Ropes of crystal-clear water were binding themselves around Sabrina like an anaconda readying to devour its prey. Sabrina thrashed about, trying to free herself but to no avail. Sabrina released thin rapiers made from her nails but couldn’t control them and they shattered to the ground.
Sabrina screamed in frustration and pain.
Katie looked at her hands and back at Sabrina. She didn’t know how she did it, or how she was controlling it, but she was thankful for the timing. Katie left Sabrina there and ran through the city towards the river.
Tyson and Koran heard someone behind them, but before they could turn around they felt their collars yanked back and were thrown to the ground. Koran rolled onto his back and looked up to see a young man with dark hair.
Tyson got to his feet. He saw the man walking towards Koran, who was on the ground, slowly crawling backward. He made a motion to strike the man in the head, but the man was too fast and without warning, Tyson was punched in the jaw.
Koran got to his feet and attempted to kick the man in his ribs but one again the dark-haired guy was too quick and deflected Koran’s move.
At that moment, Koran got a good look at the man. He knew who it was. It was Ariah. Koran howled in anger and shot his hands into the air. Wispy shadows soared in the air, creating a wind of about twenty miles per hour. Leaves billowed in the air and struck at Ariah.
Ariah swept his hands to block them, but the leaves were razor-sharp and sliced through his palms. Tyson moved beside Koran. The leaves died away, along with the wind.
Looking pissed off, Ariah held out his arms and cannons of water blasted towards Tyson and Koran. Instead of blasting them back, when the water made contact, it instantly froze, freezing most of their bodies. Ariah stepped closer to them, eyes narrowed.
Koran closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. Fire flared out of his hands while steam poured out of his body. The ice melted quickly, freeing not only him but Tyson as well.
Ariah ran at them and swung a punch at Koran who ducked and busted Ariah in the head. Koran punched Ariah again, this time in the stomach. Ariah flinched and grunted for a second, in which Koran landed an uppercut on his chin.
Roaring in pain, Ariah blindly swung a punch at Koran but missed. Koran retaliated, but shards of rock flew up into his face. Koran stumbled back and put his hands up to cover his eyes.
Tyson aimed a kick at Ariah, but Ariah caught his foot and threw Tyson into a bush with prickly leaves.
While Koran shielded his face from the rock shards, Ariah grabbed his hands and punched every part of Koran that he could find.
Wildly, Koran swung out his arms, trying to defend himself. Even with the occasional contact, Koran failed to land a proper blow and Ariah relentlessly pummeled Koran.
Tyson flailed, screaming in pain as the thorns cut countless parts of his body. His shirt became torn. When Tyson managed to free himself from the bush, he had blood oozing through the multitude of wounds across his torso.
Katie ran as fast as she could to put as much distance as possible between herself and Sabrina before she could manage to break free. She knew she didn’t have much time when she heard Sabrina shout “bitch!” and could feel her rush towards her.
She kept running. Nothing stopped her. Katie knew that she had bought herself more time, even if it was just a few seconds. While she tore through the city, Katie could see the destruction that Nayara had caused. Nearly all the structures had collapsed, fires still raged on and the few citizens that were left desperately tried to hide from Nayara’s army.
Katie cut around the debris of buildings. She leaped over fallen marble structures and saw two bodies lying on the ground, their eyes wide open and lifeless.
Once she saw them, Katie couldn’t stop seeing the dead bodies. Only a handful belonged to Nayara’s army, but the rest were the citizens of Oasi. Katie felt responsible, and if they had only arrived a day earlier, they could have prevented this.
Though the guilt flooded through her, Katie never stopped running. She turned another corner and nearly slipped on the slick ground. Out of the corner of her eye, Katie saw a glimpse of Sabrina. She was catching up quickly.
Katie willed herself to run faster. She didn’t know how her body could take it. She was beyond being out of breath. The searing pains in her sides vanished and her heart beat so fast she could barely feel it.
She was running along the river now. She saw three figures ahead of her. One was Tyson, who was quickly running towards the other two, though limping. She couldn’t recognize the others.
Tyson was badly hurt.
He wasn’t supposed to be a part of this. But she couldn’t really blame him. Neither was she.
As she approached, she could see that Koran was being beaten over and over. Katie yelled and arched her hands over her head.
Water leaped from the river and turned into a ball that froze solid and hit the man in the head. He toppled over. Koran was freed, but he too fell to the floor.
Koran staggered to his feet again. His nose was bleeding and was covered in bruises on his face.
