Page 9

EILISH

Mortal Ruins

“What’s going on, Pyre?!” I insist.

The people are in a panic. Everyone hurries to take cover as the sirens blare.

“We aren’t safe,” he answers. “Theren said the Obiqui are coming.”

Pyre casts a spell to summon a spirit’s vision.

He gestures towards the sky and I stand in shock.

What appears to be millions of birds fly directly towards us.

“If they see us or sense us in any way, Elioth and Abedon will know where we are. We can’t chance them finding our people before we can better defend the keep. ”

“Abedon is free?!” Aima says, her mouth dropping open in shock.

“Yes,” Pyre answers.

“How?” I ask.

“Elioth found a way to free him,” Pyre answers. He freezes for a moment and shouts, “Everyone needs to run! Now! Take cover as quickly as you can.”

Then he turns to face me. “Eilish, The Veil is in trouble.”

“Go!” I answer him. “I can keep us safe,” I continue, looking at Aima. I turn back to Pyre, who appears to be hesitant. “If The Veil needs you, Pyre, you have to go. We will be fine.”

He nods and closes his eyes, disappearing from view as Aima and I start running for the cover of a dilapidated building just in the distance.

She reaches the building before I do.

“Eilish! Hurry!” Aima calls out to me as I turn to look up at the sky to see how far off the Obiqui are. They’re right over my head. And, as I stare up at them, the ravenous cloud of flapping wings covers me entirely.

I drop to my knees as something overcomes me—a vision. Images I don’t recognize take over my mind and force me to bear witness to them…

Sickening sounds echo towards the sky as bones pop and snap, breaking down to reform into a monstrous beast of shadow.

Abedon leaps into the air as great wings appear—bone appendages strung together by thin, translucent flesh.

Horns protrude from his skull. Shadow and fire embrace him in a cocoon of magic so vile, it scars the realms.

He closes his eyes blissfully, breathing in the darkness of the Chasm.

A booming roar shakes the realms as he soars across the sky.

The walls between worlds tremble beneath his power.

Abedon’s wings slice through the barriers, forcing the Shadow Realm to bleed into the fae kingdoms. Darkness spreads across the lands, leaving only agony and death behind.

Shadows morph into shapeless demons, possessing the weak and draining them of their souls.

The Knights of Umbria ride beside their master on winged serpents…

When the vision breaks, I struggle to catch my breath but I’m surrounded.

My legs buckle and I fight to hold myself up. The Obiqui are like parasites, eating away at every bit of my exposed flesh.

***

BARON

Mortal Ruins

“Baron!” I hear Pyre’s voice calling out to me.

The Obiqui are moving on, pushing towards the mountains.

I leap from my perch and vault over the obstacles in my way.

Pyre stands at the northern wall, looking a bit green in the face.

It isn’t until I’m almost at his side that I feel it too. Fuck. The Veil is tearing.

“How the fuck do we stop it?!” I ask, climbing up to stand beside my fellow guardian. “There’s too much power…”

“The ethers tore open when Elioth used the blood magic to free Abedon.” Pyre begins to spin a web of spells, looking down at his hands instead of the weird shit happening in the sky.

“When the ethers tore, it thinned the barriers between The Veil and this world. If we don’t try to repair it or at least contain it, the entire thing will come crashing down. ”

“So, are we talking about the dragon, Harpies, demons, and spirits coming over or something else?” I join Pyre, using my own magic to amplify his.

“There are more creatures in The Veil than that. Including the Leviathan.” Pyre yanks me closer and increases the energy flowing between us. He forms a sphere of magic and focuses on repairing what was broken. Already I feel drained.

“Holy hell, I’m not sure how much more I can take before I need to feed. I’m losing strength.”

“Feed from me when the deed is done,” Pyre answers.

I shake my head. “You’re barely doing better than I am.”

I look back and see Silvanus walking towards us. The god sends a bolt of crackling energy towards the tear in The Veil, but it bounces back and nearly strikes him.

“Your power is too light,” Pyre explains. “It will be repelled by The Veil.”

“If Abedon comes before we repair the tear, what will happen?” I ask.

“The darkness of the Chasm within him will latch onto The Veil and tear it further. Without you and me to defend and control the spirit world, it would collide with the realms and bring on the end of days,” Pyre answers.

“Well, then you better not fucking die on me.” I feel the bond between us fueling our magic.

It’s strange to think there was a time in my life when I didn’t have Pyre and Eilish.

All of us have become more than just outcasts with fucked up destinies.

“This war has to end in our favor. So long as Eilish is in charge, the future of the realms is bright. We owe it to her to fix all of the bullshit we screwed up.”

Pyre nods.

“I concur,” Silvanus says as he casts protective wards around the keep. “We can still fight through this. Even if we have to tear this city to the ground around us, Abedon and Elioth must not win this fight. It’s Eilish who should lead us into a new era.”

Through the barrage of squawking pests, I catch sight of Zir climbing up one of the towers.

She wears a mechanical mask attached to her hood to protect herself from the Obiqui.

“Pyre, can you do this on your own? I need to help Zir. I think she’s activating the cloaking device prototype.

If we can get it working, then we can better defend the keep. ”

“I can hold it steady for a while.”

Wind picks up as I race across the top of the wall.

I reach the tower and leap nearly to the top, catching the small artificer along the way with one arm.

She climbs onto my back, throwing her arms around my neck and holds on.

My fingers dig into the wall, striking holes through the brick where I hold on.

Zir taps away at the blinking screen attached to the device as we get higher.

A brick crumbles beneath my hand and we nearly fall to the ground.

I hang off the edge with one hand and toss Zir up to the tallest point.

