The Sorcerer's Ring (Book 1) (4 page)

“The atmosphere changes every day,” Olivia said as she paced around Remi.

Remi sighed and rolled her eyes. “I already know this.”

“No, you don’t. Otherwise you would have mentioned it.”

“Everyone knows about the atmosphere changes.”

“They know intellectually, but they don’t know emotionally and physically. Even now I can feel the transformation in the air around me. Foreign particles that were once settled are now kicked up and dancing all around me. I’m breathing them in and they are becoming a part of me, slowly changing everything that I am. I gain my power from the atmosphere, and—”

“—I gain my power from within,” Remi interrupted. Olivia paused and mulled over her words.

“What makes you say that?”

“Your abilities make sense. Being able to heat up your body? That’s something everyone can do. However, in your case, the atmosphere altered your cells in a way that you can go beyond that. We’ve seen people in our town develop super sight, or have the ability to control their flow of adrenaline, heal their sick bodies at a rapid rate or defy gravity itself. But me? What’s the point of what I can do? An eidolon is a part of my soul, but from what we’ve heard, people could do what I do before the worlds collided.”

“What are you really saying?”

“I’m saying that the atmosphere doesn’t affect me the way it does for you and the others.”

Olivia scoffed. “So you’re special now? Because that guy told you so?”

Remi waved her hands up in the air frantically. “No, I’m not trying to be egotistical. But I have put a lot of thought into this, and I just can’t shake the feeling that all of this has to mean something.”

“What I’m hearing is that my training doesn’t matter to you.”

“I don’t know if it does,” Remi said honestly. “But…I…I do want to hear what you have to say. Even if I might not be able to use any of your advice.”

“You should have just kept your mouth shut and told me afterwards.”

“I didn’t know how long you were going to talk,” Remi cringed. “And time is short. A year, remember?”

“Yeah, I know,” she muttered, closing her eyes. “Okay, well, what I’m saying is at least something you should consider. Just because you might get your power from
within,
that doesn’t mean the air you’re breathing doesn’t have an effect on you.”

“I know,” Remi replied. She dared not say anymore. She could tell by the tapping of Olivia’s feet and her tense, raised shoulders that she was on the brink of going home. “So…what were you saying?”

“I was explaining to you how I gain strength from the atmosphere. It’s subtle differences because we’ve lived here all our lives, but I imagine that as we travel to the other worlds, things might change. Terra had a different composition once, and so the air might not be the same. It’s something I’ll have to keep in mind.”

“Me too. My eidolon might get weaker when I bring it out.”

“Hey, I have a question for you.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you do more than take out that thing?” Remi’s eyes widened in surprise. What made Olivia think of that? Now that she thought about it, it was the first time she had taken out her eidolon in front of her. That must have been a shock, and she wouldn’t be surprised if her friend now felt a betrayal of trust over it. It wasn’t that she was trying to be secretive about it. Just that she truly thought of the eidolon that low on the scale of importance. Still, the damage was now done, and there was no reason to hide anything else.

“I can do one more thing,” Remi admitted, taking a deep breath.

“Show me,” Olivia demanded, and Remi was happy to oblige.

“I can only do this for a few seconds, so pay attention.” Remi clenched her fists tight and concentrated on transforming her body. A second later, the dust blew away from all around her and she was in the middle of an invisible bubble. There was no air to be found inside, as if she had just been transported into the very vacuum of space. She couldn’t breathe, but again, it would only take a few seconds.

Her hair was suddenly cut short, as if the roots had receded inside of her head half-way, and the follicles had stiffened. Slowly, as if a caterpillar was spiraling around each of her winds, a trail of lily white fabric followed, clothing her from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head, donning her in a hooded robe that hung low enough to cover her forehead.

The bubble burst, and Olivia was slightly thrown back with the dirt around her flying into her face. The winds caused by Remi’s sudden freedom scrapped the walls of the buildings near them clean. Remi never understood why wind came out when the bubble burst, but she had to admit that it was a cool effect. Olivia was in awe over her friend’s transformation.

But as promised, it was only for a few seconds.

