by D N Meinster
"So..." Aros began, unsure what subject to broach.
"Do you know where you're going?" Doren asked, still irritated by Rikki's departure.
Aros glanced down the empty corridor and pointed straight ahead. "We need to find the elevator."
Doren returned the shield to his back and took off down the hall. He walked with an unmatched urgency, knowing that as soon as they got their task done, they'd be able to return to Rikki. Of course, neither of them could shift so it would take them much longer to navigate back to the Key. She'd be on her own against Hatswick until they could reach her. Why would she leave him with Aros?
"You could've done this on your own, couldn't you?" Doren asked his friend.
"I – "
"Why didn't you say something?"
Aros stopped and his shoulders drooped down. "Neither of you asked."
"Excuse me!" Doren turned and shouted at his friend. "She left us because – " He realized this wasn't Aros' fault. Rikki went on her own because she didn't want to put Doren's life at risk. She should've realized that he couldn't bear thinking about what she was risking by taking on Hatswick herself. "Sorry."
"I get it," Aros replied, and the two proceeded down the hallway. "Rikki's stronger than either of us."
"Than both of us," Doren added.
"She'll be fine."
The lights flickered as they reached a dead end. As Aros reached out to touch the wall, it opened up to reveal a hidden elevator.
"There we are." They stepped inside and waited as the elevator plunged to the lower levels.
Doren took out his shield and flipped it around in his hands, wondering what could await them by the perpetual generator. Aros watched him intently as he rolled it between his arms and juggled it in the air. "Can't do that with your blades."
Aros slid a finger down the arm of his suit so bright lines appeared on its exterior. After aiming his hand at Doren's shield, he pressed a single finger to a point on his armor and a white beam shot out at the target.
Doren was so startled he dropped the shield after the beam hit it.
"Can't do that with your armor," Aros grinned. "Actually, you probably can. I could show you."
The elevator opened back up before Aros had a chance to. They exited and were met by a plain white door that blocked the way ahead.
"I'm guessing its behind here." Aros pushed on the door but it didn't react.
"What if it's got those bio–biometered controls on it?" Doren suggested, recalling what they'd been told about this place.
"Then we're stuck," Aros sighed, kicking at the door.
"Not necessarily," Doren replied, staring at Aros' arm.
"Oh," Aros said, holding up his arm, which was still lit with white lines. "It did work on the dome." He extended his arms and hit four fingers to the spot that would discharge the projectile from his armor.
The beam toasted the door, leaving a black smudge where it hit, but it did not blow it open.
"Damn."
Doren held his arm out in front of Aros, his shield returned to his back. "Maybe you can show me now."
"Right!" Aros ran a finger down Doren's arm until white lines appeared over the bronze. "Tap here," Aros said, pointing to a spot on the armor. "With all your fingers."
Doren pressed a single finger down on the area Aros had indicated and his arm jolted back as a white light erupted from the armor, hitting the top of the door. "Whoa."
Aros extended his arm, aiming at the door. "Ready?"
Doren pointed his fist straight ahead. "Do you even know what we're shooting?"
"Nope!" Aros exclaimed with an odd amount of joy. "On three?"
Doren's fingers inched back toward the spot, barely covering the reticence on his face. He knew they had to get past this barrier, but what if they wound up harming themselves in the process? They couldn't screw this up and put Rikki in more danger. She needed them. And they needed her. He needed her. "Are you sure about this?"
Aros nodded before shouting, "Three!" He slapped the armor so that the illuminating shaft burst out.
Doren followed suit, and they held their fingers in place while their weapons burned through the white door. Neither of them appeared to have a left hand in the minutes that followed. Instead, there was only white light attached to their wrists, reaching out and opening up a path for them.
When they finally let up their centralized devastation, they were unable to witness just what they had accomplished. The short corridor had filled up with smoke. Aros and Doren waved their arms back and forth, trying to clear away the hindering air. They coughed, and they rubbed at their eyes, until finally the way ahead was clear.
