“Are these what Immortals look like? I haven’t seen one in so long,” a ball muttered to another.
“Not an Immortal,” I pointed out. “He’s a vampire. I’m a human.”
Another added, “Their bodies are awfully different than they should be. There’s quite a lot of hair. Such interesting pores on these creatures.”
I bit my tongue. It was tempting to snap that they too might not look so great after an all-out brawl with dozens of hunters, several soul-scourgers, and Immortal rulers on ash wraiths. Antagonizing these beings would not help us at all.
The female beside Un sighed. “What are we to do with them?” She regarded us carefully. “Unravel their energy? Would that play a part in Ruk paying his debt? He did bring them here.”
I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but it sounded bad, whatever it was. My insides turned to stone as I listened to the outpouring of suggestions.
“Unravel them. Give us the energy.”
“Let Ruk suggest his grand plan if he chooses to use his words.”
“They’re a threat to the Mandate of Secrecy,” Un said firmly. Every time he spoke, he wrested everyone’s attention back to himself. It would be impressive if it weren’t so frustrating. “If we send these creatures back to their own plane, they’ll expose the existence of arbiters to the rest of those lower beings. We have taken many pains to keep apart from them.”
So apparently, these beings were all arbiters. The idea of a secrecy mandate made a jolt of fear shoot up my spine. Dorian and I had stumbled deep into something far more serious and complex than we could ever have imagined. No, stumbled wasn’t the right word. I shot an annoyed look at Gate Maker. We had been dragged here.
The worst part was nobody cared to listen to us. I opened my mouth to protest but realized it was futile. These arbiters didn’t care. Anger boiled within me at the injustice. Had we left our desperate friends in the midst of a battle against evil only to be ignored by indifferent glowing orbs? The influx of vampire blood was fresh within me, making my frustration all the more biting.
"They're harmless and loyal to me," Gate Maker declared. A sour taste of disagreement entered my mouth. Were we? At this point, an alliance with Gate Maker looked potentially dangerous for us.
Dorian bristled. "That's not true." He twisted his mouth into a snarl, revealing one sharp fang. "We are not loyal to him. We have a pact with him created out of pure necessity. There is a difference. Tell us what's going on."
A feathery whisper tickled my ear as Gate Maker somehow muttered directly into it, "Be quiet. I'll explain later."
I was close enough to Dorian to see him stiffen under the effect of the voice as he too heard the message. None of the other arbiters paid us any mind. They hadn't heard Gate Maker’s words.
Un lifted his chin stubbornly. "You need to control your pets, Ruk."
A smattering of odd, soft laughter followed. It held nothing of the actual mirth or mocking one might find among mortals or even Immortals. Every action appeared restricted and subdued with this group. The simmering frustration inside me grew to new heights as the stale laughter jabbed every sore spot in my ego. I crossed my arms tightly against my chest, annoyed. Dorian leaned closer.
"They're not going to listen to us. We'll have to wait and see what we can do." He didn't bother lowering his voice. It wasn't like anyone was paying attention to us.
The bright orbs floated up and down slightly as the arbiters lapsed back into their furious dispute with Gate Maker. Their arrogance is unbelievable but convenient. I narrowed my eyes at the group.
A soft blue light the color of a faded robin's egg rose up a few inches above the others and spoke in a feminine voice. "We must ponder this further, clearly." The calm tone fell over everyone. It sounded almost artificial in its lack of emotion, but I welcomed the departure from the voices talking over one another.
"Your suggestion, Xiu?" Un asked. His lips pressed into a fine line, the flesh going purple as he did so.
"We have no need to rush into a hasty decision," Xiu replied. "We should be cautious moving forward with a decision of this magnitude and do our duty by considering all of Ruk's actions with care."
Un nodded slowly. "Very well, I see your logic. But what do we do with the criminal and his odd pets in the meantime?"
To be called a pet made my face flame with anger, and I tensed until Dorian rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. It was an action designed to comfort, but it also held a very slight warning. Don’t let them get in your head.
