by Elon Vidal
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. My name is Teffa. Seriously, I can help you. Whatever you need, whatever you need. You say you’re looking for Dark Elf bone dust. Did you have a weight in mind?”
“We need a whole jar of it. 8 ounces.” Nerka leaned forward on the table, then pulled Ella’s wrist crystal over to Tranquility’s. Ella wanted to pull it back, but Nerka’s self-assuredness was making her go along with it. Nerka flipped the payment across after thumbing in the command.
Payment Accepted.
Teffa went back to the line of jars and looked through them. He returned with a scale and two jars.
“Why don’t you weigh it and make sure it is the amount you need? Thanks for reminding me that I needed some wolfsbane while I was here.” He slipped the jar into his saddlebags. Teffa clicked his hooves together as a way of farewell salute. “Don’t worry, Tranquility will sleep all day.” Then he made his way back up the cobblestone alley, his hooves clicking.
Juro stared after him, a half-smile on his lips that Ella found disconcerting. She weighed the leaves that were in the jar, wondering why they were leaves if they were supposed to be dust. Maybe it was just a nickname…? Not really dust of the bones of elves?
8 oz.
All good, I suppose…
She tucked the jar into her shoulder bag, and they turned to go.
As she stepped away from the booth, alarms blared, lights shined down on them, and a sweeping cascade of rainbow dust showered down.
Tranquility rose from her stupor, jumping on top of the table, her eyes blazing at them, her mane unruly from beneath the hood.
“Thieves of…” The minicorn looked at the alert on her table… “Wolfsbane!”
“No, no!” Ella protested, trying to pull the bulb back out of her shoulder bag, but every minicorn in the market was rushing toward them, rainbows splashing from their mouths, exploding onto the team, saturating their bodies, entangling their efforts to speak or move.
Through the vision of rainbow swirls clogging the overwhelming pressure in her brain, Ella could hear Juro trying to laugh even as he held his breath. She squinted through the haze surrounding them, like ribbons wrapping against their body that swam away if she tried to touch them. She could see him gripping his sides, doubling over he was laughing so hard.
“What…”
She couldn’t even form a thought as the dizziness overwhelmed her. She sank to her knees, folding over onto her side, curling up on the ground, trying not to throw up as the vertigo took her, swimming in a puddle of sparkling rainbow puke as the minicorns descended.
“I’ll be right back.” Juro’s words were slowed and seemed to come from far away but one moment he was beside her and then in a buzzing flash, he was gone.
Ella tried to look for Nerka. If anyone that wanted to threaten them with more than disorientation came on them when they were in this state, they were bread.
Bread and oil. Rainbow dusted oil. That is fried.
That doesn’t make sense.
We are toast. That’s the saying.
Rainbow toast tastes great.
Like unicorn dreams.
That stupid unicorn.
He made all these ribbons of color.
Wrapping ribbons of sparkles through my hair.
Like on Moon Harvest Day.
The cobblestones were cold against her cheek.
Cold.
Like Alpha.
In my dreams.
“Don’t think about Alpha, Ella. There’s no rainbows there…”
Is that my voice?
Ella closed her eyes. Remember box breathing… Eight in… Hold… Eight out… Hold… Repeat…
She found it was too dizzying to keep her eyes closed as she tried to get her mind under control. None of the minicorns approached through the strange rainbow swirl, like ice cream melting into the cobblestones and fading away into the booth-lined streets.
Just breathe…
Nerka was huddled on the cobblestones trying to get herself under control. It looked like she might have thrown up. Ella tried not to focus on her.
What did those minicorns do to us?
Just breathe.
Where is Juro?
The shimmer of rainbows started to clear, and Ella’s eyes came back into focus. She managed to shove herself up to a kneeling position. The swirls in her head shifted into an intense ache.
