I blinked once, carefully measuring my breaths as I adapted to being away from her, physically. I had no idea where this sudden dependence on Inalia was coming from, but I was inclined to believe it could have something to do with fire dying out inside me and her still being warm.
“Do you?” I asked.
She let a sigh out—the longest and heaviest I’d seen come out of her. “No. Up until yesterday, I didn’t even know who my father was. Everything is happening so fast, Tae… What do I do?
“Aren’t you cold?” I replied.
She shook her head. “You?”
“I felt it. The fire. Brann. I think everyone present on this planet felt it, only I’m having a nastier experience because of my half-fae nature. I’m more connected to the Fire Hermessi of any world, while in said world.”
“I… I think I’m okay.”
“I know you are. I could feel your warmth just now. How is this not affecting you, I wonder?”
Inalia shrugged. “I don’t know, Tae. There is so much I don’t know, it’s making my head hurt.”
“We’ll find the answers we need. Like you said, you didn’t even know who your father was until yesterday,” I replied, then gently squeezed her shoulder. The fire inside her still burned bright, and I relished the heat coming off her and spreading through my arm. “But we got the answer to that, didn’t we? We’ll learn more, soon enough. If there’s one thing I know about myself and the people that I came here with, it’s that we don’t give up. It’s not in our nature, Inalia. We keep digging. We keep fighting. We stop at nothing until we get what we want.”
“Or die trying?” she asked, though I did catch the shadow of a smile trying her lips for a split second.
“Yes. Whatever it takes,” I said. “It’s been our collective mantra for a long time.”
“How are you so stoic and resilient?” Inalia rolled her eyes, the smile returning with a little bit more strength than before.
“We’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen a lot. About a year ago, I thought the world was going to end,” I replied. “Inalia, we’ve been through some crazy moments. Crazy. Destruction-of-the-universe crazy. I’ve never dealt with something like this before, and especially not with the very entities that helped us save ourselves and our worlds, but it’s not my first time in a pinch.”
A few moments slithered past in agonizing silence, as Inalia and I simply stared at one another. I’d only known her for a mere couple of days, but her impact on my existence was already blaringly obvious. My mom had warned me about creatures like her—well, on a lighter note, but still… I could almost hear her. You’ll come across all kinds of people out there, my sweet Tae. Some, you won’t even realize how important they are to you until you’re seconds away from losing them. Others, they will storm into your life and become integral to your existence before you even get a chance to exhale. They’re rare, but the impact they have on you will last a lifetime. They’re special, Tae. One of a kind, each and every one of them. Precious creatures that will change your own path through the cosmos.
Looking at Inalia, I knew she was one of those rare and one-of-a-kind creatures. I was drawn to her, and it went past the physical attraction. We were linked somewhere, on a deeper level. And I could see how she’d already affected my trajectory through life. I was here, racking my brains to find a way to save her home planet and to stop the natural elements from destroying the others—because that was the only thing that made sense, in terms of a Hermessi agenda.
“Can you still feel him like before?” I asked.
“Brann?”
I nodded. She shook her head once more.
“Hold on,” I breathed, then whipped out my lighter. I flicked it open and produced a flame. It was small and nimble, and the sight of it made Inalia tear up again.
“I kid you not, that’s what he was reduced to,” she croaked. “A little fiery wisp. From the colossal flaming figure… to that,” she added, pointing at my lighter.
“I am sorry.”
“I couldn’t do anything.”
“None of us could’ve. These are Hermessi, Inalia. Pure forces of nature. And that’s our biggest problem, because we’ve yet to figure out how to at least stop them from whatever it is they’re planning. Did you get anything from Brann, before the others found you?”
She sighed. “Not as much as I would’ve wanted. Just confirmation of sorts… That the Hermessi are using their cults differently, now. He messed with their planned explosions, so they have to get their fae bodies another way. Hence the cut-and-spell method they’ve employed recently, including on your people.”
