Enigma: Awakening

by Damien Taylor

  It retaliated furiously, slashing at my face—missing. The Amethyst gripped its sword with divine will and launched it into the air. Again, the fiend rebounded, its claws flared as it lunged at full force. I didn’t realize it had scarred me until I felt the pain of several lacerations across my chest. Eluding its chomping fangs, I crushed its exposed mandible, and then its ribs to cripple it. The moment of triumph had arrived. I spun, summoning Rahginor. By light, the handle took form in my hand. Shards of radiant crystal suddenly swept up from the ground at my feet, assembling the immaculate blade.

  With a complete weapon, I delivered the final slash to its chest, consummating its mortality. The Abyssian evaporated into the atmosphere. It was done. Rahginor left again. But nasracans still outnumbered us. Thrashing my arms in violent sweeps, the Amethyst cast many Abyssians into the cave walls where I kept them suspended in midair. I then lifted their tails and lanced them through their stomachs. They dangled from rock like grotesque decoration until their bodies broke and they plummeted, bursting into Black Salt. Their only remains were the deep punctures in the cave walls.

  Shaaka dashed toward Vakuu, nasracans shadowing after her. As an Abyssian slashed its hardened tail through the wind to subdue her, she brandished her falchion devoting her strength to its tail-blade. The Abyssian’s strength endured. Her might betrayed her, and the recoil of a colliding attack sent her into a wild spin. Still, she countered, hooking her heel into the nasracan’s face, staggering it as she fell to the gravelly floor. Rolling into a backward tumble, she pressed her hands against the ground, pushing herself into high somersaults. Another nasracan came upon her, and again another tail-blade whistling by overhead. As it swept for her neck, she parried and sliced it across the throat. The nasracan staggered and broke. She ran again for her son, ruthlessly engaging the three nasracans that surrounded him. She was victorious, but only barely. Her wounds taxed her ability.

  The chimera and Kreshauros tangled in a tussle. The spotted creature clawed at the halfling’s serpent head severing its tongue. The chimera flailed beneath Kreshauros’s pinning strength. Overpowered but not defeated, the lion-head crunched into a claw. Unleashing a ferocious roar, Kreshauros staggered him and backed away. A bleeding chimera stomped forward and hacked at Kreshauros' neck, rolling on top of it.

  Voreg prevailed in a neighboring fray, bashing the nasracans in a linear fashion. More Abyssians came after him, and, through them, he made his path. Four nasracans stood standing after he lopped their heads to the ground. Slowly, but surely, their bodies followed, covering the ground with salt. He halted before Genkii’s outstretched body and kneeled to aid him.

  Kreshauros galloped across the cave, swiping, and swatting the trolls that obstructed its path to Shaaka and Vakuu. It killed many before reaching them. The chimera had soon met its match against a formidable force of nasracans. They overwhelmed him.

  “Vakuu. Shaaka,” I hollered.

  The chimera's body lit like a lamp and shrunk into Sergio. I couldn’t see him beneath the throng of Abyssians around him, until, one by one, they began belting across the cave. He battered the rest with tremendous strength, breaking them or knocking them away. Claw marks striped his face, and his attire was tattered, but rage sustained his might.

  nasracans continued to pour into the cave from a large orifice in the northern wall, swamping the chamber. Even with the twenty trolls from Nixie’s cavern, it wouldn’t be enough to surmount their numbers. Many of the trolls had died. I journeyed to Shaaka and Vakuu, but the Abyssians amassed into impossible partitions.

  The ground rumbled more than it had already. Bellowing came from deep within the cavern, from the direction we would’ve come had we not gone to Nixie’s chamber. Suddenly, whizzing from the opening, were arrows. Abyssians rioted again. Kreshauros surged into a frenzy as it roared. In an instant, I escaped the circle of Abyssians, teleporting to Kreshauros as Rahginor manifested within my grasp. I slammed the blade into its fangs as an arrow soared into its stomach.

