18
Dawn Ascending
Katie screamed and threw her hands over her head. The bats came swarming in at a rapid rate. As the bats attacked, Katie could feel her hands being cut open. She tried to swat them away, but the bats only become fiercer.
She couldn’t see the others but was able to hear them well enough despite the loud sound of the bat’s fluttering wings and screeching. Katie ran forward, guessing where the stairs were. She ran into someone but didn’t know who. As she ran down the stairs, Katie could feel blood dripping from her hands.
The bats didn’t stop their rampage until after Katie got out of the building. The cobbled street felt rickety beneath her feet. She looked around for the other two, and as if on cue, they both ran out of the building, the bats chasing them before disappearing back to the upper floor.
Then the bells struck. First, it was three times, and the number three glowed on the ground. Then the bell stuck two more times, with its corresponding number glowing a deeper red. Then the last bell struck, only once, and its ominous sound reverberating throughout the city, a deep rosewood-red number one radiating on the streets.
Katie, Tyson, and Koran waited with bated breath, half expecting another bell or lack thereof, to cause their instant deaths. It never came. The deadly silence that followed made them feel like they were suspended in eternity.
“What happens next?” Tyson asked, his timing almost comedic. He let out a breath and looked over to Katie and Koran.
“I think we just lost three hours,” said Katie. “And we’ve only got one left.”
Koran took a few steps forward. He craned his neck as if there were a sign above them in the sky.
“Whatever was taken from that tablet,” said Koran, “I think the city believes we took it.”
“What does that mean for us?” asked Tyson.
Koran gave him a hard look. “I think the city is going to try to kill us.”
As he said it, a howling wind came rushing through. A loud whistle accompanied the wind. Katie looked over toward the streets where they had navigated through earlier. Then there were just a few seconds of silence. From the sky, a volley of fireballs rained down towards the city. Mesmerized, the three of them watched the pellets of fire approach, hitting the streets and setting the buildings on fire.
“Run!” Koran shouted. Katie and Tyson didn’t need telling twice. The three of them ran between buildings, attempting to distance themselves from the rain of fire. They could hear explosions behind them, but nothing got too close.
Katie dared to look back and instantly regretted it. A ball of fire crashed just twenty feet from her and exploded. Katie tripped and fell on her knees. She felt pain sear through her leg. Tyson quickly helped her get to her feet. The fire shot down like missiles. They were getting close enough that Katie’s lungs started to fill with smoke and her eyes stung.
While she ran with Tyson to catch up to Koran, Katie coughed into her sleeve. Koran was waiting for them and led the way once they caught up.
Fire erupted all around as they made their way through the city. The cannonballs of fire caused them to turn erratically down a new street or go back in another direction when one would explode in front of them. They were never hit by the fire, though Koran noticed that they were being led to the center of the city and if they didn’t find a way out soon, they would be surrounded by the raging flames with nowhere to run.
Koran tried to lead them down roads that weren’t close to buildings because when one was hit, it would crash, and chunks of stone would plunge towards the ground.
Fire constantly threatened to block every path Koran chose to take, as if it knew where they were trying to go.
Four searing orbs of fire plummeted towards the ground and erupted when they crashed, forming a ring of fire around Katie, Tyson, and Koran. They skidded to a halt, throwing their arms up to block the smoke from reaching their eyes.
With no other choice, Koran ran to his right. Unsure of what he was doing, Katie followed him. Soon it became clear what Koran was going to do, and there wasn’t any time to stop him. Koran leaped through the fire and vanished behind the flames. Feeling daring and stupid, but with no other choice, Katie did the same thing. She hoped that Tyson was right behind her.
The flames burned her skin as she jumped through. Katie was unable to breathe with the black smoke filling her lungs. She rolled onto the ground, which instantly became wet. Katie fell into a ditch that then filled up with water. It wasn’t very deep, but Katie was soaked.
Katie heard splashes and knew that Tyson had jumped through the fire as well. It was raining now, but it wasn’t enough to put the fires out. Katie stood up and the three of them exchanged glances.
The ground started to shake. The rumbling quickly grew louder. Katie looked around for the source of the disturbance. To her right, she saw a stampede of rats about twenty feet tall charging at them.
Without a word, Katie, Tyson, and Koran ran to the left; there was a narrow street ahead of them. Katie figured that this was the way out.
The stone street beneath Katie’s feet felt harder, probably because she had been running for so long, but it was only something she just noticed. She didn’t pay much attention to it; her other problems were far more threatening.
