The Mortal Fringe

by Jordi Ribolleda

  "End of the game" She says.

  She rises her hand and with it Tristan loses his balance. Mal makes a quick move and throws him against the wall, where more than ten broken pipes meet him, breaking his body and hanging him from the wall. As a war trophy.

  "Tristan!" I scream trying to run to him.

  "I'm alright, fly!" he screams while trying to free himself.

  The way back is totally destroyed, the flames and water have turned it into an impossible path. And no matter how hard I try I will never be able to fool Mal all by myself. So, instead of running away, I turn around and face her.

  "Look at this, we got a brave boy."

  I say nothing. She does not deserve an answer, not from me, not from anyone. That is the one way to beat evil, to look at it in the eye and let it know that you are not weak.

  "I don't like this attitude of yours, Alexander. After all, I haven't done anything to you… have I?" she smiles "Don't take it personal, I can take care of those bruises in a moment, do you want me to?"

  I hear her question as a proposal for a deal. She wants me to join her, to give Elizabeth to her just like that. But that is not going to happen, I can feel Tristan thinking the same, so for the first time I look at those eyes and draw a smile on my face.

  "Go to hell."

  "Dear boy, have you not realized yet? I went there, and made it mine" She grabs my neck again and we disappear.

  Teleporting is different with her, my whole body aches and the unbearable cold is killing me. When we reappear, my whole body freezes again, the smart smile on my face disappears. We are twenty feet over the stadium.

  "You are crazy" I whisper with the little breath I have.

  "I'm not, I can assure you that" she squeezes my neck harder.

  I can hear the people celebrating under my feet. It doesn't matter how hard I tried to scream for help, no one would hear me now. And if they did, I cannot imagine what the reaction might be.

  "I must admit, Alexander, that I value your honor" she looks at me in the most interesting way "why would you put your life forward for someone who wants you dead?"

  "You know nothing."

  "You are wrong, I know everything." she squeezes even harder. "You must be so important, to put on all this performance for your protection. Did you really think that going away with that useless girl would help at all? I would have not advised you to leave her taking care of your dear mother."

  I lose control when she mentions them. When she mentions my mother. I start to make hard and dangerous movements and shout as hard as I can.

  "What have you done to them?" I scream.

  "Dear boy, you will see them soon."

  I scream again. But she puts her hand on top of my head and I go suddenly silent. I can't talk, nor move. I can only stare at her.

  "Do you know what you are?"

  "Nothing?" I ask with my voice as quietly and relaxed as I can, she is doing this to me. I can't control what I feel or say.

  "No" She gets closer to me, I can sense here lips touching my ears as she whispers. "You are my trigger, and I thank you for that."

  I don't understand what she means, but I can't ask. Her hand is still on me, and the other is still pressing my neck.

  "I'll say hello to her for you."

  "Don't..." I can hardly make out the words. It comes out being less than a whisper.

  She moves me away from her and starts to open her hand.

  "Just the way I like it" she looks down and then back at me, smiling with malice "You really thought that being around so many people would make me back up? How nice of you" she jokes "Let them watch."

  She opens her hand, and I fall.

  CHAPTER 42

  Nothing. That's what I feel as I fall down from the upper darkness of the sky. Far away from here I can hear Mal's laughter, but I don't care. It is finally over, this nightmare has been going on for too long.

  Suddenly, the screaming of those in the stands that have noticed something falling from the sky. Me. The cold and wet weather feels different as I get closer to the ground. I close my eyes to welcome my finale. Scarcely before smashing myself into the mud someone holds me, I am not falling alone anymore. I open my eyes.

  "Did you miss me, buddy?"

  "Jay!" I can barely move, I feel the ground so close to me that I close my eyes again, and scream to the top of my lungs.

  We miss it. I am still alive. I open my eyes again and I am in a familiar place. The room of the toast. Back in the tower of London. I thought I would never be back here, being here reminds me of that moment. Something I have been trying to forget ever since.

  Jay helps me stand up, my whole body is shaking. The first thing I do is bring my hands to my neck and make sure that it is still there, for some reason I still feel Mal's hands on me, and it troubles me.

  "Are you ok?" the worried voice does not come from Jay. Elizabeth is standing in front of me and although she is not moving, she does not take her eyes away from my bruises. "I had to send him, I couldn't go... she wouldn't let me" she bursts into tears.

  I run towards her and hold her on my arms for as long as her companion lets us. Constance attitude is not welcoming, nor joyful. She is only there to complete the task she has been working on for a thousand years. I step back, and look at her. I open my arms.

  "What happens now?" Jay asks, holding my arm, protecting me.

  "Now we face her off" I turn around so I can put a face to the soft voice coming from my back. "Hello Alex, I'm glad to see you are still alive."

  "Emma, enough" Constance's low voice is like a grudge to my ears.

  "We can't let her win this!" she yells out loud.

  "Indeed we can't" the two figures once introduced as Constance's fellow leaders join them "But we can't play a part in this fight" Carol is the one talking.

  Katherine rises her hand, ordering us all to stop the talking.

