Fallen Sepulchre

by J D Franx

  “How did you lose?” he asked. “I saw the battlefield outside your tower. Even now, it’s littered with demon bones. Human skeletons are rare, but there were still a few there.” He could see the shadow of memory roll over her facial features.

  “You have to understand that at that time, the Guardians had split into two groups. One side wanted our kind eliminated from existence while the other defended us, trained us, loved us...” She trailed off, lost in her own thought. Moments later, she shook her head as if to banish the horrible memories. She carried on, but her voice trembled with emotion. “When Talohna moved against me, the enemy Guardians sided with the rest of Talohna. Yrlissa Blackmist was my Guardian. Her twin sister was also a Guardian who had defended our kind for many, many millennia. For some reason, she turned her back on us and pretended to be Yrlissa returning with the Vai’Karth. She brought two enemy Guardians with her. They fooled my guards long enough to get close to me and my personal guards while I was summoning demons. That’s all that matters.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “It’s all right,” she replied. “I knew it wasn’t Yrlissa, though, she blames herself for leaving. Deep down, she believes I think it’s her who did it.”

  “How could you possibly know that?”

  “The same way I heard you when you were in the Black Arc. We can hear the prayers of our kind and even sometimes our loved ones. I just didn’t realize you were in the Black Arc at the time.”

  “That’s crazy,” he answered.

  “The power of prayer,” she said, laughing. “Want to try it?”

  “No one in Talohna is praying for me, I promise you, Jasala.”

  “You are so very wrong. Close your eyes and concentrate. Listen for a connection to the living.”

  Kael closed his eyes instead of rolling them as he wanted to at the ridiculous notion. Deciding to try anyway, he took a deep breath and focused.

  Seconds passed and nothing happened. Almost ready to give up, his breath caught in his throat.

  Kael—miss—thank—I will—fine—

  Words trickled through the silence, but the voice was unmistakably Cassie’s. Focusing harder, he tilted his head and the words came together.

  There are people here Kael. I think they will take care of me—

  It crushed his soul to hear Cassie’s voice while it slid through the Void and reached his ears.

  She was safe, and she was alive. He smiled knowing that even though escaping the afterlife was ultimately futile, he had at least managed to save her while he was still alive.

  FOREST OF THE FALLEN

  DYRANNAI FOREST

  Ember had been trying to rest for hours, but after the horrors recounted by Yrlissa and the fact she could not reign in her own anger, sleep was impossible. She quit trying and sat up, looking around the campfire. Surprisingly, everyone else was asleep. Welcome to the Field of the Fallen, where there was no threat and no watch was needed so everyone was comfortable enough to catch up on lost sleep. She sighed with frustration. Ember slipped from the campsite and walked to the crypt where Kael had been interred. After so many months of travel and countless hours in forests and mountainous terrain, she had become quite skilled in making little noise. She entered the mausoleum and descended the marble stairs without making a sound, but she knew immediately she was not alone.

  Stepping off the last stair, she looked around the room. The center sarcophagus belonged to Kael. Beside his coffin, a young girl with long blonde hair knelt and sobbed.

  Ember could not see her face but could tell by her blonde hair and familiar aura that she was the one who hitched a ride on her transport spell. Her foolish behavior had nearly killed the whole group When she realized the girl was speaking, Ember stayed inside the shadow of the stairs to watch and listened.

  “… miss you, Kael. Thank you for being there for me… There are people here, Kael. I think they will take care of me.”

  The young girl turned and stared at Ember. The stairs had done nothing to hide her presence. Outed, she settled on the floor beside the girl and wrapped an arm gently around her quaking shoulders.

  "You knew him, didn't you, sweetheart?" Ember asked.

  "Yes," the girl whispered.

  "Did you see what happened before we arrived?"

  "I did. We'd been together for weeks. He saved me from the Orotaq. When they attacked our village, my aunt and uncle and my little cousins were killed. I was about to die when he saved me."

  "You're from Cairnwood?" The girl nodded but did not answer. "Where are your parents, sweetheart?"

