A large fountain rose at the center of the plaza. Despite the stormy weather, the plaza itself remained dry—likely protected by some spell, he assumed.
They had brought him here on foot, down many pathways. To stay out of the rain, they had used sidewalks with glass ceilings.
Now they just stood there in the middle of the crowd. Most people walked by without paying him any attention. Some, though, sat on the edge of the fountain and stared at him.
Jack shifted uncomfortably. Brought his hand to his mouth as he coughed. He had taken the last pills from the bottle shortly after his arrival in Ahuaxa. Whatever came next would decide his fate. His safety net was gone.
More of the Zendaar arrived. One of them caught his eye—how could he not? His entire suit was white, as were his hair and eyes.
This one came up to him and stopped a few feet away.
“Jack Arnett... You are a persistent one, I’ll give you that much. Very well, then. You wanted to see me—”
“Rakash!”
The white-haired man did not hide his displeasure at being interrupted.
“What is it you want from me?” he asked.
“I want to live!”
Rakash looked at a Zendaar who stood next to him.
“Is he dead, then, and I hadn’t noticed?”
The other laughed a mean laugh.
“No,” said Jack. “I mean... I’m sick. Dying. Evken told me you could help... make me immortal!”
Rakash quirked a brow. “Did he now?”
Jack realized many were watching and listening. And all of them seemed to find the exchange highly entertaining.
Why was Rakash doing this?
“Can’t we... talk somewhere private?” he asked with a frown.
“No.” Rakash stared at him. Smiled a little. “But this is not the first time I tell you no, is it? And now, here we are.” He gestured to the crowd that had gathered. “This is important to you, is it not?”
“Yes,” grumbled Jack as he coughed.
“What was that?”
“Yes! It’s important.”
“Important enough that you had to make a spectacle just to reach me. So is it not fair to make a spectacle of our conversation? I think it is.”
The pain inside Jack felt like burning acid coursing through his bloodstream. He cringed and held his breath, hoping it would pass as it sometimes did.
If Rakash wanted to play mind games, what did he care? As long as he could cure him...
“Can you help me?” he asked between two coughs.
“Of course,” said Rakash with a sweet smile.
He didn’t say or do anything further, though.
“What do you want in exchange?” asked Jack.
Rakash crossed his arms.
“What would you be willing to do to save your own life?”
“Anything!”
There was mock surprise on Rakash’s face. “Really? Even... I don’t know... say, kill another human?”
Jack balked at the suggestion, but not for long as he remembered how his organs were shutting down, one after the other.
“Yes,” he rasped with another cough.
Rakash threw his arms in the air and spun to look at the assembled crowd. “He said yes, my friends! Had I not told you he would? These humans are so predictable.”
He clapped his hands and Jack saw two more Zendaar come out of a nearby building. They held a man between them. The man wore a gray tunic and a hood covered his head.
Rakash pointed at the new arrival and glanced at Jack. “Look! How lucky. We just happen to have another human right here. And since I’m feeling gracious today, I have decided to grant you your wish.”
Hope surged through Jack’s heart, though a part of him felt bad for what he knew was bound to come next. Did he have a right to condemn this poor man just so he could live? But he was so tired of being sick, of suffering... he just wanted it to end... please yes, make it end!
“In fact,” went on Rakash, “I feel so generous I won’t ask you to kill him yourself.”
He walked up to the prisoner, pulled the hood off, and bit down on the man’s throat, all in one motion.
“No!” shouted Jack as he recognized the victim and horror filled his heart.
It was Will!
His friend looked dazed, likely drugged, and did not even try to fight back.
Jack tried to run to him, to push the white-haired man away, but he was held firmly in place by the two Zendaar who stood beside him.
It would have been too late, anyway.
Rakash drank for a long time from the growing wound. When he finally stopped, he pushed the body to the ground as if it were some piece of trash. Many in the crowd jumped on the still convulsing corpse and started ripping it apart.
Rakash walked slowly toward Jack with a wicked smile on his face, with Will’s warm blood still dripping from his lips.
Jack was pushed down to his knees as Rakash reached him.
The white-haired man placed a clawed finger under Jack’s chin, pushing it up. He felt someone hold his forehead as Rakash forced his mouth to open.
The Zendaar then opened his own mouth and Will’s blood flowed down into Jack’s throat. He began to choke, but still they maintained him firmly in place, forcing him to swallow.
Voices chanted as his friend’s blood spread inside him... It burned, but it also brought him energy. He could feel it as the aches that plagued him slowly faded, his organs healed, his coughing stopped... He felt stronger, too.
It worked!
They let go of him and he stumbled to his feet.
“With this tribute,” said Rakash, “you become one of us. For only through a friend’s sacrifice can one truly attain humanity.”
