Tag: Fantasy

Week 1 Post 2: Greyspace

On By MaryIn 2025, WritingLeave a comment

Mallory pulled her car into the dirt lane, slowing to a stop as the dilapidated building crept into view from behind the trees that hid it from the main road. She hadn’t planned to come out here today, but when her best friend had hopped into her vehicle after school and enthusiastically shouted, “Taxi, follow that car!” she had whimsically decided to indulge. After all, she didn’t have anything better to do tonight than go home, and she really didn’t want to do that. Home just didn’t feel like home anymore, and some mild stalking seemed like a fun way to avoid it.

The car in question was old. Very old. Mallory didn’t know enough about cars to identify makes and models, but the metal body was rimmed with rust with only the faintest hints of faded teal paint remaining. The thing had to have been put together in the 50s and likely didn’t adhere to any sort of safety or environmental standards. In fact, Mallory was shocked it was even running. But Eliza wasn’t focused on the car – instead, she was obsessed with the occupants.

Or more specifically, one particular occupant. Isaac.

Since the very first day of their senior year, Eliza had talked non-stop about Isaac. He was new to school. He was in most of her classes. He was tall and mysterious, with a commanding voice and presence. He was dangerously handsome and practically perfect. Or at least that was the case according to Eliza. Mallory hadn’t caught more than the occasional distant glimpse of Isaac.

They had followed the vehicle at a reasonable distance, attempting to keep other vehicles in between where they could manage and drifting back farther as it drove out of town. And then the car had pulled down the dirt road leading to the Miller house.

Mallory came to a stop at the end of the lane. They watched the vehicle turn out of sight behind the trees, and waited as the dust settled. “I wonder what they’re doing here?” Eliza said absently. Mallory eased her foot off the brakes and allowed her car to inch forward.

Eliza glanced at her, her eyebrows climbing toward her hairline. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice jumping up in pitch the way it always did when she panicked.

Mallory grinned at her old friend. “Come on, we’ve come this far. Let’s go say hi.”

“Mallory! Mallory, no!” Eliza was shaking her head emphatically as the other car came into view. There was no one in sight. They both stared up at the wreck of a house.

The Miller house was supposedly named after a family that had been murdered there in the past, causing the home to become abandoned for years. No matter how much searching Mallory did, she couldn’t find any actual records or articles about a family named Miller having lived in the house or of anyone having been murdered there. And she suspected that the many other stories surrounding the place were also merely rumors. She at least knew for a fact that the story of the man-eating goat monster was definitely false, as she had spread that particular story herself. Still, looking at the house as it sat in the shadows of the surrounding trees sent a chill down her spine, and she didn’t consider herself easily scared.  The entire area seemed like a cold, dark spot that stood out all the more against the bright, sunny September day.

Week 1 Post 1: Greyspace Prologue

On By MaryIn 2025, WritingLeave a comment

The shadow watched patiently. It knew the plan – it had its instructions and it understood that soon it would be time to attack. Even if the plan was already slightly off course. That didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, although it made the shadow nervous. It wanted to confer with its master, but there was no way to do so at this point. The shadow watched the girl swimming in the pool. From Greyspace it was hard to make out conversation in the Enduring world, but if one was very quiet and very close, one could hear the words – softly, like whispers, like voices carried away on a wind. The shadow was close, so close he could reach out and touch his quarry if it were even possible. But it wasn’t possible. And it wasn’t time.

He stood directly behind his quarry where it sat at the edge of the pool, watching the girl. The girl swam up to the edge of the pool where his quarry sat draping its legs in the water. This girl was the one upsetting the plan. He leaned forward to stare at her – her features were hard to distinguish from Greyspace, but he felt a strange spark of something, an emotion, his first: hatred. He hated her. She had the potential to ruin everything. His quarry sighed. “I wish this summer would never end,” it said to the girl.

“Really? I can’t wait to be done with high school,” the girl responded. “Just think – this time next year, we won’t be required to go to school anymore. Not if we don’t want to, anyway.”

“Well, my parents expect me to go to college. I should be so excited to finally get out on my own.” His quarry leaned back, kicking the water absently. Its movement surprised him and she passed through him – nothing in the Enduring world affected Greyspace, but all the same, the shadow nervously shifted its position. It didn’t like occupying the same space as this… thing. “I just feel like… I don’t know. This dread. Like something bad is going to happen soon.”

The girl in the pool pulled herself up and out in one smooth motion to sit next to the quarry. She stared across the pool, where a young male lay shirtless, tanning in the summer sun. If the plan had gone as expected, he would have been…. Well, that hardly mattered now. The plan would still work, even despite this inconvenience. This girl. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” the girl said, so soft that the shadow almost couldn’t hear.

“Oh? For my brother’s sake, or mine?” His quarry leaned forward, giggled as it splashed water at the girl.

“Oh shut up,” the girl spluttered, pushing his quarry into the pool before jumping in herself.

The shadow stood and walked along the edge of the pool, watching, waiting. It stared at the girl, feeling it’s hatred seethe. How had she gotten pulled into this? What made her so special?

She could ruin everything.

