A Final War

by J D Dench

  Kayla shot up in bed, her heart beating a thousand miles an hour. She reached for the necklace Zae had given her and clung to it for dear life. Matias had his arms around Kayla, and slowly he opened his eyes.

  “Kayla? Did you have the dream?”

  He pulled her closer, and she buried her face into his chest, tears streaming down her face. He didn’t say anything. He only held her there while she let it all out. Her sobs took over the night, and when she had finally gained some sense of control she pulled away and kissed him as hard as she could.

  “I don’t think it was a dream.” Her voice was quiet, and she fought back a second wave of the tears. “Matias, the Palace. It’s in trouble. Deep trouble.”

  She told him everything she had seen and heard. And she told Matias how real it all felt. All the details. Everything the woman said.

  It’s real, Kayla, Lillian said suddenly to Kayla. Her voice was even more sad than usual, her voice cracking as if she had spent hours crying. It’s real.

  “Lillian told me it’s real,” Kayla told Matias. “We need to go tell Liz. Now.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kayla and Matias rushed to find Liz. She was in the main chamber emerging from the tunnel that led to the place she was staying. She stretched and turned toward her friends, but one quick glance at the two of them and Liz was struck with a sense of urgency.

  “Kayla, are you okay?” Liz managed to mutter. The dark circles around Kayla’s eyes must have told Liz that the problem was in Kayla’s mind. “What’s happened? Are we being attacked again?”

  Kayla didn’t say anything. Matias took Liz by the hand and sat her down. Her and Matias sat on the stone floor of the Hole together, Kayla joining by Matias’ side. With a deep breath, Kayla told Liz everything. And though Liz didn’t want to believe Kayla, she knew the woman was telling the truth.

  “We’re going, now!” Liz screamed. She snatched up Frostbite and spotted Leif across the Hole. “You! Get your things, you’re coming with me!”

  “Liz, would you hold on a second?” It was Kayla trying to calm Liz down.

  Liz ignored her and grabbed her things, stowing them in her satchel that she slung over her shoulder. “There’s nothing to discuss.”

  She pushed beside Olap as he wandered around the Hole with his newly appointed chieftains. Silvia emerged from one of the holes in the room, Liz’s shouts catching her attention. And Hanika had been seated in the shadows near the entrance to the Hole.

  Liz walked to the entrance to the Hole and turned to face Kayla and Matias. Behind them were Leif, Silvia, and Olap. To Liz’s side was Hanika. Liz searched all of their faces for a sign of what to expect from each of them.

  “Will you come with me?” she asked simply.

  Nobody replied.

  She took a breath and tried again. “My Kingdom is under attack. Your home, Silvia and Hanika, is under attack and in ruin. We need to go, and we need to fight. We need to protect what is ours, so please come with me!”

  Nobody moved to her side.

  Silvia went to step forward, but Leif grabbed her hand. When she turned to argue with him, he shook his head, his eyes never leaving his sister. He leaned in close to Silvia, close enough for his lips to touch her ear. “She’s not herself. If you go with, we’re all dead.”

  Olap stood beside a dozen Dwarves, but none moved toward her. Olap swallowed hard and looked away, feeling a stone of guilt weighing him down.

  “Liz, listen to what you’re asking us to do,” Kayla responded. “We need to rest and recover to defeat Azzaan. If we go back, we will lose, and the only people that can stop him will be gone.”

  Kayla paused for a moment to let her words sink in. Liz opened her mouth to speak, but Kayla beat her to it. “If we go face an unknown threat, we are essentially walking into a trap. We will be outnumbered. Or worse, Liz. We will die, and Azzaan will win.”

  “She’s right,” Matias added. “If we wait here where we are safe, it’s possible Kayla might have another dream with that woman. And with that dream will come another message. Our best bet is to wait another night before we leave. If we go now, who knows what we will be up against?”

  But Liz was already shaking her head. “Unacceptable. My Palace is in ruins, my people dying, and you want to wait? What happened to you two? What happened to ‘The Chosen Ones’? The ones who ran into the heat of battle with no regard for themselves? What happened to the Kayla and Matias from a year ago, who defeated a Demon right on the front steps of the Palace with no regard for their own safety?”

