Enlightenment (Children of Ankh series Book 2)

by Kim Cormack

  When she awoke naked in the woods, the brutal defilement of her mortal encasement continued until she couldn’t will her shocked mind to fight back, knowing from past experience that there was no escape. There was only acceptance. This was happening but not happening. He was there but not there. It was the essence of him. He was a ghoul, a demon… a specter of depravity. He was a nightmare to be experienced in whole. She felt his blade carving her flesh. Her soul screamed from within her tortured mind. She saw his face come into hazy focus. Their eyes met in recognition. He disappeared. She couldn’t see him, but she felt it as he sunk his knife into her flesh, until it felt like her soul was on fire. She was burning! The forest flickered and the gray of reality filtered in for a second. The greenery came back and she felt the sensation of rain on her skin. She could see the branches waving in the wind above where she lay. The sound of a wall grinding open, prodded her to remember where she was. The forest flickered again to a flash of a familiar face against a backdrop of stone. The trees appeared above her for only a flash. She felt the tiny particles of something making contact with her skin. The forest was gone in a breath and so was her savior as her world went black.

  The world became bright again. Kayn scrambled to her knees. Her stomach tightened, it released and she managed to control her urge to vomit. Kayn felt her torso, expecting to be gutted and covered in blood. Relief washed over her… she was physically fine. She heard the steady clashing of swords through the walls. Stand back up. The fighting was close by. Her mind taunted, you’re missing an eye. She panicked as she felt her face. Her senses were still reeling from the torture but her body was unscathed. There were no wounds, at least none that could be seen with the naked eye. Stand back up. Kayn took a breath and attempted to calm her hysterical nerves. Her mind was a mess. She couldn’t think. There was no way she could fight. She sat in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest. Shut it off. You need to find a way to shut it off. This is not the location for a mental breakdown. She was brought back to reality by echoing screams of agony. They grew closer by the second. By the sounds of things, everyone had found a sword or a weapon of some kind. Maybe, this was exactly the right time for a mental breakdown. The wall behind her ground open. She spun her head around and it was Zach. Oh, thank God. She was still huddled in the corner. Zach grinned at her as he threw a knife. For a split second, she thought he was throwing it at her and she ducked out of its way. It hit the stone beside her head with a tinny clank.

  Her concerned clan member suggested, “I’d grab that if I were you.” When she didn’t move a muscle, Zach asserted, “Get your mind straight! Get up! Get ready to fight!”

  She couldn’t convince herself to move. In her mind, she heard Winnie’s voice prodding her, stand back up. The wall before them ground open. It was Kevin. He attacked Zach, throwing him up against the wall. Kayn’s heart caught in her throat. Kevin was smiling. He seemed to be enjoying every second of this. Could Kevin really switch it off this fast? Kayn clung to the wall as she struggled to stand.

  “Run Kayn! You’re not with it yet! There’s too many!” Zach hollered. More Triad appeared through a quickly sliding wall. The wall crushed one of them before he made it through, spraying her with blood from his torso. He was sliced in half. On the teen’s face was an expression of shock as the top part of his corpse slid down the wall and fell stunned to the stone.

  Kevin froze when he noticed her there. Their eyes met. Recognition with a touch of panic flashed across his expression. It’s not Kevin. He’s not Kevin. Knowing Zach stood no chance if she left him here alone Kayn raced at the Triad and booted him back through the wall. It slid shut. Zach seemed evenly matched with Kevin as he swung back and sliced Kevin’s chest with his sword. Kevin barely flinched. He grinned and attacked Zach. He was having fun. The wall opened and her own fight began. Kayn skillfully dodged each thrust of the Triad’s weapon, with her own blade clutched in her hand she jumped against the wall and launched herself at her attacker, knocking him to the ground. She didn’t wait for him to stand. This wasn’t the time for civility. She leapt on his chest and slammed his head against the stone floor, knocking him out cold. She looked behind her. Kevin and Zach had disappeared behind the swiftly opening and closing walls. The half Triad corpse had also disappeared from the floor, leaving behind an ominous looking pool of blood. Feeling like quite the badass, Kayn strolled through an open wall. Behind you. She spun around. The Triad was coming after her. She’d only knocked him out momentarily. She should have finished him off. Double tap. Just like on the Zombie movies. Lesson learned. Kayn darted through each opening with no sense of direction and just when she was almost certain she’d lost him, the cold metal of a sword slid through her chest and stole her breath in an excruciating explosion of pain. She sunk to her knees. The world wavered around her as Kayn looked up to see the face of the person that killed her.

