by John Corwin
I spotted a lone figure in the field dancing through martial arts poses I'd seen a hundred times before. I ran down the gangway and joined Elyssa in her daily routine. She smiled but said nothing, continuing the poses, the stretches, her silent dance she used to greet the day.
When we finished, I wiped the sweat from my forehead and kissed her on both cheeks. "Why did you move your routine to the evening?"
She laughed. "Better check the sun again, hon."
It took me a moment to realize what she meant. The sun hung higher than it had earlier. I took out my arcphone, Nookli, and checked the compass. The sun was in the east. That means…"Wait a minute, I slept the rest of the day and through the night?"
Elyssa punched me on the shoulder. "Bingo!"
I was stunned—and not by the length of my slumber. "No attacks, from Kohvalla? Nothing?"
"Nada." She shrugged. "Illaena sent some scouts to keep an eye on our surroundings, but it's been all clear so far."
"What about the remaining Daskar at the shield wall?"
"No sign of them." She bit her lower lip. "There's something else you need to see."
My stomach tightened. "It makes me nervous when you say that."
"Yeah, well, maybe you should be." Elyssa's forehead pinched. "I hardly believe it myself."
I gulped. "Great."
As we walked toward the ship, I noticed the new levitation foils affixed to the hull, one blue and polished to a nearly mirror sheen, the one behind it sparkling like a giant topaz. The crushed remains of the old ones lay on the ground nearby. In fact, it looked like most of the weapon gems on this side had been replaced as well. It still amazed me how the gem sorters could enchant aetherite for so many different uses.
Corpses bundled in white cloth were arrayed neatly next to the old levitation foils. Beyond that lay piles of Daskar armor, some of it sorted into complete sets. I picked up a chest plate and leggings, holding them up to my body, but they looked too short to fit.
"Doubt you find any in your size or mine," Elyssa said. She waved me on. "I'll show you why." She led me around piles of rubble to an unsettling sight—dozens of unwrapped bodies stacked like so much meat in a slaughterhouse.
"The Mzodi don't plan to bury the Daskar?" I said.
"They aren't sure what to do with them." Elyssa pulled me over where four soldiers lay next to each other, still clothed in tight black underwear that resembled gym clothes.
I gasped so hard, the air nearly shot out of my ass. "You've got to be kidding me."
"I wish."
I sank to my knees and tentatively touched the hand of a female soldier. She looked like a mix between Nightliss and her fake daughter, Issana. The female next to her looked virtually identical, save for a few tiny differences like a freckle on her nose, slightly thinner lips, and larger hands.
Her eyes were green, skin olive toned, hair dark as midnight. The other two seras—female Seraphim—bore the same characteristics.
"What in the hell is going on, Elyssa?" I looked at the other bodies and realized every last one of them could pass for relatives of my dead friend. I choked back tears and heard my knuckles crack as hands formed fists.
"You remember how my father said Issana is some kind of golem?" Elyssa said.
I nodded. "Was he right?"
She took me to the back of the pile. I shuddered at the sight of a dissected Daskar, but I'd seen too much death for it to make me turn away.
"Dried blood, white bone, entrails—everything looks normal," I said.
"For the most part it is." Elyssa knelt down and picked up a crystalline sphere then held it up to me. It was about the size of a baseball and transparent.
I recognized it. "It's a spark vessel like what they use in golems."
"It was located right next to the heart." Elyssa pointed to a socket next to the vital organ. "To deactivate most golems, you have to break its spark vessel."
I frowned. "The Daskar seemed to die like anyone else when you stabbed them in the right place."
"Exactly. When their vital organs stopped working, the sparks died along with them." Elyssa blew out a long slow breath. "Justin, I used to think Fjoeruss was the only Seraphim who played god like this. It's obvious that Cephus took it to a whole new level."
"My first time in Seraphina, he kidnapped Nightliss." I bounced the vessel in my hand. "He somehow used her to make these clone golems."
"You know what makes the least sense?" Elyssa stood, eyes still locked on the bodies. "How did these golems use magic?"