A lavender light let out something like a sigh. "Why do anything? They’re not our responsibility."
"Agreed," the bald female beside Un said. "Let Ruk take care of them. They're his vampires."
“Not a vampire,” I muttered once more, heeding Dorian’s warning as best I could but refusing to be dismissed entirely.
Dorian tensed. A shadow of pain passed through his glacial eyes, which were incredibly vibrant against the gray surroundings. He must hate being treated like Gate Maker's property. We were no longer autonomous beings. These guys couldn't even tell the difference between a human and a vampire. What a crock.
Gate Maker dropped a few inches, his light shifting to a deeper crimson color. He let out a growling noise, something akin to the one he’d made while in the giant reptilian form that I’d witnessed back at the sanitarium. The sound made me shiver with the memory of his immense power, even so severely weakened, smashing through the wall. The other orbs, which were every shade of the rainbow, paid him little attention as they began to disperse by drifting away or merely fading.
"I look forward to watching you pay your debts, Ruk. Finally." Un leveled a severe gaze at Gate Maker then turned and walked away, his physical form disappearing into the mist.
Xiu, the calm blue light, floated toward us. If she'd had a face, I imagined her eyes would be curiously sweeping up and down our figures as she made a slow loop around Dorian and me. She didn’t seem hostile, but it was still unsettling to stare at a sentient, glowing ball. She stopped, hovering at my eye level.
I cleared my throat. "Will you listen to us?" I asked, not hiding the annoyance in my tone.
"We're not pets," Dorian added. “We certainly don’t belong to Gate Maker. Or Ruk. Or whatever he’s called.”
Xiu bobbed up and down slightly. "Hello, life forms. It is nice to meet you. I am glad that you can understand me." Her speech was slow and stilted, like an adult not used to trying to converse with children. "For the mutual benefit of you and we arbiters, I will provide you with a proxy that will accompany you at all times."
A spark jumped from her, transforming before our eyes as the particles condensed into a vaguely human form. It solidified into a figure, smooth and gray with little structure in his face, and touched down to the floor with no sound. The proxy had two eyes and a mouth, but it was like a sculptor had lazily carved a neutral smile into his visage and shoved two dull gems in for eyes before calling it a day. The flat blue eyes stared at Dorian and me without expression. They reminded me of Xiu's coloring, but deeper.
I appraised the construct cautiously. I had no idea what a proxy was, but he struck me as some kind of servant. Was he sentient, like the creatures in the Immortal Plane? The way he looked at us seemed robotic.
"Guard these creatures," Xiu said, addressing the proxy. “Do not fulfill requests or give information that will endanger yourself or us.”
The proxy nodded. "Yes."
Xiu vanished without another word, leaving only Dorian, me, the proxy, and Gate Maker.
"Xiu shows as much emotion as her proxy," Gate Maker noted acidly as he bobbed near the proxy. He zoomed around it at breakneck speed, but the proxy failed to be intimidated. "Leave us alone, you annoying thing."
"That is against the terms of my existence," the proxy said mechanically.
I raised a questioning brow. Was this thing like a robot? I shot a curious look at Dorian, but he was busy glaring at Gate Maker.
"Stand further away, then," Gate Maker snapped at the proxy. He obediently took two steps to the left. Gate Maker gave up, swiveling around to us with an impatient grunt. "Well, let's go. We've got things to do."
A disbelieving scoff left me. He was still trying to order us around?
Dorian stared at him with a matching look of incredulity. "We’re not going anywhere," he said grimly. He pointed a finger at Gate Maker. "You have some explaining to do."
Chapter Two
Gate Maker made a sound between a grunt and an irritated sigh. It struck me as the most emotional display we'd heard from these Higher Plane beings, and it was bizarre to hear it coming from his glowing ball form. I wished he would turn back into a humanoid, or even a lizard at this point. I wanted to look him in the eyes to see his reaction as I challenged him.
"We need answers," I pressed.
