Flames of Awakening: Faemoch Cycle Book 1 (16 page)

Chapter
Twenty-nine

Jaxius'
viortassi
slashed and
split demon flesh, spilling the entrails of demon after demon onto the melting
snow. But still, a nonstop onslaught of monsters pounded Jaxius' defenses. The
demons hacked and snapped at him, rolling their fallen kin out of the way to
get to him. They pressed in on Jaxius until he was fighting on one knee.

He sucked in deep breaths and spent
all of his energy just staving off the attack. The creatures scored several
small cuts and scrapes on his arms and legs. The cuts immediately began to
fester and ooze from the fiends' vile toxins.

"Chlora, save yourself. Get away
from here," Jaxius shouted.

"How? What do you mean?"
she asked.

"You can move without moving. I
remember you did it in the forest before."

Chlora blasted another demon in the
face with a burst of light and said, "Oh. Sure. I forgot about that."

She closed her eyes and scrunched her
face. Blinding light erupted from where she stood. The attacks of the demons
halted with the brilliant light.

Jaxius blinked several times to clear
the flash from his eyes. He hoped that he could readjust his sight faster than
the demons. He thought that this might be the advantage that he needed. When
the spots in his vision finally cleared enough to see, Jaxius was surprised to
find a dome of roots and vines just a foot above his head. He looked around,
Chlora was sitting in the middle of the hemisphere with her eyes still closed
tight.

"What did you do?" Jaxius
asked.

"Didn't you say for me to save
myself? Well, when you said save yourself, I thought to myself why not save
both of us, if I am going to save myself. That's definitely the more heroic
thing to do. It's what you would do, isn't it Upuchwe? Anyway, I saved us.
Again."

"Where are we?"

"In a cocoon. A home that my
friends made for us." She reached over and tickled one of the vines which
shook at her touch.

"I can see that, but where is
the cocoon? I mean where in the world are we?"

"Oh, well why didn't you ask
that, silly Upuchwe? We are in the middle of the Green Wood, my forest. Don't
worry. The demons can't get to us here. They are miles away. It would take them
hours and hours to get here, even if they did know right where we are. But you
see, my friends are sneaky. From the sky we look like just another tree top. At
least, that's what I think we look like. I mean really, I am inside with you.
So I can't really see us from the sky, but I like to imagine that we look like
a tree. That would be nice wouldn't it? Sometimes I like to imagine that I am a
frog bodied dragon, but that's silly because they don't exist do they? You
don't know any stories about dragons with the body of a frog do you?"

Jaxius took her return to
capriciousness as a sign that they were truly safe where they were. Or perhaps
it only meant that she was truly insane. Either way, his legs and arms had no
more energy to argue the point. He dropped his heavy
viortassi
, and his
knees buckled. His falling body was caught up by a soft throne of thickly
leafed plants.

"I know you must be extremely
tired. You fought bravely. You gave the demons a fighting chance. You didn't
even use any of your powers. That was really noble of you." She paused and
looked bewildered for a moment. "Or perhaps it was incredibly foolish. I
don't know. I haven't decided yet. We will see if you can vanquish the beasts.
That will determine which it was. Either way, are you hungry? I  know you must
be."

"Yes, actually. I am
starving." Jaxius spoke into her short lapse of silence.

"Then you should eat something.
That always takes care of my hunger."

Jaxius stared at her, trying to
decide if he should speak, pounce on her, or ignore the comment. At length, he
opted to speak up, "I would, but all of my food was left at the camp along
with my shield and my spear."

"Bah, you don't need the spear
or the shield. You have your blade. And as for food, all you had to do was ask.
You know I would take care of you."

Jaxius did not doubt that idea one
bit. He just wondered when her taking care of him might kill him. He accepted
the nuts and berries that Chlora produced from seemingly nowhere. As he chewed
the mouthful of flavor, he thought it odd how at home he felt with the little
fae. How comfortable he felt near her. How completely sleepy he felt.
What?
He thought.
Not sleepy!
But it was too late, he was fast asleep, cradled
by the soft bush.

"You always fell for that
trick," Chlora said. She chuckled to herself and put away the rest of the
sedative berries. She leaned over him and breathed out a green mist which he
breathed in with a deep snore. "Sleep now, my king. You will need your
strength soon. And may these memories come to you and help you through your
coming trials."

