by Sumida, Amy
At the end of the hallway was a huge door, its opening bordered by carvings of sea-life and studded with pearls. The door itself was mother-of-pearl, shining in the sunlight, and it was ajar. We went through it and into the massive bedroom beyond, a circular room that was extended out from the main body of the castle, over the sea. I knew this because there were thick glass panels set into the floor, giving an unsettling view of the ocean below.
I stepped around the panels, trying not to look at the dizzying sight, and walked right into a pale blue silk curtain. The windows, which adorned sections of the wall to both the right and left of the door, were open and the pieces of silk were flowing in that wonderful breeze like rippling water. The pieces of floor that weren't glass were made of white marble but they were also covered by silk carpets designed to look like a top view of underwater life. So it appeared that we were walking over glass panels in a submarine. I actually stopped to stand over one of the carpets and stare at the fish below me. They were moving.
“It's magic,” Guirmean was beside me, waving a hand to the carpet. “I was fascinated as well, the first time I beheld it. It helps keep me from missing the sea when I have to spend long periods of time out of the water.”
“This is your bedroom?” I gaped at him. “Oh hell, of course it is. I'm so sorry. It's very beautiful and kind of disconcerting for me.”
“Yes, it would be a little uncomfortable for a fire fey but thank you for the compliment,” he smiled sadly. “I hope I'll be able to sleep in it again sometime soon.”
“Oh, crap,” I groaned. “This is so awful.”
“You have spoken true,” King Cian came around the massive, four-poster bed and I didn't know what to focus on, the High King's shiny skin or the magnificent bed. I chose the bed because I'd seen the skin before.
It was on a raised platform of white stone and its posters were huge pieces of red coral. The branches extended out to frame the bed, draped with strings of pearls and lengths of pale blue silk. The mattress was covered in shimmering blue fabric with shifting hues and there was a mobile of shells and driftwood hung above it at the center crest of the coral. I may have sighed a little. Now that, I could get used to.
“Queen Vervain?” King Cian was in front of me, peering at me strangely.
“Oh yes, sorry,” I shook myself free of the bed's pull. “Where was she taken?”
“We think it was here,” King Cian pointed to a corner where the other royals were congregated. They spread out so we could see the destruction.
It looked so out of place in the pristine room and it took a moment to process. The furniture that had been there, I'm not even sure what it once was, had been smashed to pieces. Shards of broken stone, glass, and shells littered the ground. The curtains were torn, one of them stained with blood, and there was a large pool of blood near the window.
I walked over, carefully stepping around the blood, and everyone backed away from me. I spared a glance for the other royals but really I was focused on the evidence. The blood trailed over the windowsill, like Dearbhail had been dragged, and the scent of it, of her, assailed my nostrils with the acrid tang of fear. Fear. I sniffed further and there, underneath it all, was a hint of the nothing. It was faint and I wondered if being in Faerie somehow weakened it. Things started to fit together in my head.
Then I pulled out the goggles.
“What are those?” King Guirmean asked from right behind me, startling me a bit.
“They're god magic,” I put them on over my head and pulled them into position. “They'll help me see further.”
“Why didn't you bring those to the earlier sites?” King Cian came up beside Guirmean.
“I didn't think about it,” I shrugged. “What's done is done, I have them now.”
Then I looked upon Faerie.
“Whoa,” I breathed out the barest hint of the word.
Under the true-seeing glass of Tlaloc's goggles, the Realm of Faerie was even more magnificent. Everything pulsed, shimmered, glittered with life and magic. There were trails of it through the sky, misty collections of it in the forest, and when I focused on the water, I could see streamers of it swirling happily. There wasn't a single thing in all of Faerie that didn't glow or sparkle with power. It really was the heart of magic, the birthplace of it all.
Now you finally see, Faerie spoke into my head.
“Fuck,” I jumped, totally unprepared for her.
“What is it?” Arach was beside me, holding my hand.
“Sorry,” I gave a short laugh, “just Faerie talking to me. It's been awhile since I've heard her and I've forgotten how she can sneak up on me.”
I hardly sneak. I am simply always here.
“Ah,” he smiled and then it turned intense. “How long were you gone to the God Realm exactly?”
“Exactly?” I shrugged and gave my attention back to the mystical view of Faerie. “I dunno, I had some issues there.” I swallowed hard. Not yet, I couldn't talk about it now. “A few months.”
“Months?” Arach lifted a brow at me.
“Don't look at me like that,” I huffed, “I spent just as long here before I went back to the God Realm. You don't actually have to do without me at all, remember?”
“I guess,” he sighed. “It just feels a little insulting that you could do so long without me.”
“Really? You're gonna do this now?” I turned to face him and stopped short.
Under the view of the goggles he was breathtaking. I'd seen him before with the goggles but that had been in the God Realm. He'd looked fairly normal there, except for the gigantic dragon form that hovered over him. In Faerie, he was magnified. He was made of fire, a bright torch shaped into the form of a man. His heart was the pure white center of him, pulsing with every beat and sending waves of heat out into his extremities. His skin was a golden crust to the flames, a thin barrier between the element that fueled him and the rest of the world. I understood then why another element thrust into that heart could stop it. I mean I'd understood before but now I saw the reality of it and really knew what the fey were made of. Arach was fire, he was his element, every cell of his body was held together by magic.
