Dissension (4 page)

The Last Hope

Brato crept through the empty streets, his wife and children close behind.  A cold wind swept the remnants of zaspar across the cobbled ground like the ashes of the dead.  They tried to ignore the signs of death all around, but the sight of their doomed home brought tears to their eyes.

Brato stopped at the edge of a long wall and leaned against it.  Craning his neck and wiping his eyes, he peered around the corner.

“I can see the hall across the courtyard,” he whispered.  “It looks clear, keep the children and I’ll make sure it’s safe.”

“No!” Eliana responded.  “We go together or we don't go at all.”

Brato glared at her and sighed.  “Fine,” he mumbled.  He knew there was no sense in arguing.

With his jaw clenched, he turned and looked back to the great hall.  The courtyard was nearly demolished.  It was once decorated with ornate sculptures and artifacts that had been gathered from across the worlds.  Now nothing but rubble remained.

Brato gripped her hand tightly and stepped into the courtyard.  He looked to his children and smiled then pressed his forefinger against his lips.  Together, they scurried across the ruined grounds and stopped near the entrance of the great hall.

Enormous, ivory columns towered on both sides.  Marble steps led into the entryway that opened up into a giant dome.  This was the heart of Elisia, the most sacred place in the whole city.

“Quickly,” Brato whispered as he placed his hand on the small of Eliana’s back.

They moved swiftly up the steps, their feet barely making a sound.  As Brato crossed into the great hall he slid to a stop and fell to his knees.

“No!” he screamed, banging his fists into the ground.

A shinning blue liquid streamed across the floor.  It swirled and began to evaporate before his eyes.  It was like the city itself was bleeding.

“The portal…the portal is gone,” Eliana mumbled, tears pouring down her cheeks.

There was a sudden rattle outside and Brato swung around and jumped to his feet.  For a moment his eyes flashed white until he realized it was Daviathan and Lupercus followed by a flood of people.

“Why are you not…”  Lupercus cut away as his eyes met the dissolving blue puddle.  “How…how could they have known?”

“Cleonicus!” Daviathan growled.

“We can open our own portals!” Lupercus stammered as he stormed further into the hall.

Brato grabbed his arm and slung him around.  “The children Lupercus, you know they cannot travel that way!”

Lupercus sighed and looked into Brato’s eyes.  He glanced past him to Eliana and then to Daviathan.  He looked at the countless faces of people that swayed back and forth near the doorway.  All lost, all shattered, all hoping that he could find a way to save them.

“We…we will have to retrocile the children,” Lupercus said feebly.

“What?” Eliana exclaimed.  “No…no!  That will kill them!”

Eliana lunged at Lupercus, slapping him across the face before Brato could grab her.

“How dare you!” she yelled.

“Eliana calm down,” Brato wrapped his arms around her and pulled her away.

“You know they won’t make it Brato.  We can’t let him do this.”

“Eliana, there is no other way,” Lupercus pleaded.

“He is right,” Daviathan said as he stepped forward.  “A legion of spectrals are headed this way.  Ravens have demolished our home, what you see before you is all that is left.  There is no other way out of the city.”

Eliana looked into Daviathan’s eyes and then fell to the floor.  She cried silently into her hands as the crowd of strangers looked on in confusion.

“We need three.  I only see two here that could hope to complete the retrocile process,” Brato said grimly.

Lupercus made to respond, but there was a loud explosion outside that shook the entire hall.  Daviathan ran to the door and glared out.  A giant fissure had opened in the middle of the sky.  The air around it swirled and twisted as light was sucked into the void.

Daviathan turned back to the hall, his face amiss with panic.  “They are bringing the others!”

“We have no time.  Brato we must do this now!”

The Last Stand

The walls rattled and the ground shook and split apart.  Outside of the great hall the sky ripped open and a storm of spectrals poured into the city.  Inside a sense nervous hesitation loomed in the air.

Brato stood in a circle holding hands with Lupercus and Daviathan.  His children were in the center, their eyes fluttered skittishly as they tried to maintain contact with their father.

“You’re doing so well,” Brato smiled at them.

Eliana knelt to the side, her face covered in dried tears.  She wanted to hold them, to kiss them and tell them everything would be okay; but she didn’t know if it would.  The truth was, no one had ever survived the process.

Retrociling was a dangerous thing.  It could only be attempted on the young.  It was an age reversing process and the only way an immature elemental could travel through a spawned portal.

“I didn’t know you’d reached ascension,” Brato said as he glanced over to Daviathan.

“Few did,” he grimly smiled back.

“We must hurry,” Lupercus grunted.

There was a scream from the onlookers and they shuffled away from the door.  Scampering further into the hall, they ran over one another as a raven leapt through the entrance and slid across the floor.

“We cannot break the circle now!”  Lupercus yelled.

Eliana looked to her children then jumped to her feet and charged at the raging animal.  It was still lumbering in the doorway, snarling at the crowd of trembling elementals.

“Eliana no!” Brato screamed.

