Tales from Amaranth Ch 3

Continuing the story of Rebekah and Sean...

When Gina awoke again, she was curled in a fetal position somewhere very enclosed, dark, and musty. The roar of a V-8 engine was strong in her ears and her surroundings reeked of oil.

“B******s threw me in a trunk!” Her head ached dully as she felt where a huge knot had risen on the back of her head. At least her hands and feet were free. Slow burns began to make themselves known on her left arm and in spots on her legs. Her joints were definitely pestering her for relief, or at least a shot of Red Caribbean. Perhaps it was the mild concussion talking.

Her thoughts flew quickly to Rebekah and she prayed; prayed for her daughter’s life and for her daughter’s safety. It wasn’t easy, but Gina let it go. It would no longer serve her to worry. She had to think, as painful as it was and as much as she wanted to go back to sleep she forced herself to feel around the compartment. If they didn’t care to tie her hands, maybe they didn’t care to clean the trunk.

Though the trunk was pretty much empty, her hands came across the carpet seem. Digging her fingers in, the carpet pulled back without much protest. Gina wiggled the carpet up and away, careful not to cause too much of a commotion. The wooden floor was now exposed, and Gina continued to feel around. There was a knob that held the wood screwed down. She was sure it was to the spare and jack. Working it furiously, Gina hoped for a tire iron. The limousine began to slow; the sound of crunching gravel issued up to her then it stopped. Doors opened and then there were footsteps.

Gina opened the wooden hatch to find it empty and cursed under her breath. The lock on the trunk began to turn. She grabbed the knob screw just as the trunk opened and threw herself into the massive figure that loomed over her. The giant, almost seven foot tall, three hundred pound man reflexively grabbed her wrist, halting Gina’s momentum. The knob screw came within an inch of his shade covered left eye.

“You are quite resourceful,” The old man with the silver serpent cane said lazily, “Your kind has always been so.”

Gina tried to struggle free. She might as well try to overpower a grizzly bear. The Massive man hauled her effortlessly out of the trunk into the air like a sack of apples. Gina hit the cold ground hard and screamed as she rolled back first into a headstone. Pain danced through her body and down her legs.

They were in Amber Valley’s Hope View Cemetery. Not large by many standards, but it held upwards of two thousand who rested in peace on just north, outside of town. Water oaks and neatly trimmed hedges adorned the grounds within the cast iron gates. Stone robed angels prayed among the markers and graves.

Trying to think through the pain, Gina began to crawl. She knew she wouldn’t get far, but obstacles never stopped her from trying. She wasn’t about to lay down for these scoundrels, and if she could find a way, she’d bury them tail up.

The massive man grabbed Gina by her ankle and pulled her back. Grinning savagely, he placed a meaty hand on the nap of her neck, lifted her up and tossed her back towards the limo where she hit the gravel hard and slid. Gina groaned, trying to get some of her wind back. She placed a skinned and bleeding hand on the limo’s back tire and began to slowly pull herself up.

“I would remain still if I were you, Gina Alexander.” The old man said sympathetically, “This situation will pass quickly if you will only cooperate. My child is commanded to continue to injure you until you do so.”

“You… can burn!” Gina said through gasps, and rose to her feet leaning heavily on the limo.

“My name,” The old man said as he removed his shades to reveal dead blackened eyes, “As your people would have called me, is Lo’Bok Golgo. Do you remember the old tongue?”

Gina sank to the ground against the limo. Strength had left her legs at the name.

“You do, and I see now I have your attention.” The old man said pleasantly. Gina felt as if ice had draped her body. The pain in her back dully ached and pawed at her. She prayed for this to be a dream. She prayed for this to be a nightmare and knew better.

“Lo’Bok Golgo…” Gina repeated weakly and remembered the limo driver’s sickly green yellow eyes. Though fear and panic raged in her heart, she set her face like stone.

“You are beginning now to understand? Good. I have been searching for you for a long time,” The old man gestured to the massive man, and once again he grabbed Gina by the back of her neck, lifted her to her feet and brought her along after the old man. He walked silently for a while with Gina behind in close reluctant succession. The bone colored moon hung low in the cold night, quite full of itself. Chalk white gravel paths webbed throughout the plantation. Their crisp steps the only sound; it seemed forever.

“If I may say so, you look very good for your age. How old are you passing for? Thirty-eight? Thirty-nine?” The old man said without turning around. Gina remained silent, her eyes, strong and steadfast remained focused on the old man. “And it was over three hundred years ago that you and your family arrived in this most puzzling world? Of course you were a mere child then, barely walking. Most of your family had been children…”

The old man tapered off reminiscently at that very thought, “Children are quite amazing creatures, well enough I should know!” the old man began to chuckle at some seemingly strange inside knowledge. “Do you remember the old world, Gina? Perhaps not. I do. I remember it very well. You must have felt drawn to it from time to time as I have. It is in your family’s very heart blood.

“You should have known this since arriving in this dull and darkened world. It would have been the perfect harvest for my own children, but alas, I had found out rather quickly that even I, like your people, have suffered a great many limitations since arriving here.”

The old man stopped in front of a short gravel path that led up to a rather impressive mausoleum. Twin lions perched across from each other between stairs before two large pillars and bronze doors that led into the final resting place of several close family members including Gregory Hawthorne Alexander.

