Isle of Wysteria: Throne of Chains

by Aaron Lee Yeager

  Evere kicked away enough debris to reveal the dented remains of the call tube. “Odger, can we manage twenty thousand feet?”

  “Barely. It’s a real mess down here, and there’s only three of me right now.”

  Evere decided not to ask what that meant. “Do it gradually, then.”

  As everyone attended to the wounded, Privet pulled himself up the stairs, his chair having been broken in the fight. Bunni Bubbles sat on his shoulder, looking around in dismay at all the destruction. “Alder is secure,” he reported.

  As the fires were put out, and the injuries mended, the rage in the air began to calm down.

  They doused all the lanterns, watching carefully the lights of the capital as they passed, scarcely willing to breathe for fear of being spotted as they slipped north.

  The city seemed so peaceful from up here. Marble arches above the turquoise canals, swirling gardens floating around the domed cathedrals like a halo of flowers. Cascading alabaster steps, lit from within by smokeless torches, made it appear as if the stone itself were glowing.

  As they watched, there was a shrill shriek, like bones cracking, and then the great library broke free, falling down into the raging seas at the base of the cliffs.

  The acidic waters wrapped themselves around the building like a hungry squid, crushing and sizzling the sculpted marble statues and fluted pillars. It had taken hundreds of years to fill the library with the greatest literature from all over the world. It only took ten seconds before it was all gone forever.

  Another shrill crack, and the temple of Chert broke away and fell away. The central canal fractured, pouring beautiful clean water down into the dark boiling ocean.

  Shops and distilleries, markets and forums, one by one, they all fell down into the thirsting waters below, the very ground beneath them breaking away in chunks, the very roots of the island fracturing and sluffing off before the dark waters. The seas slammed themselves against the crumbling cliffs, cutting deep channels in the rock like claw marks, impatient to wait even a moment longer to feast upon the city above.

  The crew of the black ship could only watch on in breathless horror, as one of the most beautiful cities in the world was unmade, block by block, before their very eyes.

  Finally it was Sir Albashire who managed to find his voice.

  “Do you think they got everyone out in time?”

  Evere lowered his black eyes. “I hope so.”

  Ryin balled his fists in anger. “Even if they did, where will they go? There are no safe places anymore.”

  They all looked on mournfully. Many had to turn away, unable to watch as beautiful houses and canals were pulled away and shredded, wood stone and glass all transformed into nothing more than a bitter memory.

  Bunni Bubbles peeked out from behind Privet’s collar. “I don’t understand,” she said in her young and innocent voice. “What is happening?”

  The pain was so near, no one could find the heart to answer her.

  Sadly, she tugged on Captain Evere’s pant leg. “Captain?”

  The elderly man inhaled sharply, then forced himself to place a hand on the golem’s head.

  “The whole world is dying, lass.”

  Chapter Three

  (2,291 years ago)

  Little Dev’in was so scared, he could feel his body shivering. His mother held him even closer, pulling him so tightly into her chest that he could barely breathe. Armored footsteps were drawing near, heavy and remorseless. Deep voices were approaching, angry and hoarse. They had brought the dogs with them this time, sniffing about with their star-shaped noses, pecking at trees, rooting under rocks. Mother changed her body, molding into the side of the hollow log they were in, taking on the shape and texture of the mossy walls, so that anyone looking inside would find nothing but rotting wood. Dev’in tried his best to do the same, but it was hard when even he was calm, and now it felt impossible.

  Though he tried to keep his eyes tightly shut, a sliver of light hit his lids through a knot in the wood. Without thinking, he cracked his eye open. Across the path, he could make out the faint outline of Mariss and her mother blended into a tree, becoming one with it.

  A soldier’s boot stepped down before the knot, and Dev’in nearly squealed with fright. Mother covered his mouth, and for what felt like an eternity, neither of them dared breathe.

  The boot moved on, and slowly they allowed themselves to relax.

  The fear passing, only then did Dev’in allow himself to cry.

  “Mama, I don’t understand,” he whispered. “What did we do to them? Why do the new people hate us so much?”

  There was a sickly crunch of wood, and the log split in half around them. Sunlight spilled in, a heavy-set soldier with a canine face standing above them.

  “I got one!” he howled.

  “Dev’in, run!”

  Mother rose to her feet and they scampered through the woods. Dogs began barking, closing in from all sides. Many of the other shape shifters abandoned their hiding places and became birds, taking to the sky in every direction.

  Arrows whizzed by, sticking into trees. Dev’in stumbled, but mother kept pulling him forward.

  Mother sprouted great eagle wings and took to the sky, but it was too late.

  The dog-faced soldier cupped his hands together and bayed like a wolf. Blue-white lightning leapt from his paws, scorching deep channels into the trees as it arced up at her.

  Mother yanked Dev’in before her just in time, the lightning striking her in the back, the tines scrawling over her, burning deep channels into her flesh.

  For a single agonizing moment, he caught her eyes. It was as if time itself stood still. The pain in her face as the power racked her body, the rising fear of her own death, the concern for her child, all played out in the most terrible expression he had ever seen. Dev’in screamed out as loud as he could, so loud that he felt his ears would burst at the sound of it.

