Ever My Merlin

chapter 10 – KRONOS’S FURY

I fell, plunging straight down between the banks of a narrow river. I sank deep into the water and swallowed several mouthfuls before I pushed myself back up to the top. Coughing, I glanced around the water’s surface. Matt was nowhere to be seen. I dove under the water again, but I could see nothing in the murkiness. I made several dives before my body forced me to take a rest.

Above me, the darkening sky showed a fading sun and emerging moon. A familiar outline of stars shone from a healthy blanket of blue sky. On the riverbanks, trees swayed under the direction of a quiet breeze. I moved toward the bank. Maybe Matt managed to make it to land.

“One cannot enter Elysium so easily, little one.”

I looked in the direction of the voice. Up on a long, slanted boulder, next to the riverbank, a tanned, bare-chested man sat wearing billowing, black Arabian-style trousers. From the middle of his wide forehead, a third eye winked at me. Two gold armlets decorated his beefy arms. Tattoos of heads, five on each arm, were elaborately inked down his upper limbs. A long tongue stuck out of the mouth of each tattooed face.

The giant of a man sat casually on the smooth boulder. Sharp cheekbones on his handsome face gave him an austere countenance. The regal way he held himself reminded me a little of Lelex, the mermaid king—which was not a good thing. He scrutinized me. “Who are you? I wait for the sword-bearer. How did you come to be here, little girl?”

I swam closer to the bank. “I am the sword-bearer.”

Rawana guffawed. “I do not believe it. You cannot be the great wizard-warrior the Father said the Lady would dare to send. You are so delicate. Scrawny.”

I stared back at him. “How are you still alive, King Rawana?”

“I am not, in a mortal sense,” he answered. “You have found a piece of my spirit, left to guard this place. I pay penance for my misdeeds.” Rawana stood up. My breath caught. Behind him, previously hidden by his big body, I spotted a black lion. His mane and body glistened with dark fur. Huge amber eyes watched me quietly, yet the lion remained frozen in place.

Matt.

I demanded, “What have you done to him?”

Rawana let out an outraged roar. Drawing a scythe from behind his back, he put his foot on the lion’s head. “Tread carefully, warrior.” He emphasized the last word with a sneer. “I am not one who suffers a slight.”

“That much I know,” I muttered.

He kidnapped Seetha in retaliation for an insult to his sister.

Sharp teeth flashed at me as Rawana smiled. “Your lover has been changed to reveal his true form.”

True form? Matt’s lion had never been black. My stomach churned. Had I done this to him? “We are not here to fight you. We are looking for the water of life.”

“Do you not know where you are?” Rawana laughed. “The River Lethe, the stream of oblivion and mortal life. This is the place that heals.”

I flailed in the water. “This can’t be it. There’s so much of it!”

Rawana cocked his head. “If you bathe in the river, you will be cleansed of your mortal suffering.”

I looked down at my shoulder. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed that it no longer screamed with pain. The gash was completely healed, and under the water, fresh skin gleamed instead. I swam closer to the boulder.

A long, thin rock, the shape of an arrowhead, lay at the edge of the bank.

Rawana stared down at me, blocking the path to the quiet forest behind him. “Past here is the final resting place of heroes, but you are not one. Neither is the lion. This one is marked. He has taken a soul from Elysium without permission. It’s why he remains frozen where your wounds have been healed.” He pulled the lion’s head up to expose its jugular and thrust the scythe against the vulnerable spot. “It is time to give another soul in return.”

“Stop! Take mine instead.” I grabbed the bottom of the boulder and hauled myself up. I slipped the arrowhead into my wet cargos and stood up, dripping from head to toe.

Rawana stilled. The tattooed faces on his arms twitched. The third eye glared at me. He said in surprise, “You would do that?”

I took a step closer to the muscled king. “I would offer myself to the demon king.”

