Prologue
Three pairs of smoky feet disrupted the stillness of a shattered glass pond. The Alf Dubhar had a mission, hunt and kill the enemies of Deimious, and now they had a specific target: A boy and his friends who had the power to dispose of the Black Czar.
A group of elite Shadowbeasts were following the shades, using them as bloodhounds to find the targets, as the Alf Dubhar couldn’t kill them alone.
As they waded through the river, they came across a village, which was scarce these days. Many had been destroyed in the Betrayal, the time period when Deimious called on the aid of the Alf Dubhar to kill the previous ruler of the Harllow.
As the hunters and their masters entered the village, doors slammed shut, windows closed, and people ducked under stands selling Dragonfruit, one of the rare plants that grew in the Harllow, and drinks such as Nightslosh.
The villagers were scared of them, no doubt about it. The Alf Dubhar had earned a reputation as violent killers, and were typically not welcome in villages such as this one.
Suddenly, a Dubhar perked up.
“What?” The lead Shadowbeast asked, “What can you sense?”
The silent assassin walked to a village door and hissed. The noise disrupting his smoky body.
One of the shadowbeasts whipped out a sword. He pounded on the door with its hilt, “Open up, by order of the Black Czar!”
The beast stepped back. The doorknob slowly turned, opening.
A tall, skinny, and dark-haired elf stepped out, “Y-y-yes? H-how can I be of s-service?”
The shadowbeast looked him up and down. One small thing on the elves shirt caught his attention. A small badge, no bigger than a walnut, decorated with what looked like frozen rain droplets.
It was the symbol of the elven resistance, the sworn enemies of Deimious, and the hunters knew that.
“Name.” The first hunter said.
“S-S-Sarrcan.” He mumbled.
“What’s your profession?” The second hunter asked.
“Weaver.”
“Belief in the Elven Empire.” The third hunter asked.
The elve’s face turned determined, “Blood and violence solve nothing. Langt beó paz në Harllow!”
One hundred doors and windows in the village opened. Hundreds of elves cried out, “Langt beó paz në Harllow!”
*
Three elves survived. They walked north, carrying a bundle of belongings. The village was burning behind them. The shadowbeasts and Alf Dubhar had ruthlessly flown from house to house, imprisoning or killing the locals. Then they’d left it to burn. Only the three travelers here had managed to escape. And they knew they were being hunted.
One was a young girl, she was another resistance fighter, or a Frozen Trooper as they called themselves. Her grim father walked behind her, carrying a firearm in case they were being tracked, not that bullets really affect the monsters of the Harllow, only stunning them briefly.
And the third was an old man, unable to stand on his own. He was new to the town, and very secretive. He never spoke a word to anyone, and barely left his house.
Soon the travelers reached a lake. A big Harlian lake, shattered glass controlled the current and no animals lived under the waters protection, at least as far as anyone knew.
“Thank you for the rescue.” The old man spoke, startling the other two, “However…”
His appearance changed. His skin turned obsidian black. His white cloak turned darker than a nightmare at midnight, and a full length spear appeared in his hand, “I believe Deimious has already won the war you wage.”
“Marksman!” The father yelled. He pulled out his gun and took a shot at the beast. The bullets did nothing. Then the young woman appeared behind the marksman and maneuvered his spear to cross his own throat. The elf flipped him over her shoulder and into the pond. The broken shards of glass cut into the monsters hide.
“Deimious will kill all Frozen Geyser resistance. You solve nothing by killing me.”
Then, despite nothing supposedly living in the lake, a massive shark-like creature leapt out of the water and opened his jaws as he came down on the marksman.
The woman stared at the water, “It’s truly begun.”
Chapter 1
April 2, 2019: Portal of nothing, nowhere…
The wind that was carried by the portal was cold. It froze my veins. My vision was swirling black, purple, and blue from the portal. I had no idea if my friends were still beside me.
Then the swirling stopped and my vision cleared. I was standing in a dark field, surrounded by dark clouds, all wrapped around in a pitch black sky. This world had no color, only misery.
Hi, this is Jake Anderlian. I’m the voted-in leader of Castra Spití and son of the Celtic wilderness god. Standing around me are (from left to right): Mason Brown, Sora Anderlian, Liam Vector, and Veda Ison.
Mason, Veda, and Liam were Air Force people, until– according to Veda– their base in Germany had been attacked by a swarm of Alf Dubhar. Mason wore an elven made amulet named Schwert around his neck. Schwert had a idiotic and sarcastic personality, but don’t underestimate him. I’ve seen him vaporize wolves, summon lightning, and tell bad jokes.
Liam was supposed to be dead, but when his valkyrie picked him up from the Battle of a Single Death/Battle of Castra Spití, he punched her in the shoulder with his flaming boxing gloves and jumped off the chariot into his old body.
Veda is an Air Force… Staff Sergeant? I need to clarify that. She is an Egyptian mage from the middle of the ocean and has a gun that retracts and detracts from her arm like Mega Man. Don’t tell her I said that. She’ll kick the $#!7 out of me.
Sora is my step-sister and the daughter of Selene, the Greek moon titan. And… She was holding Mason’s hand?!
Well that’s new.
Anyways.
The Harllow was dark, damp , and generally miserable. Duh.
There was a small house in the distance. Liam must have seen it, too.
“There.” He pointed it out, “Maybe we can find shelter.”
Likely, ran through my mind, but I didn’t say anything. My eyes traced the shape of a silhouette in the darkness of the world.
It had a humanoid upper body, but the lower half of a… Scorpion? Spider? Caterpillar? It was impossible to tell.
“Guys…?” I said, pulling out my sword, “WhAt. IS. THAT!?”
Liam lunged forward, grabbing at the thing. It dodged to the side then struck Liam in the gut with a pincer/arm.
“Oh (&@9, that thing is fast.” Veda yelled. Her gun folded out over her arm and she blew the lights out of the patch of razor sharp grass where the thing had been a second before. The monster slammed her into a fruitless tree.
