“Finally,” Lok said, using magic to shatter part of his breastplate, making it look like it had been broken and showing his bare chest.
“You see the pains I go to, to make my story believable? I’ll tell Veneseron you lot kicked my ass good, and I barely escaped.”
“You better hope your friends in Veneseron believe you,” Darcy sneered. “If you ever get found out and spill Velkarath’s secrets. Oooh, Akirandon would make you wish for death.”
Lok shot forward and flung his sword at Darcy, stopping as the point knocked against Darcy’s stomach.
“I just murdered someone I quite liked in cold blood. All for Velkarath. What’s to stop me from slaughtering you, someone I don’t like. Especially since you can’t be civil when you speak back to me, your superior.”
“You… Velkarath wouldn’t allow you to kill me,” Darcy spat, yet Lok saw the fear in his eyes.
“Nope,” Lok chuckled acidly. “You forget how close I am to Princess Kaelyn. That alone, would let me get away with killing a score of Rakarn. If I so wished. Now run along, and make sure you tell the Velkarath lords exactly what I did here. If you do not, I will find out, and you will suffer. Understood?”
Darcy glared back at him, but nodded, like a good little soldier.
“Run along then.” Lok let his sword drop and turned from Darcy in disgust.
Jimmy started wailing uncontrollably as the Rakarn summoned their portal. Taylor and Poppy struggled too, but were beaten down and dragged through the gateway to Velkarath. Lok watched them go silently. And then he was alone in the cave, with only two corpses for company.
He walked back to Tyrell’s body, his olive-tinted skin had already gone pale as milk.
“I wasn’t lying, you know,” he said quietly. “You really were a good friend. But we all must sacrifice sometimes. I’ll tell them you died a hero. I promise.”
Lok then tugged the Rambrace from Tyrell’s belt, preparing to depart.
Chapter 57- Reflections
When Evan next awoke, the bed beside his was empty. Taija had gone. He lay in bed, his body feeling heavy, but otherwise he felt no physical pain now, only mental and emotional.
Tarensen was still there, he heard the Master before he saw him. Every one of Tarensen’s laboured breathing was like an old man’s last breath. He was asleep, his skin still a waxy white and his veins red.
A fresh wave of guilt rolled over him. It was all his fault. All this could’ve been avoided if he’d spoken to Tarensen about Kalkavan sooner, or simply refused to leave Veneseron. He’d simply not thought about the huge risk he was taking in leaving. It hadn’t really occurred to Evan as a big deal. He’d been so focused on finding another demon-spawn, and everything had happened so fast.
He reached up a hand to touch it for the first time. His fingers traced the smoothness of his cheek first, then grazed the warped patch of black. He could feel tiny ridges poking out of blackened skin there. To him it felt like the burn mark bulged out from his face, yet he remembered from his reflection it didn’t. It just felt worse to him than it looked. The skin had stretched tight, so much so that he could feel it whenever he moved his jaw.
Evan no longer felt a shocked hopelessness at his permanent scar. It was only a sample of what he deserved for being so careless.
He sat up and looked around the infirmary blearily. It was quiet now, with no one else around, save him and Tarensen.
Anxiety gnawed at him when he realised what the rest of the Fortress would think of him now. Many Venators had already become weary of him over the demon invasion. Now, his face bore the mark of demon fire and the rumours would only increase. Surely everyone would wonder what it was about Evan that monsters always seemed to be after him.
The Satyne stone was cold on his chest. He’d tucked it beneath his shirt, so only the leather cord was around his neck. Showing off the amulet would only draw more questions.
He didn’t care about the looks and mutters he received from other Venators, however, as long as he had his friends. He couldn’t bear to be in the infirmary any longer. As he pulled back the bedcover and hopped off the bed he realised for the first time that someone had taken off his armour and dressed him in a fresh set of Mid-Realmer uniform. He even had a Caustic badge pinned on his emerald shirt.
Before he could leave the chamber though, his friends came to him, bursting through the double doors at the end of the room.
“There he is,” Xavier shouted.