Chapter
Thirty

The swirling black clouds buffeted
Bergar from all sides. The ashy winds stung his eyes so that he had to squint
and still they filled with tears. He stood on a cliff overlooking a windswept
land pockmarked by large holes billowing flame and smoke. The winds died down
around him, and he noticed a pair of sandaled feet standing next to him. He
followed the scrawny legs up to the man who obviously belonged to the sandals.
He stared at the face for several seconds, scrutinizing every detail. Finally,
Bergar decided that he knew the man. He could tell from the man's smile, that
spread from ear to ear. He recognized the long, thin beard and toothless grin.

"Kaird!" Bergar exclaimed.

The old mystic nodded. His face had
changed. He was still aged. His skin still wrinkled all over his body. He was
still all bone and no meat. But he didn't carry the weight of three lifetimes
in his features any longer. He stood straight and tall, wrapped in a loose
fitting, soft brown cloak. His hands were clasped in front of his belly,
knotted together by his swollen knuckles.

"Why am I here? Did the spell
take me out of my body and into the afterlife?" Bergar asked with a cringe
of fear crawling down his spine at the thought of the Demon Witch coming for
his soul.

Kaird shook his head.

"Then why?" Bergar's
confusion compounded. The old mystic had not said a word. He just stood there
and grinned, and this put Bergar on the defensive. He sensed that something was
not as it should be. Even here in this odd realm.

Kaird finally opened his mouth,
"That feeling that you feel is because you aren't supposed to be here.
This place was prepared for the half-elf, Jaxius. Not you."

"Then I am here by right. Jaxius
deserves to live. He has much good that he can do yet."

"Oh, I know." Kaird
laughed. "You mistake me,  young one. I do not, nor have I ever intended
to keep the Returned One in this place forever. I simply knew that my time to
teach him was running short. Here in this realm that I have created, I can do
much more to show Jaxius of the life that he needs to know."

"Returned One? He said you
called him that before. What does it mean?"

"That is a question that the
world shall soon know the answer to. Let me tell you a little of how the world
works. You are a man now, you can know these things." Kaird said with a
giggle.

Bergar only smirked, not caring for
the old man's humor.

"The world is ever balancing,
like a hard packed snow on a layer of powdered fluff. One ill-placed step in
the wrong direction and the whole thing could come crashing down. Do you follow
me?"

Bergar nodded, although he did not
yet understand exactly where the old man was going.

"In the time that you and Jaxius
and Tolian, and your father, even, live in, this time, the fluff and powder
that you have had faith in for so long is shaking under the weight of the
events of the world. Does that show you where I am going?" Kaird asked as
if he already knew what was brewing in Bergar's mind.

Bergar nodded. He was slowly and
surely absorbing all of this information.

"Now, when the world is
preparing for such devastation, certain heroes that she has tucked away are
pushed forth. Brought to the world to save it and ensure that there is no
avalanche. Our friend Jaxius is one such creature."

"He is?" Bergar asked.

"Yes." Kaird took up the
answer quickly. "He is an old soul. Far older than I. I would dare say
older than the most ancient trees in the world."

Bergar opted to hold his tongue and
await the answers that were going to be given to him.

"I trudged through history after
my death and found the memories that Jaxius is missing. I brought them all
here, so that he could experience them. I didn't expect you, though. I guess I
should have known who would be reading the spell and what your intentions would
be.."

"What did the spell do exactly?
I mean, I was reading it just like Tolian had taught me, and then I was
here."

"It brought you here. Now, don't
you feel silly?" Kaird answered chuckling quietly. He raised an eyebrow
indicating to Bergar that he should have thought about his question more.
"Shall we get started then?"

"Started with what?" Bergar
asked.

"We now have to figure out how
to get all of this..." Kaird stretched out an arm presenting the plains
before him. "In here." He tapped Bergar on the side of the head with
a bony outstretched finger.

"But doesn't Jaxius need to know
all of this and not me?"

"Yes, but he isn't here now is
he?"

Accepting the answer as the only
possible explanation, Bergar nodded. "Let's get started then."

Chapter
Thirty-one

"Jaxius," a familiar voice
said. "Returned One."

"Kaird?" Jaxius asked. He
cracked his groggy eyes and blinked a few times letting the dim red light
filter through. A friendly face leaned into view. He recognized the face, but
it had aged in the months since they had last spoken.

"No, Stranger, it's me,"
Bergar said.

