Chapter 18
The Perverse
“Brace yourselves!” Walter’s shout was enough for Floyd to listen. The confidence that he said it with spoke to a man with experience in this situation. Or he hoped there was experience, else they’d all sink to the abyss.
The ship hit a rough patch, the waters just outside Invaria choppy from Warren’s tidal wave shenanigans. Floyd bounced, and when he landed it was on his feet, running for Terrill where he lay. Krysta was right at his side, the two sliding over to hold his body steady. Torry and Walter were dealing with different issues entirely, with one leaning over the side towards the port and the latter rushing for the wheel.
“I think we might be getting more than one guest. The Invarian Navy is moving,” Torry shouted to them, louder than she needed to.
“Miss, I need you to redirect the sails so I can turn us out of this mess,” Walter called, his hands gripping to the spokes of the wheel as he spun it wildly. It didn’t do much good yet, the riptide of the whirlpool sucking them closer. “Towards the port if you will.”
“Hey, Old Man Walter, that brings us right on the navy’s doorstep.”
“Right now, that’s preferable to dying in a vicious whirlpool!” Floyd had to admit that the man had a point. Torry agreed, as well, for she followed Walter’s orders to the letter. As one of the few of them to have any magic energy left, she directed a strong breeze at the sails, helping Walter to turn.
Their imminent demise averted, Floyd turned his action to Terrill, and the woman trying to heal him.
Keyword was clearly “trying”, because Krysta was having a difficult time. The light was pouring from her hands as it usually did, but while the bleeding stopped, the wounds themselves refused to heal. They were just hemorrhaging shadows rather than blood. Krysta wiped at her brow.
“I don’t understand…” she breathed. With the sweat cleared from her forehead, Krysta tried again, her hands running down Terrill’s chest. The pale light of her healing magic could be seen trying to stitch Terrill’s skin up, but it was failing to do so. “They won’t heal. Every time I try, those shadows… No…”
“Krysta, what’s wrong?” Floyd’s question went unanswered, but Krysta had paused in her failed attempts to stare across the sea. Terrill groaned, his body twitching in pain as he remained untreated. The longer he watched, the more Floyd knew he had to take over, grabbing one of his daggers. There was a little magic left in him, and he started to channel the heat to his knife, making it burn as he prepared to press it to Terrill’s wound.
Krysta’s hand snapped out to grab Floyd’s wrist, preventing him from doing anything. “It won’t make a difference. We’re too close.”
“Too close to what, exactly?” Krysta didn’t answer. She didn’t seem to have any answer, or at least not one that she was willing to give. All the while, Terrill was struggling, slipping in and out of unconsciousness. “Damn it, Krysta, I can’t just sit around right now. I’m the reason Terrill’s-”
“It’s a Lifeblood, isn’t it?” Torry’s shout from the mast broke Floyd’s tirade, and Krysta looked to match their gazes. “When we were near the Lifeblood of Fire, Floyd’s magic was stronger than anything I’d seen in the Academy. By conclusion, all spells are powered up in the presence of a Lifeblood, and if you can’t heal Terrill because of that darkness…”
“Wait, are you saying we’re even remotely close to the Lifeblood of Darkness?”
“How about you theorize about mumbo jumbo when we’re not being fired upon. I doubt this little vessel will take us all the way to Clupei before we’re shot out of the water!” Walter’s warning came none too soon, as the bang of cannon fire could be heard from one of the larger ships, a cannonball coming for them with deadly accuracy.
Krysta didn’t waste time with the annoying barrage, flinging up a shield that the cannonball struck and burst upon. The blast pushed their ship slightly, but left Krysta free to begin working Torry’s conclusion. “Yes, I think we are. I can feel it, that soul that supports the darkness…it’s worsening Terrill’s condition, and I can’t… My magic can’t break through.”
