Wayward Gods, page 7
part #3 of The Wayward Gods Series
I studied the map, recognizing continents and shapes from the maps I’d studied in school. Drekvic’s paper had two-sides and he turned it over.
“Now, this is the second in between. This one is different. This one is a thin sheet that matches more closely with the spirit world. There are certain points that correspond in each reality, and you will always get a general coordination to where you were in our current plane, but it won’t match up perfectly. You may enter the planes at the same place each time, but when you get to this between, it will not always be the same exact spot, but a general area or quadrant.”
I nodded, noticing that this between was not represented by a sphere, but by a square. It had been sliced off in different sections, four total. Drekvic pointed to the northwest quadrant and used one of my red pens to circle a small section at the very northern portion of the box.
“This is our destination. Rakshina knows this one well so we won’t have to worry about getting lost.”
“We’re not going,” Chester growled again, but we all ignored him
I looked up at Rakshina.
“Why do you know this one?” I asked.
“I think Lokina is hiding there,” she replied, pointing at a particular area, her painted-white nails looking bright against the dark ink. “I think that’s why I haven’t been able to find her.”
“Lokina?” Chester snapped.
At the same time, I asked, “Why is she there?”
The memories of my battle with Lokina and Rakshina’s former lover, Lakvas, still starred in my nightmares. Lokina had managed to escape, but Lakvas was trapped in a cairn, and there wasn’t a day that went by that the decision didn’t haunt me.
“Feeding,” Rakshina replied. “The energy there is… different. It doesn’t follow normal rules. She goes there to get stronger.”
“Do you?” Drekvic asked, his eyes boring into her.
She blushed slightly, the color spreading across her pale face.
“Yes. Fighting with gods makes me realize how inadequate my own magic is. I’ve done what I can to rectify that.”
“It’s foolish.”
“I am what I am,” she replied, shrugging.
“What does that mean?” I said, frowning.
“Siekewa are made to absorb energy from souls,” Drekvic explained. “When that isn’t possible, I made it so they can go to places where the energy is dense and use that to feed their magic. I didn’t want us to be one-dimensional with no other source of life. Souls are just concentrated energy with emotions.”
“Don’t say that,” I told him, grimacing.
“You’re my favorite concentrated energy with emotions,” he replied, a grin teasing the edge of his lips.
I couldn’t stop the snort of laughter, but I pretended to give him a disapproving look.
“If Lokina is there, it’s even more dangerous than we thought,” Chester said, his voice loud. “It’s not safe to go.”
My vision turned red, and I stood up from leaning over the map, regarding Chester coldly, trying not to lose my temper. I walked to the door and gestured for him to follow me into the living room. There were hardly any doors on the bottom floor, so I kept my voice low when I turned to address him.
“Do you have a death wish?” I asked, still trying to keep the rage from flooding into my voice.
“Do you?” he replied, his voice holding incredulity.
“I told you last night that I will do anything to save you. I meant that, Chester. I don’t care if I make you hate me, or you decide to I’m not the one for you, but I refuse to stand by and let Fate kill you in six days.”
“This is the wrong path.”
“How do you know?” I snarled. “All you’ve done is disagree, with no other solutions.”
“Because if you go, you won’t come back.”
“Then I don’t; at least I won’t see you throw your life away.” I stalked toward him, putting my face in his, lifting my chin and squaring my jaw. “You don’t get a say in what I do to save your life. If you don’t like that, there’s the door.”
He suddenly looked very sad, and I wanted to take my words back, but I didn’t back down. “You know I’m not leaving,” he whispered.
“I’m doing what I have to,” I replied, and brushed past him to go back into my office. He stayed in the living room, sitting down on the sofa. I heard the whooshing noise of the cushion sinking, but didn’t look back.
“Lover’s quarrel?” Drekvic asked, his voice bland.
“It’s over now,” I replied. “What’s the plan?”
Rakshina studied me a minute before answering. She pointed at the marks that she had made on Drekvic’s map, explaining where she through Lokina was hiding.
“These spaces are very dark. You can’t see what’s coming,” she explained. “It’s impossible to get to by traversing the gates because there is no corresponding area in any realm. We have to walk in.”
“You think it will be an issue?” Drekvic asked, frowning. He was looking at the spots she’d indicated, worrying about what looked like a dark maze and a closed area with a wall.
“What are these structures? I didn’t think anyone lived in the in betweens,” I asked, pointing at the maze.
“No one sane does,” Drekvic corrected. “These are the last dregs of civilizations that were stranded there when I broke the world. My father took anyone that was willing to go back to reality so they didn’t starve or waste away, but some refused. Some managed to survive for a long time, and their families after them, but by now, all of them should be dead.”
“Ghosts?”
“Most definitely. No collector would be called to these places. They’re not part of the normal cycle.”
I frowned too, not liking the idea of going to a place where there would be so many ghosts. I didn’t have time to save them. There was only one soul I could truly focus on saving, and he was sulking in the living room.
“There’s something else,” Rakshina said, her voice taking on an eerie quality.
“And that is?” I asked, biting my lip.
“The ghosts are violent. They don’t like people going there, and they will attack us. We will have to do things to keep you safe, things you are not going to like.”