2024 Reading in Review

On By MaryIn RandomLeave a comment

All right, so similar to how I wrote a short synopsis of the books I read in 2023 to test my memory, I’m doing the same thing again. Although it occurs to me it would be more of a challenge if I attempted 2023 now, and then saved 2024 for next year. Then I really won’t remember what the hell I read at all. My memory is woefully short. As before, loads of spoilers for what I do remember, and also a fair warning that it may all be wildly inaccurate owing to my fucked memory.

I also realize while looking over my list of reads that I did not read the 4th Harry Potter book. I had planned to read one a year every year until I finished the series, and I just… forgot.

Did I mention the woefully short memory thing yet?

Well, without further ado:

I did finish Loop, which I ended with last year. Can’t remember if I said very much about it. I vaguely remember it twisting the story from Ring and Spiral and making the events of those books part of a virtual world simulation. Sadako becomes a virus that infects the world because of how she proliferates by the end of the second book, and somehow her virtual “cancerization” of the simulation spreads into the real world and causes an untreatable and quickly spreading cancer that threatens the entire world. The main character (who’s name I can’t now remember) goes on a journey to find the origin and the cure, and ends up having to sacrifice himself. It also turns out that he’s basically Ryoji from the previous books. All of the Ring books were a bit harder for me to read – in fact, I kind of found that many of my re-reads were a bit of a slog for me. I don’t know if that means I have changing tastes or what?

The next book I read was part of the Sidequests, if I remember right. I asked a friend for a sci fi story recommendation and read the first book of the Expeditionary Forces series. Earth is taken over by aliens, who basically pull us into an intergalactic war that’s been ongoing for a long time. I remembered thinking it was kind of Mass Effect’y in some ways. Skippy is an AI that pops up halfway through the book and mostly drives the story from that point. It was fun and I might get around to the rest of the story at some point.

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor was next. It is the follow up book to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing that I read in 2023. I remember it being not quite as good as the first book – it was still an examination of political divides and the way fame effects people, this time spread across more of the main character’s friends instead of focusing just on her (which makes sense because she’s assumed dead the first part of the book). It’s worth reading to finish out the story from the first book and have an actual conclusion that feels like a conclusion, though at this point I don’t remember too much from it. Rivalry alien intelligences, one trying to help humans and one trying to destroy us because of the events of the first book? Something like that?

I read Birthday next. It’s related to the Ring series as well. It contains a set of 3 shorter novella sized stories all set in The Ring universe, and all surrounding the theme of birth with central female characters. I think one story is set around Sadako’s viewpoint, though I don’t remember it. One is set around the death of the girl that rebirths Sadako in the second book, and shows her thoughts right before she dies. And the third is the love interest of the main character of Loop, who gets to briefly see her lover in the scene that ends out that book. It’s worth it if you’re dedicated to seeing everything related to the Ring.

And similarly, while trying to get that book I also found out there was a newer related book to the series by Koji Suzuki called S – in this book, the main character specializes in CGI and is tasked with determining whether a video that shows a man committing suicide is real or not. I really don’t remember very much of this one? I know it involved Sadako spreading herself again, in a newer fashion. The man has a girlfriend who is pregnant and is being threatened in some way by all of this. I think it follows up the main character from Loop trying to reverse the Sadako cancerization of the simulated world since he lives in it now? But from the point of view of a new character trying to figure out what’s going on.

I also spent some time on some art history. While visiting a Van Gogh virtual exhibit in Tulsa, I picked up Vincent Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings. It was 700’ish pages discussing Van Gogh’s life and works, but I did read it all and found it intriguing. I would have liked it better if the paintings they were discussing were placed closer to the pages that were discussing them – I had to flip around a lot to find the painting in question. I did have a smaller book, so I don’t know if there is a version that aligns it better. I liked the formatting of the book from Taschen, so I looked into some of their other art books and also picked up HR Giger. It was a shorter read, and had the same sections repeated in a few different languages. Less comprehensive than the Vincent Van Gogh book, but there were lovely full page spreads of Giger’s art, which I enjoy.

The next book I read was FantasticLand. I read something somewhere that compared it to Lord of the Flies set in a theme park that’s been isolated due to a severe hurricane, told in a World War Z fashion of an interviewer compiling the events from different POVs. Wow, that sounds great. But the result was a kind of chaotic slog that never really grips the way that either Lord of the Flies or World War Z does. It lacked the shock and violence that makes Lord of the Flies question human decency, and it lacked the pathos and humanity that World War Z manages. It might be interesting to someone, but I disliked reading it.

Next was one of my BOTM picks. I’ve been holding off on reading them because I want to hit 30 books for their reading challenge this coming year, so I’ve been building a backlog. But I figured I would go ahead and read Annie Bot anyways. A little high brow so if that’s not your thing you can skip it, but I found it fascinating. Annie is a robot, and as she becomes more aware and learns more about herself and the world around her, she becomes more uncomfortable in her position and her relationship with her owner/boyfriend. And the more realistic and personlike she becomes, the less her owner seems to really enjoy her. It’s an interesting examination of power dynamics and relationship ideals. I remember really liking it, and it wasn’t very long so it was a quick read.

Next I read Shit My Dad Says. You remember the early days of twitter when someone would post some short funny thing that went viral and eventually they got book deals and TV shows and such? Shit My Dad Says was basically a twitter feed that blew up. The book tells different stories from the author’s life in regards to his relationship with his dad, mostly funny, and then kind of attempts a poignant end to wrap things up. It’s a fun read at least, especially if you ever enjoyed that twitter feed. But if you did, you’re very old by now. You’re welcome.

