Standing with her hands grasped on the bars at the far end of the gate, Ai-Ling digs deep into her core, and releases her energy into the surrounding stonewalls. They begin to crumble into sand and soon the gate comes away with ease. Ai-Ling casts it aside, before slipping into the small square hole, feet first.
Xavier grasps Kaley by the shoulders and gives her an encouraging nod. She follows after Ai-Ling, head-first, grasping the sides of the hole and propelling herself forwards to the other side. She turns back to check on Xavier, and as she suspected his shoulders become stuck between the walls. He struggles to free himself, but this seems to only get him more wedged in the hole. Kaley looks all around, searching for Ai-Ling to use her power to melt the stone away and make it bigger but she’s nowhere to be seen.
By now, they have been underwater for almost three minutes – soon she will need to surface to take a breath. Xavier continues to struggle to get free, and in the process, lets out gulps of air. Kaley swims towards him and reaches between his shoulders. She places her feet on either side of the stone wall and pulls and pulls. She starts to feel light-headed. She was running out of oxygen.
Come on! Come on! She yells in her mind
Xavier starts to grow limp, his head falling forwards. Kaley gives one last pull and he is freed. She pulls him by his right arm, and swims to the surface of the other side of The City walls.
And then she realises why Ai-Ling was nowhere to be found. She was being held captive by the Guards, who seemed to have been expecting them. Two guards flank Ai-Ling, phasers pointed to either side of her chest. Kaley looks up above her and finds black patent pumps and long tanned legs, belonging to a woman in a white coat with black bouncing curls around a beautiful face.
But her smile was all but beautiful.
‘Welcome Kaley,’ the woman purrs. ‘So nice of you to finally show up. We have been eagerly awaiting your arrival.’
At these words, two other guards reach into the water and pull Kaley and an almost unconscious Xavier onto dry land.
Answering Kaley’s puzzled expression, Cecilia Hadrad explains, ‘we need you dear. Your healing powers are ever so necessary to our cause.’
‘But how-?’
‘How did we know you’d be arriving on our doorstep?’ Cecilia finishes Kaley’s question with a smirk. ‘We have a mole in the midst of your friends. We have tracked all of your whereabouts for months, dear. And we are right on schedule. Soon your friends’ powers will be extracted and brought to us and you will get to work healing all of those who managed to survive the first phase of my tests.’
Kaley’s heart starts to beat faster and faster. Ari. Ari was in danger. And she was not there to help her. Instead she was here, searching for a cure for herself. Selfish, she thought. Typical selfish Kaley.
As the guards pull Kaley to her feet, she sways, as the poison spreads deeper into her system.
‘Poor dear,’ Cecilia croons. ‘We must take care of the poison first. Come.’
She saunters away towards The City buildings, guards dragging Kaley, Ai-Ling and Xavier behind.
Kaley is amazed to see the difference in the buildings of The City of Secrets compared to The Republique and even The City of Syn. Instead of tall skyscrapers with sprouting domes of flowers and greenery, and bright coloured screens with moving figures and propaganda, they are a stark white, glistening in the midday sun. White spires shoot up into the cloudless sky from domed structures. The streets are clean – white marble, interspersed with grey and green marble blocks, converging on a wide square.
A towering spire, reaching high above the rest of The City, dominates the eastern end. The west of the square is overshadowed by a white marble building with three domes, its façade has five round arched portals, leading inside, each enveloped by white, grey and green marble columns. Doors of bronze, belonging to another time, conceal the interior to the outside world. Fluttering on a flagpole, nearby, is a blue flag with a yellow phoenix blowing orange and red flame. At half-mast, as if in submission to the flag above it, Kaley realises, must have been the original flag belonging to this city – a gaudy flag on gold with a green and silver snake in a perfect circle, consuming its own tail.
She is dragged past the square and is then shoved into the back of a waiting, windowless van. Ai-Ling and Xavier are shoved in after her and soon, in a scene that was becoming all too familiar to Kaley, the van is moving them to an unknown location.
Chapter FORTY-THREE
Scraping and screeching.
Looming shadows.
