Darklight 6: Darkbirth

by Forrest, Bella

  "I managed to get everything," she said simply.

  "Thank you." I watched with anticipation as Un reluctantly began gathering the arbiters together. "Now it's time to collect on our deal. Un has to show all the arbiters the tear."

  Un looked completely distraught, but he managed to rally the crowd along with Debt Keeper. It seemed she was going to be meticulous about enforcing the terms of the pact, as his witness for it, and particularly after Un had rebelled against her previous ruling. Sometimes Un looked like he was straining against an invisible weight, as though he wanted to throw off the consequences of his actions. There was a certain beauty to magical pacts, I decided.

  As it turned out, Un had many friends—or at least arbiters in fear of him or in his debt—and they were forced to listen.

  "The lower beings will now show us this supposed tear," Un announced. "Everyone, please gather and follow me."

  A few broke off with enraged grumbles to disappear into the ether, but the majority gathered around us. They looked at Dorian and me as if we were suddenly the most fascinating creatures that they’d ever laid eyes on. I just hoped they kept up that fascination when we reached the edge of the cliff.

  Dorian and I led the way. It seemed only right, though it made me sad to make the journey without Jia wandering next to us. It felt emptier than I ever imagined. As we began our journey, a familiar red shape emerged from the mist.

  Ruk's grin stretched wide across his face. He clapped his hands together in a slow, building tempo. Pride—affectionate, friendly pride like when he had looked at Aurora in those old memories—shone in his lavender eyes. He stood straighter, I noticed. He must be so relieved. Hell, I'm just as relieved.

  He accompanied us, ignoring Un and the others in favor of leaning in close to whisper to us. “I’ve just finished dissolving the estate,” he said. “Between that energy and the energy from your winnings, it looks like we’ll be paying off this debt and going home very soon.”

  Home. The word sent a burst of joy and hope radiating through my chest.

  The cliff came into view soon enough. With all the arbiters together, it was easy to focus on the tear because of how badly we wanted them to see this place. As we drew closer to the cliff, the whispers in the crowd grew louder and louder until we finally led them to the edge.

  "This is what your Separation caused," I announced and pointed to the vortex tear. “You abandoned the lower planes, leaving the system you created to fall into chaos. Not fulfilling the responsibility that you were given by the universe led to things getting so out of control that this tear was made in the barrier between the Mortal and Immortal Plane, blasting up into the secondary barrier between the lower planes and the Higher Plane. You need to do something about this. For the sake of the lower planes as well as for yourselves.”

  The arbiters stared in complete silence. I scanned their faces, many of them truly unreadable, but their silence was still deafening to me.

  "You need to acknowledge this problem," Dorian pressed. "It's huge. If the three planes meld, you can say goodbye to the universe as we know it and all that time you think you have."

  Bi, the bell-loving arbiter, placed an offended hand on his chest. "Say goodbye to the Separation that we painstakingly created?"

  This sent questions spreading through the crowd like wildfire.

  "Could it truly destroy everything?"

  "We did the Separation perfectly. How has it come to this?"

  Pik jumped forward from the crowd. "It sounds like a real problem," she said and gave a sharp nod. "Our plane is literally being destroyed." She pointed her webbed hand to the end of the cliff, but something else emerged above the vortex. A figure appeared in the mist, floating just above the plummeting cliff.

  It was Lanzon. He stared at us, a sad but impassive expression on his phantom face. Dorian tensed, but he didn't cry out for his brother this time—we knew better now. The universe had reached out to us in its own way. Lanzon pointed at the tear.

  “Whose proxy is that?” Un asked sharply.

  I answered him bluntly, “Talk to the universe about that.”

  Sen, taking several steps forward, let out a gasp that cut through the tension. "The proxy is pointing to the souls swirling around in there!" She pressed a hand to her sea-green face. "Oh my. Somehow, they're being sucked back into the planes from the afterlife, and…" She tilted her head to one side as her lips opened wider. "They're being drawn down to… the Mortal Plane?"

  Xiu squinted down at the tear. "Impossible," she muttered, but doubt undermined her statement, as did the faint golden shapes we could all see swirling around in the vortex.

  Even Un stood on the edge of the cliff, staring dumbly into the tear like he couldn't believe his eyes. I scanned the crowd of arbiters. It was slowly dawning on most of them that this was actually happening. The tear was really a problem now, much bigger than when they’d first seen it. Their plane and their very existence were currently being threatened.

  Xiu let out a grave sigh. "What you say is true, Sen. The lower beings speak the truth. Their fight is truly justified.” She turned to face the crowd, her sharp face daring anyone to question her. "In light of this, we must address the tear. It was our job to manage things, and this monstrosity has arisen from our own decisions. We were quick to think we were perfect, but clearly our logic and execution must be rethought. Something must be done if we want to keep our rules in place."

  "It can't be," Un mumbled. He said it again, shaking his head from side to side. A wave of annoyance flared inside me. I was ready to pitch him inside this tear if he didn't stop his nonsense.

