by Lora Palmer
"I know."
"I trust you."
"I know."
"Keep everyone safe. And Jaedyn? Stay safe."
"Of course. Don’t die on me, Korin."
"Never." Korin made a graceful gesture with one hand, which Jaedyn returned.
"Take care." I lifted my hand in a wave.
Jaedyn mimicked the gesture awkwardly, foreign to her as it was. "You, too. Oh, your father — the one from Earth — wants to talk to you. Caleb had one of the MirrorMasters check up on how well he was progressing with tracking down the device on Earth."
"Okay." I bit my lip, sure I knew what was coming. Dad would try to talk me into going back to Earth. The determined look in his eyes as he came into view confirmed my hunch. "Dad?"
"You need to come home, Leah. It’s too dangerous there. Your mom and I agree that you’ve gone above and beyond anyone’s expectations, but it’s too late to help any further."
Offscreen, my brother protested leaving.
"Any luck finding the device?" When Dad shook his head, my heart sank. "Then they’ll offer you evacuation somewhere out of the galaxy. All of you should go, please, to stay safe — I don’t want to lose any of you. But I can’t go. You know I can’t."
I had to make a heartbreaking choice, and this time there was no way around it. Despite Dad’s varying efforts to get me to go with them — everything from demands, to bargaining, to guilt-tripping me — I refused to go.
"We’ll be waiting for you," Mom said, wiping a tear from her eye with one finger. Next to her stood Dad, his eyes red-rimmed.
Throat tight, I couldn’t answer. Taking a deep breath and steeling my courage to resist Dad’s demands, I snapped off the datapad and closed the connection. My eyes stung. I drew a deep, shuddering breath and shook my head to clear it. Right now, I couldn’t afford to think about Mom and Dad. If I did, the pain of leaving my family behind, and my birth parents’ arrest, would overwhelm me. So, wasting no time, I read the next part of the legend:
"The sixth warrior journeyed to the floating crystal shelves of Arie, which protect the mysterious cave of the sky-gods in a dormant island volcano below. This cave houses the treasure brought to Jantyr from the heavens, but the sky-gods harnessed the power of the shelves’ Protection crystals so that none but their race may enter in. To protect our world from the turbulence of change when the device is activated, the warrior forged the Protection Crystal in the form of an unbroken circle."
When I searched deeper into the first of the floating crystal shelves, it became evident the crystal was stored somewhere on one of these shelves with a puzzle leading to it — a puzzle to be solved by the wielder. The puzzle came in the form of symbols glowing within the crystal walls, symbols even my ring wouldn’t help me translate.
"That’s weird. We should be able to read these symbols. This looks familiar, though, like maybe I learned this language when I was little. Korin, can you read this?" I didn’t glance over at him. Instead, I stepped further into the room, intending to get close to the symbols and see if I could remember any of them. Before I took more than a step, Korin yelped a warning and grabbed me by the arm, spinning me to face him.
"What is it?" I noticed his suddenly tense, worried expression and glanced down where I’d been about to step, then back up to him.
"Wait! I remember reading something about this place — an assignment from one of my old tutors. It’s dangerous here. We have to be careful where to step on this first set of shelves, because if you step in the wrong place, the whole floating crystal cavern shifts and turns. It could even turn upside down."
I swallowed and exchanged a nervous glance with Brian. One wrong move could throw us all off into the golden sea below. "What do we have to do?"
"I don’t know."
Suddenly, the floating cave darkened, and only the symbols beneath our feet gave off an eerie silver light. I jumped, startled, and the three of us huddled together. In the darkness, I could make out faint lights marking squares in the crystal around each symbol. Seeing no sign of imminent threat, I stepped to my left. The square gave way, falling open to the ocean. I could glimpse sparkling sunlight far down, and let out a shriek. Brian pulled me back just in time, and I clung to him, heart racing.
Beside us, I saw Korin try another step, and this one held. "We have to step on the right ones! But how do we know which ones they are?" Glancing around, I tried to determine a pattern. Each of the symbols seemed to include familiar shapes — a spaceship, a strange crystalline being, what looked like a star map to another world, and weaponry. Together, we figured out the pattern: the spaceship first, then the star map, and finally the weaponry.
