Saving The Dark Side Book 2: The Harbingers

by Joseph Paradis

  Attracted to the flashing sparks, insects fluttered about the crabs’ dense swarms. The crabs chattered with excitement at the arrival of the bugs, but otherwise did not react. Cole bobbed closer to Chiron, no longer able to contain the questions boiling up inside him.

  Chiron silenced him with a stern look, pointing towards the cracks in the ceiling. “Watch.”

  Cole clamped his mouth shut.

  A flapping noise came from the ceiling, followed by a flock of bat-like creatures pouring down from the holes. The creatures broke Oberon’s light as they chased after the insects. Cole’s eyes sharpened as he zoomed in as far as he could. The flying creatures were not bats at all, but winged lizards dancing madly as they snapped at the bugs.

  A thunderous crack split the air. One of the crabs emitted a violent purple explosion from its horn. A lizard fell limp, caught in a pair of outstretched claws. The tiny hunter charged through its fellows, carrying the lizard like a trophy before disappearing through a dark hole.

  The lizards dispersed briefly, but the fat cloud of insects was too tempting. A few seconds later another lizard fell in a purple explosion, caught by the waiting claws of another crab. Cole deadened his hearing after he caught a permanent ringing in his left ear. He wondered what sort of spell the crabs might be using against the lizards, guessing at how he himself might create such a force. Cole had become adept at transferring heat from one object to another, albeit in a slow, methodic manner. However, these crabs were creating powerful fireballs that rivaled even Valen’s and Lileth’s talents. How could mere crustaceans conjure such explosive fire?

  After a half hour the lizards dispersed as the crabs’ supply of insects dwindled. Chiron eventually nudged Cole and gave him a patient nod, indicating the end of the lesson.

  “Why don’t we go find a comfy spot to reflect on what we just learned,” Chiron said, gliding back out of the chamber. Cole propelled himself through the murky water with his Wisdom.

  Outside the cave, Chiron led him up a jagged wall of rock to the roof of the cave, which was thankfully covered in a bed of cushy blue moss. They stopped at a flat spot nestled just above the chamber they’d just vacated. A moment later a much smaller flock of lizards swirled up from holes in the moss, chirping and chasing each other towards the forest of the mainland. When their flapping and squeaking faded, Chiron sat himself cross legged, drawing his now mossy cape around himself like a blanket.

  “Can I ask questions now?” Cole blurted before Chiron could get too comfortable.

  “Oh I suppose so,” he said as he pulled his cape tighter. “Let’s have them.”

  “How is it that the crabs can use magic?” Cole asked, peeking down a hole. “I thought only intelligent creatures could wield it.”

  “Nothing you witnessed in the cave involved magic,” Chiron said.

  Cole gave him a sideways grin. “Not even your little walking-on-water trick?”

  “You caught me,” Chiron sighed. “I reserved a bit of hope that you’d figure that trick out on your own, but that is a lesson for another time. Would you like to know how the candle crabs put on such a lovely show for us?”

  Cole plopped into the spongy moss, casting a spell to draw heat into himself. Steam rose in swirling wisps from his wet clothes. “I find it hard to believe that those little bombs were just crabs being crabs. But please, enlighten me.”

  “The funny thing about nature’s magic is that it exists whether believed or not. Do you remember what the crabs were doing before their prey joined us?” Chiron asked, raising a winged eyebrow.

  Cole peered down the nearest hole, then back to Chiron. “They were chewing up the walls, weren’t they?”

  “They were,” Chiron replied with a nod. “Can you think of why the crabs would eat something of no nutritional value?”

  “Nervous habit?” Cole guessed.

  Chiron’s hand slid from his mossy cape and dug into the rock below the moss, wriggling a tiny piece loose. He swirled another finger above the chip. The rock vibrated and shrank, releasing a cloud of gas that smelled horribly like the rancid eggs from the chamber below. Chiron then yanked a handful of moss from his side, wringing a few drops of water onto the rock. The pebble sizzled, then exploded in a flash of pale violet, startling Cole.

