Age of Souls

by Garrett Stevens

  “You drink it.” Gemini tossed it through the fire at him.

  “Why me?”

  “Because I’m the princess.” She said with a grin.

  “What ever happened to being just a woman?”

  “Sometimes you need to be the authority.” She spoke with a laugh and was met with a scolding face. “It will be fine.”

  Faer pulled the small cork from the top of the vial and peered inside like something was going to jump out at him. The brown liquid swirled inside on its own and gave him a wink of sparkling, enticing him to drink it. Watching with the utmost attention, he sighed deeply and threw back his head, emptying the vial into his mouth. With a loud gulp, he coughed with having swallowed too much air in his flourish.

  Gemini watched him silently and cocked her head to the side to get a clearer view of him from around the fire. He considered the empty vial and looked up with a shrug. Quietly sitting around the crackling fire, the falls kept up with their assault against the camp ward.

  “Anything?” Gemini broke through the trying silence.

  “Nothing.” Faer looked down at the glass bottle and slowly snapped his eyes to the left and right, up and down, checking with his eyes like he was trying to feel a difference within his body with them.

  A look of horror suddenly filled his face.

  “Something.” Faer perked up. “A voice is speaking. It’s repeating something I can’t understand.” He sat still, listening.

  “Repeat it.”

  “Shim. Yoshil.” He paused for a second, trying to listen to everything. “Shim yoshil, brakk yoshil itran duu krashk.”

  “That sounds like the language my father uses sometimes.”

  “She keeps repeating it.” Faer didn’t take his eyes from the vial.

  Close to the larger falls, outside the ward, a small light started to glow from the side of the mountain that caught Faer’s attention.

  “What?” Gemini looked in the direction he turned.

  “You don’t see that?”

  “Of course I don’t, you’re the one drinking strange potions from strange women.” Gemini raised an eyebrow at him.

  Faer didn’t react to her prodding but kept his eyes on the small white light coming from the rock face. Standing with his blanket, he slowly stepped closer to the mountain wall and stopped before the edge of the ward. Gemini pierced her lips together in concern but continued to watch him silently.

  The small light had an odd symbol in it, a cluster of six stars forming around three hoops, almost touching but never connecting. The rings had an ornate layout with additional swoops and lines finally encasing the stars into what looked like six more rings with thorns protruding at the apex of each ring. In the middle, being perfectly spaced in a triangle formation, the circles were no more than a sliver apart and housed the shape of two dragon heads about to devour each other.

  “It’s the symbol in Mya’s book.” Faer excitedly turned to Gemini.

  Gemini stood quickly without holding onto her blanket and skipped over beside Faer who failed to acknowledge she was next to him naked. His attention was focused on the shifting light on the mountain face.

  “Where is it?” Gemini kept still, trying not to distract him.

  Faer reached out with a finger and pointed. Gemini traced his finger trajectory with her eyes and reached out with her own hand slowly. Before he could stop her, she stepped out into the mists, through the cascading waters on the ward, towards the stone. Her fingers slowly touched the rock face exactly where he could see the light and the clearing fell silent. The sound of the falls died out, the sounds of early night with it, even the fire dancing behind them gave up on trying to be the center of attention. All the water from the mists and the falls stopped and the world was still.

  “The voice stopped.” Faer broke the stillness and looked at her when she rotated her head to look at him.

  When their eyes met Faer ran forward and grabbed her face, planting a kiss on her lips, pushing her back against the mountain wall. Gemini, in surprise, pushed him back.

  “What the hell?”

  Faer shook his head like he didn’t know what is going on and grabbed the sides of his head in pain.

  “What’s wrong?” Gemini reached out, trying to catch him before he collapsed to the ground.

  The anger of the falls started back into the night and the fire snapped back to life as if nothing happened. Faer lay still on the ground. Gemini knelt beside him with her hand on his shoulder, watching his face. A small grinding sound shook the ground beneath them, like stone sliding on stone. She could feel something behind her was different. She turned her head slightly to glance behind at where she had been pushed up against the stone to see a small opening through the stone.