The white-haired man then turned and walked away.
As did everyone else, little by little.
Soon, Jack was left alone on the plaza, with only the dismembered body of his friend.
***
The door was no longer locked.
Just like she had expected.
Nor were the guards there.
She was free.
Which did not surprise her.
Susan had been a prisoner, but Julia was not.
She walked through the long hall, her mind distracted by all the new memories.
What was she going to do?
Qojja was a mess.
And though she was no longer a prisoner, she doubted they’d just let her leave the mansion. Rakash had gone through too much trouble to bring her back.
“Psst! Susan. Over here!”
She paused and looked in the direction the voice had come from.
A man stood half-hidden behind a yellow marble pillar, waving at her.
His face was familiar.
She frowned.
Where had she seen him?
In the garden, staring at her... but before that, too.
She walked toward him and, as she got closer, his name came back to her.
“Detective Ward?”
It felt like a lifetime ago.
The man nodded, grabbed her arm, and pulled her away from the hall.
“I thought I recognized you,” he said. “How did you get here?”
“I... followed a lead. About my parents. Why are you here?”
“My investigation on that journalist’s death... these Zendaar did not like my meddling and they abducted me. But I think I’ve found a way out...”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Great! I need to get out of here.”
“Alright, follow me.”
They went through a door. It led to a bridge over the garden that connected the mansion to a tower at the back.
As they walked, Ward glanced at her. “You know there’s a statue down there that looks exactly like you?”
“There is?” Susan was surprised, though she also found it amusing, and somewhat endearing. “Who would have thought...”
“Why does that lunatic have a statue of you?”
“It’s Julia.”
“What?”
“The statue. It’s Julia.”
“Who is Julia?”
“I am.”
Ward gave her a confused look. She smiled.
“It’s complicated.”
They arrived at the entrance of the tower, but when the door opened, they came face to face with a large Zendaar who squinted at them.
“What are you doing here?”
Before Ward could say anything, Susan stepped up.
“You dare question me? Do you know who I am?”
The man stared at her, then lowered his eyes.
“I apologize, Julia. I did not know you had returned. It is an honor...”
“I am in a hurry,” she interrupted as she pressed past him. “Have a good day.”
The startled detective followed her. “What just happened?”
Susan grinned at him. “I once was popular among the Zendaar.”
“You still are, I’d say.”
She shrugged as he took the lead again.
They walked down a flight of stairs and through a long corridor that ended at an elevator door.
“This is the tricky part,” he said as he brought a keycard out of his pocket. “Restricted access. I stole this from one of the guards.”
He pressed the card against the scanner. Four colored lights blinked, then the door slid open with a hissing sound. They hurried inside.
“Do you know where this goes?” asked Susan.
Ward tapped on the console and the elevator began to go down.
“Into the city below. From there, we’ll have to reach the gateway. It’s the quickest way back to civilization.”
“And how do we get to this gateway?”
“It’s a short walk. I got the location from some of the servants.”
As they came out of the elevator into the busy streets of Ahuaxa, Susan looked up.
The rain had stopped, but the sky was as dark as it had been since her arrival on Qojja.
When she noticed the trees, high above, she remembered the city was built at the bottom of a chasm.
Would it be possible to climb up?
There’d have to be a way, she figured as they walked.
People stared at them, she sensed. Likely some recognized her.
They were all Zendaar, after all. How could they not?
She had meant so much to them.
Many thought of her as a savior, as she had negotiated the peace treaty between their people and the humans, so many millennia ago—in a time when the Zendaar were being slaughtered.
It had been her duty, though.
She could not let these creatures die.
But now, there was another danger—a much more pressing one. One that could destroy all life on the planet.
Though she could not sense it, she could guess it.
The constant disasters and climate tampering would eventually start an unstoppable chain reaction.
It might already be too late.
“There it is!” she distractedly heard Ward say.
But she was looking elsewhere.
There, against one of the cliffs that surrounded the city, she saw a platform that could be used to go up.
“Susan?” She glanced at Ward. “Are you okay?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
“Come on, let’s go.”
Though people looked at them with curiosity, no one tried to stop him as Ward jumped straight through the gateway.
Susan watched him go, then turned and headed toward the cliff.
This madness had to end.
No one tried to stop her either as she reached the platform and stepped onto it. She hit the control, and it began to rise.
She watched as the ground grew smaller, further and further away from her.
It was always a difficult thing to do, no matter how many times she’d done it before. But she also knew there was no other way...
To save Qojja, her dreamskin had to die.
When the platform was high enough the crowds below looked like little dots...
... she spread her arms and jumped off.
***
They went back to the cavern, ready to fight... but the renegades were no longer there.
