Darklight 7: Darkfall

by Forrest, Bella

  Our allies spread across the training grounds. The walls had been repaired, but the entrance had a handful of rougher repairs with stone patchwork that didn’t perfectly match. Craters from other battles littered the ground, but most were filled in with stones from the Vanim mountainside. They must have been attacked continuously since we left. The ground trembled, summoning more fighters from the barracks in the middle of the camp. They wore the same clothes we'd seen in one of our weird visions, showcasing vests of varying ranks. Wildlings, vampires, and makers scattered inside the perimeter of the camp.

  A group of at least twenty hunters, armed to the hilt with their gem gauntlets, headed for the camp. Their armor looked sturdier than usual, with a thicker metal. In our absence, it seemed that the Immortal Council had produced more skimmers and improved their armor. My mind flashed to the image of the harvesters being herded back to the city. Irrikus must have forced everyone available into submission in order to prepare for this assault. That absolute cretin.

  The image shook again, but this time, it was the walls around the camp giving a mighty tremor. Our window focused closer to the camp’s wall. The watchtowers caught my eye as their guns powered up with crackling light. During our first attack on the camp, we’d taken great care not to damage them. Good thing we did.

  I watched in awe as a few columns of metal filled with golden orbs shot up from the top of the protective barrier wall. Reshi and the others had been busy. They’d clearly designed a few more mechanisms for the camp’s defenses. The columns rose until they were the same height as the watchtowers. The circles grew bright with light and then fired, simulating the gem blasts from Reshi’s tech.

  The skimmers dispersed to avoid the shots. Shouting from both sides added to the chaotic scene. I shook my head in disbelief. They took over the whole camp and adapted it. My nerves couldn’t stop the grin that came across my face. Hell, I was worried, but I felt proud.

  Like sparks rising from hot embers, golden structures lifted off the ground and glinted gloriously beneath the soft soul-lights. A troop of mechanical jaspeths rose up. Reshi, bless her, had built more in our absence, although they were much smaller than her first jaspeth. The largest jaspeth came to the head of the formation, leading it. I could scarcely make out the form in its saddle, but my gut said Reshi was operating it.

  My mind raced. Was this merely the first wave in the attack from the Immortal Council? Twenty hunters on skimmers was a fraction of what we saw being marched across that plaza in Itzarriol. Or was Irrikus planning something else for his army? My eyes caught the white blur of a skimmer. They’d improved the design; the pilots, mostly makers and wildlings, flew these skimmers easily with one hand and shot their own weapons at our allies. The hunters behind them manned gem blasting cannons twice the size I remembered from the battle at the Hive. A small mechanical jaspeth fired at one of the new skimmers. An angry red explosion obscured our view. The arbiters, for their parts, let out murmurs of surprise.

  “Such violence,” Xiu whispered. It was with a detached interest, but her eyes grew worried.

  Dorian let out a grunt of agreement. “It is, in fact, a war, as we said. That’s why we need to get back there.” I nodded, partially listening but trying to focus on the unfolding scene. I had no idea how many casualties our allies had suffered so far. We should be there on that battlefield. Even though the camp looked okay for the moment, they would sustain losses. That skimmer fleet looked nasty.

  I made out Kono’s dark face on the back of a smaller jaspeth, as he dodged a gem blast from a skimmer. Another mechanical jaspeth jetted toward him, piloted by one of the wildlings from the grassy plains. Together, they took out the skimmer with a combined blast from the jaspeths. More gem blasts, bright shots of yellow and gold, fired from the walls.

  Another skimmer plummeted to the ground, leaving eighteen of them behind.

  “Your friends seem to be doing quite well,” Ruk remarked. “That Reshi could give any arbiter a run for their money in terms of innovation.”

  Awe passed through me, temporarily dampening the fear and urgency inside me. Our friends had done incredible things while we were gone. I never doubted their skills, but I worried about leaving them in mid-battle with the sides tipped. They came out on the other side stronger than ever. Sen let out a concerned hum. The sound made the hairs on my neck stand to attention.

