by Logan Byrne
“Lexa, don’t start this right now. Go, before I throw you over myself,” Blake said.
“Blake!” I screamed. The polar bear started to charge us. He shifted, faster than I’d ever seen, the polar bear rising on her rear paws as she came down on top of us. Blake grabbed her, his claws pushing outwards as his face distorted and shifted into his werewolf form.
“Lexa, leave now!” he roared, as the polar bear tried to snap at his neck.
“Levio Maximus,” I said, waving my wand around myself, before running up and jumping over the chasm. “Okay, now you!” I called back.
Blake struggled with the polar bear, her weight far too heavy for even a shifter of his strength to hold back, as her teeth inched closer and closer to his exposed neck.
Blake roared so loudly the chasm felt as though it were shifting under us, and he pushed her off, causing the bear to stumble a bit, before turning around and jumping high. “Levio Maximus!” I screamed, the flash of my spell hitting him and slowing his descent as he came down towards the edge of our side.
His feet barely hit the ground. Charlie grabbed him and yanked him back towards us as the bear roared and growled from the other side, backing up and realizing that she didn’t have a chance at getting to us. “It’s over,” Britta said, sighing.
“Somehow, I feel like that isn’t the only bit of adventure we’re going to have today,” Faus said.
13
“Here, right up ahead,” I said, when we’d finally trekked the necessary miles and came upon the place where the wind had taken me in my meditation.
“What’s this?” Faus asked, pointing at a rock that sat exactly where I was taken before.
“No, I’m sure this is it, I know it is. See, that small hill is there, and the mountain, and yes, I know this is it,” I said.
“Okay, well maybe we’re just a little off. It’s probably in this area. You said it was a hole in the ground?” Blake asked.
“Yes, there was a hole, and it was right here,” I said, pointing at the ground. It made no sense to me—there was no sign of a hole anywhere in sight. I knew it was here, and this rock hadn’t been here in my meditation, but how could I tell them that? I looked like an idiot, as if I’d made them slush through the snow for ten miles just to come see a rock sitting in the snow.
“I’m not sure, Lexa,” Britta said, her voice softened.
“I know this is it, guys,” I said, as tears started to well in my eyes.
“Hey, it’s okay, we believe you. Don’t get upset,” Blake said, putting his arms around me and pulling me in.
“It’s late anyway. We can get the camp set up, eat some dinner, and look into it in the morning. How about that?” Faus asked, looking around at the others.
“That’s a great idea, Faus. Britta, let’s get stuff set up,” Charlie said, and the three of them walked about twenty feet away.
“Blake, I know this is it,” I whispered, looking up at him.
“I believe you, Lexa. I seriously do. Maybe it’s hidden here. Was this rock here before?” he asked, pointing to the icy boulder.
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t remember one,” I said, wiping away a couple stray tears.
“Maybe it’s underneath,” he said, before walking over to the boulder and slowly pushing it aside. But there was nothing underneath.
“Maybe my powers just aren’t as strong as I thought they were. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me or something,” I said, my head hanging.
“Hey, we’ll figure it out. Let’s just get some dinner, maybe cuddle up by the fire, and we can all sleep on it. I’m sure we’ll find something in the morning when we’re all rested and ready to go,” Blake said, before we walked over to join the others setting up camp.
I looked back as we walked, shaking my head. I knew that I wasn’t crazy. It was here, I knew it, and I was going to make sure they knew it, too.
I could hardly sleep that night, tossing and turning, as the few dreams I had kept replaying my meditation visions. It was so clear, floating down into the opening, the mountains nearby and the massive cavern underneath the ice.
My eyes jolted open at six in the morning. I quietly put on my winter gear and snuck outside, leaving Blake asleep in the tent.
The fire from last night was extinguished, only the remains of it still visible. I walked over towards the rock, the snow crunching underneath my boots. I looked around it, brushing off the snow, which was at least eight inches thick, as I tried to look for clues.
My fingers slipped as I quickly wiped the snow. The space underneath the boulder definitely wasn’t solid ground. The ground was dirt and grass, and provided a bit of friction against my fingers. This was like ice, no, it was ice!
I brushed the rest of the snow away in a panic, revealing the slightly transparent ice, covering the hole like a glass cover. I knocked on it with my knuckles. It was thick, at least two feet, if I had to guess. I supposed that was why we didn’t break through it. I grabbed a small rock nearby and pounded it into the ice, trying to crack through and break off as much as I could.
“Wait,” I said aloud, standing up and tossing the rock aside. I pulled out my wand, looking at it, before shaking my head. “Why didn’t I just use this?” I mumbled to myself.
I looked back at the camp, seeing nobody had noticed I was out yet, before shaking my head once more. “Time to wake up,” I said, before pointing my wand at the ice and clearing my throat. “Eruptico Maximus,” I incanted, and the flash of orange flew from my wand and exploded the ice.
Chunks of snow and ice filled the air like a storm as the rumble shook the ground around me. “What happened?” Blake yelled, running out of the tent. “Lexa?”
“I heard a bang, is everything okay?” Britta yelled.
“It’s Lexa, she found something,” Blake said.