“Brato finish it, finish it now,” she yelled back.

Eliana tackled the beast, wrapping her arms around its head.  The raven reared up and drove one of its horns into her shoulder.  She bellowed loudly and dug her fingers into its eyes.  Brato turned to run to her side, but Lupercus squeezed his hand tighter.

“Brato we can’t.  If you break the link now the children will die.”

Eliana staggered backwards as the raven pulled away.  It growled at her and dove forward again.  This time she side stepped its horns and punched her fist through its throat.  The raven flew into the wall and crumpled to the ground.  Blood gushed from the hole in its neck and swirled onto the white, marble floor.

“What...what are you waiting for?” Elaina stammered as she turned back to Brato.

“Concentrate!” Lupercus shouted.

Together they closed their eyes and focused.  In order to perform the retrocile it would take an almost unbreakable meditation.  With the city falling apart around them and a horde of spectrals and ravens right outside, this was nearly impossible.

Minutes passed as the other elementals looked on in silence.  Eliana smiled at her three sons, her hand squeezing the bleeding hole in her arm.

“It’s okay,” she whispered to them.

The boys huddled closer together, their legs trembling with fear.  Their eyes flashed white then back to their normal hazel color.

Daviathan, Brato and Lupercus didn’t move.  Their hands were locked together, their eyes closed, their bodies as still as statues.  Then with a sudden rush of heat, all three of they were all engulfed in ravaging blue flames.

The other elementals gasped and a few of them cried out in shock.  Not many had ever seen a retrocile attempted and only the elders and council members even knew what it was.

“The children, the children they’re going to burn,” a woman yelled.

Eliana glared at her and then turned her attention to the boys.  “Stay calm.  It’s almost over.”

The flames rose high into the air, licking at the ceiling of the dome.  Brato and the others hadn’t moved and even more they seemed totally unaffected by the blazing fire.

Without warning, the flames shot from the circle and covered the inside, spreading over the boys like a wave.  Eliana shrieked and ran forward.  She reached for the circle trying to save her boys from the inferno, but was thrown backwards by an invisible field that enclosed them all.

“Brato!  Brato!” she screamed over and over.

Then as suddenly as the flames appeared, they vanished and Brato and the others fell to the floor.  In the center of the circle where the boys once stood were three glowing blue spheres.

“It…it worked,” Daviathan mumbled as he staggered to his feet.

Brato scampered forward, scooping the three balls into his arms.  Eliana ran to his side.  She slid to the floor and wrapped her arms around him, ignoring the stinging sensation in her shoulder.

“Are they safe…are they safe Brato?”

“Not yet,” Lupercus replied in a grisly voice.

He pulled himself to his feet and walked to the back of the hall.  Holding his hand at eye level he rolled his fingers into a ball and snapped them back open.  A shallow, blue light swirled in his palm.  It flickered dimly like a dying flame then vanished.

“I…I am too weak," Lupercus crooned.  "Daviathan…”

“I am here,” Daviathan said as he stepped next to Lupercus.

Squeezing his hands together he created a light of his own much brighter than Lupercus’.  Together they placed their palms flat against the wall and it rippled like water.

“Quickly, this way!” Daviathan turned to the other elementals and beckoned them toward him.

One by one they rushed forward and stepped to the wall.  Lupercus helped them enter the portal as Daviathan ran to Brato and Eliana.

“We must take them now,” he said and pulled Brato to his feet.

Suddenly, there was another explosion at the steps of the hall.  Daviathan looked up and panic gripped his heart as the largest spectral he’d ever seen loomed in the doorway.

It was an enormous creature, nearly nine feet tall with a raven on either side of him.  His head swept left and right as he seemed to suck in the room with hollowed, black eye sockets.  A forked tongue jutted from his mouth, licking his razor sharp teeth.

“Ah Daviathan, of course you would be here with the women and children,” the spectral snarled, tracing a grin across his monstrous face.

“Nordus?”  Daviathan said in confusion.  “You…you would bring them here.  After all we’ve done to shepherd peace between our kind?”

Nordus leaned his head back and laughed.  It was a high pitched cackling that made the hair on Daviathan’s arms stand.

“We are not your pets Daviathan.  You wouldn’t even treat us as equals, yet we are so much more.”

Several more spectrals began to line the steps behind Nordus.  The ravens started to pace back and forth anxiously as he spoke.  They growled and snapped at the air in excitement.

“Always one step ahead, always plotting, always planning.  Oh, but now we know your secret don’t we?”  Nordus grinned as his eyes settled on Brato and the three spheres he held.

Eliana gasped.  She turned to Brato and placed her hand on his cheek.  “I love you…keep them safe.”

“What?”  Brato tilted his head in confusion.

Before he could move, Eliana surged forward in a blur.  Nordus lunged at Brato, but he was too slow.  Eliana collided with him and together they tumbled down the steps and into the darkness outside.