A service-girl from the Holly-Oaks Centre of Beauty and Wellness stands opposite a sandy-blonde haired man with a sly grin.
Justin and Maude flank Ari on her right side. The mages flank her left, partially obscuring the path to the escapees who had sought refuge in the sewer channels below the earth.
‘Your time has come,’ Pyro taunts.
Slowly, a machinised monster turns the corner and comes in to view. It moves on a continuous track, rotating around its seven wheels on either side, its turrets pointed directly at Ari and her friends. Bordering the vehicle are rows of guards in the new National uniform of deep blue and white, right breasts decorated with the phoenix badge. To Ari’s dismay, but not surprise, standing at the helm of the gaudy machine is Colonel Duff.
Maude, however, cannot hide her shock. ‘You son of a bitch,’ she seethes.
‘My brother,’ Pyro introduces the Colonel, ‘Inferno.’
‘But the Colonel is dead..,’ Jade starts, cowering further.
Pyro laughs dementedly, ‘the Colonel died a long time ago. Inferno here, has posed as The Colonel for the past 18 months.’
The machinised monster comes to a stop and Inferno steps forwards. His face like melted wax, his charred flesh exposes his underlying skull in places.
‘With the establishment of The Underground, it was a perfect way for us to infiltrate the minds of those who wanted a new government, a new beginning for the human race,’ Inferno says, voice gruff. ‘We could get our ideology out that the Elites are a cancer on this earth and with recruiting you assassins, we could slowly kill off those Elites in power, including Chancellor Heston.
‘With the assassination of Chancellor Heston, The Great Andre Chvostek could take his position of power, and start to set our plan into motion. All the while, The Elites had no idea, having their attention turned on the assassins who were known to be killing off Elites of power and status in The Republique.
‘And sending you two on the mission to obtain The Healers as a ruse for The Underground to gain an advantage over The Elites – well of course you did whatever it took to defeat The Elites, and we had The Healer’s in our midst.’
‘So why did you allow me to be kidnapped and taken to The Founding Family’s Palace,’ Ari asks, still not making sense of it all.
‘As I said,’ Pyro answers, ‘I learnt of Julie’s uncle having the other mages in his midst, and allowing you to be kidnapped, meant we would gain access to them too.’
‘Enough talk,’ Inferno says with an air of authority, still wearing his Colonel’s cap.
The machine monster’s engine purrs back to life, the end of turret closest to the mages starts to glow bright, and then Ari’s ear’s go deaf, and they feel full, almost as if the air is pressing in on her eardrums. Suddenly, there is a bright flash of light and the mages are surrounded by a half-dome of white-yellow light. Ari collapses to her knees as she feels the soul start to unstick from her body. Her muscles ache, her bones feel as if they will shatter into a million pieces. Her eyes feel they might suck right out of her head. The other mages also fall to the ground, choking, crying out in pain.
The Fire Twins look on in smug appreciation.
Justin runs forwards and tries to penetrate the glowing dome, to get to Ari. He is thrown backwards by an unseen force, hitting the back of his head against the sewer tunnel wall. Dazed, he looks up to see Ari weighed down further and further by this unseen force.
He runs towards Pyro, and
cuffs him by the collar. ‘What the hell are you doing to them?!’
Pyro smiles before raising his hands up to Justin’s wrists. With a flash, Justin’s wrists are consumed in flame and he let’s The Fire Twin go.
‘Allow me to explain,’ Inferno croons. ‘Meet the Angelus Mortem. Created by our head scientist, a device we will use to extract the power of you all. Ventus, aqua, sanare and ignis. And last – terra. But that earth-mage’s power will be taken soon enough.’
Ari struggles against the heavy weight that pushes down, as if the Earth’s gravity had suddenly tripled. Her mind starts to go blank.
Blackness.
Memories from her past - a bubbling brook. Birds vocalising their birdsong.
The scent of bread baking. The image of a woman sitting by an open wood-fire, her blonde locks falling to her shoulders in ringlets, smiling warmly upon her two daughters of blonde and brunette who sit in her lap.
