by Bailey Dark
Sadal follows my finger and then pales at the sight of the realistic looking Shades. He shakes his head. I notice his fingers trembling. “Uncanny,” he mumbles.
I narrow my eyes at him, disturbed by his obvious fear of the Shades. Shouldn’t the man who ruled the ether and made it his home be the master of all its creatures? Then again, he wasn’t the master of Serus. Maybe he could only control the mindless beasts, like the demons he summoned.
The old witch heads towards the Shades, keeping her eyes on the floor. I catch glimpses of the empire’s history. Their rise at the discovery of gold in the oceans on the other side of the seas of sand. The wars between rival rulers that eventually led to a single empire. The golden age. And finally, a dark, shadowy end.
I halt in front of the relief of the Shades, a chill creeping along my spine. Their wide eyes bear down on us, shadowy fingers almost reaching out of the wall. I shudder. A hand steadies me, and I look up at Thal. His green eyes, once so humorous, are serious and sober. The old witch runs a hand over the glyphs etched into the stones beneath the Shades. I wouldn’t even dare to touch the wall.
“Many years ago, the emperor of these lands found a way into the ether, where he met the Shades,” the old witch says, her brows furrowed. “They tempted him with assurances of power and wealth, and in return he gave them a physical body. You see, it was only with a body that they could leave.”
“What do you mean he gave them a body?” Altair asks.
The old witch looks soberly at the paintings on the ground. “He let them possess him for a time. Each Shade had a taste of the physical realm. This emperor was a terror on the people. He even offered his own daughter to the Shades, but the people rose up before he had a chance to bring her into the ether. It toppled his dynasty, opening the way for a new one. But Fae nature in the face of unlimited power is not so easily changed.”
“The new emperor did the same,” I say softly.
“He did worse,” the old witch confirms. “I believe you once met him, did you not, Sadal?”
Sadal glances up from where he was picking at his nails, avoiding looking at the Shades. “I did. An arrogant young man, if I remember.”
“His pride got the better of him. Tell me, Sadal, how this empire wasted away,” the first Bloodbane demands, eyes glittering.
“I did as he asked, to teach him a lesson,” Sadal says. His voice is soft and uneven, as if he’s frightened. “I brought a single Shade to this realm, for the emperor to meet – to work with.”
“You – ” I breathe, trailing off in shock.
“I did,” he snaps, silencing me. “And it took all of my strength to overcome the single Shade after it brought down darkness and evil machinations on this realm.”
“How did you do it?” Altair asks softly.
“By destroying this empire once and for all,” Sadal hisses.
I stare at the painting in the corner, of a mass grave. “You killed the people of this city,” I breathe, shock and disgust roiling in my belly.
Sadal glowers at me. “As I said, it took all of my power.”
“How did you keep it from coming back?” Moritz asks. His analytical mind isn’t concerned with the mass murder Sadal committed.
“The ether does that quite well on its own. But,” he pauses, looking fearfully at the Shades. “But, in time, their power will grow to be too much for the veil that separates us from the ether. They will be released, sooner or later.”
Erzur huffs impatiently. “Enough of this. How do we stop them?” She demands.
The old witch turns back to the glyphs, translating quickly. “There are no records of it here,” she murmurs, looking defeated. “It says they can’t be killed. They’re eternal.”
“Sadal can be killed,” Thal says coolly, his green eyes cutting towards the dark god. “And he was supposed to be eternal.”
“They aren’t like me,” Sadal hisses. “They don’t have bodies, and even if they did, they would live on when those bodies died.”
“Isn’t this a sight?” Erzur quips, laughing sarcastically. She whirls on Altair. “What a wonderful waste of our time. You gather the strongest Fae on the continent and a ragtag group of witches and march us all across the wastelands – to find nothing.”
“You didn’t have to come,” Altair says. “In fact, I don’t remember inviting you.”
She twists her lips into an ugly scowl. “You should be embarrassed, Altair. You came all this way for nothing. And you’ve trusted the wrong people.” Erzur waves her hand towards me as if to prove a point.
