Omens and Demons  •  Act 3

“Ooh, nice shot,” Serenadē said, looking over the demolished pole. “What a shame. I think you needed that!”

Serenadē’s gloating was mercifully cut short by a whiplash to her side as the djinni sent her flying. He shot over to Spark and grabbed her wrist.

“We need to go!”

“But, I—I, the pole, it was an accident—!” Spark stammered.

“I know!” The djinni cut over her. “And any moment this water will be gone, and we’ll be surrounded by demons! MOVE!”

Spark cast a last, horrified look at the burning, broken pole and then raced toward the desert corridor. The djinni followed, using all his faculties to keep their pursuers at bay.

Spark’s thoughts were scattered chaos as she flew. Fleeing. They were fleeing, AGAIN, because she’d stupidly destroyed the apocrypha! What would they do now?! And…why…did…she…feel…so…

The water walls vanished on either side, Chronos’ spell spent. The djinni looked around grimly as drowned demons sloshed onto the sand, dissolving immediately into green foam. Many thousands had perished, but many more thousands were doubtlessly pouring through the gate behind them to take their place.

The djinni glared up at Spark, only to see her suddenly drop from the air, reverting to her civilian form as she fell. She hurtled past him and his collar jerked, dragging him with her. He swore and barely managed to hold onto his magic carpet. Djinni magic seethed in his crest, and he liquefied to vapor. He was just fast enough to beat his mistress at terminal velocity. He reformed beneath her, grunting as her weight collided with him. With one arm cradling her, he used the other to steer the rug back onto his path toward Chronos and the others.

“What happened?” Laru shouted as the djinni drew closer.

“Run!” was all the djinni said, racing past them.

Serenadē glowered across the valley, watching the bizarre group retreat while she held her bleeding side. Demons stalked around her. Their mouths frothed at the scent of her spilled blood, but they didn’t dare attack.

The green mist swirling around the gate swarmed into a tall figure beside the Distortioness. Without looking, Serenadē knew immediately that she stood in the presence of Maha Sailig.

The demon queen might almost pass for a human, pallid and beautiful in an eerie way. A ghostly yukata swathed her form, and dark hair draped her face and shoulders.

“You didn’t tell me that he would be here,” Maha crooned, hungry eyes lingering after the djinni.

“Why didn’t you destroy the pole like I told you to?” Serenadē demanded, ignoring the comment.

Maha’s gaze drifted onto Serenadē, the motion of her head somehow unnatural. “Because I do not trust you, Marie. This ‘new world’ you have promised us is desolate.”

“Here on the surface, yes. But underground and on the mountaintops, there is plenty to sate your appetite. Barring those interlopers”—Serenadē jerked her head after the loretreaders with a look of disgust— “there are none who can oppose you here.”

“So be it,” Maha said, licking bloody lips and turning her sights back on the far end of the valley. “You know how I enjoy a hunt.”

The djinni led the ragtag group—now more ragged than ever—into the crevice of a canyon. There was no telling if it would be an adequate hiding place from the horde of demons, but they could go no further. Cyrus, Laru, and Blitzer all bore open wounds now. Chronos was colorless, exhausted by the miracle he’d just wrought, to say nothing of the breakneck run. And Spark…

The djinni looked down at her, disgusted and baffled. She appeared to be coming to. As soon as her bleary eyes fell on him, he began to berate her.

“What happened?” he asked. “Are you hurt? You fell.”

Krissy pushed herself out of his arms, groaning. The orange light from her oculus cast weird shadows onto her drained face.

“I…I don’t know. I feel terrible…” She held up pale hands, trying to conjure her superpowers, but all that came was a sharp pang in her stomach. “My…powers are gone…” Krissy said faintly.

She swooned. The djinni lurched in time to catch her from falling backwards. “Wait, wait,” the djinni said impatiently, shaking her slightly as if to jar her consciousness back. “Stay! What’s wrong? Are you, ugh…” he interrupted himself, wiping his mouth. The scent of so much fresh blood near him was driving him mad. He leveled a glare at Cyrus, as if to accuse her of willfully bleeding out in his presence, before returning his attention suddenly to his mistress.

“Hungry,” he said abruptly. “When’s the last time you ate?”

“Whuh? Last night, I guess… But…I threw up…ugh…”

She doubled over as another sharp pain pierced her stomach. Her arms brushed over the top of her mother’s fanny pack, and a distinct crinkling noise came from within.

“Food,” Krissy said dumbly. Her vision swam as she managed to pull back the zipper on the fanny pack and reveal a few wrapped Chuckle brand energy bars, crammed under the djinni’s lamp. She wriggled one out and took to it ravenously. She grimaced at the sickly sweetness of chocolate and dried huckleberries, but the moment she swallowed the first bite, her superpowers ignited with a burst. Spark took off like the cap of a shaken soda bottle.

“WHOO! Whoa, OK! I’m back!” Spark whooped, shaking the nervous energy out of her limbs. “Geez, what is in these things? I need to get these by the crate!”

“You need to explain to Chronos why there are still flesh-eating demons out there!” The djinni reminded her sharply.