Fjoeruss had created an army of gray-skinned golems, the gray men. Most of them were completely controlled by their creator—all but one. Cinder had achieved sentience through a magical accident. Though he looked and felt convincingly human, he was a golem. As such, he couldn't do even the simplest of magic tricks like forming a circular containment field. In other words, he couldn't draw a line in chalk and trap aether inside it.
These clone golems had channeled Seraphim magic through their armor. "Hang on—did you make sure their armor isn't enchanted to make it look like they're channeling magic?"
"Eor looked at it, but said the gems in the armor require the user to channel through them." Elyssa shrugged. "We saw Issana use similar armor to fly."
I touched one of the bodies in the pile. The skin felt cold and waxy, just as it did on a real dead body. A foul odor emanated the bodies, not unlike rotting flesh. "Did Adam look at the bodies?"
"He took a tissue sample, but said it would take his arcphone a while to analyze it." Elyssa took my hand and briskly walked away from the bodies. "I think I know what he's going to find though." She looked over her shoulder. "I think those bodies are made of real flesh and bone just like ours. I think your term clone golem is right on the nose."
"Even if the bodies are made of flesh, you need a soul to use magic." I shook my head. "At least that's how it was explained to me."
"Maybe it's different with Seraphim magic?" The rise of her tone at the end made it more of a question than a statement. "There's got to be some logic behind it."
"Regardless of the hows or whys, we have an even bigger problem on our hands." I stopped and looked back at the dead Daskar. "Kohval may have a way to mass produce elite soldiers. These guys—gals—make Cephus's brainwashed flying soldiers look like pigeons." Cephus had captured Tarissan citizens and surgically altered them to make them mindless flying soldiers. I'd thought Daelissa was a heartless bitch, but Cephus had done his best to match her on the evil scale.
"That bastard." Elyssa's hand tightened around mine. "I wonder why Cephus didn't use Daskar instead."
"Maybe he wasn't ready yet." I winced and freed my hand from her painful grip. "Maybe there are answers in his old digs at the Ministry of Research."
"Kohval controls that section of Tarissa now," Elyssa said. "It'll be a miracle if we even get inside the city at this point."
The Mzodi had helped relocate the Eden army to the east of Tarissa out of harm's way while Kohval and Meera battled for the capitol city of Pjurna. It seemed likely that, after the Darkling legions destroyed each other, Kaelissa would swoop in and extend the Brightling Empire.
We continued walking. A cool breeze rustled through the tall red grass and the blue-leaved trees bordering the field. We found a boulder and perched on it in silence for a while. I tried not to think about what lay ahead. I tried to enjoy the moment alone with the woman I loved. All the trying in the world couldn't keep the troubling thoughts from finally boiling over.
"I'm so sick of this shit." I tossed a stone into the trees. "My god, remember when I complained about how hard it was to unite the lycans and felycans? When I bitched and moaned about how stubborn the Daemos were?" I threw up my hands a barked a sarcastic laugh. "Uniting all those different supernaturals was cake compared to getting the Seraphim to cooperate."
Elyssa gave me a sad look, but said nothing.
"I can't even trust the Darklings to cooperate." I held out my fingers and started list
ing my grievances. "Cephus betrayed me, then Victus stabbed us in the back. We finally beat Cephus and expected Kohval to jump at the chance to rebuild the Darkling legions, but no, he bends us over and rams us up our backside by marching on Tarissa so he can have it for himself!"
"Well, if you're naming names, Kaelissa betrayed us too."
I snorted. "Kaelissa was never with us to begin with. She's as crazy as her daughter, Daelissa, and just as hell-bent on ruling the world."
Elyssa bent her legs and rested her chin on her knees, violet eyes lost on the horizon. "There are plenty of good people out there too, like Flava."
"Most of the good people are dead." I squeezed shut my eyes and saw Nightliss's battered body in my arms. Saw the light fade from her eyes. "Cephus killed Ketiss and most of the Tarissan Legion when they came back to confront him. It looks like Kohval wants to finish the job."