  “Faer, wake up.” Gemini shook his shoulder.

  He lay still.

  With a check to see if he was breathing, a fear flooded her face as tears joined in with the collection of mists on her face, falling to the ground.

  “Faer?”

  Her legs became weak beneath her and she collapsed to the ground. With an outstretched hand, she couldn’t come to touch him again. She covered her mouth as she wept, for now she knew, she was alone.

  Chapter 11

  The sun finally gave up to the night and darkness invaded everything. Light from the fire scattered itself across the mist from the falls, skipping from droplet to droplet. Faer’s body lay still in his blanket, the fire caressing his face, trying to wake him up. With stained cheeks, Gemini sat with her back against mountain wall hugging her knees, eyes locked on him. Her mouth covered with blanket and her nose sticking out the top as the collection of tears soaked their way through the fabric. Straining her eyes to look up at the opening in the stone wall without moving her head, she blinked back to Faer, she knew what must be done.

  Standing up slowly with support from the wall, she had to make sure her legs could hold. Failing to keep her grasp on to her cover, the blanket fell to the ground exposing her again to the world. The falls trying desperately to wrap its mist around her, the ward was thankfully still holding. Stepping close to the fire to check her clothing, she tried not to disturb the earth around Faer’s still body. Dressing slowly, she looked down at his quiet face, sniffling back a tear and sighing heavily to gain back her composure.

  Her boot straps took her longer than normal with her weak fingers. The leggings were still a little damp, making her shiver with a cringe as she rolled them up each leg and over the sensitive areas. All the loops, hooks and ties to strap herself into the rest of her clothing took almost as long as her boots, even as her hand began to warm up.

  Rummaging around in her bag, she pulled out a small box and tossed it off to the side, its contents spilling out against the mountain. A small wrap holding a moldy bread like substance crumbled as it hit the dusty ground. Along with two small red vials and a small fruit that looked like spiked cherries rolled further out, finally coming to a rest in the grass fringe of the camp.

  Lifting out a balled-up cloak, Gemini gave it a smell and flinched before tossing it over to the box. After a few more circles with her hand to make sure her pack had only the essentials, she leaned back and without putting eyes on to the corpse behind her, grabbed Faer’s pack and pulled it closer. Sitting on her haunches, she started to explore through its contents.

  A fresh wrap of bread and a half full water skin were the first things to be removed. A clean cloak. A small simple book wrapped with a fine twine. Finally, the black urn, Necrolin’s cup. Holding it up close to her face, she examined the smooth sides, the simple design made it seem so trivial, so banal.

  “Guess you will have to come to then?” Gemini poked the side of the urn as she spoke to it, as if it were taunting her. Her voice was troubled, tripping past something stuck in her throat.

  Wrapping a small cloth around it, she tucked it neatly in the bottom of her own bag. Folding the clean cloak in her lap, she rolled it up into a sausage and slipped it in beside the urn.
Putting the last of the food in last, she closed the top flap and tightened the buckle with a final sigh. Faer’s empty bag went limp as she released it, laying still, lifeless like his own body. Gemini closed her eyes as she listened to the roar of the falls behind her, dreading the next portion of her journey.

  Flipping the filled backpack over her shoulder as she stood, Gemini slowly turned to face Faer. He had not moved. She had half expected this to be a ruse and he would wake, warming himself by the fire. Swallowing the lump in her throat and sniffling back tears, she closed her eyes and nodded to herself with a sigh.

  Looking out at the falls and the into the darkness of the night, the flicker from the fire tickled the mists as they tried their hardest to break through the ward. She knew the fire would burn out soon and with there being nowhere to put his body, the wild life living in the cliffs would dispose of the corpse quickly.

