The First Kaiaru

by David Alastair Hayden

  That was a thought to brighten Turesobei’s spirits for a change. If nothing else, they had accomplished one good thing with all of these missions.

  They made it through the gate in time, then handed the heart stone over to Lord Gyoroe.

  “You look like you have been through Torment,” Lord Gyoroe said, echoing Hannya’s first reaction to their current state.

  As they described the battle, he healed their injuries, which was a welcome change since Turesobei usually had to do that.

  “I suspected this one would be especially difficult,” Lord Gyoroe said. “But you did well. Motekeru, you’ve taken serious damage. I can heal you as well, if you will let me.”

  Motekeru shook his head. “I will be fine.”

  “Very well, but your combat readiness has been compromised.”

  “I will manage,” Motekeru said.

  Turesobei wished Motekeru would let the Blood King repair him. He didn’t understand why he was being so stubborn about that. He considered asking, but then thought it was probably better not to. Motekeru might have a valid reason he didn’t want to disclose.

  “Iniru,” Turesobei said sternly as they all started to separate, “I think we should talk about—”

  “Leave me alone,” she snapped, and she hurried away.

  “I'll try to talk to her later,” Awasa said.

  “Maybe Shoma could help you,” Turesobei replied, thinking Awasa might not be the best choice.

  “What happened between them?” Enashoma asked.

  “I'll fill you in on the details,” Zaiporo said. “Did your studies go well while we were away?”

  “I guess so,” she said as they left together. “Tomorrow, I should cast my first spell.”

  Turesobei and Kurine went to his room. He took her in his arms and smiled. “Just one more mission to go.”

  She stroked his face. “After all we faced in the Summer Realm, I could use a couple of weeks of sleeping and cuddling.”

  “I'm sorry about all that with Iniru.”

  “You stood up for me,” Kurine said. “That's the most important thing to me.”

  “I’m supposed to stand up for you.” He dropped his voice to the barest whisper. “I am your husband, after all.” Even though he’d said it, he could still hardly believe it was true.

  “Tomorrow, we’ll patch things up with Iniru….somehow,” Kurine said.

  “Are you sure you want to?”

  “Don’t you?”

  “Yes, of course,” he replied, perhaps too quickly. “But I know sharing isn’t your preference.”

  “It’s okay,” Kurine said. “I want you to be happy. That’s all that matters to me.”

  As they leaned in toward one another, Lu Bei cleared his throat.

  “Before the two of you start kissing again, I have something to say. Mistress Kurine, I doubted you, because of the stones. But I was proven wrong.” He bowed deeply. Tears welled in the fetch’s eyes, and there was a look on the fetch’s face that Turesobei couldn’t quite pin down. “Please accept my most humble apology.”

  “Why…thank you, little demon.”

  Lu Bei gritted his teeth, flew over to a shelf, and turned into a book.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Patching things up with Iniru didn't happen the next day. She didn’t show up at lunch, and when Turesobei and Kurine went to find her, they discovered that she had moved all her things out of Kurine’s room. They searched all over the Nexus, but no one had seen Iniru since they had returned from the Summer Realm.

  That evening, Turesobei waited for Iniru in his room. It was her night to spend with him. When she didn’t show up, he went to Iniru’s back door and tapped on the screen. “I don’t know if you’re in there, but I’m sorry for everything that’s happened. I miss you, Niru. Please, can't we talk about this?”

  He waited a while…but got no response. He wandered back to his room to wait and woke up alone the next morning.

  No one caught more than a darting glance of her the rest of the week. Clearly, if Iniru didn’t want to be seen, no one would see her. Turesobei considered using the spell of locating that which is hidden, but decided it was best to honor her wishes and let her keep avoiding everyone.

  Likewise, Kurine respected her truce with Iniru and only stayed with him on her allotted nights. He spent those lonely evenings he should have been with Iniru meditating futilely on the nature of sacrifice.

