Durstin

by Immortal Angel

  “Sometime you’re going to have to see the Crystal Cave,” Aielle replied. “Then you’ll know why.”

  “I guess,” Merryth muttered under her breath. “But I still think this knowledge is pretty damn impressive.”

  “How do we use these?” Aielle asked.

  “Like this.” Kiersten took one of the crystals from on top and channeled her magic through it. A bubble of light appeared in the air in front of her.

  “Are those the names?” Aielle asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Can you project them out so we can see more of them?” Fayelle asked.

  “Sure.” Kiersten pushed another burst of magic through the crystal, and the bubble not only widened, but elongated until there were about a hundred glowing names stretching from her hand to the floor, and hundreds going forward until they disappeared into the wall at the far end of the chamber. She set the magic in stasis and they proceeded to walk forward, searching the glowing list to see what it contained.

  “There are more files on this crystal than even I had thought possible,” Aielle commented. “And I’ve been working with the Ardak devices.”

  “Oh—these aren’t files,” Kiersten corrected. “These are folders. Each one contains just as many files inside it.”

  Aielle’s eyes widened, her expression changing to one of horror. “But . . . the enormity of the task,” she spluttered. “It would be almost impossible to find anything.”

  Before she could reassure Aielle, Fayelle’s voice broke in excitedly, “Look here! These folders all contain healing spells. There are more than I could have imagined!”

  “Yes.” Kiersten waved her hand and the glowing rows of folder names disappeared. “The problem is that we don’t know what’s on any of these crystals.”

  “What we need to find is an index,” Aielle mused.

  “What is an index?” Kiersten asked.

  “It’s a kind of list that tells us what’s on each of these crystals,” Merryth explained. “And of course, there is an index. Each of these crystals is standing on end in a specific row and column, and the index will tell you the location of the crystal you seek. Use your magic to ask for the index.”

  Kiersten put her hand over the chest, reaching out with her magic, asking if there was an index in the chest. One of the crystals began to glow, so she pulled it out. When she channeled her magic through it, an elven spirit appeared. She was gold in color, majestic in her bearing. “Welcome to the Repository of Knowledge.”

  “Thank you,” Kiersten said, bowing her head formally.

  “What is it you seek?”

  “We seek an index, my lady,” Kiersten replied.

  Merryth began to laugh, and the elf frowned. “I am the index you seek.”

  “Oh.” Heat rose to Kiersten’s face as she glanced askance at Aielle. “Would you like to ask the question?”

  Aielle stepped closer. “We seek an answer as to how to use the crystals in the Crystal Cave.”

  The golden elf glided over the ground smoothly until she was standing in front of the third chest. Her golden hand hovered over the chest, and a crystal rose from the others, glowing orange. She frowned as she seemed to read the crystal. “The size of a crystal one may use corresponds with the age of the user. Therefore, a user of five hundred solar rotations may use a crystal may only wield the power of a crystal weighing no more than twenty-two hundred grams. Do you wish me to provide you with additional weights and age classifications?”

  The women looked at each other, but it was Aielle who spoke, “What is the age requirement for an elf using the crystals in the Cave of Crystals?”

  “The median age of a user needed is four thousand,” the index replied, making Aielle suck in a sharp breath.

  “But we don’t have any elves that old among us,” Kiersten explained. “The oldest elf is Geeeroo, and I think he’s only about three millennia or so. Is there an alternative answer?”

  “A powerful elf should be able to wield the power inside the Crystal Cave, but the user may be exposed to a negative rebound effect that is equal to the spell cast. This is not a definite, as some have been able to utilize such power without the rebound, but it is a risk noted in my records.”

  “Rebound effect? I’ve never heard of that,” Fayelle said.

  “All crystal magic has a rebound effect, but it’s usually small and will cause fatigue in the user. But larger rebound effects have greater negative outcomes. It is possible that they were refusing to work because they were protecting you. The crystals are sentient, so if your magic isn’t strong enough or sure enough, they are aware of it, and a simple spell can rebound and kill you.”

