“Let’s get out of here. The fog is suffocating.” She coughed.
They climbed the hill, and every minute or so he called out and waited in vain for a response. After an hour of climbing, the air thinned into a fine mist, eventually clearing up completely. Mountains appeared. Tall spires jutting from the ground, looming over them like lost sentinels. He turned and stared at the ocean of fog.
“I'm not going back in there—it's madness,” Mara said.
“We have to find Nikulo and Rikar.”
“I think we just did.” Mara said pointed at Nikulo and Rikar as they emerged from the fog a hundred feet away.
When they reached them, Nikulo huffed. “Wonderful. Now we’ve lost our gear. And I’m ridiculously hungry.” He plopped onto the shale.
“Quit complaining.” Mara poked him in the belly. “You’ve got plenty of fat.”
“Now do you believe me?” Rikar said.
Talis wasn’t about to give in. “We keep going.”
Hours rolled by and daylight ended. Talis arched his back and watched the fog embrace the valley below as the sun dipped under the horizon. Where was the city of Urgar? He unravelled the Surineda Map and squinted as the lines and symbols ignited in golden light.
Mara came by his side, peering at the map. “I wish we could see where we are.”
“Maybe we can.” Nikulo traced his finger over the symbol for the ancient city of Urgar.
Talis realized he had a point.
“If this is a magical map, will it respond to the use of magic?” Nikulo took a deep breath.
“Why don’t you try,” Mara said.
“Well the map seems aware of my presence. Look”—he tapped the map—”it glows. Let me try focusing on Mara.” He closed his eyes and after a few seconds a golden dot appeared on the map to the southwest of Urgar.
“Hey, that’s me,” Mara shouted.
“It really works,” Talis said. “Try someone else, like…my mother.”
Nikulo seemed concerned, staring at Talis. He nodded and tried again. After awhile, a green dot glowed at Naru.
“She’s safe.”
A light shone in Rikar’s eyes as he stared at the map, like he was wondering if it could be used for something else. They continued along the mountainside, their steps guided by the light of the moons. After hiking several more hours, they stopped to rest. Talis stared at the fog, noticing large rifts inside, like the wind stirred underneath.
“It's finally clearing,” Mara said.
Exhausted, Talis looked around. “Should we rest here for the night?”
“Here?” said Mara, her voice sounding like it was the last thing she wanted.
Talis searched the barren landscape, his eyes settling on a rocky field. Stumps and mangled, dead trees grasped at the sky. Nikulo pointed at clumps of dried grass around a large rock. The grass swayed under the force of the brisk wind.
Mara quivered, staring at the field. “I guess it's better than shale.”
“This feels cold, like the Temple of Zagros,” Rikar said.
Talis traipsed towards the field until he found a place to nestle against a rock. The air was dry and lifeless. His throat started to itch. At least the ground was warm.
“I don’t like it here,” Mara said. Talis didn’t like the way she said it, like she was terrified. Maybe this wasn’t the best place to camp for the night. Was anywhere safe? He scanned the horizon, but everywhere he looked caused his stomach to churn.
Mara slumped next to the rock and reached out to hold him. Her hands were freezing and her body shivered. He rubbed her back and breathed warm air against the back of her neck. Nikulo sat next to him. Rikar pulled his cloak over his head and went to sleep.
After a time, the wind settled, and vapors rose from the ground. A strange heat was building up inside his body. Fatigue took over and he drifted off to sleep. After what seemed like ages, the cry of a mongoose startled him, scaring his eyes open.
Now the mist had thickened, obliterating the view. He sniffed. “What's that smell?” He nudged Mara.
She curled into a ball, wrapping her arms over her face. He didn’t want to wake her, she looked so peaceful sleeping…but what was out there? He squinted and pushed himself up to his knees, searching. A faint flicker appeared over a rock. A rabbit scampered across the ground and disappeared. He sighed, and lay back and tried to sleep.
Mara twitched and sneezed. “Disgusting,” she mumbled, and stood, her eyes wild and glazed over, arms flailing about. Was she sleepwalking?
