by John Corwin
I thought back to what Uro had asked me and decided now was a good time to find out the answer. "What about the Challenge of Ascension?"
Alysea raised both eyebrows. "I have not heard that term bandied about for eons."
David chuckled. "Yeah, I remember things didn't go so well for Gjoernuss when he challenged Daelissa back in the day."
Shelton grunted. "Who the hell is Gjoernuss?"
Alysea winced. "He challenged Daelissa for the throne during the First Seraphim War." She shook her head as if clearing it of an unpleasant thought. "He invoked the ancient Challenge of Ascension whereby any Seraphim could challenge a leader for their position."
"Hang on." I raised my hand. "What about when the Brightling Empire was run by the Trivectus? Could you challenge them as well?"
"Yes, you could challenge any of the three-member council," Alysea said. "In fact, Daelissa challenged each member and killed them all to reestablish the monarchy." She seemed to withdraw into herself, perhaps remembering something long forgotten, and then blinked back to the present. "By using the Challenge of Ascension rather than a coup, Daelissa was able to claim legitimate rule."
Shelton snorted. "Aw, how sweet. Daelissa played by the rules."
"Not entirely," Alysea said. "Daelissa demanded that each member of the Trivectus personally fight her or she would kill their families."
Bella gasped. "Barbaric!"
"Now that sounds more like Daelissa." I shuddered at the thought of what she'd done to those people. "What are the rules of the challenge?"
"I don't know specifics." Alysea tapped a finger on her lip. "A challenger must present themselves and their entourage before the ruler and issue the challenge. The ruler must then select a hero to fight for them, or they can fight for themselves."
"What if they decline the challenge?" Adam asked.
"Once issued, it cannot be declined by either side," Alysea said.
"In other words, any old peasant could run up to the palace and challenge the leader to a duel?" Shelton snorted. "That's ridiculous."
"There were no Seraphim peasants back in those days." Alysea raised her nose a fraction. "Seraphim society is much different than the old feudal ways of man. Until I led Daelissa to Eden and let her drink the souls of mortals, even she would never have considered overthrowing the Trivectus." She shook her head sadly. "If I had never opened the Alabaster Arch, none of this would have happened."
"No use crying over spilt angel tears," Shelton said.
Thomas rapped his knuckles on the table. "Do you remember anything else about the rules?"
Alysea squeezed her eyes shut a moment. "The challenged ruler may set the rules of the match. It could be a challenge of wits, skills, or a fight, the outcome determined by yielding or death."
"A challenge of wits to the death?" I pshawed." How does that work?"
Elyssa nudged me. "I'm sure it involves iocane powder, a Sicilian, and wine."
I laughed. "Guess I'd better build up a tolerance for iocane then."
"Here's the real question," Michael said. "Would Kaelissa abide by the challenge, or just outright kill the challenger?"
All eyes turned to Alysea. She shrugged. "Arturo is fiercely loyal but also places great value on honor. If Justin could make it to Kaelissa and publicly declare the challenge without dying first, then Arturo would probably demand Kaelissa abide by the rules."
"That's a very big 'if'," Thomas said. "I think the dolem option is safer. Besides, even if Justin were to prevail in the challenge, he's not pure Seraphim."
"You don't think they'd accept me as their mighty overlord?" I tilted my nose at an imperious angle.
Elyssa snorted.
"Considering how Darklings have been treated for thousands of years, we can't be sure." Thomas leaned his fists on the table. "Anything else we should consider?"
"What if we nabbed Arturo and cloned him instead?" Adam said. "Once we have him, we could order his dolem to assassinate Kaelissa and take the throne."
"Maybe I should clarify a few things," David said. "First of all, while I've summoned plenty of demons, I've never made a dolem. It could take us weeks or longer just to get the process working."
"True," Adam agreed. "Shelton and I can make the spark, but we don't know how to infuse the soul fragment inside it."
"I believe I can help with that," Cinder said. "I studied the foundry extensively and have formulated several working theories about how to incorporate the soul fragment and the soul globe into the demon flesh."
