by K T Munson
He continued pushing forward, smiling at her stubbornness. Wiping his amusement from his lips, he reminded himself he needed to refocus. She was stronger here. Yet she was making it difficult to do so. She had a penchant for surprising him. He could still remember the way her hand had gripped his without hesitation.
When they came over the next ridge, he stopped and surveyed the valley behind him. They had decided to keep as far from the roads as possible. It was unwise to be caught unaware by the monsters that lived in this place. The dull red light was starting to fade, and a sense of disquiet gripped him.
“Night is coming,” Ki informed her as she came up to stand beside him.
“Should we take cover?” she asked, looking back as well.
“You will need to take the amulet off so the darkness will not affect you. You will see the spirit lines and their light despite the overpowering inky blackness that is this place. Only I will be affected by the dark, but thankfully I have the amulet.” Ki held out his hand.
He watched as she hesitated a moment before pulling the amulet off and handing it over to him. When it touched his skin, the fading red light vanished, and he saw the spirits. He preferred the many shades of purple that made up the spirit world. They moved along the lines, swirling and dancing like fish in a slow moving stream. He put the amulet on and turned to continue, but Elisabeth’s hand wrapped around his wrist, stopping him.
“What is that?” she whispered.
Ki looked at it where she was pointing and saw ahead a small door cut into the face of the mountain that rose above them. The facade looked like an inn entrance, but with a burning red door. Ki stiffened in surprise. He knew exactly what that meant.
“Demon,” Ki whispered as he moved them toward the other mountain to the right.
“That’s a demon’s home?” Elisabeth said, staring at it. “Why does it make me sad?”
“Trapped souls,” he answered plainly. “Your other half must sense it.”
“How?” she asked, her fingers digging into his wrist.
“Sometimes places in the Nether bleed into their corresponding location on the planets and lure people into them. It looks like a regular inn and people just wander in,” he told her as her eyebrows furrowed. “Their souls are trapped, and the demon slowly feeds off them.”
“That’s terrible.” She let his wrist go as she started up toward the foreboding door.
“What are you doing?” he called after her, but she didn’t seem to hear.
What a fool! he thought as he hurried after her. He reached out to grab her, and they stopped just short of the door. Ki had to hold her in place to keep her rooted. She turned to him, and it wasn’t Elisabeth that was looking at him anymore. Her other half had come alive. The amulet aided his eyes in revealing her skull on the left half of her face.
“A demon that feeds on souls is just a mortal who died by terrible means,” Elisabeth whispered, and he realized her other half was acting on instinct.
“That isn’t true,” Ki commented before he could stop himself. He had never heard of such a thing. “Only the Divine Court can make demons.”
“Not all demons. These are the mortals that fester in their emotions and die by terrible means. They are reborn to wreak havoc upon those that destroyed them,” Elisabeth said before facing the door. “We must simply release them from their hatred.”
She spoke like that was as easy as getting dressed or buttoning a shirt. Releasing a demon was unheard of, with the exception of what Malthael had done, of course, but he’d done that to himself. Elisabeth pushed her way through the double doors and went down the room-wide steps that greeted them. Ki stepped in to find a bustling inn before him. The entry area was circular, with tables and benches filling the center. Pillars with the circumferences of tree trunks supported the ceiling, and an enormous hearth filled the room with heat. He followed her toward the center of the room, amongst the inn’s customers.
“Welcome to the Green Dragon Inn,” a woman said. She wore Orani clothes and bowed when they approached. “A room for two?”
When Elisabeth continued to look around and didn’t answer, Ki said, “No, we are just stopping to rest our feet.”
“Perhaps some food then?” she asked.
Ki studied Elisabeth, but she still wasn’t paying attention. “We’re fine.”
Elisabeth finally looked at the woman and touched her. “Be free.”
