The Court of Souls?_Volume 2_Agent of the Realm?

by Andur

  “Ah... yeah,” Marcus answers. It's clear that the whole situation feels awkward to him. Then he bends down and whispers into my ear. “Why is she acting as if we already had a big party and a ceremony?”

  I roll my eyes. “It's the rings. In Dedessian culture two people are legally married once they place a wedding bond on themselves. There is no party or ceremony involved. It's a remnant of the old days when resources were so sparse that people had to account for every bit. Parties are only held in times of abundance.”

  “So in other words: Never!” Shade comments from the sideline, surprising Marcus. My lover looks up and inspects Shade with raised eyebrows.

  Dad shrugs and points at his ears. “It comes with being a shade. I can hear you whispering from across the room as if you were screaming at me.”

  “I’ll be sure to remember that,” Marcus answers.

  Shade looks down at a sheet of paper with a lot of arcane calculations on it. Then he makes a few last adjustments with his instruments. “We really didn’t have a party, even though times are better now. I would feel bad to send my daughter off without a proper party! Why haven't we organized a party, Sugar? Even though the two of us had one.” He turns to Elona.

  The queen dismisses the question with a wave of her hand. “The only reason why we had a party was because our clans merged and we had to show everyone that we stand united from then on. It wasn't so much a wedding party, as a public event to make a statement.”

  The king tilts his head in deep contemplation. “I suppose that makes sense. We should try to have a little feast nonetheless, once Marcus and Seria saves the chocolate realm. That has priority right now.”

  Marcus almost doubles over. “Chocolate realm!?”

  “It's the only noteworthy aspect about your realm... now... stand still. I've to adjust the machinery. You don't want to arrive in pieces, do you?” Shade returns his attention to the console in front of him. “I wonder what would happen if I crank up the power even more… I might just do that when I don’t transport immediate family.”

  I reach for my temple. “I feel the headache returning. Why can't we just wait until the mana storm enters an active phase? This apparatus gives off a bad vibe.” I let my eyes wander through Shade’s laboratory.The walls are in white and the machinery in grey. That’s surely the work of my mother. She has certain expectations of what a laboratory should look like. Totally unlike my father, who is fine with working in a cellar if the conditions don’t harm the equipment.

  Marcus and I got to spend another night with each other since we got tricked by Mother. Of course we used it to shamelessly explore the functions of our wedding rings. It's interesting to share feelings while we are doing it. I think that it wasn’t enough. Not by far. But for some reason we were chosen to save the day. Well, maybe we will just grab Adea and make a run for it. It depends on what waits on the other side. Things were in chaos when we left.

  But right now I feel more like a labrat.

  Both of us are standing on a white platform with Shade and his instruments in front of us. Elona is supervising the 'experiment' from behind him. They even called it an experiment! No joke!

  Though that isn't the disturbing thing about our situation. There are eight large, metal spikes pointing directly at us. They protrude from the walls and form a crude half sphere around us.

  The setup reminds me too much of a Tesla machine… with us at the receiving end.

  My father said that this apparition is needed to inject enough mana into the network. The intention is to overload a small part of the network with energy. I did basically the same when I forced the pathways open while Marcus and I were between the dimensions. Once the pathways are saturated, they should start to disperse the collected energy through the network to let it grow. We should be able to use the resulting energy wave to ride the pathways to our destination.

  Or so goes the theory at least. These spikes look more threatening than anything else. And I don't like having several zetawatt of power pointed directly at me.

  “Here it goes. Make sure to stash me some chocolate. The next one who visits you is me. It should be just a few days until I've charged the pathways enough to open them permanently.” Shade winks at us and grins.

  I hug Marcus from the side and prepare myself to grab and hold onto one of the pathways. Since Shade is already supplying them with power, they are now visible to my mana sense. No special effort involved since they glow like a christmas tree.

  “Don't do something stupid like dying. We still have to introduce Marcus to the rest of the family. Like grandma and Mom!” Elona waves at us, a cheerful tone in her voice.

  “Wait. There are more of you?” Marcus asks, dread in his voice.

  I fight hard to hold back a snicker. “Don't worry. My grandparents are really nice people.”

  Unfortunately Marcus isn't dense enough to overlook the 'but' in my comment. “What aren't you telling me? Is there something special about them?”

  I wince. “Other than that Elona's parents are a meddling succubus and an ogre? And Shade's side of the family tree contains a bitchy sex demon and an ice giant. Oh, and my Grandma is a fury. She is still out for revenge against Moonray by the way. It says something about a person if she is able to hold a grudge for over thirty years. I think the only decent persons in the family are my aunt and her husband. She is a siren and tries to keep her distance as much as possible.”

  Marcus furrows his forehead. “That sounds like I'll have a lot of fun once the introductions start. Are there any cousins or other in-laws I should know about?”

  I roll my eyes. “Don't get me started about that. It would never end. Let's just say that you will wish that I never introduced you to some branches of the family tree.”