“What kind of things?”
“Banishing them from the area, or sending them to the spirit world. Either way, they can get lost.”
“There’s not a way to subdue them?”
“Not that I have discovered,” Rakshina replied. “Mostly, I try to avoid detection, but it’s not always possible. This is the other reason I think Lokina is hiding there. She can work on her projects and no one will notice these souls going missing.”
I didn’t like it at all. Those souls, despite having chosen to stay in a place that could be dangerous to them, shouldn’t be punished eternally for their mistakes. I wanted to save them all.
“How many ghosts are we talking about?”
“It’s hard to say,” Rakshina hedged, “but judging by the energy signature of the area, about a thousand?”
That was too many. I’d never be able to get them all out of the area, explore, find the solution, and save Chester in six days. I simply did not have time.
“The other option is still open,” Drekvic said, his voice soft in my ear. I turned to face him, and I could see sadness in his eyes. “We can contain him, and do what we need to do against his wishes.”
“Against mine too,” I replied, feeling sick. Would I ever stop choosing the needs of one over the needs of many? Had I not learned my lesson?
“How many more will die, Ellie? We can stop this.”
“My love for him isn’t going to fade because the bond is broken. I love my sister and my mother and they aren’t my soul mates. My emotions have nothing to do with chains.”
“I’m not saying you would.”
“Ellie, it would buy him time. Isn’t that what you need? Time to figure out what Fate is up to, time to stop her?” Rakshina insisted, her voice low. I frowned at her, wondering when she’d decided to take Drekvic’s side. She’d always been staunchly against him, but for some reason they were united in this.
“He doesn’t want it, and neither do I.”
“We don’t always get to do what we want.” Drekvic’s voice was full of barely contained emotion. “You think I want this? You think I want to be in love with someone that loves someone else? Life isn’t always about wants. There are millions of souls out there that don’t want to die because we are too afraid to do what we need to do in order to save them. Our lives no longer matter, Ellie. What matters is doing what is right.”
I was speechless for a moment. Our positions seemed reversed, and suddenly I felt on uneven footing. Drekvic was supposed to be the trouble-maker, the one that always did whatever he wanted and never thought for a second about what the rest of the world needed. He’d tried to destroy all the realities himself, thinking it would bring his family back together. He hadn’t even known that his mother was planning something bigger than all of us.
“It’s a lot of people,” Rakshina said softly, her voice cutting into my heart and making me sick.
“Let’s save it as a last resort. We can look into this place first,” I whispered, feeling guilt settle on my shoulders. I was putting off the decision, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was inevitable.
Drekvic shook his head, disgusted with me.
“We will have to hide our presence as much as possible then.” He didn’t bother to hide the disdain in his voice. “We’ll have to banish any that we find. Rakshina can teach you the spell, just in case we get separated. We will leave in a couple hours. Make sure you’re prepared.”
He stood up and stalked out of the office, taking the stairs two at a time with his graceful legs. I heard his door slam shortly after, and I sighed. I was upsetting all my friends today.
“Such babies,” Rakshina muttered, as she folded the map and put it in her jacket pocket.
“Think so?” I asked, feeling that their criticism was on the mark.
“If Chester was in your shoes, he would be fighting to save your life. If Drekvic thought you could die, he’d give up everything to keep you alive. They act like your choice should be easy, that you should be selfless. Chester thinks you should let him die and Drekvic thinks you should choose him. It’s dumb, and neither are thinking compassionately.”
“Millions of people could die because I’m stubborn.”
“And millions will die if you choose incorrectly. You can’t make yourself love Drekvic, just like breaking the bond with Chester will not make you love him any less. Just focus on what you can do, like learning this banishing spell. It’s easy.”
She was right and, for the next thirty minutes, I practiced a short incantation and a movement of energy that would possibly save my life.
CHAPTER TEN
With my silent companions beside me, we stared at the quiet ruins in front of us. No wind or hum of electronics made the already gloomy ruins appear desolate. Nothing was left alive in this abandoned space, and there was a heaviness in the air that pressed against my skin, pushing me away.
Gray clouds swirled around us, moving as though pushed by a wind that we couldn’t feel. Below us stretched out the maze-like ruins we’d studied on the map. Rakshina had made a copy for each of us, and had instructed us to leave this section of the in-between if we were separated. We would meet back at my house as soon as possible, and a search or rescue party would be organized as a team.
I glanced at Rakshina, her unfailing blue gaze pierced the black ruins. She would be our guide, the only one that had ventured inside, looking for Lokina. She’d said there were a couple spots that matched what Drekvic and I had described. She’d marked them on the map, and then had adjusted some of the walls. Some had crumbled and blocked different passageways, and some were so overgrown with ivy that it was impossible to get through.
When I’d asked how plants had survived, she said it was feeding off the energies of the dead. The thought made me ill, and I wondered how many ghosts we would encounter.
“Once we’re down there, we can’t talk,” Drekvic said. “Our energy will draw the ghosts to us regardless, but as long as we don’t make too much noise, we should only have to banish those that get too close to our magic. The rest shouldn’t know we’re here.”