Suddenly, the robe disappeared in the blink of an eye. And Remi fell to her knees in exhaustion, sweating so profusely that her skin was getting clammy from the light breeze around them. Olivia rushed forward and grabbed Remi’s fallen poncho from the ground. She lightly wiped it off though it was now cleaner than it had been in weeks, and then she placed it carefully over her friend’s shoulders.

“What was that?” Olivia whispered and Remi tried to smile, but it hurt too much.

“I got stronger…just…just…for a second,” Remi rasped. She wrapped her arms around her abdomen and began rocking in place.

“It seems like it really takes a toll on you though,” Olivia observed. “Is it even worth it?”

“No,” Remi whispered weakly. Olivia bent down and wrapped her arms around her.

“We still have plenty of time to get stronger.”

“I don’t know…if I want to work on that,” Remi huffed, gaining back a little of her breath.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE?!” a familiar voice screamed from in front of them. The two girls looked up to see that the raid group had returned, and from the sunken eyes and crestfallen faces, they had come back empty handed. Remi’s eyes fell upon her mother, glaring back at her with a clenched jaw and a fire in her eyes.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE?” she screamed as she stormed ahead of the pack and straight for Remi. Olivia tensed up as she saw the woman approaching, but Remi’s mother knew better than to attack her daughter. The blows may kill her and Remi could still be useful in life rather than death, even if it was only to be future bait for some horrible monster.

“I just wanted to get out the house,” Remi muttered. Her mother grabbed her jaw with her dirty hands and lifted her face until their eyes were level.

“You know that makes you sicker! And what are you going to do if you run a fever again? We don’t have any food to give you strength.”

“Then I would die, I guess.” Remi decided to test her.

“At least our house would get more to eat,” her mother spat on the ground. Remi bowed her head and her mother roughly let go of her jaw.

“No success?” Remi muttered as her mother turned to face the returning raid group. There were certainly less people than those that had left.

“None at all.”

“Where’s Father?”

“Still out there looking. I would be out there with him if we didn’t have more pressing business to attend to.”

“Business?”

“Bring the wretch forward.” Remi raised her gaze and saw four men carrying a long and dirty sack. Each of the men were bent down low, as the weight of what was inside drained their already depleted energy. They couldn’t make it to Remi’s mother. Tapped out of energy, they dropped the sack to the dirt and began huffing as they leaned onto their knees. Remi’s mother shook her head and proceeded to open one end of the sack, carefully untying the knots. When she was finished, the first thing that Remi noticed was a patch of hair sticking out.

Was it Eckard?

No, the hair was a lot different…but there was definitely a body inside.

“What is that?” an elderly man asked from behind Remi and Olivia. He had come out of his house to inquire about the raid group’s success, or lack thereof. “Are we going to eat it?”

“No, it’s not for eating,” Remi’s mother replied, giving the sack a good kick. It didn’t move in response. “But he might lead us to food one day. Call it an investment.” She nodded toward the four men who had now caught their breath, and they began pulling at the tail end of the sack, revealing the prize within.

Remi stepped forward and examined him.

It was a boy. About her age from what she could tell. But he was a lot different than Eckard. Eckard had been clean and almost boyish in his features. This boy—though still looking innocent while sleeping—looked more like a man.

He had strange markings and tattoos on his exposed, muscular arms. His shirt was torn intentionally at the shoulders, but the tears in the middle were obviously not. He had taken strikes from the raid group’s blades, and somehow, he wasn’t bleeding. The wounds were non-existent and only small reveals of his massive bare chest and abdomen was revealed. He had facial hair—a mustache and goatee, but it was fuzz, as if he had just started growing it out. His hair was disheveled and dirty, but composed of fine, black tufts. His skin was sun-kissed and his lips were pursed, even in sleep.

Her eyes fell upon his right forearm and she raised an eyebrow. Something resembling a bone in color and composition was sticking out. Did he break his arm?

“What is he?” Remi asked and her mother laughed.

“I was wondering when you would stop drooling over him.”

Remi blushed. “I wasn’t drooling. I just never saw someone like him before.”

“Don’t talk back,” her mother said flatly as she put her hands on her hips. “Well, hopefully it won’t be the last time. We’re going to get him to tell us where we can find some food. Cimmerian is looking pretty dry these days, or at least with how far we’ve gone in. About time we start learning about some other options. I don’t want you hanging around him though. He’s dangerous.”

