by Lora Palmer
"Are you?"
We circled each other, our gaze meeting and holding with electric intensity. Aedalina struck first, trying to push me away from the others through sheer force of her blows. Still, I stood fast. Our battle erupted in a rapid-fire flash of light, both of them exchanging a flurry of brightly colored, powerful energy spheres. Mine started out more defensive until Aedalina escalated her attacks.
"Fight me!" Aedalina snapped, frustrated with my defense-only strategy and probably hoping to goad me into attacking. "Use your spheres to at least try hurting me, not that you’ll succeed."
"I can handle my own strategy, thanks."
"You’re weak," Aedalina spat, all the more infuriated at my calm reply, "because you refuse to fight and rely only on defense."
I shrugged, keeping a close watch on Aedalina. "Works for me. I’m still standing, aren’t I? Admit it. My defense is strong. You can’t break through."
"Prove it." Aedalina sent an attack at Brian, one I was hard pressed to defend. It was only by calling out a warning in time that I helped Brian deflect the blow in time.
I saw red. Literally. My body felt like it would explode with rage. "Attack me, not him! Or have you given up because you know you’ll lose?" Powered by sheer fury, a flaming orange-red energy sphere shot from my fingers, again and again. The force of it stung Aedalina and drove her back.
"My, my, I have touched a nerve." Aedalina laughed, barely grimacing at the pain. "You’re in love. But you have to know you can’t have him even if you survive."
"Doesn’t matter. The important thing is that the disasters are stopped."
Aedalina arched an eyebrow. "Noble. For what it’s worth, I hope you aren’t killed in the process." She let loose a rapid-fire blast of energy spheres, so fast all their tendrils mingled together and managed to hit me at once.
I hissed in pain before firing back once more. "Ow! Wait...you’re not going to try to stop me now from using the device?"
Aedalina smirked and shook her head. "Better you than me."
I nodded back before taking a quick peek to see if everyone else was all right. Brian ran to confront Erik, energy spheres sparking from his hands as he sent them flying with lightning speed at Erik.
"I’m going to kill you for what you did to my mother," Brian said, face aglow and twisted with murderous rage. "But first, I’m going to make you suffer."
"Brave words, artist." Erik’s lip curled into a sneer. In his hand, he formed a silver flashing sphere that rose into the air between them and sliced through Brian’s attacks. "Let’s see if you can back them up. Or are you just good for painting pretty murals of castles?"
"Try me."
Another barrage exploded from both Brian and Erik, a blur of motion as energy spheres clashed and sizzled. They struck flesh and everything else within reach. An acrid scent of smoke stung my nostrils. Battle cries from Brian, from Erik, from those around them, rent the air.
Kara had a sword and was fighting Erik, distracting him. She whirled and swung, nicking him and dodging energy spheres, deflecting them with her sword when they came too close. Impressive skills, girl! The others, including about thirty remaining plainsdwellers, were fighting with whatever weapons they had available, and were holding their own against Aedalina and Erik’s army. Turning to my sister, I frowned, serious again.
"You need to free yourself from the Soul Crystal before I do this, because otherwise I’m pretty sure it will end you."
Aedalina saw how many of Commander Lars’ people had fallen already. There were only a handful left who could continue to fight, and they were outnumbered. Wisely, she knew better than to go on. "Your little army has fought well, Leah. Looks like you won this battle, but we will win the war. For Jantyr."
"Oh, no. You’re not getting away so easily," Brian said, his face red and sweat-streaked. He pursued Erik, who was backing away, until his father grabbed his arms to restrain him.
"No," Caleb said. "Brian, stop."
Brian thrashed in his grip. "He deserves to pay for killing Mom. Don’t you want him to?"
"Not like this, son. Not at the cost of what getting revenge will take from you."
Aedalina and Erik turned and fled into a swampy forest of battered, overturned evergreens, closely followed by the rest of them. Only then did Caleb let Brian go.
