by Katie Pottle
“Neigh!”
Cadin blinked hard, trying to catch his brain up to what his eyes were seeing. He was awkwardly sitting atop a white alicorn—the same beautiful winged horse he had helped to save back on Condor.
“You followed me all the way from Condor?” Cadin asked.
“Neighhhh.”
“Wait, Sun! We must go get Sun! She fell.” Cadin leaned back towards the barrier, but the alicorn would not go back. Cadin took a deep breath, knowing it was too late to save her. Cadin’s ring pulsed quickly, bringing his mind back into focus. A flap of his wings sent shooting pains shuttering through him. He brought his right wing forward, cringing at the unnatural bend. He quivered and snapped the joint back into place.
“Ohhhh!” he sobbed into the dark mane. “Turn right,” he moaned, trying not to pass out from the pain. This time the horse followed the direction Cadin leaned, pumping its strong wings to gain altitude—away from the barrier—away from Sun.
The pulse quickened and Cadin straightened his back at the sight of a shimmering tube-like connection between the bottom of the Ansford cloud-land and a small fringe cloud-land, dense and dark. The fringe cloud-land was much closer to Ansford than any fringeland should be.
“That’s it,” Cadin whispered. The lean muscles of the alicorn tightened under Cadin’s legs as it dove for the dark alcove where a Tlaloc stood guard.
The Tlaloc’s face froze in shock as the large animal barreled into him—knocking the dark angel off the cloud-land and into a large, murky storm cloud. Cadin jumped down before the alicorn flew off after the falling Tlaloc—whether to save or fight him, Cadin didn’t know.
“What happened, Ryan?” a deep voice rumbled from within.
Cadin unsheathed Tsuyo and brought his gins to the ready as he entered the lair of the Tlalocs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Lair of the Tlalocs
Cadin’s ring pulsed twice before going still.
“Ryan!?”
“You will not succeed, Cypher.” Master Emilio’s weak voice floated towards Cadin.
The deep voice sucked in a gasp of air before laughing with bone-chilling mirth. “Oh, my dear Emilio—I already have!” The voice—Cypher’s deep, gravelly voice grated on Cadin’s nerves.
Master Emilio is stalling him for me! Cadin realized. He crouched low and entered a putrid room with dark vials and liquid energy chambers scattered across the floor and the one large, stained table. He tried to hold his breath against the stench, but instead inhaled deeply at the deafening thunder clap.
“Today, I claim victory where Tiberius failed,” Cypher snarled.
Cadin chanced a brief glance around the table at the far end of the liar where Cypher—Crap, he is huge – leaned over Master Emilio who was constrained in a large half-tube that wrapped around his wings from the back. The dark angel wore pieced-together leather like the fringelanders. His Aura shone white, the brilliance dimed by the purple specks dancing within. Five more of the large containers stood upright along the back wall. Two were empty, one held a shriveled, dead wrath, while the remaining two held an unconscious Eric, and a man who Cadin guessed was Nesta. The older angel had long, disheveled white hair, and was so thin and frail Cadin was unsure if he was still alive.
“Trying to prove you are better than Tiberius is a pitiful excuse for starting a war,” Master Emilio said, briefly catching Cadin’s eye before turning back to Cypher whose speckled Aura pulsed.
The angel’s hand tightened around a jagged blade. His voice lowered as he took a step towards Master Emilio. “You know nothing of Tiberius. I stood by him as we took down those filthy Raiders. We set a plan in motion all those years ago to take down the Core— and I saw an opportunity to finally…” he paused mid-sentence to inhale deeply.
Cadin took a breath and sent four gins forward—two shaped liked icicles, flying towards the large angel’s head, while his two slice-gins zipped across Cypher’s calf muscles.
“Ahhh!” Cypher roared as one icicle-gin impaled his eye and the other his neck. Cadin ducked under his flailing arms and enclosed two of his last three gins in Master Emilio’s trembling hand before laughter boomed out behind him.