After that, I decided to give in and read one of the romance fantasy novels that are so popular lately. I started with Fourth Wing. The writing style was very easy to read. While it was a fantasy world, a lot of their speech and other things had a very modern manner, so it’s not quite hardcore fantasy – it’s like fantasy-lite, which makes it very accessible for people that aren’t super into fantasy novels. There were a few things that seemed kind of silly, but it wasn’t bad and I do plan to read the other books eventually. The main character, Violet, is forced to enroll to become a dragon rider, which is a school/life path that is considered especially dangerous and results in the most deaths/failures, despite having spent most of her life preparing for a different path. She stubbornly insists on completing and manages to win 2 dragons. There’s a love triangle and a kind of enemies to lovers thing. The book has very sexually open minded characters but there’s only one spicy scene, which was a bit disappointing since the entire sell is that these are supposed to be smutty? (Is it me? Am I the perv?)

I read another BOTM pick after that, The Husbands. This one was a lot of fun. The main character is a single woman who comes home after a bachelorette party with her friend only to find a stranger in her house who claims to be her husband. As she adjusts to finding out that she’s apparently married and that her house and everything in her world reflects that as a truth, he goes into the attic for something and then another man comes down. After that, she goes through a series of husbands, her home and her life changing each time to reflect the differences in each life. Every time a husband goes into the attic, a different husband comes down, and it’s like she ends up in a different universe. She eventually meets a man who has been going through a similar thing – when he locks himself into a space, he comes out to find he’s married to a different person (male or female, he’s bi). They decide they’re not for each other and continue to search for a perfect spouse separately. It’s a story that makes you think about all the possibilties and life choices that we make and where they lead us.

In the end, she realizes she becomes too obsessed with finding perfection and realizes that pattern has to stop. After confirming that certain things that she can’t lose in her life are present (her niblings, her sister being safe, and that she’s not in an abusive relationship), she sends her husband on an errand out of the house before she can see him and make any snap judgements about him, and then she burns down the flat so that she can proceed with living her life. It was an interesting way to finish the book – she has to live with the choices, and can no longer keep slipping in and out of husbands and different lives. I liked it quite a lot. It was also well written and despite the subject doesn’t come across as high brow at all.

Speaking of high brow, I read Roundabout next. There were a few bits that made me laugh out loud. The entire novel skirts around using the letter E at all, which allowed for some creativity but also made it very strained and obvious what it was doing in some parts. I could read some bits quite quickly, and then the rest was kind of a slog.

I re-read House of Leaves. It’s an interesting experimental novel that tells a couple of different stories, although the one that always sticks with me is the haunted house portion. There’s also a frame story about a drug addict obsessing over the story as it was “researched” by an old man that had recently died. It’s not as scary as they say – there are a lot of hidden messages, most of which I have never bothered to hunt down myself although I notice the patterns enough to tell they’re there. It runs a bit overlong to me in some places and can be easy to put down, but what it attempts is very impressive and I do kind of love it.

I also decided to re-read the Animorphs books, but only got through the first 7. In the Invasion, the group of kids meet an Andalite who gives them the ability to change into different animals if they manage to touch them. They’re given this ability so they can attempt to stop the secret invasion of Earth by an alien parisitic species called Yeerks, which are slugs that take over and control bodies. In The Visitor, they investigate one of the Yeerks they know about to try to continue their mission, by using their morph ability to sneak into their Assisstant Principal’s house. I can’t quite remember the Encounter – I think it involved them finding where one of the Yeerk ships source their fresh water from, and they try to infiltrate that ship. Then in The Message, they have a shared dream that leads them to finding the last living Andalite on Earth and rescuing him, only to find that he’s a kid that’s as lost as they are. In The Predator, Marco almost quits (again) until he finds out his Mom (disappeared presumed dead) is actually alive in space as one of the Yeerk leaders. The Capture involves Jake almost being caught by a Yeerk, but his friends manage to starve it out of him – it turns out it’s the same one that inhabited his brother previously as well. The Stranger introduces the Elimist, if I remember right?

In general, the kids are fighting a guerilla war, attempting missions with very little resources or information or back up. They often aren’t fully successful, only managing to be nuisances to the Yeerks, and suffering from PTSD as a result of a lot of the things they go through.

I actually really loved reading the books as a kid, and only finished collecting the entire series as an adult. I’ll probably read them a bit between BOTM books next year.

After that, I re-read The Hobbit, for Hobbit Day. It always surprises me how much I forget from that book, but it is a classic. Very much a child’s introduction to the world that Tolkien created, but still quite fun to read.

Another BOTM pick was The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden. I didn’t really care for the characters that much, and at first it seemed the story would be pretty basic, but the end twist was really well handled and turned around what I felt about the book. Which is what a thriller should do, generally. It was a pretty quick read as well.

The next BOTM pick that I decided to read before 2025 was Again and Again. It was a little hard for me to tell whether I hated or loved this one – it is poignant, a bit on the high brow side. I liked parts of it, and there were parts that didn’t quite make sense for me. When the character finally comes clean and tells the true story of his life, it feels so tragic and empty, and when he finds out what legacy he has left behind, it doesn’t feel full so much as like more tragedy. There is still a bit of a sense of hope to it, I guess. It was a good read, but I could see it being hard to get through for some.

