by AJ Martin
Luccius and Emary dragged the exhausted Matthias through the streets as Sikaris bore down on them again and again. There was nowhere to run from the flames, but they tried anyway, altering their route around the remaining houses as the fire melted the bricks at a touch. Every now and again Matthias threw up his hand and shot a cloud of ice at Sikaris as he chased them, but the wizard could barely stand, much less fight, and the shots only served to delay the dragon’s descent and make him even more angry. They ran down another alleyway and stopped abruptly.
“It’s a dead end.” Luccius exclaimed. They turned to back out of the narrow passageway just as Sikaris thudded to the ground at the opening. He roared at them again, the sound deep and booming like a drum yet simultaneously piercing like a rusty metal handle being twisted on a bucket.
Emary shrugged off Matthias, who fell to his knees and reached for her sword, marching towards the gaping, analysing head of the dragon, which stared at the small figure approaching him.
“What are you doing?” Luccius asked with astonishment, kneeling by Matthias’s side.
“What does it look like? I’m going to carve this thing another nostril!” Emary growled, and readied her sword.
“Emary don’t!” Luccius cried to her just as a bright flash in the grey, crimson - tinged sky pulled the dragon’s attention away from her. Right above them a thick, jagged bolt of lightning seethed through the sky and earthed itself in the creature’s back. The Dragon reeled, thrashing its giant head about and smashing the bricks of the surrounding buildings as it shook itself off. Another bolt crackled into his head, sending sparks hissing off his armoured scales. Sikaris roared angrily and jumped back into the skies.
“I thought you had run out of power wizard?” Emary said, returning to the others.
Matthias looked at the open street where the dragon had been with confusion. “It wasn’t me!”
Lightning crackled around Sikaris. Wherever he dodged one bolt, another spike would arc out of the broiling sky. Faster and faster they hit him, until at the same time dozens of forks pummelled his body mercilessly and he tensed with the shock of every strike. The sky flickered every second with a new bolt.
“What is going on now?” Luccius asked.
Matthias smiled. “It must be Josephine!” he said and pulled himself to his feet, pacing towards the street they had come from. The others followed in his wake.
“Could it not be those mage creatures?” Emary asked him.
“They couldn’t do this,” Matthias shook his head. “No - one can do anything like this anymore. Except Josephine!” He stumbled and fell back against a wall. “We have to find her and help.”
“You can barely stand wizard!” Emary exclaimed.
“Then help me!” he asserted. A screech made him look up again. Sikaris plummeted to earth, the onslaught of lightning following him down. With his wings outstretched, he stumbled with a great crash atop a building and it crumpled beneath his weight. He flailed his legs and tottered, drunkenly, flexing his wings in an attempt to fly again, but every time he tried another bolt thundered into his charred body. He raised his giant head to scream again, but forks shattered against his bony mane and he was forced to cower. Smoke plumed from the craterous legions on his scales and with a groan, he collapsed, and his wings fell about him like a dismantling tent.
Together, Matthias and the others followed the line of crackling energy to its end point. The frequency of the bolts had lessened as they arrived at the wreckage of the building where Sikaris lay, smoking and debilitated, exhausted from the onslaught of the attack upon him, chest heaving quickly. Standing several paces in front of them, a short way from the creature, the figure of a woman stood with their back to them. It was Josephine.
“Josephine?” Matthias whispered, but she didn’t appear to hear him. He shrugged off Luccius and Emary and rushed unsteadily towards her, until he could see her face. Her eyes were transfixed on the dragon, and her irises had crystallised to an icy white. “Princess,” he tried again, looking at her with concern. Her face was mottled with blue, lightning - shaped veins that stretched horizontally from beneath her ears to her cheeks. “Princess it’s me, Matthias!” He tried to touch her, and then recoiled as a spark singed his fingers.
“What’s wrong with her?” Emary asked.
“I… I don’t know,” Matthias swallowed. “Josephine,” he tried again, standing in front of her. She looked right through him. Behind him another bolt struck Sikaris and he groaned. “We’ve found each other again. Don’t you recognise me?”
“I am ascending,” she said. Her voice echoed with a metallic tinge, distant and alien. “I can see everything. The world and its building blocks. They are tiny structures beyond any comprehension. And I am the only one who can control them all.” She looked beyond Matthias at Sikaris. “I can make this creature disappear, as he has done so many others. I should make him disappear.”
Matthias turned to look at the dragon. It stared at them with angry eyes.
“And if you do,” he said, turning back to her. “What then?”
“I do not know,” she said breathily.
“Where does it stop?” he continued.
“I see beyond life and death now. There is so much more.”
“Matthias!” Luccius exclaimed, as behind the princess, two feathered wings began to materialise, the white dazzling against the darkness surrounding them. They shimmered constantly as if they were not really there, but they moved with the princess as she swayed on the spot.
“We are all tiny,” she continued. “It is insignificant. Life is insignificant. This being has proven that with its actions. The existences of many people destroyed in the blink of an eye.”
“Only the gods should decide who lives and who dies and maybe not even then,” Matthias said softly. “Josephine, this isn’t you.” Sikaris grumbled from deep within his belly behind them.
