by J D Cowan
He drifted above the rubble to get a sense of what happened. The large metal door cracked open. Matthew focused on his lack of crippling wounds. It meant his transformation was not instantaneous, and that his whole body changed as one monolithic form. With some training, he might figure out how to force different parts to morph independently, but not yet.
Fallen and shattered stone littered the floor around the corner. Upturned tiles and switches hid buried under the fallen rocks. The lever dumped everything in the ceiling like a baby thrown from the dirtiest bathtub in existence. As far as a failsafe went, he couldn’t imagine much better. Now only the open, cracked door remained.
“At least we know the floor’s safe.”
He drifted over the rubble back to the first hallway and saw the same sight there. Piles of crumbled rocks everywhere—the stones had even crushed the spike pits.
His four traveling companions waited by the gate. Their stares darted around the wrecked tunnel.
“You said the door opened?” Shaula asked. “What is inside?”
“I don’t know, I came here first.”
They traversed the way back, stepping on the dispensed remainders of the loosed traps. When they reached the slightly cracked open gate the lot of them looked on in awe.
The thick solid metal door spanned twenty feet in length.
Ordopha watched over Shaula as the three men pulled at the gate. Matthew and Alain strained, but without Pollux, Jason was a weak kitten. But still, he pried with the two of them, panting. Sweat covered his reddened cheeks.
They pushed, creaking the jamb, and finally shoved it open. They grunted as they used their full weight against it.
They all stared into the now uninterrupted golden light. The hot glow fell upon them. No one spoke. Matthew didn’t have to ask why as he felt it himself. Even Shaula fell silent, the unutterable beauty piercing her black heart. Nothing could describe the warm sensation in Matthew’s blood swimming inside his tired wounds. There was never anything so radiant.
The large golden shrine was held up by towering marble pillars, and an oversized flashing altar lay at the opposite end of the chamber. A wall-length mirror hung on the opposite side. Long rotten pews littered the gigantic space, and the musty smell crinkled his nose, but it couldn’t deter him from what he saw ahead. A nearly invisible chalice sat perfectly in the center of the altar. The ancient holy place gained its light from what beamed from the cup. His prize awaited inside of it.
“Is that a seed?” he asked. No one responded.
The door behind them slammed shut as if a magnetic force had kicked in. Matthew and Ordopha jumped.
Jason made it halfway across the shrine’s open floor space before anyone noticed he had moved. Alain remained transfixed on the gold glittering against the gaudy walls and didn’t notice Shaula crossing the rows after the boy. Ordopha shook her brother while Matthew followed after the witch.
Shaula’s robes hissed against the floor like a cobra. Matthew passed in front of her. She stopped and watched him with a blank expression.
“Did you forget that you’re our prisoner?” he asked. “You have no magic.”
“I forgot nothing, fool. I am more than just magic.”
Shaula outstretched both hands and nodded. A bright red fire lit across her forehead like a torch and rolled down to her palms. Flames burst out from her, burning against her exposed skin. A cyclone of heat lashed across the chamber.
Sweat streaked across walls, and the floor warped. Pressure pumped from her as if a steam valve had been thrown loose. It would only be a matter of time before she consumed everything.
Matthew backed up as the fire swirled across the ground. He tried to process it. She had powers.
“You’re a Prime,” he whispered.
“Very smart, Matthew.” White teeth smiled. “Now stand aside or become cinder.”
Flames snaked around her, slithering to and fro like ripples on the waves of her curves. She could easily roast him.
“No, you won’t do that,” he replied.
“I won’t?”
“You need Castor.”
“I need more relics. My love will become the ultimate being.”
“Can’t do that if you destroy the bracelets.”
A twang rang out, and she grimaced. Shaula cried out. An arrow sunk into her shoulder.
Ordopha and Alain stood beside Matthew. They had their bow and sword drawn, respectively.
Shaula crouched and launched upwards in one fluid motion. Fire exploded from her like a geyser. Crimson red and orange light enveloped the ceiling. Gold leaf dripped like rain from a leaking roof. How powerful were her flames?
The trio dove sideways into the rotting pews. Fire streamed across the open room after them, burrowing into the floor. Matthew slid forward as several pews burned around him. Alain and Ordopha dashed behind marble pillars. The wielder of Castor stood alone in the center of the room with only Shaula between him and Jason.
But the boy still stood before the altar, unmoving. Matthew called out, but the raging flames silenced his voice.
Shaula remained still in the burning pyre. “Jason! Give me the Kharis Seed!”
“So you do know what it is!” Matthew said.
“Of course I do! It will parse out unbelievable power but at the cost of lifespan. However, how do you think an immortal would be affected by such limitations? He would not.”
Over by the altar, Jason touched the cup. The chalice crumbled at his fingertips. Any semblance of gold light faded, now consumed by the flashing flames around Shaula. He took the seed.
“Give it here!” she shouted.
Matthew watched this play out with increasing terror. The thousand-yard stare on Jason’s face showed a boy losing his grip on reality. The queen took one step towards him, and Matthew transformed. He became water and slunk along the floor as the woman was distracted. Neither Jason nor the witch paid him any mind.
