by John Corwin
"Perhaps you could collaborate with the Darkling healers," I said. "Even though your magic operates on a different level, I'm sure there's plenty both sides could learn from each other."
"That's a good idea," Thomas said. "Healer Andretti, you're the official liaison to the Darkling healers."
Meghan looked as if she wanted to protest. Instead, she pressed a fist to her chest in a Templar salute. "Yes, commander."
I returned to Elyssa's side. Phoebe looked up from cleaning the blood off her sister's face and smiled. "Her skin is already looking better. I guess drinking your blood really helped."
I still felt a little woozy from blood loss. "I hope so." I kissed Elyssa on the forehead and stroked her hair. "Wake up soon, my fair maiden. I love you." I kissed forehead, her eyelids, her nose, and even her bloodstained cheeks. I could hardly wait to feel her respond to my kisses once again. I looked at Phoebe. "Take good care of her. I'll be back soon."
"I'll let you know the minute anything changes." Phoebe reached across as if to touch my hand, but seemed to rethink it and simply offered a smile.
Elyssa is alive!
Life was once again filled with promise, but I had an army to train if there was to be any hope of winning this war and keeping us all alive.
Chapter 18
Leia caught my attention as I prepared to leave. She handed me a fresh uniform. "I think you've gotten all the use you're going to get from your Nightingale armor."
I looked down at my tattered outfit and chuckled. "I'd kind of forgotten about that." I went into a restroom and threw on the new clothing. It felt good to be back in fresh armor again. I found Flava sitting in a chair. "Are you ready?"
She nodded and stood.
We walked in silence toward the doors leading into the way station. The Darkling seemed absorbed in her own thoughts, so I didn't bother her with all the grateful hugs I wanted to give her.
"Are you feeling okay?" I asked.
"I am just very tired." She kept her eyes on the ground. "I would like to meet the woman who has captured your heart once she awakens."
I smiled. "She'll want to meet the sera who saved her life." I felt proud of myself for not referring to her as a woman, though being back in Eden made it harder to keep the differences between races straight.
The Darkling troops were nowhere to be seen when we arrived back at the way station.
"I am still amazed by these arches," Flava said in a quiet voice. She stared in open awe at the massive Obsidian Arch in the center of the way station. "What does this one do?"
"There are arches just like it located all around this realm." I pointed toward the control room. "An Arcane in there can link two of the arches and send you instantly to your destination."
"Arcane?"
I was about to launch into a deeper explanation about all the various arches when two Templars called out my name from across the cavernous warehouse space. I recognized them instantly.
"Yo, Justin!" Ash had gone from being a thin Asian emo Goth to a muscular Asian Templar with the kind of thick black anime-styled hair that made him look like someone out of a comic book.
"Dude!" Nyte dragged out the "u" as he and Ash jogged over to me. Nyte's carrot-top was cropped close and he positively towered over Ash. He'd put on slabs of muscle and his voice even seemed deeper.
I looked at Nyte's thick red beard. "Are you a hipster Templar now?"
Ash laughed. "He thinks it makes him look manly."
I looked Nyte up and down. "I feel like I'm breathing testosterone just from being in his presence."
"He's so manly that he only produces bear hormones now." Ash elbowed Nyte in the ribs.
I noticed my two friends were looking at something else and abruptly remembered Flava. "Oh, this is Healer Flava of the Tarissan Legion from the Darkling nation."
"Hello, Healer Flava of the Tarissan Legion from the Darkling nation." Nyte grinned. "With a title like that, are you also the mother of dragons?"
Flava offered him a smile. "You may call me Flava."
"You've sure grown a lot more confident." I regarded Nyte with surprise. "The first time you met Nightliss you just about wet your pants."
Ash slapped Nyte on the back. "Since we've been helping Katie recruit noms to feed the Darklings, we've kind of gotten used to angels."
Flava tapped me on the shoulder. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but might I ask where my people have gone?"