I swung my sword around and it extended into a whip. I lassoed the creature just as he was about to smack Veda’s lights out.
With the thing paralyzed, Sora was able to kill it with her dagger. But as soon as the creature was dead. A foul smell erupted from it. Five new human-insects walked out of the woods.
“$#!7” Was all that came out of my mouth.
“Get to the house!” Mason yelled.
Liam grabbed Veda’s hand and pulled her up, “Come on!”
My sword shunked back and I started running. My heart fell in beat with my stride. The creatures ran after us, barely missing Sora when she stumbled.
Then I heard a familiar sound. Hooves clopping on dirt.
Clip, clop, clip, clop
Doff busted out of the forest, slammed a creature in the side, and threw him twenty feet. Twig was riding Doff’s antler with a very serene look on his owl face, he let a single iron feather into an opponent. Huffle surprise attacked one of them and bit its neck. Iwoh lunged and bit another creature’s achilles.
All five bug-creatures died in seconds, but more came from the woods.
“GODS I HATE THESE FREAKING BUGS!” Mason cried.
Sora knocked an arrow and one of the things’s head flew back. There was a crack and I realized that Sora’s arrow wouldn’t have been fatal if she had shot it with less force. The force of the arrow had snapped its neck.
Sora loaded three more arrows into her bow but only one actually killed. She was running out of strength.
More emerged from the woods. Mason turned Schwert into a spear and slammed two monsters into a tree.
We were within yelling distance of the house, so Veda called out to whoever was inside. “Help!”
The door burst open and a girl and her father flew out. The girl had a pistol in one hand, a dagger in the other. Her father held a sniper rifle, which I wasn’t expecting. He had the scope to his eye.
One of the creatures flew back.
“Get in!” The girl cried, firing the pistol’s entire clip.
Her father blasted another creature back.
“What are those!?” I asked.
“Chrysilii.” She yelled, “Cursed soldiers. GET IN!”
I ran as fast as I could into the house. The others followed. Liam threw a rune at the ground near the Chrysilii.
“Isa!” He yelled.
The entire ground froze over. The monsters flipped over, clearly scorpion legs don’t help on ice. Gave a new meaning to ‘when Helheim freezes over’. The father hit one more, then ran into the house with his daughter and us.
He slammed the door shut.
I turned around and found myself staring down the barrel of the girl’s pistol.
“Who are you.” She said-more-than-asked, “Tell us now or we throw you back out there.”
“Jake, Veda, Liam, Mason, and Me, Sora.” Sora answered, “You are?”
“Saeturna and Ronaan. Frozen Geyser troopers.” The father, Ronaan, said.
“Why the sniper?” Veda asked.
Ronaan wasn’t listening.
“Saeturna–” I started. Saeturna turned fuschia and turned away.
Huh.
“Wait,” Veda said, “What do we do?” She gestured to all of us.
“There’s guest rooms upstairs,” Ronaan said, “You may stay here a night. But then you leave.”
“UNLESS,” Saeturna continued, not looking in my direction, “You are helpers of Deimious.”
“We’re not.” Mason spat, “We hate Deimious as much as you.”
“Then you may stay.” Ronaan nodded.
The scratching on the door had stopped by this point. But there had been too much silence for it to last.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Everyone’s head shot up.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Saeturna reset the hammer of her pistol, “Get down.”
With one finally bang! The door burst off its hinges and a troop of DAMU soldiers rushed in. Their autos pointed at our heads.
There were only six of them and we probably could have taken them if a shadowbeast hadn’t emerged from the broken door.
Shadowbeasts are immune to all weapons except fire and water. We had neither fire nor water at our disposal.
“Ah,” The shadowbeast’s nonexistent mouth said, “All five heroes together. Plus some resistance to use as target practice. Wonderful!”
Saeturna shot one of the DAMU elves in the gut. All the elves aimed at Saeturna (With the exception of the now dead one).
“Now why’d you have to go along and do that?” The shadowbeast pouted, “Now I need to kill you by law of the Black Czar. Shame.”
There was the twang of a bowstring and a slash of my sword and the last five DAMU laid dead on the floor.
If the shadowbeast had a mouth I swear it would be grinning.
“You’re alone now.” Veda said, casually loading a shell into her arm-gun, “Surrender and you don’t die.”
“HA!” The shadowbeast laughed, “I wasn’t sent to kill you, little mage, only to dishearten.”
He moved too fast for my eyes to follow. In a millisecond, with a faint shink, Ronaan was lying on the ground, a raithsteel chakram buried in his chest.
“NO!” Saeturna screamed. She charged the shadowbeast, but her knife and bullets passed right through his smoky body.
The monster tornado-spun over Saeturna’s head and swung at her with a sword that had just materialized. Saeturna would have been dead if Twig hadn’t let a feather fly. The titanium projectile cut through the sword’s hilt like it was made of butter.
I swung my sword into a whip and caught the severed blade before it hit the ground, “Nice shot Twig.”
Hoo, he responded. I might have left out a small detail in introductions, and that was that I can talk to/understand animals.
You are an idiot.
I gave him a disapproving look, but another weapon interrupted our discussion. The shadowbeast now had a battle ax.
“Where does he get these weapons from!?” Mason yelled, turning Schwert back into an amulet, “Uile vopn hinna slomljen!”
The shadowbeast’s ax melted. Then a spear tip grew from the burnt staff.
“WHAT THE ACTUAL HELHEIM!” Mason cried.
“Piáse kai petá!” Sora yelled. The spear turned around and impaled the wall.
It was the first time in a while I’d ever heard so many verbal spells being cast. Normally people prefer the easier, weaker, nonverbals or motions, but when dealing with a shadowbeast, verbal is better.
The broken tip of the spear flew back to the shadowbeast, but was stopped with Liam’s “Stad ann an ùine!”
The metal froze midair.
MY turn.
“Suren sí!”
