Chapter 24: The Realm of Shadow

Surprisingly, Lucille is also said to have a hand with the Children of Destiny. Ironic considering that you two were betrothed at one point, and the girl always fancied you. I wonder ... if your heart is taken by another as the prophecy says, how will Lucille react?

Ryan shook the dirt off him as he and everybody else rose up after that strange black tornado smashed down a few miles from where they were. He couldn’t hear the screams anymore, and both Jenkins and Kevla had gone strangely quiet.

“Okay. What the heck was-”

The earth split right in front of him. He noticed a dazed Hannah nearby in the path of the splitting earth. Nearly too late, Ryan grabbed Auntie Hannah and dove to the side as a ribbon of black flames burst from the white sands. More cracks appeared. More black flames sprang forth like some nightmare version of a volcanic eruption. Some Elementals weren’t quite quick enough as black flames engulfed them, and they burst apart with a high-pitched squeal and a shower of body parts. It was similar to the way some of the people of Toramirese would burst after being shot with lightning by a Black Dragon.

All over the field, Elementals and Light Monks ran for cover as jets of black flames appeared everywhere like blasts from geysers. Hannah Lioness raised her Corruck, and Torsha joined her, raising her own weapon. They both erected walls of shimmering white light that held back the black flames, but they could only protect so many people. Both seemed tired and winded.

“Shadow Elemency!” gasped Hannah in horror. “This can’t be happening! It’s as if...”

Ryan heard a screech and turned to see the four masked men writhing. Black flames bathed the four prisoners, and Ryan panicked, running to extinguish the flames.

Ryan! What are you doing? Kevla asked in his mind.

Éclair and Leon are with those four! he replied. If those black flames kill them, then they kill my friends too!

Ryan reached out to the black flames, trying to control them the way he could take control of most fires. At first, nothing happened. Ryan tried again and nothing happened. Cursing and growing more frustrated, he tried a third time, his own hands igniting into red flames from his exertion of psions. This time, the flames disappeared, but not in the way he envisioned.

The four masked men took in a deep breath, and the black flames seemed to be engulfed by them as if sucked inside their masks somehow. The masked men then instantly broke the bonds of suppressing blue ropes and Light Elemency. They towered over Ryan as they floated up from the ground with plumes of black smoke rippling beneath their boots.

The one with the grinning mask chuckled madly. “Finally! Vengeance at last!”

The creature made a nosedive for Ryan. As it dove for him, he saw black axes appear in its hands almost instantly.

Ryan summoned his Psionic Weapons to defend himself, but Saria got there first. Smashing her gauntlets together, one wreathed in flame, the other in lightning, Saria created an energy field that drove back the masked men who retreated to float alongside his comrade.

The one in the angry mask lifted a hand to the ground, and the earth rumbled beneath both Ryan and Saria. Ryan cried out as the earth burst beneath them and black flames licked at his feet. Saria took Ryan under her arm and flew up with him, dispersing the black flames that followed with orange flames from her hand, the same power that she used to destroy the giant undead warriors.

The angry masked men gave a frustrated hiss and waved a hand in front of him. Ryan felt Saria tense as she waited for another attack, but none came. Instead, three large black pearls, each with a red dot glowing at the center, flew up from around the field and traveled to the masked man’s hand.

“We would prefer to kill you ourselves, abomination, but this will do. Fall screaming into the Shadow Realm ... just as we did,” hissed the leader of the masked men as he stored the three black gems inside his cloak.

The four masked men then flew off, turning into wisps of black smoke and disappearing in the haze of chaos that now surrounded them as countless jets of flames sprouted from the sands.

Saria gritted her teeth as she flew after the creatures, but Ryan saw the Elementals and the Light Monks struggling to put out the black flames below him. Though Ryan’s heart ached to follow after the masked assailants and rescue Éclair from their clutches, he knew there was something more pressing at the moment.

“Saria! Wait! They need us!”

Saria glowered at him as she held him under her arm, her four glowing eyes blazing as a very lion-like growl erupted from her lips. Ryan flinched, but held her gaze. Then, Saria shook her head, and the four glowing orange eyes vanished, turning back into her more familiar brown eyes.

“No, Tava. He’s right,” Saria said ashamedly to herself as she floated back to the ground with Ryan in tow.

No, not to herself, commented Kevla. I think she’s in a similar situation as us.

Actually, I get the feeling it’s much harder for her, Ryan replied. I don’t think her partner is as chill as you, Kevla.

Saria dropped Ryan to the ground and called in a loud voice. “Everyone! To me!”

The survivors around the field all gathered in the center as Saria floated above everyone. Spreading her hands out on either side, Saria created a massive bubble of energy made of fire and lightning. The field expanded in all directions. Ryan flinched when the field touched him, but felt no pain as it passed over his body. Soon, hundreds of Elementals and Light Monks were surrounded by a sphere of orange energy that crackled with fire and lightning. Black flames licked on the outside of the shield, but couldn’t breach the interior.

