Dead Time Series

by Jason Wilcox

  Bridget’s mouth dropped. She didn’t know how to explain that she didn’t do anything. “That wasn’t on purpose…back in the city. I don’t know how I did that or where the power came from.”

  The smell of cooked meat was beginning to fill the cave, causing Bridget’s stomach to growl. “Did you learn anything from the Witch?” Raestal looked down as he spoke, turning the snake meat slowly.

  Surprised by his question, Bridget sat back a little. Her mind was fatigued and she struggled to think it through. “Nothing. She told me I wasn’t ready.” She lowered her head slightly and looked down at the sand. “She told me not to let anyone know, but she did teach me some basic things, like the healing chant.”

  Chuckling with a big smile, the demon pulled the snake meat out and took a bite, only to put it back in the fire. “That Witch is crafty.” The smell of meat and the hunger-pain in Bridget’s belly were getting the best of her. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could go without.

  “Can I have a bite?” she asked as politely as she could.

  “As soon as the meat is cooked, you can have more than just a bite.” Leaning to his left, he picked up a dried piece of cactus and threw it on the fire. Bridget was surprised to see that the cactus was white. She had never seen anything like it before. “If you’re thirsty, there’s also a small spring a little farther in, with great water.”

  Raising her eyebrows, she quickly stood almost banging her head on the ceiling and headed there. Her muscles throbbed as she moved.

  “If she didn’t teach you to do that thing in the city, how did you know how to do it?” his deep voice echoed back to her. The spring was small but perfect to wash her skin. Not to mention, it was cold and refreshing as she took multiple long drinks.

  Once she finished getting her last drink and wiping water off her mouth, Bridget turned back to Raestal. “I’m not fully sure. I guess you could say it came from within. Maselda once told me that the real power I hold will come from within, and when the time comes the power would release itself naturally. She told me that most of the power she has, she discovered the same way.”

  Walking back to the fire, she found Raestal cutting the meat in half. The tips were a little black from being over cooked, but it looked delightful at the moment.

  “She is an amazing lady,” Raestal said with a large smile as he handed half of the snake to Bridget. “She never ceases to surprise me.” His black eyes gazed into the fire. “You went out on a limb to tell me she taught you some things. If she ever tells you not to share information with others, you shouldn’t. And that means you don’t with anyone. You’re lucky that you ended up sharing that with me,” he stopped talking and took a large bite of meat.

  “I don’t understand. Why?”

  “You could get her in trouble, and yourself.” Raestal quickly took another bite between words. “Azgiel has very strict rules about you, which everyone knows.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I…I didn’t know.” Between her nervousness and hunger, Bridget took a bite of the snake meat. Surprisingly, it was delicious.

  “Do you know who I am amongst the demons?” he asked, turning his head.

  “I didn’t even know there were positions or ranks amongst the demons. So, no.”

  A smile stretched across his face. “I am one of the three that had been specifically ordered to guard her highness, Maselda, the Witch. The assignment was given many lifetimes ago when the wars first began. Azgiel wanted his top three demons to watch over her, there was Kaz, Strite, and myself. At all times, there is one of us that has an eye on her or knows where she is. With Kaz running so many missions for Azgiel lately, it’s been Strite and me watching over her.”

  Swallowing her food, Bridget spoke up, fascinated to learn such information. “I’m surprised; I never saw demons watching over her.”

  “We make sure to stay hidden.” Raestal wiped his sword on a cloth and then put it back in its sheath. “Since you’ve entrusted me with information, I will in turn tell you something. As her three guards, we have made an oath to follow her above all others. We do all that she asks without question, even if it goes against Azgiel’s command.” He shifted his weight and looked out of the cave for a moment, almost as if he were debating what he was going to say next. Finally, he looked back at Bridget. “I won’t tell you everything, but I will tell you this. The Witch has specifically ordered me to keep you alive, even if it risks us not getting Mauldrin or the sword. I’m your protector until I get you back to her safely.”

