The Forsaken Call

by Jamie Murray

  Luke was the first to move, pulling the string of his bow back to prepare himself for a shot if he got it. The creature reacted immediately to Luke's movement and retracted its tongue, raising its head into the air and letting out another roar. Luke unloaded the arrow right at the center of the beast's head, and it lodged into the slimy flesh, emitting a brief glow which caused the creature great pain. The pain only seemed to occupy the creature for a few moments as it roared again and thrashed, rising so suddenly that it crashed into the archway and crushed it. The enter cavern rumbled again as William tried to yell something incoherent over the chaos.

  "Don't break it!" Jameson was barely sure that was what William was instructing. At first, he thought he was speaking about the archway to the creature, oddly enough, but then he figured out what was much more likely. The wound Luke created with his arrow spilled a considerable amount of gray gas, and it fell right to the ground like liquid, consuming the floor's surface and pouring out in steadily increasing amounts.

  William shot a light beam out of his hand which extended a faint outline connecting his palm and the hole in the creature's body. The beam served as a cork, halting the gas and buying just a little bit of time.

  "We have to get out of here!" William shouted to the others.

  "What about—" Johanna started, pointing back at the chest.

  "You'll have to climb up on top of it in order to get through," William interrupted as he extended his other hand which encircled the beast in a hardly visible bubble. It thundered and prodded at the barrier, but it was unable to penetrate it.

  "Come on!" Jameson ordered as he dashed towards the archway. He was not keen on the idea of leaving the chest behind and was even less keen on the idea of climbing up on the monstrous Forces, but he also knew that the least keen of all options was death. They could not remain in the enclosed space which would fill up with gas all too quickly so it was necessary to at least regroup.

  Jameson made sure that the others were in front of him. Luke said a speedy apology for attacking prematurely as they climbed up over the back of the Forces and squeezed through the archway. Jameson looked back at William still standing in the same place, holding the beam of light steady, and then called, "Hurry!"

  William looked over at Jameson, almost confused, and then, all at once, lowered his hands. He made a mad dash for the archway where Jameson was, but the monster was oddly swift despite its enormous size. It whipped around, facing both William and Jameson, and poison gas poured from its wound, rolling towards them like a wave. Jameson saw it coming and immediately held his breath, but William was not as prepared and, as a result, was barreled over by the force of it all rushing towards him.

  Jameson as knocked off his feet as well and quickly stood where he was above the gas level. The beast did not seem to take notice of Jameson and backed up through the archway, and the gas dispensed out the opening and flowed into the caverns, leaving Jameson waist deep in the gray smoke. He scanned the room and did not see William, so he went to where he had seen William fall and discovered the boy lying face down on the ground, not moving. Jameson easily lifted him, taking great care in ensuring his head was above the gas, and put his ear against his chest, listening for a heartbeat.

  Unfortunately, he was not given the quiet he needed to listen because the cavern shook again and the beast roared in the distance. Jameson quickly slung William over his shoulder and ran to the staircase, looking down to see Cyrus, Luke and Johanna all waiting for him, appearing quite intact.

  "I thought it had eaten you!" Johanna shouted irrationally.

  "It disappeared down through the cavern," Luke explained and then, referring to William, he asked, "What happened to him?"

  "He breathed in some of the gas," Jameson said as Cyrus climbed the staircase. Jameson passed the boy off to Cyrus and then returned through the archway. "I'll be back!"

  "Go faster!" he heard Johanna command.

  Jameson knew there wasn't a lot of time, but he wasn't going to come this far without at least looking inside the chest. He went to the box and, because of the level of gas, he couldn't take the minute he needed to fumble with the lock, so he picked it right up off the floor and decided he would just take it with him.

  He met back up with his companions and, even though he wanted to fling open the chest to make sure he had his prize, he merely encouraged all of them to run. Without William to lead them, they had to merely rely on the handprints on the walls to guide them to where they had come from and hope they reached the exit in a timely manner.

  They were sprinting, bypassing and nearly tripping over many small slug-like Forces which seemed to be trying to obstruct their path. "Shouldn't the gas be getting lower by now?" Luke called back to the others.

  "It's getting higher!" Johanna yelled.

  Luke and Johanna's observation was unluckily accurate. When they had started the maze, the gas had only been up to about their knees, and they were certainly in an area when it should have been at about that height again. The gas was now at a higher level than when they were in the deepest section of the maze, which was getting increasingly dangerous, especially for Johanna who came to realize that the few inches of height she lacked was going to be the difference of breathing in the poison or not.

  "There!" she said when she saw the hole in the ceiling, which gave her incentive to run a little faster to reach it.

  They reached the closest point to the ceiling and quickly deduced that Johanna and William were the main concern. Cyrus passed William off to Jameson and then offered his hands for Johanna to step on in order for her to reach the hole in the ceiling. She put her hands on his shoulders and he lifted her up, quite effortlessly, and basically launched her up through the hole. She scrambled out and reached down to collect William as the boys underneath passed the boy up to her.

