by Logan Byrne
The tube seemed to go on for a long time, much longer than in my vision, before it started to open up. “Okay, this is it, it’s going to get huge. You’ll love it,” I said, smiling.
We finally landed in a cold, dark room, looking up to see a glimmer of a shadow from the others above. “I don’t get it,” I said, looking around.
“I thought this would be different,” Blake said.
“Candelae,” I said, lighting up the room. It was a small room, not much bigger than the ice cave we’d stayed in two nights ago, but I never saw any of this in my vision. The wind swept me into the giant dome, with a curved ice roof and ornate doorway. This wasn’t that, not even close.
“A little dark in here. Candelae,” Britta said, the room getting even brighter.
“There’s only way out without going up,” Faus said, looking up, as it started to freeze over.
“What’s happening?” Charlie asked, as the little shred of light that had came in through our entrance had now vanished, the ice sealing the hole back up completely.
“It looks like the only way out now is to complete whatever lies ahead through there,” Blake said, pointing at a doorway carved into the ice.
We walked up, seeing a symbol carved into the doorway, an ornate “M” engraved deep in the ice. “Merlin,” Britta said, touching the symbol.
“We need to keep our wits about us, you never know what might lie ahead. Nobody run off, and we all stick together. Got it?” Faus asked, stepping up and taking control.
“I agree with Faus. This place is already giving me the creeps,” Blake said.
With our wands providing light, Britta and I stayed near the front, the cold emanating from the glacial walls making my nose run a little as the temperature plummeted. We walked into another room, this one about twice the size of the last one, with an ice table in the center. “What’s this?” I asked, walking closer.
“What lies ahead is neither tame nor easy. If you have made it this far, you have chosen to seek the crystal wand, my greatest creation. Only those who are pure of heart and intention may wield the magic. The golems inside are unforgiving, and will not hesitate to strike down he or she who might try to pervert my magic. If you are having second thoughts, say you would like to leave and a portal will take you there. If you pass through this door ahead of you, there is no leaving without defeating the golems first,” the text engraved in the table read, the words carved into the ice.
“I cannot believe he wrote this,” Britta said, touching it reverently.
“I want you guys to leave,” I said, turning and looking at them all.
“What? No, absolutely not,” Blake said, shaking his head and furling his eyebrows.
“You guys are the best friends I could have ever hoped for, but your mission is over. I never wanted to put any of you in danger, and if you walk through those doors, there’s no turning back. You heard what it says. Save yourselves, go back to the camp, and if I make it out, I’ll see you there,” I said.
“Lexa, we came here because we chose to, not because you made us. When we signed up for this, we knew we would have to face the golems, and that it would be a battle that would test the very foundation of our strengths and powers. We aren’t leaving you,” Britta said.
“You and I have been in some pretty sticky situations before, Lexa. I didn’t leave your side then, and I’m not leaving you now,” Charlie said.
“I know I’m not much of a fighter, but I agree with them. Even if I do die, I have to see this for myself. Nothing in science was ever gained by running away when the going got tough,” Faus said.
I looked at Blake as his eyes softened, before he reached out and touched my cheek. “Lexa, I love you, and I would never leave you behind. I knew what I signed up for, and I would do it a hundred times over again, even if this is it. Whatever is in there can’t be that bad. We’ve faced worse.”
“I don’t deserve you guys,” I said, putting my head down as I tried to fight back tears.
They all piled in, wrapping their arms around me and each other, our heads coming together and touching for a moment. I cleared my throat, shook off the feelings, and turned around, ready to face the golems.
We walked to the door, and I noticed it was the same one from my vision. “This is the door, the one I saw during my meditation. The ornate one that I couldn’t reach.”
“Maybe they reversed you, the spirits who brought you here. They started you off in the arena. Maybe it was the golems you felt watching you,” Britta said.
That was it—Britta had cracked the case. I thought there was a person there, maybe a past mark-bearer or even Merlin himself, but it was neither. The golems were there, even in my spiritual form, and they were letting me know their presence. It made sense now.
“Are we ready?” I asked, one last time.
“Ready,” they said in unison.
14
We walked through a portal and into a massive chamber just like I’d seen in during my vision. It was huge, bigger than I remembered. The ceiling was a couple hundred feet high and curved like a dome. The entire thing was made of ice, though the ground a bit rougher and not slippery at all.
“There it is!” Britta said, pointing in the distance.
There was a staircase, an opening in the ice, leading to an altar where the crystal wand lay on display. It was beautiful, as if it were sent from the heavens. Drawn to it, I started to walk forward. But with my first step, the ground rumbled, and I bent my knees a little to balance myself and looked around in every direction, scanning for threats.
The golems started to emerge from the walls, the ice cracking around them as they awoke to defend the wand from any intruder who might try to take it. “Who dares to try to claim the crystal wand?” a golem asked, his booming voice shaking the room.
“I do,” I said, trying to keep my cool.
“You deem yourself worthy of such power?” he asked, as the other golems began to circle around us.
“There is an evil that must be stopped. I intend to defeat it,” I said confidently.
“Ha! Many have claimed those words, but none have been truthful. You will end up like them!” he roared, pointing to a large pile of bones on the opposite end of the room.
