Betrayal

by Mayandree Michel

  He stood over the domes which housed my parent's hearts, and I was in turmoil as I could actually feel their hearts beat rapidly. Now that the domes were removed, Victor glided out from behind the altar and floated toward his disciples. He levitated and opened his arms out wide, and began speaking to them.

  “My coven of devoted followers, the moment has come that will catapult us into an untouchable, unattainable realm of ultimate power – my ultimate power,” Victor shouted. At Victors command, his disciples slowly rose up almost as high as he floated.

  “Join me now, and we will never know fear, we will rule this earth, and shall have full ownership of it! Join me now, and you will have all the riches you desire! Join me now, and you will have power that is without limitations! Join me now, and we will kill the Ischeros one by one, and I will reign as I am the true royalty!”

  Victor’s thunderous voice literally shook the gray, marble, stone walls. The room was no longer frigid. It was warming up like a sauna. The robes worn by each of his disciples flickered and blew about with the whirlpool of wind that was beneath Victor’s levitated body. His cloak swirled and spiraled into a point at the center of the whirlpool. The disciples began chanting “Yes Sire” in unison as they circled him slowly at first, and then steadily picking up momentum. So much speed that they became an ivory blur of satin spinning and chanting.

  Victor was facing me now, and his eyes became blood red. His booming roar was deafening. He descended as did his disciples. Something about them was different. The disciples’ eyes were blood red and glowing. They had an unquestionable arrogance that I could smell from where I still lay. Every pair of eyes was on me, ravenous and greedy for power. Victor had brought them to his level of power since he was about to possess my power. He had built a very powerful army, an army comparable to the Ischeros. If Evan and the other members ever showed up, they would surely be in for a battle.

  I watched Victor and his battalion closing in on me just as crumbling and ear drum shattering crashing reverberated throughout the room. It sounded like a wrecking ball was demolishing the outer structure of this room. It had to be Evan and the others breaking in, I thought. Every disciple, as well as Victor, swerved their eyes in all directions. Victor quickly dispatched his disciples to investigate, leaving only Lucas and Sacha at his side. He was now at my alter chanting in the ancient language of Ischera, ancient Greek. I understood every word that rumbled from Victor's lips. He spoke quickly as his time was running out.

  “Bestow the forces of the fallen unto thyself!” Victor chanted in a high pitched voice, over and over. As he chanted the compelling words, his two favored disciples stared at me lying on the altar as I writhed about helpless. The evil pair was eager to finally witness my demise. I wriggled my body vigorously, but the efforts were proving to be useless.

  I looked into Victor’s enraged crimson pupils, and hoped that I would see Evan again, I didn’t want to die without telling him how much I still loved him.

  Victor appeared oblivious to my wasted attempts at liberating myself. I knew that my powers still hadn’t surfaced, and so did he. He started ripping open the bodice of my gold gown with his bare hands, revealing the vise like corset which helped accentuate my breasts as well as conceal them.

  “No” I screamed, but Victor continued, ignoring me. To my horror, he produced a large foot long crystal prism that looked more like a dagger from somewhere beneath his robe. The dagger gleamed brightly, picking up the light of the flickering candles in the chandeliers that hung just above the altar.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off of the sparkling dagger, which would soon be thrust into my chest. The point seemed as sharp as a hunting knife.

  “Bestow the forces of the fallen unto thyself!” Victor wailed, and with both hands clutching the dagger, he raised it high above his head, and continued chanting wildly.

  He was doing it! He was really going to kill me!

  Crimson rays radiated from my parents hearts as they appeared to be beating faster. The crashing and booming sounds were getting louder, and the ceiling was beginning to crack. Tiny particles of stone and dust were falling like snowflakes. The entire room was vibrating, and I wasn’t sure if it was the crashing sounds or Victor’s words that was causing it. The roar of his tone had not wavered as the walls began to crack in leafless tree patterns. Still it was only the four of us in the room. The other disciples hadn’t returned, and there was still no sign of Evan and the other members of the family coming to my rescue. Fear that I couldn't possibly express in words engulfed me as I watched Victor slowly lower the dagger.