When Brian stepped on a square with the crystalline being, the whole cavern spun around, knocking us all perilously close to the cavern opening. I hit another crystalline being symbol as we spun, and the square beneath me flung open. With a scream, I stretched out my body across the square, making myself as long as possible to keep from falling through. That way, I could hold on long enough for Brian and Korin to pull me by my arms to safety. We soon learned to avoid the squares with the crystalline being, and this knowledge got us through to the chamber’s end.
I slumped against Brian in relief when we made it to the far end of the cavern and could see the sunlight again. The lights came on just as suddenly as they’d gone out before, and the glowing symbols faded until they had disappeared. Ahead of us stood a small, round platform, with a glowing swirl pattern. It had to be a transporter; I was sure of it. Brian and Korin each wrapped an arm around me, and together we stepped onto the platform.
Glowing, swirling beams of light shot up from the floor, surrounded us, and lifted us up to the next floating cavern. In this second chamber, we discovered a video, a video of alien history. The history of the sky-gods. We got our first glimpse of them, true, fierce crystalline beings of clear blue-white crystal. We viewed an alien war on a red planet filled with a dark purple sky, orbiting a dim red dwarf sun. This war had broken their society, scattered them throughout the galaxy to dominate other civilizations. Their buildings were crystalline, like the crystals found on Jantyr. These sky-gods had introduced them here!
"I had no idea these beings had such an influence on our culture, our society," Korin remarked, leaning forward as he took it all in.
We found pictures that depicted family lineage, documents that showed images of their race mingling with the Jantyrians. The sky-gods had kept detailed genealogy records on the bloodlines for millennia, and now I could access writings on any person on the planet at practically any point in history.
"They are the ones who can use mirrors." I gasped, finding some symbols I vaguely understood.
Brian’s ice-blue eyes widened. "Yes, I thought this said as much! So when the bloodlines mingled, some of their descendants inherited the ability."
I raised my eyes to his. "That’s why a MirrorMaster is always chosen as the wielder, why some people from this planet can use an alien device!"
We let this revelation sink in, staring at each other in wide-eyed wonder. It explained a lot, but I wondered why nobody had ever figured this out before. Maybe we would never have made it in here if Brian and I didn’t have some of the blood of the sky-gods flowing through our veins. I had no doubt the sky-gods had the technology to ward this place and keep it secluded from anyone else. Korin might only have been able to enter because he came with us.
"You two understand this language?" Korin asked, his expression shocked.
Brian and I both nodded, but it was Brian who spoke. "The genesis device is their device, meant to terraform Jantyr so they can inhabit it. Some of them may still be around, just waiting to stop Leah."
I swallowed, nervous at the thought. "Come on, then. We’ve learned a lot, but we’ve got to go before they get the chance."
"This is amazing," Korin said, soft reverence in his voice as he led the way further into the floating cavern.
"All this history is amazing, but being descen
ded from them? It’s a curse." I shook my head. "Why would they make a device that would destroy one of their own people just to terraform a planet?"
"I don’t know." Brian wrapped an arm around me as we followed Korin.
At the end of the chamber, a labyrinth of clear, glowing blue crystal surrounded the transporter. On the floor were different symbols I couldn’t make out yet.
"Are you sure we want to go in there? We could get trapped if we make a wrong move, or fall with no way to hold on if those crystal walls change. If there’s a better way to get to the next place without getting killed, I think we should take it." Brian stepped back from the entrance, eyeing the labyrinth warily.
"We have to. Or, I have to, at least," I said, grimacing at the reminder of the dangers ahead. To save Jantyr, I had to keep going — I didn’t have a choice. I would not let fear stop me. Though I didn’t want to do this alone, I wouldn’t ask Brian or Korin to risk their lives, too. "I’m not sure this place would let us use a mirror-portal to get to the next shelf. These beings wouldn’t have made it so simple. You two could go back if you want, and I’ll meet up with you later."
"I’m going," Korin insisted, leaning against the entrance and drumming his fingers against the outside crystal wall, making a show of waiting for us to make up our minds. He was the first to enter the labyrinth. "Come on. It’ll be fun."
