Enlightenment (Children of Ankh series Book 2)

by Kim Cormack

  Zach chuckled, “You two are real. I can’t believe it.”

  The girl with shoulder length pink hair replied, “Last time I checked we were real.” They held up their hands to Zach so he could see their Ankh symbols clearly. His face crinkled into a smile, a real smile of pure happiness.

  Haley, the girl with the fluorescent pink hair declared, “Can we please get out of here?”

  They all grinned in unison. They were going to leave.

  “I hope someone can carry me,” Kayn enquired.

  Haley looked at Melody and said, “It’s safe to touch her now. You can give her some energy.”

  Melody took Kayn’s hand and gave her a warm surge of healing energy and she instantly felt better.

  “Okay ladies… Show us the way out,” Zach said.

  Astrid pointed at the stone ceiling and proclaimed, “We climb up and out.”

  Kayn repeated Astrid’s words, “We climb up and out?” They all stared at the ceiling.

  While gawking at the ceiling, Melody clarified, “I thought you guys knew a way through this maze to the Amber room?”

  Kayn saw the genius in the simplicity of Astrid’s idea, “Can we do that? How many levels is out? This place is magic. How do we get up there?”

  “Together,” Haley replied. “We’ll have to go together.”

  It seemed far too easy. There had to be a catch. Kayn asked, “Are we allowed to just climb out?”

  Astrid answered, “Nobody clarified how we had to get to the end.”

  They began their journey up and out of the crypt. The ceiling above them opened without any complications and stayed open long enough for them to make it into the room above. The immortals stuck within these walls probably appreciated the irony of the situation. They helped each other up and out through the ceiling again.

  Kayn repeated her earlier question. A question that had gone unanswered, “How many levels are in this place?”

  Astrid replied, “It has infinite levels. This crypt is the size of a city and created with magic. I think there are several stages of this game. The first is accepting death. You need to be able to understand the concept of immortality. You need to understand that death is inevitable and last, but not least, you have to prove that you are worthy.”

  Haley delved deeper, “The walls keep shifting and changing, so the route to the Amber room on the inside of the crypt will never be in the same place for long. The route on the inside is not found with skill. It’s found with blind luck. The tricky part is staying sane long enough to find it. We’ve made it to the outside before. That route is obvious. Once you get outside you can see the Amber room in the distance.”

  The ceiling above them ground open once again for the group. They pulled each other through. Exhausted from climbing, they all sat and took a breather for a second. Up and out, was a physically exhausting route. Kayn leaned up against the wall accidentally. She felt it begin to shift. Only it wasn’t shifting to open, it had shifted towards her. She scrambled away from it and announced, “I think we have a bit of a problem here!” Kayn spun around to look and the opposite wall was closing in on them.

  Melody stammered, “We have to find an exit! Kayn! Make it stop!”

  Haley said, “She could probably make it stop but she’s not going to. You three haven’t been squished yet, have you?”

  With defeat in his eyes, Zach replied, “I haven’t had the displeasure.”

  Kayn knew she hadn’t. She slowly shook her head from side to side. Melody did the same. The walls paused. They stopped moving? That was close.

  Astrid looked at Haley and said, “It’s not done, is it?”

  Haley shook her head and closed her eyes in preparation. The walls slammed together at lightning speed, stomping them out as though they were ants on a sidewalk.

  Melody was already wide awake when she came to. Kayn opened her eyes and groaned, “Tell me that was a onetime deal?”

  Astrid was the next to awaken. She struggled to her feet beside the two girls. The others began to stir. Haley managed to stand. She held out a hand to Zach and helped him up.

  Haley replied to Kayn’s statement, “Unfortunately there are no guarantees. In other words, let’s just get out of here and chat when we make it up to the next level.”

  Kayn gave Haley a boost first. The ceiling opened-up allowing them passage with no issues. One by one they pulled each other up to the next floor. This was exhausting.

  Haley looked up at the ceiling and then around the room. She made eye contact with Kayn and shook her head. Kayn already knew it wasn’t going to allow them passage. Her stomach began to twist and churn. Her pulse began to race as she inhaled the oddly humid air. Beads of sweat formed on her face and chest. She wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand. What new hell was this?

