--The Fourth Realm--
A fanfic taking place in the Realms of the Blood, created by
Anne Bishop whom I worship and pay tribute to every day.
Just kidding. Or so you think.
(Written by the Great and Powerful Keski,
spell checked by Microsoft Works Word Processor)
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Chapter IV
Hell's Angels
---
The girl vanished through the dark mist.
The psychic thread that linked to a mind outside the Altar was wavering, twisted, tainted. But it was also Ebony.
(They are on their way to Dachrea,) a sibilant voice slid along the thread straight to Dachrea.
(Yes. They shan't reach their destination, of course,) came the reply, equally sibilant.
(Shall we go, sister?) said the first voice.
There was a brief pause. (The Altar has opened here. I'm weaving the spell now…)
A dark figure stepped out of the shadows and began to weave a spell over the Altar just as the mist began to change back into cold stone. It stopped, reverted back to mist. The figure began to weave another spell. The Altar shook slightly.
The figure walked forward into the mist.
---
"I know the Gates are disorienting at first, but is the transition between Realms supposed to take this long?" Anna asked, worried, unable to see anything through the thick misty shadows.
Luseik's voice conveyed the frown he was doubtfully making right now. "Dachrea is somewhat separated from the Pureblood Realms, but going through the Gate didn't take this long going the other way."
Suddenly, everything jolted. Anna froze, unsure of what to do. The mist surrounding them thinned so that they could see each other. Soon, they were standing on solid shadows in a small cleared area, surrounded by thick swirling shadows and mist.
"No, the transition doesn't normally take this long," said a sibilant voice. "But you're no longer on your way to Dachrea."
Luseik spun around, unhindered by the two limp bodies on his shoulders. "Whoever that was is gone," he snarled. "Damn, I didn't notice them sooner."
The mist began to close in around them again. There was another jolt, and then silence.
"Luseik?" Anna called. "Keski? Satiyen?" She cautiously began to walk forward.
And stepped out of the mist to see everyone standing unharmed before her. She turned around to see a cold stone wall. "We made it! We're in Dachrea!"
"No," Luseik growled. "We're not. We're not in any of the Realms."
Anna spun back around to face him. "What do you mean?"
"This is someplace… Other. Someone created this place. We're inside a Dark Altar, all right, but if you step outside, it's a desolate wasteland. I looked."
"Someone created this?"
"Someone powerful. I've been places like this before. Most of them were more… Pleasant… But it takes great strength to build something like this."
"So… Are we trapped here?"
Luseik closed his eyes and raised one arm. Nothing happened. "The candles are spelled against fire."
Something inside of Anna went cold. "A spell stronger than your Black Jewels?"
Luseik's eyes narrowed. "I wear a cut Black Jewel, not uncut. If we face an enemy who wears an uncut Black, he would wield slightly more power."
Anna shook her head. "I've been wondering something. There are only two males in all three of the Pureblood Realms, as you call them, that wear the Black Jewel. So how much of a coincidence is it that you and Keski both wear them?"
Luseik shook his head. "It's no coincidence, Anna. Teirreille and Kaeleer are quite far separated from the Darkness. Dachrea, though, is a pure, unadulterated extension of the Darkness, modified by Black Widows and the more powerful Blood in order to be inhabitable. It's rare for anyone born in Dachrea to be gifted with a birthright Jewel lighter than the Opal. The Black is not quite as rare as it is in Teirreille and Kaeleer. Still uncommon, but I'm not surprised this unseen enemy wears the Black."
"Or darker," Satiyen said quietly. Luseik whirled on him.
"Witch, and only Witch, wears the Ebony," Luseik snarled. Satiyen shied away.
"Well, we're not getting anything done jusst sstanding here," Keski said finally. "Why don't we jusst explore the outsside?"
"Because it's obviously a trap," Luseik snapped.
Keski rolled his glowing crimson eyes. "We've got two Black Jewelss and two Ebon-Gray Jewelss on our sside. Three if you'll wake thosse two up, and then we'd alsso have a Gray. No Black Jewel, uncut or otherwisse, can sstand againsst uss."