"Right." I stepped into the labyrinth after him, sparing a questioning glance back at Brian, who followed, brows knit in concern. We exchanged eye rolls and grins at Korin's thrill-seeking, "I-can-take-on-any-danger" attitude.
Once inside, a low humming sound thrummed through my body. It made my skin electric and woke up my senses. My hair stood on end, and I shivered. Tiny shocks prickled my palms as I rubbed my arms for warmth. Along the path in front of us were new symbols on the floor, not pictures this time, but writing.
"Any idea what the symbols mean?" Korin stared at the floor, rubbing his chin.
I shook my head. "None." Individually, the letters meant nothing to me. Seeing them in context on the computer screen had been what I needed to make sense of the writing.
We did the best we could, stepping from symbol to symbol at random, and for a while our luck held. Korin had managed to get several feet ahead. But then I tripped and stepped onto the square in front of me. The thrumming sped up, a low, jangling sound that set my nerves on edge. A crystal wall slid into place between us, leaving me and Brian trapped in one room with Korin in the other. The floor dropped from beneath Korin’s feet, and I screamed, throwing myself against the glass as I watched him drop.
"No!" The scream tore from my throat. Tears burned in my eyes, and I blinked them back. I couldn’t look away. He would die. He would die because of me.
Brian gripped my hand, and I met his gaze. He nodded. We turned back to watch, hands extended, as we created an energy net to catch him. I had no idea whether this would work through the glass, but to my profound relief, it did. We managed to catch him on the net, but now the floor was sliding closed. If we didn’t hurry, it would leave Korin locked out with no way back in.
"Come on!" Brian encouraged, and together we pulled the net up, lifting Korin back inside just before the door closed beneath him.
I sagged against Brian, and we fell to our knees in exhaustion and relief. I placed a palm up to the glass between me and Korin, and Korin copied the gesture, placing his palm against mine on the other side of the glass. Then the cavern shelf began to turn and tumble in all directions, slamming us hard against the walls, the floors, and the ceiling. Not that I could tell any longer which was the floor and which was the ceiling. Maybe it didn’t matter.
When the rolling stopped, I lay motionless on the floor — or maybe it was the ceiling now. My breaths came rapid and shallow, and I finally managed to open my eyes. "Ow," I lamented, groaning and dragging a hand to the back of my head. I’d hit it hard against one of the surfaces — I had no idea which — and now my whole head ached. There, my fingers met tender skin, and when I drew them away, crimson blood stained my fingertips. Everything still seemed to sway, so I closed my eyes again until the sensation passed. "Is everyone all right?" I asked.
"Fine. Can you sit up?" Brian knelt next to me, offering his hand.
"Yeah. I think so." Still holding one hand to my head, I managed to drag myself up to a sitting position. I bent my knees and leaned forward to rest my head against them, which helped lessen the pain to a dull throb. Shakily, I stood, grasping Brian’s hand for assistance. Now the wall separating us from Korin had vanished. Running to him, I threw my arms around his neck. Both of us shook, our bodies trembling as we clutched each other like a lifeline. We rested our heads together, our breaths inches apart as we drew in the same air, and stayed like that for a long time. "You okay?" I asked after I managed to find my voice again.
Korin nodded against my forehead and rubbed my arms. "You’re freezing cold! Don’t worry. I’m fine." He laughed. "You’re not going to lose me so easily."
"Me? It’s like the arctic up here — but you almost were lost when you fell out." I shook my head, not wanting to think about it. Gazing up into his deep violet eyes, my own eyes lit with wonder. "How do you do that?"
"What?"
"How do you manage to calm down so fast, and even laugh when you almost got killed?"
"Adventure makes life interesting." He shrugged and flashed me a smirk.
I made a face as I pulled back. "Interesting. Yeah, I guess it's as good a word as any to describe this adventure."
Brian slung an arm around me, dragging us onward. He was careful to avoid the odd swirly symbol I had stepped on. "Yes, it has. Glad you’re okay, Korin. We’d miss bailing you out of all the scrapes you get into."