The dangerous object cracked with a sound like thunder.
“Veloíty arrestaratus!”
The shadowbeast flew back into a wall and time froze around him.
I was using charms, which is my specialty. Verbal spells that affect time and speed. Not typically used for combat, more for protection. Motion spells control elements. Like fire.
I thrust my arms out to either side and pushed them forward, sharply, with nothing holding my arms back.
A stream of fire shaped like a dragon roared out of my hands and vaporized the shadowbeast, leaving the wooden walls and ceiling unscathed.
As the smoke cleared I saw Sora with her hand on her chest, breathing heavily. I forgot about her sensitive lungs.
Saeturna was staring at me.
“Yes…?” I asked.
She turned away, “Nothing.”
Whatever it was, it was definitely something.
She crouched down next to Ronaan. His eyes were glassy and unfocused.
“You need to continue our mission, Sae-cough Saeturna.” He croaked, coughing up blood, “You must–”
His eyes rolled into his head with his last breath.
“No…” Saeturna sobbed, “NO!”
She buried her head in her hands and started crying.
Veda placed her hand on her shoulder, “It’s going to be okay, Saeturna. No war is won without casualties. Your father died fighting for a cause.”
“But,” Sora said, giving Veda a disappointed look, “heroes don’t fight for causes, they believe in them. Your father fought hard for a righteous cause that he believed in. He will never truly die for that, because legends never die.”
Saeturna’s crying slowly stopped, replaced with heavy breaths, “He will never be forgotten.”
Saeturna rose, “There are rooms upstairs. I thank you for your help, you may stay as long as you need.”
With that, she pulled her father’s body up from the ground and opened the door, “My father deserves a burial.”
*
There were three rooms upstairs. One for Saeturna, and two guest bedrooms. One of the guest rooms had two beds, the other had a bunk bed and a regular bed.
Veda and Liam took the room with two beds, and Me, Mason, and Sora took the other. I changed into one of my many extra shirts.
“Glad to see you in one piece, brother.” Sora said, “Saeturna suffered more than she should have, but Ronaan will be avenged.”
“You should probably go talk to her.” Mason added, emerging from the bedroom, smiling, “She seems to have something for you.”
“Oh…” My face flushed, “Um…”
Sora almost pushed me down the stairs, “Go!”
“Fine! Fine!” I said, “Just go away!”
I walked down the stairs to see Saeturna on the beige couch, silently crying.
Her head perked up when she heard me approaching, “Thanks for earlier, Sora, that helped a lot.”
Then she looked in my direction and blushed, “Oh, hi Jake.”
“Hi…” I said, “Are you…Okay?
She didn’t say anything for a moment, then, “Come sit down, Jake.”
Her purple eyes were watching my every step, carefully and curiously, like a hawk.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” I said, trying not to trip over my own tongue, “Ronaan fought bravely.”
I sat down and there was a moment of silence, I wasn’t sure if it was for Ronaan or awkwardness. Or something else.
“Listen, Jake.”
Chapter 2
Yay. The most exciting things are explosive. Saeturna’s face looked like it was going to detonate and nuke the Harllow when she saw Jake.
HAHA, Jake.
I’d pushed him down the stairs so he could go talk to Saeturna instead of me. Heehee.
Hi, Sora Anderlian here. I don’t know how Jake introduced me and I don’t care. I’m the better sibling. Get over it Jake.
“You think he’s doing good?” Mason asked, “He had no clue Saeturna liked him.”
“He needs better people skills.” I responded, “If we’d done it he’d have no clue.”
“Maybe he’ll survive.”
“Probably not. Let’s be real.”
AWKWARD SILENCE. Why, you ask? No reason (cough-reasons-cough).
“Alright, well.” Mason said, finishing making our beds, “It’s like, twelve at night. We should get some sleep.”
“Probably right.” I responded, “The elves know we’re here now.”
*
I freaking hate dreams. Which kinda makes me hate sleeping, too.
I’m strongest under the Moon. My mother is the Moon titan. But I can never elude dreams. And my dreams are almost always visions of the future, not in a prophecy way, but in an impending doom way.
We were on a mountain, Me, Mason, and Veda, looking out over hundreds of tanks rolling in towards us. We were high enough up to see the ocean from where we were standing, also because demigods have enhanced vision. But that wasn’t a good thing because five battleships were stationed there, along with two aircraft carriers.
All of the vehicles had a name on the side: DAMU.
The tanks formed a perfect line and the barrels of the artillery guns were angled towards the mountain.
Then F-16 and F-35 fighter jets roared over our heads and twenty Sidewinders and Hellfire missiles blasted the line of tanks to smithereens. Fire engulfed the trees and grass. The silvery planes flew into the distance then looped back.
Abrams rolled out and rained shells on the remaining DAMU tanks. Heavy firing mortars and rocket launchers were loaded with shells and missiles to fire at the ships in the distance. Soldiers in green camo with the eagle, globe and anchors on their vests operated them all. US Marines. Why?
Then a shadow blocked out the sun. The earth shook with gargantuan footfalls.
A huge silhouette appeared on the horizon. No, not huge, gargantuan. At least twenty legs writhed like snakes, and appeared to have the heads of snakes, too. One of the serpent leg-heads belched and a stream of fire roared out of its mouth.
The monster was so monstrously tall that I could barely see his eyes. His serpentine pupils turned to slits, and at least a dozen more heads unfolded from the original. There were horse, wolf, lion, mule, lizard, gazelle, and tiger heads among them.
“Even your deathless savior can’t protect you from Typhoeus’ wrath. And you will suffer from it.”
Then the Earth split open and a massive, buff, purple arm punched the many-headed guy in the shark face, and my dreams faded to black.
*
“Sora,” Someone said, “WAKE UP ALREADY!”
“Mmmmf.”
“Come on.”
“Go away, Mason.”
Mason shook me, “It’s ten-thirty.”
I sat up. I sat up fast. And I also slammed into Mason. He recoiled, clutching his face.