"And what cost is that, Dad?" He asked, shoving his father away.
"Everything you are."
I was panting with exertion after a whirlwind exchange of energy spheres with Aedalina, but I raced to my parents to ensure nobody had any injuries. To my profound relief, they had all come out of the battle relatively unscathed, with superficial cuts and burns.
We bid farewell to the people of the plains. Brian, Caleb, and Korin worked together to defend some of them from the last of the opposing fighters. I had a nagging suspicion the retreat was a trick, and they would return with an even larger army. "We should go while we have the chance. I can see the crystal forest up ahead, the other way."
Keeping a brisk pace, the group ventured into the forest. Dense clusters of foliage lined the path we followed, and beyond, crystalline trees sparkled in sunlight. The sounds of chirps filled the air above us. A gentle breeze blew, making the trees hum a tinkling melody like chimes. I marveled at how untouched, how peaceful, this forest seemed in comparison to the rest of the plains. Even the grass had not become marshy.
Deeper into the forest, the branches grew thicker overhead until finally no sunlight filtered through. The crystal trees in this area lit up like neurons, allowing us to see by their soft glow. A little further on, tree branches interlaced, blocking the way ahead, creating a wall that enclosed the area. Even the trees wove themselves together to surround us.
"What’s happening?" Kara gripped my hand.
Shaking my head, I took deep, slow breaths to calm the hummingbird-fast beating of my heart. "I don’t know."
The Crystal of Knowledge hummed, a soothing melody the trees all around us returned with a high harmony, and their lights seemed to dance.
Then, experiencing the rush Aedalina mentioned, I could see everyone and everything on Jantyr. Suddenly, I knew every flower, every bird, every crystal, and every tree. I knew each person, their hopes, their dreams, and every dark problem they needed to leave behind. As I swayed, Kara steadied me, helping me stay on my feet.
"What will you do, Wielder?" A high, clear feminine voice sounded. Her demanding tone, filled with authority and power, intimidated me. I wanted to step back, but my head was still reeling with the effects of the Knowledge Crystal.
My heart skipped a beat at the question. This was a strange puzzle — or test — to sort out my worthiness to wield the Knowledge Crystal. What if I answered wrong? What would the being behind that voice do to me, or my family and friends?
Even with my mouth going dry and my voice shaky, I lifted my chin and straightened my body. "There are things, dark things, holding the people back from resolving the issues they face. Prejudice and fanaticism, political disputes, exploitation of resources. A fresh start might help them free themselves of that. I want to keep everything and everyone in the new world."
"You can only keep those who are alive."
"Why? If I can create..." My protest was cut short, and I fell silent as the woman’s voice thundered.
"No — you cannot create life where it has been extinguished. You can only renew what is there."
Glancing down, I crossed my arms. I bristled at the idea that there were limits to what I could do here, but this didn’t seem the time to argue about it. "Even if I don’t like it, I understand. All right — I will renew everything here, let it take on the forms it wants to take, and make sure resources are abundant again. I’ll also set up some defenses against the sky-gods."
"A wise course, but ambitious. It will be difficult to achieve. Good luck." As the being spoke, the tree branches blocking our path pulled away from each other, allowing us to continue on.
My second chal
lenge called me to envision a new path for the planet. Something like a hologram was produced from a group of trees in another enclosed area an hour’s walk deeper into the forest, where I viewed what the next version of Jantyr could be like. I explored a myriad of possibilities as the images displayed every possible variety of flowers and other plant life, animals, homes, natural resources, and land features.
Where once there was desert, I envisioned a beautiful, sparkling lake that could be home to the people there. A frozen tropical beach thawed, turning first into grasslands, then to a mountain region, then an island in the sea. The jungle bloomed with beautiful fruit and nut trees unlike anything I’d ever seen before, and the thunderbeasts became as small and harmless as turtles. Now I found them cute. Over and over again, landscapes and life on Jantyr transformed.
