Eden Undone (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 2)

by A. R. Meyering

  Hector looked solemn. “It’s Nestor. He’s found the Tree of Mana.”

  “We’ve failed,” Gavin gasped as he held Mia. “This is the end.”

  “NO! No, it’s not! We can still find Adrielle! She can stop this!” Penny fought to stand, her balance struggling on the shaking ground. She grabbed the flute from where it had fallen and yanked Gavin to his feet.

  “Stay here with her, Noct. Keep yourselves safe,” Hector told him, and together Penny, Gavin and Hector swallowed their fear and marched toward the unwelcoming light.

  “What about this?” Gavin waved the music he had been clutching all this time.

  “Play it when we find her,” Hector said as shooting stars plummeted to earth several feet away and burst with an otherworldly light.

  In the next valley, they could see the Tree of Mana. The colossal trunk rose like a tower into the sky, its branches and shivering leaves appearing to be an inverted lake. The trio ran down the grassy slope toward the tree and ethereal beam of light. The valley was littered with the same bizarre standing stones and pictographic writing Penny had seen in Elydria, but in the eerie light they looked more like tombstones.

  As they neared the tree, Penny could see the light was coming from Nestor, consuming his body as he touched the trunk of the Tree. Paulina was running toward them.

  “Mom! You’re safe!” Penny cried as they clung to one another.

  “Penny, what’s happening? How do we stop this?” Paulina wailed as they gaped at the falling stars.

  Penny looked around, spotting a long, gray stone table carved with animals, fruits, flowers and leaves. Upon the table lay a woman of impeccable beauty, two snowy white wings folded behind her back. A halo of gleaming stars clustered around her head. She had a fiery mane made of red hair and wore a robe finer than silk, but her beauty was marred by Anti-Magic.

  “That’s her, Gavin!” Penny pointed at the angelic creature whose face she remembered explicitly from the memory Lydia had unsealed. Gavin’s hands shook as he put the flute to his lips and Penny held up the scrap of paper. Before he could blow a single note, a deafening crack rang out, and the light dissipated from around Nestor’s frame.

  Glowing with an ethereal radiance, Nestor flexed his wings and turned to face the table where his sister lay. All the black splotches had been wiped clean away from his body and his body seemed to overflow with raw power. He tore into the sky, ripping a rift in the world with his hand before swooping away. Penny, Paulina, Gavin and Hector huddled together as his shadow passed over them and he shot into Eden.

  “Where’s he gone?” Paulina breathed, and Penny shoved the flute at Gavin once more. He fumbled with it and the music, and sour notes sprang forth.

  Penny grew impatient. “Play it, Gavin!”

  “I’m trying, it’s not exactly the easiest thing in the world to do!” he protested and then tried again, squinting at the notes Hector had scrawled on the paper. Just as he finished the last note, Penny saw Adrielle’s eyes snap open. She burst off the stone platform and hovered above it, her huge green eyes searching try and understand what had happened to her garden.

  Nestor was back before she could get her bearings, and in his arms he carried Lydia, Cyrus, Deimos, and Phobos. He tossed them carelessly through the rift, then sealed it before landing on the ground. Adrielle’s stunning features grew cold and fearsome, and she groped at her belt.

  Nestor laughed. “Do not tell me you’ve lost your precious gift, sister,” he mocked her, pulling a golden lyre out from his sleeve and taunting her with it. Adrielle careened toward him in an attempt to recover the lyre, but she was no match for his speed and power with the Anti-Magic weighing her down.

  Nestor’s lips pulled back and he laughed, fluttering up into the boughs of the Tree of Mana. “It’s over, Adrielle. You’ve lost. I’m going to tear your precious garden apart, and then at last this Tree will be at my disposal. Then I shall get what I need from your pathetic wretches and trap you inside this tree for the rest of eternity.”

  “Whom do you speak of?” Adrielle questioned with alarm and Nestor laughed.

  “Have you not noticed, fool? Did you think it was I who woke you from your slumber?” Nestor asked in cynical delight, then pointed with a haughty grin to Penny, Hector, Gavin, and Paulina on the ground.

