by Jamie Magee
“He seems to have endless back up plans. Signs of weakness. He’s losing his confidence. Good sign.”
My day moved through my mind at a rapid speed. I couldn’t piece it all together. What Justus and Adonia had to do with Donalt. Why she thought that she was harboring the essence of Justus’.
The knowledge that at one time Drake himself planned to move my soul into the body of that vile being I’d seen sent another wave of nausea through me.
“How or why did that woman have your essence? Why was she frozen in death? Did you know they were planning to put my soul within her at one time?”
“I didn’t. You did. You told me of those plots.”
“Stop it. Start talking, or tell me how to get home.”
After a deep sigh and curious glance over me, he spoke. “From what I understand, as soon as Donalt understood what I was to you, he planned to harbor my essence and control your second coming. Adonia didn’t run home to see her father against my will. She stole my essence. I followed. I had no idea Livingston would follow, or that Beth would. I’d told Livingston point blank that Donalt was staking a claim on his son and he needed to run far away. But I suppose Adonia had some kind of womanly bond with Beth; she had told her she was carrying a child. I can only imagine when Beth heard that she was quote-unquote ‘trapped,’ she went to the rescue thinking of an unborn child, as any young mother would do.”
He leaned back against the sour, torn cushions. “Adonia was played as all mirrors are. When she arrived at the palace with her prize, she was immediately placed in suspended animation. Livingston and Beth tried to free her. They were attacked. I tried to stop it, yet, apparently, my time to become dormant had arrived.”
“You didn’t see that coming?” I mocked.
“I did. But like a fool, I thought Livingston would listen to me. That he would have at least ensured his soul mate would have remained behind. But he didn’t. And I was out of time. Fate had its say, Sovereign.”
“I heard a different story. I heard Adonia convinced Livingston to take her home—that she was trapped, then he came to you and told you. Beth went because she was from Esterious and knew she could lead them to you.”
“Same facts, different order. He told me he took her—that she was trapped. I knew what she had done to me. What she had. I left. They followed.”
“What is the deal with the essence?”
“Adonia used magic to take my essence from my belongings.”
“How could you tell something like that?”
“Everything felt new.”
I gawked at him like he was a fool.
“You know what I’m talking about. How a new bed feels different, a new chair, clothes. We leave a mark everywhere we go, a deep one where we go every day. While I was fighting—staying as far away from her as possible—she stripped me.”
“Is that why you struck her?”
“Exactly why. Because my essence was within her, your soul would have easily taken her as a host.” He glanced away. “Donalt knew if you bypassed him completely and took his reign that he could strike her vessel with my essence within it. Because I am your First, you would have been weak enough for him to get one last blow in.”
That maternal feeling was firing off in my soul once more. Somehow, I knew without a doubt that the blow Donalt would have given Adonia would have killed Justus—which was crazy; he was already the walking dead.
I needed to figure out what this ‘First’ business was all about, but I wasn’t going to ask him, not yet anyway.
I wanted to thank him for saving me from two different ways that Donalt had planned to take me out, but my pride stopped me. Instead, I told myself: one, my soul would have never been put in that vessel; and two, no blow to Justus should hurt me. I didn’t even know him. He may look twenty, might be some kind of walking God, but as far as I cared, he was a stranger, apparently a black sheep from my father’s past.
That was a tough lie to swallow, but I choked it down.
“I didn’t feel anything when you struck her, so obviously you prevented nothing.”
“Because I can end my essence. If anyone else had dared to do that, you would have felt something.”
“All right, fine—I give. Let’s play this imaginary game for a moment. What is a First? Why on Earth would a blow to you hurt me?”
I saw a glint move across his stare. “A First is the first being created from the sovereign’s essence. Basically, in a way, I made you a sovereign, just as the first child gives the title of mother to the woman that carried it. My job, duty, is to protect you. To help advise you on how to protect the line of Escorts that we will create. You protect me. I protect you.”
“All right, funny. Real funny.”
He raised his brow to question me.
“I’m aware I have dark energy in me. One of Landen’s friends, Phoenix, explained that all too well to me. I don’t need you showing up and telling me that I am creating exactly what I’m set to destroy.”
“Well, good, because that’s not what I’m doing.”
I furrowed my brow at him.
“You’re not ready to hear this, or understand it. You’re not ready for what Chara needs you to do, what the Creator needs you to do. You won’t be until you learn to listen.”
“I heard that lesson, too. I heard every word you said.”
“Heard,” he repeated as he looked away.
I let the silence linger for a moment, taking in deep breaths and trying to ‘listen,’ but I couldn’t shut my mind down. None of this made sense.
“How long do we have to stay here?” I asked, trying not to breathe in the foul odor of our little box.
“Those tears I threw on Donalt would have enraged him, caused him to send out a call to all in his command. The strings are blocked right now. They will give up soon enough.”
Tears? I wasn’t even going to ask.
“Do you have any idea how furious Landen is going to be when he figures out I’m gone? That I’m here?”