“Wait, what?” Britta yelled. Everybody ran out in their coats and boots, coming over to me, as I smiled, looking at the exposed hole in the ground that looked exactly like I’d envisioned it.
“Found it,” I said.
“That looks like a long way down,” Faus said, peering over the edge of the hole. It was just like in my vision, as if I’d been teleported into the future to see this very moment when I was meditating.
“There are traps,” Blake said, pointing out some spikes set in the ice. “I wonder why those are there.”
“I guess Merlin wanted to make it difficult for whoever wanted to get down there. He wanted the entire process to be a challenge,” I said.
“You’d think the golems would be enough. Did you see them in your vision?” Charlie asked.
“No, I didn’t. I’m not sure if there are much bigger things down there. When I went in, I was in a giant dome that looked like an arena. I felt as if I were standing in a coliseum made of ice. There was a door, but I couldn’t get to it, just like I told you before,” I said.
“Oh yeah, right. Well, I think we should get dressed and start our descent. I wouldn’t mind making it back to the camp by dark,” Charlie said, rubbing his hands together.
“Let’s eat first. If we’re going to be fighting golems, then we need to have our strength,” Blake said.
I felt nerves in the pit of my stomach, knowing that the end of our mission was finally near. It was one thing searching for the cave, and doing the treks, because I knew it wasn’t time yet. Now the wand was right under my feet, just about, and everything had culminated into this final moment. I was going to go down, get the wand, and never have to feel under Kiren’s control again.
We rested for thirty minutes after eating, Faus saying we needed to rest our stomachs a little in case the golems were waiting for us right when we went down. It was a smart idea. When the time came, I must’ve checked for my wand four times, anxious about misplacing it or leaving it in the tent.
“It will be okay,” Britta said, rubbing my back.
“I know, I’m just nervous,” I said, my breath forming a cloud in front of me as I exhaled deep
ly.
“Okay, how do we do this? We need to trigger those traps,” Blake said.
“I wonder,” Faus said, before grabbing a chunk of ice that had blown up when I opened the hole. He tossed it near the first trap, and it lunged out, the icy spear slamming violently into the opposite side of the opening.
“Yup, I’m glad that’s not me,” Charlie said.
“Maybe we can trigger the traps without actually going down. I wish I had some wood, a stick, but maybe these icicles will do,” Faus said, stroking his chin.
“Wait, I have an idea. Glacio,” Britta said, as she started to craft a long icicle, the same way she’d made our wind-break on the open tundra.
“Brilliant!” Faus said, taking the newly formed stick of ice. He slowly started to stick it down and the traps began to activate, likely the first time they’d moved since they were put in. Trap after trap sprang into action.
“You know what I just noticed?” I asked, looking around. “Only this opening blew open. Nothing else around it exploded.”
“Maybe Merlin charmed it, forcing adventurous explorers to go down his trap hole instead of finding another way in,” Blake said.
“It would test the worthy,” Britta replied.
“This Merlin guy seems cool. I think I’d like him,” Charlie said, nodding, his arms crossed.
“Cool? Merlin was a lot more than cool,” Britta said, getting worked up. “He was the greatest wizard to ever grace this planet. His spells and findings are still valid and in use today! He—”
“Okay, calm down, I get it. You have a crush on an old dead man,” Charlie said, covering her lips.
“Okay, they’re all triggered,” Faus said, pulling up a small chunk of ice, all that was left of the long icicle.
“It’s now or never,” I said, before grabbing Blake around the waist. “Levio!”
“Lexa, wait!” Blake said, but I jumped in, taking Blake with me. I looked up, smiling, seeing my friends peering down, before Britta took out her wand and did the same with the guys.
The tube seemed to go on for a long time, much longer than in my vision, before it started to open up. “Okay, this is it, it’s going to get huge. You’ll love it,” I said, smiling.
We finally landed in a cold, dark room, looking up to see a glimmer of a shadow from the others above. “I don’t get it,” I said, looking around.
“I thought this would be different,” Blake said.
“Candelae,” I said, lighting up the room. It was a small room, not much bigger than the ice cave we’d stayed in two nights ago, but I never saw any of this in my vision. The wind swept me into the giant dome, with a curved ice roof and ornate doorway. This wasn’t that, not even close.
“A little dark in here. Candelae,” Britta said, the room getting even brighter.
“There’s only way out without going up,” Faus said, looking up, as it started to freeze over.
“What’s happening?” Charlie asked, as the little shred of light that had came in through our entrance had now vanished, the ice sealing the hole back up completely.
“It looks like the only way out now is to complete whatever lies ahead through there,” Blake said, pointing at a doorway carved into the ice.
We walked up, seeing a symbol carved into the doorway, an ornate “M” engraved deep in the ice. “Merlin,” Britta said, touching the symbol.
“We need to keep our wits about us, you never know what might lie ahead. Nobody run off, and we all stick together. Got it?” Faus asked, stepping up and taking control.
“I agree with Faus. This place is already giving me the creeps,” Blake said.
With our wands providing light, Britta and I stayed near the front, the cold emanating from the glacial walls making my nose run a little as the temperature plummeted. We walked into another room, this one about twice the size of the last one, with an ice table in the center. “What’s this?” I asked, walking closer.