  Chiron rubbed his hands together, brushing off the ashes. “The candle crabs were eating the walls, which are leaden with a substance called arcanite, or to use its proper chemical name, potassium sulfate. The crabs ingest the compound, and through their own biological systems, isolate the potassium into their horns. The potassium is then mixed with water and weaponized for use against their prey. The remaining sulfur is expelled in gaseous form, treating us with that pleasant, eggy aroma.”

  “I’m starting to understand why chemistry is so important to Wisdom,” Cole said with a grin. He felt as if he’d taken a tiny step closer to understanding Wisdom. “If a crab can learn how to turn rocks into bombs, then I ought to be able to turn wood into gold, right?”

  “The path of Wisdom can be perilous,” Chiron warned. “In the wrong hands, an intimate knowledge of potassium can devastate entire legions with a well-placed spell.”

  Cole perked up. “How so? Those explosions were so small. Wouldn’t that take a huge amount of…what was it, arcanite?”

  “Potassium is a common element that permeates much of our food as well as our bodies.” Chiron’s voice dropped to a grave tone. “Our bodies are comprised in no small part of water. With the right twist of thought…” He squeezed more water onto the rock chip, producing a series of crackling explosions.

  • • • •

  With creeping profundity life began to take on a sense of timelessness for Cole. Without the need for sleep, the passing of hours held no significance to him. He simply lived from one moment to the next. His time piece lay forgotten at the bottom of his rucksack, unnecessary since he never had appointments to be punctual for. His meals were replaced by a quick snack of blackstout fruit, which nourished him for days on end. He made infrequent trips to his tree on the short breaks that Chiron demanded he take, but Cole would only use his room to bathe and change before heading back out again. His bed had become a shelf for storing jars of various metals, salts, and oils he would experiment with on his time off. When his experiments overflowed onto the floor, he persuaded Chiron to show him how to shape plants with Wisdom and Passion. Every wall from ceiling to floor lined themselves with cubbies and shelves before long. Cole even gave himself a cozy loft in his apartment.

  As Cole suspected, Chiron had also relieved himself of the need for sleep. He kept up with Cole for weeks on end, not even pausing to eat when Cole’s stomach squelched for another blackstout. Cole made a game of trying to catch him in some mundane act, but the elder drove on ceaselessly like some ancient ghost, never sleeping, never eating. Cole couldn’t remember if he ever saw his Master blink, let alone scratch his nose. Chiron rarely showed interest in topics outside of Cole’s education. They only stopped when he insisted Cole’s overloaded mind take a break, or when Chiron made abrupt trips by himself to aid in a nearby battle. Cole stopped asking to join Chiron after his third trip, leaving his Rage aching and restless. They had yet to practice with the red magic.

  Cole’s education broadened over the passing weeks. Though none of it was the flashy spells he expected from one of the Unbound, they did at least cover some basic magic. Chiron gave him a chart of every element that existed naturally on Aeneria, as well as a spell that would allow him to identify them in nature. Cole recognized most of the chart, as it followed the same progression as the periodic table from his science classes.

  To combat the negative effects of his everlasting waking hours, Chiron guided him through a meditation laced with Passion, granting him the boons of a full night’s sleep in minutes. When the soul flies visited, they met with the creatures, attuning themselves to the colors of their individual songs. The process was insightful and invigorating, leaving both parties glowing with a share
d wholesomeness. Unable to remember his last dream, Cole relished the dreams of the soul flies as they leaked into him. With a nudge of Passion he was able to amplify their fantasies and brush away nightmares.

  When not working with magic or diving in books, Chiron took Cole far beyond the borders of The Sill, showing him different landscapes and tricks of every plant and animal along the way. Chiron’s education was unlike anything Cole had experienced. Cole soon realized there was something to gain from observing just about anything, whether it be a competition between shrubs battling for Oberon’s light, or the odd relationship between cave moths and candle crabs. Cole was content with the lectures, though a growing part of him yearned for the fervor of battle. He belonged at the fore of the fight, not mired in meditations and toiling in libraries.