  “The spirits will guide you.” With closed eyes, Gemini spoke under her breath. “If it were another time, another life, a life changed for simpler ways; we could have explored more together. My heart belongs to someone already, my life to adventure with them, someone dear to me. You were a good friend Faer, I wish you the best in the Dragons Palace, may Incinolin treat you well. I will see you again someday.” Gemini knelt and kissed his forehead.

  Standing up tall and looking up through the mists and into the night, the stars could barely be made out. Flitting into eyesight the stars tried their hardest against the onslaught of the falls, struggling to win this night. With a final nod to herself, she stepped through the ward and into the moist air almost instantly getting soaked. It was as if the displacement from the ward had made the falls angry and it readied its siege to strike at her in the instant it could.

  The opening in the stone wall was not far and she quickly made her way up to it, hoping the shelter would stop the mists. With a hop into the oddly shadowed cave, the darkness was blacker then the night around it, Gemini’s footing echoed off into nothing down through the tunnel. Stopping a few meters in the mouth of the black, she looked back over her shoulder in the final hope to see Faer standing there trying to catch up. Light from the fire shimmered against the mist, sending flecks of shadow and light into the mouth of the opening and she knew it all to be real.

  Reaching out towards the light with her right hand, she spread her thumb and first two fingers like she was going to grab a small ball and then quickly closed her hand into a fist. A deep ringing noise filled the night air and the ringing echoed passed her. The light from the fire struggled with the lack of a ward protecting it. The mists had won the battle this night and quickly squelched the light at the end of the tunnel.

  “Farewell Faer.” Gemini whispered again.

  Deathly black surrounded everything with the deluge finally winning. She was alone in the aphotic cave, the roar of the falls quickly drowning itself out before reaching far into the cave. The mists began to trickle off until the air was clear and crisp with a high moisture content of a tropical forest.

  Her steps were soft, yet still echoed gently against the darkness. With the echo never being returned, she knew that there was no opening close by, no widening or expansion to the tunnel. The despairing cave had swallowed her whole. With every step, she began to lose all sense of direction in the black. The sounds of the falls stopped entirely and were replaced only with her efforts to try and not breath or step loudly.

  For hours, she just put one foot in front of the other. Keeping her hand on the smooth hard surface to her side, what she knew to be the mountain; she did not want to let it off in the fear to not get turned around and come back out to the body she was trying to keep her mind off.

  A small blue hazy light formed off in the distance that illuminated the edges of the tunnel more and more with each step. It was a warm light, like that from an Umbrella tree. It pulsed the same way, making her feel more at ease and had her quickening the pace. Something familiar and welcoming was luring her closer. With her hand remaining on the wall beside her, she briskly caught up to the pulsing light to find that it was one of the hearts from an umbrella tree.

  Roots from somewhere above wrapped themselves around the warming heart that calmly pulsed against the tunnel darkness. The shafts on either side of the cave opening had enlarged to more than double the width to make room for the heart, which was still a bit of a cramped area, but still large enough to lay down to rest.

  Gemini got close to the heart and placed her hand on the outer roots as if to draw in its warmth. Sliding her backpack gently to the ground, she folded herself to the ground and curdled up into a ball. Grabbing her shins with one arm and pulling her pack under head like a pillow, she pressed herself close to the roots and fell asleep.

  • • •

  Mya sprinted across the open plain, keeping her palms on the straps of her bag to keep it from banging around as it chased her. The moon was very bright that night, making it easier to see the landscape around her as she sprinted for her life, easier to see the cloaked figure pursuing her. With an outstretched hand, she quickly rolled it into a small blue flame and tossed it behind her in hopes to wildly connect or slow down her attacker.

  “Meidrae! Brak!” The lizard voice she was finding more familiar and hated called out.

  Rolling her hand again, she kept the small blue fire in her hand and skid to a halt. She wasn’t going to miss this time. Spinning around to face her pursuant, she let loose the fireball. The robed hulk stopped in its tracks as well and somehow flickered out of the way. It was unnatural the way it moved, like it wasn’t really there.