  “No, Please!” I begged, shamelessly.

  “Bestow the forces of the fallen unto thyself!” Victor continued to bellow as if he were possessed. His blood red eyes exuded an insufferable heat.

  “Please don’t kill me, please,” I pleaded. I felt the searing hot blade of the dagger slightly pierce into the flesh of my chest and run a straight line from just below my collar bone to my ribs. He had made an incision as if he were going to surgically remove my heart.

  “Nooo!” I cried out, as the excruciating pain began and ended almost immediately. But it wasn't the pain that had made me scream, or the reality of having to die again. I was enraged that no one had come to my rescue. My body felt weightless when just a minute before it had felt like it was beginning to stiffen into the marble of the altar.

  Suddenly a shimmering white light began to flow from the incision Victor had made in my chest. It sprung upward, and Victor stopped chanting instantly. His demonic ruby eyes bulged as he stepped back, and observed the stream of light as it continued to flow from my chest, and then veer over to the other alter where my parent’s hearts were on display. I was afraid of turning my gaze away from Victor or his dagger, but I was drawn to the translucent light like a moth to a blaze. The dazzling white light split into two columns like a fork in a road, with each line of light leading to either of my parent’s hearts. I watched in amazement as the beams of light engulfed their hearts. Just then I realized that the wrecking ball sounds had died down to a complete stop. The room was consumed by silence and it was deafening.

  Sacha gasped just as her brother grabbed her and pulled her near him. I could see genuine fear in his eyes. He obviously knew that this wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Victor stood in awe of the bright beaming hearts, speechless and stunned.

  “What’s happening?” Sacha asked, anxiously.

  No one said a word. Then the walls came crashing and plummeting down at once and a blinding light encircled the entire floor of the room and rose up to the ceiling.

  “Once again, you’re in the way, whore!” Bethany bellowed.

  Sacha gasped as Bethany flew above her sending Sacha flying away from her brother. It happened incredibly fast. I could barely keep up. I had to blink a few times when I saw Sacha shift into a black panther and land on her feet in a pouncing position, preventing a fall. This change didn't faze Bethany who transformed into a water form of herself. Lucas was one step ahead, now a full grown panther, leaping at Julius. Julius shape shifted into a gigantic weredragon of over ten feet with webbed wings which spanned out fifteen feet wide on either side. Victor wasn’t wasting any time watching his devotees battle Julius. He held the dagger over his head once again and roared the chant.

  “Bestow the forces of the fallen unto thyself!”

  Julius spewed crackling flames at the large feline. Suddenly Lucas flew backward roaring in pain. But he was relentless as was his sister and they circled Julius both taking turns lunging theirs claws deep into the reptilian skin of the back of the dragon. The dragon roared in pain, and whipped its long scaled tale back and forth knocking the panthers on their backs repeatedly then finally torching them both into ashes. Victor saw what happened to his girlfriend and most trusted confidant. He had known that even paired, the panthers were no match for a fire spewing dragon, yet he didn’t try to save them. In fact, Victor showed no emotion at the loss of his two most faithful discip
les. They had foolishly given their lives for him.

  Victor turned his attention back to me. As quickly as Bethany had shape shifted into water, she was transformed back to her original shape dressed in her stunning ball gown.

  “Back off Victor,” Bethany ordered. “You’re out of time.”

  “Nooo!” I screamed, as Victor was all set to plunge the dagger but stopped. Victor's arms seemed frozen in midair. He had a glazed look on his face. Out of the blue, and to my relief, Evan stepped up to the altar, and stared down at me. His face was angelic. He was my angel. He had come to save me. I let out a sigh of relief before I passed out thinking of the words the Goddess Athena had spoken to me. It all came full circle as her words played in my mind again like my favorite song synced to my mp3 player.