The woman’s body disintegrated, and Ki watched a sliver of light hover in front of him for a moment before it disappeared. The only thing that remained was a pile of dust on the floor and the dangerous silence behind him. He touched the amulet and realized that it wasn’t strong enough here, meaning he was seeing what any mortal would see instead of what Elisabeth was seeing. Whatever this demon was, it was stronger than Ki had anticipated. Many of the patrons began to stand.
“What do you see?” Ki asked Elisabeth.
“They’re all dead,” she said, glancing back at him. “You were talking to a trapped spirit. Half her soul had been consumed, and her body was covered in marks.”
“What kind of marks?” Ki asked as the patrons started to move toward them.
“The kind that looks like long thin blades grouped together.”
“Like claws?” he asked, subtly pulling out his daggers.
Elisabeth surveyed the room. “Like a pitchfork used by farmers.” Ki brought his daggers up when the patrons rushed forward, but Elisabeth called loudly, “I demand the master of these puppets show himself.”
The dead patrons paused. They stood, bodies swaying, as they waited. Ki looked around, trying to figure out who she was speaking to, but apparently Elisabeth could see something he couldn’t. This part of her was something he would have to deal with later to avoid additional trouble. A man dressed in Orani-style women’s clothing stepped out of the shadows. He wore a gold robe with a thick black belt and moved gracefully for a man of his bulk. He giggled, but it sounded like a woman’s laugh as he slowly moved along the edge of the room, always in profile. Ki watched him closely, preparing to strike, but Elisabeth stepped forward.
“What do you want, mortal?” the demon asked in a deep voice.
“I accept you for what you are,” Elisabeth said plainly.
The demon froze and turned his head. A different, feminine voice said, “I do not understand what you mean.”
“When you were rejected and cast out because of what you were, your heart broke,” Elisabeth said. The demon still looked confused. “Remember your life. You liked pretty things and loved men. You didn’t fit in your body.”
The demon twisted around, and for the first time, Ki saw the other half of his face. It was that of a woman. How strange it looked to see two halves of a person stuck together. Ki cringed internally.
“They hated me,” he said. “Despised me.”
“You felt trapped,” Elisabeth said, the compassion in her voice making Ki almost forget there was a very powerful demon before him. “Like you didn’t know what you are, or who you were supposed to be. You felt as though you were a woman trapped in a man’s body.”
“I am a woman,” he cried, and the walls shook with his anguish. “Why wasn’t I born that way?”
“We cannot choose what we are born, only how we live,” Elisabeth said, taking a step forward. Ki wanted to reach out and grab her, but he had a feeling that would be a bad idea and would break the spell. His gaze rolled over the swaying patrons. For now, they remained benign.
“When they killed me,” he hissed, his voice feminine again, “they didn’t regret what they did! They were happy I was gone.”
“They were wrong,” Elisabeth said, reaching out her hand. The dead patrons parted before her. “I accept you for who you are.”
What was happening? Ki wondered, as the demon seemed intent on taking her hand. He seemed as though he was going to let his hatred go, but Ki didn’t trust him for a second. Increased awareness and being able to see to the heart of the Netherworld didn’t mean sh
e was powerful enough to see through a trap. Just as their hands were about to touch, Ki caught a malevolent glimmer in the demon’s eye. He snatched Elizabeth back by her shirt, and the demon roared.
The patrons suddenly surged forward, and Ki’s daggers were instantly slashing through the air. Elisabeth said something to him, but he was already burying his weapons into the closest patron’s chest. Sand spilled out of the holes the made, and the creature tried to cover them to stop the bleeding. Ki jumped off the first one and lunged for a second Ducking under an arm, he buried his daggers in a third. Seeing from of the corner of his eye that Elisabeth was running to the double doors through which the demon had fled, Ki began to fight his way toward her.
Chapter 33: Netherworld
Elisabeth nearly screamed in frustration when Ki took hold of her arm, stopping her as the demon fled. Ki couldn’t hold her long, though, as he was forced to turn back to the attacking patrons.
