Asharielle and the Hidden Realm, page 25
Her heart ached, but she understood. She had thought they had more time, but a huge tremor had shaken Sanctuary just as she had been walking back to Ryder after Nick’s lesson. The ground had shifted like a wave beneath their feet, causing Nick to levitate everyone until it settled. Then he had shot up into the air like a bullet. She had watched him turn in a full circle, but his gaze was fixed on the direction he knew Kyron was approaching from. He had landed without ceremony and told her it was time to absorb the animals.
It wasn’t like she hadn’t known it was coming, but the thought of extinguishing so many lives was distressing. Though she knew they were only remnants of hue, each creature looked, acted, and behaved differently from the others. And the male bear-like creature—the bejarel— felt pain. He had limped toward the gathering and now sat next to his partner, nursing his paw while she licked his face. It was hard to believe that they weren’t living beings.
She had tried to get out of the task, hoping that The Guardian could absorb them instead, but Eviath had shut that idea down. She had reminded Asharielle that in this dimension, he was a projection of his true self; therefore, he could not perform the task. At least she did not have to absorb him today. He had chosen to remain independent from her for as long as possible so he could help shepherd them to Drakensberg.
A pointed cough came from behind her. She knew without looking that it was Nick. He wanted her to hurry. She sighed. The time had come. These peaceful creatures were pure energy, and she could not afford to let Kyron get hold of them. It would be an affront to the sacrifices they had made to protect the hue in the first place. Because of that, she would do her job.
She looked at the crowd that had gathered in front of her and had to bite her lower lip to stop her chin from quivering. She had only known them for a brief time, but she would miss their faces. For her, they were a fascinating insight into a world that had ended well before time began, but for Ryder, Nick, and Eviath, they had been a glimpse into a life they had thought lost. Now, they would never see them again. She scanned their strange and beautiful faces, imprinting every one of them in her mind. Nick wanted her to absorb all of them at once to save time, but she noticed that some were missing.
“Hey, where are the ullmae?”
“Out scouting,” Nick replied. “Please proceed without them.”
Heart thumping in her chest, Asharielle looked at the crowd before her. Just like with Jae and the little dragons, her emotions rose in a wellspring of words, and she set them free.
“I know this is meant to be short and sweet,” she began, “but I just wanted to say how touched I am by the gift I have been given. To be able to see you all and understand your plight is humbling and I have not the words to describe how profoundly moved I am by every one of you. You are selfless and trusting and pure of heart. You gave your lives to protect the world from a tyrant and I am in awe of the heroism you portrayed in the face of death. I can only hope to honour you by showing the same bravery when my time to face the enemy comes. Thank you for your sacrifice. I return you now to a place of peace where you may rest, knowing that I will also protect the hue and The Guardian with my life.”
The creatures bowed, and she held out her hands. Tears trickled down her face as she pulled on the hue. The ones at the front were the first to lift off the ground. Like ghosts, they flew toward her. Their forms dissolved as they became a steady stream of hue, which she drew inside her until only the imprints of their bodies remained in the trampled grass.
She had wondered if she would feel full after absorbing so much hue, but instead she felt as empty as the field before her. Her hands fell to her sides and her shoulders slumped as she studied the matted grass under her feet. She felt a hand slip into hers.
“Such a shame,” Eviath whispered, thumbing the tears from Asharielle’s cheeks. “I wish that there had been a way to preserve them.” Looking into the woman’s misty eyes, she realised that their clasped hands might not be totally for her comfort. She squeezed back, letting Eviath know she was there for her.
“Actually…” Nick said, drawing the word out. “I have an idea.”
He whistled, and the ullmae came bounding from the outskirts of the field. Serra padded straight to Asharielle and nudged her head into the palm of her free hand as if she too were offering comfort. She responded, gently rubbing a spot behind Serra’s ears so that her hand did not pass through. The three males sat on the grass behind her, still alert as they waited for instructions.
