Mortals & Deities

by Maxwell Alexander Drake

  Arderi gasped in pain. “Aye! I guess that does it. Now, can you dim it?”

  Trying to understand what he saw within the Essence enhanced globe, Alant reached out and adjusted it. After a moment, the torch lit the area without blinding all who looked upon it.

  Holding his torch high, Arderi took a few paces down the right wall. “There is a smaller tunnel that leads off from here, though it looks badly damaged.” Bending down, he pulled a second of the strange torches from a pile of rubble and held it toward his brother.

  Focusing on it, Alant adjusted the Spectals within as he had done with the first. It flared to life, though not as bright. A few minor adjustments and it glowed at the same level as the other. Rohann stumbled over the rubble and took the torch from Arderi, then turned and headed off in the opposite direction.

  Shaking his head and sighing at the merchant, Arderi walked further down the large hallway. “It looks as if there is another fork further on.”

  “Nix!” Rohann’s voice rang out loud. He stood pointing with the torch he carried deeper down the main pillar-lined hall. “It is this way.”

  “How can you know that?” Klain waved his strange, black-veined sword at the man.

  The merchant looked as if he meant to throw his torch at the Kith. “Can you not hear her? She calls. It is so sweet. Can you not hear?” His feverish look now filled his eyes with a strange radiance. Without warning, the man’s look spun from bliss to hatred. “I am not used to having my employees question me!”

  The beast seemed unaffected as he stalked up to Rohann. “You have no more employees.” His tone was low, almost a growl. “They are all dead between these accursed ruins and their homes in Mocley. And I will not let that happen to Charver.” Placing his free paw upon Charver’s shoulders, the Kith glared at the boy’s father.

  Moments passed before Rohann scoffed and waved a hand at Klain. “There is nothing to fear here. We are under the protection of a goddess now!” Turning, the older man walked into the darkness beyond, his torch casting shadows across the rubble and debris.

  Arderi crossed to Klain, and glancing at the boy first, he nodded to the Kith. “Protection or no, I say we stick together.” He waved the light he carried at the merchant’s back and lowered his voice. “Keep that man in sight. Whatever he is up to, it will be best if we work to ensure everyone’s safety.”

  Klain looked from Charver to the direction Rohann had gone. “Agreed.” The beast reached down and took the boy by the hand. “It may be best, at that.” Kneeling down beside the boy, Klain looked him in his terror-filled eyes. “Stay close to me, Charver. I will not let anything happen to you.”

  The boy nodded before glancing past Klain’s shoulder toward Rohann. “There is something wrong with Father, I think.”

  Ruffling the boy’s hair, Klain stood. “I am afraid so. Still, it will be all right.” He looked over his shoulder at the fading torchlight. “I will take care of him as well, if I can.”

  With the boy in hand, the beast headed across the room with Arderi close behind. It was only then that Alant noticed that Elith was still nowhere to be seen. “Elith?” He kept his voice to little more than a whisper, yet it echoed through the large chamber.

  Two silver-metallic eyes appeared from the darkness well away from where the group had stood and floated toward him. Elith’s slim form materialized from the shadows. “She is here.” A strange look had settled over her—well, stranger than Alant was used to seeing. “This place calls to her as well. It is odd, yet she feels like she has been here before.” Without waiting on an answer, the gray-skinned girl turned and slipped back into the darkness.

  Alant did not like the tone in Elith’s voice. It sounded distant, distracted. Forcing himself to follow his brother and the others, he shook his head once more.

  Is everyone going insane except me?

  The Human spoke well. Still, despite his easy manner, Klain smelled a thick undercurrent of fear in Arderi’s scent. The boy was downright terrified, and with good reason. Klain could not understand the change that had befallen Rohann—the man had been acting strange since the day he announced this expedition. Yet, madness had taken hold of him and grown with each day they drew closer to this accursed city.

