by Ceri Clark
“If you can tell the future, why couldn’t you just tell me it wouldn’t work that way and I would have done it differently?”
Ecu placed the jar he had been holding carefully on the nearest clear surface. He didn’t have time for this. Patiently he explained, “I can see into other dimensions. Do you know what they are?” She shook her head. He continued as if to a young child.
“There are other worlds, almost exactly like this one. Each dimension is another world. There are an infinite number of them and each is subtly or not so subtly different.”
Marta’s face looked blank. With a sigh, Ecu explained further. “You can use the other dimensions to find out what will happen in the future. What makes each world different is that something happened which could have two outcomes. The worlds split apart at that difference. In some of those dimensions things worked a little quicker than others so some of them are in the past and some of them are in the future. I look for our neighboring dimensions, which are closest to ours but set a little in the future. I saw several things go wrong. In some you were successful, in others Shenella walks in, or another maid. Aras sees you putting the potion into the glass in still others. I couldn’t possibly tell you which one it would be. I can just work to certain possibilities.”
“What use is this power if there are so many possibilities that you can’t find out what the future will hold?”
“Trends, my dear girl. I know roughly what will happen because it appears in so many realities. I knew, for instance, that our partnership would be the one most likely to lead to success.”
“All right, how long will the potion last?” Marta was only slightly mollified.
“Two hours, and you can try again. He won’t remember. The subject who he saw – Shenella, wasn’t it? - She will be a bit confused, but she won’t know what changed him. Here.” He pulled a small box from his robe. “Fill your ring up, you’ll have to try again.”
Sighing, Marta took the box and left the room.
CHAPTER NINE: ADRAMELECH
“I just don’t understand why I can’t sense the others’ powers.” Jake was out of breath. They’d materialized at Oakwood station moments earlier and immediately started running to the exit.
“They have to use them first. It’s a self-defense mechanism,” Mirim explained. “They can’t use their magic properly until you use yours first. You are what they called in the old days a catalyst. You can’t sense them until theirs has activated. And they can’t activate fully until you have used your powers at least once. It happens in each generation”
She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun. “Can you see her yet?”
They were walking past the taxi rank through the car park. Oakwood Park lay across the road from them. Beyond the fence the green and yellow fields were separated neatly by hedges, creating an untidy patchwork effect. The countryside view in front of them was a stark contrast to the industrialized town behind them.
Checking she hadn’t gone south along the other road, Jake moved to the edge of the parking area. It was past rush hour and he could clearly see that none of the few people there were the almond-eyed girl he saw on the train. Next, he checked along the row of buildings to the left of the station. The glass shop fronts revealed these were also empty.
“We must have missed her!” He said frustrated. “I can hardly feel her now.”
Mirim thoughtfully gazed into the fields. “The park is protecting her.”
“What?”
“Sorry I forgot to mention that if one of us is near a concentrated source of our element, we are practically invisible next to it. That park must be miles long. The combined effect of all that wildlife would interfere with her resonance. We’ll have to wait until she goes into the city or uses her power again.”
Suddenly the whole situation was too much for Jake.
“This is completely ridiculous! I have a life! I shouldn’t be traipsing around looking for God knows who, who can do God knows what.”
Mirim dropped her hands to her sides and looked at Jake in dismay. “Jake you are the next High-King, we need you. Without you we cannot possibly defeat the Magi - or even reunite the Elementi again.”
“It’s not my problem is it? That’s another world. I live in this one. What do I care if some mad magician wants to take over your world? It’s not as if he can come to this one is it?”
“Well, yes he can. Of course he can. He may not be able to travel inter-dimensionally as we can but he could easily get someone who can. He must know you are active by now; you both have the same power. Every time you used your crystal it will have affected him in some way. Don’t ask me how,” she forestalled. “There are creatures that can traverse the dimensions as easily as we breathe. All he has to do is compel one to bring him here. With his Magi side he should be able to do that easily enough. I’m surprised he hasn’t done this already to be honest. It would be dangerous, but possible.”
“Well he hasn’t. If I don’t bother him, maybe he won’t bother me.” About to use the Matrix to go home, he paused. How quickly it had become a part of him he realized. He glowered at Mirim. He couldn’t use the crystal, it might alert the Emperor. With a deep sigh, he went back to the tube station. It would take several hours to get back the old-fashioned way.
“Jake! Wait! It will only be a matter of time before Aras sends someone to kill you. He has to. If he doesn’t, he will die. The more your power grows the more the Elementi power gets stronger and it will make him weaker.”
“By that reasoning, if I don’t use my power, it won’t get stronger.” He continued to walk away.
“It’s too late, once you started using your powers they won’t go away,” she called. “It will just increase until you learn control.”
“Whatever!”
Furious Mirim paced up and down the pavement. Stupid boy, he wasn’t safe. No one was safe. She wasn’t going to let their parents’ sacrifices go to waste!
She sent her mind back to the Matrix. The girl had used her ‘magic’ for want of a better word. There just had to be a way to trace her. The girl’s element was a direct complement or opposite of her own. There had to be a way she could find her without Jake. Jake would come around, he just needed some time to himself.