“Ow,” We said in unison.
Then we both flushed red and shut up.
“Ummm, the others sent me to get you.” He paused, “Actually, Jake sent me to get you. For reasons I can guess. Veda thought it was hilarious.”
Whhyyy Jake. “I guess we deserve that.”
“Yeah, we did.” He shrugged, “But you should get up, we need to go soon.”
“Fine, go away so I can change.” I said, getting out of the comfy bed.
*
Jake had always had a small potty mouth. Normally it was amusing to hear him cuss so bad my ears bleed. Now it wasn’t.
“Do we even know anything about the chrysilii?” I heard Mason exclaim.
“They are cursed DAMU soldiers, ones that betrayed Deimious, or tried to desert.” Saeturna responded
“Basically,” Jake said, “They are those 0$$holes from the DAMU. Then they got cursed for trying to run away. That means they get turned into those $#!7 for brains creatures.”
“Jake, clean your mouth.” I said, walking into the room, “No one likes someone who talks trash like that.”
The room was wide open, with beige walls. One couch and a chair. Saeturna sat in the chair, Veda and Jake sat on the couch, and Liam was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch.
Mason was sitting on the couch’s armrest like a cat.
“Mason, you look like a cat.” I said.
Schwert pulsed around Mason’s neck, and suddenly, Mason was a spotted brown-and-orange Calico.
I took a seat on the floor, and Cat-Mason curled up next to me, purring quietly.
“Anyway-” Jake started.
Mason sat straight up and hissed at DEFCON 1.
“Geez,” Jake said, “Calm down.”
Mason curled back up.
“Anyways,” Jake continued, “The chrysilii have left for now…”
I lost interest pretty fast, that wouldn’t be shocking if you knew I had ADD. The walls looked like sand. There was a leaf on the window.
I’m hungry. Mason makes a good cat. Why are there no chipmunks here? Can Mason turn into a chipmunk? It smells like cheese in here.
“…Sora?” Jake asked, “What do you think?”
“What?” I said, snapping back.
Jake buried his face in his hands, “You need to listen.”
“You know I have the attention span of a gerbil, Jake. Deal with it.”
A small hamster crawled over my hand, up my arm, and onto my head. Then the hamster (Mason), sat down and went to sleep.
“If we have an opportunity to continue, we should take it.” Jake said, “Do you agree, SORA?”
“Yes, JAKE, I do agree.” I said, “But I think we need to know what we’re up against.”
Everyone looked at Saeturna.
She muttered something that sounded like why me?, then said, “You’ll only find DAMU on the borders between Earth and the Harllow, but Razed Snake patrol everywhere else, and they let nothing past them.
“Shadowbeasts and Marksmen also patrol with the RS, and they aren’t to be trifled with. They will kill you as soon as they get the chance.”
Thump, scratch.
“Oh yeah, and chrysilii, that too.”
“We’re going to have to fight our way out.” Mason said.
Liam cracked his knuckles, “Okay.”
“Alright, let’s do it.” Veda said, “We can take a couple bugs.”
Chapter 3
We really couldn’t. As soon as we walked out the door, five chrysilii attacked.
Liam dealt with them in pretty graphic ways. Let me illustrate them for you!
He grabbed one’s leg and threw him into another, knocking them both over. A third lunged, and Liam caught his face and slammed it into his knee.
Liam spun and ripped the arm off a fourth, then beat him over the head with it. He punched his hand at the armless one’s chest, and it plunged into its ribs. He pulled something small, sleek, red and…beating? From its chest.
Ohhhhhh, eeeeeeeeeeeew.
He shoved the heart down the fifths throat. The chrysilii gasped for air. Then Liam tore his throat out.
“That looked painful.” I said, holding back puke, “Please don’t do that again.”
Liam shook the blood off his hands, “You have a strong mouth but a weak stomach. How else should I fight?”
“Get a weapon?” I suggested.
Liam elbowed me with more force than I hope he intended.
More chrysilii appeared from the woods.
“Marbhm!” They roared. “Marbhm arso Drottinn Qasim Reyna.”
“What did they say?” I asked.
“Fight now, ask questions later.” Liam responded, flying at the nearest chrysilii.
Sora drew her bowstring back all the way and shot three arrows at once, Revali style. Each of her arrows hit a chrysilii, and each chrysilii died.
Veda shot a chrysilii through the chest and it fell dead. Then Liam picked up its body and threw it at another chrysilii.
A blast of pure, sky blue, light vaporized the next three.
“Oh yeah!” Mason jeered, “Gus Leum Harum!”
“WHO?” I asked as he rocketed into the air like a firework.
“Lasadh dauðablossi!” he shouted.
Then he exploded like a firework, fiery cracks spreading throughout his body, and then he detonated, sending thousands of tiny sparks flying everywhere. They all exploded even more when the hit the chrysilii, killing all the remaining ones.
The sparks started jumping around on the ground, and they slowly built themselves up to a grinning Mason.
“Oh, no.” I said, “Now you’re going to be even more full of yourself.”
“That was awesome.” He admitted, “I’m getting better at Dëviar.”
“I’m helping.” Schwert grumbled, “You wouldn’t get anywhere without m- oh, that’s a volcano.”
A little beam of light directed our eyes to a towering volcano, black with ash and soot. In the distance I could see the pyroclastic flow coming down the mountain.
“Mt. A’ Sruthadh Fala.” Schwert said, “Flowing Blood.”
“Is that bad?” I asked, “That name is too ominous to be something good.”
“It’s the Elven Empires Execution Department.” Schwert answered, “EEED is where the previous ruler of the Horllow was killed. Deimious tried him for treason, saying that he had killed his own handmaidens and poisoned the water that his guests drank at feasts. He also accused him of traitorism, blaming the Massacre of Crathua on him. Deimious knew that this was a false accusation as Deimious himself had been the mind behind the bloodbath.”
