--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)

---

Chapter XV

Emotions

(It's an extended episode--The Season Finale!)

---

Anna stared at the ceiling as she lay in the huge, comfortable bed. When would Luseik come? Would Luseik come? Was it possible that even with all of their abilities and strengths, her friends--and father and uncle, she reminded herself--would not be able to help her? Would she have to get out of this on her own?

"Anna!" a familiar, friendly voice said from the floor next to the bed. Anna leaned over to see Keski staring up at her. She picked him up and set him down on the bed.

"Anna, what's going on? Why are you working with the bad guys?" Keski asked, sounding a little hurt.

"Don't worry," Anna whispered. "I'm fooling them. Akarui--"

"No one is fooling anybody," said a familiar, not-so-friendly voice from the doorway.

Dicrus, the demon-dead draghan, stood in the doorway grinning horrendously at Anna and Keski, who snarled and grew spines out of his shadowy self in an attempt to intimidate. He unleashed Black power at Dicrus.

In an invisible flash, something shot out of Dicrus' body and collided with the power. It turned back and engulfed Keski. With a piercing shriek, the gejk fell backward and went limp, taking on the texture of a slightly viscous substance.

Anna veritably leapt off the bed and stood facing Dicrus. "How dare you hurt Keski!" she hissed.

"How dare I hurt him? In case you didn't notice, the little bastard was attacking me. All I did was turn his own power back onto himself."

Anna bared her teeth. He tried to attack her with a rapid shot of Gray energy, but her own nullification caused it to fizzle out before it ever came close. She leapt at him, enhancing her own rather lacking physical strength with power from her Jewels as she pummeled him with her fists.

She wasn't even budging him. And then she realized that her Jewels were not doing their task of enhancing her strength--in fact, they weren't doing anything at all.

A cold, clammy hand locked around her neck.

"Your little friends are already locked up safe and tight," Dicrus hissed in her ear. "Akarui is onto your scheme, and we had our own trump card all along just waiting for a chance to use it on you fools. You want to see your friends? Fine. But I'll be feasting on the blood of each and every one of you soon enough."

Anna opened her mouth to cry out but was silent as a wave of Gray power washed over her mind, weakening but not knocking her out, and then a psychic tendril engulfed her mind, suggesting, as it had to Alnevar so many hours ago on the rooftop, that she simply relax, close her eyes, and… take a little nap…

---

Several minutes earlier

Satiyen slowed his pace to walk alongside Althemen, unable to resist any longer, and posed the question that was on all of their minds.

"So, who was that Skaviar guy?" he said quietly.

"He was an old friend," Althemen muttered.

"Didn't seem like much of a friend to me."

"Yeah, well, I said 'was,' didn't I?"

Satiyen laughed dryly. "And who's Kreethen?"

Althemen stopped walking and was silent for a few seconds. Satiyen stopped walking as well and watched Althemen. It seemed Althemen might curse, snap, insult someone--but he resumed his walk and muttered, "Another old friend."

Satiyen resumed his walk as well, frowning. "A Skaviar-friend, or a friend-friend?"

Althemen closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "He used to be a friend-friend, but as the years went by, he became more of a Skaviar-friend."

Satiyen sighed. "Althemen, I don't mean to offend you or upset you, and if I have, I apologize. I'm merely curious."

Althemen stopped walking abruptly, and it seemed again as if he might fly into a rage. But when he turned to face Satiyen, the impression he gave was exactly the opposite. He looked like a kicked puppy for a split second before he resumed his usual expression. His eyes were cold and hard, revealing nothing, and his posture was strong and intimidating. But the hand he gently laid on Satiyen's shoulder was shaking slightly.

"Satiyen," he said quietly, "please don't take offense if I seem angry with you. I know that I have a temper that could scare almost anyone off."

Satiyen smiled weakly and nodded, unsure of what else to do. Althemen seemed about to collapse underneath that façade of angry, hostile masculinity.

"I want to ask something of you, Satiyen," Althemen said tentatively. Imagine--Althemen, tentative! Satiyen nodded again. "If you ever see that I am becoming worked up over nothing, or if I ever seem about to do something foolish, please, don't be afraid to tell me so."

Satiyen nodded a third time. "I won't. And don't worry, Althemen, I know first-hand what it's like having a temper like yours. It isn't something you were born with. And it's not something you'll die with, Althemen."