Rawana let out a bellow of laughter. “Demon king—”

I threw the rock arrowhead at Rawana’s exposed navel. A flash of green burst from the Dragon’s Eye. On the heels of the arrowhead, it hit Rawana with deadly accuracy in the stomach. A golden apple fell from under Rawana’s navel and tumbled down at my feet. Rawana blinked. The scythe dropped from his hand, falling to the ground in front of Matt.

I let out a breath of relief.

Rawana clutched his navel, swaying in place. Then, his legs buckled, and he fell backwards on the boulder. Above us, the sky rumbled with thunder. Dark clouds moved fast to cover the blue sky. I ran to the fallen king. Picking up the scythe, I knelt down beside him.

His three eyes locked onto the Dragon’s Eye. “You possess surprising power.”

Unconsciously, I touched the Dragon’s Eye. Vane. The thought he might be here eased a knot of tension inside me.

From the ground, Rawana asked, “How did you know where to aim?”

“I know your story.”

A wistful expression came over his face. “Then, I live on in the mortal realm. I am pleased.” His third eye closed. “You do not seem like a warrior, little one, but you have proven yourself worthy. You have defeated me. The apple is yours.”

I glanced at the small golden apple. “What is it?”

“After I lost the nectar of my immortality, I was sent here. I was asked to protect this by the Father. It was stolen from him but he was able to retrieve it. He warned me that the great Lady would send someone to collect it, but I could not let them have it.”

The great Lady. The Lady of the Lake. Rhea. They were all the same. Excitement shot through me. My fingers tightened on the scythe.

Rawana eyed the blade. “Will you finish me now?”

I laid the weapon down. “Do I need to?”

Rawana gave me a twisted smile. “My spirit is linked to the apple. Now that you have severed it from me, I will not last long.”

The river behind me rose higher. Water splashed up the boulder as the landscape turned more violent. I held the apple out to Rawana. “Then, I will not take it. I didn’t come here to kill anyone.”

He gave me a weak smile of surprise. “You are kind, warrior. You remind me of the one I would have made my queen.”

I colored. “I am no queen.”

“A title cannot hold a kingdom, while the lack of it cannot lose you one. I lost mine because I took what didn’t belong to me.” Rawana blinked. He pushed the apple back at me. “The apple is rightfully yours.”

“What does it do?”

“I do not know. For my misconduct, I have been denied the vision although I have the Father’s Eye. The Kronos Eye.” Rawana tapped his third eye. “The culmination of my knowledge of the stars rests here. The great Lady came here once, too. She hoped to see. She hoped to cheat fate, but the time was not right. The event was too far away. Now, you have come. The time is right.”

“The Lady called it the day of reckoning.” I looked at the eye. “Can it tell us what is coming? If the time is right, can I see what she couldn’t?”

Rawana blinked. “You have a touch of the divine, wizard-warrior. It is possible, but you must make haste. My strength fades quickly.”

I glanced up at the top of the slanted boulder. The black lion watched, but made no sound. “He should see this, not I. Can you free him?”

“His essence is diminished. His insides are hollow. Only with sheer determination does he continue to breathe. I have not the energy to restore him and accomplish my task.” Rawana caught my hand, the one that held the scythe. He stared at the curved blade. “Even if I did, the Kronos Eye would not bend to him. His soul is torn.”

“Torn?” Taking his magic tore out his soul? I glanced at the river behind me. “The water of life—”

“Will not heal him. He has defiled Elysium. He has taken a soul back from the dead—”

I bit my lip. Grey. Matt had brought Grey back from death.

“The Father does not forgive so easily.”

I touched the Dragon’s Eye. Rawana put his hand over mine. The third eye locked on the amulet and turned a disturbing grey. Rawana intoned, “One to save the world. One to destroy it. Only one was meant to be. Which one?”

The third eye blinked and the grey cleared. Rawana’s expression returned to normal.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

The king let go of my hand. Three eyes pierced past my skin and peeked into my heart. “You are torn, warrior, but deep down, you know the answer. You have always known it. I forced my princess to make a similar choice once. The fate of my world rested on hers. The fate of your world rests on yours.”