Elyssa turned her gaze to me. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying I won't trust another damned Seraphim I don't already know." I tossed another stone into the forest. "I'm going to kick Kohval's ass, then I'm going to kick Meera's ass, and then I'm going to take control of the government and tell these idiots how things are."
"Dictator Justin." Elyssa made a thoughtful grunt. "Doesn't sound quite right. Maybe Overlord Slade would strike fear into the hearts of the citizens."
"I think you're right." I was only half kidding. "The Darklings and Brightlings have hated each other for millennia and for what? Nothing!" I looked for another stone to throw but I was all out. "They're like a bunch of bigoted kids who will never get over their differences unless the adults come in and make them behave."
Elyssa chuckled. "Well, if we're the adults here, then the Seraphim are in big trouble."
"That's for sure." I lay back on the boulder and stared at the cloudy sky. "Well, I guess saving the world is better than sitting at home being bored all day."
"Never a dull moment for us." Elyssa traced a finger down my chest. "And it leaves no time for my favorite way to enjoy those moments."
All the troubles faded like mist, and my heart beat a little faster. "This moment is really dull."
She laughed. "Yeah? Is it?"
I nodded fervently. "It's the dullest of all moments."
Elyssa leaned over and gently nipped my neck, my ear. "Maybe I can fix that."
Her breath felt so hot against my ear it made my tender bits tingle. I was a fish caught on her alluring hook. "Please, fix it."
"That was not a damned fox!" Shelton's voice echoed from the trees an instant before he and Adam appeared at the edge of the field.
Adam saw us and waved energetically.
I whined like an angry kid. "Please, god, why now?"
Elyssa deflated and groaned. "Never a dull moment when you really need one."
Shelton took out his arcphone and showed us the picture of a furry blue creature with long ears and a tail. "That's a fox, right?"
I sighed. "Well, Harry, that depends on if it said what a fox says."
Shelton's eyes widened, primarily because I almost never used his first name. He looked back and forth between me and Elyssa and cleared his throat uneasily. "Uh, maybe this can wait."
Adam didn't seem to notice the tension, instead digging into his jeans pocket for his beeping arcphone. He took it out and grinned. "Hey, the analysis is complete."
"What analysis?" I asked.
He raised an eyebrow. "Now we can finally get to the bottom of the golem mystery."
Chapter 4
I was all ears. "Well, what does your phone say?" I asked.
Adam's eyes went round. "Dude, you're not going to believe this."
"Believe what?" Shelton crowded next to his shoulder. "Whoa!"
I got up off the boulder and leaned over Adam's other shoulder. Cyrinthian symbols scrolled down the screen next to a picture of olive-toned skin. Red text flashed at the bottom. Epidermis Daemi.
"Demon flesh," Shelton said.
"Now I'm really confused." Elyssa pushed herself off the boulder and crossed her arms the way she did when she was expecting a damned good explanation for something. "Demons don't have flesh."
"Well, yeah, technically." Adam pocketed his phone and held his hands apart as if about to launch into an exposition, but paused with his mouth open for a moment before actually saying anything else. "When summoned with a ritual pattern, demons must enter the physical world in physical form."
I scrunched my forehead. "Yeah, but it's only temporary. The bodies melt when the person who summoned them ends the spell. Besides, the summoned demons are chained to the ritual pattern the entire time so it's not like they can wander away."
"Well, they can wander away if they break free," Shelton said. "But they lose cohesion after a while and return to Haedaemos, leaving a decaying body behind."
Adam snapped his fingers. "Exactly. Under normal circumstances, that shell disintegrates without a life force to maintain it."
"That's where the golem spark comes in," Shelton said. "Give the demon body life, and it'll remain, looking just as real as you or me."
I jabbed a finger over my shoulder, more or less in the direction of the dead Daskar. "In other words, all those dead bodies will be dust soon?"
"Probably in a day or so," Adam said. "They look and smell like regular rotting bodies, but they're not."
"Sounds a lot like when I summon a hellhound," I said. "That primordial goo creates the body for the spirit to inhabit."
"Exactly," Adam said.