“Killed two of us,” one of the men from the raid group muttered. “Took us all to bring him down.”

“He attacked you?” the elderly man asked, but Remi’s mother shook her head.

“No, we attacked him. Only reason we were able to win, I think. He wasn’t expecting it. Anyways, you stay away from him too, old man. We’re going to keep him chained up but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for him to escape and that’s the last thing we want. Not only could we get some information out of him, but if it comes down to it…we could always eat him.”

“Ew,” Olivia muttered and the raid group began laughing.

“She says that now,” one of the men muttered. Remi’s mother gave Olivia a smirk.

“Once those hunger pains come in, you’ll consider gnawing on your arm before you’ll starve to death. Trust me. But I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. Like I said before, no one touch him without orders from one of our leaders. And someone tell me when he wakes up. It’s not every day I get to meet a Quietus.”

“A Quietus?” Remi asked in awe as she examined the boy once more. But before she could even begin to survey him, the men began shoving his limp body back into the sack. Olivia sucked her teeth as the raid group walked past the two girls and the elderly man, heading toward their impromptu prison in the middle of town. Remi watched them until they were out of sight. She made a mental note of what house they headed into.

“Don’t do anything crazy,” Olivia laughed, seeing the look on Remi’s face.

Remi laughed right back. “Nothing you wouldn’t do.”

“He’s dangerous.”

“So are we,” Remi replied, sticking her tongue out at her. Olivia rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Fine. When we get the chance, we’ll see if we can talk to him.”

“See? Isn’t it better to just go along with what I want from the beginning?”

ONE YEAR LATER

For the first time in her life, her body had gotten stronger in the passing year. Her arms weren’t just limp noodles anymore. There were biceps and triceps and broader shoulders. Her legs didn’t wobble like they used to. Her mind was sharper and her optimism was greater. The road had been paved with many setbacks—bouts of recovery in which she would be bed-ridden for days after a grueling workout, or the occasional wound inflicted by Olivia. It was always an accident, but it still took twice as long to heal than anyone else.

Olivia was the greatest. She didn’t hold back no matter how much Remi pleaded. It was annoying in the moment, but it had reaped great rewards. She was actually forming thoughts about the future now.

Yes, the future.

And not just about surviving from one day to the next either. She envisioned beating the proverbial cancer that riddled her body. She envisioned defending herself against the great armies and dangers outside of her town. She might even be able to grow to independence someday. Or find love. It was a notion she had barely considered while growing up. Reality told her that she would die before she even hit puberty, and then when puberty passed, she knew she wouldn’t reach adulthood. And now that adulthood had arrived, she figured…why not? Why couldn’t she have a normal life?

She could find someone that she could laugh with and grow even further along with. Maybe have kids. Wouldn’t that be something?

Remi smiled to herself as she stood in front of the cracked mirror. She knew what her parents would say—that she should still be careful. That she could relapse at any moment, and though her body had gained a little muscle, it didn’t mean the inside of her was any better. Logically it had gotten worse. Her heart was working harder and her organs were dying every day, but wasn’t everybody’s?

Remi clenched her fists as she raised her head high.

She was beautiful.

She didn’t care who thought otherwise. She was formidable. She was impressive. She was a beast. She was powerful. She was underestimated and all those who thought her weak would learn in time.

They would learn.

Remi sighed and pressed the palm of her hand against her chest, then she reached up and ran her fingers through her hair. Her eyes scanned her from head to toe, taking in who she was and how she was seen. She might make some changes to her hair. Not because she cared what anyone thought or that she was covering something up.

Just to reflect the confidence within her.

She would ask Olivia about it. Again, she appreciated her brutal honesty.

Remi smiled one last time in the mirror, and that’s when she saw an arm rise from the cot in the background. Her eyes widened in alarm as she spun around.

There was someone in the room! But she squashed the fear in an instant, dismissing it like a servant. She thought she had been alone when she walked into the infirmary, but she had been so excited to see how she had changed in the past year that she hadn’t taken in her surroundings.

Whoever it was, they were covered by three thick blankets in the corner of the room. Another arm rose and fell, and then suddenly, the wounded sat up and faced her. She recognized the face instantly.

