Chapter 5
Maddie looked around at the dark world, watching the floating green lights around her.
“Where am I,” she said. “Is anyone here?!”
“No one,” said a voice that echoed everywhere, causing Maddie to look around frantically. “It is just the two of us.” Out of the darkness came a woman with white flowing hair and wise blue eyes. Her skin color kept shifting and held multiple shades all at once, from colors Maddie recognized to inhuman tones. She held a staff that seemed to be made of silver wood that had a golden sun emblem at the top with a planet and a crescent moon naturally spinning around it.
“Who are you,” she asked. “How did I get here?”
“I have many names known in both Adulia and Earth,” the woman replied, “but you may call me Ahe.” She smiled. “You’ve had quite the encounter, haven’t you?”
“Well yeah,” Maddie replied, “I just had someone try to kill me for being a guide. Which I don’t even know how I got to be in that position.”
“You were chosen,” Ahe replied simply. “Ceteha needed someone to guide the children through this world to safely save hers. That means you have powers no other human has, but you are still completely human.”
“But why me,” asked Maddie, taking a few steps towards her. “Why would she choose me to save an entire universe? I’m just a teenager!”
“The disciples were teens,” Ahe replied. “David was a child. And your new friends were only 14 when they all met. The young are the ones who change and shape our future. They are the ones who decide whether we will march towards glory or down a cavern of despair.” She smiled, placing a warm hand on Maddie’s shoulder. “That is why youths are chosen, not children, and not adults. And that is why you have been chosen.”
“Okay but there are a MILLION teenagers like me all around the world,” she replied. “What makes me different from all of them?”
“When it comes to children like you, no two are identical,” she replied, pulling her hand away. “You are the one wanted, the one needed.”
“By who, Ceteha?”
“Yes,” Ahe replied with a chuckle. “But more importantly, you didn’t really have much of a choice.”
“Bullshit,” Maddie replied with a glare. “I always have a choice.”
“Are you going to help them though,” Ahe asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or are you the kind of person who would let a universe die inside a power hungry maniac?”
“Well…” Maddie looked down. The expression on her face was conflicted, but she clearly didn’t want the people Damien had trapped to just die.
“Of course you want to help them. It’s who you are,” Ahe chuckled out. “I can see it written all over your face. There is no shame in that. I am sorry that I cannot ease your burden. It is unfair that this was the destiny bestowed upon you.”
“Then why did you do it,” she asked with a glare. “I don’t get it!”
“Who said I did anything,” Ahe laughed. “I had no control over any of that.”
“Then why is your skin changing color and you have a staff that looks like an honest to god model of a universe,” Maddie asked, pointing at her staff.
“This is the Staff of Tansaya,” Ahe replied, tilting the staff to hold it horizontally with both hands. “It is made by Ceteha, but it was never intended for her.” She smiled, holding it one hand again. “That’s all the time I have for now. I think your friends are worried about you.” She touched Maddie’s forehead and she shot up out of her bed.
“Wait,” she called out, reaching forward, but all she did was inadvertently squish her hand against Leo’s face.
“Glad to see you’re alright,” he said as his eye twitched.
“Why are you close enough to my bed to get hit in the face,” she asked with a glare, pulling her hand back and crossing her arms. “More importantly, why the hell are you in my room?”
“We’ve been checking up on you,” said Leo. “You’ve been out for two days! Your brother had to put you in bed and then take your cake out of the oven before it burned.”
“Two days?!”
“Your brother hasn’t slept at all,” added Leo. “Well, he finally slept after Kozui hit him over the head. That trick only worked once. So after that Kozui started asking him questions about Earth stuff and when they got on the subject of “video games” Evan seemed to stop worrying as much.”
“Oh my god,” she groaned out, hand over her eyes. “What all have I missed?”
“Well,” Leo started, “Kozui blew up something called a microwave and Sialei burned her hand on something called a hair curler.”
“Jesus Christ,” she grumbled as she started to get out of the bed. “I cannot leave you people alone for more than 5 minutes.” She stood up and looked at him. “And what stupid thing did you do?”
“I did nothing,” he said defensively as he glared. “I know not to touch things in a world I know nothing about.”
“Good,” she said before going to head out of the room before realizing there were two beds. “… Why is there a second bed in here?”
