by Jani Griot
The creature grew closer.
The only thing louder than our footsteps was the raging lightning beast at our heels. The energy flowing through its body was so immense the creature’s movements thundered and reverberated through the tunnels.
Womb womb
The only other thing I could hear was its bone-chilling shrieks, each of which doused us in heat and light. Its howls drove us forward; my limbs moved faster than I thought possible.
A light shone far in the distance, just bright enough to dully illuminate the room we rushed toward. I could make out broken pillars that lay scattered about. The few still left standing stretched from floor to ceiling and cast long shadows once they were draped in the beast’s immense glow.
We made it halfway into the atrium when I saw the ladder hanging against the wall at the far end of the giant room. I glanced over my shoulder as the beast’s large head crested the hallway's end. Stretching out to its full height, its large body seemingly never ended as it pulled itself inside the room, snaking around pillars as it drank in our small forms.
Lightning burst from its body, which now filled half of the room. The full gravity of what I was doing only hits when I think back. Fewer and fewer slaves returned from the trial every cycle. Those who had not been captured and killed after this trial would never be found. No one had ever known why. Not then, at least.
BOOM!
A bolt of lightning smashed into a standing pillar. Its base crumbled, and it crashed to the floor, filling the room with dust. The boy reached the rope ladder first and began the climb, causing loose rock and debris to fall, while also freeing a small colony of bats. The creatures were minuscule in comparison to the predator they flew toward. Downward flight had always brought them into areas filled with more darkness. The instinct would now be their doom. The shrill cries of the nocturnal creatures as the pure light engulfed them was horrific. Their flapping wings silenced by a storm of lightning.
I dove aside as the nearest standing pillar exploded, sending large debris and rocks everywhere, accompanied by another blooming cloud of dust. It felt as if everything in the room was against me. I rolled as I hit the ground, the cloak warning me against the incoming attack. I jumped to my feet just in time to be struck by a fleeing bat. It was immediately incinerated after we broke contact. A skeletal image flashed before my eyes before its form shifted into dust.
I looked upward, and there it was; the beast hovered overhead, looking right at me. Its violent roar tore through me, a feeling not unlike the reverberations of a thunderclap. I felt it in my chest. The creature reared its neck back, lunging at me the moment its head reached the room’s apex. I lifted my shield arm in defense as more and more vicious bolts left sandy glass craters all around me.
The beast collided with me with the weight of a house. The blow sent me through the air, my limbs supercharged as lightning flowed through them. I smashed into the remaining pillar—none of them stood upright any longer. The impact my body made with the sandstone structure cracked it from end to end. Before I had time to collect myself, the cloak alerted me to the imminent impact of the falling beam. I barely rolled out of the way before stone bricks lay cluttered at my side.
“Fury!” the boy yelled high above me.
I came to my feet quickly, bringing my shield arm up once more. I watched the incoming attack through one of the three holes in the shield. The monster reared its head back, preparing for another strike. The metal, defensive instrument heated in my grip as it absorbed bolt after bolt, my arm numbed as the torrent came. The beast lunged. I dove. With the scorching heat so close to my body, I thought I was on fire until I spiraled into a crouch. The quick glance I took to check my chest and body almost cost me my life.
The beast bull-rushed me, smashing into the wall as I dodged. I dashed toward the ladder, getting to it in such a rush my head met the wall with a dizzying connection on contact. I was halfway up the room’s side when I felt the heat coming. I almost made it to the top before I heard another roar at my feet.
I looked down at that horrific ball of a living twister. I was overcome with dread after I watched the boy climb, though his odds of survival were better than mine. I climbed as fast as I could, but no distance was placed between me and the being of pure, ferocious light. It swiped, scoring a glancing blow on my ankle. The fog of fear that had enveloped my mind vanished. With true pain, came true rage.
I screamed as the rage took hold. In one swift motion, I drew the white hilt from the cloak. The brilliant red blade materialized with such urgency, it momentarily blinded me to anything beyond it. My rage amplified tenfold. Instinct and some odd form of muscle memory (absent the memory) took over my body once more, as anger filled me.
I kicked off the wall and grasped the lion shield as I plummeted toward the nightmare vision below. The creature sprang up at me. I brought my arm back, sword in hand, preparing to swing with all my might as I did my best to protect myself, keeping my shield arm out, following the instruction of the images Ochloc had poured into my mind before.
The shield and the monster collided, slamming me to a stop, as if I had struck bedrock itself. I roared again, with all my might.
The shield roared in my mind, in unison with my battle-cry. The sound of a lion pushing forward with me. The shield devoured the beast’s energy. It felt like a giant the size of a mountain was at my back, taking a deep breath, consuming more energy than it had ever taken in before. This was yet another mistake my untrained mind would pay for.
My mind did something it shouldn't have been able to. I merged the soul of the beast to the shield. Historians call it Union, the combining of two souls. It’s said to be impossible, so I'll explain it the moment I figure it out myself. I hear there are answers to those secrets in the north.
