Hello, everyone! Here is the start of Book 7, based on the events of "Firelight".

I will say that this part of the longer fanfiction series will require more time from me between chapters. There are lots of character elements I am considering. But I will update when I can.

DISCLAIMER: The 'Amulet' series is created and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi, and published by 'Scholastic'. The author owns any original characters and custom elements included into the story.

Onward!

Amidst the darkened corridors and battle-scarred halls of Algos Island, death permeated everything. A refueling station abandoned to time; a place feared by airship travelers all across Alledia. Despite death holding dominance over this space, two individuals on Algos Island were very much alive. Coincidentally, they were each slowly moving towards the same location.

The first of these wandering beings was Caleb Morris, stricken with insanity. This was not the screaming, hysterical, bouncing-off-the-walls insanity. Instead, he stared at nothing with wide eyes and stumbling in the darkness. Every so often he would giggle or comment on something, the words bursting out of his mouth unheeded. Other times, he would cover his eyes and moan as a wave of burning pain spread across those sensory organs.

The second of the living beings inside Algos Island noticed Caleb right away. They heard him but did not approach. Judging from the shadows, they watched as Caleb moved through three rooms and spoke to two people that only he could see. One of these "people" was supposedly standing by a large scorch mark along a wall, while the other appeared to be crushed beneath a pile of rubble.

When Caleb next covered his eyes and slipped into lapses of pain, the watching wanderer moved up to Caleb. Reaching down to their side, they drew a small firearm looped around their belt. They then jumped back as Caleb suddenly snapped out of his pains and quickly looked all around him. The wanderer was able to hide most of its form in darkness by the time Caleb saw them, but they were still revealed. The glow of their yellow eyes gave them away.

"Amelia?" Caleb blinked again as he looked at the yellow eyes in the shadows. "No… You're not her. You're just another ghost."

The wanderer shifted their posture. "There are many ghosts here, human," he said in a grating male voice. "I am not like them."

Caleb squinted his eyes. "You sound louder than the others. What are you," he asked, "if you are not a ghost?"

The wanderer appeared to be uncertain about something, for they did not answer immediately. Then, making their choice, they said, "Someone you should remember, Caleb the Human," and took several steady steps towards Caleb.

The wanderer's eyes, a harsh yellow with large round pupils, seemed to shine with a sinister light. The wanderer was a man, an elf, with bandages across most of his face. He wore rugged brown clothes, pointed ears looking just as dirty. Hanging around his waist was a belt with several tools and objects; the largest of these was something like a gun with a metal claw around the barrel.

The gun and the eyes were what caused Caleb's mind to bring back this elf's same voice from months ago: "Come down here, Council scum! We are ready for you!"

Caleb shuddered in place. His insanity shifted, metamorphosed, into a logical fear. "You're the elf assassin!" He acted like Luger had, trying to remember the elf's name as he recognized who the elf was. "Gabi… Gabo…" He stopped trying after two attempts and instead stuttered out, "Y-You were at the beacon, you t-tried to stop us!"

"I am Gabilan," the revealed elf clarified. "And you are right; I did try to stop you." He looked closer at Caleb's face and eyes. "It is good you still remember that. The Void has not yet consumed those parts of you."

Caleb's eyes skirted down to Gabilan's belt and the objects on there. "Will you finish the job?" he asked, ready to run if the answer was anything close to a "Yes". The elf was an assassin, someone trained to kill and not care.

"Nihilistic child." Gabilan took three more steps towards Caleb. Faster than Caleb could blink, the elf had his arm in his gloved grip. "Come with me," he ordered the teenager. "You are hungry and wet. I can address both those issues."

Caleb opened his mouth but did not get any words out. The rational, logical part of his brain managed to creep through his insanity and give him some hard facts.

You are alone, without food, water, and clean clothes.

You are in a dangerous place.

You are losing your mind.

You need to rest. You need to protect yourself.

The only other option is to run away and die alone.

Caleb tensed his arm beneath Gabilan's grip. The elf narrowed his eyes a bit and did not let go. A few moments of silence passed between them until Caleb finally looked down and yielded to being taken somewhere. The elf pulled him along, forcing him to keep up like Revna had in the Corvid's facility.

Revna. It hurt to think about her. How she died. How Amelia died. But he couldn't stop those thoughts from coming and going as they pleased. He cared about them not being here. It also seemed that Gabilan cared about Caleb's well-being, to some extent. Against what Caleb had been suffering from just a few minutes ago, that piece of strangeness was a small blessing.

