The World Shaker

by Abby Dewsnup

  The light marks on my skin began to glow. It wasn’t a spectacle of life or power as I had anticipated, but rather a familiar light, a warmth. I was always inside you, the symbols seemed to say.

  Elmar stepped away, her chin raised, her eyes lit up with pride. “This world is yours to save, Anya. And should you choose to rise as our Solifeer, the dawn will follow. Will you stand with them?”

  Her question teetered on the edge of a blade. I understood that either choice would cut like a knife. What did I owe a world of shadows? The debt I was ensnared in surely had been paid off the day I learned of sorrow, the morning my parents disappeared on the Ridgeline, the night I lost my brother, the moment Jay’s hand met with the Oracle Stone. How could I redeem a people who hadn’t spared me a hand, branding it forever with the memory of my low living. As a thief in the night, I wasn’t sure I could rise with the day.

  I lifted my head, knowing my eyes must be empty, dried of tears long ago. “Is he with you?” I whispered.

  Elmar glanced away, taken aback by my reply. “Your brother must stay here, Anya. He has made his choice.”

  I closed my eyes, stifling my emotion. Some part of me, deep down, had known this. The Elders had lied; my brother would never be returning with me. “What about Jay?”

  “Jay is not with my people, nor is his brother.”

  Her words sent a flare of hope through me. I thought about Jay, how his eyes had looked towards the horizon, the way he fought for everyone and no one. I was wrong — so long as Jay was out there, there was light.

  The world had never ceased taking from his hands, and yet he had given everything that was his own. The way his expression had changed when he volunteered himself to the Oracle, how he had emptied himself indefinitely in that pool. Jay would fight for the Fringe. Jay would fight for any last shred of day. He had proved that much.

  I was ashamed of my hesitation. I stood up straighter, raising my chin as Elmar had done, letting out a single, shaky breath. “Teach me.”

  20

  Lightning Strike

  The air was cold, a biting frost threatening to crawl up my torso. I laid on hard, unforgiving stone, every muscle in my body aching, every wound bleeding. My head pounded along to the frantic rhythm of my heart. A groan escaped me.

  I opened my eyes. The cherry blossom tree towered over me, water lapping gently against it, the Oracle Stones only a yard away from my feet. Elmar was gone, as was the flower field. A faint thrum of power surged beneath my skin, and I was reminded of what the warrior queen had spoken of. I, the Solifeer? I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

  “You need to stand,” a soft voice whispered, inches from my ear.

  I looked up at Warren through worn eyes, my hands trembling as they clasped his. “Where is Jay?” I murmured, my voice raw.

  Warren looked away. “Now is not the time to talk about that. Stand, Anya. We’ve got company.”

  I managed to sit up, my head spinning. Warren’s metallic wings hid the clearing from view, and seeing their feathers only reminded me of Elmar and the strange land. When he grabbed my shoulders and held me up, his body moved to the side and I was finally able to get a glimpse of the cave.

  Roland stood next to a dozen masked men, each wielding the strange gadgets of the Light Districts. My first thought was that the High Prince had returned, but the leader in the center was without a riding helmet, and his clothes were hauntingly familiar.

  “Mane?” I asked weakly. “What are you doing here?”

  The Glass Trader stayed on the opposite side of the pond, his staff crackling with light. His graying hair was pulled back, and his aged face was watching me in giddy resolution. “We’ve been following you a long way, Solifeer. You’re a hard little lady to track.”

  In my hazy state, I couldn’t figure out what was different about him. The word Solifeer caused a stir amongst the men, and I cursed under my breath. I’m too trusting. Always too trusting.

  “You’re with Roland?” I managed to ask. “You knew this whole time?”

  Mane clasped his hands behind his back. Two of his men waded into the water, approaching Warren and I with their weapons raised. “I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. It wasn’t until you stepped out from that little cave of yours that I sensed your awakening, and I sent Roland to you immediately. Not before I got a glimpse, of course. You were a wonder, even then.”

  Mane was missing his accent, I thought. And he isn’t making any sense.