  And now, many of those who followed him here lay rotting in this infernal jungle.

  Klain felt no pity for them.

  It is the way of things. The weak fall.

  They had all been weak. Too weak to have attempted such a journey. Klain’s eyes fell to Charver. The boy was too weak for this as well.

  Nix! He has my strength! I will not allow him to pass into the Aftermore while I still hold breath.

  Scanning the surrounding darkness, his eyes picked up the strange girl’s silhouette slinking along the far side of the great chamber. He doubted any of the Humans could see her. She glided, a predator at her ease in total darkness. Every so often, her silver eyes—her slit-like pupils so much akin to Klain’s own, yet so different—wandered across the space between them to regard Klain with…What? Not caution. Not exactly hate either. More like an understanding of a confrontation to come. An acceptance of what must be. He hated to admit it, yet he was unsure if he could best her when that time came. She had held her own against the lizard monsters and he begrudgingly admired her skills.

  The two boys were a different matter altogether. Arderi, the boy with the lightning fast hands, showed promise. He could not believe he now owed a debt to the Human who had embarrassed him with such ease back in Mocley. Arderi still had much to learn before he could wield that blade of his with any true skill, though Klain liked him. His brother, however...

  Power radiates from that man!

  As ignorant as Klain felt about life in this free existence, he felt sure that Alant held more power than any one man should. The fact that that she-wench followed him like a protective dog reinforced his belief.

  The hallway was massive. When they stepped from this large hall into an even more massive domed room, Klain paused. The hall they had traveled continued on out of sight. Rohann, however, did not continue down it. Instead, he crossed to the far side of this new area and entered an arched doorway leading down a different tunnel. Rubble littered this tunnel as well, though it appeared less damaged than the one they left behind. This new tunnel was not small, just small compared to the cavernous expanse of the main hallway. It stretched off in the distance, curving away to the right. High overhead sat a row of egg-shaped windows, a delicate pattern of circles within circles created a design on their bubbled interior, running down the right side of the tunnel. It struck Klain as odd that none of the panes of glass had broken. Most were caked with mud and grime. If they were meant to cast light into the area—and he could not fathom where this light would come from—none passed through them.

  The tunnel continued. With its ever-present curve to the right, Klain never saw far enough ahead to be certain they were not walking into danger. Though his ears caught nothing, and the only vibrations the pads on his hindpaws picked up were those of his traveling companions.

  “She is here!” Rohann’s excited shout cut through the silence that had fallen on the party. Little Charver jumped when the merchant took off at a run.

  “Wait!” The brother, Alant, threw a hand up in frustration. “No one else go running off. Whatever is ahead, it is the source of the Essence draw I am feeling.”

  Klain did not need the Human’s warning. His hackles had risen to an unseen danger that clung to this area like stench to rotten meat.

  Stepping in front of the group, Alant looked at each in turn, stopping at his brother. “I do not know what awaits us. Keep a good head on your shoulders.”

  With a nod to Alant, Arderi turned and gazed deep into Klain’s eyes. “Together?”

  Baring his fangs, Klain looked to where Rohann had run. “Aye.” Brushing past Alant, the two headed off down the corri
dor shoulder to shoulder. It was the first time Klain had allowed anyone to enter a fight by his side. Cutting his eyes to the boy, he marveled over the thought of someone willing to fight beside him. It filled him with an odd sense of pride.

  I now owe you two debts, boy.

  The others followed, and he knew they would aid him if needed in not only a fight—in protecting Charver as well. Never before had he felt a kinship to another. Now, he felt it with many. Looking over his shoulder, he smiled at Charver who held onto Alant’s side. His gaze slid to Elith who slipped back to the far wall.

  Well, mayhaps not with that gray wench. Still, she protects the brothers, which is aid enough.

  As the group continued down the ever-curving hallway, their boots echoing in the vast emptiness, Klain felt a palpable change. More vines broke through the ceiling here than elsewhere, and a blue glow emanated from further ahead. A massive pillar splitting a descending stairwell appeared in the center of the hall. The blue light radiated around both sides of the structure.

