Chapter Thirty-Five:
Blacken the Air in my Lungs
Nicodemus
Crickets chirped just beyond the cracked window, singing to one another blissfully amongst the setting sun. Sebastian and Soren had passed out on my bed, curled up adorably in one another’s arms, while Griffin was hanging off the side of the futon with Praxis against his back. I had stayed up straight through the night before and all of the following day waiting for my parents or Blaine to inform of us on what was going on with Odysseus, but nothing came from either of them other than that he’d be fine. Why else had I been awake, though? Because my heart was in incredible pain every moment from the time my parents left until now. The same phenomenon Odysseus had gone through when I was with Pandora plagued me, to the point I was coughing up blood in the bathroom behind my friend’s backs. Only when Blaine had called me did the horrific pain cease, but the worry took over instead.
My eyes were bloodshot but refused to close, yet could barely stay open as I doodled on a piece of notebook paper from my school planner. I was desperate to be alert and ready for another call, but the stress of the past two days had finally caught up. I didn’t realize it right away, but my head had slowly slumped onto the table, and I’d fallen asleep on my crossed arms.
╪
Cold, that was the first thing I felt. Intense cold that made the hairs on my arms stand up, and harsh pants of discomfort puff from my lips like it had me in a chokehold. The ground I was lying on was a block of ice, and made my teeth chatter when the temperature enveloped my body. I somehow found my strength and dragged myself upright to summon May’s element so the cold wouldn’t sting as bad. I sighed in relief when the freezing wind became a soft breeze, and opened my eyes to face the frozen tundra before me.
The sky was completely grey due to the thick snow cascading from the clouds, and the never ending lake I was lying on lead to a line of pine trees, but I could barely make out their image. Within the thin layer of snow covered ice, though, I could see bare footprints, which seemed to lead towards the tree line like a pathway for me to follow. I realized soon that there wasn’t much else I could do, so I stood and trekked across the ice after them.
When I finally reached the trees I found they were split, and revealed an actual stone pathway through the blindingly white snow. The footprints continued up the hillside into the snowy mountains, and before long, stopped at a cave deep within one of the highest ranges of the Realm I was in. I laid a hand on the stone wall and peered inside, only to be met with a crippling darkness that made my soul shiver. “Hello?!” I called stupidly into the cave. My voice rang clearly throughout the structure, and echoed back, but nothing else followed. “Am I really going inside this thing?” I grumbled, only to sigh and regretfully begin inside.
I grew irritated of the lack of light and snapped my fingers, which conjured Alice’s element and allowed a little flame to dance in my palm. As soon as light flooded the cave, I was met with one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever been blessed to witness. Diamond-like icicles were dangling from the ceiling above, glistening off the flame in my hand. The light that refracted through them made their beams radiate a rainbow, which in turn bounced back off of the ice floor beneath me. At the end of the cave was some kind of crystal bed-like coffin. The sides were intricately hand carved in the same dense ice the walls and floor were made from, and when I leaned over the edge to see what was inside, my heart skipped a beat.
A woman was lying in the frozen casket, completely motionless and as cold as the ice she was strewn upon. The inner of the coffin did have a finely spun satin lining, but there was no way the cold would have ever stopped from getting to her through such thin sheets. Her hair was a gorgeous pillowing carob brown that cascaded down her shoulders to hug her elbows, as if it were two arms keeping her safe and protected. Her skin held a distinct sepia tone despite being the grey of death I was all too familiar with. A layer of frost decorated her flawless rich skin, coating her full lips and delicate eyelids to indicate she had been lying here for a very long time.
I lightly brushed the frost off of the white dress she was wearing, and just as I moved to her face, a whimsical chuckle echoed through the air. “Don’t bother, dear; it’ll return within a days’ time, as it always does.”
I whipped around in shock, only to find I was still the only person in the cave… living person, that is. I turned back to the corpse and raised an eyebrow, “Are, you speaking to me?”
“Who else would be?” The voice echoed, though the woman didn’t move a muscle.
I scoffed once and turned to the icicle covered ceiling as if I were expecting someone to be hanging from it, “Who are you? Why am I here?”
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that question? I haven’t had a visitor in years, after all, especially such a young one.” She echoed back, her warm voice bouncing off the icicles.
“Where are you?” I asked, spinning again to see if someone was playing a trick on me.
“In front of you, dear. I thought that was obvious?”
“In front of…” I laid a hand on the corpse’s, “Are you alive?”
Her cheerful laugh echoed through the cave once more, a sound that was somewhat familiar to me in an odd way, “You tell me, Death Elemental?”
