by Sadie Anders
After a second or two, I lifted the side, giving it a chance to breathe again. Smoke came billowing out from beneath the bucket. I concentrated, willing the smoke to multiply, to spread around the cavern. I extended my hand, willing a faint breeze to emerge and carry the thick plumes toward the bee women.
I coughed, choking a bit on the smoke, but I told myself that I could breathe, and I imagined the wind that I had harnessed seeping into my lungs, creating fresh air for me to breathe. Maybe it was all in my head, but it seemed to work. I wasn’t struggling to breathe anymore.
My mind pushed the smoke closer toward the seers who were attacking us. As the smoky fumes hit their nostrils, they immediately backed away from attacking the others, sereneness beginning to fall over them. A dreamy look came across each bee woman, and they sat down where they were. Kai grabbed his instrument, understanding, and began playing a tune. It was a combination of the three tunes he had played before, the ones he had apparently created for each of the women.
The frightening women became docile, and then stretched out on the ground. Their eyelids drooped, as they could not stop themselves from becoming tired. The combination of smoke and Kai’s music overpowered them. They couldn’t resist. Each of them fell into a deep sleep on the cave ground, their chests rising and falling slowly.
The Pythia walked over to me. “You have succeeded. You wish to enter the Empyrean.”
It wasn’t a question. She knew the answer already.
“Yes,” I answered anyway. “We wish to obtain the Phos Eos.”
“You wish to obtain it but not keep it. That is a mistake.”
Raphael turned his head towards her sharply.
“Why should we wish to keep it?”
“Items of power should stay where they belong, and should avoid going where they do not. It is not for me to say if the Phos Eos should leave the Empyrean. Perhaps it should not. But if the time has come for it to be found, it should go where its essence resides. There it will be guarded best.”
I had no idea what this meant, but I gathered that she didn’t want anyone else to obtain it.
“Will you help the others who seek it? The ones who are coming after us?” I asked her.
“That is not for me to decide. They prove themselves, or they do not. The rest is up to Apollo. You have proven yourself. You may enter the Empyrean.”
I nodded. “Can you tell us how to get there? Where we need to go to find the Phos Eos?”
The Pythia shook her head. “You have already found your way there. Now, all you need do is continue to show who you truly are. The truth is the key to the Phos Eos. You must continue shedding what is false and seeking what is true. You are already on the path, Alya.”
Alya. She had used my real name. If there was any doubt about this person being a prophetess before, then there certainly was none now. At least, not in my mind.
“When you are ready, I will help you pass into the Empyrean. That vampire must go,” the Pythia said, pointing to Cleon. “The open portal will allow in the light from the Empyrean, and his body and essence would be destroyed forever. I cannot open it until he is gone, for he is not mine to destroy.”
She considered Raphael again. “This one may stay.”
I held my breath, hoping she was right about Raphael’s ability to withstand the rays. If vampires lost not only their bodies, but also their souls, in the light of the Empyrean, then that seemed like too big of a chance to take. I turned to him, a questioning look in my eyes.
He placed his hand on my shoulder, reassuring me. “Everything will be all right. It has to be.”
Raphael and his interminable hope. I would never understand that. Yes, I was operating on a lot of blind faith here, but he always seemed to think that things would work out for the best. I wasn’t so sure.
Cleon handed something to me. His book. Myths and Legends of the Arcadians and Phocians. I opened it up, thumbing through the pages. The cover must have been false, for instead of a printed text, there were only handwritten notes and drawings scrawled on the pages. I looked up at him, confused.
“This is a diary,” I said.
“Yes. I know I cannot come with you, but inside this book is everything I know on the Phos Eos. It may become necessary for you to have. In fact, I fear you may not be able to find the device without it.”
“Thank you,” I said, tucking it into my bag.
“I don’t share this lightly. It is my life’s work. Mine and Tisiphone’s. Be warned. If Heliodor and her people are on the trail for the Phos Eos, then they also have this information, for she will have surely shared it with them. She cannot go to the Empyrean herself.”
I nodded. “We will simply have to beat them there.”
“You must find the Phos Eos and bring it back. I know how to destroy it. I can help you.”
“You actually plan to destroy it?”
He nodded. “Tisiphone cannot have the Phos Eos. Neither can her sisters. If any of the Furies obtain it, then there will be hell on earth.”
His opposition to the Furies surprised me, but perhaps he truly wanted vampires to be free from the device. The Furies had told me that they wanted the Phos Eos so that they could protect all vampires from its use. I believed them at the time, desperately wanting Raphael to be safe, for violence to be avoided, but deep down I always had my reservations, and apparently, so did Cleon. I never knew what to think of those dangerous women, what to believe.
“What do they plan to do with it?”
“I refuse to even utter such things, lest they come to pass. Know that it would be unbearable for all those who stand in their way. It is imperative that you find it.”
“We will do our best,” I said. “Thank you for your help.”
