by Laury Falter
“And what does this plan of yours entail?” I wondered if Eran was close to freeing himself. He wasn’t at my side yet so I was certain the bindings still held him captive. An image rose up from the back of my mind in which the Elsics attacked him as he struggled against his bindings to avoid the assault. It nauseated me and I shoved it back down.
“I can tell you that it involves the very same bindings Eran is now struggling to unleash,” Abaddon was explaining, “but don’t you worry. I’m sure you still recall my ability to control your movement. I promise not to use it on you.” He said this as if he were doing me a favor. “No, I won’t. I think they’d like to actually watch you struggle.”
Rufus groaned then. “I’ve heard enough o’ this,” he muttered, launching himself into the air.
Abaddon made several gestures and two Elsics rose up from the crowd to tackle Rufus.
“Don’t you hurt him!” I screamed and the wave of black grew more agitated, more excited.
“Now don’t fret. There’s enough of them to go around,” said Abaddon before again making several gestures.
Several more Elsics leapt up and collided with Ezra, Felix and Campion. They were dragged off to the side, held down by their limbs and winged appendages.
Ms. Beedinwigg and I now faced Abaddon and the Elsics alone. Nothing separated us but empty space.
“NO!” Eran bellowed from behind me, still fighting against his restraints. The panic in him was evident as he was about to witness me, his soul mate, be committed to eternal death, slowly and by each one of the Elsics lined up before me.
Abaddon approached first, a hideous leer rising up along with the tip of his sword. “On the contrary…oh yes.”
Ms. Beedinwigg, who had clearly been discounted as nothing more than a mere human and thus no threat at all, was the one who they least expected to bring their plan to a halt.
She turned to me and, with incredible fortitude, said, “As I told you before, I’m sorry but you are not ready for this mission.”
I felt my brow furrow in confusion as she lifted her sai high above my chest. It came down into me with amazing precision, shattering my chest bone and striking my heart directly through its center.
There was no pain. I felt no fear or animosity. There was only surprise and the lingering thought of what would happen to my loved ones now.
My body, controlled by gravity now, spun around and fell to the hard, cold rock floor, the force of it releasing my breath in a slow hiss, my lungs no longer working and frozen in exhalation.
Only my eyes worked any longer and as my head rolled to the side, I caught sight of Eran.
He was no longer focused on his bindings. Now, he was watching me, grasping for me, unable to reach me as his hands gripped only empty air. His face contorted in shock and anger and then fell to deep sorrow. Finally, his eyes emptied and he went limp. His head lolled back and his jaw fell open and the last thing I heard was his deafening howl of sorrow…just before my soul left this body.
CHAPTER TWENTY: THE RETURN
I was now dead, or in the process of dying, and trying to mentally prepare myself for the ultimate death that was to come when a force pulled me upward, an undeniable one that insisted I follow it.
In the next moment I was weightless and hovering beside my body. Campion had been right on, I realized. Our bodies did weigh us down. I found that I had again been given the ability to move my arms and legs, my head and torso, but this time they were without restriction. Was this what eternal death allowed, I wondered. Instinctually, I turned towards Eran, his head was level now. His eyes were glistening as he mouthed something to me.
“Go…” he was saying, the horror in him gone now. He was calm and accepting. “Go…” he insisted.
I was stunned. He seemed so composed about my passing now. He had come to terms with it, I reasoned, and therefore so should I.
In all my time on this earth as I visited the other side night after night, I never witnessed a bright light leading me through a tunnel, leading me home. Finally, for the very first time, I looked up and found it waiting for me.
As Eran had urged, I took it without looking back, agreeing to face whatever destiny had in store for me. Yet, even as I felt the tug pulling me onward and despite Eran’s reassuring enthusiasm, I was hesitant.
I wasn’t ready for eternal death. There was so much more I wanted to experience; children, old age, traveling, learning different cultures, conversations with Eran that had been left unfinished or never started in the first place. I already missed him, everything about him; his charm, his wit, his courage, the way he looked at me, the way he touched me.
I imagined a dark, empty place, void of any living thing. Alone for the rest of eternity.
But the tunnel did not end where I thought it would.
It opened to a gathering of people, old and young, of varying ethnicities, and both genders. They were smiling, laughing, opening their arms to welcome me. Amidst them, animals of all types, roamed through the throng and, oddly enough, I knew them.
This was eternal death? Confused, I searched the crowd for some understanding. Then someone approached me, his face so familiar I couldn’t have mistaken him. He was someone who could explain this to me, as he had done on so many other occasions.
“Gershom?” I said in awe.
“Welcome back.”
He was gleaming, taking my hand now and leading me through the group, all of whom I somehow recognized.
That was when it happened.
As my eyes landed on each one of them, the memories returned. I remembered each life, every movement, every person, every good memory and every bad one. I recognized my sister from my life in Germany and recalled skipping stones with her across the water; Monsieur Desmoulins stepped up, grinning, and telling me that I had finally gotten the peace I deserved; and there were others who I had met in the afterlife, those who I never interacted with on earth but whom I could recall visiting and holding hearty discussions.