Xian started down a tunnel, followed by his two friends.
“Maybe you should stay here,” Xian told Evken. “We can draw them to you...”
The Zendaar shook his head. “No. We can’t afford to waste any more time. They could be far. We need to do it all as soon as we find them.”
“You could get killed,” pointed out Paul.
“I’ll stay out of the way. Besides, I can phase out if it gets hot. I understand the process better now. I’ll be fine.”
After ten minutes of exploring and not finding anything of interest—let alone anyone—Xian wondered if they weren’t wasting time.
“Maybe they’re out there busy starting another storm,” said Paul, echoing his father’s thoughts.
“Any way we could check?” asked Evken.
“We’d need to get back to my ship... which we left behind so we could use the Gleaming.”
“We could use the mask’s residual energies to locate them,” suggested Paul.
“We’d lose the element of surprise if we did that.”
“I could get us back to your ship in two seconds,” remarked the Zendaar.
Xian lifted a hand in the air to quiet them.
They all heard it, then. The distant sound of voices.
It came from a tunnel on their right.
They headed in that direction.
As they approached, the voices became louder, and they saw a light flickering at the end of the corridor.
They went on more quietly, until they were just a few feet from the entrance to another, larger cave.
The conversation had become more distinct, though uninteresting, as the three prayed to their One True God.
“Blessed be Thy Name,” said Xhoras.
“Which cannot be voiced,” said Verlhynn.
“For to voice it would be blasphemy,” said Udrak.
“Blessed be Your wisdom, for it is almighty and all-knowing.”
And they went on about the abomination that was Qojja and how soon they would achieve their god’s will, and so on and so forth.
Xian motioned for the other two to stay put, then walked into the cavern.
The three runaways were in a circle, sitting on the stone floor. Their eyes were closed, faces lowered as they blabbered their nonsense.
Xian lifted his hands and, with a few quick motions, generated the winds he’d need.
They had practiced the plan twice to make sure Evken was comfortable enough with his task—his part would be the trickiest.
The three Rissl must have heard the whistling of the rising winds, as they jumped to their feet and turned to face Xian.
“You!” shouted Xhoras.
But it was too late.
The winds rushed toward the runaways and spun around them angrily.
If it had worked on his son, Xian figured it would work on them too.
And it did.
The contrary winds made it impossible for the prisoners to move.
***
He was nervous.
Despite having practiced this twice, he feared he would mess up.
He had once before, after all, had he not?
This is different, he told himself.
This should work.
If he got it right.
He watched from the entrance to the cave, with Paul standing next to him.
They heard the whistling winds before they felt them.
By the time they’d become powerful enough to hold the renegades, the Suryi had jumped to their feet.
Evken began the process.
He closed his eyes and reached out to the Gleaming.
The familiar shifting in his mind told him he had arrived.
But still he maintained his eyes closed as he pictured an opening, a hole, a tear in the fabric of reality.
There was a cracking sound... followed by an angry voice: “What do you think you’re doing?”
Evken lost his focus.
He blinked at the tiny man who stood before him, hands on his hips. He wore what looked like a blue military uniform.
“Well?” he asked, impatiently.
“I’m opening a pathway,” he muttered.
“I can see that. But I expect you do not have the proper authorizations, now, do you?”
“What?”
“You can’t just go and poke holes into the ether wherever you like, you know. It’s not polite. Not to mention, illegal.”
Evken stared at the man. Frowned.
“I don’t have time for this,” he said as he started to open the passage again.
“Oh no, you don’t!”
He felt his strength seep out of him and the way was shut close.
“How did you do that?” he asked in disbelief.
The little man waved a finger at him. “You had better have a good explanation for this, young one!”
Young one? Evken was thousands of years old.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Well now! That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said all day. I’m Avran, of course. Now, tell me what this is all about before I put a curse on you.”
“My friends are in danger,” he said irritably, “I need to bring them through quickly...”
Avran squinted at him suspiciously. “Helping friends? Is that all, then?”
“Yes,” said Evken.
“Well, there are easier ways to go about it, but alright. Get your friends to safety. Then I’ll decide what to do with the lot of you.”
Was this guy for real?
Evken put the question aside to focus on his task.
The air before him rippled and shuttered as the ether slowly cracked. He made the opening widen further until he could see Paul on the other side...
Now, he just needed to keep the passage open long enough for everyone to come through.
***
As soon as the renegade Rissl became bound by the howling winds, he turned and shouted: “Now, Evken!”
Paul blinked. The Zendaar was already gone.
He must have launched the process.
Paul turned back to his father. He seemed to have things under control.
“Evken should have the pathway opened any minute now,” he called out.