Cadin whirled around and raised his sword to the bloodied Tlaloc warrior. “So, you are the mixed-Aura boy that has been ruffling Core feathers throughout the System! I admit that I didn’t understand Tiberius’ initial fascination of you. But few angels have ever gotten the jump on me.” Cypher smiled as he reached for the gin lodged in his eye and tugged it out, letting it drop to the ground. Blood poured from his eye-socket, but he seemed unfazed as he stepped towards Cadin, crushing empty vials under his large, leather-wrapped foot. “You caused quite the stir among those stuffy leaders. Probably worried that you would see the truth behind their lies and try to restore justice to the entire System, just as we have.”
He paused his advance to scratch at his stubbly chin. “It’d almost be worth not killing you to see what kind of rise I can get from them. At the very least—you’d make great bait.”
“I don’t intend to let you capture me.”
Cypher’s face transformed in an instant from contemplative to enraged. “Let me? Mixed Aura or not, you are just a boy.” He pulled his strong shoulders back. “I am a Tlaloc Warrior—not to mention my little purple addition.” He nodded in the direction of the shriveled wrath. “I am as strong as ten Core soldiers!” His eyes went wild as an alert sounded on a monitoring station behind him. He seemed to forget about Cadin and turned to flip some switches on a command center behind him. Their room rumbled.
Cadin took the chance and swung his sword right at the crazy Tlaloc’s neck. Cypher swiveled in place, knocking Tsuyo out of Cadin’s hand with one gigantic arm and sending Cadin flying across the room with other.
Cadin cringed as he crashed into the table and tumbled to the floor where several old, dried up wrath carcasses fell on top of him.
“Bad, boy—I’m not done talking to you.” Cypher inserted some Core-grade liquid energy containers with dark purple blood sloshing around them into a slot on the control panel.
Cadin gaged as he pushed the decaying wrath bodies aside and stood up. Master Emilio had his eyes closed, but Cadin felt his alert energy.
Cypher pressed another button, and the liquid in the chambers sucked up through a tube. The cloud-land above them groaned. “Destroying a cloud-land is an energy intensive task,” Cypher said as he wiped his hands and turned back to Cadin.
Cadin was mystified by Cypher’s quick mood swings. He was now chatting to him like he was an old friend about the difficulties of catching a stealth dragon rather than ripping a cloud-land in two.
Cypher sat on a wooden stool in front of Cadin. The blood oozing from his eye socket had slowed and congealed. “Now what should I do with you?” His voice was low—dangerous. “You may be a nice bonus for Tiberius. He may need a little groveling when I return. But he will have to concede that I did the right thing.”
Cadin stopped glancing around for his sword. He felt Tsuyo’s energy across the room, but it wasn’t in sight. Instead he focused on the storm cloud he felt encompassing their small cloud-land. A brief inkling of a plan started to form, but he needed more time.
He inhaled deeply, ignoring the stench, and split his focus. Cadin addressed Cypher, whose dark eyes were trained on him.
“I already told Bruce two years ago, that I was not interested.”
Cypher scoffed. “Bruce is a fool. You probably were too. I imagine you have learned a lot in the two years since. Perhaps seen the injustice that the Core imposes on the System.”
Cadin saw the slightest movement from Master Emilio, but did not take his eyes off the dark angel.
“What do you mean by injustice?” Cadin’s tone was neutral as the mist floated into the room.
“Surely you have meet a fringelander or two?”
“I—yes, I have.”
“Did you observe the way the Core treats them?” Cypher’s breathing was getting heavy, e
yes starting to dart back and forth. He was going to turn crazy again soon.
“They treat them as non-citizens,” Cadin admitted.
“They treat us like animals! We have no rights, no protection, no resources! When I was a child, the Core turned their backs on us when the Raiders swept through our cloud-lands—steeling, destroying and killing everyone!” Cypher stood and then sat back down, stabbing his dagger into the table, splitting it down the middle.
A drop of spit ran down his chin. “We took down the entire Raider operation from the inside—using the Core as puppets. And now—oh now is the time that I take down the Core.”
“You plan to take down the Core by ripping the cloud-lands to pieces?” The mist finally reached Cadin’s feet and swirled up to his hands. He connected to the storm cloud through the light mist. It wasn’t the strongest connection, but the cloud was beginning to respond to him.
“Oh, it is not the destruction of the cloud-land that the citizens will care about. It is their loved ones that fall to Earth.”