  Thirty trolls surged into the cavern, crushing nasracans into the crude stone floor, pulverizing them into salt. More piercing arrows stopped Kreshauros in its tracks. The beast roared as it became nothing more than wild game, with erected tail-feathers protruding from every inch of its body. I teleported onto its back and sank Rahginor two and a half feet deep into its spine. Teleporting back to my previous location, the Amethyst thrust my arm forward, burning brighter than it had throughout the entire battle. Rahginor trembled within the beast and, by authority of the orb, the blade began to spin as if it were the long hand of a clock, milling through its Abyssian flesh. The gold sword broke into shards of light when finally, it stopped, and both halves of Kreshauros spilled upon the ground, withering into a pile of fur and salt—death by blade and a hundred arrows. Victory was ours.

  The newly arrived trolls were a solid partition, pushing the filing nasracans back from where they had come. The Abyssians had no chance now. Soon there were none left in the chamber. The trolls emptied it quickly and gave chase as they charged in the direction of the broken seal. Irvina sliced and stabbed the nasracans that surrounded Vakuu and his wounded mother.

  The tribe took Dugan with triumphant bellows. And those that had survived Nixie’s prolonged spell reunited at last with their comrades. I spotted Shenkii beside his son, their hands locked, solidifying their reunion. They talked of this and that until Genkii’s agonizing groans compelled the Elder to order him carried away. With the butt of his staff striking the ground, he walked toward us, embracing, and lifting me with an unexpected hug. Shaaka, Voreg, and Vakuu came beside him.

  “You’ve returned my son to me,” Shenkii said merrily. “I cannot say for certain how you were able to do it, but I thank you.” I told him what happened, not withholding a single detail—even of Voreg’s unsuccessful scheme. Shenkii scoffed at the Basher who looked away with a grunt. “It was not my intention to—”

  “I know,” I interrupted.

  Shenkii smiled. “This is a monumental day, human. We have been adversaries since the time of our ancestors. Though our alliance is of a much smaller scale than my father’s vision, I know that he is full of pride in the Ambiance nonetheless.”

  “It’s a good start.”

  “Aye.” He gave a troll an order, and one of them handed over my belt and dagger.

  The knives were all accounted for. I thanked him.

  “In honor of destroying Kreshauros, I grant you passage through the last seal of the cave. But first, return with us to the village so that we may celebrate this victory.”

  Unfortunately, we had to decline. “Forgive us, but we cannot. We should go on. The journey ahead is a bit of a dire one.”

  Disappointment settled upon Shenkii’s face, but he nodded nonetheless. Vakuu thanked us. The troll child didn’t seem at all affected by the battle, not even in the slightest bit. “Us trolls are bred for war,” he said as he sat in his mother’s arms. Her eyes found me with esteemed gratitude. She said nothing, but an awkward smirk told me she had relinquished her fuming vendetta. Agnas appeared from nowhere and stood beside the Elder with her hands stacking the head of her bone cane. She tapped a foot on the ground. “Looks like all they really wanted was to exit to the cave. You believe them now, old worry wart?”

  “I do. Furthermore, they have earned my gratitude... and my trust,” said Shenkii earnestly. “Though we do not condone it, I would be mistaken to say you have not been favored by your Superiors. Your magic sword is mighty, young Darwin. I bid you farewell. Be well. Stay alive.” The last words of Shenkii resonated. “Once you pass from the cave, you will not be able to return. To protect my people, we shall seal it again. We cannot risk another invasion from the evil ones.”

  “You’d do better to leave altogether while you have the chance. The Abyssians will come again to destroy these lands, and they’ll be bigger. These cave walls will not stand, seal or no seal.”

  Shenkii beamed. “It is something to consider, though troll tr
ibes are not easily swayed to leave their home.”

  “Stubborn as a troll,” I teased. “Farewell, Shenkii. Hopefully, we’ll both live long enough to meet again.” I shook hands with a troll, forging an allegiance unheard of in the history of Vail.

  Voreg—who was soon to be reprimanded later by Shenkii—never left his side. He stood, glaring at Irvina for the last time. “Until we meet again, naiad,” he said with disappointment. He stomped away, behind Shenkii as he left.

  We left them, finding our way beyond the cave and back into the wilderness. The immaculate sunlight unleashed upon my eyes. It was the closest I’d got to crying... ever.