  “You know they say, if you’re going through hell, keep going,” Zach quoted as he laced his fingers to boost one of the girls up. Nobody moved a muscle.

  Haley glanced at Zach and asserted, “I know you feel it Zach.” The expression on his face gave him away. Haley ordered, “We have to die. We have to be able to sacrifice ourselves, without giving it a second thought. Those are the rules of the game. You already know this one. I know it’s instinct to fight for survival but I also know you three figured all of this out far before we found you. The clan’s numbers have changed, not the plight. Has anyone died this way?”

  Kayn responded, “Died from the heat? Does lava count?” The temperature continued to climb. Her body was slick with perspiration, her throat so dry that she kept attempting to swallow to create moisture. It felt like they’d been lost in the desert for days. She knew better than to allow messed-up things to cross her mind. White light blinded them and they were now actually standing barefoot in the hot sand of the desert.

  Zach groaned, “Which one of you gave us the visual?”

  Kayn owned up to it, “My bad. It crossed my mind.” The temperature continued to rise. They began to dance around on the boiling hot sand underfoot. Kayn dug a hole under the surface to stand on. The sand underneath was cooler. The others followed suit. The desert survival skills were courtesy of Lexy.

  Haley didn’t dig a hole. She continued to dance around in agony on the hot sand. There was quite the stubborn streak in her. Kayn could appreciate that attribute in someone.

  Zach dug a hole and bitched, “Oh, for heaven’s sake Haley! Quit being stubborn and stand in the damn hole. If we are dying from heat exposure, it may take a while. It’s not going to kill you faster by burning your tootsies on the sand.”

  Kayn dug a larger hole so it was just a little bit cooler. She took a seat in her hole. There was nothing but blue sky above them now. A buzzard flew by. She’d never seen one in real life. She’d seen buzzards on shows and in cartoons. They were creepy looking birds. She knew that buzzards were scavengers. They were waiting for someone to die. This hallucination was rather realistic. Her mouth had now become so dry that swallowing was impossible. Her tongue kept sticking to the roof of her mouth whenever she attempted that simple operational act. The inborn reflex in her brain wanted to swallow continually. Under normal circumstances if you didn’t swallow you’d drool. She glanced over at the others. They’d made themselves holes to sit in. With Kayn’s throat void of the lubricant that saliva provided, it began to constrict her airway. Her lips were cracked and oozing. Her eyes were so dry that blinking was even becoming difficult. Her eyelids were sticking to her eyeballs. Why hadn’t she thought of a hot tropical rainforest instead of a desert? She slightly altered the position of her lips and her bottom lip split in half, right down the center. She couldn’t close her eyes anymore. Her eyes were burning in the sun and still the temperature rose. Through her burning eyeballs the scenery was now covered by a white film. It was like peering through a white sheer curtain into the desert. The curtain became thicker and thicker, until everything was white. This was an extremely long drawn out unpleasant way to die. She was no longer feeling her he
ad pounding. Now she was listening to the beating of a drum in her brain. The beat became slower and slower. The whispers in her mind began tranquilly urging her, go to sleep. Just go to sleep and everything will be alright. Her head wobbled, her neck couldn’t hold it upright any longer. It slumped to one shoulder. Go to sleep. She couldn’t hear anything except for the voice that whispered inside of her head. Her brain had ceased to pulse. Go to sleep. Kayn’s body crumpled into the molten heat of the desert sand.