  To Turesobei’s surprise, Kurine was upset that Iniru wasn’t showing up for her nights with him. He had expected getting married would make Kurine more possessive and jealous of his time with Iniru. It boggled his mind that she actually wanted him to be with Iniru, too. But he wasn’t going to look a gifted denekon in the mouth. If that’s what Kurine wanted, then he was all for it.

  Other than the time he was given to renew his spell strips, all his work with Lord Gyoroe that week consisted of hours and hours of failed attempts to connect with the heart stones. No matter how many times he tried, he simply could not do it. Intellectually, he could wrap his mind around the Blood King’s idea of sacrifice. The problem was that he could not understand it emotionally, nor imagine doing it himself.

  After the unproductive, frustrating week, Turesobei was glad that, despite the danger, the time for the next mission had arrived.

  Iniru was the last one to reach the platform. Kurine immediately stepped toward her and started to speak, but Iniru held up a hand.

  “I don’t want to talk about relationships. I will fight beside you. I will die to protect Turesobei, if I must. I’m a professional and…and a dear friend. But I can’t do my job and deal with all that other stuff.”

  “If that’s what you want,” Kurine said sadly.

  “That is exactly what I want.” Iniru looked to Turesobei. “Any problem with that?”

  He shook his head.

  A violet-eyed Lord Gyoroe cleared his throat, and they all turned toward him. “This will be your most difficult mission yet.”

  “You think it’s going to be worse than what we faced in the Summer Realm?” Zaiporo asked incredulously.

  “It is because of Moshinga that I am trapped here. At the height of my final battle against the Shogakami, things had begun to swing my way, but then Moshinga unleashed his full fury upon me, tipping the scales. Beneath his peaceful facade lies a power that few Kaiaru can match.”

  “Do not underestimate his guardians,” Hannya said. “Also, I have a feeling Moshinga went a different direction than the others when he implemented his guardian system. While I would not expect deception from Moshinga, I would expect to find something deviously clever and unique.”

  “The Fire Realm is generally inhospitable to life,” Lord Gyoroe said, “so before you go, I must place upon you enchantments to protect you from exposure to heat, smoke, and poisonous fumes. These enchantments will last for three days.”

  “This just gets better and better,” Zaiporo said with a sigh.

  “Just one more to go.” Awasa cracked her knuckles. “Let’s finish it in style.”

  After the Blood King placed the protective enchantments on them, and wished them well, they stepped through the gate…and into a world that seemed even more alien than the Ancient Cold and Deep. Immediately, a wave of heat blasted them. Turesobei couldn’t imagine how terrible this would feel without the protections the Blood King had given them.

  Around them, ash fell like snow over a landscape that was nothing but a blasted waste of bare stone. The sky above was filled with gray clouds, through which a hazy yellow sun shone dimly. The ground beneath their feet trembled continuously. And in the far distance, a column of smoke rose into the sky.

  “Judging by the sun this looks like the past,” Kurine said, “but how can that be?”

  “We have gone far back in time,” Hannya said. “This was during a time when volcanic eruptions and earthquakes rocked Okoro, sinking most of the continent into the ocean. Few of us survived, and none did in this region. All this loose
stone and ash you see formed the rich soil that supports the trees and farms of the later era realms you visited.”

  “Does anything live here?” Zaiporo asked.

  “I don't see how anything could,” Iniru replied.

  “If anything does,” Lu Bei said, “I promise it won't be pleasant.”

  “Let's go,” Turesobei said.

  They teleported to the site…and found neither a cliff nor a cave nor even a river. Instead, they encountered a rough expanse of relatively flat terrain that was similar to what they had encountered in the Cloud Realm. On the horizon, a towering volcano spewed ash into the sky. They could feel its anger in the constant tremors beneath their feet. Not far away, an enormous geyser propelled steam a hundred feet up. Its spray drifted across them and mixed with the falling ash to create droplets of gray mud that clumped onto their hair and clothing.

  Where the pedestal and cylinder should appear gurgled a pool of molten lava about ten paces across. Turesobei walked up to the edge of it.

  “This isn’t natural.”