  “Stop flirting and get ready to jump on the train. The pathways should be ready any moment now,” Shade informs us, one finger hovering above a big, red button. Though his attention is fixed on a screen with a lot of data.

  “Why did you use a red button for this? Normally you use the red ones only for really dangerous stuff,” Elona asks.

  Shade raises an eyebrow and checks the position of his finger. “Oh! Thanks, Sugar! I almost pressed the wrong one. If I didn't have you as an assistant I would be lost.” His hand changes position, just a centimetre to the left. It comes to rest above a black button instead. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes!” I answer.

  “No! What would the red button do? This doesn't raise my confidence in your methods!” Marcus tries to step from the platform, but I hold him back.

  Shade grins, showing his teeth. “Don't worry. You wouldn't have felt anything.” Then he presses the button.

  44. ~Return.~

  “Thou has a thousand eyes and yet not one eye; Thou host a thousand forms and yet not one form. -Guru Nanak.”

  The Journey to the Afterlife

  Kingdom Newerth, Capital City

  Marcus

  I feel myself being jerked upwards as the world suddenly blurs around us. Then the loss of gravity forces me to hold onto Seria, who was doing so from the start. Something tells me that she knew what was coming. Before I can ask a question, the world rights itself and we are falling through the air. At least that takes away the feeling of weightlessness.

  Seria stretches out a hand and casts levitation to give us the time to get a hold on the situation. A short survey of our surroundings tells me that Shade brought us back. Under us is the capital city of Newerth, but something is wrong.

  The palace in the centre of the city is damaged and several smoke columns are rising all over the city. It's clear that they are from burning buildings, though the fires seem to be out. That's a small relief.

  “It looks like there was a large scale battle and it was recent. The fighting seems to be over though,” Seria reports her interpretation of the situation, confirming mine. “I hope they didn't damage my shop...”

  This woman. The whole city lies in pieces and she is thinkin
g about her shop. “We should check out the palace. My parents are the most likely ones who have a picture of the full situation.”

  I manipulate Seria's levitation spell, pulling her with me. What I didn't say aloud is that we have no confirmation that my parents are still alive. Or my siblings. I don't even want to think about other possibilities.

  The chaos in the city becomes more apparent as we lose altitude. The damage looks a lot like what I already saw when the Tandeen district was attacked. That makes another spirit invasion very likely. There are people on the streets, but almost no corpses. I suppose that they were already taken away.

  Seria clenches my hand and smiles weakly. “I am sorry. It must be horrible to see this and know that you weren't here to help. If we had been back faster...”

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “No. What could we have done? Look at the streets. The battle must have taken place right after we fell through the portal. Even if we had arrived at your capital right away, it still would have taken Shade a day to send us back. This looks like a large scale attack with the goal to cause as much destruction as possible. They didn't have the intention take the city.”

  Seria takes another, long look at the scene in front of us. “You are right. The damage is very localized. It looks like the spirits brought in a few commando troops and dispersed them all over the city. Once they got the signal, they struck and worked their way through the city. Some streets are completely untouched.”

  I nod and try not to look at the damage. The blood-smears in some streets tell the whole story. This didn't go down without victims.

  At last, we arrive at the palace and I lower us into the courtyard where we are greeted by a few guards. They look relieved upon recognizing me. Luckily we remembered to change back to our human forms beforehand. With the city in this state I have a strong feeling that our soldiers would shoot first and ask questions later.

  A gesture of my hand stops them from asking useless questions. “Guide us to my parents. We have important information to share.” I don’t even dare to ask them if everyone is alright.

  Both of the guards salute us and lead the way into the palace. Seria and I follow on their heels.

  While we walk, I look around and try to assess the situation and the morale in the palace. A lot can be told just by observing the reactions of the soldiers and personnel. I can’t help but notice that there are a lot less people who belong to the governing body of the country. Something decisive must have happened.

  After a seemingly endless march through the palace’s innards, we arrive at my family’s private quarters. The guards stay behind while I make my way to my father’s study, guessing that it’s the most likely place for him to be. Even if he retreated to his private quarters, he must have his hands full with work.

  To my great surprise we encounter the whole family in the traditional red garb which is worn in times of great mourning. “What are you all doing in here? And what happened to the city.”

  My two siblings, my father and my mother turn their pale faces towards us, looking at us as if we are ghosts.

  Then my mother jumps up from her seat at the couch and runs towards me to hug me tightly. “We thought that we lost you! You have no idea how scared we were when you disappeared into that portal! Where have you been?”

  Seria lifts her hand, a guilty expression on her face. “I am afraid that we were a little inconvenienced and had to wait for the next flight to this realm. But my parents were great hosts. Don’t worry, your son had a nice time.”

  45. ~Missed.~

  “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”

  The Journey to the Afterlife

  Kingdom Newerth, Capital City

  Seria

  “...and now we are back.” Marcus finishes his lengthy explanation of what happened during our forced absence. He tried his best to keep it short, but how do you explain in a few words that we landed in another realm and had to find our way back. In addition he had to find a way to explain the wedding bond between us. His mother is a very attentive person and of course she immediately noticed the two matching pieces of jewellery.