He couldn’t help the relieved smile that escaped as the group rushed toward him.
“Thank Rueda you’re alive,” Elijah cried.
“It’s so good to see you up,” said Emi.
“Evan, please tell me you’re okay,” Brooke said. She was the first to reach his bed and lean forward to hug him tight. It felt so good to see her again, safe and sound from her mission.
“I’m fine,” he managed to say after multiple hugs, “as well as I can be at least.”
Evan could tell his friends saw his burn, they couldn’t not see it.
Xavier’s eyes widened and he shot a panicked look to Zeke before smoothing his expression. Whilst Emi was teary-eyed as she looked upon him, and Elijah was at a loss for words, for once.
Evan didn’t want them to pretend it wasn’t there and he felt a rush of happiness as the first thing Jed said to him was, “Evan, mate. You’ve spilled ink on your face.”
He could tell Jed’s smile was to mask the concern in his eyes, but Evan appreciated his friend’s efforts to make light of it.
“Ah, this,” he tried to play it off. “You should see the other guy.”
“Is it…forever,” Emi whispered.
“’Fraid so,” he said. “It’s okay though. I’m lucky to be alive. I heard you saved us all Jed.” Evan grinned at him. “Genuinely, you were incredible. I think Kalkavan would’ve killed everyone if it wasn’t for you.”
Jed blushed, for once not boasting about his exploits. “Naa, the asylum girl. She did most of it. Things were about to go real pear-shaped and I spotted the girl, remembering what Joelle said about the arrow.”
“That she’d wake up if you pulled it out?” Joelle asked.
“Yeah. I didn’t know what would happen, only that she knew demon magic. I kinda’ thought she’ll either kill us all instead of Kalkavan, or she’d kill him. Luckily my gamble paid off. Then she had this seizure and I was the only one left standing. Finally, I found that blasted Rambrace, this pig-demon had been lying on top of it. Then me and the mission monitors carried you all here.”
“You really are a hero,” Elijah said.
“Oh, leave off. Anyone would’ve done it.” Jed grinned.
“Wait, did you say Kalkavan?” Emillia asked. “I know that name is…he’s a Disciple isn’t he?” she clapped a hand to her mouth.
“What is it with you and knowing the names of powerful demons?” said Xavier, “you knew about Kurrlan too.”
“It’s because she read that demon encyclopedia,” said Joelle. “It’s full of pictures, that’s why Emi can understand it.” Joelle chuckled, dodging Emi’s playful punch.
“Yeah, Kalakavan’s a Disciple,” Evan said. “And he isn’t dead either. Taija was able to force him threw a portal and into another world, not destroy him.”
“Taija?” Jed asked. “The asylum girl?”
Evan nodded. “Vanderain confirmed she’s my sister too.”
“Another demon-spawn?” Elijah exclaimed, then looked round, making sure no had heard his shout. “Oops, sorry.”
“This is so mad.” Brooke shook her head.
“But you’re safe here, right?” Jed said. “We all are.”
“Vanderain thinks so,” Evan replied. “He’s going to the Republic for help, with Kalkavan and with—us.” He said the last to Brooke.
“Yeah, the Fortress has been talking about that,” Elijah said.
“Indeed,” said Xavier. “I heard Cera and that Battlebeard have been taken to Del-O-Reth now. Good riddance
I say. Wha-”
Xavier broke off as Zeke nudged him. “Don’t be insensitive,” Zeke murmured, with a pointed look at Evan.
“It’s alright. Cera has moved on from me and on to Jed,” he laughed.
“Yeah, she must’ve gone insane to be willing to kiss him,” Joelle chuckled.
“Oi, cease your lies,” Jed cried, but joined in the laughter with everyone else.
His friends stayed by his bedside for another hour whilst they discussed more mundane things. Elijah and Emi supplied the latest Fortress gossip as Xavier and Zeke brought out a bag of sweets.
But then his friends had to go to their next training session. Evan wanted to go with them, but one of the doctors sternly forbid him.
“It’s okay,” said Brooke to everyone else. “You go on. I’ll join you later.”