Satiyen coughed loudly. Luseik gave him a dirty look and gave an exasperated sigh. He dropped the two unconscious men on the floor and waved a hand noncommittally at them. As they began to stir, he made for the door.
Anna followed him, unable to stray too far from the comforting strength of his Black Jewels. Satiyen and Keski stayed behind to placate the two half-Eyriens who hadn't quite come to their senses yet.
---
Luseik had been right. It was a desolate wasteland. And although it was ominous, it was actually rather pretty. If it was something your tastes could accommodate. There was a plain, absolutely flat landscape of black… Something. It looked like glass. There were something like black mountains that lined the horizon all the way around them. The sky was a beautiful, rich crimson red, and a black sun seemed to be in a perpetual sunset over the mountains.
"It's beautiful," Anna breathed.
"It's filthy," Luseik snarled. "It's tainted. The whole place… It's saturated with tainted power. The ground pulsates with it. That sun radiates it. It makes my gorge rise."
Anna put a hand on his shoulder and looked up at him. "I can sense that too. It is disgusting. But close your inner barriers. Put a psychic shield up so you can't sense the taint. Just look with your eyes. Look at the physical scenery, not the psychic scenery. Isn't it beautiful?"
Luseik bared his teeth and looked at the sun. "Yes, my Lady. It's nice," he said stiffly. Anna drew her hand from his back and sighed.
Luseik spun to face her. "I'm sorry, Anna. I didn't mean to… Please forgive my impudence, Queen."
Anna looked up at him. "Please, don't," she said. "Don't call me Queen. I'm not used to ruling anything. Once we've been in Dachrea for a while… Then you can act subservient. But please, don't."
"I'm sorry."
"How touching," said an amused voice from above them. Luseik spun, his wings flaring as he looked up to the top of the Dark Altar. Two people stood atop the Dark Altar. A girl and a boy, both of perhaps fourteen. A quick probe told Anna that the boy was a Warlord Prince and the girl was a Queen, and they were closely related, most likely siblings. They were also Guardians, Blood who had become demon-dead, and then chosen a half-life that would extend their lives into years beyond counting.
Both of them wore the Ebony Jewels.
At least, that was Anna's first perception. Something was strange about the Jewels, though. Oh, they were real, all right, but they weren't the Jewels those two rightfully wore. There was a spell, a ridiculously powerful spell, over those Jewels that kept the two from being consumed by the power of the Ebony.
Before she could contemplate anything more, the girl spread her wings. They were neither Eyrien nor draghan wings. They were blanketed in lush, soft feathers.
The girl leapt off of the rooftop, followed by her brother, who sported similar wings. The two landed several yards away from Luseik and Anna.
"Hell's angels," Luseik snarled.
"Observant little prick, aren't you?" said the girl.
A hastily connected psychic thread was formed between Luseik and Anna, on a personal thread. In seconds, she was told information that would take much longer to speak aloud.
(They are a brother and sister who are notorious in Dachrea,) Luseik said, his voice rough with aggression. (They were originally from Dachrea hundreds of thousands of years ago, but they were tainted from the cradle. They were banished from Dachrea as infants and sent to Kaeleer with their parents. They lived out their lives and then died. They both wore the Black, though, and their psychic strength was too deep to let their souls fade into the Darkness and they became demon-dead. They chose to become Guardians. Several thousand years later, they inevitably learned of Dachrea and their heritage. They forced their way back into Dachrea and used forbidden magic to create those wings you see. Now they call themselves Hell's angels and they wreak havoc wherever they can. They've been a thorn in the side of my Lord and Lady for ages. I don't know how they got those Ebony Jewels… Nor do I know how they are able to use them. But they are a formidable enemy even wearing the Black. Be careful, Anna.)
"You have done your homework, haven't you?" said the girl. "Pretty smart for someone in whose veins flows the blood of a dragon."
Something in the way she said 'dragon' made it sound more like 'feces' and Luseik didn't miss the insult.
"Ebony or Clear, it makes no difference what Jewels you wear. You're tainted, and you're scum, and I'll make short work of you in the name of my Lord and Lady," Luseik growled. One wing wrapped itself protectively around Anna. "And if you touch my Queen, I'll gut you both like pigs."