Layered upon that was the dragon and although he played second fiddle to the fire, the beast still thought himself dominant. He rose above Arach larger than he had in the God Realm. This was the true size of Arach's dragon and he filled the room, pushing into and sometimes through the other auras of the royals. It explained a lot about why other fey usually gave Arach such a wide berth.
“Vervain?” He looked me over in concern. “What is it?”
“It's you,” I whispered and held a hand out to his face. I pulled it back quickly though, when I saw the fire underneath my own skin. I held my hand up to my face and watched the flames race along beneath my skin. Why hadn't I ever thought to look at myself through the goggles? Maybe I'd been scared of what I'd see.
My fire was just as bright as Arach's but it wasn't the only thing I was made of and beneath it, no, within it, ran other magic. My hand began to shake as I examined myself. Was I ready for this? I'd just recently become a triple triple being, collecting my third type of magic and therefore making my third collection of three. It had done something to me, made me feel complete and melded all of what I was together. So the question was, what had I become?
Within the fire was blood, a throbbing, red, DNA-loaded river of human cells. It had magic of its own, sparkling through the flames. Then among those was a different color, a bright blue haze that swirled through the other two, my Goddess magic. I had an epiphany, looking at the three of them together. They were like an evolution, the fey creating the human magic and then the human magic fueling the Atlantean. They melded so well because they were already a part of each other.
“I need a mirror,” I said to Arach's dragon and he lowered his head to mine, sniffing at me happily before jerking his head to the right. I walked off before realizing that I hadn't even addressed Arach himself and he was standi
ng behind me, looking perplexed.
There was a large mirror hanging on the wall near the door. It was set into a monstrous nautilus shell that had been sliced in half. It was beautiful but I hardly had time to admire it, I was too busy looking at myself.
“Holy cannolis,” I whispered as I touched the glass.
I was completely formed of that glistening combination of magics; cerulean mist swirling with the flames of my element while bright red blood vessels shot through me and connected them all together. At my center, over my pulsing red heart, was a glowing nine-pointed star but that wasn't what amazed me, I'd been prepared for that. What really shocked me was my true self which stood over this sparkling core like Arach's dragon stood over his.
She was massive, an amazon aura encasing and surmounting my body, and she glowed, a halo of light shone around her. Her face held traces of my own but it was angled into sharp lines, her cheeks and forehead covered in gold scales which merged into lion eyes, set deep under the crown of the dragon. Those eyes cut at me, piercing me straight to the heart. They held all of my pain; all the anger, frustration, and heartache that I'd thought were gone or at least lessened. My love magic had muted them, had given me enough relief to be able to function again but that had only been on the surface.
The pain had been so bad this time, it scarred me. Even though I had worked through a lot of things, healed myself, the trauma had burrowed deep into my soul and I knew that those eyes, my true eyes, would have that look in them forever. They blinked slowly at me, acknowledging my acceptance, and I took a deep breath before I looked further.
The lower half of her face was elongated slightly, her nose lengthened and her cheeks shifted down along with it into a wolf snout, the nose a startling black against the white fur. Her mouth opened to reveal a set of glistening fangs and I could have sworn she was smiling at me.
Along her head was a ridge crest of horns falling back amid her dark human hair like a mutant mohawk. Down below the wolf jaw, the fur became sleeker and more gold scales appeared in clusters upon it, golden spots on creamy leopard fur. I'd almost forgotten how my Nahual had merged with my dragon. The leopard look continued to the crest of her breasts where the scales took over and covered her to her waist. There they blended into golden lion fur. Her legs, ghosting over mine, were all lioness, with huge paws for feet. Her arms were wolf but they ended in dragon talons and around her legs, around me, swished a tail that was slick and leathery but ended in a golden tuft of fur. Behind us, a pair of leathery wings spanned out, shifting once in impatience.
“What do you see?” Arach was next to me suddenly and my eyes widened as his dragon immediately leaned in to nuzzle the strange chimera woman above me. She in turn, reached out an arm and stroked her talons down the dragon's face. Arach smiled at me, like the actions had happened between our corporeal bodies and not just our auric.
He is pulled to you even at his deepest self, Faerie had a smirking tone.
“I see what I am,” I smiled at him, “The mixture I've become.”
“Could you maybe stop admiring yourself long enough to help us find the murderer?” Queen Aalish interrupted us.
“Oh, sorry,” I shook my head and went back to the window. “This is why I don't use these often,” I tapped the goggles. “They can be distracting.” Then I gaped at her.
She was made of earth and that may sound boring but it wasn't at all. She was green, not the brown you'd expect, and the green was moving, writhing in the way that growing things writhe in time lapse video. Her veins were more like vines, pulsing with a white magic core.
You are all white at the center, all pure magic.
“What?” Aalish cocked her head at me. “What do you see?”
