Chapter 22
I walked inside The Hollows as Theht’s voice resounded in my head. Her words came like unintelligible whispers. Soon, more voices joined hers, speaking softly, though I only caught a word here and there.
Deathbringer, they whispered, and as they said it, something woke inside me. I couldn’t describe what exactly stirred in my consciousness, except that it wasn’t Theht, and it seemed to have always been there. It also occurred to me that I was, in actuality, the Deathbringer, and now the prophecy would soon be fulfilled.
That thought made fear run like ice through my veins, but I did my best to push the negativity away. For now, I was in control.
The light from the torches outside the cave faded quickly as I took a staircase leading down. After descending to the bottom, I stepped onto a flat surface, whispering a spell. A blue glow surrounded my fist, lighting my way. My magic was the only light to dispel the shadows surrounding me. The darkness was so thick, I had no idea what this world I entered look like, although I knew I must have been in a large space as the reverberation of my footsteps seemed to echo for miles.
Walking deeper into The Hollows, I noticed the stench of death pervading the air. Up ahead, something lay in my path. I stopped, my heart racing as I came upon a corpse. As I stepped closer, the blue glow of my magic illuminated the body. Dark curls were splayed around her head. Her face was mostly decomposed—the lips and eyes gone to reveal the skull beneath her skin—though her clothing seemed untouched. On her belt, she carried several empty vials.
With horror, I realized I recognized the woman. Arantha. She’d been a healer in Geth’s camp. But could it really be her? The hair and the stocky build matched what I remembered, and the fact that she carried the vials matched what I knew of her.
I backed away, though it was difficult to pull my gaze away from the corpse. In my mind, I assumed it wasn’t the woman I’d once met, because dealing with the death of a stranger seemed easier than the death of someone I knew, someone who had helped me once before.
I continued through the tunnels as my heart raced faster. Several more corpses lay in my path. Some appeared in their goblin forms, with milky gray skin and malnourished, hairless bodies, but others had humanlike appearances.
These must have been Geth’s people—the Caxon. Everyone had died when the queen had enacted her spell to destroy the entire race of goblins, but seeing the results of the spell like this was unexpected and heartbreaking. Yes, some of the creatures she killed had been little more than depraved monsters, but others had remembered their humanity and had tried to live a better life.
I stopped when I reached a doorway. Magic came from the worn wood. The door, like the entrance to The Hollows, was ordinary and unadorned with an antique copper knob and keyhole, both oxidized and turned green with age. As I stood there, the fear gripping me made it hard to breathe.
Both Earth and Faythander powers emanated from the door, and I also felt Geth’s dark magic fueling a protection spell. Gathering my courage, I faced the door, looking for a way past the spell.
Something whispered behind me. I rounded, fear making my heart pound loudly in my ears. Behind me, I saw nothing but a trail of corpses, and beyond that, only darkness. As I faced forward again, I took a step forward, then placed my hand on the wood.
I wanted to escape this place as soon as possible.
The smooth wood felt cool against my skin. The magic in the door recognized my own. I felt it searching me, testing my magic. Then, without warning, the doorknob turned; the door slowly opened inward, creaking, until I stood staring into a small room.
I hesitated, took a deep breath, and entered.
The space had no decorations or furniture except for a mirror hanging on the wall. A shiver ran down my spine. My skin broke out in chills as the mirror’s magic called to me.
Walking toward it, I noticed it was an exact match to the one in Jeven’s castle—oval-shaped with an ornate gold frame and black glass.
Standing tall, I faced the mirror. My hands grew clammy. As my reflection stared back at me, the image changed. My eyes turned from light green to gold, and then to orange with pupils that elongated to five points, like flower petals, as my image transformed completely.
Theht stood in the mirror, looking back at me. As she reached out her clawed, scale-covered hand, her arm extended beyond the mirror’s frame.
“Come,” she said. “It is time.”