My blood curdled. Dread threatened to cut off my air supply.
“So, they’re definitely going ahead with it. Whatever ‘it’ is,” I said.
“It’s about something big and destructive, for sure. Big and destructive enough to make some of the Hermessi draw a line and say they can’t go ahead with it.”
“Some Hermessi. Like Brann, you mean.”
“Mm-hm. But I couldn’t get him to tell me how to stop them. It was my fault. I should’ve waited for him to find me,” she murmured.
“Don’t blame yourself, Inalia. You had no choice. We had no choice. The moment their cultists started attacking our people in their homes, back in The Shade and on Calliope, we… we had to speed things up. We needed to talk to him.”
“Still… I don’t know, Tae… I feel responsible. The worst part is that he’s going to die out, sooner rather than later, and how the hell do we manage afterward? This isn’t about me or you or your crew anymore, or your people back home. This is about my people. And my planet. This affects us directly.”
I nodded slowly. “I know. Listen, let’s get back to the others. Maybe Lumi or Amelia will have some input on this. Or even Emperor Tulla. We can’t sit here and wallow, unfortunately. Besides, my crew and I will have to move again soon. The Hermessi are, most likely, still hunting us.”
She gave me a horrified glance. Clearly, she’d forgotten about that part, but I couldn’t hold it against her. She was right. The biggest problem now was finding a solution for Cerix to keep going, since its fire was about to die out.
I’d thought we’d get answers by coming out here again. All we’d managed to get was a new and more terrifying problem.
Lumi
I wasn’t connected to the natural elements like the fae were, but even I could feel the fire going out. The cold was prowling nearby, circling closer and closer and threatening to grip me. Glancing around, I had to admit—we were not in a good place, and I was more confused and in the dark than I’d ever been.
At least with the Perfects and Ta’Zan we’d known who the enemy was and what methods they could employ. More or less, anyway. There was a sentiment that we would eventually find a way to stop them. Our worst-case scenario had been to gather all the powerful forces of the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension—the witches, the Daughters of Eritopia, the jinn, everybody! And use them to torch and dismantle Strava from the outside, before Ta’Zan’s soldiers could take flight. It would’ve meant annihilating multiple species. It would’ve meant genocide. But we’d had that on the back burner, as something to fall back on if everything else failed.
Here… It was painfully different.
The Hermessi were, for lack of a better word, godlike. The natural elements, sentient and remarkably powerful. The only advantage we had—and I wasn’t sure for how long we’d continue to benefit from it—was that their strength was limited and conditioned by these ancient rituals of theirs. They couldn’t just up and wipe entire worlds off the cosmic map. They needed a specific number of fae bodies through which to spread their elemental influence.
Destroying one of their own sounded like they’d gone off script, desperate to do whatever it took in order to achieve their final objective. Brann had stopped them from employing their cult members for this ultimate goal—which would’ve unfolded as coordinated explosions… I had no idea if those exact explosions
were going to destroy us, or if they simply represented the ritual key that unlocked the Hermessi’s full and absolute doomsday power, and I didn’t really want to find out. I was genuinely scared, despite my straight face.
What I did know was that, thanks to Brann for bringing the cults to our attention and to our GASP agents for hunting many of them down, the Hermessi were short on loyal bodies. So, they’d started using the ones they still had to spread their influence forcefully, through our safe havens and close friends and family. I had to admit, it made the Hermessi seem extremely vindictive. It made us all feel vulnerable and helpless. And they were still getting what they wanted—eventually. Bodies for their end-of-days ritual.
I leaned back into my chair and let a deep breath out.
The sun was setting. The candle lights barely flickered. The wall sconces were weak, barely producing a diffuse amber glow to shed some light in the room. Even our lighters were dim, almost useless.
Amelia, Raphael, Herakles, Riza, Varga, and Eva were busy with compiling a new report for GASP and sifting through what was left of the library’s parchments regarding the Hermessi. They held on to a sliver of hope that maybe they’d find something new, something they’d missed before and that would help us, going forward.
