Everflame: The Complete Series

by Dylan Lee Peters

  “What do you require of me, my Holy?”

  “There are many resources at your disposal, Aplistia. Show them the way.”

  “The way?”

  The Tyrant gripped the King’s head between his two massive hands, and visions began to scream through Aplistia’s mind. Visions of men digging deep into the earth, and visions of fire and of weapons made of ore. Aplistia saw an army, ready to stand against Chreos. He looked into the faces of the army as they swept across his land, and began to wail in horror as he saw that the face of every warrior was the very same. It was as if the army was made up of demonic clones. The Tyrant released his hold on Aplistia and the King fell, weeping, to the floor.

  “How can I do this? How can I do what needs to be done?” asked Aplistia.

  “Make them believe,” answered the Tyrant. “And if they refuse to believe… teach them to fear.”

  Chapter 3: You Can Trust Me

  It’s dark and it’s cold and the wind is hurting my eyes, not a lot, but enough that I want to rub them. I want to rub them so badly, but I can’t. Someone is breathing heavy and moving quickly, but I can’t see much of anything. I feel small, much smaller than I should feel. I feel sad… I want to cry, but I’m not sure why. I really want to rub my eyes. I look around and strain my arms, but I can’t move them. I can’t move much at all. There’s something scratchy and unyielding holding my body in place. I feel weak and my eyes are watering.

  Suddenly, I’m wet. I think the person that is breathing heavy has put something wet on me, but I can’t be sure. It looks dark; it’s slick on my hands. The person breathing heavy is speaking to me now.

  “It’ll be all right, little one.”

  The voice is a man’s voice. I’m confused and I still want to cry. I begin to whine a bit.

  “Shh,” says the man. “It will be all right. Do not be afraid, little one. No harm will come to you. You can trust me.”

  I do not trust the man. It is dark, I can’t see very well and I cannot move. I do not trust the man because now he is running away from me. He has left me. I am alone. My eyes are watering, and now, I am crying.

  And now, there are wolves growling at me…

  Evercloud shot awake with a sharp yell and found himself sitting on the forest floor with his back against a large oak tree. Breathing heavy and covered in sweat, he swung his head from side to side to take in his surroundings. Just a dream.

  The sun was just beginning to filter its morning rays through the forest canopy, and above Evercloud stood the concerned faces of Ben and Tomas Floyd.

  “You okay?” muttered Ben with his hands upon his knees, looking at Evercloud with a furrowed brow.

  “Umm… Yeah,” responded Evercloud, mastering his nerves and finally coming back to himself. “I just had a nightmare, that’s all.”

  “About?” asked Tomas, whose face showed as much concern as his brother’s.

  “Not sure.”

  Twenty yards from where Evercloud sat upon the ground, Iolana began to stir from slumber. She brought her slender hands to her eyes and rubbed softly, stretching back against the furry mountain she had used as a pillow. The movement against his side caused Riverpaw to wake as well, but he waited for Iolana to stand before beginning his own morning stretches.

  “Hey,” yelled Tomas to Iolana and Riverpaw, once he noticed their movement. “Evercloud had a nightmare.”

  Evercloud kicked Tomas in the shin and scowled as he looked up at him. “You make me sound like a child.”

  Tomas looked down at Evercloud and laughed.

  “You see, Evercloud,” began Ben. “This is how it works in a family. I pick on Tomas and now Tomas picks on you.”

  “And when was I adopted as the youngest Floyd?” asked Evercloud.

  “Just now,” smiled Tomas.

  “Great,” nodded Evercloud, gushing with sarcasm.

  Iolana and Riverpaw had now joined the three men and both looked very concerned at the news of Evercloud having a nightmare.

  “What was your nightmare about?” asked Riverpaw.

  “I don’t remember,” spat Evercloud, obviously annoyed. “It’s really not important. It was just a dream.”

  “I would think you would know better than that,” scolded Iolana.

  “You know my mother’s dreams led us to Bahknar and the Tyrant, Evercloud,” added Riverpaw. “The answers to everything we need to know could be tied to our dreams.”