  Her wings burned away, and they fell plummeting to the ground.

  “One leech down, over here!” the soldier celebrated. Several more bolts of lightning were fired up into the sky at the fleeing changelings. The dogs leapt closer from all sides.

  Dev’in tried to sit up, but his head was throbbing from the landing. The whole world was spinning. He couldn’t tell which way was up and which way was down.

  He managed to roll onto his back just in time to see Mariss’ mom as a great eagle swooping down above him, her daughter riding on her back. She reached down with her claws and snatched up the boy from where he lay.

  Another bolt was fired, shredding a tree near them as Mariss’ mom flapped with all her might, lifting them above the canopy. Mariss reached down and grabbed his legs to keep him from slipping free.

  Dev’in came to his senses just in time to glance down. The dogs were pouncing on his mother, her body dissolving away to ash in their maws. With a burnt and withering hand, she reached up to him.

  “Dev’in…I…”

  Her eyes became hollow, then evaporated away.

  Dev’in reached back with his tiny hands, tears streaming down his cheeks.

  “MOMMY!”

  * * *

  (Three Weeks Ago)

  Inside her gunnery nook, Ellie swiveled her gun and fired, scattering a pair of Madaringian time benders who were casting one of their spells. The bubble they were creating dissolved, and the Eriia they were trapping escaped along with her crew.

  Everywhere around her there was chaos. Men and women of the invasion force screamed as they were captured by the treacherous magics being cast on them. They ran this way and that, possessed with fear and panic. Somehow over the roar of battle, she could hear Captain Evere screaming for everyone who was left to go through the portal and escape. Ellie reached up to unfasten her safety harness, but then noticed Naanie and Nuutrik and a group of Kwili warriors bei
ng surrounded on all sides.

  Instead of fleeing, she loaded a fresh round into her gun. Swiveling it into place, she aimed above the traitors and fired. Her gun tore free of its damaged mounting, slamming into her gut and knocking her back against the wall with a painful grunt.

  Her shot exploded in the air, raining red-hot metal down on the sorcerers. The Timebenders caught it just before it shredded them, creating a prismatic bubble above them that slowed the metal fragments until they hung motionless in the air, like a painting. But it distracted them long enough for the Kwili to jump aboard an Eriia and escape.

  Ellie looked up, her vision blurred from the pain. Everywhere, there were people and Eriia being captured. Fifty at a time would be lost in a shimmering bubble, frozen in place like a living bric-a-brac.

  What happened? She wondered hazily. We won, we took out the Monolith. Why would the Madaringians betray us? I don’t understand.

  She heard Evere yell again, and decided there was no more she could do here. She reached up to remove her harness, but found it bent and jammed tight.

  “Oh no!”

  Tugging with all her might, she fought against the restraint, but the buckle would not budge. All the while, the traitors closed in around the command platform where the last of the invasion force was retreating.

  Then suddenly someone jumped down in her gunnery nook with her. It startled her so bad she yelped like a child.

  “Come on, let’s go,” Ryin shouted.

  Ellie felt a mix of embarrassment and relief as she realized who it was.

  “I can’t!”

  Ryin grabbed the metal buckle and his tattoos glowed. The metal became soft, and he snapped it free. He grabbed her hand and they scampered topside. All around them, the Timebenders were combining their strength, summoning one final enormous bubble that would catch the entire platform at once.

  Ellie could feel the warmth of his hand, she could feel her heart pounding inside of her chest. Her shorter legs stumbled to keep up with his long, powerful strides.

  The sorcerers cast their spell, and like a wave the bubble grew, passing over the platform and freezing everything it washed over.

  Sensing there was no time, Ryin jumped up, taking her with him. His tattoos glowed as they came down, and the metal of the deck gave way. They collapsed to the second deck, right before the portal as Evere and Talliun pulled people through.

  Ellie looked up at him, her young face blushing. He looks so cool.

  “We made it.”

  Ryin pulled her forward, but something caught her ankle. Something cold. Unimaginably cold. She felt the wave of chill crawling up her leg, and passing around her hips, like she was being lowered into ice water.

  Ryin looked back, concern and horror on his face as the time bubble consumed her.

  “No!” he shouted.

  Ellie looked out at him, terrified. She remembered chasing him through the floating city in paradise. She remembered chatting with him above the zoo. She remembered laughing. She remembered feeling so totally at ease. But, most of all, she remembered the disappointment in his eyes. The utter betrayal. The way he had looked at her, when she held the baby she had kidnapped in her arms. She recalled all the suffering Poe had unleashed on the world, because of what she had done for the Kabal. The guilt welled up in her anew, equal to the ice passing though her chest. She had tried to make things right, she had spent nights alone in the dark pleading for forgiveness, but nothing could erase the suffering she had caused.

  Releasing his hand, she put her palms against his chest and shoved as hard as she could, forcing him back though the portal.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Ryin fell back through, screaming her name, and then he was gone.