Katie raced towards him to help but was hit in the head with a hard stone. She tripped over her own feet and crashed to the floor, scraping her arms as she slid. Sabrina jumped on Katie and pulled her hair back.
Katie screamed and attempted to pull Sabrina’s hands off. Tyson was running towards her.
“Sabrina.”
Everyone turned to look who had spoken. It was Queen Nayara. Her gray skin and white hair looked intimidating in the early morning sunlight. Her blue eyes were so cold, Katie felt as if she had been frozen. Each step she took felt silent. Her left hand was held slightly up, her arm slightly twisted as if she were holding something.
Sabrina released Katie but was immediately shoved to the ground by Tyson. Sabrina instantly found her feet and swung a kick high enough to meet Tyson in the face. Tyson spun in the air once and hit the ground face down.
The Queen had reached the scene. Koran ran over to Katie and Tyson’s side. Ariah joined Nayara and Sabrina.
“I know you,” spat Sabrina at a still face-down Tyson. “You’re that human from Earth. You don’t belong here.”
Nayara gazed down at Tyson, her eyes gleaming in amusement.
“A human from Earth, huh?” she whispered. It wasn’t a question. “Did you think that you could survive this world? Even if you weren’t killed, this planet has a way of eradicating that which doesn’t belong.”
Tyson clenched his fists. Slowly he managed to stand back up. He turned around to face Nayara.
“Leave him alone,” snapped Katie.
“Oh, I’m not going to touch him,” replied the Queen. “His filth and the like do not deserve my hand.”
Katie heard a loud horn. The horn that Artemus had told her about. The ship was ready to leave.
“You’d better be quick boarding that ship. If you’re still here when I’m finished, I will end you,” warned the Queen. “But you have little importance to me right now.”
Katie looked back. There was a ship headed their way.
Nayara glared down at Tyson again.
When she spoke, Nayara sounded disdainful. “Ariah, come with me. We’re going into the palace. Sabrina, secure the city. I gave them their chance. If there are any survivors, make sure they don’t stay that way.”
Sabrina nodded.
“But first,” said the Queen. “Banish him. But leave the others. They have no consequence with us at this moment.”
The Queen and Ariah walked away, leaving behind a chilling presence. Sabrina smiled maliciously.
“Say your goodbyes.”
“No!” screamed an anguished Katie. She put herself in front of Tyson. Koran did the same. Katie did not know what the Queen meant by “banish,” but she did not care to find out.
Sabrina laughed. She lunged at them. Koran blocked her first hit but was not fast enough to deflect the second. Koran was hit in the chest and thrown aside.
Katie
summoned water from the river. It came faster than expected and Katie almost lost control of it, something that Sabrina noticed.
“You’re still weak as ever,” tormented Sabrina. The water splashed Sabrina’s face but did no damage. Sabrina chuckled. She drew out a small dagger.
“Exilu,” Sabrina mumbled. The dagger turned into a charcoal sword.
Katie widened her eyes in fear, but she didn’t plan to move. Sabrina swung the sword at Katie. Instinctively, Katie yelled and ducked. She accidentally hit Tyson who fell to the ground on his chest. Water flung out from the river and turned to ice, smacking Sabrina in the face. But it was too late.
Ignoring the pain, Sabrina wielded the sword over her head. She took that moment while Katie was still ducked down and forced the sword down, aimed at Tyson.
Tyson didn’t have time to react. He was barely getting up when the sword pierced his back and tore through his chest. His yells reverberated loudly until his body thinned to smoke and disappeared, leaving no trace.
It all happened so fast.
Katie screamed. Sabrina smiled, and having accomplished what she was to do, she ran back into the city. Another girl ran from one of Nayara’s ships and joined her.
“Tyson!” Katie screamed.
“Tyson!”
Her voice cracked, and she choked on saliva. There was no Tyson to answer her. There was no body of Tyson’s for Katie to scream at. Katie kept screaming, crying out and drowning out any other noise around her.
Katie felt someone grab her gently. She shook the person off and shouted for Tyson again, though she was losing her voice. Tears poured down her face. She felt someone grab her again. Though she knew the person was saying something, she was unable to comprehend any of it.
“Tyson!” she cried out once more. The person pulled her back more forcefully this time. She turned around and saw Koran. He was trying to take her to the ship that had arrived for them.
“Tyson!” she choked again. Her voice was weak with tears and overuse. She looked back at the ship. Artemus was walking towards her.