  “What?” I asked. From what I could see, even in the dim light, our side was winning. The hunters numbered less than twenty. The smoldering remains on the ground from the two crashed skimmers let off thin plumes of dark smoke, which suggested no survivors. So. My eyes passed across the arbiters. Why do they look worried?

  “There’s more to it,” Xiu announced. “We can sense other beings nearby. They’re waiting to attack… They appear to have used some sort of cloaking magic to hide themselves. I may be able to register their signatures for you on the window.” A dull buzz filled the room as the arbiter gritted her teeth with effort.

  Suddenly, tiny flames of supernatural light flickered into existence. The shapes appeared to be monstrously large hunters… and they were waiting behind the back wall of the camp. Were they planning on scrambling over the wall?

  That’s it. The hunters in skimmers were engaging the camp at the entrance to draw the defenses toward that side. I flinched at the idea of invisible enemies waiting for them. It would be a massacre.

  Xiu stepped forward to the image. “Take a good look. We’re losing the window.” Dorian and I soaked up the image of the battlefield, still raging with the hidden enemies on the back side of the training camp. The vision flickered and faded for the last time. The window dispersed. A gray mist began to fill the room, curling and collecting in the corners.

  “We have to go now,” I demanded. “Our friends have no idea what’s going on.”

  Dorian gave a sharp nod. “Invisibility has never been an ability among the hunters we fought. We need to warn them.”

  Xiu turned to us, her lips pressed together tightly. “You’re being rash,” she warned. “If you go now and die in battle, then who will fight Irrikus? Shouldn’t you preserve yourselves for the big battle?”

  Frustration engulfed me. “Not a chance. We need their help to defeat Irrikus. We left them hanging in the last battle. I refuse to do it again.” I swallowed a lump of pain at that discomforting thought. Two or three months without a word from us while we jumped through hoops with the arbiters. They’d probably reasoned we were dead, since we had been gone so long. It hurt me to know that they were still fighting, and I wasn’t even there to support them.

  “Do you have a plan?” Xiu asked. Her gaze fixed me to my position. “Your emotions are getting the best of you. The Immortal Council won’t fall merely because you wish it to happen with all your feelings.”

  Dorian and I always came up with something in the end. Wasn’t that good enough? I caught his eye. A muscle flexed in his clenched jaw. His fingers twitched. We both wanted to go, now. My legs itched to run, but there wasn’t exactly a portal to jump through.

  “Yes, our plan is to win.” I kept it blunt and drew up every logical point I could grasp in my racing thoughts that might help in an argument with the arbiters. “You may think we’re being emotional and rash, but we need the training camp as base for this operation. Dorian told you earlier that it’s strategic, but it’s more than that. This camp is the only viable place to plan an invasion of Itzarriol. It’s close enough to the tear to monitor anything passing to and from the Mortal Plane.”

  That hadn’t always been the case. In my mind’s eye, I saw the flaming Hive plummeting into the waters below. We’d had to destroy the only remaining refuge for vampires in the Immortal Plane and evacuate them to unknown lands among humans. How could I not go and fight for the last stronghold we had?

  “It’s now or never. Based on what we saw in Itzarriol, we should act immediately,” Dorian added. The arbiters tensed for a moment. Did they even recognize their old creations—the anci
ent ancestors of the rulers that the arbiters themselves designed—in those bloodthirsty beings preparing to slaughter my friends?

  “Irrikus waits for nobody.” Ruk glared at the image with a cold hatred that I understood too well. “They’re right. There is no time to hammer out all the trivial details of our plans. As we speak, Irrikus is setting his own plan in motion, and that is to destroy everything in his path.”

  The Games had allowed me to feel adrenaline despite the stasis. Now, I felt the hot rush of urgency coursing through me again. My muscles needed to move. Already, I replayed the scene of the enemy troops hiding in secret in my mind, analyzing the formation of the hidden troops lying in wait for our friends. Perhaps two dozen by my count, but they could have more waiting in the wings. It wouldn’t be hard for them to vault over that wall with their hunter strength. The last time we attacked the camp, we had the advantage of surprising many trainee hunters. I had the sinking suspicion that Irrikus had sent experienced soldiers for this wave of the attack.