After that, I got sucked into the Dungeon Crawler Carl books by Matt Dinnaman. So far I like them quite a lot. They blend humor and drama well, and the two main characters are a lot of fun. The world is taken over by aliens who are there to harvest a certain element from it, most of humanity is killed and the remainder is offered a chance to enter a dungeon. This dungeon is set up and run like a game show where people across the galaxy watch the participants on a live feed. Carl ends up in the dungeon with his ex girlfriend’s cat, who ends up becoming sentient and acknowledged as a fellow crawler. Together, they’re attempting to survive the dungeon. Donut the cat is fun and smart allecky, and Carl has plenty of attitude as well. I’ve finished the first 6 books and I’m working on the 7th right now. They have just entered the 9th floor, out of a possible total of 18(?) floors. Each floor has a different challenge and environment. The entire game is run by an AI system that is becoming more aware and belligerent (and really into Carl’s feet) as it develops.

Although there are fantasy elements because of the dungeon environment, there is a heavy sci fi undertone. In each book, you learn more and more about the reasons why Earth was harvested/targeted and how the galaxy is run and some of the inequities of the system in place in the outside world. So far, I’m really enjoying this series, and I’ll definitely pick up each book as soon as it’s immediately available.

Which catches me up on 2024.

And into 2025.

Happy New Year!

54. Lucas & Epilogue

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

Lucas

I nodded at Peyton’s statement. “What about you? How much more can you fight?” I asked, looking her up and down.

She smiled wanly. “I’m about tapped,” she admitted, as she turned to watch Lexie’s inferno rage across the cavern. I watched with her. As powerful as Lexie was, there was a lack of control in her attacks – so many of them went wide, or were easily dodged by Shadawn. In fact, it almost looked like he was toying with her. “It’s so close…” Peyton murmured, the third eye flitting between Lexie and Shadawn.

I tensed hearing her words, holding myself ready for the moment. The exchange between Lexie and Shadawn was almost terrifying to watch, fire and shadow swirling through the cavern so indiscriminately that I worried for the others. I couldn’t see them in the chaos, and could only hope that they were okay. Sometimes I had to quickly erect a short barrier to protect the two of us, and not just from the shadows – the fire was everywhere.

And then Peyton gasped, seeing something I couldn’t. “Lexie, get out of there!” she shouted. Frowning, I saw that Shadawn had herded Lexie into a position where he had set a sort of trap – swirling tendrils of dark energy lanced up from the ground and down from the ceiling and Lexie screamed as the energy wrapped around her, holding her in place. Her screams were muted, like she was in a strange cage. From within the confines of the shadow, the fire burst and swirled, but it was all contained. “Shit,” Peyton said.

The chaos in the cavern quieted now that Lexie had been caught in Shadawn’s trap. He stepped close to his shadow cage, chuckling in the eerie silence. “Ah, to be young. You have so much energy,” he said. And then he turned to look at us, smiling. “And then there were two.” He started to approach us.

“Stay here,” Peyton said. “It’s close. Prepare the spell and wait for my signal.” She started to walk slowly toward Shadawn, her head held high.

Frowning, I reached for my magic as I watched her. I focused on gathering the power of death before me.

“Nothing to say, Shadawn? After all those nights insisting that I join you?” Peyton asked as she came to a stop several feet away from him.

For a moment, his expression darkened and then he quickly covered his anger with a smile. “I think you’ve made your position clear, and I am not forgiving. No amount of pleading will spare you from my wrath this night.”

“Ah, well I wasn’t planning on begging to be spared.”

The smile twisted. “But you will. When the pain becomes unbearable, you will.” Before his sentence had finished, he began to grow larger, pulling the darkness of the cavern into himself as he loomed over her. By the final word, his voice was booming, cacophonous. I winced, wanting to do something. Anything.

The air around Peyton began to swirl and lighten – I could see that she was summoning ice around herself, could vaguely hear the sound of ice creaking as chunks of it shifted in the air. She attacked. He swiped an arm through the air, batting aside some of the fragments, but not all. Some of the ice shards made contact, and a cold blue sheen arced up along his arm and chest, causing him to growl in anger. Peyton summoned a massive wall of flame, not quite as large as Lyre’s but large enough that it engulfed Shadawn’s massive form. He howled in anger as it hit him.

She released another, immediately following the first, the flames hiding Shadawn from sight momentarily. And then he came crashing through the fire, bodily slamming her against the ground. She cried out in pain as she hit the floor, her eyes fluttering, the hovering third eye flickering slightly. Shitshitshit, I thought to myself. How much more can he take? Is it time yet? Even though she wasn’t looking at me, I could see Peyton shaking her head.I was already focusing on the death spell, and could feel the coalescing of the dark tendrils of my own magic gathering before me, a deep spot of brown. If I released the spell, would I be able to gather it again? I could only use it once. I cursed myself for having started the preparation for it, wondering what I could do.

“PETER!” I shouted desperately.

Shadawn glanced up at me briefly as I shouted, frowning, as a chittering screech echoed through the cavern. Peter jumped down from where he had been hiding high up on the cavern ceiling. Startled, Shadawn twisted back, attempting to swipe the spider of his head. It was almost funny to watch. As Peter moved, skittering further down his body and biting into his arm, I could see that the spider had attached the small bag of gunpowder to the back of Shadawn’s neck with some webbing. Peyton saw it too.