  “I know,” admitted Evercloud. “But honestly, I don’t remember what happened. If it’s important, it’ll come back to me.”

  “I hope so,” said Iolana.

  Evercloud stood from the ground and brushed the dirt from his legs. Everyone was silent for a moment and began to look around.

  “I feel like we should have reached Gray Mountain by now,” said Evercloud, breaking the brief silence.

  “I agree with you,” said Riverpaw, “but this place doesn’t look familiar to me.”

  “We’ve been walking upland for some time now,” added Ben. “We probably don’t have much farther to go.”

  “Well, let’s get moving,” grumbled Riverpaw. “I’m hungry.”

  Evercloud and Tomas nodded in agreement.

  Gathering their belongings, the group resumed their trek toward Gray Mountain, but an hour did not pass before Riverpaw stopped their progress.

  “This is getting strange. I recognize exactly where we are… At least, I think I do… But we should have come across someone by now, and where is the wall that the Kingdom was building? Something is wrong.”

  “I’m beginning to agree with you,” said Evercloud. “We should be very careful.”

  Everyone silently agreed and continued to walk onward. However, it was but a few minutes before Iolana stopped the group with a warning.

  “Stop walking,” she said. “I can feel something.”

  Everyone stopped and kept perfectly still. Iolana had recently rediscovered that she was the ancient being known as Chera. Since this revelation, she had also rediscovered certain abilities that she possessed. One of these abilities was that she was able to perceive things around her that no other creature could. She had not mastered the ability though, and still found it hard to describe. She would just get a feeling, an intuition.

  “What is it?” whispered Ben.

  Iolana closed her eyes and extended the palms of her hands toward the ground. “We are being watched,” she said, “and they are fearful of us.”

  “Show yourself!” shouted Evercloud without warning.

  “Shh,” warned Iolana, but Evercloud paid her no mind.

  “I am Evercloud, son of Eveneye, King of Gray Mountain. Show yourself now!”

  The forest was silent. For a moment nothing moved and the group wondered if this had all been a false alarm. Then suddenly, as if appearing out of nothing, there stood a woman covered with mud and tree bark. She held her arms in the air to signal that she meant no harm. Ten paces to her right, a man camouflaged in the same manner stepped out from behind a tree.

  “We are not a danger to you, Evercloud,” said a voice that was neither the man nor the woman that stood in front of the group.

  Everyone spun to see a second man, rising up from the forest floor, camouflaged with leaves and branches.

  “Who are you?” asked Evercloud. “Why do you hide yourselves?”

  The man who had addressed Evercloud had black mud over his entire face, so that only his eyes and mouth could be distinguished.

  “My name is Steven Everheart. Behind you are Dean and Prudence. We are friends of your father and allies to your cause.”

  “No man is a friend of my father, save for myself and those with me. Explain yourself.”

  “That will take some time, I am afraid. Quite a lot has changed since you have left. We are not safe out here. We need to bring you to Eveneye before giving you the answers you seek.”

  “If Eveneye is at the castle on Gray Mountain, then we can find it ourselves,” said Riverpaw.
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  “I’m afraid you won’t find it as easy as you once did,” said Everheart. “I understand this situation is strange, but you have to trust us.”

  “We have to do nothing,” barked Evercloud.

  Iolana moved forward gracefully and placed a hand upon Evercloud’s arm. “They mean us no harm. Maybe we should follow them.”

  Steven Everheart did not wait for Evercloud to argue. “Follow us,” he said, and the three camouflaged figures began to move away from the travelers. Trusting Iolana’s senses, they followed.

  “There is an explanation for why you recognize where you are, but not as you remember it,” said Everheart after a few moments of walking.

  “How long were you watching us?” asked Ben Floyd.

  “Not long,” replied Everheart and continued his explanation. “You see, King Eveneye and Queen Goldenheart have done what they can to disguise the Kingdom to all outsiders–”

  “We are not outsiders,” interrupted Evercloud.