“Explain please,” Ryder and Eviath said at the same time.
“Well, it’s occurred to me that the chances of escaping Kyron are very slim right now. He has two Kryak, around twenty soldiers, and a whole lot of weapons. Now, when you look at our defences…”
“We’re in trouble, aren’t we, Nick?” Asharielle said, thinking about the conversation they had had in the basket yesterday.
“Yes.”
“And so?” Ryder prompted.
“I was thinking that the ullmae could be turned into fighters. We all know how peaceful they are, but I’ve been pondering our situation and I believe that, out of all the creatures, the ullmae could be utilised to help protect our party. I’ve already spoken to Serra and she and her pack are willing.”
“They are good scouts, Nick, but I’m not sure how they could stop bullets,” Eviath said, looking quite concerned.
“Hear me out, okay?” Nick pleaded. “Their long tails are like whips and the tips are electrified. They could really slow the enemy down.”
“Yes, but—”
Nick cut Ryder off. “And we know their tails can fan over their heads, you’ve all seen the hued barrier that forms between each tail to shelter them from sun or rain. What if that barrier could also stop bullets or fireballs?
“But, Nick, look at this,” Asharielle said, indicating her hand passing through Serra’s head. “How can they stop bullets when they are not real?”
“Good pick-up, Asharielle. That leads me to my next point.” He paused for effect, ensuring everyone was focused on him. “Am I not an immortal phoenix?” he said, the bold statement suggesting that the answer was already obvious. He huffed in exasperation at the silence that followed, so Asharielle spoke up.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m confused. What exactly does that mean?”
He fluffed his wings and stood a little taller. “Part of my power—separate to the hue—comes from the phoenix.”
“And that means what?” Ryder said, shrugging at Asharielle to convey that he had no idea either.
“I have the ability to pull apart and reconfigure matter. Essentially, I can create things. I want to make the ullmae real to help us fight Kyron.”
“But how can you create life out of energy?” Asharielle asked.
Nick shook his head. “All life is energy, Asharielle, but for this to work, I can’t do it by myself. I need DNA.”
“I learned about that in science,” she said. “That’s the chemical chains inside our genes that make us who we are.”
“Yup, and I hope that by merging the DNA of the first hue-man with yours, I can reconfigure the ullmae to manifest as real creatures in this reality instead of just remnants. What do you think?” His eyes glimmered with confidence, and he tried hard to stop the grin from spreading on his face. Asharielle felt as though the phoenix part of him was trying to stay calm, but the little boy aspect of his personality kept hopping from one foot to the other as he waited for them to answer.
“Wait a sec,” Asharielle interrupted, her eyes flicking to Ryder then Eviath. She remembered the woman had said something similar on the plane. “What do you mean, the first hue-man?”
“Ah, you sensed who it was the second I said it, didn’t you?” Nick confirmed by also looking at Ryder. “He was indeed the very first person ever created on this planet—but enough of that now… Ryder?”
“But…” Asharielle stared with wide eyes at all of them. She wanted to push them for an explanation, but she knew they held no interest in explaining further. It was something that they all took for granted. What did Nick mean when he said created? Why did they always drop these bombshells on her at a time when she was never free to question any of them?
Listening to Ryder’s reply, she guessed that he was in favour of the idea but the bit that pricked her ears was when he said, “but I don’t get why you need Asharielle’s blood. Care to explain further?”
“You know exactly why I need her blood,” he replied, “but we don’t have time for that right now either and you know it.”
Both turned to hear Eviath’s thoughts, but Asharielle had stopped listening. She wanted to press pause on this adventure so she could interrogate them until she found out the truth. She had so many unanswered questions running through her head. Up until now, she had explained away every part of her new life as a side-effect of having merged with The Guardian: her changed looks, her ability to access and control the hue, the reason Ryder was so protective of her… But if that was the case, why was Nick being evasive with his answer?
