Eric had been smiling since she revealed it and laughed. “Well, it’s extremely nice to meet you, my lady. We have tons of questions for you, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we are elated that you’re here.”
“Wow,” said Jack, still looking at Eric’s hand. “That’s the first time I’ve seen any of you do something like that, the healing or magic.”
Eriana raised an eyebrow at the others. “You’ve been trying?”
“Yes,” admitted Matt, fingering an uneaten spring roll. “I have gotten little to work. Neither has Anna. In my case, it’s partly difficulty remembering the spells, and maybe having none of the ingredients if those are needed. But for Anna and the healing, well, she’s an atheist, so calling on God is a stretch for her. It’s a bit of a sore point, really.” He hesitated. “You know, you’re already a legend to us. Sorry if we’re all staring a bit. Part of me can’t believe you’re here.”
It had been a long time since anyone knew the truth of her identity, or that anyone looked at her with awe, though their gazes weren’t quite that fascinated. They had likely seen amazing things already. She saw respect and maybe some intimidation, though not from Eric. He seemed pragmatic and less impressed. She reassured the techie, “It’s okay.”
Matt continued, “You should know that when we get summoned, everyone thinks we are the four of you.”
She had been wondering about this, even though she did not know how it could have happened. She had seen the surprise on Matt’s face when being summoned. They had clearly been taken more than once, just like her and the others. She knew they had returned the pendant to Stonehenge, unlocking the Earth. But she also knew something had gone wrong long ago and the side effects might be unpredictable. Now she had to confirm the details.
“So you are arriving in a Quest Ring?” she asked, seeing them nod. “The ring is lit up with magic words that fade? And someone has cast the summoning spell. They welcome you as the Ellorian Champions, meaning that this is what they expect, four people.”
Eric said, “All correct.”
“Are you wearing all our clothes? The armor?” She paused. “My amulet?”
“Yes.”
“And it happens each time? That’s interesting.”
“Why?”
“The summoning spell is supposed to outfit us, as it appears to be doing for each of you, but it takes the original item, like my amulet, and makes it disappear from its current location before putting it on me, for example. I arrive with it on even if I was not wearing it before the spell summoned me.”
“That’s what we’re experiencing.”
“Yes, but I have kept the amulet with me since your return to Stonehenge. You have disappeared at least once since then.”
“Twice,” Eric corrected. “No one but us knows about the second one, partly because it was very short. A few minutes.”
She frowned. In their years of quests, she and the others had seldom experienced a quest nearly that short. It usually took hours, if not days, sometimes a week or more. If a quest was so easy that it could be accomplished quickly, the summoning spell would not bring them because others could likely handle it. After all, the Ellorian Champions were the heroes of last resort, brought in when no one else could handle the challenge. Still, a quick quest had happened, and she wanted to know how their second one proved to be that kind.
“Why only a few minutes?” she asked.
Eric said, “Goblins and ogres killed the wizard who summoned us before he could tell us the quest, so we could come back without doing it.”
“Hmm. That happened to us once. They have to tell you within an hour. Less, I think. Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that you’ve been summoned two more times, with one of you having the amulet on your quest, and yet it has not left my side during this time. The Quest Rings appear to have somehow created a duplicate.”
“That is interesting,” commented Matt, looking intrigued, “but I think we already know this, as I have a copy of Soliander’s staff when I’m on a quest. Just to clarify our roles, they think Eric is Andier, and he is wearing his gear. Anna is you. Ryan is Korrin.”
“And you’re Soliander,” she finished. Unable to resist her curiosity any longer, she asked, “You said you’ve seen him. I assume he is twenty years older like me? What of Andier and Korrin?”
Eric interjected, “We haven’t seen or heard a word about the others.”
“As for Soliander,” said Matt, “I don’t think he is twenty years older. I didn’t get a good look, really, but I have some of his memories in me and they include his face in a mirror. No images are past mid to late twenties. I think it’s only been a few years for him, though I’m not sure that makes any sense.”
“Not much does,” Ryan said sourly.
Eriana leaned forward, wondering if far more substitution had occurred than she would have imagined possible. Did they all have shared memories? That could be rather invasive and unsettling. What did Anna know of her life since before arriving in New Zealand? Her thoughts drifted to the troublesome parts of her past that she had never shared with anyone.
She asked, “How could you have his memories?”
Matt looked unsure how to explain and Eric interjected. “I think we need to exchange some history for the answer to make sense, because it’s just going to cause more questions. It will get confusing out of order like that.”
“Yes,” she reluctantly agreed, then offered, “and as much as you have questions about me, I think your situation is more urgent.”
“Do you have a situation going on?” Ryan asked. His eyes went to the hotel room door, beyond which they could sometimes hear people passing by, unaware that three of the famous Stonehenge Four were hiding on its other side. His thoughts went to Anna.
Eriana shook her blonde head, leaning back into the chair again. “No. Only to find out what is happening with all of you and how I can help.”
“No one is after you?” Eric asked.