“Your late husband, I believe.” The old man said.

Gina’s heart sank. She hadn’t told Rebekah. She believed to this day it was her Grandfather. Would she ever have the chance to tell her everything? She wanted so much for her daughter to have a normal life, now she didn’t even know if she would be able to see her again.

“He died in the Great War back in the 1940’s,” The old man’s smile had disappeared, “About seventy years ago in El Alamein, Egypt, I believe, against one of the Furor’s own greatest Generals.”

Gina’s eyes shot up to the old man’s.

“To this very day I will never understand how he became aware of my presence there,” the old man’s face grew darker, the wrinkles in his face twisting into an old and ancient rage, “He recklessly opposed me there on those blazing hills. It gave me much satisfaction to crush him.”

Arrows pierced Gina’s heart. She had not known. A great flood of hate and sorrow filled her, but she refused to lose her resolve.

“What do you want with me?” she spat coldly.

“Is it not so obvious by now?” The old man’s smile returned, “I wish to go home.”

Gina understood. This monster was no fairy tale. She had heard of this terrible creature from her Aunt and Uncle. Her family would gather once every five years in a reunion. Brothers, sisters, and cousins would rejoin and remember. Lo’Bok Golgo was a tale rarely heard by her family and never told to the children.

“And if I did,” Gina said carefully, “Would you leave, and never come back? Would you leave me and my family in peace?”

The old man began to laugh. It was shallow and papery, “You are planning to inform your family, and then you all will set out to overthrow me?”

Gina didn’t speak. The old man laughed again.

“I’m afraid,” he said slowly, “That you and your daughter are all that’s left of your people.”

Gina gasped; her body went cold.

“You have heard of a few deaths here and there over the years, I assure you, were no mere accidents. The majority died together recently, I’m afraid. My art of interrogation is rather… terminal.”

Gina’s heart suddenly broke for Toni. He wasn’t lying about her accident!

“I did, however learn what I needed to know,” the old man gripped the silver serpent cane and slowly unsheathed a long shimmering blade, and let it swing loosely in his hand, “The master key is here,” the sword whipped the air, pointing towards the mausoleum then set the tip of the nasty blade upon Gina’s throat, “And you alone are able to retrieve it.”

“I gave the key to my daughter when I sent her into the other world,” Hot tears began to bleed down her stone set face.

“A secondary key,” the old man mused, “It was for emergencies only. It is insignificant now, just as you will soon be.”

“And if I refuse?” Gina asked, “I may not be inclined since you have so easily taken everything away from me.”

“Tell me,” the old man smiled. He had anticipated this answer, “have you ever listened to a chorus of screaming children? It can and will be your music day and night. Believe me when I say I have centuries left to live and all the patience in the world. Think it over.”

Never in her life had Gina felt such contempt towards anything. Simply being near this abominable creature was enough to make her vomit. She knew he meant what he said, and more over Gina knew he could carry out the threat. It was such a miserable decision… both outcomes were atrocities. But, perhaps there was some hope, if any. And it was on this hope that Gina decided, that in the other world, there was a chance that there was someone, somewhere strong enough to deal with Lo’Bok Golgo.

“You win.” Gina said at a whisper. The old man smiled and lowered his cane sword. Slowly, reluctantly, Gina ascended the marble mausoleum steps and approached the two studded bronze doors. She sighed. Every part of her ached and burned. Her head hurt so much, she just wanted to lie down and let it be over. She turned the handle and pushed in the doors. They made no sound. She went inside. Gregory Hawthorne Alexander’s silver plated coffin rested to her immediate right. It was inside with him.

She had buried it with him. His funeral was the same day she had decided never return to her true world. For fifty years she carried his seed within her, waiting for a better day and a better time to raise a child and she swore that she would let her child grow up like every other child. Earth was her home, and she would start again new and make her own family lineage.

Her thoughts and prayers went back to her only child. “Please let her be safe! Please! Oh God, please keep her safe! I am sending a monster into the same world with her. God please keep her safe!” Gina knelt down at her husband’s coffin. She had never been so desperate, and in such need.

After a moment, she wiped her eyes. The locks on the coffin were simple. She opened one and then the other. She gripped the lid and her hands froze and began to shake. Her breathe caught and her heart seemed to leap in her throat. She didn’t know why. She didn’t understand why, but she wasn’t afraid anymore.

The lid of the coffin opened soundlessly. Her husband laid there in military uniform, preserved as if he had died yesterday. The master key rested gently across his chest, ornate in shimmering gold, pale in the moon light through a tinted window. And laid beside her husband, was his military issued saber. He loved his belongings to be real. It was his trait that she had unwittingly picked up across the years.

Fresh tears welled up in Gina’s eyes as her fingers ran along the cold black sheath, across the silvery metal cross guard, and onto the ivory hilt. She lifted the saber, carefully, gently. She drew the saber free. It mirrored her eyes, still strong, still sharp. With a deep breath, Gina took the key, closed the coffin, and whispered, “See you soon!”

The old man’s blackened eyes seemed to flash as Gina came through the bronze doors, saber in hand and key held at her heart. It was there she stopped, “Come and get it you b*****d!”

“Bring it to me!” the old man hissed impatiently, “Lest I carry out my promise!”

