by D. C. Akers
“Nara, light!” she commanded.
Nara’s soft glow grew brighter and that’s when she saw it. Just a foot away from Xavier’s outstretched hand, Ian, like his master, lay dark and unresponsive.
A lump formed in Alisa’s throat. She shook her head in disbelief, running a shaking hand down the side of Xavier’s cheek. His skin was already cool to the touch and his complexion was rapidly fading to a waxy gray. She promptly began to look for a wound. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as she thought, she told herself. Maybe he was just unconscious and Ian could heal him.
But Alisa stopped, frozen by the sight of a large burnt gash that had been carved out of Xavier’s midsection. Her eyes filled with tears and her lip began to quiver. She had seen this type of injury several times before in the Great War. The wound had been cauterized by the blast, so there was no blood—just a glittering green residue around its outer edges. The residue was venom from the Viper’s fire ball. Each blast was a deadly mixture of fire and venom. Alisa could tell by the color of Xavier’s skin that the venom had moved into his heart and was now spreading into the outer regions of his body.
This cannot be happening. This isn’t real, she told herself. This is Xavier Ward.
Alisa looked over at Holly, who had tears streaming down her face.
“Is he …?” Holly choked.
The despair in Alisa’s face answered her question, but she nodded anyway, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Yes.”
Holly’s eyes went dull as she lowered her head.
Another scream rang out from above them and they both jumped, startled by the noise.
Alisa looked up to the second level.
“My children!”
She turned back to Holly, who was staring at her now. “Go, I’ve got it down here,” Holly said.
Alisa nodded, got to her feet, and, with Nara blazing in one hand, she evaporated from the room.
Sam struggled against the grip of the Viper. The pressure inside his head was mounting; his vision faded as the outer edges of the room began to ebb away into a deep foreboding darkness. The sword was almost at his chest. The creature had positioned the tip of the glimmering black blade directly over his heart.
“Noooo!” Sarah screamed, looking on in horror. She was holding onto Travis who was bleeding from his nose.
A fine mist filled the air from the burst pipes in the bathroom. The water vapor moved like an emerging cloud wafting through the room. Sam’s grip was failing, slipping little by little, until his hand fell from the Viper’s arm. He had no strength left, only hope. Hope that he would pass out before the beast stabbed him with the sword.
As Sam’s eyes began to close, a flash of blue light burst into the room.
Alisa emerged through sapphire wisps of smoke. Her hand was outstretched, pointing toward the Viper. The other held Nara close to her body.
White swirls of mist began to spin around the Viper’s arm that held the sword. The Viper paused and looked at Alisa, confused. Its arm began to shake; its muscles tensed as the whirlwind of water spun faster and faster. Sam could feel the monster’s grip loosen as the sheer force of the whirlwind pushed it to the ground. The Viper struggled and its sword hand shook as it tried to move the blade closer to Sam’s chest.
Travis and Sarah stared up at Alisa in astonishment. She stood with her hand guiding long swirling ringlets of white mist from her hand to the Viper’s arm.
Suddenly, the Viper’s grip gave way and Sam fell to the ground, gasping for air. The Viper’s entire body was now engulfed in the swirling tentacles that dragged it to the ground. Sam slowly began to crawl across the floor until he reached Travis and Sarah.
Alisa closed her hand into a tight fist, releasing the last of the swirling tentacles into the Viper. Like a caged beast, the monster tore, craned, and pulled at the mystical whirlwinds that confined its body, but to no avail. Alisa looked down at the children; they were safe, at least for now. Sarah’s eyes were red and swollen, Sam’s face was slowly regaining its color, and Travis, who was still holding his nose, had blood covering his hands, neck, and throat.
Her heart twisted inside her chest to see her children and their friend in such pain. This was her home, her children, and she was supposed to protect them. But she felt powerless. The Great War had followed her here; this monster had tracked her down and was trying to not only kill her, but kill her children too.
When would this ever end? She had lost so much already—her husband, her friends, her home, and the only life she had ever known. And now it wanted to take her children. Over my dead body, she thought.
