by Sean Stone
“I don’t know,” Victor replied.
“You cannot lie to me, Victor. Where is she?” he asked more gently and this time Victor felt something. He felt like he wanted to tell Michael whatever he asked. He felt like he needed to. Mind manipulation. Vampires could almost take control of a human’s mind but Victor had not known that the Aramaya family could do it to other vampires. He fought against it.
“I don’t know,” he said. He could feel his mind snapping like a dry twig as Michael continued to try to force the truth from him. Then Victor saw Isabella creeping up behind Michael. His eyes widened in shock and Michael looked around. His grip on Victor loosened and Victor took the opportunity. He snatched his weapon back up off the floor and stabbed it through Michael’s chest. Michael screamed and dropped to his knees.
“You missed,” Michael said through gritted teeth. The wooden stick had hit him just the right of his heart. Victor cursed silently. Michael put both hands round the wood and began easing it from his chest. Victor looked about for another weapon. There were none. Isabella tore a brick off the wall and smashed it over Michael’s head. He fell forward onto his hands but still didn’t go down. It was enough to slow him though.
“Run,” Victor said and he and Isabella shot down the alley. As they reached the end of the alley Victor heard his name called softly to him. He turned and saw Richie standing at the garden gate looking sombrely at him. He wasn’t pursuing them, though. He knew that he wouldn’t catch them now. Isabella was already long gone. Victor shook his head in disappointment and was about to speak when he saw Michael get back to his feet. He closed his mouth and ran.
Victor, Isabella and Mason were the only ones who survived the attack. The only ones that had managed to meet up at the safe place anyway. They didn’t hang about in case someone had given the location up. They got their bearings and proceeded with their plan to leave town. When they reached the edge of town they saw that leaving was no longer an option. The road out of town was guarded by a horde of Cultists.
“We can try a different way,” Mason suggested.
“No. Michael will have every part of the border guarded. We aren’t going anywhere,” Victor replied.
“What are we supposed to do?” Isabella demanded.
There was only one thing they could do. They’d have to do things the Isabella way. The Richie Morgan way. “Fight.”
But now it was three against hundreds and their odds were even worse than they’d been just half an hour ago. They were going to have to resort to extremely drastic measures.
12
“There she is. Home,” Set said fondly as Elysium finally came into sight. Nick did not feel any fondness for the island. It was the place where he lost the one person he loved more than anyone. He didn’t just lose Olivia, he also lost the woman who had vowed to love and care for him like a mother. And it was in Elysium that he had done the first of many monstrous acts. It was also one of the few monstrous acts that he actually regretted. The rest had been done in an effort to undo the first, so in his eyes they were forgivable. Not that he felt much remorse anymore. After so many years of wickedness the guilt just faded away. He wondered how long it had taken Set to become as malicious and unrepentant as he was.
“Let’s get this over with,” Nick muttered desiring to be in Elysium for as little time as possible. He needed no reminder of his time there.
They touched land on the opposite side of the island from the first time Nick had arrived. He was thankful that he would not have to see the Black Wood Forest again. They were on the Northern Beach about an hour away from the temple. Although, Nick could get them there a lot faster.
“Here, let me teleport us there,” he said and beckoned Set over.
“That won’t work. Only Kayla can teleport in Elysium.” Set explained.
“You didn’t tell me that before,” said Nick.
“It wasn’t relevant before.”
Nick tried to teleport anyway. He thought that with Kayla cursed then perhaps he might be able to teleport but he was wrong. It looked like they were walking.
“How old are you, Set?” Nick said when he grew tired of the silence. It was a question he’d pondered often. He’d asked Kayla but because Set was older than she was she did not know either.
“When you live for as long as I have you tend to stop counting the years. I am older than any mortal could possibly contemplate,” Set said.
“Osiris told me that he was older than ten-thousand-years old,” Nick said. He’d said that not long before Nick killed him.
“Sounds about right. The war between the ancients and the jinn began long before humans arrived in Egypt. Deduce from that what you will,” said Set. Nick had no idea when humans first arrived in Egypt but he surmised it was well over ten thousand years ago.
“The war over immortality,” Nick said. It seems like such a trivial thing for two great races to try to kill each other over.
“What?” Set asked in confusion.
“Kayla told me that she thought the jinn waged war on your people because they wanted your immortality.” Nick had never understood why they couldn’t just grant the jinn immortality. It would have saved so much bloodshed.
“That goes to show how little she knows,” Set said with disdain. “The original jinn were immortal and they passed that gift to those they deemed worthy so there was no need for them to try and take it from us.”
“Original jinn?” Nick asked. His jinn knowledge was flawed to say the least. Considering the fact that the race was pretty much extinct he never thought it worth learning about them. Of course, they weren’t really extinct. The entire race was just trapped in bottles; a result of the curse Kayla had cast.