“She should destroy the beast,” Emary called at them. “You have brought him to heel but for how long? What else can be done?”
“The light...” Josephine said. “I can show him the light.”
“What does that mean?” Matthias asked.
“The poison can be drained. But does he deserve a second chance?”
“Doesn't everybody deserve that?” Matthias asked. “Josephine, are you saying you can cure him of the taint on his mind?” She nodded distantly. “Then princess, you have to do it!” She continued to stare at nothing. Matthias reached his hand towards her again gingerly. He concentrated until he could feel a thin trickle of power within him again, and wove it into the ground. Then he placed a hand on her cheek. He felt a tingle, but he wasn't shocked again. “Josephine, I don't know what's happening, but you have to come back.” He swallowed. “Come back to me. Please.”
She reached up slowly and placed her own hand on top of his, and traced its features curiously. Then she blinked, and as if a fog had lifted, her eyes and face changed, and the shimmering wings disappeared.
“Matthias?” She whispered.
“Welcome back,” he smiled.
She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “I knew you weren't dead!” She said. He placed a hand on her hair and cradled her head on his shoulder.
“You can't get rid of me that easily,” he whispered back at her. “Where's Thadius?”
She released her grip on him and stared up sadly at him. His face fell. “Oh no.” Their reunion was cut short as the dragon snorted loudly behind them. “Josephine, you said you could cure him. Do you remember?”
She nodded. “I've been practising. I think I know what to do.”
“Then we should end this,” he responded. “We can catch up later about... what happened.”
She nodded. “You should stand back. I don't know what will happen next. I truly don’t.”
“But”- he began.
“Don't start arguing as soon as you find me,” she smiled thinly. “Now trust me and let me do this.”
He
took a breath and nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Good luck.” He returned to the others and watched anxiously.
Josephine nodded. “Right then. Here goes nothing.” She stepped forward slowly towards the Dragon.
Revelations
206th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)
Sikaris shifted as Josephine approached him. He moved slowly backwards like a crocodile, on his belly, but then, shaking, his legs and arms gave up again. She drew within a few paces of him. He growled and then snorted, and fire shot from his nostrils. The flames surrounded Josephine. Matthias stepped forward, but then stopped as she emerged from them as they dissipated, a clear field flickering around her body. Josephine reached out with the power and wrapped the dragon in several tight bonds. Sensing them, Sikaris strained against them, but remained where he was. Finally she reached within arms length, and stopped and stared at him. This close it was apparent just how incredible the creature was. His scaly skin looked old and dry, his horned collar and beak strewn with tiny cracks and blemishes. Beneath his large, marble - like eye, a pock - mark from the lightning storm still smoked. She stared into the snake - like iris.
“So much anger,” she breathed. “You hate me so much, don’t you?” The creature grumbled. “I will take that as a yes. It is alright. I could see it, a moment ago. But I saw that it was not you. Underneath you try to resist it, but you aren’t strong enough.” She reached up. “It’s time I gave you back that strength.” She pressed her palm onto his collar and Sikaris reared at her touch, pulling against the bonds. She tightened them further, until he couldn’t move his head more than an inch, and then replaced her hand on his skin. She repeated what she had practised for weeks, probing into his head. It was like pulling nails from a block of wood, but as she continued, she began to feel the veil across the creature’s mind shift. Around the outline of her hand a golden light pulsed, spreading through the cracks and scales in the dragon’s skin until, in moments, his entire body was submerged in an aura. She continued to pick at his mind until she reached a section she could not pry away easily. She increased the power and pulled harder.
Suddenly with a flash her head pounded as if she had been struck and her shoulder stung with a sharp, piercing pain. Her mind blurred and then she was standing in a room she didn’t recognise. It was an old, Aralian - style house. The windows were dirty and the furniture was covered in dust and cobwebs.
“Where am I now?” she whispered to herself and ran a finger across the dust of a sideboard. “I am fed up of being transported here there and everywhere, whenever my mind decides to flit off on a whim!” She looked around further at the dank, dark room. “Wherever this is, it hasn’t been lived in for a very, very long time.”
“Forty – four years, give or take a few months,” came a voice from a doorway behind her. She turned and pulled back against the sideboard at the figure in front of her. Taico Grimm.
“Grimm,” she exclaimed. “I might have known I had not seen the last of you!”
He smiled. “I’ve always been with you, since the mountains,” he said calmly. Josephine looked puzzled. Then she nodded.
“My shoulder,” she acknowledged. “The remaining pain?”
“Did you think it would be so easy to get rid of me?” he scoffed. “I’ve been following your progress, biding my time. You’ve grown stronger,” he commented. “That is commendable.”
In another part of Josephine’s mind she could feel her connection to the dragon remained intact. But the scar on his mind was fighting back. If she stopped now it would reassert itself and all her work so far would be gone. She had to carry on, despite this interruption. She felt around blindly, only seeing Grimm and the strange house but still feeling the real world beyond. She gripped the energy curling around the dragon’s mind and pulled at the bonds. Another stabbing pain in her shoulder made her cry out in pain as she yanked at the tendrils of energy. Another knotted part of the veil around the dragon’s mind came free with her efforts.
