by Greg Dragon
She cut at his long throat, two consecutive slices, then rolled out of the way as the fire spilled out from the wound. The dragon coughed and she almost felt sorry for it, but before she could cut it again, it had managed to take flight despite its wing. Bortex ran after it and heaved a spear, but it ricocheted harmlessly off the scales. The beast climbed into the air till they could no longer see it, and after a few minutes it was completely gone.
“How's Cyrio doing?” Alysia asked, running over to the stairs.
“He needs help, CeeCee. We need Lancert, but he'll be deep in the sleep now, trying to rejuvenate his powers. If only—”
“What?” she asked, noting his hesitation.
“We need to move,” Orwan said suddenly. “The longer we linger, the sooner that thing will heal and roast us alive where we stand. Bortex, collect your brother and follow me. He’s hardy; you know this more than anyone here. We can get him back to the crags and pay for a teleport back to Lenorela. Come, let us move now. We are out of time.”
Bortex cradled his brother and followed Orwan as he began to ascend the stairs between the obelisks. Amarah fell in behind them and Alysia brought up the rear, the adrenaline from her fight with the dragon fading to make way for a deep depression. Cyrio was one of the best fighters she had seen and to see him reduced to a wounded bundle was extremely humbling.
She had expected the new sword to be a game changer to the demons, and a powerful weapon that would melt the dragon on contact. It had turned out to be just another sword, magical and great in its own right, but game changer? Not so much, though it radiated with power. Three talismans would make you a god, right? she thought. That’s what Lenorela said. Yet here I am and the demon dragon was able to get away.
When they reached the top there was a door, a portal with no walls to support it and yellow light seeping from its edges. Orwan seemed to know exactly where it would take them and stepped through it without any hesitation. Bortex, bent and sad by the state of his brother followed behind and managed to squeeze his large frame through despite the door’s small size.
When they stepped through the portal they were back in the underground castle, but without Lancert’s light, it was hard to see. The portal illuminated the area in a dim grey light, and when Alysia stepped all the way through it sealed upon itself, leaving them in the pitch black.
“We’re almost there, Cyrio,” Alysia heard Bortex whisper. Then Amarah’s hands began to glow, as well as Orwan’s, who was next to her. They produced orbs that floated above them, guiding them through the dark, and though the way back would be as long and treacherous as before, they made their way out at a brisk pace.
~ * ~ * ~
When they were out of the cave it was nighttime, so they made camp near the entrance. Orwan and Amarah leaned over Cyrio and argued about what could be done to ease his pain. Eventually they agreed on a meditation circle, and the three Erts sat around him and held each other’s hands. When Alysia tried to join, Bortex asked her to stand watch, so she walked to the entrance while they chanted within.
The night was cold and the sky was clear, showcasing the strangest of celestial shapes. Alysia studied the moons…or were they planets? She couldn’t tell since she knew nothing about Yalem outside of its crisis. Her mind drifted to Lenorela and the guidance she had given. The witch had told her that there were portals on Earth that Chaos had set up in order to invade, but this made no sense if what Lancert told her was true. But why would Lenorela need to lie?
Chaos’s refusal to harm her in anyway had always stuck out to her as being strange. She had thought him infatuated, or toying with her sadistically, but now she knew that he worked for Ambriel. Had the lord developed his own ambition in the absence of his mistress? Surely that would have set Lenorela and Lancert against him.
The only thing Chaos told her, back when he recruited her for his Bloody Garot, was that he wanted her to be the general of his armies. “Oh, you bastard,” Alysia whispered, realizing that her assumptions were right. “If I had never learned of Ambriel and joined your army, you would have used me to find Bliss, and upon regaining my power, wiped out the V’Kosha and then the Erts.”
Nothing irked her more than the prospect of being someone’s tool. Chaos had used her and she ended up losing Jaime and Koko. Isobel and Jasmine: did Chaos lie about them being safe, as well? She concluded that Lenorela was using her, too. The witch had to know who she really was, and had won her trust by sending her into those random portals.
Still, she couldn’t bring herself to be angry with Lenorela. The woman had saved her life when the bandits attacked the town, and had taught her magic, patiently allowing her to grow into her own. Whatever it was that she wanted Alysia for, it was something personal and something to do with Chaos.
“So many games,” Alysia whispered. “But what do you want, CeeCee Ambriel? What do you want out of all of this demon business?”
A noise from behind her brought her around as Cyrio walked out and gave her a hug. “Cyrio, you’re okay,” she said with surprise, and the slender man nodded despite the pain reflected in his face.
“This one wouldn’t lay down until he hugged you, CeeCee,” Bortex said, annoyed. “He said he watched you cut into the beast, and that we owe you our lives since that is what did it.”
“I would argue that it was Amarah’s fire that chased it off,” Alysia said humbly. “Still, it doesn’t even matter. We’re here and alive. After everything we’ve been through, I can’t believe that we’re here.”
“I could drink ten full tankards of ale,” Bortex said.
“And I could sleep for an entire lifetime,” said Orwan, who looked paler than normal.
“Get some rest, big guy,” Alysia said. “I’ll get first watch so that you all can rest.”
