Bridgefinders (The Echo Worlds Book 1)

by Joshua Cook

  Cendan felt drained, weak. This day had gone from normal to far outside the normal in a very short time. All he could feel at the moment was exhaustion. He wanted to go home, and sleep for a long time, get up in the morning, and just go to work. All he wanted was normality—basic, boring normality. But he wasn’t going to get it. He’d agreed to be part of this strange world of monsters, magic, and echo worlds.

  Jasmine studied him and noted his exhaustion. “Pretty tired, huh? I’m surprised that you haven’t collapsed at this point. I’ve known about all this for years, and I was still tired after my initiation. I can’t imagine what you must be trying to process.”

  “Oh right, sorry,” Marcus said, still clearly in shock from Cendan’s vision. “I think it may be better for everyone if you slept here tonight. Don’t worry, we aren’t kidnapping you or anything, but for the first night after joining, it’s kind of tradition to use one of the empty bedrooms and get some rest here.”

  Cendan was too tired to argue. The mere thought of having to drive the short distance home made his head hurt. Slowly rising to his feet with the help of Jasmine and Sal, he contemplated the key in its place in the pattern. It felt right for it to be there, but part of him still wanted to pick it up, feel it in his hand, and be grounded.

  “Come on, I’ll show you where the bedrooms are in this maze. Take any free one. There’s a ton of empties around here,” Sal said. “I know what you’re feeling too, Cendan. All I remember from my first day is being exhausted and confused. It makes more sense the longer you do it though. Cliché, I know, but this is one of those things that is true.”

  Cendan nodded and followed Sal down various halls and through doors. There was still one obvious question that he hadn’t asked. “This isn’t really under the restaurant, is it?” “No,” Sal said, “and before you ask, we don’t know where this place is, really. Once again, that’s something that has been lost to us over the years. So much disappears as the Slyph slowly eats us, one bite at a time. All we can do anymore is slow down the chewing.”

  “Pleasant thought.” Cendan walked on, now in silence. They continued on for a short while before finally turning down a hall that had doors spaced equally all the way down.

  “Pick a door, any door!” Sal exclaimed. Cendan found he liked him, even if the guy did try a bit too hard to be funny. At least he tried. Sal was the funny one, Jasmine was Jasmine and would always be in esteem for Cendan. Marcus was the tricky one. All hard angles and dour—Cendan respected Marcus because he didn’t try to be something other than what he was—a man who had taken on a massive responsibility, knowing it was hopeless, and trying anyway. Slowing the chewing indeed.

  Picking a door that was painted in a dark forest green with a large brass handle reminiscent of an old sailing ship, Cendan walked into a fairly plain bedroom. It had a bed, small table, sink and faucet, and a small bathroom with a walk-in shower. Plain. Cendan appreciated plain though the room did have the same rounded corners and strange lighting that everywhere else he had seen in this place. He didn’t understand it.

  Sal stood out in the hallway. “Nice choice. I’ve never seen inside most of the rooms here. Some are simple; some, ornate to the point of excess.” He checked his watch and made a face. “I’ve got to get some rest myself, so I’ll leave you here, OK? Oh, and just for your own peace of mind, every room has a lock that only locks from the inside.”

  With that, Sal vanished, walking away down the hall.

  Cendan closed the door behind him and, after a moment’s hesitation, locked it up. He sat on the bed and yawned. He quickly got as cleaned up as he could, lamenting that he didn’t have a toothbrush or any soap. But the water felt good anyway, and he rinsed his mouth out the best he could. Stripping down to his boxers, he climbed into bed. Bed, a word he never thought would feel so good.

  As he drifted off to sleep, Cendan noted he had forgotten to mention the key being in his vision. He wondered why he hadn’t brought it up, but no answer came to him as he fell into an exhausted slumber.

  Chapter Four

  The Slyph was angry—furious, even. Those humans... Those Bridgefinders had found a new member, one new person to add their strength to the other side, one more focus to defeat. Why had Grellnot been unable to find this new one? She had sent the thing to the human world months ago. A simple mission, one that Grellnot had completed many a time.