“Well, isn’t that nice,” Charlie mumbled, now probably wishing he had teleported back to the camp.
“Others have found the wand?” I asked.
“And perished. You will be no different. The battle begins now!” he roared.
The golems were large, maybe thirty feet tall, with round bulky bodies. They carried swords that began to materialize from the icy breeze around us. Their faces had cut-outs, indents, for their eyes and mouths, but they obviously didn’t use them. They were made entirely of ice.
“Are we ready?” I asked, looking back at the group.
Charlie shifted into his jaguar form, growling at the golems, before Blake started to shift and his eyes turned dark red. Britta had her wand out and ready, as Faus stood in the corner, a little afraid, taking pictures and trying to scribble down what he could in his journal.
“Ready,” Blake said.
“Ready!” Charlie said.
“Ready!” Britta yelled.
“Let’s go!” I screamed, and the golems began to charge.
A sword flew through the air, landing beside me as it cracked the ice floor. I could feel the power as it sent shockwaves through my body, causing goose bumps to cover my skin. Charlie jumped up, running up the sword as the golem began to lift it. They were strong—I could feel the power—but they were slow, which I knew would work to our advantage.
Charlie flew up the sword, running up the golem’s arms, his claws getting traction on the ice, before he started to slash at its face. The golem reached up, trying to swat him down, before Charlie jumped onto its head and began to scratch. “Not much is happening!” he yelled down, the ice not cracking or shaving off at all under the assault of his claws.
“Lexa! Watch out!” Bl
ake yelled across the room, and I looked up to see a golem about to break his sword over my head.
“Arma Maximus!” I screamed. The sword slammed into my shield and I was thrown to the ground from the force of the hit. He lifted his sword again, striking it against the bubble, as it cracked beyond repair. I knew a third hit would break it. He lifted his sword once more, and I scurried out, crawling away. The golem’s sword broke through the bubble before rupturing into the ground.
“Britta, melt them!” Charlie yelled.
“Ignitus Maximus!” Britta yelled, a giant stream of fire setting a golem ablaze.
“Yes! Just like that!” I yelled, smiling. My smile quickly faded, though, as the golem walked through the fire towards her, and she had to end the spell and duck for cover. Her magic didn’t do anything—not even a little part of him melted. They were ice, but at the same time they weren’t. It was as if nothing could stop them.
I looked over at Blake as he ran up to one of them, trying to stall him, but the slashes from his claws didn’t even leave a mark on the golem. “Trip them up!” Faus yelled from the sidelines.
“Wait,” I mumbled, as an idea hit me. I looked down, rubbing my foot along the ice, feeling the grit and grip of it. “That’s it!” I yelled, as Britta looked over at me.
“Glacio!” I yelled, pointing at the ground, as a slippery layer of clear ice began to cover it.
“Is that the best idea?” Charlie yelled, as he ran laps around a golem.
“The ground isn’t slippery, it’s textured! If they can’t walk, they’ll come tumbling down!” I called, as Britta’s eyes widened.
“Glacio Maximus!” she yelled, and the floor around her quickly turned to smooth ice.
The golems began to approach again as I waited for their feet to come onto the ice. “Did you think you could stop us with that?” one asked, laughing, as my smile quickly disappeared.
“Guys!” Faus yelled, before I quickly turned and saw him running from a golem that was chasing him, making the ground rumble under us.
“Faus! You need to shift!” Britta yelled.
“I can’t,” he said, visibly trying to hold it back.
“If there ever was a time for you to be angry, it’s now!” I screamed, and the light instantly left his eyes as he let the animal inside take over. As he ran, he began to shift, growing three times in size as his smooth skin turned furry and horns sprouted from the top of his head.
I heard him start to roar, feeling the vibrations before he turned around, steam puffing from his snout, and he began to charge the golem that was chasing him. He charged horns-first into the golem’s leg, taking it off balance, and it flew backwards and fell to the ground.
As the golem struck the icy ground, I fell over. It felt like the plates beneath us had shifted and caused a massive earthquake.
I sprung up after a moment, flinging off bolts of energy, but my spells smacked the golems and ricocheted off them as if I were a fly trying to attack a human. Faus roared again, charging another golem, his anger spiraling out of control as his eyes began to turn red.
“We need to stop him before he collapses this place!” Blake yelled as Faus stampeded into another golem and took him down, the impact sending the icicles above crashing to the ground.
Faus turned a corner, spinning around, when he was hit. A golem struck him with his sword, the blunt edge hitting Faus head on. The impact blew my hair back a little as Faus was sent barreling into the wall. He crashed into it, sliding down, moaning, his eyes closed. He didn’t move.
“Faus,” Britta said, running over to him.
I looked at Blake and Charlie. We were starting to lose the battle. None of us was capable of taking on the golems. The two Faus had knocked over got back up, neither looking damaged at all. They’d completely brushed off the attack as if it were just a small annoyance.
I looked to my left, seeing the golem who had challenged us earlier walking towards me, shaking his head. “You thought you could defeat us, child, but we are eternal. Merlin himself created us, and only Merlin himself can defeat us. I will give you a swift death,” he said, as he raised his sword.
