Beautifully Dark Places
Chapter 13
End of the Line

"Is this really… necessary?" I ducked to the side as another askew blob of bright light soared past me. The entire trip sounded like a huge waste of time. It didn't exactly help matters that this Galerind person lived in a big, dark, creature-infested cave. I wasn't someone who scared easily—not that I was the bravest person in the Spiral—but it was definitely unnerving to walk right past things that I had spent the majority of my life being told didn't exist.

But that was becoming normal in my life.

Malorn glanced back at me from the front of the group and shrugged. "I doubt Ambrose and Drake would tell you to go if it wasn't." He turned back forward, cape swishing behind him like the lame special effects for a bad vampire movie. They'd changed their outfits… again… except for Boris, who was still wearing his normal clothes. Apparently Malorn and Nolan had outfits for every occasion.

"…Well, Professor Drake would. He doesn't like you very much." Boris added thoughtfully. Ryan, who was walking beside the Diviner, nodded in agreement before she muttered something I couldn't understand.

To my right, Nolan snorted and rolled his eyes. "Drake doesn't like anyone who doesn't kiss the ground he walks on."

"I suppose that explains why he likes you." Boris muttered wryly, and was quickly, albeit gently, punched in the shoulder by Ryan. Nolan lightly smacked him in the back of the head with the same staff he'd wielded when I first saw him. Malorn, at the front, seemed to be unaffected by the squabbling. I laughed quietly, covering my mouth with my hand, and wondered what my life would have been like had I never met any of them.

A spark from the center of the road caught my attention, forcing me to stop and turn. I'd seen the monsters that lurked and slithered across the cobblestone from the moment we walked through the cave entrance, but the road and its sidewalks had been free of any other wizards. Malorn had explained that the sidewalks were warded and that we were safe as long as we didn't wander outside the protective barriers. That seemed fine and dandy to me, especially since I was the only one wearing normal clothes instead of battle armor.

The others paused when they noticed I was stopped. Across the road from us, there was a large, mirror like substance. That, I assumed, was the other warded sidewalk and wasn't what had caught my attention. What had caught my eye was the girl that was emerging from its shimmering surface.

She was pretty, but not show-stopping gorgeous, with strong features and chestnut hair that fell just below her jawline. She was battle clad—I had learned enough of the schools and their respective uniform colors to know she was either a Myth or a Storm—and wielded a sword that looked bigger than me. Behind her emerged a boy with similar features and clothing colors. They must be related. I wonder if families travel in packs around here. I pondered the thought until the girl cackled at a joke I couldn't hear and then the boy stepped closer to one of the creatures.

I recalled how I had felt when I first crossed the barrier of a fight back in the city: scared, unprepared, and certainly outgunned. The two looked like their feelings were in stark contrast to mine. They looked alive, like this is what they lived and breathed and dreamed of. I furrowed my eyebrows as the boy casted a spell of purple that hit the large, zombie –like creature square in the chest. It made a strange sound and staggered backward. Nolan murmured under his breath, though I paid no attention to it. The girl didn't cast a spell; instead, she raised her sword and darted forward into the corpse.

And slashed it across the throat.

I squeaked, stumbling backward into Nolan. I hadn't seen the bird in the City die when Malorn killed it; my eyes had been closed for that. I hadn't expected it to seem so… wrong. Killing was bad. Forgetting that wasn't as easy as snapping your fingers or cutting the crust off of a sandwich. In fact, it was something that I didn't think I'd ever forget. I almost felt sick. It wasn't the thought of seeing the zombie-creature die that made me nauseous, but the fact that I might very well have to kill something—or someone—before this was all over.

I looked back at the group, who were all staring at me with sad expressions with the exception of Ryan, whose face mirrored mine. She must have been realizing the same things as me. Without a word, I trudged forward. If I had to kill something, then so be it. I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. The others filed into step once more as we rounded the corner that lead to the cave Ambrose had directed us to. A cave inside a cave… that didn't even really make sense, but I had learned not to question anything here too much, lest it shatter into a thousand pieces and leave me sitting in my old life.