What Gabilan provided Caleb turned out to be some small fish roasted over a small fire, warm water that had been boiled in a pot, and a thick, dry robe that smelled sharply of blood. Caleb let his clothes rest by the fire, spread out so that the upper parts of each garment would dry the quickest. The robe was large enough to envelop his body like a big blanket, and he needed the warmth. He tried to keep the smell of blood out of his mind by looking at the fire and thinking warm thoughts.

Gabilan stayed quiet at first. After providing Caleb with food, drink, and clothes, he started examining the blades of the daggers strapped to his belt. His eyes looked at Caleb every so often, but he said nothing at first. Caleb thought he was supposed to speak up first, perhaps give a reason for why he had been here at all. It seemed like a better thing to do than just wallow in his own pained memories.

Caleb cleared his throat, feeling stronger thanks to the provided meal. "Gabilan," he asked, "how did you come here?"

"By my trusted mount." The elf's answer was curt and to the point. "It was not killed at the beacon. It carried me to safety."

"To the elf king? To Gulfen?"

"They are no longer safe for me." Gabilan took a long stone and scraped the edge of the blade across its surface. "It is foolish to enter into dangerous places without good reason."

"So, you didn't go back there at all?" Caleb's eyebrows began to flutter into a frown, expressing his lack of understanding. "Did your King try to find you?"

"I went where it was safe." Gabilan gestured with his dagger to the darkened edges of the room, where the fire did not reach. "Better to hide among phantasms than living people."

Caleb's head began hurting again. "What are you, really?" he asked Gabilan. "You are an elf, but you don't return to your King. You hunt people down, but you also travel to places no people would live in."

"I am who I am." Another stroke of his dagger across the stone made sparks fly over the fire. "I do not let my obligations tie me down. They do not control me."

"I was only asking." Caleb looked back at the fire, feeling insulted by Gabilan's words. They connected to his own situation, his obsession with the Hayes family and their happiness. He had truly let it guide him, whether subtly or directly. And this was where it had led him.

Caleb shivered beneath his new coat. This place was creepy, but was Gulfen worse off? He did not know the complete situation of the elves in this war, only they were the "enemy" and they had advanced technology. Were they also suffering? Were they working hard or rebelling against the King? How much of the situation did Gabilan know?

Caleb's head ached. As he looked in the fire's glow, he felt the familiar tingling of Stonekeeper energies in his eyes. A roaring scream rang in his ears. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly, clearing his mind with practiced effort. He eventually opened his eyes again and stared back into the fire. The elf continued working on his blades.

"Why are you here, now?" Caleb asked Gabilan. "This place is dangerous; you must have seen the ghosts here."

"You were not brought here by chance, Caleb." Gabilan shifted one of his feet a few inches by the fire. "Neither was I. There is darkness lingering here, and it is connected to us both."

Caleb rolled his shoulders back. "What is causing this to happen?"

"Stonekeepers." Gabilan gave his dagger another stroke along the stone. "The abuse of their powers, the loss of control, killed these people."

Caleb looked around their space, remembering the ghostly people and ruined pieces of the environment. "This probably did not happen recently," he said. "Maybe it is in Alledian history, or a record."

"It is not mentioned in a book or hologram, from any world." Another stroke of the dagger, and Gabilan turned his full gaze onto Caleb. "Do not disguise your history from me, human. I know you came with that fiery girl to Alledia through powerful technologies."

Caleb heavily exhaled. "That's right," he slowly confirmed, figuring "powerful technologies" could stand for things out of science fiction on Earth. "Then why are you letting me live? Am I your hostage now?"

"You would not be worth any value as a hostage." Gabilan put the dagger and the stone back into pockets and sheathes on his belt. "The Void is already corrupting you. See for yourself."

Gabilan pulled out one of the other objects attached to his belt and passed it to Caleb. He twirled it around in his fingers to find it was a piece of glass inside a protective black casing. He turned it towards his face, angling it so the light from the fire bounced off the glass and reflected what was on him.

"What the…?" Caleb whispered as he stared into his reflection. "What is this?!"

The area around Caleb's eyelids sported several black lines that had not been there before. Like bulging veins, they stood out against his paler skin, reaching up across his cheeks and circumventing his mouth and nose. The lines provided clear paths on his face to Caleb's reflected eyes, which had black irises and white pupils. This was not how his eyes had looked on Earth.

