The Loretreaders  •  Act 2

“You’re a long way from home, stranger,” said Vesper over the hum of her gun.

“Wh-what?” Spark spluttered, wriggling in dismay. The cord of the bolas and the rough asphalt both dug into the alarmed teen’s skin.

Vesper’s lip curled. “You can either come quietly, or I’ll blast you to pieces.”

“But I just HELPED you!” Spark said in disbelief.

“Yes, and now I’m going to help you—right back where you belong. What is your canon?!”

“I—”

“Tell me!” Vesper shouted.

“I don’t have a cannon!”

Vesper smiled grimly. “Wrong answer.”

The barrel of her blaster began to glow.

Suddenly, Vesper’s head snapped back, yanked by a fistful of hair by the djinni behind her. Vesper gasped, and the shot she’d been aiming at Spark careened overhead and collided with the upper corner of a building. She pivoted on the spot, holding her smarting scalp, just in time to see a plume of smoke rush away from her and reform in the shadow of the alley into the djinni. He snickered and bowed.

Vesper flicked her eyes over him before her gaze caught the lamp on the sidewalk. A flash of genuine horror crossed her face: “YOU!”

The djinni’s smile hitched up one side. He leaned against the nearby building on an arm. “Oh? Familiar, am I?” he taunted.

Vesper responded by cocking her weapon and firing at him. He sublimed into vapor before the shot could land, reformed, and lunged at her with a predatory grin. She lurched and rolled out of his way. There was a high-pitched buzz, and the soles of Vesper’s armored boots gleamed, lifting her into the air. She kicked hard and shot off like a rocket around the corner and out of sight.

The djinni clicked his tongue.

Spark gingerly disentangled herself from Vesper’s bolas, still reeling from all that had happened. She’d almost completely forgotten about the djinni—again—in the chaos. Where had he been? She was certainly grateful he’d chosen to make his presence known when he did.

“And you thought heroics weren’t for you!” Spark said, punching him in the shoulder. “That was great! Well, maybe a bit of a cheap shot, but we’ll work on it.” Her eyes lit up. “Then again, if you did decide hair-pulling is going to be your signature move, we could call you Lock! You know, like a lock of hair, and because of your collar! It’s got a cool sound, doesn’t it? Oooh, and just think of all the good puns—”

“I only intervene on behalf of my masters once,” said the djinni abruptly, still massaging his arm. “It won’t happen again.”

Spark blinked at the sharp response. “Oh. Um. Well. That’s fair, I guess,” she decided, trying to smile. “I mean, I am a superhero. I shouldn’t need too much heheeeeellllllllppppp…”

Spark’s last word dragged out in syrupy slow-motion before everything went black.

Vesper tapped one foot against the other to disengage her boosters and dropped back to the sidewalk, barely a pace away from where the superhero and the djinni stood paralyzed beneath the influence of Chronos’ time spell. She looked grimly up at the large eidolon at her side, who continued to tick softly even in this timeless void.

“Look…it’s him,” she said, gesturing to the djnni.

“The thrall of the lamp,” Chronos breathed, his voice soft and metallic as it emanated from within his peculiar, wrought form. “You were wise to call me; time is his only weakness. But I can’t hold him for long. Even now, he wearies me. We had better return him to the pit while we can.”

“What about the girl?” Vesper asked, directing Chronos’ attention to the adolescent in the shiny red suit. “She’s NOT a stranger, but she’s distorted, too!”

“Are you sure?” Chronos said, stooping slightly to get a closer look. His immense, armor-like form creaked a little with the movement, but the swing of the pendulum that hung in the cavity of his torso continued uninterrupted.

“She can throw fireballs with her bare hands! She can fly unassisted! No Earth human can do that!”

“She must have wished for those powers,” Chronos said. “That does complicate things…” he ran a finger over the oculus set into his gauntlet, thinking. “If we were to reconcile her…?”

“The distortion would stop spawning here, but she’d still be running amok with supernatural powers,” argued Vesper.

“Hmm. We’d better address the council…and quickly. I’m losing my hold on the djinni. I’m going to try forcing him into the aetherealm, but I must reestablish the field.”

Vesper sighed, but nodded, and touched her own oculus.

Spark grunted as she was forced to her knees on the shiny, polished floor of an imposing hall. Nearby, the djinni’s lamp rested in a singular beam of moonlight that cut through the sunny afternoon haze. Six personages sat behind a curved table on a raised dais before the superhero, looking almost as suspicious and surprised to see Spark as she was to see them.

“What is the meaning of this?” asked one of them—a blue-skinned woman who looked to be caked with salt crystals.

“I think I should be the one asking the questions here!” Spark insisted. “You have no right to hold me like this!” She wriggled against the restraint binding her arms and tried to stand, but a hand forced her back down. “I haven’t done anything wrong! Let me up!”

“Council, we discovered this girl at the scene of the Rosetta Library distortion,” responded Vesper. Spark glanced over each shoulder. Vesper stood behind her and a little to the left with her hands on her hips. A second person lurked behind Spark’s other side—although, to describe him as a person was a bit of a stretch. He looked more like a suit of armor sculpted of glass and clockwork than a human being.

