Vaalbara; Visions & Shadows

by Michelle Horst

  “No. Questions. No. Nothing!” Carter spat the words through his teeth. He gave the rope around my wrists one last look and then shimmered away before my eyes.

  I hung there, shaking violently.

  I am so sorry that you had to experience that. I wish I could trade places with you. Raighne’s voice was raw with emotion.

  I looked around me, taking in my surroundings. I was screwed. I thought of Raighne again, and tried to think as quietly as possible. There was nothing I could do to change my fate. My vision was coming true, but the one thing I could do was spare Raighne the pain. I had to break contact with him. I had to do this alone.

  I will not allow you to do that, Alchera! He’d already picked up on some of my thoughts.

  You need to leave me alone now. I don’t want you to contact me anymore. I can’t handle you in my head. I only have enough strength to face them.

  You cannot mean that. I could hear the hurt in his voice. You are just upset.

  Please. This is hard enough for me, Raighne! Stay out of my mind!

  I knew I had hurt him and I knew he would worry himself sick over me, but desperate times called for desperate measures. The time had come for me to be serious - to let go of Sid - and grow up…be strong. I was on my own.

  I tried my best to switch off - to not think or feel. I tried not to care about what was going to happen. I had to make it through this somehow so I could fulfill my destiny…the Chosen Ten was all that mattered.

  ~*~

  I snapped out of my trance as the air started crackling around me, a sure sign that something bad was approaching.

  My head snapped up as I heard her silky soft voice. “Hello, my dear Alchera. You are being disobedient.

  She made her appearance. An absolute vision, she had a face straight off the pages of a fairytale. Still, every nerve-ending in my body prickled, and every muscle tensed more than I thought was possible.

  She slowly glided across the floor and lifted my face softly by the chin. She towered over me, even though I was the one hanging from a rope. I’d never felt so small in my life.

  Her jet-black hair hung in light curls down to the middle of her back. Her skin was a pale white, giving it almost a translucent glow. All she needed were blood-red lips and she could have passed for Snow White’s evil twin.

  “Alchera…tsk, tsk, tsk. How dare you send Raighne away after I said that I wanted him to see how he has failed you? I do not look kindly upon people who go against my wishes.” Her forefinger moved up and down my cheek. Then I felt a needle’s prick, and a sharp burning pain erupted under my skin as she sliced my cheek open.

  The first drop of blood formed and followed an uncertain trail to my chin.

  “Ahh, Alchera, I have you at last. It has been too long.” She gave me the impression that she was talking to herself. “Mmm, it is really unfortunate you should find yourself in this little predicament.” Inspecting my face, she admired her handiwork. Her golden eyes were shining with the delight of having me in her grasp.

  “How rude of me. I have not introduced myself to you.” She smiled a deceivingly friendly smile. “I am Adeth.”

  I swear her name dropped like a thousand ton stone inside me, vibrating in my very core. Somewhere deep in my soul I had hoped this woman was someone else, but now it had been announced. This was the woman who I’d been protected from - the woman who made me an orphan.

  “I do not lie, and I do not tolerate it when I am being lied to.” She sounded as if she was purring like a cat. “I feel it is my duty to take care of those who do not keep to the commandments. I am, after all, fulfilling my destiny by doing so. My name carries the meaning of death, so how can I not live by it?” She continued, “Even though my Lord insists that I am damning myself by doing so.” She stared blindly at me, her eyes glazed over. I flinched with fright when she went on talking, as if the moment had not happened at all. She had to be insane.

  “You need not concern yourself with my Lord, little one.” Her face turned almost tender as her fingers gently stroked my cheek - not caring about the blood she was getting on herself. I couldn’t understand for the life of me why she was telling me these things, when I had no interest in anything she had to say. Why didn’t she just kill me and get it over with?

  “My point is that I expect those around me to tell the truth at all times. It is the one commandment I live by. Those who lie…well, they meet an untimely and unfortunate end.” She took a deep breath, as if she was trying to inhale me. “Tell me, Alchera, do you know why I have brought you to this place?” She bowed her head slightly and glared at me from beneath long, full lashes.

