Chosen

by Sarah Swan

  “Here we are,” Liz announced, and spread her hands. “The birthplace of the crystals.”

  I looked around. This part of the tunnel looked exactly the same as everywhere else, except that the walls stood farther apart. There didn’t appear to be anything special about the place.

  “What’s different?” I asked.

  “Come here,” Liz gestured. “Take a look at this wall.” Liz walked over to the side, where she stood and waited for me.

  I walked to her. The weak light cast by the bulb behind me barely penetrated the darkness to reach the wall. Most of it was covered with shadows created by the uneven stone.

  “Yes?” I asked again, growing a little impatient—and somewhat anxious. The tunnel was dank. The air was stale. I kept thinking about the island housing depraved human experiments in the past. I half-expected to stumble upon the mutilated remains of a human skeleton, or worse. “If this is some sort of joke…”

  “No joke. Take a minute to let your eyes adjust, and let me know what you see.”

  “See? I only see rocks. Everywhere!” My voice echoed down both lengths of the tunnel, amplifying the eeriness of the place.

  “Right, but take a look here.” Liz pointed to a portion of the wall right by her. It looked like anything else, except perhaps it was a bit more flat. I moved beside her to examine it closer. That was when I saw it.

  Engraved on that part of the wall, and indeed everywhere else, were faint, rudimentary etchings. There were symbols and shapes, making all sorts of patterns running up and down the rock. They looked like they had been carved into the stone centuries ago. Even though I didn’t recognize any of it, the order to the shapes made me sure that it was some sort of writing.

  “What is it?” I asked Liz.

  “We call it the Wall of Power,” she said reverently.

  “The Wall of Power? Why?”

  “It was where I first discovered the crystals,” she told me. “And the markings on the wall are what led me to them.”

  “What? How?” I looked at the engravings again. None of them made any sense. How could she understand any of it?

  “It wasn’t that hard. Look here.” She pointed to her left. There, three squiggly lines, each like a snake, were superimposed within a large circle. On the perimeter of the circle were three triangles, each laid out equidistant from one another. “The circle represents the whole – a person, or some living being. The lines inside show the power contained within that person. It’s the… it’s what we draw upon to activate the crystals. You see, everyone has it within herself. But, not everyone can access it.” She moved her hand slightly to the right. There, the same image was repeated, except this time one end of each squiggly line was connected to an outside triangle. “The triangles are the crystals. This one shows how the flow of power is connected to the crystal – how the crystals unleash the power within individuals, if you will. Without them…” she moved her hand down, to another image that was identical except that the circle was much thicker here, and the lines did not penetrate to reach the triangles, “…the power stays dormant within.”

  “How can you tell all that?” I asked incredulously.

  “What? You don’t think someone like me could have figured it out? I like hieroglyphics, as it were, and read a lot about them when I was a little girl.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Just look. I’m not claiming to understand all of it, but there’s enough of a pattern in the markings to make some sense. These ones, for example,” she swept her hand along a series of much smaller, more intricate shapes, “I have no idea what they are. But they’re not important. What’s really important is over here.” She took a few steps to her right, and I followed. The markings were even fainter, and even harder to make out in the dim light. But at the same time, they were much larger, and more prominent. Liz dusted off a section of the wall, and I saw the familiar circle-with-squiggly-lines. It had the same triangles on the outside, but they were bigger this time, and touched the edge of the circle with only a single point. “You see this? It’s a pattern.” I realized after a moment that here, the entire shape was contained within a single, much larger, upside down triangle. And it was connected to another triangle beside it, and one above. All three of the triangles had the same circle inside. The squiggly lines within the circle connected to the tips of the three smaller triangles rimming the circle’s edge, and then extended even farther to link into each of the lines in the other shapes. The whole thing was like a network, with each triangular node linked to the others by the strength of the squiggly lines. “You see how they’re the same as the first engraving I showed you, and yet different?”

  “Sure. It’s arranged in a pattern. But it can mean anything.”

  “Right. But only before you take a closer look. What you realize is that the pattern is very telling of what the engravings are saying.”

  “Wait, I don’t understand something.” I moved back to step in front of the first marking. “If each of the outside triangles is a crystal,” I said, tracing the shape with my finger, “and the circle represents an individual, why are there three crystals? Does it mean we can use more than one crystal at a time?”

  “That I don’t know,” Liz admitted. “I – we – have tried using two crystals at once, or even three. But, nothing happens. Literally nothing. It’s like if we use more than one, they cancel each other out.”

  “Then how can you be so sure of what all the rest of it means?”

  “I just think we haven’t found the right combination yet,” Liz explained. “I believe – although I’m just guessing – that there might be three different types of crystal. And we’ve only discovered one. Each of the crystals can allow you to access a different reservoir of power within you. But you can’t use more than one of a single type at once.”

  “And you want me to find the others?”

  “Not yet,” Liz said. “Only once you’re ready. I brought you here to understand something else.”

  “Which is?”

