Forged by Greed (48 page)

“You mean, give
you
the
ultimate power. So you can rule over this world.” Jasmira couldn’t believe her
own bravery. She was still trembling, frightened.

A terrifying roar was the answer to her blatant statement. “Don’t
test me, Princess Jasmira!”

Jasmira balled her hands into fists to keep them from shaking. Her
nails dug into the flesh of her palms. Sweat ran down her back, soaking into
the fabric of her shirt.

Amber folded her arms across her chest and smirked, looking at
Jasmira. Her eyes were the color of young leaves. They didn’t have any pupils. “Conveniently,
you and the Winter Prince live close to one another. You go to the same school.
You are the same age. And you fell in love with each other right in time. Everything
was going according to my plan from the beginning. I got rid of your parents and
his parents. They were useless. I needed the Royal heads of each Race to be
together. It was impossible to make it happen with them. I needed only you and
Jatred. If only Crystal hadn’t messed it all up.”

“I trusted you. You were like a mother to me. You greedy murderer—”

“Oh, the drama. Cut it out.” Amber waved her hand dismissively,
interrupting Jasmira. “Your role is to serve me and your Race.”

Jasmira’s face twisted in rage, and she opened her mouth to shout,
but three enhancing Spirits of the Summer Realm appeared from nowhere and
dashed toward her. She saw them but didn’t have time to react before one of
them entered her body, outlining it for a quick moment in a silver-like aura.
Jasmira shuddered, and her rage immediately gave way to poise.

“Much better.” The Summer Goddess smiled. “Now, my daughter, listen
carefully. The enhancing Spirit of the Realm will make you strong. He will give
you unmatched skills and strength. Focus now on connecting with the Spirit. Let
him lead you. He is my best warrior. He will keep you safe.”

Jasmira nodded, confused. She tried to remember why she was so angry
before, but she gave up and concentrated. Her own thoughts and feelings mixed
with the unknown—with those of the enhancing Spirit of the Realm. He had a
strong hold on her, calming any fear that tried to resurface.

The first Royal couple trotted toward Jasmira, their watchful eyes
on her face. Right in front of her, the ancient leopards turned to the side and
passed her. She turned to look. A huge crowd of Shifters stood a few yards
behind. And even more were arriving. Jasmira took in the multitude of Summer
Shifters summoned by the Goddess. They came from many countries.

There were tens of thousands of them; white and dark-skinned, adults
and teenagers, some looking scared, some simply curious, the others—completely
in awe, seeing the Summer Realm for the first time. Most of them could never
envision becoming the warriors in a place that looked more like a fantasy
movie, so different from their twenty-first century lives. The enhancing
Spirits of the Realm raced about, looking for the matches and entering
Shifters’ bodies.

One of the Spirits zoomed around Jasmira. It stretched and grew,
until it became reminiscent of a woman. Her dark skin shimmered as if sprinkled
with gold. She said in a rush, “My daughter. I can’t stay with you. The Goddess
can’t see me here. But I will try to protect you in the battle. And so will
your father—“

“Mom,” Jasmira gasped. She tried to touch Asteron, but her hands
slipped through her mother’s ethereal body.

“Listen to me. Stay as far from Amber as you can. Run, hide, do
whatever you can. And do not let her get you close to the Winter Prince. I have
to go. I love you so much.”

Jasmira wanted to run after Asteron. But her mother quickly
disappeared. Jasmira’s enhancing Spirit calmed her anxiety.

It didn’t take long before the Goddess approached Jasmira. She loomed
over her. Amber’s lioness head was huge. “You must find Jatred. Stay close to
him all the time throughout the battle. I will reverse the damage Crystal has
caused, and he will get his memories back. You two will be together again.”

“A battle? What battle?” Jasmira shrieked. Her heart raced, and
blood pounded in her temples. She put her hand protectively over her chest,
feeling the Dasht-e Kavir against her chest
.
Amber can’t see it. She can’t know about it.