Althemen seemed to ponder this last statement and he smiled weakly. "Yeah."

---

Alnevar had been staring at Satiyen for some time now, occasionally glancing around as if searching for something, but always returning his gaze to Satiyen. Finally Satiyen approached him and asked, "Is there a reason for you to be staring at me?"

"Sorry," Alnevar said quickly, "Just wondering where Keskes went."

Satiyen froze. "You're right! I haven't seen him in at least an hour!"

The hallway seemed to grow deathly silent a split second before a shrill laugh permeated the entire hallway. The lights dimmed as something greenish flashed by over head. Althemen screamed and clutched at his skull. Something cannoned into him from behind and sent him sprawling. The thing never stopped moving at that impossible speed--it knocked out Althemen, then flew into Luseik and slammed him into a wall, turned about, and smashed into Alnevar. Satiyen turned to run and opened his mouth in a silent scream as he felt claws raking down his body and a terrible drowning sensation. Then everything faded.

---

Luseik was the first to rise. He was slumped over, his back against a damp stone wall. He realized immediately that he wasn't bound in any way, and he lit a ball of witchfire to let him see.

Everyone else was here--his heart skipped a beat as he realized that everyone was here--including Anna. All other observations were discarded immediately. He started to run to her unconscious form but stopped--would she still be mad at him? Could she still be mad at him? The last thing she'd said to him… Their fight outside the castle… She'd called him a bastard. He'd tried to stop her, but she'd clawed his hand and kept walking.

His throat tightened just wondering if she had forgiven him. Screw all his masculine pride--he'd do anything if only she would forgive him!

"Mother Night," he whispered, and fell to kneel at her side, cradling her in his arms. "Anna, wake up, Anna, please," he whispered.

Althemen awoke now, and saw the same things Luseik had seen--and when he saw Anna, his heart also skipped a beat. He was at her side in an instant, checking for any physical wounds. Alnevar and Satiyen awoke simultaneously and Alnevar stared at the gathering while Satiyen joined and probed Anna's mind for any abnormalities.

Anna awoke, sitting straight upright, and everyone fell back a foot or so to give her room to breathe.

"Hell's fire, that son of a bitch put me to sl--" she froze as she stared around at everyone. Her gaze lingered on Althemen for one instant, Satiyen for two, and then stopped at Luseik. No one moved for at least a minute.

Anna fell forward onto Luseik, letting her arms drape over his shoulders and around his neck. The two embraced like this for a short while until finally, Anna pulled back and looked around. "What's going on?"

"You tell us," Alnevar murmured.

"All that S.O.B. Dicrus told me was that you guys were in a cellar. And he obviously wasn't lying."

Althemen sat back. "I suppose all we can do is wait. There are no entrances or exits to this room."

Satiyen snarled an unknown curse word in his native language and began to prowl around the cellar.

Luseik seemed unable to release Anna. He'd buried his face in her shoulder and that didn't seem likely to change any time soon.

"Luseik," Anna said quietly. He raised his head to look at her.

"Yes?" he said in the tone of a small child ready to be scolded.

Anna grinned and laughed. "You are so dense, you know that?"

He paused, raised an eyebrow, frowned, scowled, then sat back, confused. "Huh?"

"You actually think I'm still mad at you? I should slap you just for thinking I'm that shallow."

There was confused silence for a moment.

"Um," Luseik said, "well, okay."

"Hey!" Satiyen blurted out from the other side of the cellar, in the shadows, unlit by Luseik's witchfire. The ball grew in size to illuminate the entire room--except for a tiny ball of shadow at Satiyen's feet.

Satiyen and Anna both exclaimed at the same time, "Keski!"

Satiyen knelt to pick up the gejk and returned to the group in the light of the witchfire, cradling the unconscious ball of viscous shadows.

Anna spoke up now. "He tried to attack Dicrus with Black power, but it was somehow turned against him."

Satiyen froze. "It was turned against him?"

"Yeah."

"Hell's fire, if Keski's still alive, he may not wake up for hours yet!"

Althemen plucked the unconscious thing out of Satiyen's paws. "He likes feeling useful, right?"

Satiyen nodded slowly, unsure of what Althemen was getting at.

"Hey! Keski!" Althemen shouted at Keski. "We're going to fight Akarui and Anna needs your help!"

