by Noah Michael
The Queen exited the room, with Barrant following close beside her. Maximus followed quickly behind. The door the Queen had walked through was guarded by two doormen.
“I am with them,” he said to the doormen.
“No, you’re not,” they answered.
Maximus looked him deep in the eyes. “Yes. I am.”
The men moved aside.
Maximus quietly followed the Queen up the steps, through another hallway, and into another staircase. This time, they headed down. At a dead end, the Queen pounded on the wall four times. The wall swung open. Maximus sprinted down the steps, barely managing to dive through as the wall swung shut.
A sound was playing in the background as he stood in the pitch-black room. Maximus recognized the music. He heard the click of the queen’s shoes as she walked in a pattern around the room, lighting up little squares on the floor as she did. One of the walls glowed slightly. The Queen walked over to the wall and entered a code into the code-panel. The wall opened, and she walked out of the room, followed by Barrant. As the door closed, Maximus removed his watch and slid it towards the door. The door closed on the watch, leaving it open a crack. He peered through the crack.
The Queen’s face was somber. “Elasia. It is time.”
“Yes mother.”
Barrant and another man grabbed the princess.
“Let’s go.” The Queen walked over to wall on the left, punched in the correct combination on the code panel, and the doors opened. She walked through, followed by the two men and the princess. The doors closed.
◆◆◆
Raiden scrambled out from under the bed, heart racing. He tried to memorize the code she’d pushed, but there were too many figures. He banged his fist against the wall.
“I’m worthless! You win, Maximus! I’m nothing without you! I don’t have super cool reading powers, I can’t shatter brick walls, and I can’t jump into my Shadow. You happy now!?”
“I would be much happier if you were to help me open this door. It’s awfully dark in here.”
Raiden turned toward the door.
“Maximus? Is that you? Did you, I mean, you didn’t-”
“Just open the door.”
Easier said than done. That door was heavy, and it wanted to close. Raiden grabbed the piano bench and used it as a wedge. It wasn’t easy, and Maximus needed to help with his swords, but they cracked the door open just enough for Maximus to fit through.
“How did you find me?”
“How did you get here?”
“I was locked outside because YOU LEFT ME BEHIND!”
“I did not notice your absence.”
“What do you mean you didn’t notice my absence!? What if I’d been kidnapped!?”
“But you were not kidnapped.”
“Ahhh! Whatever! Let’s just save that princess!”
“The Queen intends to kill her.”
“Yes, I know that the queen intends to kill her. I knew that before you did! She is being fed to some kind of beast and if we save her, she can lead us to the Shadows and the School of Socrates! How is that for helpful!?”
“I commend you for your work, Raiden, I truly do. If I did not, I would have left you behind a long time ago. But please, do not rise to anger. It is the last thing we need right now. If our army of two men cannot unite, then how do we stand a chance?”
It’s not like we stand a chance anyway, Raiden thought to himself.
“If you think like that we don’t,” Maximus said.
“I hate that you read minds.” Raiden walked over to the code on the wall.
“I tried to catch the pattern she pressed, but I couldn’t follow.”
Maximus walked over to the code and punched in a pattern of notes opening the wall.
“How did you do that?”
“I had a view of her face as she pressed the code.”
The door led to another spiral staircase. The stones were cold and moldy, ancient and unkempt. Spiders and cobwebs hung all over the grimy walls. They ran down the steps. The deeper they went, the darker it became.
“Can I have one of your swords? I don’t have anything to fight with,” Raiden asked as they ran.
“We will find you something. If I’m not mistaken, the Queen’s guards were armed.”
Hissing noises rose out of the darkness, growing louder as they descended.
“What kind of mythical beast makes that sound?”
“The mythical beasts you humans believe in do not truly exist in our world.”
“Then what do you think is down there?”
“It could be one of many things. Perhaps a powerful Reader who’s convinced the queen he is a beast. Perhaps a ferocious invention by a Coder. There is no way to know until we get there. No matter what manner of beast it is, we shall slay it.”
