by D. N. Leo
“Take Lyla and go!” he said to Michael.
“No,” Lyla said, but she couldn’t hold her ground as Michael lifted her up and carried her toward the gateway.
Before Kan could get another shot, Gale fired at him.
Over Michael’s shoulder, Lyla looked back and saw that her previous speculation about Gale had been correct. Gale’s eyes fired out two strong beams of electronic fire at Kan. Kan was pushed backward several steps.
“Don’t you dare do this to me, Gale. I created you,” Kan said, looking as if his head would explode with anger.
“Put me down!” Lyla shouted at Michael, but he didn’t stop running toward the gateway.
Gale was no longer himself. He continued to approach Kan, and fire streamed out of his eyes. Kan staggered back, stumbled, and fell over. He grabbed his gun and pulled the trigger, firing at Gale.
Gale’s right leg caught on fire, and he looked down at it. His skin glowed, and then the fire died out.
Gale looked back up at Kan.
“Is this worth it?” Kan asked. “Do you still have your own brain to think, Gale?” He pulled out a device and raised it in the air for Gale to see.
“You hurt Lyla! You’re a dead man!” Gale said and fired again.
“No, no! Put me down!” Lyla screamed. She wriggled her way out of Michael’s grasp, flopped to the ground, then got up and ran back to Gale.
Gale fired one more time, and Kan caught on fire. He stood, broke the device in his hand, threw it toward Gale, and then ran toward the holocast. He jumped inside. The holocast, the light, and Kan vanished.
Gale was on his knees. Lyla held his face between her hands. “No, no, don’t do this to me, Gale. Can you try?” She grabbed the device on the ground. She smashed it with her fist, but it didn’t work, so she threw it away. Tears streamed down her face.
“Tell me what to do, Lyla,” Michael asked.
“Gale’s a robot. He’s going to self-destruct. The device has triggered it.” She grabbed Gale’s shoulders while he was kneeling. “Look at me, Gale. Whatever is left of you, I know you understand me, and you trust me.”
Gale looked at Lyla blankly.
“Please nod, Gale. Do you trust me? Do you authorize me to do this?” she asked as she pressed her left thumb to his right temple. “Do you authorize me, Gale?”
Gale blinked. He looked up at Lyla and said, “Yes.”
Michael saw a spark under Lyla’s thumb, and Gale totally shut down. He collapsed into her arms.
“I’ll carry him. Let go.” Michael took Gale from Lyla’s arms.
“No, he’s too weak. He won’t survive the gateway.”
“It’s closing, Lyla. When we get back to the Daimon Gate, we’ll sort everything out. There’s nothing we can do here. He was prepared to die for you, Lyla. You have a responsibility to your citizens, to your universe.”
“I won’t leave my man behind, Michael.”
“I would make you go if I were him.”
The witches still fought the wolves. Things were getting louder. Jaxper had joined the blue dress witches, and they were being overpowered. The wolves advanced. The witches withdrew several steps. Jaxper fell as the wolves lunged forward.
Michael raced a few steps ahead.
“Don’t, Michael!” Lyla called out, but Michael had made up his mind. He blasted a heat wave, and Lyla knew it was his last draw. All the wolves were burned quickly into ashes.
Michael’s knees buckled, and he collapsed.
The witches in blue stopped all action. They stared at Jaxper, who was withdrawing toward Michael.
“He’s the One!” a woman in blue said. Then all the witches slowly approached Michael and Jaxper.
Jaxper waved her hand. “He’s from the multiverse. Out there.” She pointed toward the closing gateway. “He can do many things, but he is not the One.”
“I don’t believe you,” the woman in blue said. The group of witches in white approached Jaxper. While they looked elegant, their manner was menacing.
Chapter 4
A fireball flew toward the witches of the lake, crashing right in front of them and stopping them from advancing on Jaxper.
