The Aurora Stone (27 page)

“I see our time is up.” With those words, Nimayaorin gripped Eve’s shirt and launched her across the short distance towards the casement windows.

“NOOOOOOO!!!” Caleb and Eli yelled, as Eves broken body made contact with the glass, it shattered; exploding outwards. Eve seemed to hang in mid-air, then she was gone. Eli ran for the window pushing past Caleb as he went, he didn’t stop once he reached the gaping hole he leapt, disappearing after his twin.

“Well, that saved me a job, one less to kill.” Nimayaorin mused, “I am growing bored of you all, so if you are going to attack, please do so, so I can end your pointless lives, and I can return to the task at hand..”

“It would be our pleasure, growled Caleb as he threw curse after curse at the darkness. Nothing touched the creature, though it kept him busy while Jericho and Winter positioned themselves. The first of Jericho’s blades stuck Nimayaorin in his mid-section the second and third followed quickly. It wasn’t long before a pool of blood began to appear from beneath his cloak. Yet he continued to lunge and slash at his opponents. Winter managed to get behind him; she gripped him around the throat choking him. Unfortunately, his gropping claws found their mark and she dropped to the floor deep slashes marring d her pretty face.

“I will heal, but let’s see how pretty you are, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Melodramatic.” Winter yanked at the hem of the cloak, there was a snap as the clasp gave way and the heavy material slithered to the floor. They were now face to face with pure evil.

Eve watched as the tower wall zipped past her at an alarming speed. This was not how it was supposed to end. The Aurora Stone pressed heavily on her chest. She had come so close and yet she had let anger cloud her judgement, and the whole of Orea would pay for her mistake.

She thought of Sapphire, who had given up her life so that she may succeed, such a waste. She thought of all her friends back up in the tower, of her twin Eli; she had only just found him now she would never get to know him. The sound of screaming reached her; the shrill voices were coming from beneath her. I can’t look; I can’t bear to see who or what is down there. She thought as images of her mother filled her mind, how she would miss her.

The descent seemed to last forever, Eve closed her eyes and allowed Caleb’s face to fill her mind’s eye. We never got to share our first kiss, she thought sadly. The screaming was getting louder; it would be over soon, reaching into the neck of her shirt Eve gripped the comforting weight of the Aurora Stone and waited to die.

The inhabitants of the pits watched in horror as a young girl fell towards them, they hoped she was already dead because if she hit the ground alive, she would be forever trapped here with them. At least the dead had peace. Suddenly another body could be seen falling; this one appeared to be facing the ground. Then before their very eyes, the second person shimmered and changed into a large barn owl. Keeping its wings pinned to its sides the owl sped downward towards the girl, closing the gap second by second.

The screaming from below was replaced by complete silence; Eve was sure she must have died. Suddenly she felt the warm body and the steady beating of wings. I must be dead; Sapphire is with me. Opening their special connection, Eve reached out to her friend.

Sapphire, I have failed. We are both dead, and the stone lies around the neck of my broken body. I am so sorry your sacrifice was in vain.

I never figured you as a quitter Evangeline, it does not become you.

Eve opened her eyes in shock.
Eli?

Yes, yes it’s me. I must say I quite enjoy this form, I make almost no sound, and my vision is excellent. But enough about me we have to get back up there, you have a prophecy to fulfil, friends to save. Evil to defeat… you get the idea.

Eve laughed,
I have never heard you say so much, Brother.

A ripple passed through Eli.
Yes well, when I am scared to death, I talk far too much Please can you hold on we need to hurry.

Eve carefully turned herself over so she was sitting astride her brother’s golden back. Gripping with her knees as he pointed his head upwards and flew back towards the tower window.

Eve arrived just in time to see Winter pull the cloak off her enemy, what she saw was even worse than the images she had witnessed in limbo. Nimayaorin was unidentifiable as the creature he had once been; he didn’t resemble anything Eve had ever seen. The years of dark magic, hatred and cruelty had eaten away at him, the result was the twisted mutilated being before her.

Turning his scarlet eyes on her, Nimayaorin stretched his lipless maw into what for him, passed as a smile; his razor sharp teeth and blackened gums fully exposed.

“Wow, you really are gross,” Winter stated, her quivering voice betraying her, as she spoke; highlighting the fear that gripped her. The abomination that stood before Winter ignored her completely. Instead, he addressed Eve.