“Gershom?” I asked, in a surreal state by this point. “Is this…Is this eternal death?”
He half-smiled and then fought the urge to laugh. “No, this is the same place you’ve been coming every night for your entire life on earth.”
“I’m on the other side? But…I was killed…” I muttered.
“By a Fallen One?” asked Gershom, puzzled.
“No…”
“By Eran?” he asked.
“No,” I said, dazed.
“By whom?”
Then I realized what she had done. She had killed me before a Fallen One could do it. She hadn’t sent me to eternal death; she had given me another chance at life.
“Ms. Beedinwigg…my trainer.”
My memory drifted back to Eran’s explanation in the school hallway. He had explained what would happen if I were killed by a Fallen One or by himself, but he didn’t explain what would happen if I died at the hands of anyone else, including a mortal…such as Ms. Beedinwigg.
Although Eran had been unable to do it himself, he recognized what she intended before I had. He had urged me to take the tunnel because he already knew that she had saved me from eternal death.
Here I was now…on the other side…safe.
Glancing around, I saw ornate steps, waterfalls, towering buildings, a place of tranquil beauty beyond anything I’d ever come across on earth. I wanted to stay and celebrate with everyone here, to ask how they’ve been and to tell them about my excursion to earth. But, far more important to me, was Eran and the others I’d left behind.
Eran. His name screamed through my thoughts. My eternal soul mate, bound to a wall, mauled and now facing eternal death by a mass of our strongest enemies. Despite the deep peace presiding here, anger began to swell inside me as the memory of him was conjured. He was going to endure incredible pain and here I was, standing safely among my loved ones.
Then something came to me, as if it had been spoken directly in to my thoughts, and my anger turned to rel
ief and then to elation.
“Gershom,” I said with enough excitement to make his eyebrows lift.
“Yes?” he replied slowly, hesitant, already knowing something was on my mind.
“I wasn’t killed by my guardian. Do you know what that means?”
“No…”
“It means I can return…immediately…right now.”
“Why would you want to do that?” He looked at me as if I hadn’t contemplated the benefits of staying.
I had, and this beautiful, peaceful place was empty without those whom I loved, those who I’d left behind.
“I’m going back. Tell everyone I’m sorry for the quick departure,” I said, motioning to the group behind us.
“I will…and don’t worry. They’ll understand…They know you.”
Without hesitation, I turned and knew exactly what to do. I had done it many times before. I also knew the pain I was about to bear and while leaning forward I braced myself for the impact of it.
I fell forward, remaining rigid, arms against my side, my chin tucked under. The tunic I wore fluttered madly against the sides of my body, against the wind now rushing by. Only a few seconds passed before the pain set in.
Minutes prior, I had fallen to my knees in excruciating agony as my body reacted to the multitude of Elsics nearby. This torment…the kind I felt on my fall back to earth was indescribably worse.
It felt as if my skin was tearing off; my finger nails were peeling back; my limbs were bending in the reverse direction; and the pain was simultaneous and unrelenting. Heat surrounded me, penetrating me, searing my exposed skin.
Finally, I heard myself release the scream that had been building in me, one so deep it came from the depths of my stomach, clenching my muscles, and causing my torso to curl against it.
A moment later I was tumbling through the air; my body now curled in to the fetal position. There was no sound, including the wind rushing by me.
Then I opened my eyes and found I was falling through the clouds. The pain was ebbing away and best of all I had control over my movements again. Straightening out, I steadied my flight. My skin healed rapidly then, fresh and unblemished. With the pain nearly gone, I could concentrate on something beyond what it was doing to my body. It was then I noticed below me mountains topped with snow and revealing colorful textured rock faces.
The Alps, I thought, and smiled.
I was hurling towards the earth faster now but that didn’t bother me. It only meant I was getting closer to Eran, to my housemates, and my trainer, the ones who needed me. Faster, at this point, was better.
Without realizing it and without true intention, I felt my shoulders roll up and forward, lifting towards my chin. My shoulder blades opened across my back and gave way to the appendages waiting beneath the surface of my skin. An aching tickle in two places across my upper back told me that my appendages were breaking through, as if my bones were slivering through my body, out through my skin, and moving against the momentum of the wind. Vaguely, I noticed them emerging from the open slit in the back of my tunic, feathers lifting, fluttering against the force of my fall.
No longer a reborn, having died today, I once again had my appendages and the power it took to fight the Elsics.
I consciously flapped my wings once and my descent accelerated. Another flap and I was able to steer. By the third flap, I remembered what it felt like to fly.
The mouth of the cave I had entered with Ms. Beedinwigg only minutes earlier was now directly in front of me. I soared through it, along the corridors, passing Sarai and Achan’s bodies.
As I raced through the system of tunnels towards the cavern, my body grew in strength and agility, easily avoiding stalactites and fallen boulders, the very ones I had struggled through in my mortal body.
I felt powerful.
Reaching the cavern, I didn’t stop at the mouth of it. I entered, full force, angling myself directly towards Eran.
