Silence

by Tyler Vance

  Was he willing to make a deal with a demon?

  No, that wasn’t an option. Khryzt would just float away and leave them to die here. The creature had as good as told him. But without magic-

  In a flash, Sheikoh suddenly realized who else might be able to help them: Camillio Tyche. His fingers traced the ridge of his eye, searching for his monocle, but it was in vain. Sheikoh cursed. He had lost it in the cave-in. And Indigo’s own was shattered beyond repair. They were on their own.

  The wall of heat advanced on them, leaping for the sky triumphantly. Sheikoh searched his pockets, despairing at finding some way out of the wall of fire. His fingers touched upon the dented blacksteel casing. Shock raced through him. How could he have possibly forgotten his Trinity? Sheikoh ripped his cellpad out of his pocket and furiously keyed in the contact, ‘Dream.’

  Come on!

  The Celestial picked up on the third ring.

  “Silence?” Tyche asked.

  “We got the amulet around her, but we’re trapped! The forest is burning around us, we need you, now!”

  “Dammit, where are you?” Tyche asked him sharply.

  “The Schizn Canopy, same as before. Can’t you just magic yourself here?!” Sheikoh thundered into the receiver.

  “Not if I can’t sense any of you! Wherever you are, you’re too close to the amulet! Get some distance and I might be able to help!” Tyche retorted harshly.

  During the conversation, Sheikoh had had to roll both Emili into balls, the wall of fire had crept so close to them. They were all huddled within the last three feet of ground that remained untouched by the surrounding flames.

  Of course not, Sheikoh realized, furious at himself. He knew what he had to do. It wasn’t going to be pretty, but it was their only chance.

  “Okay, get ready. As soon as can feel me or whatever, get here. We’re out of time,” Sheikoh told the Celestial.

  He took a deep breath. The smoke seared his lungs. That was nothing compared to what was about to come. Sheikoh gazed down at Emili’s sleeping face, steeling himself against what was about to come. Then he bunched up his cyborg legs and sprung through the roaring wall of flames as hard as he could. He thought if he went fast enough the flames wouldn’t catch. He quickly realized he’d never been more wrong in his life.

  Sheikoh’s flesh erupted. Pain seared itself into his skin. His hair and clothes burst into flame instantly. The horrible agony ripped him apart. Tendrils of fire danced over him, reveling in his unparalleled agony. His world scattered before the singular reality of his screaming torture.

  Sheikoh didn’t notice when he passed through the other side of the fire. He barely noticed his collarbone crack as he slammed against a tree, or the splinters shoving themselves deep into his flesh. But he did notice when his flaming body pounded into the ground. Sheikoh squirmed and rolled, desperately trying to choke his flaming agony.

  A lifetime later, a wind was slowly ripping sparks and tendrils of flame off of him. Layer by layer, the pain dulled somewhere into the realm of bearable sensation. Sheikoh opened his haggard eyes and found Camillio Tyche, standing above him. For the merest moment, Tyche’s glowing blue eyes sent a shiver down Sheikoh’s spine. His thoughts stuttered back to Khryzt and how nearly the creature had killed him. Sheikoh quickly shook off the thought and desperately pointed over where Indigo and Emili were.

  “They’re in there!”

  Camillio Tyche’s face hardened with strain. The Celestial extended two clawed hands and leaned towards the inferno. The roar of the fire was suddenly accompanied by a howling, blue whirlwind at the edges of the blaze. The blue twister ripped leaps of the fire into itself, screaming and growing into the overhead clouds, until Sheikoh couldn’t make out where it ended. Bigger and bigger tendrils of flame were consumed by the blue vortex until the whole fire was sucked into the massive twister suddenly like a tent to expose the unconscious duo hidden behind its flaming walls.

  Sheikoh looked at the Celestial with awe. Camillio Tyche wore a pained look of intense concentration. Sweat dripped from his skin, and his arms shook. His jagged ponytail danced in the wind of his magic. As Sheikoh watched, Tyche pushed his arms to the side and the wailing wind of the blue tornado exploded outwards. The Celestial was knocked backwards at the force. Sheikoh rushed behind Camillio and caught his light body. The fires around them flattened beneath the powerful wind, pressed out like cigarette embers.