The three of them didn’t look back once as they ran down the small street, walls on either side so high that they couldn’t see the top.
Right, left, and another left, they ran through the city’s maze but no matter how fast or far they went, the giant rats were still hot on their heels. Katie was sure the roads had changed on them again. This time, there were no more buildings to be seen, just wall after wall after wall. It was almost as if they were the rats themselves.
Because the walls were so close to each other, Katie, Tyson and Koran bounced off them each time they made a sharp turn. The rats would ricochet off of them loudly, tumble over a few times in clumsiness, but it barely decreased their speed.
Katie, Tyson, and Koran reached a point where they ran straight for a while, with no turn available to choose. Here the rats were able to gain speed on them. Katie ran as fast as she could but knew the rats were getting closer.
Ahead of them part of the walls crumbled and formed a large pile of stone and rocks. Their only path was clear; they had to climb over the rocks.
The three of them jumped onto the rocks and climbed as fast as they could. They must have climbed about forty feet high. The rocks were wet and made it dangerous to climb quickly. But they didn’t have any other choice. Katie slipped and scraped her elbow.
Soon enough, the rats were attempting to climb the rocks. They were so big that it made it difficult. At first, the rats merely shifted the stones and caused them to roll on top of them, but the rats were too big to be hurt.
Katie panicked when a rat’s claw grazed her leg. It tore her pants easily but luckily didn’t cut her deep. Katie’s arm swung down when she slipped again.
A thin sheet of ice spread out across the rocks. The rats were unable to climb up this and fell to the base of the pile. Some of them fell onto their backs and were unable to turn themselves upright.
Tyson and Koran helped Katie to the top of the rock pile as they had already made it. It wasn’t hard to climb down the other side of it. Ahead of them was just another long road that went straight.
For a moment, they were safe. Breathing heavily, they took their short time to rest. But it was only a moment. Small pipes grew out of the walls and jutted onto their path. A thick and bubbly liquid gushed out of them. Katie leaned closer to inspect. It was a black goo that smelled strongly smoke and tar.
The liquid came out fast and hit the tip of Katie’s shoes. She heard a sizzle as the tar ate away her shoe slightly. Katie jerked her foot back.
“It’s like some sort of acid!” Katie yelled and ran. Tyson and Koran were right behind her. Katie ignored the pain in her now uncovered toes as she stubbed them with every other step that she ran.
; More pipes jutted out of the walls, every twenty feet or so, each one ejecting the same dark acid.
The vapors from the acid made them cough and their lungs felt heavy. It burned their eyes and nose as if they had come into contact with it.
Just ahead the road split into two directions, directly right and directly left. Katie decided to go right but skidded to a stop when it immediately led only to a dead end. She tried to push the others in the opposite direction, but that was only another dead end. There was no way out.
The putrid was quickly gaining on them. The smell made them feel dizzy and it was harder to think clearly. Koran was looking around frantically as if he knew there had to be a way out.
Like cooling lava, the acid bubbled and slowly crept its way through the path. Every now and then a wave of black goo would cascade down, spilling quickly towards them.
“Vines,” said Koran. Katie barely had time to register what he said before Koran began climbing up the wall on a particularly thick vine.
Tyson was closest to the vines and grabbed onto one.
“Katie!” Tyson shouted. Katie reached for a vine and lifted herself up, just in time as the acid reached them. With the walls blocking its path, the acid level began to rise.
Koran was the quickest to get to the top. Katie wasn’t sure what was up there or how they would get back down. She did her best climbing up, but her upper body wasn’t as strong as Tyson’s or Koran’s.
Katie looked down. There was already two feet of tar that was rising only quicker. She climbed as fast as she dared but worried that her vine would split apart. Tyson hadn’t quite made it to the top yet, and she was careful to not be directly under him.
She stopped climbing when she realized that Tyson was completely still. Katie looked up in an attempt to see what was going on. All she could see was the look of fear in Koran’s eyes as he lay flat on his stomach with his hand reaching down for Tyson as far as it could. It wasn’t enough.
Then it struck Katie what was happening a split second before Tyson’s vine snapped and he fell back. At that moment where everything seemed impossible and unreal, Katie stretched her arm out and closed her hand when she felt any contact.
Katie caught Tyson by his wrist.
It was a miracle that Katie’s vine didn’t also snap with the added weight and momentum of Tyson. Katie screamed when her arm was yanked down with Tyson’s weight and she screamed again, not daring to let go of him or her vine. Tyson’s wrist was slipping from her hand, but he grabbed her wrist as well.