“You don’t know what you’re doing!” Grimm snapped, starting forward a pace. “If you destroy the taint, the dragon will be free from his possession!”
“Exactly. He will be at peace. He won’t pose a threat any longer.”
“But then the Return will be jeopardised!” Grimm looked anxious.
“What return?” Josephine asked and placed a hand to her neck and shoulder.
“The one that marks an end to the visions,” Grimm said. “I have seen only up to that point!” He smiled. “The blankness of peace!”
“You want the dragon to stay as he is? Destroying innocent people?”
“No!” Grimm said. “But I want an end to this story!” He shook his head “You don’t understand!”
“Then tell me! Explain to me why you hate me so much! How do you know me? Who are you?”
“I’ve known you a long time,” Grimm said. “I have seen nothing else for years. But you know me too. We are connected, you and I.”
“Before you attacked me at Rina I had never seen you before in my life!” the princess exclaimed. She felt new knots of energy in the dragon’s mind begin to form. She couldn’t be distracted. She had to continue her work!
“We never met,” Grimm said. “But you knew of me. Many, many years ago I seeded in your thoughts. That was as it was originally meant to be.” He smiled. “I intended people to take notice. But that was before they came for me.”
“The sorcerers?” Josephine asked. Grimm nodded.
“I was happy in my silence. The storm was over for me. But then they brought me back!” He placed a hand to his head. “I hated them at first. But then they showed me a new perspective.”
“It sounds like you have been possessed, just like the dragon!” she exclaimed.
“No!” he hissed. “No it wasn’t like that!”
“Then what was it like?” she snapped. “I am fed up of playing mind games with you Grimm!”
“They took my mind and then opened it beyond what I had previously seen. I saw that all those many years of my trying to help unravel the puzzle of the future were in vain. They showed me that I had been used! My life was simply discarded to save yours! The gods had abused me for their own gains!”
“You still make no sense,” Josephine said as she continued to work. “It seems you are some kind of visionary perhaps? But you haven’t told me why I am supposed to know you?”
“‘At the Creation there was chaos, the shadow was rife; When the gods spread forth the gift of life’,” he rhymed, smiling. “No? You need more?” He took a breath. “‘Torture and torment, the blood ran free; A river of red running down to the seas.’”’
The Princess’s eyes narrowed. “I know those words,” she said. “Where are they from?”
“Finally we start to remember,” Grimm smiled. “How about this? ‘I have seen in my soul this great evil, poised to arise; Once more from the shadows in a terrible guise; He will return when the stars form a holy alliance; Reborn from the dust of the most defiant.’”
“A Horizon of Storms,” Josephine exclaimed. “‘The Unfinished Prophecy of A Horizon of Storms.’” She swallowed. “Isser Interlok. Those words are from a poem I read when I was younger, written by Isser Interlok.”
“Hidden away in your archives in the palace.” Grimm spun around and around, waving a hand in the air. “‘Interlok’s a madman!’ they cried. ‘He’s cursed! Bury his work so we aren’t infected as well!’” Grimm looked angry. “But they were wrong! I was writing about the truth! They never could see! No - one would believe me!”
Josephine was stunned. “You’re him? Isser Interlok?”
Grimm nodded slowly. “Yes, he is me. Or rather, I was him. Many years ago. I ceased to be him when I died my first death, before they brought me back.”
“I remember parts of the poem. It was about the return of the Akari.” She swallowed. “It was about me?”
“At last! Vindication!” Grimm exclaimed. “Yes, it was about you. Ever s
ince I gazed into that glittering stone I was plagued by visions! Never ending, terrifying, all – encompassing!”
“You looked into a seeing stone! The same seeing stone Matthias’s people retrieved,” Josephine suggested. “But that poem… it wrote about helping people! It wanted the Akari to return! It wanted peace!”
“That was before the sorcerers convinced me of a better path,” Grimm said.
“But Interlok died!” Josephine exclaimed. “He died of some kind of plague before I was born.”
“The peaceful slumber,” Grimm said. “Yes, death was a release for Interlok for a time. But then they needed me. They found out that the gods had warned the world and they needed my help to beat them at their own game!”
“So the sorcerers brought you back to life?” Josephine shook her head. “They brainwashed you!”
“They gave me clarity! I was just a tool to the gods! No longer!”
Josephine continued working at the dragon’s mind. It was so nearly done, but with every victory against the possession her head felt as if it was about to explode and she had to draw yet more power to continue. Her face tingled and a vein began spreading up to her nose, then another down her forehead. She felt dizzy and sick. And then, with one final pull, the tainted energy was wrenched free of the dragon’s mind.
“It’s done Grimm!” Josephine cried. “The dragon’s mind is free!”
“No!” Grimm growled. “No, it must not end this way!” He ran forward and grabbed Josephine, throwing her to the floor.
“This is what you wanted! What Interlok wanted! Remember who you were, not what they made you become!” she cried as he wrestled with her on the floorboards.
“In another life! But that man is gone!” he wailed back. “Do not try to convince me,” he growled, malevolent eyes regarding her. “It is much too late to change course now. I will finish what I started with you princess, back in those mountains.”