Shaula shouted at the boy, “What are you doing?”
As if it were the most normal thing in the world, Jason swallowed the Kharis Seed with a single gulp. He blinked, and his vision became refocused.
“Did I just do what I think I did?”
“You stupid boy!”
“At least you can’t get it now,” he replied.
“Oh, I still can retrieve it.”
Matthew slithered along the floor. An incredible heat burned into him as he passed her. His form steamed, evaporating into the ether. He would melt to nothing before he made it to the boy. Matthew sprang up between them and held his sword out towards Shaula. Pure heat pressed against him.
“I‘ve had more than I can stand of you!”
“My feelings are the same, Matthew!”
Alain and Ordopha ran to his side, rounding the witch with their weapons ready. They shook nearly as much as he was sweating.
“You used us, witch,” Alain said. “Why did you not attack when we first took the ship?”
“The seed is all I desire. I knew the mountains Jason spoke of in his visions. I knew he could take me to the prize—the one my love has sought since first coming to this cursed world. But why would I waste my time forcing you here when you fools could bring me here of your own volition? Give it here, Jason.”
“Stay away from him!” Ordopha yelled. “Enough madness. Do not think I will fail to put an arrow in your eye. You cannot burn them all.”
“Can’t I?” Veins pulsed on Shaula’s fiery forehead and delicate pale neck. “You two fools are nothing but simple entertainment for my pets. But Castor and Pollux are another thing entirely. And the Kharis Seed is an even greater find. I’m sorry to say, Matthew, but the two of you are expendable. We can always find other candidates for Castor and Pollux. We cannot find another Kharis Seed. Give it to me, or I will burn it out.”
She hungrily licked her lips. Her eyes blazed hotter than the flames. Her playful edge vanished with wrath.
“I choose neither,” Jason said.
Shaula’s rage grew as her gaze widened. “Come back here!”
Jason leaped the altar and pressed hands against it. Gold light flooded out of his palms. His reflection enveloped him and threw light across the room.
“Holder of the Seed,” a voice echoed through the cavernous place. “Where do you wish to go?”
Jason spoke up without pause, his tone subdued. “Take my friends and me out of the mountains to the closest Mirror Gate.”
“Stop!” Shaula screamed.
The bright light clashed against her wild flames and sent her stumbling. Matthew, Ordopha, and Alain lifted from the floor and were pulled backwards toward Jason. All four slammed into the mirror.
Shaula whipped a fiery bolt at Jason. The fireball crashed into the mirror, shattering it into thousands of pieces. Her targets vanished.
The woman wailed as they disappeared into the darkness.
Matthew watched as the shrine faded. White shapes soared under the quartet in large rows blown by the wind. Clouds! The night sky surrounded him. Cold air rushed by as they soared through.
Gravity dropped them like a heavy stone. They plummeted downward through the sky. But no matter how far they fell, the clouds never broke.
Matthew held on to both Alain and Ordopha. There was nothing else he could do.
Jason dropped lower and lower. The boy disappeared below the void of clouds and disappeared from the endless white.
Only the three of them remained.
But the world began to sink away from them, and clouds swallowed the trio. Matthew could no longer even see his own hands.
And even with the universe disappearing around him, Matthew could still hear the rage of the Queen of Mageuopolis howling uselessly into the void.
Chapter 11
In a Strange Land
Dark skies awaited his aching head when Matthew blinked awake. Spotlights of stars beamed down in a pattern completely unrecognizable to him. Two decades alive and he had never seen these skies. No Big Dipper, no Orion—the patterns were completely foreign.
Never in his short life did Matthew imagine he would step foot on another world. But he still breathed the air and walked the dirt just as if it were Earth. Would he ever return home? He grabbed the grass under his fingers and relished how soft it felt.
That was when Matthew realized that he was awake. His hands batted about all over his sore skin. No broken bones, no bruises. Somehow, he’d lived.
“You’re awake, Matthew?” Jason asked in his head.
“So you’re alive!”
“That voice in the mirror almost got us killed. Why did I listen to it? My head’s still ringing.”
Tall trees loomed down, and thick bushes littered the spaces around Matthew. They had landed in some kind of forest.
“Where are we? Where are Ordopha and Alain?”
Before the boy could answer, the siblings stepped out of the nearby black brush. Matthew breathed a quick sigh. They both noticed him and instantly flashed grins. Alain put his away instantly. The girl crouched beside Matthew and felt his forehead.
“Alive, are we?”
“I’m breathing and not bleeding. You two?”
She nodded.
“Good,” he said. Ordopha interrupted. “More importantly, is Jason there with you?”
“He is. Just a bit stunned.”
“Good,” Alain spoke. “Now you can have him come out here so I can crush his throat.”
Matthew winced. Of all the times to be a jerk, Alain did not have to pick now.
Ordopha ignored her brother. “We found a disheveled hovel further ahead. There was a man named Sai—he looked like a hermit. We asked if he could point us to the mountains, or a Mirror Gate, and he directed us toward an abbey at the end of these woods. That was all he would say.”
“I’ll go talk to him.”