I told myself the words were overly dramatic nonsense, despite it being uncomfortably accurate nonsense. More thunder clapped insistently at the grey clouds. A flash of lightning struck the river. Behind us, the water churned more urgently.

Rawana’s breathing turned shallow. “My time dwindles. You have been kind, warrior, and in the memory of the princess I wronged, I would give you a boon—” With effort, he turned his head. The third eye locked on Matt. “I may restore his soul or I may share my knowledge. I only have enough strength to do one. It will be your choice. Choose wisely.”

The lion’s chest rose and fell with steady rhythm. Large eyes watched me without a hint as to the direction of his thoughts.

Rawana coughed. “Your choice, warrior… before it is too late.”

With a shaky breath, I turned away from Matt. Away from the betrayal I’d chosen once and now, chose again. Away from the guilt. I turned to Rawana and touched the third eye. “Show me.”

“As I said, you make a good queen.” He coughed again. “Take the apple. You hold the heart of a star in your hand. It will be your guide. Remember that.” He looked at the scythe. “Now, take the scythe and cut out my third eye. Hurry, you must do it before I fade.”

I balked, eyeing the sharp, curved blade. “You want me to butcher you?”

“If the eye is inside me, you will not be able to use it. You must take the eye yourself and dip it in the River Lethe.”

I blew out a breath. “Then what?”

“Take it into your mouth.”

“You want me to eat it?” Eat a slimy, fleshy eyeball? Gross.

Above me, the sky trembled. Fierce wind sprayed water from the river onto the bank. Rawana’s body shuddered. He roared, “Are you a warrior or not? Do not fail now. Once you take the eye, you will have but mere moments. This pathway to Elysium is tied to me. Once I go, it will collapse. If you are still here, you will die.”

Crap. I grabbed the scythe. He was still alive, but I had no choice. With furious hacks, I began prying out the delicate eye. Blood seeped down my hands. I almost gagged. The eye sat stubbornly attached, and cutting flesh and bone wasn’t as easy it sounds. Rawana roared under the brutal operation, but held himself remarkably still. His other two eyes blinked rapidly with pain. Finally, I held the slimy organ in my hand.

He caught my hand and held it. “The Kronos Eye will tell you much, but remember, nothing comes without a price. Our paths are not mapped; they’re made.”

“Wait. This is the Kronos Eye?” I asked.

It was too late. Rawana’s three eyes shut for the final time. On his arms, the tattoos disappeared. At last, his spirit flew free.

The black lion sprang up, also released. Matt bounded down to me. He picked up the apple with his mouth. I dropped the red-stained scythe. He ran alongside me to the edge of the boulder. I dipped the eye into the river. As soon as it touched the water, the organ shrunk and hardened into some kind of crystal. I squeezed the round ball. It didn’t give.

The Kronos Eye.

Matt dropped the apple into my hand. The black lion nudged me. I used his mane to climb on top of him. Wind blew furiously around us. Rough waves sprayed us. Above us, the sky dimmed. We had run out of time.

Then, I tried not to gag as I put the eye into my mouth and swallowed it.

The crystal hit my stomach. Darkness engulfed me.

I floated in a sea of nothingness. My body had no weight. More precisely, I had no body. Only my soul anchored me to the brightly burning stars that dotted an otherwise black space. Shiny balls of gas and dust spun around the stars. In the cradle of space was a bright spot, a yellow sun, sitting at the center of its children, one of who was a small, blue planet.

Home.

For what seemed like an eternity of time, I watched our solar system spin. It offered a quiet serenity that soothed even the most troubled soul. I sat in a place far away, a place high up on the branches of a celestial tree. The golden apple bobbed happily in front me like a guide.

I didn’t see Matt or the lion anywhere.