  Her words were simple and brought me clarity. When Athena had first spoken them I didn’t understand the part about having strength where I lacked aspiration. At that moment in my bedroom I wanted to remember who I was more than anything in the world, except maybe going back to the future.

  That’s was the problem.

  You have the strength were you lack the aspiration….

  All this time, I wanted to remember who I was, but more so, I wanted to be sent back to the future.

  Free yourself from what you know...

  I needed to forget the future and live in the past.

  It is within yourself that you will find the answers…

  It was as my father had said; I am the master of my power.

  And just like that I had solved the riddle, and was as free as a bird and could sail out of this dungeon if it was what I wished at this very moment. I could very well spread my wings as far and as wide as I needed and fly out into the horizon. I knew this now as I’ve always known it but wouldn’t allow myself to believe.

  I opened my eyes, and saw the battle that ensued. They were equals in power. Victor had shape shifted into a larger dragon than Julius, and was trying to set them all ablaze. Julius retaliated with more sky high flames. Bethany, now back to her water form, took the shape of a shield carried by Nikolas, who was trying to extinguish Victor’s flames, or inevitably be torched. The mighty centaur unleashed perfectly aimed arrows at Victor, but he set fire to them before they made their mark. Julius was no match for Victor. Victor’s fire power was stronger, and burned higher and hotter. Victor appeared stronger than the three of them combined.

  “Cordelia, you must take the light back in,” Evan instructed, referring to the light that was still coursing out of the score Victor had cut into my chest.

  The light continued to radiate from me as I understood what Evan had said. I needed the light. I couldn’t allow it to leave my body or I would be drained of my power. All of my strength seemed out of my reach, as if it were locked away in a room which I didn’t possess the key to.

  “You are one with me, and I am one with you, thy light of thy father.” My words caused the shimmering light to crackle crisply into a blinding lightning bolt being sucked back into my chest. I traced the laceration with my finger tip and it was gone. I touched the shredded luxurious fabric of my bodice and it wove into a forgotten memory. I looked at my shackles and willed the iron pins in them to slide out, and then I slipped my hands and feet out of them.

  “Evan!” Bethany screamed as an enormous sphere of fire ignited Evan’s back. He was engulfed in a blaze. Victor had a twenty foot wall of fire wrapped around the altar that Bethany’s whirlpool couldn’t douse or penetrate. She, as well as Nikolas and Julius were held at bay behind the wall trapping both Evan and I within it. Evan was now made up of water with huge patches of flames that fought to take over his body. Finally with an eruption, like a geyser as icy as a glacier, water won. Evan shifted back into his human form and looked up at me as I stood on the altar.

  The moment our eyes met, Victor lurched through the wall of fire, in human form. He smiled wickedly at Evan and I. Evan appeared to be preparing to deliver a deadly blow when I held my hand up and said the words that practically immobilized him.

  “Don’t touch him.” I demanded in an even tone. The anger in Evan’s crimson pupils melted somewhat to be replaced with confusion. Then it was replaced again with elation, though he quickly masked it. He knew that I had all the facets of my abilities.

  Victor seemed unsure of what to do next. He certainly wasn’t about to take orders from me as well. Evan took a step back, and his tuxedo jacket was slightly scorched by the towering flames.

  I lowered my hand and the wall of flames disappeared into the floor, revealing the shocked faces of Bethany, Julius, and Nikolas who were surrounded by the Apolluon shadows. The Apolluon detected supernatural activity and followed it to the source. They were being closed into a malignant looking smoke circle and they were helpless, cornered and on the verge of being smothered.

  “Don’t move an inch” I said telepathically to the three of them and Evan who just noticed what was going on. Even Victor knew to stay still. The Apolluon would stay calm if it couldn’t detect any more activity. Behind Bethany, Julius, and Nikolas, and just beyond the Apolluon, and the recently crumbled marble walls, was a dark and densely wooded fortress of evergreen pines which surrounded the dungeon. You literally couldn’t walk through the pines. They were a seamless wall that only a shadow could creep through. The potent aroma of the evergreens mixed with the smell of the burning candles in the chandeliers. It was remarkable how the marble ceiling hung in place without the walls to hold it up.