And then Jasmira’s vision went colorless. The Realm, the Goddess,
and everyone around looked black and gray. She heard a low murmur of chanting
voices, just as before, when touching the Dasht-e Kavir for the first time. A
familiar salty taste invaded her mouth. She winced and swallowed. The taste
disappeared, and the colors around flickered between regular and black-gray
spectrum. It happened a few times until all the hues were normal again.

Jasmira didn’t understand what the Goddess was saying; just knew she
heard Amber’s imposing voice, but it sounded as if spoken in a foreign
language. She only caught a few words, ‘battle’, ‘fight’, ‘the Garhanans’,
‘power’, ‘responsibility’. She felt confused and dizzy. Too much was happening
around her, too fast. Her vision went blurry and she staggered, almost falling
to the ground. A sudden blast of ancient energy shot through her. The enhancing
Spirit inside her was hard at work. Jasmira’s thoughts were once again crystal-clear,
and she focused. She just didn’t know exactly on what.

The Goddess finished her short, imperious speech to all the Summer
Shifters gathered in the Realm. She raised her arm, hand balled into a fist. Her
lioness face was set in a snarl, her thin feline lips pulled back from sharp
teeth. She opened her hand, and a ball of fire blasted from it toward the
cloudless sky of the Realm.
 
It whirled above
the Shifters, growing and stretching into a huge flaming disc. It moved down,
forming a spinning inferno wall around them.

Screams and gasps filled the scorching air. Tens of thousands of
Shifters huddled together, frightened, but then everyone quickly straightened,
appearing composed and determined. The faces of regular people took on the
warriors’ look. The drone of an ancient song broke through the sudden silence.
It was low and filled with anticipation. The Spirits of the Realm kept zooming
between the double-natured like tiny balls of fire, their comet-like tails
gleaming. Amber’s lilting voice filled in the air. She was chanting in the
language never-spoken by humans.

Jasmira felt someone clutching her arm. She turned around, and
Penelope’s big grin was the first thing her eyes registered. The redhead threw
herself onto Jasmira, hugging her fiercely. Hot churning air lifted their long
hair, twirling it together, thick black curls and red straight strands, so
different and so similar at the same time.

“How did you find me? There are so many people here.” Jasmira detangled
herself from her best friend, holding Penelope’s hands in hers.

“I really don’t know. I think this enhancing ghost inside me prodded
me in the right direction. She’s really something else.”

“Ghost.” Jasmira laughed. “You mean, the ancient Spirit of the
Realm?”

“Freakin’ crazy, straight from ancient stand-up comedy.” Penelope
grinned. “It makes me laugh, even when I’m scared to death. I guess, that’s her
calming technique for me.”

Jasmira couldn’t understand how her friend was able to joke in such
intense, horrifying moment. Penelope seemed to notice her discomfort and added
quickly, “Relax. She says… I mean, they don’t
talk
in words, just kinda send you thoughts. You know that. Anyway,
she’s a real badass, just with an intense sense of humor.”

Jasmira didn’t say anything, just kept staring at Penelope. She saw
in her peripheral vision that the wall of fire was spinning even faster than before.

“She says only a few of them—the Spirits, ghosts, whatever—keep a
part of their personalities from real life. Like too much humor, or depressive
thoughts, or anger.”

“Anger?” Jasmira felt a pang of pain in her chest, remembering how
angry Jatred was every time she talked to him lately.
 

“Like the one that helped Jatred fight the Garhanan in the Winter
Realm,” Penelope added somberly, as if reading Jasmira’s thoughts.

“How do you know that?”

“Erik told me that when they were entering the clearing in their
Realm, just before the fight, he was the first to walk in. He saw the ball of
light entering Jatred’s body. Nobody else saw it, because the rest of them
filed in behind Erik. He didn’t say anything to anyone, until today, when I
asked him about that fight.”

“Did you guys know about the enhancing Spirits?” Jasmira asked
incredulously.

“Of course not. Erik didn’t know what that ball of fire was. But
now, when I see the crazy ghosts in the Realm, I put two and two together. And
my joker Spirit confirmed that.”