This day was getting weirder by the minute.

The council members exchanged puzzled glances. “Well, you know the procedure,” said a councilwoman sweetly. “Send her back to her own canon. Polaris 5, from the looks of her…”

“It’s not that simple,” rumbled the sculpture-man in a voice so deep that Spark could feel it vibrate in her bones. “She’s from the Earth canon, but her powers are not.”

“The thrall from The Azharian Epic granted them to her,” declared Vesper, gesturing to the lamp.

The council members looked alarmed. Gasps and frightened whispers ran among them and around the walls of the hall, where an assortment of bizarre beings clustered, watching the scene unfold.

“The thrall!”

“He’s real, then….”

A voice very near Spark’s ear made her jump. The djinni was right beside her, half kneeling. “Looks like your little firefight has gotten you into trouble,” he crooned. “And you’re on your own, now. I couldn’t help you even if I wanted to,” he added, with a glare at the sculpture-man.

The djinni looked even less corporeal than he had that morning, almost completely swathed in smoke now. What was it he’d said about needing contact to maintain his connection with the physical world? The single beam of moonlight bathing his lamp suddenly made sense. Somehow, his lamp was existing in a different time, and only Spark could see him. She had a sneaking suspicion this had something to do with the big ticking man behind her.

Whatever the reason, she couldn’t count on the djinni to pull anybody else’s hair on her behalf.

“Look, guys, all I did was ask for a costume and a few tricks up my sleeve so I could take down bad guys, OK?” Spark did her best to shrug and smile innocently. “I just don’t see what the big deal is.”

“The big deal, human, is that your little power trip threatens the very existence of your world!” Vesper snapped, roughly jerking Spark’s shoulder.

“Threatens?! That’s the OPPOSITE of what I’m doing—”

“What do you propose, Vesper? Chronos?” asked another council member, looking over Spark’s head at the two beings behind her. This council member was a beefy woman bedecked in tattoos and war paint. She looked like she savored a good brawl when she wasn’t tending council duties.

It was a woman along the outer wall that responded. She wore a smooth jewel in a diadem on her forehead that matched the jewel that hung from Vesper’s ear, as well as the one embedded in Chronos’ gauntlet.

“Just send her back to Earth,” she said quizzically. “She should be reconciled now, so what’s the harm—”

A bitter-looking councilman in a hood cut her off with intricate gestures of his hands. Though he didn’t make any audible sound, Spark somehow understood him perfectly: “With supernatural powers? That could be disastrous,” he fired.

The room erupted into discussion. Spark looked around, perplexed by the uproar. She heard a click and whirring sound, and Vesper’s voice cut over the din.

“I can think of an easy way to solve this,” she said. She aimed her charged blaster at Spark’s temple. “Bye-bye, anomaly.”

Spark froze. The djinni sat up a little straighter where he’d been lounging against a column, looking interested.

“That seems a little…extreme,” said a councilman with a breathy voice, as if he’d eaten something much too spicy.

“Don’t I get a say in this?!” Spark rasped. “Why are we in such a hurry to blow my head off?”

“We can’t just execute her,” dissented the man who spoke with his hands.

“And why not?” Vesper barked back. “She’s as good as dead anyway, throwing her lot in with the thrall. We may be sparing her whatever mutilation that devil has planned for her. Not to mention the damage she should cause the Earth canon, if we were to turn her loose—”

“But I want to help PROTECT Earth!” Spark insisted, though she was nearly drowned out as the heated argument flared up again. “I’m a hero!”

{Let her speak,} came a voice that emanated from everywhere and nowhere at once. The room fell immediately to a reverent quiet as a small shadow passed overhead. A winged cat settled into one of the windows, looking down on the room with an owl-like face. A purple gem glimmered at its breast.

“Elweyn…” began a council member, mustering for an explanation.

{She said she wants to protect Earth? Let’s hear her out,} said Elweyn smoothly. To Spark, she nodded. {Make your case.}

Spark’s mouth felt very dry. Despite the creature’s small, soft appearance, there was something majestic and intimidating about her. Spark obediently got to her feet, taking a deep breath.

“I know that these powers seem like an abomination to all of you. But, I swear, all I’ve ever wanted is to protect the innocent and annihilate evil,” she declared, her voice ringing in the loftiness of the hall. “That’s what superheroes do!”

None of those gathered spoke. All eyes were on Elweyn. After a pregnant pause, Elweyn seemed to smile, though her face didn’t show it.

{I think we’ve found a new loretreader,} she said.

“What?” asked several voices, almost at once. The harshest was Vesper’s.

“But…she doesn’t have an oculus,” said the woman in the diadem.

{We still have Flicker,} Elweyn responded.

The room became collectively somber. Spark looked around, trying to make sense of what in the world they were talking about.

“That’s a hell of a way to honor Lyrial’s memory—giving his oculus to some delusional child,” said a sour-faced councilman.

{If we don’t shore up our defenses against the distortion, we could all become nothing but memories…if anyone remains to honor them at all,} Elweyn said gravely. She leaped gracefully from the windowsill and soared down onto the curved table before the council.

