Curse of Soulmate--The Complete Series

by D. N. Leo

  "You are quite busy, I see." Kyle smirked. "Let me give you a hand to get rid of some uninvited passengers for the gate."

  He charged toward Ciaran with an enormous black sword. Ciaran pulled out his daggers and blocked the sword. Tadgh kicked at Kyle and pulled his daggers out as well. Zach charged at him with two daggers pointing straight toward his heart.

  Kyle swung his sword, throwing Ciaran several feet away. Tadgh's legs were still numb from his kicks, which apparently did no damage at all to Kyle.

  Kyle swung his sword at Zach in response to his attack. Zach's daggers were blown away, and he fell on the ground rolling.

  Kyle stepped toward Zach. "I only want the LeBlanc brothers dead. You are a guest of the gate, so I'll spare your life."

  "Fuck you,” Zach said.

  "You’re welcome."

  Then Kyle roared in pain. Madeline had stabbed her two daggers into his heart from the back. He swung around and threw Madeline away.

  "Kids, run inside. I'll close the gate,” Ayana called out.

  Madeline, Ciaran, Zach, and Tadgh stood up and raced toward the gate.

  Kyle roared again. He pulled the two daggers out and threw them at Madeline.

  They made impact. Madeline fell. Blood pooled quickly on the ground around her.

  "No, no, Ayana, I can't let her die,” Ciaran yelled. He held Madeline in his arms.

  "Take her inside. This is the transitional zone. Take her inside the gate. The dimension will change, and she won’t die,” Ayana said.

  Ciaran carried Madeline, charging against the wind toward the gate.

  Kyle reeled away.

  Zach and Tadgh ran toward the gate.

  From the darkness, Kyle came back, holding Jo in front of him as a human shield.

  "The girl will die if you take her inside the gate. She can't protect you, Kyle,” Ayana said.

  Zach and Tadgh turned around.

  "No, you two must come inside. I can't hold this open any longer,” Ayana commanded.

  "I have to get Jo," Tadgh said.

  Kyle pushed against the wind toward the gate.

  "The girl will die. Uninvited guests will die by the light of a thousand lightning bolts. Don't do that, Kyle,” Ayana said.

  “Let me in, or I’ll kill her right now.”

  "You're beyond redemption."

  Kyle merely put on an evil smile.

  Jo looked at Tadgh. She saw him trying to run toward her, but he was being held back by Zach. She saw Madeline being carried by Ciaran, who was racing madly toward the gate. Zach dragged Tadgh, trying to make it to the gate. Jo wanted to smile at them, but she could not. She wanted to tell them not to worry, but her body would not obey her. A sensation ran down her spine.

  Then Zach pulled Tadgh inside.

  Kyle pushed in.

  Ayana withdrew her sword and disappeared.

  The door shut.

  Darkness.

  Chapter 122

  Ciaran drew in the fresh air and opened his eyes. His face was pressed against the wet, cold grass, and his hands gripped a bunch of wildflowers. Fear flooded back into his mind. Madeline! He scrambled to his feet.

  A few feet away, Madeline lay on the ground, staring into the big eyes of a young deer. The light brown deer with white dots on his back was licking her face. Ciaran felt delirious. He shook his head.

  The gate opening had happened so fast. He couldn’t recall the events. But he didn’t want to recall anyway as that would include the scene of the two daggers stabbing into Madeline.

  He couldn’t take that pain. Not again. He now understood what it had felt like for her at Fountains Abbey when he was shot. It was the most helpless feeling he had ever experienced.

  Madeline sat up. The deer ran away. The two daggers now lay beside her. Neither her blood nor Kyle's was on them.

  Surrounding them was a tall grass meadow wedged right against the edge of a forest. Madeline looked around. Before she could register the new world they had entered, Ciaran planted a kiss on her lips.

  A few feet away, Zach and Tadgh sat up. "We're inside the gate,” Ciaran said.

  "Now we just have to get out the other end, don't we? Piece of cake," Zach said sarcastically.

  Tadgh glanced around. Ciaran knew he was looking for a sign of Jo. "Do you know where to find Jo, Ciaran?" Tadgh asked.

  "Kyle and Jo would be here, too. In this dimension. The Daimon Gate is a dimension, a world in and of itself," Ciaran responded.

