Release (The Protector Book 3)

by M. R. Merrick

  The path I was on looked oddly familiar, and I stopped when I came to the bridge I had just run away from. A small trickle of black water ran under it, but the circle of trees that had nearly surrounded me was gone, or had moved and buried their roots elsewhere.

  The rush of water came again, storming down the river’s ditch. I backed away and watched it fill the deep crevice a second time. The liquid frothed, and as the bubbles burst, sparks of color shot into the air, drizzling back down onto the water. Red, blue, green, and yellow streaks colored the river like a melted box of crayons.

  The colors swirled in the inky water and merged together, forming a face. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, but yellow eyes stared up at me, blinking as bursts of black bubbled through them. I squeezed my daggers, waiting for something to attack or take form, but it remained still, the black water flowing around the image as it watched me.

  The eyes followed me as I sidestepped, and a giggle echoed around me. I turned, following the sound, but when I returned to the river, the colors broke, sinking into the dark liquid. The laughter came again, this time sounding like a pack of hysterical hyenas had surrounded me.

  I turned to move, but every direction looked the same and frustration took over. I tilted my head back and screamed as loud and as long as I could. I swung my blade at nothing in the air and kicked the leaves on the ground.

  “I hate this place!” I yelled.

  “Anger is a strange, strange thing. It gets one nowhere,” said a voice. It was low and growly, but every few words had an unnatural squeak.

  My blade cut through the air behind me, but there was nothing.

  “Hurting Algar will get you nowhere too.”

  “Who said that?” I asked.

  “Algar,” the voice squeaked.

  “Show yourself.”

  “More so than I already am?”

  I focused on the sound and tried to follow it. I could hear it right in front of me, but I couldn’t see a thing.

  “Where are you?” I asked again.

  “Asking the same questions and expecting different answers…is this normal for your kind?”

  The voice was right in front of me, but all I could see were towering trees and a short stump. I stared down at the stump and something scurried across the top. It matched the brown of the tree perfectly at first, but slowly changed to a dull green, revealing something small. I leaned in closer and focused on the movements as the color changed back to brown.

  “Found! Algar has been found!” The voice giggled and crawled to the center of the stump. He walked on a dozen humanlike legs, and had a long, plated brown body. Algar had six arms and a plump, round face covered in fur. Three solid navy blue eyes stared up at me and clear eyelids blinked over them.

  “Algar?” I asked.

  “Yes?” The brown plates covering his body lifted and flipped themselves over, changing to a bright purple that matched some of the leaves.

  “What is this place?”

  “This is Vortan. Algar’s home.”

  “I’m trying to get out of here, but I keep coming back to the same place.”

  “This world makes little sense if you’re from the outside. If you keep trying the same thing and expecting different results—”

  “Yes, you already said that. Is there any other advice you can offer?”

  Algar shrugged and all the legs on his left side lifted. A small stream of green liquid ran along the stump and he sighed. “Trying different directions is always an option.”

  “But I’ve been walking all day. I’ve been stuck here for gods know how long. I’m not getting anywhere!”

  “Like I said. Trying the same thing over and over—”

  “Yes, enough, I get it.” I clenched my jaw.

  Algar smiled. “Do you? Do you get it? You are human, yes? You walk the same way everywhere you go in your world, yes?” I opened my mouth to answer but Algar kept talking. “This is not your world, human. You don’t belong here for a reason. Vortan is different.”

  “Whatever, this is ridiculous.” I stood up and sheathed my daggers, studying the landscape again.

  The black river behind me was gone and now opened back up to an endless desert of red rock. The snow covered mountains were far off in the distance, and the air was getting colder.

  Algar giggled and I glared at him. He covered his mouth and his eyes blinked repeatedly. “You started on the ground, and then you went to the sky, yes? Perhaps you should try going back up.”

  I looked up at the towering trees around me. Their limbs reached high into the sky, but they were lost in the gray clouds.

  “What do you mean up? What am I going to do up there, reach for the sky and walk on the sunshine?”

  Algar lifted all the legs on his right side this time and scrunched up his face. A small poof of green smoke shot out behind him and the scent that came with it was more pungent than the smell of my shoes burning in the creek. Algar smiled up at me and shrugged.

  “Wait…” I said. “Can you please help me? I mean actually help me make sense of this place?”

  “Algar already helped. Your path doesn’t work. I gave you a new path and yet you stand here whining, instead of climbing. Hopeless. That’s what you are.”

  “You’re telling me to go up?”

  Algar let out a lofty sigh. “You’re asking questions I’ve already answered. I can smell the Kivrakai. They are coming. I have no more time for this.”Algar waved me away. His plates lifted again, changing to the brown of the tree’s stump, and he disappeared. I stared at the spot I’d seen him last, even going as far as brushing my hand over it, but I couldn’t find him.

  “What? They’re coming here? Now?” I asked, but there was no response.

  I searched the land, and the desert behind me was gone again, replaced by familiar forest. Slowing my breathing and closing my eyes, I focused on the area around me. I could hear the faint bass of something, and I waited, trying to stretch my senses towards the sound. It grew louder and I turned around, this time catching the forest as it disappeared.