"They relocated to Queens Gate," Ash said. He pointed across the space to the control room for the Obsidian Arch. "You can go in there and they'll portal you to your people using an omniarch."
"Thank you." Flava turned to me. "If you don't mind, I would like to rejoin Ketiss and the others."
"I'll walk you over," Nyte said.
I was about to suggest that all of us walk with her when I noticed the way Nyte's eyes seemed to shine as he looked at Flava. "We'll be here," I said and winked at Nyte.
As he and Flava walked toward the control room, Nyte gave us a thumbs-up behind her back.
"How's Elyssa?" Ash asked. He and Nyte had been her best friends when we'd gone to high school.
"Alive, but with some recovery time ahead of her." I filled him in on how Flava had healed her and how Elyssa had tried to suck me dry.
"Wow, Flava must be an amazing healer." Ash's smile faded to worry. "Nyte didn't want me to tell you this because he thinks you have enough to worry about already, but his dad was killed when Daelissa marched her troops through town a couple of weeks ago."
"What?" Shock jolted my heart. "I thought the area was mostly evacuated."
Ash shrugged. "His dad broke a leg during the snowstorm and his mom couldn't get him out of the house." He loosed a long sigh. "I really liked Mr. Connors. He was such a nice guy. Nyte keeps blaming himself because he didn't make sure they got out."
I felt sick to my stomach. Elyssa and I had accidentally created that snowstorm by using magical snow globes we'd found in Jeremiah Conroy's secret vault. The snowstorm had caused people to leave town and stay out of Daelissa's way when she marched her army across southern Atlanta to assault the Ranch, the now deserted Templar compound formerly run by Thomas.
"How did he die?" I asked, uncertain if I really wanted to know.
"One of those damned Brightlings blew a hole through the house. The blast missed Nyte's mom by a few feet and covered her in rubble." He blew out a breath. "I don't even think there was a tactical reason to blast the house. The Brightling was probably just bored or something."
"I'm really sorry." My fist clenched. "You know you guys can tell me anything, right? Just because we've got an interdimensional war to fight doesn't mean you can't talk to me whenever you want, okay?"
"Yeah, right." Ash snorted. "You can't do everything Justin."
"I can sure try." I looked toward the control room to see if Nyte was coming back but he hadn't emerged. "How are things with you and Katie?"
"We're back together again."
I held up a fist and bumped his. "Awesome. Last she told me, you two had split."
"Meh, she got over the whole vampire thing and decided I wasn't evil after all." He threw up his hands. "Don't ever expect me to understand female logic."
"I hear you there." Ash and Nyte had once been given a vampire serum mixed with my blood and god only knew what else. Maximus, a rogue vampire, had hoped to use the serum to build an army of vampires. Things hadn't worked out, and a spell cast by Ivy had changed all the vampires back into noms. Those who'd taken my blood serum had retained super strength and a bluish glow to their eyes.
Ash looked behind me. "Ah, here comes Romeo."
I looked back and saw Nyte running over to us, his big feet pounding the ground. "He looks like an excited Clydesdale."
"Nah, that's way too dignified a comparison." Ash put a hand to his chin. "I think he resembles a mutant-sized orangutan expecting a fresh shipment of bananas."
I burst into laughter.
Nyte gave us a confused lo
ok. "What's so funny?"
"How'd it go with Flava?" I asked.
"She said she'd get coffee with me!" His face split into a huge grin. "At first she was all like, 'What's coffee?' Then I told her and she was all like, 'Wow, cool!' I promised I'd take her to try hamburgers too."
"Just skip the spicy Indian food for a while," Ash said with a serious look. "Nothing worse than an angel with diarrhea."
We burst into laughter.
As the laughter died down, a tiny pang of sadness pinched me in the guts. This was just the calm before the storm. Then again, it might be the calm after the storm before a hurricane slammed ashore. After all, we'd already been through several serious battles. I'd lost my aunt Vallaena and nearly lost Elyssa. Too many good people had lost their lives. As much as I wanted to chat and have a good time with my friends, the pressure of responsibility prodded me in the back.
