Cataclysm (4 page)

In the arms of Athen, my mind went back to the darkness I craved. I thankfully allowed myself a few hours to enjoy the rest of the night in peace. Being held by him was the solace my spirit needed.

***

“Since it looks like Arie’s in Seattle, I think we might as well set up at the Kingston place,” Athen said, packing up the rest of our stuff from our short-lived Mt. Rainier expedition.

“Sounds great to me,” Cyril agreed. He looked completely exhausted. His eyes were dazed, shoulders sagging. He looked nothing like the Cyril I knew. I was used to him always being an overwhelming force, exuding strength and confidence. Now, what I was faced with, staring back at us, made me doubt Arie’s plan to the core. How could she do this to him? How could we do this to him? I knew the goal was to keep Cyril in pursuit of Arie long enough to show him what Azazel had been up to, but it seemed so cruel.

I met Athen’s gaze, and he simply nodded. He felt the same conflict as I. Cyril had gathered the rest of items that Athen and I had brought up here. We were all packed and ready to go. The hike down the mountain would be a lot cheerier than the night before. For starters, daylight had arrived, and that always helped. But we had, also, begun the process to locate Arie, more for Cyril’s sake than either of ours. I already knew where she’d be hiding, if all went according to plan. Theoretically, since Cyril went through the painful process of the Awakening, the wheels were turning. With all the memsors in place, it should be an almost non-existent absence.

The goal was for Athen to keep Cyril distracted, and I would meet Arie in Seattle where she was staying. The anxiety level I felt was crazy. If I went there, and she didn’t remember me, we would have a much bigger problem on our hands. I couldn’t think like that, though. There’s no room for the what ifs in this plan. She was only supposed to stay away for a week or so, just long enough to get Cyril to meet up with the other families who had already fallen for Azazel’s trap.

Athen secured the North Face backpack on me that probably weighed more than I did, creating a wobbly force dragging me down. One of the knives, that I regularly packed on me, was pinching me near my hip. Squirming to get myself situated, my body went backwards, and I crashed onto the ground releasing a nice plume of cave dust for all of us to breathe in.

“It’s stunning how you are a magnificent fighter, graceful really, and then you can’t even make it wandering around!” Athen walked over to deliver to me a loving hug with an awkward jab of truth.

Switching subjects, I began a new conversation hoping to hide my embarrassment. I needed to pay more attention and watch my balance, because my clumsiness had become quite annoying.

“If Cyril wasn’t here, I don’t think we could get it everything done and packed up.” Shaking my head, I did my best not to lose balance from the heaviness placed on my back again. I was sure this thing covered my entire backside.

Cyril and Athen each had one of these large packs on, plus all the rolled-up blankets and food. I was impressed. As we all made our way out of the cave, l turned around to get one last glance. It was hard to believe we were leaving so soon, and Arie’s plan was already in full swing.

Stepping outside in the daylight brought all of my senses to life. The beautiful blue skies were a welcome sight. There wasn’t even a wisp of cotton in the sky. I took it as a sign, a good one. It was as if all the horrendous nightmares, from the night before, had never existed. I was even able to make myself believe that Lilith wasn’t on this same mountain.

“Magnificent isn’t it?” Athen asked, reaching for my hand.

“Yeah, it reminds me of what we’re fighting for.”

We headed down the mountain, and I was anxious to get to the meadows where so many of the wildflowers would be whipping around their brightly colored heads. That’s something that Mount Rainier was known for. It’s hard to believe there could be such ugliness lurking within such beauty, but apparently, Lilith’s faction really had made a home here.

Following Cyril down the trail, my foot slipped out from under me, but before my body even thought about hitting the ground, Athen plopped me back upright.

“I knew it was only a matter of seconds before you’d say something.” Grabbing the top of a dandelion, I yanked it and flipped it at him. “Take that.”

“Come on guys, let’s get off this mountain. Apparently, it’s only a happy place in the daylight.” Athen started up again, but not before leading the way with his hands, so I could get back in front of him.

“Do you guys find it odd that Arie got attacked? I mean, Ana, you didn’t even have any sort of premonition or anything. Something doesn’t feel right.”

“I know exactly what you mean, Cy. We planned to separate for the sake of keeping us together, and she’s still gone. I know we’ll get her back though. I can feel it.” I prayed I lied better than I thought.

Cyril kept walking the entire time I spoke. I was sure he didn’t want me to see his eyes.

“You know Arie would want us to all keep fighting and try to figure things out. I mean, we kind of had a chat about that a week ago.” Thinking if I kept to the truth and basically only lied by omission, my skill level might increase tenfold.

“Yeah, I know she’d been really preoccupied with things lately. Trying to figure out a pattern with the families, and what Azazel’s next line of attacks were going to be. I kind of think that distraction is what presented this situation,” he offered.

Relieved that Cyril found a reason for her attack, I felt like I might be able to get through the next couple of weeks. Athen sensing my relief took over.

“Well dude, I don’t think we ought to let her down either, because once we get her back, she’s gonna wanna know what we did with the planning and all. When we get back to the house, we’re going to have to hit it hard,” Athen said, with a kind smile.

“Totally.” Was all I heard Cyril whisper.

I reached for Athen’s hand behind me, needing his support. Feeling his grasp, I relished in the moment and was thankful to have him back.

Cyril stopped ahead of us where the land rolled gently into meadows. Coming up behind him, I was in complete awe. It reminded me of everything that’s so lovely in the world that we were here to help save.