“Evan grabbed it from something he called “Bed, Bath, and Beyond,” Leo replied. “He said that we needed two.”
“Right,” said Maddie with an annoyed sigh as she face palmed. “That’s right, we only have one guest bedroom and it’s not big enough for three people.”
“Kozui won our fight so he gets it,” said Leo. “Sialei’s bunking in here with you and I’m sharing a room with Evan.”
“Okay then,” she said slowly, “got it. Where is everyone?”
“In the living room,” he replied, pointing a thumb towards it. She opened the door and went downstairs, seeing Evan smirking as he played a racing game against Sialei and Kozui.
“What’s the point of this,” asked Kozui. “I don’t get it. Is this some sort of mental training?”
“No, it’s just fun as hell,” Evan replied as his character crossed the finish line. “It’s just fun to beat you guys at these games.”
“I do not understand how any of this works,” Sialei growled out in frustration, throwing down the controller. “How do these buttons make my little character move forward and shoot rockets?! Why is it that certain buttons make them faster and slow down others?! I just don’t get it.”
“That’s called technology,” said Maddie as she leaned against the doorway. “It’s like magic but with a rational explanation.”
“Mads,” said Evan excitedly as he jumped up and held out his arms. She rolled her eyes, but held hers out in return as he hugged her tightly. “You scared the hell out of me! What was that?!”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly as she pulled out of the hug. “I just… heard a voice calling to me from the Haranti. I didn’t hear words or anything, more like… feelings, like pain and sorrow and worry. But I think it has to do with my role as the guide to Earth.”
“Your what,” asked Sialei from her seat. “There was never anything in the Book talking about anything like that.”
“Well yeah, prophecies are vague ass pains in the ass,” she replied. “But it explains what happened. And… I think General Spring is watching me. Because she said some stuff she couldn’t have possibly known unless she was there. Like the fact that the map is trapped in my choker.” She gently touched the pendant with a finger. “I really don’t know how though.”
“Probably a spying spell,” said Sialei. “Here, let me-” She grabbed Maddie’s hand but that made her glare and pull it back. She looked ready to bite Sialei, but just took in a deep breath instead.
“Do. Not. Touch. Me. Without. Asking.” Sialei looked a little shocked, but smiled.
“Sorry, I forget sometimes that Mere’s not the only one who gets bothered when people touch her anywhere without asking first.” She held out her hand. “May I please have your hand so I can cast a spell?” Maddie glared at the extended hand at first, but nodded and let Sialei take it. Sialei closed her eyes and started muttering very softly as she glowed with golden light. The glow extended up Maddie’s hand to the rest of her body, making her skin crawl while feeling warm at the same time. Needless to say, she hated the sensation. But when the glow faded Maddie pulled her hand away.
“What was that,” she hissed out as she held her own hand.
“A cloaking spell,” Sialei replied. “Now, anyone trying to use a spying spell can’t hear anything you say, or what the people around you say, and I made sure to be quiet enough that she wouldn’t be able to hear which one so she can’t counter it. I think that’ll help out.”
Damien cursed from inside his tower as the image he was viewing disappeared from sight.
“I’ll have to punish General Spring for this later,” he said with a clenched fist. “She shouldn’t have revealed so many details to Sangster.” He smirked. “Oh well. At least I can still track her movements. Even if I don’t know what they’re saying or doing, I should at least have an inkling if they find a piece of the Tower before I do.”
“Alright but who’s General Spring,” asked Kozui. “You said that name before, and I have a good guess but I wanna make sure I’m right.”
“She’s the woman I fought yesterday that broke Leo’s leg,” Maddie replied. "Made it look easy to beat you guys." She snickered.
“She was using some sort of weird magic,” Leo pointed out. “I’ve never met anyone capable of turning their bodies into something that isn’t living.” He held up his arms. “Creatures like us can warp our bodies without spells, but even if we have attributes like how Willow’s body looks like it’s made of trees when she shifts her form, it’s still not. This woman actually turned her body into metal. It wasn’t just living metal. It was actual, hardened metal, like the sword Kozui’s mother left him kind of hard.”
“Where the fuck did that go anyway,” Kozui asked, scratching his head.
“Point is,” said Leo with a glare, “this was completely new. It didn’t just have the properties of metal. It was metal. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before.”