  “Celestial can heal people, right?” Sheikoh asked. His jaw was slack and his words muddled from pain.

  Tyche took a deep breath, and his eyes flared bright blue. He began touching Sheikoh’s burns, his fingers glowing on contact. The relief was unimaginably sweet.

  Sheikoh had to force himself to push the Celestial’s healing hands away.

  “No time, mate, Indigo needs that magic of yours more,” Sheikoh told Camillio sharply.

  Camillio nodded once and began moving towards the ganglord. “He isn’t dead, is he?” Camillio Tyche asked Sheikoh in the echoing double voice of magic. Sheikoh shivered. He gingerly picked himself up and limped behind Camillio.

  “He wasn’t before, but he very well could be,” Sheikoh answered grimly. “The demon crushed him like it was nothing.”

  Camillio quickened his pace. When he reached Indigo, he leaned over the unconscious ganglord and put a hand over his chest, closing his glowing eyes. Sheikoh watched with wide eyes as Indigo’s chest slowly reflated. He heard a deep, grinding sound within the ganglord’s body.

  Camillio opened his stark-blue eyes. They met Sheikoh’s, whose questioning gaze was answered by the Celestial’s bleak expression. He felt as though he’d been smashed in the stomach with a hammer.

  “His heart’s stopped,” Tyche slowly told him.

  No way…

  Indigo couldn’t be dead. The ganglord had been - was - tougher than anyone that Sheikoh had ever known. There was no way he was dead. Sheikoh was sure of it. Nonetheless, coldness settled in his chest. Smoke stung his eyes, and he was surprised to find his cheeks stained with tears. Camillio’s next words sliced straight through Sheikoh’s abject shock.

  “By chance, have you ever used a defibrillator?” Tyche asked, still in magic dual-tone. His glowing blue eyes held Sheikoh’s black ones steadily.

  “No, but I’ve had one used on me..?” Sheikoh answered slowly.

  “I can feel Indigo’s life-force inside of him. If you can show me where to put my hands, I might be able to shock his heartbeat back..?” Camillio’s double-mused thoughtfully.

  Sheikoh closed his eyes and thought back to the pain of the electrical shock that’d brought him back from his cyborg surgery. It was so long ago. He focused intently on the memory, trying to dredge up specifics, but his thoughts were infuriatingly blurry. He was frustrated Camillio didn’t know how to do this himself. Why wasn’t this a part of Celestial training? Sheikoh couldn’t recall much more than two vague, sharp pains in his chest area.

  Finally, Sheikoh pointed to the areas he thought were right.

  “I can’t promise anything,” Camillio Tyche murmured in the echoing dual-voice of magic, placing his hands where Sheikoh had signified.

  The Celestial’s face hardened with concentration. His blue eyes flashed and Indigo’s torso bounced upwards and fell back to the ground limply. Sheikoh held his breath as he and the Celestial waited for a few moments, watching the fallen ganglord. Tyche, wearing bitter disappointment, lifted his hands off of Indigo’s chest and looked away.

  “Wait, do it again, mate, I think you’re supposed to do it a couple of times,” Sheikoh urged the Celestial quickly.

  Tyche turned his normal blue irises on Sheikoh searchingly for a moment. Then they flared with that sapphire sheen of power. The Celestial gently let his palms fall on the ganglord’s chest. He took a deep breath and blasted Indigo with another shock of energy.

  This time Indigo heaved forward gasping, his eyes opened wide in fear. Camillio’s hands were knocked off of the ganglord’s massive, he
aving chest. Sheikoh and Camillio watched Indigo as the man fell back panting with heavy breaths, and then exchanged smiles of relief.

  Camillio leaned back over Indigo and begun to heal the ganglord’s shattered bones. Then he did the same for Sheikoh. As the Celestial healed them the two of them, Sheikoh told the Celestial everything that had happened, including how Ghost had died. After he finished healing them, Camillio said;

  “As long as the demon didn’t break Ghost’s blood rune, he isn’t dead. He is most likely in need of considerable repairs though. More importantly, what became of the Transcendent Codex? And the Centaurai?”