  Warren looked down at me, his face starch white. “He’s the World Shaker, Anya. He’s been following you this whole time, and Roland was helping him.”

  The shock of it hit me like a knife to the chest. “He’s the World Shaker?”

  Mane gave a low chuckle. “Would you prefer one of my other forms? I’m sure you’ve seen them all, prancing around with my brothers and sisters in the Light Kingdom. Did they tell you the price you would pay for becoming the Solifeer when you agreed to it? Did they tell you that you would die?”

  My blood ran cold as ice. The men were advancing, only feet away from the cherry tree. “Why are you doing this?” I cried, backing into Warren. My light marks began to glow. “My friends deserve none of this. Leave them alone!”

  Mane sighed and ran a hand across the scruff on his jaw. He looked up expectantly, and the cavern began to shake. I fell to my knees, grasping onto stone as the world jumped and teetered. Rocks fell from the ceiling, crashing to the ground in clouds of dust, water splashing from the blow. Warren folded his wings over us, throwing his arms over his head.

  In the chaos I caught a glimpse of Jay, his body halfway submerged in the water. The sight of him sent a shock through me. I tried to stand, wanting to run to him. Warren restrained me.

  Then the seizure ended, and everything became still. I got back to my feet, tucking my trembling hands into fists at my side. “Fancy trick,” I said, blinking to clear my head. I couldn’t think straight — it was as if something was burning from inside my bones. And the feeling was growing. “Forgive me if I’m not shaking in my boots.”

  Roland’s arms were crossed, a scowl painted across his face. I could scarcely look at him. I wanted to lunge across the pond and strangle him for all he had done. He was a coward, a wretched —

  “Bravo, Bounty Hunter,” Mane said, turning to Roland. “An amiable servant. Your act nearly brought me to tears. It’s a shame I had to force your hand.”

  Roland flinched, his usual seriousness gone.

  My anger deflated. A memory resurfaced of Roland explaining that he had sought out the Light Kingdom before, how he had gone alone. I had a good idea how he had met this World Shaker — and a good idea about why he had been forced to lead us here.

  I don’t have a family, he had said.

  I leaned against Warren, my vision turning black on the edges. “He isn’t a traitor,” I said quietly. “He didn’t have a choice.”

  More of Mane’s soldiers flooded the pond. Warren swung me up into his arms and took flight into the air, his powerful wings sending rippling currents through the water. “I don’t know what the heck is going on,” Warren shouted, his voice echoing off the cave walls. “But you need to lower your weapons before blood is shed.”

  Mane flicked his fingers, a shark-like grin stretching across his face. He relished in fear, in chaos. This was what he wanted.

  At his command, a volley of arrows and strange, metallic cylinders shot through the air. Warren cried out, his right wing going limp, his hands loosening around me. Suddenly we were falling, the world whirling past in neon light.

  The water enveloped me. I rolled over, gasping for breath as soldiers surrounded us. Someone dragged Warren away. Hands found the collar of my shirt and lifted me to my knees. Water dripped from my hair and down my face, running red across my white shirt. My vision was in fragments.

  To my left, Jay’s body was floating in the knee-high water. I violently shoved the soldiers away and scrambled towards him.

  Lines o
f blossoming red were slashed across his chest. His hands felt cold, like the rain outside, and I clutched his bleeding form close to me.

  “All hail the mighty Solifeer!” Mane cried, his arms outstretched in mockery. “She will save your world. She’ll save you all.”

  Elmar had told me James was gone. Jay was silent and still against my skin. I closed my eyes, feeling the cold air inhale and exhale from my lungs. The ground beneath me was hard, biting into my knees. And yet, somehow, somewhere, I could feel a running riot of energy, enough to fill my hands and burn through my veins.

  The sun. it was hovering in the world above. The warmth of it invaded my every nerve, every muscle. It was as if I could reach out and pull it from the damp air, weave it into something greater than light. A weapon. Exhaustion overcame me at the thought.

  Mane knelt next to me, taking my jaw in his weathered fingers. “I have lived a thousand lifetimes, my dear, and yours is the first Solifeer to hold such an anger. Did you feel his death, the way he felt yours?”