Through the last shards of glitter in the air, she could see Juro striding down the cobblestone hill, a squirming, kicking minicorn clutched under his arm. A slight rumble of indignation growled in Ella’s throat, but she pushed it aside. She had been swindled, that was true. But, maybe that was the lesson Athos was really trying to teach her. Maybe she was too trusting. Athos never sent her on a task without a deeper lesson.
Juro bent lower as he reached the girls and set Teffa on the ground. He held up his hand, as if to say, “stay,” but then lowered it, so his palm was held upward, and the tall young man bowed his head. Little sparks of glitter still showed in his black hair.
The minicorn accepted the gesture of respect with his own bow, but then scuffed at the ground with his front, turquoise hoof, sending a scatter of sparkles into the air. He shook his head, sending his orange and white mane shaking, tendrils swiping against Ella’s face as they whipped by. She tried not to pull back, afraid it would send her whirling into a new set of spins.
Tranquility huffed from behind her booth as Juro returned her wolfsbane. She rolled her eyes at the girls. “Teffa does this all the time.” There was a surprising amount of warmth in her tone for someone who had just been stolen from. Juro shrugged and nodded toward Nerka and Ella.
“I have to say, that went exactly as I imagined it would, but from one swindler to another, I admire your style, Teffa.” The minicorn still clicked his hooves over the stones, but his eyes shimmered with mutual respect. The wolfsbane had been returned. Somehow, the gathered minicorns weren’t even upset at Teffa. Then Juro turned to the unsteady girls. “Now, I believe you have something to say to these lovely ladies?”
Nerka hauled herself to one knee and rubbed her face, still woozy from the barrage of multi-colored, disorienting magic the minicorns had hurled at them as Teffa took flight.
Teffa reached back into his saddlebags and flicked the pouch open with his teeth. He grabbed the bulbous jar from inside and tossed it into the air so that Ella could unsteadily catch it. She held it close to her chest.
“I’m sorry I swindled this from you. Dark Elf bone dust is very expensive,” Teffa flipped back his mane again, turning his head to one side so his purple rimmed, yellow eye peered fully into Ella’s face. “I don’t think that’s what you really were seeking when you came to the market.”
Ella lugged herself to her feet. She put the jar safely in her shoulder bag, grabbing onto Nerka’s shoulder for balance. She narrowed her eyes at the minicorn.
“What do you know about what I’m seeking?”
“You’re a student of Athos the Fennec, aren’t you?”
Ella shrugged. “Some might say I teach him things, sometimes, too.”
Teffa’s laugh trilled into a melodic neigh. Some of the nearby minicorns joined him and it was an echo of music Ella had never heard before. It soothed the ache in her head. “You want to really teach him something, then bring him the most valuable thing you could have found at this market.”
Ella raised her eyebrow. “And what’s that?”
Teffa grinned as only a minicorn could, the loose horse lips pulling back, the large front teeth revealed, the pitter patter of the front hooves clicking together, in rhythm with the sparkle of the horn’s tip.
“Me, of course.”
It was hard for Ella not to smile back and she couldn’t wait to see what Athos would think when they showed up with the minicorn. Was that really what he had sent her to fetch? It was far too often that there was subtext and double meaning dealing with that sly fennec. Juro’s goal had been the Dark Elf bone dust, so maybe Athos
really had wanted to test her… Getting swindled, vomited on, and experiencing rainbow vertigo was not a fun experience.
With a slight bitterness that matched the bile in her stomach, Ella rolled her eyes and gave permission for Teffa to come as they headed out of the market toward the water for Nerka to make a stronger portal back home.
If this was really what Athos had wanted to have happen, Teffa had better be worth it.
CHAPTER EIGHT - VIRTUAL REALITY
“This isn’t working.” Ella tore off the VR goggles and threw them to the side. Athos lunged and caught them before they landed on the floor. She nudged the Eye on her forehead back into place after jostling it.
“Hey! These are expensive.”
Ella grimaced. “I’m sorry. I won’t throw them again.”