Jaxius opened his eyes wide and
looked around. It was, indeed, the young barbarian. The boy's round face showed
the same mirthful smile and shining eyes which Jaxius had come to associate
with his somewhat fallen friend. However, the corners of his eyes and mouth
were wrinkled with age, and his long flowing hair was shades of gray streaked
with stark white. Bergar moved away from him. Jaxius   noticed that he was
lying on hard, dry ground with torrential winds whipping all around him. He
pulled his heavy body up to a seated position and rested his head in his hands.

"Am I...?" Jaxius asked.
"Did that little..."

"No," Bergar chuckled.
"No, you are very much alive. I have some things to show you."

Bergar turned and walked away. Jaxius
scrambled to stand and catch the young man who beamed with life.

"Am I dreaming?" he asked
after he caught up with Bergar.

"Not exactly, but maybe,"
Bergar replied.

"Now you sound like
Chlora."

Bergar stifled another chuckle.
"That, I am definitely not. I am very much Bergar, son of Grundar. I was
brought here by the spell that Kaird left with you. Now, where is that old
shaman?"

"He's here?" Jaxius asked.
"You have had a chance to speak with him?"

"A chance? Yes, he and I have
tended this landscape for years. I have memorized every rock and every hole.
That's why I am here."

"Wait. I don't understand. You
have been here for years? We only cast the spell a couple of nights ago."

"I know. Time doesn't work the
same here. As it does in the mortal world. That's why Kaird created it. He
intended for you to come here and learn about yourself. Then return and miss
little more than a night's sleep."

Jaxius scanned the desolate
landscape. He noted the great pits that marked the plain below and the smoke
that rose from them. He listened as the wind blasted his half-elven ears with
its thunderous roar, He smelled the sulfur and felt the heat of the fires.

"What am I to learn here?"

"Your past, silly," a
jubilant old voice arose from just beyond the cliff.

Jaxius crept to the edge and looked
over. What he saw stunned him. The mystic stood a few feet from the edge of the
cliff suspended in mid-air with his arms crossed and his long blonde beard
flowing in the wind. Contrary to Bergar, the old mystic appeared more youthful
than Jaxius remembered.

"Kaird?"

"Who else would I be? Of course,
I am Kaird. This is my spell-land isn't it?"

"Kaird, why am I here? And no
riddles. Just tell me."

"It's better that I show
you," Kaird answered.

"Take my hand, friend,"
Bergar said.

Jaxius, not sure what to make of his
situation, did as he was told. Bergar stepped to the edge of the cliff and
walked right off, squeezing Jaxius' hand tightly. Bergar floated in the air,
just like Kaird. To Jaxius' surprise, he, himself, did not plummet to his death
either.

"You'll be fine if you let go. I
made this place so we can easily move about. You can fly, skip, or jump as you
please here." Kaird said.

Jaxius tried taking a step in the air
but went nowhere.

"You have to want to move. Tell
yourself that you are going to and you will," Bergar said.

Jaxius did just that. He imagined
himself moving forward, and, much to his surprise, he floated forward several
inches. Making sure that he was not just caught in the wind he imagined himself
in reverse and again succeeded.

"Now that you've gotten
accustomed to that, we have much work to do," Kaird said. He slid up next
to Jaxius, clasped his forearm, and sped down to the plain below.

Amidst the craters and geysers of
smoke, those chimneys to some great unknown furnace, a long table sat adorned
with a feast. Large platters laden with exotic looking fruits and vegetables
mingled with trays of meats and breads. A few pots of aromatic stew steamed
between them.

"What is this?" Jaxius
asked.

"These are your memories,"
Kaird said. Bergar affirmed this with a nod. "When Bergar first arrived we
set about trying to teach him the memories through experience. That proved
tedious and, in the end, impossible. No matter how hard we tried, young Bergar
here couldn't get it. He kept wanting to change them. This got me to thinking
that you would probably do the same. So, we took a break and thought up this
way. Now, I hope you are hungry."

Jaxius had to admit that the few
berries and nuts had not sated his growing appetite, "Yes. I am.
But..."

"Good, then let us eat,"
Kaird said. He snapped his finger and a chair slid behind and under Jaxius.

"I suggest you start light. Like
with this," Bergar said and then tossed him a round piece of red and
orange fruit that looked like a large mango.

Jaxius raised an eyebrow and stared
at the fruit. He sniffed it, decided it couldn't hurt, and bit into the fruit.
Its yellow juices exploded into his mouth and dribbled down his chin. It was
the most flavorful food that he had ever put in his mouth. He chewed, and a
grin spread across his face.