"The gem sorters can recreate the apparatus used to make the soul globe." Illaena stepped closer to the table. "Under any other circumstances, I would never agree to such an abhorrent plan, but the alternative is even worse. Let me know what you need, and I will do my best to get it for you."
I hesitated before asking the next question. "I assume a bloodstone option is off the table?"
"At this point, I would allow it." Illaena held up her hands helplessly. "But we rid ourselves of all the bloodstones, and they are so rare, we could fish a dozen vortexes and never find another."
"Look, there ain't no pretty way to accomplish what we gotta do," Shelton said. "But you have to admit, using a dolem is a lot better than going back to war."
There were plenty of nods and murmurs of assent around the table.
"Here's the next hard question," David said. "I need to practice making these things. That means I need soul essence. That means I have to copy someone and create a living being."
Elyssa grimaced. "Does that mean we're gonna have a bunch of clones running around?"
"I guess it wouldn't be ethical to make a test subject and kill it," Adam said.
"Absolutely not." Illaena bared her teeth. "That would be monstrous."
Adam held up his hands in surrender. "Point taken."
"Look, let's get the basics working first," Shelton said. "We'll start by encasing a simple golem spark in demon flesh."
"It won't maintain corporeal form long without a soul," Adam said, "but it also won't be alive in any sense of the word."
"It will not be self-conscious," Cinder said. "It will not know it is alive."
"Yeah, um, exactly." Shelton grinned sheepishly. "No offense, man."
Cinder flashed a plastic smile. "None taken."
"Then let's get started," Thomas said. "While you work on creating the dolem, the rest of us will work on a plan for replacing Kaelissa."
"I was the best bounty hunter in the Overworld." Shelton tilted his hat back at a forty-five-degree angle. "If we can find out where Kaelissa is, I can come up with a plan to nab and replace her."
Bella gripped his arm. "This isn't the same as bounty hunting. Kaelissa will be surrounded by guards everywhere she goes."
"That don't change nothing," Shelton said. "Believe you me, everyone has a schedule they follow, and every schedule has a weakness." He nodded toward me. "Remember when we hijacked your mom right out from under the noses of Maulin Kassus and his bunch?"
I grinned. "It was epic."
"As I recall, everything went to hell in a handbasket," Elyssa said. "We ended up snatching the trailer off that semi-truck in rush hour traffic. The Custodians were pissed about all the cleanup they had to do."
Shelton held up his hands. "There wasn't anything wrong with the plan. It was the execution we botched."
"Well, a plan is only as good as its execution," Elyssa said.
Shelton chuckled. "That's what we got Templars for." He lifted his hat and ran a hand through his hair. "I may not have what it takes to blow Seraphim out of the sky, but I can come up with a plan to kidnap one for sure."
"We'll consider any plan you have to offer," Thomas said. "For now, we continue onward to Cabala and find out Kaelissa's current whereabouts."
Shelton and Adam huddled with Cinder, discussing how to create a test lab for dolem creation while Elyssa joined her father and brother to discuss strategies for capturing Kaelissa. David tapped my arm and led me into the hal
lway. "Want to help me scan the other dolems for Baal?"
"Sure." I headed down the organic curves of the corridor toward the ramps leading below. "What exactly am I looking for?"
"It's not too difficult." David tapped his temple. "If I'm right, the auras of dolems without Baal's influence won't have a red tinge around them."
"I noticed you linked with Zero's aura. What was that about?"
"Let's just say that if a dolem carries a soul shard from Baal, you'll know right away." David turned down the rampway. "It's like touching a live wire and getting shocked."
We reached the prisoner quarters and went inside. Diamond fiber hobbled the prisoners' hands and legs together, making it nearly impossible for them to move around, and they were blindfolded as an extra measure.
"Who's there?" Zero called out. "What did you do to me?"
"Just a routine checkup," David said. "I'm here to make sure your prostate is nice and healthy. Do you have any latex allergies?"
"My what?" Zero struggled on the floor helplessly.