Nearly in tears from the pain, Katie tried to pull Tyson up higher as the acid level was dangerously close. Tyson’s shoes seared as the acid reached them and he lifted his legs higher. Katie wasn’t strong enough to lift Tyson.
Tyson put his feet on the wall and found another vine to hold on to. He looked at Katie and nodded. She did the same but with a look of severe pain in her scrunched face. By this time, Tyson let go of his grip on Katie and he swung slightly away from her. When Tyson managed to balance his body and keep his vine still, he continued his climb up.
Katie held onto her vine with both hands. Her eyes were closed, and tears fell from them. The pain was extreme enough that Katie almost considered letting go.
She opened her eyes and looked up when she heard her name being called. Tyson had made it to the top. She looked down. The acid nearly reached her. Katie lifted her legs and planted her feet against the wall. Slowly, Katie willed herself to keep climbing and quietly made her way to the top. When she was close enough, Koran and Tyson grabbed her hands and pulled her over the summit.
Katie rolled onto the stone floor. When she got up, she noticed another change to the maze. She expected to see what the top of the city looked like, standing on the walls and looking over it. But there was just another road and two walls on either side. She looked behind her and saw only a dead end, marked by a wall too high to see the top of. There was no more river of acid that they had just hardly escaped from.
Koran jerked his head to tell them to keep going. He jogged ahead with Tyson behind him. Katie followed.
They ran for a few more minutes, and then the narrow road opened into another part of the city. There were only a few buildings here and otherwise open land. Several hundred feet away Katie saw a gate. This one wasn’t as large as the one that led into the city.
Katie thought that this must be the end. In her head, she begged that it was.
Rays of sunlight leaked out over an unseen horizon. Dawn was nearing. They had run out of time.
Koran stared out into the distance, realizing what was happening. Not knowing what to expect next, he shouted to the others. “Run!”
They sprinted across the barren ground. There was a powerful gust rushing with them. Katie looked behind her. A storm of clouds and thick fog that ate up everything in its path expanded quickly as it menaced towards them. It passed over a building that vaporized as it got swallowed.
Katie kept running, faster than she thought she ever could. Her body was drained of energy, but they were so close. They were at the end. They couldn’t give up now. They couldn’t fail now. That thought alone fueled the adrenaline that kept her going.
Like a hurricane or tornado, the wind lashed at them, nearly causing them to lose their balance. Small chunks of hail pelted down at them.
Ignoring the pain, the three of them ran faster from the storm. Only a hundred feet left. They would make it.
Tyson tripped and tumbled over onto the ground. Katie saw why. Snakes slithered all over the ground, blindly it seemed, as they had no apparent sense of direction. Koran made it past the pool of snakes and was at the gate.
Katie helped Tyson to his feet. A snake bit him in the ankle. Tyson let out a hiss of pain and another snake bit him. Tyson fell to his knees.
The dark clouds rushed at them and the wind got stronger. Katie’s hair flew back wildly, so fierce that she thought it might rip out. The gale burned her face and she could barely see.
Koran came back, lifted Tyson over his shoulder and grabbed Katie’s arm. He got them back to the gate. He kicked it down and the three of them toppled through it.
The storm had reached the gate. It was clear that everything in its path had been destroyed. Violently the winds whipped around with chunks of debris flying through it, but nothing crossed the gate, not even the wind.
Koran laid Tyson on his back. He put his hands around Tyson’s ankle where he had been bitten. The two marks were purple and black. A small black-figure moved into the bites so quickly Katie couldn’t make out what it was.
The bite marks almost glowed a black color and Tyson’s leg jerked. Koran kept at it for another minute before stopping.
Tyson, who had been holding his breath in pain, fell unconscious. Katie was confused with no idea what had happened. She didn’t have time to ask. They saw a figure of a man approach them.
The man was old. He had a long silver beard and gray hair that fell back passed his shoulders. He was walking with an uneven wooden staff.
The morning sunlight made its way onto the ground, and the sky quickly faded into a light pink.
19
The City of Oasi
The man watched them intently for a moment. After realizing that Tyson was sprawled on the ground, he turned his head back and called out for help. The old man came closer so he could see better what was happening.
“Did you pass through the city?” the old man asked. Mechanically, Katie looked back. There was no more city, no gate and otherwise no sign that a storm or anything else had existed moments ago. All she saw was the Fountain of Chance just a few feet away, dry as ever. It was as if it hadn’t been filled in hundreds of years.
Palatinii Cycle Page 23