An uneven hole, outlined in black, had formed in the doorway, large enough for each of them to squeeze through.
"We did it!" Doren claimed with excitement, and he rushed through to the other side.
Whatever he was expecting the perpetual energy generator to be, this was not it. Floating in the middle of the room was an immense sphere, rapidly pulsating like it was the black heart of all of Belliore. As it expanded, it seemed to swallow up the various tubes that protruded from it, but as it contracted, they appeared unaffected.
Doren was mesmerized by the throbbing generator, not even noticing Aros as he came up beside him.
"How do you think that works?" Aros asked, tilting his head up at the sphere.
"Not important," Doren replied, his focus on the electromagnetic device in Aros' grasp. "Use it."
Aros took out the black slate with both of his hands and held it in front of them. He flipped it over once, then twice, trying to distinguish between the two sides.
"You do know how to use that, right?" Doren asked. Aros had somehow figured out how to use the Bellish armor, so he'd probably be able to use the device.
"Sure," Aros said, and he slid a finger down the middle of the slate. It lit up with a grid of lines similar to what showed on their armor. "The only question is: what line does what?"
"Do you want me to do it?" Doren asked, holding out his hands. He would experiment with it if Aros wouldn't.
"No, no," Aros said, examining the underside of the device. "I think I know." Aros lied his hand flat on the top of the glowing slate and dragged his palm across the flat surface. As soon as he reached the edge and lifted his hand off it, the device went dark and the perpetual energy generator ceased throbbing.
As the first light in the area flickered off, Doren grabbed Aros' shoulders and spun him around. "It worked. Let's go!"
They tried to stay ahead of the incoming blackout as they raced back to the elevator. It opened as soon as they arrived, and they hopped in, seeing only darkness back where they'd come from.
The doors closed, and they gradually climbed through the building.
Doren could feel his heart beating against the interior of his armor as he worried what would happen if the outage caught up with them. The elevator would stop and they'd be stuck in the cramped compartment, leaving Rikki on her own. "Come on, come on," he quietly urged the machine.
Aros already had his clawblades in his hands, with the electromagnetic device magnetized to his back. "You might want to get ready."
"Right," Doren said, withdrawing his shield while his thoughts remained on Rikki. They might make it to her before the stasis field shut down. That would be the best case.
The elevator gradually came to a stop, and the doors opened on a pitch-black corridor. The only light emanated from just above them, though that too went out within moments of their arrival.
"Hold on," Aros said as he locked his arm around Doren's.
"Do you know how to get there?" Doren asked, unable to make out anything that lie ahead.
"That way."
Doren had the distinct impression Aros was pointing straight ahead, even though neither could see in the dark.
Rikki paced along the outside of the time stasis lock, careful not to let any part of her graze the affected field. Hatswick stood between the pillars, so
close to the third Key that she feared he'd be able to grab it from the pedestal and shift as soon as the generator shut down.
Her eyes never left him as she moved back and forth. But she could not control where her memories took her. One moment she was in a classroom in Castle Tornis, Hatswick's voice conveying to her the importance of a calm mind and self-control when it came to magic. In another, she was in an underground crypt, listening to him taunt her while she remained paralyzed.
Hatswick was a genius, not only for the part he played in locking away the Beast, but in his ability to deceive generations of kings from his true intentions. How long after the Parting was it when he decided to plot Neanthal's freedom? Did he only start after Amelia passed away?
Another memory. This one in the Absentia Desert, in front of the Door. She could see his outrage once his replica keys were destroyed. He whined to the Goddess after he lost to Rikki and her friends.
She understood why he'd made copies and not relied on fetching the real Keys. It was so he didn't wind up in a situation like this. The most powerful mage alive bested by a technological booby-trap devised by the Bellish. What awaited them in Terrastream? In the Twilight Islands? Worse than this?