“Lexa!” Blake roared, before being smacked by a golem and flung against the wall near Faus.
I looked at Charlie, his cat-like whimper echoing through the arena as a golem threw him across the room, sending him sliding into Britta as she tended to Faus. I dropped my wand, looking back up at the golem holding his sword at its peak, and then it came barreling down.
I put up my hands, closing my eyes, and let the power surge through my body once more. A massive barrier of blue light blocked the sword, and the golem pushed down harder, trying to break through. My vision changed, and the light let itself in.
I focused my powers, trying to hold back the overbearing weight of the sword wielded by the powerful golem, as the ice began to crack around me. I began to scream, but the mark was protecting me and not allowing the golem to take my life.
“What is this? I don’t understand,” the golem yelled, as the others looked on in awe.
“My name is Lexa Blackmoon, daughter of Oliver and Charlotte! I am a bearer of the Mark of Merlin, and I will bring peace and order back to these realms!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as the light around me grew so bright it blinded me.
I felt the surge of power, the entire ice floor beneath me cracking as I screamed, and the golem’s sword shattered into a million pieces before he stumbled backwards. Huffing and puffing, I stood there, staring them all down, until they began to kneel, their heads down. “You, Lexa Blackmoon, are worthy of the crystal wand. You may approach,” the golem I had defeated said.
I walked forward, looking at my friends. All of them, even Faus, who had come to, looked in awe as I glowed like a bright star in a dark night sky. I walked up the steps to the wand, where it was standing on its end, a fountain of ice propping it in place. I’d done it, I was finally here, and I’d defeated the golems. I took a second, staring at it, before reaching out slowly, my hand inching closer.
My fingers touched the wand, the snowy white quartz cold against my hand. I turned it, looking at the veins of gold swirled through it, before I turned around, aiming the wand outwards. It glowed, my mark using it like an antenna, and I felt a new surge of power flow through me.
“Eruptico!” I yelled, and the ball of fire detonated against the far wall, blowing a hole larger than a golem in it.
Kiren didn’t stand a chance.
15
I came back to my normal self, the mark fleeting, but this time I felt better than I had the past couple times it had taken over me. I didn’t feel tired, or like I was going to be sick. Was it the wand? Did it act like a grounding rod, able to keep my surging power in check?
Just as I was about to walk down the steps and rejoin my friends, there was a rumble. I looked around, my eyebrows furled, as the chamber began to shake. “What is that?” I mumbled to myself, seeing the golems looking puzzled as well. The door we’d come through was blasted open, a plume of smoke filling the immediate area, and a group of seven duskhowlers prowled through.
They were smiling, no longer hiding behind their masks. “Thank you for leading us here and doing all the heavy lifting,” one sneered, his black hair pulled back in a ponytail.
“Who are you, and why have you desecrated our sacred chamber?” the main golem’s voice boomed.
“We are here to retrieve that,” the man said, pointing at the crystal wand in my hand.
“You are not worthy of the crystal wand. You shall not have it,” the golem said, as the other golems came and stood by him.
“Oh, I don’t need your permission to have that. My master requires it, so I will make sure he receives it,” he said.
“If Kiren wants my wand, then he can come pry it from my hands himself instead of sending his lackeys to retrieve it,” I shouted, as the man started to look angry.
“You’re the girl with the mark, I presume? Lexa Blackmoon?” he asked.
>
“And don’t you forget it,” I snapped, standing strong.
“Well, Ms. Blackmoon, prepare to meet your doom,” the man said, before raising his wand above his head. He swirled it around, sending a trail of raging fire towards me without even incanting a spell.
I planted my feet firmly on the altar as he flung the fire forward. It swirled around violently before slamming into a golem who stepped in its way. The golem was pushed backwards, stumbling, coming right at me. I ran down the steps and out of the way as he crashed down, shattering the altar as the ground beneath rumbled.
“Too afraid to fight, girl?” the man asked, laughing.
He motioned and his men started to spread out, the golems moving to meet them, as they were bound and determined to protect both the wand and their space. “I’m sorry, was somebody speaking?” I asked defiantly.
“You won’t have that attitude when you’re begging for me not to kill you,” he said, before raising his wand again. He flicked it forward, sending a bolt of green firing out, and I swiped my wand in front of me, the crystal wand glowing as it blocked his spell.
“Impossible,” he growled.
“If you want that wand, you need to go through me, too,” Britta yelled, walking over to me. Recovered, Faus stood up, no longer in his shifted form, as Charlie and Blake both stumbled over, neither of them looking like they were anywhere close to full health.
“Have it your way,” the man said. “Attack!”
The duskhowlers started to throw out bolts. The golems tried their best to help, but the spells still slipped through. Britta and I did what we could, blocking the spells that came towards us, though the duskhowlers were gaining ground. “We need a shield,” Blake said.
“Lexa, you do it. Your wand is more powerful than mine,” Britta said, as she fired out a bolt.
“Arma Maximus,” I incanted, swiping my wand from left to right. The bubble formed instantly, no longer taking its time. I looked at the wand in my hand and saw it glow faintly for a second before returning to normal.