Ascension

by Sophia Sharp

  ~~

  “Laura? Laura, what’s wrong?”

  Laura opened her eyes weakly. She was surprised when she could see straight. Logan was leaning over her, his face lined with concern.

  “How long was I out?” she asked.

  “Out? Laura, you fell just now. I ran over. Are you alright?”

  “I… think so,” she said. She had thought she had 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,” Laura said stubbornly. She started to push herself up, but Logan stopped her.

  “Stay down,” he said. “We need to figure this out.”

  Shadowed being? Gabrielle interjected. Laura, is this true? Tell me what happened.

  Laura sighed, and relayed the story in its entirety to Gabrielle. He listened solemnly, and when she finished, drifted over to her. He knelt by her side, and placed a hand onto her leg.

  This should help.

  Laura 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 did not 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. Laura’s eyes widened in wonder.

  Gabrielle drew his hand away. How do you feel?

  “Much… better.” Laura 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.

  Laura stood up. “Thank you,” she said. Gabrielle had given her enough strength to stand and fight.

  Laura, 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.

  Laura 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 comes there to heal your body.

  “But you cannot survive in the human world,” Laura 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. Laura 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.

  Laura knew that 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 Laura. 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,” Laura 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?” Laura 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.

  Laura’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 has fallen. If they even start to suspect that they face a threat from a torrial like this one, they will ward their minds.”

  “There are eight of them,” Logan put in. Laura 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.

  Laura 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?” Laura 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?” Laura asked.

  You can all go at once.

  Laura 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.

  Laura did a quick count in her head. “So then there are eight elders, and eight of us. Is the idea for each one of us to attack an elder separately? By ourselves?”

  That is correct.

  Laura frowned. She looked at Logan. “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.

  Logan 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 yet to overtake them. It will take a tremendous amount of luck, but…”

  “But we need to do it,” Laura 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 as they could in the building, down to the lowest level. All the while, Laura couldn’t stop thinking about how close they were to the end.

&nbs
p; 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 Laura imagined things would be when this all began. What if she survived, but Logan 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.

  Laura did not know what she would find in the elders’ dreams. She knew how corrupt the Vassiz were, how scathing and manipulative the majority of the race was. Even if, thanks to the torrial, the elders did not have full control of their dreams, they still would know the landscape better than any of them. How much of an advantage was it, really, to have the torrial on their side?

  Of course, Laura knew that without it, their slim hope of success would have wilted away to nothing. The torrial was essential, and yet not even she understood how it worked. Madison said it had been both feared and revered in her pack’s histories. Was it because it annihilated the control one had over their dreams? Because it could suck others into the dream realm and leave them there, helpless? Or was there an even more sinister side to it? What if, no matter Gabrielle’s best intentions, the torrial malfunctioned, and brought them into the elders’ dreams but left the elders’ powers unchanged? A swift death would be the best outcome. But that was not within the realm of reality. Laura knew the elders would squeeze every drop of life out of her, and then string her out as an example to all Vassiz of what happens to those who do not conform.

  She couldn’t let that happen. She had her whole life yet to live. She wouldn’t let it be cut short on somebody else’s watch. There was so much she hadn’t done, hadn’t seen, hadn’t experienced… and there was only one way to ensure that she could do those things. Win.

  Laura climbed the final flight of stairs leading to the vault. It was only a matter of minutes, now, before they would begin their inconceivable fight against the elders.

  She looked around. The room was quiet, and everybody looked solemn. Gabrielle was sitting cross-legged on the floor by the torrial, eyes closed, focusing on it. The female angel he had chosen as his partner in activating the torrial was across from him. She was just as focused. It was the first time Laura had seen any of the angels not standing up.

  The other angels were off to one side as a group. Their bodies were still, but their eyes flashed from one another rapidly. Laura wondered if it was a way of communicating.

  Madison and Alexander and Logan were standing around the small collection of torrial that Gabrielle had picked out. Laura went to them.

  Logan noticed her, and squatted down on his heels. He reached over to pick up a torrial – one of the three dancing figurines. Seeing them for the first time close up, Laura realized that the depictions were not clothed. But, the way their hands and hair streamed around their bodies made them look exactly as they were meant to me. Free. Free in expression and in flight.

  “Gabrielle said that one of these allows you greater control over the dream,” Logan said. “All three, and there will be nothing that can touch you. We spoke—” he motioned around himself to Madison and Alexander, “—and want you to have them.”

  “All three?” Laura asked. “What about you?”

  “You are the least experienced of us,” Alexander explained. Then he added quickly, “No disrespect. You may be the strongest, due to the circumstances of your feeding, but we know the dream realm far better than you.”

  “Not only that, but you are important to us,” Madison added. “Without you, the prophecy fails.”

  “And I need you to be safe,” Logan said earnestly. “These won’t guarantee it, but they can help.”

  “No,” Laura said calmly. “The three of you should take them. One for each. Like Alexander said, I am the strongest. You need them more than I.”

  “It’s already been decided,” Logan said strongly. “You will take all three.”