"There it is," Malorn nodded to the gate, resting the flat side of his sword on his shoulder as he spoke.

Boris threw his hands up in air in some silent form of thanks. "Finally! I thought we'd be walking around Apprentice Alley for years."

"It's Triton Avenue, Tallstaff. Maybe you need to go down a few ranks." Nolan snorted.

"It was a figure of speech, Stormgate."

"Metaphor? Personification? Paradox?"

"Enough, you two." Malorn waved a hand for silence which, to my surprise, the boys obeyed. He seemed to be the unelected leader of our outfit. "Boris and I are going in first. If anything goes badly," he turned toward Nolan, "I expect you to get them out."

Nolan nodded, though Ryan's chin jerked up. "I don't need to be protected, Malorn, I can take care—"

"I'm sure you can," he nodded in agreement, glancing at Boris as he spoke, "but we don't know what's in there and neither you nor Kymma has had any proper training."

Boris fixed Ryan with a serious look and shook his head as she started to protest once more. I furrowed my eyebrows in curiosity as the two continued their conversation of looks and nods. I wondered momentarily if they were together; I'd been so caught up in my own romantic dilemmas that I hadn't paid much attention to my friends' relationships. The thought dissipated from my mind once Malorn tapped the gate with his sword and it swung open with a creak.

Inside the gate was a small, stone-lined passage that reeked of mildew. Water dripped down the sides of the stone walls and pooled in puddles on the dusty floor. Malorn glanced backwards at us before motioning for us to follow him. Nolan followed closely behind Boris and nodded to me slowly. Ryan filed in behind him and me after her. It was crowded and offered only enough room to walk single-file.

"This looks promising." Boris muttered, holding his staff closer to himself as he squeezed through the passage. "I really hope there's nothing but rainbows and unicorns at the end."

"Wishful thinking," Ryan scowled from in front of me; she must have still been upset about being assigned a 'protector', as she put it.

"I don't know about you guys," Nolan sounded especially cheerful and upbeat, "but I think I'm going to have my next date here. It's awful romantic. The cobwebs and dead rats really set the mood."

"Remind me to never let you take me on a date, then." I rolled my eyes at the stifled laughter that came from Boris. I had forgotten how much the two seemed to love picking on each other. It was different than the way Nolan and Malorn picked at each other, which was all competition and put downs. Boris and Nolan were like brothers, and made fun of each other just as fiercely as they'd protect each other. It was a foreign concept to me.

"Ah, come on, Dawn," Boris whispered from the front as the tunnel started to turn to the left, like a winding maze, "if you don't go with him then I'll never hear the end of it."

"You might not hear the beginning of it if you don't shut up." Malorn hissed from in front of the Storm wizard, whirling around to glare at us. His sudden stop sent me crashing into Ryan and left me rubbing my forehead. "We're on a serious mission and you can't even pay attention. How are you planning to take down a powerful witch without being able to quietly walk through a tunnel?"

"You're the only one talking." Nolan rolled his eyes. Malorn gritted his teeth. Nolan sighed dramatically and pressed his index finger to his lips. "Alright, class, put your flags up."

"I sincerely hope you burn, Stormgate."

"I'm sorry; I can't hear you over your ego."

"Must be hearing your own then."

"Listen here, Ashthorn, if you—"

"Alright," I had managed to wriggle my way between the wall and the line of my friends to stand behind Boris and between the bickering males, "I don't have time for a testosterone fight between two idiots. Let's go. I've got spells to learn."

It took a bit a team work to get through the tunnel, since it got progressively skinnier as we continued down it, but after about ten minutes of walking in silence we had arrived in a large stone room. There were three pedestals in the room: one on the left, one on the right, and on in the back. In the center sat a large, perfectly circular table that looked as if it had been carved of marble. On this table sat a dagger, the blade rusted orange and dull. It looked like some strange cult had set up shop and left without dusting.