A thought immediately came to her mind and she remembered his words… “I need you to go and get it!” The old man and his great child remained stoically at the feet of the stairs of the mausoleum. They-couldn’t-come-after-her! She didn’t understand why or how, but it seemed to be true.

With her heart filled with a powerful new joy, Gina turned, pulled the bronze door shut and yelled as she shoved the master key into the door, “AMARANTH!”

“NOOOOO!!!” the old man bellowed as Gina pushed the bronze door back open. Glorious light engulfed Gina from the world beyond as powerful and as bright as the noonday sun. All pain washed away as the incredible warmth raced through her very veins setting her heart on fire. Power, sheer power that she had long ago forgotten flooded her to overflowing. She had never felt so much power and life and happiness course through her. She had been reborn!

Her eyes changed from brown into burning amethyst as her ears grew long and pointed.

“Stop her!” the old man commanded his child, “Get the key!”

The moment the massive man’s foot touched the first step, his great frame burst into flames. He bellowed but continued up and after Gina.

“Never,” Gina put the key in her pocket and turned to face the massive man, “I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done!” As he took his agonizing step at the top of the stairs, Gina kicked him square in the chest with explosive force. The massive man’s feet left ground and he landed hard on his back upon the ground. Gina took a diving leap into the air high above the burning massive man, flipped once and landed on the other side of him as he rose back to his feet.

Again and again, the giant threw punch after mountain crushing punch, but he could not touch her. His speed became woeful to her. Each attack came from over a mile away. She darted elegantly to and fro, stabbing his chest, arms, legs, and even his neck. But he kept coming like a rabid bull. If that weren’t frustrating enough, she could not get a clear shot to his head.

The old man, his face a grimace of contempt and rage, looked from Gina towards the shining already open door. It could be his last chance and he had waited so long, he was almost mad with want. He decided to endure the pain of the sacred barrier. He braced himself for the fires that awaited him and…

Three rifle shots roared out from behind an angel statue striking the old man once in the stomach and twice in the chest. He fell back, at the approaching figure.

“Can’t let you do that, Lo’Bok!” Toni took aim again with a .30-.30, but the old man rolled behind a headstone, cursing.

Gina froze, her eyes caught Toni, and she began to laugh. She was alive! It was enough to forgive the fact that her white t-shirt, blue jeans and cowboy boots complete with rifle made her an upper class trailer-park hero.

“Look out…!” Toni was too late, a fearsome blow from the giant sent Gina to the ground sprawling. Toni unloaded on him. The fire had taken most of the massive man’s shirt and coat, and now bullet holes erupted across his left chest, shoulder, and stomach. Blood was minimal. It seemed to only enrage him more. He turned from Gina and uprooted a rather large grave stone and advanced on Toni. Again and again she fired, but he didn’t even flinch.

“Kill her!” the old man yelled, “Kill her now!”

Toni’s feet hit the stairs of the mausoleum and she fell backwards… into the light that shined from the other world! On top of her, the massive man lifted the half ton stone effortlessly over his head for a crushing attack. The same life that flowed through Gina now flowed through her. Toni’s deep green eyes burst into a shining gold. Down came the stone.

Toni drew back and punched with all her might! Her fist plowed through the grave stone, and erupted into the massive man’s jaw almost completely tearing it from his head. Blood and teeth rained down in the night. He staggered back, gurgling. Toni leapt forward and struck the giant squarely in his chest and felt the bones within splinter. Again and again she hit the giant. Each punch was a lightning strike! A final uppercut relieved the giant of his head permanently. His broken body fell.

“Toni!” Gina cried out. The old man stood poised, readying himself for a run at the door. He wasn’t fast enough. Toni made the door in a single leap, rifle back in hand from hanging on her back, the barrel aimed at the old man’s face not five feet away. Gina had regained her saber and held it to the old man’s neck from behind.

The old man couldn’t help but laugh, “Incredible! Simply incredible! You must tell me how the power must taste!”

“Enough!” Gina shouted, “Hit him between the eyes!”

“Be sure you don’t miss!” the old man’s mouth opened wider than any human could have possibly ever accomplish. Green venom sprayed from the depths of the old man’s throat, as his head split completely in half. The venom sprayed onto Toni’s rifle, hissing acidly, and came within inches of Toni’s face. She dropped the rifle, which began melting as it hit the stairs. Gina drew back to decapitate the old man, when to her horror, a black creature the size of a large dog, spider-like, with many horns on its body and legs burst out from the old man’s throat.

It sprayed venom at Toni again, but she dived off the stairs. The creature burst into flames, its screams were ear piercing as it scrambled up the steps and disappeared through the doors and into the light.

“Gina?” Toni said as she picked herself up.

“No time!” Gina grabbed Toni’s arm, “Come on! We can’t let him get away!”

They, too, disappeared into the light and wondrous world beyond.

***

Rebekah’s eye’s fluttered open slowly. Her whole body felt drunk with sleep, the tiredness that comes with too much. Dancing light was the first to catch her eye, a branch from a rather large tree with the sun beyond it. Live leaves, large and tear shaped had been falling upon and around her. The long grass under her was fresh and sweet smelling. She felt warm all over. The calls and ‘Kii-twa-twa’ of birds hung over head.

Rebekah didn’t remember falling asleep outside. She sat up with a groan. Her eyes began to protest and she rubbed them. Everything seemed too bright. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that she was in a meadow rampant with tall gold and green grasses. The surrounding trees were quite massive; giant oaks and willows. A flash of blue and gold fluttered past her face; an incredibly large butterfly.