  “Find any emergent Bridgefinders and eliminate them.” It was a simple task, and one for which Grellnot was uniquely suited. Grellnot was getting harder and harder to control, however. Over the years since its creation, it had grown more powerful, smarter, and far more cunning. The Slyph knew that it was the influence of all the power it had fed off of—all those Bridgefinders, sucked dry of their ability, all those foci Grellnot kept around its neck.

  The Slyph hated that necklace. She could feel its power every time she was near it. So many times over the years and centuries, she had thought about ordering Grellnot to give it to her, to hand it over so that its power could be used to strengthen her pet. But she never had. Grellnot loved the necklace and its power. If she ordered Grellnot give it over, he might refuse her. A creature of hers, refusing a direct order.

  Not wanting to face such an issue, the Slyph let Grellnot keep the thing, as much as she hungered for its powers.

  Gliding over the ground, the Slyph tried to put Grellnot and his activities out of her mind. Her world was fair today. Fairies and sprites flew and pranced around her—their goddess, their reason for existence. Everything here, in her world, owed its life to her—the sun, the moon, the plants, everything.

  There had been a time once when she had worked and spoken with humans. Their world was a strange one to her. It was all machines and industry these days. To be sure, a few of her creatures were similar, but she had created them as such. In an effort to understand humans, she’d created creatures in their honor. She’d made dwarves, gnomes, and elves to help her learn more about the humans. Of course, it hadn’t helped.

  The dwarves kept to themselves, and their love of the stone and the dark places under the sun limited their usefulness. The gnomes had been better, but still were far more concerned with having their own lives than they were with humans. The elves, however... the elves loved humans. They loved humans too much.

  They loved to trick them, play games on them, and what they did with the human women they took… They had never wanted to hunt Bridgefinders or expressed any desire to help her. Their creation had been a mistake, perhaps, but she had given them much power, and someday they might be useful.

  Her failures with the dwarves, gnomes, and elves had led to the creation of Grellnot. Unwilling to give up on working with humans, and sick of the Bridgefinders and their increasing power at the time, she had come up with a plan to destroy their machine and capture its creator. A hint of satisfaction crossed her featureless white face as she approached her favorite pet.

  A clearing came into view ahead, and in the middle of the clearing, there was a large oak tree. It was huge, in fact, dwarfing any other tree around. Her fingers brushed against its bark, and she felt the slight writhing of the man inside the tree. There wasn’t much man left now. She had slowly drained him of his humanity, bit by bit, and now fraction of his power was all that was left.

  “Oakheart, darling, how are you today?” the Slyph purred. The man had once been a Bridgefinder, one that they called a maker. It had been generations since his capture, but to the Slyph, time didn’t exist.

  Free me, the leaves whispered in the wind, as the branches creaked. Tired, the leaves whispered again, before falling into silence.

  “Now now, Oakheart. Someday perhaps you will rest, but only after the two worlds are one and I get my way. Until then, you are mine, my love.” The Slyph stroked the trunk of the oak tree. She didn’t really love Oakheart, but they had made wonderful creations together, some of which hadn’t even ventured out into the other world yet.

  A tall figure, thin in appearance,
dressed in green and gold approached slowly. The Slyph felt annoyed. Lachnin again. The Elf “King,” come again to ask for his people to be allowed to venture forth again to the world of the humans. King, indeed! Only the elves found a need to have a king. Even the dwarves and gnomes didn’t dare to place one so high and expect the Slyph to treat the thing as an equal.

  With a wave of her arm, the Slyph made a white throne appear, and a pedestal for it to sit upon. Settling down on it, she gave off an air of amusement. Lachnin might have been the King of the Elves, but she was their god, their creator. King Lachnin would do well for a little reminder of that.

  Approaching the throne, Lachnin bowed his head, no crown visible upon it. “My Lady Slyph.” He straightened up and glanced at the tree. Lachnin felt pity for whatever remained of the man that was inside it. No one deserved what the Slyph had done to him, yet the spirit of the man held on, if loosely at this age. Being this close to the tree gave Lachnin a headache. Human world magic always did. He would not, however, let the Slyph see any sign of weakness from him. Anything like that around her would be met with humor at best and anger at worst.

