Absolute Power: A Portal Harem Fantasy, page 5
“Do you have a question, Blair?” I asked her.
“Yes.” She furrowed her brow and nodded. “You have a weapon. What is it? I can sense it.”
“You can sense that I have a weapon? I wish I did! It’d have come in handy when everyone went crazy and tried to attack me,” I told her. “But I hate to disappoint you, I have no weapon.”
“We’ll see,” Blair replied flatly.
I shook my head at her unusualness as she turned her head. I followed her gaze to see Mary reenter the room. She carried four copper-looking cups with her. Each had a handle, and steam wafted out the top. When she reached the table, she placed one in front of each of us.
“I hope you like tea,” she said hopefully.
“I do,” I said, noticing that I was indeed thirsty.
I picked the cup up and blew across the surface of the steaming liquid. A faint floral aroma wafted up to my nostrils that was followed by the scent of a spice I didn’t recognize. I put the cup to my lips and took a small sip. The liquid was much more flavorful than most tea I’d had. It didn’t taste anything like it smelled, however. As the liquid flowed over my tongue, it was more earthy than floral and finished with absolutely no aftertaste.
“Mmm, that’s interesting,” I told Mary. “What is it made with?”
Mary looked at her cup and grinned. “There is a root that grows in my spice garden on the first floor. It’s completely useless except for making tea. It’s called pinsroot.”
“It’s good, thank you,” I told her.
The look on her face morphed into a dead serious expression, and she repeated what Callie had said. “You need to know what you’re up against.”
“That would be nice, although I’m not sure how it is that I’m up against anything,” I said. “Please do tell me more about the babies. There were two, the twins, Callie and Kasen, but then something happened and there were three.”
Mary continued. “When Kasen was born, he cast out all the good parts of himself. He felt the power of evil and didn’t want his powers to be watered down by the good he possessed. You see, Kasen was born a god. What he did was a mistake on his part, though. He wanted all the power of a god and to use it for evil, but what he did instead was strip himself of his godly essence.”
“His godly essence? How does that equal a third baby, and if he was born a god, and Callie is his twin…” I trailed off as realization sank in.
“Yes,” Mary said. “Callie is a goddess. She isn’t Kasen’s twin, however.”
“Who is?” I asked.
“Cadence.” Callie smiled. “Cadence is my twin. When Kasen caste out part of himself, he relinquished his godliness. That sort of power has to go somewhere. It is not allowed to just float around in the universe. So, Cadence was created out of the magic that Kasen tossed aside. At the same time, being a goddess myself, I could only be a twin to another godly being. In that flash you saw, Kasen’s entire genetic structure shifted, as did mine. He became a separate being, and Cadence was created to mirror me. She took on the godly powers that Kasen had released, and she and I became twins.”
It took me a second to grasp the events of the story she was telling. Also, it was a bit odd to realize I was speaking with a goddess. She didn’t seem like any goddess I’d ever imagined. She was a woman. A very exotic, magical woman, but a woman nonetheless. She didn’t have swirling lights about her or an unusually god-like voice. She was just a woman.
I shook my head to keep myself on track. “You and Cadence are goddess twins. So, what happened to Kasen?”
Callie’s head moved sightly side-to-side involuntarily. “He became the most evil man Slanos has ever known. His fury at Cadence’s creation festered inside him throughout his entire life. Our mother, a goddess herself, was careful to keep him separate from us as soon as she realized he held no sibling affection towards us. He was jealous, enraged, and brimming with self-hatred. He was angry at us for being goddesses, and that self-hatred bloomed from the critical mistake he made that took every possibility away. He wasn’t any older than fourteen when he disappeared. He ran away and wasn’t seen or heard from again for years.”
I couldn’t fathom what it would’ve felt like for Kasen to realize he’d sabotaged himself in such a drastic and permanent way. “Where did he go?”
“I don’t know,” Callie replied. “When he did resurface, he made his intentions to reclaim his godliness clear but really wasn’t taken seriously. He had no power other than the hate in his heart. He does possess a little magic, but nothing as powerful as mine, or yours.”
“What kind of magic?” I asked.
“He can project fear into others and, based on the last few times I’ve seen him, he’s become rather adept at wielding magical weapons,” she answered.
“So, he has powers, but not significant ones in comparison to you. Then, and pardon me if I missed it, how did he kidnap Cadence? Shouldn’t she have been more powerful than he is? How could he possibly get his godliness back by kidnapping his sister?” My barrage of questions caused their faces to fall instantly.
“It’s not that hard to figure out.” Blair scowled and crossed her arms.
Mary grinned at Blair, then turned to me. “Cadence is a very kind creature who always sees the good in people. That is one of her greatest attributes. She swore that if she ever had a chance, she’d be able to find good in Kasen and show it to him. We fear that she would’ve let him get close just on the off chance that she could do just that. Kasen, on the other hand, has a scheme that we haven’t quite figured out yet.”
“The most obvious theory we can think of,” Callie started, “is that Kasen believes if he kills Cadence, he will be able to absorb her godliness back into himself. He doesn’t know that it doesn’t work that way.”