“I feel like I need to catch up because I’m lost,” said Evan. “I’m only on the 5th volume of the manga.”
“Wait,” said Maddie, turning to her brother, “you’ve… been reading Magic Blood?”
“Well duh,” he replied with a grin. “How else am I supposed to help you out with… whatever it is that you’re doing.”
“Well, thanks Evan,” said Maddie, “but it’s not important right now.” She went and sat down on the couch. “What is, is figuring out how to get the Tower of Song back together and save Adulia. I didn’t get much from General Spring, but I learned enough.” Everyone moved to sit down around her. “She told me that I was supposed to be the guide to Earth, and that’s why the Book of Flight said the prophecy after I touched it. That’s also why the map is trapped in my choker. It wasn’t Earth and Adulia mixing badly. Apparently it’s something Ceteha planned. I don’t know why she picked me but it makes sense as to why I have the map. Although I really haven’t left Marston before. Like ever, in my whole life. I have no idea why me.”
“Well, Ceteha has a reason for everything,” said Kozui. “There’s gotta be a reason for this. I mean, goddesses don’t just go ‘hey you with the face, BAM, you have powers now go dick around’. She must have picked you for a reason.”
“That’s what I said to Ahe earlier,” she exclaimed. “Thank you! But man, she was super vague about everything!”
“Ahe,” repeated Sialei, tilting her head as she tried to think. “I’ve never heard of someone called Ahe before.”
“And you were sleeping before,” Leo added. “How could you have talked to someone?”
“It was in a dream,” Maddie replied. “She was glowing, and she had pure white hair and blue eyes, but her skin kept shifting and changing colors. She didn’t look real, but she did at the same time. She looked wise, old but not old either. I don’t feel like I’m making any sense here.”
“You never make sense,” Evan teased, causing Maddie to glare at him.
“This is serious Evan!”
“Hm,” Sialei tapped her finger on her leg, “that sounds like a spirit of wisdom. They’re common in Adulia but they rarely actually show themselves. At least not willingly.”
“So she’s like a creature then,” asked Evan.
“No,” Leo replied with a shake of his head. “Spirits are very different from creatures. They’re completely intangible, and only exist whenever they want people to see them. They cannot physically interact with our world and we cannot interact with them anywhere but in our minds.”
“There’s spells to capture them,” Kozui continued, “but they almost never just willingly show up. And when they do then things are bad, not just for people, but for them as well.”
“Maybe the spirits weren’t affected when Damien stole Adulia,” said Sialei. “They aren’t tangible after all. Maybe they fled here to Earth.”
“Makes sense,” said Evan. “Even if they aren’t physical, if there’s no world to talk to then they’d probably get bored.”
“More than that,” said Sialei. “Some are tied to specific places, or things. Some spirits are the life of trees themselves, or rivers, or even just rocks. Every culture has different versions of them, but they exist. If those kinds of spirits are too far from what they’re tied to, then they could vanish.”
“So then they’d need to help us,” said Kozui, “or else they’ll die? I didn’t even know that spirits could die!”
“So then Ahe must be scared of dying,” said Maddie. “That must be why she came to me. But she said I’d been picked for a reason and was super vague on it. All she said was I am the person who’s needed and that was annoying.”
“Spirits are notorious for that,” Leo said. “No one knows if it’s just their nature and they like to tease people that way or if they’re not allowed to be specific.”
“Great,” replied Maddie with a groan, hands on her head. “Just perfect. Hey, let’s make this girl be super important for some dumb reason and then not explain to her how she’s supposed to fucking help!”
“Sounds like every young adult novel ever,” said Evan with a snicker. “Don’t worry Mads, you’ll figure it out. If anyone can, it’s Miss Smartypants here.”
“At least I have the support of my brother,” she replied. “So, has the Book said anything else?”
“Let me get it,” said Sialei as she got up and went upstairs, coming back down with the Book and opening it up. “No, nothing new at all.”
“That’s annoying,” said Maddie before her choker started to glow. “Uh… is this normal?”
“For a storage spell,” asked Leo. “Yes. But you said you hadn’t cast one, and you claim that there is not a tiny person living in your choker to cast it.”