My mind grew numb except to the call of her words, and I felt I had been hypnotized as I reached for her. I took her fingers in mine, the feel of her skin shockingly real as she guided me through the mirror.
The air sparkled with red and silver lights that dazzled my eyes until we stood in a white void, the same sort I’d visited while with Jeven. Theht stood with me. I’d seen her before on several occasions, but it had always been in visions. Other times, she had appeared ghostlike, her form almost too hard to discern. Now, I saw her with perfect clarity. She had a humanlike body, though her skin was covered in orange scales. Her red armor conformed to her body, and long, raven-colored hair flowed down her back.
As we stood facing one another, I got the overwhelming feeling that I stood before a goddess, someone incomprehensibly greater than me, a creature I could barely fathom in the scope of things. I wanted to speak, but my tongue refused to move. I had the overpowering urge to kneel, and before I could second guess my decision, and not being in full control of my own actions, I bent on one knee and dipped my head.
She walked slowly toward me, placed a clawed finger beneath my chin, and raised my head so that our eyes met.
Smiling, she revealed a row of serrated teeth behind black, reptilian lips.
“Deathbringer, today is a great day that will bring my return to your world. I am pleased you have come.”
My mouth still refused to cooperate.
“I have watched for so long. I have inhabited your mind so that now, at this time, I will be able to use your body as my vessel in order to bring about the rebirth of the worlds. Together, we shall travel to the cosmos and take the piece of star for our own. We will use it to ignite the world in flame and in ash, and then its power will propel us into the realm where I long to be.”
“No.” I finally managed to gasp out the word. When I did, a flood of relief washed over me as I felt my mind returning. She knelt in front of me, her eyes narrowed.
“No?” she asked.
“I won’t do it. I won’t let you use me.”
“You have no choice.”
“You’re lying. Everyone has a choice—that’s the beauty of the world I live in. I get to make my own choices. I will not be coerced.”
She grabbed my hand. Power surged through her fingers and into mine, an electrical intensity that set my nerve endings on fire. I gasped as the pain took over, then fell to the ground, my body unresponsive.
Tears leaked from my eyes, but she wouldn’t win this, not while my mind managed to stay my own. “You can’t… do anything… without using fear. Or pain.”
She ignored me. “Do you know why I chose you?” she asked, standing over me.
I wanted to answer, to make some kind of reply, but couldn’t talk past the pain.
“You may have wondered why, out of all the people in the world—in the universe—I chose you. I will tell you, though the answer may not be as you expect.”
The pain relented a little as she spoke, replaced with a feeling of numbness, like a drug that was trying to dull my mind. I lay motionless in the white void, listening as Theht spoke—her soft voice like a spell that would soon control me.
“I did not choose you because you controlled the magic of both worlds, although you may believe otherwise. I did not choose you because I thought you were powerful, you had a strong mind, or because you were predestined or special in some way—a hero who would one day become the champion of this world.
“No, those are not the reasons why. When I looked out over this world, scanning the many fac
es of the vessels I could have taken, it never once occurred to me that you were special in some extraordinary way. In fact, my choice had nothing to do with you. It had everything to do with him.”
“Him?” I whispered, confused.
“The prophecy of the son of the Viking gods, of the one person foreordained to kill me, was a divination uttered long ago, in a time long past. He was chosen to end my existence, but I would not let the old ways determine my time here, so I did the only thing I could do to stop the foretelling from becoming reality. I took the vessel of the only person on the planet I knew he could not kill.
“That is why you become the Deathbringer. It is why I used your body for my own, and it is why I will use you to destroy this world, because he will not stop me as long as I possess your body.”
My mind tried to grasp the truth of her words, but it was too much. The prophecy had nothing to do with me. The only reason she’d chosen me was because of Kull. I was the one person he couldn’t kill. But she was wrong.
“You’ll never take my body for your own. You’ll never cross into this world.”
Her face loomed in my vision. “Yes. At this moment, I don’t have that power yet, but I will.”