She cocked an eyebrow. “Not that I know of. I suppose it is possible now, but it wouldn’t be someone from Earth, I don’t think, only one of the many enemies we earned during our quests. You’ve given me something to consider, but no one knows that Erin Jennings of Florida is Eriana of Coreth from the planet Elloria. You are the ones everyone is after right now. And this is partly my fault.”
“What do you mean?”
Eriana sighed, unsure where to begin. Too much history existed, so she focused on what would be useful to them at once, especially if this somehow proved to be their only conversation for a while—or maybe ever. “You went to Stonehenge while Anna had the pendant with her, right?”
“Yes,” answered Ryan, playing with his fork. “We figured that’s involved but only after the first quest, because we saw the poem inside it, the one written in magic words. Matt can read them now. Well, all of us can. Someone cast a spell allowing us to read various languages.”
Jack looked at them jealously. “Kinda wish someone would cast that on me,” he remarked.
Matt smirked. “If you’re nice, and I learn it, maybe I will.”
Eriana knew the lines, even though she had only heard them once. They had become a critical part of her life’s course. She said now to make sure everyone was familiar. They were part of an explanation she sensed she had to give.
Within the jewel magic resides
Creatures, too, and all abide
To keep Earth safe from she who lies
The prison here keeps hope alive
The henge of stone shall set them free
Good and evil, equal be
Undo what’s done and come what may
Risk the price all life could pay
“What does it mean?” Matt asked, leaning forward on the table, eyes intense. “Who is ‘she who lies’?”
Looking concerned, Jack said, “Better question. What is the ‘price all life could pay’?”
Eriana looked away, collecting her thoughts as they waited wi
th naked eagerness. “One thing at a time. You might find this hard to believe… okay, well, maybe not anymore.”
“There’s a lot we’d believe today that we would’ve laughed off a month ago,” observed Eric.
She sighed and helped herself to one beer. It was that kind of tale. “Magic is real on Earth. It is always has been. What you would call fantasy creatures like elves, dwarves, dragons, and more are also real.”
“Then why don’t we see them?” Jack asked. “Are they still here?”
“The quest that brought us to Earth has hidden them from view, you might say.”
“All four of you, right?” Eric asked. “Soliander, Andier, Korrin, and yourself were all here?”
“Yes. We were always summoned as a group and this was no exception.”
“Who summoned you?”
Eriana paused, wondering if they would recognize the name. “Morgana.”
She saw Matt cock an eyebrow before he asked, “As in Merlin and Morgana?”
“That’s the one,” she admitted, pleased that they knew some history.
Matt asked, “You’re saying they were real? That was a thousand years ago, I think.”
“Yes. Historical records are a little thin and people think they are a myth, but they were both real. We met them.” She paused, letting them absorb that. Too much too fast wouldn’t go well.
“So Morgana summoned you. What for?” Matt asked. “She was supposedly a, uh, good character, not evil, though modern TV shows make her out to be evil.”
Pleased with his remarks, she observed, “You seem to know some of this.”
“Yeah, I watch and read a lot of fantasy, even tried to write a book once. Sometimes I get curious about whether someone was real or not and google them. Now I’m really curious what’s real and what isn’t.”
She said, “Well, these modern shows may have been more accurate. We only know what she and Merlin told us. Morgana summoned us to get that pendant and return it to Stonehenge. She is the one ‘who lies’ from Merlin’s poem, the words inside the jewel.”
“I’m guessing there’s some backstory to the quest, like usual,” mused Ryan. He took a swig.
“Yes, and hopefully it isn’t too much to absorb.” She took a sip and dove into it. “The faerie world is where dragons, elves, dwarves, goblins, and more are from on Earth. Magic exists in that world more than on Earth. That world intersects this one at key points, like doorways, and it is at these locations that faerie beings can cross over into this world, and the people of Earth can sometimes, pass into the faerie world.”
“Are these doorways just opened all the time?” Eric asked.
“No. And they are sometimes guarded, and the character of the guardians can differ, of course, meaning obey laws, others not so much. The guards may exist on either side, Earth or there. There are times during the year when the openings are easier to pass through, as if the barriers between worlds are thinner. At other times, it is reversed. We celebrate some of these occasions as holidays, like May Day and Halloween.”
She took another sip, gauging their reactions, which didn’t seem skeptical, so that was good. Eriana continued.
“As you’re likely aware from stories, dwarves and elves are benevolent, despite any personality quirks, and trolls, dark elves, and others are more nefarious. Dragons can be either. There are many more. What the so-called evil ones have in common is that they are often aimless and with little purpose unless they have a leader who encourages cooperation. This is where Morgana comes in.
“Both she and Merlin were half-human, one parent being fae. It is the reason both were so strong in magic, the strongest among humans, anyway. Some saw them as belonging to both worlds. Others to neither. Most humans did not know the truth about them, but fae can tell. From what Merlin told us, he did not approve of Morgana’s growing influence among the so-called evil fae. They were like her, being interested in creating trouble for fun, some turning deadly. That turned humans against the fae world more.”