She focused a smaller fire spell on it, lighting it.

It wasn’t an impressive explosion, but between it and the spider still biting it, Shadawn was distracted enough that he released Peyton. She pulled away – the third eye grew bright, coalescing a deep purple energy, and suddenly several lances of bright purple light shot out like lasers, cutting Shadawn deep. He screamed in anger and pain, finally swatting Peter away, and turning to focus on Peyton.

Peyton, who had slipped up from the ground and was running straight towards me. “NOW, LUCAS!” she screamed.

I activated the spell.

The swirling brown and black miasma of death that had gathered in front of me shifted as I focused on it. It all seemed to happen in slow motion for a moment as I focused on Shadawn and saw his eyes widen in surprise as the energy formed a skull. I thought I could hear the ticking of a clock somewhere within my head, I could hear it slow as the skull grew to match Shadawn in proportion and swallowed him whole. The sound of an utterly inhuman wail filled my senses and overwhelmed me, forcing me to my knees.

Then everything seemed to implode into the spot where Shadawn met death. I gasped as I felt the air suck from my lungs and I closed my eyes and pressed my head to the hard rock beneath me.

When it was finally silent, I gasped. I felt hands gripping my shoulder. For a moment it felt like they were going to help me up, but then Peyton slipped her arms down around me and slumped against me, holding me tight as she joined me on the ground. “We did it,” she whispered, her voice very close to my ear.

I opened my eyes and looked up. The cavern was eerily quiet. From further away than I had thought, I could see Lexie standing, the aura of her magic still burning like a flame, her head twisting. “Peter,” I croaked, my throat dry. I felt strangely exhausted, I realized belatedly – my body trembled from the strain the spell had put on me. It had literally taken everything to cast it. Peter landed in front of me, tapping my head gently with his forearms and chittering. I reached up and patted one mandible gently. “Good boy,” I said.

And then I passed out.

Even before I opened my eyes, I realized it was bright. Almost too bright compared to what I had grown used to underground. Sunlight. My eyes fluttered open, and I hoped to find myself in a comfortable bed, somewhere civilized.

I was in a jungle. I sat up, looking at the massive skull with the vining flowers crawling along it – the place where I had met my god before. I stared into the cavernous eye sockets, and the void stared back. Don’t forget your promise.

I blinked and it was like I was flying over the ground at a fast pace, over fields and forests and mountains, north, where the ground grew barren and icy and snowstorms raged. I saw the massive tree.

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled.

I woke, staring up at the rounded stone ceiling of one of the domed domiciles we had found underground. I wondered for a moment if I had been captured by Underlings, until I realized that this was the same one I had slept in before facing Shadawn. I sat up, rubbing my head, and could hear Peter chirping happily as I did so. “Oh good, you’re awake,” Peyton said.

I could see that she was sitting on one of the other stone beds. For a moment, I found myself absently thinking how ridiculously beautiful she was, until I saw her eyebrow quirk in reaction and remembered that she could read my thoughts. I desperately searched my head for the first song I could think of and settled on Yellow Submarine. I nodded. “How long was I out?” I asked.

“About a day. You’re the last one up. We’re getting ready to move out, and we might need you to heal some injuries before we go – I tried my best, but my healing is never complete.”

Move out. My heart jumped for a moment, realizing what that meant. We were leaving this place. We had completed our mission. We were free to live our lives. “What now?” I wondered out loud.

“We keep our promises,” Peyton said, reading my mind. I nodded. Peyton could return the bulk of her god’s power on our way out, and then we would have to visit the little island for Lexie to restore her goddess. And then I’d have to go on my longer trip, far north, to the tree. I frowned, feeling a little overwhelmed at making the trip. “You won’t be alone,” Peyton promised.

I nodded. I realized I hadn’t expected anyone to come with me, and her reassurance was instantly calming. “Thank you,” I said. I shifted, setting my feet on the floor. “And after we finish that last bit of business, what should we do?”

Peyton grinned, and stood up. She held a hand out to me. “Anything we want,” she said.

I looked up at her. Then I took her hand.

Epilogue

Life had slipped into some semblance of normal for Jennifer since the escapade on the alien ship. The invasion had been halted, and some of the invading aliens had been hard to flush out of their hiding places on Earth. But many of the freed aliens helped to find them. It had become a worldwide, multi-government endeavor. The other victims of the invading force were settling onto Earth for now – they had no long range vehicles to take them away, and no homes to return to. Not only that, but their magic flourished. Although a lot of people were hesitant or even outright scared of them, many of the newcomers simply wanted to live out the remainder of their lives as the last of their kind. Some had even begun to focus on trying to find ways back to the other worlds they had abandoned, hoping that perhaps those worlds had survived without their help.

Jennifer had Cassandra home for a brief time. They had visited the other parents of the Chosen – Cassandra had met Peyton’s mother, and Lucas and Lexie’s parents as well. Jennifer helped Cassandra get to her appointments and her treatments, but her health had deteriorated quickly. Disturbingly quickly. Jennifer had watched Cassandra’s vibrancy drain away. And yet Cassandra had been determined to try through every miserable moment to extend her life. “I promised,” she insisted every time. “I have to try to live.”