Fire Elementals poured their own flames into the shield when portions seemed to buckle at the encroaching black flames. Light Monks added their power to the mix, somehow strengthening the field. Even still, tiny links of shadow fire sprouted through the barrier here and there. The Fire Minister, for all her power, seemed to be weakening as the glow of orange flames became dimmer and dimmer.

Ryan could see black flames covering the entire facility now. Little pockets of resistance sprung up here and there as Light Monks erected barriers across the fields, but those twinkles of light seemed fleeting and insignificant against the sea of darkness.

“What in the Shadow Realm is happening, Lioness?” screamed Saria as her arms quivered from the effort of maintaining the fire barrier.

“I think that’s exactly what’s happening, Kaves,” Hannah said despondently next to Ryan.

“What?”

“I think a rift to the Shadow Realm has opened!” continued Hannah, panting as she poured every ounce of her strength into helping Saria maintain the barrier. “I heard of this happening on planets on the fringes of our territory too far from any Light Monk sanctuary, but I never imagined it could happen here! The Prime Minister’s power should prevent this! I don’t understand why he hasn’t stopped this already!”

“Once again, that old geezer lets me down!” shouted Saria, straining as she shot more flames into the barrier from her fingertips.

“Hannah! You have to give me back my powers, now!” Kormal said, taking Hannah by the shoulders and doing his best not to look at Ryan.

“Kormal, now’s not the time to-” started Hannah, but Kormal shook her almost too roughly. Ryan wanted to object, but Kevla asked him to let her father finish.

“I’m the best method we have to reach Starbeard! He’s the only one who can stop this! You know he is! None of the other Thinkers know how to reach him, not if he’s still engaged in his parallel dimension ... but I do!”

“I may not know what’s going on!” said Ryan, wondering if they were talking about that old guy with the white dog. “But if Kormal’s got a way to help, then let him!”

It took Hannah only a moment to decide as she reached out to Kormal’s forehead with a finger. A spark of white light zipped from his head to her fingertip as if she had left a portion of herself behind inside his noggin, and only now took it back.

Kormal glanced sadly at Ryan, and then closed his eyes.

Father, Kevla said within Ryan. I can feel him. I can feel him at last. I can finally touch him, and it won’t hurt us.

I really hate to say it, Kevla, but... Ryan couldn’t bring himself to say it. It was just too mean. Fortunately, he didn’t have to.

No. I know. You’re right. It would be too distracting for him. Now’s not the time.

“Not to seem like a downer, but I don’t think this fire bubble thingy that granny is making will hold much longer,” Ryan heard Rachel say nearby as she huddled with the other survivors who struggled to keep the barrier up. In some ways, Ryan missed the snarky undertones of her voice. “Is there, like, someone in a spaceship that can come and get us?”

“Don’t worry, Little Bunny,” said her quirky dad next to her. “Fire and Light ships are on their way. They’ve already rescued a number of survivors throughout the facility, but I don’t think that will be enough.”

The pudgy man was typing furiously on a holographic keypad, his droids buzzing noisily around his head. “If my calculations are correct, this phenomenon will soon cover the entire moon. There are still hundreds of Light Monk outposts and colonies throughout Galsin. There’s no way we’ll get them all out in time before the moon is engulfed by the rift.”

“Dad, when you tell your child not to worry, you usually don’t follow up with something like that!”

Zanderius stood. He wished he had more time to help Amelia. He wished for a lot of things. Either way, he knew that whether he could help her or not, the next step had to be hers. She had to want to be saved, and there was only one way she could prove that. It would be painful. Perhaps more so than the tortures that turned her to the shadows in the first place, but in the end, it could mean her salvation ... that and so much more. It also meant that maybe ... just maybe ... there was still hope for ‘him’ as well.

Zanderius extracted himself from Amelia, who still sobbed inconsolably. As he stood, he held out a hand down to her, forgetting that his arm was still regenerating after extinguishing the shadow flames that nearly consumed her.

Amelia gasped at his arm, the tissue and muscles beneath his flesh exposed as his skin grew back slowly. The flames had been so intense that his arm was nearly reduced to bone when it happened.

That could only mean that he sent them, thought Zand to himself. He knows I’m trying to win back her soul, and he’s fighting me for it.

“Your arm? Did that happen when you...”

Zanderius put his regenerating arm back under his robes, and held out his other hand. “I’m sorry, my dear. We no longer have the time. We must go now if we are to save Galsin.”

Hesitantly, Amelia took the proffered hand, and Zanderius held her protectively under his arm.

“Green-Eyes. I’m counting on you. Shore up all our interstellar defenses while I’m gone. Be ready to unleash our Light Wraiths should it come to it.”

The spirit wolf sat on her haunches, scratching behind the ears. Despite her casual demeanor, her voice was somber. “You know that will weaken the barrier, forcing us to pay recompense for compromising the Laws of Balance.”

“The enemy has already bent the Laws of Balance by launching this attack in the heart of our territory. In order to properly counter, we must do the same.”