Maximus’s words didn’t calm Raiden much. The fear of failing again hung too heavily over his head.
“Slow your stride, we are approaching the bottom.” They must have gone down at least a hundred flights of stairs. The hissing was very loud now, the staircase pitch black and the stairs were wet and moldy. Water dripped down from the ceiling, and the air smelled like fester and decay. Like death. The air was slightly green, void of oxygen. Raiden and Maximus struggled to breathe. Empty torch holders filled the walls. Their flames had been extinguished. The hissing grew louder. The staircase led to a doorway.
The door was open. “Are you ready?” Maximus asked.
“Let’s go.” There were two small, dimly lit torches, each held by one of the Queen’s two guards. Barrant’s face was very pale, his expression cold as stone.
“You should not have come here.” The room was littered with bodies. They were shriveled up, wrinkled, decayed. Their eyes were colorless. Their skin had turned black. Some of them crawled slowly towards him, helpless and hungry, void of life. Most lay still.
Raiden looked at Maximus. “Please tell me you know what beast can do this.”
Maximus did not answer. The guards raised their weapons. Maximus’s mind raced as he read his opponents’ intentions and weaknesses.
One guard fired. Maximus rolled over his right shoulder and pushed off swiftly, grabbing his swords from his back. Another shot, just milliseconds behind him. He swung his swords, slicing the man’s right leg with crossed blades. The man cried out and fell to the ground. Maximus turned towards Barrant, the man’s weapon still pointed at Raiden. “Stop!” Maximus demanded.
“Please, don’t make me do this! You are our honored guests! You were not supposed to be here!”
Maximus spoke, his voice deep and hypnotizing. “Barrant.”
Barrant didn’t react.
“Barrant. Look at me.” Barrant turned his face slowly towards Maximus. Maximus dug deep, extracting all the information he needed from Barrant’s eyes. “Barrant. You do not want to shoot us. You are a peaceful man. You enjoy the simple things. Art. Music. Love. That is what brought you here in the first place. Love cannot be captured by your brush on the canvas. It captures you and exploits every one of your emotions. You fell in love with the Queen. You grew up with her. You waited your entire life, hoping she would choose you on the day of her becoming. But she did not choose you, did she?”
“Stop it! It was not her choice! Please, stop...” A tear ran down Barrant’s face.
“Is that what she told you? She told you it was up to her mother. Barrant, you are a wise man. You know the truth. She broke your heart. Yet you still clung to the hope that maybe, somehow, someday, you would be with her. When King Felix passed away, what did she do? She pledged never to marry again. She broke your heart again. You let the Queen ruin your life. Yet you continue to serve her. You are weak.
“I wanted to stop!” Tears streamed down Barrant’s face.
“You wanted to, but you couldn’t. You couldn’t break past your love for her. You let her ruin your life.” Barrant fell to his knees, face in his hands. “Do not let her ruin another one. Her daughter is an innocen
t, peaceful, kind soul, just like you were. You failed yourself. But you have a chance to make it right. A chance to be a hero! Let us pass to meet the beast...”
Barrant took his hands off his face. His fear replaced by fiery determination. “We will save the princess! No matter what it costs us. I will not let another suffer the way I suffered!”
Raiden turned to Maximus. “I think he means he’s coming with us.”
“Sometimes people misunderstand me. No matter. We could use a third. Here,” Maximus reached to the floor, taking the gun from the guard who lay groaning on the floor. “You can use this one.” He threw the gun to Raiden. It didn’t look like any gun he’d ever seen. “How does it work?”
“You point and pull the trigger.”
“Jeez, thanks.” Raiden felt a slimy hand grasping his ankle. He looked down into the eye sockets of a black, decaying, withered face “Help...help...” it hissed at him. Raiden screamed and, without thinking, shot the thing with four blasts from his gun.
“See?” Maximus said, “Point and shoot.”
“Let’s just get this over with.”
“This way. Follow me.” Barant led them through the fog. “She went through this door.”
