by Joseph Calev
“So, what now?” I asked as we walked into a bright opening at the end of a trunk.
“I need to check on Sareya first, then we’ll meet your—”
Raynee’s eyes grew wide and she collapsed to her knees. I was too busy looking at her to notice, but when I turned my head, the world turned real.
Her entire village had been reduced to charred embers. Mutilated bodies and blood were strewn across the field. Raynee held the ground tight, and we both in vain called out the same name.
“Sareya!”
24
Raynee couldn’t move, so I took on the dreaded task of searching the torn fragments of bodies for one with two blond braids. She had been absolutely correct. This world made no sense. If Mordriss were after my father, why didn’t we run across him? Why didn’t he take us, instead of these innocents? Why had he instead killed a six-year-old girl?
The sight of so many limbs and heads, most with their mouths agape as if asking “why,” made me want to hurl, but I trudged forward. This would be far worse a task for Raynee, who knew everyone here. I’d only met one, and I was praying to not find her.
As I moved between the dozen odd houses here, the thought occurred of an even worse fate: Raynee had ordered her to hide, and Sareya was a very smart girl. She’d never make it to the forest, so there had to be a hidden chamber in one of these homes, every one of which had been incinerated. Sareya had been burned alive.
I stopped in the middle of the village and the reality hit me. Sareya was dead. Mordriss had finally gotten her. There was no blanket to miss this time. A demon like that didn’t make the same mistake twice. She’d hidden in one of the houses, and Mordriss had destroyed every single one.
Why had he done this? And then everything made twisted sense. That creature still needed something from us. We hadn’t found my father yet, and this was a bitter message to hurry up the job.
I was now officially from this place. Like everyone else, I’d lost someone dear. An empty hole resided inside me now, full of memories of that bright, blue-eyed girl who’d saved me so many times that first week. She’d taught me both resonance and orasance, and so many things about this horrible place I now called home.
As I looked upon the lifeless, I swallowed my tears and set to my task. These were Raynee’s loved ones. She shouldn’t have to bear seeing them like this. With care, I orasated to each of them only so long as to learn their names. The more times I witnessed Raynee’s smiling face in their lives, the angrier I became that someone had done this to her and to them.
I avalated holes for each, then pieced together what I could of their bodies and erected tombstones with their names and history. Following the tradition, I kept a small piece of bone for the top. I only hoped they had loved ones who survived, and would one day orasate them.
When I finished burying the corpses, I resonated every bit of the embers for signs of Sareya, then disintegrated the debris to an invisible dust. Nothing now remained of Raynee’s village, save twenty tombstones clustered to one side. They seemed rather lonely in this wide field, so I avalated several wisterias to give them a beautiful cover from the glare of the suns.
Raynee joined me. Her eyes were dark and she hadn’t bothered to wipe her tears away.
“I couldn’t find her,” I said. “But I think she was inside . . . when he burned them.”
“We can’t even orasate her,” she cried.
While I held her, an anger unknown rose within me. I would’ve traded my life for Sareya’s, but I’d trade far more for Raynee’s. She was more than my life’s essence. If Mordriss ever dared to go there, I’d have to go with her.
“He wants my father. Maybe we should just stop.”
“No. He’s our only hope. If we give up . . . he’ll just keep on killing.”
I thought back to the desert world from so long ago. I’d already asked for clues there, with nothing to show, but it was our only option. Still, it was the last place I wanted to be right now, with all of its torture and murder. Yet Raynee was right. How had Mordriss even reached this place in no time? He should have been here a year from now. His powers were growing. My father was our only hope to defeat him, and we had to keep searching.
As if in a trance, I led her to that spot where I’d ditched Sareya those eons ago. It seemed like a particularly horrible thing in retrospect. I couldn’t imagine that amazing girl crying now, let alone screaming.
The thought occurred that Mordriss himself might be following us. After all, why would he just torch the village and leave? But then, his task was complete. He’d sent his message, and we were acting the dutiful slaves right now. There was nothing else we could do.
“Are you sure this is it?” Raynee asked when we reached the dreaded spot.
I nodded, then hugged her and let my own tears flow. She held tight and we both bawled underneath the twisted limbs in this terrible world, until a sound startled us. Thirty spotted rodents now surrounded us on five sides, and they didn’t look happy.
“Come with us, fuckers,” one said.
It made no sense, but we followed as they traipsed over and under huge limbs. Soon, I’d forgotten again which way was up. They stopped at a tremendous trunk that formed under a massive swirl of vines. I tried to resonate what was inside, but couldn’t. The bark was somehow too thick.
Then a blond curl appeared from inside, followed by two gleaming blue eyes, and Raynee screamed. We both ran toward the muddy but otherwise unharmed Sareya.
She was crying when Raynee seized her.
“Are they all dead?” she asked with tears streaming down.
My eyes betrayed the answer and Raynee held tighter.
“But, how—?” I started. “How are you here?”
“People started screaming, so I hid like I promised. Then these guys found me and said my spot wasn’t safe. They took me here. It’s resonance proof.”