  Her eyes turned to Kayla, and the coldness in Liz’s gaze froze Kayla to the core. “And what happened to the promise you made Lillian? She told me what you swore. That you would protect all people of the Realm no matter what. What about your own blood, Kayla? What about the Elves screaming out in pain and death right now?!”

  “Shut up!” Olap snarled. All eyes turned to the Dwarf as he stepped forward. “Shut up, Liz. You don’t want to save your Kingdom or your people. You want to save your pride. You cannot save anybody if you are dead!”

  He took a deep breath. Nobody knew which glare was stronger between Liz and Olap. “Wanna go? Go. Go get yourself killed because you refused to wait one more night. See how much good you do your Kingdom.”

  Nobody could believe what the Dwarf had just said to Liz. She offered no reply. Instead, she turned her head and walked away. But not through the entrance to the Hole. She went back to the room she had been staying in and slammed the door hard enough to send an echo through the entire chamber.

  “Are we doing the right thing?” Kayla asked Matias, her voice nearly silent. “Should we be waiting?” Liz’s words had hurt her deep down. Kayla couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about the possibility of disappointing Lillian.

  Matias put his hand on her shoulder. “I sure hope so,” he answered. Kayla could hear the fear in his tone.

  Kayla took the opportunity to check on her friends’ injuries. Olap was doing much better, though he suffered a severe cut to his left arm from his fight against the possessed Dwarves. He had to keep that arm wrapped and could only move it slightly. His mental state was another story. He had hardly slept because he was so busy assisting in the new chain of command and rebuilding of homes. The progress he was making was astounding on such short notice, though, and Kayla thought she could sense Olap actually enjoying himself.

  Leif and Silvia had healed extremely well. Leif had a scar on his cheek, but other than that he looked brand new. It was from the medical herbs he carried with him. He taught Silvia and Olap how to use them, and soon Leif was a part time medic. He woke up, went out to help Dwarves heal with his assistant Silvia, and then came back and rested up.

  Hanika had a few cuts on her face that wouldn’t quite heal, but all the cuts along her arms and chest were healing up nicely. She hadn’t spoken a word since the fight. The last two days, she went out when the sun came up and returned when the sun went down. She ate when she woke up and before she went to sleep. The only person she spoke to was Kayla. Once. And that was a minimal conversation at best. Ti’a’s weapon never left the Elf’s side.

  Matias and Kayla were healed up, but their muscles were still extremely sore. They had come into this world and hit the ground running. They captured Golvannor, fought Galruman and his minions nearly to their deaths, and walked to the Dwarven Kingdom to fight Rezuman with minimal breaks to just barely keep them alive. The two of them had forgotten how much energy this world took from them.

  They returned to their room and climbed into bed, even though morning had only begun. Neither of them said a word. They let the silent room take over as they relaxed their muscles, only moving when Liz entered the room holding two stone cups of tea. They each drank their tea with a smile, the herbs instantly kicking in and relaxing their muscles.

  “I’m sorry,” Liz muttered as they drank. “I just…I feel like I’ve let my people down. I’ve let…” She looked to a corner of the room as she sat d
own on the bed. “I’ve let Lotesta down. She trusted me. She ran the Kingdom after Rizza died, since I wouldn’t do anything. She should have been the true ruler. She had stuck by my side for everything. And now…”

  Kayla sat up and pulled Liz into a hug, her hand rubbing along the Elf’s back. “It’s too late to do anything for her, Liz. All we can do now is find her killer and avenge her. We will avenge everybody, Liz. That is what I promised Lillian. That I would fight for everybody. Not protect them all. Promising to protect everybody is an impossible promise.”

  That night, Kayla fell asleep feeling more relaxed than she had in a long time. A very long time. Even in her apartment she never slept this soundly. But her dreams were not peaceful. She was stuck staring at the Palace. She was unable to wake up, so she had to wander the destroyed halls once more.

  She felt a pull dragging her to the Chamber of Heroes. Once she stepped inside, a gut feeling led her to the bookcase. It already stood open, the Portal standing in its new environment with Ryo leaning over a table and scribbling into a notebook.

