by Moore, Gabi
“What about my parents and uncle?” he asked her. His uncle Seth still looked at the ground and scowled.
“You all need to leave as soon as you can,” she continued. “Take the door back; it will be sealed on the other side. No one from your time circle will ever be allowed back inside this one. Too much damage took place. Those men he brought over, the guards have to leave as well.”
“And the sisters? They were involved in this too.” He turned and saw them standing with the guards and their retainers.
“They fought well when the need arose. Still, they knew it was illegal to manipulate abyss forces because of what you just saw. And they tried to conceal what took place when everything went wrong. If we hadn’t been informed by someone in the tower, it might’ve been too late before the sovereign could do anything.”
Dion had the sphinxes finish the earthen bridge across the moat. It wasn’t very long before they had one assembled and everyone who needed to leave was able to cross it. Finished with his elementals, he returned them to their natural form. The last he saw of them were small black spheres rolling across the landscape. Of course, no one else could see them.
Kiley Mahen, still in armor, traveled with the small crowd who were headed back to the door in the rock walls. Bernice from the ten women unit traveled with them too. Bernice held the key that would open the gate to their home world. It turned out the one Uncle Seth held turned to dust the moment Queen Lilith was defeated.
“It could have worked,” Seth Back finally spoke up as they watched Bernice attach the sigil disc to the rock facing. “I was close. You still need cheap electricity in this place.”
“If it means cutting deals with fiends like Queen Lilith,” Bernice responded, “then no thank you very much.”
Bernice took out the sigil on the small disc and placed it on the rock wall where Dion emerged the evening before. She removed her hand from it and the disc stayed in place. Once again, it stayed attached to any surface it touched. The disc began to spin again until it was a blur. Once more, it rotated backwards and forwards until it found the right combination for the door.
They watched as the outline formed and the rock turned into the shape of a wooden door. The image coalesced and it became a solid wooden door mounted into the rock on an elaborate frame.
“I wish we could have met years ago,” Kiley said to Dion as she gave him a hug. “Thank you for ridding the tower of those things.”
“I’m sure we’ll meet again someday,” Dion said to her. “Fate has a funny way of running in cycles...” He turned and looked at Bernice. “In spite of what governments try and do.”
Dion put his hand on the doorknob. He turned it and pulled. The door swung open with ease as it was mounted to take advantage of the balance. Dion stopped when it was at the halfway point and turned to look at Bernice again.
“One question,” he said to her. He waited.
“Go ahead,” she responded.
“What are you going to do about all those Azuroth who came through? The last we saw of them was a column marching in the direction of the mountain pass.”
“I guess we’ll worry about them when the time comes,” she replied. “The sisters showed us the tower has some use as a military garrison. Perhaps the sovereign was too quick to decommission the army in favor of the dragon corps. We might have to turn it into a garrison again with the sisters in charge of the post.”
Kiley looked up with bright eyes when she heard those words. “Mother and father would’ve liked that,” she stated.
Dion pulled the door open all the way. “Everyone follow me, this is where we leave,” he ordered and stepped into the other side.
As before, there was a momentary flash of darkness and he found himself back in the huge library. He continued to move as the others needed space too. Dion stepped forward and turned around.
His parents were inside the library next, followed by his Uncle Seth. After them were the security guards who had been employed by the mall. Since no one else was coming through to the other side, he expected the door would slam shut.
But it didn’t. The door closed slowly and then locked itself with an audible click. Dion felt relived and turned back to face Adam Belial, the man who had taken him through the door to the next world where the tower was located.
“I didn’t expect anyone through here today,” he said. “It wasn’t on the schedule, what is the meaning of- oh, hello Mr. Bach!”
Adam faced his employer, Seth Bach. Dion’s uncle was not happy and pushed him aside as he thundered through the next door.
Adam watched him leave and turned back to the crowd. “Now what was that all about?” he asked.
“Mr. Bach is not having a good day,” Dion explained. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to leave with my parents.”
“Hey, what about us?” one of the security guards called out. “We’ve spent the past three months keeping those furry things away from everyone else. When do we get paid?”
“You’ll have to take that up with my uncle,” Dion explained and pulled his parents along with him. A few seconds later, he was through the next door and thundering down the stairs to the office where the twins had their office.
Anders and Blaze both stood behind their counter as Dion entered their office with his parents. He stopped for a few minutes and asked them if his uncle had just come through.
“Yes he did,” Anders, informed them. “Seemed to be in a bad mood. What happened up there?”
“I’m sure you’ll hear about it in due time,” Dion told them. “How did he leave?”
“The door on the wall,” Blaze said, as he pointed to a door where one had not existed the last time Dion had been in the office.
“It’s the same one you used when you came through,” Blaze explained. “But this one has stayed in place.”
“No it’s not,” Anders argued with his brother. “That one had red wood with a brass plate.”