David snickered. "Maybe I should've given him a prostate exam while Baal was still in control. I'll be the old man would've loved that."
"Bend over, Baal." I chuckled. "He would've been pissed."
"Believe it or not, he's not always so serious." David stepped closer to Zero's struggling form. "He used to combat boredom by messing with the mortals—possessing pigs and making them talk. Stuff like that."
"That could be fun." I flicked into incubus vision and got down to business. "So, what do I do?"
David motioned at Zero and then at the other Nightliss-based dolems. "Notice the tinges around the other halos are blue?"
I looked at the rim of red around Zero's aura and compared it to the others. Sure enough, their halos glowed dim yellow with sparks of blue at the edges. "So if it's red, that means Baal is in the house?"
"Or it could mean a ruby demon spirit formed the flesh." David extended a wisp of his aura toward Zero. "Tap in and let me know what you feel."
I followed his lead and latched a tendril onto Zero. A surge of electricity jolted down my spine and everything went black. The sound of my beating heart echoed in a void. Dim red light glowed, revealing a chamber. A man stood across a small room from me. He turned slowly and smiled. Eyes glowed a sullen red in a face that rippled like a reflection in water.
"Who are you?" I gasped.
"Haven't you guessed?" His smooth, deep voice seemed to coil around me like a silken serpent. "Soon, you will know me, grandson."
The world rushed away from me, leaving me in pitch black. I gasped and blinked back into the real world. "What in the hell was that?"
"Quite a shock, right?" David said.
"No, I mean was that Baal I saw in that room?"
His jaw dropped open. "You saw something?"
"Yeah." I blinked my eyes and shook my head. "I was in another place. It was black, then it turned into a room with a man." I gave him the details.
"Yep, classic Baal." David sighed. "Sounds like he's got plans for you, son."
I gulped. "I don't think I want to be involved with him."
He slapped me on the back. "Wise man."
I left the prisoner quarters and the guards sealed the doorway behind us. The afterimage of Baal was seared in my memory. I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last visit from dear old Grandad.
Chapter 27
The Voltis Maelstrom came into view the next day. Black clouds rose from steaming waters. Whirling waterspouts danced the perimeter of the dark singularity deep in the Castigean Ocean. We'd ventured into the heart of the massive aether storm and found the last remnant of old Earth before the Sundering—Atlantis.
Could it possibly be used to recombine the realms? If so, it was probably the only safe place to be while the rest of the dimensions suffered massive upheaval and casualties. It seemed uniting Seraphina was more important now than ever if we were to combat the Apocryphan I'd unleashed on the realms.
Shelton and Bella stood at the bow, arms wrapped around each other in an uncharacteristic show of public affection—at least from Shelton. Elyssa and her family were busy belowdecks, still coming up with their master plan for handling Kaelissa.
Electricity arced from the fringes of the maelstrom, striking the water and igniting clouds of nearby aether. Though Voltis looked like one giant hurricane, it was actually an interdimensional disturbance caused by the borders of old Earth against the broken realms. Adam and Shelton suspected it was one big portal that led to all the realms, but the only one we could single out was the passage to and from Seraphina.
A sonic boom like a cannon shot thundered in the distance. The air shimmered and tore apart. An orange sun hung in a pink sky above red waters. Hundreds of birds danced above the alien ocean, a massive flock in perfect coordination.
"What the hell?" Shelton said.
The interdimensional rift sealed and once again, Voltis was the only thing in sight.
I joined Shelton at the bow. "Holy crap, that was huge. Another Draxadis rift?"
"It sure as hell wasn't Kansas," he said.
"Yes, it must have been dragon realm." Illaena stood a few feet away, teeth bared in a grimace. "I have never seen such a large tear."
I'd hoped that destroying Cephus's crimson arch and ending his experiments had stopped more rifts from forming. Obviously, the tears in the dimensional fabric were just growing larger.
"Why do the rips always open to Draxadis?" Shelton shouted over the howl of wind as the ship flew past a waterspout on the starboard bow.