Eira was settled by the window, gazing outside, with Trap sitting in a chair next to her. I’d allowed Skit to go back to his palace chores. I found Trap of more use in our situation. He seemed quite affectionate toward Eira, and she was just as warm to him. I figured Trap was like the father she’d never had. He’d come in handy later, if Eira required protection on a personal level. I could tell that she was worried about Inalia, especially after what we’d all concluded about Brann.
I pressed the call button on my earpiece, reaching out to GASP leadership across countless galaxies and solar systems. “Derek, Sofia? You there?”
It took them a moment to respond, but, when they did, I immediately sensed the grief and concern in their voices.
“Lumi. How are you all holding up on Cerix?” Derek asked, his tone faltering.
“I’m holding up well. The planet, not so much,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Sofia replied.
“Our biggest fear came true. The other Hermessi caught Brann and practically destroyed him. The fires are dim and dying out here.” I sighed, then gave them the full rundown of the past few hours, including Inalia and Taeral’s attempt to reach out to Brann.
“That must be how they got to him then,” Derek concluded. “Through his daughter. They probably weren’t ready for the first contact, so they waited for the second to find them and destroy Brann.”
“We’re all thinking the same thing,” I said. “I don’t know how it will go on, from now. How it’s going to manifest. But logic dictates that, without a Fire Hermessi, Cerix will eventually die out.”
“This is unbelievable,” Sofia gasped. “How do we stop it? Is there anything we can do?”
“I… I don’t have an answer to that, I’m sorry. But we’ll keep pushing here,” I replied. I didn’t have the conditions of tranquility and the amount of time I needed to ask the Word for answers—however, knowing its power and endless wisdom, I couldn’t help but think that an answer should have come to me already, if there was one. Then again, there were some situations where I couldn’t rely on the Word to help me. Ours was a more… complicated relationship, clearly evidenced by the passage rites alone.
“What about Inalia and Taeral? Are they back yet?” Derek asked.
“No, but we’re expecting them any minute now. Amelia tried reaching out to him via the earpiece, but he didn’t answer. I’ll send Riza after them with a tracking spell, if needed.”
“If you need anything from us or GASP, don’t hesitate to ask,” Derek said. “Should we send more troops there? Witches?”
“There’s nothing they can do, Derek. Without a fire element, no fire-based spell would work properly. I’ve already tried,” I replied. “Once we get Inalia and Taeral back, we’ll all go through everything again, everything that has happened and everything that we’ve learned, and then I’ll get back to you. But, tell me, how are the fae? Vita, Grace, Ben, Vesta… How many more were attacked and now catatonic?”
Derek’s sigh chipped away at my heart. The answer couldn’t be good.
“They’re isolated, like you recommended. The witches are doing everything they can with the crystal casings. They’ve received the serium shipment across the In-Between, and they sent us a batch, as well. They’ve imbued the casings with healing and protection spells, for the fae and for us. Other than that, there’s not much else we can do.”
“Arwen, Corrine, and the others are spread thin,” Sofia added. “More witches are coming in from the Sanctuary to help. There are about three hundred fae affected, so far, and it seems to be spreading. It’s not just the cultists spreading it. In many cases, the families and friends of those who fell ill didn’t immediately bind and isolate the victims, so they, too, were attacked, by the very fae they loved.”
“Much like what Grace did to Ben, right?” I asked.
“Exactly like that. By the time our warnings went through to all the planets we know, it was too late for some. But now, at least, we all know how to deal with this. So, whenever another fae is hit, there’s an immediate protocol in place,” Sofia said.
“And physically? How are they? Stable?”
“Sort of, yes,” Derek replied. “Fever is high, breathing is shallow, and the pulse is weak. If their bodies were overtaken by the Hermessi influence and their souls were kicked out, it’s only a matter of time before we… lose them.”