“You three shitheads are the only ones who give us food,” the tallest rodent said. “So, we had to look out for ourselves, you know?”
Raynee smiled, then avalated piles of nuts, berries, and fruits around them. The rodents jittered and shouted as they dove in, while their leader just looked at us.
“That’s all great and everything, but we’re still going to want more fucking food someday, so you assholes had better stick around.”
While the rodents continued to devour their prize, my heart suddenly dropped. “We have to go back.”
“Nothing’s there,” Raynee replied. “We’re safer here.”
“But, Annie—” Raynee only shook her head.
“I’m sorry.” Tears flowed down her face. “While you . . . cleaned up my village, I saw to Annie. She was never the same after her family died.”
I sat and held my head down.
“She’s at peace now,” Raynee said softly.
Annie never deserved this. She took me in when I didn’t have a home. She gave me her son’s room, the same son that Mordriss had taken from her. And now she was gone, too, probably ripped to pieces like that creature preferred.
“Why am I here?” I cried.
Raynee sat and put her arm around me, then lowered her head below mine. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, why did I have to leave Earth? Everyone either hated me or ignored me, but at least people I cared about didn’t die!”
“Would you have rather we hadn’t met?”
“No, no,” I looked into those stunning brown eyes. “You’re . . . you’re the most amazing thing in any universe. But I love you and can’t protect you. I can barely avalate an apple, and he’s going to come for you, too. He’s trying to destroy me, and I don’t know why.”
“Then let’s find your father and end this.” Her teeth were clenched. “I know how you feel. Everyone I spent the last six years with just died.”
She couldn’t withhold the tears now, either. “I need you to be strong for me right now, because I’m breaking up. I don’t think I could’ve taken losing Sareya. We can�
��t let him destroy us.”
I gently lifted her head up with the tip of a finger, raising it with mine, then brushed back her hair with my hand. She was still far more powerful than I, and in fact now that I understood some of the math and forces, reaching her level seemed more daunting than ever before. But she needed me.
“I love you, Raynee. You’re a quality vegetable.”
And then she kissed me. This wasn’t the delicate exploratory kind like in my marble universe, but the mad-faces-pressed-against-each-other, and tongues-doing-the-tango kind. I pulled her so tight that we nearly tumbled off the log. She backed away just for a moment, and was about to go a second round when we caught those bright blue eyes staring at us.
“Cool!” Sareya said.
“Holy fucking shit,” a rodent said. “Could you not do that around the food?”
Raynee straightened her sweater and I stared at the rodents eating for a bit until they were uncomfortable and I felt no need for explanations to a six-year-old.
Raynee discussed leaving Sareya at the tree trunk, but the rodents wouldn’t have it. She seemed a bit perturbed when they explained that the math was complicated, and it wouldn’t protect her for long, so we bid the rodents goodbye, then made our way deeper into the forest. Though we were unsure there was anywhere else to hide against such a monster, it felt the safer way to go. For food, I avalated some apples, Sareya some marshmallows, and Raynee everything else. After the emotional day, we all felt it best to get some rest. The Khan could wait a day.
When we found as level a spot as possible, I attempted to impress by avalating some blankets. Raynee only smirked, then constructed a multi-story treehouse between two snarling trunks. Inside was a warm fireplace and bedroom complete with a gigantic mattress and duvet.
We huddled by the fire, which conveniently didn’t produce any smoke. It was an impressive illusion, capable of giving off heat but neither choking nor burning. We sat there for nearly an hour, each of us processing the events of the day, and no one willing to discuss the task still before us.
Finally, Raynee sighed and avalated herself a thin gown that barely clung over her breasts. I tried not to stare, as her legs and shoulders, which had always been covered, now glistened under the candles she’d conveniently added. She gave me a devilish smile, then avalated away my clothes to just a pair of black boxers.
“What?” she said. “Fair is fair.”
Sareya stood halfway inside the door.
“If you two are going to have sex, could you avalate me to another room?”
“No need.” Raynee laughed and motioned her to lay between us.
She gave us a strange look, then snuggled her tiny body between us, while Raynee brushed her hair. When her bright eyes looked up at me, she smiled, then fell into a deep sleep. She then drew closer to me while Raynee smiled.
“Still want to be a turnip?”
“No.”
*
In most respects, I never truly had a family. Sure, I had beings who I grew up calling parents, but they were as caring as carrots. Now here I was with Raynee lying before me, her hair glistening in the candle light, and tiny Sareya nestled between us.
This was heaven, but there was a demon waiting at the gates. Were Mordriss to enter this cabin then and take them, there was absolutely nothing I could do. The better things got, the more fearful I became.
“If anything ever happens,” she said, noticing my pause. “I love you, Jason.”
She closed her eyes, and we all dreamed of our very same world, but without the monster. I had a family here, the best I ever could have wanted. As wonderful as the paramount dimension was, though, it was also cruel. Mordriss would be back.
Raynee was already dressed and pacing when I awoke. She was more radiant than I’d ever seen, and there was something new about her. I’d only dreamed of waking to her bewitching glare and hypnotizing grin, and wondered how many more I’d have.