  Whatever doom Rohann has been chasing, we have found it.

  Elith ghosted along. She liked the feel of her stride. Confident. Balanced. Graceful. She also liked the darkness. It cloaked her. Protected her. She never felt more alive than when in the dark.

  Though not here. Not in this place.

  She still fought the nagging feeling that she had been here before. Though, that was impossible. Until she sailed for Mocley, she had never left the isles of Komar. And more. A feeling of…dread. It filled her, gripped her and would not let go. The glow of the blue light ahead amplified her ill feeling. Whatever lay down those stairs on the other side of the massive pillar, it did not belong. Not here.

  She sensed the others felt is as well. The Kithian radiated tension. The muscles across his back drawn tight, he gripped the strange V-shaped hilt of his thick sword like someone hanging onto a precipice. Arderi Cor, striding along next to the Kithian, fared little better. His stride spoke of a confidence that his wide eyes darting around the area betrayed.

  Looking to the side, she peered at the Mah’Sukai walking next to her. He had extinguished the light between his hands, thank the gods. Yet, he had replaced that miracle with the miracle of lightning arcing from his fingertips—almost as hard on her sensitive eyes as the glow had been.

  She will need to anticipate the time when he releases that power.

  The last thing she wanted was to repeat the agony she had felt during their first encounter. Then, she had not expected the blinding flash of his power. Now, she knew the power the Mah’Sukai wielded.

  She paid the boy no attention. He was the charge of the Kithian. It was not her concern whether either of them lived or died.

  The brothers are all she cares for.

  The blue light ahead grew in intensity as they approached the large pillar that split the stairway leading down. Vines and roots littered the area. She felt vulnerable this close to the others. Shifting her direction to the left, she slipped away from the group as they descended the stairs.

  Rounding the pillar, she brushed a hanging root from her face. As she did, she saw the merchant, Rohann Vimith, on his knees. He stared up at something beyond her sight, his face bathed in blue, wearing a look of pure rapture. Tears flowed from his eyes, carving rivulets in his dirt-smeared cheeks. Continuing down the stairs and further around the pillar, the sight she beheld pulled her to a stop.

  Before the merchant, upon a landing directly behind the pillar, sat a black onyx sculpture. Like a pyramid hollowed out, leaving only three triangular fingers rising up, it stood about the height of a man. Glowing runes edged the outside surfaces. Drawing near, she recognized the substance—Ratave—the same as her staff.

  The sculpture, however, was not what held the rapt attention of Rohann Vimith. Suspended in a blue, egg-shaped bubble, held aloft by the three fingers of the sculpture, floated a woman. Her jet-black hair, fanning out as if submerged in water, glistened in the blue light. She wore a pristine white robe that also floated out, swaying gently in an unseen current. The woman appeared asleep. Her face serene and peaceful to behold.

  Fear laced through Elith, and she felt her eyes widen. She looked at the woman and she knew. Knew with every fiber of her being…

  She has met that woman before!

  This close to Klain, Arderi Cor understood why anyone would be afraid of the beast. If he reached up over his head, he thought he could just touch the top of The Kith’s head. The fact that the lion-man was with the party, and not against them, was a relief. Walking next to him was as comforting as having Dorochi in hand.

  The blue glow grew in intensity while they descended the stairs side by side. With an unspoken glance, they split, each taking a different side of the pillar. Rounding his side, Arderi saw that Rohann had dropped to his knees. Something held his attention. More than held it, the man looked enthralled. Tears ran down his face and he held his hands up in worship.

  The sight stopped Arderi in mid-step. Only the thought of leaving the Kithian to fend for himself on the other side made him move his feet again.

  Many situations had run through his mind as they traveled the tunnel to arrive here. Some so terrifying, they made his pulse race. Yet, even the most ridiculous of imagined scenarios had not prepared him for this.

