Desire (Legends of the Kilanor Book 3)

by Jared Stone

  Schuntz sighed. “Fine,” he consented, as if he had given up even doubting the boy on these peculiar tidbits of info stored within his otherwise empty head. “So, then, the ‘golden twin’ of the previous two ratios combined would be… just under 133 degrees.”

  “Great, let’s do it then!” Lucian practically cheered. “I bet we’re almost through this, guys!”

  “I do hope so,” Schuntz stated wearily.

  “I don’t know,” Blake countered. “I think this has definitely been the best one yet!”

  Schuntz just shook his head silently as he took his position at the pillar. Lining the boys up at 133 degrees and 90 feet, he called out to Blake.

  “That should be the spot!” the professor advised.

  Blake looked around him. “Dude, there’s just, like, a big hole in the ground out here!” Blake hollered back. “No ice pillar or anything!”

  “Well, what’s in the hole?” Lucian shouted.

  Blake bent over and gazed down into it. “It’s just black, dude,” he answered. “Can’t see anything!”

  “Okay, I’m coming over!” Lucian called out. He and Schuntz carefully made their way across the ice to where Blake stood. Cautiously, they all peered into the roughly three-foot diameter hole cut into the ground.

  “Yeah, it is awfully dark down there,” Lucian confirmed.

  “Are we…, like…, supposed to go down it or something?” Blake inquired apprehensively.

  Lucian shrugged and looked at Schuntz.

  “I am not certain,” Schuntz admitted, bringing his brows together in concerned contemplation. “The directions we have followed thus far have led us to this point. However, one incorrect calculation or faulty assumption could have diverted us from the proper path and right to our doom. Unfortunately for us, we will not know for certain until we enter this hole.”

  Lucian’s stomach sank. “So, we just have to, like… jump down it?” he asked sheepishly.

  Schuntz nodded seriously. “I am afraid so, Mr. Arden,” he confirmed.

  “Alright, then,” Lucian said, mustering up his courage. If he wanted to be more of a leader, he knew that this would be his greatest test yet. “I'll go down first.”

  Blake looked at him with concern. “You sure about this, man?” he asked.

  Lucian shook his head. “Not really,” he admitted. He took a deep breath as he stepped up to the hole’s rim. Staring down into it, he saw nothing but blackness, and his heart beat rapidly as he imagined what might be waiting for him down there. Carefully, he sat down on the ground and swung both legs over the edge. He then looked back at his two companions, who stared down at him with faces that did not hide their doubt.

  “Well, here we go, then,” Lucian squeaked out. He swallowed hard, took a deep breath as his stomach seemed to leap into his chest, and pushed off the ledge. He immediately felt himself plummeting down into darkness, only to then have his backside collide with a cold, hard ice chute moments later. He slid quickly down the sloped, frozen tube as he cried out in alarm, with very vivid, unpleasant memories of terrifying waterslides from his childhood flashing in his mind. To Lucian, it seemed as if this ride from Hell went on forever, sliding uncontrollably down into pure darkness. Suddenly, the chute opened up, and the boy shot out the bottom and skidded across a flat sheet of ice, spinning wildly around on his back until he slowly came to a stop. Lucian lay there for a second without moving, breathing heavily and trying to determine whether or not he was still alive. He glanced up at the open air above him, in which millions of stars twinkled against a pitch black sky.

  “Lucian!” a voice rang out through the silent night. “Lucian! You okay!?”

  Lucian sat up. Looking around him, he saw that he was now lying on a long, thin bridge of ice which stretched across an empty black void in between two vertical ice walls, as if it was stretching through space itself. He could see completely through the floor beneath him, as clear as glass, but it seemed to have no trouble supporting his weight. Glancing over to either edge, he noticed that there were no guard rails of any kind, and he just thanked his good fortune that he had not shot out of the giant ice slide only to catapult into the abyss around him.

  “Lucian!?” the voice yelled again as Blake’s call echoed from out of the hole in the ice wall.