“What lies ahead is neither tame nor easy. If you have made it this far, you have chosen to seek the crystal wand, my greatest creation. Only those who are pure of heart and intention may wield the magic. The golems inside are unforgiving, and will not hesitate to strike down he or she who might try to pervert my magic. If you are having second thoughts, say you would like to leave and a portal will take you there. If you pass through this door ahead of you, there is no leaving without defeating the golems first,” the text engraved in the table read, the words carved into the ice.
“I cannot believe he wrote this,” Britta said, touching it reverently.
“I want you guys to leave,” I said, turning and looking at them all.
“What? No, absolutely not,” Blake said, shaking his head and furling his eyebrows.
“You guys are the best friends I could have ever hoped for, but your mission is over. I never wanted to put any of you in danger, and if you walk through those doors, there’s no turning back. You heard what it says. Save yourselves, go back to the camp, and if I make it out, I’ll see you there,” I said.
“Lexa, we came here because we chose to, not because you made us. When we signed up for this, we knew we would have to face the golems, and that it would be a battle that would test the very foundation of our strengths and powers. We aren’t leaving you,” Britta said.
“You and I have been in some pretty sticky situations before, Lexa. I didn’t leave your side then, and I’m not leaving you now,” Charlie said.
“I know I’m not much of a fighter, but I agree with them. Even if I do die, I have to see this for myself. Nothing in science was ever gained by running away when the going got tough,” Faus said.
I looked at Blake as his eyes softened, before he reached out and touched my cheek. “Lexa, I love you, and I would never leave you behind. I knew what I signed up for, and I would do it a hundred times over again, even if this is it. Whatever is in there can’t be that bad. We’ve faced worse.”
“I don’t deserve you guys,” I said, putting my head down as I tried to fight back tears.
They all piled in, wrapping their arms around me and each other, our heads coming together and touching for a moment. I cleared my throat, shook off the feelings, and turned around, ready to face the golems.
We walked to the door, and I noticed it was the same one from my vision. “This is the door, the one I saw during my meditation. The ornate one that I couldn’t reach.”
“Maybe they reversed you, the spirits who brought you here. They started you off in the arena. Maybe it was the golems you felt watching you,” Britta said.
That was it—Britta had cracked the case. I thought there was a person there, maybe a past mark-bearer or even Merlin himself, but it was neither. The golems were there, even in my spiritual form, and they were letting me know their presence. It made sense now.
“Are we ready?” I asked, one last time.
“Ready,” they said in unison.
14
We walked through a portal and into a massive chamber just like I’d seen in during my vision. It was huge, bigger than I remembered. The ceiling was a couple hundred feet high and curved like a dome. The entire thing was made of ice, though the ground a bit rougher and not slippery at all.
“There it is!” Britta said, pointing in the distance.
There was a staircase, an opening in the ice, leading to an altar where the crystal wand lay on display. It was beautiful, as if it were sent from the heavens. Drawn to it, I started to walk forward. But with my first step, the ground rumbled, and I bent my knees a little to balance myself and looked around in every direction, scanning for threats.
The golems started to emerge from the walls, the ice cracking around them as they awoke to defend the wand from any intruder who might try to take it. “Who dares to try to claim the crystal wand?” a golem asked, his booming voice shaking the room.
“I do,” I said, trying to keep my cool.
“You deem yourself worthy of such power?” he asked, as the other golems began to c
ircle around us.
“There is an evil that must be stopped. I intend to defeat it,” I said confidently.
“Ha! Many have claimed those words, but none have been truthful. You will end up like them!” he roared, pointing to a large pile of bones on the opposite end of the room.
“Well, isn’t that nice,” Charlie mumbled, now probably wishing he had teleported back to the camp.
“Others have found the wand?” I asked.
“And perished. You will be no different. The battle begins now!” he roared.
The golems were large, maybe thirty feet tall, with round bulky bodies. They carried swords that began to materialize from the icy breeze around us. Their faces had cut-outs, indents, for their eyes and mouths, but they obviously didn’t use them. They were made entirely of ice.
“Are we ready?” I asked, looking back at the group.
Charlie shifted into his jaguar form, growling at the golems, before Blake started to shift and his eyes turned dark red. Britta had her wand out and ready, as Faus stood in the corner, a little afraid, taking pictures and trying to scribble down what he could in his journal.
“Ready,” Blake said.
“Ready!” Charlie said.
“Ready!” Britta yelled.
“Let’s go!” I screamed, and the golems began to charge.
A sword flew through the air, landing beside me as it cracked the ice floor. I could feel the power as it sent shockwaves through my body, causing goose bumps to cover my skin. Charlie jumped up, running up the sword as the golem began to lift it. They were strong—I could feel the power—but they were slow, which I knew would work to our advantage.
Charlie flew up the sword, running up the golem’s arms, his claws getting traction on the ice, before he started to slash at its face. The golem reached up, trying to swat him down, before Charlie jumped onto its head and began to scratch. “Not much is happening!” he yelled down, the ice not cracking or shaving off at all under the assault of his claws.