"It is thought that Seraphina is closest to Draxadis in the dimensional plane," Illaena said. She turned to Tahlee and shouted something. The first mate roared a command to the aviators and the ship changed course to give wide berth to a trio of waterspouts forming dead ahead.
In between course changes, Illaena told us what little she knew of the Brightling economy and how to blend in. "They use gems as currency to trade with us, but I have heard there are other ways to pay for things."
"Like what?" I asked. "Paper money?"
She frowned. "Paper money?" Illaena shook her head. "Mzodi do not usually venture into cities, especially those with a Darkling affinity. I will give you the sort of gems the Brightlings find valuable and you should be fine."
"Great, I get an allowance," I muttered on my way belowdecks to speak with Alysea. I hoped she had a few helpful tips for me.
My father was teaching a group of gem sorters how to play poker in the main hold. He'd already collected a sizeable pile of gems on the table in front of him, but the Mzodi seemed entranced with the game. Alysea sat in a chair behind him, reading a ragged romance novel she'd brought with her from Eden.
"Hustling the locals?" I shook my head disapprovingly. "Must not be much of a challenge."
"All for fun," David said, folding his cards and standing up to clap me on the back. "Are we there yet?"
"More than halfway to Cabala."
Alysea closed her book. "Was Illaena able to give you more tips for blending in?"
I waggled a hand in a so-so manner. "Sort of. I hoped you might have more insight."
"Cabala was nothing more than a settlement when I was growing up in Zbura." Alysea ran a finger down the spine of her book. "The entire Brightling culture has probably changed drastically since then."
"What do angels do for work?" I asked. "How do you pay for things?"
She offered a wistful smile. "In my youth, Brightlings spent their time exploring and discovering. There was no need for currency or jobs in the mortal sense. Judging from what you told us about Guinesea, it sounds as if all that has changed."
"In other words, you're going in blind." David slapped me on the back and grinned. "Good luck."
I groaned. "Heaven help us all."
For lack of anything better to do, I joined David for a few hands of poker. Alysea pulled up a chair to make it a family affair and proved to be a better bluffer than I thought. She beat David twice wh
ile the rest of us nearly lost our shirts. It wasn't until I convinced them to switch to Go Fish that I actually won a game.
The Falcheen wove its way between aether storms, geysers of superheated water, and other natural phenomenon for the latter part of the day until the western coast of Azoris came into view. Illaena used a dense bank of fog to keep the ship hidden until we landed in a small cove.
Elyssa and Thomas joined me on deck a few moments later along with Adam and Cinder.
"What's the plan?" I asked.
"Cabala is a few miles south of us," Elyssa said. "We need to get to town and find out if Kaelissa is around."
Shelton grunted. "Try to be a little more discreet this time."
Adam held out his hand. "Justin, let me see your arcphone."
I handed him Nookli. "What's up?"
He bumped his phone against mine. "I'm transferring the gem hacking program Shelton and I wrote just in case you need to get inside any locked doors."
"How long does it take to hack locks?" Elyssa asked.
"Ten minutes, minimum." Adam shrugged apologetically. "We optimized it the best we could, but gem enchantments are complex pieces of work."
Bella gave us each a hug. "Be careful."
I flashed a grin. "You know I will. Elyssa, on the other hand…"
Shelton snorted. "Yeah, she's never careful."
Elyssa rolled her eyes. "I'll try to restrain myself this time."
Elyssa and I threw back on the same clothes we'd worn in Guinesea and hiked up a path to the top of the cliffs around the cove. We found a skyway access node a few hundred yards to the east. I charged the gem on the white pylon with Brilliance and a cloudlet carried us up to the cloudy roadway high in the sky.
Cabala glittered like a pile of diamonds in the distance. Crystal domes and minarets towered above the scrubby hills and cliffs. The city looked at least four times larger than Novus, perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Castigean Ocean with a sea wall protecting it from the aether storms Illaena told me frequented the area.
A crystal bridge spanned a wide river where it rushed over the cliffs and into spectacular waterfalls that crashed into the ocean far below.
