Creatures of Snow (30 page)

“
Choirmaster? Who’s that?
Zeph?”

“
No.” Was all he
said.

“So it was all an act.”
Sky let his annoyance come through in an exaggerated sigh, he
somehow wasn’t surprised at all.

Soul stood with military
precision, reminding him of Lee, “The more you know the more danger
you are in. Our hope was to resolve this matter before it escalated
to such a point, but the Man of Mist has proven to be an elusive
adversary. He was getting too close.” Soul shook his head, his
forehead creasing, just like it always used to when he was worried,
“He’s like a ghost, impossible to track, impossible to catch. Our
only choice now is to simply take Al and Sara out of the
equation.”

“
What does that mean?” Sky
didn’t like the way Soul had said that, like it was the worst
possible thing.

“It means exactly what I
said.” Soul straightened, “The Choir protects the Realm of the
Living. The Councilmen need Al and Sara to get to the Valley and we
will do whatever we have to in order to stop that from
happening.”

“Councilmen? And the
Valley? What are they?”

“We will allow you one
chance to hide them, but if they can not successfully evade the Man
of Mist or whatever the Councilmen may send, then we will have to
do what we must do to ensure that the Valley is never
found.”

“How can you say that?”
Sky stepped back, horrified. “The Man of Mist, he wasn’t even after
Al or Sara, he was after information.”

“Only because he is still
seeking the location of the book and once he knows that, who do you
think his next targets will be? And it’s not just them we need to
protect; anyone who stands in his way now will be eliminated, just
like he didn’t hesitate to shoot you.”

“You know about
that?”

“Who do you think cleaned
you up after he left you for dead? I had tracked him to our house,
but you beat me there.”

Sky scratched at his chest, feeling the old
ache returning, “You were there?”

Soul nodded slowly,
swallowing hard. “To be honest, I think it was my fault he tried to
kill you. He didn’t have to do that. He could have just left and
you would have never known he was even there…but he knew
I
was there.” Soul’s
mouth turned down and his face grew cold, “There are no heroes.
That’s the mantra of the Choir. He kept saying it. He kept saying
it and then he shot you.”

“Why didn’t you just come
out then?” Sky couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I couldn’t. I have my
orders.” Soul tried to catch his eye, but failed, “I’m not supposed
to have contact with you.”

“
Then what is this? You’re
here now aren’t you?”

“
I can’t be helped
anymore. I have no other choice.”

Sky shoved Soul as hard as
he could, “He shot me! And you didn’t even try to stop him, because
of your orders?”

Soul’s eyes drifted off
into the distance and his face went slack, “I didn’t think he would
do that.” His eyes came back, but focused near his feet. “I’m so
sorry, Skyden.”

Sky shook with disgust. “Just take me home.
And then, be sure to keep obeying those orders, and leave us
alone.”

“
I can’t do that anymore.”
Soul shifted, the flow of the Snow shifted with him. “I understand
now that protecting you is more important. Family first, that’s
what dad taught us.”

“It’s a little late for
that now, don’t you think?” His words dripped sarcasm.

“It’s never too late.”
Soul reached under his vest, pulling out the same jagged knife he
had used before to slice his arm. “Not for us.”

What he expected was for Soul to cut another
seal, not thrust the knife forward, into Sky’s belly.

“You’re stubborn. And you
never listen.” Soul withdrew the knife and let Sky fall to his
knees. Soul stood there, contemplating, his eyes steady on the
swirling of the space beneath their feet. “
Roland told you, yes? What you really are?
”

“Soul.” He choked, holding
onto a stomach that honestly, didn’t even hurt.

“
Stand up.” Soul raised
his eyebrows, “You know you can. You’ve been through this a few
times now.”

Sky pushed the spot he had
been stabbed. There was a slight tingle of pain, but even that soon
faded. “What was that for?” He huffed and stood.

“
So he can find
us
.”

Sky would have stepped away, but he was
frozen all the way up to his vocal cords.

“Who?”

“Roland told you not to
tell anyone, right.”

“
Yeah.” Sky looked around
nervously. “Who’s trying to find us?”

“It’s very important that
you understand those words. No one must know. Not even dad.” Soul
ignored his question. “I began my change five years ago, shortly
after I was sent away to Arche and was placed within the Choir.”
Soul stepped closer, “Are you listening? This is important. The
Choir is more then just a bunch of students running around doing
random missions. There is something much bigger, much older behind
it. They protect the realm, no matter the cost.”

“But, I don’t-”

“I said listen, not talk.
Now please, you need to understand this. The Choir protects the
realm, and, you and me; we are a threat to the realm, by our very
existence. The Choirmaster and a few select others know what we
are, and they have let you exist so far,
only
because you hadn’t shown any
signs of the change. I am allowed to exist, because I am a member
of the Choir, Zeph saw to that. The Powers are my allies, but also
my wardens. If I stray from my duties as a guardian of the realm I
will be sealed away, never to see the light of the suns again.”
Soul again looked away into the distance, as if listening to
something far off, “They will not be so easy on you, Skyden. You
have an unruly nature, I have heard them say how like our father,
our real father, you are…they have already decided that when you
turn, you will be sealed, or you will be destroyed, depending on if
you resist us or not.”

“Destroy me? But, I
haven’t done anything.” But, somehow he knew that didn’t
matter.

“I thought of a way to
protect you.” He went on, “You won’t like it, Zeph won’t like it,
but it will work, I know it will.” Soul brought his attention back
once again to Sky, “The Choir pride themselves on being fair and
just. So, there is no way they can punish you if they can’t prove
that it’s your true nature acting out.”