The meadow in front of us was filled with a quilt of brightly colored wild flowers in every hue possible. The red-yellow columbine peeked out of the rockeries, while the magenta fireweed blew gently with the breeze. Every color imaginable displayed itself for us to enjoy, but one of us not being here made it difficult. I thought back to when I visited Butchart Gardens, without Athen. The beauty of what I witnessed seemed half as grand without Athen next to me to enjoy. Walking up to Cyril, I put my arm around him and hugged him, while we quietly stared at nature’s masterpiece. It was exactly the reminder we needed to begin our fight for what was right.

“Thank you, Ana.” Cyril took a deep breath. “I guess I needed that more than I knew.” He smiled and kissed me on the cheek.

“You alright, man?” Athen asked, knowing there was no such thing under the circumstances.

“You know? I am… And the reason is because I’m going to get Arie back in time so that she can share this beauty with me.” The twinkle began to emerge in Cyril’s eyes as he promised himself and Arie this one little moment before the summer was over.

“I agree, Cy. I think we can make that happen,” I said in all confidence, and for once, felt like I wasn’t lying.

The dirt trail was more gradual the rest of the way down the mountain, with the swaying blue lupines bowing down in the wind, leading us to where we needed to go. The thought of Lilith training her faction, for some reason, made me chuckle. What a pathetic goal to have when surrounded by such serenity and beauty. They didn’t have a chance. Hopefully, I could convince every one of that as well.

“What’s so funny?” Athen asked, eyes sparkling in the sunshine. We all grasped onto anything that would provide a sliver of happiness.

“I was just thinking about how lovely it is here in the world. Whether it’s the beautiful flowers in the spring and summer or the magnificent autumn colors in the fall, there’s so much to remind us all of beauty and goodness. These are the things that are worth fighting for. Watching the mortals care for one another in times of sickness or disaster is very humbling. It’s hard to imagine that some people spend their time filling their days with hate and cruelty. I can’t imagine wanting to focus on hurting people, rather than helping. To build an army based on hatred is something I hope I never understand,” I said.

Having Lilith in the same proximity as us really seemed to be stirring up the emotions I had been trying to ignore.

“It’s always like you to see the beauty in things, my angel. Unfortunately, the mortal world isn’t always a beautiful place. I think the dark demons are focusing on evil and weak mortals to build their army.” Athen’s voice had an edge.

I knew his disgust matched mine. Yet, all we could do was focus on the building and training of our own army. The plan to get Arie back would, hopefully, be nothing more than a hiccup for us. I could only let myself believe that getting her back would work as planned, and that she had the same uncanny ability with the memsors as Athen. Athen’s eyes caught mine. I knew he was chewing on the same thought as me. The sooner we get her back, the better.

“There’s always hope, though. Even if people are choosing poorly now, I’m sure we can help them choose the right way, eventually,” I sighed.

Hearing the crunching gravel from a group of people walking their way up the trail, brought me back to my senses. We couldn’t see them yet, but we could hear them. It sounded like a rather large group coming towards us.

“Sounds like lots of hikers are out enjoying the beautiful weather. Wonder if they heard about the earthquake?” Cyril yelled back to Athen and I.

As we moved along, we finally saw them. They weren’t day hikers. All of them had large packs harnessed over their shoulders. They looked like models for REI. Whatever they were doing out here, they planned to be here for a while.

They weren’t close enough to say anything to, but I noticed Cyril’s body stiffened a bit as his pace quickened. I flipped around to check out Athen’s response, and he pointed at his eyes. Then it hit me. These were not hikers. These were recruits.

Immediately, I began flushing my thoughts to Athen and Cyril.

“
Do we attack? They can’t be skilled if they’ve just been turned. I know we can take them.”

Athen responded first.
“No need. They’re no threat.”

“
They’ll all be a threat soon enough,”
I challenged.
“Why not eliminate a few while we have the chance?”

“
She’s got a good point,”
Cyril offered up.

“
Or if we are up to the challenge, we could follow them. Find out where Lilith’s little training ground is.”
I could feel the energy running through my veins. The level of excitement began brewing inside of me, but I noticed Cyril shut down immediately.

“
I don’t want to do anything that would ruin our chances of getting Arie back. If something goes wrong while we’re spying, and we can’t get to her, I’d never forgive myself,” Cyril communicated.

“
I understand,”
was all I channeled before a couple of minutes of silence entered our minds rather than the words that were previously flowing so freely.

The group only looked about 100 yards away now, and they took a sudden veer off the pathway into the forested land. I stopped dead in my tracks, turning to look at Athen. He nodded at me. It was his turn.

“
I think this is too good of a thing to miss, Cy. If you don’t want to join Ana and I, we get it. We’ve got to go check it out though,”
Athen responded.

Cyril stopped walking and turned to look at us. With his eyes rimmed in red, he looked at me in my eyes and nodded. Putting him through this turmoil made me doubt Arie’s plan. Arie better have been right that this would keep him from going to the dark side.

“
Some opportunities aren’t to be missed.”
A smile began to spread across his lips, as he quickly squinted his eyes closed to make any remaining tears disappear.

“
Agreed. Let’s get on it,”
Athen commanded to us, as he took off in the direction that the fresh minions went. His movements were quick and impossibly quiet. He began his climb up the first tree, as Cyril and I followed behind.

I managed to stay close to Athen, while we bounced from one Douglas fir to the next. The scent of the crushed needles released into the air as my foot sprung from one branch to the next. The fragrance gave me the extra punch I needed.

We were getting close. I could feel it. Looking ahead, I saw a dense forest. I couldn’t fathom where this group might be headed, but I hoped it wasn’t too much further before we found what we were looking for. The deeper we went into the forest, the darker and gloomier it became. I wanted to find the group of trainees and bug out quickly.

Athen stopped and placed his hand in the stop gesture. Cyril balanced cautiously on the tree’s top, careful not to make any sudden movements that would call attention. I looked quickly ahead.