The Veil: Corruption (HASEA CHRONICLES BOOK 2)

by Stuart Meczes

  I turned to the ocean and screamed out at the shapes on the horizon. “You are no longer in control. I am! You serve me now. If you disobey, I will come back and seal you all away, just as I have your master. Do you hear me!?”

  Loud whispers picked up on the wind, which rolled in from the now-calming sea. I didn’t understand the language the replies came in. It was too ancient even for my ears.

  But I knew that they were words of compliance.

  I stared up at the sky above me and felt the slowing rain tap onto my face. “It’s done, Sage Faru. Now please get me out of here.”

  There was a magnanimous sigh, as if nature itself were releasing a breath of relief. A sensation like a giant hook gripped me deep within my chest, and I was ripped upwards towards the parting clouds and drawn into a pulsating white light that encased everything in its brilliance.

  40

  Alex

  My eyes snapped open.

  I felt unimaginable power filling me up. It crackled beneath the surface of my skin – a rush of strength and mental clarity that surged through me like an electric current. Staring around, it took less than a split second for my mind to process what was happening.

  Gabriella and a host of Guardians were locked in battle with Yeth’s Army. Everywhere I looked the Alliance clashed against the red-suited Rogues.

  I blinked forward, travelling as fast and light as a spectre. Grabbing the masked head of an Elf attacking Gabriella, I wrenched it away from my soulmate. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw me. A rush of energy raced down my arm and the Rogue exploded into a crimson mist. Turning away, I grabbed two Rogues who were attacking Troy and Danny. They felt as light as pillows as I picked them up and drove them into each other, shattering bones and masks.

  I ripped through the medical room, fast as light. Rogues were as breakable in my hands as porcelain dolls. The power inside felt unstoppable, as if I’d been hooked up to human charging station for weeks. All attention switched to me, and Rogues came at me armed with an array of blades and guns. The bullets hit, but I felt almost nothing, as if they were made from balled paper.

  Looking down I saw my skin knit back together and the casings push out of my wounds. The blades that hit me barely broke the skin. I wrapped my hands around them, which I now noticed had glowing white marks on the skin, as if the dark tattoo that had covered me had been purified. With a surge of white-hot energy, the blades melted into liquid and dripped to the floor.

  I darted forward and spread my fingers over the masked faces of the Rogues. The same hot energy caused their bodies to convulse. A smell of burning filled my nose, and then I saw the lights go out in their eyes. They crumpled to heaps on the floor. I kept flicking around the room, saving my allies and vaporising the Rogues. I seemed to have stepped outside myself as I did it – as if I were spectator watching it happen. But I didn’t feel out of control…far from it. For the first time in months, I felt like I was more myself than I had ever been. I was a supercharged version of me.

  When the room was empty, I turned to Gabriella.

  “Are there more?”

  She stared at me open-mouthed. In fact, everyone was staring at me with dropped jaws – all except for Sage Faru, who wore the faintest hint of a smile on his face. Gabriella nodded and pointed a finger at the open door.

  “I’m on it.”

  “Be careful,” she shouted after me. “Yeth is out there!”

  “Good.”

  I surged down the walkways, travelling at a speed that I couldn’t explain. It was as if I moved faster than time itself. People and objects around me became streaks of colour that moved in surges in the opposite direction.

  Along the way, I rescued Guardians and decimated the Rogues attacking them. Crouching down over badly wounded Alliance, I discovered I was able to make their injuries vanish just like my own simply by placing my hands over their chests. The enemy body count rose as I moved higher and higher through the unfamiliar network of tunnels and stairways.

  Word must have travelled, because I found fewer and fewer Rogues as I moved upwards. Behind me, I could hear the sounds of footsteps and knew without looking that Gabriella and the rest of Orion were following me.

  I flashed up a final set of stairs and stepped through the twisted remains of a hatch door. I stepped out onto the topmost platform of what seemed like an oilrig, but that I knew was clearly an Alliance Outpost. A storm had appeared overhead, and rain spilled down from the darkness above.