Spotting a handy brick wall Mirim sat down to wait. The girl would use her power soon - she wouldn’t be able to help it. When she did, Mirim would be waiting.
Adramelech materialized in real-space. On all four sides were white painted buildings with a small park in the center. He stood in the doorway of a shop with a Corinthian pillar obscuring him from passers-by. The tinkling of the tall fountain to his right assaulted his senses after the quiet of no-space. People were milling in twos and threes quietly chatting as they went in and out of shops.
Quickly cloaking himself in skin and robe, Adramelech stopped to observe a man passing. Noting the style, he copied his clothes. His long black robe morphed to form blue jeans and a short, red jacket. Checking his reflection in the shop window Adramelech compared himself with other shoppers. Standard fare he thought. There doesn’t seem to be any originality in this place. He grimaced. Humans. He just didn’t understand why some of the brethren liked them.
He shook his head. To him they were a means to end. With the power of the Citadel he could return to his own world and get revenge on those that had banished him. He’d searched countless dimensions for something, which would help. It was by pure luck that Aras had called him and not one of the others. That was the ignorance of the Magi. They could call his people. They could command them but they didn’t understand what they held. They were too blinded by greed to bother to find out.
Adramelech snarled. His people, who they called demons, were exiles. After his banishment from Earth, his people had labeled him a criminal and a troublemaker. They didn’t have prisons as other worlds knew them so they banished people like him to the no-space between dimensions. Without bearings you could be right beside a reality and not
know it. Trapped there, he’d been fully aware but without a way to form a body. This was far more effective for his kind than any prison could ever be.
The sun was high in the sky - midday he thought. Time worked differently between the worlds. It could take an instant, hours, days or even years to travel the vast distances among them. He could have been floating in no-space for thousands of years before Aras had called him. Travel between the dimensions was an imprecise science among his people. Once the knowledge to cross the dimensions with accuracy was basic knowledge to even the simplest Deoc, but that knowledge was lost before his lifetime.
He sniffed the air. There was something about this place. He felt as if he’d been here before. He’d been to a great many worlds but this one had a familiar feel... It would come back to him, but he’d better recharge first. Fighting Aras’ control had sapped more strength than he had first thought. He needed some power and he needed it soon.
Starving, he stretched his awareness. Great place to land he thought - no volcanoes for hundreds of miles. Spreading himself thinly he let his core substance float upwards. He let it flow where it needed to go.
His body disintegrated into steam as he rose higher into the atmosphere. The higher he got the further his awareness was able to cover, seeking the intense heat of an active volcano. Suddenly he saw it. Passing the body of water, he crossed land. Drawing nearer he started to recognize it. “I have been here before - of all the luck!”
Circling the islands off the land mass he found several viable volcanoes. For nostalgia’s sake he glided down to a volcano he had used before. Adramelech coalesced back into his human form behind a lone tourist. This was the place. Of course it had been more active in the past. This volcano hadn’t erupted for at least a hundred years. Never mind it wouldn’t take too much to find what he needed - even if it was dormant now.
He was only here to feed he reminded himself. The compulsion to complete his task was strong. Damn the Magi and their powers. He would only be able to delay for a few minutes.
The people here he remembered were primitive. He laughed at his first memory of this place. He recalled how some natives had stood transfixed as they saw him transform from flames to look like them. Superstitious idiots, he had thought.
The Elder of the tribe had followed him to the mouth of the volcano. Ignoring him - the man was no threat to him - Adramelech walked into the red-hot lava, letting himself melt slowly, luxuriating in the creep of energy as it surrounded him.
With no compulsion, he had spent days in there. For brief bursts he could take energy from ordinary fire but a volcano was by far the best form of energy. When he re-emerged, he was curious to find the Elder was still there. He must have left and returned though because behind the little man stood a crowd of his friends.
In the days he had been gone they had built a crude camp. The tents were made with fur, surrounding a long campfire. The Elder who had originally followed him indicated for him to follow him to the fireside. Adramelech followed, bemused.
At the fire were what must have been the rest of the man’s tribe. It was a ragtag crowd of around thirty, he guessed. There were more men than women, all dressed in furs. To the rear of the group, a woman stood slightly apart. Her red-rimmed eyes showed she’d been crying heavily. Crooning to a child in her arms, she tried to ignore the signals from the Elder for her to join them.
One of the men moved to grab hold of the baby. The woman resisted, holding it tighter. Another man parted from the crowd and struck her while the first grabbed the child. It began to cry. They placed the baby on the mud floor in front of the Elder. It looked up and began to move away to the right, the light and the crackling of the fire attracting it. The Elder smiled and grabbed it. Picking it up he offered it to Adramelech with a nod.
Adramelech shook his head, not understanding what the man wanted, Adramelech looked from the man to the baby and sneered in contempt. What would he do with a human child?