“I don't want to be here…go away. Something rotten. Horrible.” Her words were slurred. She darted off through the mist. He chased after her, and grasped her arm, but she shook herself free and ran off. The mist wrapped itself around her and she disappeared.
“Mara?” he shouted as he bounded after her. Silvery tendrils clutched at his arms and legs as he sped through, but he found no trace. Where did she go?
He stumbled back to Nikulo, still sleeping behind the rock. “Get up,” he yelled, and kicked him.
“Why’d you do that?” Nikulo rubbed his eyes. Rikar lifted himself up, and looked around.
“Mara’s gone. She ran away.”
“Huh?”
“Sleepwalking.”
Bending down, Talis touched the yellow, loamy soil. His hand recoiled, as if burned. Sweat poured down his face. Why did they stop here? This place was cursed.
As he searched, heat vapors rose and danced with the mist. A mesmerizing animation coalesced into a form. His heart raced, thinking it was her. Glowing eyes appeared, and a figure cloaked in rags lumbered towards him. Arms lifting, decayed hands grasping.
“What the devil is that thing?” Nikulo said.
“Undead…I warned you.” Rikar clapped his hands together, as if casting a spell.
The ground swayed and jolted. A heat wave rippled, and the earth ingested the figure.
“Talis,” Mara shouted, her voice coming from behind. Then she screamed.
They turned and stumbled through the mist. “Shadows away,” Talis commanded, pushing his palms out front. The mist billowed away. But the spell didn’t clear the fog. He pressed again, trying to command the mist, but it just flowed around him.
“This place is scaring me,” Nikulo said. “Mara!”
The ground shook again and sucked the vapors inside. A vortex opened in the ground. Talis looked down. The earth cracked and shivered and imploded. A rancid smell burned into his nostrils. He bent, coughing, and clutched his stomach.
Something from behind gripped his neck.
Wet and oozing, like maggots pressing against his skin. Millions of tiny feet crawling, probing, squeezing the life out of him. His eyes burst open. He jumped and flung his arms wide, trying to twirl around. But the creature only clung harder. A hand clawed his stomach. The hand burned.
Nikulo kicked at the creature. Rikar cast a spell, but the creature somehow reflected it back, sending Rikar backwards. Talis was dragged as the creature moved to the left. When Nikulo attacked again, it slammed him and knocked him sideways to the ground. He groaned, and tried to get up.
Talis wanted to scream, but his voice was gone. He beat at the creature behind him, but each blow was like striking mud. The smell came again, even stronger this time. Like sulfur mixed with carrion, decaying in a hot, steamy jungle. As he looked down at the arms imprisoning him, weakness spread over him, like all his powers were draining out. The ground opened and the creature yanked him down. Nikulo grasped at Talis’s arm, but it was no use, it pulled him under. Talis resisted and shook this way and that. Somehow his magic was blocked by the creature. Soil collapsed over him and the heat intensified, so he brought his hands together as in prayer.
Vines wrapped themselves around his legs and chest and arms as he was dragged into the earth. He gasped one last time, hoping, praying. He had to break free. Something wet and rubbery pushed its way into his ears and nostrils and mouth. He twitched and tensed, fighting every second. Even through h
is closed eyes he could still see those yellow, festering arms crushing the life out of him.
Then he felt heat like the sun, burning his flesh.
The agony inside his skull, those sulfury tendrils working their way through the soft passages into his brain. The pain roared inside, but with the last bit of strength left, he focused on pushing his palms together as hard as he could. Heat built into a frenzy. The harder he pressed, the more it seemed his palms moved apart, as if an invisible ball of searing energy grew in between. Now every part of his skin burned and cracked. The unforgiving sun delivering the full strength of its power.
One last desperate push.
He split in two, like an apple ripping apart. Two sides of his body spun in opposite directions, both fleeing from the sun. As his awareness separated, his two halves escaped to the darkest part of the universe, to a place where there’s no space and no time and all essence is pressed together. He was dead. That much was true. But where were the gods?