As Ryan stepped through the threshold that separated the tunnel from the room, a stone door slid down from the ceiling and blocked the exit. I gawked at the door, unsure of what we were supposed to do next. I hadn't come this far just to get trapped in a tiny room with three guys who couldn't get along to save their lives. Literally.

"There are words on these pedestals. It must be a puzzle." Nolan called, running his fingers across the old brass surface of the one on the left. His brows furrowed in concentration as he slowly read the words to himself: "Let not thyself be a bitter fruit."

"Bitter fruit? I thought fruit was sweet." Ryan raised an eyebrow in my direction. The other two boys had started brushing the dust from the other pedestals.

"This one says: 'Thy life be the compass of the fall'." Boris called from the front, looking over at me as if he expected me to know what that meant.

"All I can read on this is: 'Rise and follow thy light." I sighed in agitation. I didn't speak Shakespeare or whatever this was written in. Bitter fruit? Compass of the fall? Light? There was nothing in common. They didn't seem to even be related at all.

Wait.

They aren't related at all.

Quickly, I moved to the table in the center and wiped the dust from its surface as best as I could. Nothing. No words, no indentions, nothing. But, if I learned anything in my stay in Wizard City, it was that everything was not how it appeared. Slowly, I let both of my hands fall against the table and closed my eyes.

Magic was easier than I expected it to be, even after having used before. It was calming, like taking a hot shower or sitting in front of a fire. It was like channeling all of you blood in one direction and it made your hands go hot from the sudden burst of power. Maybe that was why Spiral wizards always used wands, it was a bit unnerving. Slowly, the surface of the table's chemical makeup began to alter; the molecules slowly becoming more and more packed together until they were packed together in the form known as ice.

I opened my eyes, and smiled as the words became obvious on the surface of the table.

"Wait, I don't get it." Ryan scratched her head, looking from the table to the three pedestals.

"Those were decoys." I shrugged, leaning forward to run my fingers over the new indentions. "The sentences didn't tie together at all."

"Well… What does that mean?" Malorn nodded to the table, folding his arms over his chest in what looked like agitation. He must have gotten too used to being right all the time. Boris simply shrugged as if he didn't really care who figured it out. Nolan was propped up against the pedestal and watching me expectantly.

"It's Latin, I think." I explained, as if they knew what that was. They seemed to have languages as different as their cultures, and I didn't have enough time to cross reference the similarities of each to explain it. Instead, I just read off the inscription to the best of my ability: "Dimittite, et progredi."

There was a creak, and the section of stones in front of Boris began to move and separate. We crowded to the front of the room, desperate to get out of the space and into some fresh air as soon as possible. Unluckily, we were met with what could only be assumed to be another hallway although it was too dark to tell for sure. There was a rustling sound though, accompanied by the scraping of something sharp against something solid. Ryan took a step back in alarm, Malorn and Boris drew their weapons, and Nolan grabbed my arm as if he might fling me to the side of the room. I would have rolled my eyes if I hadn't been so busy watching the darkness move.

It happened all at once. For a moment, the air in the room seemed to solidify and stand still. Then, as if the darkness itself had come alive and reached out with its deathly grip, a flash of sharp silver jutted out of the opening in the wall. Malorn moved to block it while Boris jumped backward out of the way.

The owner of the sword stepped out slowly, draped in a thin dark cloak and equally dark, stringy hair. I recognized him instantly as the strange man that had stopped me on my way to school the day I had been transported to Wizard City. The white eyes, the disfigured body, all of it could only belong to that man. But… how had he gotten to Earth? And how was he from Earth? The questions seemed trivial, and unimportant with the tasks at hand.