She stepped away from me and held out her hands where a gray mist gathered. Atop her palms, a sword took shape. Tarnished silver blade, ordinary pommel with the dragon claw clutching a sapphire crystal—the sword of Dracon—the real weapon.
“Take it,” she said. “Use it to conjure me. I will come to your world in flame and bring destruction with me, and then your world will be reborn, and we shall rule together.”
She placed the sword beside me, then backed away. Her image slowly faded until I lay alone in the white void, the sword of Dracon at my side.
The pain slowly subsided. I got to my hands and knees, then sat up and stared at the sword.
I debated on leaving it. Theht wanted me to have it. She must have known I wouldn’t be able to control or kill her with it, making me wonder if the stories were true. Was this really the weapon that could control Theht? Since the goddess wanted me to have it, I got the impression that the user would be controlled by her rather than the other way around.
Still, if I wanted to set my parents free, I would have to do it with this sword. Reluctantly, I grasped the sword’s pommel and lifted it up.
The blade reflected my face. My eyes, still tinged in a red glow, made me quickly glance away.
I’m here, she said. I will be with you until the end.
Not unless I kill you first, I answered, which I absolutely intended to do.
As I stepped out of the cave, the frigid air froze my exposed skin. Without my cloak, the thin shirt and pants I wore were no match for the blast of arctic air, but as I focused on my parents still tied up outside the cavern, thoughts of my discomfort faded.
Mom’s face was ashen and her eyes were closed. Snowflakes were frozen on her eyelashes, and I feared the worst as I crossed the distance toward her, but as my boots crunched the bits of ice on the ground, her eyes opened. Still carrying the sword, I knelt beside my parents.
“You’ve found it,” Dad said.
“Yes. Where’s the queen?”
“Behind you,” he said, his voice haunted.
I rounded to find the queen approaching me, her eyes focused on the sword.
“Give it to me,” she demanded.
“No, not until you release them.”
“Fine,” she spat, turning to the elves who trailed behind her. “Cut their ropes.”
The elves did as she said. Mom collapsed as her cords were cut, and Dad caught her in his arms. I turned to go to Mom when the elves caught me under the arms and turned me to face the queen. I still held the sword, my heart beating wildly in my chest. Kull and the others stood behind the queen, held captive, a host of basita weapons focused on them.
I gripped the sword’s hilt, its magic making my skin tingle. Whatever decision I made seemed as if it would lead to death and destruction. The only choice I had was to let the queen have the sword. If she was successful in harnessing Theht’s power, she would kill all magical creatures except elves. If Theht managed to overcome the princess, then she would use me to bring an asteroid to our world and destroy it.
The only chance I had to stop anyone would be to try and kill Theht once she’d fully emerged into our world. If that failed, then I would open a portal and manipulate time, possibly try to make things right before they started. I had no clue if I would succeed. A portal like that—if I was able to create one—could easily tear me to pieces, but I was out of options. Even without an anchor, I would still try.
“Give it to me,” the queen said quietly, though her voice scared me more than if she raised her voice.
Reluctantly, I handed the sword over.
Queen Euralysia took the sword from me. Magic sparked around her, then spiraled in a cloud of white and blue. I stumbled back as the power coalesced into a whirlwind, growing to tornadic fury as she held aloft the sword.
I backed away from the queen and toward my friends. Kull came, pulling me toward him and away from the queen. An overwhelming sense of guilt came over me as I watched the queen manipulate the sword’s powers, but I’d had no choice. Mom and Dad would’ve died.
“My parents,” I said to Kull. “We have to help them.”
“We will. But are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” As he held my hand, I looked up into his eyes, realizing Kull knew nothing about what Theht had told me—that he was destined from before the world began to kill her. I wanted to tell him everything, but now wasn’t the time. My mom was still on the verge of death, and my dad probably wouldn’t last much longer.