Another cannon fired, leaving them as sitting ducks on the open sea. This one struck home, blasting apart a piece of the mast. It snapped and cracked, but held on thanks to Torry freezing the splinters in place. Another close call like that and they all knew they would be dead in the water. There was nowhere to go. North was the whirlpool, south the Invarian navy. The west was a long shot, and to the east, directly back to the port, the Fiends were waiting to tear them to shreds.
Floyd wanted to hit something, regretting his mistakes that led to this. There was, however, no time. The Invarian Navy was readying another volley, and they were certain to be sunk.
“I can take him.”
The boom of the cannons faded to an ominous hum in Floyd’s ears. That voice. He had only heard it twice in his life, but already he hated it. His fingers curled around the grip of his dagger, wanting so much to plunge it in the voice’s very heart. He was the reason they were here, the reason this had all started, and he wasn’t alone in setting eyes of hatred upon the odious form of the Shadow King.
Floyd had just one word for the ghastly boy. “Never.”
Torry dropped everything, running to stand in front of Terrill with Floyd. Krysta joined them, and she looked to have the nastiest glare of all. Atrum was unfettered by their show of protection, his eyes looking to Terrill’s body beyond.
The ship rocked with sudden force that would have thrown the three to the deck, but they refused to budge, standing opposite Atrum. Walter was shouting something, intending for them to move and help out before the navy capsized their boat, but he never could have known that the greater threat had appeared directly on their ship.
“Right now, where we are,” Atrum spoke, his syllables enunciated with slow emphasis, “I am the only one that could possibly save him.”
“And why would we ever believe that?” Krysta asked. She stepped in front of Floyd, pushing him back to look after Terrill. It was an act easier said than done as Terrill coughed, turning over. Floyd wasn’t sure if he was regaining consciousness, or just struggling with the shadows that threatened to rip him apart from the inside. “Why would we ever trust you, when even Terrill doesn’t?”
“Because I’m his friend, of course. I don’t want to see Terrill die any more than you do, but if he remains in Adversa, he will die.” Floyd should have been surprised, but nothing could anymore. Warren’s reveal that they were nothing but souls had taken the shock away from anything else that could be said. A peppering blast of the cannons echoed over the ocean, while Atrum stood calm upon the boat. “The shadow, my shadow, it is easier to manifest inside an ethereal world of souls.”
“Your shadow?” Torry demanded.
“Surely, you didn’t think I’d let the Fiends wander with pure wills of their own. I share my own soul with them, though that’s not the easiest way to describe it. A lesson for another time, however, should Terrill survive the trip.”
“And where do you plan on taking him?” Krysta said. A blast of cannon fire ripped through the side of their boat, and Floyd felt the entire vessel shake, starting to take on water in trace amounts. It was enough to make him fear for their chances of escape.
“Dimidia, of course. Terrill is a physical being, while the shadow is that of the soul. It can take root in Adversa, but if not much time has passed, it will not survive in such a world. Not yet.” Atrum held his hand out, impervious to the rain of cannon fire that threatened to capsize their ship. He was offering a choice, but every bone inside Floyd’s body screamed for him to not take it. “Let me take Terrill home. It will free him of the shadow I instilled inside my Fiends. If he survives the trip, of course.”
There was little time for discourse surrounding Terrill’s fate. Floyd knew that, turning his head to see the next volley coming their way. He grimaced, and tapped into more of his magic reserve to cool the air around the boat. The cannonballs slowed in midair, buying them a small amount of time to make a decision on how best to save Terrill. Keep him here in a fruitless attempt to heal him? Or allow Atrum to take him on the chance he wouldn’t survive at all?
“And how would you even be able to bring him home?” Torry asked, the one pertinent question to make their decision. Atrum never dropped his hand, but gave a soft smile, like he was trying to assure Torry that it would all be just fine.
“Because I can pass through the barrier between the two. I can ride the flow. This vessel was made exclusively to transcend those barriers. Now, let me take him.”