A sharp light off to the distance drew my attention. Against the canvas of space, bright pinpoints of light outlined a shape in the stars—a hunter with a bow and arrow. On his shoulder, a red star grew dimmer in its last moments of life. Then, in brilliant death, it exploded in a fury of fire and brimstone.

An invisible tsunami spread out of the supernova, shaking the branches of the celestial tree that rooted the galaxy with its tremendous power. The dark hand of the wave sent me whirling along with it. I managed to pluck the golden apple from its spot before being carried off. The wave swept over its closest neighbor, the yellow sun.

Under pressure, the steady sun bared its teeth for the briefest moment in time. Tentacles of fire flared out as it spun. I narrowly avoided the tentacles as they struck out with unintentional wrath. One tentacle, simply and silently one, sent a lash flying at its most fragile child. The flare penetrated the planet’s thin barriers, meeting little resistance.

Under me, on the blue planet, the fruit of life—my life—burned.

I fell down into the apocalypse that engulfed my home. Flames consumed the dark land, evaporating the oceans and melting away all civilization. Yet, I didn’t see any people. The world stood empty and hollow as if they didn’t exist in this plane. I could only imagine the quiet horror of billions of people at the end of existence. The day of reckoning.

I kept falling past the clouds and open air. The stench of sulfur and death scorched my nostrils and throat. Out of black night, I plummeted down to a large island and over a circle of nine stones.

The land widened as I neared the ground. In the middle of the rubble lay the sword inside the stone. Excalibur’s metal remained immune to the fiery heat. Its untouched glory clear for me to see as I fell with extreme force onto it. I screamed.

But I never met death.

I hung suspended in the air, the hilt of the sword scraping the unprotected expanse of my stomach. The planet continued to burn around me. I reached out and touched Excalibur. As soon as I did, a bolt of electricity went through my body and I dropped to the ground. I fell scraping my shoulder against the sharp edge of Excalibur’s blade. Blood ran from a gash on my upper arm.

The golden apple fell in front of me.

Above me, the sky flared with a rainbow of fire.

I reached out to take the apple. Blood ran from my hand down my fingers.

Out of the night, two hooded figures rode from opposite sides of the burning circle of nine stones. On top of saddled horses, they came together in front of me and blocked the path to the apple. One rode a white horse. One rode a black horse. Both wore brown, shrouded robes.

I recognized the animals—the same ones from limbo. Forever ago, it seemed.

The white horseman started to glow. From around us, an aria filled the air. The buried stones from the circle rose out of the dirt and came together. The white horseman made a structure. Two vertical slabs and one horizontal one, melded together to make a trilithon.

Then he turned. He extended his hand. I took a tentative step towards him. The other horse snorted in protest, blowing musky hot breath in the air. His rider trotted the black horse forward. He jumped down and picked up the apple.

Nothing happened. He walked closer to me. He held out the apple.

I took it.

Blood ran over the apple’s gold metal skin. The apple rose in the air. Sparkles of bright lights, tiny stars, glowed inside its dark interior. They bobbed excitedly, becoming charged. Beside me, Excalibur shuddered. The black horseman gestured me to touch the blade. I put my hand tentatively back on Excalibur. Another shot of electricity went through me. I cried out and tried to pull away, but the black horseman grabbed me and held my hand to the burning sword.

The sword absorbed the apple’s energy and emitted a blinding beam in return, a lighthouse beacon taming the chaos of the flames around it. It hit the trilithon in front of me, and the structure lit up. White light shone and a rectangular doorway opened.

Inside the doorway, I saw a curved wooden bridge over a thin crisp blue river.

Next to me, the black horseman held out his hand, but not to offer it to me. He reached for the apple. I shied away. Stumbling back, I fell against Excalibur. I pulled the blade and it came out easily from the stone. I held it in a battle stance in front of me. The horsemen threw back his hood. It was Matt. The black horseman was Matt.

The white horseman revealed himself. Vane.

Vane jumped off the horse. In one move, he leapt down. The hilt of a sword gleamed above the belt tied against his left hip. He held out his hand. For me or for the apple, I couldn’t tell.