  A panicked looking Patrick was kneeling before her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you,” he whispered.

  Well, if it had to be someone. Her vision blurred as she slipped once again into oblivion.

  Her head was pounding. She opened her eyes, took a deep breath and scrambled to stand on seriously wobbly legs. Her vision was a tiny bit foggy for a second before it clarified her surroundings. She noticed a black felt bag in the corner of the room. She attempted to shove it into her bra, it was then that she noticed she didn’t have one on. She wasn’t wearing her street clothes anymore. Kevin had been in a white loin cloth and so had Zach but she’d still been wearing her street clothes. Perhaps, you had to die a few times to get comfy. Kayn began collecting the little felt bags as they magically appeared in every room that she entered. It was like a video game but she’d been rewarded for dying instead of living. She wandered from room to room, shoving bags into her sarong with no semblance of time. There was no way to know if it had been three hours or three days but she continued running through the maze avoiding confrontation and collecting bags. She hadn’t found any weapons besides the one that Zach had thrown to her. It had been on the floor beside her when she awakened. Kayn was both mentally and physically exhausted. She walked through a sliding wall and came across a large area with a marble fountain flowing with water. Watch out for the fountains, she heard Frost’s warning in her mind. It was odd that she’d come across this place, the moment she felt like she needed it. She hadn’t let herself think about how thirsty she was. She knelt beside the fountain; cupping her hands she filled them with refreshing liquid. She drank from her palms until her thirst was quenched. In the bottom of the fountain a glimmering flash of gold caught her eye. It was a sword. She fished it out of the water. It was beautiful. Weapons had never impressed her but this one was exquisite. There were intricate carvings on the handle. It had the symbol of Ankh on it. It was if someone had known she was coming. She gapped out, entranced by the beauty of the blade. She had to get out of here. There could be predators at the fountain. She felt the stinging pain of something hitting her across the back of her head. Stunned, Kayn staggered backwards while attempting to wield her sword in her defense. She was shoved down and pinned to the floor. Kayn opened her eyes. She came face to face with an out of breath Kevin. He scowled at her, covering her mouth so she couldn’t scream.

  She began struggling and Kevin hissed, “Damn it Brighton. Just stay the hell down.” He took off.

  She was lying on the floor, hidden by the fountain, listening to the whooshing of arrows and clashing of the swords. She was maybe eight feet from the opening to a strange looking doorway. Stealthily she glanced around… There were at least ten clan actively fighting around her. Could she make it? Kayn launched her body up from the floor and through the open doorway. It closed behind her. Kayn looked around the room. There were cushions on the ground just like there had been in that underground Ankh crypt. This must be a sleep chamber. She felt safe. Kayn removed the bags from her sarong. She opened one and dumped the contents in her hand. No rose quartz, but there was salt and various spi
ritual privacy stones. She placed the stones around the room even though she sensed she didn’t need to. One of the bags contained a bunch of dried figs and in another a few small round things. She licked one to see if they were edible. It tasted like candy. Kayn ate a couple and saved the rest for Zach and Melody. If she ever found them again. She wandered over to the wall she’d entered through. Kevin had knocked her down to protect her.

  Love me or Let me go

  She could sense him on the other side of the door. Against her better judgement, Kayn pressed her palms against the stone. It didn’t open as she’d expected. She noticed the ridges and indents and while operating on nothing but instinct she placed her fingers into the grooves and pressed the heel of her hand down. The door slid open. They stared at each other for a second, just breathing. Everyone else appeared to be gone. A wall on the far side of the room opened. Kevin was forced to jump inside with her. The wall slid shut behind him.

  “Why in the hell did you let me in?” Kevin whispered. “You know you’re not supposed to let me in here,” he reprimanded with frustration in his eyes. He began pacing back and forth while avoiding eye contact.

  He couldn’t leave now. Someone would see him. He was stuck with her. Kayn tried to articulate what she wanted to say. She’d watched him hurt Zach. A part of her wanted to walk over there and beat him senseless but her ego wanted to call his bluff. He wasn’t going to be able to kill her. When faced with the opportunity, he’d saved her.

  Kevin stopped pacing and turned to face her. He scolded, “We are supposed to be enemies. They could be watching us right now.”