  “We don’t have time to deal with Irrikus ourselves,” Krysh pressed. “I want to take a crack at our own problem now. The vortex in our plane needs taking care of. If the lower beings need their friends, they should have them.”

  Xiu hesitated as she looked around the room.

  “I agree with Krysh,” Un muttered. “For what it’s worth, I think the lower beings have a better idea of what’s going on. We made it our business not to know. Why not send them?”

  “Not unlike proxies,” Sen chirped. Okay, not exactly the metaphor I want, but I’ll take it if they agree.

  Finally, Xiu exhaled. “Let’s do it.”

  The arbiters, decided, launched into action. Xiu took the necklaces. She and Krysh hovered over them while Un turned to us. For a moment, there was something like approval, or even respect, in his apprehensive gaze.

  “Can you offer us eyes on our enemies, if we need it?” I asked Sen. “Fighting invisible enemies would be nearly impossible. If there’s more hunter tricks out there like that, we’d be better off with a heads-up from the Higher Plane.”

  “It’s possible,” Sen offered. “Remember, I’ll be there with you. We need to fix your necklaces before you go, though. We have to add the curse’s cure, or else you two won’t be much use to your friends.”

  “You’ll be able to communicate occasionally through Sen and Ruk, if they have the energy to spare,” Un said. “But Ruk needs to make it so that others can come through the Higher Plane barriers.” His tone was devoid of animosity. It was clear that he wanted to help us.

  They’d promised Ruk his power back, but we had yet to reach that point. Would they give it to him now?

  “With enough energy, I can create a permanent portal,” Ruk said. “It’s true that there are a few weak spots in the barrier, but there’s no time to find those places. I can create a permanent gate right here if you loan me the energy. That way, we can find each other throughout this journey. Changing the whole barrier is far too large a task at this point. I have a suspicion that it might adversely affect the growing tear, as well.”

  Xiu pulled her hands back from the necklaces while Krysh finished them off. “Are you willing to contract yourself to us for that?”

  “I am. I’m willing to submit to a pact for this task.” Ruk bent his elegant head in a sign of submission.

  Xiu hesitated for a moment and appraised the other arbiters for their opinions. It seemed almost automatic for the arbiters to hem and haw over every last detail, and it made me want to pull out my hair and scream. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

  “I’ll offer the energy,” Un said impatiently. I stared at him in disbelief. You?

  Xiu hesitated. “Are you sure, Un?”

  “I have vast amounts of energy from playing the Games all this time. Their single win against me had a negligible effect on my wealth,” he said with a note of stubborn pride. “Consider it an apology for my missteps.”

  “We acknowledge it,” Xiu said with a nod of thanks. “Ruk, please accept Un’s donation. We’ve seen what needs to be done. Let’s just get on with it, so that the lower beings can accomplish their task. Sen, I want you to be careful not to interfere too much with the balance, but help them when they’re in dire need.”

  We’re going back. I wished I could manage a sigh of relief, but my mind burned with the memory of the window. There was no relief yet, not until we got boots onto the ground and made sure our friends were safe. Invisibility technology in the hands of the rulers terrified me. Even our strongest fighters couldn’t expect to fight what they couldn’t see.

  “Here,” Krysh said, and presented the necklaces to us. “Snap them on. They shouldn’t drain your energy when you’re not using them, but you might feel a little electric shock every so often… I’m not used to designing for your kind.” She shrugged in an odd jerking movement, likely the extent of an apology from an arbiter. Unlike Ruk, they’d never quite gotten the hang of body language.

  I raised a concerned brow, but static shocks were the least of our problems. Dorian and I obediently took our necklaces. I placed mine around my neck. It felt a bit tighter this time and a touch warmer against my skin. There was a faint buzz of energy left over from whatever magic Krysh and Un had worked on the necklaces.

  Ruk took a deep breath. His lavender eyes focused on Dorian and me. “I’ll create the portal, but I can’t join you on this mission just yet.”

  What? My shoulders drooped with disappointment, but then I remembered… Aurora still floated above us. I gave him a knowing look, and he nodded. He squared his shoulders with determination.

