He placed an ear against one of the smooth vines of the twisting pillar, knocking on its exterior and listening to the sounds. Thud . . . thud.
The vibrations were short and deep as the density of vines stopped them. He could not tell if the pillar was hollow. He stepped back and punched the vines, again and again. The vines split and snapped; a hole was opening. With one last punch, he felt no resistance, and his arm slipped in up to his shoulder. He could feel that the center was hollow. He pulled his arm out and looked through the hole. He could see blue fur and the wolf’s face.
Caedmon stood in a catatonic state, his eyes glowing an intense green.
Zauvek watched for a moment as he tried to understand what was happening.
The wolf’s eyes abruptly moved and looked at Zauvek through the hole in his vines.
Zauvek tilted his head in curiosity.
An explosion of vines erupted around the pillar as hundreds of vines extended high overhead. One gripped Zauvek around the waist and hoisted him up into the air. Zauvek dropped his staff. His invisible barrier dissipated, and the demons were released once again.
The vine pillar unraveled and reformed into a dome. Caedmon remained encased within its defensive structure, but this time the excess vines that were not used in the formidable barrier attacked every creature surrounding the dome without mercy. Hundreds of vines crushed smaller demons flat against the dirt or hurled them high into the sky. Evil bodies rained down from above and collided with the unforgiving ground, dying. Even more vines sprouted from the ground and strangled medium-size demons that could not be so easily dispatched and chained the extremely large demons as they wrapped around the demons’ massive limbs like shackles. Vines struck flying demons like whips and lacerated their skin, stripping them from the sky.
The dome of vines advanced toward the seal as its aggressive tendrils cleared the way. New, large vines explosively emerged from the ground as the defensive dome traveled.
Caedmon neared Auvelia and Kellen’s bodies, where they lay torn and broken. The dome split apart in the front, and Caedmon walked out, but he was not the wolf everyone knew. No, this Caedmon was consumed by the Ikalreev magic, and the magical heart was in control. Caedmon’s real mind lay dormant while the magic animated his body. This was the Ikalreev magic’s pure form, which was written in detail on the trials’ walls.
Caedmon emerged from the dome and walked toward Auvelia and Kellen’s bodies while the massive vines maintained an overwhelming offense. He hoisted Kellen’s body onto one shoulder and Auvelia’s onto his other. He turned and walked back into the vine dome. Inside the dome, he held up Auvelia, and small, delicate vines softly grabbed her, securing her against the inner wall. Kellen was next.
Caedmon then exited the dome a second time to grab their weapons. The dome resealed its exterior and moved away from the First Seal toward the south, while massive vines crushed, slammed, shackled, and killed the demons surging around him. The more intelligent beasts ran for their lives and left the chaos behind. They scrambled up the cliffs to the north and east and jumped off the cliff to the west.
The dome approached the road, where the small band of fearful friends hesitated as they watched, enthralled by the unbelievable sights unfolding across the battlefield. They saw the structure of vines grow near and stop a dozen feet from them. The dome’s southern face split apart, and Caedmon emerged from the dome with Kellen and Auvelia in his arms.
Stunned expressions greeted him in wonder and recognition of the magic’s true form.
Caedmon walked to the wagon and carefully placed the bodies of the two elves in its bed before going back to the dome for their weapons. When he returned, he rested their weapons on their chests and wrapped their arms around their respective weapons in honor. The empty dome of vines unwove and drew back into the ground, disappearing into the dirt.
Everyone watched in awe.
“We must leave,” Caedmon said, but his voice was emotionless. He walked around the wagon and began down the southern road.
The others nervously glanced at each other but were glad to leave. Leith snapped the reins, and the horses galloped southward, leaving the horrific battlefield and the terrifying demons behind. They left the crazy old man. They left Faolan.
“Wait!” Leith stopped the wagon; his voice was frantic. “Where is Aili?”
◆◆◆
Aili raced through the forest as trees whipped past and branches scratched her. Her movements were careless, and her fear was overwhelming. Her foot jammed into a tree root, and she tripped and fell hard against the forest floor. A rock sliced open her right hand, and fresh blood smeared the ground. Her consuming fear blocked the pain as she scrambled back to her feet and raced onward.
She weaved between the trees as her hand bled. Her breathing was rapid and heavy. Her eyes darted in all directions as she tried to pinpoint the threat chasing her, but she could see nothing because tears flooded her eyes. Sorrow and fear swirled inside her.
Keep running, do not stop. How far behind are they? Faolan . . . they cannot be dead; it is not possible.
Her thoughts danced between her fear of the demons chasing her and the loss of Faolan and his parents. Her thoughts distracted her, and she slammed her left shoulder haphazardly into a sharp tree branch, lacerating the skin. She lost her balance and stumbled to her knees.
A bloodcurdling shriek sounded from the forest behind her.
Her eyes frantically scanned the dark, cold distance.
She whimpered and found her feet, stumbling forward as tears freely flowed. She was trembling from the pure terror she felt but didn’t consciously realize it. She was alone. She was afraid. She was consumed by sorrow, yet she blindly raced ahead as she ran for her life.