Vessel? Is that something to do with the Lifebloods? Floyd had to wonder what he meant, but a decision needed to be rendered, and the cannonballs were a hair’s breadth away from hitting them. Walter tried to maneuver the ship, but there was no time to escape the blast that would tear them in two. Floyd looked down to Terrill, wondering what he would have wanted, what option he would have taken, and whether any of them could knowingly choose the right one.
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In the end, it didn’t matter, because Krysta chose their answer.
She snapped.
“You perverse freak!” Light coalesced at her fingertips, gathering in the air around her while the sky grew darker. The barrage stopped, and Floyd was unsure if it was because of what was happening or the soldiers’ need to reload. It was unsettling, to say the least. “You will not take him, body or soul! You abomination!”
“Krysta…” Torry backed away, frightened by the look of pure fury upon Krysta’s face. Walter had stopped steering the ship, too, everyone receiving a visage of the girl that none had expected. Well, maybe Terrill had, as he seemed to come to, his fingernails digging at the wood, crawling for her.
“Abomination? I’m offering help to my very best friend, and you wound me with such words?” The light finished gathering, and Krysta thrust her palms forward, the beam of bright, white luminescence firing high into the air. It seemed to consume Atrum, or so Floyd believed, until he saw the shadow floating just to the side of it, his arm burning from the sudden attack.
“You and your Fiends cannot be trusted! Every word that spills from your lips is a lie!” Floyd found himself backing away, frightened by the display of the woman on the attack. He could see Terrill crawling, but not wanting him to worsen his wounds, Floyd grabbed him and pulled him back. “I do not know what your plan is, but I know you are perverting nature at its very core, ripping at the very pillars that are the Lifebloods! And you expect us to trust you after you used him and tossed him aside like garbage?!”
“Bold words. Can you really say you’re any different?” Atrum’s smirk infuriated Floyd, but he didn’t dare near a Krysta on the warpath. Even the barrage had completely been silenced, with light swirling around Krysta’s body. That alone sent shivers through Floyd, for when he looked up, it was like all the brightness had been stolen, pulling back the veil of blue to reveal stars. “I’m no more of a liar than you.”
“Silence, Fiend! Go back to your abyss!” Krysta was done stalling. Her rapier was discarded, and instead, the light formed solid in her hands as twin blades of radiance. With a single slash, a beam of energy rippled into the air for Atrum. The boy narrowed his eyes, and withdrew his own sword, clashing his dark shadow with the light. The resultant sparks sent an explosion of wind over the boat, knocking each of them down. Krysta closed the gap. “I will not let you hurt Terrill!”
Floyd watched as Krysta’s sword barely missed Atrum’s head, only for her to convert the other sword into light that surrounded her hand. She sunk the fist in Atrum’s stomach and sent him tumbling off the boat. He didn’t fall towards the ocean, righting himself with simple teleportation that placed him back on the deck, his sword screaming for Krysta’s head. With a snap, a barrier stopped the attack, and Krysta swung her leg around, passing through her own shield to strike Atrum in the head. He was flung towards Floyd, who picked up Terrill and dragged him out of harm’s way.
Atrum slid along the deck, and Floyd was frightened to see the grin on his face. It was an eerie contrast to the harsh fury that drew lines on Krysta’s. In his hands, Floyd could see dark particles tie themselves together from many sources. Like strings, they wove themselves together, taking all aspects of shadows in the air. Krysta countered that with her own, everything growing dimmer.
“So, that’s what it is? You don’t care what I do, so long as he doesn’t die? Doesn’t that go against the precious mandate?!”
“So long as you want him out of Adversa, it tells me that keeping him here is against your plan! For me, that is good enough! Luster Beam!”
“Chaos Shot!”
“Take cover!” Floyd yelled. He hauled Terrill up by the arms, dragging him as close to the stern of the ship as possible, low to the ground. The dueling two fired their beams, one of obsidian black and the other of brilliant white. They clashed in midair, sending ripples out over the waves. Some of the ships were carried further away, and even their tiny boat at the epicenter moved ever so slightly back towards the whirlpools. The boat began to crack and creak, as well, barely holding itself together.