“Do you know anything about the beast we are about to face?” Raiden asked.
“The Queen told me very little, only that what she was about to do to her daughter was for the good of the tribe. It is a sacrifice the royal family has made every generation since the fall of the Guardians, to keep the beast from destroying our village and killing us all.”
“Does that give you any clue of what it is?” Raiden asked Maximus.
“No. I know of no Enlai or beast that can live that long and do this.” Maximus opened the door and Raiden bent down and looked in from lower down the crack. The room was circular, shrouded in a deep mist. An array of large lit torches lined the walls. The room had no windows. No exits. No ceiling, only an endlessly deep crevice. The Queen stood in the middle of the room, grasping Elasia tightly by the arm. The princess’s eyes shone with fear. The queen began to speak.
“I hold before you a tribute, on behalf of my city, as is custom. The deal shall hold for the lives of my people, as it did for my mother, when she brought my own sister forth.” A tear dropped down her cheek. “The life of my child for the lives of my people.”
Raiden struggled to catch a glimpse of the monster. It was hard to see through the crack in the door. A shadow moved at the end of the room. Chills ran down Raiden’s spine. It was a woman. Her face was deathly pale. Her cheeks were narrow, her bony figure was adorned by a tattered dress. Her long hair and lips were black as night. Her eyes were dark grey and void of emotion. Slowly she moved in on her prey. She was weak. She was hungry. She hissed.
The princess’s face was white with horror. The woman slowly raised her arm and pointed it at Elasia. She took a deep, hissing breath. Elasia screamed as she floated towards the woman.
Raiden turned to Maximus, “We need to do something!”
“Patience. I have yet to come up with a plan.”
Elasia floated closer and closer, until they were almost face to face. The woman placed her hand over Elasia’s heart. “Mother!”
The Queen looked away and shut her eyes.
The woman’s arm started glowing with black energy. Elasia shrieked and went limp. A bit of color filled into the woman’s empty eyes. Her skin began to smoothen, her lips reddened.
“That’s it! Enough!” Raiden smashed the door open and pointed his weapon at the woman’s feet. He fired three blasts and the woman. She shrieked and dropped Elasia to the floor.
“What have you done!?” the Queen shouted, her eyes wide.
Raiden aimed his gun again, this time at the woman’s face.
“No!!” The Queen shielded her from Raiden with her own body.
“What are you doing?” Raiden shouted, “I’m trying to save your daughter!”
“You have no idea what you are trying to do! It is impossible! You are going to kill us all! You cannot stop the-” The Queen’s words were cut short as she began to choke. A ghastly, clawed hand tore its way through her chest, impaling her. Raiden watched in horror as the Queen’s face shriveled, her skin turning pale, her eyes black.
“You betrayed your promise!” the woman shrieked, her voice raspy, hissing, cold as ice. “And now your people shall suffer!”
The Queen fell to the floor, her eyes black, her body limp and lifeless. The woman turned to Raiden and shot forth her arm. The gun spun from his grasp, smashing into the wall and breaking. “Maximus!”
A sword flew from the door, piercing the woman’s stomach. As she screamed, Maximus ran into the room, followed by Barrant.
“We have to grab the princess and run! She is too powerful!”
“We can’t! She will kill everyone!” Barrant released a barrage of blasts from his gun. The woman lifted her arm and lasers froze just inches from her body. With a deep, raspy breath, she pulled the blade out from her stomach. There was no blood.
The lasers shot backwards towards Barrant.
“No!!” Barrant fell back, riddled with burns. The gun fell from his hands.
The woman turned her head towards Maximus. He tried to read her face but could not get a thing. She had no soul, no emotion. Just hunger.
Maximus analyzed her physical features and movements, hoping to find something he could use.
She is playing defensively, waiting to counter attack or dodge. She does not want to kill us. She wants to wear us out, then devour us. She will try to hit me with a torch if I attempt a charge. I can dodge it, but that line of attack is unlikely to work for certain.