A low-hanging branch smacked her and scratched the side of her face. She faltered as blood streamed from the new wound, and a thorn bush caught her left leg, producing numerous scratches on her calf.
Her pace slowed, but her urgency did not lessen.
She stumbled into a small clearing as her right knee buckled and slammed onto a rock, her knee locked in place from the numbing strike. She crawled forward as fast as she could. She tried to regain her footing, but her left calf burned, and her right knee ached. She looked down at her calf and could only see red. Tears streamed off her cheeks like a small waterfall.
“Faolan, save me . . . save me, please . . .” she cried. “Faolan!”
Aili stopped, too tired to keep going. Pain began to flood her mind as her will to go on diminished. She had lost the man she had grown to love. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked back and forth in the middle of the clearing. She waited for the monstrosities to find her. She wept uncontrollably as blood flowed from her many wounds and covered her beautiful dress in red.
A shriek and a howl sounded from the forest; they were north, but not far. A minute, maybe two, and they would find her.
“Faolan,” she cried. “Come back to me.”
Her heart tightened. “I love you.”
A hound demon emerged from the tree line, four legs, red skin, and a canine head. It had no tail, but teeth sharp as daggers. The demon spotted Aili and howled. A second and a third hound demon emerged from the forest. Soon after, the flying demon dove over the canopy.
Aili barely noticed. Sorrow and pain were all she felt now. An absolute void of loneliness and mourning filled her.
She felt a subtle but powerful sensation, and her attention was caught by the anomaly. The air grew cold, and a frigid bite rose on the wind, as if the arctic descended around her. She looked at the ground and saw snow falling. The snow was quickly accumulating and covering the clearing. Her breath became visible, and frost collected on her eyelashes.
A sharp sound of ice shattering came from the demons’ direction. Pieces of bone and flesh, fully encased in ice, scattered before her in jagged shards. She saw a piece with the flying demon’s wing inside.
It had instantly frozen in flight and shattered int
o many pieces when it slammed to the ground.
Aili looked at the canines, which were now frozen solid. They had been midstride when they froze to death. She glanced around and saw the branches and the leaves near her covered in ice. She looked up at the canopy, which was laced in frost. A sphere of the coldest arctic winter imaginable surrounded her while, beyond its perimeter, the atmosphere remained untouched by the magic.
A gale blew past her.
She looked back at the hound demons and watched as their heads slid from their rightful places. Their severed heads fell to the ground and rolled to a stop.
The man in the conical hat stood before her with his katana drawn. A black liquid coated his blade, flash freezing along its length.
Aili’s vision grew dark, and she slipped into unconsciousness. Her body began to shake violently, and the light snow spun chaotically into a blizzard. The nearest trees froze solid to their cores.
The air around her was a death trap, though Waremasu remained unaffected. He walked over to her convulsing form and sheathed his sword. He crouched down and picked her up in his arms. He was careful not to hold her too tightly while her body continued to tremble.
When Waremasu had read the script on the trial walls, not long ago, he had found a written portion that described an awakening of the Ikalreev magic. He knew what he had to do to save her and to wake her again.
Waremasu ran south through the forest, slowly at first. He was careful not to exert too much force on her delicate mortal body. He gradually sped up and soon was running at a good pace. It did not take long for Waremasu to travel the great distance between the First Seal and the Four Trials. He walked through the magical barrier without incident and descended into the dark cave.
Waremasu reached the circular room at the bottom and located the hall with walls layered in ice. He laid her on the platform that was floating on water just inside the archway. Her body stopped convulsing, and her beautiful face became peaceful.
The platform slowly began drifting away, and Aili faded into the Trial of Water and Ice, beyond his sight.
Waremasu stepped back and stared into the trial’s hallway. There he would remain. There he would await her return.
Chapter 3
Unrivaled Dominion
Their presence induces fear, and evil cowers before them. Yet the faithful and the good are their charge. They are protectors of souls under the Divine One’s domain.
The Ikalreev Prophecies 28:6–8
Zauvek lay in pain on the ash-covered ground. Howls and screeches filled the air as he rolled over onto his knees. He was dazed from the fall that he had endured from the Ikalreev magic. His eyes lifted, and he saw the endless evil creatures pouring out of the seal.
The primary five evils had fled from the area and were long gone. Now it was just the bowels of the dark spewing onto the mortal world.
The angel shook his head in defeat. He knew his fragmented power was not enough to stop it all, and he was not Verdunmull’s rightful guardian, so he could not remove the golden sword from the seal’s hold. Only Razbijen, the true guardian of Verdunmull, could remove the sword and stop the flow of darkness. The angel was the only one granted the power to close the seals before the Temperean Event was completed.
Zauvek spotted his staff and rose to his feet. He staggered a fair distance before finally reaching it. He grabbed his weapon and prepared to fight for as long as he could. Waremasu would not be kind to him if he did not stand against the darkness.
The ancient being had set in motion the events unfolding now, but he had never told Waremasu that he was the one yearning for power, not Razbijen. He had banished Razbijen and lied to Waremasu about the fact that he had begun the Corrupted Temperean Event, setting in motion the Initiate and betraying the Divine One. He was conflicted about what he was causing as he observed the chaos that was being unleashed on the mortal world.