We moved to where my parents still sat by The Hollow’s entrance, but as we crossed toward them, Queen Euralysia’s magic exploded in a flash of blinding white light. Kull and I both fell back. I hit the ground, and Kull landed beside me. Above us, magic spiraled into the sky, creating a maelstrom of spinning winds and flashes of lightning. Thunder boomed, shaking the pebbles on the ground.
The queen rose into the air. She held the sword high, the magic gathering around her. I crawled to Kull, then focused on my parents. Mom was still unresponsive, although Dad held her in his arms. Her red hair whipped back and forth as the wind increased.
“She’ll be all right,” Dad yelled over the howling wind as he focused on Kull and me. “You have to stop the queen. Do whatever it takes to stop her.”
“You’re sure she’s okay?”
“Yes, but not for long if you don’t stop the queen. She’s going to use Theht’s power to recreate the same spell she used against the goblins. Except this time, she’ll destroy all races except elves. She’ll kill them, Olive, and then she’ll kill anyone who opposes her. Stop her now before she can use the sword to amplify her spell.”
“But how do I stop her?”
“You’ll think of something!”
Great. Thanks, Dad. That’s really helpful.
Kull took my hand, and we attempted to walk against the wind. I felt as if my knees would buckle at any moment and I would be swept away, but with Kull’s help, I managed to move forward.
The queen rose higher into the air as the whirlwind gathered in strength around her. A spark of electricity shot outward from the sword’s blade, igniting the grass. With the wind gusts, the small flames quickly grew into a bonfire. The flames shot upward and got sucked into the vortex.
Kull and I jumped back as the flames erupted around us. The elves scrambled as the fire engulfed the grasslands. Heidel and Maveryck appeared from the crowd.
“I’m going to use a spell to stop her,” I told them. “Maveryck, I could use some help.”
The thief nodded, and we faced the queen.
My magic flowed quickly, fed by the intense power swirling around us. Maveryck’s magic also fed into mine. With a whispered word, I let my magic flow, glowing inside me, then I pointed my finger at the queen’s heart and released the spell.
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Blue and amber shot from my hand, but instead of hitting the queen as I’d hoped, the magic wrapped around the queen. It only aided to fuel her own powers.
“That wasn’t good,” I said to Maveryck.
“No, magic won’t affect her, it seems.”
“What about weapons?” Kull asked, hefting a discarded basita that had been thrown to the ground during the chaos.
“Yes, try it!” I called back.
He lifted the weapon and pulled the lever that launched a white flaming bolt at the queen. The bolt struck her chest and disabled her for a moment. The wind died down, but when it did, the queen lowered. Her feet touched the ground as she focused on us.
Her eyes glowed bright white as she crossed the distance. She pointed the sword’s tip at my heart.
“There is a piece of the goddess within you,” she said, her voice like a thousand whispers. “Give it to me.”
I backed away. She needed the goddess within me to completely harness Theht. She’d tried to take the goddess from me before, but without the sword, she’d been unsuccessful. Now, she would have no trouble controlling the dark goddess’s powers, and no trouble controlling me.
“No.” I stumbled away from her.
“I will take it from you.” She lifted her hand. Magic shot from her fingers and wrapped like barb wire around my skin, flaying my flesh. I cried out as the queen hovered closer, looming in my vision.
“Your power is mine.” She pressed the palm of her hand to my chest. I screamed as pain lanced through my skull, pulling and ripping my brain apart. Shadows clouded my vision. All that existed was the pain. She would kill me trying to take the goddess from me—I knew I would die soon, that I could do nothing to stop her, when that part of myself that had always existed within me—Deathbringer—reacted.
The pain stopped.
I rose and blasted the queen with my magic. She flew backward. Her assault on me stopped.
As I stood, everyone around me laid prone on the ground. Fires burned in every direction, their crackling mingled with the howls of the jagamoors far in the distance. I glanced at my hands, my arms, feeling as if I was a different person in another body. Something besides me controlled my actions as I walked to where the queen lay.
Fairy World M.D., Boxed Set Two (4-6.5) Page 67