Ominous Odyssey (Overworld Chronicles Book 13)

by John Corwin

  "I hope it's not another lava cave," I said.

  The truth was much worse. Plumes of fire jetted from pockmarked holes in the wall of the tunnel at seemingly random intervals. To make matters worse, the tunnel snaked around another bend just ahead.

  Tahlee cried a command and the ship glided for a landing on the tunnel floor. The crew slumped, many lying on the deck next to their stations.

  "Must be break time," Shelton said.

  "Man, I feel kind of guilty." Adam leaned against the railing. "I can't imagine having to keep this ship aloft through the kind of weather we went through out there."

  Illaena and Tahlee joined us at the prow and looked at the next challenge. I carefully watched their faces to see if they looked worried, but neither sera betrayed any emotion, conversing with one another in a businesslike tone.

  "Would it be wrong of me to ask how much further?" Shelton asked.

  Elyssa rolled her eyes. "Really?"

  "Well," he said, "aren't you a little curious?"

  Illaena projected a holographic map from a gem, displaying a tunnel that snaked through the mountain before emerging in a blank gray area. "This is the halfway point of the tunnel. From here until the end, things will be much more challenging."

  Shelton grimaced. "More fire spouts?"

  "Fire, ice, and water," she said, "and the tunnel is only the first third of the trip."

  "The first third?" Adam's mouth dropped open.

  Illaena nodded grimly and looked at me. "Let us hope this journey is worth it, for the way ahead is fraught with danger."

  Chapter 17

  I didn't exactly find Illaena's words encouraging, and the thought of facing a gauntlet of elements didn't sound appealing. On the other hand, we had no choice. We had stop Kaelissa from obtaining her secret weapon.

  My imagination ran wild with possibilities. An army of dragons? A herd of unicorns from another realm? The Tooth Fairy?

  "Probably the Easter Bunny," Shelton suggested as we sat down for lunch a few minutes later. "Probably keeps his harem of egg-laying bunnies in there too."

  Adam studied the recordings of the maelstrom he'd made as we approached it. "Even magic has to follow rules."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Shelton said. "You don't believe in the Easter Bunny?"

  "No, I mean the actual storm itself." Adam enlarged the hologram and focused on the brilliant light show of fire and lightning. "It seems impossible to have hot wind one second and freezing cold the next. And how has such violent geological activity like volcanoes and earthquakes continued nonstop for eons?"

  "You're saying magic doesn't explain this?" I asked.

  He shrugged. "Maybe I'm wrong. After all, Seraphina is so full of aether, maybe it acts as a catalyst to keep the maelstrom churning for eternity."

  "That'd be my guess," Shelton said. "The only other thing that could be causing it is whatever is at the center."

  "That worries me," Elyssa said. "What if this is a Glimmer effect?"

  That raised a few confused eyebrows.

  I frowned. "Glimmer effect?"

  "Yeah, like in Eden where our realm touches the Glimmer, we have pocket dimensions." Elyssa made a fist and circled a finger around it. "You know how the realms orbit around the moon in the Glimmer?"

  "The Anchor Stone," I clarified. "What does that have to do with the maelstrom?"

  "What if there's a big hole in the realm at the middle of Voltis?" She dug a finger into her glurk and hollowed it out. "What if there's a pocket dimension or a black hole in the middle?"

  A crazed look flashed across Shelton's eyes. "Holy supermassive black holes—I never thought of that."

  "But the Mzodi have been there before," Adam said. "How else do they have a route?"

  "They didn't make it all the way through," Elyssa said. "Xalara seemed pretty clear on that. Maybe we should ask Illaena if she's withholding information from us."

  "Yeah," Shelton said dryly, "because she's been so forthcoming with us already."

  "Probably not a good time right now since they're all asleep." Adam poured himself another glass of blue wine and took a long drink. "I think Elyssa might have a point about a pocket dimension in the center. If all the realms touch the Glimmer, it stands to reason they each interact with it in a different way."

  "Eden touches the Glimmer in at least a dozen different places all over the world," I said. "If that's true with Seraphina, why is there only one Voltis Maelstrom?"