“So, it’s settled then,” Nick affirmed. “I need…I mean, we need to do this now and then we must be moving on.”
Asharielle opened her mouth to protest but nothing came out. She wanted to put her foot down and not give in until they had answered all her questions, but she knew that would be a selfish move on her part, and it could put everything they had been trying to protect at risk. She shook her head, determined not to be the teenager throwing tantrums when things didn’t go her way.
“What do you need from me?”
Nick explained that he needed a steady trickle of blood from both her and Ryder. Using hue, he manifested a knife and cut each of their palms. A pool of blood formed in her cupped hand. The knife disappeared, and with it, Nick’s personality changed. Gone was the ancient man burdened with knowledge; gone was the sweet but cheeky temperament of the little boy she adored. Someone else was emerging, she knew it the instant she saw the blue of Nick’s eyes turn cold. His gaze had become so foreign to her that it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
Alarmed, she found herself stepping back as this new presence scrutinised her with icy intelligence. Though Nick’s body did not change, phantasmic wisps of an avian-like being hovered like a ghostly mask over his skin. Asharielle swallowed. She had always separated the two distinct aspects of Nick’s personality by thinking of them as boy and phoenix, but she had been wrong. This creature that inhabited his body was the phoenix.
His wings began to project a heat so intense that it warmed her face, even though she had stepped back from him. It was a good thing she had because sparks flickered across his feathers, then his wings caught fire. They looked ethereal, but she could still see his feathers underneath. It reminded her of the videos she had seen of the earth’s atmosphere from space, but instead of glowing blue, his aura glowed red. The flames were beautiful, and without thinking, she held out her hand to touch them.
“No!” Nick commanded, stepping away from her. Her hand jerked back and Eviath also moved away, startled by the unearthly timbre of his voice. It was not a voice that belonged in this world. Though Nick had told her that the phoenix who had bestowed his power upon him was alien, Asharielle hadn’t fully accepted the idea until now. She hadn’t believed that Kyron was from another world either and had dismissed it as myth. After all, modern science had yet to discover life on other planets. And Kyron looked human. She had put Nick into her fantasy category, along with unicorns and dragons because the mythology fit. Yet now she believed. The creature in front of her was not of this earth, and she couldn’t help but wonder where Nick’s other personalities had gone.
“They may look pretty but they are not hue, child. They do not flame with your earthly fire. One touch will burn a piece of your soul away. You must stay back.”
Turning his back on them, Phoenix called the ullmae to sit in front of him. With a flick of his hand, a giant sphere manifested around all four creatures. Blood from the cut on her hand began to trickle upward, and glancing at Ryder, she saw the same thing happening to him. Each stream arced through the air toward the top of the sphere. They passed through the barrier like train tracks, and only then did their bloodstreams entwine. Like a tree’s roots, four separate cords grew out from the joining and snaked like magical ropes toward each of the four ullmae.
Upon contact, each creature dissolved. Four umbilical cords hung in the air, seemingly attached to nothing. Asharielle blinked, then did so again, more from the surprise of seeing four gestational sacs beginning to grow at the end of each cord. Changes occurred with every breath she took, from the indiscriminate cluster of cells that formed, to the little wiggling jellybeans that sprouted heads, legs, and tails. Fur formed, and the pups began to kick and yawn and blink inside the amniotic fluid. Not content to birth them as pups, Phoenix continued to feed them energy and blood until they lay curled inside their separate sacs as full-grown animals.
“That should just about do it,” the alien voice said as he entered the sphere and ripped open each sac with his bare hands. Four ullmae spilled onto the ground in a gush of fluid, then stood on wobbly feet. Apart from their wet fur, they looked no different to the hued creatures that had sat at her feet earlier. Phoenix walked around each ullmae as though he were scanning for defects. Then he nodded, apparently satisfied with his work, for he magically severed their umbilical cords.