She whispers something to them, ‘you are both so special to your father and I. Don’t ever forget that we love you. And what we do next we do for your protection.
Blackness.
Memories of a blonde girl, her older sister, holding her hand, as they are taken away by two faceless men. Their mother falls to her knees in the dirt, sobbing as they are carted away in an automatic-driving wooden carriage, hidden under lambs wool pelts, to the promise of a better life. They were being smuggled out of their town. Rumours of The Healer Sisters had spread far and wide and The Elites wanted to get their hands on them. Ari and her sister were to be taken to the Southern Continent, where they would be far from the greedy reach of The Elites.
But instead the carriage is intercepted by Elite Guards, the sisters are found and taken away to The Republiqe.
They are sold to the highest bidder – Matron of The Holly Oaks Centre, where they will live out the rest of their lives under Elite rule.
I am special, Ari says to herself, smiling as she sees her mother’s face for the first time. I am special. I will not be the death of my friends. I will defeat all who try to oppress us. No longer will we be the downtrodden.
Ari struggles against the force bearing down on her. She looks around and finds the others almost completely sucked dry of their powers. She sees Maude and Justin fighting the guards who entered the sewers with Inferno and his Angelus Mortem. A guard hits Maude in the abdomen with a phaser then hits her to her upper back, before striking her in the head. She falls to the ground, puffing, cradling her right hand. Justin falls backwards are three guards take him on. He lays on the ground, shielding his face, as they lay blows – punches, kicks to his head, torso, abdomen.
As the Angelus Mortem continues to strip Ari of her healing power, she notices her other power is growing stronger, somehow. It is as if it has more room to soak up every inch of her, now that her Healing power is all but gone. She feels it consume every cell of her being, almost as if coating her from the inside out in a shield of armour. The fury that she usually feels when this power stirs is no longer there. Instead, she feels she is in control of it for the first time.
And then the invisible weight is lifted and her legs are able to carry her weight.
She stands and faces the Angelus Mortem. A shadow crosses her eyes and breathing slows. She balls her hands into fists and digs down into the centre of her body – gathering all of her newfound power. Then it bursts forward, emanating from every inch of her, breaking through the white-yellow light dome of the machine’s turret.
The machine monster crumples under the force of Ari’s power, almost as if an invisible giant was crumpling a piece of paper in its hand. The extraction process is ceased and the mages are able to stand and face their foes.
Chapter FORTY-FOUR
Kaley, Ai-Ling and Xavier are marched out of the van, wrists and ankles shackled by plasma binds, to a white marble structure, housing three huge bronze doors, adorned with sculptures of creatures from the Old World and women in gossamer threads.
‘Welcome to your new abode for the next few months,’ Cecilia trills, as her accompanying guards scan their retinas in the nearby scanner adjacent to the left door.
The three captives are shoved inside and Kaley cannot help but marvel at the interior of their captors headquarters. A vast hallway spreads outwards, housing glass-stained windows, too numerous to count. Interspersed between the windows are various artworks depicting humans at war with one another. Standing in the centre of the hallway, just a few metres from the entrance, stands a white marble statue of a woman in a robe with a tablet in hand, holding it out to all those who entered. The carved words have been etched out roughly, leaving a blank tablet.
They are led to one of the many bronze doors to the right side, halfway down the hallway, before they are forced down the stairs and into the looming darkness. Eventually they come across a cold, damp stone room with cramped spaces enclosed by Old World gates and a stone altar stained with blood sitting in the centre.
Kaley is pushed into one of the cells, before Xavier is shoved into the neighbouring cell. Ai-Ling protests and tries to bite the hand of the guard who pulls her towards the bloodstained stone altar. She is strapped down with shackles binding her head, wrists and ankles. She screams and screams until Doctor Hadrad injects the contents of a small syringe she pulls from the pocket of her white coat, into Ai-Ling’s jugular vein.
‘What are you doing? Leave her alone!’ Kaley cries.
Cecilia grins at her friend’s pain before nodding to the guards closest to the dungeon door. One of the guards opens the door, letting in a portly man, forehead beaded with sweat, his face ruddy and his chest puffing with him having raced down the hallway and stairs minutes earlier.