Matt remarked, “I guess all of it being real is where these stories have come from, and somehow it turned to myth.”
Eriana nodded. “Humans have always been fearful of what they do not understand, and making everything a myth might have eased fears. There were countless stories of humans attacking faerie folk of whatever kind, which caused some like goblins to decide humans are evil. Humans sometimes found these doorways between worlds and built barriers to keep anyone from entering Earth through one, or if the fae did, they would just find themselves imprisoned underground. This is what various mounds found around the world, especially in England, are really for. Each is over a known opening between the worlds. At other times, bolder humans would do a raid into the fae world, killing and even capturing those they found, bringing them back for evil purposes. This included making magic items from the remains after they killed the captured. A war was brewing.”
“I have a question,” began Eric. “You’re saying that faerie folk are from this alternate world, or whatever. Is this true on other worlds?”
“Sort of,” she answered. “It once was, but it appears that on other planets, integrating them was much more complete so that they effectively merged into one. There are sometimes what we think of as leftover magic doorways to supernatural places, or even between non-magical ones.”
“That’s incredible,” said Matt, eyes bright.
Eriana continued, “I’m not sure why, but this merging hadn’t taken place much on Earth when we were brought here, and the quest from our summoning ended it altogether, forcing near total separation of what appears like a natural process everywhere else. I guess that this separation is unnatural.”
Jack asked, “Why did it happen? Was that the quest? To cause this?”
“Basically, yes. At some point, Merlin aligned himself with the more benevolent faerie folk, but some among the elves, dwarves, and others who supported Merlin did not believe the lengths to which Morgana might go until it was too late. Ultimately, as matters escalated, Merlin decided there was only one solution to protect everyone on Earth—a spell to banish all faerie back to their world, drain all magic from the Earth back into the Land of Fae, and seal the doorways.”
Eric remarked ruefully, “That’s one hell of a spell.”
Eriana nodded, amused. “I imagine it was, but Merlin cast it, with the help of other fae, from what he told us. And yet there was a problem with such enormous forces at work. It takes time. And after he cast it, in the week that it would take for all magic to flow from Earth into the fae world, and all the creatures to be pulled there, too, Morgana learned of what Merlin had done. She also learned that there was a key to undoing the spell should that ever need to happen.”
After a moment, Matt guessed, “The pendant.”
Eriana confirmed, “Merlin’s Pendant. It just had to be returned to Stonehenge, the most powerful doorway between the worlds. With that done, magic would resume working on Earth, albeit slowly, the same way it faded slowly, though there’s no telling how quickly it will fully return. It has already been a month since Anna unwittingly brought Merlin’s Pendant to Stonehenge and the spell was undone. Now, the doorways between worlds are opening.”
Eyes intense, Eric asked, “Does that mean we will begin to see fantasy creatures here?”
“Yes, for two reasons. The first is that the ones associated with Earth should arrive once they know the spell is undone. The second is that, with magic not functioning, this world could not be reached by magical means, and all other planets that I’m aware of, like Elloria, could not reach us here. Now they likely can, assuming they know to do so. I don’t know how long it might take for any alien fantasy creatures to arrive here. Or what they might think of this place, with its technology.”
She paused again, giving them time to absorb this. For weeks, she had been running through all of this, rehearsing it in her head and trying to figure out what to reveal when, not because she really wanted to hide things so much as not ov
erwhelm them. They had already seen much themselves, but learning some truths about your world like this could be unsettling. Life was not what they had thought it was.
Ryan turned to Eric. “I think we only told Lorian, on the first quest, where we were from.”
Eriana’s eyebrows rose. She recognized the name, though more than one such elf existed, she was sure. “Lorian from Honyn, near Olliana?”
“Yes,” Eric answered. “That was the first quest. We can get to that in a minute, but we trusted him. He was the one who filled us in on you guys. In fact, almost everything we know is from him.”
That relieved her. They had spent significant time with him, and she liked the elf. “Unless he has changed, and elves seldom do, we can trust him. However, he may not have known to hide your origins.”
“Yeah, why is it important?” Ryan asked, concern on his face.
Not sure she should admit it for fear of worrying them, she said, “I’m only speculating, but if people think you guys are the Ellorian Champions and have been on Earth for years, it may cause visits from both good and bad people. We had a lot of friends. Enemies, too.”
“Like Soliander,” said Matt, frowning. “He knows we are from here. I’m sure of it.”
Eric observed, “But he also knows we aren’t them.”
“True. Not sure how much that will stop him from coming here.”
“Neither do I,” Eriana agreed, keen to see her old friend, but before she lost her train of thought from earlier, she added, “Before I forget, another effect of Merlin’s spell being undone is that the connection to the gods of this world has been restored.”
Ryan leaned forward. “Wait, are you saying that God has not answered prayers in a thousand years because of this, and now He will?”
“Yes, all the gods that people did not invent. There’s no telling which is which, really. Not yet, anyway.”
The Light Bringer: An Epic Fantasy Adventure Novel (The Dragon Gate Series Book 2) Page 22
