by Riley Tune
I made my way down the adjoining hall of the council building and finally found the holding areas. They were large rooms, with one wall made of glass, allowing the people inside the room and outside the room to see each other. In the center of the glass were several small holes. I guessed it was for air, and for people to be able to talk.
The first two rooms that I came to were empty. The third room, however, wasn’t.
The people in the room seemed to jump as I slumped on the outer side of the glass. There was a body on the floor closer to the glass.
I could feel my eyes become blurred with tears, and my breathing seemed short, as I looked at Jolin's lifeless body on the ground.
He was still wearing his suit, and he had the gag in his mouth from earlier. His throat had been slashed and he apparently had been left there to bleed out on himself. I banged my hand on the glass. He didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve to die like an animal.
I looked up from him and saw Vida. She was sitting on a chair. Her face was bruised again, as if she had been fighting, and her eyes were red. She had been crying, but now she wasn’t.
She didn’t seem scared, and she didn’t even flinch as the knife at her throat pushed against her skin. I looked to the person standing behind Vida. The person holding the knife and Vida’s life in her hands.
“I knew you’d come. I’m just surprised my fool brother didn’t join you,” Rema said.
29
“You just couldn’t die, could you?” Rema said as she watched me. “This plan took so long to come to light and you, a novice, seem to keep getting in the way. Keeper! Even Ember was easier to get rid of than you.” At these last words she pushed the blade of the knife a little harder to Vida’s neck.
“You have to know you can’t make it out of this situation, Rema. Your guards are dead,” I said, but she just smiled.
“No, those guards are dead. They rotate on the hour, and the new arrivals should be here any moment.”
My instinct was to turn and check the entrance to the holding area, but I didn’t. I didn’t want her to feel like she had the power here, even if she did.
Rema didn’t look like her normal self. She had on that armor again, and she looked like she had been up for days on end. Her breathing was heavy, and blood was staining her hair. I wasn’t sure where the blood had come from, but I was willing to bet that it was Jolin’s.
“What I don’t understand,” Rema said, as she leaned and looked up the hall through the glass wall facing me, “is where the Battle Born are, or how you got past them. They are usually—” She stopped speaking as she looked at me.
Me—bruised, bloody, and barely standing up straight, but for the first time she was seeing a smirk on my face. Her eyes seemed to dart from me, as if she realized something that I hadn’t yet. A flicker of hope crossed Vida's face as she looked at me and her brow rose.
“They’re dead. Both of them,” I said calmly.
“Liar!” Rema hissed at me through gritted teeth. She spat when she said it, and the blade pushed deeper into Vida’s neck as Rema’s other hand clamped down on her shoulder.
“No, I’m not lying. It wasn’t easy. I mean, look at me.”
I limped closer to the glass and then warped to the other side. It made her flinch a little as I did so. For the first time, Vida was truly smiling now. There was no doubt about it. Then I knew why. Battle Born blocked a person’s abilities. But now—
Vida’s hand shot up and clasped Rema’s. But it wasn’t Vida’s hand. It was a large, massive, strong hand. Almost twice the size of Vida’s. It was bigger than my hand, too.
Rema winced as her hand was crushed under the newfound strength Vida was calling to her aid. I was thankful. I could feel myself slowly moving to a wall and sliding down to the floor. Even that small warp had made me tired.
Vida smiled as she continued to change and use her power. Rema’s knife dropped and clattered to the ground and rolled near my feet. I realized this was the dagger that had killed Jolin, and I kicked it away from me with my foot.
Vida had disappeared now. What stood in her place was the massive, hulking body of the guard Bren. Vida continued to squeeze Rema’s hand, using her new strength to push her up against the wall. She used her other hand and clasped it around Rema’s neck.
Rema tried to talk, but she couldn’t get air. Vida released Rema’s other hand and allowed both her hands to find her throat now. Vida had begun to turn red as he applied pressure and lifted Rema slightly off the ground.
“This is for Jolin, and Ember.” Vida’s broken words echoed around the room in her own feminine voice. Rema slapped her hands at Bren's repeatedly, but had no luck in freeing herself. Her face began to turn colors as her eyes bulged.
Rema’s feet were kicking harder now; some of the movements even hit Vida in the leg, but she seemed to not even feel them. Then, they began to slow down. Her hands fell to her side and her feet began to hang. Her entire body was limp now. In a way, she reminded me of a doll being held by a large child.
Bren dropped her body to the floor and then kicked it for good measure. He turned away from Rema and, as he did so, he changed again into a face I had grown so fond of.
Vida ran to me and fell to the ground in front of me. “Warps,” she said as she held my face and looked at me.
“I want to kiss you. I just can’t find a place on your face that isn’t covered in blood.”
“If it means anything, only about half of it is mine,” I said as I took the hand that she had extended out to me. I flinched and winced as she helped me up from the ground.
I threw my arm around Vida as we looked at Jolin.
“He didn’t beg or show any fear,” Vida said. “Even when she said his family would never return to its former glory. We can come back and get him,” she said. “We have to get out of here before those other guards come.”