  Jameson threw the chest up to her and she threw it aside, leaning over the edge with her arms extended to collect the next person.

  "You're next, Luke," Jameson said.

  "And there's no time to argue," Cyrus interjected, anticipating Luke's response.

  So, reluctantly, Luke stepped on both Jameson and Cyrus's hands in order to reach Johanna who helped pull him up. As soon as Luke left their hands, it became quite apparent that the next move was going to be a little more difficult.

  "You just have to get up high enough to reach us," Luke said, leaning over the hole as far as he could.

  "I can get you up to him, Jameson," Cyrus said.

  "What about you?" Jameson questioned skeptically. "You can't jump that high."

  "I'm sure there's something you'd be able to throw down to me on one of the horses," Cyrus said.

  "I'll look," Johanna said as she disappeared from view.

  "We have some time," Jameson said to Cyrus, gesturing towards the smoke which was lingering at his shoulders. "We can find some rocks to pile up. We'll be able to work together and climb out."

  "Jameson," said Cyrus in a very serious tone. "If you die, then so does all the hope to save the nations from Devin and the Forces. We can't afford that."

  "Yeah, and if you die then you'll be dead," Jameson said finitely. "Come on, let's find something to pile up."

  At first, Cyrus only watched as Jameson began searching around the area, barely able to see the ground because of the amount of smoke in building up. Finally, Cyrus began to give into the notion of perhaps surviving and began to help him look around.

  "I've got a rope!" Johanna called from above.

  "Tie it to something," Cyrus instructed, returning to the opening so he could see her. "Something sturdy that will hold our weight."

  Johanna left again and Jameson returned to where Cyrus was standing. "Luke?" he called up. "How's William?"

  "He's breathing," Luke reported. "I think he's already doing better."

  "Good," said Jameson with a sigh relief. "What about that chest? What's in there?"

  Luke was unable to answer, however, because there was a deep bellow
from below them. Cyrus and Jameson slowly looked at one another as if to ask, "Was that you?" even though it was quite obvious it wasn't. There was another roar and, quite suddenly, the massive beast from the archway sprung up the edge where the cavern dropped into oblivion.

  It struck the ceiling with such force that it knocked Cyrus and Jameson right off their feet and shook loose rocks and stones. Jameson rolled over just in time to have Cyrus nearly pile drive him several feet in another direction, barely avoiding one of the Forces' appendages driving right through his body. He knew it was most important to stand up where the air was cleaner, but the cavern was quickly filling up with gas so, even when he was on his feet, there was a thin layer around him.

  There was only so long he would be able to go without breathing so he frantically searched for any way out. One of the rocks which had fallen down from the ceiling covered up part of the exit, but also created a fairly convenient method of escape. He firmly grabbed onto Cyrus's arm to point out what had happened, and then ran towards it, climbing up into clean air. As he dove through the opening, he took a deep breath; although he had only been holding it for several seconds, it somehow felt so much longer.

  At first, he thought Cyrus wasn't going to follow, but moments later, Cyrus emerged from the opening as well. He grabbed William by the arm and slung him over his shoulder, then yelled to the others to get away from the hole in the ground.

  Their escape was hardly timely enough as the Forces inside continuously bashed its massive head against the opening, attempting to fit through as well. The horses reared and attempted to run, and Cyrus grabbed one of them to hold it steady.

  "Johanna, take William and get out of here," he ordered, lifting William off the ground.

  "I won't!" Johanna argued. "I'm staying!"

  He was about to scold her when the ground broke underneath the hole and the head of the massive snake rose up. In the open space of the Gislan wasteland, it appeared even larger than it had when it had been inside the maze, and it roared up towards the infinite sky. Cyrus was no longer able to hold onto any of the horses as they darted away, but that was certainly not the most pressing matter.

  "Luke, now's a good time to test to see if you're one of those Resurrected Spirits after all," Jameson said as Luke chose one of his magically charged arrows and loaded it into his bow.

  "I'll do what I can," he answered gravely.

  Cyrus dropped William on the ground and removed his sword from his sheath. He did not have a determined or optimistic expression on his face, but wore a look for disgust or even antipathy towards the idea of fighting. Jameson drew his sword as well, and put his other hand in his pocket to feel for the five stones, needing the comfort and to be assured that he would succeed.

  "Its weak point is obvious," Jameson said as the beast lowered its head, staring at them with its massive eye. Despite the enormous pupil, it stared so blankly at them, it was as if they were invisible.

  Jameson made the first move; he extended his sword towards the beast, piercing it directly in the midst of the white of its eye. He paid careful attention to pushing the sword downwards as the beast instinctively pulled away, so he held fast to the handle of the sword as the beast extracted itself from contact. As it thrashed around at the sky, gray gas poured up and all around, dissipating in the open space. Luke shot an arrow, then another, each one connecting with the eye.