Spark stiffened, rounding on Chronos with wild eyes. “Chronos! You can fix it!” she erupted. “You can turn back time and fix the pole Isortaaccidentallyblewup and then—Chronos?”

The light that usually swam within the eidolon’s metallic form was gone. Only the glimmer of his oculus shone weakly on him, a bleak contrast to his usual luster. The pendulum hardly moved at all. Spark had just begun to fear the worst when he heaved a massive, slow sigh.

“I…cannot…” he said. “I’ve depleted too much of my power…”

“Any chance Chuckle bars restore time-bending stuff?” Spark asked desperately.

That at least elicited a deep, fatigued chuckle. “I’m afraid not. Only…rest…”

“But what do we do about the demons?” Spark wailed. “The pole is gone! I messed up!”

“Our best hope…is that there’s…another…”

The sound of a high whinny cut over Chronos. Blitzer reared and stamped near the opening of the canyon. Despite his injury, Laru jolted to his feet.

“They’re coming!”

There was nowhere to run. Hellions spilled into the canyon, overrunning them in a heartbeat. Screams echoed horribly off the stone walls as Chronos, Laru, Cyrus, Spark, and Blitzer found themselves seized and pinned by clammy, dripping claws.

Only the djinni eluded the demons’ grasps, subliming to smoke whenever any attempted to snare him. Quick as he was, it was all he could do just to keep the demons off himself, much less aid the others.

Spark screeched insults at the demon that held her, trying to wrest her arms free so that she could throw her bombs. The demon screeched right back but made no other move to harm her. It waited for something, even while the djinni continued to viciously slaughter its kin.

A long shadow fell through the canyon, and all the demons recoiled at once, backing away with their prisoners.

“Vahaadi.”

The djinni froze at the strange word, panting from the exertion of the battle. He rounded toward the shadow and stared up at the ghostly demon queen that loomed in the canyon entrance.

Maha Sailig smirked behind her curtains of black hair. “Oh, yes…” she said. “I know your name. I can sense your nature. You and I are not so different, Vahaadi. You chafe under the constructs of these mortals. And, oh, how their blood tantalizes you…”

Her head rose from her shoulders on a long, serpentine neck, slithering and coiling through the air toward the djinni while her body remained in its place.

“Join me, Vahaadi,” Maha purred. “Forsake your captors, and you shall have all the blood and flesh you could ever desire…”

The djinni followed her face with his eyes. He was beginning to smile.

Spark’s tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. It was the same kind of smile he’d worn in her dream.

“Thrall, you’ll never escape the Loretreaders,” Chronos said.

The djinni laughed, tossing an arrogant expression toward the eidolon, who hung exhausted, powerless, pinned against the canyon wall. “You’re the only one among them who could restrain me,” he said. “And, well…you seem rather indisposed at the moment.” To Maha, he grinned. “I accept your deal, Mistress!”

“No!” Spark cried, startled by her own voice as it burst out of her crushed lungs. She struggled against the demon that held her, and it only cackled and sank its claws deeper into her flesh. Wicked laughter echoed all around from the horde.

The djinni held up a hand. “I feel a pact like this should be formalized over a meal.”

Maha laughed throatily. “The proper etiquette must be observed, mustn’t it? How fortunate we are to have so many delicacies to choose from.” She leered around at the captives.

“Delectable flesh!” raved the demons. “Let us feast!”

Spark yelped as her captor lurched her to one side, prepared to sink its jaws into her.

“Honor dictates that I should have the first kill,” the djinni said, raising his voice to be heard over the excited gurgles and barks of the demon train. “Then our bargain is sealed!”

Maha’s neck receded, and she held out her arms invitingly. “Choose, then, Vahaadi. Maha is a gracious queen.”

“Don’t do this!” Chronos bellowed.

“Don’t you dare, y’post-straddlin’ saddle-gussy!” Cyrus raged at the djinni.

The djinni’s eyes gleamed maliciously. “Give me the woman!” he ordered, pointing at Cyrus.

Laru released a torrent of enraged and frantic oaths. Maha’s face split into an inhuman smile, her whole jaw parting and pulling back like mandibles. She flicked her arm toward Cyrus, snatching her up in a sickly, engorged hand, and slammed her onto her knees before the djinni. The demons began to chant.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

“Stop!” Spark shrieked, thrashing ferociously. She felt the demon’s claws rake her arms as she tried to jerk free. Firebombs fizzled uselessly in her pinned hands. Her vision spun in pain and searing dread.

The djinni approached Cyrus, predatory and haughty all at once. As he drew level with her, he seized her hair, wrenching her head back to expose her jugular. The chanting grew to a frenzy, and Maha’s smile stretched wider and fouler still. Cyrus writhed. The djinni leaned over her, and a pleased, hungry growl rose in his chest. But, when he spoke, his voice was neither cruel nor gloating. Instead, it was urgent.

“Shoot Spark’s captor first.”

Cyrus’s eyes widened.

The djinni’s scimitar flashed into his hand, and with a spray of ichor, he sliced it behind Cyrus and through Maha’s wrist. The demon queen howled, and her hand recoiled, releasing Cyrus. The moment her arms were free, Cyrus spun her weapon up and fired at the beast clutching Spark.