“Do not bother,” Alain answered. “He wouldn’t open the door again. Useless.”
“Did he look like you? Same color hair and everything?”
He shook his head. “We couldn’t tell. He wore a heavy hood and hid behind the door. Enough, Matthew. If you are well, then we should leave. There is no telling what lurks in this place.”
Alain walked off, leaving the two behind. Ordopha looked after him, saying nothing. His rotten demeanor remained unchanged. A delicate white hand reached for Matthew as he sat up. She helped steady him. His calves trembled, nearly buckling. Before she could say anything, he straightened up. Alain had already vanished into the brush.
“Thanks,” he said to her. “Did I do something to set off your brother again?”
“Alain will always be Alain. Let’s make certain he doesn’t do something foolish.”
The shady haze of moonlight bathed them as outstretched branches and brush rubbed against their torn clothes. Ordopha led Matthew on in silence. Only the distant hoots of owls kept them company.
The scent of honey and wilderness clung to the night breeze. Thinning grass ran off in every direction. All of this continued to remind Matthew that the dead mountains of Mageuopolis were now far away.
Why else would Alain be annoyed? They had abandoned his friends on the mountain and simultaneously left Shaula alive to hunt them down. And there was little they could do about it.
Alain had a way of letting others know how he felt, whether they wanted to or not. But this was more than that. Why else would he just walk away like this?
They all failed against Shaula, but neither Alain nor his sister could have known about Primes. These super-powered beings first started showing up decades ago on Earth when Matthew was only a rug rat. He had no idea they’d show up on another planet.
But Primes weren’t magical. Prime powers extended from inside their bodies. Tyrandus’ magic was purely external, created by Nieto. But his bride could unleash both pyrokinetic Prime powers as well as magic. She had both—and she was still out there.
Matthew knew Shaula would be back. They needed to find a way out and back to Serenity City before anyone else got hurt. As he mulled this over, he thought he caught Ordopha glancing at him several times. The last thing he wanted was for her to worry about him.
“To be honest,” Ordopha began. “I had never given much thought to what I would do when I finally escaped the mountains. What do you do in your world?”
“Not much, really.”
“You always say that. Do you really not trust me, Matthew?”
There was more than a little playfulness in her tone, but she was right. He just had nothing to tell. A red blush filled his cheeks.
“Where I live is a city with tall buildings, many people, and a lot of monsters running around. There are some good people and some bad. Heroes and villains, cops and criminals, doves and dogs. Not all heroes are all that great, despite what Jason thinks. Most of them are just looking out for themselves. We can all be blown up at any moment, and all they care about is good press. How can you trust your life to people like that? Just walking out your door some days is a risk. You might be killed before you even hit morning traffic. I just scrape by and hope no one notices me. A meager existence, sure, but it was something. That’s why there isn’t much to tell.”
She said nothing for a long time, so he let it go. They crossed a path to the left that led up a small dirt road. The way connected to an old stone structure covered in leaves and cracks along its doorframe. There were no windows or any flickering of light squeezing out into the bleak night. Matthew had seen designs like this in old Middle Age history books. This must have been that hermit’s residence. Even in other worlds, there were still those who kept to themselves. Perhaps he belonged in a place like this, after all. Ordopha pushed him on.
“Where you come from sounds similar to Mageuopolis,” she said. “I suppose I can understand your way. All I wished was for my friends to be left alone.”
“It was my way of living. Things change. I have Castor now, and I have to look after the idiot in my head. Being left alone isn’t an option.”
> “No, I understand, Matthew. I held Alain back from any attempt at escape because of a selfish worry that we would die in the mountains. I was fine with dying in that horrid prison as long as I had those I loved by my side. Pathetic.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being scared of death.”
“Isn’t there?”
Perhaps it beat cowering in a corner and begging for scraps. “I can’t say I gave it much thought. You’re pretty good with a bow, by the way. Much practice?”
“Far too much.” She shifted the quiver on her back. Arrows were low. “Combat is not for me. It would be nice to have something a bit less . . . mannish to engage in.”
“Well, sorry.” He couldn’t manage to fight off a grin. “Can’t help you there.”
“You’re smiling. Are you feeling better now?”
He had almost forgotten his sore muscles and spent energy. “A little. Oh, wait, there’s Alain. What’s he looking at?”
The two of them stepped out of the brush and into short grass. Alain stared up the front of a tall stone wall that traveled several miles left and right and went up at least fifty feet. Soldiers in armor patrolled the top. The three of them had found a small fortress.
Alain grimaced, highlighting his disheveled look even further. Torn and bloody prison clothes would easily stand out. Matthew debated running until Alain made a blunder. He called up the wall.
“Hello! My friends and I are lost,” Alain shouted. “Are we near the mountains?”
The two armored men on top brandished bows toward at Alain. One blew a horn.
“Are you from Thieves’ Forest?” the other guard shouted. Loud voices erupted from the other side of the wall. “Your name or we will open fire.”
Matthew took Ordopha by the wrist and fell back into the brush. She landed beside him in the grass. Before she could speak, he pointed to her brother’s right. A gate opened, and three men on horses bolted out. Except that they weren’t horses.