  “Lachnin. While I can imagine what brings you here, please have a seat.” The Slyph gestured towards the ground.

  King Lachnin noted she didn’t use his title, and she expected him to sit on the ground before her. That was a bit more harsh than normal, but not unexpected. Not wanting to pick a fight over that today, Lachnin acquiesced to her unspoken request.

  “My Lady Slyph, I once again ask you to allow us, the elves, access to the human world. We have been cut off for years now, and my people suffer for it. No human music, and no human girls…” King Lachnin grimaced. His people loved humans and had a more symbiotic relationship than the predatory one that some other creatures did.

  The Slyph held up a finger. “Lachnin, we’ve had this discussion before. You will have access to all the humans you want after the worlds become one.”

  Lachnin sighed and nodded. He had no interest in that. Humans would be decimated in that case, destroyed by the very creatures that lived around him and his people. The Elven people survival depended upon stopping the mass slaughter of humans. He knew very well that the elves weren’t high on the Slyph’s list because of this very fact. Even though she had made them this way.

  Standing, he bowed again and left, not speaking another word.

  The Slyph sighed. She regretted creating those pompous things, but it had been a different era, one in which she still believed that working with humans was the way to get what she wanted.

  Sitting on the throne by Oakheart, the Slyph steeled herself for her next visitor. Grellnot was coming, and this was going to get tense. “Do you sense it, Oakheart? Our child together comes.” A soft laugh from her lifted over the air. The tree creaked and groaned more in anger. “Active today, aren’t we? Maybe I should drain a bit more, see what else I can make.” The tree quieted at that. The Slyph didn’t really mean it—any more drained and the tree would just be a tree. But it was fun to tease the silly human maker, or whatever was left of him.

  Grellnot appeared silently; one minute not there, the next there standing against the tree, his long greasy hair and rough green skin giving his features a more sinister cast than usual. He was careful to keep any of the foci on his neck from touching the Oakhearts bark, knowing full well that what the Slyph truly desired was to steal all the power she could from his treasures.

  “Grellnot,” the Slyph said. “I have a problem. I sent you to the human world, to find those who could become Bridgefinders to steal their powers before they can become fully developed, to end this threat to us once and for all. But yet, here we are—they have a new member, he has a focus, and we have nothing.”

  Grellnot snorted, ignoring the results from that snort much to the Slyph’s disgust. “Grellnot knows what Grellnot is doing. Grellnot find the human, yes, but he wasn’t ripe yet. Grellnot wanted the shiny. It has been too long since Grellnot got a new treasure.”

  The Slyph had no eyes, but she seemed to be staring at the creature. “You let him live so you could get a focus?” Her voice cut through the air. The sky above, which had been clear and blue before, grew dark and stormy instantly—such was living in a world where the Slyph ruled all.

  Grellnot shrugged. “Yes. Grellnot wants a new shiny. One more human Finder can’t stop you. Once he leaves the Finder home, Grellnot will get him, take his shiny, and drain his power. He will be ripe now. Grellnot can feast…”

  The Slyph trembled with anger... This creature was openly defying her! “Grellnot you are to take him as soon as you can. And I want the shiny. You can have it after I have used its power to keep Oakheart alive. Then, you can add it to that necklace of yours. But as punishment for defying me, it will not have any power.” The surrounding storm intensified, but the clearing that surrounded Oakheart and the two figures stayed calm. The Slyph wasn’t about to let the weather touch her most prized possession.

  Grellnot sniffed and spat. “No.”

  Sitting back, the Slyph felt her anger spilling over. “I can end you, Grellnot. I can remove the power that made you and end you.”

  Grellnot laughed—a deep, harsh sound. “Half made me. Just half.”

  The Slyph hesitated for a second, raising her hand. Grellnot had been one of her most successful experiments ever, but no creature in her world could deny her and live. She reached out with her power, the power of the magic that infused every section every particle of this world, and erased Grellnot from existence.