  Once we are alone, I have to thank Marcus for spinning a slightly less provocative story for his family. One in which he actually had a choice in marrying me, even if it wasn’t according to the customs of his country. Otherwise this could have come across in a slightly offending way. Clarity and Charles could have seen it as an attempt to steal away their heir for all it’s worth.

  “I see.” Charles starts pacing left and right. “We started to experiment with… eating spirits… and the result speaks for itself. Seria’s little show was enough to convince me that the matter deserves research. But as you can probably imagine there is a high amount of resistance from everyone who didn’t witness the initial attack. I’ve to deal with a whole society of people who are convinced that turning into a spirit creates a mad, rampaging monster. After the last attack I am of the opinion that we need this power. Though I have to be subtle about introducing it to the public.”

  “Yes, about that. What happened after we fell through the portal?” I ask.

  Clarity massages her forehead, using enough force to flex the skin and redden it. “It was bad. I ran off to take Caden and Lilith to safety, but the whole city was dissolving into chaos around us. And Caden didn’t want to be taken without his girlfriend. So we had to secure her too. And with that her family. I really have to create more protocols for emergency evacuations. This is becoming a regular activity.”

  Good. So Adea is in safety. Though I wonder why Clarity’s first reaction is always to run away and hide her children. It would be funny if her spirit form turns out to be some kind of rabbit.

  Charles continues to get us up to date. “It turned out that the spirits infiltrated a large part of the governing body. I am still amazed at how many they got in.” Charles expression turns sour. “I suppose that’s what we get for our blindness. It didn’t even occur to us that someone would put so much effort into taking down the country. We prepared against all sorts of scenarios in which the attack comes from the outside. But none of our security measures was aimed against a third party which was coming from within.”

  Marcus shakes his head. “How should you have known. We were looking for traitor within the nobles, but the spirits were using them just as chess pieces. You can’t defend against a force you know nothing about.”

  His father lets his shoulders droop. Suddenly he looks much, much older. “I had visions about this. But I wasn’t able to interpret them. Anyway… when you uncovered the secret agents, they activated their plans prematurely. They had hidden explosives all over the palace and the city. In addition they had several groups of turned civilians in private cellars. When they gave the signal, they caused as much chaos and destruction as they could. They even tried to release the prisoners in the basement. Luckily our security measures held. That’s at least one thing they didn’t manage to get their hands on. It took the army hours to restore law and order.”

  Marcus looks relieved. “So that means that my brother is still in custody. Have you tried to treat him? Did he regain his sanity?”

  The king shakes his head. “We didn’t try that. It was much too early for such experiments and I have a feeling that it wouldn’t help Perseus. He lived with his instincts for a long time. It would be asking too much to have him cured just like that. Of course we will try, but I don’t have my hopes up.”

  I nod and study Charles’s expression. It’s clear that there is more to his story than he told. “You said that they activated their plans prematurely. What makes you think that?”

  Charles shrugs and walks over to the window. “You said so yourself. They intend to topple this country to create a bridgehead to this realm. They need a base of operations where they can create a safe portal to let their armies through. The attack practically took down the government. The army had to make their own decisions. I am not say
ing that my generals can’t do their job on their own... but it’s one thing to get your instructions from the legal authorities, and another to see the palace with the government inside being blown to pieces. On top of that the city is attacked by marauding bands of spirits. It has a demoralizing effect at the very least. And it did have that effect. The fact that it took so long to reinstall a working chain of command is proof of that.

  “I think that they intended for this attack to go down hand in hand with an invasion. The two of you discovered their plans prematurely and they decided to trigger their part of the operation while they still were able to do so.” Charles ends his explanation by taking a deep breath and letting out sigh.

  I scratch my chin and let my attention wander. Marcus and I are standing in the middle of the living room, while Clarity reclaimed her place at the couch. Charles is still studying the scenery outside the window, which looks depressing to say the least.

  Caden is trying to comfort his little sister. It’s the first time that I get to see Marcus’s youngest sibling in person. She is still a child of twelve years, but I can already see that she will turn into a spitting image of her mother. It will take just a few more years.

  Then a thought strikes me. “Have you found the location where they intended to summon the next portal? They must have one in preparation if your theory is true.”

  Charles turns around, furrowing his forehead. “Sadly not, which is a sore point in my theory. We’ve gathered a sizeable part of the DF in the capital. That’s the strange thing about the situation. With that many troops we were able to search the whole city. All we found were their hideouts, but no portal or anything that’s needed to create one.”

  Marcus scowls. “But that’s exactly what they want. They want to take out most of the fighting forces within one given area. Have you ever thought about searching the surrounding lands. It’s becoming clear now. They need to establish a bridgehead. But opening a portal and sending troops isn’t enough. An organized military is always able to plan a counter attack to take out the portal. That’s the weakness in their plan. They need to prevent that they are cut off from their realm.