by S A Edwards
I fought to connect to the power of the tree or Siren’s emotions. Anything to lead me back to them, but there was nothing.
I turned the next corner to find another cavern and gasped.
Charlie stood before me. His grey-tinged, bare arms bulged beneath torn sleeves. His usually sparkling eyes were darker, and his face contorted with a fearsome expression of hate and desire.
Another creature faced him with crimson flesh and sharp, curling horns protruding from his wrinkled head. It crouched, baring a row of black fangs.
A Hellion.
I was in the Underworld.
Charlie lifted his hands, and a dark energy overwhelmed me, forcing me to my knees.
Rocks broke off from the walls and whirled around the cave, bashing into the crimson Hellion with merciless force.
It let out a strangled cry. Blood-red vines whipped from its mouth.
Charlie waved a hand, and the vines returned to their master and twisted around its neck.
The Hellion’s eyes bulged, and it gripped the vines, struggling in their grasp.
Charlie balled his fist.
The monster shuddered and flailed.
A deafening crack cut through the cave, and the Hellion collapsed.
The rocks dropped with a crash.
Charlie inhaled deeply, and his eyes turned black before returning to their normal brown.
I stared at him in horror. “Charlie?” The word scraped from my throat.
He didn’t respond, shifting instead to stand before the Hellion. He peered down at him in satisfaction.
“Don’t you think you have enough now?” he asked. In his next breath, he said, “I’ll have enough when I have them all.”
Confusion washed over me, and I pushed to my feet. “Charlie.”
“What do you hope to achieve?” he asked, and then prodded the dead Hellion with his foot.
“Can you hear me?” I shuffled over to him on shaking legs, half afraid he would attack me, too. Whatever effect the Underworld was having on him, this wasn’t good. I’d never known him to act so ruthlessly, but he didn’t even glance in my direction.
“I’ll be the most powerful being in the seven worlds,” he said, and then shook his head, and his voice softened. “Maybe so, but you’re still trapped down here.” He laughed. “Not for long. I’ll soon have enough power to break through the Gate, and then the worlds will be mine.”
He moved away from the corpse. “I don’t know why you’re complaining. I didn’t suppress you, and you’re gaining power even as I am. Not as much, granted, but soon, I’ll break from you, and we will work together.”
I followed him into the tunnel with growing realisation. Zantos. He was talking to Charlie. He was still there. And he planned to leave him. Hope filled my chest, and my pace quickened. “Charlie. Can you hear me?” I touched his shoulder, but my hand passed through it.
A squeak of despair escaped my lips. For a moment, I’d thought I could touch him, feel his warmth, comfort him or reach him or save him, somehow. But he wasn’t there. Or I wasn’t. Nothing had changed.
“I won’t work with you,” he said, although no sign of certainty filled his words.
“Really? Not even for more power? For freedom? I feel your desire. You are drawn to the power. You revel in the kill. Even now, you long for more.”
A shadow flashed on the wall ahead, and he smiled. “There’s another one. Shall we continue?”
He fell silent for a moment, head lowered, and then said, “Let’s do this.”
My hand clapped to my mouth, leaving me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. A tear slid down my cheek, and the tunnel melted away.
The rush of water returned. Pain stabbed through my side.
Fraus hovered before me, arms crossed across his chest. “The truth be known, and now we’ll see, what will your final answer be?”
I dug my nails into my arms. This couldn’t be real. Charlie, the innocent boy I once knew, couldn’t be changed enough by power to join forces with Zantos. Could he? Power was corruptive, that much I knew. But this? His appearance differed so much from the friend I had grown up with.
Even if I did admit to what I saw, would I be denied what I needed to save him? And what would happen if I did manage to get him out?
The Obrussa behind Fraus rustled, and his fingers flexed. “Answer quick or face the beast. Should your Charlie be released?”
He had to be. I couldn’t leave him there. I couldn’t abandon him like that. But I knew what I’d seen, and as much as it terrified me, I couldn’t deny it. A true answer was required. And by giving it, a true betrayal.
I took a shaky breath. “No. He shouldn’t.”
23
Fraus flashed a wicked grin and flittered aside. “You answer true with lack of pride. Proceed. She waits for you inside.”
Another rustle shimmered through the observing Obrussa, but no one ventured out of the branches.
I crept toward the tree and stopped short of the weaving trunk. Cautiously, I touched the bark.
My hand passed through it, and my stomach lurched. Was nothing as it seemed anymore?
Warmth spread up my arm, easing my sorrow, and I stepped inside.
The concealed entrance opened to a spacious, cosy room with soft, pink furnishings.
A woman stood in the centre. Long, blonde hair cascaded past her waist, and rosy-pink eyes pierced me with a peculiar gentleness. She gestured to a chair. “Please, sit. You are weary and in need of rest.” Her words carried a soft lightness and tinkled like a bell. I would have taken comfort from her words if it wasn’t for the pain within me.
“So, it wasn’t the tree I needed,” I said. “It was you.”
“I am the tree. She is me. We are one.”
I sank into the chair, and she lowered herself onto another. Her flowing dress rippled over the floor. “You desire to know why the balance is off,” she said. “Why the Gates fail when you are near.”