“I see you have a nasty habit of avoiding death, well I guess if something is worth doing…”

Eve had no time to react he directed a curse at her, and she had no way of protecting herself. Caleb thankfully was waiting for an opportunity to do this creature some damage. He cast a counter curse, knocking the creature back into the copper doors. Once his balance was off, Caleb quickly ran to Eve and cast a protective bubble around her. Turing back Nimayaorin, Caleb sent a volley of curses at the creature, who to his utter amazement brushed them off as if they were nothing.

“What are they teaching you these days? If you are going to curse someone, boy, you need to mean it, body and soul!” Nimayaorin tusked, as he propelled himself forward with lighting speed and gripped both Caleb and Eve by the throat the protection spell shattered. “It may interest you to know that the whole of your realm is under my control, as we speak they are marching towards Hermoria, they will kill each other until not one of them has his soul intact, then the void will take them. “

Jericho, Winter and a now elfin shaped Eli could only stand and watch as the creature smashed Caleb’s head off the marble wall and dropped him. He crumpled like a rag doll, blood oozing from a large gash on his crown. Nimayaorin positioned Eve in front of the copper doors and began to read the ancient message inscribed there.

“What lies behind these doors must forever remain locked away from the worlds.

Kept hidden from the dark forces that shall rise up and wish to destroy and conquer.

Only the light can destroy its contents, only the Light Carrier’s blood and the stone of the morning, can forever seal this Evil within this tomb.

If it should be opened, the stone bathed in the Light Carrier’s blood must be cast into the void or Darkness will be the victor over the realms and the void shall swallow the sun.”

“Rather poetic don’t you think; it is my favourite story,” Nimayaorin added, his voice smooth and eloquent despite his disfigurements. Reaching out with his claws he slashed Eve’s cheek and watched as beads of blood pearled on the surface of her lily white skin. His tongue snaked out of his own accord, wanting to taste. Remembering she carried tainted blood, he managed to stop himself.

Gripping Eve, roughly he pressed her bloodied cheek to the cold copper door. Suddenly the doors began to glow, the inscriptions outlined with light. As each section was illuminated, more details were revealed. A recess, that Eve had not noticed before, became all she could see, it was the exact shape of the stone hanging around her neck.

That is where I must place the stone to end this
, she thought fervently. Reaching into her shirt, she gripped the cage the Stone was housed in and pulled it apart, her fingernails ripping in the process. Holding it tight, she slowly removed her hand clutching the Stone from beneath her shirt and waited. She would only get one shot at this. Nimayaorin was still delivering his soliloquy, his attention not directed at her, with all the strength, Eve threw herself at the other door and reached for the recess. She almost had it when suddenly pain lanced through her broken wrist once more; it had gone mercifully numb, but now it felt like hot pokers had replaced her marrow. Screaming in pain, she slumped against the doors the Stone still gripped in her good hand.

Nimayaorin released her broken limb from his claws and dropped Eve to the ground; she had barely made contact with the floor when he kicked her, sending her skidding across the floor; the wind knocked out of her. “Nice try, but you are no match for me. I
will
have my revenge.” Turning to the glowing doors he extended a claw and slashed his palm, placing his own defiled blood over Eve’s.

Nothing happened for a moment, but then the doors, began to vibrate, the images glowed, turned darker as if the light had burned too hot and scorched the metal. Then there came a series of loud clicks, each one sounded like a death knell. Jericho was at Eve’s side as she had regained her breath, but her arm was badly broken. He didn’t know what else to do at that moment, so he held her close. Winter knew Caleb wouldn’t be out for long. His halfling status enabled him to heal at an accelerated rate. As she watched, she saw his colour return, and his eyelids flicker. Quickly leaning forwards, she whispered in a low tone.

“Stay down till I give the word.”

Eli was rooted to the spot; this was not how it was meant to be. However, something told him it wasn’t over yet, so he like the others, waited.

There was a groan and then the doors flew open. The temperature instantly dropped. Even from the other side of the hall, it was clear that the vault was empty, it was completely black inside; so dark that the dimensions were indeterminable.