  I shot my head up, meeting his steely gaze. The burning in my bones was gathering, boiling just beneath my skin. “Jay might not be dead. But you will be.”

  Mane chuckled again, a harrowing sound. “The Sparrow gave himself up for you, Solifeer. It’s a shame his passing will be in vain. He had a spectacular power.”

  The inferno within me roared and twisted, rising and falling back into itself. Perhaps I would burn away until Jay and I were one in the same, a bristling coal. This world is yours to save. Elmar’s words came rushing back, stoking the flames. I would blaze until I was nothing but ash and smoke, until Mane was but a remnant of the creature he was. The power was building, becoming unbearable. Jay would have risen to his feet, he would’ve fought until his last breath, until Warren was safely from the cavern and the world outside was still. His eyes would’ve been molten lava, boiling and bristling as the explosion of a star. He would’ve been a hero.

  But I am not a hero.

  I must be the Solifeer.

  “Farewell, Anya. Take the Sparrow boy’s Bond with you,” Mane whispered. I heard the click of his soldier’s weapons.

  I raised my head to the cave ceiling and unleashed the inferno.

  The world is a riot of fire — burning, always burning. A hundred words fled from my grasp. No longer was I Anya, the Cave-Dweller, the daughter of the Starbreather, the Light Bringer. I am a survivor of the night, the smoldering embers, the spark that ignites them. The sun will rise when I say it does.

  My bones are branches of white light.

  All I can feel is you.

  21

  Enter the Seer

  I became aware of the jostling of a horse beneath me and the midday sunlight. Arms were wrapped firmly around my waist, and when I looked up, Warren’s curly hair drifted in and out of my consciousness in fragments.

  Behind him, his back was void of his metallic wings. I don’t ask him why he removed them.

  “Where’d you get the horse?” I asked in my sandpaper voice.

  He looked down, his face empty of emotion. “Stole it,” he replied.

  I bounced against him, trying in vain to keep my fumbling hands on the horse’s mane. We were striding along the cliffside, and I could just make out the towering walls of the Blue Light District. With every step the horse took, pain flared across my skin. I felt like a charred ember, forgotten in the aftermath of the fire.

  “Where’s Jay?” I managed to ask.

  He never shifted his gaze from the horizon. “It’s okay, everyone is okay. I’ve got you. I won’t let you fall.”

  Rest. The idea was all too inviting. I fled into the darkness.

  The smell of molten lava is what caused me to stir the following day. I was familiar with the metallic fumes — there were hundreds of tunnels beneath our Caves that were spilling with the stuff. Its presence meant danger, always danger. And today was no exception.

  I sat up, running a shaking hand through my matted hair. I laid on a makeshift mat in the center of a black clearing. The ground was flat and exposed, barren except for a handful of scattered lava rocks. Smoke plumed from small holes in the ground. A Lava Mine. Warren must’ve wanted to become invisible to everyone of importance.

  I looked down at my tattered shirt and sodden boots. I was a mess. My hands fell against my knees, and I noticed for the first time how strange they looked. The symbols were faint and I had to strain my eyes to see them, but the golden glow of my light marks were unmistakable against my tanned skin. I tried to send them away, concentrating as best I could, but the symbols remained.

  Inside me, the power still hummed with life. I became aware of the heaviness in the air — I knew that if I were to reach out and grasp at the sky, the light would bend into my will and pull away as easily as a reed in the dirt.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living, Cave.” Warren brushed gravel aside and sat down next to me. He pulled apart a loaf of bread and handed me one end. I devoured it like a man on death row.

  “How long has it been?” I asked between mouthfuls, trying to keep the edge from my voice.

  Warren shook his head. “A day. Not long. You were so wiped border patrol didn’t even stop us at the outpost. They thought I was traveling with a corpse.”

  I glanced up at him. I noticed his wings were back, but I wasn’t sure when he had retrieved them. He shot me a deliberate look, as if waiting for me to collapse. “Don’t look at me like that,” I said sharply.

