Until All Curses Are Lifted

by Tim Frankovich

Marshal scowled. What was this about? Why were they even here?

  Before he could do anything else, the ground rumbled. Marshal looked about in surprise. The tremor had not come from him. A second tremor followed almost right away.

  “Marshal?” Victor said tentatively.

  He had no time to respond. The earth shook with a ferocity that far exceeded his own power. The cries of the crowd outside the gate turned into screams. Marshal fell to his knees. The rubble of the temple shifted. Portions of the outer wall collapsed. In the distance, he saw a two-story building crumble in upon itself.

  A crack opened almost immediately in front of Marshal. He watched as it widened, rocks and dirt pouring into the gap. Then the dirt erupted back out. Something dark pulsed within the crack. The trembling of the earth slowed almost to a stop. Marshal got to his feet and stared at the crack. The darkness trembled.

  And then it shot up into the air, a wall of darkness edged with dancing, multi-colored crackles of light. It formed a square around eight feet long on each side. A blast of cool air expanded from it.

  As Marshal watched, the darkness swirled and became clear. The wall became a portal, a doorway into a landscape far different from the temple courtyard. With a shock and a sharp pull on his heart, he recognized the Starlit Realm he had visited in Intal Eldanir. The Otherworld waited only a few steps away, and it called him.

  •••••

  Seri spotted Master Hain down the hall right before the earthquake struck. But that made no sense. The Passing had taken place. Zes Sivas should have stabilized, even without the King’s power.

  None of that mattered in the moment. The ground trembled, then erupted in a cataclysmic shaking that far exceeded any of the previous quakes. Seri fell to her hands and knees, but kept trying to crawl forward, to reach Master Hain. The hallway floor buckled behind her and heaved her forward, even as parts of the ceiling began to fall.

  Master Hain was beside her in a moment. He knelt on the trembling floor, holding his hand straight up above them. As rocks fell, they shattered apart from his power. Pebbles and dust rained down on both of them. Seri shielded her head.

  Why was this happening now? It didn’t make sense!

  A chunk of rock the size of a dinner plate slammed down next to Seri. Master Hain was having difficulty. It felt like the entire citadel was collapsing around them.

  At last the trembling subsided. Master Hain stood slowly, keeping his arm up and looking around for any further danger. Seri caught her breath and joined him.

  “This is… wrong,” Master Hain said in a low tone. “It should not be happening now.” He looked down at Seri. “Are you all right? I should check for others in need.”

  “No time! We have to save Lord Enuru!”

  He frowned. “What is–”

  “I’ll tell you as we go!” Seri grabbed his arm and pulled. “Hurry, Master! He’s already killed two Lords!”

  Master Hain demanded answers and Seri gave them as they hurried back toward the Lords’ quarters. Every direction they went, they ran into devastation. Debris of all kinds clogged the hallways, forcing them to take alternate routes or climb over fallen stone and wood. Rays of sunlight pierced through gaping holes. As they climbed one particularly difficult pile of debris, Seri looked up through four floors of the citadel above her head.

  The area of the Lords’ quarters seemed to have suffered less damage than elsewhere. They moved much faster upon reaching it. Seri picked up the pace.

  She rounded a corner and stopped, trying to grasp the situation before her.

  •••••

  Marshal felt a sudden rush. He jerked to the side barely in time to dodge an eidolon’s blade as it flew past him and darted into the portal. The other four chased after it, leaving Talinir and Victor behind.

  The last one, the leader, paused after stepping into the portal. He turned to face Marshal and his appearance altered. His stature grew to a height that seemed implausible, ten or eleven feet tall. The shadow receded away from him, revealing his skin and clothes. Marshal gasped, then blinked several times because the gasp actually made a sound. That had never happened before. The eidolon was one of the Eldanim.

  But no. Even as he appeared that way, his skin shifted to a blackness that somehow seemed darker than the star-filled sky behind him. It was as if his skin were absorbing light and color, rather than reflecting it. He threw back his long, white hair and laughed. The light of the stars glittered off the warpsteel sword in his hand.