  Bridget bit into snake meat again, not knowing what to say. She felt humbled by his words. After swallowing her bite, she looked up at the demon’s dark penetrating eyes. “Thank you. I am honored.”

  CHAPTER 11

  The darkness of the cave surrounded Caden. He felt along the walls as he kept moving, knowing he needed to stay out of the way of the fight. It was now silent behind him. He debated if he should go back to see if Tagen was okay or if he should possibly stop and wait for him. But, he also knew he would be more useful if he could get to light, so he needed to press on, even if it was slow going. Rocks and dips in the ground kept tripping him and slowing him down.

  “Mauldrin,” it was Tagen’s voice, and sounded like it came from beside him.

  “Tagen?” Caden asked, stopping his movement and feeling outwards.

  “Yes, it’s me,” his voice seemed a little run down, mellower or possibly distracted.

  “Where’s Matt? What happened back there?”

  “Matt’s gone. He turned into something I’ve never seen before and I hope I never see again.” Tagen gave an audible swallow. “The dark matter…it turned him into…I guess a dark soul, but with more strength and aggression. He killed Laht, which I’m sure you already figured out.”

  “Where did Matt go? Did you kill him?” Caden let go of the wall and reached in the direction of Tagen’s voice, but nothing. Silence followed his question. “Tagen, are you there?” He took two cautious steps forward, still feeling outward for Tagen.

  “Yes,” Tagen spoke softly while taking Caden’s hand. “I’m still here.”

  “Well, what happened to him?”

  “I’m not sure,” again Tagen’s voice was lifeless, distracted. “I killed him in a sense. His dark soul body is dead. But as I killed it, something real and alive stayed behind. It was like a soft light that thanked me.” Tagen moved Caden’s hand to his shoulder and they began walking again, Tagen leading the way.

  “Like his spirit?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Tagen and Caden walked in silence. He didn’t know what else to say and apparently, neither did Tagen. But the thought was a comforting one for Caden.

  They walked for hours and hours, the darkness always in front of them, which seemed to be the theme of their silent journey.

  Finally, after who knows how many hours, Caden could see light in the distance. It was a wonderful sight. It was only a small amount of light. He even picked up the pace slightly. Tagen resisted at first, but after Caden’s pushing, he began to speed up. The light grew with every passing minute to the point where Caden finally let go of Tagen’s arm.

  Still moving cautiously, because the light wasn’t the best yet, Caden jumped around the rocks, moving as quickly as he could. After coming around a bend in the cave, he stopped. The entrance was only a little farther. Caden smiled and started walking fast enough it almost appeared he was jogging.

  “Mauldrin,” Tagen spoke quietly while grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back.

  “What?” he asked as he came to an abrupt stop.

  “We still don’t know if Laht was setting us up for a trap. There could be a setup waiting for us to exit this place.” Tagen let go of Caden’s shoulder and took a step back. “Let me go first and see what’s out there. If it’s okay, I’ll let you know.”

  Tagen went to walk out, but Caden stopped him. “We’ll both go. We can watch each other’s backs.”

  Before he s
aid a word, Tagen disappeared. “I don’t want to worry about needing to protect you. I can move faster and check things out quickly,” Tagen’s voice moved towards the mouth of the cave as he spoke.

  At a loss, Caden turned and walked back to a large boulder they just passed and sat down. Never in his adult life had he needed protection, he clenched his fist and let out a deep breath.

  Closing his eyes, Caden tried to think of something a little less frustrating. He thought back to when he escaped the dark soul’s prison where he was being turned into a dark soul, and how he believed it had been Bridget that rescued him but wasn’t able to ever prove it. He wondered where she would be or what she was doing if she were still alive.

  Her soft skin and gentle touch ran through Caden’s mind. I would give anything, absolutely anything to get her back. Opening his eyes and sitting up, he remembered what Tagen had just told him. Matt had been a spirit, a source of light after he died. The story gave Caden hope that maybe she did rescue him but had been a spirit. He lowered his head slightly, if that was the case, she would’ve been dead.