He choked up, and I felt bad for him. His son, his granddaughter, and his great-granddaughter were all affected. At least Bijarki had been with little Chantal at the time, so the cultists couldn’t get to her—I couldn’t put it past those fanatic bastards. After all, they needed all the fae bodies they could get. A string of curse words slipped to the tip of my tongue, threatening to come out.
I dry-swallowed. “Keep me in the loop of any possible changes. I know Kale and my other apprentices will help you with swamp witch magic if you need it.”
“Thank you, Lumi. Let us know about Cerix, too. At least our situation is a horrible limbo. Over there, time is running out,” Sofia said.
We said our goodbyes, and I ended the call, then shifted focus back to the crew. Their eyes were on me, glimmers of hope fading as they read my expression.
“So, no change, then,” Amelia mumbled.
I shook my head. “They’re all isolated and quarantined, but no. No change.”
“I think we should take it as a good sign, of sorts,” Eva suggested. “If they’re just catatonic, it means they’re not doing anything. It means the Hermessi have yet to achieve their desired body count for their dumbass ritual.”
Varga stifled a chuckle, then his eyes lit up. “Oh, wait, Eva might be on to something. Remember that for that activation ritual back on Strava, the Hermessi needed exactly one thousand and one fae. I’m thinking that, for something much bigger—say, something that would allow them to destroy entire worlds at once—they’d need at least that many fae, if not more. Right?”
I was tempted to agree with that logic. But over ten thousand years in this world had also taught me not to rest my hopes on wishful thinking disguised as logical conclusions.
“Maybe. Let’s not rely on that, though,” I said. “Also, let’s focus on the local issue, for now. Cerix is without fire.”
Inalia and Taeral appeared out of nowhere, right behind Herakles.
“Sorry we’re late,” Taeral said.
It startled Herakles, making him jump from his chair. “You maniac!” he growled. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”
Thank the stars for creatures like Herakles, I thought. Prone to humor even in the most trying times—that, on top of his rugged good looks, had to explain the twinkle in Riza’s amethyst eyes. The jinni girl probably didn’t think anyone had notic
ed. Then again, I wasn’t “anyone.” Derek often referred to me as an old fox. A term of endearment, he’d called it, and I quickly agreed after I learned about the earthly animal to which he’d compared me. An old fox, indeed.
“Are you okay?” I asked Taeral and Inalia.
They both shook their heads, as Taeral explained the drop in his body temperature and as Inalia told us about her last encounter with Brann and the other Hermessi. I had to admit, their accounts floored me. I’d never dealt with something like this. And I had absolutely no solution. For the first time since before I even became a swamp witch, I found myself ignorant and unable to fix this.
“So, Acquis was there,” Eira chimed in, her brows lowered into a deep frown.
“Yeah. He kept telling me I’d made a mistake, like that wasn’t obvious,” Inalia replied.
“And he helped the others destroy Brann,” Eira continued.
“I don’t think he had a choice,” Taeral said. “He helped us before, but I’m pretty sure we already know that the other Hermessi aren’t aware of that. He wouldn’t have revealed himself as a traitor to their cause, right then and there. They probably would’ve destroyed him, too.”
“What if they wouldn’t have? What if the odds were better if Fire and Water teamed up against Earth and Air?”
“At what cost to the planet, though?” Amelia asked.
It got our full attention.
“What do you mean?” I replied.
“Well, think about it. They’re natural elements. They fuel everything on this planet. Fire, water, earth, and air. How would nature itself respond if two Hermessi battled the other two? We all saw that flash of light when Brann was attacked. Imagine how their fight would translate into the real world. I’m thinking cataclysmic levels. Maybe enough to destroy entire cities and islands.”
Eira lowered her gaze. Inalia settled by her side, seeking some kind of comfort. Taeral was left standing and slightly trembling. He was cold, the poor thing. His fae fire was dying out.
A Shade of Vampire 70: A Breed of Elements Page 22