  “N-no.” I faltered. I hated myself for showing fear in her presence.

  “It is actually quite simple. I ask you a question and you give me the answer I want. You will laugh at how easy it is once we are done. I feel it is quite unnecessary to make this so dramatic.” She looked at my tied wrists, and a small smile played around her lips.

  Turning, she glided around the room, trailing her fingers along the wall. Out of nowhere, healthy green vines sprouted from the walls where her touch had grazed the wood. Out of the vines came the most beautiful velvet-kissed Hibiscus flowers, only they were black. The vines themselves changed from healthy green to red - like veins pulsing with blood.

  Carter reappeared out of thin air and came across the room to stand beside me. I cringed and, if I could’ve, I would have crawled into a corner. Instead I was hanging in a very vulnerable position, with the feeling that something really bad was about to happen.

  “They are beautiful to look at, yes?” Adeth purred once more.

  I nodded, not entirely sure what was going on. It was not an everyday occurrence for me to see flowers and people intent on killing me appear out of nowhere.

  “I have a few questions to ask. Should your answers be satisfactory, I will be happy and you will be free to go. There will, however, be consequences to face for every false answer you give. I think I have made myself very clear.” A chill went down my spine, remembering the question from my vision.

  Adeth had to be a person’s worst nightmare, and here I was getting her full and undivided attention. Lucky me!

  She glided back to me. Immediately it felt like I couldn’t breathe again, as if the air around us had evaporated.

  My eyes darted from Carter to Adeth. Fear enveloped my soul as I waited for the questions to begin. I did not know what the consequences would be. I did, however, know what the outcome would feel like.

  “I heard you talking to Raighne. Have your premonitions begun?”

  “What premonitions?” Now was not a good time to start speaking a different language. Dots began dancing in front of my eyes, a dizzying reminder that my strength was gone due to the lack of food and water. I hadn’t had anything past my lips for a while now and the thirst was starting to kill me.

  “Prophecies?”

  “I do not understand what you are asking me.”

  “Your visions. Stupidity does not become you, child! The dreams of the future.” Adeth sighed. “Who The Chosen Ten will be!” The last sentence echoed in the small room, as she got to the end of her patience.

  “I’ve only had two dreams about disasters. I can hardly remember them.” I closed my eyes, hoping the consequences would not be too bad. I wasn’t prepared to give her any information, as I didn’t know what could harm these supposed ‘Chosen Ones.’

  “You can hardly remember them?” Her voice was sadistically soft.

  “Yes.” Crap, I could feel the pressure building in the air.

  “There have been no visions concerning The Chosen Ones?”

  “No.” I peeked at her, relieved that these were questions I could answer. But when I registered the look on her face, my relief turned to absolute fear.

  I was dead.

  “Then why have a guardian?” Her laughter was humorless. “You are useless, then. You are worth nothing to me. Your parents managed to hide you for the last five ye
ars and it was all for nothing?” She glanced at Carter, and before I could register any movement from him, a dreadful pain spread across my face when his fist slammed into my jaw.

  The intense copper taste filled my mouth. Heaving, I forced myself to swallow the blood.

  The next punch was harder, splitting my lip. I didn’t bother swallowing the blood this time. Instead, I spat it at Adeth’s feet. Apparently a stupid move when a whip suddenly cracked across my back. I would’ve been lying if I had tried to explain the pain that exploded across my back. Some of my hair fell to the ground during the beating, mixing with the puddle of blood forming at my feet. I tried to concentrate on every drop, and not the horrendous pain tearing at my flesh.

  Then, magically, it stopped. I could only hear the ringing in my ears before she spoke the words from my vision I had yesterday.

  “If you are Alchera, you should be having your dreams! You should be seeing your precious ‘Chosen Ones.’” She snarled.

  I couldn’t stop the words already forming on my tongue, I wanted so badly for my words to sound brave, but the beating only caused them to come out in a drunken slur. “If you do not believe me that is your problem.” I had to be strong for these ten people I had yet to meet.