  Iniru rubbed the forefinger and thumb of one hand together. “Don’t you have a spell to cast?”

  “Right.” He stepped away from the lava pool and drew a spell strip. “First things first.”

  As he began casting, Awasa gazed into the pool. “There’s something about this place…. It’s different from the other sites.”

  “How so?” Kurine asked.

  Awasa shook her head. “I’m not sure but—”

  The volcano erupted and launched more than two dozen fiery meteors into the air. The meteors all streaked toward them.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  The Storm Dragon roared into being, and Turesobei shouted.

  “Everyone to me!”

  As they gathered around him, he drew a spell strip for the spell of the greater force field. He did a quick-casting and put everything he could into it. Only a brief wave of dizziness passed over him. Because of the spell’s limitations, the only way he could kill himself casting this one was if his internal kenja was already depleted.

  A dimly flickering dome of energy spread out to cover everyone.

  Twenty four meteors, each one twice the size of Motekeru, rained down from above. The first slammed into the earth nearby with a thunderous explosion, kicking dust and ash into the air. The others struck in quick succession, their impacts centered around the pool of lava. Bits of rock and fiery debris splattered against the force field.

  One meteor headed right toward them. There was no time to dodge out of the way, and even if they did they would be running right out into the hell storm of debris kicked up by the other meteors.

  “Incoming!” Iniru shouted.

  Everyone ducked down, putting their arms over their heads, except Kurine who raised her shield over Turesobei and Motekeru who covered Awasa with his body. Storm Dragon Lu Bei hovered at the top of the force-field dome with his wings spread out.

  A split second before the meteor struck, the Storm Dragon blasted it with lightning. The remaining fiery fragments knocked out the force field. But all that struck them was a pelting rain of small rocks and dust, and Lu Bei blocked out most of that.

  “We’ve got trouble,” Iniru said. “Big trouble.”

  Turesobei wiped the dust from his eyes, then cursed. Out from the wreckage of the other meteors climbed nineteen zokatari-kagi: demon warriors with bodies made of solid rock. Each was shorter than Motekeru but bigger across.

  Zaiporo's bow twanged, and an arrow shattered on the forehead of one of the rock warriors. “How the heck are we supposed to break through their skin?!”

  “I think white-steel or magic will do the trick,” Turesobei said.

  The warriors lumbered toward them.

  “At least they’re slow,” Kurine said.

  Zaiporo nodded. “Let’s withdraw and use that to our advantage. If we get some distance on them, we can come up with a plan while the Storm Dragon attacks them.”

  The Storm Dragon blasted the nearest rock warrior, and it shattered into a dozen pieces. Lu Bei intercepted the second-closest one. His lightning bolts only scarred the rock warrior, but they did slow it down.

  As they ran Turesobei did a quick-casting of the spell of the stone wall and placed it right behind them. He made it only waist-high, so that he could extend it out over fifty paces across. Judging by the stubby legs of the rock warriors, it would take them just as long to climb over the wall as it would to walk around it. The spell wasn’t easy, but in this case, he felt like it was worth it.

  Because of his injuries, Motekeru lagged behind the others. Turesobei hadn’t even realized he was struggling, until he glanced back and saw Motekeru on the other side of the wall. Still, he managed to climb over well before the rock warriors even reached it.

  The Storm Dragon destroyed another rock warrior with a concentrated blast of lightning, followed by a claw strike.

  “We need a plan,” Zaiporo said. “Before the big guardian shows up.”

  Kurine wiped her face off with her sleeve. “At least the volcano hasn’t fired out any more—”

  With a deep boom, the earth shook below them. A second quake followed, and tiny cracks spread through the earth beneath them.

  “That’s disturbing,” Zaiporo said.

  Kurine shrugged. “I’ve walked across cracked ice plenty of times. This can’t be worse than that…right?”

  “I don’t know….” Iniru spun around, scanning the area. “That tremor may have been widespread, but the cracks in the earth are only right around us.”

  “We should keep moving,” Zaiporo suggested, “just in case.”