The Elder’s smile faded, the God didn’t understand. He pointed to Adramelech, the child and the fire. Finally realizing that the fiery spirit was not interested in taking the baby, the Elder threw the baby at the fire. The mother screamed and ran to the edge. The men who took the baby grabbed her arms as she passed them to hold her back. She struggled, but they were too strong. She shrieked incoherently - desperate to get to her child. They held her for a few moments more before allowing her to run to the fire. Mercifully the baby died instantly, its small head crushed by a sharp branch.
These people had to be the most primitive Adramelech had ever seen.
...but he began to see the possibilities.
Those people were a pathetic malnourished group of nomads when he found them but by the time he left, they were a force to be reckoned with. Under his guidance, the camp evolved into a huge city split into two, controlling most of the continent. He reveled in the memories. The power he had wielded. He could destroy whole armies just by pointing at them with fire. The dying screams were music to his ears. Battle after battle his people fought and won. The indigenous people no match for his power. He reveled in the adulation.
That was until news reached the Atlanteans. They were a clever people. They’d hidden their city under water so he hadn’t known of their existence until it was too late. They’d captured him surprisingly easily. The Atlanteans knew there was nothing on Earth that could hold him for long, so they had summarily banished him. One minute he was at the head of an army, weapon in hand, rallying his men. Their answering shouts instilling glorious fear in the enemy. The next, nothingness, he was between worlds. Of course he tried to get back. Earth had easy pickings for a creature like him, but they sent him too far away - he couldn’t get his bearings.
Luckily, or not so luckily as it turned out, he had managed to get home. When his people found out what he had done, they banished him as well, but this time it was done properly.
Adramelech mentally thanked Aras. If he couldn’t defeat the boy-king, which was frankly ludicrous, he would find a way to break the compulsion and just take over this world. They may not be as primitive as when he was last here but they hadn’t met anything like him for a thousand years.
His thoughts returning to the present day, Adramelech stood surveying the edge of the crater. Sulfuric steam belched from underground - a perfect way in.
The tourist finishing his photo of the village moved his camera around the rim of the crater. He wanted to get a panoramic of the sea next. The tripod juddered as it scraped against volcanic rock. The picture blurred as he focused the lens. Tapping it he saw Adramelech through the viewfinder. He blinked. He hadn’t been there moments before. He blinked again. The man was melting?
As he watched, Adramelech let his true form burn the veneer he’d created. Giving a wave to the nonplussed visitor, he jumped into the vent.
Oh, he’d missed this. He plunged deep into the core. The heat was glorious. One little push here and the whole volcano would spurt into the sky devouring the whole island. The raw energy seeped into his being. As he grew stronger his awareness exulted in the feeling of power. He twisted and turned through the tunnels created by the latent steams of lava, it was just too tempting. Besides, that man had seen far too much.
Floating towards the nearest tectonic plate he began to push. Cracks began to appear and the hot magma bubbled. He pushed harder. Suddenly there was a resounding crack and the crust covering the top collapsed. With a rush, the red fiery mixture of molten gas and rocks, kept in for hundreds of years, leapt into the air to form a black cloud of ash high above the island of Vulcano.
Fully charged and aware the volcano could not hurt him, Adramelech melted into steam. He rode the current into the cloud and floated above it. The cloud was expanding rapidly; it was beginning to collapse under its own weight. To Adramelech’s amusement he saw the tourist running down the volcanic face. The man was overweight and gasping for breath. There was no way he would be able to outrun the flow of fire and lava.
; Hot red stones fell, forcing the man to change his course continually. Thick lava spilled over the edge of the crater, pouring faster and faster as the extra weight pushed it along. The man craned his neck and saw it gathering speed. Panicked, he tried to run faster but tripped over an abandoned drinks-can. He fell heavily to his knees. He just had time to scream once before the lava overtook him - erasing all trace of his body.
Floating above the cloud, Adramelech felt the compulsion tighten around his consciousness. He remembered why he was here - the boy. He had to find that boy. Reaching out with his awareness, he searched for the recent use of the spirit element. There was none but a small trace to the west suggested there had been a few days ago. Recalling one of the forms he had chosen in the past, the Deoc compacted his energies, drawing them in to a tight kernel of power deep within him. There was a large clap of thunder and he transmuted mid-air into a gold and red-feathered bird. Comfortable in the familiar phoenix form, he unfurled his new wings and flew to investigate.
CHAPTER TEN: EARTH QUEEN
Kiera leant against the hard metal of the bus stop. The number 377 had just passed without stopping and the timetable said there wouldn’t be another for 20 minutes. As she waited she began to feel a strange pressure building beneath her. Her head jerked up and she looked around at the other people waiting but everyone else had the same bored expression they held moments before. No one else seemed to be noticing anything different.
An energy surge made her blink and the crystal under her shirt began to glow an iridescent green. At the same time she began to feel the pressure underneath her intensify. It was as if the Earth itself was under stress. Her body hummed in response. She took out her crystal and cupped it in her left hand. Tiny pinpoints of light danced in its depths and she became mesmerized by its beauty. The crystal almost seemed to be telling her something. It was tantalizing, almost beyond her reach, then she understood. Compelled to answer the call of distress - she now instinctively knew what to do.