“Hang on,” Veda cut in, “The Massacre of what now?”
“Crathua, the capital of the Harllow.”
“What did Deimious do to him?” Mason asked.
“He pinned him inside of the volcano, he put arrows through his arms and legs. Then he hacked at him with a sword, wrapped him in red hot chains, and cast the pain Malice on him. He hung there for one hundred days, before the volcano erupted and slowly boiled and seared his skin off his body and burned his flesh, all while he was alive. His screams echoed across the Harllow, the screams contained only one thing, pure pain.”
“O-o-o-o-o-okay,” Sora said, “What was his name?”
“Iskugr Fhagsi, he was–”
“What is a Malice?”
Everyone’s head turned to Mason, who had asked the question.
“What?” He said, “What is it?”
“It’s a spell type.” Answered Schwert, though in an anxious tone, “Malices are forbidden, horrid types of magic. Death, pain, control, even one that turns love to hate and hate to love.”
“Their unforgivable curses?” Mason asked, “Are there three?”
“Thirteen,” Said Schwert, “Thirteen curses that can get you tried and executed. The Thirteen Curses of Woe.”
“Woe, that sounds like it should be in Romeo and Juliet.” Jake said.
“Alas, poor William.” Mason muttered.
“Shakespear was one of my previous owners. He is from the Harllow.”
My eyes drifted to Schwert, “What was that?”
“Yeah,”
“Uh…Okay?”
“He was a jerk and corrupt.”
“Why?”
“He used me as a play prop. The dagger in Romeo and Juliet was me,”
“What the–,” I started, but Sora interjected.
“What’s on the other side of the mountain?” She asked, “Is there sanctuary of any kind over there?”
“Where are we?!” Veda shouted, “Is there a landmark or town that you could graciously refer us to?”
“Drogarati Cave,” He said, “Though I think the locals call it Itaragord Cave.”
“Drogarati cave…We’re in Greece?!” Sora cried.
“Eceerg, yes.” Schwert said.
“The names in the Harllow are all reverse of the names on Earth?” Mason asked.
“Yeah,”
“We are in the freaking Upside-down.”
“Yeah,”
“Your stupid,”
“Yeah…Wait what?!”
Mason started laughing.
“Y’know,” I said, “We could always go back to…”
I turned around, Saeturna’s house was gone. “What the–”
“Huh? Where’d they go!” Liam said.
Veda elbowed him, “Magic.”
“Well, we’ll probably never see them again.” Liam said
Sora smacked his arm, then leaned over to him and whispered something in his ear. Liam mouthed a silent ‘Oh’.
That probably put things into perspective for him. He and Veda had been dating for two years, but he had to remember details from when they met. I had just met Saeturna and my life was standing on its head.
Cheesy.
Why was it so calm right now? No demons running at us, no spears flying like birds through the air, the tip’s targets our hearts. Peace was finally embracing us–
Chring-chring-chring-chring.
Gunfire blew the world apart.
Chapter 4
By all rights, Mason should have died. He was leading the group and was in front of the rest of us when the gunfire started.
But the second a bullet came within a few inches, he exploded in blue, then reappeared a couple yards the the left.
A squad of elves, DAMU judging by the army attire, warped into reality in front of us, followed by three problems in cloaks: Two marksmen and a shadowbeast. The marksmen had chakrams drawn before I could unsling my bow. And the shadowbeast pulled two, Buster Sword-like scimitars from his belt.
Jake’s blade whipped towards the nearest soldier, cutting him down the middle.
“Sleagh!”
A bright white spear of fire came flying from Mason’s direction and skewered the three remaining DAMUs.
The shadowbeast’s only backup were now the marksmen. So he had good backup.
The marksman on the right’s chakram turned into a spear and he charged. Liam lunged to meet him, ducked his spear, and punched him. After he stopped skidding backwards, the marksman –now really pissed off– drew a shuriken and threw it at Liam.
My arrow flew straight through the hole in the metal and into the monster’s eye.
“HA!” Jake yelled. He lashed his whip-sword out and put a hole in the other marksman’s chest, right where his heart would be.
“YEAH!” Jake shouted, “Take tha-”
The shadowbeast materialized and punched him in the jaw. He landed hard on his rear a couple yards away, nose bleeding badly.
“This is bull****,” Liam muttered, he was almost tied with my brother in the swear-off, “He’s made of smoke.”
Liam– being a not-so-fun type, dislikes bull****. He ran at the shadowbeast, grabbed him by the waist, and jumped. He stopped going up at around 1,000 feet in the air. Then he came down at speeds easily past mach 2, and slammed the shadowbeast’s head into the earth. This did approximately nothing. The demon dematerialized out of his hold, and reappeared holding Jake by the hair. One of his swords was pressed to his neck.
“Jake!” I yelled.
Magnified atoms appeared in Mason’s hands as he leveled them to the shadowbeast’s face.
“Make a move and I blow you to dust.” He said.
“Put those down or I will kill your friend.” The shadowbeast snarled back.
In a move too fast to track, the monster brought his second blade up to Jake’s neck, letting go of his hair. One flick of his wrists and Jake would lose his head.
Then, a familiar sword lashed out from behind the shadowbeast and knocked his blades out of his hands. They skidded to a stop at my feet.
“YEAH!!” Jake landed next to me and grinned, “Dumb*** shadowbeast.”
Jake was in the lead again.
Fake Jake shimmered away, leaving the shadowbeast very, very, very confused.
There was a faint click-click noise. I don’t know where it came from, but Veda and Mason’s eyes widened.
“Get down!” Veda shouted.
I dropped as fast as possible. The millisecond I hit the ground, a blinding flash and deafening boom shattered the air. There was no impact, or fire, or even smoke, but a wave of nausea and pain washed over me. The shadowbeast had it worse though. The point the thing detonated at was right at his neck.
He grabbed at his throat, apparently unable to breath. He writhed for a moment, then dropped to the ground. His smoky body dispersed and put itself back together so he was standing up again.