  "Ayana said she could be . . .” Zach stumbled on the words.

  "No, Zach. She's not a guest of the gate. But Kyle wanted to use her as a human shield. He’d have a way to keep her alive. I don't know how, but I’m sure she is not dead as a result of entering the gate," Ciaran reassured.

  "But . . .” Tadgh protested.

  "Tadgh, I know you’re worried. Everyone here is. But we have to survive to find her. If you have a better solution, I'd be happy to listen,” Ciaran stated firmly. He had to stay firm to calm Tadgh’s nerves. He needed to take the whole group through this alive, and there was no room for error.

  Tadgh said nothing.

  "So what are we dealing with here, Zach, based on your training?" Ciaran asked.

  "Well, it's not a hologame. So we could die for real or get lost in oblivion forever."

  "So the challenges will come to us?" Ciaran said.

  "Exactly."

  "What about the duration?" Tadgh asked.

  "I think we have dimensional time in here. Which means we could spend a long time in challenge, but to the world outside from both ends of the gate, it would be just a short moment,” Ciaran said.

  "In my training, Ayana showed me a range of scenarios of obstacles and dangers based on my past experiences. For example, I have aquaphobia. There was a scenario where I had to fight a bunch of stupid fish underwater. The idea is to conquer your fear."

  "You don't swim?" Tadgh snorted.

  "I do—and quite well if you must know. But it doesn't make me like diving. You don't have a phobia?"

  "He has tachophobia, a fear of speed,” Ciaran said.

  “Thank you for advertising it, Ciaran!" Tadgh protested.

  Ciaran shrugged. "The more we know, the better we can plan, Tadgh. And you, Madeline?"

  "I don't have a phobia. Not that I know of. And you?"

  "Same." Ciaran smiled and winked at her.

  "Is it going to be a combined scenario? Everyone's fears combined into one challenge? Should we list our fears and plan how to deal with them?" Madeline asked.

  Ciaran smiled. "I wish it was that simple. Juliette said this is similar to an alchemical transmutation process. In principle, if we pass the gate, we will be purified and become better people. It's like making gold."

  "Dandy, cleanse me!" Zach mumbled.

  "Making gold is possible. Making me a better person is a fantasy,” Tadgh stated.

  Ciaran contemplated and said, "We have to take one thing at a time. In principle, if it's an alchemical transmutation, we are looking at three general stages—Black, White, and Red. I assume you don't want the ancient terminologies such as Nigredo, Albido, or Rubedo..."

  "No, no, thank you. English, please! I can deal with some French maybe but nothing weirder than that," Tadgh said.

  "In the Black stage, there will be a lot of heat. It's called the calcination process. You can work it out from the word."

  "Burn us to ashes,” Madeline mumbled.

  There was a rumble underground, and the ground shook.

  "Shit. What's that?" Zach said.

  “Welcome to Nigredo,” Ciaran muttered and grabbed Madeline’s hand.

  The sound came from the right at the far end of the meadow. Ciaran pointed toward the bush on the left.

  "This will fall. Run!"

  Chapter 123

  They charged toward the forest. The meadow collapsed and peeled off, layer by layer, right behind them.

  In the jungle, they could smell wood burning.

 
"This is definitely the calcination stage,” Ciaran said while running. Then he stopped. Everyone else stopped, too.

  "We can't run aimlessly." Ciaran concentrated. He spoke quickly, "There will be fire everywhere. We are looking for the sign of a salamander. If we see it, that means we have passed the black stage."

  "There." Madeline pointed toward the right where they saw the shadow of a reptile tail.

  They ran toward the retreating shadow. Trees on both sides and behind them burst into flames. The fire did not blow in the wind. Instead, it was restrained within the trees, making them gigantic burning coals.

  They turned the corner where the shadow of the tail had reflected before them and faced burning walls of fire.

  It was a maze of flames.

  "Oh, no, not again," Zach mumbled.

  "What?" Tadgh said.

  "I was put into a maze before. It wasn't a burning one. But it was tricky."

  "How did you get out?" Ciaran asked.

  "I couldn't. My friend worked it out. But there will be moving walls and moving paths,” Zach said.