The room exploded. Lightning was sucked in from so many different directions, I couldn’t keep track. The shield's diamond plates served as a nexus, as it and the beast became one. The room emptied after the diamonds consumed boundless energy. Shrapnel and shards of the shattered ceiling were everywhere, and sand piles formed under several new holes.
Gravity seemed to have, once again, taken hold of my body. I was forced to stab the sword I held into one of the few sand-covered portions left on the wall. My momentum stopped with a jerk. If I hadn't done this, I might have been trapped there forever. The rope of the ladder was burning and if I didn't move fast, I'd have to make the even slower climb up the inside of the largest jungle tree in the entire kingdom.
The shield rattled at my side. Sparks crackled from it until it settled back into its normal state. The sword I held flooded me with an anger I’d only felt during a battle for my life. I grabbed the ropes, quickly pulling myself up so I could be free of the weapon’s wrath.
I glanced back once more in my haste, stashing the sword in the cloak. I could have sworn I saw a grinning young lady, arms crossed, slowly shaking her head at me. I had no time to stay and observe, especially after feeling the fire at my feet.
I continued upward, without a second look. I still had to make it back to Vassilious Keep. I found my stride on the hanging contraption about halfway up and had nearly caught the boy as he emerged from the treetops.
As we climbed through the passage, a familiar vision gave me both mental and physical pause. The glowing lines. Those two shining pillars, in the middle of which was an immaculate swirl of darkness.
“By Ark's fury, you’re alive!” the boy said, peering back down into the hole.
The boy stood inside the brightest room I'd ever seen, excluding the one with the light-beast, I suppose. The ceiling was of an odd material. It was as clear as water, and sunlight shone through it.
I looked around, wondering where I had ended up. There was a window with its shutters closed on the far side of the room. The boy looked down at my shield. His eyes stuck there as he observed the flickering light that danced and wove through the lion’s face.
“Holy Ark’s lightning! You… that beas
t! It’s in the shield, isn’t it?” the boy asked.
I opened the window. There was Vassilious Keep, a surprise, to be sure. We were higher than the tall sandstone walls and even Vassilious Tower itself. We were atop the one and only tree in, or around, the keep. The tree where I'd received my first arrow scar.
This was why the kingdom was so treasured, for in this land, it only rained where trees lived. This was the tree from which the Kingdom of Vassilious received its water. I was in a room atop the Shadeless Tree.
When I turned around, I found the boy staring at me. He handed me every flower he held as he took a knee and bowed his head. He remained bowed for a few moments, then looked up at me.
“Fury, I want you to know that from now on, I only kneel in your honor. I only fight for your honor and by your will, I live.”
I pulled him to his feet and then to the doorway that led outside, not even taking the time to look around. I had to drag him out of the large room, his head whizzing about, trying to take in everything he could.
“Come on, Fury! What if I never get to come back up here?”
We looked down and took a precautionary step back from the dizzying height. I had to grit my teeth against a flood of images. Of all the things I wasn't used to, this was the least favorable of them. It did have its bonuses, though. Those images showed me that I could grab one of the many wet vines that ran the length of the tree and slide to the bottom, unharmed.
I felt the smile creep onto my face as I handed one to the boy. He had already put a very cross look on his face watching as I bent over and grabbed the two vines. He took the vine in his hand, unknowing of my intentions.
“What's this fo—”
I pushed him off, then jumped myself. His screams were louder than the ruse boy I wrestled with. It made me do something I'd never done before; I laughed.
We sped down, until we neared the bottom. The tree sloped outward, forming a slide of sorts. It slowed our momentum enough that we could let go of the vines and glide safely into the sand.
The sun had just passed the middle point of its long path through the sky. I knew I was late, but I didn't know how much. I handed the boy some of the flowers then ran toward Vassilious Keep’s eastern gate.
I rounded the corner to see nearly all the Honorborn had gathered around one of the many hanging posts constructed for a mass demonstration. Ochloc's voice boomed over the crowd.
“My slave was swallowed by the sand for his failure! Dying as honorably as Ark would allow any slave to die!”
The crowd roared.
“These slaves, here,” he continued, “tried to flee, hiding in the jungles hoping to escape their—”
That's when he saw me walking toward him. Gasps and whispers came from the crowd of Honorborn, followed by complete silence. I didn't know what I was supposed to do, so I started handing out flowers. I gave one to Avery, another to Dara, her eyes fixed on me as Avery glared at the Sun Lion Diamond in his hand.
I intended to hand a flower to every ruse-boy, who stood, each facing a pair of hooks. After I climbed upon stage, I saw their hands were bound, so I placed one in each of their mouths as I walked by. The double person stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t know whether to gift a single or double flower. I tried to shove one in both mouths but that task proved impossible, so I skipped it. (It would have been two. I understand now.)
I gave three to Ezra, and the remaining seven to Ochloc. The boy walked to my side, then kneeled.
I looked Ochloc in his eyes before taking two flowers Ezra held, her gaze ever serious. I put them both down on stage and grabbed a lantern from the hanging post. Ezra motioned to stop me as the crowd began to whisper. Her father held her back, letting me continue, unhindered.