Luna, Nerka, and Juro were lounging on benches along the wall as they watched Ella attempt the VR simulation that Athos had set up. It was an attempt to place Ella in a setting that scared her enough to trigger the intense reaction that somehow made her able to use the Eye with full control. Juro was casually popping tidal squash seeds into his mouth while Luna braided her own hair. Nerka was taking notes, but Ella doubted she had been able to discover anything helpful, yet. It was a small triumph that Luna had been allowed to be at Athos’s training arena. Hamit figured it was safe enough, with the best warriors of the day all around.
Hopefully, that would start to build the trust that Ella wanted to develop. She wanted whatever access Luna might have to the Balite mines and to the dragons. If there was a Crystal in there, then they either needed to keep it safe from Sintila or find it themselves. More than that, they might be able to use it to get her mom back. Helping Luna get some free time from the safehouse was a goodwill gesture, Ella hoped. It was a start, at least.
So far, the simulation Athos had been running didn’t help Ella divorce herself from the recognition that she was still playing a VR game. Her body still knew. It just wasn’t enough. Her vitals weren’t slowing down. She wasn’t reaching a peaceful place where the Eye was showing anything but the mismanaged fractals when she tried to access anyone else’s vision.
Teffa floated down from the ceiling, flicking his tail, and whispered something to Athos. The fennec trainer disappeared into his office. Ella wrinkled her nose toward him and the minicorn stuck his tongue out.
Stupid minicorn. Caused me all sorts of trouble in that market and now Athos is trusting him… Greeted him like an old friend… Ella grumbled to herself and messed around with the haptic feedback gloves, making sure they were situated properly. She had an entire suit on for a more immersive experience.
When Athos returned, he was turning a spoon in a little teacup with steaming brown water. “What’s that?”
“Some tea.”
“Shall I just take a sniff and guess what kind?”
“If you want to try.”
Ella sighed and took the cup. Some things she just had to abide and not question her mentor.
“Wait -- is that some of the Dark Elf bone dust?” Juro stood up from his sprawled position and stopped Ella before her lips touched the cup. Athos cocked his head at the young man, ears twitching. He nodded.
“It will open her mind to the Underworld so she can access it with the Eye.”
“I get that and I’m sure that’s true. But how do you know the Underworld won’t access her back?”
Ella looked from Athos to Juro but nodded to her trainer.
“I trust Athos. If it helps me get to QT, I will give this a shot.”
Juro sighed, but sat back down, his back rigid. He grumbled one last thing as he relaxed. “That’s not what I wanted us to get it for.”
The tea was bitter, and Ella didn’t drink it all, perhaps swayed a little by Juro’s protest.
She handed back the tea, then Athos looked at her apologetically. “I’m sorry for the next part, too.”
Ella didn’t know what that meant, but as she entered the VR training, she realized the simulation was different than the one she had faced the other three times.
Athos had somehow designed the banyan dimension. She didn’t think he had ever seen it, but she had described it to him often enough for him to get it pretty close.
And there… Not far from her… Was her mother.
Cleo was singing a song from Ella’s childhood. Ella knew the pull it was supposed to make on her memories, on her emotions, and it worked. “The suns they shine their messages, and the moons they weave their songs. We hold our hands, we skip the path, and so we sing along…” She walked toward her mom in the simulation, eager to reach her, knowing she could hug her in the haptic suit, let it feel real for a moment. The banyan trees draped their vines all around them, the giant trunks swathed in the bluish hue, the tall grasses swaying at their feet, fireflies bursting in the air.
Ella had almost reached her mom when the image darkened and Gishan descended from the banyans. The blue hue turned nearly black and red eyes from her dreams of Alpha awakened from the trunks. Breath was sucked away from Ella, like a punch to the gut that she felt in the haptic suit.
The world became real.
Gishan clawed at her from all sides, even in their small size, fighting to grab Cleo. The banyan limbs were slinking their rope twines into binds to pull her mother into their canopy where Ella couldn’t reach.
Fear flared in Ella’s heart.
Panic gripped, clinging to her frantically beating heart as her mom’s hand was just out of reach.