  In front of me, the trees slowly faded, losing their color first and then vanishing altogether. A small path of red and yellow dirt formed where the trees once were, and in the distance, a storm of dust circled.

  To my left, more trees faded exposing a tent city in the distance. I knew there weren’t anything but Ithreal’s demons in this world, but I couldn’t help but feel relief at the thought of life here. Something besides Algar, that is.

  The thundering sound of feet grew louder as I walked towards the village. Figures appeared down the yellow and red path, crashing through the dust. Kivrakai. My adrenaline came to life as I searched for an escape.

  I ran towards the tent city and a stream of fire exploded into a tree behind me. The tree jumped from the earth, running on long white roots. Its bark crackled beneath an orange flame, and it ran in circles, shrieks becoming more pain-filled by the moment.

  The gray clouds were gone, leaving a sky that was quickly darkening. I started to run towards the village, but a warrior’s cry sounded and an army of demons stormed from the tent city. Strange magic sparked in the air and demons I’d never seen ran towards me waving weapons above their head.

  I turned around to find the Kivrakai running in pairs and two beams of light sparked from the front of the group. I ducked as a stream of fire scorched past my head. What seemed like a never-ending line of angry Kivrakai stampeded towards me, their orange and yellow skin blurring together like a freight train.

  I looked back up at the sky and groaned. Pulling both daggers from their sheaths, I ran to the nearest tree and jumped up, plunging my blades into it. The tree’s roots tore themselves from the ground and it spun in a circle. I planted my foot against a bright white knot sticking out of the bark and pushed myself up.

  Each time my blade stuck into the tree, it screamed louder than before. Its branches swung through the air, and the force of the swinging blew gusts of wind aro
und me, but the tree couldn’t quite flex its limbs to reach me.

  The booming of the stampede was louder now. They were close. So close I could feel the ground below me vibrating through the tree.

  I glanced out at the two armies of oncoming Underworlders, and the fiercest of roars tore through the air. A glimmer of light flashed in the distance and I felt the heat before it reached me. Red and orange exploded as the fire crashed into the tree, just a few feet beneath me. That was the last time I stopped moving.

  I plunged my dagger into the tree and as I ascended, the brown bark changed to a soft, slimy green skin. When the bark was all below me and there wasn’t another knot to put my feet on, I pulled myself up with only my arms. They were shaking with exhaustion, but the only option was to keep going.

  Streaks of fire lit up the sky, searing the trees on either side of me. Chunks of the tree were blasted away as slabs of slimy green skin and shards of wood zipped by like a canon hitting a ship. The trees shrieks were cut off as they uprooted themselves, but they were no longer moving forward; they were starting to fall. They had been dealt their final blows.

  The first fell behind me, and splinters of wood and clouds of dust blurred the earth below. I wasn’t as lucky with the second. It teetered towards me and smashed into the other side of the tree I clung to. My tree shifted its weight, white roots tearing itself from the ground to remain balanced. My body jerked and I partially lost my grip, dangling with one hand on my dagger.

  As the dust settled, I looked down and saw a small city of demons below. They looked small from where I was, and as another beam of fire moved past me, I forced myself to keep moving, even against my body’s protests.

  I struggled to pull my entire body weight up, and once I wrapped scarred fingers around the other dagger, I scaled the tree as fast as I could. I didn’t look down again and I didn’t stop. Foot after foot of the tree passed beneath me, until I had grown accustomed to its screams.

  A few random beams of fire lit up the air around me but passed by and were followed by roars that sounded like soft echoes below.

  When the fire stopped, I slowed my pace. My arms ached and I’d long surpassed exhaustion. The sky hadn’t grown any closer, but the ground was no longer in view. It was hidden behind bark-lined branches that were covered with black, purple, and white leaves.

  I pulled one of my daggers out and stuck it into a massive branch next to me. The tree didn’t even scream this time and I pulled myself onto the branch. I sat on the branch, ignoring the slime that clung to me, and leaned against the trunk.

  I didn’t know how long I’d been climbing, but my heart had slammed into my ribs each moment of my ascent. Blood and adrenaline flushed through my system on a repeat cycle, and sitting here now, I felt like my heart would stop.

  I closed my eyes to rest and images of the Visceratti queen lunging forward moved behind my eyelids. Her serrated teeth wrapped around me and darkness followed. As the inky blackness peeled away, it sucked itself into Riley’s back. His dark eyes watched me and the crow’s feet around his eyes became more defined.

  I shook the image away and Rayna’s cat eyes stared back at me. Her face was hidden in shadows, but the green was vibrant, filling me with security. In the slit pupils of her eyes I could see her body, falling into a dark pit that crackled with flashes of lightning. Her screams echoed in my ear and my eyes shot open.

  Deep breaths escaped from my lips. I had fallen asleep. I squeezed my eyes tight, forcing the grogginess away, and my arm throbbed as I pulled my hands against my face. I took a long breath and my pulse slowed, but remnants of Rayna’s scream still echoed in my ears.

  The clouds above me were nowhere to be seen and the white stars I expected to be littering the sky were gone. Instead, I was staring up at a massive white moon hanging brightly above me.