  Her face submerged beneath the spell, then everything became a blur around her. Ghostly wisps of people sped back and forth like darting blurs. The shadows changed rapidly, the sun rising then falling in the blink of an eye, followed by the moon, then the sun again. Occasionally a blur would stop long enough to almost come into focus, a woman in black or a man with sharp eyes, but they sped on just as quickly as they appeared. Sounds compressed, becoming an almost overwhelming cacophony of voices and sounds, too fast to even begin to process, let alone understand.

  Then everything shifted, the entire world spun and zipped around her. By the time she realized she had been carried, she found herself in a large cargo hold-- rows upon rows of frozen soldiers, a menagerie of motionless terrified people packed like cargo, the sun and moon zipping by through the portholes.

  Clouds raced past the portholes at a dizzying pace. And then, the unbelievably fast moving world around her began to slow down. Sounds expanded, becoming more salient, the sun crept to a halt, then hung in place.

  Outside, weeks had passed, but to her, it had all occurred in the space of a heartbeat. She found herself able to move, standing in the same position as she had been on Boeth, the warmth of Ryin’s chest still lingering on her fingertips.

  The men and women of the navy looked around, realizing to their horror that they were now prisoners, their weapons stripped from them, their location uncertain.

  Ellie stumbled up to the porthole and looked out. There were at least a dozen cargo ships around them, with men and women looking out of their portholes, the terror on their faces mirroring her own.

  Craning her head, she looked out before them, and saw floating shipyards above a marble city. And, at the center of the city, the largest time bubble she had ever seen. It encompassed the entire central district, and inside of it, a hazy flurry of scaffolding and activity as some kind of tower was being constructed at a terrifying pace.

  “Where are we?”

  * * *

  (Present Day)

  Mandi had managed to clear a ring more or less free of debris in what had at one time been a galley. Deutzia’s roots arched above them, and snaked along the deck beneath them. It made the room quite eerie, as if they were neither in a ship nor underground, but in some kind of strange hybrid of the two.

  Bunni Bubbles hopped atop one of the rootlets, fascinated at the way they pulsed with light when she landed on them.

  One by one they all came in and sat down. Ryin kicked around, creating a spot clear of splinters to sit on.

  “Thank you,” Rachael praised, smoothing out her skirt and sitting in the spot he had cleared.

  “Don’t mention it,” he snorted, moving on.

  “Come here, silly,” she teased, grabbing his hand and forcing him to sit down next to her.

  After they were all seated, Athel was brought in last of all. Bound in chains, she lay in the shadows of a corner, refusing to talk to anyone.

  Mandi knelt down and took a deep breath. Molly plopped on her lap, sucking on a ration packet.

  “It began with the Dragons,” Mandi explained. “They created this world as a place of meditation and solace for themselves. However, they could only create a place, they could not fill it with life. The only one with that power was Valpurgeiss, the father of all the old ones in the spirit realm. If the dragons are the mother of this world, then he is most certainly the father. Working together with the Dragons, he transformed a barren ball of rock into a breathing living world of water, land, and light.”

  Ryin and Rachael looked at each other doubtfully.

  “So…Valpurgeiss created trees and animals and stuff?”

  Mandi shook her head. “Those things are mere shadows, crass imitations of one of the many forms his children took. No, Valpurgeiss made only a single form of life. A perfect form of life, his greatest creation, timeless and formless, into which he poured his generosity, his love, and his benevolence. He made my people, the changelings, and for a time it was good.”

  Everyone looked on in surprise.

  “My people filled the oceans, the land, and the skies. We were the fish, we were the tr
ees, we were the oceans. We would spend our time as grass, as rocks, or sometimes even something as simple as a cloud.”

  Mina’s ear flicked. “What you’re describing is…an age before the gods?”

  “An age before the first age,” Andolf whispered, his purple whiskers twitching. “Even the oldest spirits only know it as rumor.”

  Everyone looked at one another in wonder. Even Athel looked up and began paying attention.

  Mandi nodded. “It lasted for countless millennia. There was no death or sorrow in those times. My people lived in complete harmony with the dragons and with one another.”

  Albashire scratched his elbow. “But…what did they eat? Did they like…eat each other?”

  “It was not necessary to consume flesh in those days. My people were sustained by the light of our father. He lived here and walked among us as a friend. Wherever he stepped, life erupted out of the ground. Whenever he breathed, the air was filled with song. There was no death, only quiet peaceful days spent in the company of friends and family.”

  Dr. Griffin leaned forward, fascinated. “So…you knew him?”

  She placed a hand atop Molly’s head sadly. “No…I was born after the calamity, my brother and I.”

  “So, what happened?”

  “The other old ones in the spirit realm became jealous. They looked out from their formless realm, and longed to achieve the greatness their father had constructed. They dreamed of being gods themselves, and while they possessed great power, they could not create life like he could.”

  Mandi balled her fists. “And so, they conspired with one another, and in the darkest of betrayals, they fell upon Valpurgeiss, tearing his soul apart, and dividing amongst themselves the light of creation from his breast.”

  “I’ve heard a version of this,” Dr. Griffin acknowledged. “Odesi once said that all power must be claimed, that even he once claimed his power for himself. But he never said he took it from another god.”

  “Jabint told us he slew the king of all demons, and scattered his spawn, taking the throne of creation for himself,” Mina affirmed.