Phoenix came to stand beside her. His cold eyes looked into hers then he glanced at Ryder.
“Everything is about to change, child…but know that there is purpose and reason behind it. The Fates are watching you. We are all watching you. Life Stealer must be defeated if the worlds are to remain safe.” He turned to Eviath. “You will take her to them when the time is right, High Priestess of the City of Light.”
“As you command, Phoenix,” she responded, tilting her head toward him.
Then, without ceremony or farewell, the flames on his wings extinguished, and he was gone. Nick healed the cut on her palm then he stepped over and did the same for Ryder, though Asharielle barely noticed. Her mind had turned inward as she replayed the phoenix’s words in her head. She didn’t know how things could change even more than they already had, but perhaps she was not meant to know.
Worlds…worlds…worlds. Her brain tripped upon Phoenix’s use of the plural. She wanted to reduce it to its singular meaning, but it echoed in her head, making her wince a little. What had she gotten caught up in? Saving one world was surely enough?
Something warm and wet nudged her cheek and she snapped out of her thoughts to see Serra standing in front of her. She reached out and touched the ullmae’s nose. It was cold. She let her fingers travel over the short, wet fur on her snout and up to the back of her neck. Her hand did not pass through the creature at all.
“Serra?”
Big brown eyes met hers. Serra licked her hand.
“Hello, Asharielle.”
The ullmae’s voice in her head was soft and lilting. It felt like listening to someone with a thick accent. She was surprised to find that Serra could communicate with her the way that Nick did.
“That’s because when you gifted me your blood, you also transferred your knowledge and understanding of the world, therefore I can now speak your language. The ullmae are honoured to serve you, My Lady.”
“It’s wonderful to hear your voice, Serra. I’m so pleased to have you with us. Thank you for helping us defend against Kyron yet again,” Asharielle answered.
At this, Serra bowed and stepped back. Then, like a cat about to pounce on its prey, her back haunches wiggled, and she sprang, shooting past her to get to someone behind. She turned to see Serra bound onto Ryder’s skimmer and rub her wet head all over his face. He laughed with glee as the three males joined her. They yipped at his hands, each begging for his attention. Unable to help herself, Eviath laughed and stepped across to greet them, and again, Asharielle realised what a stunning woman she was when she smiled.
Despite their joy, she could not share in their laughter. Nick returned to her side.
“Did you know the toll it would take on him?” she whispered through gritted teeth.
“I suspected,” he replied, just as softly. “But we both know he is not in fighting condition. The risk was worth it, Asharielle. Creating the ullmae to protect us might just be the thing that helps save his life.”
“But you’ve also increased his risk of dying sooner, Nick. You should have told me…or Ryder before you did this.”
“And you know exactly what he would say, don’t you?” he replied. “We would still be exactly where we are now because Ryder knows that the ullmae will give their life to protect you, just as he would.”
She nodded, not able to look at Nick just yet. It was wonderful to see Ryder so happy, yet the gifting of his blood had come at a cost. Before the experiment, his eyes had just been a brilliant orange. Now his irises had caught fire. The Citrine flames shone brighter than the morning sunlight. It meant that the dragon blood was surging despite the hue she poured into him to suppress it. The crystal infection had spread to both sides of his neck and now grew down his left arm.
Ryder glanced her way and she smiled reassuringly at him before turning to look Nick in the eye. “I see it’s not just Ryder who has changed,” she said.
The boy who stood before her had aged. Now, a teenager of approximately twelve stared back at her. The top of his head stopped just below her eyes. He shrugged his shoulders in acceptance of his situation, and she noticed that the red, blue, and gold of his feathers still glowed with an aura of colour that washed around him when he moved.
“Phoenix magic always takes its toll; that is the price I pay for its use,” Nick replied. “It only took a little bit of phoenix magic to bring those ullmae to life, but just like Ryder, I know the sacrifice is worth it if it keeps you and The Guardian safe.”