“I—what?” Cadin’s connection to the cloud faltered. “But the Guardians will bring back those that survive through the Bridgestone. Then everyone will surely band together against you.”
“Unless the Core is no longer in possession of the Bridgestone.” Cypher smiled, his eye alight at the thought. “The Core will have failed its citizens and their only choice will be to come to the Tlalocs and swear their loyalty if they want their fallen back.”
Cadin’s heart sank. Now that he knew their plan, it was too late. Tiberius and the rest of the Tlalocs must be attacking the Glade Palace to steal the Bridgestone. Sun would be forever lost to him. Everyone who fell today and the Guardians already in the Earth Realm would be trapped and unable to return to the cloud-lands!
Master Emilio’s energy pulsed, and Cadin saw in his periphery that he was free of his bindings. The hair on the back of Cadin’s neck rose.
“You will not win,” Cadin said.
Cypher’s Aura flared as he stood up and wrenched his dagger free of the table. “So be it.” As Cypher took a step forward, small gins assaulted his face and sliced off two of his fingers, causing his dagger to crash to the floor.
“You!” Cypher growled, turning towards Master Emilio. Cypher drew another small dagger from a sheath and launched it towards Master Emilio, sinking it into his chest. Cadin felt the arc of the lightning bolt he had summoned crash through the front wall. It rushed towards Cadin’s chest, and he re-directed it at the large Tlaloc.
Cypher’s eyes lit as he spun to dodge the bolt which grazed the side of his face before crashing into the control panel.
“Ehhh!” Cypher’s yell was barely heard over the thunder shaking the small room. This was not the tamed-down version of lightning within the clouds of the Calvarian Games. This was raw, true lightning. One side of Cypher’s face smoked where his skin had melted and his hair had burned away when he turned to Cadin.
Cypher’s calloused hands wrapped around Cadin’s throat before Cadin knew what was happening. Sparks jumped from the control panel, illuminating the small room in bursts of light. Cadin kicked and desperately searched the room for anything that could help free him of Tlaloc’s death grip. Master Emilio slumped forward—blood draining under him.
“No!” Cadin gurgled. The blackness closed around his eyes.
“Cypher!” A deep voice echoed through the room. The grip on Cadin’s neck loosened ever so slightly. “What have you done?”
“My lord…I…I...”
“Drop him, now, Cypher.”
Cadin fell to the floor in a heap.
“The boy was just a small hiccup,” Cypher said. “Tiberius, the—plan—it worked.”
Tiberius peered around the small room and Cadin got his first good look at the Tlaloc leader. He was smaller than Cypher, but not by much. Lean muscles rippled under his pale skin. His long stark-white hair was pulled back in a pony-tail with one black streak at his left temple. His Aura was a deep blue—clear of any purple specks. His clothes were those of the fringelanders—pieced together from the hides of various cloud-land creatures, but they appeared to be made of the larger, more dangerous breeds. His outer shirt was most certainly made from the hide of a dire dragon, and the necklace across his chest sported hundreds of needle-like wrath teeth. Tiberius glanced at Cadin with one light blue eye and one dark green. His gaze shifted to the sparking control center and then to the men in the tubes.
“This was never the plan.”
Cadin turned to the unmoving Master Emilio. Cadin started to crawl towards him and hurried when neither Cypher or Tiberius made a move to stop him.
“Master Emilio,” he said softly when he reached the hunched form. Cadin rolled him over and found the dagger sticking out of the center of Master Emilio’s chest. His eyes were completely lifeless as Cadin shook him. “Wake up!” Cadin poured healing energy into his chest, but felt nothing.
“He is gone, boy. Don’t kill yourself trying to bring him back.” Tiberius knelt down and lifted Master Emilio’s face in his hand. Tiberius was so close, Cadin wanted to reach out and strike him with his gins, sword, anything—but something in the Tlaloc’s manner stopped him. Tiberius’ energy pulsed and Cadin watched in fascination as the Tlaloc’s Aura turned from deep blue to crimson red. Tiberius turned to face Cypher. “That was a Master of the Core! What were you thinking, Cypher? You may have ruined everything that we have worked for!”
“I had no choice!” Cypher roared. “He came looking for Nesta!”
“Whom you also kidnapped from us!” Tiberius’ voice was low.