Eventually, caring for her went beyond Jennifer’s skills. Now Cassandra lay in a facility receiving hospice. Jennifer was there as often as she could be, and tried to keep herself mentally prepared for the inevitable phone call. But, she wondered, could you ever really be prepared for that news?

When the call finally came, she stared at the screen of her phone, letting it ring almost too long before answering.

“Hello?” she said, forcing herself to sound calm.

“Jennifer? It’s Wendy. Cassandra… she’s gone!” the nurse on the other end blurted the sentence out, almost too blunt for Jennifer to stand. For a moment Jennifer wanted to scream at her, asking if that was how she delivered such news to everyone.

Jennifer swallowed hard, and calmed her temper. She opened her mouth to speak, and then swallowed again to wet her throat. “I see. When did she die?”

“No! Oh god, no, nono! She’s not dead. She’s gone!” Jennifer leaned back against the ledge of her kitchen counter as the words sank in, while Wendy continued to babble. “I went to give her meds, and she just wasn’t there. No one saw her leave! Her stuff is all here. No one has any idea where she’s at. Do you think…?”

Jennifer let the unfinished question hang in the air. She wasn’t sure for a moment. Then she desperately hoped in the next moment. And then she was certain. “Thank you for calling me,” she mumbled, and hung up before Wendy could reply. She walked over to her calendar, where she had clipped the letter that Cassandra had left behind long ago when she had first gotten her diagnosis. The letter the lawyer had given her to read when Cassandra died. She stared at her daughter’s looping handwriting on the outside of the envelope, and ran her fingers gently over the outside of it, wondering if it was time to open it. Then she turned and tossed the letter into the trash. “She’s not dead,” she told herself firmly.

Cassandra wasn’t going to die before her. She’d never need to read it.

She was certain of it.

A few days later, she was trying to scroll through her email. Somehow, reporters and the curious always seemed to get her personal email address, and it was chock full of requests for interviews or random questions. Jennifer sighed, wondering if perhaps she needed to delete this account completely. There was no way she would ever be able to sift through it all.

There was the sound of an explosion outside, so loud and close it shook the building and car alarms sounded down the street.

Without a second thought, Jennifer exited her apartment and ran down the stairs to investigate and see how she could help. As she stepped out, clouds of dust were starting to settle. Crowds of people had drifted out to investigate, and others leaned out from their windows. The street was ruined and cracked, and at the center of it stood a short, almost familiar looking figure. A young black girl, with short hair, wearing a tunic dress. The girl turned on the spot, looking sheepishly at the damage that had been caused. Jennifer approached the girl, her mouth agape. “Lexie?” she whispered, hardly believing.

Lexie turned to look at her. “Umm. Hi?” And then she seemed to really look at Jennifer and her face lit up. “Wow, I guess are you Jennifer Brand? Cassandra said I’d be sent close to where her mom was, and that she’d be able to get me back to my parents, but I didn’t think that’d be the literal first person I’d see. Although, if you’re not Jen, you look a LOT like Cassandra.”

Jennifer stared in shock, and gave a brief nod. “Yes, I’m Jennifer. I can get you to your parents.”

Jennifer wanted to ask a million questions at once, about her daughter, about her health, about how she was doing, but all of those questions were put on hold as the younger girl suddenly burst into tears. Jennifer stared in wide eyed alarm at Lexie. The girl smiled, wiping away her tears with the heel of her palm, and laughed. “I’m home,” Lexie said simply.

Jennifer smiled, and moved forward to place a hand on Lexie’s shoulder. “Not yet. Let’s get you there.” There would be plenty of time for questions later – Cassandra was where she wanted to be.

53. Lucas

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

Everything was chaos. I felt useless holding back, summoning vines to help entangle Shadawn whenever I had the chance. Sometimes it worked, but he had learned to watch for my trick and had gotten more adept at moving away from them quickly. It was like being benched during an important game, and I felt frustrated that I couldn’t do more to help. Peyton’s hand was on my shoulder, her fingers digging into my skin, and I knew that she felt exactly the same. The glowing third eye swiveled to watch Shadawn as the battle raged before us.

Raella and Zolambi worked in tandem – she seemed to focus on keeping barriers around the two of them and somehow boosting his abilities, and he lobbed spell after spell at Shadawn’s shifting form. Between him and Lyre, the ethereal echoing of Primordial chanting seemed to fill the cavern. Asterollan seemed to be doing the most damage with his blazing sword, but Shadawn was aware of it and focused on keeping the golden-haired man out of range. Every time his blade bit flesh, I could hear Peyton cry out briefly in victory.

Shadawn also seemed frustrated with Lyre’s massive fire spells. I wasn’t sure if Lyre would have the energy to keep the display up – after the massive wave of fire, he had managed three massive balls of twisting flame, spiraling like an out-of-control vortex of fire, as well as some smaller fireballs. Now he stood back, still glowing with magic and chanting to form the next spell. He was obviously winded and panting hard. Shadawn pulled back several feet to avoid Asterollan’s blade and focused on sending his own dark tendriling magic toward Lyre, sensing the nearing completion of his next spell. Again, the energy dissipated before reaching him, sparking and crackling into the air in a series of blue flashes. A look of anger flashed across Shadawn’s face and I heard him hiss, “T’Keran!”