  "They died when I was a year or two. It's funny, I can feel way inside me that they loved me. I think I was happy once."

  "You weren't happy in Cairnwood?"

  "I... I lived. My aunt and uncle didn't want me. My father and my aunt were very close when they were young. But something happened. I think it was my mother. They hated her. I helped around the house, and they fed me, but I was a reminder of something they wanted to forget."

  "God in Heaven, those are some serious thoughts for a young girl. How old are you?"

  "Almost thirteen, I had to grow up fast the last little while. Kael helped make sure I will get the chance to grow all the way up," she said, as she rubbed the side of the glass coffin lid in front of her.

  "Yeah, he had a way of doing things like that, didn't he?" Again, the girl nodded but said nothing. Ember suddenly realized the girl must have been with Kael during the attack on the vested sisters of Mylla.

  “Sweetheart?” she asked. The little girl looked up for the first time. Her eyes were red and swollen, yet frighteningly recognizable. “What happened the night you two stopped at the Sisters of Mylla camp?”

  “We didn't stop. They took Kael by force the day before. They were witches. Dead Sisters.” Ember's heart leapt at the revelation—Kael had only been defending himself when everyone thought he had murdered twenty innocent woman and girls.

  “You are sure?”

  “Yes, mistress—”

  “—call me Ember, sweetie.”

  “Yes, Ember. The woman traveling with Kael was a Dead Sister. I watched her and another witch trick Kael and put one of those horrible collars on him, again. I followed them until they camped at the mountain's edge. When Kael fought to escape, I helped him run away until we found mistress Aravae. She healed him, and then... then...” The little girl grabbed her and started crying. She was unable to finish because she had witnessed Kael's murder.

  "Shh. It's all right, sweetheart. I have you,” she said. Ember held her tight. “You didn't have to run when we arrived. No one here would've hurt you. I promise."

  "I am sorry," the girl said, turning her head to look at Ember with startling amber eyes. Again, Ember was struck by their familiarity. "I knew Aravae from when she helped us, but everyone Kael ever trusted betrayed him. I was scared because maybe you wanted to hurt him too. But I watched you after we got here. For two days you never left him until you put him here. You loved him. So does Aravae.”

  “You're right, sweetie, more than you could ever know..." Choking back her own tears, Ember stopped herself from saying more. It would only make her feel worse than she already did.

  "He told me about you, Ember. He loved you too, with everything he had, and he missed you, but he thought you died." The girl's words crushed the last of Ember's resolve. She blinked the tears from her eyes and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

  "I know, hun,” she said. “There are a lot of people in this world who tried to keep us apart." The girl nodded for a third time without words. "You must be starving. How about you tell me your name and we go get you something to eat." The girl turned and stared, her swollen, yellow eyes wept with grief and the need for comfort.

  "My name is Cassandra. Everyone calls me Cassie. I'd like to stay here for a bit, please? I don't know what will happen to me now that Kael's gone. He... he took care of me."

  "Cassie? Your name is Cassie?"

  "Yes
."

  As Ember stared into the young girl's familiar eyes and studied Cassie's aura even closer. It finally sunk in even though the odds were astronomical. She gently grabbed the little girl's face and checked her ears and the right side of her temple. Sure enough, though not Elvehn, the girl's ears tapered slightly, and her right temple had a small, black birth mark Ember bet would eventually grow to be that of a deathflower.

  Ember spun and yelled at the top of her voice. The name echoed through the crypts and out onto the Field of the Fallen, all the way to the group's campsite.

  "Yrlissa!"

  In only minutes, Max stormed into the crypt, both swords drawn, with Yrlissa at his side. Sephi followed while Nekrosa stood watch at the top. The necromancer was unable to enter the crypt with the magical wards designed to keep necromancers of his advanced skill out of the mausoleum.

  As Max and Yrlissa barreled around the corner at the end of the stairs, Ember spun around with her arm out and shielded the little girl with her body.

  Sephi was the first to speak.

  "That's the brat who almost killed us all."