  Illuminated in the many floodlights attached to the rig, I could see the shattered remains of Yeth’s followers, warily watching me from behind a giant, white Skinshifter. Dotted around me were the remains of fallen Guardians. I felt the energy signatures of their souls. They had left their host bodies and were floating slowly away like escaping balloons, but they weren’t all gone yet. I knew I had the power to save at least some of them.

  But I have someone to deal with first.

  Yeth stared at me through his blazing red eyes. “You are not the Sorrow,” he growled. “What have you done?”

  I smiled. “The Sorrow is no more. Sorry to disappoint you. Just me.”

  Yeth let out a howl of anger. “Kill him!”

  The Rogues ran at me. Behind me, I sensed Gabriella appear with the Guardians. A whole host of them, armed and ready to support. But I held up a hand.

  “No.”

  I ran into the battle alone.

  My body moved like a streak. Every one of the Rogues’ attacks was as slow as a frame-by-frame video. I surged forward, punching, tearing, and stamping my way through. All of them failed to land more than a few harmless blows. I came to rest at the end of my path, covered in Rogue blood. At my feet lay the broken, bloodied remains of three dozen Rogues. I raised a finger at Yeth, who was stalking from side to side glaring at me.

  “Just one more left,” I said.

  “You won’t get the chance.”

  Before I could react, Yeth lowered his jaws and a stream of fire engulfed me. I turned my head, momentarily blinded by the flare. Sharp prickles bloomed on my skin as the flames burned me. Behind I could hear the horrified gasps of the Guardians. I started to walk forward towards the creature. As I did, my burning body knitted itself back together, and the flames vanished.

  “W-what are you?” he growled.

  “The person who is going to put an end to you all.”

  I sprinted at him. He moved as fast as lightning, but I moved faster. I grabbed his giant tail and flung him around, releasing him and watching as he slid along the rain-soaked platform. I was on him in a split second, pounding at his body and feeling his thick bones crack. His colossal jaw clamped onto my hand, and for the first time I felt real pain, but nothing worse than I’d felt countless times as a Chosen.

  I stamped my foot onto the side of his jaw and felt it jerk sideways with a loud crack. Yeth gave a yelp and released my hand. Instantly it healed. The Skinshifter staggered to his feet. I head-butted his muzzle and felt it crunch downwards. I kept punching and kicking, and the creature weakened. With a scream of exertion I jumped into the air and bought my entwined fists down onto his spine. A crack echoed across the rig.

  Yeth collapsed to the rain-slicked platform. With a whine, he started to drag himself away, his hind legs trailing uselessly behind him. He pulled himself towards the edge of the platform towards the ocean below. I moved towards him, ready to finish it, but I was taken by surprise with another sudden burst of flames.

  “When we meet again, I will feast on your beating heart.”

  Yeth’s body disappeared over the edge. A few seconds later, I heard a resounding splash. Running to the edge I stared into the gloom. Below I could see a battered battleship and a few scraps of metal, but nothing else.

  Yeth was gone.

  I turned back to where the ranks of rain-soaked Guardians stood staring at me. Gabriella and I rushed to each other. I pulled her into my arms, holding her as if to let go would mean the end of the world. She pressed her h
ead into my shoulder, and I smelled the sweet scent of her hair mixed with the salt of the sea air.

  “H-how did you do all that?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. But I’m not done yet. Hold my hand, I need your help.”

  She clasped onto it, and I crouched, pulling her down with me. Focusing the power inside me, controlling it and guiding it like a wave of light becoming a focused beam, I imagined all of the Guardians who were crossing over into death coming back to life. Rolling surges raced down my arm into Gabriella, and I could feel her body stiffen, but I held on.

  Around, I could hear a series of shouts. The Guardians were looking upwards. I lifted my head to see streaks of blue appear in the dark clouds. They descended like divine snakes, weaving their way towards the fallen all over Atlantis. Dozens upon dozens of souls. I could feel my energy sapping as I focused, as if my supernatural batteries were being drained. Like I had saved Gabriella that day, the souls forced their way back into the mouths of their owners. There were a series of gasps as the Guardians were wrenched back into life.