Lyre loosed another monumental wall of flame, and seeing it, I sent vines to grip at Shadawn’s feet. This time as the wall of flame engulfed him, I could hear Shadawn scream in pain and frustration, and Peyton gave another victory whoop. “Is it time?” I asked her.

She shook her head, but still looked please. “Not yet, but a few more shots like that…”

I glanced over at Lyre. The light of magic had faded around him, and he looked exhausted, his shoulders visibly slumped as he panted. “I don’t think we’re getting any more of those,” I said.

Peyton followed my gaze and cursed slightly under her breath as she saw what I saw. Shadawn emerged from the dwindling spell – despite the scream he looked untouched to my eyes. He rushed forward, straight toward Lyre, his eyes focused angrily on the pale elf. He hit an invisible barrier, but as he came into contact with it, it exuded sparks, and streaks of lightning went skittering and sparkling up a rounded dome that seemed to surround Lyre. Lyre stepped back, his eyes wide as he looked in surprise at the dome, and then he stumbled and fell as it visibly shattered under Shadawn’s push forward.

Shadawn was on him shortly after, physically reaching out to grip at the front of Lyre’s shirt, and pulling back his fist to punch him. He must have been furious to have dropped all pretense of using magic – once, twice, he slammed his fist hard into the elf’s face. Before the third strike, Asterollan came sprinting through and tackled Shadawn bodily, sending him skidding back. Asterollan reached down and helped pull Lyre back up to his feet. “Get closer to Raella,” I heard him say. Lyre nodded and moved away, limping, his nose bloody.

Shadawn was standing, brushing his robes off, glaring at Asterollan. “Of course, Cenastrum chooses a human – he always favored your festering race. Surprising, though, that his Chosen is a man that murders on the orders of his superiors.” Shadawn smirked slightly. “But then, he always did love unquestioning obeisance.” Asterollan narrowed his eyes slightly, shifting back into a more defensive position with his sword, but otherwise did not appear bated by the words. Shadawn sighed. “I do not prefer playing this way,” he said as he summoned a sword of his own into his hands – it was dark and dripping with shifting shadows.

He rushed forward, and the swords clashed together, the sound more a hum of energy and the faint sounds of screams than the clang of metal. The tendriling darkness of Shadawn’s sword seemed to creep over Asterollan’s blade, causing the light to flicker. I could see Asterollan’s expression falter in the light of his sword as the darkness moved to wrap around his wrist. He disengaged and jumped back, studying Shadawn with a deep frown as he shook the hand, almost as though the darkness had numbed it.

Shadawn pulled himself up to his full height with a satisfied smirk, then shifted suddenly out of the way of one of Zolambi’s spells. As he reappeared, Shadawn glared over in the direction of Zolambi, Raella, and Lyre. Then, with seemingly no need to prepare for it at all, he released a massive wall of shadow on par with one of Lyre’s previous walls of flame.

As it released, Asterollan dashed forward to slide his blade down across Shadawn’s back. Shadawn cried out in pain and rage, and turned to swipe at Asterollan with his own sword. The spell had already loosed though, and continued to roar off towards the others.

Raella and Zolambi both focused on erecting barriers – but when the first barrier shattered easily under the force of the dark energy, Raella gasped and turned to focus instead on shoving with her magic, sending Lyre and Zolambi out of the path of the spell. They cried out in surprise as they unexpectantly went sliding away, so forcefully that both hit the wall of the cavern and fell to the ground, alarmingly still.

I watched the massive wave of shadow in shock, my mouth gaping wide, the immense size of it taking me by surprise. As I watched the second barrier shatter, I finally roused myself and grasped forward with my vines, intending to pull Raella out of the way of the oncoming spell. I did manage, but almost too late – it was a glancing blow that caught her just as she was pulled off her feet by my vines, but it must have been bad – she let out an inhumanly pained shriek. She lay on the ground where my vines had carried her, not immediately getting up, whimpering and writhing on the ground.

“This isn’t good,” Peyton noted grimly, watching Asterollan and Shadawn fight one on one. The third eye shifted, looking at each of our companions briefly, and then focusing back toward the main battle. “Lucas.” Her grip on my shoulder tightened briefly. I glanced over at her, frowning. “Go check on them. I’m going to help Asterollan.”

“Are we even close at all?” I wondered.

She shook her head. “No. We’re only halfway there.” And then she sprinted forward, summoning massive shards of ice in the air to hurtle at Shadawn.

“Oh. Well shit,” I grumbled to myself, then sprinted over to check on the person nearest to me, which was Raella. As I reached her, I could see that she had curled up into a ball and was sobbing. I gripped her shoulder, shaking her briefly. “Are you okay?” I asked, feeling a bit stupid to ask since she obviously wasn’t. Another wracking sob shook her body. I focused on the healing magic I had learned, and while there were some physical injuries, she wasn’t badly hurt – the dark energy must have done something to her mentally. I healed her anyway.

After a few moments, her sobs quieted and her eyes flashed open to look at me. She sat up, wiping at the uncharacteristic tears that wet her face. “That was…” she gasped, and shook her head. “That was… intense. He chose fear as his domain, I believe you said?” I nodded, and she sniffed. “I see.” She glanced around to see what was occurring – Asterollan and Peyton were fighting Shadawn, and Lyre and Zolambi still lay still close to the wall. She nodded to them. “I’m fine. Go attend to them.”