Lyla smiled. “She’s telling the truth. Michael is my guard and my friend. He isn’t the One you mentioned, whatever that means.”
Lyla and Jaxper carried Michael and placed him next to Gale. Lyla looked at the gateway. It had totally shut down. Did that mean she was stuck here forever? What if she couldn’t recover Gale? What if she couldn’t revive Michael? Not only was she stranded on Earth, in this strange forest, but she would have to live here by herself?
She looked back at the witches. They lined up and slowly approached her and Jaxper. She cursed to herself. If she was forever in exile, she might as well put up a good fight and die here and now.
“What exactly do they want, Jaxper?” she asked through her teeth.
“Michael’s soul.”
“That’s impossible.”
“That’s what happens in the witch world. The impossible. Don’t you think the witches of the lake look like they want to eat us alive to get Michael’s soul?” asked Jaxper.
“They’re aggressive, but that doesn’t mean they want his soul. He’s from the multiverse. He’s like me. We have essence. Is that what you mean by soul?”
“I don’t know what essence is. A soul is a soul, and my god wants his soul.”
“God of the witches?”
“Yes.” Jaxper glanced at the coming witches. “I think we should try to keep our souls first. These witches of the lake have a connection with the underworld. It’s okay if we’re on their side. But now, apparently, we’re not.”
“Stop right there, or I’ll send fire at you. You’ve seen what I can do,” Lyla said as authoritatively as possible.
The head of the witches of the lake smiled. “You’re a fire summoner. I know that.”
“Is a fire summoner an official position or just an ability?” Lyla asked Jaxper.
“It’s the ability you have. It’s a god bless. I don’t know what else you can do but make a big fuss over your fire. It gives us an advantage.”
Lyla looked at the advancing witches. “Yes, I'm a fire summoner. So you don’t want to argue with me,” Lyla said and fixed her stance.
“We mean you no harm. As you can see, we have just helped you with the wolves. Now, all we need is that man.” She pointed at Michael.
“I repeat, I don’t want to throw fire at you. Leave us!”
“I’m afraid we cannot leave you after knowing you have the One. We’ll leave with him. Or we’ll fight to the death.”
“You can leave in peace. But you’ve apparently chosen the hard way,” Lyla muttered and took a quick glance at the two men lying helpless on the ground. Damn her if she couldn’t protect them.
She fixed her stance again and prepared to throw more fire.
Then all the witches, including Jaxper, dropped to the ground and said, “My god.”
Lyla rolled her eyes and turned around. In front of her stood the god of the witches, a very tall and formidable man with long white hair and fair skin. He stood looking down at Michael and Gale.
“Get away from them!” Lyla said.
The man looked at Lyla and smiled. She relaxed her fists but knew she could ball them up quickly if she needed to fire.
The man looked back down at Michael.
“Get away from my men,” she said.
The man nodded, chuckled, and stepped back.
Lyla rushed over and stood in front of Michael and Gale.
The man raised his hand and gave her a dismissive gesture. In front of an astonished Lyla, the witches, including Jaxper, bowed and withdrew in order.
The man returned to Lyla. “I know who you are, young lady.”
“I’m a fire summoner. I can burn paranormal creatures.”
The man smiled. “That’s only a myth.”
Lyla threw a fireball at a nearby tree. It burst into flame
s.
The man nodded. “Impressive. But true ability to control fire comes only with virtuous action.”
“Virtue is the last thing I need to think about right now.”
“Is that because you might have been exiled from Eudaiz, the place you call home?”
“I don’t know you, and I don’t care to be judged by something that wasn’t my fault.”
“I’m not judging. I can help you fix your friends here, overcome the exile verdict, and go home safely.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone who can help you … for a fair exchange.”
“Name your price.”
“I wouldn’t call it a price. It’s a fair exchange.”
“All right. What is it you want, god of the witches? As long as it isn’t any of my friends, I’ll consider.”