He was free now, standing over my dead body, my sword in his hands. Only he and Ms. Beedinwigg were left standing. My housemates, Campion included, were still pinned to the ground.
Eran saw me first, just before I landed. His expression was exactly as I’d expected it to be: aggravated. He confirmed his feelings as I stepped up beside him, my wings remaining open and ready for battle.
He heaved a heavy, frustrated sigh at me and returned his attention to Abaddon. Yet, it was Ms. Beedinwigg who voiced her astonishment.
“I gave you an escape, Maggie,” she said furious.
“And I did with it what I thought was best,” I replied, my eyes now forward and focused on Abaddon.
“What is that?” she demanded. “Returning to danger?”
“To those who need me,” I said through clenched teeth.
She gave up on me then and asked to Eran, “Does she ever choose the reasonable path?”
“No,” he and I replied in unison.
She threw up her hands. “It’s almost as if you crave eternal death,” she mumbled.
Abaddon snickered then, drawing our attention. “Well…she won’t need to wait long for that,” he said, moving forward, his face lifting in a sneer. To the Elsics behind him, he suddenly called out, “Prepare for retribution.”
The wave of creatures followed him, closing the distance between us and the sea of our immortal enemies, fangs out, claws extended, eager for revenge.
Then the wave stopped and each one tilted an ear towards the cavern’s entrances above.
They heard the whistle before I did; the sound of something approaching, something enormous and powerfully fast. They shuddered in unison, their wings spreading out quickly, knocking against those closest to them.
All of this happened just as winged beings streamed through the tunnels and into the cavern’s mouth, circling once in open surveillance, and then pointing themselves downward in attack.
Eran released an amazed chuckle, watching in awe as the army of Alterums collided with the Elsics, now struggling to free themselves from their neighbor’s wings.
His plan destroyed, Abaddon’s face twisted in to a snarl and he lunged himself forward. He and Eran collided, swords clashing, their bodies spinning upward.
Instantly, I was in search of a weapon but this only lasted a moment. Ms. Beedinwigg stepped forward, her sword extended towards me.
I gave her a smile of appreciation, took it, and launched myself into the air.
The following minutes were a blur. Swords clashed, limbs were severed, bodies hurled through the air only to stop short at the edge of a blade.
My own blade moved with incomprehensible speed, lashing at the Elsics, carving a path through them, refusing to wait for one to fall before attacking the next. My housemates, Eran, and Ms. Beedinwigg did the same and at those times when they came into my view I was proud.
In the end, the bodies of dismembered Elsics lay piled across the ground, from one end of the cavern to the other, hundreds of them intertwined with the bodies of nearly the same number of Alterums.
Ezra, Felix, and Rufus settled down beside Eran and me, surveying the damage.
The cavern had been replaced with an eerie quiet, shattered only by the intermittent gasps and aching moans of those still fighting death.
“No…” I muttered. “No.”
Suddenly I was moving through the bodies, heaving aside Elsics in search of living Alterums. “It’s not supposed to be this way,” I heard myself saying. “They can’t die this way. We can’t let them die this way…”
Then I felt Eran’s hand on my shoulder. Spinning around, I said, “Help me find the living. I can escort them. I can bring them to the other side. Help me!”
I was now frantic, searching for the lift of a chest, the inhale of a single breath, the flicker of an eyelid…Anything…
Then I came across Campion.
Eran drew in a sharp breath and immediately lifted his first lieutenant over his shoulder. He brought him back and laid him against the outcropping where we
now stood.
Kneeling at his side, Eran watched Campion draw his last breaths as I stepped up beside him.
“Eran,” I said quiet but firm. I was calmer now, realizing my job, my purpose in existing was being called on. “Eran, you need to step aside now. Time is running out.”
“Running out?” Ms. Beedinwigg asked quietly, bewildered.
I didn’t bother to address her so it was Ezra who explained.
“Maggie has the ability to deliver not only messages but souls into the afterlife.”
Eran, who understood my unique ability, was already shifting away from Campion.
“And this will be the second time I’ve escorted him,” I recalled. “Remember Gettysburg, Campion?”
I didn’t expect an answer but he mustered the strength to nod; it was slight but detectable.
“Ready?” I asked him, taking his hand.
This time no nod came. His last breath released in a hiss and his body went still.
It was the last sound I heard before my own body became lethargic, before my eye lids grew heavy, and finally I fell still.
There was no bright light, no tunnel, nor was there any rushing wind or need to pump my wings and lift into the air.
As was always the case when delivering messages, I simply awoke on the other side, the one who I’d carried there already beside me.
“Maggie,” Campion urged me awake. “Maggie…”
I opened my eyes to find him standing over me, once again grinning.
I sat up and brushed off the sleep. “Where are we?”
“The other side,” he said, sarcastically.
“I realize that but where exactly?”
His hand swooped out, gesturing for me to look for myself.
We were at the base of the very same steps I’d just left. My circle of family and friends were no longer present. In their place were Campion’s loved ones, eagerly approaching him with open arms.
