Book One Chapter Twenty: Darkness on the Horizon

Nick and his friends were rescued by Kai from Saja and Luna's vortex of death. Soon after, Kai reveals that the vortex may not be one of death after all...

Chapter Twenty Darkness on the horizon: It started with a shock. When I first heard this information, I didn’t believe it. But when I finally understood I wanted to go into a coma and skip the next hundred years. Let me give a recap of what happened;

After Saja and Luna flew into the vortex, Kai had rescued us. Then he stole some horses and a bow, but he must've done that before hand. We then we rode off. Kai took us to Alrack, it being the closest village and all. We went to the tavern and we talked. The village was deserted, the vortex was still visible in the distance, how had we not seen Saja's massive village when we were in Alrack before? Why was it deserted? I would have thought that Saja’s vampires would have retreated here after the vortex opened. Once all of us were seated at the table, Kai spoke

“I have waited a long time since we last parted.” He said.

He then reached out his hand for a shake, more like a businessman than an old friend.

“As have I.” I reached out and shook.

“Now down to priorities.” He continued.

“Priorities?” I asked, confused.

“Yes.” He said.

“There are some things I would like to say.” Kai added.

He paused then resumed speaking.

“When I saw the vortex, I was able to get free because it sucked up the bricks and chains that bonded me. Then I stole the bow and the horses.” Kai explained.

“How did you know we were in danger?” I asked.

Kai smiled.

“Ah, Nick. In the short time I have known you I did not think that you could go through a situation like that without some trouble.” He stated.

“But that is not the issue.” Kai said.

Kai paused again and looked around for listeners, not that there would be any, I wondered if Kai was just hamming it up for dramatic effect.

“I do not believe that Saja and Luna were killed in the vortex.” Kai said.

I gasped, nervousness filled me once again.

“What makes you think that?” I asked, astounded.

“Saja has many abilities and powers, a simple rip in between the worlds could not possibly kill her.” Kai stated.

I stared at him. There were more than two worlds?

“Did you see her and Luna though?” I challenged.

“They were scared. Like they were committing suicide.” I added.

Kai shook his head.

“That is where you are wrong. Saja and Luna said that it was time." Kai said.

I remembered that now.

“But time for what? Time for them to kill themselves in some spiral of death?” I asked him.

Kai shook his head.

“Again. Not the issue. It is what they did, not why they did it.” Kai said.

I shrugged.

“Your point is?” I challenged again.

“My point is that Saja is still alive and I need your help to kill her.” Kai said smoothly.

“Now are you in or not?” He asked after a moment of silence.

I thought about this. I had to jump into a spiral of death only on my friends’ theory, plus I had to find a power crazed vampire along the way? And kill her? It was a lot to risk. I thought about it. I finally came to the conclusion that since I was the Chosen One, I could not let Saja destroy a world. Plus, it would be cool to see what another world is like, I wondered how many worlds there were in total. At long last I made my decision.

“Fine.” I said.

I turned to my friends.

“Are you guys in too?”

They all nodded with grim and determined faces.

“Alright then. Let’s get going.” Kai said, getting up from the table.

He led us outside. We all climbed back on our horses and headed for the black spiraling cloud. Across the plain and over the debris of fallen stone walls we went. We came to the doorstep of doom; the spiral. The spiral cloud was noticeably smaller and lightning was striking the ground all around it, scaring the horses. The one that Serena was riding bolted just to my left and my horse bolted from beneath me, bruising my groin. I got back up from where I fell and looked up at the cloud.

“This is our chance Nick!” shouted Kai.

“It’s closing!” Shouted Fenton.

“Where is our best point of access?” I asked Fenton.

He looked around.

“There!” Fenton shouted, pointing to where a small jumble of stone led up to it.

The small jumble of stone was a demolished staircase, but it looked scalable. The others dismounted and we ran up the stone. The opening was just three feet in wide now. Lightning struck directly in front of me and I stopped in my tracks.

“Be careful Nick!” shouted the queen.

I walked another few feet, hesitating. Is this really just a rip between worlds? Or was it a spiral of death, like I thought. I decided to trust Kai. After all, the longer I hesitated, the longer I gave Saja to destroy the next world. I made up my mind, looked ahead, and stepped into the vortex.

My friends followed.

“This is going to be dangerous.” Said Serena.

“I agree.” Said Fenton.

All was quiet for the next couple of minutes. I examined the walls. I was filled with a sense of wonder, if this was a portal to another world, what would it be like? Would people speak English? How would the world be different from Earth or Ectoclis? The walls of the portal were glowing green and heat seemed to radiate off of them. Then something different happened; the world seemed to lurch beneath us. Then the green walls gave way to fertile farmlands and blue sky. Unlike Ectoclis, this world had rolling hills and mountains, it wasn't much different from Earth. We were in the middle of a farmer’s field by the looks of it. There were clouds in the sky, just like my home world. I wondered if this was my home world. I looked up to find the portal but it was gone. How were we supposed to get back now? Oh well. Another problem for another time. I noticed that the horizon had a taint of orange. The sun was setting.