  At that, they began searching the fire-razed area. As Sheikoh kicked through blackened splinters of wood, he heard Indigo shout. He turned around and saw that the ganglord had found the broken, blacksteel frame of Ghost’s body. Indigo carried Legacy’s leader out of the hole and tossed him onto the grass.

  Then Sheikoh turned back through the blackened forest and discovered something more ominous. There, on the ground right in front of him, two of their Swifthooves lay in puddles of blood with cut throats. The third, the one that Ghost had ridden there, was missing.

  It didn’t take a genius to take that and the missing Supreme Centaurai and put two and two together. Sheikoh remembered how Vest had used the crescent to control him in what had seemed another lifetime. His fingers crept to his throat, but the amulet was on Emili for the time being.

  He shivered. He felt exposed and insignificant. He quickly walked back to find Indigo and Camillio were. They were huddled together, talking in low voices. They both looked up when he came into view.

  “Vest got away. He stole a Swifthooves then killed the others. He could already be back in Interium by now, and he probably has the codex with him,” Sheikoh called when the others were in earshot. Indigo cursed explosively.

  “Well, that’s... frustrating,” Camillio muttered, irritation breaking on the last word.

  The Celestial turned away from them with a tight set to his features. Sheikoh cleared his throat to bring the Celestial’s attention back to him.

  “So what do we do now?” Sheikoh asked Camillio Tyche.

  “I’m sorry?” the Celestial responded, shaking his head.

  “You might be able to fly through the air and magic yourself around, but the rest of us kind of have to rely on Swifthooves, mate. And you can’t magic your new pet demon around while it’s wearing the amulet-” He glanced down at Emili and his voice broke. He swallowed. “-and Robocop looks pretty heavy. Any ideas?”

  Indigo looked at the Celestial as well.

  “Well,” Tyche mused, his face lightening with a mysterious half-smile. “My place isn’t too far.”

  What?

  Sheikoh glanced at Indigo, who shrugged in response.

  “You talking about your place over on the West Side? It might not fit us all,” Sheikoh answered cautiously.

  Did Camillio Tyche intend on bringing them back to Interium? What was he going to do then? Demand that they steal the codex off of the Arch Centaurai? If Vest was back at Interium, his seat of power, then it would be him and Indigo against all of the Century and Cylium Vest himself. As long as the amulet hung around Emili’s neck, the Arch Centaurai could use that blade to control him at will. And Indigo as well.

  But Sheikoh decided not to bring all of that up. He and Indigo had practically died here. There was no way he was giving the Celestial a ready-made excuse not to pay up. Right now, it looked like he and Dorothi were going to have to get out of the city and they were going to need anything that they could get.

  “Plus me and Ghost tried to assassinate the Centaurai. So if he’s back, Interium might not roll out the welcoming committee,” Indigo added bluntly.

  “Yeah, there is that,” Sheikoh murmured, jerking his head at Indigo.

  When the other two weren’t looking, Sheikoh rolled his eyes. So much for keeping things to yourself. The Celestial raised a hand to forestall any further objections with a proud gleam in his eyes.

  “The two of you are simply ludicrous. To presume that I would deign to live in that disgusting hovel. Do you really think that any Celestial could be content to live in the squalid midst of the West Side?” When Indigo’s face darkened, Camillio added; “No offense intended.”

  “None taken, mate. Let’s see this palace of yours, then,” Sheikoh laughed uneasily.

  The Celestial grinned at him and raised his hands. His eyes flickered blue. Around them the landscape began to vibrate and swirl around in dizzy thermals, rippling as though it was a reflection on a pond. A droning sound, like a swarm of bees, grew louder and louder as their vision became more and more distorted.

  Then, suddenly, the fire-blackened landscape bulged into itself and ripped loudly to reveal a deep, spacey blackness. Shadows dripped away from the center like frozen air. The darkness slowly gave way before the sight of a heavy, age-scarred door. Its handle was heavy and made out of blacksteel. It glowered at them from behind a curtain of menace.

  Camillio strode over and opened it to expose a room of bright colors and modern furniture. Sheikoh could even see a TV against the far wall. The Celestial smiled at his and Indigo’s shocked expressions and invited them in.

  “Welcome, please, make yourselves at home.”