  “What do you want?” Mya yelled at it.

  “Meidrae. The spirits. Rapruk duu Furhdrae.” The shadow awkwardly forced out its words.

  “I don’t know what you are saying, or what you want. If you are so eager to die, then let’s finish this. I am tired of running.” Rolling both hands around she began building two more blue fireballs in her palms.

  “Mother. The Furhdrae muurs bi rapruk. The Spirits release will thrandin duu caldri.”

  Mya kept her wrists rolling, strengthening the fire in her hands. She kept a questioning eye on the shadowy hulk. It had to be a Furhdrae; the speed, the tenacity, the focus. It was dangerous to be this close to one for this long, which had her worried. She knew them to be the assassins of Low Realm, only coming out of their world when called upon, given the power to exit the darkness.

  “I am not this ‘Mother’. It is time to end this.”

  Before the cloaked figure could make another noise, Mya sprang into action. Hurling one of her fireballs towards the shadow, she chased after it as it whirled through the night air. Blue electricity bringing the fire alive shot out from it as it travelled towards the beast. The Furhdrae was ready for the attack and quickly sidestepped the attack again, sending it crashing into the soils behind it with a plume of earth and grasses.

  Watching the blaze whip past it, the Furhdrae turned back to look at Mya who had quickly closed the gap between them. Grabbing its cloak, Mya had an evil grin on her face; she was enjoying herself. Her other hand filled with blue flames came screaming towards its head. Blue lightning and fire erupted from the connection, igniting the night with shrill screams of magic and death. The place where the Furhdrae’s head should have been was now a void. Mya let the robe clutched in her hand go and pushed the decapitated body backwards.

  “That seemed a bit too easy. What were all those nightmare stories about these being almost impossible to kill?” Mya looked down at the corpse at her feet and chuckled to herself.

  Scanning the horizon around her to make sure there was only the one, she gave the corpse a little kick before turning towards the mountain range in the distance. Sky Pedestal looked close enough, but still might be another full day of travel before she got there. She knew she couldn’t stop, there might be more than just other Furhdrae around. That larger one she had seen at the lake was nowhere to be seen and might pop up at any point.

  Her pace was quicker t
han an average walk, fast enough that she could keep a scouting eye on the horizon and listen for trailing parties. Even with the night being bright, the moon would play tricks on the mind with the shadows. She had to get to the city soon, to rest and to get some information. The scholars in the mage tower there should be able to shed some light on a few questions. Looking behind her into the distance towards the Draag Mountains, she could only wonder if Faer and Gemini were doing alright.

  • • •

  A blood curdling scream shocked Gemini awake. The solitude of the space and warming of the rooted heart shattered by the sounds of death echoing their way through the darkness. With how loud it was, it had to be close. Looking around, Gemini had no sense of time; was it morning or evening, how long had she slept for? Another scream flooded into the cave. It was definitely closer than she would have liked it to be.

  Gemini rocked to her feet and stood quickly, scooping up her backpack as she rose. With a quick fling over her shoulder, she headed down the tunnel where the screaming emanated from. Silence filled the tunnel again with death likely finding its victim. She knew she would be too late to help but something was alive in these tunnels and gave a potential way out.

  The blue from the heart faded behind her with every clunky step through the darkness. Gemini made sure that the same smooth stone remained on the right side of her. The odd puddle splashed up her leg and onto her leggings. Even away from the falls and their incessant mist, she still was getting wet.

  Before long, the tunnel began to lighten up slightly, making it easier for her to see and able to remove her hand from the wall. There was a long arching curve with a slight incline in the tunnel. Wet and mossy rocks lined the tunnel walls, with very smooth sections that made it seem like the tunnel was drilled by something unnatural. Tiny water lines veined their way down the side from somewhere unseen, making small puddles to step in or disappearing behind other rock faces before touching the path. Gemini took larger steps to get over what she could but quickly found that it was futile for how wet she already was.