Anger swells in me like a tidal wave and I glower at her. “How dare you?” I snarl, stepping closer to her. Thal doesn’t hold me back and his hand tightens on his sword. “I’ve had quite enough of listening to you bitch about the company Altair keeps and questioning his decisions. You may be a queen, but that can’t make up for your insolence and small-mindedness. You’re a pathetic, angry, and desperate woman.”
By the time I’ve finished, my words were a shout, and my anger is a swollen crescendo. Magic blazes at my fingertips and I have to fight myself from calling on it to attack the woman in front of me. Her lips split into a furious smirk and her hands curl into fists at her side. We face off, tension crackling between us.
“Ladies,” Altair murmurs soothingly.
“Shut up,” we hiss in unison, our eyes never leaving each other.
Erzur cocks her hip arrogantly, looking down her nose at me. “And what are you going to do? Are you going to strike me? Save us all? You’re just weak, mortal filth. An abomination perhaps. You’re just a witch.”
I feel a wicked grin split my lips as my anger grows. Cleo is still behind Erzur, but her eyes are murderous. I feel that same intent inside me, though I fight it back. Just a witch? Just mortal filth? I lift my dagger in the air and Erzur stiffens for an attack. My smile broadens and my eyes gleam. I can feel Sadal feeding off the anger and darkness inside me, but I don’t care. I keep my gaze on Erzur, blade hovering between us.
“You were wrong about one thing, Erzur,” I purr, hand tightening on my blade. “I’m not just a witch. I’m the witch.”
I plunge my dagger towards my exposed forearm and make a clean swipe across my skin. Pain flares for an instant and blood seeps quickly from the wound. There’s movement behind me; Thal and Altair moving in on me. I close my eyes and picture the ether. The world tips drunkenly and I feel their fingertips brush across my skin but then I’m gone.
Chapter 19
Verity
The shadows of the ether are deeper than I remember, swirling around me as if led by some imaginary wind. I clench my hands into fists at my side, trying to quell my fear, but the movement sends a prick of pain up my forearm. Blood still drips from the cut I made to call myself to this realm and I curse internally. I'm certain any scent of my blood will have all the demons nearby hunting me.
Carefully, so I don’t spill any of my blood to the ground, I tear a piece of my cloak and wrap it around my arm. Serus sits at my feet, alert, his ears sloping forwards to catch any sounds of approach. I grit my teeth against the pain of pressing the cloth against my wound and bind it tightly. Serus’s amber eyes flick towards me and his nostrils twitch.
“If we get out of here, I’ll teach you a healing spell so the next time you do something foolish like this you won’t bleed to death,” he quips, fear and anger lacing his other-worldly voice.
“You mean when,” I correct. My skin prickles like I’m being watched and I curl my shoulders instinctively.
“I mean if,” he hisses. I furrow my brows at his sharp tone, but I can admit I made a rash decision. I came here to prove my usefulness to Erzur; to find more about the Shades. But perhaps I shouldn’t have gone alone. I twist my lips into an apologetic frown and Serus flicks his tail, eyeing me. “There are some in this realm who may know of what we seek.”
Without another word, he pads away into the darkness. I chase after him, a candle materializing in my hand, as if t
he ether knew what I wanted. I hold it tightly and high, letting its beam push away as much of the darkness as I can stand. The ether is silent, even the tapping of my footsteps is absorbed by the strange black fog that blankets it. I catch myself holding my breath more than once.
Serus leads me on and slowly the landscape begins to change. What once had no features and was only fog and darkness, slowly becomes littered with black, dead trees. Their branches reach upwards, and I wonder if there’s even a sky here. I keep well away from the trees, instinct warning me that a single brush against a trunk could spell the end of me. Serus’s hackles are raised as if he’s nervous, but he presses on.
Suddenly, a voice echoes out of the darkness. “Old Friend,” it hums, “Interesting choice of companion, and body.”
Serus stops, his amber eyes settling on a space between two gnarled trees. “Hello, Old Friend.”
“You risk much, travelling here with a mortal.” It sniffs. “Or is it a Fae?”