  Aquamarine

  The troll cave was long behind us. We returned at last to the northeastern plains of Memoria, but our relief did not remain. The next week was a spectacle of great tragedy—of smoke and ruin, the air stuffy with the heavy musk of blood. Several villages were derelict. Carnage littered the land with a mass of bodies. The grayed corpses indicated stolen souls. We gathered supplies from vacant houses. The Horde’s everywhere now, I thought as we passed a lonely woman crying and holding her dead child in her arms. How she had managed to survive was an astounding mystery. Even the horses had been slaughtered, most of them eaten. The ones that survived were wounded beyond mobility.

  Bahram, the third village we came across, was under attack by a small group of nasracans. We were bound to run into them soon enough. With the endowment of the Amethyst and the Emerald, we disposed of them quickly, leaving the village half destroyed but alive. When the battle was over, the villagers we’d saved thanked us profusely with more provisions.

  As we departed, Sergio pulled me aside. “She fights pretty good,” he whispered, jabbing his brow toward Irvina. “Almost reminds me of the way you, me, and Cassidy used to own the field.”

  I turned my scrutiny upon the lissome naiad, finding an exhilarated smirk of satisfaction on her face as she stowed away her chakram. Something about the skirmish was reminiscent; the manner of it. Sergio and I had a martial companionship that was eight years old and growing, perfected and undefeated. The orbs had undoubtedly refined our bond even more so. Still, Irvina seemed to have a combative fluidity, proving itself a vital substitution since our trio fell short of one. Even with our newfound advantage, her natural adroitness was as complementary as night and day. It manifested increasingly as we traveled southward, perishing the Abyssian droves we met along the way.

  Sergio and I had finally learned to sleep routinely, though the need was absent. It was merely a peaceful pastime and a viable method of keeping our powers in optimum shape.

  We traveled many leagues to a land of winter where the hills and mountains were snow-capped. Two days of a bitter battle against the arctic winds took us to snowfields. My feet plunged into deepening snow as we traveled an inclined slope. Sergio wrapped a cloak tightly against him. He spoke with chattering teeth. “Why on the Superiors’ green earth is it freezing in the heart of summer?”

  It was unusual for Memoria—a continent known for its dreadful heat. Even its winters were renowned for their mild temperature. I wrapped my cloak about me. The odd weather wasn’t surprising, especially since my life had been full of surprises hitherto. Any tribulation was going to have a challenging time besting what happened to me in Velmica: falling beneath old ruins, stumbling upon the Amethyst, and an entire destiny. Irvina, who seemed unaffected by the drastic climate change, looked around. “Are we going in the right direction? I’m certain you said Ortiz was south.”

  I looked around, finding the edge of Memoria leagues behind us. The shoreline shouldn’t be there. We had gone too far east. We should’ve avoided that bend entirely.

  Sergio shivered and groaned. “What I want to know is, what are we gonna’ do when we get there? Ortiz ain't no place for pipes and bubbly. I can just imagine it now... ‘Um— hiya’, boys—we’re just a couple of blokes looking for a girl you ingrates tossed in the slammer’—followed by a punch and a trio of broken noses. Or, maybe just two. They might not hit pretty naiads.”

  “Why not? If it gets us inside, it will have served its purpose. We can just work our way from wherever we end up,” I said, half sincere.

  Sergio narrowed his eyes and pouted his lips. “That’s beside the point! I think it’ll be better if we just sneak in, grab Nova, and amscray.”

  “It won’t be that simple. Nova won’t be with the other prisoners—more likely in solitary confinement. With what happened in Lucreris, she’ll have guards around the clock. That city’s already harsh on those even rumored to be connected to witchcraft,” I said. “Rumored to be,” I stressed once more.

  “Well, in that case, we can just take the Emerald and the Amethyst and whip those blokes in their tails. How about that?”

  “Sergio, be serious. They execute alleged witches.”

  “They’ll at least have to give her a trial first, will they not? At least that is how we naiads do. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise,” said Irvina.

  Fair? No one or nothing in life is fair. Time was essential. The moon was appearing quickly—a faint globe in the distance. We came to the highest point of the snowy uplands where we found ourselves at the base of the large and lonely Mt. Vannor.

  “It’s almost night. Let’s rest in that alcove up there,” said Sergio, pointing at the center of the soaring mountain. We started on the long, steep path and raced the moon to the top. We rested there, wet and covered in snow.