There was only one thing to do. I tucked the apple close to me in a football hold and sprinted past Matt. I tossed Excalibur at Vane. He instinctively reached out to catch it and I used the distraction to leap into the open gateway of the trilithon.

I ran into the mist.

***

I tumbled out, landing facedown in a field of freshly cut grass. Soft earth kissed my lips. I lifted my head. In the distance, a familiar bridge came into focus. The world lay eerily dark. Moonlight reflected off the water. Surrounded by dark, shadowy trees, the shallow river ran under a curved wooden structure. The Old North Bridge.

An unlit lamppost on the bridge, a failed beacon in the darkness, sat silent and without any power. In the distance, nestled between two tree trunks, under another patch of moonlight, the bronze statue of a Minute Man marked the site of the first battle of the American Revolution. Concord, Massachusetts. Wearing a trim waistcoat and holding a musket at his side, the silent soldier welcomed me home.

I pushed myself up on my knees. The apple fell from my hands onto the flat clearing. In front of me, Matt lay on his back on the ground. I started to crawl to him, but a sharp pain made my stomach spasm. Clutching my middle, it rumbled as if a war raged inside. The taste of sharp metal coated my tongue and tainted the saliva. Taking shallow breaths, I rolled over on my back and tried not to pass out. The sky darkened into evening as this side of Earth turned away from the bright gaze of the sun. Stars winked down from a quiet sky.

The Dragon’s Eye warmed around my neck.

“Where have you been?” Vane’s voice pounded in my head.

His words hammered my brain, a pounding beat against my temples. I couldn’t work up the energy to press my hands against it. I croaked, “H-help.”

Vane shouted, “Hang on, DuLac.”

“Where are you?”

“Sri Lanka.”

I almost laughed. Matt was right. Vane did follow us. I thought back, “Then, it will be awhile before you get here.”

“They have these things called phones,” he said. “Help is coming. Stay with me.”

Another spasm rocked through me. I clenched my teeth at the pain. My mind started to shut down in defense. I told Vane, “I don’t think I can.”

“Yes, you will, champion,” he stated, but I didn’t believe him. He couldn’t hide the edge in his voice.

I closed my eyes. The Dragon’s Eye heated.

In my mind, the woods disappeared.

I crawled along the linoleum floors of a grey hallway at Acton-Concord High. I let out a mental groan. My last moments of life were going to be in a high school that had, most likely, already expelled me. Any divine forces watching me had a terrible sense of humor.

The hallway T-boned, and other corridors stretched to the right and left. I stopped, unsure of which way to go. On the cream-colored wall in front of me, a poster advertised tickets to the “Under the Sea” prom. Fluorescent overhead lights blinked on and off, as if powered by a dying generator. The odd lighting made my skin take on a pale, translucent sheen, like the skin of a ghost. At the end of the corridor to the right, Matt suddenly appeared. He stared at me, looking confused.

Another burst of pain exploded inside my stomach. I fell to my knees. Sweat broke out across my skin. I sucked air into my lungs, but couldn’t seem to get enough. On the left corridor, Vane winked into existence. He ran down the hallway and knelt beside me.

“I should have known you’d come here.” He glanced at the prom poster. “You missed this place that much?”

“I don’t like leaving things unfinished.”

Vane pulled me into his arms and squeezed. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

Pain rocked my body. I took a gasping breath. I voiced the only thought I could hold in my brain. “Vane, take care of my family.”

“Take care of them yourself, DuLac,” he replied harshly.

The world started turning blue and black. I went limp against him. Vane cursed next to my ear, but the words seemed to come from far away. Matt hurried down the corridor. He knelt down behind me. “She swallowed the Kronos Eye. It’s killing her.”

“What eye?” Vane barked.

“It’s a crystal—”

“Never mind,” Vane interrupted. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s get it out.”

