Endure

by M. R. Merrick

  “They are with you? You trust these…half-things?” Kithra stared at Tiki.

  “These are my friends. I trust them with my life.”

  Kithra eyed Vincent and then the rest of us before grunting. “Fine, let us go then.”

  “They should not be coming. They should—”

  “They are with you. Under your status shall they be held.”

  There was no more time for talk. Kithra reached out, his power rising around us. Tiki looked uncomfortable and worried, but Kithra wouldn’t let him say another word. “We leave now.” The power expanded and everyone gathered around, making sure each of us touched a piece of Kithra’s body. It was rock solid and his skin rough and leathery. I felt a pulse of magic, but instead of the slow build I was used to with Tiki, it was instant. One moment we were there, the next we were gone.

  Chapter 19

  I tried to apply what Tiki had taught me. I took a deep breath, held it in, and focused on where I wanted to go. The problem was I had no idea where we were going and it all happened so fast, there was no time for breathing.

  My chest heaved, desperate for air as the darkness embraced me. Even without sight I felt us spinning. Rai’s claws were deep in my shoulder, her feathers slapping against my face. I gripped the leather sheath that held Kithra’s sword and my other hand flailed until I found Rayna. Our fingers locked and white splotches dotted my vision.

  The smell of sand and dry earth broke through with a gust of air and I took a deep breath. Grains of sand filled my mouth and although it made my tongue feel rough, I welcomed it. As the portal opened I tried to prepare for the landing, but Kithra was a pure blood; his teleporting abilities were far superior to Tiki’s.

  The moment the portal began to open, we were flailing through the air. My feet hit the ground and a bolt of pain shot up my legs. Both my knees buckled at the top of a sandy peak and I rolled down the embankment of a hill. Sand cut my skin like tiny shards of glass. My arms and legs flailed trying to grip something, but my hand only disappeared into loose earth. As my speed naturally slowed, I dug my heels into the ground. By the time I’d come to a complete stop, red and brown sand buried me up to my knees. Endless miles of desert surrounded me. A bright sun with a reddish glow blazed above, its steaming rays made my skin feel on fire.

  Everyone stood at the top of the slope. It should’ve only taken me a few minutes to climb up, but each time I pushed with my feet, the slope broke away with heaps of sand, sending me sliding back down. When I finally neared the top, Rayna and Tiki were there to pull me up. Kithra shook his head and grunted. Without a word, he walked away. The ground was solid at the top of the hill. The sand had hardened into a reflective surface that reminded me of Kithra’s blade. The center of the lustrous ground held a spiderweb of cracks and a few shards jutted upward.

  “That’s what happens to the sand when the dark clouds come and the storms strike our world,” Tiki said. “My people have learned to harness this power and can now mold it into any form they like.”

  “That’s amazing,” Vincent said dryly. “Have I mentioned how much I hate the sun?” The words snapped out of his mouth, drops of sweat running down his face.

  Tiki shrugged and turned in a circle, taking in his surroundings. He took a deep breath through his nose and a smirk tugged at the edge of his mouth. “Welcome to my home dimension. My people are built for this heat. For you, however, I suggest you two keep your sweaters on. You will be hot, but you will save yourself much pain. The sun of Lavinos is known for its intense heat.”

  I had pulled my hoodie off halfway up the hill, but I could already feel my arms tingling with a burning sensation. Rayna and I both took Tiki’s advice and pulled them back on. I hoped we weren’t here for long.

  Rayna grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. “Come on. We don’t want to fall too far behind.”

  Everyone had a head start following Kithra and I laughed. “It’s an endless desert. I don’t think we’ll lose sight of them anytime soon.” The moment I spoke, the wind picked up and bullets of sand pelted my face. I couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of me and I did as Rayna said—I ran.

  After running hard into the wind, we fell in line behind Tiki. Visibility became worse as we walked and I made sure to keep him within reach. Rayna and I kept our hands linked. If we got separated from the rest, at least we’d have each other.