  Though his lessons demanded most of his focus, a portion of Cole’s mind dragged his thoughts to Lileth. He had hoped the time away would make things easier, but she permeated both his mind and his heart, seeping up through the gaps in conscious thought. If even the slightest lull presented itself, his heart would stop and skip a beat, only to return in a fevered tattoo of panicked thought. He felt as if he were sailing through a squall in a too-small boat. Each wave was a widowmaker, crashing over him with precious memories or terrible speculation of what she and Valen might be up to. He found himself spying through Eliza’s eyes, feigning interest in her lessons while catching glimpses of Lileth when he could. He wished there were some way to send a private message to her.

  The next sunrise came and went, bringing Aeneria from the house of Rhunam to the house of Wulfmont. Cole hadn’t expected the month to pass so soon. What troubled him the most was that he still had yet to learn anything to make him any better off against The Three. Where were the roaring firebolts and crackling lightning? Or invisibility and shielding spells? The day came when Cole decided he’d had enough. Cole resolved to demand a more practical exercise from his Master.

  Cole hoisted himself up onto the deck of Chiron’s house, which he found floating atop the pines near the Arts District. The Wisdom Walker sat in his chair, showing no reaction to Cole’s arrival as he gazed up at Oberon.

  “Master, I’m sick of climbing up these trees,” Cole said with stony determination. “Teach me how to fly.”

  As Cole expected, Chiron did not respond for a time, or break his gaze from their rainbow moon. Cole moved and stood in between Chiron’s face and Oberon, forcing the elder to look him in the eye.

  Chiron sighed. “Cole, I have reasons for the pacing of your lessons. A tree that grows too quickly will have its branches cracked by a harsh winter. I have already asked you a number of times, but I will ask it of you again; please trust my judgment.”

  Cole shook his head. “Master, I trust you with my life, but I know what’s out there. You’ve been going out for your little ‘diplomatic assistance’ trips more and more lately. I know what you’re doing. You reek of blood and death every time you return. The Three are gaining ground every day. Would you have me wait until they come knocking at our doors to have me tested?”

  “If it were in my power, you would never face The Three, and I would spend the rest of time teaching you everything there is to know about the universe. Even then I worry you may never learn the value of patience.” He flashed Cole a chastising glare.

  “It’s not impatience that drives me,” Cole said, his voice rising. “Morthain has fallen. Three more Colossi found the city yesterday, each of them even smaller than the one I took down. The fact that I know this means you must have known about it for at least a few days. We could have done something. I could have saved them. Instead, I’ve been here, learning about the lifecycles of plants and fungi.” The harshness of his tone was in no small part fed by the guilt of leaving Milette in Morthain. Not only had he taken her hands, he’d sentenced her to whatever undeath that Sorronis’s priests had brought upon the city. If dreams were still possible, nightmares of her fate would have haunted them.

  “I see you’ve kept yourself busy during your time off. Not only have you been keeping up with current events, but by the looks of it you’ve been keeping up with Roth’s lessons.” Chiron reached up and gave Cole’s upper-arm a squeeze. “You are filling out nicely.”

  Cole shrugged off Chiron’s hand. “Eliza told me about Morthain. And your lessons never come within a mile of Rage. Since you won’t teach me, I’ve been taking matters into my own hands.”

  “And how exactly have you been doing that?” Chiron asked, a glint of amusement in his eye. “I haven’t exactly given you an abundance of free time.”

  “You’ve given me enough,” Cole said defiantly. “I’ve been watching Eliza’s lessons. I pick up what I can in between turning pages, and while running around trying to find your house every day. I pick up what I can, but I can only half-pay attention. Like right now I know they are all practicing aerial combat, but I still have no idea how they summon wings.”

  “I sensed that you’ve been learning more than what I’ve been teaching you, but that doesn’t quite explain how you’ve bulked up so much,” Chiron said, appraising Cole’s shoulders.

  Cole spoke through a grin: “One practical thing I learned was how to manipulate gravity. I’ve been using it for months now to lighten myself. Really came in handy in the beginning when I was too short to climb up your stairs. But now I’ve been using it to make myself heavier, and when you leave I follow along with Roth’s lessons the best I can. My Rage can’t sit still too long.”