“The plan wouldn’t have worked without an engineer. And here we are,” Cypher said, raising his hands up. “Ansford is—well not fallen—but split down the middle. And as you are now here, I assume your team retrieved the Bridgestone. The Core will have to come crawling…”
“The Bridgestone is broken. The Core split it in our battle to obtain it.”
Cypher’s face fell.
Cadin gasped.
Sun.
Sun was lost to Earth forever.
“But you have the pieces? You can repair the portal between Realms, right?”
“That is now the plan, no thanks to you,” Tiberius said as he approached Cypher. “You betrayed me.”
Cypher appeared to shrink under Tiberius’ gaze. And then the purple specks starting dancing within Cypher’s Aura, and Cadin knew he was about to go crazy again. It appeared Tiberius recognized the signs as well. When Cypher let out a war cry and raised his dagger, Tiberius’ Aura shifted to purple. A directed pulse knocked Cypher back. Tiberius struck like a wrath disarming the giant Tlaloc in one smooth move as the mist wrapped around Cypher’s torso and arms. The crackling of the trap hardening startled Eric awake.
“What’s happening, where’s Nesta?” Eric turned to Cadin who was holding Master Emilio’s head in his lap. “Oh, no. Em... Emilio?”
“He’s dead,” Cadin said.
“Release me!” Cypher shouted from across the small room.
Cadin ignored him and turned back to Eric. “Nesta is in the pod there next you. I don’t know how he is doing.”
“Ehh!” Eric struggled against his restraints.
“Here,” Tiberius said as he walked over to them. He untied Eric and then went for Nesta.
“Don’t touch him!” Eric shouted, voice cracking through the tears.
Tiberius stepped back next to Cadin and watched as Eric worked to untie Nesta. Cadin felt Tiberius’ gaze shift to him and Cadin turned towards those mismatched eyes.
“He was a friend of yours?” Tiberius asked, nodding towards Master Emilio.
“Yes—he was my mentor.” Cadin knew he should be trying to think of a way to escape, but he was completely drained, both physically and emotionally. He glanced over at Cypher, who now had a cloud-trap over his mouth, eye socket still slowly bleeding. Cypher’s other eye bulged as he worked to release the cloud-trap encompassing him.
“And h
e is a friend of yours?” Cadin asked boldly, waving his blood-coated hand towards Cypher.
Tiberius’ gaze narrowed, and Cadin remembered that he was chatting with the most dangerous angel in the entire Calvarian System. “He was one of my greatest warriors and confidants. He had a good soul. But he strayed from the path of Treava many moons ago. He ingested too much wrath’s blood, and turned away from us months ago—kidnapping Nesta in the process and recruiting several others. I am saddened that it came to this.”
Tiberius exhaled as he turned from Cypher back to Cadin. “And you are obviously the mixed Aura boy that my cousin informed me of.”
Cadin didn’t see any reason to deny it. Sun was gone and Master Emilio lay dead in his arms. If Tiberius killed him now for having a mixed Aura, so be it. “Yes, I am Cadin of Glade, son of Sara of Air and Talvarian of Ansford…”
Cadin stopped as an unexpected smile crept over Tiberius’ weathered face. “Oh, Talvarian. Fitting that you are his boy.”
Cadin had forgotten that his dad played spy for the Core and joined the Raiders—then led by the Tlalocs—for a short amount of time. His dad had returned with information that had enabled the Core to annihilate the Raiders, though the Tlaloc faction escaped. Then something clicked.
“You used my dad to take down the Raiders, didn’t you?”
Tiberius’ eyebrow raised slightly. “Why yes, I did. I would have thought you—like so many others—would have settled for the easy version of the story. The Core being all powerful took out their enemies all on their own.”
“Why would you help the Core?” Cadin couldn’t help but ask.
Tiberius sat next to Cadin and sheathed his knife. Nesta appeared to be stirring under Eric’s care. “I am not the monster you may think I am, Cadin. I work against the Core most of the time because of the way they have lorded over the System for the last half century does not serve all angels well or equally. Some, like you, have it good. Many others are left to the fringes, with no help, support or care from the Core. The Raiders were even worse—and a direct by-product of the neglect of the Core. Justice demands we turn that power dynamic around.”