“I desire to save Charlie.”
“Despite the truth?”
“I overcame corruption before. I can bring him back.”
Her head tilted to the side, and a smile spread over her lips. “How sure you are. You hold much faith in his goodness.”
“His goodness is still there. I just need to pull it back to the surface.”
“Perhaps. But you cannot save him without first mastering your gift,” she said.
“I’ve already mastered them.”
“Seven, yes. But the eighth?”
I gaped at her. “Eighth? That’s not possible.”
Her expression hardened. “I am never wrong.” She clasped her hands together, and her gentle composure resumed. “You are a Keeper, made from the magic of the Dark Keeper you helped create from the crystal before you stepped through the Void.”
I shivered. “A Keeper? So, that’s the reason the Gates keep failing?” And the reason I felt so drawn to the Gates, a pull beyond my control. Like the corruption that threatened to take me before I gained control of the seven gifts.
“Two Keepers are assigned to a world,” she said. “Two Keepers are all the requirement. Here, you are a third. The balance is off, and even with a fourth to balance you out, it will remain so.”
I frowned. “Then, how do I restore the balance? How do I master this gift?”
“Leave this world.”
“You can’t be serious.”
She frowned.
“You want me to abandon him?” I stood, my cheeks hot. “You were never going to help me, were you? That’s why the Obrussa asked me that question. You don’t want him out.”
She smoothed down her creaseless dress in silence, and then stood. “There is nothing I can do to release him. Opening the Gate and closing it, that is on you. You hold the ability to do so. You are a Keeper. But to master the gift will take time. Time you, nor anyone else has. However,” – she bowed her head in a curt nod – “if you insist on this path, I will help you. To purge Zantos fro
m him, you will need this.” She held out her hand. A single, pink leaf glimmered on her palm.
I raised my eyebrows. “A leaf?”
“A whisperleaf. It holds the power to remove magic.”
I took it. Thick and strong, unlike other leaves, it reflected the low light like glass.
“Use it on Charlie,” she said, “and it will force Zantos from his body.”
I flipped over the leaf. Did it really hold the potential to do that? My rising hope proved my belief. “Zantos plans to leave him. He said so just before.”
“If you wait until Zantos leaves, Charlie will already be lost.”
“Oh.” So, Charlie really didn’t have long, then. A growing sense of panic cut through my hope. “How do I use the leaf on him?”
“Press it against his chest. Over his heart,” she said. “The magic contained within will do the rest.”
“And will it take all his power?” I asked. “Will he become a Mortal?”
“It will remove all magic. But it will make him free.”
A consequence I wasn’t sure he’d want, but the alternative didn’t bear thinking about. He’d prefer his freedom, even if it meant losing his Beast gift. I just hoped he’d forgive me. Though, one problem remained. “Could I have a second leaf?” I asked.
“Whatever for?”
“Zantos. When he comes out with Charlie, there’ll be another Keeper loose. And he has so much magic in him.”
She smiled. “Zantos is no longer a Keeper.”
“He’s not?”
“He stopped being so the moment he harnessed the comet’s magic.”
“But the other magic,” I said. “The comet’s power and that of the Hellions he’s killing.”
“You will only have use for one leaf. You will not need another.”
“But how will I stop Zantos? I’m not sure I’m powerful enough. Isn’t there any other advice you can give?”
“Once Zantos is out, he will no longer be an immediate threat to this world. Now, go. I have said as much as I can.”
“I don’t understand.” How could Zantos not be a threat? Given the chance, he would subject everyone to his will and eternal misery. He carried no mercy.
She remained silent.
“Very well.” I would just have to figure it out myself. “Thank you for your help.” I closed my hand carefully around the leaf and turned to leave.
“Keeper,” she called. “This task you undertake is not without risk. If you fail, there is more at stake than the life of Charlie.”
“I won’t fail.” I’d already done so once. I couldn’t again.
“See that you don’t.”
I frowned at her reply, at the warning tone in her voice, and stepped back through the trunk.
The Obrussa moved out of sight when I returned to the clifftop. Not even the buzz of fluttering wings reached my ears.
My focus shifted to the river cascading over the edge to the pool below, and an idea sprang to mind.
Moving to its side, I called on the element. Water gathered beneath me, just enough for my feet, and carried me over the edge.
The waterfall rushed around me, tumbling in gleaming droplets, and merged with the pool below. Mist billowed above the rapids, seeping through my clothes when I reached the bottom, and I followed the ripples to the water’s edge.
Siren sat on a pile of scales in his true form, his long snout reflecting the colours around him. He raised his head with lips pulled back like a smile. “Impressive.” His words reverberated through the recesses of my mind, touching the deepest corners.
I stepped from the water onto the bank, awed at his great size and appearance. “Have you finished your cleanse?” I asked.
“It has begun.”
His body grew brighter, whiter, and then light blasted through his scales, obscuring the surroundings with its lustre.
I raised my hand to my eyes against the glare, determined not to miss anything.
He roared. The sound shook the ground and trembled my bones. Heat flared.