“YESSSSSS!” Nimayaorin hissed, raising his skeletal arms over his scarred head. “The void shall devour all. Even as I speak, chaos reigns across Orea! Moving away from the doors he muttered in a guttural language, and a large orb appeared, the scene within it was one of bloodshed and death. witch fought with the elf. Demons could be seen slaughtering anyone who they came across. “I shall build a new world, a world built on power! a world that thrives on blood and pain. No one shall feel joy or love again.!” As he spoke, the oily blackness began to seep out of the confines of the vault

Eve knew they must do something before it reached them, she could already feel a slight pulling at her soul. She opened her mind’s eye and was shocked to discover that whatever the void was it was soulless.

Eli, can you hear me?
She opened their connection and hoped that he could. despite being in his elfin form.

Yes, what should we do, I am assuming you have a plan, well hoping actually

Calm yourself Brother; I know what we must do. But we need Caleb, can you signal to him without being seen?

I can try, but I think he is still knocked out.
Eli closed the connection and uttered Winters name under his breath. He knew she would hear him. Looking over, Winter wiggled her eyebrows, silently communicating she had heard, and what did he want her to do.

Eli glanced at Nimayaorin, he was deeply absorbed in his own rapture to notice much else, but he didn’t fancy attracting the demon's attention at such a critical moment. Instead, he simply mouthed.

We need Caleb.

Nodding, Winter leaned forward and touched Caleb’s hand within seconds both he and Winter were with the rest of the group. Eve quickly explained what they had to do.

“We need to combine our powers to defeat him, once and for all,” she whispered looking pointedly at Eli and Caleb, “I am pretty confident that the two of you can use me as a conductor, and we know that Eli amplifies my powers so this is what we are going to do…”

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Eli asked his palms sweating.

“No, but we have to hope. It’s all we have left,” Eve replied. Nodding in agreement, the trio slowly stood, Eli and Caleb moved to Eve’s sides, but remained two steps behind her; they then each held her shoulders with one and had gripped each other by the wrist behind her back. Eve lifted her hand, clutching the Aurora Stone to her bloodied cheek and smeared its perfect surface with blood.
I really hope this works!
she thought.

Closing her eyes, she asked the others to begin channelling their power into her. The heady rush of pure energy was enough to knock her off her feet, but knowing this really was their last chance, was all that kept her standing. When she opened her eyes, she saw her skin was once again glowing as it had been on her return from limbo. Her vision was a mixture of her usual sight and her soul based sight, her
sixth sense
. The room was a fire with colour and light. Lifting the stone to chest height, she opened her hand and watched in wonder as the stone absorbed her blood and was now all the colours of the dawn.
The morning stone, Aurora.

Nimayaorin spun around; he had felt the spike in power and wondered what little parlour trick the children were going to try and distract him with, could they not see he had already won. In a few moments, the void would fully awaken, and all hell would break loose. However, what he saw held him to the spot. The light was blinding, raising his arms to shield his eyes, he tried to see past the glare.

“You are of the darkness, the blackest of night,

You are the monster that goes bump in the night.

Darkness only has limited power,

It cannot survive where there is light.”

Eve’s chanting made his blood turn to ice in his veins, how was it possible? This was old, older than magic, older than time itself. How had she invoked the ancients?

She has the stone!

It was as the chant finished for the third time, that Nimayaorin felt the power of the light hit him, it burned like righteous fire through his veins, killing the corruption and filling him with hope. It sickened him. He stumbled the light of Aurora, consuming him as it had done all those years ago. How he wished they had killed him then, after all, they had taken everything from him. Skin blistering, Nimayaorin, stumbled again, his feet becoming entangled in his discarded cloak.

“NOOOOO!”

With his anguished protest still hanging in the air; he tumbled into the void.

“Is it over?” Winter asked tentatively; she wasn’t sure if it was safe to approach the three of them. After a few moments, Eve’s glow became less, and Caleb and Eli let go breaking their trifecta. Yes, Nimayaorin is gone forever, but the void is still open. Caleb said, his voice was strained from the effort of what they had just achieved. “We need to close the vault and lock it with the Stone.”

Jericho was the first to reach the doors; he may not know much about magic, but brute force was something he excelled in. Reaching across he gripped both doors and pulled them towards himself, His biceps bulged. Sweat began to dampen his fur. Try as he might the doors didn’t move an inch.