“Well, you’re talking to me, so how was I supposed to know?” I peered over the body curiously, and smirked before picking some dirt from the cave ceiling out of her hair, “You’re very beautiful, if you don’t mind my saying. My name is Nicodemus, Nicodemus Crawford.”
“Crawford… So it is you…?” The voice’s tone dropped into a much more serious octave, “You’ve finally come to me, after all these years…?”
“Have we, met? I’m sorry to sound so ignorant, but…?”
“We have not, but I know of you fondly, Nicodemus. We all do… we all have been waiting to meet you for many, many centuries.”
I threw my hands up automatically, “Hold on now; last time I heard those words, a woman sent from Gehenna itself tortured the crap out of me and my friend. I’m not looking to revive anyone, or be some prophecy…?”
The voice was silent, not of anger, but grief and complete astonishment. “Tortured? Who, may I ask, would ever do such a thing…?”
“Pandora; you probably heard of her,” I snorted.
“Pandora…? Gods, how could she-…” the voice made a slight shutter sound before sighing uncomfortably, “Nicodemus, please, understand that you were never meant to be harmed. None of you were ever meant to come to any harm whatsoever, especially so selfishly. I, of course, can only speak for myself at this point, but if anyone is going to be truthful with you, it is I.”
“And yet I still don’t know who you are?” I pointed out.
“Oh, yes, silly me. My name is Halcyon; I am the Original God of Water.”
I blinked in surprise at the God in the coffin, “Halcyon… No offense, but I’m not exactly too trusting of you Original Gods after the episode with Constantine and Pandora.”
“May I attempt to ease you worries?” When I didn’t contest, she continued in her song like tone, “Pandora and Constantine were never to be tasked with collecting our chosen Successors, as they were never trustworthy enough to begin with. Erasmus asked that I should stay awake while the Gods slumbered, and wait for our replacements to be born. Everything was going according to plan, until…” she trailed off painfully for a moment, collected herself, then continued, “Pandora must have awoken when I died, since one of us had to be awake to meet you all. Gods, what has she done… What has she done…?”She continued, mostly to herself at the end.
“Why were you supposed to be awake? What is all of this prophecy nonsense to begin with? This makes no sense…!?” I morosely groaned, smacking my head on the edge of the coffin.
“We are running out of time, dear, but I promise I will explain what I can as soon as possible. There is a book, the Victorine Deorum; it will explain everything to you. If you do not trust my word, seek out the text itself so you can find validation behind what I say.”
“Victorine Deorum? That’s what Odysseus went to get from Kazakhstan…” I breathed.
Halcyon let out a harsh gasp that admittedly made me jump, and whip around to see if something was wrong. Her voice now trembled with pain, as if she were crying, “Odysseus? You know, my Odysseus…?”
“Your Odysseus…?” I echoed in disbelief.
The cave began to fade around us. The sparkling icicles melted into puddles of black water, and Halcyon’s body was swallowed by the ice coffin she was entombed in. Just before the darkness took me with it, Halcyon’s soft sniffle echoed through the cave, and she whispered, “He is my beloved son…” before her voice disappeared with the Realm we were in.
╪
“He’s been asleep for hours! We’ve tried everything to wake him up. Is he, like, in the Shadow Realm or something…?” Soren’s worried voice broke through the air.
“It’s possible, but usually he would hear me calling to him…” Dad laid a hand on my back and delicately rubbed it in circles, “Nick, buddy? Yoo-hoo, Earth to Nicodemus…?”
“Hey, I think he’s up?!” Sebastian sighed in relief as I groggily moaned, attempting to peer through my eyelashes wearily.
Dad saw me struggling and continued to try and coax me up, while eyeing Mom with a frown, “Nick? You alright, buddy? You had us all really worried…?”
“W-Where, where am I…?” I whispered delusionally.
Mom crouched beside my desk to place a hand to my forehead, which she lurched back from abruptly, “Atlas, he’s burning up? Maybe we should call Lysander?” She offered while sliding her arms underneath mine to slowly sit me up. My head flopped lifelessly onto the back of my chair, and my breathing was so harsh that I myself could hear it. My friends were crowded behind me, nervously watching Mom press her palms to my cheeks to try and sense some obvious issues. “I don’t feel anything wrong, and yet, it’s as if all of his energy has been siphoned out? His soul is barely pulsating…? It seems like some type of energy deficiency, which is odd since he hasn’t left Valyce, but even still he would have recovered shortly after if he had…?”
