by Beth Hodgson
A pulsating sensation came over Drew, beating to the same time as his heart. Faster and faster the beating magic continued, pumping through his body, then settling in his neck. The wires within began to shift uncomfortably as the power continued to pour in.
The uncomfortable feeling turned into sharp, stabbing pains, and his body felt like it wanted to reject his circuitry, to purge its unnaturalness. He jolted violently in response.
The green magic halted swiftly while his insides stopped shifting, and then the room was no longer colored in hues of green.
“It’s all wrong,” Emerald said quietly, her face downcast. “Your body is too… artificial. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t heal you.” She smiled sadly at him, laying her hand on his. “I don’t know what they put you all through, but I swear I am going to see that you and the others are freed, regardless of who is sitting on the throne. I will find a way.”
Her words resonated with him, deepening his resolve for the need to protect her. She wanted to help him… She wanted to help all of the cyborgs. And for that, if it was in his power, he was going to help her in any way he could.
Drew nodded in response, fading back into the air once again as the orange magic enveloped his being.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
YELLOW
Auron gripped Geeta’s hand tightly as they flew across the world of blues and violets. The skies were dotted with small floating sky citadels and airships, all void of motion within Geeta’s time-dimension spell. Her free hand held his staff, its crystal orb glowing a bright violet-blue.
Auron’s directions were a bit rough, as he hadn’t frequented World Sector Four by use of airships in a while. Hopefully he was guiding her in the right direction. It was hard to follow the sun since it was a little after midday, and its placement was directly above them. He should be in prayer at this time, but it was no time for prayer.
“Don’t let go of my hand, otherwise you will end up in whatever part of the world we are in. Not to mention, you will fall aimlessly to the earth…”
Auron gave Geeta a weak smile, trying not to look directly below. Air travel always made him woozy, and especially now that he had nothing underneath his feet. It was just him and the air that floated around him. At any time, he could heave up his morning meal.
“I don’t plan on letting go,” Auron stated. “As much as I would love to see Earth’s ground, I do not want to visit it the unconventional way. And even if I were to survive the fall, my lungs couldn’t endure for that long on the surface.”
“Is that why the future took to the skies? Is there no place that is inhabitable on the surface below?”
“There are a few patches of land deemed safe, but even then, the toxic winds blow in, and the dwellers have to take shelter for months at a time. They’ve built specific buildings designed to filter out the poison.”
“I see. And your sky citadels… all have been enchanted by the red, orange, and blue-gifted, I take it? Red for the earthen materials, the ground that it sits on and the winds that uphold it. Blue for the placement within the earth’s dimensional space and orange to bind them together?”
“Correct. It takes months of funneling their magic at a constant stream to build one of the citadels. Many gifted are rotated in and out for food and sleep, but that’s about it.”
Geeta glanced at one of the small citadels as they passed by, smiling. “It’s remarkable…I never thought the future would come to this. The beauty of the sky citadels are just as captivating as the skyscrapers of the past.”
Auron frowned. “The city-kingdoms of old deserved their destruction.”
“Oh? How’s that?” Geeta’s nostrils flared at his statement.
“Because people forgot about their creator and instead put faith in their machines and technology.”
“You are right about the people forgoing religion for technology, but I disagree that they deserved their demise.”
Auron was a bit amused at her statement. “And why is that?”
She eyed him with her glowing purple eyes. “I’ve been to the past; I have seen the great city-kingdoms. And what the humans have created is beautiful. The gods have blessed us with vision, creativity, and intelligence. And what the people did with their God-given talents, it is breathtaking.”
“Don’t tell me that you are swayed by the darkness too, friend,” Auron said. “Technology was the cause of Earth’s demise. Surely even you can see past the beauty of the machines and see them for what they are—instruments of darkness.”
“I do see them for what they are—tools. It’s what the person does with those tools that makes it bad or good.” Geeta sighed, then turned her gaze away, looking into the distance. “I have seen many people in the past that were clothed as priests of light, only to have darkness consume their hearts. I have also seen machines with souls that were sent out to do bad, but underneath had hearts that were pure.”
Machines with souls? Now that was beyond ridiculous. Geeta was definitely misguided in her beliefs, especially regarding the machines.
They continued to move quickly through the dimensional airspace, Geeta effortlessly guiding them with the power of flight. Auron now fully understood the power of the blue-gifted. He had known that the blue-gifted could move as they pleased within the time-and-space dimensional world. They could have walked, crawled, or jumped in the air without weight and so forth, but floating quickly seemed much more effortless than walking. When the blue-gifted disappeared and reappeared in a second, it took the gifted moments, even hours, in their dimensional time world to get to one spot to another. To the regular person, it was instantaneous. But for the blue-gifted, it was long and drawn out. It gave Auron a new appreciation for their power.
“It’s too bad it takes so long within this spell to travel. I can’t believe this is what the blue-gifted do. What’s the point of traveling within a spell if you can just walk?” Auron said, not expecting Geeta to answer. Kohren seemed to always want to flash into different places rather than walk, Auron thought. Maybe he just wanted to exercise his power occasionally.