  “Well un-decide it. None of us will succeed if another fails. If I take all of them, it’ll be like—”

  Laura cut off as Logan rose to loom over her. His dark eyes shone with a fervent intensity. For the first time in a long time, Laura actually felt small. “You will take them, Laura. You promised me that you would let me guard your wellbeing. If we’re going to be separated out of necessity, this is the best I can do!”

  Laura had not seen such intensity from Logan in a long time. She was about to open her mouth to refuse, when she found a hand placed gently on her shoulder. It was Madison’s.

  “We all agreed it’s for the best,” Madison said soothingly. “Logan means no harm. He cares for you – we all do.”

  Laura looked at Madison, and then back to Logan. With a sigh, she nodded. “If that’s what you’ve decided,” she relented.

  Logan smiled, and picked up the other two torrial to hand to her. “Trust me, this is for the best.”

  “Thank you,” Laura said, managing a weak smile. Alexander nodded with approval.

  “Anyway,” Madison added once Laura held the three torrial, “there are other torrial Gabrielle put aside.” She motioned to the gold bracelet, the ivory sword handle, and the dark glass bottle.

  “Do you know what they do?” Laura asked.

  “The bracelet is supposed to be a way of linking two people together,” Alexander said. “One person puts it on, and his mind is linked to the person who was closest to him when the bracelet settled onto his wrist. Gabrielle says it will be a way for us to stay in touch with him. The sword hilt can make you move faster. But only for a few moments. And it takes a lot out of you. The wine bottle? There’s supposedly something inside that is very precious, but Gabrielle is unsure of what it is. And the glass itself is not glass but Allurvai, so it is impossible to break open. ”

  “So who gets what, then?” Laura asked.

  “Gabrielle will wear the bracelet himself,” Alexander answered. “The sword hilt, we had thought to give to you, but I doubt you will want it after the way you reacted.” He chuckled. “Which is to say, I don’t know.”

  “You should take it,” Laura said without hesitation. “Your shoulder still bares traces of the wound.”

  “She’s right,” Madison said earnestly. “The angels healed it, but you never know if the elders will find some way to exploit it nonetheless.”

  “That’s fine by me,” Logan added.

  Alexander looked uneasily from Laura to Logan to Madison. Now he knows how I felt, Laura thought sarcastically. Finally, he nodded, and picked up the ivory handle.

  Laura. It is time.

  Gabrielle’s voice rang in her head like a hammer striking an anvil. She spun around on the spot. She noticed, in her peripherals, the others doing the same.

  Gabrielle had stood up from where he was standing. The dark glass of the spherical torrial before him was no longer opaque. It was transparent as the clearest glass, and inside Laura could see a dizzying array of thousands upon thousands of tiny white dots, bathed in a pale blue light. The light was characteristic of torrial. In between each of the dots was a darkness that even Laura’s Vassiz eyes could not see through. The darkness did not just swallow the light from the dots. It simply rejected it. There was nothing that existed in between the dots; nothing that could penetrate the dark or be within it.

  The female angel who had worked with Gabrielle was still sitting on the floor, concentrating on the torrial before her. The other angels had all moved closer, and none looked uneasy anymore. They were prepared.

  Laura wished she could say the same about herself. While she thought she gave out the appearance of being ready, her insides were bubbling with uncertainty and emotion. What if she would never see any of the others again? Was this the final goodbye? Would stepping through the torrial and into the elders’ dreams be the first step to her death? To all their deaths?

  Logan stepped beside her, gave her a quick smile,
and took her hand. She locked her fingers between his and held on tight.

  This torrial represents rebirth for us, Gabrielle began. With it, we will be able to usher in a new age writ forth by prophecy. We have come full circle, from being trapped by the elders in their mad use of this device to using it against them. It is a poetic type of justice when the device used to imprison us will turn out to be the same one leading to their downfall. The origins of this new age began when we were freed from our eternal prison by the one destined to do so. Laura Cubus. It is thanks to her that we have gotten this far, and to her we owe our freedom. For that, we are forever in her debt.

  Laura knew Gabrielle was not just speaking to her, but to all of them. He was a natural leader, and Laura stood in awe of what he was doing. Of how he was doing it.

  Let the activation of the torrial represent our first foray into the quittance of our debt. Nothing we may do shall ever match our gratitude, but it will not be so for a lack of effort. And so, Laura Cubus, we offer to you first use of the device, so you may begin what you were prophesied to do.

  Gabrielle inclined his head toward Laura. All the other angels did the same. She felt oddly uncomfortable with the gesture – she hadn’t even accomplished anything yet! All the same, she acknowledged it with a tight smile.

  “Thank you, Gabrielle,” she said. “Thank you, to everyone for coming this far with me. None of you had any obligation to do so—” she looked back at Madison and Alexander to let them know she especially meant them, “—but yet you did. It is not something I will ever forget.”

  “I would not leave you for the world,” Logan whispered beside her. Laura started to blush, but forced it down.

  Good. Gabrielle rose his head. Laura, who should be the first to enter the torrial?

  “I will,” Laura answered. She was their leader, and she had to lead. No leader would ever gain the confidence of her followers by shying away at the most important time. “I will be the first to go.”