  A woman, encased in a large blue orb, floated above the floor over his head. Rounding to the front, he stood next to the kneeling Rohann and stared up, dumbstruck. The woman was the most beautiful he had ever seen. Her flowing black hair and unmarred white skin brought perfection to life. He could not put an age to her. At once she looked young—a woman in the fullness of her bloom. Next, she appeared a woman of middle-age—full of a life’s experiences.

  He had believed neither the mad merchant nor his brother when they had spoken of being in the presence of a goddess. How could stories from a book—even the holy Book of the Twelve—come to life?

  Yet, if this woman is not the Goddess of Wisdom made flesh, nothing can be.

  Alant Cor had not known what to expect rounding the massive pillar that split the hallway in twain. He still held the Sight, pulling in all the Strands of energy around him. He had been doing so since they entered this smaller hallway. Yet, he did not need to hold the Sight to feel the massive flux bending the Essence. Everywhere he looked, Spectals and Strands vibrated under the strain. They struggled just to stay interconnected. He felt that at any moment the entire Plane could be pulled into whatever lay ahead.

  Reality itself could unravel right here!

  When his brother and the Kith split, Elith followed Arderi, though she stayed against the far wall. With the boy, Charver, pressed against his side, Alant decided to follow Klain.

  The blue light laced into the Kith’s spotted fur once whatever caused it came into his view. The look of wonder mixed with terror filling the beast’s eyes did little to comfort Alant. As they walked up next to Klain, Charver moved from him to clutch the Kith’s leg. Turning, Alant understood the lion-man’s awe, and shared it.

  A black structure, much like something used to display a vase, stood on a landing of the stairs. It was large, a little bit taller than himself, with glowing runes running along its edges. It held aloft a massive glowing orb, like an egg of shimmering blue energy. The Essence danced around it, as if on fire. Running down the back of the pillar that split the stairwell ran a long thick root. Its bark, black as night, had the texture of burnt flesh.

  The roots of the Chandril’chi tree! We are directly below it.

  One thin offshoot of the root draped from the main body and had somehow attached itself to the back of the blue bubble. Tiny rootlings shot off from this, each one running along the circumference of the sphere, like the fingers of some deformed hand.

  The tree is feeding off the orb! That must be the draw I feel.

  The woman floating off the floor exuded the beauty the stories f
rom the Book of the Twelve foretold. He did not doubt she was the goddess Saphanthia, even had Rohann not been below her crying in worship. The thing that shocked him the most was the fact that he recognized her. She was the woman who had come to him in the forest. The one who directed him here.

  Yet, why? Why would a goddess appear before me?

  Because, Alant. You are more important to me than you may ever know.

  No words were spoken aloud, yet Alant heard the goddess’s voice as clearly as if she stood next to him. Looking up into her face, she maintained the appearance of sleep.

  If she is aware of me, there are no outward signs.

  Saphanthia is aware, Alant. I am aware of all my children.

  He knew that the others heard the voice also from their startled expressions.

  His brother glanced at him and pointed to the floating woman. “Did you just…?”

  Nodding, Alant sought a glimpse of Elith, yet the strange gray-skinned girl was nowhere to be seen. “Aye. I think we all did.”

  He looked back at the face of the goddess to see if there was any change in her features. There was not. “You came to me in the forest. Why?”

  I came to all of you, in one form or another.

  It was not the answer Alant had expected, and he looked at the others.

  It was Arderi who spoke first. “The priestess! That is where I have seen your face. Yet, that woman was much older.”

  You were presented with the visage you needed at that time, Arderi.

  Continuing to use their names did more to unsettle Alant than the fact that they heard her speak without audible words. Stepping up to the three-fingered structure holding the blue sphere aloft, he took a closer look at the runes covering their edges. They seemed familiar, yet he could not place any of them.