A lump grew in Caleb's throat. It took him a few tries to swallow it down. Don't get scared, don't freak out. This can be fixed.

"The Void is cruel." Gabilan kept the same tone of voice after showing Caleb the corruption on his face. "You are fortunate to have only been blighted that much."

"But this is—Agh!"

Caleb stopped speaking as pain surged inside his eyes. He fell forwards, dropping the glass and its case, rolling to the left of the fire…

…while the world tumbled around him. Cold air and glass flew across his face. He heard scraping metal as he spun, his body held in place by a buckled seatbelt. His hands and feet still flailed about, his eyes catching glimpses of shattered car windows and a snow-covered cliff outside. A few seconds later, the tumbling stopped with an almighty crunching sound…

…that Caleb heard ringing in his ears as he saw the fire before him again. He pushed himself up with his hands, getting his head and upper body off the ground. Gabilan had moved closer to him, but not close enough to draw a dagger and stab him with that dagger.

"You are not hurt?" Gabilan asked. His question sounded genuinely concerned, though his face still showed the same level of anger as before.

"I…" Caleb sat up straight, shifting his legs even while they quivered and twitched. "I guess not." The sensations in his legs were similar to when he had run for a long period without rest; he could deal with it.

"Good." Gabilan stood up before stomping on the fire with his boots. The flames were quickly snuffed out, leaving behind blackened marks and a small pile of sticks and coals. "We must move quickly. Others have come to the island."

Caleb's eyes widened. "How did you… Never mind. You won't kill them, will you?" Then he remembered who he was talking to and regretted asking the question.

"You think I find a thrill in killing?" Gabilan brushed some of the fire's remnants along the floor with his boot, dispersing any leftover heat. "Killers who enjoy their work are monsters. I killed for the Elf King out of loyalty, and now I kill because of necessity. If these intruders threaten me, I will subdue them, and then take what I need. Only if they continue to be a danger to me will I kill them."

Caleb frowned as he tried to figure out the logic behind Gabilan's words. It proved hard to do as he grabbed his clothes and rolled them up into a single ball. This ball managed to slip inside an inner pocket of the cloak Gabilan gave him. Just as he got them tucked inside to make a noticeable lump in the fabric, his shoes kept on over his bare feet, Gabilan grabbed his arm again.

"Move. Now." The bandaged elf said those short words as he pulled Caleb along dark passageways. The teenager did not get a chance to track where he was going, the elf was moving too fast. Not wanting to get left behind and alone in the dark, Caleb kept the cloak wrapped around him and moved one foot in front of the other.

Caleb slipped on a wet patch of floor as, unexpectedly, Gabilan brought them both outside. Gabilan kept him on his feet and moving, his own eyes focused on what was happening outside. The sky was darkening very rapidly, humidity coating the outer surfaces and grounds of Algos Island. Hanging above a landing pad and exposed to the elements was a familiar airship, at least to Caleb. Even with the stump of one wing sticking out where the wing once was, he recognized the craft's shape and structure.

That's the Luna Moth!

"Ah," Gabilan remarked as he drew himself and Caleb up against the closest wall without stepping out into the humid air. "Our intruders have transportation I recognize. That will make things less messy, potentially." He looked back at Caleb before he added, "You will be needed after all."

Caleb felt relief upon seeing something familiar. He wanted to ask Enzo and Rico questions about their travels; he assumed those two cat-men would be piloting this ship. A look down beneath the ship confirmed those two brothers were here, but they were near a large pipe that was connected to the ship from just by the landing pad. They both wore bright yellow raincoats, Enzo having the hood of his coat down so his cap could be clearly seen.

"Refueling their craft? Typical." Gabilan exhaled quickly through his nose. "We must get inside the ship," he then quietly told Caleb. "When the Stonekeepers return, we will speak to them on neutral ground."

Caleb felt a cold lurch in his gut. "Uh," he stated, "the Luna Moth is Enzo and Rico's ship. They aren't going to trust you. And why can't you speak to them out on the platform?"

Gabilan grunted in another display of irritation. "That storm is going to require everyone to take shelter. And did you forget what I said just now about threats?"

Caleb's fists clenched. Was Gabilan going to hurt Enzo and Rico just for getting in the way?! "They are my friends, okay?" he spat out. "I care about how they would think about this!"

