Playing With Fire

by Jordan Mendez

  “Your other path leads to your sister.” Al’s entire body froze. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. The woman sensed his shock, but went ahead to explain more despite his silence.

  “What the witch said the night you vanquished her is true, Alphonse, your sister is hidden in the lost kingdom of Moraj and in fact is near the ocean,” the woman paused as if afraid to continue. “But unless you know exactly where to find the kingdom you shall never find her. Scarlet’s time is running out. I can tell you where Moraj sleeps, and you may make it in time. Though the choice of both paths are open to you Alphonse, know this: you may only choose one, and once you have chosen there is no possible way to ever intertwine the two. One path will be gone to you forever.”

  Alphonse wanted nothing more than to save his sister, but the sudden option of his real family shook his very foundation. For his entire life he had wanted to be reunited with his parents, and his chance was right in front of him. For a moment, that was all he wanted.

  But then he remembered Jake taking him in as a toddler. Al had been abandoned for God knows how long, and Jake was the very first person to show him kindness in his entire memory. Seth and Darren had made Al laugh and encouraged him even in the most trying situations. Then there were all the times when he was walking back to the Warehouse as night fell. Al could always see through the windows happy faces of families and he always got so sad until Scarlet cheered him up. He could recall exactly what she had said the first time.

  “Don’t cry Al, we have that too. We are a family.”

  “You’re wrong,” Al said quietly, with a new found peace inside him. “Those people in there—they’re not my family.” The woman’s expression finally changed to one of puzzlement.

  “Alphonse, they are your real parents, I would not deceive you,” the woman replied, but Al just shook his head.

  “They may be the reason I was born, but they aren’t my family.” Al looked up at the woman with a small grin. “I didn’t realize it until now, but what I wanted so badly for such a long time, I already had it. Jake, Darren, Seth and Scarlet are my real family, and I’m not about to miss my chance to make my family whole again.”

  To Al’s surprise, the woman smiled.

  “Very well,” she said. The woman handed him a yellowing rolled up parchment held closed by a small piece of twine. “I wish you luck, Alphonse.” Al’s vision began to go white at the edges, like a window fogging up. The woman stooped down and kissed his forehead. “May the Healer protect you, young one.”

  With her last words, Al jolted awake, greeted by sunlight streaming through the window. In his hands he could feel the parchment he was given, and he knew that it hadn’t been a dream. Slight traces of smoke stained the blue sky outside. Just as Al noticed them, Vaze burst through the door, making Al jump so violently he fell out of bed.

  “Al, we need to leave soon, we are going to check the next town for clues,” Vaze said urgently as Al got off the floor.

  “I don’t think we’ll need to go to the next town,” Al replied, staring at the rolled up parchment. Vaze looked at him in disbelief. Al untied the twine, opening the parchment carefully. Although he had hardly glanced at a map before, he was sure it was one.

  “Vaze, I know where Scarlet is.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  After Velkire found me, Enzio dragged me back up to my room, I thrashed the whole way in an attempt to escape, but nothing worked. He threw me in, and slammed the door shut. I could hear the lock’s gears snap shut from the outside. I stayed in my room, unable to even process any thought besides ones associated with fear. Night fell before I knew it. I heard the lock being opened, causing me to whip my head around to face the door.

  Alastair stepped inside, and I gasped when I saw him. He was covered in injuries, and he hid his face from me as he entered. I embraced him, filled with joy to finally see a familiar face. His arms wrapped around me tightly.

  “I thought I was never going to see you or anyone ever again!” Then I looked up into his eyes, and saw devastating sadness.

  “Scarlet…” His brow creased in worry. “I’m so sorry… I couldn’t save you…”

  I shook my head. “You tried Alastair. I’m just glad you’re alright.” Alastair’s expression darkened, and he pushed away from me.

  “Scarlet, I need you to promise me something.” Alastair’s tone was dead serious. I forced myself to regain composure and nod. “Promise me you’ll never lose sight of your hopes to escape alive.” Alastair turned to leave, but I grabbed his wrist.