  Sergio sat on the ground lost in the starlit sky. I stepped to the edge, looking at how far up we’d traveled as Irvina made her way to me. “I know this region. A naiad village lies west, upon the peak of this mountain. Look.” She took me to the closed end of the alcove where on the back wall there was a solid black structure with a flat surface made of a different kind of stone than rock. I examined it. No untrained eye would’ve spotted the difference between the minerals. Irvina went forward and set her palm on it. “Om’ Nietta.” The stone ring fitting her index finger glowed. The blackness of the structure began to peel away from her hand, and the wall shown with crystalline brilliance. “Naiad Quartz,” she clarified.

  Sergio joined us with an arm blocking his face. “So, this is where the sun hides at night, eh?”

  When the light calmed, the quartz wall was clear as glass. Irvina took her hand away. “As of now, we reside near Lake Ievengrind. No one, other than naiads, has ever traveled around the entire mountain or to its peak. Our wards hide its crown. Mt. Vannor is in truth not a mountain at all, but a giant goblet of rock and quartz that forms a basin at its peak. Lake Ievengrind fills it.”

  I watched the sea wall keenly, spying the aquatic life forms swimming behind it. But something monstrous captured my attention—a massive creature with an eye larger than my entire body. I winced.

  “What is it?” said Irvina.

  It disappeared. She hadn’t noticed, and neither had Sergio, who’d found a comfortable place on the ground and had already begun to snore. Irvina settled down as well. A shining light swam toward me, halting before the quartz wall.

  Huh? The light from my dream in Lucreris. It made a high-pitched noise and swam away. “The lake from my dream,” I realized aloud.

  “Hrm?” Irvina questioned.

  “Nothing. Let’s get some rest.” I was anxious for assorted reasons and slumber was out of the question it seemed. The night was tranquil. Watching the stars, I wondered of this and that, and about the top of the curious wall.

  Something in the pit of my stomach was telling me it was where we needed to go. But my sister. I couldn’t risk it. Conflict welled within me, but I fought it and forced myself to sleep. The Amethyst spoke that night.

  “Climb the mountain.”

  But we don’t have time.

  “Yours and your sister’s lives depend on it. Without doing so, you won’t be able to save her.”

  Why not?

  Silence.

  Cold, stirring winds woke us. Sergio stretched and yawned. “I’m starvi
ng. Got any more bread over there, Winn?” I tossed him the last of it. “Good...now...we can move on...to...Ortiz,” he said, talking around the mashed loaf in his mouth.

  “No,” I said, agitated.

  Sergio gulped. “What do you mean, ‘no?’”

  I drank water, alleviating the morning dryness in my throat. “Irvina, yesterday you said something was at the top of the mountain.”

  Her face stretched with curiosity. “Yes—a naiad island called Dros’Mera.”

  “We need to go there.”

  Sergio shook his head furiously, and Irvina twisted her face. “What? Wait, wait, wait... What about Nova?” Sergio inquired.

  I glanced into the Amethyst and felt the burn of its eagerness. There was strong, irresistible energy feeding into me, tampering with my desires. “We can’t go to Ortiz without doing this first.”

  “Wow. Yesterday your only concern was time, now you’re—I sure as heck don’t understand you sometimes.”

  “Why the sudden interest?” Irvina questioned.

  “The orb...it’s—just trust me. The sooner we go, the sooner we come back down. Besides, don’t you want to know if there are any naiads alive up there? Isn’t that why you’ve been running around Memoria in the first place?” I said angrier than I should have. The agitated orb induced my emotions to run haywire.

  Irvina groaned and looked away. Neither of them said another word. “This way,” said Irvina. She took lead. Out of the alcove, we started on the rising path, twisting, turning, and clambering until we came to a dead end. Irvina released her cloak. “And this is where we climb with our hands. You’d be wise to relinquish whatever burdens you can.”

  Sergio grimaced and cursed. “Look, where I’m from, people aren’t built for this type of weather.” We climbed using the grooves and cracks in the rock, and its rough, craggy surface as stepping-stones. The snowfall made it difficult to grip, and one had to be extremely careful with his footing—or else. “It’s so cold, my fingers are numb and raw,” Sergio complained. “There better be a splendid reason for this, Winn, or I’m gonna’ have a large bone to pick with you!”