Everville: The Rise of Mallory (10 page)

Grenmar grinned from ear to ear and rubbed his hands together in front of the fire. They sat there quietly, warming themselves, and rested for several minutes.

Asher spoke up. “I can see the large tree that Varstock told us about. The bluff must not be to far from there.”

“Yeah, I see it, too,” Owen replied.

“Can we come with you?” Felix asked.

“Well, we can continue together until we reach the bluff, but I don’t think The Third Pillar will allow you beyond that point,” Owen responded.

They rested a while longer and then began putting out the fire. Shortly thereafter, they continued on their way.

The valley on the left of the river was green and lush, but the valley on the right was brown and lifeless. Owen assumed it was an artifact of The Third Pillar. Animal life was conspicuously absent from both sides of the valley, and there was an eerie calm. Even the wind was absent.

They passed the large tree and traveled a thousand paces forward, just as instructed by Varstock. Before them, they saw the bluff. It was about five hundred feet high and three hundred feet across and absent any vegetation. They came closer until finally stopping directly in front of it.

“Here we are,” Asher said.

Grenmar and Felix started touching the rock in front of them, trying to see if they could find a hidden entrance.

“It feels real to me,” Felix said as he continued to touch the rock.

Owen approached the bluff preparing to step through.

“Well, if I don’t see you again, it’s been a pleasure,” Owen said.

“You’re not going to leave us here are you?” Felix replied.

“I don’t know, Felix. I’m not sure what’s going to happen once I step into the bluff. I’m sure you can find your way back with the help of Asher and Grenmar if you need to. Here. Take the last of the elixir and ointment,” Owen said as he handed over the supplies.

Grenmar gave Owen one last hug.

“I’ll see you again. I promise,” Owen said.

Then he stepped forward and vanished into the bluff.

Chapter 10

The Alarians

B
ack at Easton Falls, Zee and Drusilla had been discussing what do about the jar of liquid element stolen from Zee’s home. They decided to discuss the situation with Dante and Anika over some coffee in the back of the campus café along with the barista Adaline, who had the day off.

“Owen said that Jacob was working with Mallory to help channel more of the element from the multiverse. I can only assume he stole the small jar of element to make another one of those beetle things,” Dante said.

“I think it’s more complicated than that. First of all, Mallory already possesses the dragon, the sole remaining worm. That’s why Owen is searching for The Third Pillar of Truth, so he can destroy the dragon and prevent Mallory from having unlimited power. The newly created element is already being channeled into the dragon. I’m not sure why Mallory would need another collector,” Zee replied.

“Maybe it’s not for him, or maybe it is for him but to channel the element
away
from the dragon for some reason,” Drusilla speculated.

“I think you may be on to something,” Anika replied.

“He also said something about the race of creatures that seeded the worms. Maybe he wants to channel some of the element to them in order to give them more power, maybe so they would be willing to fight with him,” Anika said.

“But why would he need their help if he already has the dragon and the element?” Dante asked.

“Think about it. The worms were seeded by the race of creatures. If the dragon is the only surviving offspring and has the element being channeled directly into it, then Mallory has to rely solely on the dragon for his power. Maybe he needs them in order to keep the dragon in line or to keep himself in the dragon’s good graces. Maybe he needs collectors for him to ensure he maintains the power he wants, and he needs collectors for the others until his is powerful enough,” Zee replied.

“I guess that makes sense, but what are we going to do about that now? If Jacob already has the element, he’s probably already made another device to channel the element. What can we do?” Dante asked.

“Well, at the very least we should let Owen and The Keeper know once they contact us again—if they don’t know already. We should try to find out if Jacob has actually made the devices and who he’s working for. Once we do that, we can try to stop him if he hasn’t or steal it if he has,” Zee replied.

“Letting Owen and The Keeper know about it goes without saying, but we need to be very careful if Jacob’s already made another collector. Stealing it didn’t work out so well for Owen and Drusilla last time,” Dante said.

Adaline interjected, “We may be jumping the gun here. We don’t know if Jacob’s finished doing whatever it is that he’s doing or finished making that device thing, but we can easily have him watched. We can see what he does, and then we can look for that guy he was talking with, and if we have the chance to tell Owen or The Keeper, then let’s do that. I think the first thing we should do, though, is tell Avery.”

“I agree, Adaline, and we haven’t heard back yet from the other members of the Echo Club. Maybe they know something, or maybe they’re in trouble. We can start there,” Anika said.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll have my people see what they can dig up. Zee and Drusilla, maybe you can have someone watch Jacob. Dante and Anika, you should let Avery know about the situation and then have him find out what he knows of the whereabouts of the other Echo Club members,” Adaline said.

Zee and the others now had their plan and would have to wait to see what they could dig up. Beyond that, the situation was out of their hands; they would just have to be patient.

Back on the distant planet in the border realms, things were going according to plan. Mallory had finally gathered enough of the element within the artifact that adorned his neck in order to do certain small tasks, like contacting Jacob across the vast expanse. The dragon, Rathlar, was also growing more powerful, and its power would soon attract the attention of the Alarians.