  “You are a brave one to speak to me in this manner. Yes. Either you are very brave or very stupid.” Adeth’s angry golden eyes held mine captive. “You are very strong to keep me out of your mind, dear Alchera.” She shook her head. “Poor Raighne. He must be out of his mind with fear for your safety.” She slithered closer. “Let me into your mind and I will set you free to comfort Raighne. How can you let the man you love suffer so much?”

  I kept quiet; her words had struck deep, hurting far more than Carter‘s whip. My vision hadn’t prepared me for that.

  “Tell me what you remember of your dreams or I will let Carter take you apart piece by little piece!”

  I hadn’t expected her to scream. My head snapped up, and I couldn’t stop the nervous giggle from bubbling through my lips - which earned me another solid punch. I took a few breaths before attempting to speak. “Why do you want to know?”

  “You want to save these humans of yours, as if they deserve it. They do not deserve anything! It is time for them to come to their end and I intend to see to it personally.”

  I didn’t know which was worse, the fact that the faint smile still played on her lips, or that she’d meant every word she’d just said. Adeth was the definition of deranged. “It’s not your choice to make!” I screamed back.

  “You have lived among them and they treated you like an animal. Why do you still want to save them? Tell me about your dreams!”

  Yes. She was strong. Yes. She could end my life in the blink of an eye. But the strength that suddenly flowed through my body made me want to fight. “I can’t remember the details. They start out as nightmares. Only after returning to Vaalbara was I told they were actual visions.” I gave her as little information as possible, yet enough to try and convince her that I was sincere.

  “Do not patronize me, little one!” Her voice thundered through the room.

  My eyes immediately went to Carter to see what his reaction was, but he was just standing idly by taking off his gloves. It was the first time I’d noticed him wearing any. Actually, all I’d noticed about him were his pale, dead blue eyes. Seeing him so close to me now, I noticed his hair was so black it was almost blue, and he was no older than Raighne.

  Under normal circumstances I would’ve thought him attractive. But, all I saw now was a man with deathly - empty - eyes, coming closer and closer. I was in for a shitload of pain again.

  “I didn’t mean to patronize you, I’m sorry.” I said quickly. The air crackled around us. “I’m sorry the visions are mostly the same thing over and over again. I really have no desire to make you any angrier, but I don’t even understand them. How can I explain something that makes no sense to me? All I see are disasters…people dying.” I tried to sound as convincing as possible, but I only seemed to anger her more with every word.

  Adeth’s face began to change, in small ways at first…barely perceptible to the human eye. Little thorn-like bumps formed on her forehead as small spikes appeared on the ridges of her ears. Veins began to appear around her mouth, and her hairline retreated to make room for more spiny bulges.

  Bile rose in my throat as I realized I had a front row seat for the unveiling of the monster that lived in the depths of Adeth’s rotted soul. The odds were good that I was going to die now, and I began to come to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t get out of this alive.

  “Carter,” she hissed. “Make her understand!”

  Carter simply stretched out his hand and closed it around my throat. I waited for him to start squeezing, expecting to be slowly suffocated. Instead, an awful burning sensation started at my feet, making its way slowly up my legs. The pain increased as it rose, and by the time it reached my knees it felt like I was on fire - burning from the inside out.

  I was crying. Scratch that, I was weeping with pain. But there were no salty tears left. My body was too dehydrated to generate any kind of fluid at all. Carter’s dead eyes looked into my green ones and I couldn’t break away. He had me possessed by the power he wielded.

  I could feel Raighne stirring in me, as if he was trying to pass some of his strength into my body. I wanted to push him away; I didn’t want him to be a part of this, but the pain was so overwhelming I couldn’t keep him at bay. His warmth flooded me, battling Carter’s fire with his own.

  Carter‘s voice entered my mind. “Tell her, or I will be forced to kill you slowly and hand your soul to her.”

  This invasion of my privacy, him entering me so easily, scared me to death. An intense fear - the likes of which I’d never felt before - flooded every corner of me. For the first time I called out to Awo. I didn’t know if He could hear me, or even if He would hear me, but I still silently cried out for His help. I made promises I wasn’t sure I would be able to keep, and I felt a small spark of hope erupt deep inside my soul.