“So the Spirits stay with you forever?”

“No. Goddess forbid. That’s exactly what I asked her too. When they
exit your body, they often leave a residue of that personality trait in you,”
Penelope said. “Listen, my Spirit says we are going to the In-Between.”

Jasmira wanted to tell Penelope about Amber’s plan to reunite her
with Jatred, but the hum of the ancient song got louder. Amber’s chanting
abruptly stopped, the last notes hanging in the scorching air. Both girls
looked around and up. They saw the top of the blazing wall twist like a
corkscrew, coiling into a funnel-like top. Series of silent lightning zigzagged
in the tip of the funnel. And then a flash of white-hot light blinded them.

CHAPTER 56

In-Between the Realms. Date
in Human World: November 19, midnight.

“The
Mahrasets!”
Jatred heard Tyrrell, Andy, and Ivona scream next to him. The Amulet felt like
a shard of ice against his chest. He turned and saw a tight mass of green
monsters march toward the Shifters.
They were about five hundred yards away but moving fast, closing the
distance with every passing moment. The beasts’ gruesome growls and roars
unmistakably sounded like a dare.
Tens of thousands of Winter Shifters who stood behind and around Jatred,
bellowed in unison, ready to face the beast army. The Spirits of the Winter
Realm dashed over the Shifters’ heads like little balls of fire, trailing long,
blazing tails behind them.

The monsters’ thick skin was red-brown, like s
equoia
tree bark. Short, stout fur grew out of it in different shades of green, making
the evil army look like a moving tropical forest. Most of them were enormous
and stood well over nine feet tall. The shorter ones looked as strong and
dangerous as their larger kin. The ground shook from the pounding of heavy feet.
The hum of the beasts’ voices only added to the rhythm of the upcoming
challenge.
 

The Shifter army raised their weapons in response—swords and spears,
huge axes, and daggers—most of them ancient and all magically enhanced by the
Spirits of the Realm. A lot of women and teenage girls held Japanese naginatas
and kaikens, ready for the Mahrasets’ attack. One group of huge men from Congo
and Ghana yelled insults at the beasts from the top of their lungs. They
brandished war hammers,
Nzappa zaps, Japanese Tachi blades, and ancient
Greek
Harpē swords.
Many
of the double-natured didn’t carry weapons. Their enhancing Spirits planned for
them to fight in their animal forms.

Two
long lines of Shifters stretched over the field, standing unmoved. They
expertly held composite bows at ready, various in origin and style. Their
enhancing Spirits were among the best archers of the past. Lusia and Bogdan
looked as if transformed, their youthful appearances replaced by a stern look
worn by veteran warriors. Erik’s mother stood next to them, focused on the approaching
target.

The
Winter Shifter army rushed toward their opponents at full speed. A unified roar
thundered over the field.
The air
pulsed and trembled around some of the double-natured, briefly distorting the outlines
of their bodies. Snarling and baring their teeth, one after one shifted to
their wolf forms, but becoming bigger than ever. Their fur stood on end, giving
their colossal frames a frightful look. The wolves leaped forward, among, and
over the other Shifters, racing to meet the incoming green mass of Mahrasets.

All the Spirits of the Winter Realm that just a moment earlier
hustled around the Shifters as small balls of fire, were now in their ghostly
forms, gray and transparent. Their ethereal bodies stretched parallel to the
ground, huge eyes wide open, their wispy, long hair streaming in the air behind
them.

The armies clashed; claws, teeth, and weapons alike, stubbing and
snapping, slashing and pounding. The Spirits flew around and through the Mahrasets,
confusing them and poisoning their minds with fear. The wolves were crushing the
monsters with their bulk, biting and ripping chunks off the Mahrasets’ bodies.
The air filled with cries of pain, fear and triumph.

The Marhasets fought viciously, most of them towering over the
Shifters. They possessed strength unsurpassed by any living beings. Even the
Spirit-enhanced double-natured in their enormous animal forms weren’t as
powerful as the creatures of torment.