“What else could be causing this?” Dad mumbled to her.
“Halcyon…” I breathed, which made my parents freeze.
“What did you say?” Dad croaked before gasping, “Nick, hey, Nick?! Nick, stay awake for me, ok buddy…?! Nick?!” Dad called for someone to let Lysander know my parents were bringing me to see him as my consciousness faded, and I slumped in my father’s arms lifelessly.
╪
Three days later my fever dropped, but my fatigue didn't. Dad thought it may have been some kind of infection from what happened with Pandora, but Lysander said it was just a cold, which really Elementals weren’t supposed to get, but it was possible if our energy was weak enough. I hadn't heard from Halcyon since, and my Shadows were worried because they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I assured them I would be fine and continued to tough it out, though internally I was terrified. I was positive my interaction with Halcyon was causing my illness, but I wasn’t sure why. Training on Friday proved my theory.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Throw your back into it, Praxis!” Blaine cried, dancing back and forth to watch our fight. Praxis darted at me; I blocked her attacks as best I could before dancing into the air. She threw one weak wind gust at me, and it knocked me so off balance that I dropped from thirty feet in the air. “Crap!” Blaine cried, bolting onto the field. He slid across the sand and caught me just before I crashed into the ground, practically unconscious.
“What happened?! That wasn’t even powerful?!” Praxis cried as Blaine laid me down. “There’s no reason that should have hit him this hard. Let's get him to the clinic?” She offered, though her hands were trembling against mine. Blaine nodded, helping me stand before he and Praxis took an arm each and raced me across campus.
╪
“Gods, this is a mess, just a mess…!” A loud crash echoed through the cave, and icicles pelted the floor violently. They cracked and shattered into billions of pieces that ricocheted off my body, which was what woke me to begin with. I wearily lifted my head, brushing ice from my eyes as a figure came into view. She was storming back and forth behind the coffin, which still held Halcyon’s physical body, though I could see her soul this time. She was gripping her flowing hair and pulling it in anger, her eyes the pure black of someone who has passed on, but ice was crackling around them as she fumed. “That stupid bitch, how could she do this…?!”
“Halcyon…?” I weakly coughed.
Halcyon paused, and turned on her ankle in horror to see me sitting up against the cave wall. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and she rushed around the coffin to get a better look at me, “Nicodemus? W-What, what are you doing here, dear?”
“Why are you so angry…?”
She scoffed slightly, and slowly bent down to lightly reach over and touch my cheek. When she felt how hot it was, she flinched in worry, “Can you, can you see me?”
“I can see your soul…” I delusionally chuckled, my head flopping to the side slightly, “It’s so hot here today…?”
“No… No, no, no…!” She jumped up and cupped her face, tears streaming down her cheeks wildly, “Oh Gods, this can’t be happening?”
“What’s going on…?”
“You’re… You’re not supposed to be able to see me. You shouldn’t have been able to return here like this…? Oh Gods, I’m killing you, I’m killing you…?!” Her voice broke as the walls melted again, and though she continued to cry my name, I simply was ejected back to reality. I left her screaming in defeat, smashing more of the icicles with a Gehenna-bent fury like none other.
╪
“I swear, I should get a raise. All of your children have been stretching me like an accordion lately! They’re trading hospital beds almost on the daily. Think we could keep one or two healthy for a second?” Lysander teased as his cold glove ran across my forehead.
“It’s not like we knew he was sick…?”
“I’m just pulling your leg, Atlas. None of his tests have come back with a blaring issue, let alone a minor one, and his vitals are fine as far as we can tell besides this fever. How peculiar; you said he was saying some odd things earlier this week?”
“Yes, very odd, and very prevalent to what happened to Odysseus…” Mom grumbled.
Lysander tsked, but chuckled when he saw me weakly try to open my eyes, “Ah, there he is. Welcome back, sport. Did you catch some good Z’s?”
“What’s, going on…?” I mumbled wearily, turning to see all of the Gods excluding Blaine were standing behind Lysander with worried frowns.
“Seems you may have caught a bug, kiddo; how are you feeling?” Lysander asked.
My head weakly shifted left to right, “I, I don’t… Where am I…?”
“The hospital, Nick?” Lysander pulled his flashlight free and looked into my eyes now that they were open, “Do you remember who we are?”
“I… Is, is she here…?” I delusionally continued.
“Who, Nick?” He scoffed with genuine worry this time.