  “So, we won’t be able to use them to protect ourselves?” Kiersten asked.

  “In times of dire need, you will be able to summon enough emotion to amplify your magic, so yes, you would be able to use them. You can also communicate with the crystals and ask them to help you. However, it might kill the one who tried, so it would be an individual sacrifice made for a larger cause.”

  “That’s why we were trying to practice with them, so we don’t have that effect,” Aielle responded.

  The elf said nothing, perhaps it was immune to sarcasm.

  “Thank you,” Kiersten said. “We will call you if we have more questions.”

  “You mean when you have more questions.” The elf’s voice was dry.

  “Yes, I meant when we have questions.” Kiersten smiled.

  Once the elf had dissipated back into the crystal, she turned to the other two. “Well, that answers that question. Now we need to figure out who is strong enough to actually wield the crystals? I’m thinking Geeeroo and a few other elders.”

  “Yes, we’ll have to get them on it. But we have to make sure that none of them was doing the black magic that Elsifan was doing.”

  “That reminds me,” Kiersten said slowly, “there is something I’ve been meaning to tell you, Aielle.”

  “What is it?” Her glowing blue-green eyes focused on Kiersten’s.

  “Elsifan . . . he didn’t just kill my father.”

  Aielle’s eyes widened. “What do you mean? Who else did he kill?”

  “Your mother.”

  Aielle’s eyes grew bright. “No. It can’t be . . .”

  “I saw it myself. He was what caused her shield to fail that night.”

  Aielle’s lips trembled slightly. “But why would he do that?”

  “I have no idea. But if he was doing black magic, maybe he had a way to get her life force and combine it with his own, as he did with my father.”

  “That is an awful thought.” Aielle shuddered.

  “It is.” Kiersten reached out and put an arm around Aielle. “But they’re both at peace now.”

  They shared a few moments of silence.

  “Well, we need to get this information to the elders and see if any of them are strong enough to wield the crystals,” Kiersten said finally. “Geeeroo might be the oldest, but since women are usually better with crystals, perhaps a slightly younger female would have a greater affinity with them.”

  “Yes, but we’ll have to be very selective regarding who can use them and what spells they perform,” Merryth cautioned.

  The other three women nodded in agreement.

  Having the knowledge crystals at their disposal allowed them to understand the power of the crystals, but they were severely limited by the supply of elves who could wield them. She was eager to find Durstin and see what the cyborg upgrades entailed. Perhaps he would have better news.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Durstin

  Durstin had accompanied Tordan to the palace at Renwyn, and after three hours, the sheer amount of information he was being given made his head swim. Though, with each new piece of the puzzle, he grew more and more agitated by the elves’ foibles.

  The last straw was when Valdjan told him that the elves had created the Ardaks with their magic, stolen Ardaks’ crystals, and then left them to die. He
rose from a stool next to the metal lab table, pacing over to the corner of the room. Tordan followed him.

  “I feel like I’ve accepted so much,” he said in a low voice. “I’ve forgiven the elves for leaving us during the invasion and for sitting inside their shield safely for a year while my people had Ardaks at our borders. I’ve forgiven my wife for posing as a non-elf because she was forced to run from her home under extenuating circumstances.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not sure how I can forgive the Ardaks for everything they’ve done, and now I’m angry at the elves again for being so selfish and greedy—and my wife is one of them.”

  He put his head in his hands, gripped his hair tightly. “What am I supposed to do?”

  Tordan was silent for long moments. “My wife is also an elf. She was imprisoned around the same time I was enslaved and turned into a cyborg. We’re angry, too. I’ve fought the rage since I woke from the chip. What’s important for you to hold on to is that no elf or Ardak is the same. There are Ardaks who want nothing more than to concur, but there are others who are helping our cause. There are elves who made mistakes out of greed or fear, but there are others still who are brave and honorable. The only way we deal with it is to go forward, one day at a time, and do what we have to do to survive.”