“Wow! This is amazing!” Exclaimed Serena.

“A whole new world!” I said in awe.

“So Ectoclis is not the only world in the universe, so the stories are true.” The queen said in awe.

“This is incredible! I wonder what it is like here!” Wondered Kai.

“We should find shelter for the night.” Said Serena, catching my eye.

I looked around and soon saw a nearby mountain. At least the terrain here had features, unlike Ectoclis.

Near the foot of it was a small cave. We went over to it and went inside. Someone has been here before. There were shovels and pickaxes strewn about. We all picked a pickaxe up. I added mine to my belt by my sword. We ventured deeper into the cave. We were in a hallway of stone with some rooms to the side. We went in one of the rooms and found some odd material. It was made of plastic and was stuck to the wall. Sort of like molding clay.

“It seems to be some form of explosives.” observed Fenton.

“Well then let’s avoid setting it off.” The queen advised.

We heard a rumbling. Oh no.

“The cave is collapsing!” yelled Serena.

We ran up to the entrance. We saw the last ray of moonlight just before about ten tons of rock fell into the opening.

"What caused that cave in?" Asked the queen.

"It was probably natural, Saja could not have known that we followed her, let alone know our location." Said Fenton.

“Grab your picks and dig.” Serena advised.

We all then tried to dig out but did not even make a dent in the rocky debris that separated us from the outside world.

“It is not breaking.” Moaned the queen.

“It is hard as granite.” I declared.

“Granite?” asked Serena. I sighed. “

Never mind.” I said.

Not to self: Stop making Earth references.

“We have to find a way out.” Said the queen.

“What about that weird clay like stuff on the wall, the explosives?” I asked.

“We do not know how unstable that stuff is.” Said Serena.

“Let us look in the other rooms in that hall.” Suggested the queen, pointing to a stone corridor cut into the rocks.

“This looks to be an old miner's outpost.” Declared Kai.

“I agree with the queen, we should search the place, see if we can find a way out of here. If it is an old miner’s post, there has to be more than one exit, right?” commented Fenton.

“I hope so, Fenton.” Kai remarked.

We walked down the hall way and saw different rooms. We all took one different room. I looked around the room that I chose. It was a small rectangular room with a wooden chest at the end. I walked over to it. About half way between me and the chest (which was about fifty feet.) I set off a trap of some sort. I looked down and saw I had hit a tripwire! Worry started blossoming in my mind. This couldn’t be good. The floor caved in and rocks fell into to oblivion bellow. This looked like something out of a video game, but why would there be a trap set in an old miner's outpost? I looked again and saw that every five feet or so there was a stone pillar. Luckily, I set off the trap while standing on solid ground; a pillar. Great, some hardcore parkour. They were scattered all around, with five feet between each pillar. I turned to go back. I hopped across the pillars with ease, stumbling once or twice. When I reached the door, I tried opening it, but the door had already locked from the outside. Come on! I couldn't catch a break, ever.

"Hey! The door’s stuck!" I yelled.

I heard the others go to the other side of the door. I looked at them through a crack in the stone. When they approached the door some finely sharpened stone stakes fell in front of them, separating them from the door.

"We cannot open the door." Said Fenton.

“It looks like I have to leap across these pillars.” I said.

"Don't die. We will find a way around and meet you at the other side." Said Serena.

“Yes, do not die. Great advice Serena.” Kai remarked.

“Hey, it is good advice.” Serena said defensively.

I turned around and looked at the pillars. I estimated I could make that first jump. I ran and gained as much speed as I could. I leaped, and as I was standing on the edge of the pillar a little bit crumbled off. So I fell but grabbed the spot where I was aiming for. I'd have to be more careful. I hauled myself back onto the pillar. Why was hoping from pillar to pillar so hard all of a sudden? It was easy when I was going back to the door.

I hopped across more pillars. I now had about forty more feet to go. I carefully lined up my third jump and landed right in the middle of the next poll. Three jumps later something changed; as I landed in the center once again I hear a click. What now? I got my answer when a razor sharp, needle thin bullet of some sort shot through the wall and imbedded itself in my calf. It seared with pain. I heard the continuous thwip, thwip of those needles shooting at me. I kept running and leaping and tumbling. I was about thirty feet away from the end when another stuck into my back, just to the right of my spine. I kept going. I jumped again and fell short a little. I managed to grab the edge but I jarred my shoulder, forcing me to let go with my right hand. Three more needles stuck into my calves. They hurt like, well, when a nurse sticks a syringe in your arm. I hauled myself up again and kept going. Another four jumps later another needle grazed my neck.