Mallory needed the additional artifacts soon to gain their trust and to encourage them to fight against the armies of Everville. The Alarians were useless without the element, and Mallory needed the Alarians to finish his plan. The Keeper and The Pillars of Truth possessed the ability to limit concentration of the element through various tricks. Before Mallory could eliminate The Keepers and The Seven Pillars of Truth, he needed to make sure that all methods used to stop the concentration and flow of the element across the multiverse were destroyed. He would not do be able to do that alone and would need the assistance of the Alarians, who be able to help him destroy the mineral rocks and the portals used to contain the element.

His artifact would possess the sole power to steal the element from all the others, which would render the Alarians powerless at the moment of his choosing. He would need to wait, though, until the combination of his power and the Alarians was greater than the dragon’s. That’s when he could steal the dragon’s power once and for all.

He would then be the sole possessor of the element and no one would be able to stop him. He would have total power in the multiverse. So long as time marched forward and the universe expanded, the element would be created in response to entropy. Since entropy was chaos, the opposite was order. More precisely, it was the power to create order out of chaos through mere thought, allowing his power to grow limitless according to the simple laws of physics.

Mallory had instructed Rathlar to leave its lair, and they were busy honing their skills. Mallory created different objects for the dragon to burn in order to test its physical strength and the power of its fire.

“Now, Rathlar,” Mallory told the dragon through its mind.

Rathlar spread its wings, which now had grown to more than fifty feet across, and ascended into the air. The dragon belted out a loud roar and blew out a fiery breath towards a large block of ice Mallory suspended into air using his mind. The ice was vaporized instantly.

“Good. Good,” Mallory said aloud.

Mallory continued with different things, testing the dragon’s fire, strength, and mental control. Both Mallory and the dragon were increasing the amount of element and power they held. Mallory was eagerly awaiting the additional artifacts from Jacob, so he could move on to the next phase of his plan.

Above the planet, on its largest moon, the Alarians continued their existence, oblivious to Mallory’s plans.

The Alarians were a race of shape-shifters from outside the universe of men. They came from a parallel world within the multiverse that was dying. The energy within that universe was spent eons ago, so they left their dying world in search of a new one where they could continue their existence. As they entered the universe, occupied by Everville and The Other In Between, they seeded their progeny in The City of Worms with their last bit strength, attracted to its power and negative energy.

It was the arrival of the Alarians that set in motion the current divide between those loyal to Everville and The Keepers, and those loyal to Them in The Other in Between. Speculation and whispers about distant races and the dangers they might represent created a wedge between those who wanted to concentrate power and those who wanted to divest it.

The substance that composes their bodies operates outside the known laws of physics. This is why the worms made the perfect collector, capable of holding large amounts of the element and dissipating it slowly over time. Their bodies did not age or die in the usual sense. Instead, they could proliferate so long as they had access to energy. At one time, their species spanned their universe and numbered in the trillions, but as the universe expanded and died, their number dwindled. Without energy, their bodies simply shrank until each body reached a certain minimal threshold, dissipating into its component elements.

The Alarians now numbered only in the millions. The size of their body depended on the form they took, but they were limited by the amount of energy they had available. At the moment, the Alarians each possessed about the same mass as an average human.

While they were capable of shifting into any form or state, they preferred a shape possessed by their own ancestors. It was a black, solid form. They had seven appendages on their lower body, which could be best described as legs. This allowed them great mobility and speed, even when in solid form. They had three additional appendages, which were more like arms that divided their upper body into three sections. Each of the three sections had a hole and a protrusion, the hole for eating or consuming energy, and the protrusion for seeing and thinking.

While the Alarians were able to shift and take non-corporeal form, the process of shifting consumed tremendous amounts of energy, so they limited such actions to only what was necessary for survival. As such, they constructed homes and cities on the moon where they now resided.

There were two cities on the moon above the planet. Each was built half underground and half above ground to take advantage of the heat generated from the center of the moon while still having access to the surface. They needed no transport system, as they either walked or galloped on foot or shifted when necessary.

The Alarians had lived in isolation on the planet since they left their universe, but with Mallory’s plan, that would soon change.

The time had arrived. In the earthly realm at Easton Falls, Jacob placed a few drops of the element on his tongue, allowing him to make a connection with Mallory.

“Jacob! I assume you are contacting me because you have finished making the remaining artifacts,” Mallory exclaimed to the image that appeared before him.

“You assume correctly, Mallory,” Jacob replied

Mallory let out an uncontrollably evil laugh. He had already been transformed by his evil into a skinny, slimy, and ugly creature. As he laughed, though, his face contorted even more. He laughed so long, Jacob had to call Mallory’s name.

“Mallory,” Jacob said.

“Well then, Jacob,” Mallory said as he refocused his attention. “As a reward, I am letting you keep one of the artifacts for yourself. Once I give the others over to the Alarians and activate them,
your
power will be linked to theirs. As their power grows with more of the element, so will yours. Eventually, you will be a god on Earth, able to do whatever you wish. So long as you hold the artifact in your possession, no one on Earth or at that putrid, infantile school of yours will be able to stop you. Now send over all but one of the artifacts,” Mallory said.

Seconds later, Jacob used the power of the element and his connection with the other realms to transport the artifacts excluding the one he was keeping for himself. It was time now for Mallory to pay a visit to the Alarians.