“I need help! There’s too much wind and these damn birds are trying to knock me off!” she yells.

My fangs pierce through my bottom lip as I scale my way to the top of the tower. I crouch beside Zir and cast a shield around us. It crackles like lightning, surrounding us with a vibrant green sphere of energy. “Will this hide us from Abedon?”

“In theory it will hide the keep entirely and act as a repellent to magic,” she answers.

“So, in order to fight, we will have to leave?”

“Unless you wish to endanger the lives of the people here, you’ll have to fight Abedon away from the walls.

Preferably away from this realm entirely,” Zir grumbles irritably.

“But you’re in luck. The dark one isn’t here.

Only his scouts. Get rid of the birds and this whole mess is over for now.

Wait too long and the dark riders will come. ”

“How long do we have?” I ask.

“Less than an hour.”

I look below and see a shimmering mound of feathers.

Zir says the device is active. The birds fly right into an invisible barrier, unable to cross through.

Those trapped inside are still a problem, however.

I help Zir down from the tower and nearly knock Pyre over as I run to his side.

He grabs me and forces my hand up towards the tear in The Veil.

Our power becomes one, stitching the tear shut.

Pyre releases me and gasps to catch his breath.

***

VARIANT

Mortal Ruins

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” I shout at the annoying little sprite who thinks he can stand in my way.

Fluff—or whatever his name is—sticks his tongue out and points to the chair as if I’m supposed to obey him.

Eilish and the others need me. I don’t know what could be more important than saving her. “Look, you little rat, if you don’t…”

A shocked gasp comes from over my shoulder. Pyre’s little house brownie stares at me in utter disappointment. “You can’t talk to Mr. Flumph like that, Naughty King! Noni don’t like you. She think you’re a bully who picks on little fae!”

I rein in my temper just enough to lower my voice. “I’m sorry, Noni. I didn’t mean to bully him. But I need to get out of here. Eilish and the others are in danger. And I know how to help them. If I can get beyond the walls, I’ll be able to stop more Obiqui from coming.”

“Them fuckin’ birds?” the annoying sprite scoffs.

“These aren’t just ordinary birds. They come from the Cogost Mountains.”

“Where the hell’s that?”

“It’s the only place where the celestial beings came to touch the Chasm.

It’s where Abedon has been imprisoned for centuries and it’s the home of the Knights of Umbria.

” I walk over to the window and snatch up one of the Obiqui.

The large black bird flaps its wings. “The feathers are as sharp as blades and its talons are even sharper. Between their beaks are rows of tiny teeth that allow them to devour their prey.” I hold it up in the air as the Obiqui’s serpent-like eyes flicker around the room.

When Flumph trembles and covers his eyes, I snap the bird’s neck and toss it outside.

“An all them freaky things are out there?!” the sprite asks.

“Thousands. Maybe hundreds of thousands,” I reply. “And Eilish is out there fighting them while I’m in here… with you. You have to remember I’ve been fighting on the side of darkness for a long time. Now that my eyes are open, I need to do what I can to help.”

Noni’s expression softens as she looks up at me. “Ok, Naughty King. Noni will show you a way out. She know all the secrets.”

The other two bitch and complain until I step over them to follow the little brownie. Noni leads me through the keep. She stops in the kitchens and opens a trap door in the floor.

“You go down, down, down. Follow the ladders into the sewer. They take you beyond the wall. But Naughty King must hurry. Noni can’t be gone long or else Mr. Flumph get into trouble.” Noni pulls a lever and a light turns on within the cellar.

I climb down and close the latch behind me.

A second ladder leads me to a metal grate embedded in the floor.

I lift it up and jump down, kicking up water as my boots hit the stone.

Brown, greasy liquid drips from the ceiling.

I move swiftly through the old sewers, avoiding the tunnels that are flooded from the ocean.

Water splashes up as I run, ripples reflect on the walls and I reach a ladder that leads to the surface.

Slime covers the bars, causing my grip to falter and I splash back down to the murky sludge beneath my feet. I grit my teeth and pull myself up.

The cover is rusted, unable to turn without the help of magic.

Already I can hear the Obiqui as I push up against the metal that covers the opening of the tunnel.

I slide the cover aside and hoist myself out of the sewer.

The Obiqui don’t sense me yet as I keep low to the cracked concrete roads of the human city.

In the distance, I can see a shield erecting to keep the beastly creatures at bay.

As it closes around the keep, concealing it from sight, I ignite my hands in a powerful flame.

The fire grows, engulfing my body with mystical heat.

My tunic burns to ash and falls to the ground.

I focus my strength into the fire, forcing it to spread higher and higher still, until I can no longer contain the pressure that builds.

A shockwave of fire scorches the Obiqui and forces them to retreat.

Every muscle convulses at once and I stumble into the water.

A hiss rings in my ears as steam coils up from my body.

A flash of cold settles into my bones and I release a sigh of relief.

Birds drop from the sky with singed wings.

Feathers fall like snowflakes smudged with black ink.

I sink below the water for a moment to slow the unsettling tingle along my limbs.

Motion causes a rush of water to flow towards me.

I open my eyes in the clear blue, expecting to see fish or some other aquatic life form.

Instead, I see myself. But not as I am now.

.. I see an image of the man I was on the day I betrayed my companions.

And when I look into the eyes of my reflection, I see Morrigan.

This as a sign. A sign that I must separate myself from the sins of my abuser and take back what she took from me.

Killing Morrigan may have been satisfying in the moment but, now that the satisfaction has worn off, I’m left wondering who the real Variant is.

I can’t hope to find the answer within Eilish. This is something I must discover on my own. While the others have faced many trials together, my journey is just beginning.