“I know for a fact they can flash from one place to another within the dimensional world,” Geeta said, giving Auron a crooked smile. “I just haven’t figured out how. I was never good at casting blue-violet magic. Couldn’t harness its power unlike my other color, red-violet. In fact, I would say I have close to the full casting potential of red, whereas blue just fizzles for me. I have even consumed blue-gifted blood, and yet I still cannot seem to grasp the potential of this color.” Geeta eyed him for a moment as her earrings dangled from the force of their bodies being pushed through the skies. “You never told me why you are missing magic, by the way.”
“I don’t know. I never knew us gifted had that kind of potential,” Auron said truthfully. “It’s not mentioned in The Spectrum, nor has any gifted ever had that kind of power in my lifetime.”
“Hmm,” Geeta said, flaring her nose again. “It’s something for you future gifted to dig into. The gods blessed us with our analogous magics, and some are so fortunate to be able to use the full power of the adjacent magics, or almost all of it. Like me and my red magic. Especially if the future is in need of healing. You should have that magic and be able to cast some healing and illusion spells. It’s strange you do not.”
To think he could heal with the power of what is called analogous magic. Auron recalled Ikaria mentioning that while he and Geeta tried to stop her from traveling back in time. She was certainly aware of that power. That thought scared him.
Auron and Geeta saw two other floating citadels in the distance, and he recognized their structures at once. The two citadels were linked by a long bridge, unifying them as one. It was one of the more unique citadels in the world, housing many of World Sector Four’s people.
“World Sector Four’s court citadel is close,” Auron said. “Just keep heading in this direction.”
As time passed, World Sector Four’s court citadel appeared off in the c
louds. The sunlight caught its reflective metal shell, gleaming in the sky. The floating earth chunk that the citadel was situated on was heavily eroded, the rock below jagged to a sharp point, with vines intertwining and wrapping the bottom. How Auron missed his old home.
“Over on that platform. That’s where they receive visitors,” Auron said to Geeta, pointing to the eastern platform.
She nodded, quickly floating over to the dock, and they landed their weightless feet on the platform. Auron saw the guards posted out front, frozen in time, unable to see the two of them within the blue-violet world.
Geeta let go of Auron’s hand, and their bodies emitted a violet flash, startling the guards.
They blinked for a moment, catching their breath, then saw Auron’s face.
“High Priest Auron?” one of the guards said. They looked to Geeta, and their eyes went wide. It was likely the first time they had ever seen a violet-gifted. Especially one who had the powers of blue magic.
“Yes. I am here to see the Lady Vala,” Auron said. He turned to Geeta, then nodded in appreciation. “Thank you. Without your help, I would have wasted time on the airship.”
“Anytime,” Geeta said, nodding. “I wish you many blessings of the gods for your success.”
“I will ensure we get more gifted to help our cause,” Auron assured her.
“Good. I will be waiting for you in the past. Don’t be late,” she said firmly. “I will see that the Ghost Man gets this.” She held up the staff, her hand clenched firmly around it.
Geeta flashed Auron a small half smile as her body radiated a bright purple. A violet-blue time portal appeared under her feet, then shot upward, erasing her body as it moved over her. With a twinkling flash, Geeta was gone.
Auron had to admit, the woman was rather odd and very perplexing. Geeta appeared delicate at times, and other times she was hard. She loved her gods but embraced the technology of old. She was a saint to help but a sinner by her blood consumption. She was certainly the most unique gifted that Auron had never met in his lifetime.
The guards led Auron into the depths of the citadel, passing its golden halls etched with geometric designs. Enchanted orange-glowing glass orbs were spread out above the hallways, hovering, giving the golden halls an even more golden appearance, if that was possible.
They came to an elaborate set of doors and knocked.
A woman with deep eyes and chestnut hair opened the door. She saw Auron’s face, then let out an audible gasp, bowing immediately.
“High Priest Auron. I assume that you have come to see the Lady Vala.”
“I have. Is she here?”
“No, she is at court right now. But come inside and make yourself comfortable while I go fetch her.”
“Thank you, Katrina.”
The servant ran off with the guards as Auron entered Vala’s chambers. He walked a few steps in, admiring how richly decorated her quarters were. The entry room was large, with windows that stretched from floor to ceiling and covered the entire wall. Sunlight poured into her chambers, basking her richly decorated and embroidered furniture, seating cushions, and thick tapestries in a warm light. Her chambers were much more colorful than World Sector Six’s designs and interiors, dabbed with reds, oranges, and violets, with a few hints of blue.
Auron smiled. Vala always had said that the God of Light accidentally made her blue-gifted while she was secretly meant to be red. If one were to judge her by her room’s appearance, red was her main color, with the accents of the colors that fell next to it in the spectrum close seconds. Blue was only slightly scattered in, as if his niece was still in denial about being born with blue magic.
The doors opened, and Vala and Katrina appeared. Vala had on a traditional blue dress in the fashion of World Sector Four’s design. Auron noticed that she had cut her tight cobalt curls since the last time he had seen her, giving much definition to her face, framing it beautifully. Vala wore a thick golden circlet with a sapphire set in the middle, distinguishing herself as a gifted lady of the court, and had decorated herself with large golden earrings and a golden necklace that covered most of her neck and chest. Her makeup was based on gold, bring contrast to her ebony skin and water-blue eyes.