{The reality is that we are spread too thin. The distortion only continues to conquer while we dwindle in number. I say, if this young woman is looking for a fight, there’s more than enough for us to share,} she finished, flaring her wings.

Spark stared, caught up in Elweyn’s grandeur. She didn’t know what a loretreader or an oculus was, but they sounded important…and cool. She drew a shaky, excited breath.

“I’ll do what it takes!” she proclaimed.

Elweyn turned dark eyes on Chronos. {Loose her,} she ordered.

The shackles fell away, and Spark flexed her sore arms. Satisfied, Elweyn began to turn, her long, plume-like tail held regally erect.

“And the thrall?” Chronos asked.

Elweyn paused, one dainty paw suspended mid-step as she considered.

{Return it to the pit,} she said.

“NO!” roared the djinni, unseen by all but Spark and largely forgotten by the crowd. Everyone flinched in surprise, looking around for the source of the cry, which was amplified and echoed by the vaulted ceiling. Even Spark’s heart stopped, and she’d known he was there. This outburst was the first real show of emotion she’d witnessed from the djinni yet. He looked livid.

And frightened.

“Did you really think we were going to let you go free?” Vesper said.

The djinni swept in a rush of smoke to Spark’s side. “Mistress, don’t let them take me from you!”

“What—you’re going to take him away?!” Spark said, turning dismayed eyes on Elweyn and the council of Salty, Sweet, Savory, Bitter, Spicy, and Sour. “But, we’re a team!”

“He will rip you apart,” said the blue-skinned Salty. “Don’t be fooled. His magic only brings ruin.”

“His magic made me a superhero!” Spark yelped, flailing her hands. “He’s the only reason I’m going to be able to help you fight the…distortion thing!”

The djinni seized on this. “If you want strength against this foe, what better ally can you have than a thrall?”

Furious, Sour rose to his feet, his gaze fixed on the spot where he guessed the djinni stood. He was off by about two yards.

“You are a treacherous con-man at best, and an avatar of—” he guttered, struggling to find words harsh enough, “rampant chaos at worst!”

“I have no will of my own. I do only as I am told,” said the djinni. Though he could not be seen, he bowed deeply. “At your behest, I can be a mighty force against your adversary.”

Vesper snorted. Hushed but truculent discussions rippled along the walls. The djinni continued, his voice silken.

“I am both immortal and inexhaustible. I am an expert in djinni magic. And…” his lip curved. “I grant wishes.”

Elweyn settled onto her haunches. Her ear flicked.

Vesper paled. “Don’t tell me you’re actually considering this sham?!”

Elweyn ignored her. She stared directly at the spot the djinni occupied.

{Thrall,} she said, her voice weighted with authority. {You are aware that we have the ability to restrain you as no other entity can.} She nodded toward the beam of moonlight that held the djinni’s lamp. {In your bloody past, you have benefited from being an unmatched force of power. But you aren’t in your own sphere any longer.}

The djinni’s golden eyes roved around the room. “I can see that,” he said carefully.

{Should you betray us, we are capable of confining you to far worse a prison than your pit.}

The djinni made a face that was half smile, half scowl. “Are you threatening me?”

Elweyn paced before him. {I am merely impressing on you the peril you are in. If you—either of you—} she looked pointedly at Spark, {give us the slightest reason to doubt your loyalty, you will be swiftly dealt with. Are we clear?}

Spark swallowed and nodded. “Got it.”

“Understood,” echoed the djinni.

{Good. Chronos, release him.}

Chronos raised a heavy hand toward the beam of moonlight. It shimmered and cycled back through sunset, evening, and then to afternoon until it melded perfectly into the surrounding atmosphere. The djinni came suddenly into sharp focus, and the room seized with tension.

Everyone stared.

The djinni flexed his hands. Power seethed around him.

Spark thought she saw nervous hands stray to weapons.

But then, the djinni relaxed and simply inclined his head. The anxiety that clenched the room eased…but only just.

Elweyn bowed her head in grim approval.

{Very well.}

She sprung from the table into the air and sailed overhead toward the entrance to the hall. Her voice hummed in Spark and the djinni’s minds.

{Come. There is much to explain.}

Spark tried to exchange a look of relief with the djinni, but he coolly avoided her gaze. She gulped and followed Elweyn, ducking her head as she passed Vesper and Chronos, both of whom loomed on either side. Chronos looked stern; Vesper looked angry.

The djinni passed by them in the footsteps of his mistress, an image of obedience. But, as he brushed past Chronos, he smiled and subtly made an insolent gesture at the eidolon. Chronos stiffened. His shrewd, affronted gaze followed the odd trio all the way out of the hall.

“I fear the Loretreaders’ cause is now in greater danger than ever,” he whispered to Vesper. Vesper growled.

There was only one person in the room who seemed to be happy. A large human man in a showy fanned cape stood nearly flush against the wall, unacknowledged by the loretreaders and council members. His broad face grinned like a skull.

He adjusted his cape smartly and departed from the hall, humming to himself.

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