Daviathan spun to life.  He moved swiftly across the marble floor, slashing the heads off of both ravens with his bronze dagger.  The other spectrals charged into the hall and he flung himself at them.

“Eliana!” Brato screamed.

Lupercus rushed to his side.  “We must get the children into the portal.”

“Take them, take them Lupercus.  I can’t leave her.”

“Have you forgotten your charge?  There is nothing more important than the safe keeping of the children.  Nothing!” Lupercus said furiously.

"There is nothing more important than my wife!"

Brato stood to his full height.  He looked down on Lupercus his eyes blazing like a dying star.  He pushed the glowing spheres into Lupercus’ arms.

“Keep them safe.  I cannot leave her,” Brato said forcefully.

Turning towards the door, he clenched his jaw tightly and squeezed his fists.  His skin darkened as his arms grew and ripped through his shirt.  Like a bolt of lightning he surged forward, tearing through the crowd of spectrals and landing outside.

A few more spectrals had already made it inside.  They swarmed like ants, encircling the survivors.  Daviathan whirled around and drove his dagger into the heart of one of them then stared after Brato.

“Lupercus, get them through the portal!  I’ll get Brato and Eliana,” he yelled.

Lupercus grunted and let out a deep breath.  He gripped the spheres to his chest and turned on his heels.  Running full speed, he dove into the wall and vanished.

Daviathan quickly dispatched the remaining spectrals and rushed outside.  In the middle of the street Eliana and Brato stood back to back surrounded by an army of spectrals and ravens.  They were both severely injured and bleeding heavily onto the floor, but in their eyes glistened a defiance that made the hairs on Daviathan's neck stand.

“Just give us the children and we will end your suffering,” one of the spectrals heckled.

"I will give you death you filthy mongrel!" Brato spat.

"Don't play at bravery.  We have taken your city.  Our legions stand before you victorious.  Save yourself, perhaps I will keep you as my pet."

"Come then, let us reawaken Elisia with the blood of her foes!"  Brato and Eliana hunched forward.

Daviathan clenched his fists then started toward the courtyard.  The shadows hid him well, now that nearly all of the Zaspar had been depleted.  He inched closer and closer, gripping his dagger tightly.

All of a sudden a voice exploded inside of Daviathan’s head.

“We are done for my friend.  Please protect the boys, see the prophecy through and return honor to our people,” Brato's voice echoed.

Daviathan paused and fought back tears.  "No,   there is still time," he mumbled.  Swallowing, he continued forward, creeping through the shadows.

Brato held Eliana’s hands in his own and smiled at her.  “There is no place I would rather be,” he whispered.

She smiled back at him.  “Do it.”

Brato turned to the spectrals.  His eyes were the most intense white that Daviathan had ever seen.  His entire body and Eliana’s seemed to glow and radiate an energy that caused the air to distort.  This was the real power behind the elementals, they were one with the universe.  Every ounce of their being had been scooped from the cosmos to form the perfect balance and in the end that was where they would return.

“We will end our own suffering you cowards," Brato roared with life.  "But know this, you will never find our children!”

“Brato, no!”  Daviathan screamed, but he was too late.

With a shrill and an ear splitting whoosh, the city lit up.  Light poured out of Brato and Eliana overwhelming the spectrals, engulfing them like a radiant cloud.  Daviathan covered his face and knelt down.  The light rushed over him, blowing him into a wall and knocking him unconscious.

He was only out for a few minutes, but when he came to, the streets were empty.  Brato and Eliana were no more and any trace of the spectrals was gone.  Only the crumbling walls and cracked streets remained.

Daviathan stumbled around trying to collect himself.  He was disorientated and weak, but he knew the war wasn't over.  He could hear the rush of footsteps as more spectrals made it to the city and headed for the center.

In a daze, he staggered back into the hall and ran for the portal.  He was almost through it when a spectral leapt up the stairs and landed with a crushing thud.  Daviathan dove into the wall just as the spectral hurled an axe towards him.  The gleaming, double sided blade buried itself into Daviathan’s back and he fell into the portal and vanished.

Daviathan was sucked off of his feet and spun through the weightless void.  He felt the familiar sensation of being in a vacuum, but also the pain of Relusian steel buried in his back.

Suddenly his feet slammed into the ground and he fell forward onto his face.  He tried to stand, but couldn’t.  Lupercus quickly ran to his side and closed the portal.  He pulled the heavy axe out of Daviathan’s lower back and tossed it to the ground.

“You’re okay my friend,” he whispered as he placed his hand over the wound.

As it started to heal, he rolled him over and sat him up.  His face was covered in ash and his eyes told a story of defeat.

“Brato and Eliana?”

“They did not make it,”  Daviathan responded.

He looked into Lupercus’ eyes and then to the other elementals who were now refugees in a foreign world.  His eyes caught the gleaming spheres sitting on the ground in front of him and suddenly a sharp pain jolted his heart.

“Lupercus, I only see two...where is the third?  Where is the third sphere?”

“I…I lost it in the portal.”