I sat the lantern next to one of the flowers and laid down the large shield. I put the shield over the flower without the lantern next to it, holding it there for a moment. When I moved the shield away, there was nothing left but sand. Some onlookers clapped. Others stood with their mouths open at the sight of such a simple destruction of such a powerful relic.
I put the newly found shield over the flower next to the lantern. Holding it there as I had done with the first. When I moved it away, the flower remained. As I looked to my master, I saw the dawn of his realization and understanding. I stood to my full height once more, looking Ochloc in his eyes, before I promptly collapsed.
Robbery of Choice
The blonde looked up from the gallows as the young silver-haired boy approached. She was the last of her team to be freed and was still confused as to what had just occurred.
“We were sold, weren’t we?” asked the brunette at her side. The blonde sat, slumped on the wooden stage of the gallows. When she looked up, she saw that her friend, as well as the youngest Sky prince, each had a hand extended to her. She was reluctant to take the prince’s hand, but he merely nodded, pulling her to her feet with the help of the brunette. The boy regarded the ruse boys before his face took on the look of a person who was elsewhere. A face she had seen on the brunette more times than she could count.
“Why’d he do it?” The blonde asked the boy before looking back at her brown-haired companion. Neither answered her question. It was only then that her mind cleared enough to see that the twins still sat, staring up at the hooks that hung above them, even after the rest of the girls had been freed. Even after being sold, and even after the crowd left as the sun grew hotter in the sky.
The blonde grabbed the prince with one hand and pulled him close before pointing at Ochloc’s unconscious slave and repeating herself. The prince was as unresponsive as his companion in her grip. She shook him and he only looked at her. Looked at her as if she’d asked him the meaning of life.
“He has no debts to us, what is he planning? What does he want from us for this favor? Nothing is free, especially in these lands,” she spat in a whisper. No fear flooded his features. He merely brushed her hand away, before walking to the edge of the gallows to sit.
“He just brought his king more gold than any land has seen since the last time my father opened the Sky Kingdom’s treasury. He would only have had to bring back one flower to do that. Instead he brought a dozen or more of the most powerful sources of univers, only thickening the stakes,” said the boy as he looked just above the sleeping slave at the only two Honorborn remaining in the area.
The blonde, with a new question forming in her mind, observed the king and Khalif of the Sky Kingdom as they spoke. She felt almost undeserving of an answer as to why she was saved but knew that not asking would be far worse a fate than knowing in her mind. So when the brunette took the initiative, she was more than open to it.
“You’re a nameless prince now. Your older brother couldn’t keep the smile off his face when you’d arrived back. You must know more than you’re letting on. Who is that angry kid and why did he save all of us?” blurted the brunette.
The blonde placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder, as the brunette had been slowly raising her voice. Her sharp tone drew glances from the Honorborn men who stood a short distance away.
“What I know,” mumbled the prince, “is that life would be simpler if you two would shut your mouths.”
The blonde grew more than a touch irritated at his comment. She was a breath away from retorting when the boy vanished from her gaze. She blinked, momentarily confused as to what had happened. But once she took in the whole scene, she understood.
The younger prince, with his sword drawn, stood near Ochloc’s slave. An Honorborn family had approached the sleeping slave to marvel at the runt who was swallowed by the land itself only to surface victorious. The blonde didn’t know anyone who wouldn’t be mesmerized by the unlikely pair’s seizure of the Sun Lion Diamonds. However, she understood their success, having seen how swiftly the prince could move.
“What do you think they're doing?” asked the blonde as she watched the scene progress.
“The shield he’s holding. Must be one of the Sandmaker’s relics,
” responded the brunette as they watched a rainbow of lightning lash out of the large ornate shield at the approaching family. One of them was caught by the light only to be blasted backward by the impact. The family scattered as the king laughed. The boy returned instantly; his weapon was already sheathed at his side.
“He’s a slave with his own service?” asked the blonde. The boy made a shushing sound to try to quiet the ruse boys. He was leaning forward, his eyes rolled up, and seemingly searching. The blonde gathered that he was somehow listening to a conversation being had far from where his new (apparent) liege lay sleeping.
She opened her eyes to univers and examined the scene again.
The world’s inverted color spectrum spilled into her vision like rushing water. When she looked at the boy prince now, she gasped. He’d changed substantially in the past day, but that change within him was the least alarming of the things she noticed.
His essence extended from his body as if his spine were the strong calm center of a violent storm. Red lightning danced through black swirling clouds that twisted like hives of miniature funnel clouds just before they kissed the ground. As she looked toward his head, she fought the instinct to take a step back. His skull was caged in lightning that framed his face as it moved erratically, making it seem as if he were wearing a helmet, topped with horns of angry light.
A distortion of air was barely noticeable to either side of the storm the boy’s energy produced. The funnels of air seemed to be catching sound before pulling the noise in his direction. She had no doubt he could hear, from the gallows outside the keep, every word for which he listened.
“What are they saying?” asked the blonde. The boy glanced back at her, making the briefest of eye contact. She felt as if he saw her every secret in that single glimpse and wondered if he knew that she could see him entirely for what he was.