They took her up on her offer and went back into the cave while Alysia stood outside, thinking about Yalem. I’m not Ambriel, she thought, but I used to be, so Alysia Knight is still who I am -…deep inside. She walked out on the rocks, resting her hands on her swords. She had moved both scabbards to her left hip, where she could grab either sword on command. She leaned back slightly, putting weight on one leg, and glanced up at the sky, wondering if her Earth was somewhere out there.
“You can actually relax, I don’t think he’s coming back,” said a voice from behind her, causing her to jump. She whirled to see Orwan, who too was staring at the sky. He was shirtless and it made her blush; he was a lot more muscular than he appeared in his tunic and cloak.
“Who’s not coming back?” she asked, averting her gaze.
“Your dragon, of course. It must have run to another world.”
“You seem to be filled with compliments tonight,” Alysia said. “You should be asleep with the others so that you can make the long walk tomorrow.”
“I don’t need a lot of sleep to make the trip back to Lorus. Listen, I heard everything that Lancert told you, but he’s still not telling you everything.”
Alysia looked at Orwan intently as he moved closer and took a seat on one of the boulders. She followed his lead, sitting next to him, and studied his face beneath the moonlight. He reminded her of an action star from one of the movies that she loved. He had a grizzled beard on a long, narrow face, and his crimson-colored pupils looked violet in the light. It was in this instance that she decided that he was handsome, and she didn’t mind the way that he was looking at her.
“You’ve heard plenty of versions of what’s going on with the worlds beyond Yalem. What they haven’t told you is that they are all the same world, CeeCee, just from different planes of existence. Your beloved Earth has a million versions, all accessible from this central world. Me, Amarah, Cyrio, your Lenorela, we all come from different versions of Earth. Some of our worlds are similar to yours. Others are drastically different.”
“But what is the point of that?” Alysia asked. “What is the point of these different worlds? How is any of it real? Are you telling me th
at Yalem is the only true world, now?”
“It will seem that way, especially when I tell you that each of the worlds has multiple versions going simultaneously. Someone hid Bliss in a reality parallel to yours, and when you meditated with Lancert, he directed you to the right one so that you could reclaim your prize.”
“So, that would explain the portals Lenorela showed me. Are our worlds all on the same limited timeline, culminating in the V’Kosha destroying civilization?”
“Yes,” Orwan said, his long face sad. “But Chaos wishes for it all to end. If he can get you to destroy the V’Kosha here, then the world you know will continue on. His wife is from your world, one of the first of his Garot.”
“No wonder she helped me,” Alysia whispered.
“Chaos was once your ward, CeeCee, but he would never admit it. Now that he is ‘Lord Chaos,’ he wants to change the future as well as have us forget the past. When you were Ambriel, it was told to me that you wanted to stop the V’Kosha from attacking the worlds.”
“I did?”
“Yes, and you set out to destroy them, but…” He stopped, as if he had said too much. “There’s more to this tale that I am not allowed to say, CeeCee, but there’s a reason why they hold back from telling you the truth. Sometimes good and evil aren’t as clear as we’d like them to be, and sometimes former enemies become today’s friends.”
Alysia touched his hand and felt him shrink beneath her fingers. “Not allowed, Orwan? Is this something to do with the Erts?”
Orwan merely smiled at her, and patted the hand that had found his.
“The more I hear about my former self, the more I like her style. Everything that has happened was through my own design, and Chaos wants me to lead the Bloody Garot in destroying the V’Kosha horde. That still doesn’t explain why Lenorela would hate him. Wouldn’t that mean she hates me, too? Hates Ambriel, I mean?”
Orwan seemed to be in deep thought as he leaned forward on the rock. “Perhaps it is something more personal, CeeCee. Something to do with the V’Kosha. If I were you I would talk to Lenorela, get her to tell you why she hates Chaos so. I know that for us, it’s a bit more political. A Yalem without V’Kosha is a Yalem with an ambitious ex-Ert like Chaos pushing to seize control. Wiping out these creatures will remove a common enemy, and will set in place a series of events that will affect everyone in our world.”
“It will bring about chaos,” Alysia sighed. “Oh, the irony in that word. No V’Kosha means no Lancert impregnating my mom, and no Ambriel Ilyse growing into Alysia Knight. On the flipside, Jaime would regain his life, as would Koko, Debdan, and everyone who fought the V’Kosha when they came through. Tracy and my dad may never meet, and neither will my mom. Man, it’s weird to think of the world I know without me in it. But it would be the right choice, wouldn’t it, Orwan? To sacrifice my life so that the world can go on.”
“That’s up to you, CeeCee. You don’t have to do it. You could stay with Lenorela, become the warrior you were, then join us as an Ert, fighting for this world. You could travel with me, go all over. I know several towns where they will treat you like royalty.”
“You would risk me becoming the same bitter Ert that Ambriel Ilyse was in the past? I could see the allure of traveling with you and the gang, Orwan, but becoming an Ert isn’t a good idea. Too many secrets, and Lancert creeps me out. I still can’t believe that man is somehow my dad.”
“Outside of your color, you look nothing like him,” Orwan said, and Alysia had to laugh.