  Kayn gasped in that first breath of oxygen and was relieved when cool air hit her lungs. She opened her eyes. She ran her fingers through cool sand. Why am I still in the sand? No, no what is going on now? She was on her feet in an instant. The others were nowhere to be seen. She spun around. Where are they? What do I do? Should I stay here? What if they just haven’t been healed yet? Was she hallucinating? Was she lying there almost dead and delirious? She was still standing in the desert, yet it wasn’t hot. Could this be the in-between? Maybe they had miraculously found their way out of the Testing? What if that was the last test? Kayn inhaled the perfect air. It sure felt like the in-between. She had to find the others. There was a small hill in the distance. They could be on the other side of that hill. Had she had wandered off disoriented and blind before she died? Kayn walked towards the rounded slope of sand. She started to run up it and the sand shifted underfoot. Losing her footing, she tumbled like an empty barrel, rolling all the way to the bottom. When her body came to rest, she was horrifically dizzy. What in the hell? She opened her eyes to look. The hill of sand was much higher. She’d just go around it. Kayn rolled over and forced her wobbly legs to stand upright. There was no way around it? Now, she was standing in a ten-foot-wide valley, completely surrounded by sand. Still disoriented from her spinning descent, Kayn had no idea what side she’d tumbled down. Awesome. The Testing was now apparently conspiring to separate the clans. Kayn thought of something she’d seen Astrid doing. She kissed her Ankh symbol. Come on. Where are you guys? Kayn placed the hand bearing her symbol on her heart. She slowly turned around with her eyes closed. She felt a flicker of warmth against her chest and a tickle in her heart, she opened her eyes. This was where she would attempt to climb up the hill. It was a surprisingly difficult feat to master, with a heavy-footed sensation, very similar to walking in the snow. She scaled the slope and made it to the peak. She stood overlooking a lush green area with a cabin and a lake. She had the sensation of descending yet her feet had not left the sand. She was not standing on the top of a mountain anymore she was standing on a tiny patch of sand in front of a small meadow of grass. She looked behind her and the desert was gone. There was a thick forest in its place. She was obviously either in the in-between or this was one wild mirage. The second she stepped off the patch of sand, a gust of wind passed through her. She whirled around to watch the sand she’d been standing on disappear with the breeze. It was as though it had never been there at all. It’s a good thing her mind did not require a rational explanation for anything anymore. She walked towards the log cabin and made her way around to the front door. She recognized the cabin. It was Kevin’s family’s cabin. She must have found her way to the in-between. They must be free. The Testing must be over. Maybe, they didn’t really need to find the Amber room? Anticipation flickered in her heart as she opened the door and went inside. It was empty. Nobody was there. Who had she expected to see? It was so realistic. She walked over to the doorframe in the kitchen and stared at the grooves dug into the wooden frame. The doorframe had been a makeshift growth chart for Kevin and Clay when they were children. She ran her finger across Kevin’s name. It was followed by the carved number seven. He was this tall when he was seven-years-old. They were enemies now. Eventually she would forget about this cabin. Her memories of this place would fade away. She wandered over to the large picture window that looked out over the lake where a few fish jumped. The seven-year-old version of Kevin would be freaking out right now, towing her out to that dock with a fishing rod in his hand and container of raw bacon. Then they would sit on that dock for hours. She could see them all there now. Her family and his would have been together. She took a step back. What was she doing to herself? This life was gone.

  She must be close to acceptance; it didn’t hurt that much anymore. Kevin had died the day he’d gone with Triad. She took a deep breath and felt a sense of peace come over her. She’d died that day too. She closed her eyes and willed herself to leave this place. Nothing happened so she wandered over to the bed and laid her head down on one of the scratchy feather pillows. This was just a dream. She stood up and remembered that they’d destroyed these pillows during a pillow fight while in the in-between. That version of this place had not been reality either. She bounced off the bed with the pillow clutched in her hands. What was reality? Everything was magic. It didn’t matter what she did; nothing was real. She saw a vision of Kevin and her lying on the bed tickling each other. They began to kiss. She recalled the feeling of safety in his arms. Safety had become a foreign concept. The reel from her internal home movie continued as they began to hit each other with the pillows until the air was a cloud of gossamer feathers. Her mind flashed to a vision of the feeling of his arms around her throat, telling her that she’d forced him to do this. He’d delivered her, gift wrapped in her own despair, straight into the bowels of hell. She took either side of the pillow and tore it in half. She tore it to pieces and began hitting the bed with it. It felt amazing. She screeched as she grabbed the other pillow off the bed and tore it in half. Goose down filled the air. She kept slamming the pillow into the bed until she exhausted herself and began to laugh. Kayn sensed someone watching her. She looked behind her. The rest of her clan stood on the other side of the picture window looking in. She dropped the pillow in her hand, strolled over to the door and opened it.