“You’re wrong as usual,” Blaze snapped at him. “It was a brass frame over green wood.”
As they bickered and argued, Dion went to the door and opened it. Blackness again. There was only one way to be sure and he didn’t have time to run tests. He took his parents by the hand and pulled them together as he went through the entrance.
Seconds later, after the light returned, he found himself back in the antechamber where Edward took him before he left. This was the same place and even the little Englishman was standing there in his shirt and tie.
“My, that was quick,” he said to him. “Did you plan on going back and finishing?”
“What are you saying?” Dion asked him. “I was there all night. I’m beat. By the way, this is my mother and father.”
“Ah,” Edward responded. “Time dilation again. I should have known. Fine boy you have there.” He shook the hands of both of Dion’s parents.
Dion went back to close the door and noticed something odd when he looked on the other side. Instead of darkness, light streamed into a vacant chamber. He stepped into the chamber on the other side of the door and saw metal struts holding up an aluminum structure. The clock part of the tower was visible way up in the air. There was even a service ladder, which ran up to it.
He walked into the shaft further and looked around some more. It wasn’t the lack of any activity inside it, the tower was a shell, an artificial creation designed to have the appearance of a medieval clock tower, but it was made from cheap metal and fiberglass. He doubted it would last five years before it needed to be replaced. Of course, this mall would be around for another fifty years at least, his uncle, or whoever he sold it to, would need to replace the tower or remodel the mall. He betted on the latter option.
Dion turned and walked back through the door into the office of the mall.
Lilly almost knocked him over when she collided with him.
“Dion!” she cried out, “I missed you so much!” Lilly through her arms around him.
While his parents looked at Lilly
in disbelief, Dion pulled her away and stood behind her.
“This is my fiancé, Lilly,” he told them. “Lilly, these are my parents. I went into the tower last night to rescue them. I was successful as you can see.”
“She wasn’t the only one who was worried,” another voice called from the opposite side of the office. Dion looked across and saw Sean and Emily.
“We were worried about you going inside there,” Emily told him. “I know we weren’t supposed to, but we had to be here when you entered the tower. We showed up late and found Edward standing by the door. He told us you were just left a few minutes ago.”
“Time dilation,” Edward explained again. “It happens when you cross time circles. To us, it seems Dion was gone only a few minutes. To him, it seems he was out all night. I’m sure the boy needs sleep.”
“A little bit,” Dion said as he put one hand to his head. He would need to see a doctor later about the blow he took to it. Surely, he could make up some story how it happened. Most members of the medical profession would look at you odd if you told them about being in the middle of a fight between demoniods and sphinxes.
“I managed to find the fifth element grandmaster,” Dion announced, “so now I have the power of the aether.”
“Did you rescue her?” Lilly asked him. “Wasn’t she kidnapped by your uncle?”
“It was a little more complicated than that,” he explained. Dion looked around the room. “As a matter of fact, where is my uncle? I thought he went through the door before me.”
“He did,” Edward explained. “And I let him go. He shot past us and never said a word. I daresay he has many things on his mind right now.”
“Dion,” his father said. “Can you take us somewhere? It has been a long time.”
“We can go to your other brother’s house,” Dion told him. “I’ve stayed with them since you disappeared last year.”
“Oh,” his mother commented. “We must be in Ohio.”
Epilogue
The porch over the mountains gave a good view of Mount Olympus. This was fine to the man who wore a silk dressing gown and sipped his coffee while reading the newspaper. He’d never accustomed to the modern smart phones and personal computers. The newspaper was enough for him and he liked to read his news after it had a few hours to settle down. He also took his morning meal alone, away from the petty troubles he had to endure later in the day.
So it was a surprise when the servant came into the marbled patio and stood silently by the breakfast table. The older man, who sat there with his newspaper, slowly turned and looked at the servant. The man who was seated at the table had a long grey beard and stroked it when he saw him. This was unusual. What could be so important it required is attention right away?
“Mr. Jupiter,” the servant said to him. “I have a man who wants to see you.”
“Does he have an appointment?” the greybeard asked. He took a sip of his coffee. What could it be this time?
“No, but I think you need to meet with him,” the servant replied. He’d worked for the Mountain long enough to know when to interfere with his boss’s routine. Now was such a time.
“You know my policy,” he thundered back. “No unannounced appointments. Now get him out of here.”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” a voice said behind the servant. “He’s already here.”
A young man stepped from behind the servant and starred at the older man. The greybeard looked at him and nearly dropped his coffee. The eyes, it was the eyes. Only one other person on earth had those eyes. There was another one long ago, but she was gone, to his eternal shame.
Which meant this young man had to be…?
“Dion,” he announced. “My name is Dion. We need to talk.”
“You are my son,” Jupiter Olympus said while his voice trembled. “I am your father.”