  “Wait, Alastair, what’s going on?” I asked, the fear finding its way back into my voice. Alastair turned, and smiled at me sadly. Without answering my question, he hugged me once more.

  “No matter what happens tonight, Scarlet,” he whispered in to my ear gently. “I am glad to have met you, and have had the privilege to call you my friend.” And with that, he left, leaving me to feel just as alone as I had the first night I came to Velkire’s castle.

  A little while later, Enzio entered my room, and threw a black gown at me. He didn’t seem his normal ‘I take great enjoyment in Scarlet’s suffering’ self, but I wasn’t about to ask what was wrong.

  “Put it on,” he said flatly, and slammed the door as he exited. Unable to find my will to rebel, I did as I was told. The gown wasn’t much different than the first gown I was forced to wear. The only difference was that it was just plain black like a raven’s feathers. When I was done Enzio entered again and tied my hands together and yanked me out into the hall, and I was forced to follow him.

  I did nothing to try to free myself. I had neither the will nor the power to do so, and I decided to go without a fight. Only when we were we entering through the double doors of the throne room did I start to get nervous.

  Velkire stood in the center of the room, and on the floor surrounding him was a giant pentagram, drawn in blood. Five black flame candles rested at each point on the star, making it seem more evil with every passing minute. Velkire smiled and bowed to me, and Enzio forced me to move forward towards him. I wanted to run, but my legs would not move. I knew whatever was going to happen would not be good. Out of nowhere, Velkire produced a long, curved knife, and cut my bindings.

  “Sister dear,” Velkire said mockingly as he walked away from me. “I’d really hate to force you, so would you please lay down right where you’re standing?”

  Before my smart-mouth remark even came, Velkire whipped around with a crazy sadistic grin and blood red eyes. A demonic voice protruded from his lips as he hissed a word that seemed like it was spoken by the devil himself. “Sel-rha!”

  An invisible force slammed me against the ground, and held me there with a crushing power. Velkire danced with glee just outside the circle like a child about to receive a present. In a language that was unknown to me, Velkire began to chant demonically. The chains that laced my body as a seal began to burn furiously, causing me to writhe in pain. I could only guess that it was how a cow felt when being branded, except a thousand times over.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Enzio leaving quickly. It would have puzzled me if I didn’t have bigger problems to worry about.

  Velkire progressively got louder as he chanted, starting first in mumbling but then escalating his voice slowly, and as his voice raised the pain slashing across the chains lessened and spread more throughout my body. For a moment I thought it might be a sign of relief, but I was dead wrong. Pain exploded throughout me, causing me to thrash involuntarily. My agonizing cries ripped through the night, and I had no doubt in my mind that Enzio could hear me no matter where he was in the castle.

  I could feel something inside me—something that wanted out badly. Beneath the flesh of my belly, something pounded against my flesh from the inside. It pulsated with life, and I could feel it getting stronger, because at the same time, I was growing weaker. Sharp claws slashed around within my stomach, scratching my organs slightly, allowing the blood within them seeping into the rest
of my body.

  Suddenly, the pounding turned to jabbing, and the jabbing became tearing. Velkire had stopped chanting, and had begun laughing hysterically as a grey, clawed hand ripped through my flesh and the fabric of my dress as it worked ruthlessly to free itself. My hot blood spilled across the floor, surrounding me in a pool, and I wondered if I would drown in my own blood before I died of whatever was happening.

  Then, it stopped. The hand retreated back into me, leaving a gaping gash where it had tried to break through. My breathing was lessened to short painful gasps, and my head ached from the lack of air. My eyesight was turning fuzzy, but I could still see Velkire slink back towards me with his creepy grin.

  “I sure hope that didn’t kill you,” he sneered as he put a hand over my wound. “because we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.”

  The minute he touched my wound, any doubt in my mind if he was lying was gone. A ripping sensation went through my body, and I let loose a cry of agony and pure terror. Black aura mixed with my own blood flew out of my wound, encircling the air above me.