  “I was wondering who cleaned out my entire crop of blackstouts. Those are supposed to fuel a strong Aenerian for nearly a week.”

  Cole shrugged. “Well, sometimes I do a week’s worth of work in a day. Don’t worry, I’ll get my own food from now on.”

  “No matter.” Chiron brushed his hand through the air. “Today we will go over Passion’s uses for invigorating plant growth. You’ll have the blackstouts bearing more fruit than you could ever eat, even with your monstrous appetite. Come, I’ll show you now.” Chiron’s cape swished behind him as he made for the edge of the deck.

  Cole didn’t move.

  Chiron paused, speaking without turning. “You are determined?”

  “Master, I had a prisoner. Her name was Milette. I forced her to stay in Morthain, and she’s dead or worse because of me. The first day I came here you told me that I could stay as long as I wanted, that I was free to come and go as I please. If you don’t start teaching me something useful, I’m going to leave and learn it on my own.”

  Chiron was silent for a moment. When he spoke again his voice lost all traces of polite cheeriness. “Follow me then.”

  Chiron floated from the deck. Cole waited to see what direction he flew in before taking the leap himself. As he fell, he guided his descent with Wisdom so that he would miss the buildings below, landing instead on a grassy lawn. Chiron flew with uncharacteristic haste, forcing Cole to delve into his Rage so that he could keep up. He had a feeling where Chiron was leading him.

  As their trail suggested, Cole trotted to a halt at the three trees where he’d had his first lesson with Roth. The middle tree towered over the others, the gratia stone still glowing a pinkish lavender from his contribution.

  Chiron began to disrobe, shedding his tunic and his magical cape, which fell to the grass in a clump of green stalks. He turned, facing Cole with his shirtless body. Cole’s eyed flicked over Chiron, sizing him up. The elder’s body carried no fat, and little muscle, giving him the appearance of a long-distance runner who missed one too many meals. His features were striking, but the most shocking was the scar. The deformity was white and shiny, crawling down his neck, where it stretched as wide as a handprint over his torso before tapering into a neat spiral around his navel. The scar glowed and pulsed, as if touched with lingering magic.

  “Your Rage demands use. Draw your munisica and bring the full weight of it to bear against me. You may use whatever magics and skills you have.” Chiron bent his knees slightly, taking a r
elaxed fighting position as he tied his storm-grey hair back.

  “You want me to fight you?” Cole asked, dumbstruck.

  “Consider this one of Roth’s lessons,” Chiron said, crouching his spindly body even lower. “I want you to try to kill me.”

  Cole felt blood rush to his face. It was uncomfortable as it was unnerving to think of hurting Chiron, but if this was to be one of Roth’s lessons then he wouldn’t hesitate. Cole disrobed, stripping down to just his pants. It seemed unfair that he should wear armor while his opponent fought naked. Cole was as tall as Chiron now, and more than twice as thick with his recent growth. So long as the elder didn’t resort to Wisdom or Passion, Cole thought he might earn an easy victory.

  Balancing between caution and confidence, Cole ran not at Chiron, but at a tree root where his feet would find solid purchase. As he uncorked just a bit of his Rage, the shroud gifted him his wicked blades. He kept his eyes on Chiron, his feet caught the root and he lunged for his Master, one arm outstretched in the shape of a spear. As Cole guessed, Chiron hopped out of the way. The old Wisdom Walker was fast, but Cole had only just begun. Digging into the grass, Cole rounded for another attack. Chiron waited for him, his expression detached and limbs entirely too relaxed. Halfway across the span, Cole summoned more of his Rage, bringing the shroud all the way up his shoulders and upper thighs. This was Cole’s favorite place to be, dancing the line between precise violence and wild bloodlust.

  This time his claws found something, but only a glancing blow, deflected and harmless. The weight of Chiron’s hand against his told him that the attack was expected, simple.

  Instead of allowing his momentum to carry him away, Cole used Wisdom to halt himself inches from Chiron, well within reach. He made another simple knife-jab at Chiron’s ribs. The strike was lightning-quick and would at the very least show Cole what the elder was capable of. A probing attack, as Roth had called it.