  As everyone followed Zaiporo’s lead, Turesobei opened his kenja-sight and once again examined the area. Something about all of this bothered him. From the beginning, he had felt like this location was different than the others, especially that pool of lava.

  When he got a good look at the energy patterns of the zokatari-kagi, he realized they had a big problem.

  “Crap! Those aren’t normal zokatari-kagi. They can regenerate.”

  “How?” Kurine asked.

  Groaning, Iniru pointed. “Like that.”

  The scattered fragments of the first warrior the Storm Dragon had destroyed were sliding across the ground, pulled toward one another as if magnetically linked. As the pieces touched, they melded together. At the current rate, it would only take a few minutes for the rock warrior to reform.

  “What about the generator?” Zaiporo asked. “Got a read on it yet?”

  “Please tell me the generator’s not in the volcano,” Kurine said.

  “The generator’s nearby,” Turesobei replied. “That’s the good news.”

  “And the bad?” Zaiporo asked.

  Turesobei watched energy pulses dance along the delicate threads of subtype-three fire kenja that trailed from the rock warriors to their generator.

  “It’s in the pool of lava where the heart stone should be.” He dropped his kenja-sight. “Or maybe it is the pool of lava itself. I can’t tell which without examining the pool again—up close.”

  “Okay then,” Zaiporo said. “Back to the lava pool.”

  “We’ll have to move fast,” Iniru said. “Sobei, can you throw up another wall to slow them down?”

  “I can cast that spell a few more times.”

  “Then do it,” Zaiporo said.

  With Motekeru lumbering behind them, they raced back toward the lava pool, making a wide circle around the rock warriors. Turesobei summoned another wall to keep the zokatari-kagi from taking an angle and cutting them off. Lu Bei did his part by popping the rock warriors in the face with his bolts, causing them to stagger. Of course, what helped the most was that the Storm Dragon had already destroyed half of them.

  Two rock warriors had reformed and were starting to walk again, albeit staggeringly. As slow as even the undamaged ones were, Turesobei was confident in their chances of surviving this encounter—as long as the zokatari-kagi were all they ha
d to face. If a big guardian showed up and the Storm Dragon could no longer fight the rock warriors, they would be in trouble.

  With the others forming a line of defense behind another low wall Turesobei had conjured, he and Awasa knelt beside the pool. He opened his kenja-sight and peered deep into the molten rock. Then he closed his eyes and tried to sense the flow of the currents.

  “I know the generator’s here…” he sighed with frustration “…but I can’t pinpoint it.”

  “Is it the pool itself?” Iniru asked.

  He shook his head. “It’s somewhere in the pool. But that’s the only thing I’m sure of.”

  “I’ve got it!” Awasa said. She was holding complex mudras with both hands. “I hate to give you bad news, but the generator’s twenty feet down into the lava, at the bottom of the pool.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Zaiporo said. “How in Torment are we supposed to destroy it?”

  “Can you pull the generator out with a spell?” Iniru asked.

  “Possibly,” Turesobei replied. “The problem is I can’t detect it. For some reason, Awasa’s mudra techniques are working where my senses are failing.”

  “We could link our minds,” Awasa said. “Then you’d be able to sense it through me…assuming you’re willing to risk it.”

  It wasn’t a question of trusting her. Without Awasa, Turesobei doubted they would’ve made it this far. But Awasa’s mind was treacherous, even for her.

  But they didn’t have any other option as far as he could see.

  He released the stone walls he’d conjured, except for the nearest one, and they crumbled to dust. Once his concentration was broken that one would probably fall apart, too.

  Turesobei reached out and touched the eight-pointed star on Awasa’s forehead. Closing his eyes, he opened his mind to hers. A sudden flood of anger, frustration, and barely restrained lust rushed into him. He wasn’t the target of her lust, which surprised him, but before he could figure out who was, Awasa blocked that part of herself off from him. She didn’t, or more likely couldn’t, block out the other emotions. They were too much a part of her now.