"No, this still doesn't add up." Elyssa quirked her lips, a sign she was really thinking this through. "A golem spark isn't the same as a soul. It shouldn't be able to animate or maintain a demon body."
"That's where it gets tricky," Adam said. "A golem spark is essentially a collection of enchantments infused into a ball of aether and trapped inside a specialized vessel. Without the spark, a golem becomes inanimate."
"The Daskar died without us damaging the spark," Elyssa said. "That means instead of just the bodies being reliant on the spark, the connection goes both ways for them."
"Yeah, it certainly breaks the basic principles of golem crafting," Adam agreed. "Then again, I've never heard of golems created with demon flesh. Wood, stone, clay—you name it, I’ve heard of it, but this is new ground for me."
I scowled. "It's obvious that your favorite person and mine is responsible for these monstrosities, and I'm not talking about Cephus."
Adam nodded. "Definitely stinks of Victus."
"Why don't the bodies smell like brimstone?" Elyssa said.
"That's a damned good question." Shelton took off his wide-brimmed hat and scratched his head. "Maybe it's because there's no demon inside them."
"That would be my guess." Adam nodded his head back toward the Falcheen. "On the other hand, we have a live specimen to study back on the ship."
"We captured a Daskar?" I said.
"Just found out about it this morning," Adam said. "Apparently, she—it—was trapped beneath a boulder lodged in one of the aft rampways."
"Well what are we waiting for?" I said. "Let's go question it."
We started walking back toward the ship, tossing ideas back and forth, but unable to nail down exactly how Victus had managed such an incredible feat.
"You ever feel like the bad guys are just way too damned smart?" Shelton said. "I mean, Adam's a friggin genius"—he turned to his friend—"Don't let it go to your head."
Adam waved away the compliment. "Wouldn't dream of gloating about my intellectual superiority over you, Shelton."
Shelton continued speaking as if he hadn't heard a word. "But Victus is up there with Fjoeruss when it comes to next-level sorcery."
"He's found a way to create life," Elyssa said. "It's appalling and amazing all at the same time."
My stomach tensed at the thought. "My god. What if he's back in Eden making an army of these things?"
Adam clapped my back. "Best not to think about it, man. We've got enough
issues to deal with here."
"You're darned tootin'," Shelton said. "We can worry about Victus when and if we ever get back to Eden. Right now, we've got Kohval and his group of merry demon golems to worry about."
"We can only hope that Kohval doesn't have the means to make more," Elyssa said.
"Speaking of which," I said, "why would Kohval have them under his control in the first place? Unless I'm missing something, he wasn't allied with Cephus."
Adam stared at the horizon beyond the Falcheen. "I have a feeling there's a huge can of worms hidden in Kohvalla that might just give us the answers we need."
Elyssa flicked her gaze his way. "Are you saying we should take the time to root around in Kohvalla while Kohval and Meera tear apart Tarissa?"
"At this point, I don't think it would hurt," Adam said. "There's literally nothing we can change by rushing into Tarissa. Your father led our army to safety, so it's not like there's a pressing concern to get there."
Elyssa didn't look convinced.
"Maybe Victus dealt with Kohval without telling Cephus," Shelton said. "Victus might have used him as a backup plan in case Cephus failed."
"That makes sense," Elyssa said. "That could also be why Kohval didn't attack Cephus, but then turned around and betrayed us once Cephus was out of the way."
"Can you imagine how long Victus must have planned for all this?" Adam's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened like someone who'd just glimpsed the Matrix. "All of this would have taken years, maybe even more."
"Considering we didn't even repair the Grand Nexus until recently, I sincerely doubt Seraphina played into his plans." Elyssa plucked a strand of red grass and wound it through her fingers as we walked. "I'd bet Daelissa shook up Victus’s original plans to conquer the Overworld."
Shelton snorted. "Yeah, nobody saw that crazy bitch coming until she was breathing fire up our asses."
"I wonder how long he's had the ability to make these demon-skinned golems." A shiver ran down my spine. "What if he has the capability to produce ones that look like leaders in the Overworld community?"