Milo's face flashed in front of her eyes. She remembered Hatswick admitted that he killed him to resurrect long-deceased Thalians.
Rikki paused and aimed her staff at Hatswick. He'd murdered Leidess as well, all in the name of Neanthal. She should try killing him before he could fight back. But how effective would her magic be once it entered the stasis field? It'd certainly kept Hatswick at bay.
Rikki brushed a stray tear from her face and resumed her pacing. She was not here to eliminate Hatswick. Doren might understand if she did, though. Aros certainly would. Nevertheless, that was not their goal. They were here for the Key.
As she stared at the back of his head, the memory of disintegrating his hat came back to her. But there it was, trilby atop his head like it'd never left. She wondered how long he'd gone before replacing it. A day? An hour?
Her eyes fell to the staff; one she had been so jealous of for so long. A variety of golden symbols decorated the rod, all of them emblems of former kings. One stood out more than the others now. This one had an upside-down pyramid with a broken heart. Had it been there this whole time? Was his treachery in plain sight for all these years?
The symbol of the Five Kingdoms was there as well. There was a time he had been loyal to the Tunsev line. If he hadn't betrayed them, would they even need to be gathering the Keys right now? Or would she still be living in Castle Tornis, with Doren? Would they have admitted their feelings to each other if they had remained in that situation?
Rikki sighed. Probably not. Doren's mood would never adjust in the constant presence of the King. And she might never have her sights on anything more than escaping.
The lights in the Key Chamber flickered, and Rikki stopped and directed her staff at the former Grand Mage's back.
While she stood and waited for the stasis field to power down, she heard someone else coming near.
Rikki ever-so-slowly turned her head and saw Versil Talap in the flesh, leisurely approaching. Each of his steps was accompanied by a slight whirring, which she attributed to the metal bars that decorated his sopping body.
"I came for him," Versil said, his gorgeous crimson eyes locked on her. "But I am pleased to find you here. End this nonsense. Help me cure my city and I will give you that key."
Rikki's mouth dropped open before she spoke. "Why couldn't you have made such a bargain earlier?"
"I didn't believe I had to," he replied. "But your presence here, well, I don't find that a coincidence. You saved Doren. There is conclusive data on that fact. If you should agree, then I need not experiment with Hatswick. You are the one Belliore needs."
"You're too late," Rikki said, her voice quivering.
At that moment, the entire room went black. Rikki immediately lit up her channeling crystal and directed the light toward Hatswick. He was already moving; reaching for the Key.
Chapter Thirty-One
Five Kingdoms
Hatswick's fingers brushed against the twirling third Key before they were violently yanked away from the pedestal.
Rikki had her staff fully extended toward him, the luminous crystal emphasizing the ferocity in her expression. With another twitch of her wrist, she pushed him even further away from the Key.
"Leave or die," she warned her former teacher.
Hatswick shook off the unexpected attack and stretched himself to his full height. With an intense flick, his own channeling crystal lit up, as did the chamber's electrical lights. His eyes moved from his old pupil to the third entity standing nearby. "Director Talap, did you assist young Rikki in coming to the kingdom? Surely you must have, for there is no possible way she'd be able to reach Belliore from Kytheras on her own volition. She was never skilled enough for such a feat."
Rikki could feel her cheeks burning red, but she refused to let the insults get to her. "You've been out of commission for a while."
"What did you do to me?" he inquired, still focused on Versil.
"You've been stuck in a time stasis lock," Versil replied. "Meaning you've been frozen in time while the rest of the world went on without you."
Hatswick glanced to the third Key. "How long? Decks? Seasons?"
"Not long enough," Rikki replied.
His eyes fell back on her. "And what have you accomplished in my absence. Trying to prevent me from gathering the Keys?"
"And succeeding," Rikki stated.
"It's your own fault," Versil said. "You shouldn't have tried to steal our Key."