  “I see you.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “I said I see you, Anya. I’ve seen what you can do. And I can’t believe that these past few days you’ve been pretending to be normal.” He tossed a pebble against the looming rocks around us. “Shoot, what I really can’t believe is that I’m a wanted criminal now.”

  I stopped chewing and stared long and hard at the ground, anywhere but at my hands that were stained with all I had become. “I have to go back into the city.”

  “Are you insane?” Warren’s mechanical wings fluttered in his indignation. “Anya, you have a bloody World Shaker on your tail, and he wants nothing more than to wring you out for the world to see. The Fringe doesn’t know what you are yet — can you imagine if he got to you before then?”

  “What I am?” I raised my voice, anger flaring in my veins. “What am I, Warren? A storybook hero? I’m not sure if you saw it back there but we lost. There isn’t a cure for the Stygian, and I don’t have my brother. I have to go back and find Jay.”

  Warren sighed loudly and reclined back on his hands. “You can’t go rushing back into danger because you feel like it. It was hard enough getting you out of the city.”

  I rose shakily to my feet, clutching the bread in my calloused fingers. “You don’t have to come with me. If I leave now, I can reach the Dark House by nightfall —”

  My legs gave out, and the ground reared up fast. I felt Warren’s gangly arms catch me in one swift motion. He pulled me back to my feet. I bit my lip, a sudden onslaught of emotion passing through me. I pushed his arms away, but he held fast, enveloping me in a hug.

  I clutched my fingers close to my mouth, trying to steady my breathing. “I have to find him.” I whispered into Warren’s shoulder, letting my voice rise and crash against itself. “Wherever he is.”

  Warren nodded and pulled away. He fumbled for something in his bag, and pulled out Jay’s radio. “Look, Anya. I didn’t know him at all, but I know the Oracle wouldn’t trade a life like his for something less.” He took a deep breath. “But I also know that you have something bigger to become. I mean, I just wanted to escape my tribe, and suddenly I’m traveling with you.” He laughed dryly, and I smiled slightly. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  “It means everything to me. I’m the reason why Jay might be dead.” I closed my eyes, letting my own words wash clean from my lips before continuing. “This power, this weird ancient curse that the Lucents gave me, is a mistake. I’m going to head back into the city and mak
e good on a few promises, find a few answers. And after that I can focus on fighting Mane.”

  Warren sat back down in the gravel, his wings going limp against the ground. “Before you go rushing around Anya, I’d like to remind you that you’ve just woken up from something that should’ve killed you. I warrant you’ve got a nasty concussion and a few broken bones you have yet to feel.”

  I laughed. “Because you’re some doctor now, Warren?”

  “No, because I’ve seen it on myself. Sit back down before you injure yourself further.”

  The fire in my veins died as quickly as it had come. I thought of the Windwalkers, of Warren’s father’s scowl and violent temper. What an idiot I was for not trembling at the sight of him.

  Slowly, I slid down to the ground and curled my knees into me. Warren twisted the lid off of his canteen and handed it to me. I drank from it, wiping dust from my brow. “Why are you helping me, anyway?”

  A lock of hair fell across Warren’s eyes as he said, “Because you’re my only shot at doing some good in my life. Like, saving-the-world good. And you’d still be in that cave if it weren’t for me. You need me.”

  I looked up at him, noting the desperate attempt at humor in his eyes. Slowly, I let the hairpin of a smile cross my lips. Next to him, a lava hole blew a plume of smoke, making us both jump.

  “Look, your plan won’t work,” Warren said. “There is no chance that the World Shaker won’t track you through the night. You’re his battle now, Anya. And he doesn’t lose his battles. So, I’m gonna need you to tell me what you happened to you in there so we can figure this out together.”

  I heaved a sigh, closing my eyes, trying to bring myself to speak the words. “What happened in the Oracle’s cave is a blur. They told me Mane is one of three World Shakers in the Fringe. He’s a spiritual leech and has probably destroyed hundreds of worlds for how long he’s been living. It’s all fun and games to him, because you were right — he doesn’t lose his battles. That’s what I learned in the Light Kingdom.”