  Xiu narrowed her eyes. "Un, you're being unreasonable. Please don't embarrass yourself on a historic level for a second time today." Her insult smacked him in the face. He started in surprise, but his eyes darted to the tear. He was worried, in the end.

  Finally.

  "We prepared everything correctly," he babbled. "We did everything right, didn't we?" He turned to his closest supporters, who had been standing near him. They exchanged looks without responding to him, a subtle message that perhaps the tide had changed for the arbiters. My heart rose with hope.

  Dorian watched the exchange closely. "You have to see it," he said. "It's right there."

  Un wavered. "Maybe." His tone was full of reluctance to side with us.

  This pride of his will be his undoing. He peered more closely at the apparition of Lanzon, who pointed again to the tear.

  "It… certainly bears further study."

  I crossed my arms and faced Xiu, who had a stitch of worry between her barely visible brows.

  "This could threaten our existence," she stated. She dragged a hand over the bald side of her head and tugged on her braid. "We've spent so much energy on our estates, the Games, and similar diversions. We've neglected our own plane. Our jury should’ve decided on annual checks on the tear… it just seemed so trivial when we first glimpsed it.”

  "If it threatens our existence, what do we do?" Un asked sharply.

  I raised a curious brow. Well, he was suddenly invested when it was his own life on the line.

  "Plug it up?" Pike wondered. "Or make proxies to ferry the souls back toward the exit to the afterlife."

  Xiu gave a doubtful frown. "The souls are being sucked down and away at an incredible speed. No proxy could catch them. It's not in their nature." Her gaze flickered to Dorian and me, then to Ruk. "What do you think?"

  "I think what I've always thought," he said bluntly. "We should've never gone through with the Separation in the first place. It was a selfish plan from the outset, and by the time we were into the final stages it was obviously a stupid one. Yet we still forged ahead out of arrogance and short-sightedness."

  She hummed with thought on that, muttering about hindsight and problem solving. Her attention was grabbed by the other arbiters, who by now had descended into a full-on debate. Without their amphitheater, it seemed to dissolve into chaos about who got to talk first. So
on Xiu was calling for order, talking over Un’s raised voice. Good. I was glad she was taking control rather than him. Their chaotic conversation faded into background noise as I inched closer to Dorian and Ruk, eager to talk to them.

  Ruk smiled at us with pure pride. "Congratulations on your win. I'm glad you were able to accomplish what you wanted."

  "What we wanted," I pointed out. "We did this for you and Aurora, too."

  He bowed slightly. "I'm grateful, and still in your debt even though mine is now fully paid. And I will never be able to thank you enough for helping me find Aurora, as well as making sure I will receive the energy needed to heal her. When she awakens, I’m sure she will be equally thankful for your help." He glanced to the tear. "They'll be arguing about this for a while, you know."

  I stared at the crowd of passionate arbiters volleying their ideas back and forth, and Xiu trying her best to moderate things into an efficient discussion. Yes, like everything in the Higher Plane, it would take time. Time that we didn’t necessarily have.

  Dorian squeezed my shoulder and winked. "Don’t fret just yet. Appreciate your win for one second," he teased. I smiled back, unable to help myself, especially as he pressed a quick kiss to my forehead. "Even as I was passing out, I trusted you would fix things. You never fail me."

  I elbowed him playfully. "Cheers to not being dissolved into pure energy today."

  The blue dust as Jia's face faded away darted in my mind. I blinked away sudden tears. "I hated what I had to do, though. I'm still furious at Un for arranging… that… and at Xiu for selling Jia without thinking about what he was going to be forced to do." I leaned in closer to them to explain what went down with Jia in our final battle, admitting that I was confused about how he was supposed to be a proxy, yet he seemed to have such human qualities.

  Ruk stroked his chin with his long fingers. "He helped you, in the end?"

  "Yes," I said, with a passionate nod. "He could have killed me, but he gave me an opportunity to win. He even told me about a final surprise obstacle right in front of the finish line. I only wish I could thank him somehow. I guess he's just… floating around now. I don't understand why he did what he did, though."

  "It's possible that you two affected him," Ruk admitted. Dorian and I stared at him in surprise. "Perhaps your light energy seeped into him. It gave him a true consciousness, which is a phenomenon that is known to occur with proxies sometimes, as Pik is so fond of talking about. I see that you two continue to bring me new surprises every day."

  Dorian hugged me tightly. "I'm just glad you made it." I nodded against his chest. I’m more thankful than you’ll ever know. Ruk didn't even say anything to tease us. I pressed my ear to Dorian's reassuring solidness, listening to his steady heartbeat. We had won, we were healed, we’d paid Ruk's debt… now what?

  "We've come to a decision."

  I turned, startled by Xiu's sudden announcement. That was really fast, for arbiters. She stepped forward from the crowd. I sent a wary look at Ruk, but he was fully focused on Xiu.