  We’d walked for more than two hours, and my mouth was dry and hot. Grains of sand had embedded themselves between my teeth and along my gums, causing an annoying pain anytime I moved my lips. The sun intensified as the day went on and the shirt beneath my jacket felt heavy with sweat, clinging to my body like a wet sheet. Drops of salty liquid ran down my face and my hair stiffened from the blowing sand. Rai had given up trying to fly against the wind and stayed on my shoulder, which had started to feel raw an hour ago from her talons.

  “Are we getting close?” I yelled into the wind, making my already dry and scratchy throat feel worse.

  “Gods I hope so,” Vincent said, having fallen back beside Tiki. He walked with even less visibility than the rest of us, both his hands covering squinting eyes. “If I have to be in this sun much longer, I’m going to have to eat your brother.”

  Tiki looked at Vincent, a solemn expression on his caramel features. “But you have no fangs…” I knew Tiki well enough to know it wasn’t an intended insult, but Rayna and I both laughed nonetheless. Vincent scowled in reply and reached out, letting Tiki guide him forward.

  Tiki didn’t cover his eyes as he walked. He seemed unaffected by the blowing sand, and he didn’t seem the slightest bit exhausted. His hair had turned from black to reddish brown, caked with beads of sand, but he kept pace with Kithra while practically dragging Vincent along.

  “We are almost there,” Tiki said.

  “Almost where?” Rayna asked. “There’s nothing here.”

  “Trust me.”

  After another twenty minutes, I felt the questions burning inside everyone, including myself, about how much longer we had to go. My face hurt, raw after being attacked by a scorching sun and bits of sand. Relief enveloped us when Kithra stopped.

  Four posts stuck out of the sand, each of them a different shade of brown. They were jagged with tiny glass shards that reflected the light, as if beads of sand had clung to a stick and transformed into colorful crystals. Kithra dropped to his knees and swept away the area between the posts until a glossy surface appeared. He unclasped his pendant and stuck it in a groove that had been cut out of the center. With a quarter turn clockwise, the ground rumbled and grains of sand skipped across the surface.

  The sound of hydraulics screamed and each post shot streams of sand into the air like a cannon. The shiny surface moved and sand continued to fire from the posts in a beach-like assault. The far edge of the platform shifted, lifting out of the earth with a massive glass tube attached to the other end of it. When it stopped, the hydraulic sound came again and a final sputter of sand drizzled from each pole. Kithra pulled out the pendant and tied it back around his neck. The glassy wall that stood before us opened in toward the glass tube on the other side. Kithra looked over his shoulder and grunted before stepping inside.

  After the doorway was a long stairway disappearing into an abyss of darkness, and as Kithra walked down, small glowing lights appeared low on each step. The stairs were made of the same material as the door, filled with swirls of random color.

  We followed the stairwell down until it turned sharply to the right and a bright light came through another clear wall. Kithra repeated the steps with his pendant and when the wall opened, a cool breeze washed over us. When we were all through, Kithra shut the door and locked it. Hydraulics sounded again and the corridor filled with sand like the bottom of an hourglass. In seconds, the door was soon gone, leaving only a tempered wall that held back the red and brown grains on the other side.

  I pulled my wet, heavy hoodie over my head, and the air gave me a welcomed shiver. We stood on the
edge of a cliff with a massive city laid out before us. Large columns led up to impressive buildings, reminding me what it would have been like to live in Rome long ago. There was no sky. Instead, glass walls were built up around the city in a dome, and on the other side was the sand that covered the world above. I couldn’t tell where the light came from. A yellow hue hung on the air, giving off bursts of warmth. It reminded me of the light that surrounded the tree in Stonewall. Rai jumped off my shoulder and dove down over the cliff, disappearing in a blur of white.

  Kithra didn’t wait for us to admire the view. There was a single path leading down the cliff and toward the city, and he was on it, ignoring the rest of us. On one side of the path stood a glass wall with sand behind it. On the other, a long fall to a shallow creek a few hundred meters below. The walkway was wide enough that two of us could be comfortable beside one another, and Rayna and I spent most of our time admiring the city. There were no trees, but bird-like creatures fluttered over the rooftops, making horrendous and annoying wails from sharp black beaks. When a small flock came closer, I saw they were more like giant rats with wings.