  “Come, Marshal! Will you pursue us into our world?” he called.

  Marshal stared at the strange being and his bizarre appearance. For some reason, he remembered the long shadow he had seen back in Efesun. Had that been cast by one of these creatures?

  Victor and Talinir appeared next to Marshal. “We can take him together!” Victor said.

  “No,” Talinir said. “We should not venture into the Otherworld. Marshal, are you all right?”

  Marshal ignored him and took a step closer to the portal. The stars called to him. He couldn’t see many of them through the portal, but those that he could see stirred that burning desire within. With a force of effort, he focused his eyes on the eidolon who stood waiting for him.

  “Why?” he asked, his voice thick and breathy.

  “You– you spoke!” Victor exclaimed.

  “Why follow us?” the eidolon said. “Because it’s the only way you’ll find out why we’ve been watching you. Why your mother died.”

  “You… killed.”

  “The curse was lifted!” Victor said. “But that means… Aelia…”

  Marshal looked back and forth at his two companions. Talinir’s injuries looked superficial. He shook his head. “Do not do this,” he said. Victor, on the other hand, bled profusely from a thick gash on his right thigh. Marshal put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. Victor’s eyes reflected a mixture of joy and sorrow. Apparently, Aelia’s last words to him had revealed her intention.

  “Help Nian,” Marshal said slowly. He pointed to the temple. “With my mama.”

  Victor nodded, his eyes welling up. Marshal released him and turned to Talinir.

  “It is folly to pursue them there,” Talinir said, offering an outstretched hand. “Let us all help with your mother, Marshal. We–”

  Marshal grabbed Talinir’s outstretched hand and yanked him off-balance. Then pushing the warden forward, he took both of them through the portal.

  It vanished behind them.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

  IXCHEL AND ONE of her fellow Ch’olan warriors fought together against the leper assassin. Another warrior already lay dead at his feet. Tezan cowered behind Volraag, who seemed to be trying to find a way past the melee. The door to Lord Enuru and Lady Lilitu’s quarters had been shattered, along with much of the stone around it. It seemed likely Volraag had done that, rather than the earthquake. Only a few cracks in the walls and ceiling gave any indication of the earthquake here.

  “Cease this madness!” Master Hain thundered.

  Volraag turned almost casually to face them. “Ah, one of the Masters. I wondered how long it would take.”

  “Prince Volraag! Stop, please!” Seri cried. “Zes Sivas is falling apart! Help us!”

  “Lord Volraag, if you please, Seri. My father is dead, making me the Lord. And I owe this all to you. I was hoping I’d get a chance to thank you.”

  “Thank me? You’re killing people! Stop this!”

  Volraag’s face hardened. “The wrong people have held the power and Antises has suffered. Once I have consolidated all of the power in myself, I will correct this.” Behind him, Ixchel actually ran up the wall and vaulted off her sister warrior’s shield over the assassin’s head. His blade cut a gash in her shield as she flew over him.

  “It doesn’t work that way,” Master Hain said. “Come. It is not too late to stop this. We can work together and solve things.”

  “You Masters have been just as foolish as
the Lords,” Volraag countered. “Your time is over. Zes Sivas itself is throwing you out, it seems.”

  The assassin backed against the wall as Ixchel and her companion came at him from both sides. He wielded blades in both hands, blocking their attacks.

  “It will throw us all out if we do not come together,” Master Hain said. “We can–”

  “The time for talk is over!” Volraag leveled his hands at Master Hain and unleashed his power. Master Hain narrowly managed to get his own power up in time to blunt the force of the explosion that came at him, but was shoved back against the wall nonetheless.

  Seri blinked and the corridor filled with color. Master Hain warped together dozens of separate beams. Tezan’s personal light would have seemed bright in any other circumstances, but it paled compared to Volraag, who exploded with a veritable maelstrom. And behind him…

  Lord Enuru appeared at the doorway, his hand clasped tight by that of his wife. “Die, usurper!” he cried. A cacophony of light erupted from him. Volraag spun and tried to throw up his own defenses, but was a split-second too late. Enuru’s power caught him and spun him back.