“Uncle?” Vala smiled, running over to greet him with a quick hug. “What brings you here?”
Auron returned her embrace, meeting her gaze. “Vala, I have come here on urgent business.”
“What is it, Uncle?” Vala waved her hand to her servant, then took a seat on one of the plush sitting cushions. The maid returned with hot tea.
“I need your help, and so does World Sector Six.” Auron paused, shaking his head. “No, that is inaccurate. The whole future needs your help.”
Vala put down her teacup gently on the sitting table before her, not making a sound when the cup touched the surface. “Have you had a vision, Uncle? Tell me,” she whispered in a serious tone. One thing Auron could count on: Vala always took his visions seriously.
“Yes, I have. Surely you have heard of the plague upon our sector?”
“It is known throughout all the sectors. This isn’t old news. It started years ago.”
“And have you ever wondered why it hasn’t spread into the other sectors?”
Vala took a sip of her tea again, studying Auron’s expression. “Everyone is prepared in case it does spread, but no one has ever questioned why it hasn’t. It’s only a matter of time before the other sectors become like yours.”
“No. It’s attributed to one person. Our very own court sorceress. She is taking away the power,” Auron said.
Vala gasped. “Ikaria? This is what your vision has told you?”
“Yes. And even worse, she has now traveled back in time to complete the Spectrum of Magic.”
Vala’s face dropped, shocked at what he had said. “But… that’s heresy, Uncle. How…?”
“If she does indeed complete the Spectrum of Magic, she will be bestowed with the gift of the black.”
Vala almost dropped her teacup as her hands began to shake uncontrollably. “Gift of the black? Uncle… is that even a real thing?”
“Yes. A power so great, it could bring an end to the Earth’s existence.”
She sat in silence. Auron could tell she was afraid. “And I suppose you want me to travel back with you to help stop her?” she said finally.
“All of our sector’s gifted are preparing to travel back in time,” Auron replied. “But we need more gifted, and we need someone to port us to the past. We don’t have any blue-gifted in our sector. Not after Kohren’s death.”
Vala’s face jerked to his, her expression steady. “Lord Kohren?”
“Had you not heard? He was murdered by Ikaria herself.”
She took a deep breath, then tapped the ring of her teacup gently in thought. “How many gifted do you need, Uncle?”
“I was hoping to get about forty.”
“Forty?” Vala said incredulously, her eyes bulging. She nearly spat out some tea. “That many? I don’t even know if I can get five, let alone forty.”
“We need that many if we are to overpower Ikaria,” Auron insisted, his face grim. “We couldn’t stop her with our own gifted. You still have hundreds in this sector. There has to be at least some who are willing to help.”
“I don’t know, Uncle,” Vala said hesitantly. “It’s interesting that the same day you arrived, a High Court courier brought a message to our sector.”
It was Auron’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “What did it say?”
Vala’s ocean-blue eyes locked onto his. “It said that none of the world sectors are to help out the other sectors. Pretty vague. Everyone at court was baffled by it. But now I understand the message.”
Auron sat back in his pillow, stunned. It was as if the High Court was trying to counter everything Ayera and their sector did. They truly wanted Ayera to fail.
“I guess that means that you will not help us…” Auron’s voice trailed off.
“I never said t
hat, Uncle,” Vala said, and she gave him a big, bright smile. “It just means that it will be hard to convince anyone to help. Especially since the High Court ordered it; we could be arrested. But I do know of a few gifted in our sector who have become quite disenchanted with the High Court. I will talk to them.”
“Thank you. Travel to our sector when you are ready. Our gifted will be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.”
“Yes, Uncle. Give me three days; I will be in your sector by then.”
Auron paused for a moment, thinking about what Geeta had said about the gifted traveling back in time. It would mean their deaths. He couldn’t hold that information inside and expect the God of Light to welcome him into paradise. Saying nothing was still deceit, even through omission. He had to tell her.
“There is one thing I should mention. And it may change everyone’s minds, including yours,” Auron said.
Vala sipped her tea one last time, then got up from her pillow to escort him out. “What is it?”
Auron paused, then took in a deep breath. “There is a likely chance that every one of us in the future will perish in the past. I was informed that our bodies cannot withstand being in another era, and thus our bodies will disintegrate after a certain amount of time. Depending how quickly we defeat Ikaria, there is a good chance we will die soon after.”
Vala’s warm face went still.
“But it won’t really matter, because if Ikaria succeeds in traveling back to our time era, the whole world will be destroyed, and we will perish anyway. We will die in the past or die in the present. I have foreseen it, and it will happen unless we stop her.” Auron turned to his niece, put his hand on her shoulder. “I will understand if you do not want to help.”
Vala was slow to answer but finally broke the silence. “As much as I don’t want to die, I will still help. I do not want to be one of those gifted who do not use their God-given gift. Perhaps this is my calling, and this is the very reason why the God of Light bestowed the gift of the blue upon me.”