I squint, trying to pierce the shadows to see who speaks. Slowly, a figure melts out of the darkness and into the light of my candle. It’s a bulbous creature, slinking along the ground like a slug. It’s gray, mottled skin seems to absorb the candlelight, birthing more shadows around it. There are no eyes, and no mouth that I can see, and still its voice echoes around us.
“Old Friend,” Serus says, “I seek information.”
“And what would a glutton like me have to tell you, Old Friend?” It says, sounding almost amused. I feel its attention turn to me even though its strange body gives no indication. “And what is your name?”
I feel a prick of warning at the nape of my neck; old magic is the magic of names. “You can call me Tara,” I say, using my old best friend’s name.
Its body ripples grotesquely. “Ah, you bring one versed in magic, Old Friend. What is it you seek?”
“The Shades.” Serus lowers his voice, as if even saying their names could call them.
“Shades,” it hisses. “And what will you give a glutton like me in return for some knowledge of wicked Shades?”
“You will tell us as much as there is to know,” Serus demands. “In exchange, we offer you knowledge of curse-breaking runes.”
I furrow my brows, wondering if he means my runes. “What’s going on?” I whisper to him.
“Ah,” the creature sags, relaxing. “A glutton like me is pleased. The rune first.”
Serus turns to me. “Give it your hand.”
“Why?” Fear makes my voice tremble.
“It will take the knowledge of the rune from you, you won’t know it any longer after it does. This creature feeds off of knowledge, as I feed on memories. It must be done,” Serus says insistently. “Give it your hand.”
I bite my lip, but relent, knowing that the rune is still carved on Altair’s body if I would ever need to remember it again. I thrust my hand forward, dropping into a crouch so the ground creature can reach it. Fear twists in my gut as it inches forward, fleshy body roiling with the movement. It pauses just in front of my fist and two tentacles emerge from its body. They touch at my hand tentatively as if sensing it out. Suddenly, the creature lunges forward with surprising speed. Its limbless body sinks over my fist and I feel my hand plunge inside of it. I choke back a cry of fear and disgust as its flesh oozes between my fingers.
Suddenly, I feel a pull at the back of my mind. I stiffen, waiting for the sensation to appear again. It does, sharper and more insistent, and then suddenly its as if there are teeth gnawing on my conscious. I inhale sharply, pain throbbing in my skull. The creature shudders as it chews on my mind and I feel tears pooling in my eyes.
The creature releases my hand with a sickening squelch and oozes back into the shadows. Instantly, the teeth on my mind are gone, and I’m left with a dull ache. I probe my memories to search for the rune, to see if it truly did eat the knowledge. I remember taking my knife to Altair’s chest, but I can’t see the runes I drew on him. Instead, I’m left with a pounding headache and fuzzy vision for an instant. I stumble backwards, clutching my hand to my chest. It’s covered in a red rash, like all the blood vessels were burst by the creature.
It hums, satisfied. “This is good knowledge indeed, Old Friend.”
Serus dips his head. “And now you will fulfill your end of the bargain.”
"You will find the Shades deep in the bowels of the ether, if you seek to learn their machinations, you will find them there," the creatures say. "What else do you wish to know?"
“Weaknesses?” I spread my hands. “Anything that could stop them.”
“They have none,” it hums. “At least none that a glutton like me has learned. But to stop them, that is another thing. I have learned of a being with power like the dark god to free the Shades or trap them permanently. Find this being, and perhaps you will save yourselves from the Shades.”
Serus sighs, his eyes darting towards me and I curl my lips in a wry smile. Serus flicks his tail irritably. “How would the being do this, Old Friend?”
The creature is quiet, and it took another form, I imagine I would see an old man tapping his chin in thought. "If you go deeper into the ether than the Shades, you will find another being – one older then even I. She is trapped in a cobweb cage, the kind that can trap powerful creatures like the Shades."
“Your advice is to cage them?” I ask, feeling defeated.
“If they cannot be killed, and I am certain they cannot, then it is the best option,” the creature says, body rippling with offense.
“Damn,” I mutter under my breath. I lash out a nearby tree and kick it with my boot. “Damn, damn, damn!”