“I can see you’re trying to guard your guards. But even if you give me both of them, it won’t match what I’m going to give you.”
She approached, looked the man in the eye. She couldn’t tell his make. He was supernatural now—she could tell that much. But he used to be human. There was something in his eyes that made her believe him. She felt she could trust him—a stranger in a strange world compared to hers.
“You said you know me. How?”
He smiled. “You’re Lyla J. LeBlanc. Daughter of the current king of Eudaiz. That piece of information, if it were to fall into the wrong hands, could put your life, your family, and Eudaiz at stake. As you can tell, I have no intention of causing you harm.”
“What’s your name?”
“People call me Cole.”
“Just Cole?”
He nodded. “That’s my preference.”
“You used to be human. So how did you become god of the witches in this forest?”
“That’s the kind of information I will reveal after you agree to a fair exchange with me.”
“You called out my true identity. You outlined the danger I’m in. I figure whatever you want me to do to help at your end won’t be a small thing.”
Cole smiled. “Do you agree to a fair exchange so we can begin the negotiation?”
“Yes, I agree. But at any point, if I feel the exchange is unfair, I reserve the right to withdraw.”
Cole nodded. “Let’s begin.”
Chapter 5
Michael opened his eyes and saw a large patch of blue sky. He squinted. It wasn’t a small patch of sky like he would see from the middle of a thick forest. It was a magnificent sky … out in the open. He sat right up and saw Lyla sitting nearby, working on Gale’s equipment.
“There you are. How are you feeling?” she smiled.
He looked around. They were on top of the hill, on a flat surface. The grass he was lying on was soft, green, and neat as if in a manicured garden. He was sure the trees around them were part of a garden, too, and not a wild jungle as before.
On their left was the mouth of a cave, covered in vines and wildflowers that released a pleasantly calming aroma. Square blocks of farmland were carved into the hills, curving around the contours of the rocks and the landscape. He could see patches of the highland villages. They looked to be a long distance away. That meant they were very high up and even more remote than the remote Vietnam civilizations.
“Where are we?”
“Land of the witches.” Lyla smiled. “That’s what Jaxper told me.”
“So she’s okay? Where’s Gale?”
“Recovering. I haven’t turned him back on yet.”
Michael approached and sat down on the stone bench next to Lyla. “Did he know he was a robot?”
Lyla looked up at him. He wished she wouldn’t blink those striking gray eyes framed by impossibly long thick lashes at him, but she did. “He didn’t know. And it’s my plan not to let him know.”
“How is this possible?”
“We were teenagers. Gale, my brother, and I sneaked into Xiilok as part of a hologame we were playing. Then we penetrated Black Rock. We thought we were in the hologame environment and were safe. It was just a game.”
“It didn’t go well, I guess.”
“No—we were attacked by mercenaries and creatures from both Xiilok and Black Rock. My father rescued us in time, but Gale was injured badly. Only a very small part of his brain survived. We had to reconstruct him. My father negotiated a lot to get what we needed. I don’t know the deals he made or with whom. But I helped with the program, so I know it was designed so that Gale lives and thinks like any other human.”
“But it’s a lie.”
“No, that was how he was before the incident. A large part of his memory was lost. But he was human, and he deserves to continue like one.”
“I can see that he turned now. Are you sure the program will still work the same way when you turn him back on?”
She shook her head. “I’m working on it.”
“Everything happened after I was out. Where are all the witches?”
Lyla stopped working on the computer and smiled at him again. “Nothing much to say, really. You killed the wolves. So the witches in blue went away.”
“So did you piggyback me all the way up here?”
“I didn’t think you were keen on details,” she said. “Jaxper arranged some help with her people, and they brought you and Gale up here. She said it’s safe here.”
He nodded. “So when Gale is back up, he’ll connect the gateway for us, and we’ll go back to the Daimon Gate. Is that still the plan?”
“Mm-hmmm.”
“Lyla?”