"Fine, but let's move," Gate Maker insisted. His ball form shot forward, leaving us no choice but to follow.
Dorian tugged my hand, and we ran together after the energized red orb. It was hard to tell how fast we were running; there were no landmarks to measure our speed against. I let go of Dorian's hand so I could pump my arms to keep pace. Dorian and I flanked Gate Maker as he charged onward, zipping along just above our heads. I couldn’t help but notice that I breathed easily here, despite the pace.
As we ran at a steady jog through the blank void, I automatically scanned for threats, but the lack of horizon and no indications of anything ready to pop out at us threw me for a loop. Trying to draw on my training, I strained my senses for any external stimuli, but there was little to pick up. I heard no sound, not even our own footfalls. The vampire blood still in my system kept my senses sharp, but not even that could help in this plane. I couldn't let my guard down, but how did one search for danger in nothingness? Hell, it felt like we were running in place. Like a misty treadmill.
Keeping pace behind us, the proxy trailed along silently. Xiu had essentially assigned us a babysitter. Man, this is freaking weird. My frustration burned alongside my curiosity. Did Gate Maker just expect us to blindly accept this situation?
The surrealism of our situation hit me so suddenly I stumbled slightly despite the perfectly flat ground. A few short hours ago, we were in the midst of our most intense battle as we fought Immortal hunters at the training camp near the tear leading to the Mortal Plane. The smell of smoke and the echoing cries of the ash wraiths drifted up through my consciousness, haunting me.
Abruptly, the gray mist around us shifted, and I watched with shock as the world around me transformed. The formless void began to ripple with translucent spots of color. The floor remained the same reflective silver, but hazy yellow-green and murky blue clouds condensed above us. Slowing my run, I puzzled over what had caused this sudden change, my skin tingling with awed goosebumps in response to the lightning that crackled through the mist around us. I remembered how wondrous and strange soul-light had appeared to me when I first arrived in the Immortal Plane; this was on an entirely different level. How much of this universe am I ignorant of? I feared the answer to that question was far more profound than I could imagine.
Gate Maker sliced through my wonder at the sky. "Enjoying the show?"
"I’m more interested in what arbiters are and why they completely ignored Lyra and me," Dorian said sharply, eyes flickering between Gate Maker and the light show.
"They ignored you because they don’t care," Gate Maker replied bitterly. "Those esteemed beings who fall into the role of arbiters like to think of themselves as the precious administrators of the universe, doing good work for the betterment and benefit of all sentient beings across the three planes. In reality, most of them spend their time doing nothing but entertaining themselves, like spoiled children." He let out a withering laugh, apparently finding dark humor in the actions of his peers.
Dorian snorted. "You've got a lot of nerve to criticize them for shirking their duty. What about your promises to us? You told us that you would return us to the training camp. You promised. We have friends and families to protect. Was it all a lie?" His eyes narrowed to slits. "Why are we here, Gate Maker? I have a feeling it has to do with this mess about your debts."
He’d taken the words right out of my mouth. I glanced at our reflections in the silver floor, waiting for Gate Maker’s response. I couldn’t even look at him, I was so furious and disappointed. I’d thought we were starting to be friends.
Gate Maker's light pulsed, brightening to an angry red. "I'd return you right now if there wasn’t work to do here." His tone was defensive. "I had to bring you with me. I need your help to conclude my business here before I can fulfill our pact. When I regain my energy, I can do anything, including creating a portal back to your world and fixing that meddlesome tear between the Immortal and Mortal Planes. But for now we are all stuck here, and our predicament will proceed far more smoothly if you simply accept what has happened and move forward."
A new wave of fury washed over me as we settled into a jog to keep up with him. I hated how much Gate Maker's haughty attitude affected me. "Accept it? We made a pact, which you said you would be able to fulfill once you’d briefly returned to your home to regain your energy. Nothing was ever said about us coming with you, and the other arbiters are saying you have a huge debt to pay off! How long is it going to take for you to do that? How long is it going to take us to get back?" Irritation strangled the last words, but I managed to get them out. Despite the pace that Gate Maker had set, I wasn’t out of breath.