Then, the light dimmed, and I gasped.
Pure, white scales, like fragments of glass, hung in the air around us, glowing with a life of their own. Their power tingled through my blood.
Siren hovered above them, his wings stretched out in silky sheen, larger and somehow more stunning than before.
He descended in unison with the scales until all rested upon the heaped piles.
He shook himself, his curved ears flapping, and then shrunk, morphing back into his human form. Muscles bulged beneath the clothes he’d wore through the journey. How had they not been shredded? Part of the magic, I supposed.
He grinned at me, eyes bright, and stepped onto the narrow path. “That felt good.”
“It was incredible,” I said, “but why can you touch the scales? Don’t they intensify your gifts, too?”
“They are my flesh, my being. Any enhancement I carry is already at its highest potential.” He paused before me. “Did you get what you needed?”
My hand tightened on the leaf, and I nodded. “I left my pack by the cliff. Just a minute.”
He followed me to the end of the path where my pack still lay. I slid the leaf inside, tugged out a flask, drained the remaining water, and then slung the pack’s strap over my shoulder. “I’d like to refill it at the pool before we go.” I held up the flask.
“I have a few extra in mine,” he said. “It will be enough for the journey back.” He frowned up at the tree. “What happened up there?”
Memories of what I witnessed in the Underworld flooded back, and sorrow pierced my heart. “The Obrussa tested me. Have you heard of them?”
“Oh yes. Tricky little things. They enjoy causing trouble and rejoice in the truth. Especially if the truth is hard.”
“Are they Hellions?”
He laughed. “No, no, nothing like that. Though it is easy to think of them as such.” He led the way back to the shaft opening.
A narrow passage led deeper into the earth, and a musky, sweet scent carried on a stale breeze like something that had burned years ago and never been given the air to freshen out.
“Urgh,” – I wrinkled my nose – “that’s a terrible smell.”
“I like it.”
“You’re kidding?”
He flashed me an innocent look.
I raised my eyebrows. “Must be an Ancient thing.”
He chuckled and conjured his flames again, casting the tunnel in light. “What was the test?”
I frowned. I’d hoped he wouldn’t inquire. “They asked me a question. And then I went inside the tree to speak to her. I never did catch her name.”
“And what did you learn?”
“I’m a Keeper.”
His eyes widened, reflecting his fire.
“In my home world, I helped to make a Keeper to replace Zantos,” I said. “Only it seems I became one at the same time. That’s why the balance is off. There are three Keepers in this world. There should only be two.”
“I thought I sensed more in you than your seven gifts.”
“This is a good thing. If I can master it, then I can open the Underworld Gate, get Charlie out, and close it again. And she gave me a leaf to force Zantos out of him. Then, once he’s free, I can open the Void, and we’ll leave.”
“Leave?”
“The balance will always be off as long as I’m a Keeper. The only solution is to leave.”
“No,” he said, “there are two Keepers in every world. It matters not which one you travel to. The balance will be off there, as well, once you arrive.”
“Then, what can I do?”
“I do not know,” – he slipped his hand in mine – “but we’ll figure it out.”
The passage ended abruptly, and another shaft disappeared in the darkness through a gaping hole in the ground.
“Did we come the wrong way?” I asked.
“No, this is right.”
“But we came down a shaft to get here. Should
n’t we be going up?”
He cast me a crooked smile. “These tunnels are made of Ancient gifts. Nothing is what it seems.” He peered down into the hole. “What was the question?”
“Sorry?”
“The one the Obrussa asked of you.”
Pain swelled in my chest again. “It’s not important.”
He shot me a serious expression. “I felt your grief.”
Of course, he did. “They made me acknowledge a truth I didn’t care to. Like you said, they like to cause trouble. But it’s in the past. And the past can be forgotten. So, I’d rather do that.” I shrugged.
What would he do if he found out Charlie was becoming evil? I couldn’t tell him or risk him trying to stop me. The Ancients were more powerful than me. If they decided not to let me leave the Might, I wasn’t sure I could, even with all my gifts.
“Okay.” He turned back to the shaft. “Are you ready?”
“Will you push me if I’m not?”
“Probably.”
I rolled my eyes and approached, pulse racing. He’d better be sure about this.
I jumped.
Stagnant air whipped against my cheeks and hair, and my stomach lurched in the freefall. My back hit rock, and I slid down a steep slope.
Soon, light appeared ahead, growing brighter and bigger.
A large opening ahead framed thick mist. In the distance, rough-cut steps protruded from a sheer wall. The same steps we climbed down to reach the tree?
Smoke cut through the scent of musk, and my breath hitched.
The slope ended at the opening, and there was no step, no edge to stop my descent, just the drop into the bottomless pit of the chasm.
I grasped at the rock around me, desperate to find a handhold, a jagged piece I could grip. My fingers found nothing.
My speed increased.
My stomach lurched.
I shot off the end and tumbled into the abyss.
24
My scream strangled in the thick smoke, and endless darkness opened to engulf me below. I twisted and reached toward the sky, stomach churning.
Siren shot out of the shaft above me and transformed at once. His wings folded against his scales, and he tore toward me.