  Throwing out power in every direction, Volraag crashed into the wall and then through it! He came to a stop, still on his feet, outside the citadel. Clouds of dust around him filtered the sunlight into dozens of beams that confused Seri’s vision.

  The sword fight halted temporarily at this. Other than the sound of falling, tumbling rocks, all was quiet. Master Hain pushed away from the wall. Lord Enuru looked warily into the dust cloud.

  Volraag’s chuckling broke the silence. “Tezan!” he called. “Would you step out here, please?”

  Tezan glanced fearfully from Lord Enuru to Master Hain. “You do not have to go with him,” Master Hain said.

  The would-be King shook his head and scrambled over the rocks into the sunlight.

  “Fools,” Volraag said softly. The dust around him cleared enough for Seri to see him raise both arms.

  “Look out!” she screamed. But her voice was drowned out by the sound of Volraag’s unleashed power destroying the building above them.

  •••••

  The balcony had not been harmed in the devastation that wrecked the temple or even the earthquake that followed. Kishin sat alone in the corner, unseen by Marshal or the priest throughout it all.

  The explosion of power had been stunning, but he had barely noticed. His attention was focused solely on his own hands, which he turned back and forth repeatedly, as if expecting something to change.

  Pure, undefiled skin covered his hands. Light brown, like the day before the curse had fallen on him.

  Impossible. The word kept running through his mind, a refrain that wouldn’t stop. Impossible.

  His fingers trembled as he lifted them up to touch his face. He felt his cheeks, his forehead. They felt smooth, unblemished. He felt higher and found hair. He had hair again! He pulled on it and felt pain. It was real.

  His mind denied it. It could not be true.

  In desperation, he ripped his raggedy cloak off and tore his tunic open. He stared at the healthy skin on his chest and stomach. He tore one of his pant legs open to see more. Everywhere he looked, he saw only purity and health.

  Impossible! Totally and completely impossible! It could not be true!

  He staggered to his feet and walked to the balcony’s railing. He stood blinking in bright sunlight. It took him a few moments to realize the light didn’t hurt. He could look around in the brightness without the usual agony.

  No. No, no, no.

  Curses could not be lifted. The world did not work that way.

  Yet here he stood.

  He stood as a living contradiction. It was impossible, but it was true. It was wrong, but it was right. It was an abomination, but it was a miracle.

  Kishin had born the ravages of his curse for twenty years. He was Kishin the Leper Assassin, Kishin the Untouchable. He owned this as the very definition of his being. It was all he knew, all he believed.

  “Tell me your curse,” he whispered. He had no answer to his own question. Who was he now?

  He heard murmuring voices. Of course the destruction of the temple would draw a questioning crowd. His presence would raise more questions. Better to avoid them all.

  Kishin the cleansed took his first step into an unknown world, a world in which he had no idea how to live.

  •••••

  “What have you done?” Talinir almost screamed. He stared around them, his mouth open in horror. Surprised, Marshal looked up at him. The Eldani warden had grown to at least nine feet tall. His appearance no longer seemed wrong to Marshal’s eyes. Unlike their opponent, Talinir’s skin had not changed. He staggered and collapsed, still staring.

  “Hahaha! Welcome to the other side, Talinir!” cried the eidolon. “Welcome, my brother!”

  “You are Durunim! You are no brother of mine!”

  “Not directly, perhaps, but we will be soon. I am Curasir and as I am, you soon shall be.”

  For the moment, Marshal ignored them. He stood in the Otherworld at last. It was all he had longed for since his first awakening there at Intal Eldanir. The glorious stars filled the sky, shining their multi-colored hues across the landscape.

  And now Marshal saw that landscape. It was not at all what he expected. When he had come to be healed, he had been lying in a bed, seeing only the stars and their unfathomable beauty. Now he saw all of the Otherworld, stretched out before him from the top of the high hills of Reman.