Amelia heard a slight chuckle of mirth as the spirit wolf stood on all four paws, its tail whooshing behind it excitedly. “You learn faster than my previous partners. Safe travels to you, Master.”

Zanderius dipped his head. “And to you, my friend.”

Then Green-Eyes turned to Amelia, arousing that sense of being naked before a vast, all-knowing entity. “I hope one day, you can embrace our Light as you did when you were young. Your song was exceptionally beautiful in those days.”

Then the spirit wolf bounded through the air, running on nothing as she flew around the room and then vanished, melding into the crystalline wall.

When Amelia finally caught her breath, she asked, “My song?”

Zanderius explained as he walked her to the exit. “An expression of those intimate with the Realm of Light, such as the Light Wraiths. When someone prays to the Caretaker, or uses Light Elemency, it sounds like singing to them. In those moments of communion, you are connected to the entire Light Realm. Even normal Elemency affects them to a certain extent. But now’s not really the time to explain all that.”

When he reached the wall, he put his hand forward and sent a rush of power with his psions into the structure. They had returned back to the point where they could exist in the corporeal realm again, but it still required a certain amount of power to walk through the door. The walls solidified, becoming less liquid and more tangible. The twinkling lights of the travelers vanished in a rush as he and Amelia were thrown back to their point of origin.

It had taken longer than he would’ve liked to return to the Physical Realm. Truly an insidious trap, but it was worth it given the information he obtained. Amelia, and perhaps not even his enemy, could know this, but the translations she gave him from the Grave Tome could mean the difference between victory and defeat in this eternal war. But perhaps more important than that, it could mean the attainment of the Grand Solution. Only time would tell if he had been correct in making this gambit.

As the structure returned to its place at Corinth Monastery, Zanderius stepped through the threshold with Amelia in tow as several Monks were engaged in knocking at the door. The Monks stepped back in shock, then quickly bowed in supplication, touching their foreheads to the floor. Zanderius had tried unsuccessfully to dissuade them from that practice. He always explained that despite the powers gifted to him by the Light Realm, he was still just a man as flawed as any other in many ways. But the barbaric ritual had persisted nonetheless, and Zand allowed his compatriots their silly superstitions.

“My Lord Prime Minister,” said Brother Gray as he rose to face Zand, a young Light Monk whose head was shaved completely bald. Shaved heads was not a requirement for the Light Monks, but some did insist on the attribute for the sake of piety. Another silly notion in Zand’s opinion, though mostly because he liked his hair perhaps a bit too much.

“We have been trying to reach you for hours now. There is a-”

“A situation brewing. Yes, I’m aware,” said Zand, putting a hand to Gray’s shoulder. “A rift to the Shadow Realm has been opened.”

All the Monks gasped, some putting a finger to their mouths in a silent prayer.

Gray shivered at the news, and partially because Zand was touching him. “A rift? Here on Galsin, the holiest of the four moons! The birthplace of the Monastery! May the Caretaker forgive our negligence!” Gray kissed the medallion of the Monastery that he wore around his neck as he held a finger to his lips in prayer.

Zanderius reluctantly pushed the man’s hands down, gaining his full attention. “No, my friend. May the Caretaker forgive me for my negligence. This crisis is my folly. I would apologize, but I’d prefer to deal with it first. Have our ships ready to evacuate the moon. Every chapel. Every outpost.”

After a quick moment of mentally scanning the moon, Zanderius could feel where the vibrations of Shadow Elemency were sprouting from. He knew where they originated. He just wasn’t sure if he could close the rift without destroying the moon entirely.

“Concentrate your efforts in the northern hemisphere at quadrants 24 through 89,” Zand ordered quickly. “I believe ships are already inbound to the training facility where the attacks began. Start there, and then work your way down. I’ll do what I can to seal the rift ... but be ready to leave the moon’s orbit should I give the signal.”

“Leave Galsin, But, my Lord Minister ... to lose our moon ... it would mean...” The thought was too horrid to finish, so Zand did it for him. It had to be spoken out loud so they knew exactly what consequences they faced should they fail.

“I would rather not be remembered as the Prime Minister who lost the birthplace of the Monastery; however, the Monastery is not a place ... it is an ideal. I’ll do all I can to save Galsin, but understand that the lives of the people are more important than the moon itself. Rally the Monks to fight the spread of the Shadow Elemency, but everyone must leave as soon as I give the word telepathically. Now go, my brother.”

The Monks rushed off to their assigned tasks and Zanderius gave a silent prayer for their safety. He looked down to Amelia who patiently waited at his side. Whilst engaged in his conversation with the Light Monks, she had only considered attacking him once. She also considered wounding one of the Light Monks to distract him so she could escape, but thankfully thought better of it. He wasn’t sure if he should call this progress or not, but it was something at least.

“I’m going to have to take you with me to some place dangerous.”

“And what? You want my blessing? I already lost everything in your service once before. What difference would it make now if I gave you permission?” she said dejectedly without facing him.