  "I have been selected to represent the arbiters as a whole. I do believe enough of us are present at the moment to meet quorum," she explained. "There are mixed opinions being floated right now, which is no surprise to you, I'm sure. The biggest crux is on whether we should return to keeping the darkness at bay in the lower planes, and if it’s truly important to maintain the balance. We have agreed, however, that the tear must be fixed as swiftly as is possible, especially now that the souls in the afterlife are at risk. We still need to figure out a way to enact this decision. Additionally, we have recognized through the presence of the tear and the events that led to its creation that we have neglected our monitoring duties by allowing the Immortal Plane to mount a war within the lower planes. We might as well deal with all of these issues."

  Un cleared his throat with a note of embarrassment. "Well, if Ruk and these lower beings intend to keep getting in our way and bothering us, I suppose we'll have to do what they want." He scratched the back of his neck. A look of apology flickered across his face. "For some arbiters, this whole thing is really not worth the fuss, but since these pests have proven their point… well, I suppose we should listen."

  I still held onto my anger about Jia, but I gave a sharp nod in recognition of the decision to Un. At least, in his own way, he’d admitted he was wrong. Xiu's lips twisted into a pleased smile, but she moved briskly on.

  "The final decision is this," she announced, splaying her hands to gesture to the crowds on either side of her. "You two, Lyra and Dorian, have been in this struggle since the beginning. You are assuredly more knowledgeable than we gave you credit for. We will absolutely support your efforts in reestablishing the balance of light and darkness in the lower planes and in repairing the tear, but we know that we must do our own work. You will continue your work on fixing problems in the lower planes, and we will deal with these greater cosmic matters, like the tear in the Higher Plane and the unfortunate damage to the entrance of the afterlife. This way, you can help Ruk fulfill his pact to close the tear."

  The promise of support was great news. Dorian and I could finally continue our work.

  Ruk smiled victoriously. "I appreciate your support, my peers."

  I wondered if he’d ever imagined a situation like this before he tricked us into coming to the Higher Plane.

  "And much support you will have, Ruk." Xiu stared seriously at our gathered trio. "Ruk’s powers will be returned in full, in accordance with the terms of the bet. Your journey matters, and your quest is our priority from this moment on."

  Relief flooded me. "Thank you." I bowed my head. "We appreciate it."

  Finally, the arbiters had listened. We had support. I met Dorian's gaze and he smiled, a true spark of happiness in his freshly healed face. The gashes had faded to almost nothing. I turned back to Xiu. There was something I still needed to know.

  "The images at the end of the course. Were they true?" I couldn’t forget the visions of my dying friends and family.

  Dorian hadn't seen it, and I didn’t intend to give him the details. We could talk about it as soon as I got an answer about whether I needed to worry. He watched me carefully, although I doubted that he was surprised the arbiters might’ve showed something disturbing that would make me question reality.

  Xiu fixed me with her neutral gaze. "I am unable to answer that, truthfully. What you saw was real, but it was a possibility of what could happen. I suspect you know that the connection of time between the lower planes and Higher Plane is quite fluid."

  We were about to go back to the lower planes. Finally. Our entrance into this plane had been a chaotic tumble into a brand-new realm. We had fought, cried, and poured every ounce of our spirits into this fight in a way that we’d never experienced before. Our bond was closer than ever. Now, it was time to get Aurora back from Un’s estate, heal her with Ruk’s returned energy and powers, then finally, finally, get to go home. It was true that we’d be returning to a place where Dorian and I were affected by the curse designed by the arbiters, but maybe the arbiters would lift it for us. And finally, we could strategize to prevent the end of the universe as we knew it.

  "What can you help us with?" I asked Xiu and the other gathered arbiters. "We need real support, not just vague favors."

  "I understand,” Xiu replied. “We can help you to help yourselves. We will give you information, abilities, and Ruk will transport you all back to the lower planes." She paused. "We will give you all this in return for the success of your quest, Lyra and Dorian. You must go to the Immortal Plane and rid that realm of its terrible imbalance so that we arbiters can then begin to rebuild the system to function as it should, taking up our mantle of responsibility. You must take down Irrikus and the Immortal Council, once and for all.”

  I gripped Dorian’s hand in my own, seeing a burning determination in his eyes that matched my own. Turning to look at Ruk, I offered him my other hand, raising my eyebrows to silently ask whether he was ready to take
on this imposing task with us. He smiled and took my hand, his long fingers wrapping around mine, strong and sure.

  I put my shoulders back and my head up, my pose reflecting the confidence that flowed through me. “I’ll rip that crown off his head with my own two hands.”

  Irrikus had better watch out. We were coming to take him down, and we had no intention of losing this fight.

  Ready for the next part of Lyra and Dorian’s journey?

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Darkbirth!

  Book 7: Darkfall, releases May 17, 2020.

  I’m excited for what’s next!

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  Love,

  Bella x

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  Read more by Bella Forrest

  DARKLIGHT

  Darklight (Book 1)

  Darkthirst (Book 2)

  Darkworld (Book 3)

  Darkblood (Book 4)

  Darktide (Book 5)

  Darkbirth (Book 6)

  Darkfall (Book 7)

  HARLEY MERLIN

  Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven (Book 1)

  Harley Merlin and the Mystery Twins (Book 2)

  Harley Merlin and the Stolen Magicals (Book 3)

  Harley Merlin and the First Ritual (Book 4)