The Four Territories

by Stevie Collier

  “Where did you find him again?” asked Rift with a sideways smile.

  The two agents that were left retreated to wait for reinforcements. This was one of the aspects that made the assassins a dangerous enemy; putting aside the pride of the fight to wait for a better angle to strike.

  Esh had been taught that all assassins lived by an unspoken code. A code that is figured out rather than taught. From what he could tell from his years of training, assassins had no pride whatsoever; at least, they weren’t supposed to. A proper assassin used his head rather than his heart to complete his missions and finish his work. Assassins left the bodies to rot rather than waste time burying them. And the number one, most important part of the assassin trade was to never become emotionally involved in anything.

  Esh wasn’t very good at his trade.

  “So, what’s our plan?” Barish asked, holding his greatsword with two hands out in front of him. His knees were bent and he hopped rhythmically from foot to foot.

  “The plan is to get you three as far away from here as possible,” answered Rift.

  “The portal will be powerful enough for all four of us, Master,” said Esh in a pleading sort of tone.

  “The portal is strong enough for all of us, including Xep’s agents. I must stay here and close the portal before they can enter.”

  Another explosion went off before Esh could argue anymore. They covered their eyes from the sand. The light from the flickering fires in the training grounds shone through a now wider hole. The dust had barely any time to settle before agents poured in on soft feet and without war cries. This was a precision effort, a mission, and the Princess was the target.

  Esh put his blade to his forearm, ready to conjure his dark twin but lowered it when from the corner of his eye he saw the Elder slowly shaking his head. He pulled the blade away from himself and used it to parry an oncoming thrust. The agents were swarming them.

  It would have been a wordless fight if it hadn’t been for Barish, who roared with each impressive swing from his mighty greatsword. At first, Esh found it annoying but then it began to grow on him. He tried a yell of his own and found power in it, nearly cutting an agent in half with one blow.

  Barish gave him a surprised look and then smirked. They both rushed together, testing out a little teamwork of their own. It was sloppy at first and the attempt about got them both killed, but as the fight continued their movements became more synchronized.

  Dashine called something out and Esh turned to see that she had completed the portal. The purple orb had grown to almost his size in height and had flattened itself out into more of an oval shaped door, a door to a location he did not know.

  “Time to go, lads!” Rift called, walking and fighting backwards towards the portal.

  “Not without you!” Esh called back, sidestepping effortlessly behind one of the agents and slitting his throat.

  They all fell back to the Princess; all the while more eco-suited agents filled the back of the room ready to take the place of a fallen acquaintance. Their black robes covered the chamber like one giant shadow. They started to move as one body, more like an army of soldiers than assassins.

  What were they getting paid? If not currency, then what? Was it a slice of power? That couldn’t be possible; there were far too many of them to spread around positions of elevated ruling. Whatever it was, these assassins were willing to give up their positions in the shadows to die for it.

  The assassins turned soldiers formed one long row across the room, each with five or more males backing them up in a line that reached the blast hole. Their weapons were drawn and pointed at their targets and something about this caught Esh’s eye. Something he hadn’t noticed before.

  “Master, their weapons… They’re all identical.”

  “And the quality is poor, meaning they were mass produced. And it’s the same with their suits,” replied Rift. “I’m not liking the looks of this.”

  “I don’t see the big deal,” said Barish, “Poorer quality just means it’s easier to break!”

  Barish didn’t see what Esh and Rift saw because he didn’t understand. Esh knew the Order to be more of a mercenary type organization where all were allowed to select preferred weaponry and take on missions of their choosing that matched their abilities. This was much too organized to have anything to do with the Order.

  There was a loud whistle and all the agents went rigid. Another whistle and they all separated themselves to allow a wide opening down the middle of their formation. There stood his old Master of alchemy, his mentor in the deadly arts, his dear friend Xep.

  38 - The Great Escape

  Xep stood there with his hands by his side. The artificial sun’s moon-cycle shot a pastel yellow onto his emotionless face, one that showed no agenda and looked as if he were just there to teach Esh another lesson on healing potions. Esh half expected this to be the part where Xep confessed his treacherous and evil plot, just like all the villains did in the fiction stories he had liked to read as a child. But no, Xep chose to do none of this. This betrayal was nothing more than a mission to him, to be completed with speed, without emotion, without pride, and without mercy.

  “You three must take to the portal at once,” commanded Rift, sheathing his sword.

  “But that portal’s purple,” said Barish, though his attention was still absorbed by the mini army of assassins. “Thought we needed blue?”

  “I didn’t have the required amount of stamina to create a blue portal and Dashine is unlearned in the art. However, with her aid we were able to mix our sorcery and create you three an exit.” The Elder let out a tired exhale. “Once I know you’ve made it through, I will close it from this side before he can make the leap.”

  “As I said, Master. I will not be leaving you.”

  Rift took a step towards Esh and thrust a finger in his face. “Do you see that humanoid? That master assassin? He has been fighting for years before you were even born and NOW you think you can take him on? You will only get in the way!” Rift threw his arms in the air and turned, muttering something hotly to himself. Esh, hard-headed as he was, stood his ground, keeping his defensive stance directed towards Xep. He was expecting a surprise attack from him at any moment, yet his old teacher just stood there, waiting. But for what?