“Alright, I’ll see you in a bit,” Jed said the last to leave. “And Evan, that little mark on your face, it doesn’t look bad at all. I girls will love it mate.”
Evan smiled gratefully at Jed as he left.
“So,” he turned to Brooke now the two of them were alone. “You met Dark-Venators on your mission? Are they as horrible as everyone says?”
“Worse,” she replied. “I returned here yesterday, but no one was allowed in the infirmary all night you were brought in. We were all desperate to see you. We thought… you might’ve died.”
Evan gave a hollow laugh. “I think we demon-spawn are hard to kill.”
“I don’t know about that,” Brooke chuckled weakly. “I think I almost died a handful of times on my mission.”
“Well, look on the bright side, we both passed our first missions as Venators.”
“Yep,” she grinned. “Although I reckon I need more training before my next one. I heard earlier Tyrell and Lok are already out on another assignment. They barely had any time back at Veneseron. The rumours are that they’re taking on more Rakarn.”
“They’ll be okay,” Evan said. “Everyone says Lok and Tyrell are two of the most skilled Arch-Realmers we have. Oh, that’s her, Taija.” He pointed as he saw her through the far window.
They walked down the chamber to the window overlooking Veneseron’s fields. Taija stood under a tree in the distance, staring up at the twin suns in wonder. Evan recognised her from the tangled mane of rusty red hair.
“And she’s just like us?” Brooke asked.
“Stronger,” Evan whispered. “We’ll need to help her. I know we don’t know much about demon powers ourselves, but at least we knew about magic before we found out. We’ll have to look after her; she’s going to be a Venator like us.”
“We will,” Brooke nodded fiercely.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Evan said as he fished out the other Satyne stone from his pocket. “Vanderain got these for us. When worn, our sorcery is undetectable. He also said if we up our dosage of Emerald Shade our powers should stay dormant.”
Brooke pulled the necklace over her head and tucked the stone beneath her shirt. “Thank you.” She turned to him and he was surprised to see her eyes watering. “There’s… something else,” Brooke said slowly. “On my mission, when we battled the Rakarn, one Dark-Venator saw my demon magic, and knew what it was. I tried to stop her, but she escaped to Velkarath. I—I think she could tell Velkarath’s Masters, or even Akirandon herself.”
A hot flush of fear shot though his body and a lump caught in his throat. He felt a pang of unease whenever Akirandon was mentioned, but with her actually knowing about him and Brooke. The consequences could be, almost certainly would be, catastrophic.
“And if she tells Akirandon…” Brooke broke off, wordless.
“My… mother,” Evan said. It felt beyond surreal to call her that. No, she’ll never be my mother.
He took a moment to compose himself. “Well, all the more reason for us to learn how to control our powers. And we will. Whatever comes next, we can deal with it. We have too.”
Whether he was part demon or not, Evan still felt like a human. Damn it I am human!
He still didn’t want to believe any of it, yet he knew deep down it was real.
After never feeling in place on Earth he finally thought that he had found somewhere he belonged in Veneseron. But ever since he’d learned that he belonged to neither world and that he was actually born on some demon hell to a monster, he didn’t belong anywhere, or with anyone.
No! Don’t think that way.
But at least he wasn’t alone. Brooke was in the same situation he was. And now Taija too. He knew that together they could pull through. They would help each other.
“It will be okay,” he told Brooke, pulling her into a tight embrace.
“The Dark-Venators, Kalkavan and Akirandon. We’ll fight all of them if we have to.”
END
PREVIEW OF BOOK 3 IN THE REALMERS SERIES-
ANGELS AND ELVES
The world stank of the demonic and Evan could feel the vestiges of dark sorcery in the air.
“I’m not up for this,” Elijah grumbled.
“You never are,” Jed replied.
“Yeah, but this time, I’m really not up for it.”
Evan had to agree, the situation didn’t look good.
The demon realm they were in was a twisted, despicable one, in which it’s every dark-green tower seemed to ooze evil and gleam with menace. The three boys crouched behind one of the many huge rocks scattered haphazardly in the wasteland between towers.