  The shallow creek at the bottom was actually a slow moving river. Water ran against the side unobstructed, and tiny ripples moved over a shallow area near the end. The water came and went through a tube within the dome, and small creatures flickered beneath the surface, but they moved too quickly to see what they were.

  The end of the path opened to a wide road where demons walked the dirt streets. Many looked like Kithra, while others reminded me of the market in Drakar. Colorful skin decorated in dark ink, horns, and a variation in size. Some had strange animals in tow, leading them along the road with rope around their necks, and others carried pails of water on their shoulders from the river. Those who looked like Kithra stalked the streets like police officers. They didn’t do much except pace an imaginary border, watching everyone.

  There were a few half-demons with human-like appearances. Scars littered their bodies and they looked void of life, even as they walked. They had ropes around their necks like the animals, and their owners tugged forcefully when they didn’t move fast enough. There were two without ropes who moved between the guards. On command, they would run to the river and return with a cup of water, only to be shoved away once they had finished.

  Smaller demons with undeveloped spikes growing from their skin threw fist-sized rocks at one another. Their fangs were short and immature, their voices high but still rough. A sound I imagined was laughter came from their lips, but it was almost terrifying.

  Tiki grabbed Vincent’s arm and slowed his pace until we were all walking within close proximity to one another. “Do not look at the guards, the larger demons that look like Kithra…rather, do not look at anyone. Keep your eyes down and stay close to me.” Tiki’s eyes were intense as he looked at each of us.

  “I thought your mother was the Queen?” Vincent asked. “You would lower your gaze to peasants? You are royalty.”

  Tiki shook his head. “I am a half-breed—an abomination of my people. I do not think I need to remind you of Drakar, Vincent Taryk. Should you choose not to listen, this will be far worse. Kithra conceded to you in our world, but here, he will not. Once we are in the Great Hall, I can protect you, but until I have been formally welcomed back by the Queen, I can do nothing for you out here.”

  A rumble started in Vincent’s throat and Tiki gripped his arm. “Please, if you wish to leave this place sooner than later, or at all, you must listen.”

  “Or at all?” Vincent sounded surprised. “I am not staying in this…bubble a moment longer than absolutely necessary.”

  Tiki looked back at me, his eyes pleading. I gave him his usual response to me—I shrugged. I’d given up trying to talk sense into Vincent.

  Kithra waited at the bottom of the slope. His orange eyes were bright, and the scarred skin where his eyebrows should’ve been seemed permanently furrowed. “Tikimicharnikato, I assume you remember the way? You lead; the rest of you, follow him.”

  Tiki didn’t question him or hesitate. He took the lead and glanced back, urging us forward with a wave of his hand. Rayna and I went first, with Vincent behind us and Kithra following at the end.

  “If I so much as feel your breath on my neck, you’re too close,” Vincent glared up at the massive demon.

  “Silence, half-breed.” Kithra shoved Vincent forward and he stumbled into us. “Your arrogance is not tolerated here.” I stopped as Vincent’s eyes went black. Dark veins rippled beneath his skin, but before he could move, four guards came to Kithra’s side with serrated glass blades drawn.

  “Problem, half-breed?” Kithra asked, a smirk pulling at his thick lips.

  A growl rumbled in Vincent’s throat and I pulled at his arm. He glared at me and before he took another step, a fist-size rock smashed into the back of his head. Vincent turned, a malicious roar screaming from his lips. The small demons jumped and screamed, disappearing down an alleyway with demonic laughter. The tip of three blades poked at Vincent’s throat. Each guard stood silently at the other end, orange eyes looking for an excuse to pull it across his neck.

  “Let it go,” I said.

  Heavy breath came from Vincent’s fangless mouth. He looked back at the demons before shaking his head and pulling back his demon. The dark veins disappeared, but the anger did not. He shoved past me and continued walking.