“I’m here, dear; I’m so sorry…” Halcyon’s voice echoed above the rest in the room, and made me eyes flash open in horror. “Don’t worry, it’s all going to be ok. We’ll figure out how to make you better. Oh Nicodemus, I’m so sorry…”
“Nick? Hello? Earth to Nicodemus?” Lysander teased, waving a hand in front of my face even though I was staring past him blankly.
“You must find me, Nicodemus, you must. I can help you, I can help you all against Pandora. You cannot fight her alone, and I cannot let you. If you can resurrect me, we can fight her together, as Erasmus had wanted to begin with…”
“I have no clue where to find you?” I abruptly said, which made everyone fall dead silent so they could watch me talk to the air. Blaine had just entered the room following the sounds of the commotion, and raised an eyebrow to Dad, who was too occupied to fill him in.
“I can do my best to direct you. My soul is in Purgatory, far beyond where any normal Elemental can ever reach. It is why you are feeling so ill; I have to use your energy to reach you, but I didn’t realize it would make you this sick. I can only do so much before I have to let you rest. You need to go to the door, the door your parents will let no one enter. You’ll know what to do once you are there.”
“How am I supposed to bring you back…?” I begged.
“What is going on?” Blaine demanded, coming to smack his hands down on the bed rail, “Who are you talking to, and who is trying to make you do something so unheard of…?”
“Halcyon…?” I replied, puzzled, as if I expected the Gods to know who I meant.
The look that overcame Blaine is one I will never forget. His eyes turned glossy, and the color drained from his face instantaneously, to the point he almost lost his grip and collapsed. Luckily, Dad saw this happen and grabbed his arm to help steady him, flicking wildly between Blaine and I, “Nick, what are you talking about? How do you know…?”
“She came to me a few nights ago, to show me where she is. She knows why Pandora is coming after us, and she said she can help us if we find her…?”
“Nicodemus…?” Mom whimpered, seeing the utter devastation on Blaine’s face, but the words couldn’t stop flowing from me.
“She said the Victorine Deorum validates everything she’s told me…?”
“Ok, everyone stop, right now!” Galaxy snapped, coming to stand between Blaine and I, “Everyone needs to take a deep breath and stop talking. Nicodemus, whatever is going on, please refrain from continuing for a moment.”
“Did I say something wrong?” I innocently asked.
Blaine slowly raised his head, his stare empty, “How are you going to be able to resurrect her, Nick…?” He whispered morosely. Dad tried to contest, but Blaine shoved him off and slowly sat in the chair beside me to wait for my answer.
“It's quite obvious, isn’t it? I'm a Death Elemental; if I can’t figure it out, then there’s no point calling myself one…?” I tried.
“I don’t think you understand…” Dad scoffed, “It’s utterly impossible. Death Elementals on their own aren’t allowed to bring souls back, nor do they have the power to do so. Only I...?”
“At this point, who are we kidding?” I snapped over him, which made everyone blink, “I’ve done everything you can except for bring back a soul, so one can only assume with enough strength I can pull this off as well. I don’t have much choice right now, especially with how sick she’s making me.”
“She’s the one making you sick…?” Blaine whimpered.
“Accidently, yes. She can’t talk to me without using my energy, so that’s why I feel so weird. I guess us meeting, like, exposed me to Purgatory when I wasn’t ready to be, so it’s taking a huge toll on my body. She never intended to make me this ill, but eventually I’m going to wither away, so what's safer? Waiting for an inevitable death, or trying to bring her back and saving us both? We can’t shake our connection now, so it’s only a game of who will fizzle out first.”
“You do realize that if you fail, it will kill you?” Dad snapped.
“She said this is what I was supposed to do, what they wanted me to do to begin with. I, I know it sounds insane, but…?” I paused as tears began to slip down Blaine’s cheeks. “Blaine…?” I whimpered, reaching over to pat his arm lovingly.
He sniveled softly, then brought a shaking hand up to lay on mine, “I’m sorry, buddy, I just… I, I mean…?”
I shifted uncomfortably, “She told me, you know, that Odysseus…?” He shuddered, and the tears rushed down faster. “She was your wife, and his mother, wasn’t she?”
“Y-Yes…” he stammered brokenly.
“She told me that when she died, it forced Pandora to wake up and take her spot. The Gods wanted Halcyon to stay awake and wait for all of us to be born, to prepare us for everything that’s in that book, but Pandora was forced to awaken because Halcyon couldn’t fulfill her promise. She feels awful, and the only way she knows how to help is if I find her…?”
Blaine shook his head rapidly, his voice breaking as he spoke, “I can’t let you do that. I can’t let you die to save her. What’s done is done. We will fight Pandora, and we’ll…?”