Rebekah gasped, but then slowly let the breath out. It made perfect sense. She was still asleep. The attack last night, the terror and shock, and now this; it was only an extensive dream. She had read about several people who had off and on experienced lucid, and extremely vivid dreams that had eventfully and seemingly last for days. She was in fact in bed, at home, sleeping soundly and experiencing a magnificent phenomenon.

Another thought hit her that wasn’t so promising. What if this is what people experienced in a coma? Was she okay? Could she be stuck in a perpetual subconscious dream? It was possible and just as probable. She didn’t mind setting the idea on a back burner.

For several minutes, Rebekah drank in her surroundings, noticed the rush of a river nearby and decided on that direction. Around a few winding roots, she began to see a clearing through the dusky underbrush. She came out from the forest into the full light of the… two suns? The greater was a dominant yellow, the smaller and lesser was blue. An elegant greenish hue washed between them, for they rode the sky close together at this time.

Indeed, a lively river flowed, only a stone’s throw away from the forest’s entrance. It flowed from Rebekah’s right to her left. Diamonds of light sparkled across the river’s surface and the water itself was so clear, she could see all the way to the bottom. Silver stripped fish played around grouped stones and swam against currents. It looked so real and inviting Rebekah swore if she jumped in it would surely wake her up.

“Are you serious?” A woman’s raised voice came from up the river. A man’s voice replied but it was too low to hear.

Rebekah stepped cautiously along the riverbank until she saw two of the strangest characters she had ever seen. One was the woman she had just heard, squatting on an old log, red wooden cane pole in hand with a line that led out to a bobbing flat cork. She wore a dull red cloak over yellow and orange trim blouse and skirts. An extremely large dull brown hat, that looked very much like a mushroom cap rested low on her head. Red hair spilled out down her back and over her shoulders. She had a lovely face with a handsome smile, but her green eyes had a devilish humor to them.

The other was undoubtedly a tall man with broad shoulders. He wore a long rimmed leather hat and a striking forest green cape. He wore a bear skin tunic with a thick belt, reinforced grey hided pants and shirt. His boots were hide and leather tasseled. This man, Rebekah realized, made his own clothes. A dark green scarf hid the lower half of his face, wrapped once, and scaled down his back almost knee length. His eyes were deep jade, a little hardened. A curved, foot long knife was stuck in belt next to a various collection of fur pouches with who knew what was in them. Another smaller knife was sheathed upside down on his left exposed sleeve; still another short knife was in his right boot. Rebekah believed that wasn’t the end to all of the leather grip knives, and she would be right. He shouldered a strange rifle that Nikola Tesla would find interesting. From flashing clockworks at the stock to the fanned barrel tip, it was almost as tall as Rebekah herself. Rather intimidating!

It… was a dream, Rebekah reminded herself again. Of course it was. She had read a fantastic array of fantasy and fiction. This dream was obviously a collection of elegant work by a finely tuned mind. She had been, of course, a very excellent learner, surely levels beyond her age’s average. When other kids were learning earth science, she was already well into chemistry. When her classmates struggled with algebra, she was already fluent with calculus. Her graduate collage reading level enabled her to enjoy the finer arts and poets. Could it really be that she was finely getting a look at her minds full potential unleashed?

“I’m serious, Mother Tolerance,” Magnum replied, “I’m not going to wait around too much longer to see if it happens. I need as much as I can carry.”

“Don’t use formality, Magnum!” said the woman who preferred to be called Opal, “I’ll be flat out of herbs if I do as you ask, and the best at that. Winter is coming on and I don’t really feel like traveling into town these days.”

“What do you want, Opal?” Magnum sighed.

Opal smiled. It was a very beautiful smile that Rebekah could see; wonderful and mischievous at the same time, “I want 180 gold skells for my cordial…”

“Done,” Magnum said, quite relieved.

“... Plus another 50 gold skells for my services...”

“Now wait a minute...!”

“And thirty percent off from now on till forever.”

“I ALREADY GIVE YOU TWENTY!!!”

“You know it works both ways, you’ll never find anyone as loving and as generous as me,” Opal turned her attention back to her bobbing cork, “Besides, if what you say happens, then you may not ever see me again.”

Magnum mumbled something Rebekah couldn’t hear.

“I know,” said Opal, “She’s been listening to us bicker like old ladies over bran wafers.”

Suddenly, Magnum’s form shifted and fazed out of Rebekah’s sight, as if his surroundings came alive and simply absorbed him. Rebekah had never seen such a strange thing and yelped when the point of a knife touched her back. Magnum loomed over her, curved knife drawn, his Jade eyes piercing hers.

Dreams weren’t supposed to hurt, but then again her mind was exceptional, “That’s very rude!” Rebekah said to the looming man.

“Spying isn’t?” He retorted.

“Stop harassing the poor girl and invite her down.” Opal said.

The knife spun in Magnum’s hand before he stuck it back into his belt.

“Thank you,” Rebekah said unmoved and unalarmed, “You know, life would be better for you if you were kind despite the fact you are a mere psychological figment.” With a toss of her hair, Rebekah hurried down to the riverside to meet Opal.

“Well, look at you,” Opal looked Rebekah up and down, “Where’s your cloak? Don’t tell me you walked all the way out to this neck of the woods in those little shoes!”