The lights shone brightly above me. The corridor started to turn hazy and my field of vision narrowed. I was barely aware when he laid me down on the white linoleum. He yanked up my shirt to expose my distended stomach.

Matt put his palm down on my navel. “I can feel it here, but I can’t do any magic.”

“Upari!” Nothing happened.

Vane exclaimed several expletives. “It’s not working. Magic is useless. I can’t even make a sword and cut it out.”

“This can’t happen. It’s her world, and she’s fading,” Matt said.

“Think, Merlin,” Vane said. “You always have the answer.”

The pain in my stomach intensified. Some kind of foamy drool dribbled from my mouth. I started to take weaker and weaker breaths. My heart rate slowed.

“No,” Vane yelled. A hard fist thumped my chest. It pounded unsuccessfully against a fading beat. Vane leaned down over my face. I smiled at him, peace starting to fall over me.

“We can try force feeding power to her,” Matt said.

“The Dragon’s Eye.” Vane grabbed the amulet from where it lay against my chest.

His fingers curled around the gemstone, but the ruby remained cold. Vane slammed the stone against the floor. The floor trembled.

“There’s still power in it. We only need to figure out how to use it,” Vane muttered.

Vane slammed the amulet again. The whole hallway shook.

On my other side, Matt let out a cry, clutching his skull. Blood dripped down from his nose. “Vane, what are you doing?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. One hand tightened on me. “I won’t let you go. I don’t care what it takes.”

He slammed the amulet as hard as he could. The amulet cracked. Tiles on the ceiling tore open and fell. Vane sent a shot of power burning into the amulet’s ruby gemstone. Then, he let out a harsh cry and collapsed on top of me. His body transformed. Instead of a human, the Minotaur rose in his place.

The fissure in the gemstone healed. Matt crawled over to try to cover me with his body. The Minotaur slammed him back with a burst of green magic. Matt flew up high and crashed hard against the lockers. He slid to the ground, totally knocked out.

“You are caught,” the Minotaur spoke in my head. The coldness of the voice drenched my mind, waking me a bit. It was Vane’s voice, yet not his. It was a deeper, more inhuman version. The Minotaur’s hungry green eyes surveyed my failing body. “Do you know what I do to those that I catch, my fallen hunter?”

One of the Minotaur’s human hands slid up my thigh. The other pushed down on my shoulder as he pinned me in place. I stared at the unforgiving face of the bull. According to the myth of the Minotaur, many entered its lair, but none came out. All were devoured. Reading my thoughts, the Minotaur smiled—a ravenous smile. The bull bared sharp, white teeth. Without another word, he dove down. Massive jaws clamped on the hard lump under tender skin.

I screamed.

Teeth impaled the sac of my stomach and pulled off skin and flesh in one swift bite. I screamed again. The bull lifted its head. Green-grey mucous and pink flesh mingled with blood on its mouth. The Kronos Eye tumbled out of my stomach.

The crystalized organ clinked as it fell on the hard linoleum.

The Minotaur stared down at me. Blood still covered its mouth. As if he couldn’t help it, the Minotaur emitted a small moan as it licked its own mouth. A frenzy rose in its green eyes. Its tongue hanging out of its mouth, it dove for my shredded stomach again. A tongue swept over my torn stomach, licking the blood and broken skin.

I cried.

“Stop!” Matt appeared above my right side. The Minotaur lifted its head and roared. It swiped at Matt. Matt ducked and grabbed the Dragon’s Eye. He threw it into beast’s mouth. “Upaviz.”

A flash of blue magic imploded inside the Minotaur, and this time, it was thrown back against the lockers. The Minotaur morphed back into Vane. His face and mouth covered with blood and bits of skin. My blood and skin. Hot silent tears leaked from my eyes, burning my cheeks, and dripped onto the smooth floor.

Matt put a trembling hand on my forehead, his eyes reflecting the horror of the scene. He whispered, “God, Ryan, what did he do to you?”

I didn’t reply. Thankfully, I passed out.