I moved to get out of bed, but she only held me down lightly with her palm, then leaned over and kissed me.
“Don’t wake her,” she whispered, and I felt Sareya rustle next to my chest.
“I’ll avalate you something to eat,” she said. “What would you like?”
It was a simple question that no one had ever asked me before. When at last I requested a lamma fruit, she shook her head and laughed. In many ways, I was still a turnip to her.
She returned a few seconds later with something best describable as split-open lammas, with thick scrambled eggs, bacon-like meat, and a few chocolate chips in between. It was the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted.
Sareya popped on sensing the plumeria scent of breakfast, and Raynee handed her a plate of the same but with a few extra fruits she loved. While Sareya ate, I avalated myself some clothes, but wound up nearly choking myself in a way-too-small sweatshirt.
“I don’t understand.” Raynee dressed me in a snap of her fingers. “How could someone so clueless be so awesome at cenosance?”
While I watched Raynee turn to dote on Sareya, it occurred to me that I was the new person in this equation. Sareya and Raynee had both grown up with no one, so they’d latched on to each other. Raynee was as much Sareya’s big sister as she was her adoptive mother.
When we’d lumbered outside, Raynee waved her hand and the entire treehouse disappeared. There was to be no trace of us. We were migrants now.
*
We said little while we made our way to the Khan’s world. The essonation point was close to Annie’s house, and there was no confirmation Mordriss had ever left. Of course, our silence was no barrier to him feeling us with resonance, so perhaps we just didn’t want to speak of it.
When I got confused on the way, Sareya took over and led us to the spot. A short time later, I’d recalled the set of portals necessary, and the three of us stood before the harsh windswept landscape of the Khan’s desert world.
Raynee avalated herself and Sareya sunhats, and I led them to the village. Jamol and Ilyos awaited us.
“Who is your father?” Ilyos said to me. “And why do your women not walk behind you, with their heads covered?”
“Pipe it, dinosaur,” Raynee replied. “We’re here to help.”
“We come as friends,” I added.
Jamol reached for his scabbard, while Ilyos rubbed his fingers under his chin.
“The Khan is coming,” I said, while he decided.
“Heathen scouts!” Jamol yelled, then charged at us with his scabbard drawn.
Raynee sighed and with a flourish of her hand, he was dust.
“We’re friends!” I shouted while Ilyos backed away in horror. “And seriously, what’s Jamol’s problem? Every time I come here, he dies!”
Ilyos turned and fled. We took chase through the small gathering of huts, until the old man halted, then collapsed back with an arrow through his head. The Khan’s army stood before us.
A dozen soldiers were already lighting the huts aflame, while inside the women and children shrieked. I’d been through this drill before. I extinguished every spark with my own powers.
Raynee gave me a glance of surprise. “Which one’s the Khan?” she asked while we admired the ten thousand horsed warriors.
“I think she’s the only woman.”
“Easy then.” Raynee waved her hand and all but a familiar face disintegrated. “We don’t have time for the bullshit.”
The middle-aged woman seemed unfazed by the loss of her army, and calmly approached in the same proud manner as if they were still present.
“This world is meant for you, Jason Bezna,” she shouted over the blowing sand. “Why did you bring help?”
“I’ve been here before. I passed your tests. But Mordriss is back, and you’re the only clue we have.”
Her eyes gleamed. “So, it’s come to that?” she asked when she’d reached us.
“Yes,” I replied. “We need to find him. Can you tell us anything?”
The Khan sat on a nearby stool, pause
d for a few moments to stretch her aching legs and back, then stared at Sareya.
“Is this your wife and daughter?” she asked with a surprise tear.
“No,” Raynee said, noticing me formulating an answer. “I’m Raynee, his girlfriend. This is Sareya, my sister.”
“How interesting,” the Khan said. “Most unexpected.”
“In what way?” Raynee asked, but the woman only shook her head.
“Someday, I hope before the end, you’ll know. Right now, I’m considering your request.”
“Please help us. We’re out of options. We need to find my father to stop Mordriss. We know he created this world.”
“He did.” She had resolute eyes. “Very well. I’m sure you understand that I’m only a creation, and that what you see here is but a copy of that place you call Earth. Where you grew up, which I’m sure felt very real to you, was another copy. I can provide some information about the original, but once I do, this universe will self-destruct and you may never return, no matter how much you’ll want to.”
That seemed an odd thing to say. Why would I ever want to return here? All that I’d ever witnessed was torture and bloodshed. While she waited, I nodded.
“I was unfortunately not provided with Earth’s location.” All three of us moaned. “But I can give you definite information on where to find it.”
We perked up.
“Only two ever knew that place. The first was your father, a man named Avarus. The second was his best friend, Algard. I believe you know him.”
Anger rose within me on the realization that Algard had sent us on this useless task, when he himself knew. Had he not known we would uncover him?
“The two had a disagreement years ago, before you were born. So Algard is your only hope now. Yet I must warn you. He will not part with the information willingly. There is a great secret hidden in that world, and to him Mordriss is the lesser evil.”