Sky chanced another step
back and turned his back to his brother. “Just stop, okay. I’m
pretty sure I’m not gonna like whatever you have planned here.
Roland said that Zeph said they could keep me hidden.” He didn’t
want to be afraid, he didn’t want to wish his brother would go
away, but he did. He wanted nothing more in that moment then to
wake up and for it to all be a bad, bad dream. He wanted Soul to
just be that jerk in his memory that had abandoned his family for
selfish reasons.

“Zeph is an unfailing
optimist. Now, this will hurt,” Soul was saying, “but it will save
you.”

“Wait, what?” But Soul was
gone. “Wait!” Sky yelled, alone in the strangest place he had ever
been. The fear that had kept its distance found its way back into
his mind. Strange as it was, without Soul there the Snow didn’t
seem so peaceful.

The light and dark began to churn around him
like a brewing storm. Sky turned, wanting to run, but found himself
falling instead. Just as he thought about hitting the ground, he
hit it hard.

“
Soul!” He screamed as
panic set in. He had no idea how they had gotten there, or how he
could get back. He clung to the ground he convinced his mind was
there, “Soul, you jerk! Take me home!”

“Home?” A gritty voice
that was certainly not Soul’s answered.

Sky froze and his panic
combined with full on terror. The darkness around him began to
swell, merging into a crude form. He clamored to his feet; the dark
monstrosity grew larger and larger, until it had taken up the world
around him.

“But, you are home.” It
laughed in a deep rumble.

He backed away, concentrating only on the
dark form.

“Do you not like your
home?” It said again, this time in less menacing tone. The form
began to compact and grow smaller until it was roughly the size of
a human. “My prince.” The smile was the first feature it formed,
then the outstretched hand. Slowly the blackness began to fade into
flesh like tones. Clear blue eyes opened above the wide
smile.

He could feel his own eyes getting wider,
what was this? The Creatures face smiled brightly, a face he almost
recognized. Sky felt strange, like he was suddenly lighter and
almost content as his fear faded with each steady beat of his
heart.

“You don’t have to be
afraid, Skyden.” The creature wasn’t young or old; its features
seemed to shift and change, like the landscape. “I’m a
friend.”

The Creature seemed so
familiar, but he couldn’t place why. The face it wore was one he
felt himself wanting to trust, out of instinct he found himself
moving forward. The dark hair, the blue eyes and toothy smile, “Who
are you?”

The light in the
Creature’s eyes darkened, the blue turned to coal. “I said, I was a
friend.”

Sky’s step faltered as the
Creature’s face shifted to a younger, more innocent appearance. A
face that looked like a memory. He stepped back, and found the
ground beneath his feet growing softer, threatening his balance.
“What are you?” His voice wavered more then he would have
liked.

This is a
Fury
.

The air around him got
heavier and more menacing as the darkness crept back in. “Maybe I
should ask you,” It said, this time moving towards him, “what
exactly you think you are?” Its face began morphing slowly; the
finer details were fading, making it look less human. “Who are
you?” It hissed, circling him, its cold hand trailing across his
cheek.

“Skyden Regan.” Sky
stepped back, but this time, lost his balance. He was thankful for
the hard ground
his butt hit, even
as his wrist turned awkwardly beneath
him.

Its eyes had gone
completely black, the color of Its skin began to fade and with each
careful step the form lost shape. “Regan? Don’t make me laugh.” It
said in a deep, guttural bellow. “You have so much to learn, young
master.” The sound of the Creature’s cackling echoed through the
space.

It lunged at him, but
simply vanished when it should have hit him. He sat there a moment
- puzzled in the silence of the Snow.

What had started as a
slight tingling in the back of his head, quickly spread throughout
his body like fire in his veins. Sky collapsed with a scream, the
weight of the air was suddenly suffocating him and the darkness
that swirled around him seemed too bright. It was a pain he had
never felt before and could best be compared to being torn apart
from the inside. The screams that escaped his lungs echoed in his
mind like shards of glass. He clawed at his own skin, needing to
cut it open and let the fire out.

“Sky!” A voice shouted.
Could it be his dad? No, Iko’s couldn’t cross into the Snow. He
fought to focus his eyes, but could feel the first wave of blissful
unconsciousness start to wash over him. “Don’t fight it Sky, accept
him, if you fight him you could destroy him.”

His jaw was locked,
otherwise he would still be screaming. He wanted to destroy it. He
wanted the pain to end.

Soul held him tightly
across the chest, whispering words of annoying encouragement.
“
Hang in there. It’s almost over. Just
relax.
”

And then, it was over like
it had never begun. If there had been anything in Sky’s stomach, it
would have been given up.

His eyes fell out of focus
and the detached lure of unconsciousness was beckoning him once
again. A large yell from Soul snapped him back into the moment. Sky
wasn’t sure if time was still moving, or if time had perhaps
stopped all together. But finally, after an eternity of stillness,
Soul looked down at him, “It’s over.” He said calmly and helped Sky
to an upright position.

Sky shoved him back, he
wanted to punch him. He wanted to tear him apart, make him feel the
pain that still lingered in every cell of his body. But, he let out
an angry whimper and fell back to the ground instead.

“
The pain will leave you
shortly, but you will never forget it.” Soul stood over him,
offering a hand. Even if Sky had the energy to take it, he wouldn’t
of.

Soul crouched down beside
him in order to meet his blazing glare, “It’s to protect you
Skyden. No one can know your true self is waking. That Fury marked
you; he will keep your powers subdued, and can mask what does leak
through as his own.”

Sky closed his eyes. “I
don’t understand.”

Soul lifted him to his
unsteady feet. “He calls himself Zar, you can not trust him, but
you must rely on him. He is loyal to our true father and should
obey you…somewhat.” Soul stepped back and faced him, “I have to go
now or they will wonder where I’ve gone. I’ll try to contact you
again soon. When you get back, tell Zeph what I did, he’ll know
what to do.”