  "Not now, Sephi," Ember barked. With one arm holding Cassie close behind her, Ember reached out and used her magic to trigger Yrlissa's aura.

  "Aurorus sala."

  "What in the Nine Hells are you doing Ember? I told you to never—"

  "Shut up, Yrlissa, and be goddamn grateful I'm even doing this much after what you hid from me," Ember snapped. The spell completed, and the assassin's most guarded secret bloomed to life. The Elvehn killer's spirit nearly overwhelmed Ember’s sight with the vibrancy of her true age and the staggering power of long forgotten magic. It was much stronger and brighter, but it was identical to Cassie's.

  "Jesus in Heaven, what's happening here?" Ember gasped, as the young girl clutched at her legs. "You said she was dead. You said she was dead! What the hell, Yrlissa?"

  "What Ember? Who's dead?"

  "Your daughter." Ember watched Yrlissa's stoic front start to crumble as she tried to get a look at the young girl hiding behind her back.

  "She… she is dead. Her and Cassel. I buried what was left myself. You saw their graves, Ember. I buried them both in the Yusatan hills." Her voice trembled as it rose in volume and then dropped off, again. "I buried them... both..." Ember knew better as she coaxed Cassie out from behind her.

  "This is the girl who jumped with us. Check her aura, Yrlissa. It's identical to yours."

  "No!” Yrlissa barked. “No, dammit! It can't be..." Yrlissa stumbled forward for a better look at the girl. Ember watched as the defiance melted away.

  "She's half Elvehn, and she has the black mark for an eventual deathflower on her right temple. Her name is Cassandra. Dammit, Yrlissa, check her aura for yourself."

  "It can't... I... I... can't..." But Yrlissa stopped and spoke the words to the ancient Fae spell. "Aurorus sala," she whispered.

  Tears streamed down her face long before the spell activated. It blossomed the energy surrounding the little girl. Yrlissa laughed with relief for a lone second before it turned into a sob, and she dropped to her knees in anguish, no longer able to hold back the tears.

  "Mai nohva?" she cried. Cassie looked up at the words Ember knew she must have heard countless times as a child, like some lost echo deep within her soul. She began to tremble as she looked from Ember to Yrlissa and back. Ember nodded to her, and Cassie took a single step forward.

  "M... Mai..." Cassie stuttered and frowned before she tried again. "Mynerha?" The words crumbled the last of Yrlissa's shield as Ember watched her friend's heart shatter and reform in an instant.

  "Yes, baby! You remember." Yrlissa burst into tears as Cassie rushed into her arms, sobbing.

  Ember watched on, her heart filled with joy for both mother and daughter.

  Chapter Seven

  “Help often comes from the strangest of sources. The key is in knowing when the offer to help is real.”

  Garren Sallus, Talohna Peace Summit. 5020 PC

  7TH HELL

  YEAR 65

  “Dammit.” Kael cussed as again his magic fired up and quickly failed.

  “Easy,” Jasala whispered. “Don’t try so hard. You are trying to force it. Magic doesn’t require physical strength, Kael, just strength of the mind. Will it to happen.”

  They had been trying for what felt like years to get his magic to work, and his frustration had grown steadily the whole time.

  “Try simple fire,” she suggested. “Nothing fancy. Create it and hold it—without using words from the VosHain language.”

  Kael frowned and tried again, closing his eyes. He held out his right hand and inhaled deeply. Flexing his fingers, the whoosh of magic hit his ears, and he opened his eyes to see a rolling ball of black fire in his hands. With a deep breath, he steadied his racing heart, and the fire hissed and spit in his hand, but remained steady.

  “Easy… relax… gently,” Jasala offered quietly. “Got it?” He nodded but kept his concentration on the burning fire. “Try to add more,” she prompted.

  Kael focused harder, and the fireball jumped, doubling in size. “Breathe,” she added. “Stay calm. Now, try with your left hand.”

  His left hand filled with dark flames with an ease that surprised him. It was if the less he tried, the easier it became. He smiled, holding the magic strong.

  “Bring the two together, Kael.”