  “Yeah, I’m fine!” Lucian called back up.

  “Thank God!” Blake yelled back. “Alright then, I’m coming down!”

  “Blake! Wai-!”

  Before Lucian could even finish his warning, he heard Blake screaming from inside the tube. Afraid that his roommate might collide with him and send them both flying off the edge, Lucian frantically scrambled to the side. No sooner had he done this than Blake came blasting out of the hole in the wall with an excited shout. Spinning around wildly as he careened across the slick floor, he flew past Lucian and came to a halt a little ways farther down the bridge. Sitting up dizzily as soon as he was able, he let out a laugh.

  “That was awesome!” he cheered.

  Lucian opened his mouth to debate that assertion, but he then heard Schuntz’s yell usher out from the tube’s opening as well. It was deeper and more measured than Blake’s had been, but it still conveyed more genuine excitement and fear than Lucian had ever heard from the man. As the professor, too, jettisoned out of the opening, he came sliding to a stop next to Lucian. Silently, he lay motionless on the cold hard surface.

  “Professor?” Lucian asked. “Are you alright?”

  Schuntz took a deep breath in. “Yes, Mr. Aarden,” he responded curtly. “Although, I would have been content with never experiencing that particular joy-ride in my life.”

  Lucian chuckled. He was relieved that they had all made it down safely, without tumbling into the vacuum of space. He climbed up onto his feet and held out his hand to help the professor do the same. Once they were all standing, they looked down the length of the bridge, to where one solitary ice pillar stood amidst the otherwise empty landscape.

  “Well, I guess we know where we’re going,” Lucian said.

  “Lead the way, Mr. Aarden,” Schuntz suggested with a wave of his hand, possibly still a bit dizzy from his recent tumble.

  Lucian began to creep toward the ice pillar, being extra careful with every deliberate step that he not slip. Although the bridge was likely wide enough to accommodate some error, Lucian still felt as though any misstep would send him sliding off the edge and into the infinite blackness below. Worse yet, he feared that even the slightest impact might shatter through the extremely thin barrier below them. As such, he moved along carefully, sliding his feet gently beneath him instead of picking them up and walking.

  Within a minute or two, all three of the travelers stood before the great column of ice at the center of the bridge. As expected, a face appeared before them within the glowing blue surface.

  “Alright, what’s the riddle this time?” Blake asked.

  “There are no more riddles,” the face responded. “No more games. You have proven yourself worthy in both knowledge and capacity to cooperate, making your whole contribution greater than your individual parts. I have but one question remaining for you to answer before you may enter the central chamber and claim that which you seek.”

  After this, the face was silent, and it stared at the three men before it. Lucian, Blake, and Schuntz all stared back expectantly.

  “Well, what is it!?” Blake finally shouted.

  “What is the color of the sky?” the face asked. All three of them stood there dumbfounded.

  “Uhhh…. Blue,” Blake answered.

  CRRRRKK!

  From the base of the pillar, a gigantic crack shot out beneath their feet and spread with a deafening blast of sound across the bridge. The tip of this fissure split into two branches, each of which split into their own smaller subsections. By the time it had gone about 50 feet, it appeared more like a bolt of lightning than a single, solitary crack.

  “Woah!” Blake cried out, holding his arms out to his side
and staring down in horror at the fault in the fragile bridge upon which they stood. At his sides, Lucian and Schuntz were doing the same.

  “Incorrect!” the face announced.

  “Yeah, I figured!” Blake screamed back.

  “This is the predictable result of your rash decision-making, Mr. Valenti,” Schuntz scolded, carefully lowering his arms once he had determined that the bridge was not about to fall that very second. “If you simply look above you and consider your answer for one moment, you would see that it is all a question of perspective. The sky here is not blue, but rather black.”

  The professor turned back toward the face and confidently stated, “Black.”

  CRRRRKK!