I agreed with her, even though the sound I made was more of a grunt than words.
We turned to face the door, and Vida screamed as she let me fall to the ground. I tumbled down like a bag full of rocks. She had her fist up ready to attack in an instant.
“Who—” She searched for words. “Where did—who?”
A small boy stepped from the corner of the room. The corner was well lit, and yet we hadn’t seen the boy before. But I knew him.
“Keeper,” I said as I pushed myself from the ground.
“What?” Vida said. She stood in front of me as the youth walked towards me. “I’m telling you, kid, back up. I don’t like people that sneak up on me, and I will hit a child.”
“It’s okay Vida,” the boy said. “I wish you no harm.”
Her fist still raised, Vida tilted her head some.
“We can trust him, Vida. He’s a friend.”
She stepped aside and allowed the boy to drop down and face me.
“You freed your friends. But we have much work to do still. When you are done here, come meet me at Ember’s home. We will talk of what is to come.” He placed a hand on my cheek, and I felt warmth. As if I were standing in the sun, basking in its rays. It flooded my body as the pain went away.
“Keeper!” Vida said as she watched my wounds close and the blood on my skin vanish. I don’t think she knew just how right she was.
As the Keeper stood to turn away, I reached for him. I didn’t touch him, but he did stop. I looked to him and then to Jolin.
“Can you bring him back? Can you?”
He looked at Jolin.
“In a way, of sorts. But it will not be easy or painless. For him or for you.”
“For me?” I asked.
He nodded. “His life force is almost gone. While people consider me a god, I didn’t create human life. That is a power even greater than mine. What I can do is restore energy and heal, effectively giving him life.”
“Then why would it painful for me?” I asked.
“Not just you,” he said as he looked to Vida. “You both, like many people, wield shall
ow versions of my abilities. You both have a portion of my essence in you. I will take a small portion of this essence from you and give it to him.”
“And this is painful?” I asked as I stood and moved to Vida’s side.
The Keeper nodded as he looked at us. “The human soul is very much real, and part of my essence is bonded to it. I will have to rip some of it from you to give to him. Though his body is damaged, and he no longer breathes, a person isn’t truly gone until their soul leaves. His soul is fading, but is still within him, and if we don’t do it now, we won't be able to.”
I could feel Vida’s fingers locking in mine as she grabbed my hand and looked at me. She had no idea who this person was, but she seemed to believe me, and that was enough for her.
“Do it,” she said.
Without even hesitating, he held his hands up and they began to glow—and so did our bodies. We both screamed out. The pain I felt was like nothing that I had ever felt before.
It was as if I was being burned from the inside out. Tears ran down my face, and blood dripped from my nose my ears.
Then it was over. Vida and I were both breathing hard and covered in sweat now. The Keeper held out one glowing hand and walked over to Jolin. He placed the glowing hand on Jolin’s stomach and allowed the glow to hover. Jolin’s body became transparent for a moment, as if he were made out of glass.
We could see the glowing orb transfer from the Keeper's hand into Jolin’s body. The orb seemed to sit in his stomach, as if it were thinking on what to do next, and then it broke into different portions, each portion moving to a different location.
It all began to glow.
The Keeper stood and moved away from Jolin as the orbs continued to pulsate. The glow of the orbs slowly began to go dim, and I saw a slight twitch of Jolin’s leg. Vida must have seen this too, because I heard her gasp.
“What?” Jolin said slowly as he came to, putting his hand to his neck. He turned his head in every direction as his eyes opened.
I moved closer to him, followed by Vida. “I leave you alone for a little bit and this is what happens,” I said to him as I helped him up.
“Yes, Mr. Lox. My day took a turn for the worse while you were away slaying Emperors,” Jolin said. He coughed a little and looked over and saw Rema on the ground.
He exhaled and smiled as he looked at her.
“He’s gone,” Vida said as she looked around the room. She was right. I hadn’t noticed, but the Keeper had left silently once again.
“Who?” Jolin asked.
“We’ll explain later,” I said. “Come on.” I threw his arm over my shoulder. “Let’s get you outside, and then I can warp us someplace safe.”
“Warp us?” Vida asked.
“Another part of the story I will have to explain later,” I said to her as I slowly walked with Jolin.
Vida brought up the rear as we continued to make our way back through the council building. As we moved past the bodies of the Battle Born, Vida and Jolin took long hard looks at their bodies. “There’s no blood,” Vida exclaimed.
“You certainly have been busy, Mr. Lox.” Jolin said. “Busy indeed.”
Vida opened the door for us. I was expecting sunshine; I was expecting snow and fresh air.
What I found was Remy, surrounded by guards and some members of the council. I could tell they were council members from the long green robes they wore and their bald tattooed heads. All council members seemed to look the same. Then, to the side, I noticed over a dozen other council members, tied up and sitting on the ground. Beside them were just as many guards, tied up as well.
Remy clapped his hands as he walked to me. “By the Keeper, you did it!” he said as he hugged me and Jolin at the same time.
“You have no idea,” I said under my breath.
“What’s all this, Remy?” Vida asked.