He opened his eyes and a single brilliant spark of light erupted. There was only one source for the light. Inside his heart. After the fear of dying, after the worry over protecting his city, now, all that mattered to him was saving Mara. He screamed with such force that it rent the earth and the sky.
Between the crumbling ground, he shot into the air like an arrow, his scream echoing through the graveyard like a herald signaling the end of war. The fog that polluted the land cascaded out in waves. Legions of undead shrieked in agony as a brilliant light banished them from the world.
Was that his death? His heart had opened, a channel for the light to enter. It brought him back from the world of the dead. He felt the light blazing out from his heart and realized why Light Magic couldn’t be taught. Feeling and knowing it at once opened something ancient and primal inside. It was the most powerful thing he’d felt in his life.
“Mara,” he shouted. His hands went to his eyes, clearing away the vines and soil. Blinking, he saw the dry, cracked ground far below. He was hovering a hundred feet over the graveyard. He pushed his fear and amazement into the background, and scanned around, searching for Mara. She was splayed on the loamy soil, motionless. With a thought, he dove, and took her in his arms.
“Wake up!” He shook her. ”Please, wake up.”
But she remained unmoving.
Her face was a sickening color: pale grey and yellow. Hundreds of tiny cords were twisted around her limbs, burrowed into her mouth, nostrils, and ears. His rage exploded. A flame ignited inside. His stomach clenched into a mass of knots and he tightened his toes into a ball until the muscles in his feet locked and the pain surged up his legs.
Wincing, he yelled for Nikulo. He couldn’t do this alone. Tension wrenched his body as he stared at her eyes—still open, still filled with terror. Nikulo would know what to do, he could heal her.
Then he put his hand over her heart, and a pure white light emanated from his palm, flowing inside of her. Her skin glowed a golden luminescence. Her leg quivered. An eyelid twitched, and she coughed. All he had to do was summon that same feeling in his heart and let the power of the sun flow from his hands. It was so strong, a single distilled sensation concentrated under his breastbone.
He ripped the cords from her body, and the harder he pulled, the more the power burst from his tensed fingers. As he detached the cords from her, they ignited and mixed with the sulfur and seared the ground. After he’d cleared them all, he carried her and allowed the light to give wings to his feet, chasing the shadows as he sped from the graveyard. The landscape blurred, the wind rushed, great tears leapt from his eyes.
When he could run no more, he collapsed, holding her tight. Brilliant light still poured from his hands, and inside his heart the power surged, flowing into her. He pressed his lips against her neck and inhaled the smell of roses.
9. THE POWER OF THE HEART
Talis coughed, watching the sky. The darkness of morning ruled for the moment. A dismal grey clenched the air. Far off, storm clouds issued lightning in elaborate splinters over the grim horizon. He shivered under the cold wind racing through the dead, spindly trees. Another cough leapt from his mouth and he beat at his chest. Sulfuric vapors spilled out. He curled up again and coughed violently. He felt like the black death.
“I'm cold…hold me,” Mara said, wrapping her arms around him.
He breathed warm air against the back of her neck and she shivered, responding to his touch.
“What happened?” she said.
Lightning etched the darkness, lapping hungrily at the withered trees studding the hilltops.
“The world has gone mad,” he said. “We’ve made the mistake of sleeping in a graveyard.”
“What?” she said, and lifted her head. “Where’s Nikulo and Rikar?”
“I lost them.”
“They’re dead?” She gripped his arm.
“I’m not sure.” He sighed. “I’m too afraid to look at the map.”
“Just try…summon their image.”
He nodded and reached for the map case. This time, when he touched the map, he felt the power of Light Magic rushing through his heart. He was somehow connected in a deeper way with the map, and it glowed even stronger.
“Are we close to Urgar?” she said. Gods, he hoped not. This seemed like a barrow for wights, of hounds from the Underworld. He half expected packs of them to catapult out of their dens, snarling as they tore and devoured their flesh. Now he only wanted to turn around and head for Darkov. Rikar was right all along.
So he summoned Mara’s image and gazed at the map once more. “We’re closer to Urgar. I wish it could warn us of danger.”