  Another deep fault line formed in the ice beneath their feet, shooting directly under Lucian’s right shoe. As the boy pulled his leg away with a cry of surprise, he saw the crack branch out into smaller veins running down the length of the bridge and intersecting with the previous ones. This created a lattice framework of weakness within the bridge, and they could now hear sound coming from it, almost as if it was groaning.

  “Incorrect,” the face stated again as it emotionlessly surveyed the party’s predicament.

  Lucian was breathing in and out very heavily now, terrified that the bridge might collapse at any moment and toss them all into the eternal blackness beneath them. What the heck is it!? he asked himself frantically. The sky’s not blue? Not black? What else could it be!? Red? Orange? Yellow? Indigo? It could be practically anything!

  He glanced over at his two companions, but he saw nothing other than the terrified look he most certainly wore upon his own face that moment. He continued to rack his brain.

  It said, ‘What is the color of the sky?’ Well, what sky? Are we even talking about earth!? I mean, there are skies everywhere. It didn’t even give us enough information to make an educated decision on this at all!

  “That’s an impossible question!” Lucian yelled out angrily at the face which floated gloating in its icy barrier. “It could be anything! The sky changes color depending on where you are or what time it is! The weather! The pollution! It’s impossible to answer your question!”

  Lucian then closed his eyes and braced himself for the inevitable backlash of his outburst. He didn’t care anymore. He was sick of the riddles. Sick of the close brushes with death. Sick of all the games with his mind and emotions. If he was going to die, he wasn’t going to do it with some lame wrong answer. He was at least going to speak his mind…, even if it was the last thing he ever spoke. He held his breath and awaited the sensation of falling into nothingness….

  “Correct,” the voice rang out through the cold night air. Lucian paused for a moment, then shot one eye open.

  “Wait…, what!?” he asked the face.

  “That is correct, traveler,” it repeated. “Being correct is not always about determining the one right answer. At times, the best knowledge to have is that you truly know nothing. Humility is comfort in the knowledge that you are powerless and ignorant. An open mind and willing heart will always triumph over prideful certainty and obstinacy.”

  Lucian couldn’t find any words to speak. He just stood there, shocked.

  “So…, we passed?” Blake asked hopefully, not daring to move a single step along the practically shattered bridge.

  The face within the pillar nodded. “Yes,” it said. “You may go forward to the final chamber and claim that for which you have come.”

  “Yes!” Blake exclaimed, pumping his fist through the air in excitement but making sure he didn’t move his feet too much in the process. Lucian smiled widely in unfathomable relief. Even Schuntz wore a smile upon his typically grim face.

  From behind the pillar of ice, a black arch emerged from out of the cracks in the bridge. As soon as the portal stood fully erect, it exploded with a bright white light similar to that within the entrance to this realm.

  “Enter, travelers,” the face instructed. “You have done well.”

  Lucian looked over at his smiling companions. “We did it, guys,” he said.

  “I know, man!” Blake responded, seeming barely able to contain his excitement. “Come on, let’s go!”

  Blake began softly stepping across the bridge toward the portal. Lucian and Schuntz started doing the same.

  “Very impressively done, gentlemen,” Schuntz said appreciatively to the two students beside him. “For all my years of knowledge, I would not have been able to succeed without both of you by my side. Even you, Mr. Valenti.”

  Blake turned around. “Hey!” he said with an indelible smile still on his face.

  “Come on,” Lucian urged them through his chuckles. “Let’s go get this key!”

  17 - Fall

  ???

  The three travelers stepped out of the glowing white portal and into another freezing cold cavern. High walls made entirely of ice encased them in a ring on all sides, and the floor upon which they stood was also a slick, frozen sheet. They paused and looked around them in dismay.

  “Hey!” Blake exclaimed first. “I thought we were done with all this ice crap!”

  “Welcome, travelers,” announced a booming voice which seemed to shake everything around them and echo deep in their chest cavities. Looking up, Lucian found himself both amazed and terrified.