"Don't do that. They will not always be there for you." Gabilan turned his yellow-eyed gaze onto Caleb. "From what I gather, you came here alone. Did these people try to look for you, or think about you, when you were gone?"

Caleb started to say that yes, in fact, they did, but he stopped himself from finishing that sentence. It was a lie, and Gabilan appeared to already know that. The teenager felt the hard logic of the elf's words punch his own hopes down another peg.

Caleb had chosen to leave Emily and the others, to step away from their war. Now, he was put back into it by forces outside of his control. He felt weak against them—they had driven him mad for a while—and he knew he needed help. It was going to be harder to convince them to help him than if he had just gone with them to Lucien.

Caleb's subconscious countered his current thoughts. What could you have done in Lucien? Max would have made you his puppet again. Or maybe that Voice would have played with you, made you hurt someone. It was right to leave them alone.

"It's different now," Caleb mumbled to himself. A growing piece of his brain understood what Gabian was saying, the reason behind it, but he did not like hearing it from someone who had apparently betrayed his own species for personal reasons.

The elf and the human waited and watched as Enzo and Rico working together on the pipe, refueling their airship. The storm was getting closer, Caleb could feel the initial wave of humidity cling to his skin and borrowed cloak. Looking over to the Luna Moth, Caleb saw the only way up to the airship was to climb up the lowered rope ladder. Judging from the angle of the ladder to the brothers' positions, neither of them had immediate view of it.

"Follow me if you wish." Gabilan did not look at Caleb before he ran out onto the platform, keeping low to the ground. Caleb watched him go, and then started to run after him. Every sound his feet made sent pulses of fear through his body. Enzo and Rico did not turn to look towards them; the wind's howling drowned out any footfalls. The wind also meant the brothers had to keep their hands on their clothes so they did not fly away.

Gabilan moved up the ladder quickly. Caleb moved up clumsily. They both got up without being spotted as wind and a few droplets of rain lashed against their clothes. By the time Caleb reached the top of the ladder, Gabilan was gone from sight. The doors were all closed, but Caleb kept one hand on the railing before entering any rooms. The ship began bobbing from side to side as the winds grew even rougher.

"Chee! Chee-Chee!"

The sound of something by the ship's stern—something making a strange sort of call—got Caleb to look back there. Moving back there, he suddenly spotted something new in the air by the rear cabin. It was a small dragon, flying by the ship with a helmet strapped around its head. Its large white eyes looked at Caleb and quickly narrowed.

Caleb remembered this dragon: Cogsley had kept it back in Cielis. He had probably named it. What was that name?

As Caleb tried to remember the dragon's name, the dragon flew around Caleb, watching him closely. The flying creature did not seem to like what it saw, making more calls varying on the word "Chee!" and following Caleb around. The dragon seemed to be acting like an alarm system, but no one responded to it right away.

As Caleb got to the stern, he stumbled when a stronger gust of wind caused him to lose his balance. Grabbing the railing for support, the wind dug into whatever gap it could in his cloak. Rainwater lashed against his face. He feared anyone else seeing the black lines extending from his eyes. Furthermore, if the cloak was plucked from his body, he wouldn't have easy access to dry clothes.

"Dagno?" A deep voice called out from the ladder. "Something wrong?"

Enzo! Caleb looked back at the ladder and then dove behind whatever cover he could at the stern. He scrunched his body down, rushing to dig his clothes out of the cloak and slide them on again. Everything was only partially dry; putting them all back on made Caleb feel even colder. The dragon, apparently named "Dagno", did not follow Caleb any further.

Caleb overheard Enzo and Rico spoke to each other, picking up the word "rear cabin". Then, one set of footsteps came towards the stern. Caleb got his shoes off and on again before the approaching brother—Enzo or Rico—could see him. He waited for a second, fully dressed, cloak still around him, and then waited for two more seconds. Only then did he stand up.

Caleb kept Gabilan's cloak wrapped around him as he looked at who was coming over his way. It was Rico who turned to look at him. "Rico," Caleb said as he kept one hand raised up and the other grabbing the outer railing on the Moth's deck. "Rico, please don't go into that cabin."

"Caleb?" Rico went through a series of emotions very quickly, ending in shock. "Yikes, what happened to your face?!"