“Blaine?” He slowly looked up, shocked to see how serious my face was, “I don’t know the whole story, but from what I can gather, her role in this goes far beyond just coming back to life. She knows how to protect us, and the Gods didn’t trust Pandora to begin with, but they did her. If I don’t try, I think we all are going to be in big trouble. She was never supposed to die; she was supposed to make this whole mess make sense, and help guide us into whatever shit storm Pandora’s thrown us in. I know it’s dangerous, but if I don’t try, she’s going to kill me, too.”
“Kill?” Mom breathed in horror.
I nodded ever-so-slightly, “She’s actually killing me, slowly and painfully, and she’s as terrified as I am. Neither of us understand why this is happening, and she’s driving herself insane trying to stop it. None of this Successors nonsense was supposed to harm us, but Pandora took everything they had planned and turned it upside down. She’s terrified to let me do this, too, but earlier I was able to see her soul, and that means I’m really dying. At this point, the worst I do is try?” Behind Blaine, Dad’s entire demeanor changed. He slowly sat on the edge of the bed, laying one hand on my leg as his eyes darkened with worry. I raised an eyebrow and tapped his arm, which made him hesitantly turn to me. “What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“I think I know a way you’d be able to really perform the spell, but, it’s… complicated.”
“How so?” I asked, sitting up stiffly.
He slowly took a deep breath, then folded his hands in his lap, “Resurrecting Elementals is far different from Humans. You need to perform a very specific spell, a spell that can go south incredibly quickly. Knowing what I know about the spell itself, you are going to need two more elements to successfully complete the ritual. I never had a problem because two of my three Shadows are Life and Wind Elementals. A Life Elemental, obviously, helps in restoration of the soul, and a Wind Elemental can pull any toxins out of your body that you contract when reversing the death, so they’re the key to successfully performing this without killing yourself.”
“How am I supposed to get two more Shadows?” I hiccuped.
Dad swallowed, and lowered his head hesitantly, “If what you’re saying is true, if what she is saying is true, then I suppose it’s time to get this whole thing over with. The book in which Halcyon described has a chapter called the Second Coming. It is a long story about how the Original Gods were losing their powers, so they created Successors to take over the universe for them. The rest of us, we were just buffers, waiting for the Successors to be born. It is a story every God ever has been taught, and the entire reason that we fulfill the role; to prepare for when the Second Coming begins. Little did we know our children would be those Successors. It goes beyond being a God… you are the ultimate God, the God of all the Gods, who will rule the universe for millenniums upon millenniums. Your powers will be absolute, grander than the Original Gods themselves…” he trailed off finally.
I gripped the blanket over my legs with shaking hands, “Y-You, you all think…?”
“We know, Nicodemus, we know.” Deveraux sighed.
“We’ve been discussing the possibilities on and off for a long time, but it is obvious now that we can no longer deny it. We didn’t want to fill your heads with such a terrifying idea, but after what happened to you and Sebastian, and then Odysseus… The fact that you all have done as much as you have with your powers…? This goes far beyond taking our spot as the next Gods. If this is how the universe says it should be, then we need to face facts and finally admit to not only ourselves, but to all of you, that you are the Second Comings.” Zephyrine choked out.
Galaxy cut Dad dangerous eyes, which Dad returned before Galaxy finally gave up and sighed, “If you contact two more Shadows, Nicodemus, it would be definite proof that you, in fact, are the Successor of Endymion, making you the single most powerful Death Elemental to walk the face of this universe. You would be the God to surpass all other Gods, a true threat to the likes of Pandora, and anyone else who should stand in your way.”
(If you don’t try to do the contract, you definitely will not succeed in reviving Halcyon. At the very least, if you can recruit the Life and Wind Elementals, then we may have a chance at succeeding after all…) Claude said from where he had been standing in the back corner.
(I really don’t know…) Claude admitted.
[Surely we can help him, and the spell should be in the book. If it is, we’ll be able to try from there?] Alice said as she joined the conversation.
“If we’re going to lay all of these secrets down on the table, then maybe it’s time we were all honest with Nicodemus.” Dad said, turning to glare at my Shadows menacingly.
May, who was stood before the window staring out over the courtyard, slowly turned to Dad, {We’ve kept this secret long enough, and if we aren’t honest now, then we cannot strengthen our bond as a team.}
“What, secret? What the Gehenna else could you possibly be hiding?” I croaked.
Alice cast her eyes away, sighing once, before she whispered, [I suppose it is time…]