“Thanks,” she remarked, and he leaned over and kissed her. It was so sudden that she could only freeze to consider what had just happened.
“You’re a beautiful woman. I couldn’t resist,” he explained. “And I’ve been wanting to do that since I first met you.”
He made to explain more, but Alysia pulled him into her, wanting to feel the kiss again. She knew it was the wrong thing to do, and that it could lead him on, but it was the first time she had felt human in a very long time. It was as if she could feel the ticklish blood that danced through her numerous veins. His lips were a little rough from lack of hydration, and his beard tickled but it was okay.
When they parted she studied his face and he seemed as stunned as she was. “That was nice,” she said, breaking the silence, and Orwan looked relieved. His hand found hers and she leaned against him, looking up once again at the wonderful night sky.
Chapter Five
They pushed on the next day, through the crags and then into the wildlands away from the cave. Alysia couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt for having them travel all the way to that hole, only to have the brothers get hurt. They had done it for her, their newfound friend and potential convert to the Erts.
Amarah was in good spirits, talking and joking, and the brothers marched along singing vulgar songs. Orwan led them, his long strides making for a quick pace, and Alysia followed, her left hand glued to the hilt of Bliss. It had become a habit to touch the sword, though it was so unconscious that she didn’t realize she was doing it.
They had spoken briefly about their plans before setting out early in the morning. Orwan suggested that they head back to the town and investigate the actions of Arlan Fo. Once they learned who it was that had tipped him off, they could figure out where he came from and take it further to find the source.
After the kiss from Orwan they had sat together and talked for a long time. It was mostly questions about her life on Earth, and she was more than happy to share. She fell asleep in his arms and woke up next to the others in the camp, unaware of how she had gotten there and hoping that she hadn’t dreamed it all.
But at one point in their trek out he had glanced back at her, and his smile had said it all. She knew that the memory was real and not one of those realistic Yalem dreams. Many mornings at Lenorela’s mansion, she had woken up from a dream, trying to clear her confusion. When you dream about doing things in the same place where you sleep, and then end the dream by climbing into bed, you can’t assume anything.
Lenorela had taught her to set up clues around her room, things that would tell her that she was truly awake. The demon world was full of these terrors, and the dreams were but one of the many confusing realities. Lenorela informed her that it was due to her being human, and that the longer she stayed in Yalem, the more she would evolve and the dreams would even out.
She was bringing up the back of their little party, and she hadn’t realized it until Amarah dropped back to join her. “Everything okay, CeeCee?” she said, touching her lightly on her arm.
Alysia jumped, since she hadn’t seen her, and she almost pulled out Bliss. “Everything’s fine. More than fine. How about you? I mean, thanks for asking.” She laughed nervously and felt embarrassed; she knew that Amarah had seen her reach for her sword.
“Don’t be embarrassed, you’ve been through a lot. I don’t know how crazy things were for you back when you were in your world, but by Yalem standards, these last few days have been very intense, CeeCee. So, are you good?”
Alysia smiled at Amarah. She had grown to love the way the woman looked after her and though they had all grown close, Amarah was the one who looked out for her. She reached out and took Amarah’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “I’m good. Just thinking.” She laughed out loud. “I’ve probably thought more in the last twenty-four hours than any other time in my life. Where do you start, right? I’m someone else reborn, I am in a magical demon world…” She stopped and shook her head.
Amarah was nodded her head rapidly. “I’ve been thinking about you, and all of this, and you’ve done really well with the pressure. You’re very strong, stronger than you think, and I want you to know that we’re here for you.”
“You all have done so much for me already,” Alysia said. “This whole trip was due to me wanting this sword, and so many people have been hurt. I am here for you too. Whatever you need, you have my swords, okay? I’m tired of aimlessly stumbling about.”
She gave a little laugh, which made Alysia smile. But her words had struck a chord and Alysia suddenly felt weak. “I wonder how long I have,” she said quietly.
“You have time. We can get some rest, get some real rest, and you can heal while you learn more about this place. How’s that?”
“Sounds amazing,” Alysia said.
They continued to walk, the sun pushing out from the mustard sky to take on the intensity that threatened to break Alysia the first time they had made the trip with Arlan Fo. By the time it faded again, they were back on the grassy meadow above the town but decided against making camp for the night.
They pressed on through the gates of Lorus, keeping to the shadows on pained legs and sore feet. When Bortex reminded them that they were celebrities in the town, they had decided that speed would be to their advantage. A passing townsperson seeing their camp would have sent news back and the person behind Arlan Fo would have known to leave town.
There was still the chance that word would travel when they were seen at this late hour, but there was nothing they could do about that. They found the inn and Cyrio left them, pulling out his sword as he ran to cover the back door. Amarah flexed her fingers and rested her hand on the hilt of her own sword, and Bortex cracked his knuckles and pushed open the door.
At the sight of the big Ert, the woman behind the bar bolted, and he and Orwan were up on the tables, knocking over drinks and angry patrons as they followed her through the back. The room became a frenzy of movement and some got up to obstruct their move. Orwan was grabbed by two demons, and another moved on Alysia, but she pulled Bliss free and gestured to let them know that she was serious.