Paranormal Chaos

by Joshua Roots

  “We need to think about escape,” I shouted, blasting another Minotaur in the chest. He clutched his breastplate but kept coming. I fired two more times before he dropped.

  “Alpha?” Steve called.

  Europa split an attacker from navel to neck, stepping out of the way as the guy’s innards painted the floor.

  “To the pantry,” she called.

  She sprinted across the room, but a crossbow bolt punched through her armored abdomen before she made it halfway. She snarled and fell back against the wall. I put my last two rounds into the bowman while Steve raced to her side. He put her arm around his shoulder, then hauled her to her feet.

  “Marcus, clear us a trail,” he yelled.

  Shoving the empty Glock into the holster, I drew my blade and reached for my Skill. Having barely had any time to recuperate from the Healing Spell, my bucket of power was dangerously low. And without the ability to access the elements around me, I had nowhere to turn for support except inward.

  Focusing on the fear and anger swelling inside my chest, I redirected those emotions into my body. Energy tingled as I charged the nearby doorway, crashing into the newest wave of Makha’s troops like a hockey player. The Minotaurs staggered backward, apparently surprised by my sudden attack.

  Channeling my Skill, the world around me shifted to a hazy red as the rage of betrayal fueled my system. My sword, shining in the torchlight, arced with murderous accuracy. A throat split open, an arm was severed, a head dropped to the floor. Blood spilled. Screams echoed.

  Far too quickly the red turned to gray and my powers weakened. My shoulder ached and my sword felt heavier with every swing. The enemy kept coming, unhindered by the growing body count, so I pressed on, pushing my Skill to the bitter end. Come hell or high water, I would protect Steve and Europa by carving a gory path toward the secret exit.

  Metal flashed before my eyes, then a grunt of pain erupted from behind me. I spun as Steve fell to a knee, a throwing knife protruding from his left side. Europa crashed to the ground as well. Steve grimaced, pressing a hand against the injury as he shifted to shield Europa from the attack.

  Bellowing with the last bits of rage, I drove a fist into the chin of the knife-wielding Minotaur. He rocked back, but as I swiped my blade to finish him, something slammed into me from the side. My head bounced off the wall and my knees gave out. I dropped, fighting unconsciousness. My sword was ripped from my hands, then a leather boot kicked me. I doubled over only to be jerked upright by my collar. I gasped, both in pain and in shock as Melifinous held me before Makha.

  “Creator, what are you doing here?” he asked in a sad voice as more of his troops appeared. They trained their weapons on Steve and Europa.

  I tried to speak, but the hand on my throat made it impossible to breathe, much less talk.

  Makha glared at my captor. “Melifinous, please. He’s finished. Give him air and return his weapon. Gently.”

  “He killed our soldiers,” the Minotaur said, tightening his grip on my neck.

  The euphor darkened. “The Creator is misguided and ignorant. We owe him mercy and an explanation.”

  Melifinous growled but thankfully loosened his hold on me.

  “You live only because he deems it,” he whispered in my ear as he slid my blade into the scabbard on my back.

  Normally, I’d have made some smart-ass comment, but I simply had nothing left to give. Makha shook his head at me, then walked over to Steve.

  “I understand your instinct to protect her, Heir,” Makha said, “but like the Creator, you are simply misguided.”

  Steve threw himself at Makha. The euphor recoiled in surprise, but several guards grabbed my buddy before he reached his target. Steve broke the jaw of one and nearly ripped the jugular from another before they were able to subdue him. Straining, they stripped him of his swords and dragged him to the far side of the hall.

  As he struggled against his captors, Europa rolled to her knees. Clutching the bolt in her belly, she hauled herself upright and faced Makha.

  “It didn’t have to end like this.”

  The euphor sighed. “Yet here we are.”

  “Was this your intention all along? To wrest control of our people through betrayal?”