“This was to be the rescue party, but it seems Lox had everything under control,” Remy replied. He looked me in the eye and leaned into my ear. “Is my sister's body in there?”
I nodded.
“Good man,” he replied as he patted my shoulder.
“I suppose you will be King now that she is gone,” I said as he walked away. He wagged his finger in the air and turned to me.
“Me? King? Keeper, no. I’ve told you all, power isn’t something I seek. No, our new King is resting on your shoulders.”
Vida and I both looked to Jolin as he looked up to Remy.
“Jolin is the only other high noble Thera has,” Remy continued. “It’s his birthright, if he wants it. He will have a lot to learn, but anything is possible.”
Jolin slowly removed his arm from my shoulder. He walked forward and was assisted by some of the council members.
“We have some things to discuss, Mr. Remy,” Jolin said as he walked by.
“We do, your majesty,” Remy said with a smile.
He followed behind Jolin for a few steps, and then came back to me.
“I have reached out to those loyal to me in other kingdoms. We still have no word on Ember. If he is alive, we don’t know where he is.”
I nodded my head and shook his hand. I had decided in my head that Ember was gone. If he were alive, he would have been here.
I didn’t need a body or confirmation. His memory would live on with me, as well as his teachings. I was my own man now. A Warper like no other, and I would have to make my own way.
“So what now, Warps?” Vida said as she walked up and nudged me with her hip.
I looked down at her beside me. Her brown eyes were perfect, and so was her face. I hadn’t noticed, but she was healed now, too. It must have happened when the Keeper took our essence.
She looked almost innocent as the snow fell on her cheeks and melted. You’d never know she had just choked the life out of a woman.
“I have to head over to Ember's home and sort some stuff out. After that, I have to find my family and let them know they can return home.”
“Need some help with that?” she asked me.
“Are you asking to meet my mother?” I said as I laughed.
She shrugged.
“No,” I said, still laughing. “I want you to go with Jolin, if you don’t mind. I want to make sure the new king is protected. I trust Remy, but I trusted his sister, too. I want to make sure everything is okay.”
“I can do that,” she said as she began to change. Her face was reforming into that of an older man.
“Wait,” I said, and she stopped and reverted back to herself. She looked up to me once more, and I kissed her, and pulled her close. She was the one thing I had that made sense to me now.
Her life was as crazy and blood-filled as mine, and I was okay with that. As I kissed her in the snow, I wasn’t worried about killing, about contracts, about gods, about mysterious civilizations beyond the water. As I kissed her I was simply a man, and I was happy.
EPILOGUE
I reappeared on the roof of Ember’s home. For some reason, I was expecting the Keeper to be inside, but he wasn’t. As I materialized, I saw him, instead, sitting on the ledge, feet swinging, his head tilted back so that the snow could fall in his mouth. Gods were strange.
“Thanks for coming,” he said, without even looking at me. He did continue to move his head back and forth as he tried to catch more snow.
“I can’t really tell a god no, now, can I,” I asked as I walked closer to him.
“You know, we didn’t start out that way. We were just four kids once. Four kids playing in a field when we were supposed to be doing something else.” I remembered the four children I had seen. “Then we found something—something that changed us forever.”
He leaned over the ledge, looking up the street. I looked, too, but didn’t see anything.
“I could go into greater detail, but I will save that for our next meeting. We don’t have much time, because you have an old friend coming, any moment now.”
“I do?” I asked as my brow rose. He didn’t reply.
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“He's the reason it always snows and rains, you know. It’s something one of the other gods did. His name is Grimsby Glen. He has a thing for snow and rain. Don’t ask me why. He is also the one who has been talking to you while you warp.”
My head jerked as he said this. “The voice I’ve been hearing is real?”
The Keeper shook his head. “That opening we found that day, from which something came and changed us into gods—we called it the Rift. It’s another plane, another world.”
It came to me now. The same smoke-like substance I had seen in the vision. It had looked just like the vapor that had left the fallen Battle Born.
“The Rift is where Warpers go for that instant when they warp. They leave this world, travel through The Rift, and then reappear here.”
On the one hand, I wanted to learn more about this Rift; on the other hand, I was scared of the fact that another god had been reaching out to me from some unknown place.
“Grimsby was the strongest of us all, and had a unique bond with the Rift, since he was the first to experience it.” I saw the vision again of the youth who had been lifted off the ground. He had looked even younger than the Keeper did.
“I fear it is also he who is controlling the people beyond the waters, and that it was he who was influencing Rema and the Empress Selen Nal. These Battle Born, as you call them, are his weak, lesser creations.”
The Keeper stood up from the ledge and removed the excess wetness from his face.
“You have been blessed by me, as people say, and possess some of my essence. More than any person alive,” he said as he smiled at me. “Grimsby cannot harm you as easily because of this, nor can he influence you like he wants to. He will try to bring you to his side, and may continue to speak to you when you warp. But you have nothing to fear.”
The Keeper looked over his shoulder, back up the street again. “Right on schedule,” he said. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” He walked past me.
“So that’s it? What now?” I said. As I did so, I was reminded of Vida, who had asked me the same thing before I left her.