  Adrielle spotted them at last, and from the expression on her face Penny was sure Adrielle wanted to howl in anguish. Pinions stretched wide, she glided down and caught each one of them in her arms, soaring far from Nestor as a hideous cracking resounded throughout the sky. Penny watched over Adrielle’s shoulder as the towering tree began to split in two at Nestor’s command.

  Adrielle set them down on the ground moments later and looked them all over like a hysterical mother.

  “Adrielle, can’t you stop him?” Penny wouldn’t let the Angel go, though she feared looking into her wide green eyes. Adrielle’s face clouded with misery and she shook her head.

  “I’m too weak, I cannot. We must flee from here, we must hurry,” she told Penny, but Penny could not accept that they were allowing Nestor to take what he wanted. She plunged her hands into her bag and removed the chest that Della had given her on the day of her death, and pulled out the bit of bark from the Tree of Mana in Elydria.

  “What about this? Won’t this help? Della said it would.” Penny held it out to Adrielle and her eyes grew even wider as the stars around her head shone with a frosty light that stung Penny’s eyes.

  Adrielle grabbed the bark with an almost animalistic instinct and swallowed it whole, her face taking on a look of primal wildness. Penny drew away from her in fear as the same sort of heavenly light that wreathed Nestor shone from Adrielle now, her form going rigid like a statue, her face upturned. As Adrielle hung suspended, Penny looked back in horror as the Tree of Mana twisted away, bisecting into two halves with the same base.

  The ground shook with unstoppable intensity while fissures opened up in the earth, swallowing up the ancient stones whole. Plants, flowers, trees, and all manner of life began to wilt at a rapid rate, crumbling to blackened, shriveled shells of themselves as Penny prayed for Adrielle to come to life and stop everything.

  Nestor shot toward them, reaching into the ethereal light to dig his hands into the flesh of his sister’s back, grabbing her backbone. None of the humans dared to interfere, knowing they’d be obliterated in seconds.

  Adrielle snapped out of her trance, her face and chest clear of the inky spots. With a fierce thrash, she threw Nestor off her, forcing him away with a golden light as she rolled her neck and back until everything fit back together. The wounds where Nestor’s hands had pierced her knit together, healing themselves.

  Nestor attacked once more, and the two grappled with one another like angry eagles, tearing at limbs and throats too fast to track. Penny thought she saw Adrielle reaching for the lyre, but Nestor blocked her each time. At last Nestor broke away and shot toward where Penny and her mother hung in the air.

  “Leave the humans out of this, Nestor! They are my children, not yours.”

  “Look closer, sister. Some are mine, some are Seival’s,” Nestor growled back, grasping Adrielle’s arm and attempting to tear it out of her shoulder-socket, the force of which she resisted as her bones creaked. “And if you ask me, they have all caused enough chaos in each of our worlds. They’re common property.”

  “ENOUGH!” Adrielle boomed, throwing Nestor onto his back and snapping all the bones in his neck. It stunned him for a moment as the bones tried to mend. “You’ve been told countless times not to touch her or her mother, and you’ve gone so far as to poison me with your sinful Anti-Magic to destroy them. Their memories are their own to keep. They won’t help you find Seival’s Law.”

  “More lies?” Nestor groaned, his neck clicking as it finished healing. He threw Adrielle off his chest, then took another swing at her. “Seival, too, lied to me. It was his lies that made me decide to dismantle him in the first place―something which, unfortu
nately, I cannot do to you.”

  “You have only deceived yourself, Nestor. Seival never lied to you. You were simply too blind to see. You were the problem,” Adrielle said quietly, as if the memory of something caused her terrible distress.

  Nestor scoffed, his moonlike eyes reduced to slits. “Then prove it. Release the hidden memories you sealed in the heads of your children and we’ll see who is telling the truth,” Nestor challenged, and Paulina grabbed Penny with quivering arms.

  “What is he talking about, Angel?” Paulina screamed at Adrielle, shocking Penny. The Angel looked at her with a face full of guilt, pity and despair. “Have you taken something from me?”

  “It was done at your request, Paulina.” All traces of Adrielle’s prowess had faded now, and even Nestor had lost interest in fighting as he watched them. Paulina’s face grew pale and she covered her mouth.