  Zach commented, “That was a remarkable Lexy impersonation you just did there. Only it was a pillow instead of a severed arm.”

  Kayn responded, “I just had a few things to work out.”

  “There’s a tiny feather stuck to your top lip,” Zach pointed out.

  She puffed up her cheeks and blew it off with a tiny burst of air. It floated out the open door in front of her. Just one perfect feather set adrift on the breeze. She quietly watched it until it landed on the surface of the water. A fish ate it. Fish do not even eat feathers. She began to giggle.

  Melody cracked an enormous grin and said, “It’s good to hear you laughing. It’s been a while.”

  Kayn embraced her, closing her eyes for a second. It was surprising what a hug from a friend can do in a dark moment. She allowed Melody to lead her back into the light.

  Astrid scolded, “It took us a while to find you. Why did you wander off?”

  Kayn replied, “Nobody was there when I woke up. I wasn’t sure what was real.”

  Astrid placed her arm around her and they began to walk back towards the woods. She whispered in her ear, “I can relate.”

  They strolled into the cover of trees and smelled the distinct scent of cedar. Kayn felt her emotions give a small twitch. She’d always loved that smell.

  “How are we going to find our way back?” Zach asked.

  Astrid replied, “Theoretically... There is no way back.”

  He knit his brow and commented, “I’d rather be killed in the desert. The forest has bears and cougars.” The scenery flashed brilliant white and they found themselves back in the desert.

  Kayn sighed, “Thanks for putting that out there.”

  Zach chuckled, “No problem.”

  The sand was not hot and the sun was not stifling, just like when she’d woken up all alone. Kayn deduced that this was not a good thing. What if they ended up going in a circle? Dying from exposure had taken a long time. They’d already done that version of death. What was next? Kayn found that she no longer feared the premise of death. That fear had ceased. She did not dread the idea of pain. She’d accepted that as a part of her existence. She had grasped the concept that eve
rything was temporary. She’d needed to vent. She felt spiritually cleansed. That was a rather large epiphany for her to have. It had felt remarkable to shriek like a psycho and tear up pillows in a frenzy of fury. Dust rose from the desert floor in the distance. There was a small hill obscuring her vision. Something was coming. It was something very large. They stood bravely as a group, without attempting to flee.

  Zach comically announced, “And the contestant who gets to kill us next is?”

  Kayn stifled a giggle. Her eyes caught sight of the enormous scorpion running towards them. It swayed its body back and forth in a mesmerizing, almost hypnotic motion. The sand began sliding from under her feet. She sank into it. Kayn gagged and choked as she attempted to find a pocket of air but the grains of sand kept slipping to fill in the gaps. She couldn’t move her hands to cover her face. She was inhaling it. Her brain throbbed and pounded as it pleaded with her for oxygen. Once again, she heard the voice whispering inside of her head. Go to sleep Kayn. Just go to sleep. The lights went out.

  She came to as she landed with a stunned thud on the unforgiving stone floor but she still felt like there was sand in every orifice possible. She had no way to rid herself of the irritating sensation. It was all in her mind. It was all in her mind. She watched the others plop one by one through the solid ceiling onto the ground beside her. Zach was going to land right on top of her. She rolled out of the way at the last second. They all sat there for a moment in dead silence. Zach was in an unusually panicked state. He kept brushing the imaginary sand from his mouth and his eyes. He was almost hyperventilating. Kayn crawled to his side and began to massage his back. She whispered, “The sand’s gone. It’s all gone. It was only a hallucination. It wasn’t real Zach. Breathe in… breathe out.”

  He gazed up at her, grateful for her intervention. He attempted to speak and Astrid muffled his lips with the palm of her hand. He struggled for a second and then got the hint.

  He’d walked them all into that one. He had walked them into the desert right before by thinking up the scenario. Kayn grinned and understood. It was surprisingly hard to avoid thinking up creative ways to die, while dying creatively.