Serus shoots me a glare. “Control yourself.”
I spread my hands. “How can I? How can I when our enemies are unbeatable? If they can get out of the ether, why wouldn’t they be able to escape a cage of webs?”
"The mortal-Fae thing doesn't know of cobweb cages?" The creatures ask. "For more knowledge, I will give it to you."
“No, Old Friend,” Serus snaps. “We’ve heard enough.”
I stomp away from the strange, gluttonous creature, and Serus follows me. We walk in silence for a while before I realize I don’t know where I’m going. I turn to my companion. “What do we do?”
He shrugs. “We came here seeking answers, we found some, did we not? We should go back.”
I shake my head. “We didn’t find anything, we can’t prove anything.” My thoughts flash to the creature in the cage. “I want to see the cage.”
“If we go down there, we pass directly through the territory of the Shades,” Serus warns. “Even my kind won’t travel there any longer. They kill indiscriminately.”
“I’m going,” I say. My voice falters at Serus’ warning. “If it truly is the only way, I need to know now.”
“They will kill you. You are the only one strong enough to trap them here forever. If they see you, you’re as good as dead.” His eyes are serious and I know he isn’t stretching the truth to frighten me.
“Then let’s not let them see us,” I say, twisting my fingers together nervously.
Serus shakes his head, but he walks forward. I follow him away from the copse of bent and broken trees, deeper into the shadows. The air grows colder and I wrinkle my nose against the rank smell of rotten meat that fills the air. I tug my hood on against the chill. I rub my fingers together, they’re slick with grease that seems to hang in the air. I grimace, sickened, but trudge behind Serus. Although all I can see is darkness, I know instinctively that we’re going down.
Serus pauses and I glance up from him to see that we’ve stopped in front of a massive arch, carved out of obsidian. It sparkles in the candlelight, looking menacing. I swallow thickly, nerves tingling with fear. Instinctively, I know that when we walk through that arch, we’ll be in the Shades’ territory. Serus’ tail curls and he takes a hesitant step forward. I inhale deeply, filling my lungs with greasy, stinking air. Darting around him, I make the first steps into dangerous territory.
>
He follows, hackles raised and ears pressed flat. We walk side by side through the shadows, but they’re growing lighter as we walk, taking on a red tinge like sunset. I look around curiously. It’s almost light enough now that I would be comfortable without the candlelight. I can see that beyond the arch, the ether is a land of tall cliffs and gray soil. Dead trees dot the landscape, some even growing out of the sharp cliff faces.
“How is it light here?” I ask quietly.
“There are levels to the ether,” Serus whispers. “Three in total. This is the second, and we just left the first.”
“And these are the bowels?”
His eyes lock on mine for an instant. “This level is called the bowels because it is the deepest most creatures dare to go. Your dark god preferred this level for the light before the Shades grew so powerful.”
I swallow hard. “Oh.”
Suddenly, a haunting wail drifts towards us. I stop short, the hair on the nape of my neck rising. The sound echoes again, like a pained cry. Fear coils in my gut. Something about the sound makes me want to turn and run back to the arch and into the black shadows of the first level. Serus paces anxiously at my feet.
“What is it?” I ask him.
“Likely a trap,” he says. He glowers at me. “Which means they know we’re here. We need to turn back.”
I bite my lip, a breath away from agreeing with him. But the wail sounds again, and I hear a familiar note in it. “It sounds like my mom,” I say uncertainly.
“Then it’s definitely a trap,” Serus hisses.
I step forward. “What if it’s not? What if they have her?”
“Stop being such a fool,” he says angrily, claws poking out of his paws. “We’re going. We’ll share what we learned. But we’ll go no further.”
I nod hesitantly, eyes still searching for the source of the cries. I turn my back on the haunting sounds, but freeze as my eyes fall on the arch. One of the Shades is waiting in front of it, its too-wide mouth split into a gleeful grin. Serus spits, hackles raised and back arched with fear. I feel a wave of nausea hit me as I realize the Shade has likely been waiting there since we first entered into its realm.