  “Hush now,” Adeth whispered. “There is no need to cry, my little one. Although, I must say, it is a beautiful sight to behold.” She purred her words, enjoying my pain and despair. “You may stop for now, Carter. Let us see whether our little bird is ready to sing.”

  The excruciating pain stopped the minute he removed his hand.

  “Tell me who The Chosen Ones are.” Adeth - the monster - took a step closer, waiting to hear my reply.

  I remained silent.

  Her hand stretched towards my stomach, and I felt the most excruciating twist inside, as if my guts were literally being ripped out through my skin. A few moments later…it simply stopped. Adeth grabbed my face and dug her nails into my cheek. I could feel the knives tearing into the soft flesh but I was used to the pain now.

  “I will return. You will tell me everything. This I promise you, Alchera.”

  The monster evaporated from sight. I could still feel her nails in my cheek as Carter began to advance - a wicked grin planted on his haunting face. He drew his arm back.

  I couldn’t deal with this anymore. All the pain combined with starvation was getting the better of me. I was sure I was dying - my soul already ebbing away like the tides. They won. Closing my eyes, I simply waited for the punch.

  His fist slammed so hard into my gut it left me gagging. I had no time to recover before the next one came. I’d lost count at the fourteenth blow and began praying for death. I was sure Awo was reasonable and I could convince Him to take me. But the relief of death didn’t come - only a new level of pain when the whip cracked on my already raw flesh yet again. I had nothing left in me. After a few strikes my body went numb, and all I could do was hang there and wait for the next hit.

  Raighne whispered inside me, and all I could do was thank Awo that my guardian’s precious voice would be the last thing I heard in this life.

  Alchera, hold on for me. Please do not give up. We are coming for you. I
will find you and we will come!

  I knew I’d practically banished him, and should keep him away, but hearing his voice felt like heaven calling to me in the middle of hell.

  I need you. It slipped.

  Adeth immediately reappeared and grabbed me by the hair. “You tell that guardian of yours that if he comes near you, I will rip your heart out. He knows I can feel him - he knows I can hear every step he takes towards you. Tell him NOW!” She spat the words at me, as her eyes changed to a bitter, angry orange.

  I heard her. Just hold on for me.

  “He heard… you.” It was difficult for me to speak; I couldn’t understand how it was possible that I was still conscious, let alone alive.

  Adeth stepped back and took a good, long look at me. She was back in her ‘beautiful’ form, with a broad smile pasted on her face. A glass of water appeared in her hand.

  I was thirsty and would do almost anything for water, but when she held the glass to my mouth, I turned my head away.

  “You need to drink,” Adeth said, softly. “You will be of no use to me dead.” Pressing the glass closer, a few drops spilled onto my feverish lips. Sadly, it was all the encouragement I needed. I got two gulps down before she snatched it away.

  “Not too fast, you can have more in a minute.” The glass disappeared and I felt a sudden pang of loss. “You do not look good. Maybe you will speak now. We do not want any more misunderstandings, do we?” I couldn’t look at her anymore.

  “Who are The Chosen Ones?”

  “I don’t know.” My words were a mere whisper.

  She issued a sarcastic laugh. “You foolish girl…you WILL tell me.”

  Little black and red spots began to fly in front of my eyes. “Go to Hell.” I spoke my last words just as the darkness I’d been praying for finally came.

  ~*~

  I was unsure how long I’d been out, but I woke up on the floor with every part of my body screeching in agony. I couldn’t move a muscle.

  “I thought you were never going to wake up again. Welcome back.” Just hearing Adeth’s voice had me wishing I’d never opened my eyes. “Come, you must eat and drink something before you faint again.” A plate with something ‘mushy’ on it closed in on me, as Carter also set down a half a glass of water for me to take. For some silly reason I held onto the faint hope of being saved, and I would need at least some strength for my escape. I would eat and drink once they left me alone.