"And yet you'd turn it over to this lot," he waved his staff toward Rikki.
"No, they're also trying to steal it," Versil replied. "And doing a much better job at it."
Hatswick jabbed his staff at the Director, who instantly soared backwards and slammed into a wall. Then he gradually repositioned it until it was aimed at Rikki. "How many Keys have you acquired?"
"You'll have to find that out on your own," she replied, her staff pointed right back at him.
"Do not play with me, Rikki. You got lucky at the Door. And my own mistake has cost me valuable time. But you should never forget which of us is the Grand Mage and which is the student."
"Well," Rikki began. "Since you betrayed and deserted Kytheras, I'm the Grand Mage."
Hatswick's laugh echoed through the chamber. "You may wield Amelia's staff and have her blood, but you are a poor imitation of your great-grandmother."
Rikki grinded her hand against the body of her staff, and an immense pressure burst forth and instantaneously squashed Hatswick against the ground.
It took him a minute before he rose up from the crumpled cloak. With his free hand, he whipped his trilby back into shape and situated it upon his head. "If Amelia had done that, I'd be dead. But you don't have it in you, Rikki. You and your friends are outmatched. Any successes you've had are merely temporary. Magenine is stuck with you but Neanthal chose me. I will free him and you will die."
"You're forgetting something," Rikki responded.
"And that is?"
Rikki charged and tackled Hatswick, and with her staff pressed against him, they both started fading away from the Key Chamber. In its place, seemingly endless sands and an enormous door standing freely in the middle of it came into view.
When they had finished shifting into the Absentia Desert, Rikki backed off of Hatswick. "I can shift now."
Hatswick straightened up and examined his new surroundings. He was particularly transfixed by the Door.
"The site of your last failure," Rikki ridiculed him. "You should apologize to Neanthal now, since you're gonna fail him again."
"So you can shift," Hatswick said, acknowledging the revelation. "Did you teach yourself? I think not. Who showed you? Where have you been?"
"You might have known her," Rikki said. "Her name was Grace."
As Hatswick tried to regi
ster what she told him, Rikki sent forth a massive green fireball to engulf her adversary.
With a slash, Hatswick disbursed the flames. "I don't know how you managed that, but it seems shifting is all you've learned. You still have no idea how to properly fight."
Hatswick raised his staff above his head, both hands gripping the rod. Spinning into existence just above it was a red fireball, which grew with every adjacent turn of flame. When he was done forming it, it was almost the same size as the Door behind him. "You're only a novice," he said as the flame careened toward her.
Rikki began shifting before it was even halfway on its trajectory. By the time it hit its target, it only burned sand.
Rikki was back within the Key Chamber. Versil was moaning from the ground while the third Key remained completely unprotected. She made her way toward it when an outline of Hatswick began fading into the room.
As she reached for the Key, Hatswick grabbed hold of her wrist. "You may have gotten the other Keys, but I'm here now. It won't be so easy."
Rikki tugged her hand free and shoved her staff into his face, the silver wings grazing his goatee. "You don't know what we've been through. It's hardly been easy."
The corners of Hatswick's mouth curled upward. "Believe me, whatever it's been up until now, that's easy!" He swung his staff into hers and batted it away.
This time, he reached for the Key, but Rikki dove at him and started shifting the two of them away as soon as she made contact.
They were back in Kytheras again. This time, it was their old classroom, which had been gathering dust in their absence. The desks were all neatly arranged, but there were no students left to fill them. If not for the lights coming from their crystals, the room would've remained dark.
"Is this the only place you know how to get to?" Hatswick asked.
Memories of their time together flooded her mind, but Rikki pushed them aside as she gazed around the room. This would be the worst time to get distracted. "You killed him," she accused.
"Are you still upset about that?" Hatswick replied, side-stepping over to his old desk. He ran a finger through the dust. "I miss the boy. I should've tried recruiting him before I used his soul."