“We’ll go home.”
“Did you make a deal with someone … or something?”
“I didn’t make any deal.”
“You’re not good at lying, Lyla. There’s no chance the paranormals here are going to leave us alone so that we can take our time and find our way home. Who did you make a deal with, and what did he ask from you?”
She stood and looked into the distance toward the highland village. “It wasn’t a deal. It was a fair exchange, Michael. And as a result, we can’t go home just yet.”
“Who did you make a deal with?”
She turned around and looked at him. She touched his face and looked into his eyes. “I’ve made an agreement with your father, Michael. You have a lot of him in you.”
This is the end of Fire Summoner, but not the end of the trilogy. Turn to the next page for the exclusive bonus short story about Michael and information about the trilogy.
Chapter 6
Cross-world Zone—The Multiverse—10 years ago
“Lyla, get back down here!” said Caedmon.
Lyla hung from a giant black rock that protruded from the muddy black surface outside the City of the Death in Xiilok. She winced as the boiling heat steamed up from the ground. She tried to peek as far as she could into the horizon. When she saw nothing but endless hills of rock, she turned and winked at her twin brother. “We’re in a hologame, Caedmon, remember? Are you afraid you’re going to lose your sandcastle?”
“This feels wrong. My sandcastle and your wooden fortress shouldn’t get us this far into Xiilok. We haven’t seen any creatures yet. That’s a worry. It’s too quiet for my liking.”
“You just want to fight, Caedmon.”
“I want to practice my combat skills. That’s fundamentally different from mere fighting.”
“And you think our bets will give us a chance to hone our combat skills?” Lyla gestured toward the quiet hills of rock. “Well, apparently, there’s a silent army waiting for us. We get what we paid for, I suppose. We shouldn’t have placed toys as bets. What a waste of time!”
She slid down from the top of the rock to the mud below. Her feet landed on a bouncy black substance that covered the ground. She looked at Caedmon.
Caedmon seemed to share the same thought. He stomped his foot hard on the ground and felt the bouncy effect of what they had thought was just mud. He spoke through his teeth. “I’m pretty sure we’re not in the virtual environment of the game.
This is an actual combat setting.”
Lyla felt a knot of anxiety growing in her stomach. She didn’t have the psychic ability her mother did, but she had a good gut instinct. Or at least she thought so. “Maybe we’re being overly cautious. We couldn’t possibly get to this real combat level with the bets we made. Unless someone figured out who we are?”
Caedmon shook his head. “The game rules don’t work that way. Being prince and princess of Eudaiz doesn’t give our bets any more weight than Gale’s. And he’s the computer genius in the Daimon Gate, so he should know best…” Caedmon trailed off. “Where is Gale?”
They turned toward the nook formed by two large rocks where Gale had been sitting a short while ago.
He wasn’t there.
They heard a throaty hum echoing in the air. The black ground vibrated slightly.
“What’s that?” Lyla asked.
“Creatures,” Caedmon muttered.
“Gale!” she called out.
They rushed to the other side of the rocks and saw Gale walking toward the black rock hills.
“What are you doing, Gale?” Caedmon yelled out.
Gale turned around and looked at them. He didn’t need to say anything, Lyla knew what had happened.
Gale was a genius in robotic computers, but he had the mind of a warrior. He loved conquering new realms in the virtual environment, and he loved world creation.
The hologame was an environment and a world in itself. It was governed by an independent council. Any creature in the multiverse could participate by placing bets and challenges. If a creature wanted to take a bet from a challenger, it had to place a matching bet to accept the game challenge. After the challenge was accepted, all involved parties had to engage and play until the game concluded.
“Whatever it was that you bet, we can still withdraw from the game, Gale. Our bets and challenges haven’t been accepted yet,” Caedmon said.
“I think Gale’s has been,” Lyla muttered.
Gale waved his hands, gesturing for them to go away. “Leave, you two. I can handle this.”