“You,” I smiled at her. “You're bright and green on the inside, like growing things.”
“Oh,” she smiled a little. “I'd always thought the Earth energy would be brown.”
“I know, right?” I laughed.
“Vervain,” Arach pushed me along.
“Oh, sorry,” I shrugged to Aalish and focused my attention ahead of me.
Then I finally saw it, the residue of black sludge along the edges of the wall. It was definitely weaker than when I'd seen it in the Human Realm and I decided that Cian was right. It must have completed whatever scheme it had started by the time I'd touched it in Andrasta's home. That must have been the Darkness at full power and if that was the case, we couldn't let it succeed because it would become unstoppable.
I saw it coalesce and take human form, just as I'd seen it do at the site of the Froekn murders but this time instead of tracing away, it flew through the window and out toward the Forgetful Forest. I tried to track it but it dispersed before I could get an exact location. At least I had a general idea though.
I pulled the goggles off.
I know where she is.
“Well shit,” I growled. “you couldn't have told me that in the first place?”
I wanted to see what that god tool could do. Boy she sounded smug.
“You mean you wanted to make sure you were better,” I snapped.
Precisely. Besides, you can't pursue her yet, you must find a way to kill her first.
“Who is she talking to?” Queen Breana asked King Fionn.
“Faerie,” Arach answered for him.
“She speaks to Faerie like that?” Breana gasped.
“She speaks to everyone like that,” Arach chuckled.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Ok, here's the deal,” I faced the gathered royals in King Guirmean's dining room, the intimate pirate one we'd dined in before. “The Darkness King Cian told us about, the one who the fey were created to battle, is what we're facing now.”
There was an instant roar of voices and I refused to be bombarded like that, so I just sat back in my chair and waited for everyone to settle down.
Their reaction is to be expected but I told you this is what you're facing, you could have warned them sooner.
“You told me Darkness,” I hissed at her quietly as the others continued to argue. “You never told me it was the Darkness the King was talking about.”
Well how many Darknesses are there wandering about?
“You'd be surprised,” I grumbled, thinking about how I mistakenly believed Kanaloa was guilty.
Doubtful, very doubtful.
“You know what? I am a bad influence on you,” I snapped. “Don't start talking like me, the other fey are gonna be pissed.”
Let them be pissed. It's time to shake things up.
“See, right there,” I growled. “The consciousness of a magical realm should not say stuff like shake things up, it sounds too much like an earthquake threat.”
Maybe it is, she said with a sassy tone.
“You are becoming decidedly unpleasant.”
“Excuse me?” Queen Meara, seated on my right, asked with raised brows.
“Sorry,” I gave her my oh shit that was stupid face. “I was talking to Faerie again.”
“I think the fey royalty are trying to catch your attention,” she smirked and waved at the others.
I looked across the table to see that indeed, everyone was staring at me like I'd gone a little loony, everyone except Arach of course. Which was silly since they all knew that the voice in my head was actually real. They heard it too and they knew how annoying she could be so they could have given me a little slack.
“So you're all done arguing then?” I tried to act like they were the ones acting inappropriately. When in doubt, act like you know what you're doing.
“Queen Vervain,” King Cian sighed. “Could you please elaborate for everyone.”
“Oh, sure,” I nodded. “The story you told, King Cian, about how magic rode with the elements and then the Darkness was formed of its emptiness and loneliness. How magic decided to create the first fey from the elements so that it could battle its own dark emotions. That dark is what's killing the fey.”
“And...” King Cian prompted.<
br />
“And I believe that somehow, maybe the fey chased it there, the Darkness ended up in the Human Realm.”
“According to the stories, that's correct,” King Cian nodded. “They fey chased the Darkness out of the Faerie Realm for good, banishing it to the world of men forever.”
“Not forever,” I grimaced. “The Darkness waited and planned, and when it saw the Atlanteans fleeing their home, it saw an opportunity. It offered great power to any of them who would give it a body to reside in. It probably thought it could end its loneliness by simply finding itself a host.”
“But it didn't work,” Meara surmised.
“I don't think so,” I agreed. “It may have worked if the host had been fey but the host was a goddess and she had no elements to offer it, nothing to ease the loneliness. The fir darrig, Ualraig, told me that the Darkness has no breath, no blood, no brine, or stone. It needs the elements, it needs the energy of each of them to be complete.”
Something clenched inside me at the words. Complete. I'd finally been made complete myself. It was hard to fault this Darkness for wanting what I had and I felt a brief moment of sympathy for it. Unfortunately, it was trying to find completeness through murder, so my sympathy was very brief indeed.
“Do the stories tell of how the fey banished this Darkness the first time, High King?” King Cahal asked, his vines shifting through his hair in what looked like nervous agitation.
“Just that they banded together to do so,” Cian shrugged.
“Ualraig said that no weapon made of man or god could kill the dark,” I mused. “Is there anyway we could make a weapon of all the elements?”
“An arrow,” Arach's voice rang out strong in the silence. “A hollow wood shaft filled with water, feather fletchings, and a steel head, released by the hand of Spirit.”