Throughout all of this, I was aware of other beings who evaluated me, measuring my thoughts, my spirit. I thought they approved. A video of the sky-gods coming began to play, and I envisioned what defenses needed to be in place. The hologram displayed an endless array of weaponry and defense systems.
"Choose well, because what you create must last until the next time of renewal. You will be part of it, part of everything, for all time. None before you have managed to escape this fate, but there’s always a first time."
My eyes lit up with hope. I gripped Kara’s hand, and she clutched mine back. "You mean, there is a way I can survive?"
"Yes, but it takes much more trust than most can manage. We hope you are the one to find the way."
Tree branches parted, allowing us to continue on once more.
The third challenge had to do with trust, and I was beginning to suspect that these were not merely tests, but a way to prepare me to face what was to come. Finally, we reached the heart of the forest, and found our way blocked by a wall of icy crystal. To get to the monolith beyond, I needed to trust the magic guarding the monolith to let me pass. The magic was a wall of ice crystal that would freeze anyone, though I would be safe if I could trust the magic.
Oh, I tried, I tried. My hand froze for a moment as I touched the wall with my fingertips, but it returned to normal as I snatched my hand back with a gasp. I thought about what I had to do. This power would heal, would renew, would protect — I could trust it. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and passed through the ice crystal wall to stand alone on the other side. There, in the center, I found the monolith. Its top slid away as I wielded the blue crystal of Knowledge, in the shape of several interconnecting snowflake crystals — like neurons, with flashing silver energy inside.
In the songs of the crystal trees around the monolith I could hear fragments of the spirits of former wielders, catching snatches of what they were trying to tell me. Something about the state they were in. Aware of incompleteness. Aware of restoring and giving life to every flower, every bird, insect, droplet of water. Great joy, but also great sadness at never being whole again. They’d lost most awareness of who they were. They had the sense that they did something wrong because they should not have ended up like this.
It would haunt me forever.
Chapter 25
There was no mirror in the plains, but the group caught an airship to Brisa later that day. I tapped my foot against my seat, eager to arrive at the island. This time, we would not need a room, as we would arrive at Galdera in a matter of hours.
"So, what does the next part of the legend say?" Kara asked, scooting next to me so she could read along.
I glanced down at my data pad and brought up the next part.
"The fifth warrior travelled by sea to the island continent of Galdera, seeking the source of the legend of the healing waterfall. There, he discovered that the crystal cliffs from which the water fell into a vast spring were healing crystals. They were used to heal all types of injuries. The warrior used the crystals to form a Healing Crystal in the shape of a sunburst. This crystal will renew the damage caused by the times of disaster and restore the balance of the solar system."
"Here’s the problem," Caleb said, leaning forward and steepling his fingers. "The crystal could be anywhere. We have no leads on where it could be."
"We’ve been lucky so far. There’s got to be a trace of it in records, or something." I waved my hand over the data pad after reading the next fragment of prophecy we’d downloaded. Doing a search, I learned that the Healing Crystal was recovered by some reef divers and transferred to a medical university in Brisa for study.
"Guys, look at this!" I exclaimed, pointedly ignoring Caleb’s frown at my use of too-informal language. I had bigger things to worry about than etiquette. Everyone gathered to read the article as I passed around the data pad.
* * *
Once we arrived in Brisa, we raced to the university via Maglev monorail, passing through a dense forest. As we neared the city, the forest gave way to a vast network of floating crystal buildings. Delicious aromas from culinary schools permeated the train. Customers enjoyed the students’ efforts in outdoor cafes above the silvery-purple ocean. I could hear strains of music from a concert across the way. Closer to the university, a group of dancers dressed in red performed a routine for a cheering crowd.
Finally, we arrived at the university campus, and snagged the crystal after doing some major convincing of the researchers. When I drew close, the researchers gasped in astonishment to find the crystal glow a soft golden light. I reached out, and nobody stopped me as I took the crystal and added it to my pendant. The crystals hummed for a moment, a high, clear harmony.