Gate Maker made a humming sound. "Yes, I currently lack power, thanks to their cruel intervention. And yet they still insist on this ridiculous debt. Isn't reduction to this form punishment enough?" The orb shivered, light flickering, disgusted. "Don't they have better things to do? I thought they would have gotten over it by now."
"So you knew we might get stuck in this place?" Dorian threw out. He hissed, frustrated. "How long will it take you to get us out?"
Gate Maker growled. Rather than developing any sense of remorse, he only seemed to get angrier and more irritated, like an adult dealing with impatient children. Nice freaking social skills he has.
"We’re not stuck, not really," Gate Maker said sharply. "And time works differently here, so however long we remain is probably nothing in the grand scheme of things."
I bit back a curse. I had a few choice words for Gate Maker, but Dorian was already helming the tension with him. If Gate Maker got cantankerous with both of us, it would only make things more difficult.
"Why should we help you after you lied to us?" Dorian asked, letting out a hollow scoff. "They said—your people—that they won't let you or us leave."
Gate Maker buzzed with energy. Above us, the red splotches grew darker. "They'll change their minds." His promise sounded more like a wish. "Look, I have bigger issues to attend to right now…"
As he made excuses, my hands balled into fists. He wanted us to eat his words up and move happily along. Nope. Not happening.
"Did you ever even intend to fulfill our pact? Or did you know that you wouldn’t have to do anything for us once you got us to this Higher Plane, knowing we would be powerless here?" I let my tone turn as sour as I felt. "Will our pact even hurt you if you don't fulfill it… or was that a lie, too?"
The orb buzzed with an annoyed sigh. "The magical repercussions of not fulfilling the pact are real, and I will be seriously hurt if I do not do what I agreed to. However… we technically never set a date for the pact. As long as I intend to do it, which I absolutely do, the magic won’t harm me. I just need your help with some things here first. As I’ve tried to explain—"
At his flippancy and admittance of the loophole, I stopped running. "Screw you, because so far you haven't explained a single thing." Dorian and Gate Maker paused, and the proxy halted behind us. I glared at Gate Maker. "You've been playing us. You spent all that time telling me how you didn't want to be used like you were in the sanitarium. I supported you. I tried to understand you
and your pain. You made us lie to our friends to make you feel safer, and we went along with it because Dorian and I thought we were all working together. Now you've gone and used us. How the hell did you expect us to feel? What does being capable of that level of manipulation and deceit say about you, Gate Maker? What will those actions do to your soul?”
The orb juddered briefly, but Gate Maker simmered in silence. Dorian shot me an understanding look, giving me a small nod of sympathy.
"I don't have a soul," Gate Maker said simply. "So it doesn't matter." His words came out as a grave, depressed confession. If he had his face, it would be pained, yet I found it hard to offer much empathy.
Something moved in the corner of my eye, and, heart hammering, I whirled around to see dark shapes breaking through the mist. My mind swam for a moment as the world spun. I hadn't realized how disoriented the landscape had made me until there was something to actually relate my physical presence to. In the distance, shapes resembling buildings slowly drew nearer as we started walking. It finally gave a sense of depth to the endless flatness. I sucked in a breath of relief.
Gate Maker shot off. "Home!"
His urgent cry left us in the dust. Dorian and I shared a shocked look before we took off running after the bobbing light, but soon we didn’t even attempt to keep up, instead taking our time to scan our surroundings. After all, something with sharp teeth might be waiting in the fog to take us out.
I glanced over my shoulder. The proxy stared intently at me, his deep marine eyes glowing in the grim mist around us. He appeared not to blink or even regard my look with more than passing interest. I stifled a shiver at the sight.
Dorian exhaled slowly as he watched the dark shapes in the distance.
"Should we follow him or let him go?" I asked. "There's no telling what's over there. He refuses to give us straight answers about anything."
Darklight 6: Darkbirth Page 2
