Phobia (Interracial Paranormal Romance) (Wisteria) (34 page)

“
Can’t we use the cantus to paralyze them?” Wisteria proposed in a weak attempt to convince herself. “Then we’ll imprison them.”

“
The cantus will not disable High Father’s Pillar forever. And no prison on this realm can contain them. I have records of 2,978 attempts by the First Pillar to subdue Dy’obeths through other means,” Robinia revealed. “It came down to poisoning them, so they would flee to.”

Clutching the
vial of prax, Wisteria shook her head. “How do we use it?”

“
Get the poison on their skin. That is all you need to do,” Robinia informed.

“
What happens to Wisteria? Will the poison hurt her?” Garfield demanded.

“
The prax harms High Father’s people. The rest of the Family and the humans will be fine,” Robinia disclosed. “Do you understand?”

Nodding, Wisteria
walked out of the vault as she stared at the prax.
What was she going to do?
She could give Enric the poison, and he’d infect the Dy’obeths. That way she wouldn’t have to hurt anyone, but that was a load of rubbish. If she gave Enric the weapon, she’d be as guilty as he was.

Lost in thought, she wandered into
a moldy and decaying water fountain…the first part of the archive that actually looked ancient.

The
circular water fountain looked to be three times the size of the largest roundabout in Norton, with a deep hole in the center.

“
Where does this go?” Garfield looked like he was about to enter the room.

Robinia hel
d him back. “Step inside and you will be destroyed.”

“
What is this place?” Looking up, Wisteria felt captured by the painting on the ceiling. A mural of this same room filled with hundreds of people dressed in purple. They stood around the fountain that now looked like a whirlpool. There were thresholds around the room with more people emerging. The people were dressed in a shade of purple, but the outfits were from different periods in history like ancient Greece, the Middle Ages, the Oyo Empire and possibly Feudal Japan.

Scanning
the room, she saw the stone frames of thresholds like in the picture. She estimated there were over a hundred.

“
The Nucleus,” Robinia replied, but still didn’t enter. “Once awoken, this controls all the thresholds. You can tap into this place wherever you are to open and close thresholds. You will be able to send High Father and his Pillar to any hell dimension you choose.”

“
The Nucleus,” Wisteria echoed as she sat on the edge of the fountain. “Can I close the thresholds to Earth from here or is there a Nucleus on Earth?”

“
There is one nucleus in each realm, but not pocket realms like Jarthan and the Deep,” Robinia replied.

“
How many dimensions are there?” Garfield wondered. “Are there people living in thousands of different realms?”

“
Including the hell dimensions there are two hundred discovered realms, but I do not have the maps. They are stored in another archive. Some realms have people, but most cannot support human life. Ajana is among the harshest,” Robinia continued.

“
And if I want to seal the thresholds to make travel between realms impossible, I can do that?” Wisteria speculated.

“
Yes, but you will have to do that from the Nucleus and you will not be able to return back if you do that. Do you wish to seal the threshold to Earth now?” Robinia asked.

“
Has it ever been done before?” Wisteria inquired.

“
Yes, once. The thresholds to Orad have been permanently sealed.”

“
Once Garfield’s back home, I’ll seal it.” Wisteria nodded and approached to her best friend.

“
I said I wasn’t leaving you to face this alone and I meant it!” He was livid

“
This isn’t an argument.” She was glad Garfield here, but she couldn’t let him throw his life away for her. “How do I open the threshold to send him back to—?”

“
You just make it happen. You’re hardwired into this room. It will obey your instincts,” Robinia answered.

“
No, Wisteria,” Garfield yelled.

“
Mistress, there is a problem. Your friends are attacking the sentry again. Should I order it to destroy them?” Robinia asked.

“
No, don’t harm them, but take us back. Take us back,” Wisteria commanded. “We’ve got what we need.”

Purple Pulse

Wisteria, Garfield and Robinia returned to the atrium.

“
Stay back,” Enric warned as Wisteria approached. “Get away now!” He and the other Famila were on their knees covered in bruises.

Three
stone sentries pointed four swords each, all trained on the Famila. Amazingly, the archives inventory looked untouched. Wisteria could scarcely believe there’d been a fight there.

“
We’re good,” Garfield shouted back. “But seems like you all got into a bit of trouble.”

“
Shut up, Terran.” Alba sneered at Garfield. “I cannot wait to see these things crush you and the fat girl.”

“
Silence Alba! Is it not obvious we are alive because Wisteria wants this?” Felip scolded, but then changed his tone as he turned to Wisteria. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“
We’re leaving.” Wisteria wasn’t going to tell him anything.

“
No.” Enric jumped up, but was smacked down by a sentry who then pinned him down with a foot.

“
Robinia, make sure they leave, but do not let them back inside,” Wisteria continued.

“
You must be the avatar,” Felip said to Robinia.

“
How did you know that?” Garfield asked.

“
She is mentioned in my book. Very powerful avatars were used by the First Pillar to manage their network of Halls and Rooms of Ages. There was supposed to be one in the Room of Ages in Jarthan, but it was never completed.”

“
Wisteria, you are not going to be able to do this without my help.” Enric struggled underneath the grip of the sentry

“
Release him,” Wisteria commanded the sentry.

It didn
’t move.