It was the only Quietus face she knew.

“Uhhhhh,” he said as his eyes darted around the room. She noticed him clenching his right fist tight. He was ready to attack her if she got in his way. But little did he know that he had nothing to worry about.

“I’m not going to say anything,” she snickered, turning back around to face the mirror. Within it, she could see the Quietus raising an eyebrow and looking over his body for wounds or scars. She still kept watch over him, but at least the mood in the room had gotten lighter. She had spoken to him so casually that it had instantly put him at ease, not to mention that it spoke volumes about who he was.

He wasn’t a cold-blooded killer, at least not innately. Her words shouldn’t have taken him off guard so easily, no matter how friendly they sounded. She played with her hair, seeing what it would feel like in a braid or a ponytail while he watched her curiously. She was feeling especially good now. Since she had always been weak physically, she had focused much of her effort on improving her mind. But now that she had gotten a little stronger, she could only imagine what she could do once she combined body and mind.

“Why wouldn’t you say anything?” he asked, and she shrugged her shoulders. She turned to face him as he threw the blankets off of him. He winced at the amount of sweat that came off his body. “Ugh, I’m surprised I can even stand right now. Is all of this from me?”

“They aren’t very good caretakers in this town,” Remi replied. “They threw the blankets on you to keep you warm during the winter, but they didn’t bother taking them off once it got hot. It’s summer now.”

“Summer…how long have I been out?”

“A little over a year,” she said. “We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for a while.”

“We?” he scoffed, cautiously swinging his legs over the side of the cot. He groaned at the ache. “Good I can heal or I would have died for sure. Did anyone even feed me?”

“Not much.”

“No wonder I’m sore. If my nutrition had been kept up, I wouldn’t be feeling it.”

“You need some help getting on your feet,” she asked, and he looked at her suspiciously.

“Who are you?” he inquired. “And why do you care?”

“I’m Remi,” she said, opting not to extend a hand out for him to shake. Though he seemed innocent enough, she wasn’t stupid. “And I care because you might have something I want.”

“Oh?”

“I want to leave this place. For good. Before you came, my friend and I said we were preparing to leave in a year’s time, but since you’ve seen more of the outside than I have, we decided to give it another month or two and see if you would wake up. You might be able to steer us in the right direction.”

“I’m Kace,” he said, with no expression on his face. She blinked.

“That’s a weird name.”

“And Remi is a boy’s name.”

“Not always.”

“Never met a girl named Remi.”

“That’s a lie. You’ve never met anyone named Remi, and besides, it’s not my fault that my parents wanted a boy.”

“I don’t know why you’re talking to me like this,” he laughed to himself. “I could be your enemy, you know.”

“I’m aware.”

“And you’re not afraid?”

“Should I be?”

“You should,” he said darkly as he planted his feet on the ground. She smiled.

“You’re the one that got knocked out so hard you were asleep for a year.”

He brought his hand to his mouth and laughed. “You got me there.”

“So can we talk about the outside?”

“And after you get what you want, what are your intentions? Going to turn me over to your leaders?”

“Nope. You’re free to go once I’ve gotten what I want. But we can’t talk here.”

“Wouldn’t it be worse if your people find out that I disappeared somewhere?”

“Not really. They would assume you left town so they would start looking elsewhere. They love going out for raids anyways so it’s like getting two tasks done at once.”

“Lead the way,” he said and she began walking to the door. He followed behind her slowly but she was watching him the best she could out of the corner of the eye. Now his friendliness was beginning to bother her. He couldn’t be that easy-going. Of course, the raid group had knocked him out, and they were terrible so…she wasn’t sure how to feel about him.

“We’re going to the roof,” she said, taking him behind the infirmary.

“That’s it?”

“Yep,” she replied as he began crouching down behind her. “What are you doing?”

“I’ll meet you up there.”

“Wait,” she pleaded but he had already leapt up into the air. His leap was so impressive that she stood there gawking like a dummy for half a minute, wondering where he had suddenly got the energy. Wasn’t he weak a few minutes ago?