"Mm, thifs, ifs goomd
shtuff," he said.

Bergar and Kaird roared with
laughter.

"Don't praise the cook, till
you've had the main course," Kaird said.

Jaxius took bite after bite out of
the strange fruit. When he had finally swallowed the last bite, he blinked
several times and looked around. The confusion on his face mingled with a
growing awareness.

"Yes?" Kaird asked leaning
forward. "Tell me what you know."

"I remember being a small boy.
But not me exactly. My ears were longer, much longer. Longer than an elf's
even. And my hair... the brightest green. I remember walking through the woods
and something large and blue and scary stepping from behind a tree. It had
great deer horns and thick, muscled arms that were too long for its body. Its
head was human-like, but thick, almost dwarven. It saw me. I tensed. I was
scared. And then it bowed low to the ground and groaned a deep groan. I think
it was talking to me, but I can't understand it. But I did then, I just can't
now."

Having recounted the tale, Jaxius
could barely believe himself. He had a genuine memory of another lifetime. He
knew it as a memory, he could feel it in the back of his mind. He felt something
else too... hungry.

Jaxius tore into bite after bite of
the huge meal laid out before him. Every bite brought a new realization of a
life long past. Also, every bite left him hungry for more. He ate for hours,
relishing some dishes longer than others.

"I was a king," Jaxius
said. His eyes lit up at the realization.

"Not just a king. Upuchwe."
Kaird said. "The king of all of the faeries. The last king of the faer
folk."

"I see now. I came from the
Faemoch to the physical world to protect my children. The first of the elves
that I had helped to father. By the gods..." Jaxius slumped back at this
realization. It was almost too much for him to bear. He had created the elves.
One of the oldest races of the world. It was impossible, but he remembered
every second of it.

"Finish the meal. You will have
time to think on it all after." Kaird said.

When he had neared the end of the
meal, Bergar handed him one of the two dishes left and said, "Here. Eat
this one first. Trust me. I have been saving this other for you. I think you
will need it after this one."

"Alright," Jaxius said and
slid the plate in front of him. This plate looked disgusting compared to the
rest of the meal. It was covered in a thick, black pudding with bits of some
strange stewed meat scattered through it.

"It's best you don't stop once
you start," Kaird said.

Jaxius spooned some into his mouth
and winced. The taste was bitter, an unwelcome flavor after such a grand meal.
Jaxius soon realized why this dish had such a foul flavor. This plate held
every bad memory, every sad moment of his previous life. In this plate was
explained all of his nightmares from the past several months. He saw the women
and the children who had died because of him. He saw the wife that he had left
on his final march to war with the humans. He saw the sorcerer who had finally
killed him, the face from his dreams. And finally, the connection was made for
him. The face from the mirror. Everything had pulled him to this point. There
was no denying the memories now. His past. His ancient past had come back to
haunt him.

Jaxius quickly gulped the rest of the
sour memories down and eagerly greeted the new plate, which was the brightest
of all. Taking one bite, his eyes widened at the explosion of flavor in his
mouth. It was almost too sweet to eat, especially after the bitter thickness of
his previous plate. Sweet like raw sugar spread over fresh berries floating in
a bowl of honey. His jaw threatened to lock. He continued on, knowing that some
important bit of knowledge would be imparted with every sticky, sweet bite.

The memories brought on by the sour
plate had instilled Jaxius with fear and sadness, but all that was washed away
by the gentle hands of first his mother, then his wife, and finally his
children. He remembered staring for days into his wife's bright blue eyes.
Those eyes that could fill his heart to bursting with both love and courage.
She was the reason for every noble action in his life. He remembered that it
was for her that he created the elves. And eventually, it was for her that he
stood to defend them in his final battle.

The amounts of raw emotion in the
last two dishes of memories overtook Jaxius. Unable to stop the flood of tears,
Jaxius wept.

As he wept, the world around them
crumbled. The table at which he sat disintegrated. Then Bergar melted away into
dust much as the old mystic had that last time in his tent in Nordras. Finally,
through tears, Jaxius watch Kaird dissolve away for a second and final time.

And then Jaxius sat alone on his
throne, his wild green hair flowing in the heavy winds that swept across the
plain. Soon there was Jaxius, his eyes aglow and his cape fluttering in the
green black winds of the ruins of the Faemoch. The bright emerald fires of his
anger spread. Their flames consumed everything. Then there was nothing.