  “I need to heal her before I return to the lower planes, but I’ll work as quickly as I can. Trust me. I’ll be at your side before you know it.” His words were loaded with worry but teemed with a new hope. I liked this side of Ruk. Our mission seemed possible now, with the support of these mighty beings.

  Sen stared at us. Her sea-green skin looked eerily bright against the curling gray mist in the room. For a moment, I almost smelled the scent of the Immortal Plane again.

  “Are you ready?” she asked.

  We were. Ruk positioned himself in front of the wall.

  Un brought his hands up toward Ruk. The group closed their eyes. A fine mist of light poured from Un’s palms and into Ruk. Ruk trembled for a moment. I felt so proud and happy for him, watching his full strength being returned to him at last.

  Ruk straightened, braced himself, and put his hand on the wall. For a moment, the clear image of his dragon-like form breaking through the sanitarium wall danced through my mind. Energy coursed through him. His skin shifted to a darker red as the gray mist nearly enveloped the room.

  The wall trembled lightly beneath his hand, not unlike the training camp’s own shaky ground. The rainbow light came. Light abruptly shone before and behind us, wrapping us in a tunnel. The arbiters leapt aside to escape the portal’s path.

  “Go,” Xiu whispered, and then lifted her voice with more spirit. “Fight!”

  Sen hooked arms with Dorian and me. She took a step forward. All three of us jumped into that swirling light.

  We were going back to finish the fight. I just hoped we weren’t too late.

  5

  Lyra

  “Hold on,” Sen whispered as we tumbled through a rainbow of colors. Amber light filled my vision in a flash and faded fast. I opened my eyes to the plains outside the training camp. Dorian stumbled beside me as we found our footing on the Immortal Plane terrain. No more reflective silvery ground to walk upon for ages with no distinctive horizon.

  The world around us overwhelmed my senses as the smell of acidic decay greeted me so strongly that I nearly choked. The sounds of gem blasts sang through the air, promising war. Sen let out a surprised hiss at the intensity of the sensations. My body trembled with all the human pleasure and dread of finally being reconnected to all my senses, but in a time of war. Hell of a reunion for my sensory perception and the lower plane
s.

  We had landed on the inside of the camp toward the back. I snapped on my bracer from my gear bag, which Ruk grabbed before he dissolved his estate from the old tower room, feeling the comfort of having Lanzon’s stone on me again. I craned my head back as lights streaked overhead. The energy blasts were fatter and stronger than usual, coming from the fleet of hunters. When I looked to the side, Sen still appeared in her human form, but she’d exchanged her robes for a copy of my Bureau clothing. The only difference was that her fatigues were smoother and a shade of dark silvery blue. Her presence looked especially ethereal outside the Higher Plane. I wasn’t sure how we would explain her to our friends, but we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.

  “I much prefer your landings to Ruk’s,” Dorian said as he shook himself. Yes, last time Ruk brought us from the Immortal to the Mortal Plane, we ended up nearly drowning in sand. “Lyra, look!”

  I glanced up to follow his pointed finger to the sky. A gasp left me. We hadn’t seen it from our vantage point through the window, but the tear was… monstrous. It covered the entire horizon, from our perspective. Thundering clouds of crackling energy swarmed around the enormous opening. Even Sen sucked in a sharp breath. But for now, we had bigger problems.

  “Let’s go,” I urged. We ran toward the chaos of battle. There were invisible enemies lying in wait for us, but we needed to duck in to make sure things were okay before we dealt with them. I touched the necklace around my neck. Dorian and I needed to be careful to save them for emergencies, but this felt like one. At least we weren’t dealing with the curse. Thanks to the last-second fix, Dorian was right beside me, and I felt nothing but a rush of relief that we were in this together.

  Sen wrinkled her nose delicately. “It smells like—”

  An errant energy blast streaked across the sky. A small jaspeth came flying toward us. Dorian and I leapt out of the way. Sen side-stepped neatly and watched the jaspeth crash to the ground. The wildling pilot leapt to safety and rolled across the dirt with a pained grunt.