  "Let time help forget of the old mistakes. Be safe within our power until the night ends."

  "No" Carol inquires. "The council won't give aid to them. There's no place for those who go against our ways." She turns to me and Elizabeth "There's nothing between you two but the shadow of what you wish was real."

  "I'll take my chances" Elizabeth claims fearless of the power held in Carol's body.

  Constance's eyes shut and quickly move to meet the Leader.

  "I am sorry, my dearest friend. They can't stay."

  Katherine does not move, her eyes remain open, fixed on me. There is no smile on her face, nor a pride look. The only thing I see is the eyes of a regretting soul.

  Emma grabs my other hand.

  "I'll go with them. I won't let you kill my sister."

  Carol moves her hand and throws Emma to the other end of the room.

  "She killed herself" the woman looks firmly at Elizabeth. "Summon the Council, Katherine."

  Upon those words, Constance runs towards us and with an agile movement she makes us disappear. I don't let go of Jay's hand, and I clearly see Elizabeth in front of me. When we hit land again, I know where we are, The Atlas.

  "You" Constance screams pointing at me "you did this!" She raises her hand towards me, but I am not scared.

  "Go ahead" I say defiantly. I open my arms and wait for her strike.

  Elizabeth stands by my side and grabs my hand. Constance looks away, to Jay, who is staring at us, smiling.

  Suddenly, a roaring.

  All of us realize something is wrong when the terrible noise ends. Right in front of us, Mal materializes herself, holding Tristan's body, threatened by the knife she used to take that guy's soul.

  "Did I miss something?" she laughs "I never thought you would be so stupid to come here and leave such a beautiful trace for me to follow. Thank you."

  Mal throws Tristan away from her, and us. She stares at me and keeps smiling.

  "I have to admit, you are funnier to kill than I had anticipated.”

  Constance puts herself between Mal and us.

&
nbsp; "You can't be here. This place is just for Gods and Immortals."

  "Can't you see how much I care?" Mal throws Constance to the distant ground with anger and fury.

  Constance hits the floor so terribly hard that she loses her notion instantly. Mal is about to repeat her move when Elizabeth runs to the old woman unconsciously. I try to do the same, no one deserves to die in that way, but Mal is faster than me and she gets hold of me again.

  "If you did not want me to find you, the last thing you should do is go back to the most predictable place. Don't you show them anything, mother?"

  Mal looks around, first at Tristan's motionless body, then at Jay and finally to the two women in front of us.

  "This is almost like a family reunion. We even brought a meal."

  Elizabeth stands up, so does Constance, who is slowly coming back.

  "Why are you doing this?" Elizabeth's yells could be heard around the world.

  My captor squeezes my body.

  "Ask her. Tell her to tell you the truth about me!"

  "I know the truth!"

  Constance stands forward.

  "No, you don't" she whispers shamefully.

  "Oh, I like this!" Mal screams.

  Elizabeth grabs Constance's arm, and demands an explanation for what's going on. The old woman, reluctant at first, agrees to Elizabeth's petition, knowing by the look on her face, that she is about to lose another female Immortal.

  "When your sister was supposed to become a God, I was warned that she would be tyrannical beyond reason, she would lack mercy to those inferior to her. She would rule the underworld breaking the peace that we had so hardly earned." Constance looks at Mal with tears in her eyes. "I refused to believe it, I refused to believe my daughter was capable of such evil, how could I believe that from my sweet girl. But then I saw it."

  "What did you see?" Mal is enjoying the moment so much that she cannot even hide the enthusiasm.

  "I saw how you gathered a group of young Immortals, still learning our ways, and slaughtered them all, for no reason, just to prove your power."

  "And what did you do?" The woman behind me asks. I can't believe what Constance is saying.

  The leader murmurs something, but none of us is able to hear her.

  "What did you do?!" Mal repeats, this time screaming.

  "I killed her catalyst. I destroyed the mortal fringe. "

  Mal points the knife to my throat. She is not smiling anymore. I can see fury tears dropping from her green eyes. She is shaking, not out of sorrow, but from rage.

  "You said I was too powerful and dangerous to become a God, but you made a terrible mistake when you let me become the leader of the forgotten ones" she screams. "They greeted me. Tartars showed me the mercy I had never received before, and now I am finally going to make peace with myself." she squeezes me harder "You should have crashed my soul when you had the chance, old woman!" her anger is immeasurable.

  "Stop this madness!" Constance yells when she realizes that the knife is getting closer to my throat.

  "How is she going to turn out, I wonder?"

  "Elizabeth?"

  Mal looks around, she shouts something and suddenly a familiar face shows up. Jessica is in front of me, but she looks different, more like a soldier.

  "Grab him."

  The young lady disappears and a second later she is grabbing Jay by his arms.

  "I would advise you not to move" she says to him "Or I will break you."

  Mal looks at the situation and then she turns back to Constance.

  "Malenie, my girl, don't do this" Constance is begging her.

  "No vengeance is ever simple, I am not just going to hurt you. I am going to destroy you" she looks at Jessica again and with a single gesture the redheaded woman moves her arms quickly enough to break Jay's body, that falls to the ground. Motionless

  Elizabeth and I scream hysterically.