As if responding to his desire, the map zoomed in close to where the golden point indicated their location. To the west, a pile of white skulls glowed over a light grey mist.
“How did you do that?” she said.
“I’ve changed since…since whatever happened in that graveyard.” He faced her. “I think I died. And I had a vision. Somehow I discovered Light Magic. It brought me back from death. I used it to heal you.”
“I was dead?”
He shrugged. “You weren’t moving.” He couldn’t bring himself to tell her what had happened. “Let’s try Nikulo.” Summoning his image, Talis immediately felt a warm glow inside his chest. Nikulo was still alive.
“See.” Mara tapped on the map. He was south, near the foothills. “Should we even bother with Rikar?”
“I think we must.” A new point appeared next to Nikulo.
“Let’s go.” He grinned and held her hand.
After they reached a forest of white elms, he spotted a figure hunched over a stream, drinking water, and another sitting on a log. He called out and Nikulo rose and ambled towards them. Rikar remained seated.
“Gods, you’re a frightful sight.” Nikulo scratched his knotted hair. “You don’t seem like the undead, but you sure smell like them.”
Mara ran up and hugged him. “We were so worried.”
“I’m not that easy to kill.” Nikulo chuckled, and studied Talis. “After you got sucked into the ground, we tried digging you out. But the creature pulled you too far down. We went to look for Mara, but after we heard more creatures coming after us, we ran as fast as we could towards the mountains. Thank the gods for the map. We thought for sure we were all on our own.”
Rikar sauntered up to them and nodded. Talis told them the story. As they listened, Nikulo grunted and shook his head.
“With your new powers, maybe we’ll have a chance of getting to the temple,” he said.
“I think the Surineda Map and Light Magic are connected. It’s acting differently now.”
“Now do you believe me?” Rikar said, and scratched the back of his head.
“The worst decision I ever made,” Talis said.
“Not necessarily.” Nikulo chuckled. “You did discover Light Magic.”
“Still, I think we’d better let Rikar lead us to Darkov.”
“To Zagros then? To the
Underworld?” Rikar scoffed. “What a change of heart. Why not keep on for Urgar? You get a taste of darkness and you run away like a child. You should just flee back to Naru.”
“Why are you so mean?” Mara said. “Was your mother cruel to you?”
“My mother is an angel. Refrain from talking about her. Simple question. Why didn’t you guys believe me when I told you about Urgar?”
“Do you believe yourself to be trustworthy? Get a mirror.” Nikulo shook his head.
“And you expect me to lead you to Darkov?” Rikar spread his hands wide. “If I’m untrustworthy, then by all accounts I should sell your bodies and souls to Zagros. Is that it? Is that what you expect?”
“Something like that.”
“Listen…I’ll be honest. The only reason I’ve tolerated you guys is because Talis has a connection with the Surineda Map. He’s probably the only that can use it. You need me to get into Darkov…and trust me, that’s your only option to find the temple of the Goddess Nacrea. So why don’t we work together until then?”
Talis picked up a rock and spun it around in his hand. “Deal. But only until we find the way to the temple.”
“Or until I find my father. You’re on your own after that.” Talis knew that sooner or later a split would have to come, but for now it was the only solution that made sense.
“To Darkov, then,” Nikulo said.
“From here on out, I lead and you follow…no questioning my authority.” Rikar glanced around. “Agreed?”
Talis nodded begrudgingly, knowing there was no other choice.
“Good. Then we hike back north along the mountains. We don’t stop until we reach the path to Darkov.”
This time the hike back was wet and dreary, as a storm front roared across the plain. Talis was starving by the time they reached the path. They had hiked for hours in the dark and rain, not resting once.
“Where to now?” Nikulo said, his voice thin and strained.
Rikar glanced around squinting. He didn’t have a clue and Talis knew it. Tired and irritated, Talis took cover under a tree and withdrew the Surineda Map. He voiced the words in his head, find shelter, find someplace dry. The map illuminated the darkness, blinding Talis for a moment until his eyes adjusted. A cave glowed on the map, to the northwest from where they were, inside a gully. Talis memorized the location, peered around to get his bearings, and put the map away.
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