  Above the high walls of ice encircling them stood six gigantic figures, visible only from the waist up. They were humanoid in appearance, but their proportions were easily hundreds of times larger than any human Lucian had ever before seen. Although none of these tremendous figures seemed to be wearing any clothes to cover their naked flesh, none seemed to be at all bothered by the frigid air. All six simply stared down seriously at the three tiny men who cowered before them.

  “You three have indeed triumphed over the greatest of challenges,” the giant who stood in front of them continued, “and have proven your capacity to over-come the most destructive of defilements.”

  The giant was silent after this, and he continued to stare down at the group.

  “So…, can we get that key now, then?” Blake finally asked.

  The giant slowly shook his head. “No,” he answered somberly. “Although you have somehow managed to succeed in the previous challenges, I cannot permit you to take this key. The key holds within it the power to release Lósófán from his bondage to once again bring death and destruction upon this realm and countless others. It is the single barrier separating this universe from complete annihilation. It cannot be entrusted to mortal hands.”

  “What!?” Blake cried out. “That's no fair!”

  “We made it through all your gates!” Lucian added.

  “It was our understanding that we would be able to retrieve the key upon completion of the challenges,” Schuntz insisted with more eloquence than either of his students.

  “We did not intend to mislead,” the giant clarified almost apologetically. “You three are the first to ever make it to this chamber since the key was placed in our keeping. Although admirable, you do not fully understand the dangers inherent in its possession.”

  “We’ll fight you for it!” Blake called out, balling up his fists at his sides.

  The giant calmly stared down at the tiny boy before him. “That would be most unwise,” he advised.

  “And yet it appears you give us no choice,” Schuntz countered, holding out his hand and generating his own ball of red qi. “We have not come all this way to leave empty-handed. Either you surrender the key to our possession, or we will do everything in our power to obtain it.”

  Recalling a similar scenario from Wrath, Lucian looked over at his two determined companions. “I don't know if that's such a good idea,” he warned timidly, glancing up at the enormous forms towering over them. “I don't think we can win this one….”

  “Dude, I am NOT gonna leave here with nothing!” Blake insisted, staring with a steely glare at Lucian. “After everything we went through!? After all the pain and mind games and worm monsters!? N
o, man! We've gotta get that key!”

  As reluctant as Lucian was to try and battle these giants who surrounded them, he also had to admit that Blake was right. If they left now without even trying, they would likely never have another chance to obtain the key they had come all this way to retrieve. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and held out his hand. Emptying his mind of all thoughts, he felt the tingling in his arm accompanying the generation of his qi. Before he had even opened his eyes again, he heard a collective gasp resonating through the chamber.

  Looking up at the ring of giants, Lucian could see that they were now whispering to one another in a language entirely foreign to him with astonished looks on their faces. One was even pointing down at the boy with white qi in his hand as he spoke with the others. Eventually, the giant who had spoken to them originally turned back toward them.

  “By what means have you come into this power, child?” he asked Lucian directly in a mix of wonder and concern. Lucian stood there, baffled.

  “I don't know,” he admitted. “I think I was just born with it or something. I didn't even know I had it until a few months ago.”

  Once again, more unintelligible whispering could be heard among the titans. After seemingly considering his options for a moment, the one before them spoke.

  “We apologize,” he said humbly. “We shall deliver the key to your keeping. Had we been aware of your lineage before, we would never have questioned your acquisition of what is rightfully yours. As our kin, we humbly implore you to pardon our ignorance.”

  Lucian stood there, very confused. “Huh?” he asked.

  “Here is that which you seek,” the giant said. Before Lucian could inquire any further, the ground beneath him began to tremble. From out of the center of the round chamber rose a pedestal with three gruesome faces carved into its sides. Their eyes stared out wildly from their vicious and pained expressions, and their gaping mouths looked as though they were cursed to gnash their sharp teeth for the rest of eternity. Within the fanged jaws of the stone visage closest to them lay some sort of clear crystal, roughly the size of an apple and carved into the shape of a 7-pointed star. Deep within this treasure, a flame could be seen twisting and burning with a savage intensity, as if attempting to escape its bounds.