“
I order you.” She repeated as she hurried to the stone guard and waved in front of it, but nothing happened.

“
Robinia controls the sentries. She is the interface between you and the archive itself. As long as what you ask for is in line with the First Pillar’s best interests and beliefs, she will obey you. It stops you from ordering the sentries to destroy this place or send a bomb to another realm,” Felip told her. “Not that you would do that.”

“
Is that true?” Wisteria asked Robinia.

“
Yes.” Robinia nodded. “My purpose is to prevent confusion and chaos, but ensure your needs are met while you are here, Mistress.”

“
Have the sentry release Enric…The big guy.” Wisteria pointed at him.

Immediately, t
he stone sentry lifted its foot from Enric and he crawled out.

“
Thank you.” He wiped blood from his lip as he neared Wisteria. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

Wisteria
stared at the cuts down the side of his face and arms. “How badly are you hurt?”

“
I am fine.” He limped forward. He clearly felt pain, but kept coming until he stood a few inches away from her. “Did you find something?”

Glancing behind him at Felip and Alba, she nodded slightly
, so they wouldn’t see her response.

“
Did you get the prax?” Alba called out.

“
Wait, you knew about the prax? I thought you didn’t know what we were looking for?” Wisteria frowned at Felip.

“
I did not.” Felip turned to Alba in horror. “What do you know?”

“
My father taught me more than you will ever understand.” Alba smirked. “If you are going to murder Dy’obeths, poison Bach first. He is devoted to you and in his near primal state he will hunt you down, so infecting him will be child’s play. Once you infect him, he will take down all the Dy’obeths.”

“
Bloody
Vadda
.” Felip seethed. “Wisteria will no sooner do that to Bach than I would to her.”

“
Can you not see she hates you?” Alba scoffed. “Why do you keep on trying to earn her respect by acting like her fool? You will never get it.”

“
Alba, what happened to you?” Enric turned to his sister.

“
She’s a Drone,” Wisteria muttered to herself.

“
Felip is my life,” Alba continued. “I believe in him and even if he made a mistake and we went down the wrong path it is because he was deceived by the Rat.” She pointed at Wisteria.

“
We cannot talk here,” Wisteria said to Enric.

“
Up there?” Robinia pointed to a series of glass rooms above the atrium. “They will not be able to hear you in there.”

That room gave her the
perfect line of sight to Felip and Alba.

“
That could work.” Wisteria headed up. Inside, she found it filled with piles of books and maps about a place called Orad.

Enric and Garfield entered behind her.

“Was Alba right? You got a poison?” Enric asked her as he closed the door. “And Bach can spread it to the other blood thirsties?”

“
More like a disease,” Wisteria answered.

“
Felip and Alba are not aware of this, but we captured a wounded Dy’obeth. We could infect her with the artifact you have and she can spread it to the others,” Enric suggested.

“
Where?” she asked.

“
In the Jade Ocean with Turia and a few empirics who I trust are guarding her. Turia did not give me the exact location because we agreed the less people who knew the better. Once we are ready to leave, we will open a threshold outside the Hall of Ages and join them,” Enric said.

“
We could open a threshold from in here.” Garfield pointed out.

“
No, if we do that, there is a risk of someone could come back through here.” Enric explained. “After a threshold is closed, it is possible to get it to reopen to the last location.”

“
We have to hope that your Dy’obeth doesn’t escape first,” Garfield remarked. “From what I hear, it’s pretty hard keeping Dy’obeths contained.”

“
Bach is my friend and not like the blood thirsties. We can at least try before poisoning—” Enric protested.

“
Bach should to pass this disease to his people.” Garfield noted. “Because even if you don’t infect him what’s to stop him from getting sick anyway?”

“
And what happens to your people when he finishes her off?” Enric seethed.

“
Since when have you cared about the humans?” Garfield retorted, just as fiercely.

“
Wisteria, you promised Bach you would help him. Instead of giving up at the first obstacle,” Enric pointed out.

“
The first obstacle? My stepfather died. Steven is gone. I’ll probably never return home again and if I did what I’d face is a town overrun with biters, draug and whatever else Didan sent there.” Wisteria marched up to Enric. “The humans here are probably going to be slaughtered in no small part because of your people, so, don’t tell me I just gave up!”

“
Then do something,” Enric implored. “You are the only one.”

“
What? What can I do to free Bach from the darkness? Tell me?” she demanded.

“
Mistress, I can help you reverse the darkness.” Robinia materialized in their midst. Holding out her hand, she offered Wisteria a tiny leather bag.

“
What is it?” Taking the bag, Wisteria peeked inside. “Needles?”

“
They are beadle pins. The Family can use them to break renewal. It should set your friend free,” Robinia explained.

“
He wasn’t renewed by the Family. He was renewed by a Dy’obeths.” Enric spoke up.

“
Dy’obeths are the Family,” Wisteria answered.

“
Impossible, they—” Enric protested.

“
It’s a long story and we don’t have the time to get into it. How does the beadle pin work?” Wisteria examined the thick needle.

Taking
the pin, Robinia drove it deep into Wisteria’s arm.

“
Robinia!” Wisteria jerked her arm away from the stone girl and leather bag containing the remaining pins fell to the ground. “Why did you do that? I’m not a Thayn or a Drone.”