I nodded and got up to jog over. I checked on Lyre first – he was unconscious. Even after I healed him, he remained passed out, and I wondered if the massive spells he had used had completely drained him. I could hear Raella approach me from behind as I checked on Zolambi as well, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I found that he was also only unconscious. His eyes fluttered open as I healed him. Raella sat with a sigh next to Zolambi, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not sure how much more we can do,” she admitted.

I nodded, understanding, and turned to watch the battle. “I… should I join?” I asked, uncertain.

“We need you fresh for the end of this thing. Wait a bit longer,” Raella said. I grimaced, watching as Shadawn’s form seemed to enlarge and he viciously backhanded Asterollan into a nearby wall.

“How much energy could the stupid spell use anyway?” I asked.

Zolambi and Raella exchanged looks, but said nothing. I frowned, watching Peyton help Asterollan up. They both looked winded, though the light of magic still burned around them. Shadawn moved in on them, still enlarged.

I moved forward, ignoring Raella’s shouted warning, and focused on summoning an entire area of thorned vines. They shot up, gripping at Shadawn. I don’t know how I understood that I could do it, but I did understand naturally that it was possible – the flowers shifted, growing fangs, and latched onto Shadawn’s flesh, pumping him full of venom. He screamed angrily. I considered pulling upon the power of death that was at my hands, not with the kill spell but perhaps something weaker, but hesitated at the thought of draining myself of any magic I might need later.

Shadawn screamed and pulsed with dark energy again, the way he had before, blasting the vines away and causing them to wither and fade to dust. He turned to glare at me angrily, and raised a hand in my direction. I heard Peyton yell something, but didn’t quite catch the words. I watched as the tendrils of darkness seemed to swirl around his hand, almost moving in slow motion as I focused on that point…

There was a sudden deafening screech from above, almost like a musical bird call. Near the top of the cavern where the platform had descended initially, I could see a bright light. A figure of flame with outstretched wings like some sort of magnificent bird descended quickly through the air. It wasn’t long before it swooped down, landing between me and Shadawn. The shadow turned to stare at the figure impassively as it shrunk down to a smaller size.

Shadawn studied the flaming figure. “And what are you?” he asked.

The flames coalesced and the wings drew in, but she was still lit brightly, a beacon of raw magical energy. Lexie.  “I’M. FUCKING. PISSED!”

She wasn’t looking at Shadawn though. She was looking at me.

“LUCAS! I can’t believe you did that!” she screeched.

I held up both hands in surrender. “I’m sorry?” The firey aura around her grew, compounded in her rage, and I shifted my hands up protectively in front of myself. But instead of focusing the flames on me, she turned and blasted Shadawn, who cried out in shock and anger. After a few tentative moments, I moved closer to where she stood. “Ah, I thought you were going to attack me,” I admitted under my breath.

“Later,” she promised gruffly, her eyes focused on the whirling flames. I grimaced and nodded. Shadawn emerged, looking angrier than before – and he was actually starting to look winded. My gaze shifted to Peyton as I wondered if he was damaged enough yet, but she shook her head as she heard my thoughts.

Shadawn released another massive wall of black energy. I gasped, but in response, Lexie released a massive wall of flame, larger and more intensely hot than the ones Lyre had been producing before. The energies collied, the fire burning through the shadow with ease, and Shadawn let out an angry yell. He began to send wave after wave – similar, but smaller than his previous attacks. Lexie released another massive blast of fire, but it didn’t burn through all of them, and the darkness shifted, focusing on attacking her. I shoved Lexie out of the way of one of the smaller waves of dark energy, and felt it strike me.

First there was pain. It was intense, like someone had taken several bricks and lined them with needles and then slammed them into one side of my body, the side where the dark wave had physically touched me. And then something else took over completely, that made me understand why Raella had been left a sobbing mess.

Terror.

It was instant and overwhelming and in every nerve ending: pure terror. I felt how truly insignificant I was for several long seconds, like every cell in my body had been reminded that I was nothing but a bag of meat and blood that could be easily torn apart by chance or whim. It was like being dumped into a pool of spiders and feeling a million tiny skittering feet run across my skin and into my open and screaming mouth, and feeling them bite and hearing them skitter into my ear canal, and feeling myself grow numb and cold with death. It was like hearing a single overwhelming note hum incessantly, and realizing it was the sound of a heart flatlining, and…

“Lucas! Lucas!” I could feel hands shaking me hard. Coppery brown hair floated around my face and I looked up into blue eyes.

“That was shit,” I said groggily, gripping Peyton’s arms tightly as she helped me sit up. “That was so much shit.”

She frowned, worried, and brushed tears off my cheek. I hadn’t even realized I’d been crying. I shifted slightly on the ground and breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t shit my pants, and she chuckled, having read my thoughts. I looked up to see that there was fire everywhere – the cavern was an absolute inferno. “Yeah, Lexie doesn’t really hold back,” Peyton said, reading my thoughts. And as she read my next one, her frown returned and she shook her head. “No. It’s not time – not yet. But it’s close.”

As she spoke, she stood and offered a hand to me. I allowed her to help me up. I realized I couldn’t see Asterollan anywhere, and Peyton gestured, though I couldn’t see what she had gestured toward. “He got knocked out coming to help you. I think he’s fine… I dragged him off to the side and tried healing him of the worst of it…”