Run To Earth (Power of Four)

by Mazhar, S

  “No,” Scott replied. “The Pecosas maintain they know nothing about the Scorcher.”

  “You don’t believe them?” a tall, dark-skinned boy asked.

  “I didn’t at first,” Scott replied, “but after ten days of the same answer, I had to give in.”

  “But the Pecosas were sighted,” the Asian girl next to Ryan said. “We know they’re with him. They’re helping the Scorcher.”

  “They say they’re not,” Scott replied. “The chief claims some of their people have turned. Those are the few Pecosas that have been sighted with the Scorcher. The majority of them have nothing to do with him.”

  Skyler snorted. “You believe that tripe?”

  “I have no other option,” Scott replied.

  “The Pecosas are up to something,” the Asian girl said. “They might not be enemies, but they’re not allies either.”

  “I agree with Zhi-Jiya,” Ella said. “We can’t trust them.”

  “I never said we had to trust them,” said Scott. “But I do believe them.”

  Aaron was confused. Not only with what Scott had said but with the whole discussion. It didn’t make any sense to him, not that he expected it to. He had walked into a mage meeting with no prior knowledge. It was bound to be confusing.

  “Anyway, next call of business.” Scott waved a hand and the mages got up, walking to the circular table. Aaron joined them. “I’m setting up a Q-Zone in a week’s time.” Every mage became tense, standing still. “The others will arrive over the course of the week. I want everyone trained up and ready. This one is going to be big.”

  “Where we going?” Ella asked.

  Scott turned to the table and pointed to the zone labelled M.

  “Here,” Scott said. “Zone M-25.” He pointed at one of the areas outlined by the fine, spidery lines criss-crossing inside Zone M. “Tobo, Japan,” Scott said, the map shimmering to show the map of the human world for a moment before reverting back. “The Q-Zone will be set up here.” Scott pointed to another area of the map. “I want everyone to start their training. You don’t impress me, you don’t get to go. Understood?”

  “Understood, Scott,” came the response.

  “Alright, you can go now,” Scott dismissed. “Kyran, Skyler, Ella – hold back, please. I want a word.”

  As the rest of the mages moved out, Aaron stayed where he was, confused to his core.

  “Aaron?” Scott smiled softly. “You okay?”

  “I’m...I’m a little lost.”

  “I would expect you to be,” Scott replied.

  “You said you were setting up a Q-Zone,” he said, “but isn’t that the Q-Zone?” He pointed to the zone with the letter Q on it.

  Scott laughed. “I can see why you would think that,” Scott said, “but this is Zone Q. What I’m talking about is a Q-Zone, short for Quarantine Zone.”

  “Quarantine?” Aaron felt his mouth go dry. “What are you planning on isolating?”

  “Things that need to be put down,” Scott replied.

  “Like?” Aaron pushed.

  “In this particular instance,” he met Aaron’s eyes, “Lycans.”

  Aaron blinked. “I’m sorry?”

  “Lycans,” Scott repeated. “They’re terrorising the people of Tobo. Over the last two months, there have been countless disappearances and mutilated bodies found almost every night.”

  “In Tobo?” Aaron asked. “As in Japan? In my world?”

  Scott paused, his eyes narrowed slightly. “The human realm,” he corrected. “Yes.”

  Aaron gaped at him. “You’re talking about...werewolves?” he asked with disbelief.

  “Lycans aren’t werewolves,” Ella said. “Humans confuse the two, but Lycans are very different to werewolves.”

  “Werewolves are nothing more than dirty dogs that’ve had their fangs pulled out,” Skyler added. “Lycans are beasts that will rip you into a thousand shreds if you let them get near enough.”

  “Which is why you lot need to be prepared,” Scott said.

  “We are prepared,” Ella said. “Send me out today. I’m ready.”

  “Easy there, Ella,” Kyran said. “Lycans are a big game.”

  “You need to hold your ground against me,” Skyler said to her. “Then we’ll see if you’re ready.”

  “Pfft, please.” Ella turned to him. “Kyran was smacking you around minutes ago. I’ll train with him, thank you very much.”