“Krys…ta…” Terrill was mumbling in his delirious state, his eyes fluttering. Floyd looked up as Torry slipped near him, gripping his arm. Their attacks finished, Krysta was running through the shadowy mist, her blade of pure light descending for Atrum’s figure. The boy warped away, appearing back on the stern, behind Walter.
“Yours will do. That darkness is enough.”
“Begone!” Krysta sprang from the deck, her sword whirling around. Floyd glanced up with Torry, both watching as Atrum held his hand. It was a light ripple in the air at first before it became a pocket of wind like the one Walter had created. The hunter had dropped to his knees, as well, and between them was a visible aura of darkness, manifesting as strings. They were just like the ones he had seen with LeBrandon, and Floyd’s eyes widened at the connection.
It was for these strings that Krysta aimed. Her sword glowed brighter, becoming a crystal-clear blade that sliced through the strings connecting Atrum to Walter. The older man fell to the deck, gasping as though the event left him winded, while Atrum recoiled, screaming. Krysta’s attack was not finished, and she aimed her blade to pierce his heart.
“I have no intention of dying. Not this time. You are not the arbiter of my fate!” Atrum’s scream gave Krysta no pause, but her blade still missed its mark. The boy disappeared, wrapped up in a whirl of darkness to appear behind her, his blade wreathed in shadows as he plunged it downward. Krysta saw the strike incoming, and turned to avoid it, beating the blade away, only for it to slice upon her arm, cutting at the flesh. There was no blood, and Floyd flinched, reminded of all that Warren had broken them with. Krysta stumbled back.
Something changed in the air in that brief moment.
It was only a second, yet the seas around Invaria suddenly became still, and the whirlpool changed its orientation. The skies grew darker than they had even with Krysta’s attack, and Floyd felt as if his very breath was being stolen from his lungs. The reaction to the duel between darkness and light felt ever so palpable, and Floyd looked up, finding nothing. Then Torry gripped him.
“Beneath us?” she hissed. It was the most accurate they could guess, and soon, they were proven right.
It started with the ground glowing bright, and then the seas started to part, pushing their boat just a little out of the way. It took a few seconds longer, and then the sea was split entirely. A beam of light, stronger than what even Krysta had shown, fired from beneath the waters. It struck the side of the boat, ripping parts of it away. Krysta fell on her bottom, while Atrum was nearly consumed by the blaze of light, stumbling towards the mast at the center. Worse yet, Floyd could see that they were being pulled into the whirlpool, and the steering wheel was going wild, Walter unable to get a hold on it.
“This boat’s going down. We need to jump ship!” he shouted. That wasn’t much of an option with Terrill in their hands.
“Light…” Torry muttered, and Floyd wanted to scream at how many things demanded his attention. The first of all was Terrill, who he tried to move against the most stable section of the boat alongside his sword. Then his eyes found Atrum. There was a scowl on the boy’s face, and a sense of surprise he hadn’t seen before, keeping him rooted in place. Floyd decided to keep him there before further damage could be done. “Floyd, we can use more light!”
“Great, Torry! I have no idea what you mean!” His last word was grunted out as he sunk his knee into Atrum’s stomach. The boy was still dazed, brought out of it a little by the hammering that winded him. His dark eyes, glowing a feral red, rounded on Floyd.
“The old man’s already interfering. I won’t let you interfere eith-” Walter had jerked the wheel. It brought them even closer to the depths of the whirlpool, water now raining upon them. Atrum had fallen to the floor, and Floyd leapt upon him, using his foot to pin the boy’s chest while he held to the cracking mast.
Torry, meanwhile, had secured Terrill and his blade. She looked up to where Krysta was standing, clasping at the wound on her arm, and shouted over the merciless tides. “Krysta, you said our closeness to the Lifeblood of Darkness could be preventing Terrill from being healed because of his darkness, right? What if we amp up your power by going to the Lifeblood of Light?!”