  "Tadgh, your job. We’re looking for signs of water. Not earth or air. Water. If we keep seeing fire, we’re heading in the wrong direction." Ciaran pointed toward the burning maze.

  "Me? What if I get it wrong?" Tadgh exclaimed.

  "You won't. You're good at this. Work it out."

  Ciaran speculated the answer was on the right. He was not as good at matrices as Tadgh, but he knew enough.

  Tadgh thought and then pointed toward the left. "Three blocks, left, left then right."

  Ciaran had a strong feeling that Tadgh was wrong. But he had given his brother the task. He had to follow through with it. "I'll check it out," Ciaran said.

  "No, Ciaran, I'll do it," Tadgh said.

  "I lead the group. I'll check. You stay." Ciaran grabbed Madeline and kissed her quickly. "I love you,” he whispered and darted to the left.

  Madeline knew it was a goodbye kiss. She saw it in his eyes. She knew he thought it was the wrong direction. But he followed because Tadgh had said so. He did it to show his faith and confidence in his brother. Madeline felt a lump in her throat and prayed that her instinct was wrong this time.

  As soon as Ciaran turned the corner, the firewall moved and closed the path.

  "Fuck!" Tadgh said. “Wrong path.”

  Ciaran saw the wall close behind him. He kept running in the direction he feared was the wrong way. Deep down, he knew he'd pull this off.

  Left. Left. And right. And a dead end.

  The last wall closed behind him, enclosing Ciaran in a burning corner with his ophidiophobia, fear of snakes. It was a phobia so ordinary that Ciaran had never cared to admit to it.

  He had never let the fear defeat him. He had attacked it with a ferocity, and no one would ever have known that he had a phobia at all.

  From a corner, a snake rose slowly. Despite the heat from the walls, Ciaran felt a chill run down his spine.

  "Not now,” Ciaran mumbled to himself. He would not freak out. He would do what he had done before—he would kill the snake.

  Ciaran pulled out his daggers. He could do this with ease. Two swings in opposite directions, and the snake would be sliced into pieces.

  But Ciaran recognized that this was no ordinary snake. It was a legendary gatekeeper, a serpent with a red snake body and a wide-jawed dragon’s head.

  It rose as high as Ciaran's head. It slithered around, back and forth, watching him. It went around him and stopped in front of him.

  One swing, and he could kill it. That was how he normally handled his fear, but this situation was a lot more difficult, Ciaran thought.

  Gatekeeper, Ciaran contemplated. He would need the ticket or the key. Ciaran used the dagger on his right hand to pull up the sleeve on his left arm, revealing the golden crucifix tattoo. From this angle, it looked more like a key.

  Ciaran thought the snake looked happy—if it was possible to deduce such emotion from a snake. It slid around in front of his left arm as if admiring the crucifix.

  Then the snake opened its mouth wide and bit down on Ciaran’s arm.

  A searing pain shocked Ciaran’s brain and made him almost pass out. He dropped the dagger in his left hand.

  The snake pulled away. On his arm was not an ordinary snakebite mark with two fang holes. Instead, there was a round circle of holes around the crucifix. It looked as though the key was inserted into a lock.

  Ciaran staggered back. His left arm immediately felt numb.

  It was the venom. But Ciaran knew what to do. He swung the right hand dagger. He had to give up his left arm, or he would die.

  Chapter 124

  Madeline snarled, “Tadgh, which way is the right direction? Ciaran got the wrong one, and that path’s closed.” Fear clawed at her. Beads of sweat streamed down her face.

  Tadgh whirled around and around, looking at the moving paths and walls.

  “Stop spinning. You’re making me dizzy, Tadgh,” Zach said.

  Madeline closed her eyes and tried to connect to Ciaran’s mind. She tried to trace his thoughts the way she had on Earth.

  Nothing.

  Her psychic ability didn’t work here.

  Don’t panic, she said to herself. Just use your ordinary human sense of direction. She blocked all of the moving parts in front of her out of her mind and concentrated, tracing Ciaran’s physical steps.

  Ciaran wanted to cut off his left arm. He had to stop the venom from spreading into his heart. But the snake swung up its tail quickly and grabbed Ciaran's right arm with it. It squeezed hard so that Ciaran dropped the dagger to the ground.