"You’re the wielder? But that’s just myth and legend."
I shrugged at the scientist. "So I’ve heard."
"Disasters are escalating so rapidly, it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before," one scientist said. She pulled back her hair out of her face, securing it into place with a bejeweled ponytail holder. Now ready for lecture mode, she brought up her latest report on her data pad, iridescent eyes shining with both worry and fascination as she warmed to the discovery. "Look here, how we’ve tracked not just one, but ten mega-tornadoes of a magnitude greater than any in recorded history!"
"Great." Caleb said, his words dry, clipped "I’m sure we’d all love to hear more about this, but we have to get back to the airship." He turned toward the door, gesturing for the others to follow.
"I’m afraid that’s impossible. The airship isn’t going anywhere." Another scientist, a middle-aged blonde man with a beard and mustache, burst into the room. He was out of breath, shaking, panic-stricken. "We’ve just tracked another megastorm, a cyclone brewing out in the ocean, headed right for the island! We have to get down to the basement! Now!"
Everyone ran to the staircase. Three by three, we descended the steps. Already, I could hear wind howling outside, an eerie, shrill sound. The wind shook the building, rattling windows and shaking us all from side to side. At one point, I gripped the railing so tightly to keep from falling, my knuckles turned white. We descended further, and I couldn’t help but scream as I saw the mammoth wall of twisting wind and water coming at us. My eyes widened in terror. For a moment I froze, staring at the fast-approaching wall of death.
"Run! Go!" I had no idea if we would be buried under all that debris and water, or if the storm would stop short of the university.
Down in the basement, a level reminiscent of a submarine, I heaved a sigh of relief when a circular, watertight door sealed shut behind us. It was much quieter in here, and I could almost forget that we could be trapped, or worse.
The scientists huddled together in one corner of the room, monitoring their data. One of them sat with her knees up to her chest as she stared at the data pad, tears slipping down her cheeks. When she caught me looking over at her in sympathy, she sniffled. "I don’t want to die," the young woman whispered.
In that moment, the storm hit overhead. It sounded like the world outside had exploded, threatening to take the building we were in with it. Everyone screamed and clung to each other. I closed my eyes and prayed, one hand clu
tching my birth mom’s and my other clutching Brian’s.
The world began to spin, leaving me dizzy and disoriented as, faster and faster, the cyclone caught the university in its grip. Creaking and groaning sounds added to the deafening roar. I had a sudden, terrifying thought that the building would disintegrate around us, torn to shreds by the storm raging across the entire city. No one spoke; it would be impossible to hear each other over the din. Then the building swayed, tilted, and crashed to the ground, slamming everyone against the floor. Glass shattered, and furniture toppled over. People screamed as massive storage shelves filled with boxes fell, crushing a few of the scientists trapped in the basement with me. This was my last awareness as my head struck hard tile and I fell into blackness.
* * *
I awoke to an excruciating headache, a hand shaking my shoulder, and the sounds of sobs and murmured reassurances. I opened my eyes and slowly sat up to find my mother smiling in relief.
"Are you all right?"
"Fine. Just a bit sore." I tried not to wince or focus on the shooting pains running through my head, especially at the back. "What about you?"
"I'm fine, but I’m not so sure about everyone else. There have been several casualties."
Glancing around the room, I saw Caleb, Brian, and Korin helping the scientists lift boxes and shelves to get to their trapped friends. Three people lay on the floor. Two were covered with a sheet, still and without life. My heart jumped into my throat at the sight. One woman lay groaning, her head propped up by someone’s jacket. Blood dripped from a cut in her leg. Beside me, Kara and David searched on the data pad for news about Aedalina and Erik.
"Look!" David was saying. "Here’s an article siding with them, talking about how this Council will save the world, organize it into one system of government capable of taking quick, decisive action against threats like the sky-gods. Whoever wrote this hails Aedalina and Erik as heroes. It says leadership transitions are occurring worldwide to ensure this system is in place."