  “Fine,” Rift said, turning to address Barish and the Princess. “It’s up to you now, gladiator. I am sorry for what has been put on your shoulders but you seem to have a well-placed heart. Will you take on this burden? A burden that could possible save this dammed world?”

  “I, ugh…” Barish looked at Esh and then back to Rift. He bit the inside of his cheek, thinking hard about his options. “I don’t think I have anything else going on and I don’t see much choice as it is! Sure, I will relieve this burden from you, Elder.”

  Rift smiled and nodded his head in appreciation. Dashine walked up to Rift and gave him her Blue kingdom’s specific bow and he returned it.

  “Kick their asses for me, will ya Esh?” asked Barish taking the Princess in hand.

  A warm jealousy hit Esh in the chest and he hated himself for it. Now was not the time for this. “See you on the other side, brother,” he replied, wishing he was the one holding Dashine’s hand.

  Barish smiled and walked towards the portal before the Ballahranian ripped her hand from his. She ran to Esh and kissed him gently on the cheek before running back towards the portal, never to be seen by him again.

  Esh touched the part of his cheek where her lips had touched and watched as she stepped into the purple oval. It reached out and grabbed hold of her skin, pulling her into its gooey embrace. And she was gone. Barish shrugged at Esh, smiled one last time, and without hesitation leapt into the portal.

  “Looks like it’s just us,” Rift said, turning his back to the portal to face impending death. “I can’t reach the portal from here to close it. Let us take our stand beside it as I work my sorcery to shut it down. You will have to hold them off without me for a short ti
me.”

  Esh, still somewhat giddy from the sudden embrace, but saddened by her even more rapid departure, backed himself up. He took a few practice swings to rid his mind of emotion, but it failed. He was distracted, Dashine on his mind; he couldn’t let this affect him in coming fight. Perhaps he could use emotion to fuel the fight rather than to hinder it.

  Xep, seeing the Princess had taken the portal, started to walk down the line towards them. He did not need words to express his desire to follow Dashine and bring her back. He didn’t even spare Esh or Rift a glance; his eyes only focused on the portal.

  Esh noticed that one of the agents had grown anxious, his body moving in an up and down pattern, ready to strike. He was obviously less disciplined than the others or had been working for the Order solo for far too long. Esh turned his own body purposely sideways to draw out the weaker link.

  It worked. The agent departed from his place in line, his weapon drawn for the attack. There was a blur of motion as Xep made a shadow-like step in front of him, cutting him across his chest in the exact same manner Esh had once been cut. The deed was done in less than a second, and the male stumbled a few steps before falling flat, his dark blood creating a puddle in the sand.

  A bead of sweat beat the cooling mechanisms of Esh’s helmet and dripped into his eye. There was nothing ironic about the way Xep had killed the male. It was psychological warfare. A threat that he would open up Esh’s scar and finish the job, just as he had done to one of his own soldiers.

  None of the agents paid the death any attention, their focus straight ahead. Esh stepped back a few more paces and stood beside his Master, his back towards the portal.

  “Don’t let him get inside your head, lad,” Rift whispered.

  “I’m not,” Esh replied in a voice he thought sounded reassuring, but his Master had always known him better than that.

  They were quiet as they watched Xep make his approach. He would take a step, plant his boot deep into the sand, and then take another. His eyes, once filled with quiet kindness and mystery, were now dead and set on an evil task.

  “There is one last thing you should know, lad.”

  Esh looked at his Master and saw that there were fresh tears in his eyes. Seeing this made him drop his guard, his sword drooping low, his grip loosening.

  “Master…”

  Xep must have noticed the drop in Esh’s defense, for he now sprung towards them from across the room at a full sprint.

  “Continue your training on your journey. It is the only way you can defeat him.”

  Esh’s mouth dropped as his Master shoved him hard; he fell backwards into the portal, his sword slipping from his grasp. He cried out as the purple goo grabbed hold of him and pulled with an unnatural force that could not be resisted.

  In his fall he was able to grab hold of his Master’s hand and hold himself out of the portal’s tug for only a moment. They looked into each other’s eyes one last time.

  “Father!” Esh cried.

  “Son!”

  He let go and Esh dripped into a faraway land. The last thing he ever saw at that moment was not his father’s eyes, but the placid face of Xep behind him.

  ACT THREE

  39 - The Purple Territory

  The portal was nothing like stepping through a door; in fact, there was nothing Esh had ever experienced that he could compare it too. His body was smashed and bended as it was forced through the tiniest cracks of the hut and pulled from the underground. It carried him high into the sky, but not all at once. His head was the first to arrive, his feet still near the ground and his abdomen stretched the entire way.

  Once his legs had snapped back to their original position the process started over and that’s when Esh lost all the contents of his stomach. There was no food, but only stomach acid that shot out of his mouth.

  He was twisted, jerked, and stretched again as the sorcery did as it had been casted to do. And all the while his heart ached. Already he had suffered a mother-like loss and it had felt as though half his soul had been ripped from him. Now, he had lost the other half.