“I hope so. I’m not sure how long I can hold them...”
Paul frowned. “It didn’t seem too difficult for Xhoras when he did it to me.”
“I have three of them to maintain at once. And each of them is much more powerful than you are. Sorry, kid.”
Paul grimaced.
It was true, though. He was still new to this whole godhood business.
His father insisted they were not gods—and he wasn’t exactly of the religious type—but sometimes it was difficult to think of themselves as anything but...
He looked back at the spot where the Zendaar had stood and wondered what was keeping him up.
It had gone rather quickly when they had trained.
But the Gleaming was a strange and new place, even to Evken. Perhaps he’d run into something unexpected...
The air shimmered and cracked.
“Father! It’s opening.”
He glanced over his shoulder and saw the three renegades floating in the air, carried by the contrary winds, as Xian walked toward him.
The opening widened and Paul saw their Zendaar friend on the other side, leaning on his cane.
“Come through... Quick!”
Paul held out one hand toward the Rissl and the other toward the passage.
Because of his mixed heritage, he could feel both of them, control them. This made him the perfect conduit for what they needed to do.
He took over from his father, pushing the winds toward the opening. He could feel now the strength of the prisoners as they attempted to break free. The strain was formidable.
Paul made the winds blow harder and faster, sweeping them toward the pathway, and through it.
Then he grabbed his father’s shoulder and pulled him into the Gleaming with him.
The gap closed behind them with a popping sound as the three Rissl fell to the ground.
The winds died instantly.
The now free renegades jumped to their feet, turned around, and held out their hands with fury in their eyes.
“You fools! Do you think you can hold us? You will die for this...”
Nothing happened.
They stared at their hands.
“What is this?”
Evken walked up to Xhoras with a big grin on his face. Then, he punched him in the nose.
The Rissl staggered back with a howl of pain.
“How is this possible?” he yelled.
“This is not Qojja,” said Xian. “We have no powers here.”
“This is highly irregular...” said a small voice from behind them.
Paul spun and saw a little man in a blue military uniform looking at them with a disapproving look.
“I should fine you for this,” he added.
Udrak picked that moment to jump at Evken, push him to the ground, and try to strangle him.
Before he had time to realize what was happening to him, Avran grabbed his arm and in one powerful thrust pulled him off and threw him five feet into the air.
“It is not polite to interrupt,” he said with a frown.
“Who are you?” asked Paul.
“He is Avran,” answered Evken as he got back to his feet.
“Of course,” added Avran with a pleased smile. “You learn quickly, young one.”
“Young one?” asked Xian with a quizzical look at the Zendaar.
Evken sighed. “A more relevant question would be, what are you?”
“If it weren’t you asking,” said Avran, “I’d find that very rude! Isn’t it obvious?” He gestured at his uniform, as if it were enough to answer.
“Sorry, but we’re not from around here...”
“Obviously,” snorted the little man. “I am the Witchmaster General, and serve at the pleasure of his Lordship the Count Saruvar.”
“Does he rule over the Gleaming?”
“That, he does. As for you, young one, I thought you said you were helping friends? These,” he said as he pointed an accusing finger at the stunned Rissl, “do not seem to fit that description. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I apologize, Avran, but I had to act quickly or our prisoners would have killed my friends. They had great powers in the realm of men.”
Avran sniffed at the three renegades. “Prisoners, eh? Not human, for sure.” He glanced at Xian. “Nor is this one.” He looked back at Evken. “And why do you bring your prisoners into the Gleaming?”
“If I may,” said Xian. “It was my idea. We meant no offense. We are unfamiliar with your rules, as we only discovered the existence of the Gleaming recently. But this seems like the only place where they cannot do harm or damage.”
“Hrmph.” The little man squinted at Xian. “This is highly irregular,” he muttered. “I will have to report this, you understand? Still, if it is simply a matter of holding them... there are certainly some who would be happy to accommodate.”
“How do you mean?” asked Evken.
“You really know nothing of the Gleaming, do you?” Avran shook his head with sadness. “Youth today... Well, all sorts of creatures reside here, some of which take great pleasure at tormenting those brought to them. They always appreciate generous donations. These three would certainly bring a sneer of delight to their hideous behemoth faces.” He blinked and looked around with a worried expression. “Though I mean no disrespect, of course, if you’re into that sort of thing... They are quite charming beasts. Truly.” He coughed.
“Of course,” said Evken with an amused smile. “Would you do us the honor of delivering the prisoners for us to these charming beasts?”
“Me?” asked Avran with surprise. “But... Would you not want the reward?”
“We’d be happy to let you have it,” said Xian.
“Well, that is most irregular... though very generous.” He smiled. “Thank you. I shall handle the matter with great diligence.”