What am I doing? Why do I feel remorse? I loathe the mortals, but a pain creeps into my heart.
The First Seal was open, and the second might soon follow. The Divine One commanded them to return Razbijen to his former glory and righteousness so that Verdunmull’s guardian angel could retake his rightful place and defend the lands from the darkness—a task that would be no easy feat. They had yet to even begin restoring his memories to allow the angelic power to flow back into him; first they had to purify his mind and heart.
They were far from accomplishing the command given to them. The two fallen angels were split apart, and deceit divided them as he hid the truth from Waremasu. He was hesitant and fearful of what Waremasu might do to him if the unstable angel were to discover that his evil plans caused his ally’s fall from grace.
Zauvek’s yearning for power still burned deep inside him, but he knew he would never have it like this, darkness pouring onto the lands and being far from grace. This was not how he envisioned the events playing out.
What should I do? Where do I go from here?
He grew angered at his circumstances and enraged at his inability to command events as he willed. The power still eluded his grasp, and he was far from in control.
Zauvek roared in anger and moved to unleash his frustration.
The demons saw the approaching adversary and began their assault on the lone individual. Flyers wove through the air and dived with folded wings. Cloven-hoofed warriors charged the old man with seething rage.
Zauvek lifted his staff at the beasts, and several went flying in reaction to the attack. Another attack rose in the opposite direction, and another small wave of demons lifted off the ground and took flight.
He lifted his staff overhead, and an invisible wall met several flyers as they collided with its surface, crushing their small forms like folding paper.
Ten-legged arachnid demons flooded the area and surrounded Zauvek on all sides. They raced in and clawed at the fallen angel’s legs and back.
Zauvek spun and struck demon after demon as quickly as he could. Their numbers were accumulating and swelling around him.
He could tell he was losing, and soon they would overwhelm his position.
He brought his staff down lengthwise before him, and a wide swath of demons were crushed before him under a wave of spiritual force. All that were in the force’s way were killed instantly. He attacked a second time in the same fashion and laid waste to another large band of evil beings.
The evil horde quickly refilled the decimated areas and surged forth in renewed vigor.
He swung his staff over and over, smashing and throwing demons to their deaths, dozens at a time, but it was not enough. Their numbers continued to grow and within minutes overtook his position. They clawed him, and he yelled in pain.
Suddenly, an intense light burst in the sky and lit the entire atmosphere in a flash of blinding brilliance. A second later, after his eyes had adjusted, a streak of light blazed through the sky, and a high-pitched scream of atmosphere being torn apart trailed the light as it impaled the ground between Zauvek and the seal.
The ground shook violently. A great shock wave sped outward from the impact site and threw everyone yards away in every direction.
Zauvek tumbled, and evil creatures raged as their bodies succumbed to the unbearable wave of force.
Once they settled, they all looked toward the object that had struck the world and sundered the area. The dust and ash settled around the massive glowing being.
A fifteen-foot-tall archangel kneeled at the epicenter of the impact with a holy, white-flamed scythe resting on the back of his neck. The righteous being slowly rose to his full height and took his holy scythe in hand. His great white wings flapped, and he pushed off the ground into a low hover above the landscape.
He turned around to view Zauvek, and holy-fire eyes gazed down on the fallen angel. The lightning skin flowed in beauty but caused terror. A bright halo hovered above the archangel’s head.
The archangel angled his scythe behind him and threw its golden pole forward as its fiery white blade
ripped through the air. The weapon spun violently toward Zauvek and tore into the evil creatures to his right. The righteous blade slashed into the demons like melted butter and pierced the ground beyond, barely missing Zauvek.
Zauvek blinked, and the archangel vanished from view. He heard a collision behind him and turned to witness the archangel ripping the scythe out of the ground. The massive archangel spun his weapon in unyielding fury, cleaving all forms of evil in every direction.
The demons screeched and howled as they died beneath the heavenly warrior’s onslaught. Creatures tried to flee, but they did not get far before the white fire ended their short lives in this mortal world.
The angel’s speed was unmatched and his fury unrivaled. His dominion was absolute, and he claimed the area under divine intervention. Not one evil soul was able to flee to safety.
Zauvek watched in fear as he hoped his own life was not forfeit because of his failure to stop the seal. He silently begged for the Divine One to spare his life and provide him time to correct what he had done. As he watched the archangel deliver divine judgment on all evil in sight and those still emerging from the seal, he dropped to his knees and whispered his pleas.
“I am sorry. Please give me time to right my wrongs. I’ve done evil, and I am remorseful of my actions. Please forgive me,” Zauvek whispered into the air.
“Zauvek Syk Serce.” A deep, righteous voice spoke to him.
He looked up and saw the archangel hovering before him, wings flapping and scythe sizzling the air.
“Please, spare me. I beg you,” Zauvek said.
“Find Razbijen and return him to righteousness,” the archangel decreed.
The archangel spun around and released his scythe. It spun through the air and sliced through a demon newly emerging from the seal. The white blade pierced the cliff near the creature’s descending corpse.
The First Seal Page 3