  Does that Elf ever sleep? This is probably how Nate was before he died. And why is the Portal here? Did Lotesta have it moved to the only spot she thought was safe?

  The invisible hand grabbed Kayla’s and led her to where she had expected to end up all along. Kayla entered the bathroom and felt the steam smack her in the face. She rubbed her eyes and looked toward the bathtub where she had been attacked a year ago by a woman that had exploded into bits of shadow.

  “Welcome back,” she said with a grin. A wave of her hand and the door shut behind Kayla. “This is my world, you see? I want you here, and you come here.”

  “I killed you,” Kayla growled. She felt the paralyzed feeling of the woman looking at her, but its power was less than it had been before. Has she grown weaker? Or have I grown stronger?

  “No, you only shattered my human form. I had to retreat and build it all over again. Such a hassle.” She moved over in the bathtub and gestured beside her. “Care to join me, beautiful?”

  Kayla sat down on the bench beside the bath, her eyes never leaving the woman’s. “Who are you? What do you want? Why do you haunt me?”

  “So you finally want to get to know me? What a romantic.” She stood out of the bath, the water dripping from her bare flesh. Kayla tried to turn away, but the woman held Kayla’s gaze on her. “Firstly, my name is Dream. At least, that is the name I gave to myself once I learned to wander in the dreams of people. I was a shard of shadow in the Demon Lands with my twin brother, Azzaan. He learned to use his power to manipulate people. I learned to use mine to read inside them. Control them mentally, rather than physically.”

  She walked toward Kayla and took a seat beside her. “But Azzaan cares too much about the people he possesses. It makes him weak. But I’m strong.”

  “But why?” Kayla moved a little away from Dream. “Why do you want us?”

  “The weapons, of course,” she sighed. “You humans are so stupid sometimes. I want to kill you two and take the weapons so I can control everything. But Azzaan thinks he is stronger than me, so I have to let him think the weapons will become his.”

  “You would betray your own brother?”

  “For power? Of course.” Her eyes moved away from Kayla and shifted to the waters of the tub. “Though to be honest with you, Kayla, I want you dead the most. You took my husband away, and with him you took his power. And when you took his power, you took any power I had at the time. And I really did start loving him.

  “So I won’t die until you lose a lover just as I lost mine,” she spat. “Dreams stay with you forever, from the day you are born until the day you die. They linger in the back of your head, but they never go away. They only fade and then return. That’s how I am. I will vanish, but I will reemerge. And I will take your lover. And then, I’ll kill you, but only after you have realized my suffering.”

  Kayla’s eyes met Dream’s. Slowly, Dream’s eyes lowered to the wolf necklace around Kayla’s neck. Her fingers brushed against it. Kayla tried to stop her, but she couldn’t move or speak. “This is my world, girl,” Dream said in a flat tone that didn’t match the woman Kayla had come to know. “I know everything. I know who this necklace is for. I know what it represents.”

  With a tug, the necklace snapped from her neck and fell into the palm of Dream. She closed her hand and licked her lips. “The power. I feel the power rushing into me, Kayla.” Her eyes raised up to Kayla’s once more. She leaned in and kissed Kayla on the cheek, the same exact spot Kayla had been kissed by Zae.

  “I’ll see you in Minicule, my love.”

  And then Kayla woke up. And when she reached for the necklace, it was gone

  Hanika and Silvia were both outside standing watch. Hanika focused on her blade, sharpening it more and more. Meanwhile Silvia was leaning against the wall behind her, dozing slightly. Standing watch was boring, but Liz felt it was necessary after the new threat had shown itself. The night was silent outside the Hole. It was still and only disturbed by the distant cry of a bird. All the animals that had once lived in the Dwarven Lands had retreated when the ashes had been falling. As the ashes vanished throughout the Kingdom, they would return.

  But only once it was safe.

  Leif was on his way through the chamber to talk to Silvia. It was the night he was finally going to confess his feelings for the woman. He hadn’t wanted to for so long. The last woman he had confessed to had broken his heart. That was back in LivenOak, and after that woman he had never learned to trust another Elf again.