“Don’t just stand there!” A girl’s voice yelled, “Kill him, quickly!”
Veda stood, folded her arm-gun out, and pointed at the ground under the shadowbeast. A small canister popped out. It should have landed at his feet in nanoseconds, but once it got within a foot of him it slowed. Like it was entering a different time flow.
BAM! He’s gone. So is three feet of the ground.
We just stood there for a minute. The five of us, four dead elves, two decaying marksmen, and the blades of a shadowbeast.
I very carefully picked up the scimitars. They had a nice, even weight, and were just barely long enough to be considered swords and not knives. I didn’t have the sheathes so I just slung them in my belt.
“You can come out now.” Jake said.
Saeturna, who had been hiding in a patch of bushes, popped out.
“But,” Liam started, then he caught up and closed his mouth.
Saeturna grabbed Jake in a hug, then turned so red, I thought she was turning into a tomato. She pulled away very, very quickly. Jake put his arm around her, and she turned even more red, which should have been impossible. Silly Saeturna. Then I looked at Mason and blushed as well.
“I’ve got some explaining to do.” Jake muttered to Saeturna when Mason glared at him.
*
“What the actual *piano key* were you thinking, Jake!” I yelled, we were having our debate in the middle of the battlefield, “You knew that they would attack! You knew that they were there! You knew we didn’t stand a chance! AnD yOu DIdN’T TELL US!!?”
“Your welcome,” Saeturna grumbled back, “Don’t blame Jake, it was my idea.”
“I don’t give a **** whose’ idea it was! It was risky, sloppy, and stupid! Plus, you coulda killed us!”
“But we didn’t!” Saeturna responded.
“Stop defending my brother! I don’t care what happened last night, I don’t care why you like him so much, but I do care that you shut. The. *bleep*. UP!”
“You wanna tell anyone why or what happened when you were outside with him?” Jake growled.
Anger shot through my veins. But his words hurt as well. When I stood Jake’s lips curved into a small smirk.
“You little…” I ran through insults in my mind.
“Sora, we saved your life. Are you upset about that?” Saeturna asked.
I took a deep breath in. They were right, I was making a scene for no reason.
“No, I’m not.” I said as I sat back down.
Mason turned onto a goat and headbutted Jake in the shin.
“I still care about what happened though.” Goat Mason said, “Why not tell us?”
“Shadowbeasts’ have a limited ability to see the future, maybe a good three to four seconds of recognition before something happens. They can decipher what’s going to happen by reading enemies and allies movements, so if we hadn’t they would have known we were coming and killed us all.”
“Oh.” Mason sat back down, now in the form of a piglet, “That explains a lot.”
“That’s why Oidhche is practically unbeatable.” Jake offered.
“Guys?” Liam asked.
“So we could only beat him by surprise?” I asked, “That’s pretty good to know.”
“GuYs?” Veda said.
“Is there a way around that without needing to keep secrets?”
Saeturna frowned, “I’m not sure, but–”
“GUYS!” Veda and Liam cried.
“What do you want!?” Jake shouted.
Veda pointed in the direction of the volcano. Green lava and gray smoke were pouring from the top.
“****,” Jake said “Is that erupting?”
“No duh.” Liam and Veda said in unison, “We need to go, now.”
Jake looked helplessly at Saeturna, “You can’t come, can you?”
“No, my place is here.” She said, “Besides, I have organized a resistance strike, rebels will be here any minute.”
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in!” Saeturna shouted.
Five people came in. One was tall and skinny, one was short and skinny, one was more muscular than Liam, and one was typing away furiously on a computer. The fifth was a very stiff militaristic looking guy.
“Friends,” Saeturna addressed us.
“Meet Jean Rhiahn,” The tall one waved at us.
“Samantha Gramian, but don’t call her that.” The short one grinned.
“Sander LaRouwen, he’s mute,” The muscular one nodded.
“Lapis Cyian,” The one on the computer grinned.
“And–” She started to address the fifth one, but Mason interjected.
“Carman.” He said, “Carman Helvur.”
“Mason,” He responded, “’Was wondering when I would see you again.”
Mason turned to Saeturna, “You can’t trust him.”
“Hey!” Carman shouted, “Shut up.”
“Remember that time you tried to punch me,” Mason grinned, “That didn’t go over well for you.”
Mason ducked to avoid Carman’s incoming arm, “Missed again.”
Carman was going to take another swing, but Saeturna interjected.
“Do you know each other!?”
“No s***, genius.” Carman growled.
“And how?” Saeturna hissed back.
“We went to middle school together, and the Air Force academy.” Mason said, “He thought he was a big shot.”
“You nearly shot me.” Carman retorted.
“No,” Mason corrected, “You ran through the firing range to show your friends that you were invincible.”
“I didn’t get hit.”
“Once I missed you came over and tried to punch me in the temple. You’re lucky I hit your shin with the butt of the gun, not somewhere else a little further up.”
“I only missed because Veda was distracting me.”
“Yeah, right–”
“Everyone shut up!” Jake yelled.
Carman turned to him, “Who’s he?”
“Uh…” Saeturna looked back and forth between Carman and Jake.
It suddenly dawned on me. Why Saeturna looked so nervous now, why she was trying to draw attention away from Jake.
“Carman, meet Jake,” She said finally, “My boyfriend.
“I am the reason my enemies fear me, I am the dark, I am jake.”
Jake meet Carman, my previous boyfriend.”
Chapter 5
Blows were stricken immediately. Carman hit my stomach the second my fist connected with his face. He shrugged off the impact, but my gut was in pain now.
“What the…!” Sora cried. She, Mason and Veda pulled Carman off me. Liam stood in his way, blocking him from me.
“Move.” He told Liam, “Or else.”
“Or else what?” Liam grinned, “You’ll fight me?”
“Yes.” Carman stood straight up. His six foot three frame dwarfed Liam, but Liam was practically glowing with power.