“Because there fucking isn’t!” She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “Okay, calm down Maddie.” When she opened her eyes, she saw a light trying to leave the pendant. She held out her hands and the light floated to sit between her hands for a few moments before the map popped up. “It’s the map again.” She stood up and moved away from the couch so everyone could try and see, holding it out.
“Look,” said Kozui, pointing at another dot, “there’s another one. This one’s us,” he poked the dot in America, “but this one,” he pointed at the one in Europe, “is in a completely different place.”
“That must be the first piece,” said Sialei. “I mean, the map’s probably made to show us where they are after all.”
“It’s so far though,” said Maddie with a frown. “I’ve never even been there before!”
“Where is it,” asked Leo.
“It’s somewhere in the English countryside I think,” she replied, “but I’ve never even been to England before!”
“Well, the map says that’s where we need to go,” said Sialei. “How do we get there?”
“With money we don’t have,” said Evan. “I mean we could afford it if we spent a good amount of time picking the right airlines and going, like, weeks in the future, but Mom would kill us.”
“Well then, what do you suggest,” asked Maddie. “How else do we get to England?!”
“We could try a transportation spell,” suggested Kozui.
“No, we can’t,” Leo argued. “They’re incredibly dangerous to the user, and even more so to the people they bring along. Unless you want to risk Maddie and Evan’s insides becoming their outsides, then I suggest that we don’t do that.”
“Yeah,” said Maddie as she put a hand over her stomach, “please don’t do that.”
“Then how do we get there,” asked Sialei.
“Maybe we can-” Before Maddie could finish her idea, the map started glowing. Her eyes widened as she started at what looked like an opening portal. “OKAY THIS IS JUST GETTING STUPID!”
“It’s just gonna… take us directly to it,” asked Kozui as he poked the hole.
“I don’t know,” Maddie yelled, “but this doesn’t make any damn sense!”
“It’s convenient though,” pointed out Evan.
“Or maybe it’s actually gonna be really stupid and it won’t actually take us there,” Maddie replied. “Things are never that easy ever. And if it is keep your hand on your wallet.” Sialei just blinked when she said that.
“Your what?”
“Never mind,” said Maddie with a sigh as a light wind picked up. “Wait, where’s that wind coming from?” She looked back at the map and it started getting bigger, sucking them in. “It’s gonna suck us in isn’t it?”
“I think so,” said Leo.
“Okay just what the fuck ever,” yelled Maddie as she threw the map on the ground. “Do whatever your god damned bullshit plan is and don’t make any fucking sense, that’s perfectly fucking fine by me! God damn it!” The moment the map hit the ground, the growing portal became large enough that it sucked the whole group in before it disappeared, taking the map with it.
Damien smirked when he felt the disturbance, smirking when they moved. “Ah, so that’s how you want to play it, huh? General Spring.” Immediately she appeared by his side, bowing.
“Yes my lord?”
“The first piece has revealed itself. I may not be able to hone in on it, but you should be able to get it. Just wait for Sangster to touch it first before you try and take it. You’ll regret it if you try and do it before she does.”
“I understand,” said General Spring with a nod. Damien held out his arm and let earth drip from it once again. After a sufficient amount fell he clenched his fist, opening it up and holding out another green gemstone, waiting for her to take it. “This time, don’t leave before you have what we need. At the very least, don’t leave the Haranti. If you’re too far away you can’t control it and it’ll just curl in on itself in hatred for its own pain filled excuse of life.”
“That’s what they feel like,” asked Spring in surprise as she grabbed the stone. “But you’re giving them a gift! You’re giving them a chance to be anything they want once you don’t need them anymore!”
“That may be,” he agreed, “but there’s still something about being a Haranti that makes them hate themselves. They’re more powerful than any other weapon I could ever create, but they need to be tightly controlled.” He clenched his fist. “I trust you to keep the reins on this one like you did for your past one, only without abandoning it this time.”
“You can trust me my lord,” she responded, placing the gem on her forehead. “I will not fail you, and I will return with the first piece.” With that, she and the Haranti disappeared.
“Ha, I doubt it,” said Damien. “You already failed me once, but maybe with your newfound knowledge, it won’t be such a terrible failure. And who knows? Maybe you’ll teach me more about Sangster and her powers. Even with Sialei’s cloaking spell, I can still see through Spring’s eyes.”