"Who's over there, bro?" Enzo called from further along the deck. Caleb looked over there along with Rico; Enzo's voice came from the rear cabin, with the door open.

"It's Caleb," Rico called back without looking away from Caleb. "He got on the ship somehow. Or he was on Algos Island. I don't know for sure."

"I'm coming over, I just got to—What the heck?!"

Rico turned around just as Enzo's question turned into a scream of pain. Shouting his brother's name, Rico jumped up and ran towards the cabin door. Caleb grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards the railing.

"Don't go over there!" Caleb shouted to the struggling cat-man. "I think Gabilan is inside the cabin. Enzo's walked right into his plan."

"Who is… wait, hang on." Rico paused in attempting to escape, Caleb easily seeing his mind spinning to figure things out. "Was that the elf at the beacon? The one who killed for the Elf King?"

"He doesn't kill for the King anymore." Caleb glanced at the cabin door, hoping what he was saying was correct. "He helped me get out of a bad state. I think he wants to speak to Emily and the other Stonekeepers. If they are with you, that is."

Rico's ears fell flat against his head. "He's hurt my brother? That sneaky, no-good, rat-faced…!" Rico's remarks stopped as he ripped himself free of Caleb's grip and barreled down the deck.

"Rico!" Caleb called out. "Don't do it!" But Rico wasn't listening. To make matters worse, Dagno came down from wherever it had been in the sky and flew close by Rico, ready to join him in fighting Gabilan. Caleb tried to sprint up to them, but it was too late.

Gabilan was ready for an attack as he came out of the cabin. Moving fast, he slid around Rico's first punch and wrapped his arms around Rico's neck from the back. Dagno looped around and flew out of Gabilan's range. Caleb slowed down, not sure how to intervene so that no one else would get hurt.

"Dagno!" Rico called out to the dragon. "Go! Get the others!"

"Be quiet," Gabilan growled. One of his arms was wrapped around Rico's chest, the other around the cat-man's mouth and nose. In response, Rico yowled like an actual cat and bit down on the bandaged skin blocking his breathing. Gabilan grunted, surprised by the attack, but did not release his grip.

"Don't hurt him!" Caleb shouted. But then Dagno came barreling down from the sky like a bolt from the clouds. Gabilan's eyes widened before Dagno smashed into him headfirst—or rather, helmet first. Elf and dragon went down onto the deck, Rico getting free and gasping for air. Caleb ran by him, only for a paw to grab his arm and hold him back in a reversal of his previous action.

"Don't go over there," the cat-man growled. Caleb froze up; he had not heard Rico so angry before. He did not look back at Rico, nor did he try to get out of his grip. He tried to quickly come up with a way to solve this rationally.

"I can explain this, p-please." Caleb began stuttering again, so he took a hard breath and forced his body to stay still. "Let's just get inside the cabin. If he hurt Enzo, I will be just as mad as you are."

Gabilan appeared unconscious, but Dagno managed to wobble onto its legs. The helmet had proved a good shield for his own head. It gave a weak, "Chee…" and ambled towards the rear cabin door.

"Blast it all, Dagno!" Caleb's hope rose sharply when he heard Cogsley's accented voice from inside the cabin. "What did ye go and do? Get in 'ere!"

"We're coming, Cogsley," Rico called over, "Help me tie up the elf. I'll watch over another guest that snuck aboard with him."

"Another one?! We aren't offering free living space, ya know! Get inside, all of you. We'll get this fixed up good."

"We sure will." Rico pushed Caleb inside the cabin, shoving him to the far wall before racing back outside and grabbing Gabilan's body. Caleb stuck to the corner, opposite an electrical light mounted on the wall. He saw Enzo's slumped body on the floor, evidence of Gabilan's work.

"Caleb!" Cogsley smiled as he stepped towards Caleb, only to snap back with as much shock as Rico had shown. "Cogs and cables, lad! What grinder did ye walk through to get out here?!"

"That's a long, long story," Caleb said. Before he could say anything else, Rico came in the cabin carrying Gabilan's body.

"Help me tie him up with the wiring cables," Rico told Cogsley as he walked over to the electrical wall-light. "And you," he said to Caleb with another angry glare, "stay over there if you know what's good for you."

"I'll be good," Caleb said. "I'll be good." I have no better alternative to keep your friendship, and everyone else's.

Alright, that's all for now.

As usual, any feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Draconos is taking off!