“It looks like it’s time for a history lesson,” said Set. He conjured a bottle of water and stopped to take a gulp. Once he was finished the bottle disappeared and they resumed walking. “There are five classes of jinn. The marid, the ifrit, the shaitan, the ghul and the jann. Each class was named after the original jinn who ruled over it.”
“So there were five original jinn?” Nick said.
“There were more but only five were rulers. Each class is different in appearance and power. The marid are the most powerful and the jann the least. Each of the originals were immortal and could only be killed by another original jinn. Over time the originals chose to make some of their offspring immortal and the gift was passed down. But they kept their immortal numbers few. Only extremely high-ranking jinn were given the gift.”
“And once they were given the gift they became originals?”
“No. You cannot become an original jinni. They just became immortal,” Set corrected. “Now, when a ruler died the crown could only be passed down to an immortal. Only one of the first rulers still lives today. The rest died in some manner or another. Three originals are rulers but only one of them is of the first five rulers.”
“So, two of the originals who were not rulers became rulers after the former rulers died?” Nick said. It was hard getting his head around it all.
“Correct.”
“Who are they?” Nick asked.
“Azazel and Lilith were the original jinn who became rulers after the first rulers died. Shaitan is the last surviving ruler of the first five.”
“Shaitan? Sounds like Satan,” Nick joked.
Set gave him knowing look. “Where do you think the Satan stories came from?”
“He’s the devil? The devil is real?” Nick said incredulously.
“Don’t be an idiot. Of course the devil is not real. It’s just stories based on truth that got warped over the years. Little more than a game of Chinese whispers that’s been going on for millennia. In another thousand years a hundred more religions will have been invented. Maybe there’ll be one based on you,” he said and laughed.
Nick smiled. It was an amusing thought. And if people once worshipped Set as a god then why not him? “So, the jinn originally came from where… Greece?” He tried to recall what Kayla
had taught him.
“No. What did Kayla teach you? The jinn originally lived in Arabia. They spread over the years and many did end up in Greece as well as all over the world.” Set stopped and looked at Nick with a puzzled expression. “I’ve forgotten what the point in my telling you all this was.”
“You were telling me what the war was about,” he prompted.
“Ah yes. Jinn eventually bred with humans and the offspring was shunned. They were the weakest creatures of all the jinn. Just humans with fancy powers really. They called them nasnas and refused to let them be a part of their society. Even slaves were treated better than the jinn-human hybrids.”
“The jinn had slaves,” Nick mused.
“Every race had slaves back then but yes, I appreciate the irony.” The irony being that now the jinn were all trapped in bottles and enslaved to whoever found them. “One day a new jinni arrived. Seemingly out of nowhere.”
“Apophis,” Nick said. The jinni that Set hated.
“Correct. Apophis was not an original but he was stronger than any of them. He seemed to be a combination of all of the five classes of jinn. He had all of their strengths and most of their powers. Curiously, he could not turn to smoke or teleport.” As Set spoke his face wrinkled in disgust. “He murdered the remaining originals leaving only those who wore a crown. Nobody knows how he did it, or if anyone does they’ve kept the knowledge to themself. He made the five rulers kneel to him and accept him as their king. From that day forth he called them his chieftains.”
“How was he created? Where did he come from?” Nick asked.
“I have no idea. There was a story that he was originally a nasnas and grew tired of being treated like dirt by the other classes. He found a way to turn himself into the abomination that he is and that was that. That’s just a myth, though. One that has little merit to it.”
“Why don’t you believe it?”
“Because Apophis treated the nasnas worse than any ruler before him. He wiped most of them out. But jinn continued to breed with humans so the hybrid race continued to exist.”
“Right. So why did he wage war on your people?” Nick asked.
Set took another drink of water. “For the Promethean Flame.”
There was something Nick had heard of before and not that long ago. “The Promethean Flame?”
“An ancient fire. It was a gift from Prometheus to the humans,” Set said.
“Who was Prometheus?” Nick had heard the Greek myth but didn’t know how much of it was true. He had long ago discovered that all the old mythological gods were real and either ancient or jinn.
“I have no idea. I don’t know if he was ancient or jinn, or something else entirely. Nor do I know where he got the flame from. The flame is too powerful for any ancient or jinni to have created it. It is pure power. Magic in its truest form. As the legend goes, each worthy human would be given a single spark of the flame and these humans were the original sorcerers. It is from the flame that magic came to mankind.”
Nick nodded. “How did you get it?” he asked.
“I never had it. My father, Ra was the first ancient to acquire it. He used it to boost the power of my family. After I usurped my brother, his wife and son smuggled the flame away so that I could never get hold of it. Apparently they doused it out so it could never be used again. They thought I would do unspeakable things.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” said Nick.
Set grinned. “So am I. Unspeakable, but necessary. But anyway, Apophis declared war on my people when my father was still king. He wanted the flame.”
“Why?” Nick asked.
“There were rumours that it could be used to destroy him. Nothing else seemed capable of the job. But he underestimated the power of my race. And because of his actions a war began that lasted for more than ten millennia.”