  “I’ll supervise the training,” Scott said, before Skyler could reply. “That’s why I held you three back. I know you will pass the training and I need you three to get the rest in shape.”

  The trio nodded their agreement.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t get past this,” Aaron said, shaking his head. “Lycans in Japan? How is this possible?”

  “What’s so unbelievable about it?” Scott asked.

  “Lycans!” Aaron exclaimed. “Big hairy beasts with claws and...and fangs and...they’re going around killing people? How does no one notice that?”

  “They do notice,” Scott replied calmly. “Where do you think these human legends and myths come from?”

  “But surely there would be panic and chaos,” Aaron said. “The humans would know for sure that werewolves exist.”

  Skyler chuckled. “Is this kid for real?” he asked.

  Aaron turned to see Skyler, Ella and Kyran all grinning, chortling at him.

  “What?” Aaron demanded, annoyed.

  “They’re humans,” Skyler said, as if that explained everything. “They could have Lycans break-dancing in front of them and they’ll still come up with something to explain it. I was drunk. I was high. It was just the light. It was my overactive imagination,” he mimicked in a high-pitched voice. “And the poor sod who does get it right and tries to tell the world gets locked up in a padded room for losing his mind.” He grinned. “Humans are the single most frustratingly naïve creation in all the realms.”

  “That’s not true.” Aaron shook his head. “Humans aren’t stupid. If they see monsters–”

  “They run,” Ella said. “That’s what they do. They see a threat, they run. That’s what they’re supposed to do. It’s the job of a mage, of a Hunter, to face the demons.”

  Aaron turned to stare at the map. “The Q-Zone,” he said quietly. “That’s what the mages of Balt came here for. They wanted permission to go to it?”

  “Every Hunter wants to prove their worth,” Scott said. “Hunters will fight with everything they’ve got, down to their last breath, to get a chance to go into the Q-Zone. But only the most skilled of Hunters can execute a perfect Q-Zone kill.”

  Skyler, Ella and Kyran all sat up with pride, smirking at one another.

  “What exactly is it?” Aaron asked.

  “It’s a temporary zone that is created for only one purpose,” Scott explained.

  “Trap and burn.” Skyler grinned.

  Aaron looked questioningly at Scott.

  “The threat, whatever it may be, is in the human realm,” Scott said as his hand hovered over the table to show the map of the world again. “We can’t go into the human world and end it, lest we reveal ourselves and put the Trace on half of the population.” Aaron tensed but remained quiet. “So the Hunters have to lure the demons out of the human realm and back into our realm to destroy them.” The map shimmered and went back to the mage realm. “But, of course, the demons aren’t stupid and they won’t let themselves be drawn out and brought back to a place they can be killed, so I make what’s called a Quarantine Zone. A temporary area, as big or small as required, that traps the demons. I can make Q-Zones in either realm, but it’s only visible to mages, so it allows them to lure the demons into the Q-Zone without them realising.”

  “What happens to the demons once they enter the Q-Zone?” Aaron asked.

  “Hunters can fight the demons whichever way they like in the Q-Zone,” Scott said. His expression darkened and he looked down at the map. “But like I said, the Q-Zone is only temporary
. It collapses forty minutes after it’s created. Anything still inside the zone is destroyed.”

  Aaron could read the grief on Scott’s face. “I take it the Q-Zone doesn’t distinguish between mages and demons?” he asked.

  “We’ve lost many Hunters in Q-Zones,” Scott revealed in a quiet, morose voice. “An ideal execution is to trap the demons and have every single Hunter out of the zone before it collapses.” He shook his head and sighed, closing his eyes. “But that doesn’t always happen.”

  “It’ll happen this time,” Skyler said, coming to stand next to Scott. “We’re not losing any more Hunters.” Then, with a look at Kyran he added, “Well, maybe just the one.”

  Kyran rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

  “Don’t,” Scott warned Skyler. “I don’t want to hear you even joke about something like that.”

  “Let him,” Kyran said. “He can say what he wants. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Skyler only smirked back at him.

  “So that’s what Hunters do?” Aaron asked. “They go to the human world to lure out the demons and bring them to the Q-Zone to be destroyed?”