  But this Elf was different. Silvia wasn’t the greatest warrior, but she was the first on the battlefield to run to another person’s side and fight alongside them, despite the threat to herself. She didn’t care what happened to her, as long as she was defending people she was happy. And this was the only woman Leif had ever met that would spend as much time as he would helping other people recover from injuries. The last couple of days had taught him that.

  That’s how he knew that she was the one he wanted to tell.

  After the fight, Liz had awarded him with the title Battle Chief, meaning that when he returned to the Elven Kingdom he could have a squad personally trained by him to take on missions. He would be only below the Royal Guardsman, such as Thero and Hanika. In reality, he was the replacement for the recently deceased Thero.

  Hanika wouldn’t look at Leif after the death of Ti’a. He knew he shouldn’t, but he actually felt bad that he wasn’t able to save the woman. Ti’a had never been very close with many people, but he knew how Hanika must have been feeling. He remembered only too well what had happened between him and the lover that broke his heart.

  The outside air was chilly, with a mist blowing in from the North. The Dwarven Kingdom was always dark at night, but it somehow felt even darker with the very few survivors of the entire lands. Only about one quarter of the Dwarven people had survived, meaning that Leif and his team had faced off against three quarters of the entire Kingdom. Silvia and Hanika were sitting a short distance from the entrance to the Hole. Silvia appeared to be asleep, while Hanika was preparing for any attacks with her sword. The nun-chucks hung at her side, only stirred by the occasional wind.

  He walked up to them and cleared his throat to get their attention. “Can I speak to Silvia alone, Hanika?” he asked.

  Hanika looked up at him, and he recognized the pain in her eyes. It reflected the same pain that he carried in his eyes for so long. But she saw something different in his gaze. The same look she saw in the eyes of Ti’a every time they spoke in their silent language nobody else knew. With a small, grim smile, and a small shake of her head, she stood and wandered away toward the entrance to the Hole.

  “Good luck,” she muttered as she walked by him.

  Silvia was half-awake when Leif sat down beside her. She turned and saw him, and as if by some instinct she leaned her head against his shoulder, nuzzling into him. “What are you doing here?” she asked with a sigh. He l
ooked down and saw her sparkling eyes looking back up at him.

  “It’s a beautiful night,” he answered after a pause. “I thought I’d go for a stroll. See how you’re all doing.”

  Stop being stupid and tell her! he scolded himself.

  “But there’s something I need to tell you.”

  “Mm-hmm,” she answered, her eyes never leaving his. “And what is that?”

  He took a sharp breath to finally spill his heart out to her. But the words never came. He was interrupted by a sudden shaking in the ground. It was a small tremor at first, but it became a large quake that shifted the ashes just outside their view.

  Silvia fell off of where she was sitting into the piles of ashes. Rolling to her knees, she climbed back to her feet. Ashes were falling into the ground, leaving a smokescreen in its wake. Slowly, the spot were the ashes fell grew into a large hole in the ground. The hole stretched at least twenty feet in every direction. After an eternity, the ashes stopped spilling into the hole.

  “What is that?” Silvia asked.

  A wicked and dark laugh filled the nighttime air. A blackness even darker than the nighttime sky spilled from the hole and consumed everything around it. The hole in the ground vanished in the darkness as it seemed to grow into the air. From what Leif saw, he could tell there were two forms of this strange darkness escaping from the ground. One was like a mist, raising into the air. The other was a dark liquid that attached to a figure.

  With a swipe of its hand, the mist split apart from in front of the creature. The figure floated slowly to the ground, its strong legs pushing into the ground hard. The strong legs led to a slim, powerful body, which connected to two arms that were equally muscular. And while everything the Elves could see was made of darkness, the ends of the creature’s hands seemed to harden from the dark liquid into sharp figures. Leif had the impression the Demon had swords connected to its upper limbs. Five sharp spikes stuck out from the creature’s chest. Six more grew from its back. Two large spikes stretch to the sky from the top of its head, and under them were three glowing red eyes that burned through all of humanity in a single gaze.