“Actually,” Rebekah said, “I’ve only been here a short time.”

“What a perfectly rude little girl,” Opal smiled, “Any descent Ogabog would have given me their name before trying to eat me!”

“Oh, I’m sorry! My name is Rebekah, misses…?”

“My formal Earth Mother name is Mother Tolerance, but you may call me Opal. You wear very strange clothing for a maiden for these parts for sure, so let me make an estimate. You’ve gotten hold of a rune, haven’t you? Arc Runes are only for those who have graduated from one of Arkaina’s guilds, and you are still a youngling. So you have either taken your older siblings’ or your parents’ rune and wanted to look cool in front of your friends when you accidentally sent yourself way out here.”

“Um, well…” Rebekah said a little confused.

“Or you are a bookish little worm who decided she was smart enough to try things that shouldn’t be… what!?” Opal’s gaze had settled on Rebekah’s right hand. Opal dropped her pole and grabbed Rebekah’s hand, examining it closely.

“What’s wrong?” this was a very exciting dream, every aspect was so original and alive.

Opal quickly waved to Magnum, who had decided to sit and check his equipment. He was shoving an old handkerchief into the chamber of his ‘buster rifle’ to clean it when Opal’s strained face and vehement waves caught his attention. Incredible! Mother Tolerance actually seemed choked for words.

“Look at this! Tell me what you see!” Opal shoved Rebekah’s hand at him.

Magnum’s baby Jade’s narrowed and his brow furrowed in concentration. This is what he saw; what looked like a normal skin at first glance, the sun reflected on an almost hidden design. Magnum began to angle Rebekah’s hand and wrist against the light of the two suns, and what he saw staggered him.

“Hey, I’m kind of attached to that!” Magnum was so tall Rebekah had to get onto her toes.

Magnum’s eyes met Opals’, and at the same time they said, “Lymn!”

***

“I still can’t believe you are alive,” Gina poked the hot coals of the fire she and Toni had made. The fire’s light cast long shadows along the blue stone walls. Speckles of lime green moss caked the stone floor and most cracks. They had lost track of Lo’Bok Golgo ever since entering Amaranth. They had been fortunate and were not so foolish as to believe he didn’t regain much of his power as they had. This very thought scared Gina, the creature wasn’t known as the Dark Horde because some scribe couldn’t come up with a more creative title.

Gina and Toni had decided to make camp in the room of what they guessed to be deep within an old temple. Whose temple, they had no idea, and after hours of wandering from room to damp musty room, Toni called for a break. Sleep normally came as easy for Toni as if she had binged on cheesy onion pizza and chick flicks on a Friday night, but this night was a different for them both. Gina’s thoughts kept drifting to her daughter. She felt sick, worse with not even knowing if she was alright.

“How did you know to come to the cemetery? Did you follow us?” Gina asked.

Toni’s golden eyes were lost in the fire, “Wrathford.”

“Wrathford?! How?”

“Fortune cookie fortune.” Toni grinned.

“What?”

“Wrathford sent me a fortune in a fortune cookie yesterday afternoon. It said ‘Hope View Cemetery 7pm " say nothing! Be ready to rock’n’roll! - Wrathford’. I didn’t think he meant Led Zeppelin.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“Wrathford.”

Toni could have explained, but Gina already knew. Lo’Bok had already known about them and would have kept a close ear on all of them. He had already gotten to the rest of her family, and one wrong phone call would have brought the spider onto his web sooner. Why did Wrathford have to cut everything so close? She didn’t know whether to punch him or kiss him. Both sounded good.

“Think we should find him?” Toni turned a fire log over with her bare hand, the flames and burning coals were merely warm to her touch.

“Going to have to,” Gina stood and began to pace, “If he’s half as good as I’ve heard, and managing to stay thirty years old for over five hundred years is no small feat, even for a human. He may be the best chance at finding Rebekah we have. He won’t, however, be happy that we’ve brought the horde back into this world.”

“We don’t have much time then.” Toni stood up and kicked out the fire. She picked up the two slender torches she had found and tossed one to Gina.

“We could have used the fire,” Gina protested.

“You need as much practice as you can get.” Toni held out her torch, “I know it’s the only thing you remember but that’s more than I can say for myself. Besides, I’ve only got brawn to show for anything.”

“Every Lymn's gift power is different. Besides, you’ve got more than that,” Gina said, “I’d kill for your abs of steel.”

“And I’d love to have your speed and grace! You at least can spit fire,” Toni said, “But I’d assume punch an ogres’ face off rather than set its hair on fire, but that would be entertaining too.”

“Aren’t you glad we’re not human?” Gina blew on the tip of the unlit torch in Toni’s hand and flames fanned to life, “Magic would take forever!”

Toni sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was really looking forward to showing this world to Rebekah with you,” Toni headed the way down a dark hallway with Gina close behind, saber in hand, “I mean, I really wanted this. Only two more years and we would be having the time of our lives, and it would be ‘Aunt Toni’. Do you remember when we first got to come back here?”

“A little,” Gina said absently wiping sweat off her brow, “It was prior the revolutionary war, I remember that much. Your hair was really long and you kept whining about wanting to find your true love in the vineyards of Guarda.”

A vain popped up furiously in Toni’s forehead.