  Steven Everheart stopped walking and turned to face Evercloud. “I didn’t say that you were, but things have changed since you have been gone. Now, if you don’t want the information I have, that’s fine by me. But if I were you, I’d shut my mouth and follow close behind.”

  Evercloud stepped closer, so that his face was just inches from Everheart’s. “You have no idea how badly I could hurt you.”

  Everheart stared back in defiance. “I’m sure I’ve suffered worse.”

  “Enough,” scolded Iolana, stepping between the two men. “Enough of this. We need to see the King and the Queen.”

  “Onward then,” smirked Everheart. “Stay close behind me and be careful not to stray to my sides, or else you might fall into a Farsider trap.”

  “Farsider trap?” asked Riverpaw as the group walked onward.

  “Yes,” confirmed Everheart. “Tunnels have been dug in and around Gray Mountain to trap Farsiders. Once a Farsider falls into a pit, their only hope for escape is to follow the tunnels that will lead them into the arena at the heart of the mountain. They’ll be trapped there until we find a way to dispose of them.”

  “You’re in luck,” said Evercloud. “I can kill them. How many are there trapped in the arena?”

  “Nine.”

  “Nine?” echoed Evercloud, shocked that the total was so high. “We need to go there immediately.”

  “No,” said Iolana resolutely. “The King and Queen.”

  “As you wish,” conceded Evercloud reluctantly.

  •••

  This is so strange, thought Riverpaw. I know I’m upon Gray Mountain, but where is the Gray Mountain that I knew? Where are the roads? Where are the bears? I can’t even see the Everflame… and who are these humans we follow? Could this really be my home?

  “Stop,” said Riverpaw.

  The party had climbed halfway up the mountain, and though Riverpaw recognized Gray Mountain in shape and feel, the party still hadn’t encountered a single sign of the Kingdom or the home that Riverpaw and Evercloud had been raised in.

  “I know this is strange for you,” said Dean, recognizing Riverpaw’s confusion. “You can trust us. We are leading you directly to the castle at the top of the mountain where the King, Queen, and your mother wait.”

  “Where are the roads?” asked Riverpaw.

  “Grown over,” answered Prudence. “There are no more roads on Gray Mountain.”

  “What about the bears and their homes?”

  “Hidden,” answered Dean.

  “What about the castle and the Everflame? I should be able to see them from here. Those things can’t be hidden.”

  “They are,” answered Everheart. “I know how impossible this all seems. Much work has been completed in a very short time. It is a testament to the bears and to your Kingdom, Riverpaw. If you’ll just have faith in us a little while longer, there will be more familiar faces giving you these same answers.”

  Riverpaw sighed but accepted the answers he was given and the party moved on. Many minutes passed before Everheart, Dean and Prudence stopped walking and turned to a flat, rock wall that rose into the air.

  “This is where the castle should be,” said Evercloud in astonishment. “Don’t try to tell me that it has been swallowed back into the rock that it was carved out from. It’s just not possible.”

  “No,” replied Everheart. “It hasn’t been swallowed back into the mountain. Well… not in the manner that you are thinking.”

  At that moment, Prudence removed from a brown bag that hung at her side a piece of green cloth. She unwrapped the cloth to reveal a small, silver whistle. It was barely the length of one of her fingers. She gingerly raised it to her thin lips and blew into the whistle, creating one shrill note that echoed through the air. Moments later, creases appeared in the rock, all outlining a large rectangle wide enough to fit around many bears. Then, a slab of the wall depressed into the rock and moved to the side, revealing a large passage through the wall.

  “It’s a shell,” exclaimed Tomas. “There’s a giant shell around the castle.”

  “Exactly,” said Everheart. “Some of the finest artists I’ve ever seen are here in this kingdom. What they were able to do quickly with some wood and dirt… amazing.”

  “It looks just like rock,” said Ben.

  “Here, follow me,” said Everheart smiling.

  The group moved through the black passage created by the break in the shell. Once they were all inside, the shell moved back into place and they were left in complete darkness. After a moment, a torch was lit and a deep voice uttered, “Follow me.”