I sighed. "Guess I'd better go get our new army up and running." I gave them each fist bumps and one-armed bro-hugs. I wanted to talk to Nyte about his father, but now didn't feel like the right time. It would be better if Elyssa and I did it together and told him about the snow globe. "You two take care of yourselves."
"Stay alive, bro." Ash pressed a fist to his chest in a Templar salute. "We're all behind you."
"And hey, we just signed up another hundred nom recruits over the last couple of days." Nyte rubbed his hands together. "It's not nearly enough for this army you brought, but it's a start."
"We've got a few more people helping us now," Ash said. "We'll get our numbers up."
"Thanks, guys." I gave them one last wave and headed for the control room. I traveled through the omniarch to Colossus Stadium, which stood next to Arcane University. Members of the Tarissan Legion were busy setting up camp in the large space outside the traversion zone of the Obsidian Arch Daelissa's people had installed there. Large piles of stone rubble, all that remained from construction golems we'd fought and destroyed, had been pushed to the sides of the arena.
The last time I'd seen this place, we'd put up a barrier and left the tragon in here after I'd used it in an attack on enemy forces. Judging from the large piles of still moist dung dotting the field, the tragon had been here only recently. I briefly wondered who'd evicted him from the premises and how. Part Tyrannosaurus Rex and part dragon, the massive reptile wasn't the smartest or friendliest creature I'd encountered.
I watched with curiosity as groups of Darklings joined hands and channeled to create small domed buildings that looked as though they could house about ten people each. As with structures in Tarissa, these domiciles were such a dark purple as to be almost black. I walked through the encampment and found Ketiss near the arched stadium exit.
He saw me and walked straight over. "The Promised Land is truly marvelous." He waved an arm at Obsidian Arch towering in the middle of the stadium. "The method of transport is ingenious, and this stadium is a work of art."
"That's because it's not purple." I decided not to tell him that we were actually in a pocket dimension, location unknown. The arch builders, for whatever reason, had created these pocket dimensions next to most of the Obsidian Arches except for those way stations with Alabaster Arches.
"True, this place is full of color." His eyes roamed the surroundings. "Our buildings are built to withstand attacks should the Brightlings break through our lines and invade."
"Understandable." I looked around for Flava but didn't see her. "I know you're just getting settled in, but we need to talk about a few things that will improve your fighting abilities."
"I am at your command, Destroyer."
"Yeah, about this whole Destroyer thing—I don't want you calling me that anymore."
Ketiss raised an eyebrow. "What title would you prefer?"
"Justin."
"But that is your name." He motioned at the soldiers around us. "It would be improper for us to call you by your name."
I gave it some thought. I'd always wanted to be called Head Honcho, Kingpin, or possibly Supreme Overlord of the Elven nations. Since elves didn't—to my knowledge—exist, and since Supreme Overlord was even more pretentious than Destroyer, I decided to keep it simple. "They can call me Commander Slade."
He clapped his hands twice and bowed. "As you say, Commander Slade."
I really wanted to change this disco clap salute of theirs too, but decided it was far more important to deal with the real issues at hand. I noticed a domed building that was larger than the others. "Is that your command center?"
He nodded. "Yes. Shall we go inside and talk strategy?"
"We shall." I took out Nookli and sent texts to Mom, Dad, Thomas Borathen, Shelton, and a few other people who needed to be in the loop.
Mom replied at once. When did you get back? How's Elyssa? I'm coming right away.
I received messages from several other people at the same time and decided not to waste time responding to all of them since it looked like everyone would be here shortly anyway.
We entered the command center. Though it was fairly spacious, I realized it wouldn't be large enough for everyone. "We'll need to relocate the meeting." I'd been itching to use the war room in the new underground mansion anyway.
"I will follow your lead," Ketiss said.
I sent out texts with the new location and had a Templar open an omniarch portal using the arch that was beneath the ruins of the old mansion. The gateway opened a moment later. Ketiss and I went through and walked down the long stone corridor to the large, manmade cavern housing the replica of the mansion once used by the original Arcane Council.