Spark gasped as the demon released her, barely managing to catch herself in the air as she fell. Euphoria and relief surged through her small frame, and she channeled that sensation into powerful explosives that she hurled right and left, freeing Laru, Chronos, and Blitzer. The canyon erupted in chaos as the battle began afresh.

The djinni darted past Cyrus, slashing through the strap of her satchel and taking the bag with him as he went.

“Now, Spark!” the djinni yelled over the din. Spark looked up from the heat of battle to see him tear Cyrus’s journal from the satchel and hold it up. A lorecircle gleamed around the sketch of the destroyed pole.

“Ah! Ah! OK!” Spark was so flustered and excited that she accidentally threw a punch instead of a firebomb into a nearby demon. It was effective anyway. She dodged one of Cyrus’s shots and aimed her oculus at the shimmering book. Biting her lip, she hurriedly traced the lorecircle’s sigil. The resulting rune was wobbly and lopsided.

It was effective anyway.

The book shook violently and lifted from the djinni’s grip. A shockwave burst from it, blasting everything in its vicinity. Demons screeched. Over them all came Maha’s terrible voice.

“Treacherous snake! I shall have your head!”

“Forgive me, demon. I’m afraid I’d already made a deal,” the djinni said. He’d never looked so smug, even from his position on the ground. “Farewell!”

The force blossoming from the book jolted. While the torrent continued to shove outward, a new energy lashed out at the demons, drawing them toward the book. Their forms rippled to graphite and paper and then dissolved as they were dragged across the sand. Spark forced her eyes open despite the blasting grit to watch as the howling demons were consumed.

With Maha’s final scream, Cyrus’s journal snapped shut and fell, inert, onto the sand, leaving the loretreaders and the canon natives to collect their wits.

“Hmph,” the djinni said, and he got to his feet. He had just begun to dust himself off when a missile of chestnut hair and red spandex crashed into him, eliciting an undignified squawk.

“YOU SCARED ME TO DEATH!!!” Spark yowled at him. “What the heck?! Since when are you so BRILLIANT?! Get this guy a Tony, seriously!”

Cyrus mopped her brow and replaced her hat. “You had me going, there,” she said. Laru staggered up beside her, bracing against her shoulder. He gingerly nudged the journal on the ground with his foot.

“I don’t understand,” he said faintly. “The journal…? Why didn’t we try this in the first place?”

“The journal wasn’t the apocrypha until the pole was destroyed,” Chronos murmured. “Only the oldest, intact version of a canon’s story can function as a portal. We are grandly lucky that you copied the lore in such detail,” he said, inclining his head to Cyrus. “And let that be a loretreading lesson to you, Spark. If there had been no copy of that story, we’d have had no way to send the strangers back. With every distortion event, it is a race to find the apocrypha before the Distortioness can destroy it.”

“Noted,” Spark said sheepishly, wilting under Chronos’ stern look. She glanced at the djinni, who was trying to brush himself off again. “How did you know about all of this?”

The djinni batted at his vest. “I didn’t,” he said. “But I saw your oculus glow when we got near Cyrus. Chronos’, too.”

“So, it’s over, then?” Cyrus asked.

“Yes,” Chronos said. “That journal has been sealed by Spark’s oculus. Those demons cannot be distorted through it again. We can return to Elweyn and report this mission a success.”

Spark whooped and danced wildly, kicking up sand and tossing jubilant firecrackers. Cyrus and Laru laughed and whooped with her.

“I misjudged you,” Chronos said gravely to the djinni. He dipped into a shallow bow. “Accept an eidolon’s apology, Thrall.”

The djinni wrinkled his nose, and Spark was struck by how much the expression made him look like a cranky teenager. “Say no more of it,” he said.

Chronos straightened with great gravitas and headed toward the opening of the canyon. The djinni watched him with a frown, then turned to follow.

Chronos had called him Thrall.

That wasn’t his name.

“Vahaadi?” Spark attempted, the exotic name strange on her tongue.

The djinni stopped in his tracks. His shoulders tensed.

But then, he released his breath in a sigh of resignation. He turned to face her.

“Yes, Spark?” he said.

Spark’s eyes darted over him. He looked weary, even annoyed, but there was a hint of placated acceptance in his expression. Her stomach fluttered in glee and triumph. She forced down the squeal that threatened to escape and tried to speak respectfully.

“Vahaadi,” she repeated, savoring it. “Why didn’t you ever tell me before?”

He folded his arms, guarded and thoughtful. “My name is the only thing I have left to me. But, I suppose if that filthy demon can defile it, so can you,” he relented, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. His mouth twitched in a smile. “Just…promise that you’ll never call me ‘Mr. E. Yes’ again.”

Spark broke into laughter. “Deal!” She punched him in the arm. “You’re wrong about one thing, though,” she said, raising an eyebrow knowingly.

“Only one thing? You flatter me.”

“Your name isn’t all you’ve got. You’ve got me.” She placed her hand on his shoulder and looked directly into his eyes. “Friends?”

His gaze drifted to the hand on his shoulder, then back to regard Spark. That odd smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Friends it is,” said Vahaadi.

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