Alisa took a step behind the children. Their frightened stares followed her every movement. She grasped her staff with one hand on each end and brought Nara down around them, encompassing them in a tight circle. She pulled Nara close until the staff rested across the children’s chests. Then she moved her hands closer, pulling them into a tight embrace.
The Viper was down on its hands and knees now. It pulled and heaved against the swirling, mystical bindings, trying frantically to free itself. Only the outline of its body and its red glowing eyes were visible through the swirling mist.
“Hold on,” Alisa whispered. Nara began to vibrate, and together Nara and Alisa released the element of Air that bound the Viper. The whirling mists around the beast began to fade just as Alisa and the children evaporated in a flash of blue mist.
Sam saw the twisting of light and felt the intense force of gravity pressing against his body again until he rematerialized downstairs. Alisa removed her arms from the children and took a step back. Most of the light in the room came from Nara’s glow, which was dim at best.
They were all sitting on the ground except for Travis, who had toppled over to one side. He had passed out again. Sarah began tending to Travis and shook him gently until he was awake. Sam, who still felt like he had cobwebs in his head, cleared his throat. He put a hand to his tender neck, which still hurt from the Viper’s grasp. He tried to swallow and almost choked. Slowly, he closed his eyes and lifted his head, turning it side to side. The muscles in his neck were sore and his body was stiff all over.
It wasn’t until Sam opened his eyes again that he saw the hooded stranger standing before them and he almost choked again. The woman was dressed in a purple traveling cloak and holding a staff. Sarah and Travis looked up, startled by the cloaked figure. She was bent over a body that lay face down on the floor. Sam’s eyes moved to the staff on the ground and swallowed hard. It was the same twisted staff he had seen the man carrying in front of his house. Sam looked to his mother, who oddly enough didn’t seem to be scared. In fact, she didn’t seem bothered at all about the two strangers in the room. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the cloaked figure.
Seeing this, Alisa took a knee next to Sam and placed her hand on his back. His muscles were tense, still reeling from the Viper attack.
“It’s okay, Sam, she’s a friend,” she said.
Sarah quickly turned and stared at her mother in disbelief. This … this woman is her friend? How? Where did she know her from, and why, for the love of God, is she dressed like that? A million questions ran through her head and nothing made sense anymore. She had almost been eaten by a swarm of spiders in her own house and her brother had almost been choked to death by Dirty Ernie, who turned out to be some kind of monster, so at this point anything was possible. Her mother could even vanish into thin air for crying out loud, so when it came to what was possible and what was not, she didn’t have a clue anymore. Sarah bit her lip and decided that now was not the time for questions. Instead, she turned her attention back to Travis, who still looked squeamish.
Sam had questions of his own as he looked at his mother. But just as he opened his mouth to speak, two flashes of light emerged from the living room. He squinted and turned away, shielding his eyes until the light had vanished. From the darkness, two more strangers appeared. Both were dressed similarly to his mother’s friend. Each had the same type of cloak and dark gray armor
. Beneath the armor they wore some kind of dark clothing, but Sam couldn’t make out anything more than that. The new hooded strangers stepped forward as wisps of colored vapors emanated from their cloaks, one blue and the other green.
They each carried a staff in one hand. The taller of the two raised his hand toward the kitchen and Sam felt a gust of ice cold air roll across his face. The water spewing from the kitchen instantly hardened into thin strands of ice that resembled long, interweaving tree branches frozen in an ice storm. The mist circulating in the air turned to snow and gently floated to the ground. Suddenly the room was quiet. All eyes were on the two newcomers who were now walking toward them.
Chapter 13
“Wow, am I seeing things?” Travis asked in a groggy voice. His nose had stopped bleeding, but he still looked a little peaked from evaporating to the bottom floor. Sarah was busy dabbing at his chin with a towel she had found in the debris next to her.
“Hold still,” she whispered. Travis frowned and lifted up his chin.