  Except Reman did not exist here. He saw no sign of the city, or any other city. Instead, devastation ruled the hills and everything around them. At one point, it was clear this had been a forest of some kind. The remains of fallen trees criss-crossed the ground intersected sporadically by a small number that still endured. Most of these seemed lifeless, falling apart. A few clung to life, but only a handful of leaves remained to them on their highest branches. Here and there, craters of various sizes pock-marked the countryside. Smoke drifted from some of them. In the distance, he saw some large creatures moving slowly.

  How could this be? How could a world possess such beauty in the skies above and such horror on the ground below?

  The eidolon or Durunim or whatever he was spread his arms wide. “Do you not care for our world, Marshal? Is it not to your liking?”

  Marshal looked back at him. “I… I do not…”

  “You don’t understand? Of course not. Do you want to tell him, Talinir, or shall I?”

  “I can’t be here,” Talinir said softly. “This is not right. Not like this.”

  “I will, then.” Curasir gestured broadly with the sword. “This world once teemed with life as yours does now, Marshal. But your people, you humans, came to Antises and destroyed it.”

  Destroyed?

  “When your mages bound all the magic together in their King and Lords, they stripped most of the magic from this world to do so. Your world holds together at the cost of this one!”

  “That’s not entirely–” Talinir began.

  “Quiet, Eldani! If you spent more time here, you would know the truth, also. This world is ravaged because of humans.”

  Marshal only knew the basics of the history of Antises. He had no idea if Curasir was telling the truth or not. But it still did not answer the questions that mattered to him.

  “Why me?” he said.

  “Your power.” Curasir took a step closer. “You hold the key to restoring everything. We have been watching you for years, waiting for this time, when you would come into your own. My masters are eager to meet you.”

  “Your restoration would destroy Antises!” Talinir said, struggling back to his feet.

  “Only this world matters to me!” Curasir said. “Marshal, you’ve seen the beauty here. You’ve felt its pull. Imagine what it could be like, what you could make it!”

  •••••

  Time seemed to slow as Seri spun away from Volraag and crouched to shield herself. H
er mind raced through the facts. Volraag’s power was going to collapse this entire section of the citadel down on top of them. Master Hain and Lord Enuru might be able to protect them like before, but they didn’t have time to prepare. Her heart felt a sudden pull toward Ixchel, the Binding in action. But she could think of only one way to escape the massive stones falling toward her head.

  Her star-sight showed light beams of every possible color all around her, coming from Master Hain, Lord Enuru, Volraag, and Zes Sivas itself. She grabbed one of the darkest purple beams she could find, the most powerful in her experience, and did something she had never done before.

  Master Hain had taught her that using magic with a living thing involved “feeling” the life of that thing and weaving or forcing the magic in between the life itself. Since the awakening of her senses on that one momentous morning, she had felt the life of Zes Sivas itself. Day by day, her connection to the island and its power had grown, both in power and intimacy.

  With both eyes wide open, Seri took the magic and forced it between the life of Zes Sivas itself. A scream shattered against her ears, though she wasn’t sure if it came from her own throat or from the island. Seri ripped the magic apart, wrapping it around herself. Purple fire and darkness enveloped her. She blinked.

  And found herself in the Otherworld.

  Cautiously, Seri rose to her feet. No one had come with her. She had acted almost entirely on instinct and saved herself, but abandoned everyone else. Surely they would be all right. Master Hain could protect himself. Ixchel was near Lord Enuru, who could do likewise.

  The stars - those immense, beautiful stars - shone as before. She stood, not within a hallway, but atop a pile of rubble. The citadels of this world, if citadels they had been, had been destroyed long before. As always, she saw a thin column of smoke weaving its way into the sky somewhere nearby.

  The air was still. Seri heard nothing and a quick look around showed no movement, either. No sign of the beast that had threatened her the last time she had seen this place (or had she actually been here then?).