“The Lifeblood of Light?” The ship rocked and rattled, and Krysta barely managed to get ahold of a railing, her feet slipping on the now drenched surface. “I don’t know where that is.”
“Of course, you do!” Torry insisted. Floyd watched her scramble across the wet surface, Terrill’s body locked in place with ice. He would have looked comical, but the situation was far from it. “You can sense the Lifebloods!”
“Even if I find where it could be, there’s no guarantee that we can get there!”
“Whatever decision you’re going to make, make it now!” Walter shouted. The boat was nearly ripped apart, and Atrum was struggling to break free. Floyd let go of the mast, pressing down on the boy to lock his legs and prevent him from further struggles.
“We ride the passageways!” Torry shouted, her words drowned by the roaring whirlpool. Their collapse into that gaping maw was imminent. “Like we did from Tarkinder. If you can find the Lifebloods, you can find those passages. Read those souls! Ride us through it!”
“Torry’s right!” Floyd shouted, though it sounded more like grunts from his perspective. “We managed to ride them twice before, and you definitely had a connection to the line that ran under Ardoris. I say we go for it, and not because Torry suggested it! This is the best chance we have of getting out of here alive, ‘cause it’s either the whirlpool or the navy!”
Krysta’s rage had been abandoned, now, replaced with uncertainty. She looked at each of them, struggling as they tried to survive their plunging ship. “I…I can’t…”
“Of course, you can!” Torry had reached Krysta, taking her by the hands. Both were shaking, and Floyd frowned, knowing just what Torry had to say, what she had to admit, to get Krysta to act on their only opportunity. “Krysta, the control over your magic is greater than anything I’ve ever seen. You showed that just now. You put me to shame in the most magnificent of ways. So, I know that you understand the principle of channeling energy into matter… Channeling…channeling souls into matter. You can open a path for us. Tap into the Lifeblood and get us there.”
Krysta remained unsure, her fingers scratching at the wound left to her. She couldn’t make up her mind, and they were out of time. Floyd called out.
“Krysta!” She settled her gaze upon him, eyes wide and breath heavy. “This isn’t just to save us. This is so we can help Terrill. So we can all continue fighting. No more running away, no more thinking for ourselves. We, all of us, are in this fight to the end, souls or not. So, let’s get moving!”
The storm didn’t quell, but the doubt disappeared. There was still a heaviness behind Krysta’s eyes, but when she looked at Terrill, she softened. Her lips quivered, inhaling a breath, and then she nodded. With what strength she could muster, Krysta pulled herself along the edge to the stern, past Walter and facing the center of the whirlpool. Whatever words she whispered were lost to the waves.
“Walter, full bore into the vortex!”
There was hesitation in Walter’s movements, but they were soon replaced with a maddening laugh. “Aye, aye, ma’am!”
He jerked the wheel, turning the poor boat, or what was left of it, towards the eye of the maelstrom. As he did, Atrum broke free, his legs thrashing enough to throw Floyd off of him. He attempted to stand, but Floyd lunged for his legs, tackling the boy to the ground. The redhead raised his fist and clocked Atrum on the face, hoping it was enough to knock him out.
It didn’t matter. Krysta was already at work, her eyes closed and her body glowing. So, too, did the sea glow a brilliant white, its light emerging from the center of the vortex. Torry started to laugh, while Floyd found it magnificent. The flow of souls that Krysta was reading became real, and to Floyd, it was a lifeline that was as crazy as it was reality. The true power of the Lifeblood was made clear in that moment, the magic they spread throughout Adversa. Floyd inhaled a shaky breath, looking beyond his small world for the first time.
This was everything Terrill was fighting to protect.
And he wanted to protect it with him.
Those were the last thoughts as Walter drove the ship straight into the light that eclipsed their ship, funneling down into the whirlpool. With a wink and blast of light that surged over Invaria, all of those on the boat were sucked in and disappeared.