The tall stranger pointed to the second floor of the house, which was more like a balcony now, and the man next to him evaporated, leaving a wake of blue mist.
The remaining stranger continued forward, stopping when he reached the group. They all stared in silence. He stood just a few feet away from them and said nothing, his head moving from side to side as he looked at each one of them. With one hand he brought his staff in front of him. It had a long, narrow black shaft with silver ornate symbols etched on its body. The pommel was a three-pronged set of wings that fanned out and tapered into sharp points at the ends. In the center of the wings sat an oval, jade gemstone.
Sam watched as the stranger turned toward the body lying on the ground. The man sighed and reached up to pull back the hood of his traveling cloak.
“Hollister, light,” the man commanded.
The jade gemstone illuminated, casting a green glow around his face. He was an older man with short white hair and a thin beard. His eyes were a dark yellow, like the color of honey, with flakes of dark green speckled throughout his irises.
The man stood there for a moment staring at the body. His hard gaze made Sam uneasy. At first he couldn’t tell if the man was angry or sad until he noticed the stranger’s jaw clench, and his fingers tighten around his staff. Finally, the man’s gaze moved from the body on the ground to Alisa. Alisa, who looked like she had seen a ghost, stared back at the man, her eyes full of tears.
“Demetrius, you’re here?” she choked out. She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around the man’s neck. Sam and Sarah turned to one another, confused.
Demetrius returned her gesture with a warm embrace, closing his eyes as he hugged her. “He’s dead, Demetrius,” Alisa confessed. “He died saving me. Xavier is gone because of me.”
Demetrius held on to Alisa. The small frown lines around his eyes seemed to fade away as he quietly exhaled. When he opened his eyes again he looked to Holly with a warm smile. Holly pulled back her hood, and for the first time Sam could see her face.
Whoever she was, she was beautiful. Her majestic eyes were filled with tears, but her expression conveyed something more. The corners of her mouth lifted just a bit when she looked back at the man holding his mother. She seemed relieved. Travis and Sarah took turns looking around the room at the strangers.
“Look at me, Lees,” Demetrius said. Alisa stepped back, looking up at Demetrius’s face. “Xavier left this world exactly the way he was meant to leave it—as a Keeper. Never forget that. As long as you remember him here,” Demetrius placed his hand over her heart, “he will live on forever.”
Alisa closed her eyes as tears streamed down her face. She nodded in compliance and forced a smile.
“Demetrius, where … where is Gordon?” Holly asked. Her eyes searched the room, as if she expected him to surface at any moment. But the room was empty; there was no sign of Gordon. Holly met Demetrius’s steely gaze and she knew. Gordon was dead.
Sam noticed the exchange between Demetrius and the woman as the room fell silent. The sadness between them made Sam feel uncomfortable and out of place, as if he was intruding on something very personal. By the look on Sarah and Travis’s faces he could tell he wasn’t alone. Sam looked away and fidgeted with his hands, then rubbed them down the front of his shorts.
The silence was becoming unbearable when a flash of blue light appeared several feet behind Demetrius. Sam, Sarah, and Travis recoiled in surprise as Vallen appeared from the second floor.
“Top floor is empty. No sign of the Viper,” he reported to Demetrius.
Alisa looked at Demetrius. “There are two Vipers, Demetrius. They could be anywhere.”
Demetrius nodded in agreement; his look was firm and confident.
“We must leave before they return. Lees, where are the remaining gate keys?”
Alisa blinked in surprise. She wasn’t sure she had heard him right.
“Leave? But, where will we go?” She knew she sounded confused, and she was; it sounded so final when he said leave. Especially if he was asking for the gate keys.
Demetrius placed a hand on Alisa’s shoulder. His stern expression faded, replaced by a kinder, more gentle appearance.
“Home, Lees. It’s time to come home.”
Alisa’s lips parted at the very mention of the word and a slow smile stretched across her flushed face. Her blue eyes began to shine as she lifted a trembling hand to her mouth and whispered, “Home.”