  Kayn pointed out the obvious stones she’d situated around the room. She didn’t really remember the words but she tried, “Let there be silence inside of the circle.” Kevin let out an exasperated sigh. She suspected she’d said the words wrong. She tried again, “Let there be silence outside of this circle?”

  She honestly couldn’t remember which was one was correct. She definitely didn’t know the words in Greek. Kevin wasn’t moving. He looked guilty. He kept staring at her.

  “How’s Stephanie?” Kayn stated coldly.

  Kevin took an aggravated step towards her as he said, “Are you joking? This is our Testing. This is serious shit. I’ve always been your enemy. You have always been mine. We took a little vacation from reality. You can’t keep dramatically pausing in the middle of the fight to stare at me.”

  She slowly shook her head. He was lying to himself. His actions didn’t match his words.

  He callously clarified things, “We have nothing left. We’re done. Stay away from me. Run away and hide if you see me. I don’t want to have to hurt you. I don’t want that on my conscience.”

  He’d stomped on her ego by telling her to run away and hide. He wouldn’t have to hurt her? Was he serious? With her back up, Kayn stammered, “You know what! You followed me in here! Where do you get off saying I’m being friggin dramatic? You were looking at me too.”

  “Listen, I was told to entertain you,” he explained. “I was ordered to get to know you. You’re a nice person. I like you and I’m not a complete ass. Regardless of what you might think. That is the only reason I came in here. I’m here to warn you, just this once. I have to kill you the next time you’re standing in my way when my clan is around.”

  Kayn took a step towards him and questioned, “Could you kill me? Could you sink that knife into my chest without dying inside yourself?”

  Kevin turned his expression to stone as he took out his blade and backed her up against the wall. He said, “Last week was nothing more than a lapse in judgment on your behalf. I knew you would let me in. Maybe, I came in here to kill you?”

  With complete trust in her eyes, she grabbed the end of his blade, raised it to her heart and placed the tip against her skin. She whispered, “Then just kill me and quit acting. That’s what you have been doing all week right? If you have no feelings at all for me, it should be easy.”

  He stared deeply into her eyes. It felt like he was searing her image into his soul. He was willing himself to do it. She could feel his internal struggle. They stood there, staring into each other’s eyes until his began to tear up. She lovingly caressed his cheek. He closed his eyes as she touched him. Kevin took his other hand and moved the thin material on the front of her barely there dress to reveal her one remaining scar. He traced the thin ridge with his thumb. He was trying to remember her, she could feel it.

  Kevin slipped one shoulder of her dress down. He leaned forward and gently kissed the nape of her neck, with the blade still pressed against her chest. He nuzzled her neck and buried his face in her hair. “Damn it Kayn,” he whispered into her hair. He dropped the knife and it tinged to the floor.

  She snuggled into him and they clung to each other, their eyes moist with unshed tears. She couldn’t be his enemy. Their connection was too strong.

  He whispered against her hair, “You need to kill me the next time you see me. Make it look real. I want you to. I need you to be the one to do it. We have to look like enemies.”

  Kayn squeezed him tighter as she whispered through her tears, “I knew you’d come back to me.”

  With agony in his eyes, he asserted, “I’m not back…We can never go back to who we were. Don’t you get it? You have to stop loving me.” He abruptly turned and walked away from her.

  “You love me too,” Kayn whispered. “I know you do.”

  Kevin placed his fingers and heel of his hand in the grooves on the door. It slid open. He bluntly stated, “Loving you would be pointless.”

  The wall ground shut and he was gone. His words replayed in her mind. Loving you would be pointless. She understood why he’d walked away, but it didn’t stop her from feeling like he’d just kicked her in the chest. He’d been intentionally cruel. The version of Kevin that she’d grown up with didn’t have a vicious bone in his body. Kayn stood there motionless for a minute. He’d been brutal to her. Presumably, so he could work up the ability to kill her. There was a wellspring of crazy information dancing around in her head. He was right. She would be forced to kill him at some point. She was just a mortal girl trying to outrun a mob of immortals. In this moment, she felt like a normal heartbroken teenage girl. She wasn’t allowed to feel this way. She didn’t have the time to feel this way. She had to be stronger than that. Kayn slid down against the wall and sat there hugging her knees to her chest. She would have to avoid Kevin, for as long as she could. Whenever she thought about him, her mind still wanted to sugar coat the situation. There was no possible way to sugar coat this insanity. She rocked herself ever so slowly as she closed her eyes. She needed a hug from a real person. She needed a hug from her mother.