  I arched my back and shifted my weight, and I realized the branch I had been sitting on was gone. I was sitting in a concrete cell with cement walls. A pang shot through my stomach and I started to panic.

  Something tickled the back of my neck and I jumped to my feet. Both daggers were gripped in my hands but there was nothing behind me. Stone and shadows stared back at me and anger rose in my throat. What had happened? Where was I?

  The sound of cement grinding together came and the walls shifted. Dust filled the air and the walls descended into the ground.

  A shadow-covered corridor was laid out before me, and in the distance was a towering black statue. It was massive and made me feel like an ant. In place of the walls, tall bushes reached into the sky, stretching towards the moon, leaving only one way to go, and I would take that path over a concrete cell any day.

  I kept a steady pace as I walked, trying to conserve energy. My stomach grumbled, my arm ached, and tension built at the base of my neck. I was tired of this place and its changing landscapes. I missed my friends, and I was worried.

  “Rayna?” I called out, and the echo returned, shouting my words back at me in a voice that wasn’t my own. “Willy?” I shouted, but the demonic voice that came unsettled me, and I opted for silence. I could see the statue getting closer, and that brought some sense of relief to me, but not much. My friends were absent from my life, and I needed them close. I felt empty without them.

  Hysterical laughter reverberated behind me, and I turned with daggers gripped in my hands. I’d been walking for some time, and yet the stone wall was still right behind me.

  “Why did we come here?” I screamed, and instead of an echo, the laughter came again.

  I started to run down the corridor and the ground cracked. My toe caught on the edge and I fell. I expected to come to a skidding halt, but I didn’t. My body turned end over end, somersaulting down an incline. Each time my body left the ground, it crashed and rolled against hard stone.

  I stiffened, trying to straighten my body and stop the rolling. My back burned as I skidded down a long stone incline and I felt small cuts being torn open along my back. A concrete wall waited for me at the bottom and I closed my eyes, bracing for impact.

  My body came to a gentle stop and I hesitated to open my eyes. When I did, I was staring up at the concrete slide that seemed to climb endlessly into the sky, vanishing into newly made white clouds that had formed above. The moon was so distant it looked like a small planet, and small sparks of light twinkled all around it.

  When I turned around my breath caught in my throat and my heart nearly tore itself from my throat.

  “Holy hell!” I screamed, falling back against the slide.

  The creature before me had on a long, tattered brown cloak. Brown and gray hair hung down past her hips, but it was knotted and matted, wrapped together in bands of faded colored beads. Her forehead was littered with small white spikes, and solid, blood-red eyes stared back at me from her weathered face—a face I never thought I’d be happy to see.

  “Long time no see,” said the raspy voice. Her jagged teeth showed an unaligned jaw, and her fingernails were longer than the length of her hand. She brushed a few strands of hair from her face, revealing the two slits where her nose should be. She took a long sniff and grimaced. “If it’s possible, I think you smell worse than before.”

  My jaw dropped open. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head, but still she stood in front of me.

  “Krulear.”

  Chapter 37

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked. “We came looking for you in Drakar.”

  “Your father and the sons of Ithreal came to me, a few weeks ago. They were searching for a vision.”

  “And?”

  “And after what I saw, I knew I must flee to my home world. It was only here I could meet you and stop what has already begun.” Her voice was raspy and the massive hump on her back looked like it caused her pain as she walked. She stepped towards me and reached out a decrepit and frail hand. Krulear pulled me to my feet and started to walk away.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “Come, there is no t
ime. I must show you the way to the temple.”

  I didn’t ask again. I jumped to my feet and walked alongside her. Her heavy breathing came with a wheeze, and she was limping.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I am not important, but you, Protector, you are. Your destiny lurks in shadows. I’ve seen it in the inky blackness of the sight, and I’ve tasted it in your blood. Your fate has not yet been determined.”

  “Why are you helping now? You sent me away when Tiki brought me to you.”

  “I feared what I saw, and I thought if I helped you further, you would lose your path. But it seems my guidance is needed now.”

  Krulear coughed a few times but continued her elderly walk. She turned abruptly and waved her arms. The branches and leaves that blocked our way retracted, unweaving from one another and creating an opening.

  “Your magic is breaking you already,” she said, pointing to my arm. “That means we must hurry. Do you have the one you sought to rescue? Is the summoner on your side or your father’s?”

  “Rayna is with me,” I said. “What about her?” Panic struck a chord inside me and vibrated through my core.

  “She is the one that must complete the binding. She must finish what you started when you were marked.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Krulear’s red eyes glared at me. “You know nothing of what you are? Did you not get the book?”

  “The 11th Dimension? Yes, we have it.”

  “No!” Krulear snapped, waving me away. “The 11th Dimension is a book written by the goddess Korinth. It is the key to the ritual of breaking Ithreal free from his cage. Do not, under any circumstance, let him have it.”

  “We can destroy it then,” I said.

  Krulear laughed. “Not without another soul piece you can’t, and doing so will destroy her and her world. That is not an option.”

  “The book is a soul piece?”

  “Yes, so keep it safe and out of your father’s hands. You need the scroll.”