Remi climbed the back of the infirmary as quick as possible, using the grooves and loose boards to propel her upward. Once she was half-way up, she noticed Kace sitting over the edge, dangling his feet and watching her as she continued. She didn’t like being in a vulnerable position, and so that he wouldn’t get any ideas, she suddenly willed herself to transform.

It sounded like a giant had clapped his hands together. A shockwave of wind and sound thundered from where she was and suddenly she was on top the roof, back in her hooded, white robe. She landed on one knee and then let the robe disappear. Kace remained where he was sitting, leaning back onto his hands with wide eyes as she stood to her feet.

She had gotten her message across.

“What was that?” he asked and she crossed her arms. Transforming didn’t take as much of a toll on her as it used to, but she was still trying to shorten her breath. Her heart was racing so fast that she was sure he could hear it.

“Transformed,” she said matter-of-factly, as if it was a common thing. Kace scratched the side of his face as he looked at her closely.

“Can everyone here do that?”

“What does that matter?”

“What’s wrong? You don’t trust me?”

“Give me a reason to and maybe I will.”

“Hmm,” he said, turning to look over all the roofs of their town. “I don’t have any reasons. And I really don’t care if you trust me or not. I’m thankful you didn’t tell anyone about me waking up, but that’s where my trust in you ends. I think I’ll be going now.”

“Wait,” Remi pleaded, breaking the façade of bravery that she had built up. “Why did you wait for me on top of the roof if you’re just going to leave?”

“You caught my interest,” he said, flashing her a smile. She smiled a little herself.

“And I assume I’ve now lost it?”

“No, just that I have better things to do than play games. If I’m smart, I’ll take off and put as much distance between me and this town as I can.”

“But I haven’t gotten any information out of you yet. I’m allowing you to escape so you could at least give me that.”

“What do you want to know?”

“We can’t get it all out now. Why don’t you stay here a couple more days in one of the abandoned houses near the entrance? The raid group should be out of town for a few more days. You could get a little more time to heal and feel more like yourself.”

“I feel fine now,” he said, thumping his chest. “The Quietus can heal fast.”

“What is a Quietus anyways?”

“You’ve never heard of one.”

“No.”

“They’re a warrior race, made up of…are you serious about leaving this place?”

“I am. Whether I went with you or not, I’m leaving.”

“You don’t even know me. Why would you go with me?”

“I have to make friends somehow,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I can’t be afraid to open up out there.”

“You should be very afraid,” he said ominously. “There’s a lot of good people out there, but I would say that most are deceptive. With the whole Paragon and Cimmerian war looming, everyone is looking at each other suspiciously, wondering who’s on who’s side and where the spies are hidden. Plus, you make one wrong move, and you’ll be killed, and we all know what happens after that.”

“I don’t fear death,” she said and he glanced at her in surprise.

“But you will cease to exist afterwards. There’s nothing left to look forward to.”

“In a way, I feel like ceasing to exist is better than the alternative. Say I had died before the worlds collided and I ended up in Cimmerian against my will, I would have rather not felt anything.”

“That’s not how it works though. In the past when someone died, their soul would gravitate to what their personality is most like and where they would strive most. It was about survival not punishment. Those who went to Paragon desired peace and relaxation. Those who went to Cimmerian desired conquest and battle. Neither could be seen as being pure or evil if you think about it. It was merely about what they would prefer. If you think about it, for those who went to Cimmerian…it was kind of like their Paradise. The problem now is that all the worlds are connected and those from Cimmerian can go into Paragon and vice versa. That’s the problem. Everyone’s so scared that they’re not even thinking of peace. It’s like three major continents being next to each other, all with different views on how to live and what to believe in.”

“Who do you belong to?”

“My people live on Terra on the edge of Cimmerian. My people like to hunt for sport so we often go into Cimmerian to test the extent of our strength. I guess it’s similar to what your raid group does. I was out stalking my dinner when your people took me by surprise. They were ruthless.”

“Yeah, they’re not the talkative types.”

“Anything else you want to know?”

“I barely scratched the surface. Why? What’s the hurry?”

“Listen, you seem like a nice girl. But I’ve got to get going. I don’t feel comfortable hanging around here where I can easily be captured. Quietus don’t like being cornered. So if you want to learn more, you’re going to have to just come with me.”