  I could hear Velkire’s maniacal laughter as he pulled away, leaving me to be subdued by the pain. It had seemed as though he found another interest. At the edge of a circle, a new figure had begun to form. The black aura and blood circling my body in the air receded towards the figure, and it absorbed it into its body.

  The demon smiled at me, but I was unable to make another scream. My body still ached in pain, but slowly, it began to fade; not in a good way. I could feel my life flickering like a weak flame, and as I stared at the new born demon, I could do nothing.

  Her bare, stony skin glistened in the candle light with my blood, and horns poked through her forehead slightly. Her long, snowy white hair was stained red, and a slightly forked tongue licked her white fanged teeth as her face twisted into a grin. Velkire cloaked her with a black robe, and her clawed hand slipped the sleeves delicately over her broad shoulders. I realized who she was immediately. It wasn’t just a demon. It was my demon—the exact one that I had become when I killed the bandits.

  She caught my gaze, and for a moment we both held the same exact thought.

  I was going to die.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Scarlet, my lesser counterpart,” my demon said with a toothy grin. Her voice was exactly like mine. “I am your greater half, Raven. And must I say, it’s even more of a pleasure to take my first breath, the same time as your last.”

  And with that, my heart’s pulse stopped.

  ~

  Velkire looked down at the dead girl for a moment, bewildered. He almost thought it was too good to be true. The grey eyes that were identical to his stared back at him in a glassy trance, and then he began to laugh.

  “I did it!” he said joyfully as he looked down at his dead half-sister. “The one threat that could stop me is gone!”

  The demon girl beside him looked at the human she was born from in disdain, her scarlet red eyes glowing with enmity. The demon possessed no other emotions besides anger, hatred, and insanity, and she despised the dead human.

  Enzio burst through the double doors of the throne room, and stopped in shock when he saw the dead girl. It seemed so unreal that the girl who stopped him from fulfilling his master’s wishes lay dead on the stone floor before him, but he knew it was true. He could not feel her life like he could every other living thing.

  “Enzio!” Velkire chimed like a small child on his birthday. “Take the body down to the dungeon and show those two leathery bags of skin how much their last hope was worth!” Enzio paused, and stared at his insane master in a tad hint of disbelief.

  “As you wish, my lord,” Enzio finally said, and he retrieved the body. It still had faint warmth to it, as if inside Scarlet’s body flames still burned. But she did not burst to life and fight when he picked her up, and with slight remorse Enzio would not throw her over his shoulder like he had when he delivered her to the room where she would die. He instead carried her in the crook of his arms, and out of respect he closed her eyelids.

  The trip to the dungeon was a short one. Enzio tried his best to block his thoughts from his mind until he reached the cell he hated most. The man and woman inside the cell looked nearly dead, and in their age they might have been. With one quick motion Enzio tossed Scarlet’s body inside and both Draco Hale and Madam Gale turned their heads to the lifeless girl.

  Tears began to well up in Madam Gale’s eyes and she touched the dead girl’s face with a shackled hand. Draco’s expression was grave and heart broken. Enzio could see he had done his job to perfection. Nothing stood in the way of his master.

  Everything was falling into place—and for everyone else it was falling apart.

  ~

  It was baffling to Vaze how close they were to Moraj, and just how close they were to missing it as well. It was in fact, between the town they were previously at, and the one they were heading to for clues. To most it would it seem foolish of Velkire to hide so close to civilization, but Vaze knew without a doubt how genius it was when he saw Al’s map. The castle slept in Death’s Kingdom, a mountain range so deadly and inhospitable that the original path cut through the mountains was abandoned.

  Death’s Kingdom was not its real name. The locals only mentioned it in hushed words for they feared the mountains and the beasts that roamed them. Unknown horrors lived among the rocks of the spiraling mountains, but no real record of them besides the shredded remains of those foolish enough to wander to the mountains existed. It would have been certain death for any normal humans wandering through the old abandoned path into the heart of the mountains with night falling quickly. Luckily, Vaze and his company were not what one would categorize as ‘normal’ humans. It had taken them all night, but eventually they had found the only tunnel passage illustrated on the map that could get them to Moraj.