  “Coast is clear.” Tagen reappeared in front of Caden. “Let’s go.”

  With a halfhearted effort, Caden pushed off the rock and began to walk towards Tagen. He had held out hope that Bridget was still alive after he was rescued from the dark souls. That hope seemed to dwindle making his body feel heavier and less pleasant to move.

  “Are you coming?” Tagen asked while standing at the mouth of the cave. Realizing he was walking slowly, Caden picked up his pace and tried to focus on revenge. His anger helped him feel a little better, but not much.

  A slight breeze blew through the entrance of the cave, blowing on Caden’s ragged clothing. Tagen led the way. A strange jagged white stripe ran down Tagen’s shoulder, almost like a scar. It branched out in areas like veins.

  “What happened to your shoulder?” Caden asked. He got closer to get a better look.

  “What do you mean?” Tagen asked, trying to turn his head to look. Reaching out, Caden felt it. The white skin was very soft to the touch.

  With his black claws, Tagen reached back and ran his fingers over the strange scar. His red eyes widened and with a quick movement, he snapped his hands forward and began to walk again, ignoring Caden.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s nothing. Let’s keep moving,” he hissed without turning around.

  Rolling his eyes, Caden kept following, not interested in arguing with a dark soul. Outside of the cave, they stood on a steep rocky hill that led to a dried up riverbed. All around them were high cliffs with towering rock walls. Large buzzards stood in the distance staring at them.

  “I guess we’re climbing out of here.” Caden turned to look at the rock wall behind them. It stood about thirty feet high, not bad at all. Not wanting to stick around, Caden headed for the wall to climb. The rocks were heavy, black, and rough to the touch.

  Before Caden pulled himself up with the first rock, Tagen started climbing, moving quickly up the cliff. Small pieces of rock fell, bouncing off large boulders on their way down.

  “Do you know where we are?” Caden asked, his voice echoing in the distance.

  “Established River is the name I believe you humans called it,” Tagen stopped to answer, then moved on ahead.

  “It can’t be Established River,” Caden spoke under his breath and paused for a moment to look back at the empty riverbed. Established River was huge and always flowed, it didn’t dry up. “I should’ve never walked away from my country when they needed me.” Caden tightened his jaw and felt anger flowing through him.

  “Come on, let’s keep going,” Tagen said from the top of the cliff, “Unless you’re done with finding Domblin.”

  “Domblin!” Caden focused on climbing the wall, moving faster than before. “No, I’m coming.” He made short work of the small cliff. At the top, they were on a hill that overlooked the city, at the southwestern end. Everything was war torn and damaged. Blinking a couple times, Caden couldn’t believe it. There was no way the whole city could’ve been hit that hard.

  Caden brought a hand up and rubbed his right temple. “My country,” Caden said to himself. “All of this couldn’t have happened because of Matt.”

  “I think we missed out on quite a war,” Tagen spoke, sounding rather amused about the destruction.

  Tightening his jaw muscles, Caden did his best to restrain his anger towards Tagen for taking the deaths so lightly. “Let’s keep moving,” Caden’s tone was sharp. “Which direction is Domblin?”

  Tagen didn’t move, he just stood there looking over the city. “Mauldrin, I don’t think he’s down there any longer. Maybe we should come up with a new plan.” He turned to Caden, his red eyes were dimmer in the sunlight. “We could head for the hills, where I could teach you about your past and try to help you get your power back from so long ago.”

  “No and no.” Caden pushed past him, ignoring the ideas. He decided he would at least start heading into the city.

  “Why?” His hands were outstretched and he had a surprised look on his face, as if he actually thought Caden would go for the idea.

  “Because the last time you tried to tell me about my past, it was all lies. I’m not going to trust you to tell me the truth this time,” Caden didn’t even bother to turn around as he spoke. He wanted to make sure Tagen stuck with the plan.