“Not under his command, yet.”
“But you’re under mine. Get me out of here.”
“No. I am not under the command of your ego.”
“Quit saying that.”
“Then let your soul out of its cage. It will definitely make what is coming at you easier.”
“Which is?”
“I don’t want to spoil the surprise,” he said, mockingly raising his brow.
“How is this Esterious?” I asked as I heard laughter from the other side of the wall.
“This is where the warriors come to blow off steam.”
“Oh, so now they have warriors, too? I thought the bad guys were the priest?”
“Do you think that people like Alamos fight on the front lines? No. They find poor, blind souls to do that.”
“So the warriors are permitted to laugh?”
“I said they were warriors. I didn’t say they fought for the priest. This is what you might call the open-minded citizens of this world. They plan attacks on the palace. On anyone in power, really.”
“They plan to attack Drake? Is that what you are saying?” I couldn’t help it, it was a reflex. I stood so abruptly that the table slammed into the wall.
I heard a few catcalls and whistles come from the other side of the wall as Justus pulled me down to his side.
“Drake, Donalt, Alamos, Xavier—they are all the same in their minds. Power-hungry control freaks. They do not want the illusive green-eyed girl to be found any more than they want Drake to rise up. They plan to orchestrate any and all means to discredit the palace. They took credit for building the wall, knocking down the wall, and every other insane thing you have done over the last few months.”
“You know an awful lot about what I’ve been up to for a man that was in the grave hours ago,” I said with a sigh.
“You slept for nearly an hour. I’ve been listening.”
“They’re talking about this now?”
“They were.
They are more focused on how they all plan to breach the dimension next to them and discredit Drake at the same time. They’re being spoon-fed information, though.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because their timeline is matching too perfectly to Chara’s end of days. Someone wants them to make a little noise, enough noise, generate enough power to rip a hole in this dimension, in effect bringing down their king and seizing a new world all at once.”
“They’re attacking Chara from within?”
“They don’t know that they’re doing that. They think they are breaching an unclaimed wilderness. A gift from above, as they called it.”
Justus fell silent, and as he did I heard the slide of metal and people taking their seat in the booth that must have backed up to ours. The man was obviously drunk, and he was promising the woman with him how he was going to whisk her away, how he was going to build her a house, how he already had his carriage packed. She just giggled.
“I want out of here,” I whispered harshly to Justus.
I could easily tell from the look in his eyes that I wasn’t leaving here anytime soon.
Chapter Five
~ Landen ~
The Veil, much like the dimensions I travel to, along with The Realm, never ceases to amaze me. They’re always changing. Or at least I see something new each time I return.
I came here for a reason. This stretch of the Veil lingered between Esterious and Chara. It was an area that Chara had guarded well with our stealth Rampart Warriors, whose goal is to defend The Radiance, the area of Chara that held an immense amount of energy. It is said that it holds as much power as it does because that is the place Guardian and Aliyanna first appeared in our world.
The energy in this part of the Veil was rich, so exquisite that souls were well aware that their beings could pass from one world to the other without having to end their lives, meaning if Esterious sent spies or armies our way, this is the path they would use. In most cases, they tried to hide among the true dead, those souls that lived in denial that their lives were over and built worlds around them that mocked the time they lived.
The conspirators were easy to recognize, at least they were to me; their intent was nothing less than vile. Those souls were sent by none other than Donalt himself to do a host of tasks to bring our world to its knees. This was one of the lesser known tricks of Donalt. Others from my world were well aware of the false soul mates Donalt would put before us, or even the helpless act that he pulled on travelers’ heartstrings—souls begging that we take them anywhere but the hell they were in.
The rest of Chara didn’t know about this place. They didn’t know because it would invoke fear. It would allow them to believe that evil could find them, even in the midst of bliss.
Truth is, evil can find you anywhere if you open that door in your mind. The strongest army in the world could stand before you, the most positive souls in the universe could endow you with words that harbor nothing but bliss and promise, but if you opened that door—no one beyond the Creator himself could help you close that door.
Fear. I despise that emotion. How it robs courage, robs fate.
I’ve never feared the dead, but it has always been hard for me to speak or mingle with them. I intimidated them for some reason, which was crazy because I saw myself as the nice brother when Phoenix and I stayed almost constantly in the Veil. I saw myself as the laid-back Rampart Warrior when my father would send me to this border to watch for the dead’s approach. My father is a fierce, close-minded man, but if we were side by side these spirits would merge to him before me.
I used to think it was because I could see them and other warriors could not. They could always feel them; seeing…not so much.
Phoenix said it was my eyes, that they were too bright. He found it downright hilarious that the dead would recoil from me, before and even now.
There was an old man lingering a few feet from me. Every time I took a step toward him, he took one back and acted like he didn’t see me. It was ridiculous. He was even whistling.
I wanted to ask him if he had seen anyone out of place around here or heard anything. I needed to figure out how much I needed to fortify this border. My gut was telling me, ‘All hands on deck.’