He dipped his head into a small bow. This was the most respectful that Cleon had ever been to me, and I had to admit, I was taken aback. Why he had chosen to be forthcoming now, when he’d had the entire journey to inform me about the Phos Eos, was a bit confusing to me. Maybe he had been assessing me, trying to see if he could trust me with his most precious knowledge. Still, I was grateful for any help, even if it was delayed.
Cleon walked over to the others. “Goodbye, friends, if I may call you that now. I will await your return in Delphi. Be quick, and be safe.” Raphael eyed him with skepticism but then nodded. Kai patted him on the shoulder, and Uncle Julian shook his hand. Cleon turned and ascended up the path from which we had come.
The Pythia pulled back part of her robes, revealing her skin underneath. She drew a long knife from the sash tied around her bare waist and ran it across the center of her palm. A thick pool of blood welled up inside her hand, and it matched the color of her robes. She crossed over to the wall on the far side of the cave, where it appeared that the path ended altogether. Her blood smeared on the light limestone when she placed her palm against the rocks, and she began chanting, nearly inaudibly, a whispered prayer to the mountain itself.
The rock face in front of us began to glow, and the cave wall itself shifted and swirled, transforming into a vortex of energy. Light seeped in through cracks in the surface, blue and gold and white beams escaping, barely able to be contained. A wide gash opened, and a blaze of light poured into the cave, a flash that reminded me of a phosphorous strip being set alight. Temporarily blinded, I held my arm up over my eyes and reached out for Raphael.
I feared for his safety. He could walk in the regular light of day, but this seemed like something different altogether, something untested and dangerous. I found his hand, still solid, still existing. He squeezed mine tightly, and I breathed a sigh of relief. He was okay. He had survived.
The bright flash died down a bit, and my eyes became accommodated to the brilliance. I lowered my arm and stared into the portal, gazing at the land on the other side. I couldn’t quite make out what was awaiting us, as what was beyond was too bright to make out. Still, the time had come for us to venture into the Empyrean.
I felt like I was the one who had t
o lead us into it. It had been my quest, after all, the one assigned to me. Entering the Empyrean was my responsibility, so I had to be first. I turned and looked at the others. Kai continued playing his music, ensuring that the bee seers were still sleeping, giving me time to mentally prepare for stepping into the unknown. For some reason, it felt different than crossing the portal from my world to Asphodel. That was terrifying enough.
This, though.
This was different.
It felt like what awaited beyond was on a different plane, a different existence altogether. I couldn’t tell you why, couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew that the Empyrean was something strange and unknown.
And, like the cold spring by the temple, the only way to face the unknown was to jump in head first.
I set off at a run, crossing the portal into whatever came next.
16
Unlike my other portal experiences, this time I burst into this new realm fully in control and landing on my own two feet. More often than not, I was a tangle of limbs on the ground, with a bruised bum to follow soon after, but this time I had run straight through, coming to a stop slowly, like after crossing the finish line of a foot race.
Bright light flooded over my senses, and I had trouble seeing at first. Soon, I began discerning things more clearly, differentiating the colors of the beams flooding my senses. Blue. Gold. White. It was like the colors of the light spectrum didn’t remain condensed here, like they sometimes separated on their own and bounced around happily. It was a strange feeling, especially after spending so much time in the eternal twilight of Asphodel.
Seconds later, Raphael and Uncle Julian passed through the portal, walking at a normal pace, completely unfazed. It was like they had done this before. I felt a pang of jealousy for those who had grown up in a world in which magic and portals were commonplace. They were able to learn to navigate these things over time, not bumble around like a toddler. At least I was starting to get the hang of it, it seemed.
Raphael stood in the light, his face turned upwards, reveling in it.
“The light,” he said. “It’s wonderful. I….” He was lost for words.
Not only was he immune to the danger of the rays, he seemed to enjoy it. After many lifetimes of skulking in the near darkness of Asphodel, I could only imagine that it was a welcome change.
“You enjoy being in the light?” I asked.
He nodded. “Why do you think I own vineyards in your realm? I love stretching up to the sun as much as the vines do.”
I began to understand a little bit more about why he enjoyed spending most of his time in my world, unlike other vampires. Not only could he tolerate the sunlight, he could forget for a time that he was meant to be a child of the darkness.
A brief time later, Kai passed through the portal backwards, still playing his lyre and walking gracefully over the threshold. When he had passed through, the door to Asphodel contracted, diminishing in size until it was a pinpoint of firelight coming from the cave, and then eventually closed altogether. Only once the portal was fully shut did Kai stop playing his music.
He turned to us, blinking to accommodate his eyes to the bright light. “I had to be sure the seers remained asleep. I doubt they would try to follow us in here, but I couldn’t take the chance.”
Opening his bag, he placed his lyre inside, carefully folding it inside an extra shirt he had.
I looked at Kai curiously. “What you did in the cave with your music. How did you know it would work?”
“The songs are a part of my destiny, as well as part of my past, young Alya.”
It was jolting to hear him call me by my birth name. I wasn’t used to it at all, but somehow, it felt right, like the name I had been using before was false, obscuring the truth about myself.