  The snake spoke to him.

  "Keep the venom. You'll need it."

  Then the snake vanished. Ciaran slumped to the ground while the searing pain stabbed at his head. The wall slid open. Madeline, Tadgh, and Zach stormed in. Madeline grabbed Ciaran.

  "Where does it hurt? Are you burned? Where?"

  Ciaran pulled his sleeve down to cover the snake bite and stood up. "I'm fine. This is the wrong way."

  "Yes, I'm sorry," Tadgh said.

  "So where to now?" Ciaran said.

  "You’re asking me again?"

  "Who else should I ask? Madeline? Zach?"

  Madeline and Zach shook their heads.

  Tadgh literately recoiled from Ciaran’s gaze. Ciaran waited. Then Tadgh pointed. “All right. That way. I don't want to die in here."

  They ran in the opposite direction this time.

  The burning walls opened up.

  "This looks more like it," Madeline said.

  Ciaran shook his left arm to check that it was still attached to his body.

  In front of them was a river of dark water flowing into an underground cave. A line of disks sailed over the water like a conveyor belt. All of the discs turned at the corner.

  "It looks like the only way out," Tadgh said, pointing at the discs flying by at an incredibly fast speed.

  "We don't want to get into that water,” Zach said, staring down at his worst nightmare.

  "The fire is closing in behind us. We have to jump now,” Madeline said.

  Ciaran assessed his trajectory and jumped onto a disk.

  "It’s fine."

  And then the disc swung around the corner.

  Madeline jumped onto the next one.

  Zach took a step back to get momentum and then jumped.

  Tadgh looked at the discs. They were too fast for him. “Come on!” Zach’s voice echoed back. Tadgh wanted to close his eyes but couldn’t because he would miss the disc when he jumped. He clenched his teeth and jumped onto the next one.

  Each disc could hold only one person. It was moving too fast for Tadgh. He was on all fours and gripping the edge of the disc.

  In front of Tadgh, Zach's disc became unstable and flipped around.

  Zach fell.

  Tadgh grabbed him before he hit the water. The two of them hung on tightly to Tadgh's disc.

  The disc turn
ed the corner, and they immediately hit a waterfall. It was so sudden that both Tadgh and Zach were flushed off the disc.

  Tadgh's body hit a hanging rock. He fell, unconscious, dropping down into the dark water of the river below. Zach was left hanging onto a rock. He saw Tadgh fall.

  “Oh, come on!” Zach moaned. Zach let go of his rock and dove into the dark water.

  It was dark and quiet below the surface of the water. His fear was not important right now. A life was on the line. He dove deeper. And there, he found Tadgh, sinking like a stone.

  Chapter 125

  Ciaran grabbed the rocky edge of a wall. Madeline was swimming toward him. He reached his hand out and grabbed her. He swung her up on the rock and looked back to the far dark corner.

  There was no sign of Tadgh and Zach.

  Zach grabbed Tadgh and pushed him up to the surface. Tadgh was breathing. Zach supported his head, keeping it above the water, and swam along with the current. They were in a dark cave.

  Mysterious hanging rocks were illuminated by a spooky dim light, and it looked like a thousand beady eyes were staring at him. They acted like torches. Otherwise, Zach wouldn’t be able to see anything.

  In the distance, Zach saw a small strip of rocks. Ciaran and Madeline were standing on top. He swam toward them.

  Ciaran and Madeline helped pulled Tadgh up onto the rock.

  "He hit a rock when we fell. He's all right,” Zach said.

  Tadgh coughed up some water, then he opened his eyes and rolled over to sit up. He rubbed his head.

  "Are you okay now?" Ciaran asked.

  Tadgh nodded. "Hey, thanks for grabbing me,” he said to Zach.

  "Not a problem. Same goes. I hitched a ride on your disc. If you were by yourself, you wouldn’t have fallen,” Zach said.

  "Ciaran found a way out,” Madeline said.

  "Oh yeah!" Zach narrowed his eyes. “Not under the water again?"

  Ciaran smiled and nodded. He pointed ahead. "Around that corner is the mouth of the cave, where the river flows out to an opening. However, the mouth of the cave is closed by a gate."