  Sheikoh gently picked up Emili and carried her inside, all the while looking around with wonder. Indigo followed with Ghost slung over his shoulder.

  The interior was decorated comfortably with pictures of colorful abstract art ranging from dreamlike scenes painted with the detail and clarity of a photographs to simple blobs of color that were little more than shapes. Each of the three open hallways that led into the room that they were in had a slightly different atmosphere, accented by their color scheme and the kinds of furniture woven into their layout. The walls were interwoven with plaster and simple, elegant wallpaper. Sheikoh whistled, impressed. Arranging rooms must be Camillio’s secret hobby.

  “Silence,” Camillio murmured, and Sheikoh’s eyes shot at him wearing a glint of apprehension. He still wasn’t sure whether Celestial could read minds. All Camillio asked was; “Would you bring Emili up to my office?”

  “Sure,” Sheikoh nodded, shaking himself. He followed the Celestial, carrying the unconscious Emili. Yawns began bubbling out of his mouth, and he suddenly realized he hadn’t slept in almost two days.

  They went through a room dotted with strange, drifty green plants that looked like it’d come from a cabin. Then through a shiny mahogany door. On the other side was a hallway that sported two more wooden doors on the left and a bald man covered in swirling, scar-like tattoos of runes that Sheikoh tried not to stare at. The right side opened up into a massive, spotless kitchen. Its utilities were all a mix of silversteel utilities and clinical white porcelain. Another two men sat there, wearing the same winding patterns of blood runes.

  While Sheikoh and Camillio walked across the hallway, the Celestial explained that the other men here were various individuals who were committed to freedom, people whose potential had been sustained with the magic of blood runes.

  Then the Celestial opened the next door, and Sheikoh gasped. The paned door’s unassuming countenance hid a peculiar sight. A glass, water-filled tank sloped upwards in the shape of an hourglass, extending all the way to the very top of the six or seven floor tower. It was edged in the thin swirl of stairs that wound up the massive aquarium as it progressively narrowed. Finally, about two floors in, Sheikoh and Camillio reached a point where it stopped. Sheikoh looked up the six-story glass tube, bemused.

  They climbed up the stairs silently and hurriedly, Camillio in front. To Sheikoh’s eyes the aquarium seemed empty of any life other than the shimmery green fronds lazily floating around. In the center of the dancing lights of the blue water jutted a single long, lightning-shaped pillar of black, pitted rock.

  As they climbed higher, Sheikoh looked down and suddenly realized that the bottom of the hourglass went deeper than the ground floor. A fores
t of glinting green fronds grew in the bottom of the aquarium. They grew wildly in the crevices of the volcanic, jagging stone pillar, covering all but snatches of its black rock. He couldn’t help but sense that the plants hid something alive. Tiny, fish-eyes seemed to glitter in the corner of his vision, through the curtains of shimmery green.

  The farther up they climbed, the more the fronds receded though. Sheikoh watched them recede to show the balding, black pillar in a trancelike state the pillar’s tip speared into view. It looked like a giant spoon with a spiked end like a curved spear. Camillio stopped in front of him.

  Sheikoh bent his neck around the Celestial to check out the circular door level with the pillar’s top. A black mark in its center that he’d originally thought to be the door knob was actually the intricate, black circle of a pentacle. He scanned it with interest. Narrow lines made up geometric designs throughout it, weaving and winding around one another to make up the foreboding circle.

  Upon closer examination, Sheikoh realized that that the pentacle’s shape wasn’t built of solid lines rather it was composed of hundreds upon hundreds of minuscule runes burned into the weathered wood. Something told Sheikoh that the circle of wood in front of him was older than anything he’d ever seen before.

  “I think that you would be the most inclined to appreciate this,” Camillio told Sheikoh with excitement sparkling in his eyes.

  The Celestial turned and laid a hand on the door’s pentacle. The circular passage swung inwards with an ominous creak. Sheikoh could barely see Camillio as the Celestial crossed over the threshold of the sinister, black-bricked room lined with rough-hewn wooden bookcases. The walls seemed to bow inwards under the weight of the massive tomes. Sheikoh made out a spindly blacksteel table crouching in the corner like a pet spider.