I stepped forward again and held out a sandwich to the old man. He couldn’t consume it, but he could take in the touch, smell, imagine it well enough that he could pretend to eat it. This was a rare treasure to the dead, finding something they could no longer have but once loved.
I assumed it was a favorite of his because I’d seen him linger outside of this makeshift shop before this day.
The sandwich in my hand was the real deal. I went out of my way to find him one.
I felt like I was holding out a handful of nuts to a skittish squirrel. I kept my eyes down, not wanting to scare him. Right as he reached for it, Phoenix appeared and the old man ran—but not before snatching the sandwich from my hand like a starved stray dog.
My shoulders fell and I let out a curse as I glanced at Phoenix, who belted into laughter.
“What are you doing dancing with the dead, mate?” he asked, trying to stifle his smile.
“Nothing now—you have any idea how hard it was to get that sandwich?”
“No, no I don’t. Surely, it was simple, though, for you would not have gone through all that trouble when you could have just asked me, Skylynn, or even Draven to ask the dead whatever information you were hunting.”
“You know I can sense you, therefore, you know that I knew you were indisposed.”
The only time I could not sense Phoenix clearly or he could not sense me was when…well, when we were involved with our lovers. When moments like that occur, our energy is focused on one point and has one goal. If he was blank to me, that meant he was ‘busy.’ Basically, it was a supernatural sign that said, ‘Do not disturb.’
He pursed his lips. “Well, I’m not now. So, what’s going on?” he asked, glancing to my chest.
“Too much. I’m trying to figure out Donalt’s next play.”
He shook his head once. “What’s going on?” he said again, with a nod to my chest. “Burning?”
I nodded once.
He cursed under his breath. Phoenix had a universal view, rather a dual universal view. Not once did he ever think it was wise to play the games that Esterious or present time Chara was putting before us. In his mind, this reality was not our home; we were just temporary guests trying to restore balance.
My take on it: sometimes you don’t choose to play, the game chooses you. The only way to bring balance is to play the role before us.
“I can’t figure a way around it,” I said to him.
He nodded for me to pull up my shirt.
I raised my shirt, showing him the burn that in effect was tattooing my skin. It was a mix of triangles, circles, and stars, all moving together to show the dagger of a bleeding heart. At least that was what my people called it.
A bleeding heart is a flower that dies when it blooms and creates the massive trees around the Radiance. Inside the flower, there is what looks like a dagger. Myth says the flower opens and the dagger stabs the Earth and brings forth new life.
I had the dagger shape on my chest; Willow had the flower on hers.
Myths all stand for something tangible. Willow’s heart was to open to mine, and we would bloom, then die in order to create a new life for our people.
“I can always burn you again and see where that gets us. Maybe it will take the mark away, buy us some time.”
“It’s not going away. Too many people believe in it.”
What makes any spell or myth powerful is the energy souls put behind the words they are created with. An entire dimension believed without a doubt that I was to bear this mark. This would have to be resolved before it ever went away, just like all the other spells around us.
“Do you?”
I shrugged. “I did when I was a kid. When I didn’t think it was me. I did not too lon
g ago, as well. I’d be fine with it now if we didn’t have all these other issues swarming. I’m pretty positive this deal is part of the Saturn trial, but I’m not clear on what the next spell is that Donalt has us all wrapped up in—if it’s at these borders, then the Veil is involved, the dead are.”
Phoenix’s gaze grew grim. “This is one of the spells I created without you.”
My gaze locked on his. Back in the day, he met Skylynn first. He tried to save her first. He failed, and she was pushed further back into the supernatural trap she’s in. He let me in on what was going on with her right after that. At that point, we both tried to save her.
“Skylynn?” I breathed.
“Don’t get all crazy on me. This is my deal, and it happens to back up to something Draven is working on. You can’t throw your energy in with this one. Not a good idea.”
“Because of our past?” I asked as my vivid memories showed me exactly how many times and in what ways Skylynn and I crossed a line that should have never even been considered.
The regret was sickening, which was why he was telling me to stay out of it. More than likely, Skylynn was told to stay out of it, too. Emotions are energy. Energy is power. Energy is revealing, too. It shows all your dark little secrets, no matter how well concealed they may be.
According to lore, if this deal with Chara went down, Willow would see every sin I’d ever committed when I was a raging, blind fool. I’d see hers, too; every time she and Drake were flesh-to-flesh in the past. My skin boiled at the thought of it.
One nod from Phoenix, telling me I was right.
“I promised I’d help her…”
“That you did, mate. And the only way to do that right now is stay away. Draven and I are working on a few things at once, but basically I’m trying to get it to where Skylynn’s boy can see her. If you’re in this mix, because of the past you had with her, it could bypass him, and then you would be the only one that could see her—and call me crazy, but I don’t think Sunshine would be good with that.”
“You’re telling me to sit this one out, only focus on the ceremony?”
“Not if it’s going to hurt you. I’m here to figure out if I need to get you somewhere, figure some way around this, along with what we have going on.”