  “No,” Ella replied. “We do a lot more than that.”

  “We have our own world to protect too,” Skyler said.

  “Here?” Aaron frowned. “But I thought this realm was safe?”

  The faces before him darkened.

  “Our realm isn’t safe,” Ella said quietly. “Not by a long shot.”

  “Not yet, it isn’t,” Skyler corrected. “But we’ll get there.”

  Scott, Aaron noticed, looked downright miserable. His face was lowered, shoulders hunched and eyes closed, with deep lines on his brow.

  “Scott?” Aaron called, making the man open his eyes and lift his head up before offering a tight smile.

  “We don’t go to the human realm often,” he said. “Only when we learn about demons crossing realms and terrorising the humans. It’s the duty of a mage to protect human life.” His hand lifted and once again the map changed, but this time the black lines grew until the areas all shaded to black. The individual letters of the alphabet disappeared and in their place came only two letters. Either an H outlined in red, or the letter N outlined in blue. Just a glance showed Aaron that there were more red zones than blue. “But we have to protect ourselves too,” Scott said and gestured to the map. “The blue zones are our safe zones, ones that are Gated.”

  “Gated?” Aaron asked. “What does that mean?”

  Scott paused before sharing a look with Skyler and Ella. “When you first arrived at Salvador, you came across a Gate,” Scott said.

  Aaron thought for a moment. “You mean that big white door?”

  Scott’s lips lifted into an amused smile. Behind him, Skyler facepalmed.

  “Yes, that big white door,” Scott repeated. “That door is a Gate – a pretty important Gate. It protects us from demons as well as protecting the human realm.”

  “The human realm?” Aaron asked. “How?”

  Scott paused, narrowing his eyes. “Your dad really hasn’t told you anything?”

  Aaron tried to ignore the dirty look Skyler threw him. “No,” he admitted quietly.

  Scott took in a breath. “Aaron, do you know what being a mage means?”

  Feeling his face burn, Aaron shook his head. “No.”

  Scott nodded again, growing more frustrated, as was evident by the red tinge in his cheeks. “I can’t understand why Christopher Adams would treat his own son like this.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Alright.” Scott reached out to pull Aaron closer, turning him to face the map. “A mage has powers, you know that much?”

  “Yeah.” Aaron nodded.

  “When a mage in this realm uses their power, it generates an immense amount of energy,” Scott explained. “The Gates,” he pointed to the blue N-marked zones, “take in that energy. They utilise it to remain strong and protect the zones.” He pointed to the red H-marked zones. “But these areas don’t have Gates. The power flows directly from these areas into the human realm and it causes tremendous damage to their world.”

  Aaron felt goosebumps erupt over his flesh. “What kind of damage?”

  “You’ve seen the power we have,” Scott said. “You’ve been in Salvador long enough. Can’t you tell what kind of damage it would inflict?”

  Aaron felt his skin prickle with dread. “Elements,” he replied. “The mages use the power of the elements.”

  “Wahey,” Skyler mocked. “He actually got it.”

  “Mages have power over the elements,” Scott confirmed. “They can do almost anything with that power, but if that release of energy isn’t contained, then that power leaks out and affects the human realm. If the power of Earth is used, then the energy would affect the earth of the human realm. If it’s the power of Water, it’ll affect the water of the human realm.”

  Aaron’s eyes widened. “No,” he gasped. “You don’t mean...?”

  Scott’s face fell and he nodded sadly. “Nine times out of ten, it’s our power that upsets nature’s balance.”

  “Turns out natural disasters aren’t so natural after all,” Skyler said.

  Aaron, horrified to his very core, shook his head in denial. “It can’t be,” he said, feeling a pressure twist at his heart. “Earthquakes,” he whispered. “Tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, all of it...We...we’re responsible?”

  “No.” Scott held on to Aaron’s arm, his grip brutally tight. “We’re not responsible,” he said. “We safeguard our zones. We set up Gates so we don’t kill thousands of humans. We have Gates so that our powers don’t create earthquakes and tsunamis and floods! We aren’t the ones wiping out the human species.” He jabbed a finger at the red zones. “They are responsible!” he said. “They are the ones that use their powers freely and without a care!”