  Makha frowned. “It’s you who betrayed the clan, Europa. You’ve kept us isolated for years, fed us lies and fear about the outside world. We stagnate, limping along through history when we should be sprinting. Even the Heir knew that as a youngling. Yet you ignored his wisdom, shunned him for his words.”

  “You think I didn’t do everything in my power to keep Stephanos here?” she asked, tears forming in her eyes as she looked to her son. “To convince him to one day lead our people? He left of his own accord and I mourned his absence every single minute.”

  Steve grew still and stared at her.

  Makha scoffed. “He wouldn’t have fled had you truly allowed him to be the leader he was destined to be. One who could have guided us to glory quickly.” He waved a hand in my direction. “The Creator is proof that it’s possible. His people lived in the shadows for generations, yet now in the light they have grown mighty in a short period of time. Despite being few in numbers, they learned how to adapt to the modern world, how to question authority when it was wrong, and how to gather the power required to lead a nation of lesser beings. Why not us?”

  “We’ve done no such thing,” I said, my voice rasping.

  Makha glanced at me. “You’re modest, a trait that I deeply respect. Yet you yourself admitted that your Council required its cages rattled to enact change.”

  “Not through violence.”

  “Sometimes the situation demands it.” He turned back to the Europa. “Like the Skilled, we were once a great people. Strong. Feared. Respected. We ruled alongside them. We forged history together. Now we cower in remote mountains, terrified of the outside world.” He shook his head. “No, I’ve done nothing but liberate our clan from a meaningless existence.”

  “What will you do, Makha? Force the other species to respect you?”

  His lips curled downward. “Their place is beneath us. What we deserve is what we once had: a relationship with our Creators at the throne of greatness. Everything else will fall into place naturally, as it did before.”

  Europa chuckled, wincing in pain. “You may find the humans unwilling to accept your vision.”

  “He came to us for a reason,” Makha countered, pointing at me. “The Delwinn Council yearns for an alliance. Desires us to be by their side. We must honor that request.”

  Europa straightened her back. When she spoke, her voice was strong and authoritative. “We’ve survived because of unity and isolation. You will be the cause of our destruction.”

  “No,” he said, wearily, “I shall repair what you’ve already destroyed.”

  He moved with startling speed. A blur of brown and red, he pulled the ancient spear from the wall and drove it under Europa’s left breast. Steve released a bone-chilling howl as the Alpha sagged against the weapon, blood pouring from the wound.

  “I never wanted this,” Makha said softly, lowering her to the ground. She blinked, gazing down at the shaft in her chest, then up at Steve, who thrashed against his captors. Her mouth moved, but no words escaped.

  Then she went limp.

  Makha stood, jerked the spear free, then saluted her with three fingers. “Gods welcome you home, Europa.”

  Melifinous placed his fist on his chest. “Hail, Alpha.”

  “Hail, Alpha,” the others repeated.

  Makha faced me, his eyes mournful. “This is a horrible thing, but it’s over. Now we must begin the next phase. For the benefit of both our people.”

  I tore my gaze away from Europa’s corpse. “The Council isn’t going to deal with a murderer. They’re going to fry your ass.”
<
br />   “They may be more accepting once I open our borders to them. Allow their scholars access to our knowledge base. Isn’t that what you all want? Information that you’ve lost over the years and peace between our worlds?”

  Whatever answer I was going to make was drowned by Steve’s roar. Makha spun as Steve hurled his captors into the wall, crushing one skull and snapping the arm of another. Then he threw himself at Europa.

  “Mother!” he screamed, gathering her in his arms and pressing her cooling body to him.

  “Oh, Heir,” Makha said heavily. “I am truly sorry.”

  Steve’s face contorted with unrestrained rage. He jerked the knife from his side and charged his mother’s murderer. The new Alpha twisted and the blade tore into his right arm, above his other injury, instead of his heart. Steve shifted with the momentum, grabbing him by the shoulder and driving him into the wall. Steve flipped the knife and swiped at the throat, but Melifinous released me and tackled him before he could make the kill. I moved immediately, but another guard grabbed me.

