by Sophia Sharp
“Okay,” Hunter said, unconvinced. He turned his attention to the torrial behind him. When Nora tried to look there, things became even more…hazy. It was like looking at them through a heavily magnified lens that blurred out all but the most prominent features. But she could see one thing. Flowing into each of the torrial was a bright blue…essence. It was the same colored light she attributed to an active torrial before. She couldn’t follow it to its source directly, but she could see every torrial lit up by the light. It was like looking at an array of bright blue Christmas lights.
“Can you see that?” Nora asked Hunter.
“See what?” he asked, frowning at her. “The torrial?”
“No. The light activating them. The flow of power into each one.” Nora knew that was what it was. The blue light was the same essence the torrial tapped whenever they were activated. The light was the ether that gave torrial their power in the human world.
Hunter looked at her oddly. “No, I don’t see anything.”
Was it just her? “Madison? Alexander? Can either of you see it?”
Madison shook her head after a moment. “Perhaps an effect of the circumstances of your feeding,” she suggested.
“Maybe,” Nora said, but she was less sure. As strange as it was, it felt like it had something to do with how she saw the world around her shifting. It was almost like she could see the flow of ether that made up the dream realm.
“You have found it.”
Nora spun around. The voice rang in her head like the chiming of bells. At the door of the vault, she saw the angels for the first time since meeting them in the intersection between the two realms. To her, they were clearer than the other components of the dream realm. The air around them still shifted, but their representation was unmarred by whatever ailed her. She recognized Gabrielle standing in front and the five others standing behind him. As before, she was struck by their sheer physical beauty. Each of the angels had a slightly different appearance, but each was still perfect, in their own way, and more beautiful than the last.
“Welcome back to the world of dreams, Nora Cubus.”
Nora couldn’t help but smile with delight. Gabrielle’s majestic voice in her head made her feel like she could do anything. Suddenly, the air around the angels ceased shimmering. The nausea she felt looking at other parts of the world disappeared. She glanced back and could see the torrial clearly. It was like the angel’s presence stabilized everything for her. But now, the blue ether touching the torrial was gone.
“Gabrielle,” Nora exclaimed. “It’s so good to see you!”
“We have been waiting for you to come.”
“It took us time to find the repository,” Nora said. “If you knew where it was, why didn’t you tell us?”
“Our description would have been meaningless to you. For us, physical structures are not as they look to you. We know the world of dreams. We can even imagine the same representation in the human world. But we see things as a part of the whole, as a small element of the ether of this world. Distance and space is meaningless to us here. Locations and places exist in constant flux in relation to the rest of this world and to each other. What is close one moment is far the next. What little we could have told you would not have helped.”
“But we are finally here,” Nora said. “Ready and willing to take on the elders. It is time to make them pay for what they did to you. To make them pay for the despicable way they treat their own kind.”
“You have grown eager in your time away, Nora. Good. We are ready to do what we must.”
“And we are ready to listen,” Nora said. “Tell us what we need to do, and it shall be done.”
There was an…uncertainty…that Nora felt within her head. A hesitation, that came from Gabrielle. “We take command from you, Nora. You are the one who must guide us. In the time since we last met, we have grown stronger. Strong enough to aid you. We are beginning to realize the powers that have been taken away from us, but we are far from complete. The eternity we have spent in the pool has sapped us of our strength, and it will take time, yet, to get it back.”
“But you are strong enough to fight now?”
“Yes. We are strong enough to assist you, but you are the one who must guide us.”
“Okay,” Nora said slowly. She hadn’t thought about this before. She had thought, since the angels’ domain of being was the dream realm, they would know instinctively what to do. Apparently, that wasn’t quite the case. “Well, we have the torrial now. Do you know which ones may be useful?”
In reply, Gabrielle moved toward her. He did not walk. Rather, it was as if he shifted the entirety of the dream realm to propel him forward. But it was different from what she or Hunter, or any of the other Vassiz, could do. Reality was mutable here, yes, but Gabrielle and the angels seemed to exist outside of that reality. Or, at least, on a different level of it.
Nora realized, belatedly, why that was. She was only here as a projection of herself, as were Hunter, Madison, Alexander, and any of the other Vassiz who visited this world. Her real body was back in the world of humans. And, while she had immense power over the formulation of her own perception of the dream realm, she could not alter the fabric of this world permanently. Gabrielle and the angels, however, were different. Their entire being existed in this dimension. They had no equal representation in the human world, nor were they able to access it the same way Nora could access the dream realm. That was why the way they perceived this world, and lived in it, was so much different. The dream realm was all they knew, and they knew it in its purest form. They existed here in their purest form. They were a permanent part of the dream, not mere tourists like Nora and others who came from the human world.
Gabrielle drifted past her, toward the remainder of the torrial in the vault. Everybody watched him. Hunter and Alexander and Madison all had their eyes glued to what he was doing. He came to a stop before the first row of artifacts and began to examine them carefully. He picked them up, one by one, to look at closely. Some he brought to his ear, as if trying to hear something, while others he hefted in his hand as if judging the weight. Most he put back in their place, but a few he set aside.