He approaches Cecilia with a silver tray floating before him. Laid out on the tray are syringes of various sizes, monitoring equipment, what looks like a pair of pliers.
‘Doctor Hadrad,’ he says, still puffing from the exertion. ‘I came as soon as I heard. Soon we shall also have the extracted powers from the other mages – Angelus Mortem is working beneath the earth as we speak.’
Without a word to the other scientist, Cecilia takes the tray and lays it out beside the stone altar. She grabs a large syringe and plunges it deep into Ai-Ling’s inner left elbow. She doesn’t flinch, unconscious or perhaps paralysed by whatever the evil scientist had injected into her veins minutes earlier.
‘Leave her alone!’ Kaley cries again.
Her complexion is yellowed, her body covered in a thin layer of perspiration from head to toe. She feels nauseated, and as if she is running a fever well over forty degrees celcius. She realises the poison has almost taken over her body completely. Cecilia glances over to her before addressing the portly scientist, who watches the Doctor with stunned reverence.
‘Ezra, she has been poisoned by my dear Hapalaena. Fetch the antidote. If she dies, I will leave you to explain the loss of The Healer to The Great Chancellor.’
Ezra nods eagerly, before shuffling out of The Dungeon and heading upstairs to the laboratory above.
Kaley watches the scientist as she places a number of monitoring equipment on Ai-Ling, before reading the results on a hand-held tablet. She scrolls through the results, before glancing up, eyes meeting Kaley’s.
‘Don’t worry,’ she whispers, in her sultry tone. ‘You will be next.’
She notices Kaley’s eyes shift to the unconscious form of Xavier nearby.
‘He will be taken to the internment camps tomorrow – he really isn’t of any use to me.’
Before long, Ezra returns, a small vial of pink liquid in his hand. He tentatively approaches Kaley’s cell, which the guards open, and he steps inside. Kaley flinches as he nears, but she notices a kindness about him. He seems to be misplaced in this scenario. He approaches cautiously, and hands the vial to Kaley.
‘It’s the antidote,’ he stammers. ‘To the Hapalaena’s poison.’
Kaley takes the vial and after examining it for a few seconds, un-stoppers it and pours the whole
contents down her throat.
‘It will take some time to work,’ Ezra starts to say before Cecilia cuts him off and orders him back upstairs.
Kaley’s eyes are suddenly heavy. She fights it but the urge to sleep is too strong and soon she gives in.
Chapter FORTY-FIVE
Ari watches the scene before her – guards lay dead on the sewer ground, having succumbed to The Healer’s newest power.
Pyro and Inferno now stand side by side – The Fire Twins – facing the mages they had stolen from. Justin and Maude pause to catch their breath, as they look on in awe at the destruction Ari’s power had caused.
‘How is it possible she still holds her power,’ Pyro questions his twin brother.
Inferno shakes his head as he eyes Ari carefully. ‘The Angelus Mortem should have extracted all her power as it did with the other mages.’
Hani, River, Malik and Delta in unison direct their energy towards The Fire Twins. But nothing happens. The siblings exchange concerned glances. Hani feels empty, as if her soul had been taken from her. River looks down to his hands, feeling as if they were taken from him. His sister tries and tries again to release her power over the sewer water without avail. Malik turns to his sister, pulling her behind him, almost subconsciously in an act to protect her.
‘Like I said,’ Pyro says in his dulcet tones, ‘you are no match for us.’
With these words he and his brother spew fire from every inch of their body towards Ari and the others. Mustering all the energy she can, Ari deflects the fire away from the mages, the assassins and Underground escapees. The fire continues as if from a flamethrower, bouncing back towards the incendiaries, as if from an invisible shield growing from Ari’s hands.
Ari is pushed back, inch by inch, as she struggles to hold the firepower at bay. Her legs start to falter, her knees start to tremble. With the force of the fire emanating from The Fire Twins, the sewer tunnel’s walls and ceiling start to crumble. Justin runs to Ari’s aid, the other mages try but fail to reignite their own power.
Elite Nation: Book One Page 20