  Grellnot stood there for a second, trembling. Then, breaking out into a laugh, he began to jump and scamper. “Grellnot told you, you can’t beat Grellnot! I am more than I was. I have grown. You can’t control me now!”

  Horror and anger washed over the Slyph. How was this possible? Then she knew—all that power that Grellnot had absorbed from the humans, those Bridgefinders—all of that power was of the magic she couldn’t control. He was now more of that side and less of hers. The scales had been tipped, and Grellnot was now outside her influence.

  Grellnot continued to scamper and cavort for a minute longer. Then he stopped. “Grellnot is free now. Grellnot does and takes what he wants. Grellnot in charge!” Turning to the tree, the Slyph saw him reach out. “Grellnot will feed on this man spirit, and then Grellnot feed on you!”

  A glow enveloped Grellnots hand, and for a second the Slyph thought that the creature had won. But at that moment, a sound came—an echo, a resonance that she had never heard. Grellnot dropped to his knees and screamed.

  The Slyph felt relieved. She knew what had happened, even if Grellnot did not. He had been created of the magic of the Slyph and the magic of a maker human. Maker powers, were different, stronger, and of a different bent. Grellnot could not drain a maker. In fact, he couldn’t even touch one—which meant he couldn’t touch the Slyph, either.

  “Stupid creature. You can’t harm Oakheart, and you can’t harm me. The rules of magic deny you.” The storm above faded a bit as the Slyph reigned in her temper.

  “Grellnot not need you. Grellnot find the human and take shiny treasure for self,” Grellnot screamed, still holding its head in a clawed, malformed hand.

  The Slyph laughed. “I can’t directly compel you anymore. But you are still in my power, creature. If you don’t obey…” Standing, the Slyph walked towards Grellnot, her feet leaving burned patches in her wake to impress him. “I simply will not let you leave this world. You will never feed again, Grellnot. Every creature here is part of me, the very air is part of my magic. Nothing you eat here will make you full, nothing.”

  Grellnot stamped his feet and raged at this statement, knowing the Slyph was right and there was nothing it could do. “Fine. Grellnot go steal the new Finder’s power.” It grinned slyly.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” the Slyph said. “You’re thinking you’ll just stay in the human world. That won’t work, either. Cut off from this world entirely? It’s still part of you, an
d without it, you will slowly wither and die.” The Slyph paced around Grellnot, careful not to touch the foul thing. “Face it, Grellnot—you need to stay in my good graces.”

  Grellnot scowled and stamped its feet. Muttering to itself, Grellnot smacked its head over and over again. Finally, it gave a groan and nodded. “Grellnot do this for you. Grellnot find the new human and take its powers. Grellnot hungry already, so hungry…”

  The Slyph nodded slowly and dismissed the creature with a wave of her hand. She knew that Grellnot was only going to get harder to control and had chosen not to push it too far yet. If it came down to it, though, she would have to send it somewhere else, the cavern maybe. She would have that necklace one way or another, and all those foci she would feed into Oakheart. With a thought, the throne, and the platform dissolved into mist and vanished into the calm air again.

  Chapter Five

  Cendan awoke to a soft knock on the door and some considerable confusion. Sleep still crowded his mind, and the room was very unfamiliar when he first opened his eyes. Then, the memories of the previous day came rushing in, and Cendan groaned. He didn’t even know what time it was–there was no clock, and he had yet to see a single window in this place.

  The knock came again. “One second,” Cendan grumbled. He stood slowly and stretched. He felt much better rested, but not knowing when it was really bothered him. He had left his watch at home when he’d gone out to eat the day before, and he didn’t feel anchored to the present without it.

  He half-walked, half-shuffled over to the door and unlocked it. Jasmine stood there, holding two large suitcases. “I went by your place. You never did get my key from me. Got you some clothes and stuff. Even got your messages, such as they were.”

  A flash of irritation moved through him, much to his surprise. She was just trying to be helpful, but the thought of this life taking over his other was one he wasn’t used to yet. “Thanks… I… thanks.”