“At least,” Toni said with unnatural calmness, “I wasn’t swooning over Mister James Bendington, the smithy from York…”

“What?” Gina rounded on Toni, “You…”

“And then there was Darryl Masters… sexy shoulders,” Toni continued.

“…You read my diary!” Gina’s almost shouted.

“As I recall his mustache was rugged and his cleft chin was…”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Delectable,” Toni’s smile was triumphant, “I got two-hundred years of dirt on you, sister.”

“This is hardly the time or place!” Gina seemed to be breathless, her cheeks flushed.

“Do you promise not to mention Guarda? I swear if word ever got out that I was ever that dainty, I would die! But not before strangling the blabbermouth!”

“Promise,” Gina said a little weakly. She shifted from one foot to the other and almost fell. Toni grabbed her.

“Hey!” Toni held her sister steady, “You okay?”

“Yeah… just feel a little dizzy.” Gina shook her head.

“I think we’ll both will be better once we get out of this place,” Toni helped Gina steady herself, “Come on, tell me… what do you know about this creep we’re chasing?”

“Not much,” Gina leaned back against the mossy wall, trying to catch her breath, “What I have heard seems like it was something from a horror novel. Once I heard he was known as Shadow Mewl. Why, I don’t know. Another story is that he was an ancient thing that was created to mock creation. I’ve even heard that he was the physical incarnation of Death. And if that doesn’t brighten your day, this will…”

Toni put her arm around her sister and guided her from the wall with her down a darker corridor. A greater feeling of loneliness ebbed from deep within the emptied temple. Various marks on the stone floors and walls gave evidence of various items once having their place had been removed years ago. Memories that had been erased begged to be rediscovered. Gina had felt the same loneliness and yearning all around her no matter which room she entered. Why empty a temple? Why would anyone try to erase a landmark of history and culture? Even the glyphs and murals had been removed from the walls. Gina could see that some places had scorch marks as if they were burned away.

“I heard that he shouldn’t have even existed, but was called.” Gina put a hand to her stomach. She was starting to feel really ill.

“Who would want to call that thing?” Toni and Gina had come to a fork in the corridor. Toni was peering down each way through the dark, trying to get bearings. She was quite sure that they were getting closer to a way out. The air was much fresher here than where they first started. She wiped away a fresh layer of sweat from her forehead.

“I don't know, but what really scares me is how it came to Earth in the first place... The only person I know aside from us who can transport across dimensions is Wrathford... perhaps he knows something.”

Gina suddenly lost strength in her legs and stumbled.

Toni stopped immediately, shaking her head, “You have got to be kidding me!”

“You know…” Gina said almost heaving, “I don’t feel so good.” Not only was she sick and breathless, a burning weakness crept over her.

“Me either,” Toni shook her head again, fighting a sudden wave of dizziness.

“What’s happening?” Gina dropped to the ground, “Why am I so sick?”

“I don’t…”

Something fluttered up ahead in the darkness in a patch too dark for even Toni to make out.

“Get up!” Toni hissed down to Gina, who responded drunkenly. Gina reached for her sword and drew it. She hissed suddenly and dropped the sword to the ground.

“It burned me!”

“What?” Toni never took her eyes from ahead of them, though she did give and obvious jerk as if she too were about to be sick. Gina stared at the saber. There was nothing strange about it. She reached for it slowly and this time she did throw up.

“The sword,” Gina backed away slowly, “…I think it’s making us sick.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Toni said, but backed away with her sister just the same. A loud crack from the darkness ahead whipped Toni and Gina’s attention. The walls began to buckle and the stone ceiling began to splinter and snap above them.

“He’s causing a cave-in!” Gina turned with Toni and ran the opposite way. The sickness decreased with every step they ran, Gina put on an extra burst of speed when she found her lungs recovered. They ran past the fork and down the opposite hall through an arched doorway where the stone ceiling stopped caving. Clouds of dust and debris blanketed Toni and Gina.

Gina had run so fast she struck the opposite wall from the doorway and rebounded from it roughly. Toni came in close behind her, coughing.

“How the hell did that little creep manage to bring down that whole hallway!?” Toni put her hands on her knees.

“He must have been working at it until we got there…” Gina coughed twice. As the dust settled, they found themselves in a darker corridor with a soft blue light towards the end which looked a good ways off. Dusting themselves off was a pointless venture. Gina had never wanted a shower so badly in her life. The filth and the sweat seemed to soak into her bones. Toni was practically at home being a grease monkey in her spare time, and even she felt a bit disheveled.

“Yeah, he must have…” Toni couldn’t say exactly what she saw scrambling around in the dark, but whatever it was, it was massive, and strong enough to strike the ceiling and bring it down. The thought of such a creature gave her the shivers. But she should have known better. If this temple was abandoned, that did not make it uninhabited. Another shiver creepy-crawled up her back. What else could be lurking in this place? “Let’s get moving. I’ll feel a lot better once we get out of here!”

The long corridor opened into a breath-taking cavern with a small lake. The silvery walls, inlaid with painted streaks of gold ore, climbed up forever towards a center point opened to a set of stone set stairs that dipped down to the back of the cavern and crept tightly and steeply against the wall. The stairs wound around from the left and met the main walkway down a set of stairs from where Toni and Gina were standing now. Multiple waterfalls gushed down from high wall vents and misted as they met the enormous underground lake around the platform and walkway.