He charged sword in hand. The expected torch shot towards Maximus. He dodged, and swung his sword at the woman’s head, but his sword swiped only air as the woman flew to the other side of the room. “It is useless to fight me. Give in. Feed me.”
The woman rushed Raiden but Barrant sat up, screaming and fired wildly at the woman. Raiden used the distraction to grab Maximus’s fallen sword. The woman focused on Barrant, squeezing her fingers choking him from afar and sending him back to the floor. Maximus and Raiden pounced, swords raised over their heads, but she was too quick.
“No!” Elasia had woken up. The woman floated towards her.
“Stop!” Maximus commanded. The woman flew towards him, hands forward, shrieking. Just before she reached him, Maximus dropped, slashing her legs. Her arm lifted, she sent him flying towards another wall. He landed on the wall feet first and pushed off, launching himself back at her like a bullet. But the woman sent him back with a flick of her wrist. This time, she summoned his sword to her hand like a magnet. She walked slowly towards Maximus, wielding the sword like a dagger as he fell to the floor. His breathing was heavy.
Raiden watched in horror. It was all up to him. He needed to do something.
But what can I do? I’m just human! I’m way out of my league.
Maximus was looking at him. “Raiden,” He managed to choke out. “Raiden, I see your thoughts. You cannot lose hope—” Maximus rose up into the air as the woman pinned him hard against the wall.
“The night your father was killed, a man came to save you. It was me, Raiden. My father came to me in a dream. He told me to be there, at that exact moment, to save the future of my people. At first, I’d thought it had been a mistake, but it was not. It was you, Raiden. You were chosen for a reason!”
Maximus shouted with all his remaining strength. “I did not believe in you at first, but I do now! You can beat her!”
Elasia looked up at Raiden. “We have a deal!” she cried out.
Raiden lifted his blade. Gil’s advice rang through his head.
Each being is built perfectly with balanced strengths and weaknesses, even humans. It is something the Enlai have never understood. I don’t want you to learn more about yourself and who you truly are only to regret having left that person behind. You already have the potential to do great things.
“Hey!” He stood tall and strong. “Get your filthy hands off my friend!”
The woman turned her head, snarling at Raiden. He screamed as he charged, sword raised. He dove, holding his sword out in front of him. She shrieked, flipping her hands upwards and sending Raiden flying. He flew up through the hole in the ceiling and the sword shot out of his hands and landed vertically on the floor. She wanted to smash him down onto his sword and impale him. He struggled, pulling on the rocks around him, trying to break her hold on him, but she was too strong. Raiden had an idea. He grabbed onto a large rock, hugging it with all his remaining strength as the woman pulled him down. The wall began to crack.
The rock dislodged, and Raiden began accelerating toward the sword on the floor, holding the rock out in front of him. Just before he was pulled out of the hole in the ceiling, he kicked off with his feet, redirecting his fall from the sword towards the woman.
He screamed with fury as he swung the rock with his arms, smashing it into the woman’s head before colliding with her. The two of them crashed to the floor. They lay silent, unmoving.
An arm moved.
Raiden struggled, pulling himself up onto his knees, and then to his feet. He limped towards his sword. The woman stood up, hands on her head, shrieking in pain. Raiden grasped the sword and limped back towards the woman. She opened one eye, slowly raising her left arm.
Before she could attack, Raiden struck, his sword piercing the woman’s heart. Black tears fell from her eyes. Raiden dropped the sword. He’d done it.
Her skin turned a healthy shade of beige. Her eyes turned green, her lips red. She gasped for breath. Blood began to drip from her chest. She was no beast. She was a woman. She looked up at Raiden, choking for breath.
“Who are you? What did this to you?”
She opened her mouth, trying to speak out her last words. “Beware-the...”
She stopped, unable to finish. Raiden put his hands on her shoulders. “Beware of what!?”
The woman looked up at him, eyes widened, filled with fear. “The Decrepit.” And she died. Raiden stood up, head spinning.