I pressed on. I jumped again. Halfway through my jump a needle hit me right shoulder and it went dead. I jumped more and more, dodging more needles. Ten feet away. I made the last few jumps and leaped at the last platform where there was a chest. I didn’t make it far enough. I thrust my left arm out and caught it on the edge. My legs were at an odd angle and were under the platform. I swung left and right and used my momentum and finally rolled onto the edge, safe from the needles. I pulled the remaining few out of my skin. They were like porcupine quills. I started to wonder if they were. After I removed them all I looked in the chest. I found an odd looking contraption. It was about the size of an iPod. It had wires coming out of the top and a red switch in the center. I held on to this because whoever guarded it this heavily must’ve not wanted it to be touched. I went through the door that was nearby. I ended up in a massive room. At the end was an object. It gave off an eerie blue glow. I saw a man examining it.

“Hello?” I called.

He whirled around and looked at me. He pulled out a pistol that looked like one of those old timey pirate weapons. What were they called? Flintlocks? Fear spread through my system, but I put on a poker face.

“Go back the way you came, boy" The man said.

I instinctively pulled out my sword.

He shot at me, missing me by a few inches, shattering a portion of the wall beside my head. I cried out in fear as splinters from the wall shot off and stung my skin. I ran at him, diving to the side, anticipating his next shot. His shot came, but missed me. I ran again but tripped. He took aim again and pulled the trigger, but all I heard was a click. He must’ve been out of bullets. He looked at his gun and threw it to the ground, and pulled out a polished sabre.

“Heed my warning! Go back the way you came!” The man shouted.

I charged him in a fit of fear and he blocked me. For an instant we were face to face as our blades locked. He pushed me back, but I resisted and knocked him off balance. I then jabbed him in the gut with the blade of my sword, creating a shallow wound. He grunted. He then pushed with all his force on me. I did the same. I knocked him of balance again but this time took advantage of it. I bent my arm and put it to his throat and held my sword to his chest. I didn't want to kill him, but I would do it if it meant saving my own life.

"Drop it." I ordered him.

He obeyed, and dropped his sabre. I looked him straight in the eye.

“Who are you?” I asked.

This time he was a little more cooperative.

“I am Pavo. World class treasure hunter.” The man explained, speaking quickly.

I glanced to the blue object.

“And what is that?” I asked.

“That is a semonite crystal. It gives off a constant electric pulse, I was going to sell it in town.” He went on.

I thought back to the explosives. I could use this semonite and ignite it and detonate it, then my friends and I could get out of this cave! I let him go and walked over to the object, the semonite crystal. Picked it up to find it was extremely heavy. I left Pavo there in the chamber. The quills stopped shooting out of the walls and I quickly hopped across the pillars again, almost losing my balance a few times. I slung the crystal over my shoulder as I did so, shifting it as it became necessary. Once at the other side I went to the door and found that it was still locked. So I threw my weight into it. It didn’t budge.

“Hey, any luck with the door?” I asked my friends.

“Yes, we cut the wooden stakes down to size, you should be able to open it now by hitting it really hard, and we will pull the door as well.” Fenton said.

I stepped back, took a running start and rammed my shoulder in to the door. It took several tries but finally it heaved open. My friends fell backwards as the door opened, as they had been pulling on it.

“What is that hunk of rock?” asked Serena.

“This is Semonite. I am going to use it to get us out of this cave.” I explained.

Serena looked relieved.

“How?” asked the queen.

“Wait and see.” I replied.

I led them to the room with the explosives in it.

“Stand back.” I ordered.

The others did as I said and I pulled out the thing I found in the chest, the thing that was the size of an iPod. This was probably the detonator. I turned it over and found a compartment in the back. I broke off a piece of the semonite crystal and put it in there. I touched a wire that was hanging out of the back of the detonator and I touched it to the semonite crystal. I turned the device back over to the front and found a red switch. I ran back to the others as fast as I could. Once the others and I were out on the hall, with a few feet of stone between us and the explosives of the wall, I pushed the red button.

A few seconds later, the explosives detonated, knocking me forward a good five feet even with a few feet of rock between my friends and I and the detonation point. My ears rang a little, but it was fine. I stood up from my spot on the ground and looked in to the room.

“Wow!” Exclaimed Fenton.

“That was a big explosion!” Shouted Serena.

“I have seen bigger.” Kai said with an uninterested tone.

We all looked at him with confusion.

“What?” Asked Kai.

I shook my head.

“Never mind, let’s just get out of this cave!” I shouted.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think :)