She turned only to see him move with killer speed. His daggers dug into the chest of one before he struck another and buried them up to the hilt in a third. Before the demon could get too far, she pushed her way through the first group of trapped souls, who turned to dust at her touch. The rest were quick to move out of the way before they could meet the same fate. Only she could see the spirits of the ones she managed to touch being released. Finally, after so many years of captivity, they were free of their prisons.
Elisabeth shouldered her way through the slightly ajar doors and hurried down a hallway full of gloomy framed paintings and smashed mirrors. Many of figures in the paintings had their eyes scratched out. The demon couldn’t stand to be what he was; he didn’t want anyone to see him. He couldn’t accept it.
Something was driving her, some instinct she had never felt before leading her here. Her blood felt alive with energy as Elisabeth pushed a curtain out of the way at the end of the hall to find the demon kneeling before an altar on which rested a picture of a man, his face harsh but pleasant. The room was square and reminded her of a step-down pool, except the bottom was covered in fine rugs. Elisabeth let the curtain fall as she stepped into the room. The demon turned, his male half looking at her, and sneered.
“You don’t belong here,” he snarled, but she made no move to leave.
“That is who you loved?” she asked.
His face softened as he turned back and touched the picture tenderly. “No. It is my brother. He died protecting me when the others threw stones.”
“He loved you, didn’t he?” Elisabeth said, stopping behind him. “He knew and accepted you for what you are.”
“He did,” the woman in him said, her voice full of love.
Elisabeth understood what it was like to be different. She had always been afraid for anyone to see that part of her. Her demonic half had nearly cost her everything as a child when it had awoken. As an adult, she knew it isolated her because she was either feared or ridiculed. The only comforts she had were Malthael, Milo, and Tiss, but even they were enough. She needed to accept herself, which was easier to think than do.
“I know what that is like,” she said. In that light, the female half looked almost beautiful before she shifted away. “To be rejected from the world because you are different.”
“How are you different?” he snapped, his male face showing again. “You are beautiful and confident.”
“And half demon,” she pointed out.
The feminine face became demure as she asked, “Do you believe what you said earlier?”
“Yes,” Elisabeth said, coming forward. “I accept you.”
“Then you may go,” she said, looking away toward the altar with the picture. “I will let you leave.”
“I won’t leave until you accept yourself,” Elisabeth said softly, and the demon finally faced her fully to let her see both faces.
She didn’t even flinch. Perhaps it was because she had grown up around demons that she wasn’t surprised. Her upbringing had given her a steadfast belief that the surface of a being did nothing to reveal what he or she was like inside. Malthael was full demon and terrifying to look at, but he was gentle and loved her. Not to mention Milo and Tiss.
The demon looked startled when its face didn’t scare her. Both halves seemed conflicted as Elisabeth stepped forward and the demon let her put her hands on both sides of his face. The woman half looked hopeful, while the man was suspicious.
“Thank you for revealing yourself to me,” she said softly. “Can’t you see how beautiful you are?”
“I am ugly,” the demon spat, trying to pull away, but she refused to let them go.
“If you believe that, then that is what you will be,” Elisabeth insisted. “If you want to be beautiful, accept yourself as such.”
Years of self-hatred and rejection had created this demon. Only acceptance would free him from his current state. More than outside acceptance, the demon needed to accept itself. When he fell to his knees in defeat, tears streaming down his faces, she went with him. Kneeling, she wrapped her arms around him.
“You are exactly what you were supposed to be,” she said softly as the demon sobbed.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for your kindness.”
Elisabeth leaned back on her heels and watched as the demon turned back into a spirit, a ghostly version of pale purple light. The specter began to rise slowly. The heavy burdens weighing him down were lifted, allowing him to leave. She hoped he would be born again, hopefully this time as the beautiful girl he was on the inside. Perhaps they would meet again in her lifetime and she would see what The Fates had decided.