  “And we don’t have to forgive them,” Mordjan added. “We can understand what has happened and why it happened. But the Ardaks are still waging war on us, and we have to fight now for ourselves and our survival.”

  “And you’re saying the best way to fight is to become upgraded cyborgs?” Durstin searched Tordan’s face.

  “Yes. Mordjan and four other upgraded cyborgs defeated a whole Ardak army in battle on Belavia.”

  Durstin’s brows rose. “If that’s the case, why aren’t we upgrading everyone?”

  “Some of the cyborgs can’t be upgraded due to the chips in their necks—the Ardak technology was very inconsistent as they tried out different methods and parts. But we are trying to upgrade everyone we can to the extent that we can.”

  “But upgrading ourselves isn’t the only answer. The Ardaks came back after they lost and torched the entire planet with a high-energy weapon,” Tordan stated.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s a direct energy weapon,” Mordjan corrected. “They incinerated the battlefield and set fire to the atmosphere over half the planet. What we’re saying is that being upgraded might help us on the battlefield, but we might need even more than that to protect the entire planet. Including the elves and their magic.”

  “My wife had a vision of the Ardaks evaporating an entire ocean in seconds because the merchildren were taking down their ships,” Durstin mused. “That must be one of those weapons.”

  A portal appeared suddenly in the middle of the lab. Each of the cyborgs tensed, but when Aielle herself stepped through, they relaxed. “King Nirjhar came up to Garthurian, so we thought we’d bring him here.”

  Stepping out of the portal behind her were Kiersten, Fayelle, then Nirjhar, leading Merryth through by the hand. Two other mermen stepped out behind them.

  Nirjhar kissed Merryth’s hand before letting it go, and to his surprise, there was a slight flush in her cheeks. Then the three mermen stood facing them, heads held high.

  The mermen stood almost as high as they did. Thick with muscle from their lives under the water, Durstin could see how they would be formidable enemies in battle, assuming they knew how to fight.

  The mermen were sizing them up in the same manner.

  Tordan stepped forward and clasped arms with Nirjhar. “King Nirjhar, it’s good to finally meet you. I am Tordan. To my right is Durstin, King of Vierten, and Kiersten, Queen of Garthurian. To my left is Mordjan, commander of our defense force. And on his left is Roihan, the commander of this laboratory and cyborg specialist. I believe you’ve already met the ladies.”

  The ladies in question chuckled at that, and Tordan arched a brow at them, making them laugh even harder.

  Nirjhar winked and then turned back to Tordan, inclining his head. “King Tordan, I am Nirjhar, King of the Boreal Sea. To my right is my younger brother, Tarjhar.”

  Tarjhar gave a low, formal bow.

  “To my left,” he continued, “is the head of our defense force, Rakim.”

  Rakim also bowed, giving a formal salute when he rose.

  “We have come to inform you that we would be honored to accept an alliance between our peoples. We will fight with you against the feline beasts who attacked our planet in exchange for your aid in teaching our children magic.”

  “Excellent,” Tordan replied calmly. “Since we’re all here, let us hear the status of the Crystal Cave and the Cave of Knowledge.”

  “Yes, Kiersten and Durstin were on a mission from the Cave of Knowledge, as I recall,” King Nirjhar replied.

  “Yes, and we’ve just been searching for answers in the crystals. We found out that using crystals that large is usually left to the elven elders—those with over four millennia behind them,” Kiersten informed them.

  Tordan frowned. “Is there anyone in Garthurian that old?”

  “No, but the crystals are also sentient, so in times of great need, they can decide to help. We’re going to try to communicate with them and gather the elders we think could use them for a discussion about what spells we could use against the Ardaks.”

  “Good work. I hope the elders can come up with a plan of action.” Durstin’s lips tightened. “Speaking of a plan of action, let’s do the upgrades. I’m tired of feeling powerless against the Ardaks. I want to fight for Aurora, to defeat the Ardaks the next time they come here. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

  “We will also do whatever it takes,” Nirjhar vowed. “From the Garthurian queen’s vision, we are all in danger.”