  He grew used to the random contortions and movements of his body and, through the seemingly endless time of the trip, he became unaware of being in the portal at all. To him, he was alone in a dark twisting room with only his sorrows to keep him company. The giant young male sobbed uncontrollably as the sorcery took him.

  His back hit the ground so hard that the air flew from his lungs and out of his mouth, leaving him gasping. Something wet touched his forehead and he lifted himself up clutching at his chest, only to be pushed back down by the same damp touch.

  And so he laid there, looking up in the direction of what he thought would have been the sky but all he saw was darkness. The portal must have altered his sight, either that or his eyes were too blurry from tears.

  His breath came back slowly and filled his lungs. By habit, he slowed his breathing and the wet touch did allow him to rise this time. He sat up and crossed his legs, pulling off his helmet. He dried his eyes with the back of his gloves but was still unable to see anything; that was when he realized that there was no light. He looked forward, and, squinting his eyes, he could make out the faint blue hue of the aura from her eco-sit. He thought he could make out the outline of her body sitting in front of him, her head tilted.

  They said nothing to each other but sat in complete silence. Had their portal gone awry and sent them to a limbo like dimension? The lack of noise was so intense that it started a sort of ringing in his ears that was beginning to drive him mad. Wherever he was, it had caused something dreadful to crawl deep inside of him, something unnatural. He felt the sudden urge to cut his own wrist and be done with all of it. He slapped his himself hard across the face and the Princess flinched. Esh noticed, and thought she must have been beaten while being held captive by the fat king.

  He looked back up at the sky, expecting to see the moon side of the Red sun, but that is not what he found. His mouth slowly opened as he gazed upon the dying sun, the sun of the Purple territory. It was so very bright, which didn’t make any sense. How could such a luminous sun not produce any light? Contrarily, the atrocious orb seemed as though it was actually sucking the light, leaving this land dark and depressing.

  However, it was still a fascinating sight. Watching it drip pieces of itself into the atmosphere brought emotions of fear and awe. It was hard to look away.

  And then his eyes spotted the purple portal.

  And it was still open.

  Something scuttled not too far away from them and Esh’s hand went straight to his hip, only to find that his granite sword was not there. He wondered if his eyes would ever adjust to this territory’s darkness. How could any humanoid survive in a sun-cycle as dark as this?

  Esh examined the rotation of the dead sun and decided that it must have been their twilight. If this was their sun-cycle, he did not want to experience their moon-cycle.

  He slapped himself again and the pain and sound helped a little to bring back his senses. He replaced his helmet and turned to the Dashine’s direction. “Do you know where Barish is?” His words were a strange change in the quiet.

  She squinted her eyebrows and tilted her head.

  “Barish,” Esh repeated.

  A sudden realization spread across her face and she jumped to her feet, grabbing hold of his hand to pull him along. They walked only a few paces before she stopped without warning. Esh continued and tripped over Barish’s body, falling to his hands and knees. He had trained in the darkness before, sure, but something about this place made him feel clumsy and… out of his element.

  He crawled back to the body and started to feel. So far his eyes could only make out a big black mass in the shape of a humanoid but he was unable to see any details at all. He pulled off a glove and winced. An icy temperature covered his hand; it was his first time experiencing cold without the help of his sorcery enhanced armor.

  He placed the hand on the skin of Barish’s body and what he
felt made his heart sink. There was no warmth to it. He moved his hand to his chest and felt no heartbeat. He tried to pump the chest cavity but there was no give to it. It was like trying to bring life back to a rock.

  A sudden realization came to him.

  “This isn’t Barish,” he said, jerking his hands off the corpse. “This… thing has been dead for a long time.”

  He knew the Princess didn’t understand him but he talked just for the sake of relieving the maddening silence. He would have to make her understand without words. And so he grabbed her hand and placed it onto the cold thing. He heard her gills start to flap a little faster as he stroked her hand across the skin.

  She tore her hand out of his grip.

  “So neither of us know where our friend has gone,” Esh said into the darkness.

  Figuring that his eyes would never adjust, he thought of another option. He pulled one of the vials out of his waist belt and popped the cap off of it. With the other hand he was able to dig a hole in the ground’s soil. In order to conjure up a cold fire, three things were needed. First, the world’s most basic foundation, which Esh figured must have been whatever it was that he had just dug into. Second, the conjurer’s saliva. Third, say the words.

  Esh spit into the hole and spoke the words that his traitor teacher had taught him, but nothing happened. Not even a spark. This meant that one of the three ingredients were at fault, for it did not matter what sun you were under, cold fire would always appear.

  He knew his words were correct because that had been one of the first alchemical spells he’d ever mastered. And his spit was his spit, so it must have been the foundation. If it wasn’t in the ground than what was it? And then a sick idea popped into his head.

  For the first time Esh was grateful that it was too dark for the Princess to see what he was doing. He traced his hand down the dead thing’s cold arm and found its fingers. With a quick snap, he pulled one backwards and plucked it off. A horrible smell rose from the wound, making him and Dashine both gag. Quickly, he threw the finger down into the hole, spit, and spoke the words.