  Bouncing both fireballs in his palm, Kael rolled his hands together, and the two magics became one, doubling in size just as a commotion broke out at their cave’s entrance. The noise broke his concentration and his magic took off without him meaning to, growing exponentially in size while he struggled to maintain control.

  “They’re here. Shit,” Jasala hissed.

  Kael spun instinctively on his feet and released the fireball, hurling it toward the gathering demons. Black fire exploded out of the cave like a blast from a cannon. He pulled his weapons from the dirt and followed Jasala into the fray.

  As he stepped from the cave, his heart sank. Even though his fireball had melted the ice and snow away for hundreds of feet, thousands of demons still pressed in on the valley. “We are seriously outnumbered, Jasala,” he growled and swung his reaper blade, cutting a feral demon dog in half. Everywhere he looked, he saw only row upon row of demons.

  Clearly having the time of her life, Jasala winked and leapt into a group of KiPara demons. Darkened roots exploded from beneath the four-armed monsters and with a flick of her wrist, four more were tossed through the air. Watching her for a single second cost him his ground as a massive wolf standing on its back legs stepped between them and cut him off.

  “Dammit.” Kael cursed. The wolf lunged and drove him back, further separating him from Jasala. The creature swung, and long claws whistled through the air past his face. A second swipe followed immediately, and he crossed his blades, blocking the strike. The wolf’s claws locked onto his weapons. Kael grasped his magic and demanded more room. Reacting to his thoughts, a hazy blast of dark air detonated outwards from his blades. The pulverized wolf toppled through the dirt, dead. “Finally.” He breathed out, smiling as he began to truly understand how his magic worked.

  Turning to Jasala, he saw her surrounded by rows of demons. A way to help flit through his mind, and he sheathed his left blade. His hand shot out with four bolts of crackling electricity erupting from his fingers and raced toward the demons. Black energy popped and sizzled its way through a dozen demons at Jasala’s back, ensnaring flesh and hair as it went. Kael yanked the magic back and dragged a dozen demons through the dirt viciously. A twist of his wrist tightened the magic, crushing each demon. All were dead long before they came to a stop on the ground.

  He took his chance and claimed the open space at her back.

  “I’m here,” he yelled.

  “Good. Watch—” Her words stopped short as a large demon dropped from the sky. It swung its massive hammer slowly, and the lesser demons bowed and skittered backwards, making way
.

  “One of Inys’ Fails,” Jasala muttered under her breath. “She’s a high demon, Kael. A general. Not like these fodder,” she said, gesturing to the bloody demon corpses surrounding them.

  “Together then?” he suggested. Jasala nodded, and he touched off a blast of ice spikes, stitching the ground around the demon as she vanished in a cloud of black smoke. He grinned at the familiar tactic and stuck his blade in the ground at his feet. Summoning more spikes, he tossed them as fast as he could move his arms. The Fail slammed the handle of her demon warhammer into the ground and used it as a pivot, deflecting the ice.

  Jasala stepped from the smoke behind the demon and swung an ugly blade of black magic. The Fail spun, and Jasala’s blade struck the demon’s hammer. The Fail roared and backhanded her, tossing her body to the dead grass and damp dirt in front of their cave. The distraction gave Kael the opening he needed.

  He used his magic to erupt a spear of ice from the dirt under the demon, piercing its foot. Kael twisted his hand as the ice grew, spiraling up through the demon’s thigh and out its hip. Never hesitating, he snatched his blade from the ground and vanished like Jasala had. He emerged from the murky magic and swung his blade, severing the demon’s throat.

  It crashed to the ground as Akai called to him.

  Sai Kull'Vai

  “What?”

  Say it. Now.

  “Sai Kull'Vai,” he repeated. The spell ripped from his mouth, leaving him weak. He stared in awe as black and purple smoke rose along his reaper-blade, drawing some type of energy from the dying demon. The black metal on his blade rippled like water in a pond and slowly changed to silver as it absorbed the demon’s energy.

  “Bloody hell.” Kael gasped as his own energy returned and the weariness of battle vanished.

  “Kael? What just happened? Your blades are silver.”