  “Subdue the Heir,” Makha growled, gripping his injury and walking quickly to the door as a second guard dove into the melee. “Once he is pacified, bring him and the Creator to my chambers.” Then to me. “I hope when the shock of this subsides that you’ll still listen to reason. If not, I’m positive someone else on your Council will.”

  He exited with some of his troops. The remaining guards fell onto Steve, struggling to hold him. When Steve hurled a pair to the floor, my own guard dropped me in order to join the fray.

  Freed once more, I drew my blade. Realizing his mistake, my captor reached for me. A flick of my sword and he recoiled, grasping a bloody stump.

  Behind me, Steve drove a fist into Melifinous’s face, and Makha’s man went slack. Steve pushed him off, then caught the wrist of another attacker and snapped the forearm across his knee. The guard shrieked but was silenced a second later when Steve plucked a sword from the ground and rammed it through his chest. A third lost a leg, then his head.

  I parried a massive broadsword into the wall. The towering Minotaur stumbled and I kicked at his kneecap with all my might. The joint didn’t break, but the beast was knocked off balance and fell to the floor.

  I sprinted toward my friend. “Let’s go.”

  Steve hesitated, gazing down at his mother.

  “Steve!”

  Reluctantly, he followed.

  Guards trailed behind as we threaded through the rooms. Thankfully we’d gotten a head start, so we reached the pantry and were sliding down the ladder by the time Makha’s forces piled into the kitchen. Darkness enveloped us as Steve led us down the tunnels. Behind us, Minotaurs began landing on the cold stone ground.

  “Get us out of here, dude,” I said. “Without the torchlight, I’m blind.”

  He grunted, jerking us down a passage to the left when we reached the fork in the road. Soon the sound of our breathing was louder than the shouts of alarm echoing off the walls.

  We reached a small pool a moment later. At least, that’s what I my feet told me. I couldn’t see a damn thing in the pitch black.

  “Hold your breath.”

  I sucked in a huge lungful of air, then he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me under.

  My body convulsed as the freezing water swallowed us. The world around us was nothing but a muted void, punctuated only by the massive tug of Steve as he hauled us through the water. Pressure built around my head, squeezing against me. Seconds turned to minutes, which turned to hours as my lungs began to ache. I exhaled slightly to reduce the tension, then fought the urge to inhale. I begged my body to resist the demand for air, but it was a losing battle. My mouth opened against my will and I sucked inward. Water flooded into my system and I panicked, clawing at Steve. I struggled to force the water out while my lungs instinctively tried to bring more in.

  Then the pressure vanished and I was floating. For a moment I wondered if the weightlessness was similar to being in space. Gravity returned and I splashed into the water once more. Steve seized me as I went under, then dragged me to dry land and dropped me on a muddy bank.

  Free of a watery grave, my lungs heaved. I vomited water, sucked in oxygen, then vomited once more. Coughing and gasping, I rolled onto my side. Tears joined the water dribbling down my face as the world spun. Eventually the universe righted itself, leaving me with nothing but the cold in my body and the thunder in my ears.

  Arms shaking, I pushed myself onto my butt. Rubbing my eyes, I allowed them to adjust to the darkness. Trace rays of moonlight filtered through the trees. Nearby, Steve sat by the short waterfall, head low. I dragged myself on all fours to him, flopping down at his side. His hand was over the wound, but as I reached for it, he leaned away.

  “It’s fine.” His voice was heavy. He stared into the huge creek as it rolled and spun. “I should have done something.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Shouts filled the woods above us. I looked up, half expecting Makha’s forces to be waiting for us. The cliff was empty.

  “The army’s already on the move,” Steve said. “He might spare a patrol to search for us, but we’re not his main concern anymore.”

  “Who is?”

  “The Centaurs.”

  I frowned. “Why?”