Nora glanced behind her to see what the other angels were doing. She felt a wave of goose bumps run along her skin when she realized they all had their eyes on her. Their faces were the picture of serenity, but each pair of dark eyes were glued to her like she was their only salvation. She didn’t even know their names. Gabrielle was the only one to have spoken to her.
She turned back, uncomfortably conscious of the weight of those eyes on her. Her foot continued to throb horribly. The angels were expecting something from her, of course. She had been the one who saved them from their eternal trap, the one who promised revenge against the ones who had imprisoned them. She was also the one prophesized to do it all. That was what they expected from her, and they were all ready to follow her wherever she might lead. It was odd, how beings so majestic – so clearly and obviously superior to her – were willing to follow her at her merest suggestion. Maybe it was a type of loyalty that arose from how she had saved them, but it was a loyalty she did not feel she deserved.
Gabrielle had worked his way to the back of the room. He had cleared out a space in the middle of all the different torrial and had placed a few select pieces there. Nora recognized the three dancing figurines she’d noticed before in the pile. There was also a gold bracelet ring, an ivory sword hilt, and what looked to be a murky wine bottle. Everything else Gabrielle discarded or put away.
He continued that way until he reached the very end of the room, where Madison was standing. She was nodding her head at him, and Nora suspected he was speaking to her in her mind. Madison pointed to the sphere that was at her feet, and Gabrielle moved swiftly to pick it up. He examined it for a moment. Then he turned around and raised it triumphantly above his head.
“This is it, Nora!”
Elation like she’d never felt before filled her mind. I
t was not just coming from Gabrielle, but from all the angels together. The globe in Gabrielle’s hands darkened for a moment and then rebounded the other way and became completely transparent. For the second time, Nora saw the swirling clouds inside. They roiled and churned, leaving dizzying streaks of dark reds and violent oranges in their wake.
And then the entire room started to twist. The walls shifted angrily in rhythm to the swirling clouds. The ceiling contracted and expanded, threatening to consume her. Alexander, Madison, Hunter, Gabrielle, and all the other angels flickered in and out of being. The only thing that did not change was the sphere.
The shifting reality made Nora nauseous. She put her hand out, to try to get a grip on the wall, but misjudged the distance to it. Her hand grasped at empty air and she stumbled, dizzy and uncoordinated. The colors of the room swirled around her angrily. They threatened to consume her. She closed her eyes to try to get away.
Instead, the swirling shapes and menacing colors penetrated her mind. With her eyes closed, they became even worse. They became more vivid. She felt lost in a maelstrom. She could feel her grip on herself slipping.
She was floating in a dark abyss, and the only thing she was sure of was the piercing pain in her foot. The wound she had taken seemed to feed on the uncertainty. The pain she felt became more and more terrible, gripping her with a horrible intensity. It became too much, and she blacked out.
~~
“Nora? Nora, what’s wrong?”
Nora opened her eyes weakly. She was surprised when she could see straight. Hunter was leaning over her, his face lined with concern.
“How long was I out?” she asked.
“Out? Nora, you fell just now. I ran over. Are you alright?”
“I…think so,” she said. She thought she’d been lying there for hours. She didn’t know if it was frightening or comforting that it had only been a few seconds.
“It’s the cut,” Alexander said gravely. “I will bet my livelihood on it. It is not an ordinary wound. When the shadowed being cut you, it must have transferred some kind of poison into your body. Some kind of vileness.”
“I can fight it off,” Nora said stubbornly. She started to push herself up, but Hunter stopped her.
“Stay down,” he said. “We need to figure this out.”
“Shadowed being?” Gabrielle interjected. “Nora, is this true? Tell me what happened.”
Nora sighed, and relayed the story in its entirety to Gabrielle. He listened solemnly, and when she finished, he drifted over to her. He knelt by her side, and placed a hand onto her leg.
“This should help.”
Nora gasped as a cold spread from beneath his fingers. It traveled down her leg toward the wound. The cold concentrated there, numbing the pain she felt to nothingness. Exhaustion she didn’t know she felt ebbed out of her like water running out a spout, leaving only a fading memory of the pain. The cold spread through her entire foot, gripping it in its icy hold, and then vanished. Nora’s eyes widened in wonder.
Gabrielle drew his hand away. “How do you feel?”
“Much…better.” Nora moved her wounded foot left and right, twirled it in a circle. The pain that should have been there was gone. “What did you do?”
“I did not heal you, if that’s what you’re asking. But I was able to restrict the severity of the cut. Alexander was right – there is a vileness to the wound that wants to overtake your whole body. You fought it off well. What I did should give you more time before it returns.”
“It’s going to come back?”
“You will need it attended in the human world, where your body lies. The healing must be done in the same realm you took the wound.”
“Do you know what it was that I fought?”