Keski squirmed and a pair of gleaming red eyes snapped open. "Anna needs help? What?"

Althemen laughed and set the gejk down.

"Well," Satiyen said when everyone had stopped laughing, "that was some badly needed comic relief, eh?" There was general agreement, except from the confused Keski.

Everything grew quiet. It had nothing to do with their voices; the general ambient noise seemed to fade. The witchfire dimmed.

"No," Althemen muttered. "No, damn it, he's coming again-- He's coming to finish what he started back in the hall--" he broke off and clutched his skull, scrambling backward and screaming, twisting, writhing in agony. A greenish flash, and then there was a man standing in the room. His straight hair fell to his shoulders and was dyed a forest green to match the Jewel hanging from his neck. He wore a practical leather outfit that didn't restrict his movement, which suggested he was quite agile if his previous dashing about hadn't suggested the same thing.

Althemen was curled in a ball in the corner, his screaming intensified by the echo of the room.

"Oh, enough," the green-haired man snapped, and turned his head toward Althemen, who went limp and silent.

The stranger turned back toward the group and smiled. "Evening, beloved guests. I am Kreethen,"--Satiyen sucked in a breath--"and I have been asked to dispose of you all in a timely and efficient manner."

No one said anything. Luseik let his witchfire fade, but the room was only dark for a split second before Kreethen lit his own witchfire and smiled, baring his fangs. "You think I'm that foolish, to be caught with my guard down so easily? Ha! Ha ha!" he threw his head back and cackled. "Now, which one of you shall I kill first? There's the rubis in the corner, the draghan and his lover, the little gejk, or the wehr."

Anna was the first to realize he hadn't mentioned Alnevar, but didn't say anything.

Kreethen looked around the room. "The rubis would likely be most easy kill. He's already asleep. The draghan might be fun. His lover would be a bit of a challenge, but not if I don't use any magic. The wehr, though… Now he's got claws."

Kreethen took a step forward. His eyes glinted sadistically in the firelight. Then he froze.

Blood bubbled up inside his mouth and over and down his chin. He looked down at the five black claws protruding from his stomach. Unfortunately, he wasn't a rubis, and the wounds remained open as the claws retracted and he bled. He fell to his knees. Without saying anything, he fell forward and died a quiet death.

Alnevar stood behind the dead man, staring in horror at his hand, which had transmuted itself into a solid black claw. Each of his razorblade fingers was at least three feet long, and each of them had just been pulled from Kreethen's body dripping blood. He fell and crawled backward almost as if trying to get away from his own hand, as if afraid it would cut him next.

Althemen had awoken again and seemed completely unaware of the pain he had just been, apparently, enduring. He approached Alnevar purposefully.

"Don't fear it," he said firmly. "Alnevar, don't fear it. If you fear it, you won't be able to change it. Accept it. It's a part of what you are now."

Alnevar shook his head. "It's not! I'm a half-Eyrien! Not--not this!"

Althemen snorted. "You are a rubis, and you can't change that. Not anymore. Just calm down, Alnevar, and accept what you are."

"I didn't do this! It isn't me!"

Althemen knelt by Alnevar and struck him soundly upside the head. Alnevar growled, but quieted.

"Regardless, you'll have those claws forever if you don't shut the hell up and figure out how to change it back, you dumbass. And you wonder why I dislike you."

Alnevar didn't respond. Althemen continued.

"Picture your hand. Your real hand. Not the claw."

Alnever closed his eyes.

"Now make that your hand."

"I can't."

"Can you make witchfire?"

"Y--"

"Can you float an object?"

"Ye--"

"Can you vanish an object?"

"Yes, damn it!"

"How do you do those things?"

"I can't explain it. It's basic Craft. You just do it."

"Exactly. You are a rubis. It's a fundamental part of your being to be able to change yourself at will will as little effort as basic Craft. Just imagine what you want to be, and make it happen."
As if it had never been a claw at all, Alnevar's hand returned to normal and he stared at it for a long time.

Althemen, now that Alnevar had been taken care of, approached Kreethen's body and began to search it. Once he leant back and shoved something dark and shiny into his pocket, and then kept searching.

Finally he began to probe Kreethen's mind. He had a lot of psychic strength. He would be demon-dead soon without a doubt if they didn't finish the kill, but he may have useful informa--aha!