“It didn’t really end, though, did it? Even now you’re on your way to kill him,” said Nick.
Set stopped and glared at Nick. “That creature murdered my father. He murdered my mother. He murdered my wife and my son. I will not rest until all of them are avenged.”
Nick said nothing. He knew the pain Set felt. Nick’s own love had been killed because of the scheming of Set and like him, Nick would not rest until she had been avenged.
13
It was an unusual feeling walking through the courtyard where Set taught him to wield a sword. Walking up the steps which he used to sit on to think. Walking through the deserted halls of the temple. He never thought he would actually come back to Elysium, even after he’d planned to resurrect Olivia. It seemed like a pipe dream destined not to come true. But if there was one thing Nick had learned and was one-hundred percent sure of, it was that destiny was not real. People made their own destinies. Everything that happened was a by-product of their actions and Nick was here today because of everything that he had done. He kept expecting Arden to appear in his path and try to stop him in that condescending manner he was so well-known for. But of course, he did not because Nick had killed him in Cedarstone.
They found the stairwell that led to the chamber and descended in silence. Not a single word was spoken for their entire journey to the door. They were both too anxious. Too aware of the fact that they were mere metres away from everything they’d working towards and they were both terrified that somehow something would stop them. But it did not. They came to a stop in the circular chamber before the tall golden door that guarded Kayla’s treasures.
“All yours,” said Set. He gestured to the door.
Nick pulled out the ambrotos dagger and touched it to his palm. “Are you sure this will work?”
“I have been planning this for over a thousand years. What do you think?” Set replied.
Nick ran the blade down his palm and the blood oozed out. He wasn’t sure how much of Kayla’s blood still ran through his veins after all this time but Set was sure it would work. After all, it had been foreseen. He touched his palm to the door and pressed the blood firmly against the gold. A loud click rang through the chamber and echoed around them. The door moved back by an inch.
“Are you ready for this?” Nick asked excitedly.
Set stared at him and the look told Nick to get on with it. He was not going to wait any longer. Nick pushed the door open fully. The room on the other side was not large. No bigger than a small bedroom and yet it was filled with items. The back wall had a large shelving unit against it and every millimetre of the shelf was used. A whole array of items adorned it and Nick recognised none of them. The other walls had paintings, tapestries and other odd objects hanging from them. There was one object that was a combination of leather and chains and looked rather like a torture device. Set barged past Nick and began searching the room for the bottle which he had come for.
“Where is it?” he demanded, rooting through the shelves frantically.
“Be a shame if it isn’t here,” Nick mused. He was smiling to himself at Set’s displeasure.
“It’s here.”
Nick walked over to the shelf and began scanning the items for what he was looking for. He found it almost straight away. A clear glass bottle containing a thick golden liquid that looked like honey. He lifted it up and examined it. “Ambrosia,” he whispered to himself. He placed the ambrosia back on the shelf and resumed looking. The bottle was small and although it contained enough ambrosia for his plans he wanted the recipe. He never knew when he might need more.
“It’s unusual, isn’t it, that you’re a potions expert but don’t have the recipe for ambrosia,” Nick said, hoping to goad Set into giving him some useful information.
“That was a secret that only my father knew. He never passed it to me or any of my siblings,” Set said. He was still searching for the bottle and only half paying attention to Nick.
“Kayla must know it.” Nick indicated the bottle.
“Perhaps. Or perhaps she just made to acquire some. Even if she did have the recipe she would have committed it to memory and d
estroyed the instructions. She wouldn’t risk it falling into the wrong hands.”
As annoying as it was Nick knew that Set was probably right. He was not going to find the recipe in this room. He abandoned his search and instead began looking for the final item on his list. The newest thing to be added to it.
“Here,” Set said. Nick turned and saw that he was examining a floor tile in the centre of the room. It was the only tile that wasn’t gold. Instead, it was completely black. Set pushed the tile and it clicked. Then it slid aside. Out of the floor rose a long black stone pedestal. Sitting atop the pedestal was another glass bottle. It had a wide base that converged into a long spiralling neck. The entire thing was black but through the glass a red light pulsed. It looked like fire in the darkness. Nick knew that he had to honour his promise to Kayla. He could not let Set open that bottle.
“What happens when you open that?” Nick asked. He resumed scanning the shelves again. There was something he needed to make sure he could stop Set.
“Apophis walks free,” Set replied. He was staring at the bottle but not moving to pick it up. Yet. He was savouring the moment.
“And you’ll be able to command him?” What Nick was looking for was clearly not on the shelves. He began looking on the floor. Sure enough one of the golden tiles had an image carved into it. An image of fire. Nick walked over to it.
“No. Apophis is too strong to be enslaved. Once released the curse on him will be broken,” Set explained. He still had his eyes fixed on the bottle. His back to Nick.
Nick trod on the tile and push this weight into it before stepping back. Like the black one had, the tile slid aside and a golden pedestal rose. “He will no longer be cursed? He’ll be totally free?”