  “Let me tell you something, Mauldrin. That sword you carry is powerful, no question about it, but if that’s all you have, it won’t be long before you’re going to be killed.” As Tagen spoke, Caden turned to look over at him. “I know you don’t know much about your past, but I can change that. I can tell you and show you things that will make you more powerful than you could imagine.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t trust you,” as he finished his sentence, he heard a playful dog bark from behind him. Tagen quickly disappeared. “Mags?” Caden turned to look. A large yellow dog came out of the bushes. She stopped for a second and gave a strange whimper as she looked at Caden’s altered body.

  “Mags, come here girl.” Bending down, Caden snapped his fingers to call her over. She lowered her head and whimpered as she slowly approached him. “I can’t believe it’s really you. Come on, come here girl.” Picking up her pace, she climbed into Caden’s arms. Her whimpers subsided and she began licking him, her body shaking with excitement.

  “It’s okay Girl, calm down.” Caden pulled her close, patting her on the head.

  “She’s not alone,” Tagen whispered but stayed invisible.

  A high-pitched ringing began to sound out, hurting Caden’s ears. From behind, he could hear Tagen hiss. Plugging his ears, Caden looked up to see a couple of shadowy shapes in the bushes next to him where Mags had come from.

  “Hold up,” a familiar voice called out and the ringing stopped. From the bushes appeared a man in strange metallic armor with yellow glasses that had green static on the lens. He held a large gun that looked like a rifle but had a strange green pulsing tip.

  “James?” Caden asked in shock. A couple of large scars ran down the right side of his face and onto his neck. His short hair had gray in it, and his skin was aged, giving the impression he had been through a lot since Caden had seen him.

  “That can’t be you,” James spoke while keeping his gun on Caden. Four more men came out of the bushes, guns pointed at him. Caden didn’t know any of the others.

  “It’s me, Caden.” Caden stood up slowly, Mags stayed at his legs.

  “Where have you been, and what the heck happened to you?” James’s eyes scanned Caden as he spoke.

  Two of the other men moved their guns to Caden’s left and the green tip intensified. Knowing what was going on, Caden moved to where they were pointing, throwing his arms up.

  “Don’t shoot. He’s with me!” Caden yelled, hoping he was blocking them from shooting Tagen.

  “Can they see me?” Tagen whispered into Caden’s ear.

  “I think so,” he whispered back,
trying to move his mouth as little as possible.

  James walked over to Caden letting his gun lower to his right side. “Mighty strange company you keep Caden.” A strange smile grew on James’s face.

  “He’s…” Caden wasn’t able to get another word out. The butt end of James’s gun smashed into Caden’s face, knocking him out cold.

  When the blackness faded and Caden came to, he found it hard to see at first. The lights were blinding to his pounding headache. He could feel a lump on the side of his head where James had hit him.

  “And you swear this is him,” a deep gruff voice spoke.

  “I’m not too sure,” James’s voice filled the room. Blinking a couple of times, the light began to die down for Caden, but the headache stayed. “It looks like him, and Mags seems to think it’s him, but look at his skin and eyes. And there’s no way Caden would be traveling with a dark soul, so I’m not sure. Maybe he’s like Toby, where his body is intact but he’s internally some other creature.”

  “What…” Caden mumbled and tried to move, but found he couldn’t, because he was shackled. His vision focused and he looked around. Multiple people stood close by, dressed in the same strange armor he had seen James wearing.

  “He’s waking up,” someone spoke from above Caden where he couldn’t see.

  “Welcome to our base,” the deep gruff voice spoke again. Caden turned his head to the right and saw James and Mags standing next to a tall, broad man who seemed familiar. He had on army fatigues with a large gun strapped to his side. The sides of his hair were gray and his face well aged.

  “Can you tell me your name?” the man asked.

  Without knowing who the man was and being chained up, Caden didn’t trust him enough to tell his full name. “Caden.”

  “Caden what?”

  “How about you tell me who you are first and why I’m shackled to this table before I start answering your questions.”

  “Fair enough. My name is General Daniel Clair,” he began, speaking calmly. “I’m the leader of this colony, and as such, I found you to be a possible threat to us. So, we chained you up until we can prove who you really are.”