  “You see, Adrielle. She wants to remember. Break the seal you put on her,” Nestor commanded. For a moment Adrielle’s eyes glazed over and her hands rose, and then she shook off Nestor’s order. Paulina, possessed by some great spirit of courage, moved from Penny and walked through the air to Adrielle’s side. Nestor watched with maniacal exhilaration.

  “If I asked you to do this to me, can I ask you to undo it?” Paulina whispered and Adrielle’s face underwent a spasm of emotional torment.

  “Not here, not now. It will cause you great distress to remember what I hid from you,” Adrielle whispered, keeping an eye on Nestor as she spoke.

  “I need to know, Angel. Things are going so wrong. We may not have much time left, and I—I can’t die here not knowing what I kept from myself,” Paulina pleaded.

  Adrielle looked to Nestor, who backed away and gestured for her to proceed. With a sigh Adrielle swooped down, ran her palm over Paulina’s eyes, and then braced herself for an attack from Nestor, which did not come.

  Penny stared at her mother as Paulina gazed at the sky. Suddenly her mother sputtered, grabbed at her chest and doubled over as her eyes overflowed with tears. Adrielle caught her, her embrace protective as Paulina appeared to endure wave after wave of pain. The Angel kept her eyes fixed on Nestor until Paulina’s sobs subsided. Paulina looked to Penny as if seeing something as awe-inspiring as it was dreadful.

  “What?! What is it, Mom?” Penny begged.

  Paulina pulled away from Adrielle and came to her daughter. “Oh, Penny, if I would’ve known―if I would’ve known all these years things would’ve been so different. I was so selfish. Forgive me, Penny, I wasn’t strong enough.” Paulina caught Penny in her arms and held her as if it were going to be the final time. “I want you to know how happy you made me.”

  “Mom, don’t talk like that! What’s gotten into you? What did you remember?” Penny pulled back, horrified at how her mother was reacting, simultaneously fearing and coveting the knowledge that Paulina had gained. Nestor perked up and rushed toward Paulina with a hungry glare.

  “She knows where it is. I know she does! Tell me!” he rattled, his words dripping with avarice.

  “Nestor, she does not!” Adrielle cried with dismay.

  “No!” Paulina turned from Penny, her entire body shaking and her voice full of uncertainty, “It’s… I know where it is.”

  “Yes! Yes, woman, tell me,” Nestor cried, his eyes burning.

  Adrielle moved between them and held Nestor off. “Paulina, what do you think you’re doing? Do not lie to him!” she demanded with such bewilderment that Penny knew that her mother was bluffing.

  Paulina put on her most defiant smile and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re crazy if you think I’m telling you that easily. I’m taking it with me to the grave.” Paulina grinned at him, though her tremors betrayed her fear. She turned to Penny again, her eyes shining with tears. She held her gaze for a moment longer, beaming love and pride, and then tore off in a mad run toward the Tree of Mana.

  “No! Mom, what are you doing?” Penny screamed, tearing after her as her stomach convulsed. Hector ran behind her, and above their heads Nestor followed Paulina, looking horrorstruck.

  Adrielle caught Nestor in midair and the Angels resumed their brutal struggle once more as Paulina continued toward the Mana Tree. Penny was losing her, her lungs stinging with the force of her pleas. Paulina dodged between the fissures, freedom and impending terror alive in her eyes. When she reached the Tree, she unthinkingly threw herself into the splintered crevice and faced Adrielle.

  “Do it, Adrielle!” she pleaded. “Close up the tree!”

  “Paulina, are you mad? Why?” Adrielle shrieked just as Nestor wriggled from her grip and hurtled through the air straight at Paulina. The moment his feet hovered above the broken wood of the tree, ashen understanding filled Adrielle’s face.

  Without hesitation, she twitched her fingers and the bark creaked upward and snaked around his ankles, pulling him into the base of the tree. Nestor growled, fighting back with all his might and managing to keep the growing tendrils at bay as he seized Paulina with an iron grip that caused her to gasp in pain. Penny stared at the sight of the tree trying to swallow the two of them.

  “Get away from him, Mom! You can do it!” Penny cried as Hector barred her from climbing into the creaking trunk of the Tree herself. Nestor fought with dire panic to free himself from the Tree, and Adrielle swooped down nearby, her face aghast.

  “Adrielle, please! End this!” Paulina begged. Adrielle remained frozen.