  “I think that’s the new Auroran motto,” Tordan said. “No matter who we are, no matter what we do, in order to survive, each and every one of us will have to do whatever it takes.”

  “Yes,” Kiersten seconded. “These are dark times, evil is everywhere. But we can’t be like Elsifan. Doing whatever it takes does not mean sacrificing the rest of us. In the end, the only thing that will truly save us is love. It is the counter to evil, the balance of the universe. It gives us the strength to go on when we might falter, the will to come together and fight when all seems lost. And because of it, I think we will succeed.”

  Durstin drew her close, and the others also took the hands of their mates.

  “Then let us rest tonight,” Tordan said. “Tomorrow, we will begin the upgrades.”

  “And Merryth has promised to come to my kingdom to teach my children magic.” When Nirjhar glanced at Merryth there was a look of promise in his eyes, and Merryth gave him a small smile.

  Kiersten squeezed Durstin’s hand. She had obviously seen the exchange as well. “We will continue to search for answers in the knowledge crystals and the Crystal Cave.”

  “And we will all prepare for war,” Mordjan said.

  As he stood there, looking at their faces, Durstin realized how far they’d come. Three days ago, he’d been underground in the caves with his wife, alone, watching the water turn red.

  In that time, they’d been cured, he’d discovered his wife was an elf, and he’d been modified into a cyborg, and they were all united in planning a war.

  Although the others might not agree, in his estimation, life was definitely looking up.

  The End

  Epilogue

  Durstin

  Durstin strode down the corridors of the rebel spaceship toward the med wing. They’d taken Aria’s Ardak ship, left Aurora, and jumped through two glowing rings of light called wormholes to get here.

  An elf with an angry expression strode toward them, but his face brightened as he extended a hand toward Mordjan. “Good to see you again. And you’ve brought several more for the upgrades.”

  “Yes. Now that we have a few days leeway before the Ardak attack, we figured we’d put another five through the p
rocess. These are my friends Tordan, Durstin, Roihan, Aria, and Valdjan.”

  Ruith inclined his head toward each of them in turn. “I was hoping to speak to you about that free time.”

  Mordjan frowned. “What is it?”

  “Tristin has gone missing again. He was on a mission to get the coordinates and steal some Ardak ships. We sent a second team and obtained the coordinates ourselves, but we’ve had a new war break out and the pilots who were supposed to meet them at the base have been called away. We lack the manpower to retrieve the ships ourselves at this point. With your abilities to fly the ships, we were hoping you could take the upgraded cyborgs and get the ships yourselves.”

  Mordjan turned to Aria. “Actually, Aria should be able to fly multiple ships at once easily. That is what she was designed to do, although we’ve never tested it.”

  Ruith’s face broke into a grin. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in at least a solar week. Will you help us?”

  “What will happen to the ships once we have them?” Mordjan asked.

  Ruith shrugged. “Right now, getting those ships away from the Ardaks is just as important, maybe more important, than us using them in battle. I’m fine with you taking them to Aurora and using them for your battle before we allocate them elsewhere. And I’ll see if I can send you pilots.”

  “Done,” Mordjan said with satisfaction. “But what about Tristin?”

  Ruith’s eyes took on a sad cast as he gazed out one of the portals into space. “No one knows. It wasn’t just Tristin, but his sister and his two cousins who went missing. Their family, the royal house of Tuorin, rules a three-planet system and built the wormholes we use to tunnel through space. They were instrumental in going against the Ardaks and building this resistance. Their loss cannot be overstated, and I fear this might break whatever hope they have left.”

  “Why don’t you send us his last coordinates? Perhaps when we search for these ships, we’ll find him.”

  Ruith’s eyes focused intently on him. “I wish more than anything that you could. But you must know, they were taken from a spaceport, and word has it they disappeared directly onto the Ardak king’s ship.”