“No you are not,” Dion said. “You might have some part in my conception, but my real father was the one who raised me.”
“Doesn’t all the money I spent to make sure you were adequately cared for count?” the older man snapped back at him. “It should amount to something.”
“Not any longer it doesn’t” Dion told him. “I’ve passed my own trials. I can show you an example later, but we need to talk. There is much you and I have to discuss.”
The servant was gone. He understood sometimes his presence was unnecessary.
Dion went and sat down next to the older man. The weather was good outside and was supposed to remain that way all day.
- THE END -
Part II
Faerie Rift - A Paranormal Romance
Faerie Rift - An Adult Paranormal Romance
Chapter 1
The ground shuddered beneath my feet. The army was off in the distance still, but even as they approached, the planet marked their approach. Huge red ants, larger than most I had seen closer to the Capitol, all scurried into their holes. They were going underground, and I knew that if we were wise, we too would follow.
It is only the petulant and the foolhardy who fight their wars on the surface in spite of so great a force.
We were the Fae Resistance. Fighters who held close to their ideals, and even though we didn’t have a very good statistical chance of success, we were ready to both kill and die for what we believed in. The problem was that we could no longer continue to live as we had been living. We had reached a breaking point. There was nothing more to lose beyond the physical forms that we held, and even those were beginning to wane.
The enemy had so much more than us in almost every regard. The only thing that we had an abundance of was self-righteous pride, and determination. It served us well, because when you think that you are in the right, and that your cause is just, you can draw on stores that previously hadn’t existed.
The heat was unbearable, even from my position sequestered amongst the rocks. I was holed off to the side of the primary theater. The whole scenario was a last stand attempt to draw the troops out from the Capitol, and then assassinate their chain of command — starting with the leader of their army, Lord Xan.
First, the shots came down over my position. It was all Fae Magic, which is what made this whole battle so sickening. A country should never have to sustain the hells of a civil war, but when the flames exploded in dangerous circumference around the incendiary projectiles, I wasn’t thinking about the cruelties of war any longer.
None of us were.
Just then, there was a tear in my vision and I was in another place altogether.
The clang of the battle was moving forward in a volley of arrows. They blotted out the dim light of the sun, and created phantoms in the smoke that hung in the air. I watched from the sides while the smoke made the shapes of cruel tentacled monsters, and fierce serpents.
As though they were mocking us, which they most certainly were, the illusionists took hold of the scene. The dragons of my hallucinations took form and began to soar through the sky on serpentine currents of air.
We were all hidden, and we knew well enough that the arrows themselves were more dangerous than the phantoms, but I felt the effect of the illusions regardless. The sight of them reminded me of the posh aristocratic sorcerers who inhabited the Capitol. We were fighting so hard for equality, and they stood for every form of cruel and vindictive entitlement I could think of. Xan, our target for the day, was their leader.
I recall watching the places where my friends were holed up and waiting. They were far away, and their actual positions were obscured by the shadows of monsters from above. Rage swelled up within me and I struggled to retain the level of composure that I knew would be required of me moving forward in our mission.
Another visual tear, followed by the sound of static and a high pitch ringing in my ears.
The carrier tone is the aftermath of an explosion that went off too close for comfort. We finally erected some deflection spells, but I was caught on the wrong side of them. I got lucky. No other way to frame the situatio
n.
My body is full of adrenaline, and I am using every bit of my physical ability in order to move quickly. I have to close a great distance in a short period of time. Explosions around me spray my body with chunks of rocks. We have nearly missed the mark of what we were aiming to achieve.
In the distance, I can see Thane. He is supposed to be at my side but is caught up in an unfavorable battle. There are too many of them, and things are not going as smoothly as we had hoped they might.
I don't even have the presence of mind to wish that I as elsewhere.
My path to Thane is blocked, and I am pushed into the rear end of the fray. The rocks around me look like they have been lashed and marked by some furious storm. Rain pours down soot and debris from overhead. As the toxins are purged from the sky, I survey the field, and find our target -- the very reason for all of this sacrifice. Even as I see him, Xan is raining fire down from the heavens.
My vision widens as I consider what must be done. Without my consent, my senses have heightened to an exponential degree. Not only can I hear Thane's blade slide through the armor plating of the opponents he fights, but I can smell the seared flesh of our brothers and sisters on the far side of the battle lines. A vision of Xan grows in my head, and I realize that this is the future he wanted to achieve. Burning people alive who dared to disagree with his beliefs.
Without thinking, I took a step forward.
My role in all of this was supposed to be ancillary. I was supposed to create value. Provide information. I was not an action asset. That was Thane's job. However, every moment I continued to censor myself, was one more moment when I had to watch the world deteriorate around me. There wasn't enough time for things to unfold as we had planned, and it became increasingly clear to me that I needed to take a drastic step forward, and go at it alone.