  “You wouldn’t dare! You wouldn’t dare hurt your beloved humans!” Nestor’s accusation was more like a prayer as he realized the tree was winning.

  “I’ll get you out, Paulina. I can save you and seal him away,” Adrielle tried.

  “Don’t you dare take any chances with my daughter’s life. I’ve made my choice. Adrielle, please… I’m ready.” Paulina’s eyes changed, revealing a misery fathoms deep—something which Adrielle seemed to understand. Nestor struggled to free himself again, this time without Paulina in his grasp, and found he was stuck fast. The wood had sealed him and Paulina from the waist down, and though he pulled and struggled he would not come free.

  His cool demeanor was shattering. “Adrielle, you miserable wretch! I’ve still got the Voice of Heaven! Would you be so stupid as to seal it up with me? Your garden won’t last without it! You know I’ll be able to get out eventually, don’t you?! You know that!”

  “NOW, ADRIELLE!” Paulina’s plea rang through the night, and Penny sank to her knees as she watched Adrielle turn her head away and flex her hand.

  The split halves of the Tree of Mana began to groan and shake once more, and with a roar wound themselves back together. Nestor’s wails grew high, deranged, and filled with raw fury, but Paulina stayed quiet and turned to face Penny with a pale smile. Their gaze did not break the entire time, and wordlessly Paulina was able to communicate all that they would never be able to say to one another.

  Penny loathed the sight, and yet prayed for it to last even seconds longer, desperate for every last instant with her. “I love you,” she mouthed, tears pouring down her face. In the remaining seconds, Paulina shut her eyes as if slipping into a peaceful rest, the hint of a smile still on her lips.

  At last, with a sound like a stone grinding upon itself, the Tree enveloped both Nestor and Paulina, and the catastrophes that tore through Eden faded into silence.

  You killed her,” Penny accused. “I crossed worlds to find you, I thought that you could help us…and you…you killed her!” Her voice rose in a crescendo of pain and torment until she was screaming at Adrielle. She didn’t realize she was moving until she felt her fists slamming into the Angel’s chest.

  Adrielle stood still, accepting the blows until Penny grew too weak and fell to the ground, overcome with sobs. The Angel gathered her in her arms, stroking her hair until the worst had passed.

  Over and over in her heart, Penny endured jagged stabs of a pain that made her wish she would not have to live another day after this one. The brightest light in her heart had
been snuffed out, and nothing that she could ever do would bring it back. Penny felt Adrielle holding her and with a flap of her snowy wings, she glided soundlessly over to the roots of the Tree of Mana, now marred by an ugly gash in the center. She laid Penny down in its twisting roots as though she were an infant in a cradle.

  As her body touched the roots, Penny felt the miserable ache within her soften, along with the sinking notion that everything had become utterly hopeless. There was no sense of the contented peace like she had experienced the last time she lay in the curls of the sacred Tree, but a blankness that succeeded in numbing the pain.

  Penny did not take notice when Adrielle flew away with another flap of her wings, or when Hector and Gavin sat beside her in the roots, their backs to the monstrous trunk and their eyes on the sky. The stars had ceased their chaotic plummeting and the garden had grown eerily quiet.

  Adrielle returned with all of Penny’s companions, each looking injured and broken. One by one, she set them down and they all joined Penny, Hector, and Gavin in their silent vigil in the shadow of the Tree. Annette and Argent sat close by one another as the Tree of Mana pacified their ailments, and Noct held Mia close under his arm as she held the bloodstained rag to her face. Armonie joined Gavin, and Simon leaned up against the trunk a ways off from the rest of them, unable to meet anyone’s eye.

  Adrielle floated into view, her eyes heavy with tears but her face steady, and raised her hands to the sky. Penny watched as a miraculous, invisible force wrapped its way around all of them, healing their most grievous injuries with a soft breeze. Leaves, dead and cracked, fell from the Tree of Mana. The exchange of life that Adrielle had made for them was complete.

  “This is all I can do for you at the moment, I fear. If I tried to mend you any further, it might jeopardize the flow of magic or perhaps even one of your lives,” Adrielle said quietly, taking a seat among the weary group. She folded her wings behind her, regarding them with something akin to respect and very much like gratitude.