  “That what we’re trying to do with the crystal seekers isn’t to create some arcane power cult. Everything we do is guided by what is written here.”

  “Oh, really?” I asked, somewhat disbelieving.

  “Yes! Come back here, look at these again.” She moved to where the three large upside down triangles made up the series of nodes. “Look again. The circle you see within can also mean something else. It’s the whole, like I said, but it’s not just an individual. It can represent a larger whole, like a group, linked together…”

  “That’s what you were trying to do today!”

  “Yes. But we weren’t successful.” She traced a much larger circle with her finger around the three triangles. “I think there used to be another circle here, but its representation eroded over time. Or maybe it was just implied. Anyway, the point is, we need three. Three people, three seekers, each breathing life into a crystal and connected themselves to the group.”

  “And then what?”

  “An exponential increase in power,” Liz said longingly. “We need that triangulation, Tracy, if we’re to do anything with the crystals that extends past cheap parlor tricks.”

  “Why do you want it so much?”

  “Don’t you?”

  “I – no. I mean, yes. I mean – Liz, I don’t know!”

  “Think about it,” Liz said in a lower voice. “Think about the feeling you get when you use your crystal. Think about how right it feels, and how the power resonates within you. Think about the longing you get when you’re away from it. I know how it is, Tracy. The crystal consumes your mind, until you can think of nothing else. Its power is seductive, and it’s completely alluring. You can feel it calling to you, can you not?”

  “I – how do you know?”

  “It’s like that for all of us, Tracy, and we have to control ourselves. If we don’t, we risk losing the ability to use the crystals forever. Like what happened to Ashley.”

  “She lost it f
orever? I thought you told her—”

  “She would become hysterical if she knew the truth,” Liz said. “But it serves her right. It was her own fault.”

  I blanched. Liz’s last sentence was particularly malicious. No matter what my history with Ashley was, she and Liz had been friends. If Liz knew how devastated her friend would be, and spoke of her that way, what did it say about her character?

  “But if we triangulate, if we link ourselves together, we wouldn’t need to control our desires anymore. We could use the crystals without fear of repercussions. And we would be so much stronger. We could actually become powerful, Tracy. We could do things we can’t even imagine now.”

  I shrank back. The fervor in Liz’s voice scared me. “I don’t like the way you’re talking about this.”

  “And I don’t like being restricted like we are now!” Liz shouted. Her voice rang all the way up and down the tunnels.

  “So then why can’t you just do it? Triangulate, and link yourselves together. Why do you need to bring me into it?”

  Liz sighed. “You saw what happened today. You’re the only one who can complete the triangle.”

  “Why me? You have Eve and Madison. And you had Ashley before, too. Isn’t that enough?”

  “None of them is strong enough to do it. We’ve tried, many times, but the most we can link together is two. It’s always me and Eve, and someone else.”

  “Isn’t that enough?”

  Liz laughed derisively. “Linking two people doesn’t unlock the greater power of the group. It’s the third link that makes it complete. You always need a triangle to do it.”

  “How do you know this, anyway? You’ve never linked yourselves together. How do you know adding the third person will even do anything? Maybe it’ll just make you lose the ability, like what happened with Ashley. You said, if you draw too much power…”

  Liz made a vexed click with her tongue. “It says so right here, Tracy! Triangulation is what unlocks the true power of the crystals.”

  “And what if it doesn’t?”

  “Then we’re no worse than before.”

  “So you need me,” I said carefully, “to test whether or not you can do something with the crystals that may or not be possible. And, since you’ve never done it before, you don’t know how dangerous it is, or what the consequences are.”

  “There are no consequences,” Liz emphasized. “And what it will do is make us infinitely stronger.”

  “Why are you so obsessed with gaining more strength? Isn’t it enough to have what you have now?”

  Liz chuckled again. “Tracy, I’ve been using the crystals for two years. And despite that, I haven’t progressed in what I can do since the very first month. Do you know how frustrating it is, knowing you have all this potential locked up inside of you, but being unable to access it? And then you came along, completely out of the blue, and I – we – finally found the missing piece to unlocking true power.”

  “I don’t like where you’re going with this…”

  “We need you Tracy, and you need us. Don’t pretend you can stay away from the crystals. They’re powerful. They’re enticing. They will play tricks with your mind, until you can do nothing else but lust for them. And what we’re doing now is mere child’s play! It’s like forcing a man dying of thirst to drink from a puddle through a straw! It won’t be enough. It might be for you, for now, but one day you’ll wake up and yearn for more.” Her voice quavered with desire. “So why limit yourself? Help us triangulate, and we can unlock the true power of the crystals, together! We won’t have to restrict ourselves anymore. There’ll be no danger. There’ll be no… Hey! Where are you going?”

  I turned around and started to back away. The way Liz was talking scared me. It was like something down here unlocked her most primitive desire, and there was no buffer left to counteract it. The song of the crystals was playing with her mind, and I knew it. Despite her two years of experience, she was just as susceptible to falling to their grasp as I was. I broke into a trot.