She lifted her hand as he ascended to wherever the dead went. She watched the soft blue of a peaceful spirit rising and, soon, leaving her alone. She could feel Ki’s strange existence as he stepped into the room, as the last of the demon faded. The urge to cry was strong, but her heart was too happy to allow it. Instead, she let her hands fall back in her lap.
“He is free,” she said as Ki came down the steps.
Suddenly, the ground started to shake. Ki hurried down the last few steps and held his hand out for her. “That’s our cue to leave!”
She couldn’t help but to smile as she took his hand. She gave a startled cry a moment later, though, when she was yanked up two steps. “Wait!”
“Hurry!” Ki called.
Elisabeth ran, picking up the picture of the demon’s brother before following Ki. He took her hand again, and they fled through the rumbling inn. Dust swirled around the room. At first, Ki tried to go around the swirling vortex of spirits, but there wasn’t time. The wind swept her hair across her face. She pushed her hair away so she could see the spirits. Her hand clamped down on Ki’s. She could sense that the souls just wanted to leave. She knew they wouldn’t hurt them. Pulling Ki though the center of the inn, she focused on the large double doors of the exit.
The building started to collapse as the gale forced the doors open. Ki and Elisabeth dashed through the opening. Dirt and debris shot out behind them, and Elisabeth covered her face, coughing. They watched as the whole building flattened out and the spirits escaped their prison. A part of her felt at peace as she watched, knowing that a portion of the demon was staying with her. She could feel his energy coursing through her veins.
“What will happen to them?” Ki asked, staring at the ruins.
“They will pass on to whatever comes next. I hope the demon will be reborn to try to redeem his soul for the lives he took.” She looked at him. “Thank you for trying to protect me.”
“It is my duty,” he said. “I swore an oath.”
She tried to keep the annoyance off her face at this response. “Ah, yes, your oath,” she said, releasing his hand as she started to pick her way across the mountainside. It was a moment before he joined her.
Night was coming. Elisabeth could feel it. The droning red hadn’t started to fade, but it soon would. She thought about the pendant and wondered what it would be like to see nothing—for the entire world to go dark. Sh
e assumed it was basically like being blind, a thought that terrified her. She glanced back at Ki as the amulet bobbed against his chest with every step. He studied her, but she ignored him. Soon, the soft purple was intersected by the blue of the spirit lines as the inky blackness of the Netherworld consumed them. It was clear and bright enough to see the mountain’s rocky base, though, so she continued on. Monsters moved in the dark, but she wasn’t afraid. She was part of the Netherworld.
Chapter 34: Hystera
Jinq picked up the pocked fruit and rolled it in his hand as he watched the small band of people gather around. Kerrigan had stayed back at their little camp to sleep. She had been pulled toward the darkness in this place like she had been caught in a flood. She had seen more than he had, and Jinq wanted to know why.
Unwilling to put her at risk again, as she was far too young and untrained, he decided to go to the source. Though Hipasha wanted her niece to be trained, if there were any more mishaps, he would send Kerrigan back to the safety of the capital. Hibrius had his head in Jinq’s lap, equally unwilling to break their connection. His hand was on the panther’s head as he reassured himself that Kerrigan would be safe with Mara and Cav. Between the two of them, she would sleep peacefully while Jinq handled the villagers. It had taken some convincing, but they allowed him back in with an escort.
They watched him with suspicion and desperation. The last time he’d come to them, all he’d found out was that their spirit animals were gone. Without them, it was impossible to figure out what had happened here.
What had happened to make them go from a normal village to the village of death? Jinq frowned and petted Hibrius as the last villagers gathered in the meeting hall. He’d already tried to get the information once, but no one had seemed to know anything about what happened. One moment they’d been whole, and the next their spirit animals had been lost. But maybe now that the Seer was eventually coming, he could press them for more information.
“Any news?” one of the men asked.