Blair cleared her throat. “At least we don’t think it works that way. We haven’t been able to find an instance in the history of the gods that would give us a concrete answer whether that could be a possibility.”
I nodded. “Absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence, however. What if he found a way? By kidnapping Cadence, he has made all the people she ruled over begin to go mad. What would he want with a world inhabited with the insane?”
“We don’t know,” Callie said. “The best guess is that he doesn’t plan on staying on Slanos. He may simply want the power so he can go elsewhere and impose his will.”
“But don’t you know how Cadence’s powers work? What happens if she were to die? Could Kasen steal her power?” I wasn’t agreeing with their ‘it just doesn’t happen’ theory.
Callie let out a sigh. “Cadence has to surrender her powers or, in the case of her death, they are stored to be gifted later. The only other way to pass her powers, that we know of, is to have a child.”
“I’m not trying to be rude,” I started, “but hear me out. If her magic can be stored, what’s stopping Kasen from making himself the place where that magic is stored? Also, why wouldn’t he just kill her? You said she was still alive, right?”
“That one’s easy,” Mary said. “Cadence’s power can only flow out of her if she dies of natural causes or her own volition. A murder would instantly kill her magic. It’s a failsafe to keep gods from having to spend their lives running from those who commit deicide to take their magic.”
“But kidnapping?” I asked, hoping she’d continue.
Callie answered. “He is the only mortal strong enough to keep her against her will because of their relation. Despite his transformation upon Cadence’s creation, he was still built strong enough to contain godly powers. If he keeps her long enough for her to die on her own, he would get his chance to steal her powers.”
The four of us fell into silence, sipping our tea and imagining what may happen if Cadence died in such a manner. I hadn’t even gotten to the questions I had about Kasen’s evil nature, though I already knew that I would find out first hand. But there was more. I didn’t know why I had magical powers. I didn’t know how I got them or even how to use them.
What I did know, with every fiber of my being, was that I would have to do everything in my power to stop him. There was no ‘why’ behind the feeling, it was a simple clarity of purpose. I had to stop Kasen and save Cadence. The realization was startling and exciting at the same time.
My only concern was that I didn’t know where to start.
It became clear that my concern was going to have to wait, however, when the silence that had fallen over the room was broken by the sound of Callie’s chair scooting back. She stood up, her face grim as her eyes met mine.
“Well, I’m sure all of this revelation has made you hungry, so let us eat.”
7
“Lunch?” I asked as I set my tea on the table. “I nearly forgot about eating. I have far too many questions.”
“You do have too many questions,” Blair muttered.
Callie shot her a warning look before looking back at me. “I’m sure you do, I can’t blame you.” Her bright blue eyes broke away from mine. “Mary, would you and Edwin start on lunch?”
“Who’s Edwin?” I asked, assuming he had to be the fourth person Callie had rescued.
“He’s part of the group whose consciousness I protected from the madness,” Callie confirmed as she stepped towards the elevator. A smile tugged at her lips. “He’s the greatest cook you’ll ever meet.”
I stood up as well, joining her as we moved slowly towards the elevator door. As we did, I glanced around the dizzyingly large room once again.
“What’s the point of all of these mirrors?” I asked yet another of my ‘too many’ questions. “The windows are mirrored, there are mirrors on the walls… Normally I would expect that many mirrors in a small space to make it look bigger, but even then, just one of them would do. Plus, you have multiple skyscrapers, and I just have a feeling the others are the same.”
Callie thought for a moment. “The point of the city is not to look roomy. Here, let me show you.”
I nodded and followed her across the wide room and she pressed the button next to the elevator. I had so many questions I still needed answers to, but the expression on her face was a worried one, and I decided to leave her alone with her thoughts. When the shiny elevator doors opened, we silently stepped inside. When she reached out to select the floor, I once again hoped we might go out to the penthouse. I frowned when she selected the fifth floor. The ride was quick and once the doors opened once again, I stepped into the room, which was just as large as the lower floor, but it had no furniture. It did, however, have wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling windows and mirrors. I looked back at Callie who had an amused expression on her face.
“These aren’t normal mirrors,” she explained, walking past me. I quickly followed her, my long legs easily allowing me to keep up. “These are windows into other worlds.”
I looked around the room once again, trying to see if I had missed anything. All I saw were mirrors reflecting us and each other.
Callie noticed me inspecting the room and walked up to the mirror closest to her. She pressed her hand against the glass. I watched, my mouth dropped open in disbelief, as the reflective silver surface disappeared and was replaced with the image of a vast and colorful coral reef. Fish of all shapes and colors swam around, not unlike the ones I had seen at aquariums at home, but too bright to be from my earth. My suspicion was confirmed when I saw a mermaid swim across the image. She had long pink hair, blue skin, and a shiny blue, scale-covered tail. The mermaid did not seem to notice us and went about her business on the reef. Callie laughed when she saw my face.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” she said.
“Pretty? It’s incredible! And incredibly unbelievable. Mermaids? Really?” I babbled. “Are there more?”