  “Wait!” she called out behind me. “Tracy, wait! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said all that.” I could hear her rushing after me. “Hold on. Tracy?”

  I slowed down. I wasn’t running from Liz, and it wasn’t her I was scared of. I was scared of the crystals. When Liz started talking about the group, about the triangulation, and the potential for more power, something in my mind clicked. Though I tried to suppress it, out of that came an inconceivable desire for the power. I wanted to form the triangle, and to unlock the ultimate strength of the crystals. But, the unnatural desire was just that: unnatural. It wasn’t like me to lust for power. But the crystals were changing me, and I was conscious of the shift. That’s why I was frightened. I didn’t like feeling like I was losing control over myself.

  “Yes?” I said when she caught up to me.

  “I’m sorry. I know I got a little intense back there – I shouldn’t have been so forward. But I wanted to show you that what we’re doing is grounded in knowledge.”

  “Who’s knowledge?” I asked. “Where did the markings come from, and how long have they been etched into the rock?”

  “As good a question as any,” Liz replied. “I don’t know.”

  “Then how can you trust them?”

  “Because, they brought me to the crystals in the first place. And nothing I’ve deduced from them has ever been wrong.”

  I shivered. The tunnel was creepy, and despite the lights hanging overhead, it had a murky feel to it. If Liz discovered the crystals from the engravings, that meant that somebody else – somebody long ago – had known of the crystals, too. And if so, what happened to them? How long have the markings really been there? It must have been hundreds, if not thousands, of years. At least. That meant that the island had previously been inhabited, and this was long before the existence of the asylum, or the school. Just what, exactly, were we meddling with?

  “Come on, Tracy. You can’t tell me you’re not the least bit curious about the true power of the crystals?”

  “I am,” I admitted. “But I’m also wary of them. And rightfully so! I remember the after-sickness quite vividly, and I know what happened to Ashley.”

  “You didn’t know what you were doing,” Liz said, “and instinct took over. That was why the after-sickness was so bad. If you’re trained – if you let me show you what to do – it’ll never be that bad again. And what Ashley did was inexcusable, as well as reckless. She drew too much power. It was irresponsible of her, and she suffered for it. But that’s not what I want you to do. I want to show you how to use them safely, so you avoid all the nasty effects.”

  “Is using them safely even possible?” I pondered. Since learning of the crystals, there were moments where I desired them more than anything in the world, and moments where I wanted to be as far away from them as possible. It was a rollercoaster ride of lust, and I couldn’t control it. What if, the next time I tried to draw on the power of a crystal, I pulled too much? What if I couldn’t control myself? Liz and the others said I was strong, stronger than all of them. Did that mean I could take on too much without realizing it? And then return to that terrifying void afterwards? Could I risk losing my mind, just for a taste of power?

  “Yes. I’ve been doing it for two years. If we link ourselves together, if we triangulate, we all become part of a larger whole. And that creates a buffer for the risk. We’ll be able to do so much more, and not worry about the dangers of it.”

  “Wait a minute. You said something different just now. You said we link ourselves together? Before, you made it sound like it was a one-time thing.”

  “No,” Liz shook her head. “I’m sorry if that’s what you thought. When we triangulate, the three of us become linked forever. It’s not like we do it to unlock the power of the crystals and then walk away.”

  I gulped. Forever was a long time.

  “And what does this link… do, exactly?”

  “We’ve never done it, so how should I kn
ow?”

  “You’re the expert here! What do you think?”

  “I think that it makes it so that none of us are able to use the crystals without the others present.”

  “So you’re giving up your autonomy for it?”

  Liz shook her head. “We don’t have much autonomy if we’re so limited, Tracy. Ashley told you, didn’t she? About the connections between all the elements of the world?”

  “Sure,” I said. “I guess.”

  “Well, we’ll have the power to modify those connections however we want!”

  “Assuming the other two people are around.”

  “Yes. But that’s not important!”

  “Then what is?”

  “How much flexibility it affords us! We are all bound by oath, right now, to share this with only each other. What’s the harm in another link between us?”

  “Alright,” I said, considering it slowly. While the crystals did scare me, the other girls all seemed to be dealing with them just fine. Maybe I was being too paranoid. Maybe the desire I felt for them was perfectly natural – normal, even. And maybe the desire would subside as I got more accustomed to the crystals. Plus, Liz contended that the dangers would disappear if we were to link. Was it really so bad, to seek out safety amid the uncertainty? “Let’s say we were to link. What happens then? We become bound to use the crystals only if the others are around. Correct?”

  “Right,” Liz said.

  “And when the others are around, all of us can wield more power than we could have individually?”

  “Ehhh,” Liz stalled. “Not really. A triangle has three points. What would happen if all three of those points tried to move in their own, uncoordinated direction? All at once? The lines connecting the points would snap, shattering the connection. That’s why only one of the three can ever wield power.”

  “Wait! So two of the people cede control to the third?”

  “Right.”

  “But how do you decide who gets the power?”