Holly smiled and took in a deep, satisfying breath. Sam, Sarah, and Travis exchanged confused glances.
Sam hated feeling like this, as if someone had shared a joke and he was the only one who hadn’t gotten it.
Demetrius returned Alisa’s smile and gently squeezed her shoulder. “Lees, we need the keys,” he said.
Alisa dropped her hand from her mouth. “They are in my Quarrem, in the garage.”
Demetrius looks puzzled. “In the …”
Alisa gestured outside. “I’m sorry. In the small building next to the house. The Quarrem is hidden in the north wall, near the floor.”
Sam and Travis shot each other a knowing look.
Demetrius looked to Vallen and Holly.
“Holly, you stay with me. Vallen, retrieve the Quarrem and check the perimeter of the house once more,” he said. Vallen nodded and immediately evaporated.
“Come, Lees, you can gather your belongings later, once the location is secure.”
“Mom?” Sarah said. Her voice was softer and calmer than Sam had expected. “What’s he talking about? Leave? Leave where? Where are we going?”
Alisa turned to see all three children staring back at her. Their curiosity was etched in their frown lines and furrowed brows. There was so much to say, she thought. So much for them to know, but now was not the time. Soon, she told herself, soon. Right now they needed to get as far away from Earth as they possibly could. Haven was their only hope now and the Majesty was their only chance of survival.
“Sam, Sarah,” she began, “there will be time for questions later. But right now you need to listen to me. We need—”
Before she could continue all three staffs began to glow at once. Holly’s face went white. “Demetrius, behind you!” she shouted.
Two gloved hands appeared out of the darkness, reached forward, and grabbed Demetrius by the throat, pulling him back into a smoky void. Sam flinched as two red eyes glowed before vanishing into the darkness. Alisa spun around with Nara in hand, ready to defend herself. But there was nothing there except for darkness and few whips of lingering black smoke.
“Demetrius!” Holly screamed just as a massive green and black snake fell from the darkness above. Quickly, it slithered down the length of Holly’s body, curling around her in tight coils, and hoisted her into the air and out of sight.
Alisa moved back behind the children, taking her staff in both hands again. “We’re leaving. I have to get you out of here!” she said as swirls of ominous black smoke spun and twisted from the s
hadows, speeding toward them.
“Mom, behind you!” Sarah shouted.
Before Alisa could turn around the smoke had seized her by the wrists, dragging her high into the air above the children.
“Mom!” Sam yelled. He looked back just in time to see the Viper standing a few feet away, its arm outstretched holding its staff. Sam recognized this Viper—it was missing a glove.
“Run!” Alisa yelled as black strands of smoke twisted and slid down her arms, resting around her neck like a noose. “Run!”
Suddenly, Alisa’s body flew across the room. The children watched in horror as she slammed into the living room wall. The impact jarred Nara from her grasp and the staff fell to the floor.
The Viper advanced, its red eyes bearing down on Alisa. It reached out with its free hand and Nara began to levitate off the ground.
No, Sam thought. Nara was his mother’s only defense. Without her staff she had no chance. With a flick of the wrist the Viper sent Nara flying into the wreckage near the back of the room.
Without thinking, Sam sprang to his feet and jumped over the piles of debris to retrieve Nara. Travis looked over at Sarah. “Wait here, don’t move, I need to help Sam,” he said.
Sarah didn’t respond. Her face was blank and ashen. “Sarah!” Travis yelled. He wanted her to acknowledge him before he left her side. But she just stood there in a catatonic state, staring at the Viper. He looked over to Sam, who was frantically searching for Nara, and then back to Sarah. Travis quickly grabbed Sarah by the shoulders and shook her.
“Sarah. Sarah, come on!” Sarah’s gaze moved from the Viper to Travis. She nodded. With a sigh of relief Travis turned to join Sam. The wisps of smoke pulled Alisa’s hands above her head, pinning them back against the wall. The black smoke around her neck began to contract, closing off her airway. She choked against the force of the smoke, gasping for any air she could get.