  Jessica bends over my friend's body and smiles back at me with a sadistic and repugnant smile.

  "Stop it!" I can barely hear Constance's words over Mal's inquiring laughter.

  Elizabeth looks directly at me, hiding all her feelings behind a curtain of tears and a forced smile.

  "We only fall together" She thinks, just for me.

  "Tell her everything will be ok, just like you told me" Mal's rotten voice proofs that she has something inside her that has kept her going on all these centuries, a vengeance she will have at any cost.

  "Please..."

  "Tell her now!"

  Constance closes her eyes and turns to Elizabeth.

  "Everything will be alright" she murmurs.

  Mal laughs.

  "Welcome to my life, sweetheart. Look closely, and remember this forever, just like me. Welcome to Immortality."

  She rises her arm and drops it so fast that I can barely see the blade of the knife moving, I only feel it breaking my body, my heart, my soul.

  I always die in my dreams.

  But this is not a dream.

  CHAPTER 43

  I was lying dead on the mud when she came and helped me.

  That's what I've been told, or at least what I think happened.

  I open my eyes and I am in a familiar place. A garden of dried roses. I feel my body, and I can move it as if nothing had happened. I take a look around, Elizabeth is sitting by my side. I try to stand up but something on my chest stops me from doing it. I undo my shirt and I almost black out when I see the skin ripped off. I try to concentrate on something else and recover my senses. Then I look back at Elizabeth and I see she is holding her hand, with a cut similar to mine on the palm.

  "What happened?"

  "I took the knife out" she says.

  "But I don't understand, why am I here, what happened to the others? Jay? Abigail? Tristan? Where are they, what about my family?" I am hysterical, I can't stop moving even though the pain kills me every time I do so.

  "Don't worry about that."

  "How can you say that?"

  "Your family and Abigail are hiding with Tristan, they are alright.”

  "My mother knows about this?"

  Elizabeth gets closer to me.

  "Everyone knows, Alex."

  I think about what that means, Barbra said it was their most precious rule, secrecy. I can't even start to imagine what that might do to them. To us.

  "She keeps Jay, they took him, but they don't have his soul. There's hope for him."

  I don't know if I have to be relieved by that, he could still die. It only makes me more nervous. But yet I have another question. The most important one.

  "How is it possible?"

  She knows what I mean.

  "The knife she used cut my hand, and the blood from my body came into yours."

  Immortal blood keeps things alive.

  "You remember" she smiles "Come, let me show you something."

  I grab her hand, the pain is almost gone. As I stand up I realize everything feels different, I only feel half alive. She walks me through the garden, and as I cross it I understand what it means to her. Those roses are like her, perfect in their own way, and require long care to become eternal, as they are. But yet, a soft breeze could tear them apart. Immortals resemblance perfection, but as perfect as they are, their soul can be torn to pieces and destroy them.

  We reach the wooden recipient in the middle of the garden.

  "Look" she says.

  I bend over the light, I see Elizabeth's silver soul and another light, different to hers, with a single drop of blood in the middle. I don't understand.

  "Our bonding was too great that half of your soul left to join mine when Mal stabbed you. You can take it back, if you want, or take mine."

  I smile at her, and turn my back to the wooden pedestal. I can't take her soul, I couldn’t' become what she is, never

  "We only fall together" I say firmly, as my answer.

  "Together" she whispers.

  I hold her in my arms.

  "Does that make you a God? M
y half soul?"

  "I don't think so, nothing like this has ever happened before, but I don't think they will be understanding, or merciful. Not now."

  I kiss her on the forehead. Trying to think about something else.

  Time goes by, and even though I try to remember what happened the night I almost died I can't bring back the memories. It may have been days ago, even months, life seems to have stopped for me.

  What about home? What about my mother? I promised her she would not lose another son, and yet… That was a promise I could have never kept. I hope to see her again, someday, when all this turmoil is behind us. If that ever happens.

  I don't know what's happening in the world, and I can't think about it. I can barely bring my mind to realize that everyone I ever truly cared about has been damaged because of me. Elizabeth tries to take the thought away, unsuccessfully.

  "What now?" I ask her when I am confident enough to hear the answer.

  "Now" she begins "we wait."

  "What for?”

  "Anything."

  Nothing has happened according to anyone's plan. Wherever this may lead us, is unknown to us. But there is one thing we both know for sure, we are alone now, Gods won't back us up, and Mal's hunger for revenge makes it impossible for us to try to find allegiance in the world above. Whatever we do, we must stick together, now more than ever. Maybe Jay will be able to come back to us one day, but until then, all we can wait for, is anything.

  After all, we are Tartars now.

  Alex, half living

  I turn around and everything in her chamber greets me; the black roses don't look black anymore, the intense power of their colour shines and lights the place, the high and roofless walls protect us both from anything that may come against us. I am ready to call this place home, after all.

  My dark paradise.

  ###

  THE END.

  Thank you for reading “The Mortal Fringe”!

  Jordi Ribolleda