  “Because Makha will need to ensure there’s no question to his authority as Alpha now. Word moves fast in the paranormal world, so folks will hear about the coup pretty quickly. Some species may see this as a crack in our armor and attack. In all reality, the Centaurs are the closest thing to a threat, so if he makes a preemptive strike, it will likely stop anyone else from moving against him.”

  “That would be an act of war.”

  He turned to me, his eyes sad and mournful. “It’s what I would do if I was the Alpha.”

  Oh hell.

  “We need to warn them.”

  “There’s no way we’ll reach them before Makha does. But don’t worry about them.”

  “I have good reason to. You handily dispatched a large number of their warriors. What chance will they have against an army of Minotaurs?”

  “We were trying to escape their land, not invade it. Besides, we helped them more than they realize. They’ll be on high alert after our run-in, which means all their defenses will be primed and ready to go. Trust me, attacking an entrenched enemy like the Centaurs is difficult. It’ll be bloody, but they should be able to hold their own. At least, for a while.

  “It’s the rest of the paranormal world, and yours for that matter, that should be afraid. Makha will make a statement to everyone that the Minotaurs are back from the dead. He’ll do it by crushing any opposition.”

  “We can’t let that happen.”

  “What can we do?” Steve asked. “Makha is the Alpha now, which means he has full authority over our people and our army. He’ll march on other species since none of them are large or powerful enough to stop him.”

  “Alone, no. But together, yes.”

  Steve shook his head. “The paranormal world is fractured, Marcus. You can’t just have a joint summit at the drop of the hat.”

  I struggled to my feet. “Actually, we can.”

  He frowned.

  “First, we’re going to find the nearest human town so I can call the Council and let them know what’s coming.”

  “And then?”

  I clenched my fists. “Then we’re going to contact the leader of every damn species on the planet and tell them they’d better get their asses in gear so we can create an army large enough to crush your mother’s murderer.”

  Steve stared at me. “That’s certainly a plan. An asinine one, but a plan nonetheless. I’m in, but only on one condition.”

  “Anything.”

  He stood as well and offered me his hand. “I get to kill
the bastard.”

  I gripped it. “Hell yeah.”

  Chapter 14

  Flight

  “With the monster dead, Theseus claimed his prize in Ariadne. Together they set sail for Athens.”

  —The Legend of Ariadne

  “This is a travesty.”

  “Understatement of the century, Dad.”

  “Humor is uncalled for right now, Marcus.”

  My ears burned with embarrassment. “Yes, sir. Sorry.”

  He sighed heavily into the phone. “Me too. I’m just...stunned.”

  “I think everyone is. Hell, I’m still reeling from it myself.”

  “How’s Steve?”

  I glanced at the booth where my friend was staring into an enormous mug of coffee. “Still in shock.”

  “I can’t imagine what he’s going through at the moment.”

  “Me neither.”

  “He’ll be okay. This wound will heal. Not anytime soon, but eventually. The ache will always remain, but one day he’ll wake up and the stabbing pain in his chest will have subsided.”

  I watched the waitress offer him more coffee. The horns never moved. After a moment, the lady walked back behind the counter.

  I pulled my gaze from Steve. “I hope you’re right.”

  “You recovered.”

  “I didn’t violently lose a parent.”

  “No, but you did lose friends at a very young age.”

  “It took years for me to mend physically. Even longer emotionally.”

  “But you did mend. Steve’s hardy. I have faith that he’ll get through this. He can’t do it alone, though.”

  I rubbed my eyes, still unable to erase the image of Europa dead on the hallway floor. “I’ll be there when and if he needs me. Anyway,” I said, getting back to the issue at hand, “we need cash so we can get back to DC. This place has a substation, so you can wire us the money.”

  Everything—my wallet, sat phone, ammo and food—was still in my backpack at the Minotaur hut. Only the generous nature of a truck driver had gotten us from the middle of nowhere to the diner.