  “Why?” Aaron asked. “Why would mages do that?”

  “They’re not mages.” It was Kyran who spoke. “They’re nothing like mages.”

  “Who are they, then?” Aaron asked.

  “Demons,” Ella replied, with a disgusted expression.

  “Got that right,” Skyler said, his voice holding a slight growl and his expression twisted to show his revulsion. “The worst of all demons.”

  Scott let go of Aaron, looking a little calmer. “They live in these zones.” He pointed to the red H-marked zones.

  Aaron looked across the map, noting that there were only seven zones marked with a blue N. The other nineteen had the red H – areas that didn’t have Gates to protect the human world. These zones, Aaron realised, coincided with the areas of the world that were thought to be prone to natural disasters: South America, Canada, the United States of America, Russia, Italy, Japan and Australia.

  “Why can’t you set up Gates in these areas as well?” Aaron asked.

  “What a good idea,” Skyler said in an exaggerated tone. “Thank Heavens you came, Adams, with such revolutionary ideas. We would never have thought of putting up Gates there on our own.”

  “Skyler,” Scott said harshly, before turning back to Aaron. “That’s what we’re trying to do,” he explained. “Each of these zones are divided into sub-zones.” The map changed to show Aaron the twenty-six zones with thin, fine lines criss-crossing the inside of each – detailing the sub-zones. “We take one sub-zone at a time and eradicate the enemy. Once we have all sub-zones cleared out, we set up a Gate for that zone. That becomes a safe zone – Neriah’s zones.”

  Neriah, Aaron repeated mentally. He had heard the name before. He was sure Mary had mentioned him once or twice. Aaron looked at the seven zones that had been marked with a blue N. These were places that had been cleared out and safeguarded. Consequently, these were the very few locations of the world that didn’t suffer as much from natural disasters.

  “The N stands for Neriah,” Aaron said. “So what does the H stand for?”

  Scott went very quiet. A hush fell across the room with even Skyler looking uneasy.

&
nbsp; “Hadrian,” Scott said, struggling with the name. “The red zones belong to Hadrian.”

  “Who’s Hadrian?” Aaron asked.

  Scott, Skyler and Ella all looked uncomfortable, glancing to one another. Aaron tuned to see that even Kyran’s expression had darkened.

  “He’s the enemy,” Scott said with notable difficulty. He clicked his fingers. The map disappeared, leaving only a dark, blank space in the hollow of the table. “I have a lot to do,” he said to Aaron. “Q-Zones don’t get set up on their own.” He attempted a laugh but it sounded fake and empty. “I’ll see you around, Aaron.”

  “Yeah.” Aaron nodded. “See you around.”

  ***

  “What the hell?” Sam exclaimed, eyes narrowed in disbelief. He stared at Aaron, who was sitting on the front steps to their cottage with Rose. “What do they mean they cause natural disasters?”

  “Exactly that,” Aaron said miserably. “If they don’t set up Gates, the power they use causes disasters in our world.”

  “But that makes no sense,” Rose said. “How can this realm affect what happens in our world?”

  Aaron shrugged. “Dunno,” he said. “I think this is the war my dad was talking about.” He met Sam’s eyes. “He told me this world was in the middle of a war, one that’s tearing it apart – literally.” The image of the map, with its N- and H-zones swam to the forefront of his mind. “That’s what he meant: a war over the zones. It seems the fight is between this Neriah and the demon Hadrian. From the looks of things, this Neriah guy is the leader of the mages and Hadrian must be the leader of the demons. Neriah’s trying to drive out the demons and take Hadrian’s zones, to make them safe by setting up Gates so the human realm’s not affected by the flow of power.”

  “They’re having you on,” Sam said. “They think they’re being funny, telling you crap. Besides, think about it: if the mages’ power is responsible for natural disasters in our word and they really have set up Gates to stop that power getting out, then those demons in those...those H-zones, the ones without Gates, must be using the same power as the mages to cause the same damage.”

  “You’re right,” Ella said, making all three look up at her. She stopped at their fence. “They do use the same power as us.”