I nodded at him, glad that his voice was audible. I’d wondered if this in-between muffled sound, and was relieved to know that my ears still worked in this dark place.
Chester stood on my other side, unwilling to look at any of us. He was stoic, and angry, but he’d followed us when we’d left. I was glad he came to watch my back, but I was also leery of letting him get to close to me. I was afraid he’d try to pull me through a portal or teleport outside of the ruins at the first sign of danger. I consciously placed myself between Rakshina and Drekvic as we started down the hill in single file.
I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, trying to match Rakshina’s long, silent strides. My soft footsteps were all I heard and I was annoyed by how gracefully and silently my companions moved. If I hadn’t known better, I’d wonder if they were floating and not touching the ground.
Even so, my steps were quiet, the soft leather soles of my hiking boots making almost no noise in this desolate place.
As we got closer, I could smell ash lingering in the air, clinging to my face and penetrating my lungs. I stifled a cough, knowing that any loud noises could bring ghosts upon us.
Rakshina paused in front of me and I stopped, placing my foot down quietly. She pulled the scarf from around her neck and handed it to me, miming placing it over my nose.
The scarf smelled like her, darkness and smoke. It was comforting and tying it around my face helped with the dryness of the air. Nodding, she moved forward again, stalking like a tiger into the first archway of the maze.
I hesitated only a moment at the roman-style pillars and moved forward. Inside the walls, the world seemed darker, more sinister. The stone was black, and I couldn’t tell what type of rock it was, but it loomed twenty feet above our heads, opening to the gray clouds and sky of the in-between.
I could hear noises now too, the moans and cries of the damned. My heart constricted at the thought of how many ghosts were around us, suffering. I hated that I would be abandoning them even further with each banishing spell that I allowed to be cast.
One glance over my shoulder at Chester’s gloomy face bolstered my resolve. This was to save his life. These ghosts were already lost. Losing them wouldn’t change their fate, especially if I died while trying to accomplish my current mission. If I survived, if the Beyond survived, I’d do whatever it took to find each of them.
Rakshina paused at the first cross roads, an opening to our left or continuing straight. She thought for a moment, eyes narrowed and lips pursed as she contemplated. She turned into the left, and I saw her brush her hand against the edge of the door. A dark burst of energy lingered there, and I frowned. I understood wanting to mark our trail to have an easy escape route, but wouldn’t her magic draw ghosts to this spot?
I saw Drekvic frown at it as well, but he did nothing, just continued following in silence. I didn’t look to see what Chester thought. As long as he was still with us and safe, I wasn’t going to rock that boat any further.
The moaning seemed silent for a moment, and I heard something swirl over us. I looked up to see a shadowy wraith floating above. My heart skipped a beat in my chest and lunged up into my throat. Rakshina paused, looking up without concern. The wraith passed over us, instead focusing on a spot behind us.
I realized, then, what Rakshina’s magic was meant to do. It was a marker, but it would also draw the wraiths to where we had been instead of where we were. There was more than one exit, and I could only assume she’d lead us to one of those when it was time to leave. Feeling chilled, I shuddered, imagining ghosts swirling around us, heading towards Rakshina’s magic beacon.
The ground was starting to become dangerous, and I had to focus more and more on my feet. Loose rocks and vines were creeping into the path, ready to snag an unwary shoe. Rakshina seemed impervious in her heeled boots, stepping easily around loose debris and tangled roots. I had to be more careful, and more than once I worried about kicking an errant rock and sending it skidding into the silence.
Our path dead ended into a T intersection, and Rakshina chose right, turning away from an open and still well-paved path into a small opening that was almost choked off by ivy. She left another marker here, this one slightly brighter than the one before.
We all had to duck to get into the entrance, and visibility dimmed as the ivy canopied the surviving stone arches. It dangled down, tickling my face and shoulders, making my stomach churn as I imagined monsters reaching for me. Even as tall as I was, everyone else was taller, and I wondered if they felt just as trapped as I did, hunched over as we moved forward in the semi-darkness.
I couldn’t see very well, and when my foot snagged on a vine, I fell forward, hard. The impact knocked the breath out of my lungs and a sharp rock scraped my elbow as I tried to catch myself. My heavy backpack hit the back of my head pushing my face into the dirt and only Rakshina’s scarf saved me from getting dirt in my mouth. The thud of my body seemed so loud, and I froze for a moment, unwilling to assess my hurts and afraid that I’d managed to draw something to us.
Drekvic was by my side in an instant, picking me up and helping me get back onto my feet. Blood dripped down my right leg and left arm, ruining my new jeans and sweater. Chester was close behind me too, and Rakshina stepped in front. They were forming a circle around me, protective while we waited to see if my tumble would bring any ghosts.
Rakshina scented the air, and like a shark, grabbed my wounded arm, turning it to look at the cut. I couldn’t connect to the balance without attracting all the ghosts nearby, but Rakshina, using her stored energy, closed the skin. There would still be dried blood on my arm, but it was a manageable annoyance. She knelt down to check my knee while Drekvic and Chester stood guard. Thankfully, my clumsiness didn’t attract any unwanted guests.