  "It's possible the massive aether vortexes all over the planet are areas where Seraphina touches the Glimmer." Adam swished the liquid in his glass into a miniature whirlpool. "Even vast quantities of aether don't naturally create vortexes unless there's a catalyst."

  That got me to thinking about the field trip Elyssa and I had taken to the Glimmer. "If you're right, maybe there's a way to enter the Glimmer through one of these juxtapositions."

  Elyssa's eyes brightened. "If we can get to the Glimmer, we might be able to get home!"

  "Yeah, but don't you need a green rock like Cora had?" Shelton said. "I thought you had to go through the reflected world and all that stuff too."

  "Maybe." The Rift—a void of stars—separated the Glimmer from Eden, and inside the Rift were guardians. Using the green pebble Cora had given us, Elyssa and I had jumped into water and entered the reflected world—the mirror version of the real world. The guardians weren't present in that reality, making it easier for us to scoot through the Rift. On the other hand, if you tarried in the reflected world too long, your own reflections would catch you and steal your soul.

  Adam rubbed his hands together. "Man, this is exciting! Maybe we can back door our way to Eden and give Victus and Serena the ass-whooping they so richly deserve."

  "Amen, brother!" Shelton held up a hand and Adam smacked it with his.

  The sharp tug of gravity woke us early the next morning. Elyssa and I headed to the top deck and held our collective breath as the crew deftly navigated us past the fire spouts and around narrow bends. Sweat dripped down my face as the temperature rose until it felt like an oven.

  Other crew kept the navigators supplied with water, swapping positions when someone became too tired to continue. Hours later, we reached the end of the fire tunnel and entered a white cavern. It was like being tossed from the furnace into a freezer. Sweat crystallized on my skin and before long, we were all shivering and rubbing our arms for warmth. Illaena and Tahlee studied the tunnel map and consulted. I overheard them arguing about heading forward or backing up for more heat and resting.

  "Sounds like there's a little friction," Elyssa commented, her enhanced hearing picking up the conversation as well.

  Tahlee motioned over one of the navigators and spoke with her for a moment then folded her arms and stared at Illaena with an I told you so look plain on her face.

  Illaena frowned and slashed a hand forward. The crew took their positions and we launched forward through the ice cavern at high speed. Within seconds, the wind had frozen all the sweat on my body, and my shivering was uncontrollable. Though the navigators wore determined looks on their faces, shivering, chattering teeth, and freezing tears on their cheeks showed their suffering.

  The navigator controlling the first control rod on the port side slumped at her post and the ship lurched hard left. Tahlee shouted a command, but all of the backup crew were already in use and the other navigators were huddled and resting around a glowing gem for warmth.

  "All stop," Illaena commanded.

  "We can't stop!" Tahlee shouted to Illaena. "There's no safe place to land."

  Seeing no alternative, I raced to the unmanned control rod as the other navigators fought to keep the ship straight. "What do I do?"

  Tahlee bared her teeth. "Channel into it!"

  A sphere of Brilliance gathered on my right fist and I focused it into the rod. At once, the Falcheen leveled off and straightened.

  Tahlee frowned and stared at me. "How are you channeling so much power?"
<
br />   I stifled a grin and shrugged. "I slept well." The other crew stared at me as well, but the freezing wind was really wearing on me and I just wanted to get the hell out of this cavern. "What now?"

  "Push the rod in different directions to control direction and altitude." Tahlee jogged over to my position and indicated the arrows at the base. "Right now you are holding the rod in neutral which provides only levitation. Push forward, pull back, or shift to the side for lateral movement, and pull up or push down on the rod for altitude."

  It didn't sound hard, but considering I had to synchronize with five other navigators, it sounded like a lot. "I'll do my best."

  She nodded curtly. "Listen to my orders and you will be fine." Tahlee resumed her position next to Illaena on the control pedestal and shouted an order. "Fast forward, ninety degrees."

  The ship shot forward, but my side began to vibrate wildly, as if something was dragging against a rough surface. Since I was at the front control rod, I glanced at the navigator behind me and saw her pushing her rod forward while pulling up. I mimicked her and the movement of the Falcheen smoothed out.