“I…recognized part of what you said. The shadow is a type of creature that exists in the planes between the dream realm and the human world. It preys on people’s dreams. I have never heard of it appearing in the human world, however. But what you said about fighting it off, and the torrial gem you found…it may have been what allowed the shadow to cross into your world. I am certain it was put there to guard the repository.”
Nora stood up. “Thank you,” she said. Gabrielle had given her enough strength to stand and fight.
“Nora,” Gabrielle said. I will not tell the others of this unless you ask me to. But you need to hear it. I believe the wound you took will be fatal. The pain in suppressed here, but in the human world your body is fighting it. You will lose. I fear you may not survive the trip back to the human world when it is time to return.”
Nora froze. Her eyes widened and a sudden constriction gripped her chest. She was going to die?
“The only way for you to live is if one of us goes there to heal your body.”
“But you cannot survive in the human world,” Nora whispered.
“You have sacrificed for us, as we will sacrifice for you.” The voice that filled her head was not just Gabrielle’s, but a choir of all the angels. Nora was overwhelmed with emotion.
“We will kill the elders,” she said icily.
Chapter Ten
~Need~
“And this is how we’re going to do it.”
Nora knew, at that moment, Gabrielle was speaking not just to her, but to all of them.
He went back to pick up the spherical torrial and placed it on the ground before Nora. Everyone else circled around her. The five angels who were standing outside came in and made a wall of bodies to one side.
“You recognized it,” Nora said. “What is it? Madison knew of it, also.”
“This is one of the most powerful torrial ever created. It is what the elders used to imprison us.”
“How?” Nora asked.
“This torrial allows the user to pull anybody into the dream realm. Anybody, in any state, from anywhere in the world. It grants immense power, for in the dream realm, as you well know, you control your reality. This torrial takes away that control from whoever is pulled in.”
Nora’s eyes widened with understanding. “That means we can pull the elders in and destroy them here!”
“Yes,” Madison answered. “That is what I suspected we would do as well. But it will not be so easy.”
“Someone has to operate the torrial,” Gabrielle said. “And it can only pull in one person at a time.”
“The elders stay apart from one another,” Alexander mused, “but they would know immediately if one of their comrades had fallen. If they even start to suspect they face a threat from a torrial like this one, they will ward their minds.”
“There are eight of them,” Hunter put in. Nora turned to him. “We cannot just do it one-by-one. We might bring them here, yes, but they still remain powerful. And cunning. After the first falls, the others will be prepared. No, this will not do. One of our advantages is the element of surprise, one of our only advantages, but we throw it to the wind if we proceed this way.”
“There is…another way.”
Nora spun to face Gabrielle again. “What is it?”
“A slightly modified use of the torrial. Instead of pulling the elders into the dream realm, we can use it to propel ourselves into their dreams.”
“Isn’t that more dangerous?” Nora asked. “If we’re in their dreams, they hold all control. Right?”
“Not if the torrial is being used. This way, it can negate the extra control the elders would have over their dreams. It puts us on even ground with them.”
“But what’s the advantage of doing it that way?” Nora asked.
“You can all go at once.”
Nora blinked. If they all went at once, it meant they could strike at the elders simultaneously. “How many do you need to control the torrial?”
“Me and one other.” A female angel drifted toward Gabrielle and stood beside him. “Yes. She will do. The remainder will go with you to fight.”
Nora did a quick count in her head. “So then there are eight elders, and eight of us. Is the idea for each one o
f us to attack an elder separately? By ourselves?”
“That is correct.”
Nora frowned. She looked at Hunter. “Are we strong enough to do that?” She could feel the time starting to tick away. Back in the human world, her body was slowly being killed by the venom from the cut. The fight against the elders would have to be now or never.
Hunter considered for a moment. “A unified attack on all of them at once? It sounds preposterous, but it may work. If Gabrielle is right, and the torrial negates the advantage the elders have in their dreams, then the only thing that will determine the victor is sheer strength and will.”
“The elders are strong,” Madison said, “but they have not faced a direct threat in a long time. They may have grown complacent. If we surprise them at once, we may have a chance to overtake them. It will take a tremendous amount of luck, but…”
“But we need to do it,” Nora confirmed. “Right. Gabrielle, that is how we’re going to proceed.”
“Excellent. We need time to prepare.”
~~
The preparations for the fight took less than an hour. All the torrial in the room had to be taken away, except for the sphere. Gabrielle said that having too many torrial in close vicinity could cause the main one to malfunction, and that was not a risk they were willing to take. So, they all carried the torrial as far away as they could, within the building, down to the lowest level. All the while, Nora couldn’t stop thinking about how close they were to the end.
Once Gabrielle and the other angel activated the torrial, they would all go to face the battle of their lives. And they would each be doing it alone. It is not how Nora imagined things would be when this all began. What if she survived, but Hunter didn’t? Could she live with herself after that? Then again, the whole expedition was nothing more than a glorified suicide mission. If but one of them failed against the elders, all would be lost. It had to be a unified strike, everyone had to succeed, and it had to happen fast.