"I hope this is not inappropriate to ask," Ketiss said, "but did the Primogenitor create these arches for you? It is like having the power of god himself to be able to move instantly from one place to another."
I'd decided to stick to the truth when it came to questions like these. "We don't know much about who built the arches." I opened the large oak door to the mansion and ushered him inside. "I once witnessed beings singing an arch into existence."
He stopped and looked at me. "Singing?"
"We call them sirens." I told him how Shelton and I had once been sling-shotted into another realm after an omniarch malfunction. "These women with long living hair were singing and an arch was literally growing from a plain of obsidian rock."
"They must also be servants of the Primogenitor." Ketiss gave me a wondering look. "I do not think your journey there was an accident. You were meant to witness his power."
I disagreed, but didn't want to debate him on the matter. I stopped in the main room of the mansion and felt a grin spread my lips. It was good to be home. Bella's Scrabble box was on the table next to a couple of other board games Shelton had purchased so he could actually win on occasion.
"How interesting." Ketiss touched a plush leather chair and looked at the magically powered chandeliers. "I've never seen a configuration like this, though I've heard such things are common in the Brightling lands."
"We don't have aether wells or ways to create the furnishings in a room like you do back home."
"We have always relied heavily upon our magic for our survival." He ran his hand along the leather as if fascinated by the texture.
I let him have a moment.
The door opened. Mom, Dad, and Ivy came inside. Ivy rushed and jumped into my arms.
"Justin!" She kissed my cheek. "Why did you go to Seraphina without telling me?" Ivy wriggled free and gave me an accusing look. "I told you how much I wanted to go."
Mom squeezed me tight before I could answer. "I was so worried when I heard about the attack outside of the Three Sisters."
Dad slapped me on the back. "Good job, son." He nodded at Ketiss. "I'm David Slade, Justin's father. This is his mother, Alysea and his sister, Ivy."
"This is Legiaros Ketiss of the Tarissan Legion," I said.
Ketiss saluted and bowed. "It is a privilege to meet the family of the Destroyer." He cleared his throat. "Apologies. I forgot to use his preferred title of Comm
ander Slade."
Dad chuckled. "No, I think Destroyer sums it up pretty well."
Ivy's eyes grew wide. "Destroyer?" Her chin trembled. "How could you go to Seraphina and blow up stuff without me?"
"I, uh—" No good explanation came to mind. "Let's just save that part for the meeting, okay?"
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Legiaros Ketiss." Mom extended her hand, fingers splayed.
Ketiss responded. "You are Seraphim?"
Mom gave him an apologetic look. "Brightling, to be precise."
A look of absolute shock crossed his face. Ketiss leapt back, hand reaching for his sword.
Chapter 19
"Wait!" I shouted.
Ketiss's hand froze just above the hilt of his sword. "How could your mother be a Brightling?" His jaw worked back and forth. "Why would the Primogenitor use the son of a Brightling as his emissary?"
"She's nothing like other Brightlings." I held up my hand, palm out. "Just calm down."
"I mean you no harm," Mom said. "Nightliss is a dear friend of mine. I fought by her side against the Brightling invasion of Eden."
Ketiss looked back and forth between my parents and me. With a deep breath, he lowered his hand. "I am sorry. I must learn to trust the will of the Primogenitor."
Dad arched his eyebrows. "The what?"
"I'll explain later," I told him. I looked back to Ketiss. "I'm going to tell you a story you might not like."
The Legiaros seemed to steel himself. "I've heard much to dislike over these past twenty-four hours, Commander. I appreciate your bluntness in such matters."
"Let's go into the war room." I herded the group inside the door. Aside from a long rectangular table and chairs, it was completely bare to make it harder for spies to eavesdrop. I sat on the edge of the table.
"Are you about to give him the family history?" Dad wore a mischievous smile. "You might want to get him drunk first."