“Back off.” Liam said, “I’ve fought worse than you.”
“Carman,” Sora said, “Don’t try to take Liam. You will regret it.”
“Buzz off.” Him and Liam said in unison.
The Carman charged. He haymakered at Liam, but Liam was faster. In a split second, Liam was no longer in front of Carman, and now behind him. Liam clearly wasn’t using his full strength, because his blow only sent Carman across the room and into the wall, not through it.
“Ow,” Carman grimaced, “Now you’re dead.”
He pulled a small hunting knife from his belt. No one tried to stop Carman, because we all knew what Liam was going to say.
“I already am.”
In the second it took Carman to blink, Liam had blitzed the room and was standing right in front of him. Liam grabbed him by the shirt and kneed him in the chest, then flipped him over his shoulder and dropped him onto the floor.
“How much more?” Liam asked, grinning.
“You…” Carman stood up and threw the blade. It bounced off Liam’s chest.
Carman grabbed Liam’s shirt and tried to throw him upwards. Liam’s shirt ripped off, but he remained standing.
“Wha…?” Carman sputtered.
Liam uppercutted him. This time the ceiling shook a little. Carman hit the ground with a thud.
“Told you you would regret it.” Sora said.
“Who’s the bad**s?” Lapis asked after a pause.
Liam took a bow, dodging a blow from Carman nonchalantly, “I am Liam Vector.”
Carman forgot about Liam and tackled Jake again.
“Twig!” Jake yelled.
The owl paused on Carman’s back.
Where? He asked.
I whistled out a response in Owl. Left calf.
My pleasure.
Thunk.
*
Carman was steaming with anger. The hit had knocked him out cold from pain. Liam lifted him off me (with one hand) and propped him up on the couch.
“Who the actual **** does he think he is?” I asked Saeturna.
“A big shot.” Mason said.
“Wasn’t asking you.” I snap.
“Mason’s right,” Saeturna muttered, “He thinks he owns the world.”
“Well he’s about to own a bullet if he does that again.” I growl.
“You have no gun.” Liam points out.
“I stole one from those RS b*****s.” I say as I pull a pistol out.
“M1911, very reliable for shooting in the face,” Veda says.
“Oh,” Liam shrugges, “Keep it on you, could come in handy.”
Jean comes back in the room. He stops by the door, hesitant to come in.
“You need to leave now.” He says finally, “We need to get going.”
“Where exactly are you going to sabotage?” I ask.
“A shadowbeast and DAMU encampment. Why?” Jean answers.
He realizes before I say anything.
“No.”
“Yes,” Veda grins, then turns to Mason and Liam “Suit up 5.”
Mason and Liam snapped up to attention.
Mason saluted.
“Attention!” Veda said in her drill sergeant voice.
“You are not coming.” Jean said, “We cannot authorize that under any circumstances. No.”
Saeturna entered the moment after he said that.
“What’s going on?” She asked, “Is Liam beating someone up again?”
“We’re coming with you.” Jake announced.
Jean buried his face in his hands.
“Hmm,” Lapis’ voice called from the other room, “How about ‘no’.”
“How about ‘yes’.” Veda said, “I’m an Air Force Staff Sergeant, I can handle myself in a fight.”
“I’m a 1st Lieutenant,” Liam called, “And you saw what I can do.”
“Officer,” Mason grinned, “I’m not very important.”
“General of the military at CS.” Sora said.
“Same as my sister.” I say, “but I’m better”.
Sora gave me the death stare, “Lies.”
It took a lot more convincing than that to get Saeturna to have us go, but we did manage to get her to let us.
“Attention!” Veda called again.
This time Liam, Mason, and Carman jumped up, “5th Battalion ready for combat!” They yelled.
Veda’s cannon folded out, and she shot three duds into the floor.
Schwert appeared in blade form in Mason’s hand, Liam’s fists lit up with fire. Sora shot an arrow with so much precision it caught the feather dart Twig threw at that exact moment. It was kind of silly, but it did give the resistance an idea of how we fight.
“They can come.” Lapis grinned as she entered, “That was amazing.”
Saeturna nodded and gave us our orders.
Chapter 6
It’s a 10 day walk to the stronghold. Fortunately, the resistance has planes. Veda smiled when she saw them, Mason groaned.
“Don’t worry,” Saeturna said, “You’re not flying them.”
“Excuse me.” Veda said, “I fly fighters as my job. I’m flying.”
This started another argument. Veda won and she was allowed to fly the beaten up plane that had been named Starblown by the team.
Veda asked some questions, mostly about the weapons on the ship, and fuel supply. According to the resistance, it was flyable.
It, like all the planes, had a teardrop of icy blue paint on the left wing. On the right, a coyote howled at a wolf. I recognized something about the wolf, and it sent shivers down my spine. The wolf was carrying a snake in its jaw. Razed Snake. The coyote was holding something in its teeth as well, a laurel wreath.
“Is that the symbol of the resistance?” I asked, “It looks an awful lot like the Razed Snake insignia.”
“No,” Jean said, “The teardrop is the symbol of the resistance, the Coyote is our squad’s logo.”
“And what is your squad?”
“We’re the Laurels.” Saeturna said, “We’re partisans. Our particular speciality is sabotaging operating Razed Snake bases, and blowing their weapons and artillery sky high.”
“Are we going or not?” Lapis hissed, “‘Cause if you are, we need to move, now!”
*
Me, Mason, and Lapis took Skyfire, a heavily weaponized dropship, to the base. Mason got the position of gunner from Lapis. I had to sit in the bay because I have absolutely no prior experience, whatsoever.
Jake, Samantha, and Carman (grudgingly) went with Saeturna in Aetos, her huge stealth bomber. Jean, Liam, and Sander went with Veda in Starblown. Because Sander is mute, he can’t help pilot, but Jean was appointed copilot and gunner by Veda, so Sander could just rest.