  “This isn’t good,” Rayna whispered.

  I looked back at the guards and sighed. “Not good at all.”

  Tiki led us down a wide dirt road. Massive buildings lined both sides with small alleyways that branched off. Small, shack-like buildings that had people bustling in and out filled the long corridors on the left. From the right, rows of housing stacked on top of one another had people glaring at us from their balconies.

  Tiki stopped in front of a huge building and Kithra shoved his way to the front and went inside. It wasn’t long before a group of human-looking demons came out from behind the building pulling a wooden cart. Tiki wasn’t kidding when he said half-breeds were looked down upon. Kithra commanded we all get in, and with the slash of a whip, the half-breeds began to pull the cart through the city.

  After twenty minutes of riding in silence, watching sweat and blood run down the backs of the half-breeds pulling the cart, the road turned into a steady incline. Partway up the hill, the alleyways and side streets veered off into nicer developments with well-maintained homes. The higher we moved from there, the larger the columns on the buildings became, and the alleys now led to small communities of architecturally beautiful homes. When we reached the top, a single building made entirely of glass overlooked the entire town. Glossy steps lead up to a pyramid-shaped structure, the color changing as it rose into the air. The main level was built with a frosty-white glass and thick columns held up the floor above it. Each level had a different color or design to the material, and a yellow light that hung on the air made the building sparkle.

  After getting out of the cart, we started up a massive staircase that eventually led us to two guards on either side of an open archway. Long spears with glass tips were held out in front of them and they kept their eyes straight ahead. Some of the white bones that stuck out of their arms were broken and thick scars marred their caramel skin. Kithra pushed past us to the front of the line and the guards didn’t acknowledge us.

  I looked out over the city, trying to get a glimpse of Rai, but when I didn’t see her and she didn’t come to my call, I was forced to go on without her. I knew she could take care of herself, but I didn’t know what to expect in this world.

  A long and narrow room stretched out past the entrance. At the end was a colossal staircase with two more guards on either side. The towering walls were frosted, with lines of red and brown swirling through them like an abstract painting. The hall was bare of furniture except for wooden pedestals lining each wall. They were evenly spaced with a clear glass case on top. Inside sat the preserved heads of different demons. The firs
t few demons looked like they belonged to Tiki’s tribe. Although most of the demons’ heads sat upright and looked pristine, the first head was weathered, stained with blood and sand, and upside down in the case. I stopped to study it but was urged along by Rayna. We passed more and more heads that all resembled Tiki’s clan, but after nearly a dozen, they changed abruptly. All of these heads were black with white lines decorating their faces in a unique design. There were close to fifty of them and the creatures’ eyes shone a disturbing blue. Four teeth curled from their mouths like elephants’ tusks. I expected one of them to move and start screaming at any moment.

  “The kings and queens who reigned before Mother,” Tiki whispered. “Those other creatures are from the Darkonian clan. They held rule over Lavinos before my family took over in a Death Throne thousands of years ago.”

  “Silence!” Kithra snapped. He had stopped in the middle of the room where the glass floor had an intricate circular design beneath its surface. Kithra glared at us with both his thick arms crossed. “Tikimicharnikato, you come. Mother awaits you.”

  “I will not leave them here.”

  “You will do as you are told, servant.”

  “I am no servant here. Not any longer. I earned my freedom.”

  “You are here because you’ve been beckoned by our Queen. The Death Throne ceremony is to take place in two days and until it is over, you are a slave to it. Your freedom and your life must be earned once again.”

  “What’s the Death Throne?” Vincent leaned in to me.

  “What would make you think I know?” I snapped, trying to pay attention.

  Tiki stepped forward and stared up at his brother. “You are mistaken, Kithra. As per Suriattas clan laws, when the Death Throne begins, all participants are slaves to it until a predecessor has been chosen. It has not yet begun, therefore my freedom and my status remain.”

  “That does not change what you are—an abomination.” Globs of white spit spilled from Kithra’s mouth as he said the last, but even as a drop splattered on Tiki’s cheek, Tiki didn’t flinch.