We stepped over to the mirror on the left of the first. When Callie placed her hand on that one, a meadow of rolling hills filled with bright orange flowers appeared. The flowers seemed to go on forever, reaching to the horizon in the far off distance. The sky in this world was a dark purple with so many stars that the sky ended up looking like it had been glitter-bombed. In the distance I saw someone with dark purple skin who wore an outfit made out of what looked like giant, multi-colored flower petals. They were bent over, gathering some sort of plant that grew all over the hill. Just as I moved forward to see the person more clearly, Callie stepped back and removed her hand from the mirror. The image disappeared.
I laughed and shook my head. “These look like they are make-believe.”
“This place is perfect for pretending and make-believe. It just happens to be real is all,” Callie said with a bright smile, stepping over to the next mirror as she placed her hand on mine. “You can come here whenever you’d like. I always find it peaceful watching these worlds. It’s a good distraction from… everything.”
She lifted my hand up and placed it against the glass.
This time, a barren desert with perfectly white sand appeared. Two pearly-white moons stood in a pitch black sky. On the sand stood a knight whose long, white hair fell down black armor. He held the reins of a mighty black dragon. I gasped and removed my hand from the mirror. The image disappeared, replaced by my own reflection.
I looked at Callie, my mouth wide open. “No damn way I just saw that!”
When I placed my hand on the mirror again, the same image appeared, but the knight now sat on the dragon’s back. My head whipped to look at Callie.
“Dragons? I used to dream of riding a dragon when I was a kid.”
“Where do you think people come up with ideas for fantasies?” Callie laughed. “Some is embellishment, sure, but most is simply the transfer of what is real from one realm to the next through travelers.”
“I don’t even care how information gets from one place to the next. I seriously just had a massive change to my bucket list,” I told her, still in awe as I watched the knight maneuver the dragon into the sky.
“That’s why it’s important we keep the entire city hidden from the Shadows,” Callie said when I finally removed my hand from the glass, the knight having flown out of view. “Many of these surfaces are windows into a different world. I don’t want to think about what might happen if they got in here. It’s important that the worlds are able to be… observed. If the Shadows came, they’d break each and every mirror just so they wouldn’t have to look at their failing selves. Then the worlds would be lost to us.”
I had a feeling Callie had planned to say something else, but I didn’t want to push her. Instead, I reached out and took hold of her hands.
“I promise that won’t happen,” I told her softly, “not as long as I’m here. I still have a lot to learn, but what I’ve seen and experienced in the minuscule amount of time I’ve been here… let’s just say I have this deep longing to help you change the course of things away from the one Kasen intends. I’ll do everything I can to save Slanos for you.”
Callie smiled shyly. “Thank you, Hudson.” She opened her mouth to say something, but our exchange was rudely interrupted when someone loudly shouted, “CALLIE!!”
I immediately jumped back. “Shadow?”
Callie laughed and shook her head. “No, that’s just Edwin.”
My head whipped around. I didn’t see anyone in the room with us. “Where is this Edwin?”
“He’s downstairs. He has the uncanny ability to throw his voice. He can make you think he is right next to you or miles away,” she said, smiling proudly.
As much as I wanted to keep looking at the windows to other worlds, I followed Callie back to the elevator. I finally felt hunger and figured, if this Edwin person’s cooking was as great as I was told it was, it couldn’t hurt to try it.
Back on the lower floor, Callie led me out of the opposite side of the elevator, whose doors had opened silently behind us. I wondered if they’d done that the other two times I’d ridden it as I walked into a new room. The room was just as shiny as the one upstairs and had a reflective table directly in front of us. Beyond that stood a kitchen with a mirror covering every surface. Blair was there, setting the table, looking into the distance with a somber expression on her face.
In the kitchen, Mary was stirring something on the stovetop next to the boy I assumed was Edwin. He had light green skin and shockingly bright emerald green hair. He did not look up from the cutting board as he said, “Callie, I need you to taste test something.”
“Couldn’t it have waited until after I finished giving our guest a tour?” Callie asked light-heartedly, walking past the table and into the kitchen to join him and Mary. I stayed by the door.
“Guest?” The green-haired boy asked, looking up. We immediately made eye contact, and I amusedly watched as his jaw dropped.
“Edwin, this is Hudson,” Callie said.
“Really?! I’ve never seen a human from Earth before.” Edwin said excitedly, dropping his knife on the cutting board and forgetting about his purple veggies. “Just before you got here just now, Mary said you were going to help defeat Kasen!”
Callie chuckled. “We aren’t sure of anything.”
“Speak for yourself,” I said confidently. “I don’t know how I know, but if there is one thing I’m here to do, it is to protect this place, and it sounds like getting rid of Kasen is a way to do that.”
“You are going to need a weapon,” Edwin said, shifting to a serious tone.
Blair looked up from her table-setting. “He already has one.”
I shrugged at Edwin. “I don’t know what she means by that.”
“Blair designs the weapons that are inherently drawn to their owners,” Edwin said modestly. “I make them and sometimes make them better. If she says you already have a weapon, believe me, you do, even if it hasn’t been made yet.”
“So,” I said, taking a seat at the table and leaning back in my chair, feeling incredibly hungry now that I could smell whatever delicious meal was baking in the kitchen, “you’re the weapons guy, and you cook, right?”