  They did as they were told and followed the dim torchlight that was, seemingly, floating through the passage. They walked this way for a minute and then the torch went out, leaving them, once again, in darkness. Evercloud could not help but to whisper to Riverpaw, whose bulk was unmistakable at his side.

  “Be prepared for anything.”

  Riverpaw replied with a low grunt.

  From far above came scraping sounds, and suddenly, sunlight washed over them. A giant bear stood directly in front of Evercloud and swiftly plucked him off of the ground. Before Evercloud could react, he found himself smothered, face first, into the bear’s furry chest.

  “HA-HA! MY BOY!! You’ve returned!”

  A smile broke over Evercloud’s face as he recognized his father’s voice. It had been so long since he had seen him. So much had happened. Evercloud thought of how he had changed, how the world had changed. He buried his face back into his father’s chest and allowed himself a moment of true relief for the first time in as long as he could remember.

  “He’s not just your son, Even,” said Goldenheart, chiding her husband.

  The King of Gray Mountain lowered his son back to the castle floor and allowed his wife to shower her own love onto the man they still saw as a boy.

  “Even a day is too long,” Goldenheart whispered to her son as she held him in her arms.

  “I know,” said Evercloud. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here.”

  “There’s so much to catch you up on,” broke in Eveneye. “You and Riverpaw must be so confused.”

  “What happened?” asked Riverpaw, exiting an embrace with his own mother, Autumnbreeze.

  “We made a decision that this was the safest path for the Kingdom,” said Goldenheart.

  “Is this all due to the Farsiders?” asked Evercloud with pain etched in his voice.

  “Yes,” said Eveneye. “The Tyrant and the Farsiders.”

  “The whole mountain is in hiding?”

  “Well…yes,” said the King, somewhat shamefully.

  Evercloud bristled with anger at the thought of everyone he cared for having to hide from the vile Farsiders.

  “Bring me to them,” he said. “I’ll destroy them all.”

  “They are far too dangerous, Evercloud,” said Eveneye. “I know that you have killed one before, but there are nine now. They are trapped. We will leave them alone until we find a better solutio
n.”

  “There is no other solution,” said Evercloud. “I won’t let them remain in my home.”

  “Evercloud, you can’t–”

  “If I can kill Bahknar the dragon, I can handle a few Farsiders,” said Evercloud. Eveneye gazed at his son in shock and awe. “With my claw, Father… I killed Bahknar.”

  “Why?” uttered Eveneye.

  “He had turned on us, Father. He was working with the Tyrant. He is partially responsible for the fact that the Farsiders are here now.”

  “Nothing more. Say nothing more.” Eveneye stood, shocked, adrenaline flowing through his veins. What have I done? he thought. “We need to speak alone, Evercloud… Now.”

  Evercloud followed his father up the stairs of the castle tower, leaving the others behind. These were stairs Evercloud had walked with his father many times in his life, but this time felt different. This time, it felt dangerous, and he felt dangerous. They were headed to the chamber that housed the Everflame, a place that had fostered a bond between them. Not just the bond of a father and a son, but the bond of two friends. It was hard for him to taint this walk with the panic that he could feel coming from his father. He could sense his father’s fear and it hurt him.

  When they entered the chamber that housed the Everflame, it seemed surreal to Evercloud. He was used to the chamber being open to the mountain air. He longed for that crisp, clean air that was cooling on a hot day. He remembered how it had felt in his hair. Now, the room was stifling, ominous and solemn. Closed in by the shell built around the castle, the room was cast in darkness with the exception of the Everflame and its light. Evercloud watched as his father paced nervously, shadows moving back and forth across his body as the flame flickered.

  “Please sit, Evercloud. I have much to say.”

  Evercloud did as he was told, not fully understanding why his father was in such a rare state. “What’s wrong?”

  “My son, I have not given you all the information that I should have, and now I see what dangerous and extreme power I have given you.”

  “What? I–”

  “Do you remember Strongback, Evercloud? From your teachings?”