  “We’re so close,” Al whispered to himself as he stared into the dark passage way that Kyra uncovered. His tone was that of excitement, but his feelings did not rub off on the rest of the group. Solemn looks were exchanged between Kyra and Siren, while mixtures of worry and anxiety dominated Gideon and Yuki’s faces. Everyone knew or had at least some lingering feeling that the worst was yet to come. Finding Moraj would mean finding Scarlet, but it would also mean finding Velkire, along with all his pawns. No one decided to mention this as they began to slip into the darkness, as though keeping it only in their minds would keep it as some impossible nightmare.

  They filed in one at a time. First Kyra, then Yuki, Gideon, and Siren. Vaze was about to enter after her when a deep, ferocious, unsettling sound from above found his ears. An unearthly growl sent a shock through him that made time seemingly stop, though the terrifying scene only lasted a few seconds. The four inside the tunnel screamed orders at Vaze and Al to jump into the tunnel quickly, but they were slow and far away as Vaze’s gaze drifted up, and rested on a beast of Death’s Kingdom as it stalked down towards them from a shelf of rock directly above the entrance to the tunnel.

  It had dark tan scales and a long, heavy spiked tail that made a morning star look like a baby’s rattle. Its body was bigger than a war horse with four trunk-like legs with claws for grip and an oval shaped head that was dominated by a large mouth of rows upon rows of dirty pointed teeth. The only other feature on its head was two large nostrils. It had no eyes or ears. As Vaze’s eyes widened, it seemed to grin, as though it had found a rather nice meal. The abomination slammed down with its massive front leg, and the ground shook as the shelf of rock it was on collapsed, sealing off the entrance to the tunnel as it leapt with amazing grace straight for Vaze and Al.

  It was in that moment that Vaze made a snap decision. He realized immediately he only had two options: risk fighting the beast and try to use precious time to re-expose the tunnel or escape with Al and increase their chance of survival while sparing their precious energy. He chose the latter.

  “Al!” Vaze dashed at the shocked boy as his wings ripped through the back o
f his shirt, but still tucked in close as the beast descended towards them.

  Al caught on just in time, thrusting his arm out to Vaze not a moment too late. The two grabbed each other’s arms, and with one mighty sweep of Vaze’s wings they were launched into the air, leaving the beast dumb struck. Vaze flapped his wings furiously, until the top of the mountains felt like just a short drop away.

  “Vaze!” Al called over the rushing wind. “We have to go back! That was our only way in!” Vaze sighed. Al was right—it was their only way in. But he knew he could never face Scarlet or her brothers again if something happened to Al while he was with him. He probably wouldn’t forgive himself either for losing the first best friend he had ever had.

  “It’s too dangerous, Al,” Vaze said while veering around the mountain. The ocean behind it was as black as night, and Vaze couldn’t help thinking that if set against it his hair would be invisible. “We should go back to the camp for help.” Vaze’s heart ached as he said those words. He knew that was not what he wanted to do, but at the moment it was the only rational choice. Al didn’t reply.

  “I know it’s difficult, Al,” Vaze managed force out in a cool and calm tone. It almost seemed to Vaze that his words were for his own reassurance rather than Al’s. “But we have to have faith in the rest of the group that they will—”

  “Vaze,” Al cut through suddenly. “Look.” Al pointed with his free arm down towards the mountain. At first, Vaze saw only pitch-black nothingness. It was by pure chance, that Vaze’s eyes caught the tiniest prick of a torchlight, glowing against the mountain like the first star in a night sky. Through the one bit of firelight, it seemed as though a hole opened up around it, revealing more than just the inky black mountain. It was clear immediately, that there was where they were meant to go. Vaze arched towards the little dot of light, and with a deadly speed descended upon it.

  ~

  Pain throbbed throughout his body, and every time the demon fastened a rope onto his limbs, Alastair wished for nothing more than to be taken back into unconsciousness. The demon sensed his pain, and giggled in satisfaction. The moon glinted off of its pointy small teeth, and it’s black lizard like scales clenched and unclenched up and down it’s skin in delight.