  By the time I was done, I barely had enough energy left to move.

  “Go to them.”

  Gabriella climbed to her feet with the aid of Scarlett and Sophia. I collapsed onto my backside, hands flat on the deck and staring up at the sky, letting the cold rain pour down on my face. I heard a series of cries as people were re-united with people they thought they had lost.

  A few minutes later a hand wrapped around my waist, and I was helped to my feet. I turned my head to see Danny, smiling and shaking his head. “You saved us all.”

  I gave a weak smile. “Just returning the favour.”

  We walked down the steps of Atlantis, heading towards the damaged battleship I presumed was Black Dawn. As we moved, I noticed something wedged between the grills on the far side of the large steps.

  “Hold on,” I said to Danny and broke away. Crouching down, I picked it up. What I held in my hands was the melting remains of a Skinshifter congealed around something hard. The skin dripped through my fingers in sticky ichor that stretched like elastic and then dissolved into nothing. The rest had clearly fallen through the gaps into the sea. I rubbed at the slimy mess until it exposed what lay underneath. The motto of our order was revealed, shimmering on the polished metal of one of the HASEA uniform emblems. I felt my stomach lurch as I understood.

  The legends are true. Yeth can take the form of any creature, and he took the form of a Guardian. He could be any one of us.

  I slipped the badge into my pocket.

  “What was that?” asked Danny.

  “Just another problem that needs a solution.”

  We carried on walking down the stairs, Danny taking my weight. I could feel my energy fading fast. I’d done too much with my new power too quickly. I knew beyond doubt it would return, but I needed time…I needed rest.

  A scream rushed up from below and my adrenaline spiked – It was Gabriella. I heard it again, and my sluggish brain deduced it was one of joy, not terror. Danny leaned over the railings, and I peered over too, my vision wavering. Right at the bottom of the rig, where a staircase almost touched the water, I could see Gabriella, Scarlett, and Sophia pulling two figures out of the ocean and onto the steps. The salvaged looked half-drowned and in bad shape. Regardless, Gabriella was leaning over, hugging them repeatedly.

  “What’s going on?” Danny shouted over the railing.

  Gabriella stepped back, and the floodlights exposed two faces.

  Delagio and Grey.

  *

  I stood next to Gabriella in the Temple of the Divine Elements.

  Down the steps that led to Sage Faru’s chair, one hundred and seventy six Guardians stared back at us. The light from the temple’s flame holders flickered against their faces, sending countless shadows sweeping up the vast golden walls. Sage Faru stood between us, pale hands clasped around his cane. He was speaking, and every single Guardian was listening to his words in absolute silence.

  “The evil that Yeth wanted to bring out in Alexander has been subdued. He has taken control of the darkness that resides within him and turned it to light. The man who stands in front of you now is the antithesis to the Sorrow. He is the embodiment of all the hope and courage that the Alliance stands for. He is the one who the Elemental Lafelei prophesied would hold the power to defeat Hades and end the Ageless War once and for all. That is why the Demon King has spent so much time and energy trying to destroy him, but in doing so has only pushed him closer to his destiny.”

  Sage Faru’s voice grew more powerful, and the room buzzed with the electricity of his words. “It is this generation of Guardians – we will be the ones who stand united and bring about an end to the tyrannical war and threat to both worlds. Every one of us will form the catalyst that brings about a time of peace.”

  The Guardians stood in raptured silence, each one no doubt thinking of what his words truly meant. No more threats, no more deaths. No more standing at the burial grounds saying goodbye to friends and loved ones. No more heading towards a mission having no clue if you were going to make it home again. Nothing but complete peace.

  I looked down at my hands. The tattoos had changed from a dark, menacing black to a pure white that seemed to shimmer with energy like Faru’s eyes. I reached out behind Faru and entwined my fingers with Gabriella’s.

  What I had done on Atlantis had defied belief. The speed and strength I now had was far beyond that of a normal Chosen. But the gift had almost come at the cost of my sanity. The Darkness had almost defeated me. Had it won, I knew it would have forced me to destroy everyone I loved. But in the end I had not just survived, but somehow emerged as a symbol – one of hope. Sage Faru said that I now had the power to end the war, and for the first time I actually believed him.