"We can get out," Althemen announced. He unleashed his Gray strength into the man's mind to burn it out, then stood up. "There's a secret entrance."

Luseik narrowed his eyes. "You mean like a loose stone or something?"

Althemen snorted. "Not quite that simple, but yes, similar." He approached the far wal and felt around on it, knocking softly until he found a hollow spot. He pressed his hand to it and unleashed just a trickle of his Birthright Sapphire strength into it, charging the wall with it instead of assaulting the wall. He waited for a moment, and then the wall silently faded. It hadn't been real to begin with; it had been an illusion, covered with something like a shield.

Beyond the wall now was a lighted room.

Not a hallway.

---

Akarui had his eyes closed as he contemplated various things.

Only one of the three may prosper. Only one. I was so close. It's almost over now. I can only hope.

He opened his massive black eyes to see the group of two-legged creatures enter the room.

(You have made it,) he sent on a wide thread covering the entire room.

"You're damn right we've made it," the draghan snapped.

(It was not my will to cause any of you hardship,) Akarui said quietly. (And though I wish things could be otherwise, you must destroy me. Anna… When I am gone, so, too, will be the gift I gave you. But in the room in which you slept, there is a small box, and you may keep what is in that box if you so wish.)

"Enough talk," the draghan snarled. "You've caused us enough trouble already. It's time to finish this!"

Akarui closed his eyes. He remembered, long ago. How many lies had been told? How many falsehoods? How many conspiracies borne of the deception he and his brothers had wrought? Perhaps the numbers would never be known.

But he remembered back to the days when Lorn, Oebr, Akarui, and Versiver--When they had all been human. Landen, in fact. Before the Blood. Before the world had been split into the three living Realms. Before anything known as Craft or magic or even simple psychic abilities. And before courts, certainly.

They had brought it all about through their own meddling. The worlds had split. Three of them had been forced into the bodies of dragons. Lorn had been taken away, and of the remaining three, a prophecy made.

"Only one of the three can prosper."

Now it was clear who was meant. Versiver had wormed his way out of the punishment to begin with, gaining only the wings of a dragon instead of the body as well. He'd started the whole accursed race of draghans. And the power he claimed appeared in Anna and Dicrus? Please. Versiver couldn't lie to save his life. The power was natural to that cursed race, the draghans. It only ever manifested strongly in certain draghans, but they all had it. Versiver knew this. He lied to cover up his own crimes for which all four of them had been punished. But now it was finally coming to a close. The eternal punishment was over.

He evoked the one last spell he had. His dragon's form vanished and was replaced by that of an ordinary man. His hair was long; it fell to the small of his back and was black, lustrous, gleaming. His eyes were yellow and reflected light from nowhere as he stared at them. His skin was fair, almost pale.

"For countless millennia I have suffered here," he said softly, in a state of ecstasy merely at using his own voice again, "and I thank you all for removing me from this Hell once and for all." He closed his eyes and knelt before them all as if he were praying.

"What are you babbling about?" Luseik snapped. "We're here to kill you, not help you."

"Shut up!" Anna said suddenly. "Can't you see he's in pain?"

Luseik didn't respond, nor did he move to stop her as she hurried forward to Akarui. She knelt by him and touched his shoulders.

Akarui looked up at her slowly and smiled warmly. "It's all right, Anna," he said. "This was meant to happen. I'm ready to die. I've been ready to die for a long time. I've been alive longer than any Guardian in existence. Back away, Anna. I am done."

She shook her head. "I don't know what happened to you, Akarui, but we can help."

"I brought this on myself through curiosity and meddling," Akarui said softly. "It is my destiny and it cannot be changed."

Anna shook her head but was driven back gently yet firmly by an invisible force.

Luseik found himself compelled to walk forward by the same invisible force. He didn't resist it as it guided him to call in a dagger, as he raised it above his head without even trying. The invisible force gripped his wrist.

He didn't even resist until the dagger was halfway through its arc.

Akarui gasped, cried out in pain.

Blood spattered.

Anna screamed.

Akarui fell forward onto the floor. "Take…" he gasped. "Take… Take… your gift… Anna…"

And Akarui breathed his last.

- - - For a continuation, please look for - - -

The Fourth Realm 2: Prophecy of Old

Now up and ready for viewing!