall and placed the crimson jewel in the top. The staff held the jewel like claws held an egg and it gave Ember better control over the crimson jewel. She exited the chamber, strode through the hall and flew out of the window from which she had come.
As she flew up to the top of the tower she thought of one other entity in the world that could predict the future as well, or perhaps, better than Arkana. “Forgive me my goddess but my insecurities have led me to seek answers elsewhere. Something is just not right with me. I don’t feel victorious, I don’t feel complete, I don’t feel as if I am truly completing my purpose. I must see the fairy king.”
And so she used the power of the jewel combined with her dark magic to teleport to the Quariras Mountains. She raised her staff and the jewel released flames engulfing her. She spun her staff and the flames consumed her body transferring her through an inferno and onto the Mountains of Verday. When the flames vanished she found herself floating above the Stonehenge of the fairy king. Without hesitation she descended, landing gently upon the rocky mountain path.
She strode into the Stonehenge remembering the last time she came here. Five years ago before she searched for the cosmo jewels she had visited the fairy king, hoping that the holy entity would reveal their locations. The puzzling words of the fairy king left her frustrated. If Akielas sought the fairy king then it was well worth listening to him. Ember disliked puzzles and riddles but her desperation brought her here once again.
Naunet, Jairo and Hertha might still believe in Arkana but Ember had been losing faith in the goddess.
In the center of the Stonehenge was a pedestal with shards of zeustoss forming a teepee. She stood in front of the pedestal and raised her staff calling forth the fairy king. Last time she had used a shard of zeustoss to call the holy entity but her omnithium staff was sure to be enough.
“I summon you, Elisol,” she whispered.
Her staff began to vibrate and the shards of zeustoss on the pedestal began to shine. The wind began to whistle and the mountains and sky around her began to vanish, erased from sight. The shards released a beam of light towards the heavens and everything outside of the Stonehenge became like the night itself.
Stars glinted in an endless ocean of darkness. The Stonehenge floated in an ocean of stars. Ember looked back and saw a shining sphere which she thought was the sun. She thought it was the realm of the fairy king.
“This is unexpected,” a voice echoed from above.
Ember gazed up, following the beam of light and saw the fairy king descending. He was only two feet in height with olive skin and white hair. He wore white robes with golden swirls and over his head was a halo of two rings that spun in and out of each other. Four gossamer wings stretched from his back and released golden dust every time they fluttered. His forehead was tattooed with an upward arrow and he smile gracefully.
“We meet again, Elisol,” Ember said and removed her mask. Her Omiack eye glowed and she smirked at the fairy king.
“Out of all people that have come to see me repetitively, I am surprised to see you come a second time,” Elisol replied. “I sense a change of heart in you, Ember. What motivated your visit today?”
“I came because I believe that you can see into the future, much like Arkana,” Ember answered.
“That is true, but, if Arkana is on your side, then why do you need my help?” the fairy king asked.
“I still have doubts,” she confessed and frowned, placing her fist on her heart. “Tell me,” she begged, “Will I rule the world? Look into my future and tell me that you can see the world beneath my heel. Tell me what happens after the tri-eclipse. Am I victorious?”
The fairy king laughed. Ember seethed with anger and clenched her fist. “What is so funny?” she barked.
“I am useless to you, dear child,” Elisol answered.
“I am not a child. Don’t treat me like Akielas. Just tell me. Am I victorious? Let me see into my future.” Ember demanded.
“Are you not satisfied with your current success?” Elisol asked. “Is that omnithium staff not enough? Is acquiring three of the cosmo jewels not enough? Is stripping your old master of his magical abilities not enough either? Do you not feel as though you have the upper hand with Akielas out of the way? Is this not enough proof that you will conquer?”
The fairy king and Ember remained silent for a moment. She clutched her head and felt the internal battle within herself. The two sides that were at war pounded away inside her head.
“Tell me, dear child, do you believe in what you are doing?” Elisol asked. “Is this not what you really wanted?”
“Why can’t you just tell me my future?” Ember rasped. “Tell me or I will kill you.”
“May you find your truth and come to peace with yourself,” Elisol replied. “You already know
the answer. You will receive what you bestow upon the world.”
She shot a blast of fire at the fairy king and just before she could see the holy entity burnt by her flames, he disappeared and the star ocean disappeared. Mountains rose around her, clouds moved through the blue sky, the sun blazed above and the winds gusted. With rage she roared and launched a red beam of fire, then suddenly a strange force pushed her back and away from the Stonehenge. Ember fell and rolled on the ground collecting dirt and moss. She quickly stood up and attempted to blast the Stonehenge but a crystal barrier appeared and it redirected the attack. She spun away and evaded that blast which then exploded on the mountain slopes causing a rock avalanche.
Angry at herself, Ember punched the ground with a fist full of flames. She kept punching the ground again and again until it turned to lava.
And she screamed.
And she cried.
And she cursed the gods.
And she cursed herself.
Serena
“Her name was Zarviack,” King Krobpiok said. “She enlightened us and through her words we felt her love. You are like the spirit image of her.”
Serena listened to the king of the Laguans. He spoke so beautifully of her mother and a part of her was jealous to never have experienced her presence. She grew up hearing of what a deadly race the Laguans were but now she thought of them as peaceful and poetic. Her father told her that the Laguans were masters of poison and that they wanted to conquer land and sea, because they were ruthless and cold blooded. She wondered if her father ever stopped and spoke to them as she was. Did he ever stop and listen to what they had to say? Did he ever put himself in their position and look at the world through their eyes like she was trying to do? Father, you were wrong, she thought.
Blood of Mages (Rift of Chaos Book 3) Page 16