“How beautiful!” Gina slowly descended the stone steps.

“You said it!” Toni followed her. The lake was so deliciously blue it almost seemed to glow. A gigantic rock of what looked like white crystal five times taller than Gina protruded half from the platform and half from the lake. Scorch marks marred the crystal, but it still seemed to be fully intact. Looking out over the pristine waters, Toni spotted a small island in the middle of the lake that looked as if it could hold about ten people comfortably.

To Gina, the cavern seemed to grow shadowy and dim. Somewhere in the waters before her, a massive shadow appeared, and the hint of two great green eyes appeared in the depths only for a second and then vanished, the shadows receded.

“There’s something familiar about this place.” Gina said absently.

“I’m getting the feeling that something terrible happened here.” They were both quiet for a long time before making their way up the solitary stairs along the wall. When they had ascended the stairs up from the cavern, they found themselves beside a water fountain in the middle of a great empty hall. Even the water fountain statue was missing. Water bubbled up aimlessly on a white blue marble base and filled the small surrounding pool. Despite the magnificent marble pillars, the grand stairs, balconies, and commons, the whole of it all was a ghost. No wind, no chimes. The bubbling water from the fountain was all there was or had been.

Gina felt a pang of grief from this place for it had its share of burns and marks upon the walls and floor.

“There was a battle here…” Toni sat down on the hearth of the fountain.

“Yeah,” Gina sighed, “And I take it who ever lived here lost that battle.”

“Do you think it used to be our home when we were little? It seems so familiar,” Toni rested her chin on her fist, modeling for the first ‘hick’ thinker statue, “It’s a shame… this place is breath taking. Who would want to attack it, let alone people who for all I know were as sweet and as innocent as I am?”

“You don’t think we’re the only ones left do you!?” Gina turned.

“I don’t know.” Toni said. “But I’d assume not assume any assumption. I-E we focus on getting out of here and finding Rebekah and Sean.”

“Right, they are out there by themselves, and probably scared half to death.” Said Gina.

“Those kids,” Toni stood up smiling, “…are probably having the time of their lives.”

***

Bubbles belched up from the green mire as Sean Constantinople broke the surface of the swampy waters. Half drowned and exhausted, he crawled up and onto a bank amidst silver weeds and blackened sand.

“Geronimo!” Sean coughed. With much protest from his body, he sat up and looked about. The first thing that came to his mind was Transylvania meets Okefenokee Swamp. The skies seemed impervious with greenish grey thunderclouds. The trees were dark knotted things with a purplish moss, and the ground unyielding to anything but the poisonous and the inedible. Well, the dark pulsing berries on a sallow twisted bush nearby appeared to be food, but he wasn't going to be the first to try them.

Alive... check!

All limbs in tact... check!

Lost in time and space via some unstable wormhole... double check!

Sean went to stand but felt his foot catching something... He pulled a silver chain that was wrapped around his foot.

The key! So... this is the cause of our multidimensional sorrows! If I'd half a mind I'd toss you back into the prehistoric swampy soup you dropped me into... but I don't have the luxury of a half a mind so I'd assume keep and eye on you... both eyes!

Sean slipped the chain over his neck and hid the key within his soggy shirt. Looking about, his eye caught what looked to be a tent not far away. It was tent after a fashion, but in shambles. The rest of the camp looked to have been ravaged. A cook pot was overturned and cracked upon a dead fire pit. A wagon lay broken and derelict on its side and remains of old boxes and pottery littered the ground.

But what really caught Sean's attention were the dozen or so short boney spears that lay about the camp and several had pierced the tent.

Fear began to rise in his chest, but he beat it back.

Priorities... that's whats needed here! Out of all the abominations of the world, there are ten among all others a man cannot abide. One of them being wet socks! This will not be tolerated! So we need fire to ward away the sick and the soggy!

So Sean worked quickly, a list of priorities to guide and occupy his mind. Soon a fire was kindled... for no self respecting man wouldn't go about life without the knowledge of getting fire from sticks and stones. He had gathered what was left of the useful spears and kept them handy. And soon, stripped down to his bare essentials, he slow roasted his clothes and shoes over the open flame.

The next priority was food, but not much could be done at the moment when nothing stood between a person and nature but a pair of year old black and yellow Batman boxers. His shoes would take the longest to dry... and he knew he was in for a long wait, so Sean restocked the fire with a few dead limbs, with another stack besides and laid back on a sifting pile of tangle weeds he had pulled for a small mat to lay on. That was a job and a half. For as soon as he had grabbed a handful of tangle weeds, they grabbed back.

Sleep was upon him quickly, the last sight was of the tumbling embers of orange and yellow, and the sound of crackling wood.

A billow of freezing air bellowed and Sean gasped, bolting upright. Snow layered the ground. The swamp waters were frozen inky black ice and the tangle weeds were bladed with frost. The fire had long died.

A strange green and black tint seemed to overlay everything.

Sean shuddered.

His heart was in his throat.

Someone was coming!

Through the dark brush and frozen trees he came. A pale face with shadowed eyes, dark lips and thick bramble of hair reflecting in the strange green moonlight. He trampled through the wood as a man vengeful, yet regal with every step, like a lion.

Fear preceded him, piercing like cold iron. When his darkened eyes met Sean's, they flashed.