Everything seemed quiet. Nothing felt real. Katie could see people talking but heard nothing. She didn’t hear the sound of the river flowing or the fires that still raged on in the city. She didn’t hear the cries of the surviving citizens that were being taken out one by one by Sabrina.
All that she could hear were Tyson’s last screams of agony before he disappeared.
Katie was barely aware that she was being steered onto the ship. She was sat down and soon found she was alone. It didn’t matter. Nothing did anymore.
24
The Shadow of the Universe
Queen Nayara and Ariah quickly swept through the city. Debris of demolished buildings littered the ground. No one stood in their way now. Nayara defeated the Chancellor and her army took the city. Her way forward was unobstructed.
“Are you prepared?” the Queen asked Ariah in her frigid tone. It barely sounded like a question.
“I am,” Ariah replied coolly. He retrieved a bow and three arrows in a quiver off of a fallen Oasi guard.
Nayara’s lip twitched. “Why would you need that?”
“I am always ready, my Queen,” responded Ariah.
“Hm.”
The Queen said no more. She led Ariah through the fragmented palace doors and across the entrance chamber. The palace was destroyed. The sun gleamed down overhead through the chunks of missing ceiling and the pillars that once boldly and grandly held up the palace were fractured along the crumbled tile.
Nayara led him up a staircase to the left. She pushed open a heavy door to reveal a narrow hall. Ariah followed his queen as she briskly walked down the hall. He could feel her excitement, and the further they went, he could feel it in himself.
They came to a steep staircase and descended into the dark depths. After some time, the stairs evened out into another long hallway. Ariah could barely see anything. He figured this was due to their passing through the mountain itself.
“Oscurilina is known as the Shadow of the Universe,” Nayara told Ariah. “She is the Sprite of Darkness and is loathed in every corner of our universe. She is notorious for her sheer malice and undiluted cruelty, having wiped out countless planets alone. Even the most powerful deities have failed to abolish her. Each time they get close, she has slid out of their clutches like a nefariously mocking wind.”
Ariah was slightly taken aback by Nayara’s sudden explanation. He wasn’t used to her talking much.
“What do you mean?”
“She has been the shadow behind every catastrophe in the galaxy and is every ruler’s worst nightmare. Even children’s tale dare not speak of her, for her name produces fear in those who hear it. That is why she has been trapped for eons.”
Something troubled Ariah, but he couldn’t quite tell what. “Could any fairy be that bad? I get that they are powerful and act as gods in our world. I just don’t get how they could be that strong.”
“Have you ever heard of Caldimaro?” The Queen almost sounded condescending.
“No.”
“How about Angormarda? Bendereq? Wadir-ni-merka?”
“No.”
“These names mean nothing. They serve only as examples of civilizations that existed years ago, and that Oscurilina has wiped out. Caldimaro was a constellation, a network of stars that served as the inter-galactic headquarters for multiple planets. It took only three minutes for Oscurilina to annihilate the entire constellation during one of their meetings. That created chaos between the alliances of those planets which further wiped out over half of them.
“Angormarda was a galaxy of sprites. Oscurilina lived there but left it after a while. She returned three years later to wipe out any remains of her past. This galaxy no longer exists. Bendereq was a large star. It contained the center of commerce for this half of the star system. Wadir-ni-merka was a large planet that with a snap of her fingers, she exploded in a rage of fury. It is now a speck that exists as the basic substance of gaseous planets.”
“Why did she come to this planet? We haven’t reached the level of intergalactic travel; we exist as a single identity,” asked Ariah.
“You have been to Earth,” Nayara replied after a moment.
“Don’t remind me,” said Ariah.
Nayara continued to walk down the hall. There were faint glowing pebbles along the walls that served as the only light.
“Why are we calling upon her? It sounds as if her only purpose is to destroy.”
“I intend to destroy this world,” the Queen replied harshly.
“But you envision a new civilization. That’s what makes the difference.”
The Queen said nothing, but after a while continued to explain Oscurilina’s history as if Ariah had said nothing. “She is ruthless and her name is considered a terrible curse. It was given to her after she eradicated all the light in the Heydenian sun. Her name means darkness.”
They entered a circular room that was well lit, compared to the hallway they had just passed through. This room had two entrances and was otherwise composed only of bookshelves that made up the walls and an altar in the center.
“How did she come into existence?” Ariah asked.
“Some planets are created with a womb in its core. If that womb survives its first few millennia, it will carry a fairy. Most are unaware of its existence. Only when the planet is ready to die, will that fairy be born. The power of the fairy relies on the atmosphere and nature of the planet.”
Palatinii Cycle Page 28