  I squeezed Gabriella’s hand.

  I had awoken three days after the battle. Gabriella had stayed with me on Atlantis, watching over me like a guardian angel as I recovered. The rest of Orion stayed too, getting familiar with the Outpost and helping Delagio and Grey get better. I didn’t know if it had been me who had bought them back from the brink or sheer luck that they had survived the deadly Ogre attack. I was just overjoyed they were alive.

  One hundred and eighteen Guardians had died in the battle with Yeth’s Army – more than half of the Warren’s total numbers. But I had managed to bring back eighty-three of them. I had no clue how I’d done it, and I didn’t care. All that mattered was that I had, and the action had proved to every Guardian on that platform that I was one of them, despite everything that I had done to the contrary.

  All the Guardians who had left Atlantis, including Sage Faru, had made temporary residence at the new Outpost set up in Rachel’s old estate. Our leader spoke to every Sage in the Alliance and amassed the biggest single army that HASEA had ever known. Huntmasters and their Guardians from all over the world, Chosen, Skinshifters, Bloodseekers and their Hiveminds, Bloodlings, Oni, Yokai, Pixies, Elves, Dwarves, Imps, Pari, Ifrits, Djinns, Succubi and Incubi all travelled to Chapter Hill, London to wait until I woke up so that we could reclaim the Warren.

  When I stormed the base, I did so with countless Guardians stood at my side. We took back our home in less than an hour, leaving not a single elite alive to tell the tale.

  Sage Faru stared out at the ranks of Guardians in the flickering light of the temple. “We lost many in the fight against our new enemy, but we were victorious. And now we are entering an era where we have the power to bring the fight to Hades.” The Sage gestured a hand towards me. “But before we do, I have something to ask of each of you. Alexander’s father – himself a Chosen – was kidnapped over a decade ago. Stolen along with so many others and forced to fight for their lives in deadly Umbra colosseums within Pandemonia. We thought all had died, but now we know that many survived. There is a chance that he is still alive. Alexander has been patiently waiting for a time when I felt he was ready to enter through the Veil and bring our old comrades s
afely home. Including his father.”

  He took a step forward. “That time is now. He is more than ready.”

  The Sage’s voice rose, becoming a boom that echoed around the temple. “So I ask, who among you are willing to follow Alexander into Pandemonia and be part of the heroic team who will bring our lost friends back where they belong? Those who are prepared to enter into the lion’s den itself and deliver a critical blow to our enemies, step forward now.”

  My stomach tensed as I looked out at the hundreds of faces of Guardians. Beside me, Gabriella was visibly shaking.

  Every single Guardian took a step forward.

  Epilogue

  Gabriella

  The existence of Pandemonia was revealed to the world. Too much had happened to keep it a secret anymore. Too many witnesses had seen what had happened on the motorway, and we had no way to stem the tide of knowledge on such a scale. Hundreds of calls had poured into 999, and media coverage had followed soon after.

  Government officials connected to the Alliance in every country had taken to the podiums to make prepared statements. In the days that followed, the media storm had been unlike anything that had ever been seen. Newspaper headlines were splashed with words like ‘Vampires Exist!’ and ‘Our Deadly Neighbours.’ Every television station was dedicated to presenting their opinions on the event.

  The internet lit up with forums for people who had once been considered crazy, but now gathered to share stories and becoming minor celebrities in the process. Social media sites had pages dedicated to different species, and YouTube videos of blurry ‘monster’ footage that had once been dismissed as fake suddenly amassed millions of views.

  We had been prepared for mass riots, for violent protests – but apart from some civil unrest, chaos never came. There were no riots in the streets, nothing but clusters of ignorant people armed with signs urging the ‘monsters’ to ‘go home.’ Instead, the general populace seemed to reluctantly accept it. They seemed to be satiated by the knowledge that the HASEA, which had been dubbed the ‘supernatural police,’ were watching over them and keeping them safe.