It was five hours of flying before we reached dropping altitude over the encampment. Fortunately, the RS hadn’t noticed us yet, mostly thanks to Jake’s silencing charm, which made our planes eerily quiet.
“Engage with the target” Saeturna’s voice said over the coms, “Good luck everyone.”
“Copy that.” Veda responded, “Ready Lapis?”
“Ready, Mason, hit ‘em with everything we’ve got.”
I heard the hiss of flames and a little smoke leaked in through the cracks in the bay doors. Then there was silence.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The aircraft shook.
“Direct hit to the watchtower.” Mason’s voice buzzed, “I think they know we’re here.”
“Good,” Saeturna responded, “They deserve to know who we are.”
“How much fancy **** do you think this thing can handle?” Liam asked, referring to Starblown, “‘Cause Veda wants to strafe the oil supply.”
“Do it.” Saeturna said.
There was the buzz off a motor for a second, a woosh as a plane flew by us, then the world erupted in noise. It sounded like Veda had hit the oil and was just keeping the bullet hail to see if she could hit anything else important. Then I heard a second explosion.
“Oh, (&@9,” Veda said, “They’re shooting anti-air and missiles at us.”
There was a long pause, then the sound of gunfire and another earth-shattering boom.
“Very powerful missiles.” Veda corrected.
“Let ’em go.” Saeturna said, “Sora, Sammy, Liam, Mason, and Jake, We’re dropping now.”
I tapped my mic, “How is Mason getting down?”
Lapis laughed over the coms, “He’s jumping from the cockpit.”
“Sander,” Saeturna ordered, “Snipe their artillery.”
“I’m opening the bay doors, Sora.” Lapis said, “Fasten that parachute.”
I attach the clip of the glider to my back and grab the trigger, “Open the door.”
A high pitched squeal echoed through the hangar as the door opened. Then I jumped. No hesitation.
The devastation in the camp was terrifying. The whole base had an area of around three miles. Neat rows of barracks ran down one side, there was an airstrip with hundreds of planes on it, and a massive factory looking building covered the entire bottom left corner. It looked kind of like the Naval Camp near where I grew up in Tennessee, just without the boats. But Skyfire’s missiles had ruined the scene. A huge hole in the roof of the factory was spitting flames, lighting smaller fires throughout the camp.
There was a massive, smoking welt next to the barracks, I assumed that it was the oil supply Veda had blown.
The ground started to race towards me, and panic set in. I fumbled for the parachute release and managed to let it go. The parachute folded out and I landed on the ground safely. Then the RS started pouring from the barracks. At least a hundred per building, all armed to the teeth. Sander had issued us all weapons, but when I asked to use my bow and knives, he nodded. Now I see why he uses a firearm.
When the first elf reached me, I pulled out my blades and injected one into his gut. It cut cleanly through the bulletproof vest that he was wearing. I spun around and whirled my parachute cloth into another’s face. He coughed for a second before an arrow split straight into his skull.
“You don’t get to have all the fun!” Mason yelled as he landed next to me, a crossbow in hand.
Liam dropped like a rock straight into the ranks of the elves. The second he hit the ground an explosion shot up from around him, then he was fighting. Jake and Samantha weren’t far behind. I risked a look up to see how the aircraft was doing, and all the sudden, I knew why Sander was so muscular. He was hanging by his legs from the landing gear of Starblown, holding the scope of a rifle to his eye. Silent fire shot from the barrel and the nearest RS fell to the ground.
He had just made a mile shot with ease. Just like that, another RS hit the dirt. I shrugged, then threw my knife straight into the abdomen of a nearby elf.
Turns out, my bow is better than my knives. One arrow knocked the gun out of an elf’s hands, a second arrow knocked him a couple yards away.
I picked up the assault rifle and opened fire into the wave of targets. With so many so tightly packed it is hard to miss. Soon the gun clicked empty and I threw it at the nearest RS and then stabbed him.
Out of nowhere a bullet knocked my knives out of my hands. I whirled to the elf that had fired. He froze for a second, contemplating his options. I punched him in the face, grabbed his pistol as he fell, and unloaded it. One by one the RS fell to my rounds.
A loud cry pierced the air and a battalion of other elves charged through the woods. They ran down the hill, firing their rifles. The RS were shocked and scared at first but they regained their composure and started firing into them. Probably four fell as they ran down. After a bit they broke off and flanked the RS. The elves forgot about us for a second and started defending from the others.
In the chaos that followed, I saw an ice-blue teardrop sewn onto a sleeve. Mason, Liam, and Jake noticed it too. We were now caught in a battle that we shouldn’t be anywhere near.
The resistance was here.
Chapter 7
I realized three things instantly.
1) We were now standing in a warzone.
2) We are outnumbered fifteen to one, even with the resistance here to help us.
3) As of right now, we are the only hope this war has. Mason is the only hope the war has. If he dies now, the war is over. Mason has to make it out alive.
Projectiles were flying everywhere. The chances of us not getting hit was very slim.
“Aspída se apóstasi!” I screamed.
Protection was the least we could offer. But neither Liam, nor Veda knew what that meant. It was a battle formation for protecting against arrows, and was normally performed with a shield. Sora, who knew what I meant and knew more about proper terms than I did, translated that to something more approachable for Veda and Liam.
“Form a wall!” She cried, “Mason, in the center.”
Mason was occupied with a RS, who was hissing profanities about the resistance and us. The elf had a pistol and he seemed to know how to use it, but Mason was holding his own. He seemed to be running through the same attack sequence over and over. Parry, dodge, attack retreat, parry, dodge, attack, retreat. On the fourth time, Mason managed to hit the soldier in the jaw with the butt of his spear. Then he turned to Sora with a look of pure rage in his eyes.
“No.”
He whirled and swung his spear. By the time it hit the elf behind him, it was a sword. The elf parried with his firearm. Mason swung again, this time from the right. The elf wasn’t ready for that one. He hit the ground at the same time Mason’s crossbow bolt pierced another’s chest.