“You do not belong here!” his voice was powerful, wet, and deadly.

Tossing back his black cloak, Sean could see black with gold trimmed ornate armor, beautiful and mesmerizing. The emblem crest of a dragon was upon his chest. Upon his brow was a simple iron crown with many horns.

Sean tried desperately not to look into the man's shadowed eyes. He could feel the terrible weight of that stare. A merciless weight... a weight that could crush anyone and anything. Sean imagined he had crushed people with that stare- armies, mountains, and kingdoms.

He would not have been wrong.

“I-I'm looking for...” Sean stammered.

“YOU LOOK FOR DEATH!” the man spat. The hate that seethed with each word burned like fire despite the cold talons of fear in Sean's chest.

Sean dropped to his knees trembling.

The man hissed with disgust and impatience. He raised a black gloved hand and emitted a terrible power. Behind Sean, a rip in the air opened into a large portal. Sean recognized the space within.

His room!

His bed!

And by the powers of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese... a tray of hot food was beside his bed! Sean's whole body groaned as the smell of tuna casserole cradled his face.

“Go!” he said lividly.

Sean drew back from the man. He looked to his room and thought about how good it would be to just to be home... warmth, comfort, and a full belly. He didn't want to look back at the man... didn't want to enrage him more. Just being near him was terrifying.

I made a promise.

Something like piano wire began to tighten within him.

“No.” he heard himself say and barely believed he did. Wind whipped around them both and the ground began to shake as the man growled. His eyes flashed again and rolled over into a burning gaze. Sean felt as if a tornado had touched down beside him. The roaring winds and writhing ground subsided. And the eyes of the man shadowed themselves again...

“What do you want?”

Sean blinked at the question. He realized he was fully sprawled on the ground, finger's buried deep in frozen earth. His heart racing, his body tense in dread of the terrible twister coming back to devour him. Slowly he turned, the man was waiting for Sean's answer.

“I want to find Rebekah.” Sean braced himself for another burst of raging winds, but it never came. Only a low mirthless chuckle. The man grinned, revealing scorched black teeth. He was staring at Sean as if looking at something far away and began laughing.

“Many will die on account of you,” The dark man said, “Two of them will be close to you and one more, but not in a way you will expect. You will bring a war that will not be quenched and a wound that cannot be healed. In the end you will serve my purpose.”

Sean shuddered... he didn't even want to understand what was just said.

The man turned and walked away, but not before saying, “You might want to wake up now.”

***

Wake up!

Blinding pain erupted in Sean's side, his stomach, and then his head. His eye's opened in horror to three staunch, rat like creatures with belt pouches and capes, surrounded him with ropes in hand as well as sticks, were striking him repeatedly.

“Bind him!” yelled a voice.

The rat like creatures made quick with the ropes in hand and tried to tie him hand and foot, but Sean wasn't about to go quietly. He scrambled back, flailing his legs, catching one rat in the side of the head. It rolled away screeching. The other two began to assault him again, striking him in the back, the thighs, and face. Pain flared all over him, and his whole body felt as if it were cramping and screaming.

“Get on top of him you blasted Ogabogs! Hurry!” The voice came from a particularly large rat creature, in faded stripped britches, a moldy shirt, and cruel gaze.

A noose went around Sean's left ankle and around his neck. The rat at his feet pulled tight and the one at his head began striking him. Hot tears welled in Sean's eyes as he covered his head. The rats reversed, pulling the noose tight at his neck and the other rushed forward, beating him.

Soon, the third 'Ogabog' was on top of Sean, rope working quickly. The three rolled Sean on the ground, wrapping and tying.

“Toss the maggot into the drink! That'll fix'em!”

They grabbed Sean, bruised and bleeding, and still squirming, they threw him into the swamp water.

“Ha-ha-ha! Don't think we'll catch anything with that scum on the end of the line! Pull'em out... slowly!”

“Ey' Mister Stag!” said one of the Ogabogs.

Sean came out choking and coughing. Each cough rekindle the fiery wounds all over him. He groaned. His head felt split open and the world spun around him. Those terrible laughing faces came in and out of view.

“A little drowning always takes the fight out of them!” said the one called Stag, “Toss this scum into the wagon! Gale ought be happy with this little catch... we're always in need of fresh workers!”

“Mister Stag... there be something pretty around his neck!” said an Ogabog.

“Bring the pretty!” Stag beckoned.

The Ogabog reached out his rat like hand to snatch up the key from Sean's neck. But when it came close, the key glowed fiercely and the Ogabog's entire arm burst into flames. It yelped and screeched, rolling around comically before diving headlong into the swampy water. It came up seconds later pawing at the water, unable to swim.

The others, however, did nothing to help, but only laughed as one of their own struggled and eventually drowned. Their heartless mirth chilled Sean to the bone.

“Serve's 'em right! So, the pretty is a bit of magic? All the better! Make sure to put out his daylights before loading 'em.” said Stag. And before he knew it, Sean was gagged and a canvas sack shoved over his head and tied. One of the Ogabogs produced a dark glass bottle, uncorked it, and began to pour blue liquid onto Sean's sacked face. The liquid hissed and fumed with acrid smoke. It was the closest thing to bleach Sean could imagine it being. It stole his breath as well as burned. The world quickly rolled over black and he could remember no more.

Author's Note

As always... I would love feedback :)