Then her vitals calmed.
Her focus pinpointed.
Her eyes dilated and she saw every movement in slow motion.
She fended off each movement from the Gishan as if she were seconds ahead of their thoughts, not just their actions.
A tiny hand swung and missed as she watched it blow by her in slow motion, able to see every hair on the back of its hand, every wrinkle on its palm.
A face loomed and she swept by it, watching the tic at the corner of its socket but then she was gone before it could even register her passing.
If someone had been monitoring her heart rate, her blood pressure, and her oxygen levels, they would surely think she was dying.
But, truly, she was just accepting the rarest essence of being alive.
Now is the time to use the Eye…
So, Ella focused.
She sank into the rhythm of seeking out the vision of another, pooling her efforts into seeing through the fractal panes of the Eye of Evermore Sight. Soaring through the vision of those closest to her, those watching her in the VR sim, into the banyan dimension where her mom wailed and fought and called for help -- the vitals spiked -- breathe… The vitals calmed…
The banyan dimension blurred as the prisms of two dimensions bounced against each other, burying through a reddish hue, of spiked, termite-mound-like buildings and smoke-stacks. The Underworlder dimension.
Ella sought the vision of Heroki Sintila and QT.
She soared over the hordes of shadowy, jumping demons within the Underworlder lair. She took another deep breath. Would she be able to center herself into Heroki? Or into QT? Could she focus herself to see through their eyes?
Breathe… Breathe…
She bumped into a jagged crag of rock and yelped as the haptic feedback registered pain in her knee. The Underwolder dimension world merged with the banyan dimension and she saw a little critter sprint away, as if it had bit her. She saw her mother in the claws of the horde of bipedal Gishan, their small hands and talons raking her skin.
Her fear leapt, her vitals calmed, her vision focused. The Eye’s fractals smoothed.
Then she saw QT. He was at a sort of shiftily made work bench beside a few hunched-back shadowy creatures. He was working at something. As her vision bounced around, fluttering between panes, he looked up in her direction.
Ella’s heart thudded.
Does he sense the Eye’s presence?
No… That isn’t possible…
QT’s eyes were undulat
ing pools of fluorescent green. They were normally dark and calm, gentle and kind.
The Underworlder magic had completely overcome him. He was possessed.
At least she now knew for sure where he was.
I can do this… I can see through his Eyes…
She could sense the calming comfort of the banyan tree in the other realm wrapping around her. Not the one fighting to strangle her mother, but the one that truly existed in that dimension, the one she had to fight to find. She felt the brace of the branches around her back from the haptic feedback suit, despite the impossibility of it all.
She guided the Eye to see through her best friend’s vision.
QT was sharpening a blade. She watched her hands as his hands moved a whetstone, well-practiced, over the edge of a blade. Tested the edge. Fully focused. No thoughts beyond the singular effort. Beside him was a pile of similar knives, all freshly sharpened. On the other side in a box were many others, waiting for the same treatment.
Otherwise, a vacant mind.
“Quresh Harra.”
Through QT’s vision, Ella stood. Heroki Sintila descended from a hover glider, her blonde hair tight in a bun at the nape of her neck. Her pale skin stood out in the warm reddish hue of the Underworld. She walked near to QT. Examined him. He had no thoughts about her. No analysis. He was waiting for a command beyond: Sharpen these knives.
“You have spoken with Ingar?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You understand your mission?”
“Yes, I understand my mission.”
The voice was familiar, but somehow altered. Like QT was fighting against the invasion inside him. Yes… Ella though. She could sense it. He is a Guard of the Scorpene! He cannot allow a demon possession. He will break it!
Or, she was just imagining it…
“You can handle this? It is very important.”
“I will not let her get away. I will get the Space Crystal for us.” Ella flinched and the vision through QT’s eyes fractured for a moment. For us… She brought it back with a breath.
“Good.”
“And don’t worry, ma’am. If Ella Larisse is there, too, I know just how to make her hurt.”