  I caught an acknowledging nod from Tahlee and suppressed the urge to pump my fist and whoop it up. Elyssa came up beside me with a glowing red gem and held it next to me. The warmth melted the ice in my bones, though freezing wind still buffeted my skin.

  "Your hair is frozen on end," Elyssa commented. "Guess you won't need any styling gel."

  "S-s-shush," I said through chattering teeth. "Why isn't the Templar armor keeping me warmer?"

  "We wore out the charms." She huddled behind me to keep the wind at bay. "We have a knack for wearing out armor."

  "T-t-tell me about it." I nearly channeled a shield in front of me to cut the wind, but I didn't want to overdo it like I had last time.

  Lightning flashed ahead, highlighting a jagged crack silhouetted against boiling gray. More flashes of alternating colors struck the lip of the tunnel exit again and again, guiding us toward it while also warning us away.

  "How are we supposed to get through that?" Elyssa said. "The lightning strikes are too fast."

  Tahlee ordered a course correction as the gusting wind drove us a few degrees off course. I followed the example of a nearby navigator and we continued heading straight for the storm. Electricity arced back and forth across the exit, like a short-circuited bug zapper.

  Illaena consulted her map and pointed out something to Tahlee.

  "Thirty degrees starboard, ten degrees incline," the first mate commanded.

  I followed the adjustments of the navigator behind me and the ship tilted up and right. The Falcheen looked right on course to cut through the center of the big hole—the exact place we needed to avoid since it was subject to a constant barrage of lightning. Stomping feet drew my attention aft. Mzodi soldiers ran toward the bow with a contraption that looked like a giant crossbow.

  "Looks like a ballista," Elyssa murmured. "Totally Medieval."

  They sealed the base of the unit in place with gems, and channeled Murk into red stones on the sides. A thick strand of Murk formed between the prongs and the soldiers placed a head-sized aethid in a small pocket there. The chunk of aetherium looked rough and uncut, spiking out in all directions like a crystoid.

  The nose of the ship closed to within fifty yards of the lightning barrier. Illaena cocked back her arm and a soldier aimed the crossbow at the storm. She flung forward her arm and the soldier channeled a burst of energy into a gem on the handle. The rock shot forward and into the storm.

  "All speed ahead!" Tahlee shouted.

  Every navigator punched it forward and the Falcheen sailed toward certain doom. Just yards ahead of us, the launched rock hit the lightning field. Blinding light flashed, leaving the afterimage of a dark blot against white. I shouted and tried not to panic as we hit the hole…and burst through unscathed.

  Moments after the stern cleared the exit, a bolt of magical energy struck the edges of the hole and arcs snaked back and forth across the hole once again.

  "All stop," Tahlee cried. "Prepare for landing."

  The weary navigators groaned with weariness.

  We set down on a narrow shelf of rock a hundred feet below the tunnel hole with our port side near the rock. A massive gray wall of clouds and aether roiled a hundred yards to starboard, electricity crackling along the surface like malevolent light serpents. An occasional bolt struck the basalt around us, but left it entirely undamaged.

  Adam reached over the railing and rubbed a hand along the rock after he and Shelton emerged from hiding below decks. "No wonder that tunnel survives all the earthquakes," he said. "This rock is incredibly dense."

  "Might even be some form of aetherium," Shelton said.

  "I didn't know you knew the correct term for gems," I said, mimicking Eor's imperious tone.

  Shelton snorted. "Eor kept peering over our shoulders when me and Adam were analyzing the bloodstone."

  "Yeah, he doesn't like noobs," Adam said. "On the other hand, he did teach us some useful basics that might help our analysis of the bloodstone."

  "That's a plus," Elyssa said. "Any luck discovering its secrets?"

  Shelton shook his head. "Nothing yet. We're still working out the bugs in our analysis spell."

  Adam peered over the railing at the ledge below. "There are loose stones down there. I want to go to the surface and collect some samples."

  "Yeah, maybe we'll find something even Eor hasn't seen," Shelton said.