I was grateful that he had come on the journey with us. “We wouldn’t have gotten through the Corycian Cave without you. Thank you for being here,” I said.
He patted me on the shoulder. “Don’t be too sure. You should give yourself more credit. You’re capable of more than you know.” He smiled playfully. “Although I suppose I did make it a little easier for you.”
I turned away from the portal, looking for Uncle Julian. He was standing a few yards ahead of us, looking out onto the horizon. For the first time, I really took in our surroundings.
We were on a wide plain, empty and vast, with high golden grass bending gently to the breeze. Even though the light in the Empyrean was overpowering, I could not find a singular source. There was no sun in the sky. It was as if the light manifested itself.
The plain sloped gently downward ahead of us. In the distance, miles away, was a city. Towering spires atop futuristic buildings made their outline in the sky.
It was the city in my vision.
I had dreamed of the Empyrean, with its glass-topped structures and prisms of light that pervaded everything.
How had I done that?
Was I a seer?
Or had I been here before?
A strong sense of deja-vu overcame me. I was connected to this place, just as I had been connected to Asphodel. It was a part of me.
Kai walked up next to us, pulling out a wineskin from his satchel. He held it up to the sky, saluting the sun.
“To our successful arrival in the Empyrean. May all of our lights shine brightly here.”
He took a drink of the wine, then passed it around.
“To reaching our destination,” I said, taking a long swig of the liquid. It felt like the light surrounding us was now coursing through my veins, my body warming and calming as the feeling spread.
Raphael and Uncle Julian made their toasts, all of us relieved at arriving here safely. But now, it was time to find what we had come for, and we had to do it before Heliodor and her Artemisia beat us to it.
I thought back to my vision. I felt that the answers to our search were contained in the city ahead, and I was beginning to trust my feelings, not doubt them or dismiss them as unimportant.
I pointed forward. “The city is where we begin.”
The others nodded, and we set out to cross the long plain ahead.
Hours later, we paused to eat lunch. I knew that we had to keep moving forward, but we also had to maintain our strength. Not everyone had the unending stamina of a vampire like Raphael, and we couldn’t try to keep up with him.
We sat on the ground, sharing a dried sausage and some cheese that Kai kept in his bag. I wasn’t sure how he fit all that stuff in there, but I was grateful for the food.
As I chewed on the snack, I looked out toward the horizon. Even though we had been walking for hours, the city still seemed far away. On the other hand, I wasn’t used to traversing wide landscapes on foot. Maybe that was how it seemed when you were trekking through a plain with no trees or anything blocking your view. You thought something was closer than it was, only to find out that you still had a long way to go after all.
Kai chewed on a bite of sausage, a contemplative look on his face. He pointed towards the city in the distance. “You know, I don’t think we’re making any progress here.”
Uncle Julian paused eating and looked in that direction, tilting his head. “You may be right. Perhaps approaching the Illuminated City isn’t about walking towards it. It may be the case that something else entirely is required.”
The Illuminated City. I hadn’t really heard anyone talk about what was in the Empyrean. All I knew was that it was a realm that existed on the edge of Asphodel, both in it and not. Whatever that meant. And the light was dangerous to most vampires. Well, the ones who weren’t Raphael anyways. Still, it seemed like Uncle Julian knew something about this place. I wasn’t sure why that hadn’t occurred to me. I’d spent a lifetime being amazed by all of the things this man had learned. He was like an encyclopedia.
“You know things about the Empyrean? That place is called the Illuminated City?” I asked.
Uncle Julian nodded. “All residents of Asphodel know a bit about other re
alms, but our knowledge is typically piecemeal, akin to what one would know of a place that they’ve merely heard of in passing but have never visited.”
I felt that pang of jealousy again towards those who grew up knowing about these other places, about magic. It was the feeling of something that had been taken away from me, of a childhood that I was robbed of. It probably wasn’t fair, but I was resentful, not to mention that I was still steaming mad at Uncle Julian for what he had done. Posing as me in a message, trying to end things with Raphael. I was sick of being treated like a child. We would have words about his actions when everything was said and done, but now wasn’t the time. We had to stick together, had to keep moving.
I tried to push down my anger again.
“Well, perhaps you’ll decide to share with me what you can piece together, then,” I said, perhaps showing a little more agitation than was warranted.
Uncle Julian looked at me for a long time. He could tell that I was upset with him, and he was trying to figure out why. After a long time, he responded.
“I doubt that I have any useful information for our purposes. If I think of anything, I will tell you straightaway.”
Guarded, as always.
Whatever.
Still, maybe there was someone who could help us, even if he wasn’t here anymore.
Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the journal that Cleon had given me and started flipping through the pages. Handwritten notes were penned in precise script. Drawings were carefully displayed on each page. What had seemed at first glance like random notes and scattered thoughts turned out to be detailed, organized, and precise. This place, this device we were seeking, meant a lot to Cleon. He had devoted quite a bit of himself to it.