He made a strange sound, perhaps it was another language, and the room went bright. Suddenly, I could feel myself falling. The words he spoke so long ago echoed through my head as I felt myself hit the floor: "You seek something larger than yourself. Remember that victory belongs to those who seize it. When the time comes, remember what is important to you."

I awoke to the sound of metal clanking against metal: a sharp, high pitched sound that made my still uneasy head spin. I sat up, unsure of where I was or what was even going on. The room was warmly colored with dark-stained wood accents and tall windows. I wasn't sure how we had gotten here, or even where 'here' was exactly. The last thing I remembered was hitting the floor, and now I was sitting in a windowed bedroom.

The door on the opposite side of the room opened, and I slide farther across the bed to lean against the wall. At first, I expected it to be the strange man I saw back at home, but instead I was greeted by a flash of purple and yellow robes. Tension drained out of me and I sighed.

"Nolan," I greeted groggily, half-way attempting to fix my sleep-messy hair.

"You've been asleep for hours," he crossed his arms. Straight to point, then. I shrugged.

"Good morning to you, too."

"You scared me." There was a moment of silence, and I wondered if I should apologize before he looked away and continued: "You should probably come down. Galerind's got a lot to tell you."

"I've met him before. I don't particularly enjoy his company."

"What?" Nolan looked confused, eyebrows furrowed as he stared at me. "I thought you didn't know who he was."

"I didn't know his name." The conversation came to a crashing halt at that information. He simply leaned against the closed door and watched me as if I might grow wings and fly away. There was a noise down stairs, something between a clank and a crash, and was followed by laughter. I blinked in confusion at Nolan and shot him a questioning look. He shrugged, and crossed the room to sit down beside me.

"You feel alright?" He questioned, pressing the back of his hand to my forehead as I shrugged.

"I guess? I don't really remember what happened."

"You fainted. Galerind said it was from the energy."

"Energy?"

"Yeah," he stood and extended a hand. "Come on, you need to talk to him. There's a lot you don't know."

I frowned. Really? I've barely gotten to talk to you for the past two days. With a quick roll of my eyes, I stood-without taking his hand-and smoothed my hair down for good measure. He frowned in annoyance and let his hand drop back to his side before he crossed his arms. Typical Nolan. It was just like him to get his feelings hurt for no good reason and act all pissy for a week.

"You're blocking me, aren't you?"

"Not on purpose," I stated truthfully. I wasn't really in control of my telepathy, anyway, I didn't know why he'd think that.

"I know you're thinking something." He furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he watched me, like he was trying to pry open my mind with his eyes. I almost laughed at the thought, but held it back. "Probably something about how insanely hot I am."

"You wish."

"Is it really so wrong to hope?"

"I guess not," I mumbled, surprised by his sudden seriousness. "I mean, that's historically what either gets people killed or helps them survive in war. Unless it's hope for God or whatever and then they call it martyrism, but even that's pretty circumstantial. The martyrs are a pretty select group; you pretty much have to be clinging to cross while getting stoned and screaming bible verses at everyone to even be considered for it..." Whoops, I'm rambling.

He stood there in silence for a few moments, before he smiled. "Martyrism, huh? Might as well go ahead and get my tombstone engraved."

"Wha?" I blinked. "Planning on getting stoned to death sometime soon?"

"Sooner than you might think."

Alright, so I wanted to have her talk to Galerind in this chapter but idk they took over and now I guess that'll be part of next chapter (unless Gale's a chapter hog too). Also, I kinda have a headcanon that when the Wizards die in W101 they don't get buried. They get, like, blocked into graves above ground.

Oh, and I went back and deleted some notes I put up as stand alone 'chapters', so if you couldn't review last chapter (or possibly this one?) it's because of that. PM me if you see any errors! Or leave it in a review if possible!

FYI, there's going to be a sequel to this! I'm going to make a forum for it soon because I need characters, and post info once this story is done (ALMOST THEREEEEEE) but if you want to know anything about it just PM me. I should respond pretty quick!