Korin arched an eyebrow. "What scrapes?"
I slid one arm around each of the boys. "Let’s see...there was the thunderbeast that almost gored you."
"The time I had to keep you from falling to your death when Erik wanted to blast you off the tree village."
My eyes widening in shock before narrowing in anger, I faced Brian. "Erik did that?"
"Yes." Korin scowled and waved his hand to brush aside the memory. "Moving on. Just think of the times I’ve saved your hides."
"Point taken," I said with a chuckle.
Ten minutes later, we reached the transporter and made it to the final chamber, high up in the clouds. Inside, we found ourselves in a vast treasure trove of ancient alien artifacts: weathered leather-bound books with the same symbol writing on the front covers, crystal and metal sculptures depicting everything from buildings to strange animals, and even glowing, shimmering artwork hung on the walls. I shivered in the cold and wrapped my arms around myself as I surveyed the room. Brian offered his cloak, but I declined because I didn’t want him to freeze. Already, my attention was on the eerie, yet somehow familiar, creations adorning the museum.
"What is this place?" Brian asked, openmouthed as he explored the artwork lining the nearest wall — expanses of silver oceans against a dark purple sky and tall crystal skyscrapers lit from within.
"It’s a place to preserve their heritage." I turned back to him, eyes wide with understanding. "Their world is dying, and now they’re finally running out of time. They meant to terraform Jantyr ages ago so they could live here, but someone from Jantyr, a wielder, has always gotten to the device first. That’s why they’re coming back now — to make sure one of them uses it this time."
"We can’t let them succeed," Korin said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "If they stop you, they’ll be able to make this planet whatever they want and destroy all of us in the process. They wouldn’t be coming if they didn’t have someone who could also use the device."
A cold feeling of dread settled in my stomach. Korin was right about what would happen. But could we condemn a whole other planet to be destroyed? "They should have found an uninhabited planet to colonize. Why do they care so much about Jantyr?"
"I don’t know..." Bria
n sighed, letting the thought linger in the air.
As we ventured further on, I pondered the question but could come up with no answers. Soon, I discovered a monolith at the other end of the chamber and ran toward it. After everything we’d learned, I could keenly feel each second tick by and knew we were almost out of time. At least now we were so close, I could believe we had a chance of succeeding.
With Brian and Korin following close behind, I stepped onto the high platform and wielded the Protection crystal, reflecting for a moment on how it would leave me fully vulnerable to the Soul Crystal. No, I couldn’t think of myself. Instead, I had to visualize the protection the genesis device would give as it stopped disasters, put into place defenses against the sky-gods, and transformed the world.
The device.
Once the device killed me, I’d be bound to it with no way out, except fragments of my soul would be scattered everywhere. I remembered my time in the Soul Crystal, the eternal solitude and terror of being trapped there forever. Trapped there, unable to communicate with anyone else. Cut off so completely, I’d be unaware of anyone else in there with me. Fragmented endlessly like the wielders before me had been.
No! I had to think of the people. They were the important ones; the ones I came here to save. I could see them all now, see their loves, their lives, their bright futures. All I had to do was offer myself, and they would have it. In my heart, I knew what I had to do. I could give nothing less for them.
The protection I’d had since the day I learned of the prophecy surrounded me, then extended outward from the monolith as far as I could see. I pictured the crystal’s golden-white glow surrounding the whole planet and beyond. As the glow of the crystal faded, the protective feeling vanished, leaving me to experience the overwhelming effects of the other crystals. Staggering off the platform, I collapsed into Brian’s arms.
My body rippled in and out of view as he sank down to the floor with me, and my skin alternated between a shimmering iridescence and its normal snow-pale hue. Korin knelt beside me, though I was barely aware of his presence. Exhausted and disoriented, my powers were going haywire. I couldn’t stop the power of illusion from wreaking havoc with my body. The power of influence seemed to be controlling me, too — all around the room, priceless ancient relics exploded, their shards scattered everywhere as they fell in a tinkling shower. When I tried to fix the damage I’d created, it didn’t work. The effects of the Healing Crystal weren’t working for me.