"My, my, protective of our Black Widow, aren't we? Do you even know the power she wields? Even wearing a mere Ebon-Gray Jewel, even without knowing her true power, she is stronger than you can ever hope to be."
Luseik snarled. "That may be so, but you're not getting your tainted hands on her power as long as I'm alive."
"Well, then," said the girl amiably as she raised the Ebony Jewel on her right hand, "Your life poses an obstacle to our plans. What do we do with obstacles, brother?"
The boy didn't smile, didn't look up. His dark eyes were fixed on Luseik. "We eradicate them."
"Indeed."
Something troubled Anna about that boy. Something she couldn't quite place, something about his mind, the way his inner barriers were constructed, the way his--
Luseik screamed and clutched at his skull. Anna grabbed him. "Luseik! Luseik, what's wrong?"
Luseik collapsed. Anna backed away from him. Suddenly, she spun to face the Hell's angels and looked past them at the Dark Altar. Where were Keski and Satiyen, Althemen and Alnevar? Hadn't they heard something by now?
"Your other friends are in similar condition," the girl said. "Except that their heads will probably hurt a lot more when they wake up. Their Jewels aren't quite so powerful, after all." She looked at her brother. "Luseik, though… Perhaps we shouldn't leave him here. He might come after the Black Widow… and he'll be a nuisance. What say you, brother?"
The boy looked at Luseik's limp form. Luseik's breathing was ragged and irregular.
"It would be most prudent to kill him now," said the boy, "if we consider the challenge of keeping possession of the Black Widow. But if we wish to gain the Black Widow's obedience, killing him would not be the most beneficial option towards our cause."
There it was again. The way the boy spoke. The sympathetic, apologetic, piteous way the girl looked at him…
Anna gasped. The boy's mind was damaged. Of course… How couldn't she have seen it before? It was so obvious. Something had gone wrong during the placing of the spell on the Ebony Jewels that enabled the two to wear them, and some of that power had been exposed to the boy's mind, damaging him before it could be helped. And because women were more valuable than men in the eyes of the Blood, of course the spell would be tested on the boy first, which was why it had failed; it hadn't been perfected yet. And they were siblings, which explained the sorrow, the sympathy, the pity from the girl.
Anna… Anna was a Black Widow. If she was allowed to, perhaps she could help the boy. Perhaps. If it was within her ability, she could try to heal the boy's mind.
The girl noticed Anna staring at her brother and bared her teeth. One wing extended to block Anna's view of the boy. "Is my brother interesting to you?" she said viciously. "Is that why you're staring at him?"
"No!" Anna said, not wishing to pour salt on a wound. "I just… He's mind-damaged. The damage is recent. It can be healed. I'm a Black Widow. I can help him if you let me--"
The girl's voice was low, murderous. "Stay away from my brother," she said.
"I don't want to hurt him. If you wait, the damage will be permanent. He can still be healed."
Before Anna could react, the girl had dashed forward wrapped one hand around Anna's neck. "If you so much as probe my brother's mind, I'll break you of your Jewels, your Craft, even that power of yours that Luseik covets so much. I'm not willing to risk my brother's sanity for power… Not again."
"I don't want to hurt him! I want to help!"
"He doesn't need your help."
(Yachesa.) The psychic thread permeated the entire area. It came from a powerful mind, a mind that Anna knew could encompass every mind here. (Do not harm the Black Widow. Bring Yachesen and the Black Widow to me now. And… Bring the draghan as well.)
The girl--Yachesa--widened her eyes and replied on the same thread.
(The son of Versiver?)
(There are no other draghans in Everdusk, Yachesa.) The link was broken.
So this place was called Everdusk. And the brother and sister were named Yachesa and Yachesen. And they worked for someone with even more power than the Ebony.
Yachesa glared daggers at Anna and let her hand drop. She leaned in close and hissed. "You stay away from my brother. I don't care what Oebr wants. If my brother comes to harm at your hands, I will hunt you down, and your death will take days. You'll suffer… beyond imagining… for day… after… life… sucking… day."