Evan, the tallest of the three, peeked over the lip of the rock to get another glimpse of their target.
The demon they tracked was an ugly brute, a deformed giant with three heads and red reptilian flesh. He watched the demon stride acroos ruined wasteland, before entering one of the warped green towers.
“D’you reckon he’s got any buddies around?” Jed asked.
“Let’s try not to find out, eh?” Evan replied.
With one last look to check no one else was in sight, the teenagers crept from their hiding place and skulked towards the tower the monster had entered.
The entrance gaped open like the maw of some terrible beast as they approached.
Evan thought he could hear the beating of giant wings. The noise was loud enough that it had to have been a massive wingspan. As Evan looked over his shoulder his fears were confirmed.
"Quick, quick quick!"
He seized Jed and Elijah's collars and threw them down behind another rock, swiftly leaping after them.
“What the hell, dude?” Jed exclaimed.
“Ssssh.”
As Jed fell silent Evan pointed up above. Slowly, all three of them leaned over and poked their heads around the side of the rock.
Elijah stifled a shout as he saw the winged monster before them.
The giant demon kind of resembled a dragon, if that dragon had two slug-like heads and over a hundred legs like a centipede. It did appear to posess scales, however, and the abomination snorted out flames as they watched.
Fortunately the demon hadn’t seen them. To Evan's amazement, the slug-dragon took back to the skies a moment later, flying out of sight.
“Whoa, luck's on our side tonight boys,” Jed grinned.
“You can say that again” said Elijah. “That thing would’ve slaughtered us.”
“It’s a good job the slug-dragon doesn’t have the amulet we need then,” Evan said. “C’mon, let’s go before it comes back.”
“Hold on,” Elijah muttered, pulling out a small bottle of pink liquid from the equipment bag Master Padrake had given them.
“We haven’t rubbed the ointment on our faces for a while now, Padrake said we need to do it every fifteen minutes to stop the demon flies.”
“Eurgh, but it makes my skin dry,” Jed grumbled.
“Dry skin is a lot better than having your head swelling and resembling a rotten tomato,” Elijah shot back.
Evan had to agree, they’d been warned about the terrible poison the Tekra flies on this realm carried. The enchanted ointment wou
ld keep them safe, but only if applied regularly. There was also the risk of disease from the bites, which could make their skin drop off.
“Best just to do it, Jed,” he said, holding out his hands as Elijah tipped some of the pink fluid onto his palms. The ointment was gelatinous and cold as Evan rubbed it onto his face, but it was better than the alternative.
“Yeah, I suppose,” Jed muttered. “I’d rather be bitten by thirty mosquitos then one of those bad boys.”
Evan turned to where Jed was looking and spotted a swarm of Tekra flies in the distance. They resembled giant wasps, but with scarlet stripes instead of yellow.
“Okay then,” Elijah said. “Ready, let’s go.”
The three them ran out from behind their rock and onto the wasteland. The ground felt like packed ash, and looked like it too. Evan kept an eye on the sky as they ran, just in case the Slug-dragon decided to return. Fortunately, all they saw was a squadron of small luminous crabs, scurrying across the ruined earth.
Evan was last into the tower, right on Jed’s heels as Elijah led the way. He tried to silence the fear nagging at him. His thoughts kept whispering to him that there was a chance they could die within the next few minutes, but that was the same for any mission as a Venator. Well, except for the unique ones like rounding up a herd of escaped Goatrabbits. Seth Silcorn swore to Evan that had been his first mission, but Evan wasn’t even sure if Goatrabbits existed.
Inside, the tower was ice-cold. Every inch of the place was heavily corroded and ruined. The stench of manure assaulted the boys’ nostrils and Jed’s face twisted into a revolted expression. “Rueda, I hate the way demons smell.”
Evan chuckled quietly as they proceeded up spiralling stone steps, stalking the demon they’d seen enter moments before.
“Remember,” Elijah whispered to them, “don’t kill him until we get the amulet.”
Moonlight War- Act II (The Realmers Book 3) Page 38