  I raised my arms, and was about to descend from the altar when the shadows took the form of a nine foot man wearing a cape, reminding me very much of that night in the storm when they had approach me. It looked exactly the same with a cape that whipped around violently like bats flying out of a hell hole into a wind storm. The towering shadow lunged in my direction, and I couldn’t wield the power of the bolt to strike it so I thought to rise up above it, but the shadow rose taller and met my height. I had nowhere to go but down. The Apolluon lunged forward to smother me and I rendered myself invisible, and it went right through me.

  I suddenly remembered why I couldn’t summon the bolt. I wasn’t outside. I needed to draw the energy from the sky and Zeus himself. I saw the panicked look on everyone’s face as they saw my dilemma. They knew that I was still in the room but they couldn’t risk moving an inch, or they’d be smothered. Suddenly, the ceiling shook violently then flipped upward, and spun around like a flying saucer, giving me a perfect opening of the sky which was the beautiful shade of violet clouds. I would thank Evan later. I reached upward as if I was reaching for the sky and the heat within me rose. Branch shaped lightning bolts shot out from my eyes, ears, finger tips and chest. Each bolt crackled loudly like static in the direction of the shadows that circled my disciples. With an earsplitting screech the Apolluon recoiled, disappearing somewhere beyond the fortress of pines. The bolts withdrew slowly back into my body to their home in my center.

  Everyone relaxed for a split second, but just for that long. The Apolluon were a minor distraction from the real evil we faced. Everyone’s eyes were back on Victor as he inched backward, and eyed me cautiously, as if contemplating an escape.

  “Welcome back,” Victor chuckled. He knew that his time had run out, and that he was no match for me after what he just witnessed. Of course I knew this as well. We locked eyes, and his suddenly bulged, furiously.

  “I am a son of Ares, I won’t be discarded.” We both were aware of the event playing out. He trembled violently, his muscular build protesting then finally succumbed. He was motionless for a moment, eyes darting above as if expecting his warrior father, Ares to bestow more power unto him, but he knew better. The gods wouldn’t interfere. Victor tried to blast a flame across the room but it was as if someone had blown out a match – a wisp of a cloud of smoke curled through the air and blew away. The others knew it too. I could read their thoughts of jubilation. Victor was rendered powerless, a former demigod, a mere mortal amongst his former peers. Ares would have
to accept that, as Zeus would not object.

  “Now tell me Victor, did you kill my parents?” The question seemed to intrigue the members as they all looked up at me, and then at Victor for a response. He must have known deep within that hateful cancerous core of his soul that he was in no position to lie, that his death would come sooner than later, and that he would soon be residing with Hades. He stared, and said nothing. I figured he wanted to play this out the hard way. I began cutting his flesh revealing painful lacerations, with my eyes. Victor yelled and suffered in agony, but wouldn't succumb to it. I asked the question again.

  “Did you kill my parents? Answer me.” I demanded. This time he spoke up. Evan must have anticipated that he would, and took a step closer to the altar.

  “I didn't... kill... your parents.” Victor yelled breathlessly. “I’m... just the... keeper of their... hearts.” He confessed. “You must believe me Cor – Cordelia.”

  Bethany looked at Nikolas, and then at Julius, who then looked at Evan, who in turn looked at me. They all revealed the same bewildered expression.

  “Liar.” Bethany hissed. It was obvious that they didn't believe him, but I did. I was able to read his mind.

  “Then who killed them?” I asked patiently.

  “Think…empress, you should already know.” Victor let his words hang in the air as everyone looked perplexed at hearing the statement. Again, he was telling the truth. I relinquished my hold on him, allowing him to plunge to the floor. He collapsed with exhaustion like a heap of laundry. Bethany walked over to him. She reached down and yanked my Eye of the Ischero medallion from around his neck.