  Cyrus seemed to choose a different approach and directed his attack at the legs which were protruding from its sides. He swiped his sword at the legs as they twitched wildly with no clear direction. As he dodged one, another came from behind him and knocked the wind out of him, momentarily throwing him off balance. Since there was no method to why the legs were moving in the way they were, it really was simply a lucky shot, so Cyrus was able to turn and remove the problem.

  One of the legs changed direction and seemed to launch right at where Luke was standing, unloading another arrow, and Johanna put herself in between the two and managed to slice the leg right off at the root. The leg spiraled up into the air and landed several feet away, emitting the smoke as it did so.

  "Thanks!" Luke called as Johanna nearly fell into him from the force.

  The Forces was overwhelmed. Without the ability to utilize a small space to poison its enemy, its only strength was its enormous size. But, in such a vast space, it became more of a hindrance by just creating a clear target. It began to retract, attempting to retreat back into the maze, but Jameson ran up to its eye as it did and drove the sword right into the center of the pupil. He made sure to hold his breath as the beast expelled a comparatively immense flow of poison gas right into where he was standing upon it.

  Cyrus came up behind him and thrust his sword into the eye as well. The Forces appeared paralyzed and roared no more; it barely squirmed when the second sword was driven into the eye. The first part of the Forces which began to crumble was the eye, followed by the body around it. Soon, even the pieces of the beast which had been severed began to turn to ash on the ground. The smoke in the sky was hardly a concern as it was swept into the dust of their surroundings, leaving no trace of the battle.

  In only seconds, it was as if the monster was never there at all.

  Cyrus returned his sword to his sheath first. Johanna let out a happy shriek and ran up to them, nearly jumping on top of Jameson to give him a celebratory hug. He laughed, primarily out of relief, as she turned to Cyrus and gave him the same welcoming gesture. Cyrus winced slightly but appeared otherwise grateful for her candidness.

  "Are you hurt?" Johanna asked when she noticed him withdraw.

  "I got a solid hit in the back," Cyrus confessed. "But I'll be all right."

  "Let's hope the whole ordeal was worth it," Jameson said, gesturing his head towards Luke who was kneeling beside William with a hand to the boy's neck.

  The others returned to him and questioned William's condition, so Luke nodded hopefully. "His heart is steady," he reported. "I think it would be best to take him back to the Angel's for rest as soon as possible."

  "I think we all need a little rest," Johanna said, punching Cyrus lightly on the shoulder.

  "Ow…" he said jokingly.

  "What about that chest, Jameson?" Luke asked.

  Jameson couldn't believe he had actually forgotten about the chest through all the commotion. "I haven't checked inside," Jameson said somewhat vacantly.

  "Open it," Johanna urged.

  Jameson got to his knees, hoping with every bit of him that it would be the rarity the Angel spoke of or, at the very least, something which would help Baloric recover. The lock on the chest was ancient and relatively easy to break with just a light hit with the handle of his sword.

  He opened the lid and, feeling somewhat disappointed, all he saw inside was a small bundle of cloth with a piece of twine wrapped around it. Still hopeful, he picked up the cloth and removed the twine, slowly peeling away the layers of the cloth until he saw something shimmer from among the folds.

  When he pulled aside the last bit, there was a crystal flower in his palm. It was tiny and all around unimpressive, looking like nothing more than a fancy pin. Jameson raised it to get a better look, but he couldn't make anything of it.

  "It looks like a pin, or even a hair ornament," Jameson said. "Maybe the Angel tricked us. What do you all think?"

  He asked the question and expected similar agreement or really any answer at all. Yet, despite that, he received nothing. He finally looked up and then stood once he realized he was no longer among friends. In fact, he was no longer in the Gislan wastelands, but a bright, empty void which stretched on as far as he could see.

  37. You Were Wrong

  Chapter 37

  Jameson was understandably cautious when he realized his drastic change of scenery. He didn't want to assume the worst as he usually did, but it was difficult to find the up-side of sudden disappearance of any familiar landscape and faces.

  He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted as loud
as he could, "Hello?"

  There was no response, though he hadn't exactly been expecting one.

  "Luke?" he tried. "Jo? Cyrus?"

  In spite of knowing better, he waited.

  "Meg?" It was a last ditch effort, but she had saved him from obscurity once before. He actually felt a little bit of hope in saying her name and was sorely disappointed when she did not run up to him.

  Though he knew he wasn't supposed to go anywhere if he was lost, he also didn't think anyone was simply going to pass by anytime soon. He began to walk in the direction he assumed was forward, but there was no way of distinguishing between where he had been standing versus where he was about to stand. Each step felt like the last one and absolutely nothing around him changed.