  I pretended to inspect them. "Well, neither of you are wearing red shirts, so you should be safe."

  Shelton snorted. "I'll be sure to redirect any alien life forms to Adam so they can probe him."

  The pair headed below decks to gather their equipment.

  My stomach grumbled and my head ached. "I want food and sleep."

  "Sounds good to me." Elyssa took my hand. "Whatever my brave navigator wants."

  "Ooh, whatever I want?" I flashed a wide grin.

  Illaena intercepted me and Elyssa as we headed toward the aft ramp below decks. "You acquitted yourself well for a land dweller."

  I almost played it off like it was nothing just to throw her snob attitude back in her face, but took a more diplomatic route instead. "I'm glad I was able to help."

  "His control was rough at best," Tahlee said. "Still, he helped more than hindered."

  Elyssa raised an eyebrow. "Without someone manning that control rod, the ship would've crashed."

  "Perhaps, though I could have stepped in," Tahlee said.

  I widened my eyes and opened my mouth in mock disbelief. "You mean I could've yelled commands at everyone instead of you?"

  "Perhaps it would be wise to instruct you on the finer points of control," Illaena said. "The journey ahead will not be any easier."

  I shrugged. "Sure, just let me know what to do."

  "Come with me," Tahlee said.

  I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder. "I'm gonna eat and rest first."

  She looked down her nose at me. "Very well. Meet me up here when you're ready."

  "You got it." I grabbed Elyssa's hand and made a beeline down the ramp and to the galley.

  We stuffed our faces and then I snuggled up with my ninja princess. I really wanted some hanky panky, but I dozed off the second my head hit the cloud pillow.

  After snoozing, I met Tahlee on the top deck and let her walk me through a crash course in flight control. The crystal rod connected to the levitation gem provided a full range of controls along the x, y, and z axis, though she explained to me in no uncertain terms, "There is never a reason to fly the ship upside down."

  "Not even to do a cool barrel roll?" I asked.

  Tahlee frowned because the word-for-word translation didn't work well in Cyrinthian. "In any case, you must remember that if the ship requires a tilt starboard, the port side pushes while the starboard pulls."

  "I used to play space simulations," I told her. "I know how to use positive and negative thrust."


  Her forehead pinched into a confused V.

  I explained to her what a thruster was and how it worked on space ships, then using my hand as a pretend star fighter, tilted it back and forth. "If the port thruster on the nose of the ship and the aft starboard thruster fire at the same time, the ship will spin on its axis."

  Tahlee's gaze grew distant as she considered this new concept. "We have never had a reason to spin the ship around in such a way. We typically steer it into a normal turn."

  "Well, you have more weapon gems on the sides of the ship than the front or back, so you could spin the Falcheen sideways and fire all cannons at an enemy." I wiggled my fingers and pretended my hand spaceship was firing weapons. "Pew, pew, pew."

  "That could be useful." Tahlee leaned over the railing and looked at the weaponized gems in the hull. "Perhaps such a tactic would be useful against dragons."

  "Why didn't we use the weapons against the tartha?" I asked.

  She raised an eyebrow. "Why would we injure a tartha?"

  "I dunno, because they tried to eat us?"

  "They are easily avoided," she said, "unlike dragons."

  I hadn't thought they were that easy to avoid, but then again, I was a noob sailor. Considering what probably lay ahead, they'd better pray I never had to help fly this ship again.

  Chapter 18

  After we were done with lessons, I found Adam and Shelton freshly returned from their visit to the surface of the mountain with Eor tagging along behind them.

  "How'd it go?" I asked.

  The gem sorter was beside himself with excitement, lugging a sparkly net full of black rocks behind him. "I will be below inspecting these," he informed the others and vanished down the ramp.

  "Finally!" Shelton wiped sweat from his forehead and sighed. "Remind me to never take Eor anywhere with us again."

  "Got that right," Adam grumbled. He held up a shiny black crystal. "I'm curious to see if this is just rock, or aetherium."

  Tahlee's voice rang out from the middle of the bridge. The navigators took their positions and prepared for takeoff.